The victory came too easily, and Ragna even thought of killing him himself, but the battle ended before the main force of the army arrived.
Defeating a group of people who are unable to resist is indeed not bravery. The captured materials are distributed among the army, and not much is left in the hands of everyone.
The blood-stained Karelian camp was too unlucky, and the dead bodies were pulled onto the ice and covered with snow to make graves. After the ice and snow melted, the bodies would sink into the huge Lake Onega.
Rurik chose an open space to camp, but when the soldiers went to pound the wooden stakes to fix the tent, they hit a stone.
That's a literal stone!
Rurik was still warming himself by the campfire, and his soldiers killed some captured deer on the spot, cut the deer skins into pieces, and each of them got a piece of bloody deer meat, which they were busy roasting.
Arik led his men into the forest to search for small animals, and Ragnar led his brothers to another reverse exploration.
The army of the Principality of Ross arrived here, and the only other settlement was destroyed, which meant that the west bank of Lake Onega was already the territory of Ross.
The battle ended in the morning. Many people did not have time to build camping tents and went to explore the forest treasures in the afternoon. As for those who set up tents, they reported to the prince with their major discoveries.
"Your Majesty, we found a large piece of stone." The speaker's eyes were shining, and what he said was definitely not what he said.
Rurik had long noticed that there were stones in the annihilated remnant camp of Karelia, and was wondering how they got the stones since there was a shortage of stones in this place.
The report from his subordinates surprised him.
"Stones? Are there any rocks here?" he asked.
"It's a stone. You can see it just by digging through the snow."
"How could such a good thing happen?" How could Rurik sit still like this? He stood up suddenly.
Svetlana was about to reach out to hold her hand when she suddenly heard her man's request: "Lana, come with me. And everyone else, come with me."
Rurik was followed by a group of people, and soon they picked up wooden tools and began to dig up the snow at the place where the so-called stone was found.
Rurik saw that the bottom layer of the snow nest that was first opened by his men was a very hard gray layer.
"It's a rock!"
The snow here is up to the knees. The wind that sweeps across the ice carries all the snow attached to the ice to the lakeside, so in some places the snow is up to the waist.
"What should I do?" someone asked.
"I've always wanted to get stones to build our city. Brothers, get moving and clear the snow as much as possible. I want to see how many stones there are here."
Some makeshift wooden shovels were made, and even reindeer participated in the snow removal work, relying on the strong strength of the deer to pull the wooden boards and peel off the snow as quickly as a snowplow.
The rock formations under the snow gradually revealed their true appearance, and the sun began to shine on the rocks.
It seems to be a whole piece of rock, with a small amount of lichen and even some special textures attached to it.
As the peeling continues, those lines become clearer.
Suddenly the people clearing the snow saw patterns made of rough lines.
"What is that? It looks like a swan." Svetlana asked, covering her mouth in surprise.
"Did the Karelians do it? They worship birds?" someone else asked.
The paintings on the rocks may really have been done by the Karelians, or by some other mysterious tribe.
Rurik had an idea and sighed: "In my opinion, this is what God has given us."
"How?" Lana asked again.
Now, Rurik's blue eyes looked at the frozen Ladoga Lake: "All this is an oracle. When spring comes and the lake thaws, the swans and geese that went south will come back. Therefore, we are the masters of this land.
The pictures on the rocks are evidence of God’s gift.”
Everyone heard it without objection and accepted the Kingdom’s explanation as truth.
Rurik made an impromptu order: "We are going to quarry the stone here, and we will do it now. We will have to bring the ship over in the spring. We will carve out this swan stone and transport it to New Roseburg. Well, we
If we want to build a quarrying settlement here, let’s call it Swan Stone Town.”
How to dig stones! Use a sledgehammer or forest ax to pound them, or slowly strike them with a chisel to make square stone bricks.
The snow was further cleared, and the people working were panting from exhaustion.
In the evening, the faces of the returning people were filled with the joy of the harvest. They discovered the abundant small animal resources here, and used wooden-armed crossbows to accurately snipe. The ferrets and squirrels that were hiding in the treetops fell to the ground one after another.
There was even a hunting madman who returned with ten giant squirrels tied up with ropes and immediately started skinning them at the camp.
At night, there are bonfires all around the lake.
The stone excavation site has reached a certain scale, with as many as fifty people smashing stones desperately.
It doesn't matter even if a large amount of granite gravel is created, they can be mixed with lime cement to make concrete. Or they can be smashed into finer particles to partially replace the quartz sand necessary for cement.
Working can be rewarded by the prince. No, a group of Ludi people also joined in the work after eating.
The camp was filled with the sound of rocks being smashed, and Arik, who had hunted a lot, returned, and it was very unpleasant to hear this all over his ears.
He chewed squirrel meat and teased his brother: "Other brothers are busy hunting, but you are in love with the stones here."
"Do you think I'm weird?" Rurik asked with a smile.
"It's strange. We should obviously seize the opportunity to hunt."
"It's better to dig more stones! I was completely unexpected to find stones here. A city will be built here in the future, and the new city is expected to replace the island quarry on Gogland Island. This place is a lake after all, and we don't have to consider the tide at all.
Problem, you don’t have to worry about bad weather during excavation work in the warm period. And after the ship enters Lake Ladoga, it can selectively transport the stones to Novorossberg or Novgorod..."
"Are you planning this?" Rurik obviously hadn't finished speaking, and Arik, who had a headache, interrupted: "I am a pure warrior, and it gives me a headache to think about this. Maybe my Aslaqi can have a good relationship with you.
Let’s talk.”
"Yes. Of course she can. She is a professional businessman and the best at calculating. So, her second child will be born soon, right?"
"Soon. Almost like a high priest." Arik asked casually: "Have you decided on the name of the child?"
"My name is Oleg."
"What if the girl?" Arik asked again.
"It's easier, just call it Onega, which is the name of this big lake."
In ancient Finnish, the suffix "ga" means "huge water surface". Naming a girl after a lake is also a beautiful name.
"So what is the name of Gustav's brother or sister?" Now it was Rurik's turn to ask.
Arik shrugged: "It depends on her own wishes."
When the two brothers talked about their wives and children, two women kept listening.
Lana was determined to give birth to a legitimate crown prince, and Carlotta wanted to give birth to a son for her principality.
No, there were still people working at the stone excavation site after dark, and another battle was going on in Rurik's house-style sled.
Rurik was entangled with his two women, and now no one could avoid suspicion. The three of them all took the initiative. Even the next morning, Rurik felt a slight pain in his back from being tortured, while Lana and Carlotta,
It was obvious that he had a happy face after winning the baby.
It's not suitable to stay in this cold place for a long time. It would be bad if there is a sudden cold wave and heavy snowfall.
After breakfast, Rurik held a military meeting. In addition to admiring the rapid assault of the cavalry, they also talked to each other about the rich local products.
The prince then delivered an important speech on the development of local stone resources, emphasizing the importance of lakeside stones for urban construction, and all the nobles agreed.
Thus the servile Ludians found a new occupation.
Lake Onega is located on the edge of the low mountains extending from the Kola Peninsula. It is a huge glacial lake as a whole, and there are mountain rocks protruding from the soil around the lake.
The Lydy people did not have to capture animals, skin them and sell them to the Russians. They could just dig up the stones and transport them to their villages and wait for the Russians to pick them up.
Digging rocks cannot be a high-value-added job. You can earn daily necessities by doing this job, which is much better than the original poor life.
The female leader Ludi and the elected Makut received new instructions - to dig stones for generations.
The Russians generally disdain to do this kind of work, so a group of servants is perfect for it, and everyone agrees with it.
Rurik wanted to stay by the lake for two more days. He wanted to give the army more time to hunt, and he also wanted to personally set foot on this large lake to observe the landscape.
At the same time, the stone excavation project continued. Lu Di's men obtained more axes, hammers and iron spears, and used modified chisels to peel off boulders, and began to use the technique of thermal expansion and contraction to create a large amount of gravel.
Stones of all sizes began to be produced, and they were thrown on the sled indiscriminately. Even if a sled was not allowed to carry too much weight, no matter what shape the stone was transported to New Roseburg, it had to be processed again.
As many as three undiscovered "Swan Stone Carvings" will be carefully chiseled out. They have sacred meanings to Rurik Fuyu and will be placed in the Great Temple of Rus.
Of course, it was not the Karelia people who carved the "Swan", but an even older ethnic group. Those lakeside settlers who disappeared for thousands of years left these legacies and became the treasure of the Rus' people.
Rurik led the team to inspect it over two days. He was surprised that there were a large number of stones under the snow in this area, as if a huge mountain range had sunk in its entirety.
There were as many as ten sledges filled with stones, piled haphazardly and giving Rurik the impression of a pile of construction debris.
They are not garbage. By smashing the mixed cement to create concrete, the hardened ground project of the Harvest Plaza can be quickly implemented.
Rurik is a smart man, and there are people in the team who can realize the value of stones.
Not only stones, but also metal ores may be found with stones. If iron ores and copper ores are found, it would be even better.
The cold wind like knives blew from the lake, and the hunters were not afraid. One hundred Ludi warriors did not kill the enemy and submit a certificate of surrender, but turned into stone workers and provided stones to Ross to prove their loyalty.
The Ludians were very satisfied with their new job, which meant that the captured Karelian women had no choice but to be dragged away like animals.
They are all dwarfs. They are not like this in the first place. It is just because the overall poor living environment suppresses a person's growth. In this way, every woman is very light. Although the Pechenegs are also short, the latter is
Short and tall, with arms as hard as rocks, it is easy to control such a woman.
As for the tall, blond, blue-eyed Rus and other Vikings, standing in front of them was a powerful intimidation.
After a rather detailed inventory, as many as 600 Karelian women were captured. The first conqueror to arrive was Kagan. He killed the elderly and all men regardless of age according to the custom of the steppes, so this
Six hundred people were just young women and young girls.
They completely lost their ability to resist, and Rurik, as the prince, announced his treatment of them in public.
The principality still adheres to the old rules. Women who are fertile will be married to new men immediately. Women with young girls will be married off with their daughters.
From their standpoint, it seems that the only option is cooperation. They also feel that the whole of Karelia has been completely destroyed. Since they are not willing to commit suicide and die for the tribe, they can only serve as slaves to the conquerors.
They have no extravagant hopes for the future, and Rurik also has no intention of harming these guys. From the prince's point of view, Rurik hopes that these new women will work hard to have children, so that they can create a new generation in fifteen years at the earliest.
A group of howling soldiers.
The sign of their obedience is to gather together quietly, like cargo, in a shed-style tent that can protect them from the cold.
Those hunters from Suomi and Bear Festival towns insisted on staying to hunt, keeping company with the Ludi people who continued to dig stones, and at the same time began to build the so-called "Swan Stone Town".
The three real "swan stones" have been installed on the sled.
The large army began to return, and now the food supplies stored were still very sufficient, and they could even feed the 600 female prisoners without any problem.
Is this how the crusade ends?
Kagan, who was sitting by the campfire with his brothers eating porridge, was very happy that one of his men was holding a Karelian woman.
Not only did they eat it themselves, they were also busy stuffing wheat into their women's mouths, and at night they would carry their women into their shacks and be happy.
The next day, they appeared again and changed their appearance.
Both men and women of the Pecheneg people wear strange little braids on the back of their heads. Women, due to the tradition of growing their hair, have braids, which makes them even more fancy.
These Pecheneg men not only possessed their bodies, but also further transformed the Karelian women into Pechenegs.
The long, straight black hairstyle of women has disappeared, replaced by dense braids, and some dyed hemp ropes are also mixed into the hair to become a decoration.
The intention of doing this is very obvious. Although bringing some supplies purchased in Ross will slow down the speed when returning home, wouldn't it be even more slow to bring a woman?
That must be done. The Pecheneg Tribal Alliance needs foreign women to give birth to new warriors at any time, not to mention that the appearance of this group of women is not much different from the Pecheneg women. They then put on traditional grassland clothes,
You can't tell the difference.
This team continued to advance. No one was more experienced in the winter Eastern Expedition than the Ross Cavalry.
Every one of them had killed the enemy! Their ferocious performance could be called a brown bear. Those farmers’ sons could no longer go back. They had experienced killing enemies and had seen blood, and their whole character had been changed.
He was originally the son of a boyar nobleman, but now that he was using his cavalry to fight with steel swords stained with blood, they already thought highly of themselves, and now they are even more arrogant.
Because the prince must have determined that they are real Ross warriors and belong to the top class of the principality.
Without him, although there are only eighty people in the pure Ross, each of them will become an officer in the future, and at the end they will have to command ten people, and the best one among them can become the flag captain of the expanded cavalry standard.
This Eastern Expedition naturally had a huge impact on Rurik. He was extremely well prepared for this battle. As a result, the war ended with a surprise attack by more than a hundred cavalry.
The cavalry embodies a huge tactical advantage, so why not expand it?
The plan to expand the cavalry was itself designated.
"It seems that the cavalry work is going to speed up..."