Chapter 626 Eve of Hanukkah

Deep in the fjord of Roseburg, the stream has frozen, and is still a trickle under the ice.

A pine forest is targeted, and a new town will rise here.

People carrying big axes and two-man saws began to work, clearing the vegetation very violently.

The ground was shaking, and the pine trees covered with snow and ice collapsed one after another. The fallen tree trunk was tied with cables and pulled to the ice immediately, and then pulled away by waiting reindeer and ponies.

Although they are small trees, they are suitable for making general building materials and ship accessories. The wood processed from these logs will first be used in the construction of "Ross Duma", but the most critical beam materials need to be taken from the giant spruce further north.

In the short day, nearly a thousand strong men wielded tools. On the first day alone, more than 500 pine trees were cut down. How dazzling was the bare tree stump in the sunset?

Rurik stayed at the construction site with a group of followers. He himself did not go into battle at all. Or rather, as a duke, what is the point of doing manual labor in person other than to show off and impress himself?

It was here that he supervised the work, not specifically of the logging builders, but of as many as eighty captured Mercian women.

He was also the captured old priest of Lindsay Abbey. This old guy was wrapped in furs and was holding a large cross tied with hemp rope on the snow. He was full of words of comfort to these women. .

Twenty large pottery pots and ten large iron pots were set up on the snow. The women moved their hands and poured a large amount of wheat and oats into the pots and pots, as well as a pile of chopped yellow carrots. , onions, seal meat and simple seal fat, they were ordered to cook a delicious meal with these ingredients.

Almost three women are responsible for one wok or pot. Their task is only to cook, and the reward is a delicious meal of the day.

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Refreshing The air was gradually filled with a strange fragrance, and the people who were busy cutting down trees and pulling wood were salivating with greed.

Words of encouragement become boring if spoken too much, but greasy meals are the most comforting thing.

Rurik was very willing to use materials, and in exchange, the brothers who worked hard for them were also enthusiastic.

The soft light of the setting sun turns the silvery world into orange!

Rurik saw a forest suddenly disappearing before his eyes. Looking at this group of strong men, especially the mercenaries who were ordered to cut down the trees, many of them simply took off their leather clothes and lit up in the snow. It's the golden retriever's arms that sweat.

Of course this is a very dangerous thing, and some people must not even know that their body temperature is so low.

Fortunately, the daytime hours are limited. Although they can still work at night, the working time given to them will not be very much, and probably a few people should not take risks to work.

The leather drum was beating after work, and they returned with tools and their ownhurriedly scooping out their delicious meal from the big wooden bowl.

People sat on the snow, holding a bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other, ferociously devouring the thick porridge mixed with grains, vegetables, fat and salt.

Their fatigue is actually written on their faces, and their workload is also amazing, which is reflected in their fierce eating.

Many people filled their stomachs with food, and they were very satisfied after eating.

At this moment, Rurik deliberately ordered the drum to be beaten again, and someone shouted loudly: "The Duke is sending money!"

Rurik, dressed in fur, sat upright in the sunset. Downstairs, there is a low table in front of you, with an open cloth bag placed on it.

As soon as they heard that they had money, those people hurriedly ate from the wooden bowls, licked the wheat grains, and ran over happily.

Just as Rurik promised, workers are paid daily. It is true that the Duke does not give free compensation because of his status as a laborer. Mercenaries, Ross natives, permanent immigrants from Malaren, etc. all receive one silver coin.

They took the money and ran away happily. Many people simply ran all the way east to their homes.

Working overtime? You can't work overtime. Isn't staying at the construction site so cold at night a suicide? If the Duke wants to stay, then he can stay. The brothers have to go back and rest.

"You... ran so fast..."

Rurik was unable to complain, so he let them leave unless he paid overtime.

With the current climate conditions, working overtime is also full of dangers.

Just as the sun was setting, a group of people pulling sleds, like an army of emperor penguins, appeared.

Those were the so-called female miners of Tavastia who were under supervision, and other free miners...

They parted ways soon after they walked out of the mountains, and the real female miners moved. Step by step, smelling the fragrance of wheat, they came to the wheat that was still being cooked. They wiped their hands and faces with snow, held their own wooden bowls to receive the Russian rewards, and then ate on the spot.

"These lambs... are so pitiful!" Old Pastor Lindsay watched helplessly. He felt that Duke Ross's move was a kindness, but he hoped that everyone here, regardless of gender, old or young, would be converted. That holy faith.

Like the departed Frankish regional bishop Eskil, these clergy regarded spreading the faith as their mission.

The old pastor wants to take action and hope to develop all these black-haired women into believers.

Of course, he also spared no effort to try to influence Rurik, but in the end he failed.

Their current status is that of slave labor in a practical sense.

Rurik and Jevlo, who was ordered to supervise the work, were eating by the campfire and naturally talked about these women.

"Are they working seriously?"

"Of course."

"I don't quite believe it." Rurik did have some doubts.

Yevluo patted his chest and said with a smile: "I have taken some measures. Sir, they allI was afraid of death, so I pulled Sloth out and took off his leather jacket in front of everyone..."

"Ah! "Rurik was shocked and couldn't believe that Yevlo would do this. "They are women who are going to be handed over to the Balmok people. You can't do this..."

"Are you worried that I will humiliate them? I didn't do that. But the cold will freeze people to death, so I used this to warn them that the price of laziness is freezing to death. ”

“Then they completely obeyed? ”

“Exactly. "

Jevro looked proud, and Rurik didn't question anything.

"Today is the first day of work, and killing the arrogant among them is not a bad thing. I care more about their results. "

Jevro thought for a while, "You should ask the accompanying blacksmith about this. In my opinion, they are women after all. They seemed to be so weak that they almost starved to death some time ago. Their achievements are very limited, and they are not worth the wheat they have now. "

Rurik shrugged: "It doesn't matter. They will become strong through labor, so that they can be transported to Balmok without death on the way. ”

Night has fallen, and the well-fed women are still sitting on the ground, and the high-carbon, high-fat and high-salt food continues to make them linger. They are all wrapped in leather clothes, and they don’t know what other plans they have for the evening. .

At this moment, only a group of Rurik's elite mercenaries are left on the construction site. They bring tools to chop firewood on the spot, or repair new wood piles in order to smash them into the ground tomorrow, and also eat them. The well-fed guy used a pickaxe, axe, and shovel to dig a hole in the earth to build the foundation for the wall... After a while, the mercenaries with weapons gathered, and the frightened Tavastian women who were on standby gathered one after another.

They almost instinctively felt that even if they were exhausted, they would have to please these tough men again before being let go.

Of course, something tragic would not happen. .

Rurik just talked with the blacksmith who was the supervisor. Due to the thermal expansion and contraction mining technique, the work of these women basically consisted of breaking the large ore into small pieces. Then carry it to the sled with bare hands, and finally pull out the heavy sled.

For a really strong man, this work is not very tiring, but for this group of women, it is a kind of torture.

The blacksmith's disdain was written on his face. However, he was of humble status and had no intention of questioning Rurik himself. The blacksmith was very pleased that Lord Rurik was not dissatisfied with the amount of ore excavated.

Is this a release order? They are still scared, all because Yevro really punished a few disobedient people in the mine, causing the entire group to fear that they would be deliberately frozen. Die.

Seeing that they did not go back, Rurik had to order the mercenaries to drive them away.

No, they pulled the sled and ran to Luo not far away.Fort.

Late at night, a large number of bonfires were lit at the construction site, and the light of the fire was clearly visible in the three-story "palace" of Rurik.

Rosberg was very rare and lively at night. First, the women unloaded large amounts of ore at the blacksmiths' mansions, and another group of free miners also came in droves with ore.

After unloading the ore, the female Tavastia miners hurried back to the warm warehouse to sleep. Only a group of Russians who had doubts about the price of ore were left arguing with the Russian blacksmiths, which caused some noise.

Rurik was on the third floor. The wooden window was opened a crack, and he happened to see the light of the fire in the distance.

Not only is the light from the construction site deep in the fjord, but there is also fire on the eastern ice surface. It is a senior fisherman who drills holes for night fishing, relying on the phototaxis of fish for winter fishing.

A soft sound of footsteps came, and Rurik pricked up his ears.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Mary..."

"It's time for you to sleep. According to the rules, I have to accompany Rumia tonight ."

"Yes. But there is something..."

Mary walked directly towards Rurik, half of her eyes illuminated by the cold moonlight. She grabbed Rurik's hand and put it to her belly.

"You? Got it?" Rurik was surprised.

"Yes, even if I am unclean, the child must be yours."

Rurik suppressed his inner surprise and asked: "Does everyone else know?"< /p>

"Only Rumia knows. I told her that this child will have the power of Mercia and will not interfere with other people's heirs. She...she blessed me."

" I bless you too. Are you sure this is a boy?"

"It must be a boy like you. I asked Lindsay's pastor and John Invall, and they all said. This is my destiny."

A boy? Rurik laughed out loud, he really wanted it.

"Have you thought of a name for the child?"

"Yes, it's called Regraf."

This name? It is clearly the benchmark against Wiglaf. Rurik still didn't know whether the dead Wiglaf was Mary's cheap father. Anyway, he was the failed king of Mercia. Mary gave birth to a successor named Reglaf. According to the inheritance system of the British kingdoms, if the prince died, the princess's heirs had the legitimate right to inherit.

Regraf’s original meaning is “the returning noble”, and his name contains his destiny.

"What a good name. You must give me a boy named Reglaf!" After that, Rurik patted Mary's cheek again, and her affectionate look aroused interest again. .

However, as the first Sea King of Ross, and even the Sea King in every sense, Rurik gave all his love to his first woman, Rumia, that night.

The first daughter Velika is already eating liquid food. As the destined successor to the high priest, there is no wayWith weak power, even though the weaning process was a bit cruel, Rumia was very worried as a mother, but she still made up her mind because her daughter inherited the will of the old priest Vilia, and her daughter's perseverance must be cultivated from an early age.

Although it was quite sudden, after this night, Rumia felt that her second child was not far away.

She enjoyed the process and subconsciously thought that it would be perfect if the new child was a boy. That would be a good boy fighting for his father.

In this era, population determines the power of a country. Ordinary people in the Principality of Rus don't think much about it. They simply believe that as long as they have more children, and the children will work or fight in the future, their wealth will increase and their lives will become more comfortable.

What’s more, the Duke gave everyone the full scoop!

People really don’t think much. What men and women see is that as long as the child reaches the age of six, he can be sent to the Duke for training and learning. Not only will he gain physical fitness and knowledge, but the most important thing is the child’s health. The Duke is in charge of the food, and everyone is envious of it!

The Duke already has eighteen named wives and concubines, and he has a child at the age of thirteen. The Duke has ensured the food of the children under his command for several years. The Duke has also raised all the heroes who died in the war. of orphans.

All signs indicate that the Duke encouraged the tribesmen to seize the opportunity to have children. Now that a large amount of wealth and materials are hoarded in Roseburg, people no longer worry about being unable to raise many children due to poverty.

Why worry? The Duke helped raise the children until they were six years old. Of course, this kind of national favor must be repaid, and how to repay it is naturally to follow the Duke's arrangements.

How will the children grow up? Of course, eating the Duke's food means pioneering and expedition for the Duke, and will always win. Ordinary Russians don't have any big ambitions. They just follow the decision of their hero king, so what they have to do now is seize the time to be happy with their wives.

Many young people in Russia are no longer wives, and strategies such as polygamy, which Frank regarded as barbaric and absurd, have become popular in Russia.

The old pastor Lindsay criticized this as a barbaric behavior of the Vikings.

So what? This is the most correct way for Russia to explode in population and accumulate strength. Because the fathers of the children born are all Russians, the children will naturally identify themselves after they are born, and tens of thousands of men and women whose hearts are devoted to Russia were born.

Rurik estimated that in Rossburg alone, there were more than 3,000 fertile women. Including young women living in other areas, theoretically, women in the Principality of Ross gave birth to five children a year. A population of a thousand is feasible.

Humans are not beasts. He made a conservative estimate that there will be three thousand babies a year, and there will only be more in the future. Coupled with the much better health conditions and greatly improved living standards than before, the child mortality rate has also plummeted.

What a huge mouth of the abyss this is. If it were the local steel industry in Roseburg,Without significant improvement, tens of thousands of children in the future will impoverish the principality.

There is no crisis yet, so it is indeed a far-sighted move to gather huge financial resources for construction.

So before Hanukkah, all the work was carried out smoothly, and there were no disasters during the period. If there were any, it would be that a logger was accidentally injured by a fallen tree trunk.

Hanukkah is not far away, and sunshine every day has become extremely rare.

A forest disappears, and a wall rises from the ground! Within the wall, a large number of solid wood-carved frames have been constructed.

In reality, they are slave laborers, free miners, and even some resident merchants and other idle craftsmen. They are not picky about the efficiency of obtaining money. These people are all mining and transporting it back to Fort Ross. The industrial zone created a mountain of minerals!

As for the ignorant guy who dug up a pile of granite, these stones were immediately bought by the Blacksmiths Union.

This group of senior blacksmiths are already taking advantage of the situation to build large-scale stone buildings.

The environment is bitingly cold, and the 10,000 men, women, and children living in Roseburg are extremely hot inside.

The days are extremely short, but commercial activities are quite lively. After earning money by selling his labor, Mr. Ross immediately started trading in exchange for daily necessities to improve his life. By night, the couple were busy creating a new life, and their life was full of hope.

So this Hanukkah, build a giant wooden tower on the frozen coast.

All Russians, allied peoples, Slavic wives and Finnish wives living in Rossburg should watch a fire show.

In the "sunless day", use the fire tower as the sun, and finally see the first ray of the New Year's sunshine in the east.

Hanukkah is tomorrow!

The busy people of all kinds stopped all work, and even the female miners of Tavastia took a holiday.

Without him, pure darkness is about to fall. When the stars reach the correct position, the already erected wooden tower will burst into flames...

The time is coming.