Chapter 137 The Rus Will Build a New Fortress in the Location of the Winter Palace

After leaving the Åland Islands, the main fleet led by Otto turned into the Gulf of Finland.

Along the way, they sailed in twists and turns with the help of the south wind and the occasionally sudden north wind.

Some of the islands that appeared on the route, Otto had no interest in them at all.

It was the sudden appearance of some ships that aroused his great interest.

Because this bay has never been exclusively enjoyed by the Ross tribe. Some Fen tribes and Baltic tribes were sporadic activities on the seashore, rashly landing to fight with them, which Otto did not want.

Those tribes have not been conquered by the Rus at all, and there is not even a peaceful trade with each other, but there have been several wars in history.

He didn't want an accident at all now, so after turning into the bay, the huge fleet never docked at all.

The fleet stayed on a deserted island that was sure no one was there for a day, and after leaving a pile of bonfire traces, they continued to run to their destination.

The sea area is full of thin ice floes, continuing to move eastward, the number of floes is increasing.

"Boss, the situation ahead is a little unclear. Will there be thicker ice layers that our ships can't pass through?"

The speaker is the young blacksmith Kawhi, who is staying in the chief's flagship and is deeply disturbed by the unknown future.

"Are you afraid the ice will crash our boat?!" Otto, who was paddling, asked with a smile.

"I'm worried. Because our ship..."

"It doesn't matter, the big deal is that you lie on the bow of the boat and smash the ice with an axe, and we will move on."

Hearing Otto say this, Kawhi's worries were even greater.

Otto breathed a sigh of relief, and he continued to row the oars and shouted loudly: "You young people don't have to worry about anything, you are coming with me for the first time, and you will settle in our New Roseburg in the future. Ice makes you worry? Let's think about the future life."

Because this year's Sorgon voyage is not as simple as Otto taking a group of people to ask for tribute.

Building new settlements is more important than going to Novgorod to collect taxes.

Since a lot of houses are to be built and life is to be settled down, labor is bound to be needed to work.

So far, the Rus people have not captured a large number of male slaves, so they have to do all the work of cutting down trees, building houses, and even cultivating land for cultivation.

The biggest purpose of the trip of a large number of young Rus is to get a wife from Novgorod. In exchange, they have to pay a dowry that can be married peacefully. After that, they must accept the arrangement of the leader and become the first of Novgorod. A group of inhabitants, and thrive.

Nostalgic for the homeland?

Do not! Young people are happy to go out.

The hometown of Roseburg is not a wonderful place. Young people can't figure out that their ancestors could not live in the good Svealan plain, and they had to leave the core of the alliance and go to the far north to settle in the bay.

Young people are reluctant to learn more about the fact that the ancestors of the Rus people faced the pressure of life and went north to obtain the rich animal fur in the north.

Once, the Rus people moved northwards, and they harvested a lot from hunting for decades. They didn't intend to kill all the big and small animals, but their hunting efficiency was higher than the reproduction rate of native animals. This made the tribe who hunted reindeer with their families turned to large-scale fishing.

Fishing? It would be better to find a feng shui treasure to plant wheat.

After all, everyone has been able to enjoy the wheat that the Novgorods paid tribute to for decades, but unfortunately, the amount of tribute paid by the other party was limited, so that the wheat distributed by ordinary residents could only be eaten for a short period of time.

The current way of tribal distribution is changing, and young people who lack power in the tribe can really get less and less.

Besides, as the number of young people in the tribe increases, it is really unseemly to count on a little wheat from Novgorod to relieve their cravings.

Everyone fantasizes about the good life of eating oatmeal, bread and porridge, and even making ale from surplus wheat.

Some people even fantasized about organizing an army to completely conquer Novgorod,

In this way, those locals can pay tribute to the wheat throughout the year.

Of course, people with normal brains think this idea is too unrealistic. Even if the Novgorods are bad, they are too many. If it is really to completely turn them into slaves, the premise must be a decisive military victory.

This victory must have been built on the basis of killing a large number of men in the Novgorod region.

Of course, the local men will bring a large number of wooden sticks and stone hammers into battle, and such enemies seem to be easily eliminated.

Killing the vast number of men in Novgorod is the most stupid. They are all dead, who will farm the land?

Completely conquer Novgorod, Otto as the leader, he is not without this idea. However, there are too many people on the other side, and maintaining the current situation is the best choice for the Ross tribe.

It is more important to obtain warm land than to wage war to complete complete conquest and then enslave them.

The Rus people can completely cultivate their own land by themselves. Since the purpose is to harvest wheat, it is more secure to cultivate by themselves.

The mighty fleet with nine hundred men sailed for five more days after passing through the Åland Islands!

Finally, on the morning of the sixth day, a large island in the distance appeared in front of everyone.

Otto put down his oars, and he stood on the bow and tried to look into the distance.

"Guys! We're finally here! Keep rowing, and in the afternoon we'll pick a good place to land."

The long journey is finally coming to an end, and the young people have finally found a place to vent their feelings that they have held back for a long time. They are already cheering.

Also cheering were the Novgorod women who had returned to their parents' homes on the boat, sticking out their bellies and following their husbands.

These women, if they continue to live in Novgorod, are almost destined to never leave the shores of Lake Ilmen for the rest of their lives.

Because the large and small Slavic farms in the Novgorod region live around Lake Ilmen, the locals have been completely transformed into farming peoples.

Agricultural production is the most important thing for a family, and rashly traveling far is really an act of seeking death.

Even if you marry a Russ, your living conditions are a little better than in your hometown. For example, the once-scarce meat can be eaten frequently, and the half-starved life will be relieved to some extent.

But her hometown is her hometown after all, and no matter how bad she is, she is still her hometown.

What's more, the biological parents are still in their hometown!

As long as the army of the Rus is on the shore, it means that everyone has left the ocean.

As Aric's wife, Peravina was regarded by Otto as his niece and had the right to sit on the chief's flagship.

Holding her stomach, she slowly crawled in the boat, for fear that the shaking of the boat would wet her clothes.

She crawled to Otto's vicinity and asked, "Dad, as soon as we land, we enter the river. I'll be back soon?"

"Why did you come to the front. Go back!" Otto scolded.

"I just want... just want to ask." Peravina quickly hooked her head and explained cautiously.

"Soon. Landing in the afternoon, we will continue our journey tomorrow morning."

Because after Aric's biological father died in battle, he called Otto's father for many years, and Peravina, who married, followed her husband's habit and called Otto's father.

This intimate call really made Otto think about it.

Seeing Peravina's face, he thought of Arik, the eldest nephew who attacked Gotland, and those young people who were taking revenge.

Their battle should go well!

Otto really can't think about it. He arranged the time of the army very tightly. The so-called 100 families accompanying the ship will permanently camp as soon as they dock, and they will officially start the New Rose Fort at the latest dawn of the next day. infrastructure.

He went straight to Novgorod with the army of marriage and Sorgon, staying at the Ilmen Lake for a day at most, and finally after a maximum of seven days, the army would bring more young people from Novgorod. The woman returns and joins in the great cause of building the town.

The mighty fleet passed through Kotlin Island smoothly.

What everyone is most worried about is that the collision between the ship and the sea ice will cause the ship to be destroyed and killed. As the ship continues to winter, there are indeed more and more floating ice.

As a result, everyone found that there was obviously a wide waterway between the ice floes, and the fleet naturally jumped into the waterway and moved forward without being affected by any ice floes.

However, when entering the waterway, the people paddling also felt a resistance.

Everyone understands why there are no ice floes in the waterway, and some people deliberately put their hands in the water to test their ideas. When you lick your hand, you can't feel the salty taste at all on the tip of your tongue!

Facts have proved that this waterway is full of fresh water.

Walking along the waterway, a yellowed beach not far away appeared in front of everyone again.

Where is the landing ground for the fleet? If it was just for the landing, all the paddlers would go to the beach with all their strength, and everyone would be able to land safely.

Many people tickled, and they paddled harder.

"Boss, the beach in front is really a perfect landing ground, we just rushed over there?!" Kawi asked excitedly.

"No!" Otto retorted bluntly.

"Why? That beach is clearly better than our Roseburg."

"You're here for the first time, young man. When the tide comes, that beach will be submerged. We'll keep paddling, and you'll soon learn it's not a landing site."

In fact, the so-called beach presented in front of the fleet is the island west beach of Vasily Island.

The average elevation of the island is eight meters above sea level, and the area near the beach is less than two meters above sea level.

The so-called Vasily Island is a sandbar washed out by the sand of the Neva River, and its size is still slowly increasing.

It's just that now it doesn't have the name "Vasily Island" at all, no one has named it, and Otto just wants to call it "West Sandbar" now.

Since we are going to land and establish new settlements, it is also very necessary to name the vicinity of the settlements.

The big lake is called Ladoga Lake, and the river is naturally called Ladoga River.

There was no order from Otto, no ships tried to land, and everyone was paying attention to the surrounding environment and planning future development prospects.

A place that was considered by many to be an excellent landing ground just now, but was soon not taken seriously. Because everyone found that it was just an island divided by a river. It is not a good choice to establish a settlement on an island, just because the sandy soil there is definitely not suitable for farming.

The fleet has entered the river, and the strong current makes it difficult for many young people to paddle here.

The so-called Ladoga River is the Neva River. The river has begun to enter the spring and summer flood season, so that the rising water on both sides of the river has submerged many aquatic plants.

In the early days, the Neva River was near the mouth of the sea, and the strong water flow was forcibly broken down into three channels and created many sandbars.

Otto has been looking for a suitable landing point, and he has finally identified a suitable location.

And this location is where the Winter Palace is located.

The Rus are about to build a new Fort Rosé in the location of the Winter Palace!

"Brothers, let's turn the corner! Land!"

After all, he suddenly drew out his saber, and the place where the sharp sword pointed was the official landing site.

The leading flagship turned first, followed by all ships behind.

The muscular young paddlers rowed desperately, the keel of the bottom of the boat rubbed against the reeds submerged by the flooded river, and the water splashed for a while, and the boat washed directly onto the sand and mud beach.

Otto held the relief of the hard faucet at the bow of the ship, and after the violent shock of the ship's beach, everything became calm.

He jumped off the boat suddenly and became the first to land.

"That's great! Brothers, we're building our new Roseburg right here! Everyone, get off the boat!"

Excited people jumped into the shallows, and no one complained that their boots were flooding the river.

The quiet place suddenly became very lively because of the appearance of more than 900 Rus people. Many people have called their companions, so-called do those things immediately after landing.

The boats docked collectively, and the people who landed on the beach discussed the next work clearly on the boat. Their actions were orderly, and there was no chaos at the landing site.

Numerous young people jumped down, dragged the rope non-stop, and collectively shouted horns to drag the boat to the shore.

Others raided the sand to drive down stakes and tethered boats that were towed ashore.

This is true for more than 40 ships, and everything is not directed by Otto himself, because everyone is worried that a tide will rise in the evening, and those ships that are not fixed will be washed away by the tide.

This concern is entirely correct.

Because once the tide hits, the backwater can flood the westernmost sandbar, the so-called "Vasily Island" as a whole.

St. Petersburg in that plane, when Peter the Great decided to build a new city, encountered the dilemma of seawater backflow. Until the 1970s, the Soviet Union decided to build a 40-kilometer-long breakwater centered on the port of Kronstadt in the west of the city.

Due to the impact of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the construction of the breakwater was shelved in the middle, but it was still completed in 2011, which permanently solved the problem of seawater intrusion in St. Petersburg.

In this plane, the Ross tribe from North Rossburg, their hometown is a small bay, and everyone knows the erosion of the tide.

Otto chose to establish the location of the settlement, which coincides with Peter the Great in another plane, or anyone who understands the sea will set the location of the Winter Palace as the core of the settlement.

The reason is very simple. People standing on the boat can see at a glance that a small earth slope suddenly appears on the gentle impact plain, and it is the most suitable place to build a town.

The location chosen by Otto is a soothing breakthrough. Compared with the open sandbar, the breakthrough altitude of the landing point is quickly raised to fifteen meters. Whether it is the backwater or the flooding river, it will never be flooded here!

More than 900 landers of all kinds are already unloading their messy equipment.

Especially the 100 Rus families who are about to become the first inhabitants, with axes and scrapers in their hands, and even men carrying prefabricated lumber from their hometown, ready to insert it into the sand. , and set up the foundation frame of the wooden house.

Many accompanying housewives lack the strength to carry hardwoods fast.

Carrying water bags made of seals or reindeer stomach pouches, they ran to the turbulent Neva River to drink water for themselves, and then filled them up for their husbands who had already started to build houses.

The children brought by the couple also began to do what they could.

The evening is coming, and without Rao Otto's nonsense, a vigorous construction movement has begun.