Rise of Rurik

Lake Valdai is not just a lake, it is surrounded by lakes of various sizes, which together form an extremely large group of lakes.

In fact, all lakes are connected by waterways, but the Russian expedition army that traveled far away is still in the exploration stage of the geography and hydrology of this place, and cannot find all the correct waterways at the first time.

There is only one wide waterway that is unquestionable - the Musta River.

The three longboats left Lake Valdai, and the waterway on which they had come turned back to the Musta River.

The Ross flag was hoisted high on the mast, and the people on board had mixed emotions.

A man in his prime looked towards the east after the boat returned to the Musta River.

"Just like we agreed, this year we will make a bold attempt! Let's see what else is upstream! Brothers, let's go."

The person giving the orders was none other than the thirty-three-year-old Arik.

Just like he was Uncle Otto, Eric had blond hair and deep blue eyes.

They were cousins ​​after all, and his face bore a lot of resemblance to Rurik.

But he is Arik the "Two Swords", Arik the brave and senseless!

There seemed to be a centipede lying on his left arm. It was the horrific scar that resulted from a serious wound that was sutured with twine. It grew on his arm like a medal to prove Arik's great achievements on Gotland ten years ago.

It was on the island of Gotland that he led fifty brothers to break away from the large army to launch an armed reconnaissance that was mixed with success and failure. He has extremely strong self-confidence, even if he is in danger of being besieged, he still feels that he can make a comeback.

As for being chased by the Gotland army in the end and escaping in embarrassment, he still had the ability to successfully escape. Besides, the final battle was a revenge.

Today, he is still the heroic man who takes the lead.

Although more than 1,000 people went straight to Valdai Lake this year to explore in the name of hunting, coupled with local leather craftsmen and traditional Slavic settlers, the population of Valdeskoye suddenly expanded to 3,000 people.

There are more small lakes with twists and turns and trivial structures near Lake Valdai. The forest here is extremely dense, and a large number of hunters roam among them. Every few days, a family of hunters returns to the town by boat with their prey.

Simply going hunting would be too low a price. As the king's cousin, Aric had not yet shown an urgent need for titles, but he knew that his children would definitely be given high-level status by the king's younger brother.

The eldest son Askard has already led the first batch of mixed-race Russian warriors to the east. The first battle of this group of boys is to defeat the Franks, who were feared by all northerners in the past like monsters. The main attack is on their capital city. They are young. A young man can enjoy great honors. As a father, why wouldn't Arik be envious?

He has his own opinions and is used to the lifestyle he loves.

This time, he took his seven-year-old son Gil and a group of brothers who were interested in following him on the adventure and continued to run upstream into the Musta River.

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Like all men and women, he sat down and held the oar in his hands.

Regardless of whether they were male or female, these Russians sat neatly like their ancestors, sang chants and used wooden oars to push upstream against the current in exactly the same rhythm.

Only young children can't adapt to the paddling rhythm of adults. Young Jill's hands are very itchy, but now she can only be a spectator.

But this kid was assigned a small task.

Although Gil was small, he hugged the longship mast like a little monkey and kept climbing up, and finally rode on the small beam where the triangular sail was hung at the top.

"Boy! Tie yourself up to avoid falling! Keep your eyes open and tell me immediately if you find anything unusual." Arik, who was paddling, raised his head and ordered.

"I know, Dad."

The little boy's voice is quite childish, and his eyesight is indeed excellent.

Currently, the Musta River continues to cross the dense forest. Under such an environment, even if Gil has clairvoyance, he can only see close things, not to mention that this small fleet has entered the mountainous area.

Beginning with Lake Valdai, the area extending to the east begins to form a large area of ​​intertwined lakes and hills. People trapped in such a situation can easily feel that the world is extremely vast and the journey is extremely long and may even lead to boredom.

No one was worried about losing their way, and the fleet was still moving backwards along the Musta River. If everyone slacked off, the worst they could do was release their hands holding the oars and let the current push them back to Yin Ermen Lake, back to their home - — Mstisk.

Arik, like everyone else, gradually fell into the boredom of the long voyage. The paddling for many days seemed to be endlessly spinning in the hilly forest. They also encountered a rain in the middle of the way. Everyone took shelter in the forest for a while, and the thunder in the sky was deafening. , as if the God of Thunder is angry!

Amidst the thunderous thunder of the Tianshan Mountains, the ship was towed to the shore, and people hid under the woods and shivered.

Until this violent thunderstorm ends...

After the rain, the sky clears up, and the recent rain is like a nightmare, but it will not be a dream, because the water flow in the Musta River has obviously become faster.

Arik didn't wait for everyone to dry their clothes, and he hurriedly jumped on the wet boat. He led the guys to scoop out the water inside, and then resumed his reverse journey on the water.

The sun and wind blew, and the wet clothes dried quickly, and then the paddlers began to go out to sea again.

Even Arik himself was not immune. He took off his linen-lined shirt, revealing the golden chest hair on his chest, and even the hair on his back and the ferocious tattoos on it.

He was still a man full of fighting spirit, but his courage and endurance were not possessed by everyone, especially the women accompanying him in the team. Although they were embarrassed to express their complaints, the physical damage caused by the long voyage became more and more obvious.

No one knows where the team is now. Only a scribe named Canutet brought paper and a quill to write the voyage log. But what is even worse is that the manuscript he wrote was not recovered during the latest heavy rain. Soaked in water. Paper made from birch bark has a certain resistance to water immersion, but the resistance of ink is much worse.

As soon as the team set up camp on the shore, Canutet (ka) hurriedly gathered around the campfire to sort out his unlucky manuscripts.

Arik sat next to the young man, silently watching the actions of this man who had no fighting ability but was valued by Rurik.

"You have to organize the documents carefully and remember all my great achievements. Hehe, I am a hero."

Arik said something in a semi-joking manner, and Canutet responded in a perfunctory tone. His whole mind was on re-copying the documents. After sorting out the mottled papers, he wrote new documents on the blank paper. After suffering a loss, this time he specially wrapped the written documents in leather and finally used hemp rope. Tie it on, because at least deerskin with all the hair plucked off is waterproof.

Arik had no intention of talking to the scribe, and besides, his proposal to continue exploring the east attracted families of volunteers. This scribe also insisted on joining with the attitude of serving the king, so he had no choice but to recruit him, even if this scribe was Canutet doesn't even have the ability to row a boat, yet he still deserves to have the blood of Old Ross.

In fact, no one dares to say that scribes like Canutet are useless. This man is young, but he is directly responsible to King Rurik himself. Out of logical choices, it is better not to offend this man.

However, after a week of continuous sailing, the three longships were still circling in the hilly areas. Everyone is constantly consuming grains and dried meat, and now everyone has to go to the nearby forest to shoot some birds, hares, and prairie dogs after starting camp, or find a small pond to fish to satisfy their hunger.

There are almost a hundred men and women in the team. How long can they survive on just the meat of some small prey?

In the short term, people hope to shoot bears directly with crossbows, so that they can make a small profit from bear skins and bear heads. Although the large amount of bear meat cut off has a very strong taste, the fat-rich meat can quickly satisfy everyone's hunger after being roasted. question.

Finally someone in the team began to question the point of this adventure.

Gil snuggled close to his father. The little boy was very curious about his brother Canutet who was writing and drawing. He was so naughty that he was driven away after teasing him. He simply returned to his father and boredly gnawed the hard salted fish meat with his young baby teeth. Dry.

The dry food in the team is all this kind of dried fish from ancient times, which tests people's bite strength. Therefore, people who sail for a long time often have to eat this kind of hard food, and all of them have developed big cheeks, golden hair and The beard wraps up a "face with Chinese characters".

Arik himself has this development trend, and because he is getting older, he inevitably has a bit of a belly, and his angular face is now a bit rounder.

Maybe today will be as peaceful as before, and everyone can move forward after a night's rest.

But more than a dozen men formed a small group and approached Arik, who was lying down and taking a nap around the campfire, with serious faces.

Aware of what was going on, Gil hurriedly pushed his father. Listening to the noise in his ears, Arik sat upright and clenched the hilt of his sword almost instinctively with his right hand.

When everyone saw Arik's overreaction, they all took a step back.

The leader gave good advice: "Don't be nervous. Arik, brothers just want to chat with you."

"Talk to me? Sedric, my brother!" He called the speaker by his name: "You came here voluntarily with your family. Reality must have told me that I plan to go back."

The speaker composed himself and swallowed cautiously: "Yes. At least ten days have passed! Where are we now? Only God knows! Where are we going? Only God knows."

"But you are not a god!" Arik retorted directly, "Don't forget our scribe Canutet. He writes records every day. Only nine days have passed since we set off. How can there be ten days?"

"But what difference does it make? What have we found so far? We don't want gold and silver, but we haven't even skinned big animals. Now we have less and less to eat. What else will we do? Continue to move upstream? "

"What's your question?" Arik stood up with a slap on his thigh. He looked at the people who were coming around one after another, pulled Jill behind him, raised his head and shouted at the top of his lungs: "I know you are tired! I Why not? Well, you can leave now if you want. But I will never leave! I will not be content with a quiet and boring life, and I will not give up a great adventure just to get some precious furs."

"Then what are you after? Are you just looking for the water source of the Musta River?" The speaker just now, a veteran soldier named Sedrak who belongs to the First Flag Team and is purely from the old Ross tribe, said bluntly asked.

Sedrake was also asking questions for everyone, and everyone had huge doubts about the meaning of continuing the voyage.

"At least our king's prophecy will come true! Sooner or later we will find the Volga River. Don't question the king, otherwise you will be questioning Odin and the gods. Only God knows where our future expeditions will reach, but since God knows , the gods have given us hints a long time ago. This is like mining, the gold is in the rocks, maybe you can find the gold if you persist for a few more times, but never retreat when you are close to victory!"

Arik is not the strongest king, and he cannot rely on his sharp tongue to persuade the expedition team that is beginning to face the risk of running out of food to continue working hard.

What they said made sense, and they asked themselves, even if they discovered the source of the Musta River, what would happen next? Maybe it's just entering an empty and uninhabited land, unless there are a large number of animals, fishing resources, or even open-pit gold mines.

Even for a moment, Arik backed down. In the end, willpower defeated the sudden cowardice. Others could retreat, but you must not retreat.

Faced with his friends who were insisting on asking for an explanation, Arik simply said: "If you are not willing to continue sailing, just withdraw! I didn't force you to follow up. Since you feel that you will not get more benefits, just return to Val." Daihu, you and hundreds of other hunters compete for the hides. I will continue to move forward tomorrow. If you are willing to follow me, I cannot promise you that you will definitely get rich. At least I will not retreat. I will persist even if I starve to death or die from exhaustion. To the end!"

His attitude was as firm as a bull's, and his words had the power to force some people to stay out of honor.

But two longships still chose to leave on the second day.

The entourage was suddenly reduced by nearly 70%. Now that he had let go of his bold words and did not prevent them from leaving, Arik could only watch them being quietly pushed downstream by the water of the Musta River in a regretful and sad atmosphere...

"They left. Are you really willing to fight for your life?" The young man standing next to Arik said this to none other than Canutet, who was said to have no fighting ability.

"You? How ironic." Arik lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "The warrior chose to retreat, but as a scribe, you are actually willing to continue with me."

"It's nothing. I'm just a scribe. I live for the king. My father died in the war a long time ago. I have lived for so many years eating the food given by the king. The knowledge I have learned is also what he received from the gods and gave me. . The king asked me to explore the eastern world, and I will try my best to do things for the king no matter what my life."

The young man was very aware, and Arik suddenly felt that he had foolishly underestimated him.

"There is only one boat left now." Arik lamented again: "I explore with the mentality of looking for water sources. Only God knows whether I can succeed this year. I don't know where it will drift. At least those who evacuated will tell Others, brave Aric, have rushed towards the endless east.”

"Yes. If we can find the legendary Volga River's course, we will be heroes. I can make such a contribution to the king, and my life will be worth it."

The so-called cowards have retreated. The streamlined personnel have a heart as hard as iron. I am afraid that everyone has a do-or-die attitude. The reduced number of personnel will make it easier for Arik to lead the team.

He couldn't help but think of ten years ago, when he and a mere fifty brothers dared to go on an armed expedition on the dangerous island of Gotland. Looking at the so-called risks now, how could they be one-tenth of what they were back then?

They successfully pushed the only long boat into the river, and together with Gil, who was only seven years old, there were only twenty-five Russians left to continue the expedition.

They still have no idea of ​​their geographical location, but they can determine the direction through the "black technology" water float compass, and this miraculous feat has been mastered by mortals. Everyone can comfort themselves - we are actually still Blessed by the gods.

Arik can determine the southeast, northwest and northwest in the dense forest river, but it is still unknown where the Ramsta River extends.

In the following days, they sailed a long distance every day, hoping to take advantage of the long days and warm temperatures in summer to seize the time window and try to find the source of the Musta River.

There is no need for words of encouragement, only wordless persistence.

Everyone became silent, and the boat was still moving backwards in the river in the hilly valley. They have noticed that the river channel has become narrower and the river bed has gradually become shallower. This is a good hint that the so-called fleet is probably approaching the water source.

However, is its source a swamp or a small lake in the hills?

Finally, Arik found the source of the Musta River - a winding lake.

When everyone discovered the lake, they didn't think it was a real source of water. Arik was not excited, and everyone was so. The only good thing was that the fishing gear they brought finally came in handy. Some common European sea bass were caught, and people set up temporary camps on the relatively empty lakeside to grill fish.

The lake immediately got a name, the so-called Musta Lake.

However, this is not an absolute for the lake.

Arik and his party did not take it lightly. They were still exploring the final source of the lake, and finally arrived at the southernmost end of Lake Musta, where they were dumbfounded.

Because in the southwest of the south bank of Lake Musta, the view passes through a muddy swamp that lacks vegetation. The world not far away is sparkling, and there is actually a seemingly larger lake there!

what are you waiting for? Even though there is no clear waterway, even if everyone has to step on the mud to forcibly drag the boat to a large lake not far away to continue exploring, Arik led his brothers to do so without hesitation, and even his young son Gil's immature feet were deeply touched. Stepping in the mud and pushing the boat with the adults with little strength.

But what they didn't know was that they were the first Rus to stand in the watershed of the entire Valdai Highlands.

What is a watershed?

It is this mud that separates the two worlds.

North of the quagmire is Lake Msta, where ships can eventually drift uninterrupted along the river to the Baltic Sea.

South of the quagmire is an unnamed lake (actually Upper Volodsk Lake). There are many rivers flowing into this lake in the hilly highlands, and it has an extremely critical and only outlet - the Tver River.

The Tver River is an extremely important tributary in the upper reaches of the Volga River. Similarly, the location where the Moskva River flows into the Volga River is geographically very close to the location where the Tver River flows into the Erga River.

Yes, Arik was actually standing in a lake, one of the upper reaches of the Volga River. A whole new world had opened up to him, and he could claim to have found the source of the Volga River.

But no one realized this. Arik still felt that he should have just found the real source of the Musta River. All the people who persisted here felt that their protracted persistence finally ushered in victory. They found the water source. The tense spirit suddenly relaxed, and people were finally able to enjoy a bit of peace.

The vast world shows the insignificance of the Russian people who suddenly broke into the big lake. People can't help but be afraid of the fear brought by this sense of emptiness. Even Arik feels very uncomfortable.

Because everyone is too far away from home, it is time to consider going home.