After a long voyage, it was almost evening.
Throughout the day, the fleet moved northward close to the coast. Everyone could see the coast from a distance, and could clearly see the desert islands dotted on the sea, as well as the ice on the islands that had not completely melted. .
In fact, even now, Rurik's destination still has a lot of snow, because the other name of that so-called destination is Kemi, and it is also the hometown of Santa Claus.
The fleet approached the mouth of a creek, and ships docked here one after another.
There are only as many as thirty fishing boats. They follow Rurik's fleet. In fact, they want to get Rurik's good luck and protection in exploring the fishing resources in the northern seas. Now they Continue your work, prepare the torch to attract the bait, and finally cast the net and pray to catch them all.
Can they succeed? Of course it's impossible!
In the northernmost part of the bay, the so-called sea water here is almost no longer salty. A large number of freshwater fish can live here, but the herring and cod that the Russians like are not risking their lives to go to such a place. Survive.
The only thing fishermen can look forward to is the so-called migratory salmon tide, but that is only in September. Besides, the Corvin servants claimed that the Ross people had never seen the annual grand salmon tide. In other words, everyone has seen salmon pouring into the fjord in large numbers, but it is definitely not as exciting as the Corvin people claim.
Everyone in the fleet spent the night on the shore, and those who suffered from seasickness could finally have a good rest.
In fact, now, the route ahead is very clear.
A brave and slightly smaller young warrior climbed up the mast, and he saw the looming coast due north.
This warrior has participated in the "Northern Hunting". Last time he came, the whole world was frozen. This time he saw the northern coastline, and a familiar yet strange feeling naturally came to his mind.
He made a prepared report to Rurik, and Rurik actually knew it well. Everyone believes that tomorrow morning we will all set sail again, and it may only take a while before we reach our destination.
The next day, the anchored fleet embarked on the journey again.
They soon saw the northern coast clearly, and the entire fleet also adjusted the angle between the sails and the central axis of the ship. They all followed Rurik's leading flagship and began to turn at a large angle. .
The fleet began sailing with crosswinds, and the Ross people on each ship began to control the south wind. This sailing method gave the Ross sailing ships the fastest speed they could use when using the wind, just because This crosswind sailing routine is a bit like learning the wings of an airplane.
Everyone knew that the fleet’s destination was approaching soon, and this strong sense of anticipation became extremely strong after everyone experienced the mouth of the first large river.
Rurik also became excited, and everyone on the flagship was staring at the coast, looking for the unexpected mine.
Just like the Russians passing through the gorgeLooking for their home in the hills near the bay, Rurik and his men were also trying to scan the flat horizon for special ridges.
It has to be said that the clear air is enough for people with good eyesight and standing at high places to see important landmarks 30 kilometers away. However, after the Russians experienced the first river estuary, they were already far away from their target. At thirty kilometers.
Gradually, the scene ahead became particularly clear.
Hills! There it is!
The flagship, along with all the ships, became commotion.
"We have arrived! Brothers, get ready to land!" Rurik shouted.
He gave the order without hesitation, and all kinds of people on the fleet, especially the Ross warriors brought by Rurik, and the professional sailors provided by the Gould family. These professional personnel have already begun to maneuver the ship and prepare for a series of landings!
Soon everything became clear.
The fleet arrived at the mouth of the so-called second river. The fleet passed through some desert islands, passed through the river mouth that had become somewhat turbulent due to the melting of ice and snow, and all rushed to the flat left bank (eastern) river bank. Because this is the camping ground where Beikuri's army camped after the battle at the beginning of the year! Some people on the boat even saw traces of having slept in the open, and the wooden frames of the tents that had been set up were still standing crookedly there.
The long boat with a low flat bottom began to wash up on the beach, followed closely by the long boat behind it. Only the cargo ship was still advancing slowly.
Not far in front of them was the low and stocky mine, which was also the place where Rurik fought for the first time.
"I'm finally here!"
Rurik took a sharp breath and brought the ship to a stop. The hard oak keel was stuck in the mud. Rurik and his companions jumped Get off the boat and step onto the soft ground covered with moss and newly sprouted grass.
Regardless of whether the mood of his own people had stabilized, Rurik shouted: "Let's start! A settlement!"
His self-centered direction became more and more changing. Looking at his back, everyone can feel the enthusiasm for construction.
A group of strong men jumped from the side of the ship. They caught the dropped cable and began to pull the ship ashore.
For a while, their leather boots stepped into the mud, and after some strenuous walking, they finally landed on harder land, leaving a deep mark on the empty long boat.
Soon, the people of the Gray Squirrel tribe also stood in this completely unfamiliar land carrying their own luggage.
More and more supplies began to be unloaded, such as a large number of burlap bags, which contained a large amount of oats, charcoal blocks, and uncut linen specially used to build tents.
Rurik found the former camp.
He squatted down and pulled at the wet traces of the campfire with his little hands. He stood up again and looked at the mines in the distance that continued to have a lot of snow, as well as the ice lumps that could be seen everywhere in the surrounding area.
The whole world is extremely humid, but there is no heat at all.
The world is still cold, just as there are still a lot of ice lumps floating on the sea, many of which are dangerous ice packs of terrifying sizes.
Rurik noticed that those who waded ashore quickly took off their wet boots, only to be poured into a foot of cold sea water. They sat on the wet ground, oppressing their newly emerged heads. The young green leaves of the grass, covering his cold feet with both hands, trying to give warmth.
Rurik was somewhat glad that he did not wade into the water, but his boots were already covered in a lot of black mud.
"Black mud? It seems that the land here is fertile, right? It's just too cold, any cold-resistant crops will freeze to death,"
Everyone landed, next It was no longer up to Rurik himself to order the matter.
While they were still on the boat, various personnel received their own tasks. They had already gone ashore, and they had to start construction immediately even if it was just to warm their cold feet from wading in the water.
The Ross people and their servants, the Gray Squirrel tribesmen, began to build a settlement based on the temporary camp that was abandoned five months ago, at the mouth of the river not far from the mine.
Without any more words, they began to work hard, and even wished they could build the settlement before the sun went down.
Those Ross warriors estimate that they will not encounter any enemies during this trip. All they can do is provide a large amount of wood for the new settlement.
Rurik is not stupidly generous. To get the reward of ten silver coins per month, you have to do things according to his requirements.
Since he is a young war chief who is in charge of food, he has no complaints about getting rich.
The strong warriors took off their leather armor, even if the temperature was very low, they only wore loose linen shirts, their hands were tied with linen strips, and they manipulated advanced low-carbon steel made for logging. Heavy Nordic Forest Ax.
The sharp ax blade was polished until it was shiny. With just one heavy blow, a tree as big as a bowl was cut down in half.
It only took three blows to cut down a pine tree.
The Russians even used their own special skills to tackle the huge red pine that required two people to work together.
Strong woodcutters used steel axes to carve into one side of the trunk, creating a dangerous but unlikely collapse section. Then he lightly chiseled the other side and added a specially made iron wedge. The lumberjack hit the wedge, and the tree finally collapsed along the largest section!
It was an earth-shaking feeling that shocked all the Gray Squirrel tribe members! I saw that the dense pine forest not far away that could almost block the sun was experiencing terrible changes. The ground had been shaking violently, and even some ice blocks on the ground were broken due to the vibration.
The tribesmen soon understood everything in shock - the Rus were cutting down trees that were almost impossible to cut down.
The Russians did it. Before the sun set, as many as thirty huge red pines were cut down. Together with a group of small trees that were cut down, the once dense forest was transformed into a forest in just half a day. It becomes very comprehensive.
These pine trees can produce a large number of pine cones, and theoretically their fruits can be used after processing. It’s not like Rurik has never thought about using the pine trees that are everywhere in the area to develop pine nut resources. Even opening the hard shell requires some skills.
Rurik now only hopes to make use of the pine resources in the region. Although the performance of oak is much better than that of pine, the biggest advantage of pine is the extremely low cost of developing it.
A group of Rus warriors received the wood brought back by their companions, and immediately began to use axes and scrapers to process the wood carefully.
They began to build a large number of wooden houses. As the construction concept of Novgorod-style wooden houses spread to the Russians, the previous model of randomly building wooden walls and adding beams has been eliminated. Now, everyone knows that building a house with wooden boards and wooden beds is a real pleasure to live in.
Russian warriors all like brand-new wooden houses, and Rurik also gave everyone an order: the houses in the new settlement must have floors.
This request troubled the people of the Gray Squirrel tribe. They originally planned to dig a pit according to their own traditions and then build a semi-underground house on its foundation.
The leader Mechasta tried to dig downward. After digging through a thin layer of moist soil, he categorically rejected his idea.
Why?
After digging down only thirty centimeters, the shovel began to contact the hard frozen soil.
These Kovin people had no choice but to learn how to build houses from the Russians. In the process, they once again realized how backward they were.
The gray squirrel tribe is an ambitious group. The only remaining men hold metal tools in their hands, and they began to learn the house-building skills of the Russians.
In fact, just as far as building houses is concerned, the Novgorod people are more capable than the traditional Russian people. Even if they use limited iron axes and a large number of stone axes, they can still cut down big trees. Then carry out fine processing.
The young warriors of Ross learned a number of unique construction methods, and compared with those in the East, they had a huge advantage in tools.
Novgorod residents do not need iron nails at all. They just cut tree trunks of similar thickness into similar lengths, and then carve out both ends of the thick wooden strips. Tenon.
Since they are building wooden houses, the Russians probably have no method that is more cost-effective than the Novgorodians. Because the model of this type of wooden house has completely changed the Russian people's image of wooden houses as "relatively leaky". The wood-carved ridges of the mortise and tenon structure make perfect use of the thermal insulation ability of thick wood, and some moss and linen are used to plug the final gaps. Even if it is minus 40 degrees outdoors, separated by a wooden wall, the indoorLife inside is still warm.
A large number of wooden piles that were cut into awl heads were driven into the ground by the Ross warriors who wielded huge and hard oak sledgehammers, digging into the deep permafrost zone.
Take a typical new wooden house as an example. It is built like this.
According to the process set by the Russians, which combines the construction techniques of Novgorod and their own tribe, construction begins with digging piles.
Sixteen short and thick wooden piles (there is no limit to the number, the more the house, the more stable the house) to form a matrix. The ends of the wooden piles are drilled with tenons, and then four parallel processed wooden poles are placed. .
Then, a large number of square wooden strips processed by scrapers began to be laid neatly to form a solid wooden floor.
In this way, a fairly flat building platform is completed! What happens next couldn't be easier.
Those prefabricated wooden strips with tenon joints began to pile up like stacks of wood, completing the tenon joints with each other, and the wooden wall was stacked higher and higher.
Finally, the traditional Russian herringbone frame was installed on the roof, a large number of wooden ribs were laid, wooden boards were laid based on the wooden ribs, and finally a layer of thatch was laid. A wooden house is almost complete.
Of course not all of the warriors selected by Rurik were young people. There were no less than ten older warriors among them. These people actually worked as carpenters and they had experienced the wildest youth. , now fighting and looting can be described as side jobs. With these guys, what Rurik needs is their skills. Because they all participated in the construction of the leader's new house, they had sufficient experience in building Novgorod-style woodcut ridges.
Those Gray Squirrel tribesmen who will enjoy the benefits of new housing have joined the construction team, as well as a large number of children under Rurik's command, who are also doing their best work.
At one time, as many as twenty-five wooden carvings had completed the construction of the foundation, and many had even completed the laying of the floor. Anyone with a discerning eye will understand that the next work is to stack the wooden strips with mortise and tenon. Maybe within three or four days, all the wooden houses being built now will be completed.
In the beginning, there were only twenty-five wooden blocks, which was certainly not enough!
Rurik hopes that this town under construction will become the largest iron smelting center controlled by the Rus tribe. No matter it’s already May here, there is still ice and snow everywhere. The heat from iron smelting will protect the people who live here, and the settlers will become prosperous because of iron and steel.