The world in Otto's mind was not very big, or his concept of distant places was very vague. The gods created a wonderful human world, and there is an illusory Asgard in the sky. Unfortunately, he is old and has lost the capital to continue exploring.
Rurik began to mention that there were other people around New Roseburg, even though these people were not even seen.
Otto had to be on guard.
Who are those people?
Rurik then gave a surprising answer.
He first looked at the structure of the house, determined the direction of the house, and then raised his little finger to point to the west: "I can be sure that Estonians live there."
"I already knew it. It's just a little weird that you gave them names," Otto said.
Rurik immediately pointed to the south: "There are still people there, probably the Pskov people, and a group of people who speak the same language as the Novgorod people. Now that we have conquered Novgorod, I will also do it in the future. Conquer Pskov.”
Pskov? This was the first time Otto heard this term.
The city of Pskov was not founded in 830 AD, but if the village was regarded as a city, Pskov had already existed. Rurik knew very well that the Neva River was not far from Lake Chud and Lake Pskov was not far from the Neva River, and there were waterways connecting the two places. As for whether there is a direct waterway from Pskov to Novgorod, this is something Rurik does not know.
Here he particularly emphasized that the mouth of a certain river on the southern shore of the bay would be able to reach Pskov, another Slavic settlement, upstream.
Otto and Cornuson were already shocked.
Rurik pointed to the east again: "There is a being named Perm there. There are some people living there, and they may speak the same language as the Finns. Yevro is a Finn, and the Kovin people under our command can also speak with the Finns. Talk to people on the east side.”
"Perm? Who are they again? My child, are you sure they exist?" Otto asked.
"Dad, you can't question me."
"Oh, that's right." Otto slapped his forehead, thinking that the only son was extraordinary. This ability to see into the unknown world and make correct predictions about the future were the huge advantages that the Russians had, and they were also a real blessing from God.
In fact, there are many ethnic groups in the east, including the Ingrians, Maryas, Malians and Perm people. They are actually loose tribes with a small number of people. As far as the snowy plains are concerned, they all belong to the Fen people in a broad sense. What kind of communication can be carried out with these forest hunters from Siberia? Rurik probably only has a very limited leather trade, right? Both parties can do business, and there is not much need at this stage.
But when it comes to the East, Rurik is inevitably very excited.
He opened his hands and emphasized in particular. Due to the limited understanding of his father and brother, he was forced to speak concisely: "There are many big rivers in our east, and they either lead to the frozen sea or the same fiery sea. Continue to To the east, there will be a huge mountain range. If we climb over it, we will enter a vast world that cannot be described in words. There are endless leathers, a lot of gold and silver, and many unprecedented existences, such as a world with the legend. A country as great as Rome. If distant trade routes can be established, we should take the initiative to establish trade with that eastern power, but we should never think of conquering her."
What exactly is there in the Eastern world? Of course the Russians wanted to explore and excavate. Konuson had wanted to do this for a long time, but he just suffered from the inability to organize an expedition. He had never imagined that traveling to the East might involve measuring a 30,000-kilometer journey with his own feet. After all, the Russian explorers who traveled eastward in history established multiple camps as far away as California, but were destroyed by the Spanish Empire due to their absolute military disadvantage.
"Ah! The East is indeed full of treasures?!" Conuson was overjoyed.
Rurik also struck while the iron was hot and deliberately said: "I'm talking about the oracle. Listen, the gods have given us favors, and what they told me are all facts. This is a hint that we Russians need to explore."
Everyone was very happy with Rurik's explanation. In addition to Rurik's words, he was inducing them to explore desperately. Even if he wanted to be the king of the bad land, he had to be the first to plant a flag on the bad land to establish ownership. Although Rus was a big land, he didn't have an inch of land. Superfluous.
"What's to the north? I'm worried." Otto said suddenly.
"Yes! To the north." Rurik composed himself, "I must emphasize this point. Konuson, did you conduct large-scale exploration of the Great Lakes in the East in the past year?"
"No, we haven't. If it's your request, we will do it next year."
"Then be careful. I'm sure there are other people living near the lake. They are Karelians."
Another very unfamiliar term, what kind of people are they? Maybe a ragtag group that can be defeated easily.
After all, Rurik asserted that Lake Ladoga is not a lake shared by Russians and bears. Humans are the masters of the world. No matter how strong the Karelia people are, if they organize an army, will New Ross Fort be in danger? New Roseburg is located very close to the Great Lakes.
Rurik particularly emphasized the need to beware of threats from the north. Through information gathered from all parties, some existing tribes were well confirmed, and their strength levels were also estimated by the Russians.
Rurik began to list the forces that should exist north of the Neva River in this era: Karelians, Tavastians, Finns (Suomis), Kovins, and deer herders (Sami people).
Both the Covins and the Deersherders surrendered and boarded the Rus' warships. Jevro has already given a detailed explanation of the general situation of the Finns. As for the Tavastians who have never met before, they have always been enemies of the Corvin people. As for the Corvin people who often fight with each other, they were instantly killed by a small group of Ross expedition teams. Doesn't this mean that the two sides have been fighting each other for a long time? ? Since the Rus quickly conquered the Corvins, it would not be difficult to conquer the Tavastians in the future. That's how he estimated it.
The ones who still remain mysterious are the Karelia people. In Rurik's impression, the Karelia people have always been an extremely weak force with almost zero presence. They are not even as good as the Sami people. .
In line with the principle of paying attention to potential enemies, Rurik thought for a while and simply overestimated those guys whose existence was vague, so that his tribe would not be too arrogant and treat possible military threats with vigilance and rigor.
Rurik claimed that the Karelians were powerful and that if they launched an attack, Novorossberg would have to rely on walls to keep it safe.
So what is the actual situation?
The Tavastians and the Karelians are not weak in today's times. In other words, the reason why they are relatively strong is that their tribe has more than 10,000 people. Even if the tribes live scattered and rely on fishing, hunting and gathering to survive, they have at least entered the semi-iron age, and the proportion of iron in their weapons and tools continues to increase. In history, many Kievan Rus nobles were attacked by Tavastians and Karelians when they asked for tribute from the north, causing considerable losses.
But today's Karelia people can only maintain a population of at most 20,000. Their production capacity is extremely low and they have no resources to feed more people. But the population directly controlled by the Russians was barely 6,000. When he was at an absolute disadvantage, Rurik did not want to actively provoke some wars unless the war came uninvited.
Now, Rurik has a strong premonition that a big war is in the near future.
Otto was excited. At this moment, he felt that his son's sudden visit was an oracle, which had made the people of New Roseburg realize that their lives were never easy, and there were potential enemies on all sides.
Otto pinched his chin: "The Karelias? If we have more warriors here, can we conquer them? Rurik, give me an answer."
"War? If possible, I hope to have peaceful contact with them, unless they are really plundering our interests."
Rurik hoped for peace, and Otto laughed: "Forget it. If they are really strong, we will do good business. If they are weak...just tell me how many people can conquer them."
"This..." Rurik couldn't make up his mind for a moment, so he lied: "Maybe a thousand people are needed."
"so much?"
Arik was displeased when he heard this. He slapped his proud chest: "Forget it. Give me five hundred people and I will conquer them all. The Karelians, in my opinion, are weak and only worthy of us." slaves. Brother, you cannot look down upon them."
"Well said." Otto nodded with satisfaction and looked at his son: "You should learn from your brother. Listen, when they really surrender, you can be kind to them. Before they kneel down, you They should be defeated.”
"Okay." Rurik didn't want to waste any more words. He secretly sighed that some small nations were destined to be conquered by strong men and become vassals. "Now you know that there are people everywhere around New Roseburg, and they are just hiding in the woods. I saw that the land here is fertile and suitable, and the rivers ensure sufficient fresh water. It is adjacent to the sea for boiling salt, and adjacent to the large lake for fishing. We asked To the north we can conquer those people, to the south we can ask for tribute from the Novgorod people, and to the west there is a smooth trade route. New Roseburg is our new beginning, maybe we should move all the people from our hometown here."
His son's words hit Otto's heart. Compared with his hometown, New Roseburg at the mouth of the river is indeed a geomantic treasure.
"We have to move slowly. But I think our hometown still plays a role."
"Is it a mine? Maybe it will be enough for our hometown to be responsible for producing ore in the future." Rurik answered very simply. Although he was attached to the small fjord, the Russians never missed home, and they never resettled. people.
Otto couldn't help but think of a lot when he mentioned the ore, and he continued to mention the original topic: "Rurik, you took the surrendered Kovin people to the north, to the big mine we discovered in the winter. The situation is different. Are you okay? Those special ores..."
"It's in very good condition, and I think that mine is a hundred times better than the one we have near Roseburg."
His son's high praise for it must be true. Otto recalled what happened more than half a year ago and thought that the northern forest was surrounded by mountains and rivers. It was a bit cold, so it would not be difficult to build a settlement.
"How are the settlements there? Are the Corvin people adapting?" Otto asked.
"Of course. I took many brothers there, guided some fishermen to explore, and even organized an expedition to go northward against the river. Dad, you know, the Covin people are used to building a mountain fort, and they don't want to Forgetting the name of the squirrel, I named the place Elon Orava Fort, and they were very happy. A new hill fort was built, enclosed by a wall and five hundred stikas long. We and they did It is agreed that starting from this year, those Kewen people must pay us a large amount of iron."
Otto was very happy to hear this, but he was also a little suspicious: "Iron weapons? Those guys actually have a blacksmith?"
"They didn't have any, so we conducted a surprise training. Dad, you should have gone back a long time ago. We should have gone to the Oulu River to collect tribute from other Kovin people."
"The situation is more complicated this year." Otto sighed. "The sea will freeze in November, and I think it doesn't matter. Since we have conquered the ice sea, we can conquer it for the second and third time. We use reindeer Collecting tribute by sleigh is no more difficult than sailing.”
"Okay. Ailon Olawa Fort is indeed a good place. Soon, in our tribe, iron tools will become cheap products, and we can sell them to make huge profits."
Nephew Lezhong led warriors to plunder and make a fortune, and his son Lezhong made money by selling high-value-added goods. Now New Roseburg is rapidly evolving into a production base for major daily necessities, and many foreigners regularly provide tribute. Otto stroked his beard, life was really beautiful.
But wait a minute, just now my son mentioned that he organized an expedition to go wildly north along the river?
"Rurik, you sent the expedition team, how is the situation? I can see from your expression that they must gain something."
"I was about to say this." Rurik slapped his thigh, his excitement palpable.
"Dad, we all know that there is a dangerous mountain range to the west of Fort Ross. There are a large number of Norwegian tribes to the west of the mountain range. There is a group of people unknown to us and even other tribes in the alliance. They came over the mountain. They call themselves Balmer. The Ke people speak a language that we can understand. In fact, they are not strangers. They are the northern fur traders mentioned by the Kewen people. They are looking for the Kewen people. We are the masters of the Kewen people, so..."
"Where are they?!" Otto's back was aching from sitting upright, but the series of key information mentioned by his son kept refreshing his worldview.
"There are ten travelers, and they are in our Roseburg. They are happy to talk to us and happy to buy our pelts."
"The Balmoks? I don't know. Do they have any silver coins?"
"One thing, the silver coins don't matter. They brought a lot of salt, and it was excellent quality salt. Boiling salt is very troublesome, and I think if our trade is stable, we can buy theirs for a long time Salt, so you don’t have to go to all the trouble of making it yourself.”
"Balmok Merchant..." Otto clenched his fists, "It seems I should go back early."
"Dad, when will the fleet leave?"
"Are you urging me? It's coming soon. We will finish loading the supplies in two or three days and then return. Haha, this time the brothers in my hometown will praise my greatness again." Whenever someone with a huge request When the tributes returned to their hometown, Otto received a wave of praise, and he continued to increase his reputation through this for many years.
