Rise of Rurik

Now, what appears in front of Rurik is a small bay.

The weather is good today, and the outline of the bay is particularly clear under the clear air.

For everyone who has been marching for many days, the groping progress in the forest and riverside has finally come to an end. We are indeed facing the sea, and you can feel the salty taste just by tasting the water.

It was getting late, and the army immediately set up camp at the bay.

Two groups of cavalry were sent out by Rurik to explore the surrounding situation. He hoped to encounter other Russian fishermen and also hoped that the cavalry would find other good things.

The only long boat was immediately deployed to the bay. This time, Carl Brand's team was ordered to light the torch beside the boat at night in order to attract the herring to gather, so as to take the opportunity to raise the buried desire. Maybe there would be a big harvest from fishing at night, and even if the fish caught were few, it would be enough to supplement the army's food tomorrow.

Rurik gave orders in the camp, and the team took orders without complaint. Such strong decision-making power and execution ability of the army really stunned the five travelers from Pskov.

Since it is in the river mouth area, the camp is completely on the east bank of the river. This is a deliberate move, just to be able to smoothly move along the south bank of the bay all the way to the southern area of ​​New Roseburg. The cavalry sent out were unable to explore the other side. They rode horses to investigate the coastline and also ventured deep into the forest along the creek runoff.

A large number of bonfires were lit on the beach. Some of the dismounted warriors watched the horses, and most of them brought tools to cut trees on the spot.

It’s summer, and almost all Nordic red pine trees are spontaneously exuding rosin. The more resinous the tree, the more flammable it is. Although the smell of such firewood is too choking, they are the only ones who can quickly ignite it.

Wet firewood was piled together, and after the fire was completed, the iron pot was set up and began to cook oats.

Even now, the army's supplies are still sufficient, and the soldiers sitting on the ground are waiting for meals with their own tableware.

They heard the sound of waves in their ears and faced the breeze from the ocean.

The sun is getting darker and darker, and dinner is almost ready.

Rurik held a silver bowl and dug out the cooked oats with a wooden spoon to eat. All the generals ate exactly the same food. The difference was that they mostly used cheap wooden bowls.

He especially sat with his cronies, and even slightly alienated himself from his wives, concubines, and sons.

Men get together to talk, often talking about big things.

A big hand pointed at the ocean: "We need to build a village here and then build a pier. I have decided! It must be built."

There was no objection from the cronies, but their silence was rather suspicious.

"How? Is there any of you who is confused? Brody, tell me."

"Me? I don't understand."

"So you support it?"

What can Brody say? As a newly promoted cavalry general, he had no choice but to say: "I will do whatever the king orders me to do. Since it is appropriate to build a new village, I will support it."

"It's like I didn't say anything..." Rurik muttered, then thought about it again and concluded that there was no need to discuss this matter anymore. "Then set up another earldom. I will then confer a noble on a surprise attack."

Upon hearing the canonization, several close friends immediately raised their chests.

"Haha, are you excited now? You are indeed still interested in the canonization." Rurik glanced at them, and saw his raised chin sinking instantly, and then said: "Don't think too much, it has nothing to do with you."

Rurik had already made a decision on what to do. The so-called expedition was led by two people. Karl couldn't just be given an advantage, but Brand also had to be rewarded.

Rurik chatted with his cronies about other things, especially what to do after entering the capital. The so-called cavalry must pass through the city in a swagger, especially through the "valhalla on earth" in the public cemetery. The cemetery is located in the south of the capital, and passing by the Tomb of the Heroic Spirits has great symbolic significance.

Now the sun has finally set, and the soldiers who have eaten are lying in a mess. Now that it is summer, there is no need to worry about catching cold while sleeping in the open air with clothes on. Some soldiers are already sleeping soundly around the campfire.

After finishing their chat, Rurik finally had time to spend time with his wife and concubines. He had no intention of getting involved in the chatter between women, but teasing his prince Osborne was a good thing.

It is embarrassing to say that Osborne is obviously the prince, but as a father, I seriously lack the opportunity to get along with him. The little boy longs for his father, now give him a chance to play with him.

As a man with a large number of children, Rurik certainly cannot distribute his father's love equally to everyone.

He naturally has his own priorities. For his first child, eldest daughter Velika, and currently his only daughter, his paternal love is naturally deeper. Going to the capital now is a good time to get along with the eldest daughter, and letting her live with the prince's younger brother for a while will be very beneficial to Rose's future.

However, what should have been an absolutely peaceful night turned out to be a little more turbulent.

Everyone knows that it is easy to dig amber in the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea. Even the young soldiers of the 2nd Cavalry have heard what their parents said. Now it is difficult to get to the beach. Some of them are gearing up and carrying small shovels to dig into the sand and gravel. beach trying to dig.

Not to mention, there were indeed large particles dug out.

The man who dug up something excitedly ran to the campfire and saw through the dim light what he had dug up.

Some of them look like ordinary pebbles, some are quite turbid despite being obviously reflective, and some are very crystal clear.

Only the mineralized resin with high gloss is amber, and the turbid one is beeswax. Unpolished amber rough stones are rough, but polishing them now is not a problem.

Because the paper is brushed with rosin and then sifted with some iron sand powder or stone powder, the sandpaper is completed. Such a useful thing was produced in conjunction with papermaking. At the state-owned blacksmith shop located in the capital, craftsmen decisively used this cheap equipment to give the final polish to the steel sword.

The use of sandpaper to polish gemstones completely gave way to the techniques used to process gemstones in the past.

Amber can always be dug out at the seaside. This is also a traditional skill that Ross has had in the tribal era. However, they dug extensively on the beaches of their hometown and basically dug out all the shallow areas. In this way, they can only go deep inland. Trying your luck to dig up the humus layer of the forest is not as efficient as before. The only thing you can do is try digging on a newly discovered beach, and now is your chance.

However, as the technology for processing colored glass balls has become more and more perfect, and more crystal-clear ornaments have become available, the huge profits of natural amber have dropped sharply in the past. So in the market of the Kingdom of Rus, the prices of amber and beeswax products dropped a lot, and they were often used together with glass products to make mixed jewelry. Because it takes a lot of time to carve amber, and to make glass into a god pendant, you only need to consider whether the mold is suitable.

After all, amber and beeswax are gems, and the warriors who dug them kept them in their pockets for fun.

The night passed quickly, and in the early morning, the two fishing boats returned after completing a night of fishing.

As Rurik estimated, their harvest was neither huge nor meager. The catch was quite satisfactory. However, in order to supply the army fairly, they could only cut one fish in half and divide it between two people.

As a ruler, Rurik can certainly choose a few more big ones to enjoy. It's better to let your wives and concubines enjoy the privileges, and just choose one and bake it yourself.

New firewood was added to the slow-burning bonfire, and thin branches and fish pieces were inserted around the fire to surround the city.

Especially since the matter was so important, Rurik gathered the five men from Karl Brand's team, who were in a slightly depressed state of mind, and announced his new decision to them.

He sat cross-legged on the beach, his golden ponytail fluttering in the sea breeze.

"I'm fair. Carl, Brand, the expedition was organized by you two, and the longship is also your property. Carl, you were first made an earl for your meritorious service. And you, Brand, you should also be made an earl." For an earl.”

With this decision, Brand, who had been smearing the whole night of fishing, was excited on the spot and looked left and right in excitement.

After all, the fact that Carl was conferred the title of earl for the first time left Brand, who was also the organizer of the expedition, speechless. He was really jealous and it was hard to tell the king directly. It is fair to say that Carl was a very good expedition leader along the way, and he deserves most of the credit. But if you go out on your own and go out on a boat, you can't catch nothing.

He was as excited as a pug, mumbling words of thanks incoherently.

"Shut up first." Rurik raised his hand to indicate, and then said: "I will make you a count (war chief), and your fiefdom will be here."

"Here?" Brand, who was still so excited that he couldn't control his trembling limbs, was about to calm down: "There is nothing here except our temporary camp."

"No. There will be in the future! This is the mouth of the river, and you want to build a town here. I think you should understand the significance of a town at the mouth of the river for the second route!"

Brand recognized its promise without any further explanation. If you think about it carefully, maybe your family's development will be better than that of Karl, who is in the same industry.

Rurik's move was only to announce the birth of a new earldom, which required supporting villages and docks.

But what is extremely embarrassing is, who is willing to sincerely immigrate here and become a subject of the Brand family? Counting that the Brand family is from old Russia, most of the population in Russia also have their own industries. Unless a group of slaves are moved here so that Brand can truly exercise his power of rule. The key is that he can't do it. The original settlers are naturally only the Brand family, and the so-called earl has no title.

Even so it was a count. Even if a count who was canonized by the king only had one or two personal soldiers and followers, he was really poor and his noble status was unquestionable. "At worst, I'll get some slaves from other places to be my subjects." He thought.

Even the old Russians, as the top class of Russian society, enjoy a lot of social resources first. After all, there were less than eighty small families from Old Ross, and all the families knew each other. In the new era, families are giving birth to a large number of children. Almost all family heads are men, and they all have a model of one wife and multiple concubines. The children of captured slaves were also recognized as Russians, and the population of the old Russian people in Russia expanded rapidly.

The bastards all have a lot of social resources. Except for the top nobles, other old Russians need to achieve social promotion through meritorious service. Joining the army and serving in war is a good choice, and joining the standing army is the best opportunity for these brats.

There are many ways to achieve meritorious service, such as discovering a new waterway and greatly improving Ross's inland waterway transportation problem in one fell swoop.

Karl and Brand, these two families are absolutely qualified to become earls.

Anyway, their fiefdoms are all on the borders and unexplored areas of the Ross-controlled area, so such a canonization will not encounter any protest from the old Ross group. The two families had to fight for some years, because they opened up territory for Ross, and their contribution was indeed no less than killing enemies on the battlefield.

The two men had the same arrangement, and the settlements they owned were obliged to provide supply services to passing merchant ships. Port berthing taxes can be collected, but tolls cannot be collected. Because the Reed River is a natural river, it would be outrageous for the Russians to charge tolls on their own people. After all, the traditional Neva River-Volkhov River route is completely free.

Only the canal, after all, was officially funded and built, so it is reasonable to charge tolls.

The new county was designated as Arosareids, which was changed to Ustireids in Slavic.

As a result, the Bland family owned this estuary area and a bay, and it was logical that the current temporary camp of the Cavalry could be developed into a settlement.

History has entered a coincidence here, or it is a historical necessity.

The estuary of a river, and the estuary faces a nearly circular bay that overflows. This is really a natural haven and an exchange node for inland river trade and ocean trade. It would be a waste of geographical resources not to build a town.

At the mouth of the Luga River, immigrants first spontaneously established settlements. First, Danish immigrants took the lead in building villages here, and then captured Slavs and Finns from nearby areas as slaves. The population of village residents has always been very small, entirely because the Luga River Basin has never been well developed. After all, for a long time in history, the Neva River region was a place where Denmark, Sweden and Novgorod were at war with each other. As the hinterland of the Gulf of Finland, which is the front line of the war, there are far more military facilities than commercial facilities.

The town of Ust-Luga arose in the Luga Bay at the mouth of the Luga River.

A new era brings new possibilities. Since a large trading city was built in the Neva River Basin a thousand years in advance, it is also the capital of the Rus' country. The economic radiation brought by its prosperity is enough to significantly change the course of history.

Ust-Luga was replaced by the Norse word Arosareze, which simply means the mouth of the Reed River.

"The mouth of the sea" or "the mouth of the river" is called "Ust" in the Slavic language.

Boyarwski of Calf Manor, his mother suddenly gave birth to him while she was washing clothes at the mouth of the Valonda River with a full belly, so she casually called the boy "Kou", that is, Uski.

At this point, Rurik's layout for the inland routes was complete as the army began to move along the coastline towards the capital.

By personally leading a team to explore, he determined that the route was not only common but also a very precious water with soothing water flow.

Since the overall inland river trade volume in this era is too small, there is no need to sail large ships. Longships with shallow draft and strong maneuverability are most suitable. The bed of the Reedy River in most sections is too shallow for only long boats to navigate smoothly. It has an upper limit to economic development. Once the volume of trade increases and large ships with deep drafts have to be used, this inland river route will no longer be usable. Obviously that is not something to be considered in that era.

Reedy River Mouth Town (Ust-Luga) - Reedy River Town (Luga) - Canal Checkpoint - Balotavo - Calf Estate - Novgorod.

An inland river route was discovered, and the great scribe Ella accompanied him along the way. He used a paintbrush to outline the direction of the route as much as possible and wrote a diary along the way. All records will be compiled and summarized and made public as public documents.

Rurik intended to personally promote the inland route.

Now the cavalry headed east, making their final journey in the salty sea breeze. They set out early in the morning, and by the evening of the next day, the cavalry had reached the southern area of ​​the capital.

They were soon approaching the capital, and they could already see a large number of bright fishing fires in the Kronshtadt moorings.

The army camped in the woods, their tracks concealed by the trees.

This was Rurik's deliberate move. He tried his best to hide his identity, and then suddenly showed off his flag tomorrow, swaggering towards the cemetery, and then straight to the south gate of the capital...