Rise of Rurik

In the Gulf of Finland, a large number of Russian and Finnish fishing boats wantonly plunder the abundant fish catch at the turn of spring and summer. Herring, baltic cod, pike, and seabass are all caught by fishermen with limited abilities.

Generally speaking, a trawler throws a large net into the water and drags it around. How many fish can be caught depends on luck.

The large nets woven by fishermen are all made of a mixture of flax and ship linen, which ensures toughness and strength and is the best net material currently available. Even such a large net wears out a lot. It is a reality that three days of fishing and two days of drying the net are a reality.

Catching herrings in the vast sea is a gamble, and how much you can catch depends on the gift of God. Therefore, fishermen always kneel before the statue of Frei they bought before going to sea, and even spend money to worship at the New Roseburg Temple, just for This patron saint of wealth bestows receipts.

No matter how many herrings are caught, they will be sold out immediately after they are shipped back to the port. There is no problem if the price is cheaper, and the fishermen generally make a profit.

There are also many fishermen who are impatient for large-scale fishing. They are willing to take a safer approach, which is to release bait to catch cod. As long as they catch one big cod, it will be enough for the family to enjoy the meal for many days. If they catch more, they will sell them the same. Good price. The most important thing is that the cost of fishing materials is very low. Carbon steel hooks and hemp rope fishing lines are enough, and the bait is small fish.

In between is access to the river to catch bass. These fresh water fish are more common, but the Russians who are proficient in eating fish have already studied the fish thoroughly, and use daggers to cut off the parts with many fish bones, and the rest is fish meat.

The coast near the Gulf of Finland is an uninhabited area, and a large number of rivers entering the sea are visible to the naked eye.

All inland rivers may contain huge amounts of fresh water fish resources, tempting fishermen to take risks with weapons.

Five fishing families traveled together, armed with harpoons, axes, arrows and wooden crossbows, and rowed two long boats, consciously aiming for the mouth of an unknown river.

They all have big nets and fishing hooks, and some bad, bitter salt. These crude salts also need to purify the sodium chloride in them. Fishermen are not picky. After all, this kind of bad salt is not eaten directly, but the fish or animal meat caught by the team is preserved and cooked again when it is eaten. Boil off excess salt.

This is a rather wide river, which is visibly different from other small rivers, and its flow speed is not high. The riverside is lush and lush with forests, and the riverside is full of dense reeds.

They lived temporarily on the shore, cutting down small trees to build shacks. Then put the pottery urn up and cook the freshly caught bass.

Women and children from five families worked together to cook. The children were busy scraping fish scales with knives, and then handed the fish meat to their mothers for further processing. The children played in the grass, played in the water by the river, and tried to catch some frogs and shrimps in the grass, even if their legs were covered in black mud.

The men ran further. Some were responsible for spreading out large nets and focusing on catching fish, while others carried wooden crossbows and short wooden bows to hunt farther away.

Because the eagle-eyed have spotted cruising waterfowl!

A hoarse rattling sound attracted the attention of two fishermen. They were indeed fishermen, but now they have become forest hunters.

"Are there some big birds over there? Catching one will last us a long time. Carl, follow closely." One person said.

"We'd better get down on our knees first, and we'll get some reeds and stick them on our bodies to avoid scaring the birds."

"That's fine."

Karl and Brand are old friends. They are New Rus's who immigrated together from the Melalen tribe. It had been a full ten years since immigrants joined Ross. The two families obtained new identities and responded to the call to move to New Rossburg and became early settlers.

Now, the two take their families on an adventure in partnership with three other families. The two longships were their property. They had saved enough money to order their own ships, and now they could do adventures that they had no conditions for in the past.

The two are no longer young, and their beards and hair are starting to turn gray. They withdrew from the second flag and were filled by their respective eldest sons. The sons not only survived the war in 840, but also returned with a large amount of loot. The eldest son has already established his own business. As a father, apart from receiving some gifts from his son, he has no right to ask for more. This was not a problem. The two refused to accept their aging, so they took their youngest son and daughter to embark on the adventure they had dreamed of.

A large number of green and tall reeds were inserted into the hat, and the reeds were quickly tied into bundles and hung on the body.

Two clumps of green grass are squirming among the dense reeds. Even an old hunter with sharp eyes would not be able to detect them easily.

The south wind blew the reeds constantly swaying, and the nearby forest rustled. The noise completely hid the movements of the two hunters, and their movements merged with the swaying of the reeds.

In this way, the Nordic gray cranes who are in the courtship period know nothing about it.

Karl continued to crawl, and a light arrow had been installed. He held the crossbow and whispered: "Look at me now, I will definitely kill him with one shot. Alas, I asked you to bring a crossbow, but you didn't."

Brand concentrated on: "The wooden bow is light enough. Alas, I was thinking about fishing, but who would have thought that I would encounter a group of big birds in this unknown place. Also, who knew that this river is so long? Only God knows Where does it lead."

"Stop talking nonsense. Look at me."

Karl was clearly a sniper at this moment. This old guy was constantly moving with a body of reeds on his back. He didn’t know what those big birds were, but he just coveted the bird meat, bird leg bones and the feathers.

The arrow missed silently, and with a short whoosh sound, the arrow pierced the gray crane's chest. A huge bird suddenly fell down!

The flock of birds was instantly startled. They raised their towering necks and looked around. All the birds in this large mating scene were exploring their surroundings. The big bird that had been hit by the arrow was still kicking and struggling, flapping its wings helplessly, and soon stopped moving.

Karl originally thought he could only shoot one, but when he saw the birds started to quack again after observing them for a while, he couldn't help but secretly cursed: "What a bunch of stupid birds."

"Hey, maybe we can hunt them all." Brand encouraged.

"I hope so. Thanks to the king for getting the crossbow. This wooden version is not very good at fighting, but it is really good for hunting."

Indeed, once people discovered the tactical advantages of crossbows with charged aiming, more and more of them were equipped. Any hunter likes efficient hunting equipment. Smart people can spontaneously modify the short wooden bows in their hands. Although the cost of making a "crossbow-type" trigger system is too high, it can be replaced with a simpler lever system, even if it is awkward to use. The short wooden bow could not break the hard skin of wild boars and bears, and it had no problem shooting small animals and birds. So when it was modified into a crossbow, it could only hunt small animals.

It was an accident to encounter large migratory birds like gray cranes. These Nordic birds spend the summer on both sides of the Gulf of Finland, hiding in uninhabited rivers and lakes to court and incubate eggs, and then go south to overwinter in autumn.

The second arrow was loaded, and it was another precise sniper shot.

Only this time the entire flock was completely frightened and they began to fly.

"Well done Carl, at least two of them were killed." Brand smiled.

"No! We still have a chance. Brother, draw your sword and charge at me! Kill those who don't have time to fly!"

"All right."

The two stopped pretending, and two old men suddenly emerged from the reeds. With axes in their left hands and swords in their right hands, they rushed towards the place where the cranes were stopping without saying a word.

The mother crane is busy incubating the eggs and will not leave unless absolutely necessary. Perhaps these migratory birds had never been attacked by humans in their memories. The mother cranes that were incubating their eggs got up one after another, but three of them were directly hacked to death by violent hunters.

The entire group of cranes had all fled, leaving behind their young birds. The two hunters stood here, laughing and exploring the results of their battle.

"It's such a big bird. I never thought there was such a big bird in the world!" Carl held a dying gray crane by its neck. "It's so heavy."

"The bird meat is enough for us. Let's take a good look at these feathers! We can make extra money by selling them to the king." Brand corrected with a smile.

Karl looked at the prey at hand again, put it down and spread his wings. "Wow! Such an amazing wingspan."

"Let me see it too."

Now, both of them were surprised by the huge wings of such a big bird. Each flight feather was extremely huge. Even the smaller feathers were excellent materials for making arrow feathers.

Karl asked his old friend: "How many arrows can we make by plucking the feathers from this bird?"

"If you have three arrows... maybe there will be thirty."

"Maybe more. Let's see what other gains there are."

Nowadays, natural protection does not exist. The Russians believe that all products are gifts from the gods. Hunters have always hunted freely, without realizing that excessive harvesting will cause ecological disasters. This resulted in the wild reindeer herds near the Rossburg Fjord being wiped out long ago, and even the small animals disappeared. This led to the emergence of the northern hunting tradition in the era of the Ross tribe.

Five families are standing in an unknown river area in the southern part of the Gulf of Finland. This generation is not a Slavic settlement. What they see is a completely new world to them.

Five large birds with long necks were tied and dragged away. The two also found many eggs from the nests and even killed the chicks and took them away.

Such hunting was really fruitful, and the large number of hunts surprised the people in the camp.

They boiled water for large birds and scalded them, and all the good feathers were collected and dried.

The bird meat is grilled directly, but the taste is a little bit woody, so the five families are not picky. They kept the eggs as a reserve for further exploration. Whether it's a big bird or a baby bird, the endless bird meat is like extra caught bass. It is coated with a layer of coarse salt and baked into dried meat as much as possible.

These big birds have amazingly long legs with long and slender leg bones, which are really good materials for making bone flutes. Everyone knows that Nolen, one of the king's wives, is proficient in music. She needs a lot of materials to make musical instruments. In the past, eagle leg bones were used to make bone flutes just because they were long enough. Aren't these bird leg bones longer now? They imagined Nolen would pay big bucks for it.

They talked and laughed around the campfire. Today's hunt was a good sign. As long as they continued to explore upstream, they might be able to find more birds. This was unexpected wealth. After gathering themselves, they immediately continued their adventure.

The two long boats continued to drift against the current, and everyone was rowing as hard as they could.

The surrounding scenery has never changed much. The lakeside is full of reeds and the surroundings are full of forests. If it weren't for the existence of this river, people in this area would easily get lost.

Suddenly, the peaceful paddling was interrupted by the appearance of a small boat ahead.

"Attention! There is a situation ahead! Take up arms!" After all, Karl retired from the flag team because of his old age, and his soldiers were still alert.

The crossbow was loaded and the short wooden bow was ready.

The small boat was actually a canoe. Apparently, he was surprised when he saw the two big boats. After hesitating for a while, he immediately chose to row away.

"What should I do?" someone asked.

"Strange, that's definitely not one of ours." Karl hurriedly discussed with Brand and decided to go visit him.

Ross's flag was purposefully hoisted on the mast, and the longship followed the path of the fleeing canoe. Gradually the water channel becomes wider and the flow speed of the river further decreases.

No! What appeared before us was no longer a river, but a lake and a village made up of many gabled shacks.

"An unknown village. Carl, what should we do? Go and have a look?" Brand, who was in control of the rear boat, shouted loudly.

"Then go take a look. I'll go first! You stay behind and remember, don't go ashore."

Therefore, the sudden appearance of two large ships was a complete rarity for the locals. It was indeed the first time for this small village hidden deep in the forest to encounter outsiders.

Karl didn't want to show hostility at the first moment. After considering his own strength, it was impossible for five men and a few half-grown men to rob this village. Of course, this doesn't mean that he won't think of robbing in the future.

All men, women, and children in the entire village walked out of their homes. They subconsciously kept a certain amount of vigilance, but they just watched more of the excitement.

A group of short, dark-haired men with spears and bows gathered, forcing Karl to be even more alert.

The longship still moved forward boldly. He asked his wife and children to stand up loudly. After all, women and children would never arouse hostility from each other. He was also betting that the opponent's number was not large, but his own was too few. If there was a conflict and he was defeated, wouldn't he become a slave? This is why he wants to go to Brand and take other people to stay on the lake. If something happens, he will save himself and escape. If he fails, he will escape quickly. If he reports the matter to the Governor of New Roseburg, he will be punished by future generations for revenge.

Karl cautiously landed ashore, carrying a buckler and deliberately putting on a heavily patched Ross jersey. This outfit was very majestic, and the villagers wearing coarse cloth and animal skins were greatly surprised.

He first went ashore alone, even though the steel sword was hanging on his body, he spread his hands and deliberately smiled to show that he was not a threat.

Then, an old man holding a wooden stick walked out from the hundreds of villagers who were watching.

The old man opened his mouth with questions, and his words really shocked Karl. Because he basically understands.

"You are actually Suomi?!" Karl asked in broken Suomi or Finnish.

The old man was equally surprised: "A huge stranger from afar, you... actually understand our language?"

"Strangers? Aren't we friends?"

"Friends. You are indeed our friends. Maybe. You have drifted here from afar. What are you... for?"

The old man did speak Suomi, at least Karl could understand it. After all, Karl has lived in New Roseburg for a long time. In recent years, whenever he fishes, he will definitely interact with the Suomi people who live there. There are also cases of cooperative fishing at sea before. Suomi's language does not have many inherent vocabulary, so it is not a big problem to learn enough vocabulary to use common expressions.

Karl was keenly aware that these people speaking Suomi were definitely not from Finland. They did not even understand the meaning of their clothes and their strange words.

An answer is already coming out - this village is not under the control of the Kingdom of Rus, and the locals probably know nothing about the outside world.

Thinking of this, if many brothers go on an adventure together, it might not be a problem to rob the village and take everyone as slaves.

Since the other party was speaking Suomi, think about it. If the brothers really did this, would a large group of Suomi people living in the capital allow this?

Since both parties can communicate, maybe...

Karl thought of a plan. Maybe he could persuade the village in front of him to join the Kingdom of Ross. He really knew the preferences of King Rurik. He would kill those tribes that did not surrender, and reward those who surrendered actively. If you go to the king's liking, wouldn't it be a great achievement to persuade this village to surrender?

Looking at the population of this village, there are about 200 people. Although the number is not large, it does exist in an unknown area, and there are clear waterways for the Russians to enter in the future.

Karl made a judgment and now said: "We just drifted here by accident. We are indeed friends. Moreover, I am willing to exchange something with you."

As soon as he heard "exchange", the old man immediately became interested.

Upon seeing this, Carl immediately said the word "salt" in Suomi language, which made the old man even more excited to investigate.

He continued to ask: "So, who are you? And this river, what do you... call it?"

The old man lost his mind at this moment and pointed out in a hoarse voice: "We are Savokot people."

Savok? An unknown noun.

Karl still asked for the name of the river, but the answer he got was very absurd. Because the people in this village only call this river "river".

"Since there is no name, can't I be the first to name it?" Karl thought, already having the result in his mind.

Along the way, he discovered that the river had its own characteristics. For example, the bottom of the river was sandy and gravelly, mixed with some pebbles, and the riverside was full of dense reeds. In the Norse dialect of Old Rus, the noun describing the lush grass beside the river is "Reids", so the name of the river is that.

(The Savokot people are an important group of the Ingri Finns. This river is the Luga River south of the Gulf of Finland and in the western region of Novgorod.)