They feasted all night long, drinking and drinking. During this time, the nobles saw the generosity of Prince Rus, and also saw the reliability and courage to become a king.
Although many nobles and envoys could not accurately estimate how much benefit their tribe would gain from being honored by Rurik, in the end it would be better than the current situation.
Because they have all seen the prosperity of New Roseburg, a city that remains prosperous even in the winter, covered with white snow. They are eager to recreate this prosperity in their hometown, and they also want to continue to have sweet meals after private meals.
of delicious meals.
After all, this was not the first time Rurik had dealt with this group of people. They were just a group of small fish nesting in the "water tank" of Lake Mälaren. He wanted to satisfy their curiosity and satisfy their appetites.
Finally, meet some of their very practical demands.
At the beginning, King Bjorn of Sweden proposed to buy ships. The current situation has evolved to the point where all powerful Swedish tribes want to spend money, or the equivalent value of wheat, to buy large ships from Rus.
"You should think about it again and we will finalize the business in a few days."
The drunken Rurik's speech was a little blurry, and he listened with the same confusion and stare. Everyone blushed and laughed, and finally passed out drunk...
Honoring Prince Rurik as the new King of Sweden was a big deal, as was the purchase of Russian ships.
When Bjorn regained consciousness, according to what his entourage was waiting for, he was extremely drunk, and was finally wrapped in a deerskin and forcibly carried back to his temporary residence.
Among all the nobles, he was the most amiable. When the Prince of Rus freely provided vodka poured into the glass bottle, he drank bottle after bottle of this flammable spirit. Anyway, this kid Rurik had something to say first, and today’s
Enjoy the feast and drinks as you please.
"How long have I been sleeping? It's still dark now?" He muttered, covering his temples.
A follower answered cautiously: "It's already the second night. King, you have slept for too long."
"Ah...I really drank too much."
Bjorn tried his best to recall the events at the banquet. He drank bottle after bottle of the strong wine in his mouth, and coveted the whole roasted venison that was brought up later. Rurik was very interesting and took the fattest roast.
He gave the deer leg to himself. After all, he drank too much wine, and he probably didn't chew too much on the deer leg before he fell unconscious. Even so, he remembered clearly the important events that came out of the discussion.
He slowly sat up and continued to stroke his head.
The attendant asked cautiously: "King, are you really going to give up the throne to that boy Rurik?"
"How? You all know?"
"Yes. The whole city has spread! People in this city are talking about the fact that Prince Rus is going to be the king of Sweden. They are already jumping for joy."
Bjorn bared his teeth, "What do you think? Do you think I am incompetent?"
"No! It's just..." one person answered, and the others were silent.
"It's not that I want to retreat, it's the group of nobles who force me to retreat. All the tribal princes support that kid Rurik, what can I do? Stop talking about it, don't think about anything, the current Melalen is far inferior to Ross
, we must appoint. You servants have no right to think too much! You can't hope that we and the Russians will fall out. Look at what they did to the enemy. Don't say bad things about the Russians at any time. I don't want to create conflicts.
If it causes disputes, you should not do so."
It sounds like the leader of Melalen just wants to be a coward. Even if what he says makes sense, the Melalen warriors who follow him are dissatisfied even if they don't have a noble status.
"So, we gave up our dominance today, can we still make a comeback?" someone asked.
Bjorn did not expect that his followers would say this, and what he said touched his heart. He sighed: "The gods are blessing Rurik, what can I do? If the gods don't like him, they will punish him. If the gods
Only by rewarding us can the hegemony come back. Now, all we have to do is live a good life. Listen, Ross is an ally, not an enemy."
On behalf of the Melalen tribe, he set the fundamental tone for both sides of Mero, saying that the century-old friendly relations between the two sides would continue. He even pointed out that the rise and fall of a tribe mainly depends on the attitude of the gods. This is also self-deception and self-comfort.
Melalen's downfall was not due to his own lack of hard work, but because the gods favored Ross and made him stronger, that's all.
The traditional overlord of Sweden, Mälaren, gave up its hegemony in a peaceful and honorable way. It was this tribe that took the lead in expelling the Ross tribe about a hundred years ago. A hundred years is too long, and the common people cannot remember those ancient stories. Only the priests of each tribe
The class still remembers the sins they committed back then. Now the Russians have returned to Sweden after a hundred years. Is this their fate?
Bjorn felt helpless in the face of his fate and decided to lie down.
He didn't think too much about why his followers asked him these unworthy questions. In fact, there was an expert behind it!
Regarding the election of Rurik as the new king by the Swedish nobles and the transfer of the throne by Bjorn, the whole city was really excited. The merchants from the Melalen tribe were very welcoming to Bjorn, the leader and king of their tribe.
When they came to New Roseburg, the mood of these merchants suddenly changed due to the arrival of the king. But when they heard that the king wanted to transfer power, their arrogant mood suddenly cooled down. The merchants didn't know what was discussed at the nobles' banquet. Some merchants secretly muttered
, the so-called "It was Rurik who forced Bjorn to give up his throne." Some people are really unconvinced even if they are doing business in the capital of Rus, but their souls are still in their hometown of Mälaren.
However, Bjorn only had one bottom line - Rurik could be the king of all Sweden, but he could not control the power of the Mellaren tribe himself or send someone to do so.
The Melalen tribe must belong to the Melalen people, and the port of Birka must also belong to the Melalen people, so in the past, each tribe paid tribute to Melalen, and Ross became the king, and other tribes can pay tribute to Ross.
, but Melalen will never pay tribute.
These bottom line terms must be clearly stated!
Realizing that the matter was serious and that it would require a secret meeting, Bjorn decided to see Rick again in a few days.
However, a cold wave and snowstorm descended on Eastern Europe...
The Hanukkah festival on the winter solstice is not very far away. A sudden snowstorm hit the land of Eastern Europe. Even the brave ones hid in their mansions. Those warriors who hunted in distant places hid in cabins in the woods. The whole city of New Roseburg simply came.
Great closure.
The entire city is protected by towering walls reinforced with cement masonry. All merchants doing business in Harvest Square have withdrawn their stalls, and the straight or winding streets are empty.
A blizzard was raging outside the city, and people were hiding in their houses waiting for the snowfall to end.
But, this is a snowstorm!
It was not uncommon for it to snow for ten consecutive days. Rurik and his wife and concubines did not feel anything wrong staying in the warm old palace. The earliest settlers lived within the walls, and there were a large number of houses outside the walls.
It was a subsequent move in.
The wind and snow forced people to stay indoors, and the snow also absorbed and covered up some abnormal noises.
The snow collapsed the house, and the people in the house were buried alive. Even if they didn't die for a while, they died quickly in the low temperature of minus 20 degrees...
No one knew about their deaths, and even New Roseburg lost its life under the wind and snow.
Thanks to the open land where New Rossburg was built on the banks of the Neva River, the north wind swept across here and most of the snowflakes were blown into the forest to the south, leaving that area uninhabited.
Rurik struggled to push open the thick wooden door of the palace, and he and his wives finally welcomed the open air outdoors.
The sun rose, and the dazzling golden light made everyone dizzy.
Fortunately, everyone was well prepared and put on wooden-framed sunglasses to welcome the light after the storm.
"How long have we been here? What day is this?" Rurik asked with difficulty.
"This is the eleventh since it started snowing. It's really bad snow."
"Lumia, you know it very well?"
"Why is it unclear? I am the high priest. Even through the dim light, I am recording the days." Rumia did not feel happy at all. As a woman who was born as a deer herder, he knew the consequences of the snow disaster very well. "You have to
Go check it out, heavy snow can kill people, and it can also kill your livestock. We... also need to clear the snow off the roof. This year's situation is a bit abnormal, and we must be more vigilant."
If his queen said this, Rurik would not be very surprised. These words were said by the high priest. When she realized the danger, Rose was really in danger.
Rumia made it very clear that a snowstorm might kill a group of livestock!
Rurik was shocked: "Deer! My deer!"
However, reindeer are born with the ability to withstand severe cold, and can even withstand the extreme cold of -40 degrees below zero. They are still alive in the large and small pens where they are driven outside the city.
People who were passively hibernating climbed out of their homes one after another. It is said that the architectural characteristics of the Russians brought good luck to most people. The architecture on the stone base was very interpretable. The sloping gabled wooden roof provided shelter from the rain without accumulating too much.
There was a lot of snow. Rurik noticed that the snow in the city was quite thick, and one could imagine the situation outside the city.
What greeted Rurik was the broad Harvest Square, which was covered with thick snow. When he entered the snow with his wives and concubines dressed like a large group of polar bears, they all found that the snow had reached their crotches.
How thick is this snow?!
The little girl Velika got into the snowdrift with a smile like a little white bear. She was not afraid of the cold and played in the snow. She didn't understand it at all, but she was shocked by the heavy snow.
But Rurik has clearly realized the seriousness of the situation.
People who walked out of their homes began to spontaneously clear the snow. People in the city felt that this year's snowstorm was much more serious than previous years, but it was not a disaster. People's homes had enough food, frozen meat, and bacon.
There is also a large amount of dry firewood and charcoal piled in the warehouse, so there is no need to worry as food and heating are guaranteed.
But when people drove deer sleds and began to transport the snow outwards, and when the closed city gates were opened, the bad scene outside the city, although not shocking, could be said to be the scene of a large-scale snow disaster.
In the snow that was no more than hip-deep, the people in the city quickly cleared passages. Rurik walked out of the city along the passages and saw a large number of collapsed houses.
He was trying his best to stay calm, but the accompanying governor, Old Cornuson, could no longer sit still.
Konuson jumped up and down in shock: "There are collapsed houses everywhere! Many people died! They died in the city I am responsible for! I am guilty!"
Behind them were thousands of people in the city and sleds eager to transport the snow.
"You don't have to blame yourself, this is a natural disaster." Rurik hit the governor hard to calm him down, "Fortunately we have enough food, it's not too late to provide relief now! Go rescue people and rescue supplies, it's still too late!
"
The capital of the Principality of Rus is facing a disaster, and things are by no means that simple! The vast land of Northern Europe and Eastern Europe is completely undefendable, and the huge plains can easily absorb all the cold wind from the Arctic. As long as this cold wind goes south,
It can give severe cold to the grasslands of southern Russia, and heavy snow to both sides of the Black Sea, which are warm in summer.
This disaster is not just affecting Fort New Rose, it must be a snow disaster throughout Europe.
Perhaps this is not the most violent snowstorm that Ross has experienced, but it is different from the past. In the past, the Ross tribe stayed in the Marina Bay, with mountains nearby to shield them from the wind and cold. In the past, the Ross tribe was not big, but it is not like it is now expanding its borders.
Expanding the soil. There are a lot of bottles and cans. It would be very painful to lose some, not to mention that there are definitely many dead people under the collapsed houses.
There is a big difference in architectural structure between the buildings outside the city and those inside the city.
Although the walls of New Roseburg enclosed a large area of land, the settler population within it was already saturated. The buildings in the city provided housing for more than 4,000 people, because the construction plan for a number of basic buildings reserved the remaining land.
It was clean and tidy. If the city wanted to continue to be inhabited, it was necessary to increase the height of the buildings. This was when the wooden ridges in the city began to be replaced by double-story stone buildings.
But outside the city, a large number of people doing business are building privately and randomly. In addition to ensuring that a few roads leading to the city are open, other areas can build houses however they want.
Rurik knew very well who the settlers outside the city were. The most populous were the Suomi hunters who migrated from Finland in the southwest, that is, his own tribe of Jianevlo. They were typical Finns.
, because they cleverly surrendered to Rus, the population actually increased a lot. They essentially took advantage of the hegemony dividends of the Rus Principality to open up new hunting grounds in the eastern areas that they did not dare to set foot in in the past, and joined in the plunder of leather resources in the uninhabited forests.
It's a pity that the construction skills of this group of people are too average. They dig a half-underground pit according to the method in their hometown, and then build a shed with wood.
A group of later Slavs built wood-cut ridges according to the craftsmanship of their hometown, and opened up new farmland in nearby areas. If it were not that there was no space to build houses in the city, they would not want to stay outside the city. The wood-cut ridges were strong enough and could not be
will be easily overwhelmed.
These Slavs were all farmers and pure settlers.
The merchants from all walks of life built winter residences. The merchants from Sweden were rich enough to build warm houses and even installed private walls. The Balmok merchants from Narvik Port were the same.
They possess wealth, and the Countess Nolen of this family is one of the prince's wives. Due to this close relationship, although their house is built outside the city, it has evolved into a small walled community.
If the world outside the city goes into depression, it will be a catastrophe for Ross.
When Rurik and Governor Old Cornuson personally investigated, they breathed a sigh of relief, but also lamented that the experiences of different ethnic groups were really different.
Because almost all the people who died in the snowstorm were Finns. If they could build their houses strong enough, they would never turn into gray ice sculptures. But they didn’t want to be like this. In the capital of the Principality of Rus, buying wheat would not
They spend too much money, but if they buy thick and beautiful ready-made clothes, or hire craftsmen to build a solid house, these will cost a lot of money. In a sense, they died because they were not rich enough.
A large number of corpses were excavated from the collapsed buildings. After three days of meticulous rescue, people unearthed as many as 200 corpses as frozen as stone.
People are sympathetic, and the Finnish hunters present cried bitterly for their dead people. The cries aroused empathy, and even though they were not of the same ethnic group, the Russians and Slavs were all crying.
High Priest Rumia felt like a big stone was weighing on her heart. Although she had seen terrible battlefields, where a large number of dead bodies were from the enemy, she would feel uncomfortable and even vomit, but she would not be in pain.
However, the people who died here were all the people of the Principality of Ross, dying in front of themselves!
Bodies of all sizes were piled uniformly in the snow for easy counting. When she saw the frozen bodies of young children and saw their black hair covered with white cloth, Rumia's tears also turned into ice crystals in the extreme cold.
The Suomi people of this era had not yet mixed with Germanic ancestry on a large scale, and the same Lapps (deer herders) were exactly the same. Rumia's cry was reasonable, and she really felt that the people of her own race were the ones who died.
A group of soldiers maintained order at the scene, and thousands of people watched and mourned the victims.
Rurik pulled Rumia: "Don't cry. You are the high priest, and you have to perform a ceremony for these dead people to let their souls rest in peace."
"Okay, I won't cry. Ritual? Which ritual?"
"Ah...most of them were Finns, and there were also some Slavs. They were so pitiful that they were burned to ashes with fire, and they were all buried in the cemetery in the south of the city."
"Isn't that the Valhalla on earth? All the people buried there are those who died in the war."
"It is also the cemetery of this city. We will hold cremations for them, and you will sing the eulogy at that time."