Rise of Rurik - Chapter 1041

[Chapter 1041 Possibility of Barotavo and the Canal on the Wallonda River]

Yin Ermen Lake is really a big lake, and the area around the lake can be cultivated into good fields.

There are many rivers flowing into this place, with it as the center, and a radius of 100 kilometers all belong to its water system.

A small river flows into Inlmen Lake through the traditional residence of Calf Manor, known locally as the Wallonda River.

The average width of its main river is equivalent to 20 meters. Because of its extremely flat location, the river is shallow enough, and some areas can even be waded through.

The bottom of the river is sandy and muddy, and the flow of the river is still slow even in the wet season.

Both sides of the river are always infiltrated by river water, and the dense reeds and riverside green grass are in sharp contrast with the nearby forest area.

Compared with other farms, Calf Manor is just like its name. This small-populated farm is a big wonder in the traditional Yin Ermen Slavic community.

They are not very willing to farm the land, they are more willing to feed cattle and rely on animal husbandry for a living.

In this way, compared with others, since they don’t have much farmland, they are less bound by the land.

Farmland is like an invisible shackle. People who are used to farming and eating wheat have been tamed by wheat, and they generally will not give up their current way of life.

The calf manor chooses the life of the cattle guard and wheat planting as a supplementary life, not that the whole village likes it like this.

It’s all about the unlucky geography they’re in – too many trees.

In the past, relying on extremely limited iron tools, it really required a lot of labor to work together to cut down a big tree and then pull out the roots.

Their population is too small to compete with those big farms. Since they don’t want to live in the forest, they can only find another way in the fertile riverside area.

In olden days, they paid tribute of milk and leather to the Ruths of Thorgon and to the Pineneedle estates, overlords of the Lakeland.

Now a new era has come. Ross has brought the entire Inlmen Lake area into the core ruling area, and King Rurik is a wise ruler.

Since ancient times, the calf manor with a small population has entered a period of population expansion. Since the Ostara who are better at raising cattle brought cattle from Varyag to the station, in terms of cattle raising, the calf manor has also begun their large-scale development of animal husbandry.

However, the constant trouble is that there are still too many local trees.

Raising cattle requires qualified pastures, and the pastures in the lakeside area are trivial. Especially on the west bank of the lake, the pastures have been transformed into farmlands, and the development space given to the calf manor is extremely narrow.

They don’t have any complaints, as in the past they don’t.

They have their own way of life, that is, vote with their feet.

The boyaruski of the manor is old, and he is old, or he has no choice.

The only way to raise more cattle is to find qualified pastures where the cattle can graze freely.

Grass-fed cattle certainly don’t grow as fast as grain-fed cattle that eat oats, and few people currently have the luxury of being able to feed their cattle wheat.

It is impossible for them to compete with anyone for pastures. They can only find suitable pastures spontaneously, hoping that a large open space will suddenly appear in the forest, covered with grass.

The latter is a kind of dream. When they heard from the Pechenegs who came from afar that the far south is a vast grassland, the shock and confusion were instantly written on their faces, and even jealousy arose.

It can be said that animal husbandry is a kind of alienated agriculture. Cattle and sheep are equivalent to moving farmland, and people get the products they need from these “farmlands”.

So raising one cow requires a lot of grass, and raising a thousand cows requires huge pastures.

The best solution is to organize people to drive the ever-growing herd of cattle and move upstream along the Valonda River.

People drive the cattle in bullock carts with whips. The cattle eat all the way, and the villagers set up camp at any time with all kinds of equipment for setting up tents.

Of course, Calf Manor has its own permanent settlements by the river, but in the warm summer period in recent years, their lifestyle has become more and more close to that of nomads.

Drive the cattle along the river to eat grass, and the naked eye can see that the belly of each cow is round.

Cows also produce a lot of dung, and the dry, hard dung cakes are collected and used as firewood.

They graze seasonally and have been going retrograde along the river without worrying about getting lost. So a few years ago, cattle ranchers who ventured far upstream at that time discovered a large flat land without forests, just like gold found on the flat land. !

But is that really flat land?

The cowherd hurried back to the farm to inform everyone he met of his great discovery, followed by a detailed investigation by Jianyong in the village.

It was quickly found out that it was not a flat land, but a large wetland swamp.

It is inappropriate to say that it is a pure swamp and muddy land, or that there are a large number of puddles and mud pits scattered on the flat land, and all kinds of grass are growing wildly.

People long for a huge and hard grassland for stable grazing, maybe this is a luxury.

On the contrary, this swampy flat land is still of great value, after all, there is no other grazing land that is more suitable for the Calf Manor.

Calf Manor called the land “Swamp”, which is not an appropriate name. It is fair to say that there is still a lot of land that is hard enough and covered with grass.

People still call it “Swamp”, “Balota” in the local language, and “Balotavo” when a settlement is established here.

Balotavo is the summer cattle grazing base of Calf Manor. It is only 30 kilometers away from the farm through the river.

The seemingly outrageous distance is nothing to the locals. They have long been accompanied by hiking, and the villagers may look thin, but their endurance has long been trained to be strong.

The whole calf manor plus the newborn babies barely have 300 people, and the limited population faces thousands of cows, so most of the property of the farm is actually shared by the whole village. Even if he brings back a lot of spoils as the eldest son of the cavalry, he must share it with everyone.

Because of feelings, the people in the farm are all relatives, and Boyar’s eldest son has to reward relatives out of feelings.

So the summer cattle herding base has a very long official name, the full name is “Balotavo on the Valonda River”, as many as 50 people live here temporarily, most of them are young and strong, and they are also responsible for taking care of most of the farm’s cattle and sheep .

They had to figure out where in the area was hard flat ground and where were mud pits covered by weeds, and made sure the cattle didn’t sink into the mud and drown.

This place looks like an idyllic scene, just a whole piece of swampy flat land, its water system is obviously very close to the main channel of the Reed River (Luga River), and the people at Calf Manor also know that there is a rather wide one going west. The rivers are not connected by waterways.

So some cowherds imagined that if the Wallonda River and the “big river” in the west had a waterway, wouldn’t it be possible for a small boat to continue exploring at low cost, and it would be great if a large flat land was found.

It’s a pity that their population is still too small, and they don’t have the spirit of abandoning some home adventures like the Varyags.

It’s not that each other is better or worse, it’s that each of them chooses the way of life they recognize.

No, the Varyags they were interested in miraculously arrived!

But it is also a miracle for the Karl Brand team who entered the reed river to explore and accidentally encountered children from the Novgorod region on the riverside.

Except for the boy who herded the cattle, there was no other living people to be seen. The whole team stopped the boat and docked, including the ten little Savok girls, and set foot on the swamp together.

The two children held small leather whips to drive the calves back. They were innocent and innocent, constantly spinning the whips and bouncing around, but they seemed unwilling to talk to adults.

Carl asked many times before an older child said: “This is called Barota. Let’s go to the place where there are many tents first, and you tell my parents.”

“Don’t you want to go to your calf manor? I know your leader is called Usky. Is he… okay?” Karl tried to get closer.

“That’s the old man. He’s fine, but he’s taking his two grandsons to Novgorod. Are you really going to see the king? It’s too late to go now. Because…”

“What’s wrong?” Carl asked alarmed.

“I heard people say that Your Majesty is going to New Rose Fort. Since you are from New Rose Fort, why don’t you stay in New Rose Fort? In this way, you can see Your Majesty soon.”

The boy was a little bit broken-mouthed, but what he said contained important information.

The whole group followed closely behind the two boys and the herd, and the boy who was the guide was yelling again: “There are some nasty quagmires here, and falling into them might drown you.”

“Is it very safe as long as you follow you?” Carl asked again.

“That’s right. Our calf manor has already surveyed this big swamp. It’s clear where it is suitable for grazing cattle and where it is not.”

Carl was very relieved that what the child said was so outspoken, and he also called on his friends to hold up the Ross flag hanging on the tree branch to avoid any misunderstanding.

Karl already had an idea in his mind. He felt that he could resupply at the so-called Balotavo, exchange some food with the locals with the large amount of goods he carried, and then set off for Novgorod immediately.

They had indeed traveled a considerable distance, which worked out to be six kilometers.

The cowherd boys have already practiced iron feet at a young age, and they are not tired, but Karl’s team has already complained again and again.

It’s definitely not that the expedition team of the old Ross people is not strong enough. It’s a serious burden to carry important cargo on their shoulders. It’s also because such a journey is a kind of torture for the ten little Savok girls.

The whole team was persevering, and when they finally saw the tent in the distance, they were as excited as seeing home.

So in the small-scale riverside tent area of Balotavo, the released cattle have been driven back, and a large number of cattle just knelt down on the grass to rest in the sunset.

Iron pots and pottery urns were set up, and the resident people cooked wheat and vegetables on the spot, making lake porridge for consumption.

And with grilled fish, cheese or even freshly squeezed milk left meal.

They saw the flag of Ross suddenly appearing in this world where orange and dark green intertwined, there was also a team that was constantly thinking, and the leader was wearing the standard Ross shirt.

what does that mean?

All the casual people got up, and even the guy who was sleeping in the tent and waiting for the meal hurriedly changed his clothes and got out.

Moments later, a historic encounter began.

Someone asked bluntly: “You are indeed Ross people. You actually came from the west? How is this possible? How did you come here?”

“Of course by boat.” Carl said casually.

“By boat? Where’s your boat?” That’s all, the people around began to chatter, and all kinds of questions came one after another, making the Ross explorers with tired legs, feet and shoulders miserable.

Carl’s rare timidity: “Let us take a good rest. I smell you guys cooking, can you prepare some for us too? We… will pay for it.”

As soon as they heard “will pay”, the faces of curious people were filled with intense joy in an instant.

Karl and Brand really paid the Frankish silver coins of excellent quality, and the villagers who got the money also gave out a lot of porridge to reward the explorers very honestly.

At night, people gather together to hear what these explorers from afar have experienced along the way.

The children of Calf Manor also chatted with the children of the expedition team, and pointed at the Savok children as if they were fools.

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Summer grazing is always accompanied by boredom, and people who stay in Barlotavo can’t wait to chat with outsiders.

On the one hand, they are eager to chat to pass the boredom, and on the other hand, they are eager to figure out their situation and the passage to Novgorod.

After all, the five old Ross families headed by Karl have extremely pure blood, and the children they bring are all pure blond hair like King Rurik.

Unlike Rome, where black hair is respected, in the eyes of the Slavs, because the powerful Varyag warriors are all blond, pure gold hair is the most noble.

After some introduction, Carl explained his former identity as the second flag team, and told about the decisive battle that he participated in to clear the old Pine Needle Manor.

After going back and forth, they actually found out that they were comrades who fought side by side ten years ago, so there was nothing to hide anymore.

So it is astonishing that the Great Unnamed River to the west, discovered later than this grazing marsh, winds and ends at sea, not far from New Roseburg.

The local Slavs have always believed that the Varyags have almost only one waterway connected to the sea, and that is the Volkhov River running north-south.

Unexpectedly, there is another passage hidden in the unknown western forest area?

The simple villagers didn’t think too much. They only knew that if the Ross people still used this waterway more, then they would meet more rich old Ross people when they grazed in Balotavo in the future. Isn’t this waiting profitable.

Most of their thoughts stay here, and they don’t care about the ambitions of Ross explorers at all.

It is gratifying to be able to rest in the settlement called Balotavou, but hearing that it will take some time to reach the Calf Manor along the river named Wallonda, the whole team is a little disappointed.

It is precisely because the old Ross men of the five families were ordered to participate in the war ten years ago. They knew the location of the Calf Manor relative to Lake Yinlmen clearly, and knew that even if they arrived at the manor, they would arrive in Novgorod by boat. It will take some time.

There will be a long journey waiting for everyone, but no one complains about the hardships of the journey.

Karl said this to the cattle herders: “You send a suitable guide to take us to Calf Manor in your ox cart, and then find a boat to transport us all to Dacheng. I will report all the expedition discoveries to the king. The king will reward me. You, as collaborators, will also be rewarded.”

Soon self-recommendations came forward, and they were willing to be guides purely for money.

In this way, Karl’s team had enough food and drink in Balotavo, and had a good night’s sleep. In the early morning of the next day, they divided into five ox carts, took the goods they carried, and ran along the riverside grassland to the entrance of the Wallonda River.

This is probably the last land journey, and Carl and Brand have been observing the surrounding scenery.

The two can affirm that although the Wallonda River is not very wide and the water level is shallow, based on their experience, even a standard long boat with a leading dragon is no problem to float in such a river.

The biggest problem was how to get the two longboats anchored on the banks of the Reed River to the Wallonda River.

The swamp caught Carl’s attention, and an idea was about to emerge.

“Why doesn’t your majesty organize people to use the natural mud ponds and pools in the swamp to forcibly dig out a river channel to join the two rivers? This is no better than forcibly cutting out a river in the forest with an ax to connect New Ross Fort and Novgorod. Is Germany’s road reliable? The overall flow of the Reed River is very gentle, but it is much better than the irritable Neva River and Volkhov River.” He thought this way, intending to use this to remonstrate with the king, and believed that since the king needed a second road, will certainly accept the proposal to build a canal.

(The shortest distance between the upper reaches of the Luga River and the west shore of Yinlmen Lake is only 30 kilometers, and the shortest distance from the upper reaches of the Mshaga River, which flows into the Great Lakes on the west bank, is only 15 kilometers, and the shortest distance from the upper reaches of the Mshaga River, which flows into the Great Lakes on the west bank. The upper course of the Wallonda River is only seven kilometers away)

[End of this Chapter]