Rise of Rurik

Thick wooden walls protect Roseburg in the fjord. The cold wind makes the wood dry and hard, and they are as hard as stone when you touch them with your hands.

Most of the people of the Ross tribe have migrated. They have sold their houses in their hometown. Those immigrants from Lake Mälaren or the immigrants from Narvik Port, these people who also speak Norse have moved there. .

They have different origins, and now everyone can call themselves Rus.

The fur traders who were originally sojourners became permanent settlers, and the foreigners who were interested in hunting in Gubei Land became locals.

The plains of Rossberg Fjord were originally the residence of a group of Lapps who raised deer. The defeat a hundred years ago caused them to move north. Now the Lapps have returned in a completely new form.

Some nomadic Lapp families gave up their past life and settled down. Although they still made a living by raising deer, they now built deer-raising pens outside Roseburg. The method of raising deer has also become a mixed herding and pen-breeding model. . Everything has returned to a hundred years ago. Even the small mound where Rurik used to train soldiers is occupied by several families of deer herders.

After landing, Rurik only had to look at the hills to the west of the fjord. Many mounds and pine trees on the gentler slopes had been cut down cleanly. You could clearly see the gray-brown and white masses there. These were the flocks of sheep and Reindeer herd.

He had not gone to find out for the time being. If he climbed those mounds in person, he would still be able to see the little Lapps who were herding herds, whistling to command the hounds they kept. Those Nordic sled dogs now also serve as shepherd dogs.

Nowadays, cats and dogs have indeed become common in Roseburg. He could clearly hear the barking of dogs. When he inspected the local granary, he found a fluffy cat with a hemp rope tied around its neck. The cat seemed to be in a bad mental state. Just curled up and took a nap with eyes closed.

The hustle and bustle in the port soon came to an end. The people welcomed their passing and hated staying in the cold wind for too long.

The structure of the Rossberg Fjord runs east-west. When the Arctic cold wind breaks through the strong wind outlet of the Kola Peninsula and then blows along the central mountain ridge of Scandinavia, part of the cold wind will solidly penetrate the entire fjord.

The bad sea conditions in recent days are due to the cold wind. When I returned to my hometown and stood in the fjord, the cold feeling brought back endless memories of Rurik.

Now look at the people here, they are completely different.

Return to the old house and arrive at the attic that has become the Governor's Palace.

Rurik returned here with his family and became the master again in an instant.

He looked up at the banquet hall on the first floor and saw that the ferocious bear head on the wall was still there. There are also some round shields hanging on the walls as decorations, and hand axes hanging on the shields, coupled with ferocious bear heads, showing full martial virtue.

"It's more magnificently decorated than last time, Harold Johnson, you're very attentive."

The old man responded with a slightly hoarse voice and smiled: "This is what I pursue. Unfortunately, I am old and can't seem to lift the sword. I am not as good as my brother Otto, he must be physically strong."

Haro Zuosen's words seemed like a compliment, and Rurik was a little heartbroken when he heard them. _o_m My biological father and this old man are both the same. Maybe the environment in my hometown in the north is too harsh, making Harold Zuosen look older. Sometimes Rurik is also very depressed. Otto has always liked drinking in his life, and now he often tastes strong liquor. Although aging is irreversible, his situation seems to be okay. Maybe, just because Novgorod is warmer.

Harold Zossen had a lot to say, especially for his son: "I originally wanted to die on the battlefield, but now it seems there is no chance. My son Kanuf will succeed me. He is your brother and he will do it." Better..."

"I see……"

Kanuf stood next to Rurik, a burly man with a long beard tied into pigtails. Svetlana hugged Prince Osborne, and the little boy naughtily plucked the braid of the strong man's beard.

Although Lanna felt it was inappropriate, this boy was just naughty. Fortunately, Kanuf knew very well that this boy was the prince, so he winked and played with the little boy.

When Rurik turned around, he saw his son holding on to Kanuf's beard, and then he looked at him, scaring his son to stop.

"This kid is very energetic, brother, don't scare him." Kanuf didn't feel embarrassed and smiled innocently again.

"Okay. Kanuf, I know you will take care of everything."

"That's natural. Don't worry, brother." Kanuf knocked. (This chapter is not finished yet!)

Chapter 1128 Hometown Family Banquet

Holding his chest, "I will do whatever you ask me to do, and I can satisfy any request."

"Really? Very good. Oh, I do have something important to talk to you about this time. In fact, it's not just you, I also have to talk to Kawei."

If there was anything important to talk about, based on the instinct of a warrior, Kanuf thought of war. Indeed, what Rurik announced to the whole kingdom was that there would be no war this year. As for next year...

The old Harrow Johnson claimed that he was already preparing a sumptuous meal and asked the king to wait a moment.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Rurik finally sat down to rest in his old house.

At the same time, Goedelund, who was a maritime war chief, started unloading supplies as soon as the fleet docked.

All the fleet's supplies must be unloaded cleanly at the Roseburg Pier, and the dense trestles and matching human lever cranes here can efficiently unload the goods with the help of a net.

Those in-demand commodities from as far away as Novgorod, such as honey, cheese, leather boots, woolen clothing and other manufactured goods, quickly began to sell. Rurik could take advantage of the opportunity to make a sum of money, and then transformed into a big buyer. The old folks buy leather, iron ingots and the like.

Especially iron ingots.

In Blast Furnace Town, a satellite city of Roseburg, the technology of earthen blast furnaces has been continuously improved by workers in actual production over the years. Once an earthen blast furnace is built, it will not stop working. Ore and wood must be continuously supplied, and even rain cannot stop pig iron. Water production. With such intensive use, the original earthen blast furnace had long since collapsed. People did not regret that when they discovered that there were irreparable cracks in the blast furnace, they announced a shutdown and later destroyed it and rebuilt it. Only the internal refractory bricks are taken out and reused, which reduces the cost of rebuilding the blast furnace as much as possible.

Compared with the cost of production inputs, their output is a huge profit.

Legally speaking, all the metallurgical industries in Blast Furnace Town are joint ventures between the royal family and the original five blacksmith families. The original contract still has legal benefits.

Those laboring workers all received their salaries regularly, and most of the income still went to the royal family. Although the dividend ratio of the five blacksmith families was not large, the income continued to add up and now they have become rich. Among them, the Klavasen family is the best.

A large number of people work in Roseburg around Blast Furnace Town. This is the kingdom's first heavy industrial base and is the key to maintaining a large population and considerable prosperity in an extremely cold world.

Similarly, Elon-Olav Fort further north is also densely populated, and only a few of the people there are even Old Rus. There are few blast furnaces in the area, but it has prospered due to the production of top-quality iron ore.

Blast Furnace Town produces a lot of iron ingots, and even because of the convenience, the molten iron flowing out of the taphole has different shapes after solidification. Anyway, according to the fried steel technology, these pig iron ingots have to be broken into pieces and further processed in a small furnace. Rossburg is mainly responsible for processing the molten iron, which is preliminary processing.

Their fine processing capabilities are limited, and Rurik is obliged to take as many of them as possible to the furnace matrix of the royal blacksmith shop in the capital, and these iron ingots are also good ballast stones.

At night, there is a royal banquet.

The Klavason family all arrived, Kavey brought his wife Lilia, his eldest son Kusneslav, and his younger son Holderslav.

Seeing her sister again, Svetalana instantly forgot that she was the queen. She has been clinging to her sister since she was a child. Before the party started, she rushed to her sister with her son in her arms.

What else could the sisters talk about? First they talked about their lives, and then they talked about their children. @Essence\\/Bookstore*First update~~

Lilia is much older than Svetlana, which makes it seem that Kusneslav is not much younger than his aunt. Even so, Holderslav and Osborneslav, cousins, are very close in age.

"Sister, you've gained weight."

"Really? Look at you again, you are still too thin. What will you do if you are so thin? Rurik has many wives and concubines and many children. Even if you are a queen, it is not okay to give birth to one just now. Look at me... "

Lilia talked more because she was excited, and she touched her belly again, which was clearly implying something.

"Huh? Is there a third child again?"

"Hey, there will be. I'm not like you." Lilia insisted again, "If I don't let Kawei marry again, he won't dare to have any ideas. I am a Varyag woman now, and my words are very useful. You I don’t even know that I am the mistress of this house.”

. (This chapter is not finished yet!)

Chapter 1128 Hometown Family Banquet

Lana heard her sister's words in disbelief: "You have become the head of the family?"

"Otherwise? Ah, I am Kuja and I have reached the age. I still need to find a wife for him."

"Ah? This..." Lanna was choked and couldn't say anything. Finally, she choked out: "It's too early." After saying that, she not only glanced at her eldest nephew, who was already obviously masculine, but also saw The boy was playing with his two younger brothers who had just learned to walk.

Kawei and Arik are contemporaries. He is more than ten years older than Rurik. As a Viking, he is at the peak of his youth and strength in all aspects. As a disciple of Thor, he did a good job of blacksmithing.

Because Lilia is almost thirty years old, according to Viking tradition, this age is enough to make her the head of the family. If the husband dies in battle, the wife automatically becomes the head of the household, with all rights and obligations under her control. This was Kawei's heavy responsibility. His work was focused on smelting for the kingdom as much as possible, and the rest was left to his wife, including taking care of his aging father.

The new generation of warriors was growing up at an alarming rate. At this moment, Lana felt that she was getting old too.

After all, this is the far north, and as the governor, Harold Johnson can't provide any complicated food.

Although the environment here is harsh, cold-resistant sheep and reindeer that can ignore the extreme cold are raised, which not only provides leather for hits, but also provides some key meat.

Livestock production does not produce much red meat, and the Roseburg area's main food supply remains the same as it has in the past, and herring has long been the staple here.

Serving roasted lamb is what Harrow Johnson likes to talk about the most. Paired with some traditional wheat cakes and dried raspberries, as well as the most traditional grilled fish, it feels like time has returned to the past.

The slightly sour and bitter ale is very good at relieving fatigue. Now, Rurik did not hesitate to take out the higher-grade vodka and kvass.

Vodka is mixed with some honey and stirred to create a cocktail. Kvass has its own sour and sweet taste, and the more sour taste seems to be more refreshing.

Two roasted lambs were purchased for them to eat. They followed the old tradition. Rurik, as the most noble person, picked the best parts of the roasted lamb first. He finished the selection himself, while the others held knives and helped themselves.

First, there was a toast to drink. There was no distinction between men and women. Even Kusneslav, who had just become masculine, raised a large and elegantly carved oak cup to drink ale with his relatives.

Look, Osborne was also infected by the warm atmosphere. He knocked on the table awkwardly, insisting on drinking a little even though he was in his mother's arms. Helpless, Lana got him some sweet and sour kvass, and the little guy retracted his neck when he was hungry.

At this moment, Kanuf and Haro Zuosen couldn't wait to ask the question that was deliberately betrayed.

"Brother, you have something important to discuss here. Could it be...a new war?"

"Hey! You guessed it right." Rurik was too lazy to hesitate any longer and pointed out his next move happily.

"Last year our brothers made great achievements and beat the Franks violently in the Elbe River. Now, the door of Frank has been opened to us. We have rested for a whole year and have regained our strength. I will continue to use troops against the Franks!"

"Continuing a large-scale war? It's inspiring to think about it." Kanuf didn't feel anything wrong, even though he knew that this was still an expedition.

"It's just a long way to go."

As an old craftsman, Kawei is very pragmatic in his professional habits. _o_m

"I don't care, we will continue to make great fortunes and make great achievements with your Majesty." Kanuf's smile came from sincerity. He has been a bit reckless since he was a child, especially since he will be the governor of Fort Ross, which in the past was the leader of the tribe. How to live up to this status? But you are not allowed to continue to make military exploits.

It seems that Rurik's attitude was that Ross was about to launch a national war, and Kanuf and Kawe subconsciously understood it this way.

This is not the case.

Before the blue fox brought people back to report their work, and before the black fox or red fox's messenger returned, Rurik still didn't know the specific situation on the other side of the Inn River. He felt that everything was under control and fully believed that his plan would be successful. He also expected that the Frankish nobles would react violently.

King Ludwig of the Eastern Kingdom will definitely respect the Rus' forces embedded in his territory out of his own interests and recognize the rationality of its existence.

Rurik had no intention of beating this again. (This chapter is not finished yet!)

Chapter 1128 Hometown Family Banquet

The king's strength was seriously damaged, and his intention was to continue to increase his troops. After all, the army embedded in the Rhine River had to face the possibly more powerful Central Frankish forces. Now, if he placed up to 500 people in Nassau and then ordered them to deliberately plunder, it would be really This triggered a large-scale counterattack by the Middle Kingdom, and the mere 500 troops were afraid that they would be defeated and defeated.

The simplest, crudest or most effective way is to increase the number of troops, allowing Ross to use the Barony of Nassau as a large army camp, and the army is entrenched, becoming a presence that the Frankish nobles in the civil war cannot ignore and fear.

Rurik had to consider the worst outcome, that is, Ludwig suffered a major defeat in the civil war. If that guy lost to his elder brother, it meant that Ross's layout would collapse. Think about the worst outcome of things, so that no matter what happens, Rose will not be passive.

But how much impact does this have on distant Roseburg? The civil war in the Frankish world was like something from another world to Roseburg and Ellenburg. Kawei felt that the king's idea was very radical, and he did not object to it. If there was an edict, he would not hesitate.

Kawei knew that if the king wanted to go to war, he would personally lead a group of engineering troops to join the war. He took matters into his own hands. He could entrust matters in Blast Furnace Town to others, but he had the obligation to take his eldest son with him when it came to the war. Because torsion slingshots and torsion trebuchets, these heavy weapons that can cause mass destruction need to be carefully maintained to maintain their strong power. They can increase the combat effectiveness of the Russian army on a large scale and reduce casualties in disguise. In this regard, no one is more powerful than Kawei. And he manages a large number of workers on weekdays, and this management ability is also used in war. After all, a large proportion of the craftsmen who operate these heavy equipment are royal craftsmen, and to a certain extent, they are his subordinates.

Rurik explained the situation to them: "As for whether there will be a full-scale war, we still need to look at the situation of the Frankish nobles. @essence\\/Bookstore*First update~~ Think about it, we need the Frankish market, so Our ironware can be sold smoothly and make a lot of money. I don't want the Eastern Kingdom to win, nor do I want the Middle Kingdom to win. I just want Ludwig to maintain the status quo and let Lothair of the Middle Kingdom recognize his two younger brothers. The power. Listen, a divided Frank is most beneficial to us! A giant ax can break a big tree. If the ax head is melted into three small axes, what can they do? I want you to seize the time to produce ordnance supplies, seize the opportunity Time to train the Warriors in Roseburg. This winter is very important for us!"

Chapter 1128 Hometown Family Banquet