Chapter 487 Rurik stands in Murmansk and gazes at the Arctic Ocean

The daylight hours were already very short, and Rurik felt that only three or four hours had passed from the time the sun rose to the time it set.

The daylight hours are shortening sharply every day, and eventually polar night envelopes the world.

Do you really want to run to the Arctic Ocean in the polar night? Isn’t that crazy?

Having already reached Haikou and having made promises to his men and new allies, he found that he was already riding a tiger and could only go one way to the end.

Now the question is, what path should we choose? Is there a clear path in the vast snowfield?

A group of people were building a camp in the pine forest on the shore of the frozen lake (Lake Kemi). Some small pine trees were cut down unexpectedly, and the trunks were built into supports and covered with linen to serve as tents to shelter from the wind.

Everyone peeled off the deer skin, and the steaming leather quickly became hard.

The bloody venison was poked with pine branches, then grilled on the fire, sprinkled with a handful of salt and it was a meal.

The deer blood has not been processed well, so this venison is really bad. Rurik could only bite the bullet and eat it while holding a lump of oily barbecue. He comforted himself that at least compared to the hunters in more ancient times or the nomadic deer herders who ate raw meat, he was not a raw meat drinker.

He was thinking about the way forward, and everyone was thinking the same thing.

The sons of the two leaders of Balmok, they did not dare to back down since they had decided to see the "Northern Sea". Backing down meant being a coward and would definitely be despised by the Russians.

In a sense, precisely because both parties in the alliance are supervising each other and flaunting their bravery, there is no room left.

Hungry Biyongni gnawed on a deer shank and realized he would never be able to eat it again. He casually wiped his greasy hands with snow and shouted: "We go all the way north and follow this glacier, and we can reach the sea."

"This is impossible." Rurik He tilted his head slightly and said casually.

"Why? We are right on the lakeside, and the river obviously flows into this lake from the north."

"Because water can only come from high places. We will continue to move forward on the glacier, It will reach the source of the water, but it cannot reach the sea directly. We still need to find a real waterway to the north." Rurik's words should have been easy to understand, but Biyongni was confused for a while. Understanding, "It doesn't matter. When we reach the source of the river and can't find a new ice road, we will go north in the wilderness. We will definitely be able to see the sea. If it really exists... No! It must exist!"

"Of course the sea exists, but we have to find the glacier." Rurik raised his head, and the flames of the bonfire reflected in his pupils: "I can guarantee with my reputation that there is a glacier in our north. The harbor that never freezes, the pure one there. I want to find it and take it!" "Well. I hope there are bears there..." Biyong Ni slightly embarrassed. Laugh, "We are still interested in hunting bears."

"You can rest assured on that. We will definitely hunt a lot of seals."We must catch a lot of seals, if not a lot of white bears. I only have one worry. "

" Just tell me. ”

“We will enter pure night, which is a very long dark night. We must rely on starlight, moonlight and Aurora to continue moving forward. We will be forced to endure extreme cold and may experience severe snowstorms. Maybe a winter adventure isn’t a good time. "

"The long dark night? Biyongni looked at his brother Floki, and both of them laughed. "That's nothing, we Balmok are used to complete darkness in winter." Odin divided the year into twelve parts and designed one of them to be pure night to test us. We dare to march at night, and I hope you Russians can too. ”

“This is best. "Rurik nodded and felt a sense of security.

The next morning, the luxurious sunshine shone on the vast snowfield, but the veterans of the expedition were already moving forward on the ice.

The reindeer were fed some wheat, and they freely gnawed some grass roots. After gaining strong physical strength, they continued to move forward under the driving force of humans. These eight domesticated deer ignored their killed wild brethren, even on sleds. There were also a batch of pre-made meat skewers that were frozen as stone and stretched out on the branches, as well as a batch of deer skins that were stretched and frozen as hard as wooden boards.

They were completely indifferent. The Rus and Balmoks crowded together again and continued to move north in the increasingly cold climate.

The people on the sleigh were laughing and bragging to kill the boredom of the journey, and they were also observing. If a bear, wolf or other animal appears at this time, they will not hesitate to jump off the sled and start hunting.

In the current situation, people are no longer just hunting for leather. They all believe that their lives are facing a huge threat from the extreme cold. Hunger means the body is cold, and it also means freezing to death.

There must be a tribe of deer herders in this area. Once they are discovered, The expedition team will not hesitate to launch an attack. Now that Rurik is in an extreme environment, he understands one thing. In order to survive safely for himself and his brothers, he must let the exposed deer herder tribe die. Well. He really didn't want to be a big villain, so he could only hope that those guys wouldn't be exposed.

The day was disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye. It was another evening and the team encountered a problem.

"What now? "Biyongni doubted.

The velvet hat covered Rurik's frown: "A fork in the road. hateful! ”

“This is how we should go?” Left or right? You get an idea. ”

“Then go to the right. "

"Why? Oh, no questions asked..."

Rurik muttered with a calm face: "I remember that the harbor is in the northeast of Ellenburg. Now we must go east, so take the river on the right. ”

The team chose a path recognized by Rurik. Most of the people wereIt didn't matter. Biyongni didn't care at first either. He just thought about what Rurik just said. The more he thought about it, the more amazing he felt. It was as if Rurik himself had been to the "freezing harbor" he mentioned. If Odin really gave him the warning, then the team is now on the right path.

No one knows what the name of this new glacier is, or that no river has a natural name, and anyone can give a strange name to a river.

If you have paper and pen at this time, Rurik will write down a log record.

He is currently unable to do so, so he can only go on.

In fact, the glacier the team is traveling on is the Tennie River, which originates from the Murmansk region.

The team moved forward under the glow of the Northern Lights. Everyone marveled at the magnificence of the Aurora and thanked the Valkyrie in the sky for lighting the way for them. The sky is clear, and the world under the night is very bright, but the air is really too cold...

The bonfire dispels the cold and potential prey. Of course there are polar bears in this area, but these ferocious beasts are instinctively afraid of fire, and the sudden appearance of light on the earth also makes them instinctively avoid it.

They encountered another fork in the road in what is now known as the Savukosky Swamp. Apparently the wider river made everyone feel that walking along it was the right way.

The team passed a big turn and continued northward. After traveling for two days on an almost purely north-south river, an even worse situation appeared in front of Rurik.

There may only be two hours of daylight left, and Rurik knows that he is about to enter the more extreme polar night zone.

At this critical moment, three frozen rivers appeared in front of us!

Biyongni asked again: "Choose a new road! The river in the middle is too narrow, it must be wrong. The left and right are both wide. Which one should we choose? Or the right?"

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Rurik was a little undecided, and he didn't want to show his hesitation. Since Biyongni said this, he should put his worries aside.

"You're right! Just go to the right."

On the right is the river heading east, but the situation increasingly makes Rurik feel that something is wrong.

The team camped under the cover of night again. They skillfully used bows and drills to drill wood to make fire. After the campfire dispelled people's fear of the extremely cold night and darkness, they began to cook wheat and roast pre-made meat skewers. However, due to the actual situation, Rurik issued an order to leave more wheat for the reindeer pulling the cart. After all, once the reindeer cannot eat these high-energy foods, they will never be able to pull the entire team of people and goods.

People woke up at night and the team began to move forward again. The woods in this area unexpectedly became sparse, and Rurik guessed that everyone had entered the tundra area.

This is both a bad and a positive sign, because only a few of the toughest trees can live near the Arctic Ocean, a vast area that can tolerate extreme moss growth.

DaysIt slowly brightens up, and people who continue to go north along the river clearly feel that the river is rapidly narrowing. They didn't have time to be afraid. They saw the sun lazily breaking through the horizon, and everyone saw the snow-capped mountains in the north!

Byongni on the sled stood up directly: "I didn't know there were mountains here! Rurik, could it be that we have been going the wrong way? If we climb this mountain, maybe we will Go home."

"Brother, you are stupid." Floki complained; "The direction pointed by the stars is correct. Look at the sun. Will it rise from another place? ?"

Biyongni felt embarrassed. He hurriedly sat down and asked Rurik: "The river is about to disappear. How can we go without the glacier? The front is not the sea, but the mountains."

Things became very difficult, and Rurik panicked for a moment.

With the attitude of coming here, he simply made up his mind: "Let's keep rushing! When we rush to the hill, we will climb over the mountain. From a high place, we will definitely be able to see the vast sea in the north." ”

It’s a pity that the rhetorical Rurik underestimated the complexity of the geographical structure. What appeared in front of the team was essentially the remnants of the Kola Peninsula Mountains. In summer, there are large areas of Arctic wetlands on both sides of the mountains, which are partially injected into The fresh water of the Gulf of Bothnia has its source here. The place where Rurik is located is the largest water source of the Airon River (Kemi River), but now it is determined how significant this is.

The so-called adventure is to risk your life to explore the unknown world.

Rurik estimated that a tribe of deer herders would pass by here grazing in winter. He did not find any conclusive traces. He could only hope that the team would rush up to the bare hills and stand there. From a high place, you can see the sea just around the corner.

But even standing on the top of the mountain, he never expected to see the sea.

The Arctic Ocean is indeed in the north, and the nearest coastline is nearly 200 kilometers away from this hill. No matter how powerful the viewer's vision is, no matter how clear the air is, no one can ignore the curvature of the earth and see the ocean blocked by the horizon.

People are exploring cautiously. As the saying goes, there must be a road before the car reaches the mountain. When everyone is ready to jump off the sled to climb the mountain and look into the distance, a very obvious glacier appears in front!

It is not an ordinary glacier, but a glacier with a very wide channel!

The river is nearly a hundred meters wide, with clusters of cedar forests on both sides, and more areas are tundra.

The team still found no traces of deer herders’ activities. Perhaps this place has been a no-man’s land since ancient times. Rurik suddenly wanted to do an experiment by cutting ice and inserting small pieces of wood. Everyone watched the experiment and confirmed that the river was flowing to the east. But what does this mean?

"This river is definitely running towards the sea! I swear!" Rurik seemed to be very calm when he spoke, but people were excited.

"So, if we walk along this new glacier, we will definitely be able to see the harbor and the sea you mentioned?" Biyongni shook Rurik in excitement and kept asking.

"It can only be thisIn this way, I hope we can see the sea when it is completely dark. Biyongni! "Rurik said extremely seriously: "It seems that we all have to be mentally prepared. We have to wait for the pure night to end at the beach..."

"It doesn't matter! The priest said that there is a sea at the end of the world in the north, but no one has ever seen it. I can stand on the shore of the End Sea, maybe meet the Valkyrie, and talk to the heroic spirits of my ancestors..."

Byongni said a lot of beautiful fantasies, and Rurik knew these thoughts. It’s too unrealistic.

Time has actually begun to enter December of the Julian calendar, and the Gregorian calendar is five or six days ahead of the current old Julian calendar.

The daytime has become dispensable. In fact, in just seven days, the pure polar night will come, and what awaits everyone will be thirty-eight days of pure night.

The expedition team of Ross and Balmok moved forward in the dark for most of the day. The people on the sled felt a lot of discomfort, and the reindeer pulling the sled seemed not to matter at all.

Since the discovery. One day after the new glacier, a new lake appeared!

This lake is extremely winding. It is Lake Turomsk, which is 80 kilometers long from north to south.

At the beginning, the expedition team was just for hunting bears, but now it seems that all humans in the world have disappeared, and only a small group of them are still struggling. They seem to be traveling in the small world created by Odin. , relying entirely on the strong belief of "seeing the world's end sea in the north" and the fact that they are warriors who dare not back down and bear the reputation of being cowards, they drove the reindeer northward along the lakeside.

There seems to be some divine help. Just in the northernmost part of the lake, a river running to the north reappears.

The team decisively continued to move north along the river, and the river continued to change miraculously.

They only marched for one day, and the huge difficulties forced everyone to go to the snow-covered river bank.

We didn’t know whether to be excited or scared, because they were supposed to be there. The ice on the river is so thick that people are worried about falling in, and the river has become very wide. If we continue to move forward in the old way, sooner or later everyone will fall into the river and freeze to death.

The sun only appeared on the horizon before disappearing. With the extravagant sunshine, the snow was gone. The people who were trekking finally saw the magical scene

Because there was no road ahead.There is nothing in the north, no pine trees, no tundra, just lots of salty water!

"This! It must be the sea at the end of the world." Standing in the short sunshine, Biyongni was not very excited. He leaned on a wooden stick and calmly looked at the vast ocean in the north, listening to the sound of the sea. The waves beat against the frozen earth, everything was so peaceful.

"We are finally here. This is what I call the ice-free bay and the ice-free sea. The sea at the end of the world is here. But this is not the end of the world." Rurik squeezed as he spoke A smile appeared.

Listening carefully, Biyongni felt a little disappointed: "I thought there was a cliff. The cliff is the realm beyond the World Tree, the world after ordinary people die. Could it be that the priest was wrong?"

“See it with your eyes!” Rurik said: “This is the Arctic Ocean. It is blessed by a warm sea and will never freeze. If we Russians build an ocean here, If you place some ships at the port, you can take the ship westward along the coastline and reach your hometown in as soon as seven days."

"This..." Originally, Biyongni didn't care much about this matter. , standing in front of this legendary sea, he realized that behind Rurik's words, he was actually saying that this sea was connected with the sea in his hometown.

Floki listened carefully to Rurik's words, and his world view was rewritten. Unlike his brother's doubts, he completely believed Rurik's words, and then interjected and asked: "So, what about this sea?" What's at the end? "

"A new world!"

"A new world?"

"First a huge sheet of ice, then land. Keep moving forward, and we will..." Rurik looked at Floki's expectant eyes, and without elaborating, he made a pretense: "They are all revelations from God. It was Odin who told me about the existence of this place and also revealed it. Crossing this sea is an unknown new world of happiness. Floki, if the preview you are carrying is true, you should find a way to cross this sea to find that new world."

"I. Yes! I will succeed!"

Floki was already jumping up and down, facing the Arctic Ocean and shouting: "Odin! I will definitely take my people to the new world in my life. Life!"

Rurik shrugged, he still didn't know that he had inspired a Norwegian madman with unprecedented power. Floki the raven, the one who colonized Iceland, if this is fate.

Biyongni was extremely realistic at this moment. He knew that the sun was about to disappear for a long time, and everyone could only stay here before the sun returned. The situation shouldn't be bad. The rivers and seas here don't freeze, so fishing is at least no problem.

He suddenly asked about Rurik: "We are building a camp. You are the hero who led us here. Give the camp a name and give the river a name."

" OK. The river is the Moorman River, and our camp is Fort Moorman.”

What does Moorman mean? Biyongni and everyone else don't understand it at all, but this name is simpleShan, this was the name given by Rurik himself, and everyone accepted it immediately without any objection.

The team finally stopped on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. A camp called Fort Moorman that will withstand the long polar night is about to rise. In the future, this will also become the true northernmost place of the Russians. The stronghold, even if it is very far away from Ironburg, but what does this mean to the Russians who are a branch of the Vikings? Besides, this place is really close to Narvik Fjord by sea!

So, after Rurik’s personal exploration and discovery and personal supervision, the construction of Murman Castle (Murmansk) began in the last month of 831 AD.

But Rurik, he basically cannot return to his hometown of Roseburg to participate in this year’s winter festival. Even for the entire Ross tribe, people will suddenly find Lord Rurik disappearing into the ice field!

Are the tribesmen worried about anything? Rurik couldn't care less.

The people who rushed to the coast for inspection immediately saw the orange phantom in the sunset, and people began to get restless and laugh wildly.

Because, those are polar bears that hunt seals resting on the shore, and there are quite a lot of them!