The sun went down and the afterglow dissipated under the sea level.
Stars shrouded the world, and the temperature was extremely low. Opposite to the low temperature was the bustle of Roseburg.
A large amount of wood waste, branches, and rotten wood were piled up, and a huge wooden tower was successfully piled up. Tower stacking has become a new nation. The so-called burning giant tower is a gift to the gods, and every household must contribute a little.
Firewood.
No matter where they come from, they are all Rus now, and the worship of fire is welcomed by all.
The time has come, all the stars have reunited, the aurora is a green ribbon, and suddenly a shooting star passes by!
Someone raised his hand to the sky: "That's the Parade of Valkyrie!"
But the meteor suddenly dissipated. Some people were stubborn and held up their hands to insist that they saw the meteor and saw the smile of the old priest Vilia who transformed into the Valkyrie.
People use words to elicit empathy. Regardless of whether they actually saw a shooting star, they just said that they saw the image of the old priest.
The rumors became increasingly outrageous, and some even claimed that he had been personally blessed by the gods.
"Maybe God exists. Vilia, you are indeed the Valkyrie. All of us agree that you are the Valkyrie." Rurik did not make any comments on the rumors, but in his heart he very much hoped that these beneficial rumors would spread more and more.
The wider.
A rising principality, people from at least three cultural groups gathered to form a new Rus.
It was the native Rus people who united a principality through force of conquest, so it was naturally possible for it to split. Unless all the people worshiped the same thing, such as fire.
Under the wooden tower, all the people living in Roseburg gathered here. Not only them, but also people from Ellenburg, Covenstad and Tombstone Island, who came to participate in reindeer sleighs and horse sleighs.
This grand event.
The men put on their weapons and looked awe-inspiring, while the women put on floral cloths and tried their best to dress themselves up in a colorful way. A large group of children were running around, and the swaddled babies sometimes screamed and sometimes cried.
There were lit torches everywhere, and a garland of flames formed on the wooden walls of Roseburg.
Rumia stared at the Antler Helm again and chanted the ritual, and Rurik personally killed five reindeer.
The boy's handsome face and newly grown beard were stained with the blood of a deer. Rurik held a burning torch high and threw it to the dry wood pile.
Under the starlight, moonlight, and aurora, smoke billows from the frozen beach of Roseburg.
Soon, the initial flames ignited, and the pupils of more than 10,000 spectators also ignited with flames. They stood and stared at the flames that gradually turned into fire dragons, and then felt the refreshing warmth...
The fire tower kept burning and firewood kept piling up.
Until the new dawn breaks through the darkness before dawn, people no longer need a fire tower to illuminate the darkness.
The soft light of the morning sun shines on the faces of tens of thousands of people watching the sunrise over the ice field.
Welcome to the year 834 AD!
The daylight hours are still very short for a few days after sunrise, and then this time will quickly lengthen, and within three months it will lengthen to occupy half of the entire day.
The year 834 of the Julian calendar has arrived.
As the highest noble of the principality, his childish face was already attractive enough, but now his eye sockets have become very obvious, and his eyes have begun to become deep and sharp.
In this Nordic body, golden hair began to grow vigorously, and only the wives and concubines were aware of the parts covered by the clothes. Only the cheeks, lips and chin were clearly visible.
Many old guys who grew up with Otto, when they see this young kid, they think of Otto back then.
Otto was also a beautiful young man and a good fighter. Because of this, he had the right to marry the beautiful Niya.
That was already a distant past, and the Ross was no longer the small tribe that lived by itself.
Nowadays, all the known worlds north of Tombstone Island are completely the territory of the Principality of Ross. The people living there, whether their own family members or servants, no longer have any force that can threaten Ross' power.
If there is, it is the Karelians who need to be conquered.
So this year, according to the promise made to the Suomi people last year, we will attack the Karelian people?
Rurik had no intention of concealing his ambitions. He began to deliberately speak cruel words and shouted a slogan that made all strong men excited: "Use Ross's sword and shield to fight for the living space under the sun."
The Duke is going to war again! Is there any enemy in this world that the brothers fear?
The Danes are obviously weak, Svealand's allies are dejected losers, and every one of the British guys is a fool.
Ross is more powerful than before, because among the mercenaries who were ordered to participate in the logging work, there is a group of native Balmoks. Everyone believes in Odin and has exactly the same warrior culture.
The Balmok mercenaries are no longer just for money, they believe that following Rurik they will continue to achieve self-achievement with one victory after another, and finally become heroic spirits.
How can we just let ourselves take advantage of the good things? There is still a group of brothers in our hometown who are unwilling to immigrate to Britain. Wouldn't it be better for everyone to just raise the flag of Ross?
As the day lengthens, work suspended due to the extreme cold has been fully resumed.
In early January, another small-scale cold current moved southward, bringing another severe snowfall to the already frozen world. Fortunately, the snowfall lasted only three days.
What does this mean? As usual, people swept the snow in front of their doors and piled it into snowdrifts, then shoveled the blood clots onto sleds and pulled them all out of the city.
After the snow, the construction speed of Blast Furnace Town accelerated significantly.
The wooden piles at the core of the fence have all been built, and all that's left is to build the wall around these strong wooden piles. Within the fence, not only have the wooden piles to construct the wooden ridges been built, but wooden walls have also begun to be stacked on them to build wooden floors.
In terms of building wooden houses, Ross not only learned the technology of the Slavs, but also made improvements and innovations based on it. In Rurik's view, these are not innovations, but rely on the existing technical level.
It created the traditional wooden house style common in Europe before the electrical age.
A large number of wooden houses are for craftsmen to live and live, while the obviously simple and large wooden houses are simply warehouses.
A piece of open space was deliberately left, and the original tree roots on it were dug out. The land was leveled, and some simple sheds with air leakage were placed on it.
A blast furnace will be erected here, as well as a large number of auxiliary small furnaces.
A hill of iron ore is being piled up. The ore dug from the mountainous area is covered with a layer of snow, making the ore even more majestic.
Regarding the construction of blast furnace town, ore mining, wood transportation and processing, traditional leather and linen making, soap making, and even ship building, Rurik no longer needs to personally supervise these things.
He doesn't even need supervision. Tens of thousands of people are doing their own work to create a pair of invisible hands. Roseburg's economy is functioning well.
Rurik was convinced that what he wanted to do personally was to control the core things, namely precious metals, metalware, salt and grain.
These physical resources are actually the basis for his personal right to rule, and the so-called divinity is actually the icing on the cake.
In the past few days, all kinds of people have made a lot of money by selling their labor force. Rurik also timely provided more wheat and salt in January, and the terms of purchase restrictions were also relaxed, so that the silver coins sent out were basically recovered.
Already.
A lot of wheat! Today's wheat can be said to be a small profit for the rulers of Russia.
Looting from Britain, harvesting grain in the Novgorod Sorgon, and in the newly opened farmland at the mouth of the Neva River, it seems that the only cost of transportation labor is included. Only purchasing grain in the area around Lake Mälaren costs a huge sum of money.
The military operation in 833 solved the food problem for the next year for the first time. More than two million pounds of wheat were obtained from seizures and tributes. After paying the soldiers their due rewards, Rurik still got such a large scale in vain.
of food.
In Rus, the anchor of silver coins is food. A large consumer market has formed within the Principality of Rus, but it still seems very closed to the outside world.
The total of more than three million pounds of grain is essentially the property of the Duke's family and the property of Rurik himself. Ironically, he is the only one who realizes that such a large amount of grain has the power to shake the earth, while ordinary people
The people simply believed that if they obeyed the Duke's request, they would be able to get money as a matter of course, and they could buy delicious wheat by changing hands. Other than that, they had no other ideas.
Now, a huge amount of food is far better than a large amount of gold and silver.
As a principality, Rus is essentially implementing a grain-based economic system.
This was a wonder in Europe at the same time. In other words, the spiritual core of Rurik's Oriental people was that deep in their souls they cultivated the land. From the perspective of the Oriental world, it was clear that sufficient food was the underlying core element of a country's long-term stability.
.
The Russians are indeed consuming food quickly, and they are creating a large number of things with long-term significance and value, and their personal bodies have become stronger in the cold winter because of enough food.
The old blast furnace will still be the main smelting force in the next six months, and the two old blast furnaces will also come to a vigorous end.
The furnace has been producing brittle gray cast iron. Entering the new year, the task of casting cast iron tools was stopped by Rurik, but gray cast iron was still being manufactured, but the irregular iron pieces formed after casting were smashed with a sledgehammer.
Broken into pieces. These pieces of iron with too high carbon content are immediately thrown into an ordinary small furnace and continue to be calcined by fire to remove part of the carbon and become low-carbon steel that can be forged.
This is the method of frying steel, and it is also a technique popularized in the workshops of the Blacksmiths Union.
Rurik is not worried about technology leaks at all, even though many businessmen from southern allies live in Russia.
Even if there may be some fine work from the Mellaren people in Fort Ross, what does that matter? If they can learn the blast furnace technology, it will be a godsend, unless Mellaren also has a time traveler.
No! This is my world, my stage!
There are more than fifty young apprentices, almost all of them from Novgorod. They are all about the same age as Rurik, and they are his personal blacksmith slaves.
In principle, their status is humble, and it seems that it is only in principle. They are also a group of teenagers. Compared with other children, they are all strong men. They have changed the traditional Rus' attitude towards the long-conquered Slavs on Lake Ilmen.
A weak impression. Maybe this is where the soil and water support the people? Rurik is very satisfied with the achievements of this group of brats. The individual mining capabilities of the five hundred Tavastian female miners are limited, and the amount of work caused by such a number of people becomes
The qualitative change directly changed the work and rest of the blacksmith boy.
The teenagers could stand by the fire and sweat all day long, and they used their efforts to flatter their master Rurik.
In fact, the original intention of their efforts was not for advanced ideas such as self-realization. Their pursuit was extremely ordinary. After obeying the master's requirements, they received food, clothing, housing, and even a wife.
Lord Rurik made a promise, and he will definitely fulfill his promise!
Don't look at them. They are all teenagers, and the muscles on their arms are already very scary.
The smashed iron blocks were brought in, and after just two days of continuous processing, a flexible carbon steel sword embryo was completed! As for grinding and sharpening the sword body, as a low-priced mass-produced device, just
Just grind it with a manual grinder.
The price of its second-grade steel sword was set by Rurik at a half-pound silver coin.
Such a price is no longer extreme for the majority of Russian men today, and mercenaries are no longer extreme. They either sell their labor to make money or save their remuneration, and it won't take long to buy another steel sword. As for further improving it, even
Making a gilt-plated sword hilt and even a wooden scabbard with patterns was too unique and the cost was bottomless, so Rurik didn't bother with it.
Fifty young blacksmiths were responsible for the most critical processing steps. As their master, Rurik directly set a demanding task for them - each person would produce ten polished and qualified sword embryos per month.
He also ordered Kamnier to be the leader of the blacksmithing industry. If he could not complete the 6,000 steel swords accumulated throughout the year, no one would even think about arranging his wife!
In fact, this was their destiny. After the order was conveyed, Rurik realized that the effect of his decision was immediate.
Rurik did not dig out the bones and wash the marrow. He asked his men to really produce according to the efficiency of one sword in two days. It can be done in a short time, but people will be exhausted if they take a long time. They will definitely evolve into a furnace and carburize ten swords at the same time.
The sword embryo will use various means to reduce the craftsmanship and complete the task ahead of schedule. The remaining time can be used for some rest, and this time can also be used to make some other weapons, such as participating in the mass production of carbon steel arrow clusters.
"Were they gifted with power by Thor?" Old Kravalson couldn't help but sigh.
Not only these young blacksmiths, but also a group of professional carpenters from Roseburg were gathered and accepted Rurik's arrangement.
His arrangement was very purposeful. He asked Kawei to be the technical director. After making the parts, they made the new torsion slingshot and bull trebuchet.
As for the quantity, Rurik hopes to manufacture thirty slingshots and five trebuchets a month.
Of course there are difficulties, and their enthusiasm was immediately mobilized by the sound of money. This group of carpenters had reached a tacit understanding with the blacksmith alliance in the past few years, and they had long been responsible for heavy weapon parts and
The manufacture of some wooden parts for ships is now just a matter of Rurik bypassing the blacksmiths and giving them orders directly, and he pays them directly.
If mining, logging, canvas-making, cable-making, shipbuilding and other personnel are also included, the Russians' "combat readiness service" personnel have reached as many as 2,000. They are both men and women, and most of them are highly skilled.
body.
Rossburg has become the only real arsenal in Europe in this era. Rurik's abundant gold, silver and real materials serve as guarantees, ensuring that people work hard and that this arsenal can continue to spit out black smoke!