Otto thought about many things about his son.
But Niya was particularly supportive of her son's actions. Every mother hopes that her beloved son will become an excellent person in all aspects. This is a mother's instinct.
A cold and ordinary winter morning started today. Rurik was forced to suspend training on the hillside due to a new round of snowfall.
A pause is a pause, and it will continue after spring. Many children, like Kanuf, this child is not idle.
Rurik already knew that Kanuf would follow his father, riding skis and pulling a sled to hunt farther north. There is no need to worry about the hunted beasts rotting away. The hunted reindeer will be brought back to the tribe in an attitude as frozen as stone. Moreover, such prey is purely owned by the hunter and will not participate in the distribution of wealth within the tribe at all.
Times have changed. A long time ago, much of the tribe's wealth was still distributed fairly. For example, fifty years ago, when Priest Vilia was still young, there were only more than 2,000 residents of Fort Ross. It took half a century for the population to reach its current number due to population reproduction and the immigration of a large number of small families from southern allies.
They are not very reliable with the in-migration population. If anything big happens to the Ross tribe, they will return to the south.
In the past, the residents were all closely related by blood, and they were very willing to help each other.
However, the majority of the tribesmen have very little understanding of their own history, and they do not have clear surnames. Residents generally marry early, and it is even difficult for the population to live up to fifty years old.
The sum of these factors has made Roseburg reach its fifth generation in the fifty years since its establishment!
Many residents are well aware that they share a common ancestry with their friends, and even when asked for specific information, they are unclear. The era of using family ties as a bond to unite the entire tribe is gradually passing. Nowadays, the tribe needs a powerful and prestigious person to serve as the leader. At the same time, the self-awareness of each family is becoming stronger.
In recent years, the spoils distribution principle of the Sorgon route has also undergone tremendous changes!
Once upon a time, the chief took people to collect the tributes of Novgorod's servants, brought them back to Rosberg and distributed them equally among all the families.
Nowadays, only families that send people to participate can get most of the tributes, while those who don't participate can only get a small amount of treasures, which gradually become insignificant benefits. Everyone knows that if this continues, the Sorgon Route will no longer be a "public event" that benefits the entire tribe.
Times are constantly changing, and they are unruly and do not have many complaints about this.
The winter overland hunting operation will begin, and Kanuf and his father will join the hunting army. They often travel together and are surrounded and annihilated by deer and wolves.
Their hunting is like fighting, and they will try their best to hunt any wild animal they encounter.
If you can hunt ferrets, you can make a lot of money if you bring a fur to the market of the Southern Allies!
However, men still look after each other and hunt in groups to obtain more meat. After all, they prefer venison to fishy fish.
The same goes for Otto, who as leader will also be involved.
According to tradition, he could take his son Rurik there, but now that his son intended to study with Vilia, he had to give up his wish.
On this day, Otto was preparing the food he needed for hunting at home, so there was no need to worry too much about this matter.
Because of the tribute voyage and the leader's great achievements, the leader's family will naturally receive the most wealth.
Otto prepared for himself some completely dry rye bread, some pickled venison, dried salted fish, and even a small jar of honey.
The dry food can be prepared by his wife Haosheng. No, Niya is already using an iron knife to cut the hard dried meat into small pieces that are easy to chew.
Otto has more important things. There is a saying that to make iron, you need to be strong. A good hunter must have powerful enough weapons!
There are a lot of red rocks in the hilly mountains west of Fort Ross. The blacksmiths of the tribe know that it is hematite, and after a complicated smelting process, iron tools can be made.
Due to the very poor iron smelting technology of the Ross tribe in this era, based on their experience, they had to roast the pig iron for a longer period of time before forging it. The blacksmiths did not have the advanced technology to raise the furnace temperature, so all the iron tools they made were brittle and soft.
They have no concept of the scientific principles involved, only the experiences left over from their ancestors.
The warriors of the tribe therefore used single-edged axes on a large scale. They also used double-edged swords, which were short, broad-bladed iron swords.
Due to the current forging technology, and even the Danes' forging technology, they can only produce such weapons, which are actually completely sufficient in this era.
After all, Europe at this time was in a worse era. The Vikings did not realize that their weapons were too backward. They were amazed that the few sharp swords they bought from distant Rome could cut iron as well as mud. The Ross tribe also lamented that the Novgorodians The Rhodes people once dared to challenge the Ross warriors wearing chain mail and holding battle axes with only a pile of wooden clubs and stone spears as weapons.
Otto's sword "Destroyer" is as good as clay. He still doesn't know that this sword, which his ancestors spent huge sums of money to buy from Roman merchants who stayed in Novgorod, actually comes from Farther east. "The Destroyer" is a patterned steel sword that can cut iron like clay!
Otto will only use his own sword in battles with enemies. In activities such as hunting, there are more opportunities to use throwable short spears.
He was making some short throwing spears, and the most important thing was to polish the sharp edges of the spear heads. Because of the backwardness of technology, there was no grinder here, so Otto had to spend a long time grinding with mined whetstones.
His wife Niya, perhaps tired of polishing her voice, suddenly muttered: "You really shouldn't have taken Rurik, he's just too young. Your decision was very smart."
"Why are you bringing this up? Rurik is not participating in hunting. Today he went to study with Vilia for the first time. This is what you want." Otto muttered with his head raised, and there was no whetstone in his hand. stop.
"Actually...actually I..." Niya thought of many things, and the iron knife cutting bacon in her hand paused.
Niya raised her forehead, which was wrinkled from hard work, and looked at her husband: "Otto, actually, I don't want my son to be so keen on fighting."
"He had no choice. He was a boy and he was going to be a man. He had to fight."
"but……"
"I know what you are thinking!" Otto calmed down and thought of many sad past events. "Neus, and Togra, their death was an accident. You and I are very sorry."
The couple mentioned Rurik's two dead brothers. It was a great misfortune to lose a child in old age, until Niya successfully gave birth to a healthy child at an extremely old age.
In fact, just from the fact that Niya successfully gave birth at the age of 40, it is an out-and-out miracle on earth.
When Rurik was born, he neither cried nor fussed when he was born, which fully demonstrated his strong and resolute character.
At least that's how priest Vilia explained it. This most prestigious priest had never encountered such a thing in his seventy years of life, so naturally he had to give some supernatural explanation.
Niya couldn't control that much. No matter whether Rurik was "Odin's blessing" or not, first of all, he was his only biological flesh and blood. Niya, who had lost two sons in succession and was almost fifty years old, could not withstand a new blow.
She hopes that her son will not be exposed to anything dangerous, although she knows how selfish her thoughts are, and they are against the values of a warrior, and they are also disgusting to her husband.
She still explained her idea to her husband, but naturally received Otto's opposition.
"You don't have to worry about anything. Let Rurik stay at home in peace, or stay in the priest's longhouse for the rest of his life? It seems that he is safe, but what is the difference between that and a coward. Niya! You have to understand! When our son could talk, he told us himself that he was the man to be the leader. Everything was his destiny! If we dared to stand in the way, we would be immediately sick and die."
Otto's words were threatening, and Niya suddenly asked: "But you still allowed him to go to Viglia. Why? Why do you support this?"
"Alas! That is his own choice. We cannot interfere with him too much. My attitude will never change. I don't want Rurik to get too close to those priests."
"Are you afraid of being infected by them and forgetting to fight?" Niya asked.
"I did think so, and there are other factors." Otto calmed down and looked at his wife, "No one knows Vilia better than me. She is not an ordinary woman! Now I am really glad that Vilia Ya has great prestige in the tribe, and everyone trusts everything she says at the altar, and she still supports me as always. But Vilia is too old! Her life will end soon, after all, she is one person."
Niya could hear the meaning behind her husband's words, but she really didn't understand.
"what does it mean?"
"I'm a little worried about that Bona." Otto said solemnly: "A good leader cannot be influenced by those priests. I heard that those Franks, their priests are more powerful than the leader! Who is the leader? What? Maybe the priest is!"
Of course what Otto is talking about here is not the real situation. In fact, the Frankish monarchs and nobles have extremely high respect for the Holy See, and the power of the Pope is indeed growing. When the news reached Northern Europe, it became what Otto said in a way that the Vikings could generally understand.
"That Pona is not an ambitious person." Niya argued.
"I hope so. When Vilya dies, Bona will take over. Will she be ambitious by then? Niya, you and I are getting old, and maybe we won't be able to see our Rurik The day of the wedding. We can’t completely believe what Vilia said. I even think that Vilia deliberately said that Rurik was blessed by Odin. How can mortals know whether Odin really exerted his blessing?"
"No! He is blessed." Niya said firmly.
"Well, I hope so." Otto continued to pick up the whetstone, "I still don't want Rurik to get too close to those priests. If Rurik is infected by their words, will it slowly He only listens to the opinions of the priests. In this way, even if Rurik becomes the new leader, can his ambition still be realized? Because in that case, he will have to listen to those priests."
When Niya understood the crux of the problem, she couldn't help but feel nervous: "If this is the case, maybe we should really call him back."
"No need." Otto shook his head: "Just these few years, only these few years. After this period, he can no longer go to Viglia to study."
"So you only let him study for a few years, like until he is twelve years old?!"
Twelve years old. In the traditional concept of the Ross tribe and even the southern Siiya people's allies, when a boy reaches the age of twelve, he should fulfill many of the obligations that a man should have. In a sense, the boy can be considered to have grown up. In fact, of course this is not the case. .
Otto explained: "Everything depends on Vilia's lifespan. At the wedding ceremony a few days ago, I saw that she is too old. In a year or two, she may no longer be able to wear the antlered helmet. Maybe Rurik would have died before he was twelve years old. By that time, I don’t think Rurik could still learn anything from Bona.”
At this point, Otto breathed again: "I tell you, my dear Niya. Vilia is great. I can prove this. I have learned some knowledge from her, so I know how to do it very well." Governing our tribe well. I have always believed that if Vilia was a man, she would be a leader for a long time. There is no need to mourn for her identity, she is our wise man and is highly respected by everyone.
But that Bona! She was not a wise man and knew nothing except that the festival priests recited some incantations. "
Niya nodded: "I basically understand. You hope that Rurik will learn more knowledge from Vilia, and you also hope that Vilia will not live too long."
"Yes. Rurik must be trained to be a brave and good fighter. He must become strong and have the ability to defeat many people. The talent he has already shown must be further strengthened. When he grows up, I I will choose a warrior I trust to train him. I love him, and I must push him to the position of leader through this method."
