Chapter 171 The Summer Solstice of the Rus and Kawi's Achievements in Novgorod
The climate has become quite warm. The sun quickly returns after the rain. The south wind blows on Parla's wrinkled face. She is full of hope for the future.
After all, she is a poor woman. Her husband disappeared mysteriously at sea. She did not choose to betray her feelings, let alone commit suicide and survive. Instead, she chose to be Odin's servant. Parla did not reject those Rurik who might come soon.
The new servants, by getting along with them, maybe I can find the feeling of being a mother.
Parla took away the soap-making tools from the longhouse of the priests, especially the forty wooden molds in batches.
These actions did not matter to Bona, who was still drunk.
Bona's spirit was still dazed, and she really enjoyed the feeling of being drunk, as if her soul was infinitely close to Valhalla on the other side.
Because Bona bought more than one jar of craft ale. She bought five jars and intended to use them to reward other priests who were loyal to her, even though each jar cost as much as twenty silver coins.
What's bad is that Bo Na doesn't think her behavior is very extravagant, or she doesn't think paying a hundred silver coins to buy wine is crazy. She just found a southern merchant who specializes in transporting wine and asked for the best wine. The merchant naturally took out the wine.
The ale with the highest alcohol content, seeing that the other party was very generous, the merchant took the opportunity to raise the price, never thinking that these Russian priests had no intention of bargaining.
In a sense, what Bona drinks is the so-called "stout". At a time when hop technology has not yet become popular, this beer is a high-grade ale brewed deeply from rye.
The priests were almost in a state of semi-paralysis. The old Vilia looked worried and could only slap himself in the face with his old hands as old as dead branches. Vilia even complained that Haro Zuosen and Arik had robbed too many.
Money, if it hadn't been so much money, Bona and the other priests wouldn't have become like this.
She has seen enough to know that money has the power to corrode people's hearts.
"Rurik, I hope you will not be corrupted." Vilia prayed secretly.
Perhaps only the victory of the big leader can make Bona wake up.
Nowadays, Parla can no longer control his former colleagues, and the right way is to please the new "master" Rurik.
On the first day, Parla took the necessary equipment, such as large pottery urns and molds, to the "servants' quarters". Without a suitable workshop, she started working outdoors.
The next day, thick smoke came out near the "servants' quarters", and a woman started boiling oil. Some good-hearted tribesmen gradually realized that they could watch the priests making soap, and many people gathered around Parla.
On the third day, Parla had already started pouring the mixed soap liquid into molds. The situation exceeded her own imagination. She cast four molds at once, and the molds filled with thick soap liquid were placed directly into the "servant"
"dormitory", because the men responsible for the care claimed that they would not let in anyone who was not allowed by Rurik.
As production gradually stabilizes, Parla's production efficiency is also improving.
In any case, it was impossible for Parla in June to produce sixty bars of soap on her own, but it was perfectly fine to make thirty bars. She also understood that as long as she made thirty bars, Rurik would give her two silver coins and fifty
The so-called salary of copper coins.
Seeing that Parla's work was on track, it became urgent to build a real soap workshop that could shelter from wind and rain. Rurik hired a group of old men who lived a somewhat poor life at a very low price and asked them to build a small traditional soap workshop.
Wooden longhouse, this longhouse can even only need a thin layer of wooden walls, and there is no need for a cold-proof interlayer of soil and meadow in the middle, let alone a wooden floor.
The wooden house has only one function: a soap workshop.
As the simple wooden house was quickly built, Parla placed various equipment in the wooden house, so that she did not have to worry about rain disrupting her work! What is even more touching is that Rurik personally paid for the construction of a workshop for herself
.
Accommodation, food and even workshops!
Favor! Great favor!
Time is gradually approaching the summer solstice, which falls on June 28 in the Julian calendar.
Rurik became increasingly worried about his father, sister-in-law, and the large number of people under his command. They would not encounter any trouble, right?
As a result, the summer solstice has arrived, and there is no news at all about my father and those tribesmen.
Life must go on!
Rurik didn't think so much for the time being, because his servant Rumia appeared in front of everyone in the form of a priest girl to the surprise of many left-behind tribesmen.
Summer solstice, nightless night.
There is no night in Roseburg on this day! When the sun sets below the horizon, it does not set again.
For the tribesmen, they feel that this is the favor given by Odin to everyone.
There are also many foreign businessmen who come here purely because of its reputation, because there is also a legend circulating among the businessmen that Odin may have really shown favor to the Russians.
The sun did not set as expected, it stayed on the horizon, shining soft and dim light on the earth.
Many people think of Ragnarok!
However, the world is still bright.
Rurik, more than a hundred of his fellows, and even thousands of tribesmen participated in the sacrifice, and they witnessed the entire process as spectators.
Rurik's bad impression of Bona was worsened now.
It wasn't just Bona who was greedy for alcohol. The lower-level priests had lived a drunken life for a long time, but when the time came for the sacrifice, they were still in a state of swaying.
But many tribesmen don’t know the inside story!
Some priests will eat some strange mushrooms, which will cause them to wander. They say they enter a trance state, as if they are close to the gods.
Of course, you can also feel ecstatic by drinking craft beer with a higher alcohol content.
As Bona was about to take over as the high priest, when she left, Villa interrogated her about her prayer recitation.
How could Bona forget the words? It was just out of confusion that she stumbled while reciting them.
Vilia has been resting since she fell ill, and on the summer solstice, her body functions finally recovered.
Bona became unreliable, so Vilia had no choice but to put on the sacred antlered helmet again. Beside her, Rumia had already put on a gray plain robe with a hood, and with a very pious attitude, supported the slowly walking
Vilia, walked towards the sacred stone ship altar.
Poona, whose hiccups smelled of alcohol, was deeply surprised. How could a little girl who was a deer herder become a noble priest?
That's Vilia's decision!
Bona was a little upset that she shouldn't have drank yesterday, even though it was really good.
Since Villa intends to host the sacrifice, that's fine.
An evil thought emerged in Bona's mind.
She began to fantasize, feeling that the reason why Vilia was so ill and seemed to be dying was because the Spring Festival consumed too much energy.
That's fine, if Vilia collapsed from exhaustion again on the summer solstice, I'm afraid he would have died!
The sacrifice was carried out under the auspices of Villa. This time, Rumia, who had learned a lot of etiquette, helped Villa a lot in the stone ship altar.
Rurik saw all this, and so did the tribesmen.
"Very good, you are really training me to be an obedient future high priest."
Rurik turned around and looked at Bona, who was wearing ordinary plain robes. He was shocked and cursed in his heart: "You drunkards, isn't sacrifice a national ceremony for you? You claim to be noble, but you do blasphemous things. You like to drink alcohol.
, OK! When I have the ability to make pure water of life, you will drink it to death. In this way, I will train a group of priests who listen to me from scratch."
Rurik believed in a great being, and as for Odin...
"Oh! I really need Odin. I really need the noble status of Odin's Blesser to make it easier for the people to listen to my words. And give me some silver rewards, hehe!"
The priestly activities were over, and as expected, Vilia had to take a good rest for this. She seemed to be sick, but in fact she had not yet reached the time to die suddenly.
As for Bona and her gang, who returned to their normal lives, they forgot about their embarrassment and began to live a happy life of drinking every day again!
Bona was so obsessed with having fun that she didn't realize that she was wasting money.
So what? All the priests think this kind of life is very good.
Vilia simply stopped caring about Bona. Of course, her physical condition did not allow her to talk nonsense.
The performance of the deer herder Rumia at the altar satisfied Vilia. Maybe this time she really didn't make a mistake.
She asked Rumia to study in the evening and then take care of her own daily life. Verya wanted to teach the little girl everything she knew. She felt that this child, who was different from the Rus by blood, was better than her own people.
have a future.
Ah, Odin spared her the inevitable fate of freezing to death after all.
After being a priest on the summer solstice, Rumia became more convinced of her unique destiny.
Life seems to have returned to normal, and the tribesmen are increasingly worried about the fate of Otto and other tribesmen.
Even though Vilia lied about getting Valhalla's will during the great sacrifice, the so-called great leader's fleet was delayed because it did many great things, like last year's victorious expedition, and it is still on its way back.
For a while everyone believed it.
But many days have passed, where is the news?
does not exist.
But Otto was on his way back. Otto had indeed experienced many major events in the past two months.
For Otto, it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him in his life!
Otto and his party did encounter some troubles in Novgorod. After conquering the Pine Needle Manor, which was revealed to be unwilling to surrender, they no longer encountered any difficulties.
It was entirely because of Otto and his tribe's crazily amassing wealth, coupled with the arduous task of building New Roseburg, that Otto himself was worried that he would not be able to arrive before the summer solstice with those who had to go back.
This is indeed the case. Due to practical reasons, everyone inevitably missed the Summer Solstice Priest.
Everyone is relieved. There are too many uncertain facts when people are floating overseas, and there are dangers everywhere. People must always stay vigilant.
The construction speed of New Rossburg was very fast. When Otto and others returned to the mouth of the Neva River for the first time, a village had already sprung up.
At this time, it was already June 10th according to the Julian calendar.
He placed some tributes in Novorossberg to fully support the construction of the new settlement. With only one day of stay, he and his men hurriedly turned around to Novgorod, taking the stranded people and another pile to be transported
The tributes were taken away.
Otto's return journey will still take some time.
But before that, the Ross people actually gave some favors to the villagers of White Tree Manor who were like loyal dogs.
Blacksmith Kawei helped his parents-in-law, the Rigus family, with some farm work, and even lived with them as a full member of the family for many days.
"Perhaps, it would be good for me to live here for a few months every year." He told his wife Lilia this idea, and Lilia changed hands and informed Rigus of the good news.
The entire White Tree Manor has already boarded the Russian ship. It seems that only with the long-term blessing of the Russian people can they be stable for a long time.
Maybe the daughter will believe in love, and the manor director Ligus's thoughts will be more rational.
He very much welcomed his son-in-law Kawei's idea of moving in for a period of time every year.
But he gave his eldest daughter Lilia a task that only she could accomplish - to give birth to a boy and train him to be a blacksmith willing to work for the White Tree Manor.
Indeed, only you can do this!
Lilia did not dare to tell her new husband what was on her mind, so she immediately considered Kawei as a family member.
As for Kawei, he has received full praise during these days.
Not just him, but all the young people who are stranded in White Tree Manor. If they have beauties, it is natural for them to help their parents-in-law with some farm work. These young people who have just grown up to about twenty years old are very willing to show off in front of their women.
Shows the bravery of men.
The huge pine trees were felled efficiently using traditional and very skillful Viking felling techniques.
The villagers of White Tree Manor immediately brought their various stone axes and stone chisels to process the tree trunks. Because of the Russians, the huge pine or birch trees that the residents of White Tree Manor were once unable to chop down have now become excellent buildings.
Material!
Many young people are now strong men and are worshiped by the residents of White Tree Manor.
Kavy, in particular, built a small disposable stove out of mud from the lakeside. As for the charcoal used as fuel, the Novgorod people knew exactly how to make it.
The very few iron tools in the entire White Tree Manor, such as some extremely worn axes and even bronze axes, were sent to Kawei.
People who had never seen a blacksmith at work gathered around to watch the blazing furnace. Many bold children climbed directly to the thatched roof and watched curiously as the Russians repaired the iron tools.
The rusty ax head had its wooden handle removed and was thrown into the fire and burned. A stone mill was removed and used as a blacksmith's bench.
The red-hot ax head was carefully forged by Kawei. After all, it was just a repair. The iron oxide on the surface completely disappeared. Because it had been burned in the charcoal block at low temperature for a while, the shallow iron had been carburized.
The soft iron block was smashed into a sharper blade. When Kawei felt it was suitable, the red iron block was thrown directly into the prepared wooden barrel filled with lake water.
In an instant, a strong steam erupted from the barrel. The brave Kawei waited for a while, then reached out and took out the iron block.
It has been hammered into the shape of a standard Nordic forest ax, and the carburizing and quenching processes used in its repair have turned this wrought iron ax into a treasure.
Kawei repaired a total of ten axes and three iron knives. Not to mention the carburizing effect, they have at least undergone the quenching process, and their strength has been far greater than before.
What surprised him was that the entire White Tree Manor, with a population of 2,000 people, only had this little piece of iron.
The shabby current situation shocked him.
After all, in Fort Ross, metal tools cannot be said to be expensive and can be used by ordinary families. Nowadays, only specially processed steel, whose sole purpose of existence is to be used as a weapon, is expensive.
Kawei gave a small hand ax that he carried with him to his parents-in-law. In fact, he gave it to his brother-in-law Medved, the man named after the bear.
Kawei's idea is very simple. Even a blacksmith has an ax for self-defense. How can a strong man not have a handy self-defense tool?