Many of the people in front of me were short, and most of the weapons they held were bone spears. It was obvious to the naked eye that these people lacked iron weapons, and their poverty was basically written on their faces.

Explorer Carl remained vigilant. He ordered his wife and children to disembark, and took some "gifts" from the ship.

A small cloth bag was being handled by Karl. He unzipped the rope at the top and showed off the white velvet material inside.

The old leader of the village looked at the white thing, and his aging eyes suddenly glowed.

"Ah! Is this really salt?"

"I'll give it to you." After saying that, Karl handed over the entire cloth bag.

The old leader personally tasted it and found that it was salty and bitter. After all, this was crude sea salt, and there were still a large amount of magnesium chloride and other impurities that had not been removed.

It doesn't matter if there are impurities. Many people have forgotten the taste of salt in this isolated small village hidden by a forest and lake. But out of instinct, just tasting the taste of salt will shock the whole head like an electric shock.

The old leader burst into tears: "You...came from a distant sea? You brought such a treasure."

Karl smiled. He wanted to explain but suddenly shut up.

The sea? Is it really far away?

It has only been seven days since the five families entered the mouth of the river. This is not because they were rushing so hard, but because the fleet stopped and stopped for a lot of time and was busy hunting birds and beasts. What if

Working hard, Karl estimated that he could reach this village in three days.

Don’t the people in the village know how to build rafts? Can’t they make their own salt if they leave the village and go to the ocean? Even if the salt content of the seawater in the Gulf of Finland is extremely low, it would be better than being surprised and crying after seeing the salt today.

He estimated that the people in this village might have an inexplicable fear of the sea, or that they were content to live in a small area beside this forest lake.

Carl displayed iron hand axes and daggers, and even a double-pointed long-handled iron harpoon used for fishing.

He claims that these can be used as gifts, but of course there is a price to pay to get the gifts.

"I am willing to exchange with you. Do you... have anything you can exchange with me?"

In the entire village, only the old leader has ancient memories. The village is indeed isolated from the world. The last time a foreigner arrived, the leader was still very young. There are few old people in the village. In other words, the people here are very short-lived. People holding bone spears have put down their hands.

He took out the weapon and waited for the leader's decision.

"We have some leather from forest beasts and some dried fish."

"Forest beast? What is that?"

The leader can send someone to get it, and in a moment a small wild boar skin with its bristles yet to be shaved off is displayed.

Wild boar skins are not popular in Russia at all, because wild boars always like to dig into the mud to form a hard mud shell, which makes the skin as hard as iron. It is too troublesome to hunt wild boars and get pig skins. Hunters can also collect tusks and bristles. In the past, people did not

You have to choose. The smell of wild boar is too strong. Just endure the smell and grill it. Now there are obviously more choices. In terms of selling money alone, the economic value of catching bears or wild deer is higher. If it is not necessary to enter the forest

The Ross hunters don't want to take the risk of fighting a wild boar.

The people in this village probably have no choice. It may be difficult to hunt a bear with their poor weapons. Many people holding spears can hunt a small wild boar with no problem.

So, what did Ross's explorers need for the boar skin?

Karl couldn't hide his embarrassment: "This is wild boar skin. What else do you have besides this?"

The leader and his cronies and friends looked at each other, but the answer was already obvious - people.

The most valuable thing the village has is its people. Trading some children as goods in exchange for important means of production is acceptable to them.

They quickly discussed the results, and the leader replied calmly: "I can give you some children. I know that you will not hurt these children. They can be your slaves and do things for you."

Such a reply was something Karl never expected. He did conquer the village and kidnap the entire population as slaves to claim credit from the king. If he had the strength, he would definitely do this. As for whether the king would pardon the villagers' status as slaves, it was not his responsibility.

Considered.

Karl decided to report what he saw today to the Governor of New Roseburg, and then a messenger reported the matter to the king. In the end, there was a high probability that the entire village would be incorporated, and the people who lived in isolation would eventually come out of the cage and contact the people outside.

"How many children can you give me?" he asked.

"At most, I...want good things from you."

"That's fine."

Even so, Karl would not completely believe this village, so only one boat docked, and the other boat continued to observe.

Only the Karl family came ashore with many of their hunting tools to show off. After a while, the other party actually brought ten ignorant children.

The children were both boys and girls, all with dirty little faces, and their clothes were made of coarse cloth and leather. They were visibly poor and slovenly. What was even worse was that these children had small white balls in their hair, which

They are actually insect eggs.

In this era, cats could be eliminated to eliminate the rat problem. Forest cats, once regarded as a source of precious leather, became small rat-hunting animals raised by families, and gradually gained value as pets.

It is difficult to avoid parasites such as lice and fleas. The way to deal with parasites is to bathe and wash clothes with soap.

The fastidious Ross family no longer have to catch fleas everywhere, but Carl still remembers the pain of being tortured by parasites.

If you really want to take in these little slaves, you have to quickly change their clothes and shave their hair full of insect eggs. In any case, there are no slave markets in the main cities of Russia. The king's personal attitude is essentially

I don't like the slavery system, and I publicly show that I don't support or oppose it. Unless those slaves are prisoners of war of the enemy, this is full support.

There are also factors that work both up and down. After all, the old King Otto selected ten maids for Rurik. This incident caused a sensation in the entire fjord in Rus in the tribal era. Now those slaves have long been separated from their status as slaves, and each one of them has become a slave because of this.

Married to the current king Rurik and became a female noble.

Karl himself is getting older and has no ambition to become a noble. As a person from Old Rus, his family has long lived a comfortable life in the society of the kingdom, so he is fully equipped for this expedition.

He put forward new conditions: "I just want a girl, it doesn't matter if she is younger."

"This...why is this?"

Karl smiled and hurriedly pulled his blond son, who was also quite ignorant, over, held his thin shoulders and raised his chin proudly: "My noble son needs some maids, and these maids will have to give birth to my son in the future.

Son, what do you think? Please remember our identity! We! But Ross from the northern world, we are very powerful. I advise you to do as I ask."

The old leader felt threatened. He was well-informed in the whole village. He still remembered that a long time ago, outsiders arrived here in similar boats, exchanged some things and left. At that time, there were more explorers. If there was a fight,

The village will definitely suffer.

There were only two new explorers, and the old leader also saw the blond-haired woman and child for the first time. The language spoken by the other party was basically the same as his own, so the so-called Ross...

Although the old leader lacks understanding of the world outside the forest, he is also aware of the horrors outside. There is a very old legend circulating in this Savok village, because they are essentially a group of Finnish people who escaped the attack of the Karelians. Several forces

They are all of Finnish ethnicity, and they are constantly fighting among themselves. Before Rus defeated the Karelia forces in one fell swoop, the forces had already completed the upgrade from a chiefdom to a tribal alliance, and it was not impossible to even upgrade to a feudal kingdom.

Some Savoks were forced to surrender to Karelia, while a few walked across the frozen Neva River and finally hid in the dense forests of the southern Gulf of Finland. The history of persecution turned into legends, so that the village wizards continued to

Self-hypnosis said that there were many monsters outside the forest, which scared the whole village and did not dare to go too far out of the settlement.

If the "blond foreigner" with the villagers in front of him can basically win, then the boats floating on the lake will leave. Young people may be confident, but the old leader has a clear understanding, fearing that his companions will retaliate later.

.

The transaction was carried out immediately. After all, the hand ax, which was already in the state of mild steel, had been quenched and was hard on the outside and soft on the inside. It was extremely easy to handle the wood. Karl finally exchanged a bag of salt, five hand axes, and a harpoon for ten dollars on the spot.

A girl, and basically took away all the girls in the village who were five or six years old.

The essence of this Savok village is an armed immigrant group formed by many families who fled together a long time ago. Even if they settled here and lived a stable life, the high mortality rate of children forced each family to try their best to have more children. They did not marry close relatives.

Based on this current situation, a child is not a problem for the family. After all, the probability of him growing up to ten years old is not high. As a result, the overall size of the entire village is still maintained at only more than 200 people. It is not that they deliberately did this

, it is really the harsh life that forces them not to expand their population.

Even five-year-old children are an important labor force. However, the production tools in Savok Village are too backward. Even fishing is done by digging puddles to lure fish, sealing them, draining them, and catching them, because there is a lack of fish for fishing.

hook.

If you start using iron tools, everything will be fine. Children in the village not only belong to their parents, but are the property of the entire village. Children are always at the mercy of adults until they reach adulthood. Children cannot be counted in the concept of a Savok village in a realistic sense.

The "people" in the game. Trading children means losing ten labors. This is not a problem. The village can just give birth to more children. But iron tools are really hard to come by!

The Carl family did not want to stay on the shore any longer. The ten dirty girls did not know what would happen in the future, so they were very obedient and were carried onto the semi-stranded ship.

As soon as they boarded the ship, Karl's wife asked her youngest son: "You go and choose the two you like, and they will be your wives from now on."

The idea of ​​a golden retriever boy is quite simple. He is still too young and doesn't care about maids. He just wants two playmates.

The reason why there are ten girls is precisely because there are five Ross families on this expedition, and each family will take two. Karl feels that his arrangement is very fair. Besides, even if he has accumulated some wealth and has already started a family, his eldest son will have already taken two.

After leaving most of the money, he wanted to accumulate as much wealth as possible for his youngest son, such as two maids.

The Karl family cannot afford to have ten maids, let alone if they do this, they will be criticized by their fellow villagers afterwards. As the saying goes, "Only the king can have ten maids at a time, what do you want your family to do?"

The salt and iron tools were left on the shore, and a very special gift was given to the old leader free of charge.

Karl specifically asked: "Whenever you see a ship like ours again or someone in a robe like mine, show this flag. This way if there are any explorers coming in the future, we can still make some deals."

The special gift is the Ross flag. Karl handled this very thiefly. Any small tribe that surrenders to Ross will have a flag given by Ross. It is the surrenderer's obligation to display it to prove their surrender.

In this way, Karl can announce to his companions in a high-profile manner that the village surrenders to Rus by taking up the flag.

Brand watched the whole show and even waited impatiently. Unexpectedly, Old Karl also acted like a hero.

The exploration of the two long ships will continue. Even if there are many little girls on board, it is not a problem for everyone. It is not until they dock at night that the problem arises.

The fleet continued to search upstream along the long lake. Sensitive people discovered that the lake was not clean water, proving that the source of the river was still far away.

They lit a bonfire on the shore, and after collectively eating grilled fish, they began to deal with the dirty children.

The old clothes were tattered and had parasites, so the linen that was originally used as a tent was quickly cut and roughly made into robes with hemp rope for ten children to put on. Unfortunately, these children had been crying for a while because they were full of parasites.

The insect's hair was shaved clean with a sharp dagger. Such a simple and crude method solved the parasite problem, but all of them became bald and looked depressed.
To be continued...