A group of people wearing thick furs stood inside the walls of Ironburg. Didn't they sigh at this settlement that seemed to suddenly appear?
Alska, the leader of the deer herders, would never have imagined that this was the place where he had been enslaved.
From the beginning of the design, Ironburg planned to accommodate a thousand people, so the space inside it is actually very large.
A group of reindeer were forced into the wall, and together with a large number of sleds being dragged, they formed a quite interesting situation under the aurora and starlight.
Visitors lit torches and the night watchmen lit numerous bonfires.
More than 30 deer herders of different genders were stunned in admiration. The Russians chatted and laughed with each other, and then began to unload a large amount of goods. Especially Jevro and his mercenaries, they completed the meeting with other mercenary brothers and immediately began to carry the wheat belonging to Rurik.
Even some extremely special goods - some special tree trunks.
After receiving the emergency report, Rurik hurriedly changed his clothes, and was stimulated by the cold night wind, which cheered him up.
Under the illumination of torches and bonfires, a large group of furry people appeared inside the wooden wall, as well as an extremely large herd of reindeer.
There was a familiar guy walking towards him, it was Alska.
"It seems that you all arrived safely. You have fulfilled the chief's instructions." Rurik said in the language of a deer herder.
Alska immediately bowed: "We are your servants, and now we will graze for you in the winter."
"Very good. But you don't have to go too far. Well, what do you think of this town?"
"It's...really great."
Alska and his people are just nomads in the snowy fields. They have a vague concept of towns and naturally lack the vocabulary to evaluate them.
Rurik had no intention of continuing to ask, so he pointed to the wooden wall and said: "My wall is tall and reinforced and can withstand the most violent snowstorms. You take the men to graze and leave the women and children behind. The wooden wall will protect them." Safe. Don’t worry, as the owner, I will ensure their safety and daily food.”
Alska gritted his teeth. He felt very uncomfortable, but he did not have any authority to say no.
"Okay, I will take care of your lord's deer."
Rurik nodded: "In exchange, I will also take care of your women and children."
Any further conversation with the deer farmer? To show them a solid castle? Rurik didn't think it was necessary.
After all, they are deer herders. I am afraid that they have always liked to live alone in the snowy fields as a small clan since ancient times and even in the future. Rurik vaguely remembered that in another time and space, what he learned about the life of the Sami people from movies and television was nothing more than a quiet and peaceful snowfield, a Sami family living in a few wooden houses, and the children they raised. There are hundreds of deer, and they make a living by receiving tourists and selling various deer products.
A thousand years later, the stable life of the Sami people was not won by force at all, but came entirely from the charity of the Swedes. Simply because at that time, Swedes advocated love, peace, and environmental protection. They are quite supportive of the Sami people's pursuit of original ecological life since ancient times.
The current era has serious limitations. If a wise man puts forward the slogan of fraternity, does the audience exist?
Rurik wanted to be kind to these deer herders, but he was also afraid of letting them graze freely. He might have driven the deer herd to Murmansk. The cost of finding them again in the vast world of ice and snow would be crazy.
In order to avoid this disgusting situation, Rurik had no choice but to detain their wives and children.
After all, they are human beings. They wouldn't give up their wives and children just to defect, right?
People from Roseburg broke the peace of Ironburg.
As the nights get longer and longer, it is impossible for people to sleep all the time. Everyone was always full of energy. Infected by the noise of the visitors, the entire resident population of Ironburg came out of their houses one after another.
It was a good thing that the sleeping laborers were leaving one after another. Rurik easily deployed the labor force, unloaded all the linen bags from the sleds, and stuffed them into several vacant wooden houses used as warehouses.
Rurik personally checked what kind of goods were contained in the linen cloth, and found that oats were the main items. Because the wheat grains purchased from Mälaren generally do not have the opportunity to be properly dried, if the weather is humid, they are likely to rot. Fortunately, the cold period is coming. Rurik estimates that these wheats will not germinate even if they are planted in spring. They were destroyed by the low temperature. It is the low temperature that makes them immortal and can even be stored in the Arctic Circle for fifty years.
Other foods are vegetables, mainly yellow root carrots and onions. Or because of the low temperature, they were all frozen into lumps of ice. Those purple-skinned onions were like ice balls.
This night, the visitors temporarily stayed in wooden houses, and all the vacant wooden houses were put to important uses.
Almost all of Rurik's mercenaries gathered in Ironburg. They were equipped with hand axes, steel daggers, and even twenty crossbows, giving this team of nearly a hundred people a strong combat effectiveness. .
Rurik believed that Mechasta, a Kovin man, had completely surrendered. He was afraid that some thorns among the ordinary tribesmen would suddenly pop up to incite them and do things that were detrimental to him. Although this may seem impossible, routine vigilance is necessary.
Besides, Ironburg is essentially a northern city, and it must have the most basic city defense facilities.
The mercenaries are all here. They eat the wheat of the sponsor and wear the leather clothes of the sponsor. They are Rurik's reliable minions. These people have a clear interest in Rurik. They are more reliable existences than the real Rus fishermen who settled in Elon, and are naturally more reliable than the Corvin people.
Nearly a hundred mercenaries essentially took on the city defense work of Ironburg, further consolidating Rurik's power here.
The next day, the short day started with the red morning glow in the east.
Even though the days are very short, the temperature is surprisingly not that cold. In the short daytime, various projects for daily life in the winter in Ellenburg have to be implemented as soon as possible. For example, the women have to collect firewood and the men have to cut down some small trees.
The leader of the deer herders, Alska and his men, and the Iron Squirrel tribe of the Corvin people had reconciled in Fort Ross half a year ago. Now that he sees that the people of Kewen are living a good life, Alska is envious. He still likes to graze cattle on the snowy fields.
Just guarding a large herd of deer made him feel like he was embracing wonderful wealth. Although he has been reduced to Rurik's deer slave.
To be fair, he thinks life is pretty good right now. At least as Rurik's slave, he didn't feel any real harm to his tribe. As long as he helped his master raise deer, he could get good security. What more could he pursue?
A new day, a new beginning.
Alska took his brothers who could be counted on two hands, left his wife and children, and took more than 200 deer, some iron weapons for self-defense, sleds, leather tents for accommodation and other camping supplies, and they rushed to The vast snowfields in the north. Among the supplies they carried were a small bag of oats and a little salt. These two are regarded as "carrots" for deer farmers to ease the discomfort of their wives and children being detained.
Alska also unexpectedly received a request from Rurik: "You can find other deer herders by the way and tell them to submit to me and pay me some leather every year, and they will receive military protection from the Rus." Get trade permission.”
Alska agreed to this request, and he had to consider one thing. He saw how powerful the Rus were and how ambitious they were to conquer the known world. If everything is fate and all deer farmers will be ruled by them, then we should try our best to avoid conflicts as much as possible. If you provide them with some from your own deer herd, you can ensure that they will not attack you. This "sale" is calculated.
However, another request from Rurik surprised him.
"Going to the sea at the end of the world? Looking for a special river, looking for a bay that never freezes?" Alska was not very clear about this matter.
He accepted the request anyway because Rurik rejected his challenge.
In fact, Rurik hopes that these deer herders operating throughout the north, specifically the Murmansk region of Lapland, can find the Murmansk Gulf and provide a path to get there. Of course, snowfield exploration is something that needs to be done, and Rurik feels that deer farmers are experienced in this aspect.
The winter grazing in Alsk had a certain nature of exploration. They took away more than 200 deer, but what about the other 200 deer?
The rest of the deer were all left in Ironburg, and the ones selected were either the fawns or the strongest stags among them.
The reason is simple, will a fawn that is only a few months old die outside? Although wild reindeer herds migrate year after year, a number of deer should die.
Rurik didn't want anything to happen to these captive deer. It was already a great feat for them to reach Ironburg. They would just graze on the grass around the settlement in the future.
As for those beefy bucks, they'll come in huge use!
Those disappearing forests are not really "Lu Shen" anymore. The ground was littered with fallen pine trees, their branches chopped off and burned for firewood, leaving only a mass of straight trunks.
There is enough hemp rope in Ironburg. Use hemp rope to tie the tree trunks, use manpower to pull them out, and transport them all to the frozen dock. How much manpower will be consumed? Human power is obviously so precious, but animal power is different.
The selected stags were carefully trained by other Kewen tribes to serve as servitors. They were docile masters of pulling sleds and could naturally pull tree trunks out of the "forest ruins" easily.
No, the reindeer started working on the first day.
Rurik didn't even pay attention to the backs of the deer herders and herds. Instead, he led a group of mercenaries to the ruins of the forest to deal with the big trees.
A large number of pine trees were tied with hemp rope, and the other end of the rope was hung around the deer's neck. The reality is that two deer are often dragging a log, which is strenuous for humans, but the reindeer don't seem to feel tired.
Rurik didn't care that much until the short day soon turned into evening, and he found that some bucks were panting and walking a little unsteadily. Even so, the reindeer were whipped and continued dragging the logs toward the frozen dock.
At this moment, on the snow at the pier, the Covin people holding double saws, under the leadership of Mechasta, were already processing the logs for the second time, that is, sawing them into a length of about 2 stikas for better use. Used as ship materials and even for transportation convenience.
Mechasta and his tribe took on the crucial task of stacking timber. Logs of the same length, roughly as thick as a strong man's thigh, were stacked over each other in the shape of a herringbone. Two hundred reindeer, driven together by the detained reindeer women, women from the Kovin tribe, and even Rurik's mercenaries and Russian fishermen, formed a transportation line on the snow, carrying the deer and people with them. The walking area turned into a hard and slippery road.
Finally, just in the evening, an extremely important transportation process was finally carried out amidst Rurik's fervent prayers.
Jevro, the brave mercenary captain, personally presided over this extremely important escort.
There were more than twenty mercenaries and five men from the Kewen tribe, and they drove more than ten strong stags to drag a very special huge log.
It is an extremely tall spruce and has an outstanding presence in the forest.
Rurik also learned from Mechasta that in early September, the Ross fishermen who settled here stood on the mine and saw a few stand-out trees in the pine forest in the distance.
Those are some tall spruce trees. Looking at them from a distance, you don’t think they are particularly tall. Only when you stand under them can you know how tall they are.
The Russian fishermen used classic Viking felling techniques to chop down the tree. Of course, when it collapsed, it not only broke some small pine trees, but also triggered a small earthquake.
After preliminary measurement, after all the branches were cut off, the remaining trunk part actually reached 40 stikas. This is Rurik's dream material for a ship's mast. It is straight and extremely tall. Although the length of 40stika, which is 40 meters, is too crazy for a mere Caravel ship, it is more suitable for use as a Galen ship. mast.
Relying only on the drag of ten stags, Jevlo gritted his teeth and felt the difficulty of the deer. Eventually, all the men joined in the dragging force and, together with the stag, pulled the heavy pole away.
At first, Rurik did not find this extremely difficult.
Until he saw Jevlo's red face holding on to the hemp rope, and the reindeer's crazy panting...
Rurik saw clearly the trunk of the tree that had been dragged out of the forest, and it had been dragged to the flat snow. With slick snow, is it really that difficult to drag a big tree trunk?
The truth is that extreme.
Rurik only knew its length and its diameter, which was a little more than a stika, but did not calculate its weight. The reason is not to blame for Rurik's inaction, it is entirely because he does not know the density of spruce logs.
So, what kind of number is this?
Rurik regarded the tree trunk as a special cone and used a simple calculation formula to find that its volume was approximately 10.5 cubic meters.
In fact, the density of spruce is 417kg/m3, and the huge spruce trunk they pulled out weighs four tons.
This was an extremely heavy weight, and only twenty-five people and ten stags could pull it out using the slippery snow.
The massive weight melts some of the snow directly, allowing towing work in smoother conditions, but four tons is no joke.
There is more than one big tree of this length. Looking at its dense and dizzying growth rings, Rurik is sure that this tree has been growing for at least five thousand years.
In fact, this is not an exaggeration at all. The lifespan of this special tree, Nordic spruce, is theoretically infinite. It is difficult for it to die naturally. Its death mainly comes from external reasons, such as felling by humans.
Spruce may not be a good choice for making masts, but even if the Russians get the technical support of Mellaren's shipbuilding industry, those shipbuilding experts don't understand, let alone need to implement "mast splicing" on small boats. , even a boat like Caravel is still a small boat. The density of red pine is higher, but it cannot grow as exaggeratedly as spruce.
Jevluo's red face looked as if he had drank a bottle of strong wine. When the people who were carrying ordinary logs saw such a group of warriors suddenly coming out, they couldn't help but gather around to watch. They were shocked that these guys had successfully pulled out the giant tree, and were worried about their bodies.
Yevlo was eager to make a positive statement to Rurik: "Sir, we are almost successful."
"This... is so crazy. You really succeeded."
Rurik stroked the rough bark, and the man pulling the hemp rope hurriedly sat down to rest. They had long taken off their fur hats, and now they sat down and grabbed a lot of snow and stuffed it into their mouths.
"My lord, this tree is very heavy."
"Yes, I saw it all."
"So." Yevluo gasped and boldly requested: "I hope you will gather all the brothers, and we will use a hundred people to pull this big tree away. Just rely on..." Then Yevluo suddenly felt violent. cough.
"You!" Rurik suddenly turned around, noticed the blood around Jevlo's mouth, and became very nervous for a moment. "You! Are you sick?"
"It's because I'm tired. Sir, my chest feels like it's going to explode. I..." Jevro coughed again, and there were some bright red blood streaks in the protruding phlegm.
Is it tuberculosis? It's definitely impossible. I'm afraid this is a sign of extreme fatigue.
This was indeed the case. Yevlo had to set an example. He exerted so much force that his lungs were filled with air, which ruptured many capillaries. He had already suffered obvious internal injuries, and it was not worth the effort to continue to do his job.
They were all strong men. Looking at the exaggerated length of the tree, Rurik gritted his teeth and hurriedly ordered the mercenaries who were driving the reindeer to assemble urgently. Also gathering were a group of busy Russian fishermen and Kewen tribesmen. .
In excitement, Rurik simply pulled out his dagger and encouraged: "Brothers, this big tree will serve as the mast of our ship! It is extremely heavy, but don't be afraid! We will organize a hundred deer and a hundred people. , work together to pull it away! Listen, finish this job and let’s go back to eat. All of you! Whether it’s the Ross people, the Corvin people, or my mercenary brothers, you have paid too much! Tonight everyone can Got three pounds of wheat!”
Hearing this promise, the tired guys all jumped up, and even Jevro felt that he had regained a lot of strength. wheat! The world is delicious, and Rurik does have the ability to fulfill this promise immediately.
Of course Rurik will fulfill his promise. After all, it is 70,000 pounds of wheat. Such a lot of wheat is not evenly distributed to the residents of Ironburg. They are a reward for the strong men who have put in a lot of hard work, and only they can supplement the strong men with nearly 4,000 calories of precious calories in a very short period of time, hoping that they can still jump up and do high school the next day. Intensive physical work.
