Chapter 355： Not finding them doesn't mean they don't exist

The visit of the two growing up children really gave Otto the best autumn surprise.

Three long boats that have gone through a long voyage, against the slightly turbulent Neva River, entered the pier adjacent to Rabbit Island in Shilla Fort, and they were all firmly tied to the trestle bridge by twine ropes.

Now, what is presented to Rurik?

"Is this Shilla Fort?!" He asked Dad Otto loudly.

"My child, this is of course our new home that we have worked so hard to manage. What do you think?"

What can Rurik say? He put on a smile and said beautiful words: "It's really a good place. Dad, in my opinion, it's simply called (Fort St. Otto)."

This is so beautiful. Otto pinched his son's neck affectionately: "You are praising me, I don't need your praise. Boy, it's your job to manage Rose well."

Otto pinched hard before letting go, making Rick's head a little confused.

Rurik did a good job on the surface, and his hidden disappointment was suppressed. The entire tribe consumed a lot of manpower and material resources in order to build a new home. When I checked it out for myself today, I didn't think that the big home was actually building a large rural area here.

Isn't she a big country? Of course, there are a large number of traditional long houses along the river, mixed with a batch of Slavic woodcuts, and a circular wall is also being built. Just outside the unfinished wooden walls, there are fully cultivated farmland everywhere, because the settlers have planned out large tracts of land with piled ridges, and it has obviously been harvested, making it fundamentally different from the wilderness.

Isn't this a typical European pastoral scene in the Middle Ages?

The first thing Rurik thought of was the appearance of the owner's house sitting in the first town in the Japanese RPG game, which is the so-called Novice Village. She looked peaceful, and the migrants who came to greet the visitors were ruddy and healthy. Men wore simple leather clothes and hats. Women generally wore large headscarves, with a smile on their faces. Obviously they are very satisfied with their lives now and are not afraid of the coming winter.

If only life were really peaceful and peaceful like this.

She is called Shilla Fort. If everything is destiny, this place will naturally become the northern political center of the developed Russian unified country, and it is even destined to surpass Novgorod and Pskov. She does not have the elegance and weight of the future at all, and she cannot be called the jewel of the ice and snow world.

She is really just a large village on the Neva River where a defensive wall is being built. Perhaps the settlers have learned of the existence of potential hostile forces in the local area and have constructed defense measures early? In the hometown of Roseburg, the eldest priest Veria is sure that since the establishment of Roseburg for more than sixty years, there has never been a wall.

Under the leadership of his father, all the people in Rurik entered the settlement as visitors.

"It's really messy, but fortunately they won't be stupid enough to throw dung on the street."

"Huh? Why are there chickens running around? These chickens are too thin, they must have no meat. But eggs..."

"They didn't build roads at all, that is, they stomped the village's land hard with one pair of feet? If this is the next torrential rain, wouldn't it be muddy everywhere?"

"Oh! Why are there still people pulling rabbit ears away. Ooh? There are still rabbits in this place (a rabbit is an Oryctolagus)?"

The residents of Fort Shilla love cleanliness more than those in Western Europe. Of course, this is not because they really understand the importance of maintaining hygiene. It comes from the traditional warrior culture. The so-called dirty warriors will be scolded by gods.

Love to be clean is only their personal habit, and the entire settlement is full of chaos and complexity.

"If this place is destined to be the core of the future of the Russ, she must be clean and tidy, and she must show the weight and majesty of history from generation to generation."

Rurik thought so.

He followed his father and had the first understanding of Shilla Fort. Perhaps in this era, we can't be too demanding. The village is moving towards the city, and she has a bright future.

For Otto, the visit of his son and nephew was a miracle. He was in a very good mood and felt very strange to his son and others' visit.

There is no need to continue to doubt, Otto intends to reward the people from afar, especially his two young and promising children.

As night gradually fell, Shilla Fort gradually fell into silence. Resting at sunset is really normal, and even the chickens raised by the residents without any restraints have returned to their shack to rest, and even lay eggs. Residents are also looking forward to finding the nearest eggs from their chicken coop early in the morning.

Only the longhouse where the leader is located is very lively!

Rurik sat on a soft leather cushion, and now he is not used to the tribe's most traditional Viking longhouse. If he sits cross-legged, he is still comfortable sitting on the wooden floor.

The advantage of the long house is that the interior is relatively large. Some hemp ropes fall from the girder of the herringbone roof. The ropes are tied with wooden mortise and tenon chandelier. In a large number of small bronze trays, the wicks made of linen heads light up. Flames, when hundreds of flames converge, the whole house is also brightly lit.

It's not bad to have light, and Rurik doesn't expect much.

Looking at the wooden tray placed on the wooden table of his simple style, there was a very ugly rabbit roasting on it, and for a moment he even dared not even cut the knife.

It was the rough slices of bread on another plate that made him feel cordial, and looking at the presence of slices of toast, Rurik guessed it was made by a Slavic chef who settled here.

Perhaps for any ethnic group, chatting while eating, or even the nobles talking about government affairs, is nothing more than normal.

Rurik knew that this dinner was not easy. The sudden meeting of father and son he had not seen throughout the summer, he estimated that the father must have a thousand words, including but not limited to his son’s cold and warm greetings, greetings to the old family, and Roseburg’s mother. Things happened in the city for a few months.

Here, Rurik saw a familiar and stranger. He knew that this person was named Cornuson, the leader of the first batch of immigrants, and the leader of Fort Shilla who was appointed by his father.

All in Rurik's estimation.

No, Otto tore a few pieces of rabbit meat at will, swallowed two chicken legs, and began to greet his son endlessly.

"My dear, how is your mother? The people in your hometown are all good? I know you took the Kewen people to the north, and how about the Kewen people..."

"Oh, all of them are fine."

Rurik’s words were a bit perfunctory, Otto narrowed his eyes, "Maybe, you have a problem? Why did you come here suddenly? Or did you visit suddenly without my permission, it seems that you have experienced a lot along the way."

Just as Rurik was about to say something, the anxious Arik threw away the half-bitten rabbit legs, raised his chest, which had not taken off the leather armor, and said proudly, "Leader, please forgive me. All this is my own work. Advocate, the younger brother is not responsible. The fleet of Eastern Sogong has been slow to return, and everyone is very worried."

"It's you? Arik, I know you have been looting the fishermen in Gotland. The messenger tells me that your battle is going well."

"Yes! The brothers who followed me were almost all people who settled on Tombstone Island. They snatched some money from the enemy. I heard that the brothers in Shilla Fort had already harvested wheat and they wanted to buy some, but... "

Otto nodded. He himself liked gold coins and silver coins because they were once extremely scarce and extremely precious. Just because of wars and looting, the Ruths who took the initiative to walk out of the fjord control too many gold and silver coins. The copper coins that were used in the past have become subsidiary coins, and silver coins have become the mainstream currency for trading.

"What's wrong?" Otto asked urgently.

"We met people from Baltic."

"Ah?! You guys! You..." Otto and Conuson, who was sitting on the side, were taken aback. "You have contact with them? Boy, you are not in peaceful contact. Hey, did you fight a battle?"

"Yeah! That's a bunch of idiots, chiefs, maybe we shouldn't look at them high. None of our brothers died, and even the mercenaries didn't lose. They abandoned the village and fled when they were defeated. We grabbed some food and iron weapons. I I think the ironware we transported will enrich the lives of the brothers here."

Arik was telling Otto about the battle that had just happened. Otto had to admire his nephew and the outstanding fighters who had grown up in the sea raid.

Otto not only said: "I didn't want to stop on that coast for a long time. I just hate the harassment of those villains. Arik, you did a good job. If...hehe, you can catch some women."

"Woman? Why?"

Otto stroked his beard: "Don't you think that our Shilla Fortress lacks young women?"

"If there is a lack of women, you can get it from Novgorod." Arik felt that this was the simplest method, and it was even more of a matter of course.

Otto shook his head: "If you ask them to pay too many women, many manors will have trouble again. I can't expect all manors to be as docile as White Tree Manor. You need to know that killing and destruction are deterrents. Deal with brother. Except for the Tran and the Danes, our goal is to get women and wheat, and other..." When he said this, Otto's eyes were also looking at Rurik.

"Then let Bai Shuren continue to contribute to women. My wife came from there, as well as the wives of the blacksmith and the wives of many brothers."

Hearing it, Otto raised his chest and laughed, and then said a little bit: "You don't know, now the young women in White Tree Manor have become our women. They will not provide younger girls, otherwise your brother Married a long time ago."

Rurik, who was confused for a long time, suddenly realized that the old man seemed to have hinted at the girl.

Yes, a girl named Svetlana is said to be beautiful? A typical beautiful hairy girl? One year younger than me?

Arik understands the leader’s hint. In short, the young people in Ross have used normal means to get a large number of women from Novgorod. It has become saturated and continues to demand to inspire civil upheaval, but everyone does not want it. Thing.

Otto didn't want to listen carefully to the battle that his son and nephew had just gone through. Since he won a big victory without loss, there must be no special attention to the battle.

Indeed, it is really stupid to take out the victory against the underdogs and tout that he is full of martial arts.

Otto only summarily told: "Maybe I have overestimated them in the past years. You did a good job Arik. Tombstone Island is very close to the Baltic people. In the future, you should...

"

Suddenly, Rurik stood up: "Dad, brother, you are all wrong!"

"Huh?" Otto turned his head, and so did Arik. "how do I say this?"

"Dad, don't you think those people on the South Bank are Baltic people from before I was born?"

"Why not?" Otto was disgusted with his son's interruption at this moment, thinking that his son always had high opinions, so he listened patiently. "I have fought with them, and the captives claimed to be Baltic people, oh, it seems that it is still a tribe or something."

Otto named a word, and Rurik thought for a while, and suddenly realized that Dad was talking about Latvians?

At this moment, Lurik stopped talking nonsense, and directly put forward several terms: "Dad, the people south of the huge bay. They are Estonians. They share the same ancestors with the Finns, Corvins, and even the Tavastias who have never met. ."

Otto listened to his doubts, and so did the others.

Rurik who stood up was even more embarrassed. He thought about it and knocked his head suddenly.

Sometimes the truth is presented, but it is really sad that others can't understand it because of the lack of knowledge.

Especially when thinking about the future of Shilla Fort, it is also very important for the people who settle here to know the status of human habitation within a few hundred miles of her.

Since it directly shows that the existence of Estonians is a bit out of date, Rurik sees that the appointed "city lord" Cornuson is here, and this person should be the first choice for the conquer.

"Uncle Conuson."

The destined leader in the future called himself like this, and Konuzon hurriedly sat upright. He thought that tonight was mainly the leader's family discussing matters, and he was just a spectator.

"My lord, what can I do for you?"

Rurik sat down slowly and asked, "I looked at Shilla Fort, it was not bad, but I think you are too comfortable. What do you think of the environment around the settlement?"

"Environment? Hmm...that is, the Ladoga River (referring to the Neva River) is always frozen in winter, but the water is turbulent in summer. There are many animals in the nearby forest, especially rabbits and wild deer. We have obtained a lot of leather. , Are you going back to the home city?"

"I'm not asking you to say this. Don't you think that there are other people in this area?"

"Others? Novgorod people? They are...hehe, a little far away."

Rurik's small slap was directly on his face, he looked at his father's indifferent expression, and then continued to ask: "What do you do for building the wooden wall?"

Conusson immediately replied: "Prevent the brown bear from suddenly coming in and destroying the granary, grabbing our rabbits and chickens, as well as our most precious cows. Oh, and sheltering the north wind."

"Huh? Don't you build walls to guard against enemies?"

"Enemies?" Conusson was very surprised, "If they existed, they would have been discovered by my people. But besides the forest, this area is still forest."

Is he telling the truth? Rurik thought it was ridiculous. Even if the ancient Finns had a small population, those people shouldn't be a corner of existence. They were all active hunters.

In fact, a remarkable fact is that the Finns (the Suomi people) only established the southernmost natural village in a bay 100 kilometers away from Shilla Fort she is like that. Small, the residents’ canoes are even more powerless against the water of the Baltic Sea. This settlement is Vyborg of later generations, and it is also a war-torn existence, but at present, although a small number of humans settled in her, outsiders did not know it. The environment where Vyborg is located determines that she is destined to be just a tiny settlement in any era.

The Ross immigrants were busy reclaiming settlements and did not even explore Lake Ladoga. At best, fishermen only went to Kotlin Island and fished herring in the natural harbor area formed by the island and the mouth of the sea. Konuzon’s task is infrastructure construction. He has no motive or purpose for sending personnel to explore remotely. Moreover, the immigrants are generally determined to get a field of their own where they can grow oats and rye, so that they can stop reclamation. Hunter, why emigrate for such a purpose?

Rurik directly criticized: "We are storing food now, knowing that winter is coming and those who lack food will die. Don’t think that if the enemy is not found, the enemy will not exist. I tell you that there are other people in this area. They are not from Novgorod!"

After all, Rurik is not an ordinary person, and his advice makes Otto and Conusson extremely take it seriously.

"They! Who are they? Besides the Estonians, who else?" Otto asked urgently. There is no doubt that the son's words, after all, "not found does not mean that it does not exist" is the correct truth.