A group of people wearing thick furs stood inside the walls of Ironburg. Didn't they sigh at the sudden appearance of this settlement?
Alska, the leader of the deer herders, would never have imagined that this was the place where he had been enslaved.
From the beginning of the design, Ironburg planned to accommodate a thousand people, so the space inside it is actually very large.
A group of reindeer were forced into the wall, and together with a large number of sleds being dragged, they created a rather interesting situation under the aurora and starlight.
Visitors lit torches one after another, and the night watchmen also lit a large number of bonfires.
More than 30 deer herders of different genders were stunned by the amazement. The Russians chatted and laughed with each other, and then began to unload a large amount of goods. Especially Jevro and his mercenaries, they and other mercenaries
Brother Bing completed the meeting and immediately began to carry the wheat belonging to Rurik.
Even, some extremely special goods - some special tree trunks.
After receiving the emergency report, Rurik hurriedly changed his clothes, and was stimulated by the cold night wind, which cheered him up.
Under the illumination of torches and bonfires, a large group of furry people appeared inside the wooden wall, as well as an extremely large herd of reindeer.
There was a familiar guy walking towards him, it was Alska.
"It seems that you all arrived safely. You have fulfilled the chief's instructions." Rurik said in the language of a deer herder.
Alska immediately bowed: "We are your servants, and now we will graze for you in the winter."
"Very good. But you don't have to go too far. Well, what do you think of this town?"
"It's... really great."
Alska and his people are just nomads in the snowy fields. They have a vague concept of towns and naturally lack the vocabulary to evaluate them.
Rurik had no intention of continuing to ask, so he pointed to the wooden wall and said: "My wall is tall and reinforced, and can withstand the most violent snowstorms. You take the men to graze and leave the women and children behind. The wooden wall will protect them."
Safety. Rest assured, as the owner, I will ensure their safety and daily food."
Alska gritted his teeth. He felt very uncomfortable, but he did not have any authority to say no.
"Okay, I will take good care of your deer."
Rurik nodded: "In exchange, I will also take good care of your women and children."
Do you want to continue talking to the deer herders? Go and show them a strong castle? Rurik doesn't think it's necessary.
After all, they are deer herders. I am afraid that they have liked to live alone as a small clan in the snowfield since ancient times and even in the future. Rurik vaguely remembered that in another time and space, he learned about the life of the Sami people from movies and TV shows.
In the snowfield, which is quiet and peaceful outside, a Sami family lives in a few wooden houses, and they raise hundreds of deer. They make a living by receiving tourists and selling various deer products.
A thousand years later, the stable life of the Sami people was not won by force at all, but came entirely from the charity of the Swedes. It was simply because at that time, the Swedes advocated love, peace, and environmental protection. For the Sami
They quite support people's pursuit of original ecological life since ancient times.
The current era has serious limitations. If a wise man puts forward the slogan of fraternity, does the audience exist?
Rurik wanted to be kind to these deer herders, but he was also afraid of letting them graze freely. He might have driven the deer herd to Murmansk. The cost of finding them again in the vast world of ice and snow would be crazy.
In order to avoid this disgusting situation, Rurik had no choice but to detain their wives and children.
After all, they are human beings. They wouldn't give up their wives and children just to defect, right?
People from Roseburg broke the peace of Ironburg.
The nights are getting longer and longer, and it is impossible for people to sleep all the time. Everyone is always full of energy, and infected by the noise of visitors, the entire residents of Ironburg emerge from their houses one after another.
It was a good thing that the sleeping laborers were leaving one after another. Rurik easily deployed the labor force, unloaded all the linen bags from the sleds, and stuffed them into several vacant wooden houses used as warehouses.
As for the goods contained in the linen, Rurik personally checked and found that oats were the main items. Because the wheat grains purchased from Malaren generally did not have the opportunity to be properly dried, if the weather was humid, they would have a high chance of rotting.
Fortunately, when the cold period comes, it is estimated that these wheats will not germinate even if they are planted in the spring. They were destroyed by the low temperature. It is the low temperature that makes them immortal and can even be stored in the Arctic Circle for fifty years.
The other food was all vegetables, mainly yellow carrots and onions. Due to the low temperature, they were all frozen into ice lumps. Those purple-skinned onions were like ice balls.
This night, the visitors temporarily stayed in wooden houses, and all the vacant wooden houses were put to important uses.
Almost all of Rurik's mercenaries gathered in Ironburg. They were equipped with hand axes, steel daggers, and even twenty crossbows, giving this team of nearly a hundred people a strong combat effectiveness.
.
Rurik believed that Mechasta, a Kovin man, had completely surrendered. He was afraid that some thorns among the ordinary tribesmen would suddenly pop up to incite them and do things that were detrimental to him. Although such a thing seemed impossible, it was routine.
Staying alert is necessary.
Besides, Ironburg is essentially a northern city, and it must have the most basic city defense facilities.
The mercenaries are all here. They eat the wheat of the benefactor and wear the fur coats of the benefactor. They are Rurik's reliable minions. These people have a clear interest relationship with Rurik and are the real people who settled in Ailon.
The Russian fishermen are more reliable, and naturally more reliable than the Kovin people.
Nearly a hundred mercenaries essentially took on the city defense work of Ironburg, further consolidating Rurik's power here.
The next day, the short day started with the red morning glow in the east.
Even though the day is very short, the temperature is surprisingly not so cold. During the short day, various projects of winter daily life in Ellenburg have to be implemented as soon as possible. For example, women have to collect firewood and men have to cut wood.
A little tree.
The leader of the deer herders, Alska and his men, and the Iron Squirrel tribe of the Kovin people had reconciled in Fort Ross half a year ago. Now that he sees that the Kovin people are living a good life, Alska returns with envy.
Envy, he still likes to graze in the snowfield.
As long as he guards a large herd of deer, he feels that he has embraced wonderful wealth, even though he has become Rurik's deer slave.
To be fair, he thinks his current life is actually pretty good. At least as Rurik's slave, he doesn't feel any real harm to his tribe. As long as he helps his master raise deer, he can get good security.
Are you still pursuing something more?
A new day, a new beginning.
Alska took his brothers who could be counted on two hands, left behind his wife and children, took more than 200 deer, some iron weapons for self-defense, sleds, leather tents for accommodation and other camping supplies, and they rushed to
The vast snowfield in the north. Among the supplies they carried, there was a small bag of oats and a little salt. These two were regarded as "carrots" for the deer herders to ease the discomfort of their wives and children being detained.
Arska also unexpectedly received a request from Rurik: "You can find other deer herders by the way and tell them to submit to me and pay me some leather every year, and then they can get military protection from the Rus."
Get trade permission."
Alska agreed to this request, and he had to consider one thing. He saw how powerful the Rus were and how ambitious they were to conquer the known world. If everything was fate, all the deer herders would be ruled by them.
, then you should try your best to seize the opportunity to avoid conflicts. If you provide them with some from your own herd, you can ensure that they will not attack you. This "sale" is calculated.
However, another request from Rurik surprised him.
"Going to the sea at the end of the world? Looking for a special river, looking for a bay that never freezes?" Alska was not very clear about this matter.
He accepted the request anyway because Rurik refused his doubts.
In fact, Rurik hopes that these deer herders who are active in the entire north, specifically in the Lapland and Murmansk regions, can find the Murmansk Gulf and provide a path to get there. Snowfield Adventure This
Of course there is work to be done, and Rurik feels that deer farmers are experienced in this aspect.
Winter grazing in Alsk has a certain nature of adventure. They took away more than 200 deer, but what about the other 200 deer?
The rest of the deer were all left in Ironburg, and those selected were either the fawns or the strongest stags among them.
The reason is very simple. Will fawns that are only a few months old die outside? Of course, during the migration journey of wild reindeer herds year after year, a number of fawns should die.
Rurik didn't want anything to happen to these captive deer. It was already a great feat for them to reach Ironburg. In the future, they would just graze on the grass around the settlement.
As for those beefy bucks, they'll come in handy!
Those disappearing forests are not really "lost". There are large collapsed pine trees everywhere on the ground, and their branches have been cut off and burned as firewood, leaving only a lot of straight trunks.
There is enough hemp rope in Ironburg. Use hemp rope to tie the tree trunks, pull them out with manpower, and transport them all to the frozen dock. How much manpower is consumed? Manpower is obviously so precious, but animal power is different.
Already.
The selected stags were carefully trained by other Kewen tribes and were docile masters of pulling sleds. Naturally, they could easily pull tree trunks out of the "forest ruins".
No, on the first day, those reindeer started working.
Rurik didn't even pay attention to the backs of the deer herders and the herd. Instead, he led a group of mercenaries to the ruins of the forest to deal with the big trees.
A large number of pine trees are tied with hemp ropes, and the other end of the rope is hung from the neck of the deer. In reality, two deer are often dragging a log. What people think is strenuous, but the reindeer don't seem to feel tired.
Rurik didn't care that much until the short day soon turned into evening, and he found that some stags were panting heavily and walking a little swaying. Even so, the reindeer were still beaten and continued to drag the logs towards the ice-covered dock.
.
At this moment, on the snow at the pier, the Covin people holding double saws, under the leadership of Mechasta, were already processing the logs a second time, that is, sawing them into a length of about 2 stikas for better use.
Used as ship materials and even for transportation convenience.
Mechasta and his tribesmen undertook the crucial task of stacking timber. Logs of the same length, which were roughly the thickness of a strong man's thigh, were stacked overlapping in a herringbone shape. Two hundred reindeer were imprisoned.
With the joint efforts of the deer herder woman, the woman from the Kovin tribe, Rurik's mercenaries, and the Russian fishermen, a transportation line was formed on the snow, and the place where deer and people walked became a solid line.
Very slippery road.
Finally, in the evening, an extremely important transportation process was finally carried out amidst Rurik's fervent prayers.
Jevlo, the brave mercenary captain, personally presided over this extremely important escort.
There were as many as twenty mercenaries and five men from the Kewen tribe, and they drove as many as ten strong stags to drag a very special huge log.
It is an extremely tall spruce and has an outstanding presence in the forest.
Rurik also learned from Mechasta that in early September, the Ross fishermen who settled here stood on the mine and saw a few stand-out trees in the pine forest in the distance.
Those are some tall spruce trees. Looking at them from a distance, you don't think they are particularly tall. Only when you stand under them can you know how tall they are.
The Russian fishermen used classic Viking felling techniques to chop down the tree. Of course, when it collapsed, it not only broke some small pine trees, but also triggered a small earthquake.
After preliminary measurements, after all the branches were cut off, the remaining trunk actually reached 40 stikas. This is Rurik’s dream material for ship masts. It is straight and extremely tall. Although 40 stikas, that is,
The length of 40 meters is too crazy for a mere Caravel ship. It is more suitable for use as the mast of a Galen ship.
Only relying on ten stags to drag it, Jevro gritted his teeth and felt the difficulty of the deer. In the end, all the men joined the dragging army and, together with the stags, pulled the heavy wooden pole away.
At first, Rurik did not think this was extremely difficult.
Until he saw Jevlo's red face holding on to the hemp rope, and the reindeer's crazy panting...
Rurik saw clearly the tree trunk that had been dragged out of the forest. It had been dragged to the flat snow. With the smooth snow, was it really that difficult to drag the big tree trunk?
The truth is that extreme.
Rurik only knew its length and its diameter, which was almost a little over a stika, but did not calculate its weight. The reason was not to blame for Rurik's inaction, it was entirely because he did not know the density of spruce logs.
.
So, what kind of number is this?
Rurik regarded the tree trunk as a special cone and used a simple calculation formula to find that its volume was approximately 10.5 cubic meters.
In fact, the density of spruce is 417kg/m3, and the huge spruce trunk they pulled out weighs four tons.
This was an extremely heavy weight, and only twenty-five people and ten stags could pull it out using the slippery snow.
The huge weight melts some snow directly under the pressure, and the towing work can be carried out in smoother conditions, but the weight of four tons is really no joke.
There is more than one big tree of this length. Looking at its dense and dizzying growth rings, Rurik is sure that this tree has been growing for at least five thousand years.
In fact, this is not an exaggeration at all. The lifespan of this special tree, Nordic spruce, is theoretically infinite. It is difficult for it to die naturally. Its death mainly comes from external reasons, such as felling by humans.
Spruce may not be a good choice for making masts, but even if the Russians get the technical support of Mellaren's shipbuilding industry, those shipbuilding experts don't understand it, and there is no need to implement any "mast splicing technique" on the small boat.
, even a boat like the Caravel is still a small boat. The density of red pine is higher, but it cannot grow as exaggeratedly as spruce.
Jevluo's face was red as if he had drank a bottle of strong wine. When the people who were carrying ordinary logs saw such a group of warriors suddenly coming out, they couldn't help but gather around to watch. They were shocked that these guys actually succeeded in killing the giant tree.
They were dragged out and worried about their bodies.
Yevlo was eager to make a positive statement to Rurik: "Sir, we are almost successful."
"This... is really crazy. You really succeeded."
Rurik stroked the rough bark, and the people pulling the hemp ropes hurriedly sat down to rest. They had already taken off their fur hats, and when they sat down, they grabbed a lot of snow and stuffed it into their mouths.
"My lord, this tree is very heavy."
"Yes, I saw it all."
"So." Yevluo gasped and boldly demanded: "I hope you will gather all the brothers, and we will use a hundred people to pull this big tree away. Just relying on..." Then Yevluo suddenly felt violent.
of cough.
"You!" Rurik suddenly turned around, noticed the blood on Yevlo's mouth, and became very nervous for a moment. "You! Are you sick?"
"I'm so tired. Sir, my chest feels like it's going to explode. I..." Jevro coughed again, and there were some bright red blood streaks in the protruding phlegm.
Is it tuberculosis? It's definitely impossible. I'm afraid this is a sign of extreme fatigue.
This is indeed the case. Yevlo must set an example. He exerted great force and was holding a breath in his lungs. Many capillaries were swollen and broken. He had already suffered obvious internal injuries. It was not worth the effort to continue to let him do things.
.
They were all strong men. Looking at the exaggerated length of the tree, Rurik gritted his teeth and hurriedly ordered the mercenaries who were driving the reindeer to assemble urgently. Also gathering were a group of busy Russian fishermen and Kewen tribesmen.
.
In excitement, Rurik simply pulled out his short sword and encouraged: "Brothers, this big tree will serve as the mast of our ship! It is extremely heavy, but don't be afraid! We will organize a hundred deer and a hundred people.
, work together to pull it away! Listen, finish this job and let's go back to eat. All of you! Whether it's the Rus, the Covins, or my mercenary brothers, you have sacrificed too much! Everyone can do it tonight
Got three pounds of wheat!”
Hearing this promise, the tired guys all jumped up, and even Yevro felt that he had regained a lot of strength. Wheat! It is delicious in the world, and Rurik does have the ability to fulfill this promise immediately.
Of course Rurik will fulfill his promise. After all, it is 70,000 pounds of wheat. This much wheat is not evenly distributed to the residents of Ironburg. They are all rewards for the strong men who have put in a lot of hard work, and only it can effectively
In a short period of time, nearly 4,000 calories of precious calories are added to strong men, so that they can jump up and do high-intensity and heavy physical labor the next day.