Rise of Rurik - Chapter 657

[Chapter 658]

At dawn, the breeze blew across the great lake. There should have been a bustling farm, but now there were only a few swaying figures that got up early.

The area around the farm was full of people lying there. Their bodies were gray and white, and their blood had seeped into the ground, and the ground was also black.

Sleeping with thousands of dead bodies, the Ross army didn’t feel too unlucky.

They are all victors, and a brutal battle proves to Odin who is the true warrior.

The soldiers of the Russian Army who got up early looked for firewood everywhere, made clear water from the well surrounded by pebbles, and immediately cooked the captured wheat.

This group of farmers really didn’t have any treasures to grab. The brothers simply seized a batch of grain and couldn’t really be satisfied. However, they also had psychological expectations and concluded that there would be no rich spoils after the war.

In other words, no gold or silver was plundered in this year’s war in the East, and everyone was obeying the Duke’s will.

[To tell the truth, I have been using the source-changing app recently to read and update books, switch between sources, and read aloud with many timbres. www.huanyuanapp.com is available for both Android and Apple.

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The Russ and Balmerks relied on hunting and fishing as their main means of livelihood in peacetime, and most of them are still not very interested in holding farmland to grow wheat.

When many people had enough to eat, the work of cleaning the battlefield officially began.

Ropes were put on the feet of those corpses, and they were pulled to the edge of the woods farther away to stand by.

Those warriors from White Tree, Calf, and Fisherman’s Manor began to dig deep pits with wooden shovels and shovels, preparing to bury many dead bodies.

Most of the work of cleaning up the station was thrown to the alliance troops. The Varyags, who are the absolute main body in the Ross army, still mainly stayed in the occupied farms to sit and rest.

The dead bodies that died in the farm were randomly thrown onto the two-wheeled carts, the dead were quickly transported away, and the whole farm became no longer eerie.

It’s a lot of work to bury ten thousand bodies.

Rigus came to the battlefield in the morning on a long boat of the Ross people with a walking stick. He was not surprised by the victory of the Ross army, but he never thought that the victory would be so simple.

Then when he saw the mountains of corpses piled up on the edge, his whole body seemed to have his legs turned into powder, he was so frightened that he sat on the ground with a bang, and then passed out in a daze.

He was patted on the face several times before he woke up, and gradually figured out the current situation.

Uski from Calf Manor is already here, and he was the one who got those slaps.

“Uncle, you see, the Pine Needle Manor is over, and all their people are here.” He said.

“Ah! Corpses, all corpses.”

“You shouldn’t have come here. We fought a big battle yesterday, and now our people are cleaning up the dead bodies.”

“Where are the Ross people?” Regus asked cautiously.

“They? They’re all resting now? They’re busy cleaning up their trophies.” Usky said with a hint of dissatisfaction. It is true that he and his people came too late, and the best things were picked by the Ross army. People can only hope to catch the leak.

Rigus was supported to stand up, the horror in front of him was too blinking, he hurriedly turned his face away, and sighed: “Rurik asked me to come to the meeting, saying that he had something important to announce, now I’m here, I want to Go find him.”

“It’s all right. The Duke of Ross is at old Borudne’s house, and Tory and I will be a little late.”

“Alright. I’ll see what my son-in-law has done.”

Rigus was helped into the destroyed Pine Needle Manor. During the short journey, he saw many carts pulling the corpses towards the tomb to be sealed. He closed his eyes when he saw the tragedy, and because of this, he There is no extravagant expectation for the scene inside the manor.

Sure enough, some houses had collapsed, and the entire manor had obvious signs of looting and damage.

A large number of Russian soldiers wearing classic Varyag helmets walked around with weapons, or a few people gathered together to laugh and chat.

It’s ridiculous!

A lot of people died here, but they still have the guts to laugh?

Are they not afraid of the ghosts of the dead?

Rigus has never seen many corpses in his life. He has only presided over the funeral of his own White Tree Manor, and he has never left the Volkhov River to go to Lake Ladoga in the lower reaches of his life.

He has never participated in a battle where the two sides invested more than 10,000 troops, and naturally he has never seen the tragic scene of corpses scattered all over the field, so today is an eye-opener.

He just wanted to leave this terrible place as soon as possible, and even the houses left over from the Pine Needle Manor had to be demolished, so that this unlucky place would completely disappear.

Rigus had more important things to do. He finally arrived at the occupied Borudne mansion. These walls-enclosed buildings were already Rurik’s command center and a natural meeting place.

No, just after entering the enclosure, he saw Rurik himself and his lovely daughter.

Svetlana, this girl is dressed like a capable Varyag warrior.

Do not!

She was a fighter, and I’m afraid she killed the enemy.

Look at her, sitting on a simple wooden bench and patiently polishing an arrow cluster.

“Father! You’re here!” The girl stood up abruptly, gratified to greet her.

“I came here on orders.” After saying that, his eyes flicked to Rurik.

With the sword in its sheath, Rurik walked slowly with his chest held high: “It seems that the people I sent out are very efficient. You are here, come in and have a seat.”

“well……”

Rigus took a good look at this young war madman. With this war against the rebellion, he had a deeper understanding of his son-in-law. He was full of praise after witnessing this handsome young man, but now more What is fear.

As long as this kid gives an order, an army armed with iron will rush forward, and there is no opponent in the whole world.

If White Tree Manor does not do well, this kid will turn his face and deny anyone.

Rigus had to think more, he was in awe of Otto, and now he was not only in awe of Rurik, but fear had already taken over.

He continued to enter the inner hall on crutches, and the aroma rushed towards him.

No, the smell is still mixed with the smell of wine.

Otto was lying on his side on the wooden floor of the inner hall. Today he took off his shirt and sat down casually. His white beard drooped to his chest.

Otto seemed to be lying on his side just like that, but this posture made Rigus even more awed, because those deep eyes always exuded a murderous look.

“You came first, and I just need to inform you about something.” Rurik was already sitting cross-legged, and his words immediately attracted Regus’ attention.

“Okay, I will follow any order.”

Rigus threw the stick to the followers, and those followers could retreat.

The old guy sat cross-legged with his back bent, accepting the scrutiny of two generations of Ross leaders.

Rurik and Otto had already discussed how to reward their hard-core ally White Tree Manor, and it was clearly revealed in the previous meeting that today they summoned this person in advance to announce the reward.

Rurik cleared his throat: “I am announcing my travel promise now, and I will give it to you last time. In this war, our army completely destroyed the Pine Needle Manor, and the huge farmland left behind is my spoils of war. Me! Duke Ross Ke declared them mine, but the vast farmland needs someone to cultivate it for a long time. Now I will give you 40% of the land.”

Hearing this, the fear in Rigus’ heart was completely gone, and his aging eyes shone brightly, completely exceeding his expectations last time.

He hastily thanked the Duke for his reward, and he really didn’t know what else to do besides the words of thanks that burst out of his mouth.

Rurik signaled him to shut up, and then solemnly announced: “The land I rewarded you will still receive tribute in the future, including the land on your farm. In the future, you will pay tribute to the Principality of Ross, that is, TAX.”

Rigus keenly felt the strangeness. He felt that part of his existing interests would be deprived. After all, there is no free banquet in the world.

“So, what proportion will we pay the new tribute?” He asked cautiously.

“Eleventh tax! I decided to collect tribute at this tax rate. There will be no additional tax for no particular reason. Regus, not only your manor, but all manors in this area will pay tribute at this tax rate .”

Is that all?

If Rurik decides to strictly implement the tax rate contract appointed by him, it will be a good thing for the future of White Tree Manor, because this level of taxation is not serious. For the expanded new farmland, even if one-tenth of each farmland is used to pay taxes, the manor can still rely on a larger planting area to obtain far more food than before.

But how is the problem so simple?

Rurik continued his declaration: “Regus, when I came here, I noticed that the fields of your farm are arranged in a disorderly manner, and the areas of the fields are not uniform. The work of measuring the fields will also start to be implemented. You… Do you know our Russian stika (98㎝)?”

“I know. My lord, my farm has been using your weights and measures for a long time.”

Rurik’s eyes brightened, “It’s my fault that I don’t know you very well! I didn’t expect you to have been in contact with us for decades, and you have already accepted some of our things. Very good! The length and width are 100stika, which will be used as a Ross hectare ( Hectare), the length and width are 10 stika each to make an area, and ten areas are one mu (mu).”

When Rurik made these planning rules for the area of the field, Rigus was actually a little confused.

It is easy to understand that the person is dizzy. After all, the Principality of Ross must become like a real country. Of course, weights and measures must be unified throughout the territory, especially the measurement of acres for agriculture.

Clearing the accounts is a time-consuming and critical national project. Rurik is aware that the purely agricultural area under his control is small, and he should set the system early now, so as to save himself from being overwhelmed when the controlled area becomes larger in the future.

The stika is the inherent length unit of the Vikings, and its length always makes Rurik think that it should be a meter, so a hundredth of a stika is called a ministika.

After all, the unit of length is defined by people, and Rurik doesn’t want to use the length of his feet to define what is a foot, and he doesn’t want to use his current height to define what is a meter.

Based on the inherent and universal unit of length, the stika was designated by him as the smallest unit for the measurement of fields.

He knows the definitions of hectare and area in modern English. They are actually modern international units of acre area. Since there is a very ready-made system, there is nothing wrong with copying and using it.

As for the 15 mu per hectare in the Eastern method, it is really troublesome to delineate an equal amount of 15 mu per hectare.

But the concept of “mu” is necessary. After all, one hundred area is one hectare, which is too trivial.

Especially now that there is no paper and no professional scribes, the work of measuring the acres of land cannot be done very carefully, and the area of farmland should not be too trivial.

A hectare is divided horizontally into ten equal parts, which is one mu (mu).

In the afternoon, Usky and Tory, who supervised the cleaning of the dead bodies, came back. They washed their hands with soap, and the extreme cleanliness made them feel that they had also washed away the bad luck.

The two apologized to Rurik for being late, and Rurik first entertained them with boiled honey water, and then announced that the two estates would get one-tenth of all the captured farmland.

That seems like a small area?

For two small farms with a population of more than 700 people, if they get one-tenth of the farmland from a large farm with a population of 10,000, the two families will divide it equally. half of the total area?

The two were very satisfied with such a reward. As for Lord Rurik’s official appointment of a tenth tax, the two of them even raised their hands in favor of it?

why?

Just because such taxes are less than the tributes that have to be paid in the past!

Your Excellency the Duke is truly a merciful hero.

Rurik could clearly see the joy of the two. When he explained the new acre system that was planned to be implemented, the two first looked at each other and supported it.

It was just in the evening, relying on the seizure of a large amount of agricultural supplies, Rurik rewarded the army at the Pine Needle Manor that he occupied.

All the generals of the Ross Army and the leaders of the Allied Army gathered here.

Some of the captured livestock were killed, and the noble people feasted on roast meat.

People near the sea have never experienced a lack of salt, and the barbecue was generously sprinkled with high-quality Atlantic sea salt from the Balmerks. This taste surprised Usky and Tory in ecstasy!

Unexpectedly, if you really work for the Ross people, you can eat salt at will.

This is the case with the area around Lake Ilmen. It seems that the area is very close to the sea. In fact, the poor navigation ability of the local Slavs basically cannot drift to the Gulf of Finland.

What’s more, the large sea area where the Neva River enters the bay is not so much a sea as a lake, and the low salinity of the seawater seems to be fine even if it is drunk as fresh water.

The captured ale was drunk freely, and the spirit vodka carried was shared.

Even the blue flames of spirits burning in exquisite glasses were frequently staged amid wild booing and laughter.

Don’t look at Otto’s old age, he looks like a bear holding a clay pot and reaching for honey to eat, and he is even more active in drinking strong wine.

No, he drank a small cup of flaming spirits, and his unlucky gray beard was actually set on fire.

A piece of burlap was slammed into his face to keep the beard from burning…

The farce of drinking, drinking burning spirits, has long been familiar to the people of Rus.

But this game is clearly a miracle in the eyes of Uski, the leader of the Calf Manor, and Tory, the leader of the Fisherman Manor!

They watched in shock as the Ruth drank the flaming wine from crystal cups that seemed cheap too.

Because Aric was drunk, this kid insisted on showing his uncle Otto that he was not afraid of strong alcohol, and arrogantly snatched the glass bottle and suddenly poured himself two bottles. The glass dish on which the barbecue was held was also smashed.

Seeing this, everyone laughed at this kid as a stupid fool, and no one felt sorry for the glass scum.

Tonight, the Ross army began their victory revelry, they lit bonfires everywhere, gorged on boiled oats and grilled fish.

The bonfires were densely packed, and they were witnessed by the manor in the distance.

However, some uninvited guests have already arrived in some manors.

The leading warship landed suddenly, and everyone on the shore hid in panic, only the manor leader approached cautiously to ask about the matter.

There were as many as five longboats divided into five groups to announce the fact that the Duke of Ross had completely wiped out the rebellion and no survivors at Pine Needle Manor, and ordered the owners of the manor who received the information to arrive at the occupied Pine Needle Manor for a meeting within three days. Those who go are regarded as resisting, and will face complete retaliation without leaving any human or animal behind.

Rurik gave the messenger enough time, and felt that he gave the manor owners enough time.

In fact, the three days are still a bit tense, but isn’t the tense time a good thing?

They had no time to linger, the manor owner had to come to the meeting quickly to accept the key arrangement of the Duke of Ross.

Even, death…

[End of this Chapter]