The sea became violent and the fjords of Roseburg were full of waves.
These conditions did nothing to hinder the Russians from returning home, even though all the ships were bouncing up and down in the waves, many people were already being tossed about by them, and the vomiting after seasickness made people listless.
The temperatures are getting colder, and some people are even worried that the first snow will come earlier than usual.
The snow will come later! Preferably no rain either.
In this war, the Russians plundered a large amount of money and leather, but their acquisition of very important food was limited.
In the past years, from August to October, the tribesmen would desperately stock up on food for the winter. They had to fish on a large scale to make dried meat and store it. Although there were many brave winter warriors, it was safer to stay at home and eat dried fish than to risk going hunting.
The tribesmen know that after returning to their hometown, Duke Ross will give everyone a reward for victory. Maybe it won't be a huge sum of money, but it will definitely be indispensable.
Money is a good thing, but it cannot be exchanged for food in the extremely cold season. They hoped to go back early and rest for a day or two. No matter whether the sea water was violent or not, the right way was to forcefully go out to sea to catch herring. The tribesmen were full of hope because the leaders of the two major tribes of Ke and Wen, who were fighting together, pointed out very critical information, that is, about the salmon fishing season in the big river.
Then row the long boats to the north, line up in array at the mouths of the big rivers, and use dense nets to catch all the salmon in one go.
There were gusts of cold wind under the slightly hazy sky, and the Aurora, which was moving against the wind, led Ross's main fleet back.
The people who stayed behind were not afraid of the severe cold. They gathered on the shore and danced. Their excitement could not be suppressed.
Cargo ships docked at the docks one after another, and long boats washed directly onto the beach.
Women rushed forward to find their husbands and sons among the returning soldiers.
Many people hugged each other and laughed, while some women were ecstatic at first, then wary, and finally cried out in confusion.
Because not many Ross men have returned.
Arik shouldered the mission of claiming tribute from the East, and rushed to the east with his new woman and more than a hundred native Russian warriors. When the surviving soldiers recruited from Novorosberg returned to their homes, all the men from the White Tree Manor in Novgorod naturally went home. Only the Slavic men who betrayed each manor became new immigrants to Novorosberg. .
Among the new immigrants in New Roseburg, there is also a small group with a rather special status.
It was Harald of Gotland, whose family was ordered to move to a new territory with what was left of their property.
The route to the East was extremely novel. This was Harald's first trip to the so-called "Wild East". When he saw the huge fortress, regular docks, and even some huge rotating objects that appeared at the mouth of the river, he completely changed his mind. idea. It seems that the East is not really wild, and coming here is by no means an exile. It is probably a new opportunity to make a fortune.
Harald must be grateful to his daughter and his wonderful luck. His resignation and reconciliation at the critical moment made his family extremely important in Rurik's eyes.
If the expansion of the Ross people's wealth is mainly entrusted to the Gould family, this obviously has huge security risks. Rurik knew very well that Gould, a man who knew the current affairs, would not betray. As for whether his descendants would be loyal, it was hard to say. A family has mastered huge wealth and made great contributions to the principality. They must want greater power.
Supporting a competitor, such as the Khrolev family in Soharal, is one method. Besides, Rurik knew that he had to call Aslaki sister (sister-in-law is equivalent to sister).
Harald settled in New Roseburg with hundreds of pounds of silver, and the Khrolev family was currently the richest in the area. If this person organizes the development of trade and industry in the East, will New Roseburg's economic situation take off quickly? Because as many as a thousand sheep were transported to New Roseburg at the mouth of the Neva River, the local climate was naturally much warmer than Roseburg's hometown, and the local sheep farming industry could at least be developed.
The one thousand sheep captured were all the property of the Duke of Ross. Harald had the power and task to reproduce the population. His family must pay regular tributes of leather, wool and dairy products, and the newly bred sheep became his in proportion. the property of. In the future, some cattle will also be transported there.
Only more than 500 native men from the Ross tribe returned.
Three hundred warriors from Lake Malaren officially became the new Rus, but they were not natives here.
When there is war, there is death. Of course, the women whose sons and husbands died were happy about the victory, but their homes collapsed!
The wife inherits all the husband's property, she can take the children and marry a new man, just look at the current situation! Just a few years ago, every woman in the Ross tribe was eagerly pursued by men. Now, there are already too many women in the Ross tribe.
A large number of women and children disembarked from the ship. They could not cheer for the victory of the Russians because they were prisoners after the defeat. After disembarking, they could only wait pitifully for an unknown fate.
As more detailed news spread, the women who believed that their husbands had died in the battle had their last thoughts. Some tribesmen went to the East to pay tribute, and maybe their husbands were there.
But there were more than 300 native Russian soldiers killed in the battle. Whose husband and son were the honorable dead?
They pray that they are not the "lucky one". Even if you are really "lucky", you can only comfort yourself that those heroes who died in battle have already gone to Valhalla.
From June to September, the long war seemed to have finally come to an end.
The Ross tribe ushered in a resounding victory. The returning people returned to their homes and caroused all night long with their families!
The cold wind outside is no longer scary. Roseburg, which should have been dark at night, is now full of bonfires, with the crackling sounds of pine branches burning and a group of people dancing around the bonfire.
A large amount of seized materials were unloaded from the ship, and most of the leather was naturally transported to the Gould family's warehouse immediately. This is of course inappropriate. Rurik took into account the current situation. The construction of the "Principal Warehouse" of the Russians had not been completed, and the seized items could only be temporarily held by big businessmen.
There was only a group of very critical treasures, which were weighed together by strong warriors who did not get seasick. The warriors formed a dragon and headed straight to the priest's longhouse under the leadership of Rurik and Otto.
victory! A great victory!
Rurik's ears were filled with the cheers of the tribesmen. They chanted the names of Otto and Rurik and used the most beautiful words to praise their ducal family.
Immersed in the happy atmosphere, Rurik wanted to laugh. He thought of something, so he had to squeeze out a smile and face the welcoming tribesmen.
Because of the high priest Vilia who transferred her power, her life...
"Ahead is the chief priest's house. I..." Rumia, who was holding a deer-horned helmet, followed Rurik. She was immersed in the cold wind. It was already getting late, and the hazy world intensified the sense of peace and joy. The atmosphere feels out of place and desolate.
"Are you worried about Vilia?"
"Yes. She was very weak when we set off. I'm worried..."
Worried about losing her, that's what Rumia thought.
Rurik didn't want to console him, it was meaningless. And for Vilia, this decaying old lady has become too weak to stand this year. She is still alive, and I am afraid she is already in a state of hanging her breath.
Many Viking tribes do not have a clear sacrificial center. For example, the Mälaren tribe controls most of Lake Mälaren. The so-called altar is a pile of stones placed by the lake.
The Uppsala tribe built wooden sheds in the woods and set up wooden sculptures of gods to worship.
Visby on the island of Gotland was a real sacrificial center. They built temples and cast bronze idols for worship.
The Rus have never reached the level of belief of the residents of Visby, but they are still more advanced than most tribes. Living in the far north, people need a persevering faith to withstand the coldest winter with strong spiritual power. The Rus people have permanent stone ship altars, and they also label the residence of the priests as a sacred place.
The longhouse of the priests is sacred and should be kept at a distance by ordinary people.
Rus' parents would teach their children not to approach the priest's longhouse when playing. The warriors who were selected as the guardians of the priest's longhouse in recent years boasted of this honor and received letters of introduction to Valhalla while they were still alive.
They were all afraid of angering Odin with their unwise blasphemy, and they dared not think anything of the longhouse, so it was the most suitable place to put their money.
Only a handful of warriors were given the authority to move boxes, and now they began to move the last gold and silver treasures box after box to the "Rurik's Big Money Box" located inside the priest's longhouse, which was the treasury of the Principality of Rus.
And this is already the second time in the past ten days that a large amount of wealth has been recorded.
When the first batch of thousands of pounds of silver and gold coins arrived in the big cash box, the priests who stayed behind screamed in shock. Even Vilia sat up in shock while dying of illness, and with the support of the priestesses, she saw the piles There are money boxes everywhere.
The longhouse filled with the scent of rosin and chrysanthemum tea became noisy.
The two priestesses supported an old woman with wrinkles on her face that looked like cracks in the earth, and slowly emerged from the dim inner hall.
"Let me see if my Rurik is really back."
Vilia's condition may not be that bad. Seeing that the old woman can still stand up, isn't her physical condition recovering? Rurik left the people around him and walked over quickly, just like the reunion between his grandson and his grandma.
Of course, Rurik recognized from the bottom of his heart that Vilia was a relative, a somewhat pitiful but very respectable old man.
When Vilia sees Otto, he is like a son, and when he sees Rurik, he is naturally a grandson. As for Rumia, she is the heir of everything she has. Although she is not related by blood, who says relatives must be related by blood?
Her hands like dead branches caressed Rurik's chubby face, her eyes were full of enthusiastic anticipation, and finally she kissed her "grandson"'s forehead affectionately.
"High Priest, you are healthy again." Otto couldn't help but feel relieved to see Vilia so "vibrant".
"I am no longer the high priest, Rumia is. I..." She gently let go of her hand and looked kindly into Rurik's blue eyes: "Everyone is destined to die, and I am too old. I am about to go to Val. Hala, you don’t have to worry, Odin entered my dream, and God told me that the Ross army will achieve a great victory, and I will leave the human world and become a Valkyrie.”
If she is not afraid of death, if she feels that the so-called death is just a process of becoming a Valkyrie, what should she be afraid of?
Rurik followed her words and said: "You will never leave, right? You will protect the Rus people on earth in heaven."
"Yes." Vilia continued to hold Rurik's cheek: "There is an oracle, Odin will take me away at the right time. At that time, don't be sad, please transform the body I left in the world As ashes. You can chant my name, SPIRUS."
Rurik thought that Vilia would say a lot of happy words and applaud the unprecedented victory of the Russians, but he never expected that she was talking about her destined death.
what is this? still.
ah!
For a moment, Rurik suddenly felt that Vilya's current toughness was simply a reflection of his past.
"SPIRUS, is this your...your real name?"
Viria shook her head: "My name has been forgotten long ago, and it is not important at all. Viria just means the daughter of the sacrifice. And Spirus is the new name given to me by Odin, which is the oar of hope. Rurik, you !" As he spoke, Vilia raised his head slightly and faced the people present, "I! I am the Valkyrie Spirus. I will regain my youth in Vallaha, and I will drive a carriage and cruise in the sky. This is I’m going to tell you.”
(Vilia dreamed of Odin's rewards, such as the qualification to become a Valkyrie, and a new name. Spirus is just a compound word of Latin "hope" and Norse "oar", deep in her soul He will always retain the encounter he had with the envoy from Eastern Rome when he was young)
Like a huge stone pressing on his chest, Otto was shocked and speechless, because he regarded what Vilia said as the most truthful thing.
What about Rurik? He had some doubts in his heart, but it was a happy thing that Villa could continue to live in his imaginary hometown.
"Then I will call you Speros Vilia Valkyrie."
"A good name. Let's continue to call me Vilia. Rurik, tell me about you now. Tell me what kind of victory you have won..."
It is said that the Asgard Sanctuary, the ground there is paved with gold and silver, and the residents of the Sanctuary are all wearing gold and silver. No words can describe their grace and splendor.
Vilia saw the huge amount of gold and silver captured in Gotland, and her outlook was completely refreshed. She even exclaimed at one point, "Did they attack Asgard?" It was also for this reason that she had many wonderful dreams in succession, which she interpreted as miracles.
With Rurik, Otto, and even Rumia's detailed descriptions, a magnificent war scene slowly unfolded.
Villya did not grieve at all for those who died in the battle, whether they were the enemy's or his own. The warriors who died heroically must be drinking and having fun in Valhalla now.
It was the Ross people who lost more than 300 people in the first battle, which was a terrible loss to the current Ross tribe.
But things are not bad, there is a huge turning point, or the Russians have ushered in a new era.
Verya, who experienced the most difficult time for the Russian people when she was young, fled Svealand to the bitter cold land in the north, where she had a fierce battle with the local deer herders and captured today's Roseburg. Is there anything worse than these things?
Otto, who was sitting obediently, bluntly said that the strength of the tribe had become much weaker. Vilia bluntly said that this was a fallacy: "You actually captured two thousand women? They can give birth to two thousand children as soon as next year, and there will be at least one thousand. It’s a boy, and in twelve years there will be a thousand warriors. They can have as many children as possible, and as long as you can feed them, the Rus will have tens of thousands of warriors, and we will become stronger quickly.”
Otto nudged Rurik: "This is exactly what my son wanted."
"What do you want to do?" Vilia asked Rurik.
"Assign them and start tomorrow! We have a clear agreement with the Mälaren people. I am about to set off to Lake Mälaren again to get back our one million pounds of wheat. I will allocate one to the soldiers on the expedition. With the money, the deceased will be led by his wife and children. I will also distribute it to the women they captured and hold a large-scale wedding ceremony. The tribesmen will take the money and come to me to buy wheat to support themselves and their families. Many women. The wheat we get will easily feed all the people living in Roseburg. No matter how many children those women have, we can all afford them."
Vilia nodded: "Many people say you are kind. They are just mortals and don't understand you at all, but I know you best..."
Villa didn't say any more, and there was no need to say more.
Rurik, this kid just looks like a kid. He is already a veritable Duke of Rus, and his achievements have far surpassed those of previous leaders. He is an unprecedented leader who cares about every Rus person and new immigrant.
"You all please leave, I... just want some peace and quiet."
Vilia persuaded everyone who was debriefing to leave with a smile. She finally saw Rurik closing the leather curtain, taking a deep breath, and then his whole body went limp, relaxing in the support of the priest.
The priests present gathered around in panic: "High Priest! Are you... okay?"
"I'm fine, I just feel suddenly weak. Let me... continue to lie down. Ah, Rose doesn't have to worry about me anymore. You... you remember." Vilia muttered desperately: "I won't leave for a while. . You must remember that Rumia is the high priest chosen by Odin, and Rumia is the servant of Rurik. Rurik, he is not a human, he is a god living in the world, he is a descendant of Odin .Be glorious! You women who are supposed to be ordinary, you are serving a god."
Hearing these words, the priests all trembled. They were surprised and happy, and no one doubted Vilia's words.
Verya was not making up stories to strengthen the legitimacy of Rurik's rule. She convinced herself and completely reconciled with the world. Her life was complete.
