Rise of Rurik

The rapidly thinning ice makes ice fishing professionals tremble with fear, but it is a good thing for the general public.

The wind is no longer bitter, and although the earth is now covered with snow, its complete melting is only a matter of time.

As long as the sun continues to heat up and the ice breaks into countless fragments, the traditional sailing festival of Ross can be carried out.

However, before the actual sailing day begins, the Neva River will first give the world a dangerous and joyful gift.

Nevsky Prospekt, which runs through the entire Novorossberg, inevitably becomes wet. It is caused by dripping water from high-rise buildings. The snow that begins to melt at noon soaks the concrete pavement of the street. The accumulated water then flows into the drainage channels on both sides that are still covered with ice. ditch.

Perhaps, this was an ordinary night.

The incident happened suddenly.

The sleeping people woke up one after another. They could feel the slight tremor of the earth. It was supposed to be a quiet night, but they could hear a low rumble.

What's this?

Even the elderly Otto opened his eyes, and he understood everything after thinking about it for a moment.

The flow of the Neva River has begun!

The melting Lake Ladoga has injected too much water into the large lake, and the living water at the bottom of thousands of large and small streams is also continuously flowing into it.

Only a thin layer of ice remains in the center of the lake, and some areas are cracking. It was like an ulcer, and the broken gap was re-frozen at night, and the gap expanded sharply by noon. The ice covering the lake was no longer able to hold down the expanding living water until it reached a critical point and large-scale fragmentation began.

The Ling of the Great River has become a new tradition. Although its date is not fixed, it will definitely occur in late March, which is generally close to the spring equinox.

Ross naturally celebrates the Spring Festival. In Ross's definition, this festival means that ships that have been closed for a winter will be pushed back to the sea. There is nothing better than the Sailing Festival.

At that time, Rus was in the northern fjords, and the climate and hydrology were very different from those of the Neva River.

The people who settled in Novorosberg regard the Neva River Ling as the most significant beauty. Some people even claim that the Neva River Ling is worshiped early and at the vernal equinox, indicating that this year is warm, which means a bumper harvest of food, fat cattle, sheep, reindeer, and vice versa. We need to be vigilant in bad years, especially to prepare grain reserves for the second half of the year.

What was the situation in 842? The Spring Equinox Ceremony is about to begin, and the wandering ceremony actually starts at night accompanied by roaring noises.

The expanding lake water pushed the giant ice down the river, causing the giant ice to calve and erode the land on both sides.

Early in the morning, people from all over the city rushed to the riverside with various moods.

Some people admired the rushing ice in a strong state of excitement, while others pulled the deliberately beached ship toward the shore.

Governor Cornuson Sr. covered his head with his hands. He was in a confused mood and cursed viciously at the people around him: "Damn ice! It erodes our dock facilities every year. After the disaster, our trestle will have to be rebuilt."

His son Konuson Jr. also had something to say: "So I told you a long time ago, but you think it is unnecessary. We should dig a channel to separate it from the main channel. The dock will be located there in the future. No matter how severe the drifting is, it will not be hurt." To our dock."

"To put it lightly, how much work is that? Do you pay for it?"….

"I will pay for it. When I take over as governor, I will definitely do this."

"You kid!" Old Konuson rolled his eyes at his son, "I only have a few more years to live."

"Really? Now that the king is preparing for a war, there will still be a chance for our father and son to exert their strength in the future. Father will always be strong, and you should go to the battlefield with your sword."

For a moment, old Cornuson didn't know whether his son was praising him or sarcastically. He waved his beard and said nothing. It is true that dying on the battlefield is the honor of a soldier. Now the old Conuson only thinks about the continuous arrival of new wine from Nassau this year. He should drink the wine to death like the old Gould.

My son is already middle-aged and in the prime of life, but this boy is so radical that the father is worried.

Part of the trestle was destroyed by the drifting water, but fortunately only part of the trestle was damaged.

Smart people have long figured out the temperament of this river.

Each family's boat was towed to an absolutely safe shore early, the canvas was removed from the mast, and the spread canvas covered the entire boat, and then fixed with ropes. Even if it was placed in the open air throughout the winter, it was no different from being sealed up.

The spectacular scene was only seen once a year. Rurik and his family happily stood on the top floor of the palace, which was the highest point in the city and had a bird's eye view of Liu Ling's river.

The eldest daughter Velika was riding on his shoulders, holding her father's head with both hands.

"Did you see everything?"

"I saw it! It's so spectacular. Is this the power of God?"

"It is the power of God." Rurik was in a good mood and said casually: "There will be a large-scale priest activity next. Velika."

"Um?"

"You know what to do, right?"

"I know." She has grown into a girl and has reached the height of her mother. Even if she is only half of the Nordic blood, it will be enough for her to grow taller in the years to come.

Rurik preferred his eldest daughter not only because she was the eldest daughter, but also because of her irreplaceable noble status in the entire kingdom.

High Priest Rumia, the mother of Vilia, she stood beside Rurik, watching her husband, who was as tall as a giant bear, let his daughter ride on his shoulders. This preference was a little too much. It was the "thing you should do" hinted by her husband, which still made her feel some fears that she was embarrassed to express.

The high priest is responsible for handling the sacrifices, which must be a blood sacrifice according to the customs of Russia.

She had long noticed that the daughter of the deputy priest held a sharp blade and dared to pierce the heart of a deer at a young age, not just one, but even ten or a hundred. She noticed that her daughter was not afraid of the blood of the sacrifice. On one side was the blazing fire tower, on the other side was the ferocious deer dripping with blood, and on the other side was Velika holding a bloody blade and her face with a ferocious smile that was burned by the flames.

Valkyrie? Some people say that their daughter is like the Valkyrie in the world. She has done a good job in the sacrificial activities. Now no one doubts this girl who has inherited the name of the glorious high priest Vilia from the previous generation.

King Rurik came to the capital from Novgorod. He did not bring any wives or concubines, which meant that Rurik either slept with the high priest Vilya, or frequently met with the top scribe Ai at night. Erla.

Lumia spends a lot of time with her man. Not only matters between men and women, but also large-scale sacrificial activities for important national events, the two of them can have a good discussion on the couch. ….

Ninety-nine male reindeer were sacrificed, no more and no less.

For this year's Spring Equinox Sacrifice and the Sailing Sacrifice, why did such a huge amount of sacrifices be given? Although the ownership of the kingdom's largest herd of deer belongs to the royal family, Rumia can't help but feel sorry for her husband's excessive consumption of his property.

Although there is a meaning here for the king to show off his wealth, the king has his own reasons after all.

The highlight of this year's grand opening ceremony is the launching ceremony of the Kingdom's largest ship, the Sea Monarch. In other words, the ceremony location has been moved from the traditional Harvest Square to next to the dry dock where the ship was built.

Rumia had her own important task, which was to send her men to build a temporary "Stone Ship Altar" next to the dry dock and dig a special drainage ditch leading directly to the ocean.

A majestic torrent lasted for three full days. The continuous good weather caused the upstream ice to continue to be discharged. The water ice with huge power rushed into the Kronstadt anchorage and shattered the ice on a large scale, so that all the people in the port were The ship regained its freedom.

There is no complete ice layer at the anchorage, and any attempt to cut through the ice for fishing after the drift becomes impossible.

People saw the swaying waves again, and the densely packed large ice floes swayed violently.

However, such a sea environment also gave up the idea of ​​​​fishing immediately. The large pieces of broken sea ice kept hitting the small boats, which was enough to break them into pieces. Only the big boats ignored it all.

The severe flow has ended, although there are still a lot of ice floes flowing down, but they are too small to pose a threat.

In the dry dock of the Hotla family, a brand new stone ship altar is being built in full swing. The sleds slid on the melting snow, and people's leather boots became wet. They unloaded the rocks, dug the muddy pit with shovels, and carefully packed the twenty-four pieces of granite into the soil.

Slabs of rock were dug into the pit and buried.

At first, Stein Hortrasson didn't know what was going on, but when the junior priest in charge of the matter gave some guidance, he simply directed some idle shipbuilding apprentices to help.

What about a temporary altar? If it is really built, it will not be demolished unless there is an accident. Because Ross needs more than just a big ship, if ships of the same class as the Sea Monarch are not built for the time being, and the dry dock after the water is drained can be converted into much smaller Aurora class ships, this place will still be a good shipbuilding platform. If there is a ship building, there is a sacrificial ceremony for launching it into the water. An official altar is next to the dry dock, which the ship builders can only dream of.

On the other hand, taking advantage of the good weather and working intensively, the sail hanging operation of all the masts of the Sea Monarch has been completed.

Stein conducted a special drill for this purpose. The ship's main keel, bottom plate, and bilge keel were all supported by solid sleepers. Although the ship was not in the water, the shipbuilders practiced retracting and retracting the sails, turning the steering gear, and retracting and retracting the anchor. These three most important operations, although the drill exposed problems, they are all minor problems that can be adjusted later.

There was no fatal problem, and Stein was half relieved.

The news that the largest Russian ship was about to be launched has spread all over the world. Some people even rushed to the capital on sleds before the ice melted, just to enjoy the spectacle of the launch of the huge ship.

The Weips tribe and the Ludi tribe in the north wanted to go to the capital to sell their leather, so they took advantage of the situation and stayed in the capital to watch the launch of the giant ship. ….

Now the giant ship is parked in a dry dock without water. The deep pit covers most of her body, and only two giant masts rise straight into the sky.

Suddenly, someone noticed that a huge weighing sail had been installed on the mast.

Suddenly, someone noticed that the Ross flag was flying at the top of the mast.

Doesn’t all this indicate that the Great Sailing Ceremony is about to begin?

The ice floes leading to the sea channel were artificially destroyed. The large ice layers were deliberately dug by craftsmen, and iron sticks were placed to tie up the ropes. Finally, they were forcibly dragged to the ocean covered by broken ice floes.

When all the large ice blocks are removed, the channel will no longer freeze.

Now, as long as artificial gaps are cut in key parts of the wooden gate, the force of sea water can burst the entire gate, and the dry dock will be quickly filled with sea water, which will definitely be a spectacle.

Until then, no one was completely sure that the big ship could be launched safely. What if it rolled over? What if it leaked? The king has announced to the people the time of this year's great sacrifice, and deliberately publicly displayed the deer that were urgently needed as sacrifices in Harvest Square.

Rurik chose only older stags, and this was intentional.

The most important thing in artificially domesticating a huge herd of reindeer is the female deer, and the greatest significance of the unruly male deer is as "seeds." Bucks don’t need many, but they must be young overall.

As senior servants, the Lapps have rich experience in domesticating deer.

The old stag has the ending of being sacrificed as a sacrifice. According to traditional customs, the deer blood will be deliberately introduced into the ocean to sacrifice to the god of the sea, and then to Odin.

Deer blood or the blood of other sacrificial animals is a kind of tribute to the gods. The sea god is not a good god, especially the legendary Jörmungandr. If Jormungandr drinks enough blood, he will no longer cause trouble and the ships will be safe. Priests of all ages have said this. Whether it is Rus or the Swedish tribes around Lake Mälaren, they all have similar sacrificial traditions.

But the most grand and profound sacrifice is human sacrifice.

The core part of the huge Ross Kingdom lacks the soil for the custom of human sacrifice, simply because there is a serious lack of slaves here. Even with the current economic development, Ross does not need the existence of the slave class.

A large number of Slavic farmers and Finnish fishermen and hunters came uninvited during slack periods and received a salary as laborers. These people supported Rus's ever-expanding handicraft industry. What Ross needs to consider now is precisely the labor disputes that will inevitably arise between employers and workers.

Whether for the Slavs or various Finnish tribes, the Spring Equinox Festival is a very important festival of the year.

The grand opening ceremony of Rus's voyage in 842 was bound to be very grand, and the majority of the people celebrated it in their own way.

After the sacrificial activities, until the snow on the farmland of the family has melted, it is traditional to leave it for another week before plowing the soil and planting seeds. The capital has a small farming population, but a large number are actually fishermen.

The farming conditions in Novorosberg are much inferior to those in Novgorod, but because they face good-quality fisheries in the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, the Vikings who settled here fell in love with the traditional fishing life.

Strong demand supports fishing gear manufacturers and shipbuilding professionals, especially the shipbuilding industry. There is a huge market demand for traditional long ships with carved bows of exotic animals. ….

Because the traditional longship is a shallow-draft galley, it can brave even ocean creeks. Although its cargo capacity is far inferior to that of a large sailing cargo ship, its navigability in the vast sea is inferior, and its advantages are extremely obvious.

Another rumor also spread like wildfire. It was said that the king was preparing a small-scale army expedition to the Franks. The ships used were unknown and required large sail warships. The most traditional dragon-headed warships also had to be used on a large scale.

"Haha, the king has redefined the small army."

People often sigh with emotion. In the past, sending out four to five hundred men for an expedition was a big adventure that gambled on the future of the tribe. Now such an army is only organized for a flag team. Gathering two thousand soldiers was unimaginable in the past, but now this is a "small army."

Of course, the population of the capital city and surrounding small settlements can reach up to 30,000, which was a fantasy in the past, but is now something the world is proud of.

The huge population gave rise to all kinds of needs, especially the grand sailing ceremony. Every family running the ship was preparing their own sacrifices.

Some families domesticated some cattle, sheep and reindeer themselves, and as part-time small herders, they provided fresh red meat, dairy products, leather goods to the capital, and even sold their bones to hunters because they could be used as bone arrow clusters.

These families became meat and potatoes, and boat runners who were in urgent need of sacrifices bought their fawns and lambs with resounding silver coins.

This is a unique and urgent need. Small livestock families are selling lambs. Rurik has a huge herd of deer, and he also wants to take the opportunity to sell some of the lambs to make a fortune.

Reindeer, cattle, sheep, and even lambs are sold at a higher price. Livestock were sacrificed with their blood, and the blood was sacrificed to Poseidon to feed Jormungandr, Odin, Frey, and Thor. The blood of livestock was also smeared on their own boats, and some ruthless people even pricked their fingers. Sacrifice your own ship with your own blood.

The King has long officially declared that warships are "female". All warships are like Valkyries fighting side by side with warriors. Ships have souls and must be respected.

This idea spread rapidly, and people who owned ships always worshiped their ships in various ways.

The rich sacrificed cattle, sheep and reindeer, while those who were short of money had to sacrifice more than a dozen cheap rabbits or poultry instead.

So before the big sacrifice, before the ice and snow had completely melted, Ross's economic activities had started in advance because of the sacrifice. .

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