Rise of Rurik

Not long after Rurik returned to the capital, a new snowstorm came unexpectedly, so that the snowstorm that had been dormant on Tombstone Island for some time was more like a prelude to winter. Now, the real winter tunes began to play.

Even the cold-resistant reindeer are kept in pens as much as possible to avoid accidents, and the cattle, sheep, rabbits, and poultry raised are kept tightly. Families with financial resources even light special fireplaces in their pens to allow their livestock to survive this difficult time safely.

In the past, when there was a snowstorm, everyone would hibernate at home. In order to save limited supplies, the family would gather together to keep warm, and then sleep together to reduce internal consumption. This is a disguised form of hibernation. When the snowstorm is over, people go out and shovel the snow off their roofs to prevent the houses from collapsing.

Houses that are not strong enough will face this problem, and this problem cannot be solved by Rurik's orders.

Are there slums in the capital?

To a large extent, yes, even if Rurik is unwilling to describe those houses in derogatory terms, at least those people live in shanties. There is a large area of ​​unclaimed land near the capital. The flat coastal wasteland is mostly used for grazing cattle and sheep. A large number of new immigrants live here temporarily. At the beginning, such immigrant families have limited financial resources and can only build simple houses. When they accumulate enough wealth, they build warm houses. Some have fireplaces, and even double- or even three-story houses are built like those in the inner city.

The largest number of new immigrants are not Vikings. They speak Finnish dialects, and their identities are all Suomi.

The Count of Finland family is the great vassal of Rus. The Suomi people, who constitute the main population of the Count of Finland, have long been an all-round alliance with the Rus. They surrendered to the Rus royal family, and although their status in the kingdom was higher than that of the old Rus and their descendants, they were basically the same as people from other Viking tribes.

However, these people are too poor.

This blizzard made the shanty town built by Suomi immigrants another disaster-stricken area. Although the people carried out some self-rescue and protection, many people were still trapped in the collapsed shanty towns and later froze to death.

This kind of thing is actually a common winter event among various Viking tribes, and the same was true for the Ross tribe at that time. Russia has only lived a good life for more than ten years. Those who are slightly older still have fresh memories of the hard life in the past. As for some people who died in the collapse of their houses? Oh, that's fate. What else?

The remains of the deceased were buried in Chengnan Cemetery.

It is also true that the cemetery has already buried many Suomi immigrants, and these dark-brown-haired Nordic residents are even more determined to leave because of the existence of the cemetery.

The continuous snowstorm finally passed, and the snow clearing work began immediately across the city.

One only has to stand high up to see clearly the masterpiece of the storm - the frozen Kronshtadt moorings jutting out from the Gulf of Finland.

The Neva River is completely frozen. Although it is not safe to walk on the ice yet, a discerning person can estimate that in at least a week, the extremely thickened ice will make winter fishing difficult, so much so that a curved pole must be used to cut through the ice for fishing. Drill bit to drill holes. The old fisherman in the capital has been gearing up. It is windy and snowy outside, but the family gathers in front of the fireplace in the warm room, wiping their various tools by the light of the fire.

Over the years, people have made breakthrough progress in fishery exploration in the Gulf of Finland. People are no longer limited to fishing for herring in shallow waters after breaking the ice. Instead, they make extremely long hemp ropes as fishing lines. One fishing line can tie even There are ten fishing hooks. The extremely long fishing line combined with multiple fishhooks makes it very heavy. Setting out the line and recovering it is no longer something that can be completed simply by manpower.

Several fishing families simply formed teams, just like their ancestors hunted together in the old days, and now they work together to catch cod.

The population of cod in the Gulf of Finland sweeps the seabed of the bay every winter. Their large open mouths eat almost anything. However, if you want to catch a large amount of fish, you are not allowed to sink the bait very deep to the seabed.

When someone discovers this secret, and when plump and frozen cod appears at the winter market, the technology spreads rapidly.

So, when Rurik had ordered preparations for this year's Hanukkah bonfire sacrifices, the cod fishing teams riding reindeer sleighs rushed collectively to the empty ice of the bay.

They rushed directly across Kotlin Island, unloaded their equipment, drilled holes in the ice to lay out bait, and then waited.

The wooden winch pulls the hemp rope fishing line with two fingers' thickness and slowly retrieves it, and the cod fish, which are as dense as bunches of grapes, are pulled out. They freeze quickly when they come out of the water, and soon become hard "fish bricks", which allows fishermen who set up tents on the ice to save enough catch before returning.

As long as conditions permit, everyone still likes to eat fresh fish. In early December, the herring and cod shipped back to the open-air market in winter are piled up by vendors. Due to the large catch, the price is low. Fishermen rely on the advantage of large quantities to make small profits but quick sales, and the people also benefit.

These Gulf of Finland cod are real cod, and they are still far from being fished out in this era. Although fish meat is almost a whole piece of protein without fat, there can be a lot of fat in the belly of the fish. Because the concept of vitamins does not yet exist, people do not know that fish oil is rich in vitamin A. They only know that oil can be refined by collecting the viscera of various catches.

Even the knowledge that fish oil is a special raw material for making high explosives does not exist.

Households collect fish oil with a strong fishy smell not for eating, but for use as fuel and lubricant for electric lamps.

Because people have a better choice - butter.

The livestock industry in Yin Ermen Lake, centered on Novgorod, is expanding rapidly. In this era where safe fresh milk packaging technology does not exist at all, all Slavic villages that raise cattle and sheep are trying to milk as much milk as possible to make butter, Ghee, some village boyars personally organize fleets to bring these high value-added agricultural products to the capital to sell them at a good price, and then use the money earned to purchase high-end agricultural production materials locally.

The best oil is butter, followed by fat oil refined from reindeer, cattle and sheep, then whale oil and seal oil, and finally fish oil.

When it comes to eating oil, it’s about fragrant butter. These are not the hard times of the past. No one wants to eat the saucy salted shark anymore. Everyone just wants to eat and drink well.

It's not just about satisfying the appetite, the entertainment of having children behind closed doors is too primitive and crude, people need spiritual enjoyment.

On boring winter nights, bored children pester adults to listen to stories, and adults will also gather together to chat.

The various Nordic myths come from campfire chats for thousands of years. Interesting stories have been told, and even the made-up stories are believed to be true by those who listen to them a lot.

Well-informed people know that the state-run printing office officially ordered by the king is publishing a magical book, and there is news that it contains all kinds of mythological stories.

Those who have spent huge sums of money on wine are also waiting for the books to be released, and they are ready to spend huge sums of money.

In fact, as early as late November, the Latin-alphabet version of the Ross Saga was already available for public sale.

Due to the heavy snowstorm at the time, the printing bureau was in a warm room. Their work dictated that everyone must settle down and work hard in one place. No matter how bad the weather was outside, it would not affect them. It is also the wind and snow that prevents people from going out, so everyone is isolated and can only work hard.

When the snowstorm ended, Ella was ordered to adjust the printed text version. They had already published nearly four hundred volumes of the Latin version. With such a strong "combat power", Ella realized that the workers under her command could not quickly Finish binding it.

The previously bound book has been sent to the Great God and the palace. High Priest Rumia and her team began to study it all night long. Rurik also used the book as a teaching material to educate the children around him in the palace.

People need interesting myths, not some dogma. "Rossaga" is to a large extent the "Genesis" unique to the Nordics.

Rurik wanted to use this book, which he personally participated in compiling and reviewing, to become the ideological foundation for the kingdom to maintain unity.

This book ideologically identifies all Viking tribes, Finnish tribes, and Slavic tribes. They all come from the same ancestors but have certain differences due to their free development in different places.

The book's thoughts moved people to tears, and the priests who studied it did not understand why their high priest was weeping.

Rumia, she understands the meaning best.

She herself is a Lapp, and based on the book's definition, Lapps are long-lost relatives of the old Rus.

Novorosberg's common language is Norse. Novgorod has both, but Slavic is the dominant language. If a person wants to show the nobility of his soul, he will speak ecclesiastical Latin. The so-called principle is defined by ancient Rome. standard version. The king was good at something, and young people who were trying to improve their social status were willing to learn from it.

And this does have practical implications. The Blue Fox, Red Fox and their followers who returned to the capital to report on their duties have become storytellers one by one because they have been around in the Frankish world for a long time.

They introduced the customs and customs of the southern world, showed off and even boasted to earn the praise of the listeners, and also objectively attracted the desire of exploration of the people in the capital.

"You can learn more Latin and communicate with the nobles in the south. If you can speak this language, the nobles will feel inferior."

So can Latin really become the common language of the kingdom? Rurik does not feel that he has enough human resources to popularize it as a second language for the national elite.

Descendants of the old Russians need to learn Norse, Slavic and Latin. The former two can basically be learned naturally through family education, while the latter requires solid education.

Just a week before Hanukkah, Ella personally reported to Rurik the phased results she had achieved.

It was a unique family dinner. Since there were so many frozen fish on sale in the market, the royal family also had a full fish feast.

The processing of fish is very particular. The cod meat is smashed into a meat sauce, and then mixed with onion puree, thyme, and pea puree to form special meatballs. This is where the meatball soup is cooked.

The dough is filled with surimi and cod dumplings, and then dipped in wheat vinegar.

To replicate Eastern winter dining in Northern Europe, Rurik has already done it. If the ale brewing environment is not carefully managed, the wine will be ruined. Nowadays, resources are simply allocated to deliberately brew vinegar. The royal family in the capital is a vinegar brewing workshop.

For this dish of vinegar, Rurik wanted to eat dumplings. What's more, Viking Hanukkah is the winter solstice festival. In the past, even wheat was a rare item and was unavailable, but now we have to pay more attention to it.

This winter, the royal family either eats braised noodles or dumplings. Rurik wants to entertain his cronies and prepare these special meals.

This shows that traditional and improved versions of wheat cakes and breads are food eaten by ordinary people. They focus on keeping full. Only the royal family’s meals are truly delicious.

The brothers Blue Fox and Red Fox are the most frequently invited guests to banquets. They are official officials in the border areas, and they are also qualified to toast the king at the banquet.

Now, Ella comes with good news.

The royal family's special meals are very good, and there seem to be new ones every year. Ella is not someone who indulges in food and drink. She spent a lot of energy studying Nordic stories. It can be said that no one knows Nordic mythology better than her. Now she has directly compiled the standard Nordic mythology defined by the Kingdom of Rus.

She was eager to explain how well she had accomplished her mission, and Rurik asked her to eat more.

"That's enough." She put down Kuai Zi with her graceful and slightly calloused right hand. Her face was flushed by the warmth in the room, and it became even more serious after drinking some wine. “My work is well done, the books are printed in great numbers, and all are bound and ready for sale.”

Everything was as expected by Rurik. He motioned to the other family members at the table to keep quiet, and then deliberately asked with his drunken head: "Are you still bragging?"

"I'm not bragging."

"Oh? How many copies did you print?"

"There are four hundred copies of the Latin alphabet version and two hundred copies of the rune version. Now as per your request, I have completed the version change while the blizzard continues."

"Oh, this is six hundred copies?! I thought a hundred copies would be enough, but I didn't expect it." Rurik straightened his back, and everyone could see his excitement.

Ella just covered her mouth and smiled: "You underestimate me."

"Indeed." Rurik rubbed his head vigorously and patted his face to wake him up: "In my opinion, you can print a thousand copies this winter."

"No problem, it's just paper..."

"Not enough paper? Don't be alarmed. When Hanukkah is over, I will send someone to bring new paper as soon as I return to Novgorod! Or, we can build another paper-making workshop in the capital."

"That's unnecessary." Ella gently raised her chin and looked at the king tenderly, who was not shy about the queen's presence. She smiled softly and said: "The paper made of birch bark is whiter, and the printing effect is very good. If you change it, The effect of double-backed paper is not good. Our scriptures must be of good quality, so even the book covers are made of hard oak. This is to be responsible for the buyer and to ensure that the contents of the book can be passed on for a long time."

"Oh, that's true."

"The paper we brought was very worn. They were cut sparingly, and I also proofread the movable type templates carefully."

"It's really hard work."

"It doesn't matter. The high priest has already obtained the book, and I know she is studying it. This book may come in handy for this year's sacrifice."

Rurik nodded: "So, this year's Hanukkah will be grand. I want a grand sacrifice to commemorate our completion of the Saga."

"Eh?!" Ella cheered up a little: "Could we sacrifice another hundred deer?"

"Plan from this."

"Okay. It may be a bit extravagant. Those deer herds are yours. I am also yours..." Being slightly drunk, Ella said a lot of love words.

What does this woman want to do? Queen Svetlana, who is also a woman, knew this all about it. She moved slightly to the king's side and whispered a few words, then smiled and looked at sister Ella, and then left the table with the prince who was feeling sleepy after eating... …

How to reward Ella for her meritorious service? Rurik had his own manly way.

Ella, who was born in a noble family, just wanted to do her job as the "Supreme Clerk". She was a concubine of the king, the biological sister of the Duchess of Ostara, and the adopted daughter of the old king of Rus. She has multiple identities and is the same age as Queen Svetlana. She poses no threat to the queen. Svetlana intends to maintain a good sisterly relationship with her, and with this closeness, she can have a close relationship with the Duke of Ostara in the south.

To be fair, Svetlana was a little scared of Carlotta, the Duchess of Ostara. It must have been the hardships in her childhood that forced her to be extremely tenacious. That is a strong female general, with abilities stronger than most men. Her son is also the heir of Rurik, so there is a possibility of alienation from each other.

Because this year, she noticed Duchess Carlotta's son Carl. The boy had pure golden hair, and his identity was not from Old Russia in name only. His blond hair made him born with the glory of Varyag. This boy is indeed extraordinary. He shows precocious traits at a young age, and he will definitely be a promising nobleman in the future.

Ella spent the night contented with the king's special reward.

The next day, those printing workers received a batch of physical rewards.

On this day, a wooden platform was set up in front of the great temple in Harvest Square. Rurik simply performed a small-scale sacrifice, and then the high priest personally started selling the "Ross Saga".

The Latin version sold for one pound of silver, and the rune version went for two pounds.

The news has spread all over the world, and people are aware that there should be all kinds of stories in it. It is also said that King Rus got some wisdom from Odin and put it in this book. The text is traditional and anyone can understand it. It must have the characteristics With divine power, buy it when you get the chance!

In fact, because there is a comparison table between the Latin alphabet and the rune alphabet, even if you buy the former version, people who don't understand the Latin alphabet can still read it, but it will take a lot of extra time.

Wealthy residents of the capital were willing to pay for this sacred book, and all six hundred copies available for sale were sold out!

Putting aside the cost, the royal family made a lot of money, and knowing that the public has a strong demand for books, it can be seen that they can make a lot more by continuing to sell them in the future.

It can be said that for most buyers, "Rossakya" is the first book they buy in their lives.

Books were still a rarity in Europe during this era. Parchment was the mainstream writing tool in Western Europe, while in Eastern Rome, both papyrus and parchment were used.

Ross's birch bark paper has lower cost and good quality. The materials are adapted to local conditions and the production technology is constantly improving.

Every household that believes in the Nordic gods has its own guardian elf statue. Now, families who have bought "Rossaga" simply regard this book as a brand new object of worship. They actively read through it, turning the boring winter time into novel stories that immediately replaced the old topics of conversation.

For buyers, a whole new world seems to have opened the door to them. Through this book, it seems that everyone who still lives in Midgard can have a glimpse of the Asgard sanctuary.

There are heroes, gods, justice triumphing over evil, sacrifice, kindness, Nordic morality, and lost relatives in "Rossaga"...

It works immediately!

On the eve of Hanukkah, Rurik learned something that was hotly discussed in the city: it turns out that people who lived together were actually relatives long ago. It turns out that Vikings, Finns, and Slavs from all walks of life are related, and this knowledge has also spread to the "Pskov Expedition Five" who are temporary guests in Rossburg.

For these five unexpected visitors, Rurik specially prepared a rune version and sent it to them with instructions: "When you return to Pskov in the spring, bring this book to your boss."

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