A stocky cargo ship rode the strong south wind towards the north. A wooden shed was built on the ship, and some wooden boards were pieced together to form a deck to isolate the cargo. A distinguished old woman was sitting here.
Niya has long since aged and lost her beauty. She gave birth to her youngest son Rurik at a very high age and took huge risks.
After consulting with her husband Otto, she gave Rurik his name. How to explain the meaning of the name "Rurik"? It does have the meaning of "making the tribe strong again", which is what Otto thinks. It is like the ancient memories engraved on the priests' wooden boards. The Russians were very powerful in the past.
Niya had her own thoughts as a woman, and in her understanding, her son's name was clearly "Get the Baby Again" to commemorate the two dead sons and her ardent hope for the only son who was still alive.
The youngest son was loved by the gods. Niya's trip was to see the northern settlement built under the leadership of the youngest son and whose purpose was to smelt and forge iron tools.
The long voyage made people feel a little bored. In fact, she hadn't gone on a long sea voyage for a long time.
"Anna, get me some water."
"Yes, Master." The Britton maid calmly took Niya's glass and poured the boiled pine needle water with honey from the bronze pot.
The boat was shaking a bit, but fortunately the glass was cleverly designed.
Niya's dry lips were moistened, and her anxious mood was relieved.
She drank enough water and handed the cup to the servant. With just a glance, her eyes noticed the wooden cross hanging around the servant's neck.
"Ha! What a strange belief. I don't know that my son is the one chosen by the gods."
Niya didn't want to say anything more. The merchants bought the Britten women from the market in Mälaren last year. They all had some strange ideas. As long as they were given a small house to perform rituals every day, a stick was set up, and a small wooden stick was placed horizontally in the middle of the stick, they could serve with peace of mind after performing the ritual. Niya was a little disgusted but did not stop it. .
The surrounding scenery is always the same, and under the wooden board on which he steps, there are a lot of freshly caught fish and some salted fish. Now, multiple transport ships are trying their best to rush north as fast as possible in order to deliver this pile of herring and cod to the buyer Rurik before the fresh fish spoils.
"How far is it?" Niya muttered impatiently.
"Distinguished master, we will arrive tomorrow morning." The captain with a beard but a thin figure complimented.
"Am I still going to spend the night on the boat?"
"No. We'll rest ashore."
Hearing this, Niya's impatience intensified, "Can't it be faster?"
The captain was also in a dilemma: "Master, our boat has no oars. We rely entirely on the wind, but there is no wind at night, and..."
The captain also wanted to say that night navigation would be a disaster. Niya waved her hand and refused to listen.
Even though Ross's ships always have an adventurous spirit, insisting on sailing at night without superb navigation skills is tantamount to courting death. Night sailing is a kind of adventure. If the purpose of the ship is to make a surprise attack at night, there is nothing wrong with night sailing. But with so many ships transporting daily necessities, it’s better to be cautious.
For more than a day, the fish meat that was caught at a relatively low temperature did begin to deteriorate slightly.
But it doesn't matter, the Russians are forced by the helplessness of life, and all of them can tolerate this mild stench.
This night, Niya spent the night on the shore.
She was dressed in fine linen and soft ferret fur, and her accessories were gold, silver, gems, or even colored glass beads.
The clothes of the Britton maids were much simpler, just blue-gray cloth. Their simplicity further highlights the nobility of the host family.
But in terms of resting on the shore, the leader's wife Niya, like most of the crew, lived in their own tents, listening to the waves and falling asleep on the coast of a small island.
She never thought that she could experience such a thing at her age. She felt that she had become a lonely woman in the vast land and waves of the sea. It was very difficult to reach the destination immediately and hold the son in its arms.
The next day, the voyage continued.
Niya was not happy about her sleep on the shore. She did not get a good rest after the fatigue of traveling and traveling, and she sat in the boat again and felt listless.
Until the captain roared a melodious chant.
"Helmsman! Ahead is the shore! Let's go east!"
All the ships began to turn around. Niya stood up immediately when she saw a situation. She lay on the fence of the ship's hull and looked into the distance.
"Are we there yet?" she asked.
"It will be fine soon, Master. When you see a brand-new city, it is our Ironburg."
"Oh, I'm looking forward to it then."
Niya's interest was finally aroused, and her eyes curiously looked at the same coastline.
Soon, her fleet encountered a small Russian fishing boat. It was only then that she realized that her destination was really coming.
This area was once a deserted land, but now it is gradually becoming more humane.
Her high expectations soon bore exciting results.
"What's going on in front? That river mouth, is that a wooden wall?" Niya opened her eyes wide to see clearly, but she was old after all.
The captain standing at the bow of the ship looked excited. He pointed to the wooden wall: "Master Rurik is on the shore! Master! We are about to dock, please be prepared."
"Oh! Then you really need to make some preparations." Niya's withered face finally forced a smile.
The river beach that was once full of mud and pebbles was slightly cleaned up by Rurik's men. Some wooden piles were driven into the river mud. With these wooden piles, a pier paved with thick wooden boards that can accommodate eight ships was put in. use. The ships that come and go in this way make it easier to unload their cargo, and the settlements have a higher utilization rate of foreign materials.
It can be said that no one originally realized the need to build a pier.
Rurik gave the order and took out a few silver coins and copper coins as reward.
Not only was the pier built, but a road leading directly from the pier to the wooden wall of Elon Orava Fort, made of wooden boards embedded in the sand and gravel, was assembled in just two days, so that people who disembarked no longer had to worry about wet boots. .
A stocky cargo ship, its big sail is really eye-catching.
Rurik, who got up early, likes to supervise the work of the blacksmiths the most during these days, especially supervising whether the men of the Kewen tribe are studying and improving their blacksmithing skills.
Rurik was also interested in supervising the newly built second waterwheel. Different from the first one, the wheel of the new waterwheel is smaller, and the two hammer heads are not used to knock sponge iron, but to knock oat grains inside the stone.
Based on the existing conditions, Rurik is not yet capable of developing a practical watermill stone grinding disc system. My purpose is to obtain roughly processed oats, so that subsequent cooking becomes efficient and the eater can better absorb its nutrients. For the traditional stone mortar to pound oat flour, it is turned into a waterwheel and hammer to pound. Of course, the efficiency is not high, and the waterwheel is tireless.
Rurik already knew that his mother was coming to visit, probably in the next two or three days.
He understands very well what is "the best gift for parents"? There is nothing better than having their children standing in front of them healthy and healthy.
Rurik thought of a countermeasure.
The working people all have their own tasks. In order to get a little reward from Rurik and to get the clear language, everyone works very hard. It is precisely because of this factor that the settlement can be built at an extremely fast speed. Rurik had some experience with this. What stimulated them to work hard was not only the honor of "working for those blessed by Odin", but also the fact that he not only gave them a good meal, but also a little money.
"Is there a leader who is more sage than me under Purola?" Rurik was actually a little complacent.
Of course he is proud of his strong financial resources.
Nowadays, ferrochrome and chromium steel tools produced in large quantities are sold at different prices, and the daily output value has reached the level of nearly two thousand silver coins. The premise is of course that all ferrochrome tools can be sold at high prices.
In short, no matter what the sales volume will be in the future, Rurik can't care so much. He feels that he must take advantage of the short warm period to mass-produce in order to obtain greater profits in the future.
Rurik also made an economic calculation for himself. The value of various materials consumed by the entire settlement every day may be around three hundred to four hundred silver coins for the time being, which is much less than the initial consumption.
To feed a large number of men who do an astonishing amount of physical labor, food consumes the largest amount of money.
Finally, the virtuous economic cycle is on the right track.
A mercenary hurried over to watch the scene of a waterwheel pounding oat kernels. The aroma of wheat filling the air made him intoxicated.
"Sir, the big leader's wife, your mother, she has finally arrived."
"Finally here?!" Rurik turned around instantly, his face full of joy.
After a while, Rurik tried his best to gather a group of his cronies and formed a mighty team towards the dock.
At the same time, the docked cargo ship lowered the wooden planks, and with the help of the maid, Niya finally boarded the destination. She looked at the road paved with wooden planks under her feet and couldn't help but marvel.
"It's incredible. Who came up with the idea? A plank road?"
Someone hurriedly replied: "That's your son."
"Is it really him? He is indeed my son."
Niya didn't notice Rurik's figure for the moment. She raised her head to observe the spectacular scene in the sun.
What is surrounded by the wall must be Iron Fort, oh, it should be called Iron Orava Fort.
In terms of appearance alone, Niya feels its solidity and the strong sense of security brought by its wooden walls and towers, which is essentially different from the more open settlement of Roseburg.
"Let's go, servants, let's move forward." Niya shook her neck lightly. She estimated that her son was already inside the wall. She estimated that with her son's character, he would be able to build a beautiful house, which could be used as a place for ceremonies and guests, as well as a comfortable bedroom.
She hadn't gone far when the warm south wind blew against her face. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed a group of people walking towards the riverside building not far away.
Youdao had a clear understanding. She turned her head slightly and suddenly saw her son who had been away for a long time.
Suddenly, a mother's instinct prompted her to drive her old body like crazy, get off the boardwalk, and run wildly on the relatively moist gravel ground.
Soon, Rurik was hugged by his mother, and she held her tightly in her arms...
No words could ever compare to this hug, and Niya was satisfied at this moment. She was very shocked that Rurik actually built a city, but everything he built was not as important as her son.
Only when Rurik complained that he was being held too tightly did Niya relax her hand, but she still kissed Rurik's forehead several times.
"Mom, are you satisfied?"
Rurik's question made Niya a little embarrassed. What could she say?
"Satisfaction, I am only satisfied if I hold you in my arms. What do you think?"
"Okay." Rurik shrugged, "Maybe I should apologize. I was focused on the construction of the settlement. I haven't returned to my homeland for more than a month. I should have visited you earlier."
"It's okay." Niya pinched her son's smiling face, showing the tenderness of a mother: "I'm here, and I see that you are very healthy. Well, your women are also very healthy."
Carlotta and Ella affectionately called Niya "Mom" and naturally received a warm hug from Niya.
Saipolava, the little girl from the Steel Squirrel tribe, is still a little dull and cautious. For this reason, she failed to get Niya's intimacy. Of course, Niya couldn't make the mistake of being intimate with such an outsider. In fact, Niya wasn't that close to her son's first servant, Rumia.
Rurik's ambition is naturally to build a "huge Rus". However, most real Rus people understand the concept of "Russ" as a tribe with only a few thousand people. A few people want to build a "huge Rus". The Ross tribe is the leader of the alliance, and some tribes that are slaves are also commanded. This is the highest ambition.
It cannot be said that they are stupid, just because they lack a larger view of the situation. Most Russians firmly believe that the Kovin people are slaves of Rurik himself, and the surrendered Kovin people also position themselves in this way.
As everyone knows, after more than a month of living together, Rurik saw the cooperation of these residents of the Kovin Steel Squirrel tribe and their compliance with his performance. He felt that he had conquered their souls. In this way, these Kovin people could no longer say They are slaves, but tribesmen and clansmen.
He thinks so, but Niya doesn't think so.
Therefore, when Rurik took her to visit his great masterpiece next, Niya marveled at the soundness and safety of the wooden walls built in the settlement, the thick and spacious wooden houses, and the large number of buildings with various living uses. However, she found it difficult to accept it. The Corvins can walk around freely under their noses, or rather around Rurik.
They don't know their own slaves?
Niya just suppressed her thoughts in her heart. She didn't want to interfere with any of Rurik's actions. Then she thought about it. Rurik allowed his slaves to move around as they pleased, so there must be something else hidden.
Rurik was anxious to show his mother what he had accomplished, especially by showing her around his comfortable wooden house inside the wooden walls.
The light in the room was a little dim, and the wooden window was opened, and the room was finally bright.
In this wooden house, Niya found a little feeling of going home. After all, the current construction model of Russian wooden houses has been biased towards the more efficient Novgorod wood carving.
Niya sat on the head of the bed, sitting on the sheets made of soft leathered white bear skin.
She recognized that this was a bearskin, and she even knew about it and had brought it back from her hometown. How to get a son is really self-explanatory.
Then she thought about it, her son was sleeping on a bearskin, what a heroic warrior he was!
Niya has been visiting for a while, and she is the most distinguished guest. Now, she is staying in the bedroom of her son's residence, with her son and "adopted daughters".
"I am very happy that you have built many houses. Ironburg is the most beautiful settlement I have ever seen. There are many houses here. I think even the humblest slaves live in warm wooden houses. Rurik, you must also Give your slave many things.”
Rurik immediately affirmed: "That is natural. If the slaves are hungry, who will give me a job if they starve to death?"
"That's true, but I noticed that you were too kind to them. Especially the Corvins. I saw those steaming saunas, and you actually allowed them to build this."
"Huh? Is there anything strange about this?"
"Of course it's strange! You actually built it inside the wooden wall. Bathing is a private matter. Now, you..."
Rurik didn't think there was anything wrong. He consciously understood the reason for Niya's displeasure. "Maybe I should build some wooden houses outside the wooden walls for cleaning myself. It doesn't matter. I ask them to finish their work every day." Work to clean your body. We Russians all jump into the river with soap. Those Kovin people like to sit in the sauna for a while and then go to the river with soap. Now, many of our Russian warriors also I think Covin’s cleaning method is better.”
"That's just men. Rurik, you must prepare a place for me to cleanse, like our Roseburg."
"Huh? Mom, actually you are hopeful."
"Yes." Niya chuckled, "My son, this is unlucky. I was standing in a pile of fish along the way. I want to clean myself, and I want to clean you with my own hands. Just like when I was a child, I You take a shower like that. And for the rest of the night, stay here." After saying this, Niya patted the bed with a smile: "My son, you must accompany me tonight. I have decided that I will stay here for a few days. You have to be with me every night.”
"Okay." Rurik did not reject it. He just asked: "What about the situation in Roseburg? Dad and the others may be coming back."
"That's also his business." Niya continued to say with a smile. "Your father has big things for men. He will not be in any danger. He can handle everything. Rurik, I am satisfied as long as you are here."
Rurik smiled awkwardly. He thought for a while. Maybe his mother staying here could stimulate the enthusiasm of the tribe for construction. It could also be interpreted as a hint to other tribesmen that the chief family attaches great importance to Ironburg in the north. .
