Those sturdy long ships carried too much cargo, and it seemed that as long as a big wave hit, the ships would capsize.
In 830, the extremely long Sorgon voyage that spanned the entire summer finally ushered in the end of the harvest.
The huge fleet rushed to the west and gradually disappeared from the sight of people on the shore.
Those immigrants who continued to operate New Roseburg continued to build the nearly completed wall and waited for the coming of winter.
Thinking of the past few days, Rurik, who was sitting in the "leader ship" with a dragon head carved on it, couldn't help but think more.
The weak north wind was not so hurtful yet. He looked at the rowers behind him. He was sitting in a cramped seat. In order to ensure a stable center of gravity of the ship, the sacks carrying grain were placed in the center in a line parallel to the keel.
.Many people were already shirtless, and even though there was a cool breeze, the sun shone on their muscular arms, still showing their obvious sweat.
New Roseburg is just behind it, and the wooden wall erected has become an obvious landmark.
Everything is just the beginning. Rurik believes that Konuson will act according to his city plan. Maybe in ten years, a solid city wall built of stone will rise on the Neva River. Those are relatively distant things.
, for example, he saw the fleet passing by a desert island. It was Kotlin Island, with some rocks on it.
It must be said that Rurik is in great need of solid granite that can be used for construction.
The granite on Kotlin Island is not excellent granite, but only some soft sandstone. They have been weathered and eroded over the years, and have covered the island with a layer of sand.
"Maybe I should call it Kronstadt from now on."
There is no fresh water on the island, and the fleet has no intention of docking here.
Because Arik led his brothers to attack a seaside village of a group of Estonian tribes, the Russians won an absolute victory without anyone dying. Because of this, Otto had no idea of stopping at the south coast of the bay to rest.
If he led a large army to conquer him, he would be fearless, but now a huge fleet is escorting 200,000 pounds of grain and other supplies. A large group of non-combatants is a burden, and Otto does not want to encounter any form of
Harassed, he needs to find a safe anchorage.
There are especially some children from Novgorod and some local young women.
To put it bluntly, these Slavs were all sold to the Rus by their parents. They already believed that their children could live a better life by becoming slaves to the Rus. This seemed to be a slave, but in fact they could lead a better life. This was betraying themselves.
When they have children, they can comfort themselves and not feel too distressed.
The fleet carried a large amount of food, which was a spoil of war distributed to every warrior who participated in the tribute payment.
A group of children are all servants given to their sons. Regardless of boys or girls, they must devote themselves to future training and work within their capabilities. Really hoping that a myth and legend will win over people's hearts, Otto does not think it is a panacea. He is happy to see Yuli.
Ke trains his power so that the family can truly and completely reject the ancient tradition of male duels to choose the leader.
Otto even serves as the "Yue Lao". One of the ways to win over people's hearts is to solve the marriage problems of young men in the tribe. Although people's living standards have improved in the past two years, young couples will no longer take the initiative to deal with the problems they have just had.
With the birth of daughters, the gender ratio of the tribe began to stabilize.
Not all young boys of the previous generation got married, and even many strong men were able to marry a second wife.
Isn't it natural to introduce wives to them and receive some money from them?
For these reasons, in order to avoid any accidents, the fleet cannot dock on the coast of the mainland.
So, did the most important fresh water for the long voyage completely rely on being obtained from the Neva River and stored in pottery urns and personal stomach pouches of warriors?
This doesn't have to be the case.
There are many islands in the long and narrow Gulf of Finland that runs east-west, and many of them are large islands with fresh water.
Among the many islands, Mohinet Island is quite unique.
Otto had long known that this island with two small bays was very suitable as an anchorage for the sailing fleet and a resting place for the people on board. What's even more wonderful is that there is also an extremely rare and huge freshwater lake on the island.
, it has truly become a holy place for supplies.
If it was just for the sake of traveling, Otto had no intention of stopping here.
The transportation of personnel and materials this time was the most extreme of the countless voyages he led. Of course, it is currently unimaginable that his son's first attack was even more extreme.
The longship is not an excellent transport ship, and it only serves as a guest in this role.
Because of the wind direction, Otto found that he could not use the wind to move the longship quickly in this east-west bay. Only by entering the north-south Gulf of Bothnia could he easily sail against the wind.
However, who said that when the north wind blows, the sailboat can't move due west? Rurik looked at the fleet's uniform single-sided sails. They are not the kind that can take advantage of winds from various directions and sail as they wish.
We should not have high expectations for a jib. The best sailors can control the existing jib to ride the waves in unfavorable wind conditions. The best sailors need long-term training. Such people are raised by Gould.
This is not a matter of Gould's lofty views. It is simply a waste of money to hire a large number of rowers, and large cargo ships are not suitable for rowing. It can be said that pure sailboats gave birth to professional sailors who make a living by sailing.
.
The arms of the Rus warriors, which were almost as thick and powerful as their legs, proved that they were masters of rowing. If they had to take care of plundering, hunting and fishing at the same time, they could not work hard on learning to control the sails.
However, the fleet was already moving forward with unprecedented weight. They were full of energy in the morning, and in the afternoon they relied entirely on endurance to endure the boring rowing. Although some ships sang folk songs to try to relieve the boredom, and even
The Novgorod women accompanying him sang local folk songs, but all the singing could not relieve the fatigue of his arms.
Otto could see how tired his men were.
He stood on the bow of the ship, holding in his hand the wooden carving of the terrifying snake head on the bow. His bearded face was illuminated by the soft light of the setting sun, which was completely different from the tired looks of the others.
After all, no one would complain that the big chief didn't serve as oarsman himself.
"Brothers, try harder! I'm going to dock at Tamsui Island. I know you're all tired. When we get to the shore, we'll eat wheat and drink water! There are a lot of bass in that lake, and it's easy to catch them.
We can catch him! Tonight we will have wheat porridge and grilled fish and have a good rest!"
The voyage was promising. The leader's lead ship made an inspiring roar. The following ships didn't know what happened. Adhering to the tacit understanding in the past and the fact that it was getting late, it seemed that the fleet was about to dock for rest.
.
Ashore? Which shore?
The fleet had just passed a road with a huge beach. At first, everyone thought it was a docking place and never wanted to lead the ship around it and continue moving forward.
Otto would not take the risk of docking, especially since the returning fleet only had as many as 700 people. Among them were a large number of women, children and supplies, so he had to find a reliable docking point for supplies.
A reliable island is just ahead.
The "Freshwater Island" as the destination is actually Mohinet Island. There is a small island shaped like a dagger to the east of the island. The two islands are like twins, and they are easy to distinguish.
After a while, under the leadership of the leader, the fleet followed the rising tide in the evening and deliberately ran aground on the gravel-covered southern beach of the island, and then people came ashore in large numbers.
The people who landed seemed to be running wild. Those who knew something about the island took the water bags they had held back and rushed towards the center of the island. A large number of people who did not know what was going on followed closely.
After walking less than three hundred meters in the forest, I saw the dreamy lake.
They paddled almost without rest for the whole day. They ate pre-made wheat cakes and dried meat in the middle of the day, drank swigs of the water they brought, but almost no one went to the toilet. It was not indecent, but it was really out of stock.
Many people are thirsty. When they see the lake, they kneel by the lake like deer, drinking directly from the water regardless of whether it is clean or not. Others have already picked up the hemp rope nets they carry with them and try to catch fish in the lake.
Already.
At night, the young warriors with sore backs sat around the campfire, waiting for the wheat in the pottery urn to be cooked.
Originally, the wheat controlled by everyone was shared in proportion, so it is natural for everyone to eat up the wheat now.
Otto was greedy for the 200,000 pounds of shelled oats from Novgorod. Otto was greedy for so much wealth. He demanded half of it as the wealth of the chief family, plus the money collected from New Roseburg.
Although the agricultural tax in the first year was only a little over 10,000 pounds of wheat, it was real wealth of his own, and it was a very stable source of wealth with huge development potential.
Absolute power brings such results. Although it is an extreme distribution method, Otto feels that he has taken great care of his subordinates.
Each young warrior can be allocated at least one hundred and sixty pounds of wheat, so it seems that each person does not get much.
In fact, what they benefited from Sorgon was not just simple wheat. The young people were happy to follow the leader to gain experience during the voyage, and more importantly, to get a woman as a wife. These wheats were all obtained for free, and they were
Pure profit. You must know that the entire Sorgon team mainly relied on local people to provide supplies during their stay in the East. During the days in New Roseburg, everyone estimated that they were of the same clan and would go fishing offshore and catch rabbits in the woods.
In Novgorod, of course, the army relied entirely on local people for food and drink, especially the vindictive request of Pine Needle Manor to provide most of the supplies.
They devoured the cooked wheat, and the accompanying women were also asked to grind some wheat with stone grinding rods brought from their hometowns and make some wheat cakes with coarse flour for later use.
The aroma of wheat and grilled fish filled the beach, and the warriors' bellies clapped like stones. Already exhausted, they fell asleep together around the bonfire due to hypoglycemia caused by overeating carbohydrates.
Together with their father Otto, they all wrapped themselves in blankets impatiently and quickly fell asleep.
"Damn it, I thought you guys wanted to have a bonfire party, but I was overthinking it."
Rurik didn't want to go to bed so early. He only ate a small bowl of wheat porridge and sat on the dry gravel on the beach, listening to the waves and looking at the moonlight and stars, as well as the rows of ships.
"What are you thinking about?" Arik came over with a wooden bowl and sat next to his brother again.
"This is such a lack of vigilance."
"Um?"
"I'm talking about father and the others. If an enemy attacks us, we sleeping guys will be in danger."
Arik was speechless for a moment and laughed loudly, "Your ideas are too naive. Is there any force in this sea that knows how to sail better than us? Who are you worried about? The Finns? Or the Estonians you mentioned? Look, this
This island is already our territory. I never knew there was a lake here. It seems that we should first stop here for our future voyages."
"It's better to be more vigilant." Rurik shrugged, as if he was unfounded.
Arik swallowed his third bowl of wheat porridge in three mouthfuls and said casually: "Damn it, who would have thought that the ship would become bulky? Look at the brothers, is it normal for them to fall asleep after eating?
"
"What's that like?" Rurik turned his head back again, "They won't catch cold because they are wrapped in leather."
"They are too tired. Maybe we should take a good rest on this island for a day."
"Ah?" Rurik was shocked, "The leader has no plan to do this."
Arik looked helpless: "Unless there is a southerly wind tomorrow, I think everyone should rest their arms."
South wind? Easier said than done? It's simply impossible.
Rurik knew very well the basic geography of Northern Europe. There was no mountain range, which allowed the north wind to blow endlessly in autumn and winter.
Otto did not inform himself of the future voyage plan. Perhaps he told Arik?
"Brother, what did you say about our next voyage..."
"Of course we need to be well prepared. We have to go straight to the west. Maybe we won't go to the second stop before arriving at Tombstone Island."
"Ah?!" For a moment, Rurik felt that this was not reliable.
"Don't be in a daze." Arik pointed at a group of children huddled up and sleeping around a huge bonfire. "You know the Novgorod language very well. You can talk to your new servants."
.Haha, if you see that girl has potential, you can train her well. You know the leader’s attitude..."
Rurik gritted his teeth. He didn't feel any shame at all. He also felt that once he took control of the highest power, he would not be comfortable with any ethics. It was really up to him to marry as many as he wanted. For the time being, he didn't care about men and women. Now
, nothing is more urgent than letting the Ross tribe’s comprehensive strength take off.
Everything went as Arik predicted. When everyone stopped exercising, their overstretched bodies began to feedback danger signals to their minds.
Early in the morning, a large number of young warriors were complaining to their leaders about their sore arms.
"Absurd! You are actually afraid of paddling?! You never complained when you went to Fort New Rose! Will the enemy stop attacking just because you are in poor health?"
Otto didn't care about the fatigue of his people at all. He forced everyone to get on the ship, and even if they were in poor physical condition, they still had to continue sailing.
Here Otto ignored that sailing on the Volkhov River, Lake Ladoga and the Neva River was completely different from sailing on the sea. In previous voyages, people hardly had to paddle, and the fully loaded ships were pushed by the river water alone.
Moving forward, especially to the Neva River, it can allow ships to move forward quickly even in the dry season.
Once they reach the ocean, the mortal Rus must exhaust their physical strength to drive the overloaded longship forward.
Of course, forcing will not bring good results. When we boarded the boat, the team was delayed and everyone was resentful. When it was time to paddle, everyone's embarrassed faces made Otto realize his mistake.
During the entire day, the fleet only advanced a mere thirty nautical miles. Before evening, everyone was forced to dock at a larger island.
She is Gogland Island, the largest island in the Gulf of Finland.