It was April 16 in the Julian calendar, a sunny day.
The climate in the morning was still very cold, but as the sun rose, the climate immediately warmed up. During these days, all the tribesmen were surprised to find that the water would no longer freeze after nightfall, and the sea ice and snow would melt faster. The only thing
The annoying thing is that the road will stay muddy for a while, so everyone's boots are always stained with mud.
No different from previous spring festivals, this year’s festival is still held at noon.
Why? Just because it is warm at noon, which caters to people's desire for spring warmth.
Thousands of tribesmen have gone through a long hibernation, and each household has very little food. They urgently need to go to the sea to catch fish. In fact, some people who are not afraid of death have done so, and the priests have therefore taken advantage of the daring ones.
I bought some big fish there and used them as sacrifices.
Rurik followed his parents and became a member of the mighty army. All the tribesmen rushed to the stone ship altar. This time it was slightly different from the Hanukkah sacrifice. In the spring festival, all the residents gave up without exception.
With the work in hand, I followed the Russians to the altar of the Russians.
The Spring Festival has exactly the same meaning to everyone living in Rossburg. Everyone also has the same beliefs and common fears. It seems that if you don’t participate in the Spring Festival, you will encounter storms when you go to sea in the new year.
Monsters, robbers, and other disasters that cause shipwreck and death.
What merchants fear most is the destruction of their ship and the death of people. Even Gould, who is very powerful, is not afraid of ordinary pirates at all.
He is afraid of storms and legendary sea monsters. Once the cargo sinks into the sea, it will be terrible.
However, in this sacrifice, no more reindeer were slaughtered as sacrifices, which comforted Rurik deeply.
He led his servant Rumia and followed his parents to the stone ship altar early in the morning.
Here, the pine forest that was once covered by snow has completely changed. Not to mention that the snow has disappeared, and all the pine trees have sprouts. Many people like to pull off the pine needles and use them to boil water. Their original intention is to use them to boil water.
To add some flavor to drinking water or soup, it is also called "getting the vitality of spring".
Pine needle water has a bitter taste. Although its taste is not very good, at least you can get some valuable vitamins from it.
This kind of behavior cannot be said to be weird. Rurik thought about it, didn't the Easterners also boil water with leaves and drink it? Even Rurik was sure that the Vikings would not carry forward their culture of boiling pine needle water.
The empty place under the huge altar was buzzing with people, with men and women talking about all kinds of things.
Rurik listened carefully, and many of them were young warriors talking about going to Novgorod to find a beautiful wife, or going south to kill the Gotlanders to avenge their blood.
It was obvious that the tribe already had a long-cherished wish for future actions, and his father had no intention of getting involved. What would they do next?
Rurik only knows his cousin's decision best, and that is revenge!
Finally he got the opportunity. Compared to taking his wife to Novgorod to visit his parents-in-law, Arik definitely didn't think it was more important than avenging his biological father's blood. His father died in the war, and he avenged his father. Liuli
Ke can completely understand his cousin Arik's mood and thinks it is very reasonable.
Youdao means that the hatred between parents is irreconcilable, and Rurik hopes that if the Ross army really goes south, Arik will not be injured in the act of revenge.
Thinking of this, he was always worried about his cousin who had grown up to be very strong.
In any war, people will always die. However, Rurik could not see any fear in the eyes of the young warriors in the tribe who were about twenty years old.
They have only two attitudes toward war, one is the anger of revenge, and the other is the desire for wealth. It can be said that the warriors whose relatives died at the hands of the Gotlanders in previous encounters, since a group of tribal elites suddenly began to promote "Brother Xiang"
With the battle cry of "Tlan people take revenge and everyone gets a hundred silver coins", they became excited, and the hatred in the past was quickly stirred up. Everyone was eager for revenge, and even more eager for wealth.
Rurik has not noticed until now that the technology he gave to blacksmith Klavason to make steel swords not only attracted other blacksmiths to kneel down and pray to teach them the technology so that they can make a lot of money together, but also attracted all the warriors to place orders frantically, which also made
They have to come up with money within a short period of time to pay for the order.
While the warriors were thinking about how to get a large sum of money, the big businessman Gould made a high-profile claim that the Gotlanders were extremely rich, and deliberately made up some legends to spread among his men. For example, the Gotlanders had so much gold.
It can be piled up into a mountain.
It is indeed true that the Gotlanders were not only rich, but also loved to hoard gold and silver coins.
Many times, the king of a kingdom cannot influence the development of the entire country because of his own will. The so-called national destiny seems to have an invisible force that promotes the rise of the country, and can also bring about its decline.
This power is not some illusory thing. The so-called national destiny is the human heart!
When most of the young people in the Ross tribe learned that the Gotlanders had a lot of money in their pockets, they organized an army to rob them. And the action would not be a solo fight of a few people. Many people had great hatred against the Gotlanders.
Furthermore, the Ross tribe was already in a fierce battle with them, so it was reasonable to attack them.
Therefore, the Great Festival is also a rare gathering day for all tribesmen. The most powerful young people of the tribe are here. They don’t care about the attitudes of the tribe’s elders, elites, or even the leader himself. The young people are already spontaneously discussing how to chop off the enemy’s head.
, making every warrior extremely wealthy. Paying a huge amount of silver coins to buy a steel sword from the blacksmith is also a particularly urgent need.
Arik spared no effort to call on everyone to attack the Gotlanders. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he easily gained more like-minded people.
He is someone who refuses to admit defeat! Although he cannot replace his cousin as the leader of the tribe, he still laments the current situation of making a lot of money from his cousin. His cousin is the real candidate for the leader, and feels inferior to him.
But an excellent leader must have a general who is fierce and daring to fight. Who will be this general? Of course it will be you!
Just like my father Ogier is the general of my uncle Otto, when Rurik becomes the leader, I, Arik, will be the number one general!
As a general, you must make meritorious deeds and be recognized by the young forces of the tribe? How to make meritorious deeds? That is to conquer the Gotlanders.
They have even started howling!
Rurik grabbed his father's clothes, hoping not to be scattered among the crowd. The sacrifice had just begun when suddenly a harsh sound came.
"Dad, someone is shouting slogans." Rurik said weakly.
"It's your brother Arik." Otto had heard everything clearly and couldn't help but frown.
"Ah! I...I understand. They are really going to attack the Gotlanders."
"Yes, this Arik." Otto felt that his eldest nephew was demonstrating to him. Well, his nephew has grown up and will soon be a father. A man needs to make a difference in his life! What's more,
Arik must take revenge! Otherwise, he will be ridiculed by others as "a coward who dare not avenge his father's murder."
Otto never expected that it would be his nephew who roared the loudest, leading a group of young people to chant the word "revenge" in unison.
Revenge? Attack? Okay!
Otto felt secretly happy, since those young people were so fighting, and since he couldn't interfere with this powerful force at all.
Who will be the general of the conquering army?
Arik! It seems he has won the support of young people.
If Rurik is a fan of children under the age of ten, Arik is someone who can be trusted by young people around the age of 20. Otto knows that Arik is the majestic figure in the barbaric competition among children, and the losers are very
I admire such a king in battle.
Even in the foreseeable future, Otto never thought that his nephew might threaten his son's leadership position.
Why? Rurik has already won over all the young boys of the tribe, and even hires personal guards. People have to grow up, and those children who run around in the tribe will eventually grow up to be Rurik's new army.
A strange thought suddenly appeared in Otto's mind. If his wife had given birth to a girl in the year when his brother Ogier died in battle, then Arik would really have become his eldest son.
There is indeed a possibility for Arik to become the leader of the Rus tribe, provided that Rurik must be a girl.
However, Rurik is a boy, and he is a person who has been "blessed by Odin". In the foreseeable future, Rurik will also be the king of fights. At least at the age of seven, he has never met an opponent.
They were excited and their roars excited even more people.
Finally, a group of priests formed a white team, and they personally carried various sacrifices and walked slowly towards the altar.
Everyone made way for them, and everyone noticed that they were different this year.
The priests were all dressed up beautifully. They all wore off-white linen clothes, printed in some places with indigo and cinnabar. They all wore necklaces decorated with rubies, sapphires, and a lot of amber.
They also all wear beautiful crowns, which are made of several rattans, with a large number of green pine buds and small unknown yellow and blue wild flowers stuck on them.
Many of the priestesses wore unique braids, and the crowns did not cover up the complex and varied silver ornaments on their braids.
Even some priests used cinnabar clay to draw lines on their faces, and with the help of their companions, they wrote words spelled in runic script.
No one thought for a while that the priests would dress themselves up like this because they suddenly had a fortune.
What everyone likes is their image. Some parents even saw their daughters who were rented out to priests. They actually...became very beautiful!
Yes, no matter their age, the priestesses dressed in exactly the same appearance, with only different styles and sizes of linen clothes, including the girls of the tribe, who were also trained by the priests to walk in unison.
Rurik noticed those tribal girls. Their new images were like the legendary little angels, with fresh and refined temperaments.
After all, they are all Nordic people. Usually parents are too lazy to clean their children. The girls in the tribe are still a little dirty when they are young. Now they have restored their original appearance, standing in the forest, as if they were in the legend.
Elves! It would be even better if they had pointed ears.
The fresh image of tribal girls inspired countless tribesmen. The girls' parents were also greatly surprised by the beauty of their daughters. They couldn't help but estimate how much dowry they would ask for when their daughters got married. Not only because they dressed up like the legendary
Women, after all, they participate in sacrificial activities, and their own value is obviously greatly improved as a result.
The young people of the tribe paid attention to these girls of their own tribe purely out of instinct. Some young people who planned to follow the leader to Novgorod to find local women to marry could not help but fantasize about asking for the marriage of these girls.
Their beauty easily garnered huge attention, even beyond the sacrifice itself.
Vilia, who wears a huge antlered helmet on her head, also wears simple linen clothes that symbolize the arrival of spring.
"Bonna has indeed come up with new tricks. At my age, wearing new linen clothes, I seem to be at least ten years younger!" Or maybe it was due to psychological factors, Vilia felt that she suddenly became stronger.
She had a deer-horned helmet on her head and held a jewel-encrusted crutch in her hand as she walked slowly. Her walking speed also determined the entire team.
People spontaneously made way for this holy team, and the crowd, which had been agitated by the group of young people eager for revenge, quickly became quiet.
Thousands of eyes watched this procession, watching the most important high priest step across the confines of the Stone Ship Altar and enter the so-called holy realm.
The Spring Festival is about to begin.
Otto squeezed out from the crowd, and he brought the most elite members of the tribe, as well as all the men over fifty years old, to gather at the bow of the stone ship altar.
The bow of the ship points north.
"High Priest, are we... going to start soon?" Otto asked Vilia, who was preparing, across the standing stones.
"My leader, don't be anxious. Have you seen my standing stick? When its shadow is smallest, it is the time of sacrifice."
Villa didn't raise her head when she spoke. She bowed her somewhat rickety back and personally visited some sacrifices on the stone platform inside the altar.
Now, the sacrifice she was handling was no longer the fresh meat of a deer, but a lot of symbols.
She placed young pine needles, oak buds, sage and onion seedlings on four small bronze trays. They are symbols and have no special requirements for types. Villa placed them here to symbolize that spring has begun.
arrive.
As for the lower-level priests such as Poona, their arms have obviously become stronger from the long hours of boiling fat and stirring soap. No, the most important sacrifice was carried over by the priests working together.
Brave fishermen took great risks and began to operate in the sea area where navigation was resumed in front of them. Large-scale trawling was not yet a problem. Fishing, a thousands-year-old method, allowed fishermen to achieve amazing harvests.
Two large cod fish, more than one meter long, were carried over by the priests with great effort. They were all fish caught this morning. In fact, the fish market of the Ross tribe has been restored, and the fishermen are already selling various catches on their own initiative.
.
Two silver coins bought two large cod fish, and the priests could easily pay the money. After the sacrifice, the priests would use the fish meat as food for the next day or two.
The position of the sun is slowly changing. It is not in the correct position, and Vilia will never announce the start of the sacrifice.
Being illuminated by the spring sunshine, everyone was intoxicated by the comfortable feeling of basking in the sun. The residents of the entire tribe, together with the guests, stood in this sacred forest, keeping quiet with each other and enjoying the sun bathing. Such a scene should probably happen in
A dream, but it is reality.
Everyone enjoys the silence, and they are also waiting for the violent moment after the sacrifice!
An ordinary wooden stick is inserted at the "bow" position of the altar. Once its shadow is aligned with the central axis of the altar, it means that the time has come.
The time has finally arrived!
Under the gaze of everyone, Villa raised her head and slowly opened her arms.
At the same time, two priestesses wearing wreaths of pine needles on their heads, one beat a small leather drum rhythmically, and the other played a small harp. The sound of music meant that the sacrifice had officially begun.
In the simple rhythm of the Russian music, Villa recited the hymn to spring.
The other priests knelt down on their knees in the altar, raised their heads towards the sun, closed their eyes, and accepted the sunshine.
Seeing this, all the participating tribesmen also knelt down piously, and they all brushed their faces towards the sun due south.
It is not an act of human confusion, but has a strong symbolic meaning. Because the sun is also considered to be a part of Odin, kneeling and facing the sun during the Spring Festival is to praise Odin.
When the time comes to the summer solstice, which is what the Ross tribe calls "the night without night", the priests will also perform a special ceremony for the sun, praising the great sun and the great Odin.
Vilia chanted ancient sacrificial chants, and when she became quiet, everyone opened their eyes and stood up again.
Vilia whispered to Bona: "Let's move on to the next item! Start."
Bona understood it, then took out a knife and cut open the two fish with no expression on her face.
She quickly opened the belly of the fish, endured the strong fishy smell, and pulled a large amount of fish intestines into the bronze tray. The two fish were treated exactly the same.
Rurik was completely stunned by this scene. Last year, because he was still young, he was led by his mother to stand behind the crowd. He was not very clear about the details of the rituals taking place inside the altar. Rurik only knew that the priest would play some ancient instruments.
It’s an ancient folk song. I don’t know that the priests still have the process of killing fish.
He never expected that Bona was actually a very good fisherman.
Without anyone's help, Bo Na quickly removed the internal organs of the two big fish, and with a few more cuts, she struggled to break open the fish's ribs. The whole big fish was opened along the ribs, as if it should be skewered next.
Put some branches on the fire and roast them!
Is this considered a sacrifice? It’s like preparing ingredients for a grilled fish feast!
Rurik's eyes were still on the fish, and he suddenly noticed the restlessness of the people around him. Looking around, more tribesmen were trembling.
A violent action is about to begin!
A pair of big hands suddenly slapped me!
"Dad!" Rurik raised his head hard.
"My child, are you ready? Just like last year, I won't carry you on my back this time."
"I...I'm ready." Rurik gritted his teeth, the most intense thing was about to come.
Vilia looked calm, knowing that her people were like arrows waiting to be fired, waiting for her to give orders.
She faced the sun again, opened her arms, raised her head that was about to be crushed by the antlered helmet, and tried her best to praise as loudly as possible: "Great Odin! Thank you for giving us spring, thank you for melting ice and snow. We are your loyal servants
, we are about to set off. Please give us your blessing!”
After a while, she said loudly: "Russian warriors, now... let's start!"
In an instant, the men of the tribe were like athletes who heard the starting gun. They suddenly accelerated like crazy and ran with only one goal - the beach.
Anyone worried about a stampede? No! No one cares!
The only thing everyone cares about is pushing all the boats on the beach into the sea. The priests and tribesmen have already "meeted" Odin at the altar. Everyone believes that they have received God's blessing. With it, this year
It will be safe to go to sea, every fisherman can catch huge fish. Every businessman can make big money safely!
Rurik, his weak figure also joined the torrent rushing towards the sea.
The same goes for the children of his age, who all ran towards the beach to fulfill the obligations that every capable Ross man needs to fulfill.
Rurik's small hands finally touched the hull of a long boat on the messy beach.
Everyone has a legend that doing this will bring good luck. If you don't touch the hull of any ship today, your luck will not be very good this year. No matter whose ship it is, as long as you participate in pushing it into the sea, you will be lucky.
alright!
There are nearly a thousand wooden boats of various types piled on the beach. In order to facilitate pushing, many boats have been made into wooden slides. On the morning of the sacrifice, the slides were also smeared with some grease.
All Viking longships were not very heavy. They were built with a deck that was wide but not high. It gained the advantage of being light but also lost its strength, making it unsuitable for sailing in the vast ocean. However,
Particularly suitable for the Baltic Sea.
Rurik just touched it lightly and tried to push it a few times. Soon his small body was pushed aside by a group of strong people. Because the boat owner and his friends cherished their boat, which was important for their livelihood.
Tools. They rushed to their own boat immediately. Since they had already marked it and planned their running route, no one usually mistook their boat.
There was no point in going deeper into the crowd. Rurik subconsciously stepped back. He didn't want to get in and get trampled and injured, nor did he want his clothes to get wet by the sea water.
Rurik walked towards the high ground, and the children receiving his military training were squeezed out of the crowd by the adults. The children also subconsciously gathered towards the beach high ground.
I saw a boy with a golden ponytail, a sword hanging from his waist, and a maid beside him. He was undoubtedly his little leader.
The children gathered one after another and gathered around Rurik. Everyone looked at the ship that suddenly appeared on the sea and subconsciously discussed the future they had heard about.
Fisk is still bald. Her widowed mother knew the benefits of soap, but she couldn't afford it. In order to prevent her son from being bitten by head lice, she insisted on shaving his son's hair with a knife against his scalp.
"Rurik, I have heard that many men want to take revenge on the Gotlanders. I really envy them." As he spoke, Fisk's eyes never left the sea.
"You have some regrets?" Rurik asked.
"Yes, I was too young, and I was even squeezed out by those adults. Maybe when I can push the boat into the sea myself, I will really have the strength to participate in the expedition. But...my father."
"I can understand that you want to take revenge." Rurik sighed, "They want to attack the Gotlanders, and my cousin also wants to take revenge. Looking at his performance before the sacrifice, I think he wants to be an expedition warrior.
leader."
"He's the leader?!" Kanuf came over confused, "I think it's my father! My father and our big leader are good friends. By the way, Rurik."
"What's wrong?"
"You said, our great leader, your father, will personally lead everyone in the crusade against the Gotlanders?"
"This... I'm not sure, maybe not."
"Oh, it seems that it is more important to go to Novgorod to ask for tribute. But I heard from my father that the Gotlanders are very rich. They even have a mountain made of gold?"
Looking at Kanuf's excited and trembling eyes and listening to his childish words, Rurik really wanted to laugh.
Children have a huge desire for wealth at a young age. It seems that they generally feel that instead of producing and creating wealth, it is better to rob the enemy's rich people.
No matter what, they simply lack education and do not know and cannot understand that having knowledge can gain wealth more efficiently and safely.
Rurik smiled and asked: "Do you believe they really have a mountain of gold?"
"Of course, my dad said it, so there is."
"Okay. Unfortunately, we are still too young, brothers!" Rurik gathered his young fans together and gave an order. This large group of children stood in five rows very consciously.
Just like they lined up during training, they all sat down cross-legged and listened to the "boss"'s instructions.
Any normal child has the need to follow the older child, simply because they feel that the older child is a strong person they can trust.
Rurik has a set of grappling skills, and his physical fitness is also excellent year-on-year. He is never weak in fighting, and he also has a lot of strange and wonderful ideas, and he is also good at drawing pie to promise a wonderful future.
He suddenly pulled out his bright white steel sword that shone in the sun, pointed at the ships that had raised their sails and started sailing against the wind, and shouted loudly: "Brothers, are you envious?! I know you are envious!"
!You don’t have to be envious, ten years from now, it will be me..."
As he said that, Rurik deliberately gave a thumbs up to himself with his left hand, "It's me, Rurik. After I became the leader, as you saw today, I took you on an expedition. What do you want? Gold
Silver? Or a beautiful wife? A servant? A servant like Rumia? And a great victory? You can get it all! As long as you are always loyal to me, you can get whatever you want. Do you remember our slogan?
?!"
Seeing their eager eyes, Rurik's eyes widened with anger, he raised his steel sword high and roared: "Ula! Ula!"
His roar caused all the children to roar, and everyone's expressions were particularly ferocious. They shouted "Ula", not to mention how happy they felt inside.
But Rurik easily controlled more than a hundred children and looked like a wild warrior in the future. Rumia was so shocked that she subconsciously took three steps back. This was her master! A strongman who would be unstoppable in the future.