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The Russians did not care about Gould's business in the south, or even a military counterattack launched by the Danes.
It is as if these major geopolitical events in the south have nothing to do with the Russians.
Although a series of changes were brought about by the Russians.
Just like the curse of the Gotland businessman who was about to be killed: "You started the war!"
The war has never been suspended, but battle-level operations have not occurred for a long time. The Russians attacked the Gotlanders, but the Danes were too embarrassed to do so. The Danes were also unable to attack the Rus', whose exact location they did not even know, and the Danish army was unable to prepare to attack Malaren in a short period of time.
The Danish army attacked a relatively weak tribe under the Northern Alliance. It seemed that it was just a destroyed tribe, but in fact it brought about a large-scale retreat of the southern border line maintained by the Northern Siiya Tribal Alliance for decades.
The destruction of Ostara brought about the control of Jotalan by the people of the Alliance.
At this point, the people who left Gotland and immigrated to the Götaland area could finally call themselves "Gustav", which is the concept of "the mainstay of Götaland", which was to announce to their allies the Danes that Götaland It is Götalland belonging to the Gotlanders.
This trend of thought quickly revived in the minds of Gotland immigrants after the Northern Alliance lost their southern stronghold.
After all, they don't want to be loyal dogs to the Danish army, and the alliance with the Danes is just a temporary measure.
We don't even really want to keep away from those guys in the Svealand Plains. If we can get greater benefits from them, it's not impossible to turn our backs on Denmark.
The political ecology of the Vikings can be described as "there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests."
The Gotlanders have complicated internal factions, and the major families have hidden agendas. After all, everyone has a simple concept - one's own business should not be disturbed by powerful forces, or in other words, one should become a powerful force to defend one's own interests.
But the Gotlanders were wrong.
The Russians will never forget their blood feud. Perhaps they are inherently more upright than other tribes.
To make matters worse, the Gotlanders also made more enemies before they could predict how their enemies would retaliate.
The south is very lively this year, and the strategic layout of the Ross people here is also wonderful.
The current leader of the Russians, Otto, has made a series of far-sighted decisions. The Russians are no longer a mysterious existence huddled in a fjord.
The population of the tribe also began to skyrocket due to these determinations.
In July, the first woman from Novgorod gave birth to a mixed-race child, a boy, a future warrior.
What makes Otto even more excited is his niece-in-law.
Peravina's belly was already very big, and the women in the tribe were speculating on the date of her birth, and concluded that the day she would give birth would be in August.
People have a legend that the bigger a woman's belly is, the more likely it is that she is pregnant with a boy.
Otto even asked the high priest Vilia, who was obviously mentally weak, and got the answer that he would get a grandson. Yes, the son born to the deceased brother's daughter-in-law is equivalent to Otto's grandson.
Life is full of hope, but also full of challenges.
Year after year, when the weather is still the warmest in summer, the Russians have begun to prepare winter supplies in advance.
The first thing they did was to push a large number of pottery urns to the seaside. They set up a large number of firewood piles and began the traditional and inefficient method of boiling salt with seawater.
A pottery urn that is half a person's height is often filled with about forty liters of sea water, and is heated by burning firewood and charcoal.
Boiling salt is also a craft. There are some experts in the tribe who have learned to control the temperature of boiling salt so that the first crystals to precipitate are good salt with the least bitter taste.
More tribesmen boil salt to marinate fish or other meat. Bitter taste? It doesn't matter! This bitter taste pales in comparison to the smell of fish or even shark meat. It’s good to eat it with salt, why bother so much?
Due to the miserable salt content of the seawater in the Gulf of Bothnia, the seawater in a pottery jar was boiled dry in the crudest way, and only half a pound of coarse salt could be scraped out of the jar. As for those who only seek good salt with low bitterness, because they pour away the excess brine, the salt they cook with difficulty is only one-third of a pound of salt.
Due to the obvious difference in the cost of input of materials, time, and even human energy, the salt with the least bitter taste also has the highest price.
To pickle a large amount of food and survive until next spring, every household needs a lot of salt. Of course, ordinary families choose to boil the seawater directly and make do with low-quality salt. Of course, if you eat coarse salt containing magnesium chloride and other substances all year round, your lifespan will be greatly reduced.
Do the tribesmen have the right to worry about this? No. What they should be most careful about is not to lose their lives suddenly because of a fever. The vast majority of people are not qualified to provide for old age. Even the leader Otto estimates that his life limit is only sixty years old.
Fortunately, the Rus are like other tribes. All Viking tribes are adherents to this traditional salt-making craft, and families with status will always eat "finely processed" good salt.
Coupled with the seemingly inexhaustible forest resources throughout Scandinavia, the Russians could cut down trees to make charcoal without restraint and obtain a large amount of salt in a luxurious way.
All the costs add up to a lot, and the Russians can fully bear the pressure.
Salt is a good thing, but it is a pity that Novgorodians can only buy it from others at a high price unless they can reach the seaside. For Novgorod residents, this intention is almost equal to courting death.
In Novgorod, Otto actually completed the smart operation of pulling one faction to fight against the other.
White Tree Manor has completely become a loyal dog, so much so that the residents of the manor there feel that the guys in White Tree Manor are particularly willing to donate their women to the Ross people.
For such a loyal dog, it is very necessary to give bones full of meat residue!
The pressure of reality forced Otto to advance his planned autumn voyage to Sorgon.
Otto planned to give some rewards to the loyal dogs of White Tree Manor, and then he would also get a lot of food from them in a very reasonable manner. Otto convinced his men that a large amount of food would be delivered to the first immigrants living in New Roseburg this year.
Does everyone support the leader’s decision?
No!
This decision touches the cake of some people, even if this decision is for the future of the tribe. However, due to poor information, the vast majority of tribesmen do not have the authority to look at tribal development issues from the position of leader. We cannot say that they are stupid, but because of their own living conditions, they pay more attention to their own three-acre land.
At present, those potential opponents can only bury their grievances in their hearts, because now it is of course possible to openly oppose the leader, and in the end they will naturally end up being expelled. Are there any deportees? Of course there is.
No one knows the status of those deported. Perhaps they have long been treated as lone fat sheep and bitten to pieces.
In fact, the situation is not that bad. Many deportees went to Semerya Island and even lived together with the ancient Latvians. Even in the city of Riga, there were Viking immigrants who defected from their tribes and settled there. Objectively, they helped the development of local Latvian civilization.
The returned Otto is arranging the next stage of the tribe's development based on his own decisions. He even referred to his son's opinion, saying that since the financial power of the priests is completely controlled by the leader himself, the priests do not need so much money, why not use the money for the construction of a new stronghold?
Otto did indeed do this. He temporarily decided to take out 10,000 silver coins, especially in his own name, and declared that the money should be used to finance New Roseburg.
Ten thousand silver coins is just a bottom line for expenditure. As for how much it will cost in the end, Gould doesn't know.
A large number of merchants are like migrating reindeer herds, arriving every year around the end of August with large quantities of goods. The Russians have been in great need of these business partners since ancient times, especially the grain and linen that arrived. Everyone needs these necessary commodities to live.
That's what makes this year very special.
His son Rurik has already earned a lot of money, because the servants have devoted themselves to work. The soap industry abandoned by the priests has not only been restored in the hands of the servants, but has even exceeded its previous production capacity. Who would have thought that a group of Novgorod little girls brought back by him would already be able to help their masters make money quickly.
Otto took it for granted that merchants would buy soap unscrupulously, so what his son's servants made was not soap, but a steady stream of gold and silver coins!
In addition, the son also has many ways to make huge profits.
So far, including the profits of the tribe's blacksmiths, the son has received a share of the profits from the blacksmiths through the contract document in the name of "God's Witness".
It's not just as simple as Rurik making money here, the entire Russian people have also gained real benefits from the "steelmaking revolution". Since the Russians experienced life and combat equipment made of mild steel, they can no longer accept the past days.
When the soldiers got their new swords, the first thing they had to do was to cut off their old iron swords with the new steel swords, and then immediately sold the broken old swords to the blacksmith, and then they were processed into daggers, ax heads, etc. Mild steel appliances. Since there is no need to smelt the ore, the broken sword can be directly used for forging, plasticity and carburizing processing. The blacksmiths charge a processing fee that everyone thinks is fair. In the end, the entire Ross tribe gets benefits.
Professional lumberjacks, shipbuilders, and carpenters cannot tolerate their soft wrought iron axes and hammers.
Mild steel production tools were first used in the shipbuilding industry, which immediately brought very gratifying results.
For example, a Nordic planer blade forged from mild steel. The shipbuilder was surprised to find that the blade in his hand suddenly no longer had a curling blade. After handling countless logs, the planer was still as sharp as ever.
Because there is no need to sharpen the knife frequently, the wear of the knife is almost impossible to detect with the naked eye.
This summer, due to the large-scale innovation of tools, the already prosperous shipbuilding industry of the Russians has become even more prosperous.
Originally, the Russians also built ships according to the traditional Viking craft, that is, the wooden boards were stacked piece by piece along the ribs. This operation took special consideration of the performance of the cutting tools.
The steel ax can cut wood faster, and the steel planer and steel scraper can efficiently process very smooth boards.
The productivity of an ordinary fishing boat has been increased by nearly three times! The shipbuilders of the entire Ross tribe got magical tools. The first thing they thought about was to increase production. In order to sell ships better, they chose to lower the price.
The price of newly launched fishing boats has dropped a lot. A small fishing boat once cost thirty silver coins, but now it only costs twenty.
Wouldn't this have a larger chain reaction?
There are many families in the tribe who have not made a lot of wealth in the previous series of actions. Their lives are almost dependent on fishing at sea. Fishing boats are the basis of their lives, and they are also treasures that they must carefully maintain.
Thanks to the addition of Rurik as a big seller of catch, many fishermen have accumulated some money.
These fishermen saw the price of fishing boats falling. They used their belongings that they were reluctant to spend to buy new fishing boats that were cheap but of excellent quality, because even nails have now become steel nails. There are also many fishermen who no longer have to work as servants on other fishing boats, and they finally dare to buy their own boats.
The Russians have more and more fishing boats, and there will only be more of them in the foreseeable future!
More fishing boats went out to sea, and the Russians cruised throughout the Gulf of Bothnia. The fleet fishing for herring reached as far as the mouth of Lake Mälaren. They even sold fresh catches to extremely favorable prices. My own kin on Tombstone Island.
The two natural fjords on Tombstone Island were first regarded as safe havens by fishermen, and Tombstone Island itself has become a stopover where Ross fishermen can safely set foot. Before it became a true military base, its commercial value had begun to be exploited by Ross fishermen.
The number of fishing boats of the Ross people has indeed increased a lot. During the warm period, Rossburg is immersed in the clanging sound of the boats. On the winding roads, there are often more than ten people walking together carrying huge logs.
Just comparing it to the vast Gulf of Bothnia, the total population of Rus and its affiliates now only reaches 8,000 people. It is completely different from hunting on land. How can such a small number of people sweep the entire sea area for catches?
The reality is that at the twice-daily fish market in Roseburg, the prices of the main catches have dropped a lot.
The only thing that doesn't change is whale meat. Catching them requires luck and even more courage.
Usually tribal fishermen are not that enthusiastic about whaling. Everyone knows that spermaceti oil is a good raw material for lamp oil. After all, each household does not need much. Substitutes such as seal oil are not difficult to obtain.
Rurik needed a lot of oil to make soap. Before large-scale winter seal hunting could be carried out, spermaceti oil and other parts of whale oil were the best raw materials. Because of this demand, fishermen became willing to hunt whales.
When a large number of new fishing boats and new fishermen participate in ocean fishing, the price stability of the fish market is completely broken. Whale meat was immediately favored by fishermen due to its stable price, and the fishermen's enthusiasm for hunting whales increased. Rurik was happy to see this result. Because Rurik does not worry about the soap production efficiency of his servants and those little girls. What he is always worried about is the interruption of his supply chain and the shutdown of the soap workshop.
Rurik didn't care too much about the many decisions his father made. After all, those decisions were nothing more than running a new settlement. It seems that we need to increase our efforts to commend the loyalty of White Tree Manor? OK! Thinking of this, Rurik thought of his fiancée whom he had never met.
There were many gratifying things during this period, one of which made him extremely gratified, such as the reproduction of the reindeer herd.
There were only fifteen deer in the herd at the beginning, and those doe gave birth in May, so they arrived at Roseburg pregnant with their calves.
The fawns have grown so strong that they can run around, and the herd has reached more than twenty animals.
Rumia told Rurik that by September, all the existing female deer would be pregnant again, and by the following spring, the herd would naturally reach thirty. Although it was too far away to become a giant herd of three to four hundred deer, Rurik could foresee that this group of deer probably originally lived in Lapland or Murmansk, but now they are obviously alive in the area of Rossburg. very good.
A reindeer's entire body is a treasure, the most precious of which is its hide. If the deer herd became a real behemoth, the Russians would surely become wealthy just by processing and selling deer skins.
The base of the deer herd is too small. Rurik knows mathematics very well. The small base is temporary. In the days to come, what awaits him to control the deer herd should be exponential growth.
Is raising deer just for the money? It comes down to the greater good.
Rurik must not forget his agreement with Gould - to make spirits.
A Russian! Just drinking cloudy ale, does one still count as a Russian? Russians should drink strong alcohol, the kind that can be drunk at a moment's notice.
Finally, on the first day of August in the Julian calendar, on the eve of the completion of his new home, Rurik ran to Klavassen's blacksmith shop and proposed his new idea rather abruptly.
As long as some special utensils are used, the best quality craft ale can be brewed into the best wine again? ! Can it even be as transparent as pure water?
Klavasen had no concept of "distilling high spirits" at all, and he fully supported Rurik's decision.
But Rurik, his idea was not just to create a few bottles of Erguotou to show off his so-called "I can" skills to Gould. Because of alcohol, it can bring changes to human society. Satisfying alcohol addiction is nothing more than an unhealthy "need for pleasure", and Rurik sees the many benefits of alcohol.
He took action himself! I want to talk about "The Rise of Rurik" with more like-minded people, follow "Youdu Literature" on WeChat, chat about life, and find confidants~
