When Otto returned to his hometown of Roseburg, just from the surface, his hometown already had a completely new look.
After returning, he summoned many people and went to the longhouse to see the aging high priest.
As for the ten Balmok travelers who his son claimed were from the other side of the mountain range, Otto only accepted the warrior salute from them as a king for the time being, and promised to have a good chat with them in a few days.
The soothing gravel beach now has a number of wooden trestles.
In the old days of Fort Ross, a large number of ships were pulled directly to the gravel beach, and some were even pulled directly to large wooden sheds, where shipbuilders and carpenters would repair them in the winter. In winter, few boat owners would allow their boats to be frozen on the shore by sea ice and wind.
Times have quietly changed!
Look at those trestles, they are owned by the Gould family and are the real docks of the Ross tribe.
There are large and honest cargo ships docked on both sides of the trestle.
They were so heavy that it seemed impossible and unnecessary to push them to the shore. Their solid bodies have been completely submerged in the sea, and they can withstand the pressure of sea ice.
Compared to the past, the total number of ships in Fort Ross was unprecedentedly large, and a gray-white forest seemed to grow on the coast. They were all tall masts and furled sails attached to them.
After all, it is already October, and everyone wants to believe that the sun is still shining brightly now, and that the first snow will come suddenly.
Tribes have migrated to the fjords of Roseburg for more than half a century. The locals know the climate and hydrology here very well.
After the first snow, the whole world will change. Even if the sea does not freeze instantly and the land is likely to be covered in knee-deep snow, the way of life of the Russian people will also undergo a complete change.
It was a bright and cold start. Otto woke up from his comfortable bed. He gently pushed away his aging wife who was sleeping beside him, and undoubtedly disturbed the children sleeping in the other two rooms. The only son Rurik experienced a thrilling and meaningful summer. A child is showing his father what it means to be a born strong man!
He stood in the empty hall, filled a few pieces of charcoal into the fireplace, opened the thick wooden door, and felt a fragrant coldness blowing in his face.
It was the Britten maids who were already cooking the morning porridge as usual.
After a while, the whole family woke up.
The wooden table set up next to the wooden wall was put down, and the small family that once only had three members has now become quite large.
Rurik is surrounded by four girls who are basically the same age as Rumia, Carlotta, Ella, and Saipolava. They are destined to be Rurik's women, and naturally they are also part of the leader's family. .
A large wooden bowl was filled with boiled wheat, which was salted to make it more suitable for Otto.
Soon, a pottery vat was brought to the table by two maids. Inside was a large stew of yellow carrots, cabbage and onions.
Now that he has returned to his hometown, a bottle of strong wine has become a standard part of the leader's meal.
Is this breakfast? Not just. People in Ross often eat breakfast and lunch together. Otto was delighted to eat this hearty meal full of grains, but he also wanted to formally inspect the current situation in Rossburg.
After drinking half a bottle of wine and eating half a bowl of wheat, Otto was really excited.
"Rurik, you did a good job."
"Huh?" Rurik, who was busy picking up wheat grains with chopsticks, raised his head, and the other girls also put down their chopsticks.
Regarding tableware, Otto never felt that his son or even the men he trained were trying their best to replace the functions of spoons with two wooden sticks. Are children’s little hands very flexible? Looking at his rough hands, he definitely can't do anything delicate, such as manipulating two small wooden sticks. Of course, he is very good at controlling two big wooden sticks, and that is the paddle!
Otto did not hesitate to regard "chopsticks" as a kind of alienated oar. Being able to maneuver it dexterously showed that his son had not forgotten his roots and that the children from various tribes were really actively working to become Russians. .
Otto was pleased to see it, so he would like to say a few more words here.
"I asked around and found that the Gould family's warehouse is indeed full of wheat. There are also several large wooden sheds that have been built on the seaside, as well as slides that have been pieced together from pine wood. I know that the shipbuilders are already in our home. Settled down. Many talents have joined us, and this is all a good thing you have done."
This compliment to Rurik was a bit smug. He said modestly: "Dad, you haven't gone to the Oulu River in the east to collect taxes from the Covin people. And I, I should also go to the north, to Ellenburg. Take away the tribute from the locals.”
"Soon, I will organize the fleet to complete the final tribute of this year. You don't need to worry about this. I was just thinking, are you serious? The word has spread. Starting from tomorrow, you will deliberately sell a batch of grain. ?”
"Gould and I have an agreement a long time ago." Rurik said with a serious face, "You complained that I spent too much money, which caused our family's silver coins to shrink drastically. I will sell a batch of grain and a batch of silver coins in the hands of the tribe. It will return to our hands again. Dad, you know my attitude. Those silver coins are just silver coins. It is not the silver coins that can warm people's hearts in the cold winter, but the food bought with silver coins. In my opinion, only for our tribe , you and I never have to worry about silver coins. In the past, when our tribe was short of silver coins and copper coins, life was still going well. Dad, can you understand?"
Rurik talked a lot with great interest, how could Otto, who was slightly drunk, understand what he said? Besides, Rurik’s words were really profound.
"In my opinion, silver coins, copper coins and gold coins are not that important. We do need them, but we cannot rely on them. In my opinion, the most important materials to maintain the stability of our tribe are two kinds, food And clothing. The most important thing is food! As leaders, we must reserve a large amount of grain and dried meat, just like the immigrants from New Roseburg in the east did..."
What Rurik wants to describe is that the core of the economic operation of the Rus tribe under his rule is the food standard.
Grain standard, this grain refers to various kinds of food that are durable in storage, allowing them to perform certain monetary functions.
Now, only the Gould family owns a warehouse that can store up to 800,000 pounds of grain. Is it risky to store all the food there? Rurik felt that it was extremely safe.
Gould himself is like a secondary wolf showing his soft belly to the alpha wolf to show his loyalty. This old guy who claims to have less than ten years of life is frantically giving birth to his own heirs in order to survive under the new leader Ross. A noble status and even a brighter future.
Big businessmen like Gould were motivated to build larger warehouses in order to hoard the huge amount of supplies.
The Ross tribe is essentially a thriving economy. In the final analysis, everyone is fighting for food. It just so happens that the medium of trade in this world is gold and silver, which is incorruptible. If trade is only trapped within the tribe, will the monetary system composed of gold, silver and copper still be so indestructible?
The entire tribe has not noticed that the Ross people's commercial transactions have relied heavily on silver coins in recent years. Since visiting the Melalen tribe and hearing about other deficiencies, Rurik felt that the current situation in Rossburg was extremely abnormal.
The root of the anomaly is that up to now, a large number of Ross families still have a large amount of silver coins. After all, the victorious plunder a year ago, coupled with the daily trade, the final amount of silver coins circulating in the Ross tribe was close to the terrifying 200,000!
Its specific manifestation is that the Russians suddenly became rich! The tribesmen intend to consume more, and labor costs such as shipbuilding, charcoal making, and pottery making have increased significantly. Even though they knew that people coming to Rossburg to do business would have to pay taxes, a large number of southern businessmen still came here, vowing to make a lot of money from the Ross people.
Merchants could indeed make a lot of money, but they also loved the extremely high-quality iron products that the Russians began to manufacture in large quantities, including many ordered steel swords. They are willing to spend huge sums of money for these appliances.
What are the consequences of this? !
A large amount of silver coins are still circulating in the small world of Fort Ross, but the economy based on silver is extremely fragile. Silver coins are not credit banknotes. There are almost only two ways to obtain them, trade and war. Both methods contain great uncertainty. Rurik's understanding of history is that countries that rely heavily on silver capital will lose money once If there is an abnormality in the supply of silver, or if it is replaced by another monetary medium, a serious social crisis will inevitably occur.
Although the signs of the crisis did not exist in Rosberg, Rurik had to think carefully about his future. Calling it unfounded, he had to establish a plan B.
Since the selling price of wheat is fixed at ten pounds of oats for one silver coin, oats must have certain monetary attributes.
If there is a silver shortage, the Russians will have to organize a large army to go south to rob the Gotlanders who like to bury silver. How much they can grab depends on luck.
This is not the case with food, which is much easier to obtain than silver coins.
The dinner table was no longer quiet, as Rurik continued to express the importance of his "food standard".
Although he couldn't understand, why didn't Otto feel his son's great wisdom?
After the meal was finished, Otto put on his majestic clothes, followed by a group of entourage, and even Rurik himself, and inspected the entire Roseburg as a monarch.
He first came to the dock area. More than twenty cargo ships with very similar styles docked neatly and quietly. The scene was shocking.
There are a large number of long boats arranged horizontally beside some other trestles. The bows without any sculptures extend from their keels, and a very thick hemp rope secures them.
How many ships are parked here? Otto didn't need to be told. He personally reached out and counted them, and came to the astonishing conclusion - more than a hundred ships.
"Huh? Do these boats all belong to you?" A shocked Otto hurriedly asked Gould, the dock owner who was eager to say something.
"Not entirely. The big leader, together with Rurik's twenty ships, are also docked here. You see, those ships have ship numbers. There are also some ships from the tribe. They paid a little money to dock here. "
Another surprising news.
Otto stroked his son's little head: "Your ship? You built twenty ships in one summer?!"
"It's the Gotland ship that Arik captured." Rurik answered truthfully. "But I am in Mälaren and have recruited some of the best local shipbuilders. Dad, what do you think those raided buildings on the beach are for?"
Otto, who was quite sensitive, stamped his foot: "Building a ship?"
"Yes! There is an old man named Huotra. Dad, look at these cargo ships. Almost all of them are made by this old man's family."
The stocky cargo ship did give people a sense of security. The large mast soaring into the sky made the entire ship completely overwhelm the longship. Seeing it so close, Otto had to admire its majesty. What Otto saw was the largest cargo ship owned by Gould, and it was also the largest ship in Roseburg.
Gould seized the opportunity to boast about himself, but unexpectedly, Rurik's bold words came again: "Dad! What are these ships? I have made an agreement with that Hortra. His family will spend the whole winter making more ships for us." A large cargo ship. In this way, when you go to Novgorod to ask for tribute, you don’t need too many ships to take risks on the sea, and you don’t even need oarsmen to work. It will rely entirely on wind power.”
"Pure sail?" Otto didn't have much confidence in this. "If the sail is really easy to use, why shouldn't I use it when I come back? Boy, are you sure you can do it? Who can do it?"
"Of course, because it will be a completely new style of sail, the sailors trained by the Gould family will have the ability to control it."
Rurik deliberately kept things secret. Seeing his son's confident appearance, Otto didn't ask any more questions.
Since everyone was paying close attention to the ship, Otto's next step was to go straight to the shipbuilding platform that was under construction on the coast.
Before entering here, the sound of ding-ding-dong-dong attracted the intense attention of Otto who was outside.
I saw a group of people approaching menacingly, and the small workers who were carrying wood had already gotten into the wooden shed out of fear.
Soon, the men who lived with sticks and a group of bare-chested shipbuilders walked out of the shipbuilding shed they had built to welcome the arrival of Chief Ross.
Otto had never seen Hotla. He completely instinctively regarded a strong man with tendons, arms full of sweat, and extremely developed golden chest hair as the so-called Hotla.
"Are you Hotla? A shipbuilder? I think you are more suitable to be a warrior holding a war hammer to fight for me."
Otto was dressed gorgeously during this trip. In order to show his nobility and beauty, the amber necklace around his neck was now mixed with some colored glass. Everyone knows Rurik, but this kid calls this man dad, so he must be the leader of Rus.
The real Hotla was on crutches and tilted her head towards Otto.
At this situation, Rurik was surprised: "Hotra, are you...sick?"
"Perhaps it's because I'm not used to it when I first came to Rossburg." Hotla immediately raised his head: "Distinguished leader, I am Hotla. I am building a big ship for Ross. Everything is an agreement between me and your son. "
Big ship? There is no sign of the ship now?
Look at this old-looking man again. Is this man actually the best shipbuilder? Otto was really unconvinced.
Otto soon understood the reason. Hortra himself had become the "chief engineer", and the men and women of the family were the craftsmen who truly turned the designs into finished products.
Huge ship, it doesn’t even have a shadow now!
Otto approached the dark wooden shed, which betrayed every sign of its hasty construction. The smell of pine is very strong in the house, which means that the trunks that make up the shed are only recently felled pine trees.
Compared to other shipbuilding sheds, this shed is the tallest.
When you think about the huge space in here, it's not exactly big enough to accommodate a larger ship. Ultimately, the boatbuilding routine is to build the hull first, then push it outdoors and then install the mast.
"Where's the ship? I see it's empty here. Whose name is Huotra? He's the best shipbuilder in Mälaren. Hasn't the big ship you built for us started yet?"
"It's just the beginning. Everything starts from the keel." As he said that, Huotra used his walking stick to reach the extremely thick wooden pole on the ground. "My lord, this is the keel of the new ship."
"It? Are you kidding?!"
"I'm not joking." Huotra said very seriously.
Rurik immediately tugged at his father's clothes: "He did not lie."
Otto was still surprised. He pointed at the keel: "You call this a keel? Don't you think it's too strange? It's actually two pieces of wood... No!"
Otto suddenly realized that this keel with a mortise and tenon structure was actually made of quite dry wood.
Rurik simply told the truth: "Dad, many people demolished their old houses in the summer, and I bought that beam. You see, the two longhouse beams are put together. Since they have been built in the past few years, The ten years have proven themselves to be strong, and the ships built from them must also be strong.”
Otto sighed slightly, "You boy, I really have you. It's just..." Otto realized something was wrong here again, and the more he thought about it, the more his heart trembled. "How long is the keel of your ship?"
"It's thirty stikas." Hotla said proudly.
"Ah! So long?!"
Although this length was a requirement that Rurik had revealed when he was at Mälaren, now that it has actually been implemented, it is also challenging the shipbuilding level of Hotra. Since the funder thinks it is reliable, as a working person, why should we talk nonsense?
Rurik's presence here is emboldening himself! Hotla looked at the crutch and said seriously: "It's so long! Great leader, the Ross tribe will have a big ship. I dare say that there is no second ship more powerful than her in the entire alliance."
Hortra is so confident. Looking at his son Rurik's determined face, what else does Otto have to question? They would spend the whole winter building the hull in the wooden shed. Even the cold, wind and snow will not affect their progress.
Because Rurik had already planned a plan, which was to launch a large ship in the next trade season and launch a new Sorgon voyage, so as to show off the authority of the Russians to the conquered people.
