The visit of two children who watched him grow up was really the best autumn surprise for Otto.
Three long boats, which had gone through a long voyage, went up the slightly turbulent Neva River and entered the pier adjacent to Rabbit Island in New Roseburg. They were all firmly tied to the trestle with hemp ropes.
What is presented to Rurik now?
"Is this New Roseburg?!" he asked his father Otto loudly.
"My child, of course this is the new home we have worked hard on. What do you think?"
What can Rurik say? He put on a smile and said beautiful words: "What a wonderful place. Dad, in my opinion, this place should be called Sviottoburge (St. Otto Castle)."
This is really a beautiful thing to say. Otto pinched his son's neck affectionately: "You are praising me, I don't need your praise. Boy, it is your task to run Ross well."
Otto pinched hard. Only then did he let go, making Rurik's head a little confused.
Rurik's appearance was good, and the disappointment hidden in his heart was suppressed. The entire tribe spent a lot of manpower and material resources to build a new home. Today, when I found out, I didn't expect that everyone was actually building a large rural area here.
Isn’t she a big rural area? There are of course a large number of traditional longhouses along the river, but there are also a number of Slavic-style woodcarvings mixed in, and circular walls are also being built. Just outside the unfinished wooden wall, there are cultivated farmlands everywhere, because the immigrants have used piled up ridges to plan out large blocks of land, and it has obviously been harvested, making it essentially different from the wilderness.
This is probably what a typical European medieval pastoral scene looks like, right?
The first thing Rurik thought of was the appearance of the main family sitting in the first town in the Japanese RPG game, which is the so-called Novice Village. She looked very peaceful, and the immigrants who gathered around to greet the visitors had rosy and healthy faces. The men wore simple fur coats and fur hats, and the women generally wore large headscarves. They always had smiles on their faces. Apparently they are very satisfied with their current life and are not afraid of the coming winter.
It would be great if life were really so peaceful and peaceful.
She is called New Rossburg. If everything is fate, this place will naturally become the northern political center of the developed unified Ross country, and is even destined to surpass Novgorod and Pskov. She does not have the elegance and depth that she will have in the future, and she cannot be called the pearl of the ice and snow world.
She is really just a large rural village on the Neva River where defensive walls are being built. Perhaps the settlers were aware of potential hostile forces in the area and built defenses early? In his hometown of Fort Ross, the eldest priest Viliadu confirmed that there had never been a wall in the more than sixty years since Fort Ross was established.
Led by his father, Rurik and the others visited the interior of the settlement as visitors.
“It’s really a bit messy., fortunately they are not stupid enough to throw feces into the street. "
"Huh? Why are there still chickens running around? These chickens are so lean that they definitely don't have much meat in them. But eggs..."
"They didn't build roads at all, but they just trampled the land in the village hard with their feet? If there was a heavy rain, wouldn't there be mud everywhere? "
"Alas! Why are there still people grabbing rabbits by their ears? well? Are there still domestic rabbits in this place (domestic rabbits are burrow rabbits)? ”
The residents of New Roseburg love cleanliness more than those in Western Europe. Of course, this is not because they really understand the importance of maintaining hygiene. It comes from the traditional warrior culture. The so-called dirty warriors will be destroyed by gods. Swearing.
Cleanliness is just their personal habit, and the entire settlement is full of chaos and complexity.
"If this place is destined to be the core of the Rus' future, it must be clean and tidy. , but also to reveal the weight and majesty of history from generation to generation. "
Rurik thought so.
He followed his father and had his first understanding of New Roseburg. Maybe in this era, we can't ask for too much, the village She is moving towards the city and has a bright future.
For Otto, the visit of his son and nephew was a miracle. He was in an extremely good mood and felt very happy about the visit of his son and others. Strange.
There is no need to continue to wonder, Otto wants to reward the tribesmen who have come from afar, especially his two young and promising children.
As night falls, New Roseburg gradually fell into silence. It was normal to rest after sunset. Even the chickens raised by the residents without any restraints returned to their shacks to rest and even lay eggs. The residents were also looking forward to it. You can find the nearest eggs in your own chicken coop early in the morning.
Only the longhouse where the leader is is bustling!
Rurik is sitting on a soft leather cushion. Now he is not used to the tribe's most traditional Viking-style longhouse. If he sits cross-legged, it is more comfortable to sit on the wooden floor.
The advantage of the longhouse is that it is relatively spacious inside and has a gabled roof. Some hemp ropes fell from the beams, and chandeliers made of wooden mortises and tenons were tied to the ropes. In a large number of small bronze trays, wicks made of linen heads lit up with tiny flames. When hundreds of flames gathered together, the entire The house is also brightly lit.
It would be nice to have some light, and Rurik doesn’t expect much.
Looking at the wooden tray placed on his simple wooden table, there is a lot of moisture on it. There was a very hideous roasted rabbit that was oozing with oil. For a moment, he even hesitated to cut it.
It was the rough bread slices on another plate that made him feel friendly. Judging from the existence of this piece of toast, Rurik estimated that it was made by the Slavic chefs who settled here.
Perhaps for any ethnic group, chatting while eating, even the nobles. Talking about government affairs is a normal thing.
Rurik knew about this late night.The meal was not simple. The father and son who had not seen each other all summer suddenly met. He estimated that his father would have a thousand words to say, including but not limited to greetings to his son, greetings to his old family, and the past few months in the mother city of Roseburg. thing.
Here, Rurik saw a familiar yet unfamiliar person. He knew that this man's name was Conuson, who was the leader of the first group of immigrants and the leader of New Roseburg appointed by his father.
Everything depends on Rurik’s estimation.
No, Otto tore a few pieces of rabbit meat at will, opened his mouth wide and swallowed two chicken legs, and then began to greet his son incessantly.
"Dear, how is your mother? How are the people in your hometown? I know you took those Kewen people to the north. What is the situation of the Kewen people..."
"Oh, all of them are fine."
Rurik's words were a bit perfunctory, Otto narrowed his eyes, "Maybe, you encountered some problems? How did you get here suddenly? It’s still a sudden visit without my permission. It seems that you have experienced a lot along the way.”
Rurik was about to say something, but the anxious Arik threw away the half-eaten rabbit leg and raised his head. He never took off his leather armor and said proudly: "Chief, please forgive me. This is all my own initiative, and my brother is not responsible. The Dongfang Sorgon fleet has not returned, and everyone is worried."
"Is it you? Arik, I know you have been plundering Gotland fishermen. The messenger told me that your battle is going well."
"Yes! Follow me. Brothers, almost all of whom settled on Tombstone Island, had grabbed some money from the enemy. They heard that the brothers in New Roseburg had harvested wheat, and they wanted to buy some, but..."
Otto nodded. He personally liked gold and silver coins because they were once extremely scarce and extremely precious. Just because of wars and plunder, the Russians who took the initiative to leave the fjords had too many gold and silver coins in their hands. The copper coins that were once commonly used have become auxiliary coins, and silver coins have become the mainstream currency in transactions.
"What's wrong?" Otto asked urgently.
"We met the Baltic people."
"Huh?! You! You..." Otto and Cornuson, who was sitting aside, were shocked. "Have you been in contact with them? My child, you are not in peaceful contact. Hey, was there a fight?"
"Yes! Those are a group of idiots, leader, maybe we shouldn't think so highly of them. None of our brothers died, not even the mercenaries were lost. They abandoned the village and fled. I think the iron we brought will enrich the lives of the brothers here." /p>
Aric was telling Otto about the war that had just happened. Otto had to admire his nephew and the outstanding warriors who had grown up in maritime plunder.
Otto not only said: "I have not wanted to dock on that coast for a long time, I just hate the harassment of those villains. Aric, you did a good job, if...hehe, it would be better if you could capture some women. ”
“A woman? Why? "
Otto stroked his beard: "Don't you ever think that our New Roseburg is short of young women? "
"If you are short of women, get them from Novgorod. "Aric felt that this was the simplest method, and it was even more natural.
Otto shook his head: "If they are asked to pay tribute to too many women, many manors will be in trouble again. I cannot expect all manors to be as docile as White Tree Manor. You need to know that killing and destruction are methods of deterrence, except for dealing with the Gotlanders and Danes. Our goal is to get women, wheat, and other things..." When he said this, Otto's eyes were also Glancing at Rurik.
“Then let the White Tree people continue to contribute women. My wife is from there, as well as the blacksmith’s wife, and the wives of many brothers. "
After hearing this, Otto simply raised his chest and laughed, and then said after a while: "You don't know something. Now the young women in White Tree Manor have become our women, and they will not provide more information." Little girl, otherwise your brother would have been married long ago. ”
Rurik, who felt that he could not speak for a long time, suddenly realized that his father seemed to have hinted at the girl.
Yes, a girl named Svetlana , is said to be very beautiful? A typical beautiful hairy girl?
Aric understood the leader's hint. In short, the young man in Ross had used normal means. , getting a large number of women from Novgorod, it has become saturated, and continuing to ask for it to stimulate a civil uprising is something that no one wants.
Otto did not want to listen carefully to what his son and nephew had just experienced. In the course of the war, since our side won a great victory without any loss, there must be nothing special to pay attention to.
Indeed, it is really stupid to use the victory against the weak to praise one's martial virtue. /p>
Otto only gave concluding instructions: "Perhaps I overestimated them in the past years. Arik, you did a good job. Tombstone Island is very close to those Baltic people. In the future, you should...
"
Suddenly, Rurik stood up: "Dad , Brother, you are all wrong! "
"Huh? "Otto turned his head, and so did Arik. "How do you say this? ”
“Dad, do you think that those people on the south coast are Baltic people since before I was born? "
"Why not? "Otto was disgusted with his son's interruption at this moment, thinking that his son would always have something to say, so he listened patiently. "I have fought with them before, and the captives claimed to be Baltic people, oh, it seems to be some Lieta tribe. Or something. ”
Otto named a word. Rurik thought about it for a moment, and suddenly realized that his father was talking about Latvians?
At this moment Rurik stopped talking nonsense. Several nouns were directly mentioned: "Dad, the people on the south side of the huge bay, they are Estonians, they andThe Finns, the Corvins, and even the Tavastians who have never met have a common ancestor. "
Otto was confused, and so were the others.
Rurik, who stood up, was even more embarrassed. After thinking about it, he suddenly hit his head.
It is really sad that sometimes the truth is revealed, but others cannot understand it due to lack of knowledge.
Especially when I think about the future of New Roseburg, let Settle. It is also very important for people here to know the conditions of human settlement within a few hundred miles of her.
Since it is a bit inappropriate to directly explain the existence of Estonians, Rurik saw that the "City Lord" department was appointed. Nusson is here, and this person should be the first choice to attack.
"Uncle Knusson. ”
The destined leader in the future called himself this. Cornuson sat upright in a hurry. He thought that tonight was mainly about the leader and his family discussing matters, and he was just a spectator.
< p>"Sir, what can I do for you?Rurik sat down slowly and asked: "I took a look at New Roseburg. It's not bad, but I think you are too comfortable." What do you think of the environment around the settlement? ”
“Environment? Well... the Ladoga River (referring to the Neva River) is always frozen in winter, but the water flow is fast in summer. There are many animals in the nearby woods, especially rabbits and wild deer. We have obtained a lot of leather and are about to transport it back to the mother city? ”
“I didn’t ask you to say this. Don't you think there are other people in this area? ”
“Others? Novgorodians? They are...hey, a little far away from us. "
Rurik's little slap slapped him directly on the face. He looked at his father's indifferent expression and continued to ask: "What are you doing building wooden walls? "
Knusson immediately replied: "To prevent brown bears from suddenly running in and destroying the granary, and taking away the rabbits and chickens we raise, as well as the most precious cows. Oh, and shelter from the north wind. "
"Huh? Don't you know how to build a wall to protect yourself from enemies? ”
“Enemies? "Knusson was very surprised, "If they existed, they would have been discovered by my people long ago. But besides the forest, this area is still a forest. ”
Is he telling the truth? Rurik thinks it’s ridiculous. Even if the population of ancient Finns was very small, those people shouldn’t be living in a corner. They were all active hunters.< /p>
In fact, a remarkable fact is that the Finns (Suomi people) only established the southernmost natural village in a bay a hundred kilometers away from New Roseburg. It was so small that the residents' canoes were unable to fight against the water of the Baltic Sea. This settlement was Vyborg in later generations, and it was also a war-torn existence. But now, although there are a small number of human settlements, outsiders do not know where Vyborg is. The environment determines that Ross is destined to be only a small settlement in any era.The settlers were so busy building settlements that they did not even explore Lake Ladoga. The fishermen only reached Kotlin Island and fished for herring in the natural harbor area formed by the island and the estuary. Cornuson's task was infrastructure construction. He had no motive or purpose for sending people on remote expeditions. Moreover, the immigrants were generally determined to get their own land where they could grow oats and rye, so that they could stop reclaiming land and do it. Hunters, why do you need to immigrate for such a purpose?
Rurik directly criticized: "We are stocking up on food now because we know that winter is coming and those who are short of food will die. Don't think that the enemy does not exist if you have not discovered it. I tell you, There are other people in this area, and they are not Novgorodians!”
Rurik was not an ordinary person after all, and his advice was taken seriously by Otto and Konuson.
"They! Who are they? Who else besides the Estonians?" Otto asked urgently. I have no doubt about my son’s words. After all, “just because it’s not discovered doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist” is correct.