Otto temporarily handed over the management of public affairs to Rurik. He was training his only son so that he could inherit his career as soon as possible.
Because time is running out.
Over the past few years, the Ross tribe has been rapidly becoming better. Everything that is happening now is something Otto did not expect. The tribe is walking on an unimagined road.
This road is not just a conquest or trade route leading to the north and east.
It was a radical change for the tribe, and it was Rurik's dream, but it was something that Otto and the other old tribe guys couldn't even imagine.
Glassware that was once extremely rare is now not particularly cheap, but a considerable number of tribesmen already own it, and the tribe is still producing and selling it at a relatively fast rate.
Drinking ale seems to have become a thing of the past, and condensing a large barrel of ale into only a few glasses of strong burning liquor has become the new favorite of these old guys. Not only do they like it, but different young men are eager to try the magical feeling of drinking burning spirits, even if it is possible to burn off half of their beards like the leader due to improper operation.
There are also more objects that have never been owned. Whether they are daily necessities, tools or weapons, the biggest thing they have in common is that they will definitely make a lot of money when sold.
Otto is back, and he is very happy to get together with his guys, sipping "RUSVODKA" strong liquor, chewing dried meat and dried plums in the atmosphere of "two liang Laobaigan and three liang pig head meat". They are a large group of old guys who have experienced many battles. Rather than doing business and making money, they are more eager to vent their rage on their enemies.
This year must be like last year. The tribe needs to send troops to continue to take revenge on the enemy. What's more, this year, the Ross people have a perfect reason to go to war - to avenge the Ostara allies.
As the Spring Equinox Festival has passed, although the ice and snow have not yet melted, Otto and his men are already discussing the specific matters of revenge.
There are many technical details in this aspect, and it is definitely not something that can be accomplished by a commander leading hundreds of strong men, carrying various weapons, rowing rowing boats, landing on Gotland Island and killing everyone.
Everyone believes that the enemy is by no means a fool, and they must be more vigilant if they suffer a big loss.
Besides, the Gotlanders were hounds raised by the Danes. If they beat the Danes' dogs, who knows what kind of revenge the Danes would take?
It’s not that everyone is afraid of the enemy’s revenge. It would be bad if this revenge expanded and caused trouble in the commercial activities between the tribe and the Melalen people.
But thinking about retaliating against the enemy without causing any impact on one's own economic activities, is this easier said than done?
After many days of discussion, Otto and several respected old guys came up with some conservative ideas.
A young man like Arik, who had made great achievements in battle, only wanted to repeat his victory and then plunder a large amount of food, silver coins and gems. This idea undoubtedly caused Otto's dissatisfaction.
"The situation this year is very special. We have to continue to build Fort Ross and develop the newly conquered land. I can't give all the elites to you, and we don't have the ability to capture the entire Gotland Island." Otto said.
Yes, Arik's idea is very radical. He hopes that his uncle can also delegate some power and let him lead the young people from all over Russia to organize a huge fleet to fight the final battle with the Gotlanders.
"Is it because we have few people that we are timid? Is it because we are worried about the Danish counterattack that we remain on guard?"
Otto asked seriously: "Are you questioning whether I have become cowardly?"
"I..." Arik gritted his teeth: "Big leader, don't forget why your brother died. We... must take revenge! This is my life's mission!" In the pure wooden meeting hall, this It was Arik who was sitting down and stood up suddenly. He was very capable and blamed his uncle for being conservative because of his age.
But everyone knows that Chief Otto led his tribe and conquered slaves back directly across the ice sea. His bravery is unrivaled. Arik's accusation was obviously abrupt!
The elders asked Arik to apologize for his disrespect, but Arik refused.
He plausibly said: "We all have a common ancestor. As a fighting hero, I must continue to carry forward the glory of my ancestors. Now that I have grown up, I must avenge the Gotlanders. Now I also have to avenge Aosta." It’s about pulling people in for revenge. I think even if Rurik is standing here, he will support my plan.”
"Sit down!" Otto ordered with a silent face.
After all, Arik still respected his uncle, so he sat down and muttered about his rudeness, but he did not feel that there was anything wrong with his decision.
It is ridiculous that my nephew dares to accuse himself of not being brave enough.
But what alarmed Otto most was his nephew's obvious pursuit of power.
Times have changed! The Ross tribe may never have to compete for the position of leader and compete in an age-limited martial arts competition for the entire tribe.
I am already very old, and it is a gift from God that I can continue to live for ten years.
Today, there are only three most prestigious people in the tribe: Rurik, Arik and Haro Zuosen.
But Harold Johnson stated from the beginning that he had no intention of competing for the leadership position, and his son had no intention of doing so either.
Rurik is indeed the person with the highest prestige. Is this the case or does he have the full support of the young warriors? Otto felt that he did not.
Despite the decisive battle with the Corvin people on the glacier, the Ross warriors and servants defeated enemies several times their own and achieved an unprecedented victory in exchange for victory. Otto knew that the young warriors felt that they followed the big leader to fight and win, and the glory of victory belonged to Otto, not Rurik.
In the hearts of all men between the ages of fifteen and thirty, Arik, the young man who killed at least twenty elite Gotland and Danish warriors with a sword, is the most typical image of a leader in everyone's mind. Because since ancient times, the leader of Ross has been a macho man in the slashing world, and Otto himself rose to the top because of this.
Ultimately, no matter how well Rurik does things, his biggest shortcoming at this stage is his lack of combat success.
The problem is, no one expects an eight or nine-year-old child to be able to kill multiple armed men with a sword on the battlefield. That is too unrealistic.
Otto couldn't help but think that the feeling of being admired by everyone was wonderful and would definitely make people's hearts swell. Even though Arik loves his brother deeply, he can obviously conflict with Rurik over the tribe's development concept for the sake of the tribe's justice.
Ask yourself, Otto also supports Arik's theory of "absolute revenge". However, Arik is his eldest nephew after all. When it comes to feelings, Otto will always identify with his biological son. Just because that child could train the boys and girls of the tribe to make complex formations in an orderly manner with just a few very simple commands, he felt that only the path envisioned by Rurik had the most future.
Today's discussion had an unpleasant ending, and Otto's mood became a little heavy. He always felt that Arik, who was becoming increasingly full-fledged, would inevitably become a powerful force in the tribe.
Otto's face was slightly red, and only his nose was red, which was a sign of drinking strong alcohol.
He ate some dried meat before returning to his home. Without saying a few words to Niya, who was leading his adopted daughters to sew leather, he took off his leather clothes, put on a loose linen robe, lay down on the big bed with soft leather cushions and closed his eyes. His eyes were filled with thoughts of Arik's plans.
Is it reasonable to launch an all-out war now? Pooh!
The soft, flat and wide wooden bed, the warm wooden house with the fireplace, and this loose but slightly slim-fitting linen dress can be used to clean the whole body, accompanied by strong drinks every day. Otto has become accustomed to such a comfortable life, and he wants to enjoy it more.
In this life, let’s forget about leading the entire tribe of men and slaves to launch all-out revenge against the Gotlanders! The time simply isn't right.
"Arik, you are a reckless fool. You are not as wise as your brother."
"You can be a very good battle leader, but you can't bring real prosperity to the tribe."
"If you are the leader, our tribe will only gradually die out in the war."
At the meeting, Otto did not make a clear statement. The tribe lost more than a hundred elite soldiers in all military operations last year, which was obviously a serious blow to the tribe. People will die in war, everyone is aware of this, but as the leader, Otto must weigh his own gains and losses after the war. We should not only look at how much money, food and slaves were obtained, but also calculate the losses of the tribe's warriors.
Because the most reliable combat force that the tribe can currently mobilize is barely two thousand, of which the elite can be up to 800.
The Ross tribe, even if the various residents living in Rossburg could expand to 8,000 people at one time, the number of people who can actually guard this tribe is only 2,000.
Thinking of Rurik, Otto thought of more wonderful possibilities.
Obviously his son realized that the total number of combatants in the tribe was still too small, so he went to train those girls inconceivably. He couldn't imagine whether a grown-up girl could fight as a true female warrior. The only thing he believed in was that if there was a war, the women of the tribe could at least defend themselves and not become a drag.
Thinking of his son, Rurik would suddenly come back.
Also returning together were several mercenaries led by Yevluo. They returned reasonably carrying two heavy suitcases.
Rurik returned with a confident smile and was immediately embraced by his mother.
Niya asked enthusiastically: "Are you hungry? I'll prepare some dried meat for you."
"Let's take a look at these two suitcases."
Rurik snapped his fingers, and Yevrod ordered him to open the suitcase and reveal the silver coins inside.
Just a year ago, Niya would jump three feet high with excitement when she saw so many silver coins. In just one year, this old woman's attitude towards money has changed dramatically.
There is indeed a lot of money in the suitcase, but my family has accumulated unprecedented wealth, enough to buy food to feed hundreds of mouths.
Carlotta, Ella, and even Saipolava, the three girls hurriedly gathered around. Compared to the other two girls, Saipolava, the girl from Kewen, was the most shocked when she suddenly saw so much money.
Niya asked casually: "Did you go to the blacksmith to collect your profits this year? Could it be that the blacksmiths..."
Niya knew about the contract between his son and those people, and 10% of the profits went to the leader, so wouldn't the blacksmiths' profits be even more exaggerated?
Rurik immediately laughed and said: "This is a brand new tax. I asked the big businessman Gould for the money."
"Huh? You have signed a contract, and you will also receive dividends from all Gould's business profits. Can you still get money from him easily?"
Indeed, he and Gould had a clear business contract. Strictly speaking, the relationship between the two parties was that of business partners.
"The situation has changed. Now Gould is our Russian people, and we are the chief family. I want Gould to use part of the money as tax. This is reasonable."
"He is so willing?!" Niya herself had doubts about the concept of "tax" between her husband and son. She never thought that her son would go so crazy in order to make money.
Rurik smiled bitterly and said: "It's not that easy. Where is dad? I have to discuss something with him."
"He's in the inner room."
After a while, Otto, who had just fallen asleep, was woken up. He remembered that his son went to Gould to discuss something, but he never thought that the discussion between the two would be so long.
Otto poured himself a small cup of strong wine using a newly pressed mass-produced exquisite glass wine glass. After drinking it in one gulp, he immediately felt refreshed.
Let's talk about this so-called "exquisite glass", it is a new invention of the blacksmith shop. It was Lilia, who was pregnant, and she and Kamne were studying and making more strange glassware in their free time. Klavasen followed his daughter-in-law's suggestion and made a bronze mold and a purely wooden "hand-made punching machine" with a long lever. Later, Kamne, a Novgorod native who was only eight years old, Like a monkey grabbing a branch, he uses all his strength to press out the viscous glass liquid in the mold. Finally, Lilia held a knife and cut off the overflowing semi-solid glass liquid.
Compared with other glassware, this is a delicate little vessel for drinking fine wine. The blacksmith shop has already sold a hundred of them to merchants! The selling price of this thing is only ten silver coins. It is indeed a cheap thing in the eyes of merchants. It is so cheap that the wealthy leader Otto uses this glass wine cup without feeling any distress.
Of course, Rurik also legitimately earned his own considerable share.
Rurik, who also happened to be returning, immediately ran to the blacksmith shop to get back his profits. During his conversation with Klavasen, he gained a very realistic understanding of the economic status of all the guest merchants.
After all, those merchants, they all knew that the Ross blacksmith, who was under the orders of the Ross leader, was allowed to make steel swords for anyone in the alliance who was willing to pay. As long as the money was taken out, everything would be easy. The merchants came with real money and silver, and they paid quickly, surpassing the local Russian warriors who must be fighting with steel swords.
Klavasen and his colleagues all knew that these businessmen, who did not know how to blacksmith, did not know how to select various types of ore, and were full of fear of fighting in person, were very eager for a useful and beautiful dagger for self-defense. In fact, Klavasen understands that self-defense is a lie and that showing one's financial resources is fundamental. They hold steel swords mainly for the purpose of showing off, so the hilts and scabbards are engraved with patterns and inlaid with gold, silver, and even precious stones.
Then in front of his business partners, he used a steel sword inlaid with gold patterns and precious stones to cut off pieces of iron and copper, claiming that he had obtained a magic weapon to show that he was extraordinary, hoping to improve his power. Business Reputation.
