Everything is based on Rurik's calculation. In addition to the 20,000 pounds of grain planned to be rewarded, an additional 50,000 pounds will be transported. Just the sled transporting grain is a huge beast. Fortunately, the Ross tribe is not in short supply in the new era.
Reindeer on the sled. Rurik never intended to reward Mechasta's men with so much food. Oats are a food that is extremely durable and has a high energy density. It is the best food for heavy manual workers in northern Europe in this time and space.
reward.
If the northernmost beach in the Gulf of Bothnia, apart from a mine, has any resources worth developing, it would be trees.
Rurik's mind was filled with shipbuilding plans. Since he had no financial resources to build an ironclad ship, not even an iron keel or iron ribs, he had to rely entirely on hard wood.
Of course, the best shipbuilding wood is oak. Are there large oak trees here? The answer is obviously no. He is not new to this place. After a long march a year ago, Rurik has concluded that the most abundant oak trees here are multiple varieties.
There should also be other tree species such as very cold-resistant pine and oak trees, but they need to be looked for carefully.
Even if there is not so much oak, it does not mean that it is difficult to build a boat. Pine wood is definitely not as good as oak, and it is better than most woods in terms of hardness, toughness, etc.
Rurik also made a mistake, that is, he did not pay attention to the close-up viewing, and spent most of his time just observing the distant woods from a distance. He defaulted to those forests as pine forests, which were obviously mixed with a large number of Nordic spruce.
Maybe it's not his fault, because red pine and spruce are both pine trees in taxonomy. If you don't observe them up close, as straight as Optimus Prime, of course you can't tell the difference.
The wooden walls of Elon-Olawa Fort and all the houses inside are all made of solid pine trees. When the house was built, the interior was naturally filled with a strong smell of rosin. After it evaporated for a while, the problem disappeared.
The fleet led by Otto successfully completed the last tribute payment this year, and it was also the first time it completed the tribute payment in a newly opened tax source.
The wealth of the chief family increased greatly, but the loss of silver coins was astonishing. All the silver coins were turned into grain, leather and iron tools. Standing on the bow of the ship, Otto looked at his home in the south. He thought more and more about his son's explanation.
is correct.
People live to obtain them, not just beautiful silver coins.
So what awaits him is a comfortable winter? No! For the warriors of Ross, the severe cold in winter can only lock up cowards, while real warriors dare to fight against the harsh nature.
Of course, these are just beautiful words. In recent years, Otto has become more and more fond of encouraging his tribe to hunt in winter, and the tribesmen are also willing to follow suit. The era when a deer skin could only be sold for one silver coin has completely passed, and a huge amount of currency has poured in.
In Roseburg, everyone seems to have become very rich, but in fact they are still poor.
More leather merchants, in order to bring more fur goods, poured into Rossburg, and some even decided to leave their former tribes and take root as new Ross people. Otto knew about the Vodgen, a slave-raised businessman who started a leather and linen tailoring business.
Rurik planned to sell a part of the squirrel skin to that man, and Otto decided to fulfill the agreement.
This time, Otto will fulfill all the promises he made to his son. He can only stay in his hometown for a mere two months, and he has to lead his people on the ice sea all the way north.
The once peaceful and boring winter has become lively.
A group of fishermen who cut ice to catch seals stayed on the ice for a long time. A large number of seals were sold to priests to boil oil, and the fishermen got a benefit. The priests, especially Parla, organized ten people under Rurik's command to be given
The maid named is mainly responsible for the heavy work of soap making. The peak production capacity of the soap making industry chain is in winter, and it must be in winter, so those seals will deliberately eat fat and can make the best soap.
.
What’s interesting is that many families in Roseburg have completed upgrading their homes in the past. They followed Rurik’s footsteps and completed the “Novgorodization” transformation of their houses, which was upgraded to wood-cut tiles.
, the homeowner sleeps on a wooden bed. The fireplace system made of stones and clay goes a long way to ensuring the residents' heating safety in winter. Of course, they must also consume a lot of charcoal or wood to serve the stove. After all, the burning ashes are
It is thrown outdoors as waste.
The ashes are plant ash. In particular, the potters responded to the demand for casting molds for the blacksmiths' blast furnaces to smelt pig iron. The potters consumed Rossburg's already depleted wood resources, thus producing more plant ash.
They become the raw material for making soap.
Just like a thousand years from now, fossil energy such as coal and oil will support the world's operations. They are the blood of industry.
Roseburg has formed a handicraft system. It is too early to upgrade to a preliminary industry, but the contract system of the industrial era, hiring and being hired, has begun to take shape and is in operation.
The system also has a source of energy, which comes from nearby large trees. It is the endless power brought by the burning of firewood and charcoal, which promotes the industrial operation of Rossburg's metalware, pottery, glassware, spirits, leather tanning, and soap.
Of course, the landmark ship construction business started, which relied on the source of wood.
To obtain a towering tree, one needs to go deep inland and then drag it to the shipbuilding workshop on the seaside with great effort. The Hotla family, which is the most capable of shipbuilding, if they do not have suitable wood, they can be counted on in a short time.
Building new cargo ships is a luxury.
Fortunately, Hotla had already made an agreement with Rurik, that is, some important materials for shipbuilding, and Rurik would ask them to find a way to get them.
Otto's final voyage lasted only two days, and was blown by the strong north wind all the way back to the fjord where Rossburg was sitting. Even though these cargo ships were naturally slow, because the wind was strong enough, their speed was quite high.
To move people.
Rurik lived in the Iron Olava Castle and became the supreme leader of this settlement.
He can give orders at will, and the mercenaries under his command, such as Jevro and others, obey his orders. Other settled Rus are also willing to obey the arrangements of the future great leader.
Should you be wary of mistakes made by Kewen? There is no need to do so.
Mechasta was very happy to see his daughter treated as a family member by Rurik. The two children were even on the same wooden bed. He really wished that his daughter would grow up, as long as she could give birth to Rurik.
Even if it is a daughter, with a child as a bond, the Iron Squirrel Tribe will have a better life in the future.
In the settlements in the far north, the snowfall period seemed to be unexpectedly delayed. The temperature was dropping almost every day, and until the fourth day after Otto's fleet left, the ice floes on the river were clearly visible.
In fact, Rurik didn't know that on the island in the distance at the mouth of the Oulu River, ice eggs were born again. Their appearance seemed like a miracle, but in fact it was the prelude to the freezing of the entire Gulf of Bothnia.
Freezing has begun in the northernmost part of the bay, and the temperature will gradually drop to the terrifying low temperature of minus 30 degrees Celsius at night. Without thick fur, only the strongest Ross warriors can resist for an hour or two, but red pine and spruce cannot survive at all.
Afraid of this cold. Polar bears and reindeer are still active in such extreme temperatures.
By the tenth day, it was already November 7th in the Julian calendar. The daytime was already very short. The former sunshine was suddenly covered by dark clouds, making the world darker. Everyone realized that a snowfall was coming.
The snow finally fell!
All the people, especially women and children, who were stranded in the "Cemetery Hill Castle" in the mine, under the leadership of the priestess, when the sky began to darken, they took Xinluo with them, or sat in reindeer carts with very limited load capacity.
, or walk on foot, walking through the winding forest road with a straight line distance of five kilometers, and return to the most substantial Alon Orawa Fort, which gives everyone a sense of security.
The heavy snow is coming, and it doesn’t come simply.
The outdoor world is raging like a frost giant. The howling cold wind carries snowflakes like sharp sabers, cutting the wooden piles of Ironfort. Including the domesticated cart-drawing reindeer, they are all driven into the sturdy wooden deer enclosure.
, they stopped all work and ate the dry grass that had been prepared for them.
Even deer that are extremely resistant to wind and snow are instinctive to avoid heavy snowstorms. Wild reindeer herds will stay in dense pine forests to avoid snow disasters, and then come out to plow the snow and chew grass roots when the snowstorm is over.
As for the people, everyone stayed in thick wooden houses. Fortunately, the tall wooden walls acted as a strong barrier and resisted the erosion of the north wind. However, there were two towers that were not built so firmly from the beginning.
In the early stages of the storm, it collapsed under the strong wind.
The remains of the tower appeared inside the fortress, but no one went to clean it up.
The wind and snow were so serious that even if you were wearing thick clothes, being outdoors rashly was a way of seeking death.
Rurik stayed at his home, and Mechasta and his daughter Saipolava were asked to live in. Of course, there was also Jevlo, the Finnish mercenary captain, whom Rurik trusted most.
The thugs are also the people who will have important responsibilities in the future.
There was a heavy snowstorm outside, and the roaring sound was extremely scary.
The warm interior was a different scene. Rurik brought two large bags of oats, one bag was given to the mercenaries who stayed behind, and the rest was for himself.
They were like prisoners, forced to stay in a wooden hut, eating oatmeal and eating dried fish and meat all day long until the storm stopped.
Rurik at least separated a small room in the house, which was the toilet of the house. It was actually a dry toilet that was convenient for squatting. Only this small cubicle was the coldest in the entire wooden house.
Because of his death order, those houses built in batches had such independent toilets. At first, people felt that this design did not bring much convenience as imagined, until the snowfall came.
It was another extremely boring day. The indoor lighting relied entirely on firewood and slow-burning oil lamps. In order to save fuel, the lighting time was generally short.
The porridge in the wooden bowl was eaten again. Mechasta wiped his mouth and, under the soft light of the fire, picked up the wheat grains in the bowl and stuffed them into his mouth.
"Rurik, when the snowstorm is over, do we really have to find a big tree and cut it down?"
"We have been talking about this topic these days, why do you still think it's impossible now?" Rurik shook his head, "You are the leader of the tribe, you must complete this thing for me. Don't worry, I will do it again after it is done.
I won’t treat you badly.”
"But, that's a big tree!"
"Are you still struggling with this? Do your people really dare not chop down the big tree when they see it?"
"Yes. I really don't dare." Mechasta will never show off. His tribe does not have any technology or ability to chop down a tree that cannot be lifted up with its arms.
"Hey! But my people dare."
"That's right." Mechasta hurriedly complimented, "You Russians are brave people and have such abilities."
Rurik felt that he was being sarcastic: "Huh? Do you think that as long as you are strong enough? The warriors under my command are just one head higher than your men, that's all. They are not even as strong as bears. Do you think we are
How to do it? Let me tell you! Rely on wisdom." As he said this, Rurik specifically pointed to his brain.
Anyway, he was idle. Rurik explained straightforwardly that many of his mercenaries and even the settled Rus knew how to cut down giant trees. But they had never shown this skill to Mechasta.
The reason is very simple, there is no demand.
Using the Viking-style logging method, trees of any size can be felled safely and directionally, and only a long-handled forest ax is needed.
Rurik made some popular science about the techniques he learned, although he never actually implemented them himself.
"Wonderful! What a great skill." Mechasta was busy clapping his hands. Did he understand? How could he think of a person he had never seen before seeing a real woodcutter practicing "Viking wood cutting"?
thing?
With a smile on his face, Rurik proposed another tool that even Jevro had never added - a saw.
It is a very long iron bar with a large number of tiny "teeth" in it. If one tooth can only bite a small mark, and a thousand teeth keep biting it, it will be a huge wound.
Mechasta and Gevlo had never seen a saw, and Gevlo in particular had never seen a saw either in his hometown, in Mälaren or in Rossburg.
This is an extremely unfamiliar tool, although it has long appeared in this part of Europe.
Rurik also knew that the Ross craftsmen only had tools for processing wood such as axes, scrapers and planers. It was reasonable to think that they did not have a saw, because making it was somewhat difficult under the existing technical conditions. The Ross craftsmen did not spontaneously
The reason why I came up with him was probably just because I had no exposure to the concept, that is, "there is actually such a method of logging."
"It is not difficult to make a saw, but after it is completed, even a child, or even..." Rurik simply pointed at Saipolava, and then at himself, "The two of us can operate the saw without wielding an axe.
It can make a tree collapse."
What he announced was so tempting, adding fun to a boring time.
The forests in the Far North have not been developed in any way, but they contain an astonishing reserve of excellent trees. You need to find them and turn them into ship materials.
How to make a saw? Rurik has already thought of a countermeasure. His men are equipped with weapons made of two materials, namely simple iron and ferrochromium alloy. It is not difficult to reduce low carbon steel to mature iron. The blacksmiths of the Iron Squirrel Tribe have this ability
Ability. Wrought iron is soft, and it can be easily cut out with a quenched chromium iron chisel to create sharp, acute dents. The rough saw blade is then carburized and quenched to become hard and elastic, and every tooth
It can be sharpened enough by polishing it with iron ore. In fact, the saw blade does not need to be too sharp. In theory, even if it is an iron bar, if it is rubbed crazily against the tree trunk, it will still file the tree trunk.
The plan has been set, and the next step is to wait for the snowstorm to end.
Those wrought iron and mild steel axes will be returned to the furnace, and will be beaten into long and thin iron bars, as if to make a steel sword. Maybe a batch of more will be made, and a group of children from the Iron Squirrel tribe can become
They become a group of naughty children who can destroy mountains and forests efficiently. At least in this era, children with the ability to cut down trees efficiently are really an excellent labor force.