The Russians, they did not care about Gould's business in the south, or even a military counterattack launched by the Danes.
It is as if these major geopolitical events in the south have nothing to do with the Russians.
Although a series of changes were brought about by the Russians.
Just like the curse of the Gotland businessman who was about to be killed: "It was you who started the war!"
The war never pauses, but the battle-level operations last for a long time Not happening anymore. The Russians attacked the Gotlanders, and the Danes refused to do so out of shame. The Danes also did not have the ability to attack the Rus', whose exact location they did not even know, and the Danish army could not prepare to attack Malaren in a short time.
The Danish army attacked a relatively weak tribe under the Northern Alliance. It seemed that it was just a tribe that was destroyed, but in fact it brought the Northern Siliya Tribal Alliance, which had maintained the southern border for decades. Massive retreat.
The destruction of Ostara brought about the control of Jotalan by the people of the Alliance.
At this point, the people who left Gotland and immigrated to the Götaland region can finally call themselves "Gustav", which is the concept of "the mainstay of Götaland", which is to pay tribute to their allies. The Danes declared that Götaland was Götaland for the Gotlanders.
This trend of thought quickly resurrected in the hearts of Gotland immigrants after the Northern Alliance lost their southern stronghold.
After all, they do not want to be loyal dogs to the Danish army, and the alliance with the Danes is just a temporary measure.
We don’t even really want to have any contact with those guys in the Svealand Plains. If we can get greater benefits from them, it is not impossible to turn our backs on Denmark.
The political ecology of the Vikings can be described as "there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests."
The Gotlanders have complex internal factions, and the major families have hidden agendas. After all, everyone has a simple idea - their business should not be disturbed by powerful forces, or in other words, they should become a powerful force to defend their own interests.
But the Gotlanders were wrong.
The Russians will never forget their blood feud. Perhaps they are inherently more upright than other tribes.
To make matters worse, the Gotlanders also made more enemies before they could predict how their enemies would retaliate.
The south is very lively this year, and the Russians’ strategic layout here is also wonderful.
The current leader of the Russians, Otto, has made a series of far-sighted decisions. The Russians are no longer a mysterious existence huddled in a fjord.
The population of the tribe also began to skyrocket because of these determinations.
In July, the first woman from Novgorod gave birth to a mixed-race child, a boy, a future warrior.
What makes Otto even more excited is his niece-in-law.
Peravina’s bellyShe was already very old, and the women in the tribe were speculating on the date, concluding that the day she would give birth would be in August.
People are saying that the bigger a woman’s belly is, the more proof she is carrying a boy.
Otto even asked the high priest Vilia, who was obviously mentally weak, and got the answer that he would get a grandson. Yes, the son born to the deceased brother's daughter-in-law is equivalent to Otto's grandson.
Life is full of hope, but also full of challenges.
Year after year, when the weather is still the warmest in summer, the Russians have begun to prepare winter supplies in advance.
The first thing to do was to push a large number of pottery urns to the seaside. They set up a large number of firewood piles and started the traditional and inefficient method of boiling salt with seawater.
A half-human-high pottery urn is often filled with about forty liters of seawater, and heated by burning wood and charcoal.
Boiling salt is also a craft. There are some masters in the tribe who know how to control the temperature of boiling salt so that the first crystals to precipitate are good salt with the least bitter taste.
More tribesmen boil salt to marinate fish or other meat. Bitter taste? It doesn't matter! This bitter taste pales in comparison to the smell of fish or even shark meat. It’s good to eat it with salt, why bother so much?
Due to the tragic salt content of the seawater in the Gulf of Bothnia, the seawater in a pottery jar was boiled dry in the crudest way, and only half a pound of coarse salt could be scraped out of the jar. As for those who only seek good salt with low bitterness, because they pour away the excess brine, the hard-cooked salt is only one-third of a pound of salt.
Due to the obvious difference in the cost of input of materials, time, and even human energy, the salt with the least bitter taste also has the highest price.
To pickle a large amount of food and survive until next spring, every family needs a lot of salt. Of course, ordinary families choose to boil the sea water directly and make do with low-quality salt. Of course, if you eat coarse salt containing substances such as magnesium chloride all year round, your lifespan will be greatly reduced.
Do the tribesmen have the right to worry about this? No. The most important thing they should be careful about is not to lose their lives suddenly because of a fever. The vast majority of people are not qualified to provide for old age. Even the leader Otto estimates that his upper limit of life is only sixty years old.
Fortunately, the Rus are like other tribes, and all the Viking tribes are adherents to this traditional salt-making craft. Families with status will always eat "finely processed" good salt. .
Coupled with the seemingly inexhaustible forest resources throughout Scandinavia, the Russians can cut down trees to make charcoal without restraint, and obtain a large amount of salt in a luxurious way. .
All the costs add up to a lot, and the Russians can fully bear the pressure.
Salt is a good thing, but it is a pity that Novgorod people can only buy it from others at high prices unless they can reach the seaside. For Novgorod residents, this intentionIt's almost like courting death.
In Novgorod, Otto actually completed the smart operation of pulling one faction to fight against the other.
White Tree Manor has become a loyal dog, so much so that the residents of the manor there feel that the guys in White Tree Manor are particularly willing to donate their women to the Ross people.
For such a loyal dog, it is very necessary to give bones full of meat residue!
The pressure of reality forced Otto to advance the planned autumn voyage to Sorgon.
Otto planned to give some rewards to the loyal dogs of White Tree Manor, and then he would also get a lot of food from them in a very reasonable manner. Otto convinced his men that a large amount of food would be delivered to the first immigrants living in New Roseburg this year.
Does everyone support the leader’s decision?
No!
This decision touched the cake of some people, even if this decision was for the future of the tribe. However, due to poor information, the vast majority of tribesmen do not have the authority to look at tribal development issues from the position of leader. We cannot say that they are stupid, but because of their own living conditions, they pay more attention to their own one-third of an acre of land.
At present, those potential opponents can only bury their grievances in their hearts, because now, it is of course possible to openly oppose the leader, and in the end they will naturally end up with the fate of being expelled. Are there any deportees? Of course there is.
No one knows the status of those deportees. Perhaps they have long been treated as lone fat sheep and bitten to pieces.
In fact, the situation is not that bad. Many deportees went to Semelya Island and even mixed with the ancient Latvians to live together. Even in the city of Riga, various people defected from their own tribe. Viking immigrants settled there, and objectively they helped the development of local Latvian civilization.
The returned Otto is arranging the next stage of the tribe's development based on his own decisions. He even referred to his son's opinion, saying that since the financial power of the priests is completely controlled by the leader himself, the priests do not need so much money, why not use the money for the construction of a new stronghold?
Otto did indeed do this. He temporarily decided to take out 10,000 silver coins, especially in his own name, and declared that the money should be used to support New Roseburg.
Ten thousand silver coins is just a bottom line for expenditure. As for how much it will cost in the end, Gould doesn't know.
A large number of merchants are like migrating reindeer herds, arriving every year around the end of August with a large amount of goods. The Russians have been in great need of these business partners since ancient times, especially the grain and linen that arrived. Everyone needs these necessary commodities to live.
That’s what makes this year very special.
My son Rurik has already earned a lot of money, because the servants have devoted themselves to work. The soap industry abandoned by the priests has not only recovered in the hands of the servants, but has even exceeded its previous production capacity. Who would have thought that a group of Novgorod little girls brought back by him have alreadyCan help their owners make money quickly.
Otto took it for granted that merchants would buy soap unscrupulously, so what his son’s servants made was not soap, but a steady stream of gold and silver coins!
In addition, the son also has many ways to make huge profits.
As of now, including the profits of the tribe's blacksmiths, the son has received a share of the profits from the blacksmiths through the contract document in the name of "God's Witness".
This is by no means as simple as Rurik making money. The entire Russian people have also benefited from the "steelmaking revolution". Since the Russians experienced life and combat equipment made of mild steel, they can no longer accept the past days.
When the warriors got their new swords, the first thing they had to do was to cut off their old iron swords with the new steel swords, and then immediately sell the broken old swords to the blacksmith, and then It is processed into mild steel utensils such as daggers and ax heads. Since there is no need to smelt the ore, the broken sword can be directly used for forging, plasticity and carburizing processing. The blacksmiths charge a processing fee that everyone thinks is fair. In the end, the entire Ross tribe gets benefits.
Professional lumberjacks, shipbuilders, and carpenters cannot tolerate their soft wrought iron axes and hammers.
Low carbon steel production tools were first used in the shipbuilding industry, which immediately brought very gratifying results.
For example, a Nordic planer blade forged from mild steel. The shipbuilder was surprised to find that the blade in his hand suddenly no longer had a curling blade. After handling countless logs, the planer was still as sharp as ever.
Because there is no need to sharpen the knife frequently, the wear of the knife is almost impossible to detect with the naked eye.
This summer, due to the large-scale innovation of tools, the already prosperous shipbuilding industry of the Russians has become even more prosperous.
Originally, the Russians also built ships according to the traditional Viking craft, that is, the wooden boards were stacked piece by piece along the ribs. This operation took special consideration of the performance of the cutting tools.
The steel ax can cut wood faster, and the steel planer and steel scraper can efficiently process very smooth boards.
The production efficiency of an ordinary fishing boat has been increased by nearly three times! The shipbuilders of the entire Ross tribe got magical tools. The first thing they thought about was to increase production. In order to sell ships better, they chose to lower the price.
The price of newly launched fishing boats has dropped a lot. A small fishing boat once cost thirty silver coins, but now it only costs twenty.
Wouldn’t this bring about a larger chain reaction?
There are many families in the tribe who have not made a lot of wealth in the previous series of actions. Their lives are almost depended on fishing at sea. Fishing boats are the basis of their lives, and they must be careful. Maintenance baby.
Thanks to the addition of Rurik, a big seller of catch, many fishermen have accumulated some money.
These fishermen saw the price of fishing boats reduced. They took possessions they were reluctant to spend and bought cheap but high-quality products.new fishing boat, because even nails have now become steel nails. There are also many fishermen who no longer have to work as servants on other fishing boats, and they finally dare to buy their own boats.
The Russians have more and more fishing boats, and there will only be more of them in the foreseeable future!
More fishing boats went to sea, and the Russians cruised throughout the Gulf of Bothnia. The herring fishing fleet reached as far as the mouth of Lake Malaren, and they even offered them at extremely favorable prices. , selling the fresh catch to his own people on Tombstone Island.
The two natural fjords on Tombstone Island were first regarded as safe havens by fishermen. Tombstone Island itself has also become a stopover where Ross fishermen can safely set foot. Before it became a real military base, its commercial value had begun to be discovered by Ross fishermen.
The number of fishing boats in Ross has indeed increased a lot. During the warm period, Rossburg is immersed in the sound of clanging sounds. On the winding roads, there are often more than ten people walking together carrying huge logs. .
Just comparing it to the vast Gulf of Bothnia, the total population of the Russians and their affiliates now only reaches 8,000 people. It is completely different from hunting on land. How can such a small number of people sweep the entire sea area for catches?
The reality is that at the fish market held twice a day in Roseburg, the prices of the main catches have dropped a lot.
The only thing that won’t change is whale meat. Catching them requires luck and even more courage.
Usually tribal fishermen are not that enthusiastic about whaling. Everyone knows that spermaceti oil is a good raw material for lamp oil. After all, each household does not need much. Substitutes such as seal oil are not easy to obtain. Disaster.
Rurik needed a lot of oil to make soap. Before large-scale winter seal hunting could be carried out, spermaceti oil and whale oil from other parts were the best raw materials. Because of this demand, fishermen became willing to hunt whales.
When a large number of new fishing boats and new fishermen participate in ocean fishing, the price stability of the fish market is completely broken. Whale meat was immediately favored by fishermen due to its stable price, and the fishermen's enthusiasm for hunting whales increased. Rurik was happy to see this result. Because Rurik does not worry about the soap production efficiency of his servants and those little girls. What he is always worried about is the interruption of his supply chain and the shutdown of the soap workshop.
Rurik didn’t care too much about the many decisions his father made. After all, those decisions were nothing more than running a new settlement. It seems that we need to increase our efforts to commend the loyalty of White Tree Manor? OK! Thinking of this, Rurik thought of his fiancée whom he had never met.
There were many gratifying things during this period, one of which made him extremely gratified, such as the reproduction of the reindeer herd.
There were only fifteen deer in the beginning, and those doe deer gave birth in May. It is said that they arrived in Roseburg pregnant with their calves.
The fawns have grown so strong that they can run around, and the herd has reached more than 20 animals.
Rumia told Rurik that by September, all the existing female deer will be pregnant again.The following spring the herd would naturally number thirty. Although it was too far away to become a giant herd of three to four hundred deer, Rurik could foresee that this group of deer probably originally lived in Lapland or Murmansk, but now they are obviously alive in the area of Rossburg. very good.
The whole body of a reindeer is a treasure, and the most precious thing is its leather. If the deer herd became a real behemoth, the Russians would surely become wealthy just by processing and selling deer skins.
The base number of the deer herd is too small. Rurik knows mathematics very well. The small base number is temporary. In the days to come, what awaits his control of the deer herd should be exponential growth.
Is raising deer just for money? It comes down to the greater good.
Rurik must not forget his agreement with Gould - to make spirits.
Russian! Just drinking cloudy ale, does one still count as a Russian? Russians should drink strong alcohol, the kind that can be drunk at a moment's notice.
Finally on the first day of August in the Julian calendar, on the eve of the completion of his new home, Rurik ran to Klavassen’s blacksmith shop and quite abruptly proposed that he new ideas.
As long as some special utensils are used, the best quality craft ale can be brewed into the best wine again? ! Can it even be as transparent as pure water?
Klavason had no concept of "distilling high spirits" at all, and he fully supported Rurik's decision.
But Rurik, his idea was not just to create a few bottles of Erguotou to show off his so-called "I can" skills to Gould. Because of alcohol, it can bring changes to human society. Satisfying alcohol addiction is nothing more than an unhealthy "need for pleasure", and Rurik sees the many benefits of alcohol.
He took action himself!