Rise of Rurik - Chapter 678

[Chapter 679 Rurik Returns to Novgorod]

Rushing to the lower reaches of the Dnieper River to seize the areas with the most abundant water and grass to grow wheat widely, this may be very unrealistic in a short period of time.

In terms of climate, Novgorod is far inferior to the surrounding areas of Kyiv, and now the principality has no choice. After all, Novgorod is the largest agricultural area that Ross can firmly control.

The news of going to Novgorod on the shore of Lake Ilmen has already been conveyed. The elite mercenaries will follow the Duke to the south, and it will depend on the Duke’s mood to leave.

Some of the city’s poultry were slaughtered and their feathers were carefully collected, and the rabbits raised in captivity were also skinned.

The chicken is eaten right away, and the rabbit is marinated and baked into jerky.

The market in the city became lively, and the leather trade flourished like never before.

All soldiers with loot are happy to trade within the city, and trading items can be done anywhere.

On the bank of the river outside the city wall, an open-air “dew market” was established.

The open terrain is ideal for large crowds.

The assembled Rus army will be disbanded for the time being, and the day has been set for the departure of the Third Banner of Suomi’s servants and Balmerks.

The burgeoning bazaar in Fort New Rose is conducting a large number of leather and grain transactions, and a large number of captured enemy iron weapons have actually become a kind of currency.

Local farmers, especially Slavic farmers, enjoy the new tax law ordered by Rurik this year, namely the tithe tax. Farmer families enjoy a batch of surplus grain under this less stringent tax rate.

Looking at the Suomi and Balmerks, their problem is that they robbed a batch of scrap copper and iron utensils.

Really good trophies are naturally kicked in the pockets, and the defective products are exchanged with the locals for wheat and leather in the market, and even a specialty of the Ilmen Slavs-colorful striped linen.

The clothes are off-white or dark brown, which is the color of beasts.

Who doesn’t love to be pretty?

Due to the absolute lack of dyes and textile materials, the port of Narvik in the extreme north cannot even make linen. Although it can make woolen clothes, the output is not high, and the color tone is too monotonous.

The colorful cloth will give these expeditionary Balmerks a new look, and it will also open the eyes of the people who are watching in their hometown.

Here, the circulation of silver coins and copper coins is still limited, and squirrel skins play a part of the currency.

In just three days, the people who are about to leave have more or less traded what they need.

The spoils of the soldiers who have temporarily ended the expedition are no longer single, but how can they be easily satisfied?

Expeditions are just on hold!

The Karelian war is still going on, and the army will be regrouped next year.

The network of waterways interconnecting the settlements has been determined, and the mustering of troops will be quick.

The expectation of future wars made up for the regret that the soldiers did not plunder the spoils.

On the contrary, the area of New Roseburg is much better than the hometown of the fjords facing the Atlantic Ocean. Hailafield, who has seen the world in the eastern world, and his entire third flag team, they will all carry a sack of spoils of all kinds. Back home in Narvik.

The loot is of limited value, but is the information sheet about the East also the most valuable?

Hailafeid passed the bare harvested farmland on the Neva River with his feet, and he was envious.

Now that Rurik made that decision, he was tempted.

He stated to Rurik: “This time I will wait for Jiangxue in Roseburg, and I will go back to Narvik on a reindeer sled. Next year, before the ice and snow melt, I will bring a group of women and children and other groups The warriors have arrived at Roseburg. I hope that by that time, His Excellency the Duke will send a fleet to fetch us.”

This was what Rurik wanted to see the most, but it was not the only thing.

The main force of the fleet is about to head to New Roseburg, and will stop at Helminki on the way to unload all the Suomi soldiers. The captain of the guard, Evlo, will perform his duties as a nobleman and govern the entire Finland on behalf of the Principality of Ross.

Many will leave and many will arrive in the East.

Before the fleet set sail, Rurik wrote the letter in runic letters on a wooden board.

The Duke and the Taishang Duke are both in the east for winter, and a group of people must rush to their new home in the east before the sea freezes. This is not travel but settlement!

The old guy Harrow Zuosen will continue to be stationed in Roseburg’s hometown, and in a sense, his dream has actually been realized.

Harrow Zosen serves as the governor of Roseburg, which is equivalent to a chief, and will govern his hometown on behalf of the Duke in accordance with tradition.

I’m afraid Rumia is the one who suffers the most…

Rurik felt a little sorry for this woman, but this is the fate that everyone doesn’t want.

A chicken quill pen dipped in carbon ink wrote words on the birch board, and Rurik used a dagger to draw grooves on it, and the ink penetrated into it, becoming an official Duke’s edict.

Birch trees are not uncommon on the banks of the Neva River, especially the White Tree Manor in Novgorod, where white trees are birch trees, and there are so many birch trees there.

The birch board on which the letter was written was baked to a hard state, and it originally existed as a carrier for information records.

It’s a lot, enough to build a small room on top of each other.

These were all made by Ella and all the sisters with money dispatchers. An astonishing number of birch boards are flat and yellowish-white, square and square, and the specifications are quite uniform.

They are the carrier of writing, and what they play is the meaning of paper.

Unfortunately, they are not paper.

After writing, it is engraved and then inked, thus becoming a permanent document.

It took a lot of effort for Rurik to complete his letter.

He stretched his body vigorously, yawned lazily, and sighed to himself: “If there is no paper making, the scribes will have to vomit blood from their work in the future? This year I will rely on this group of wooden boards to record the history of Novgorod. Acres? Is it enough?”

The huge amount of information is no longer enough for the disk, and the carrier must be upgraded to a mechanical hard disk, or even an even more outrageous storage device.

Practical needs forced Rurik to advance the papermaking business.

How to make paper?

As long as you can make cardboard that is effective and useful, even if it is yellowish in color, it will at least be ten thousand times better than a pile of wood.

You can even jump right into performing more advanced tasks…

The wooden board recording the letter was specially placed in a suitcase, and the recipient was Harrow Zuosen, who stayed behind in Ross’s hometown, and he preached the Duke’s resolution according to the content of the document.

The appointed day has arrived, the first day of October in the Julian calendar, a day with a northeasterly wind…

Such a wind direction is very reasonable for the fleet, and each ship can quickly rush to the Baltic T-junction Åland Islands in a straight line like a wild horse by adjusting the sail position.

More than 1,600 people are leaving, a large amount of food, more than 100 fawns, and a batch of precious leather are all goods that must be safely transported to their hometown.

The life of the residents in Roseburg’s hometown is as usual, and the regulations formulated after the consensus of Rurik, Otto and others, or the new “customary law”, have been implemented for three years.

Residents have gotten used to the new rules, and they have enjoyed the benefits of the new rules. Those who talk nonsense have long shut up. The deepest desire of the residents in their hometown is wheat, and they can’t bear the days without wheat. The stable supply of wheat is high everything!

The primitive accumulation of capital is full of blood and tears, and this truth once again proves that it is the truth.

The food self-sufficiency rate of the population directly controlled by the Principality of Ross exceeded 100% for the first time.

The Pine Needles Manor supported 10,000 people, and the residents of the farm were killed for their rebellion. Regardless of whether their rebellion was reasonable or not, the residents were turned into skeletons underground.

The remaining farmland will support 10,000 Rus people, and Rurik estimates that with a little more intensive cultivation, the current spoils of land will be able to support as many as 20,000 people.

Now the Duchy of Ross’s Viking population, which can be directly controlled and managed by the Duke, has just exceeded 10,000 due to the addition of the Balmerks.

Babies and young children may account for 40% of the scale. Women are still desperately giving birth, and the baby boom is a constant trend.

How much food can a group of children eat?

Within a few years, the area of farmland looted by the Principality can guarantee that the basic Viking population has food to eat all year round.

Standing on the ruins of the Pine Needle Manor, relying on the spoils of the crops, the agriculture of the Principality of Ross rose in an instant. Rurik dared not let go of this development opportunity.

The team sailing west has disappeared at sea level, and Rurik’s side has also begun to move.

The Aurora, which represented the authority of the Duke, was parked by the river, and the manpower net crane began to load some regular plates onto the ship.

Rurik himself played the role of supervisor, and he deliberately dressed gorgeously, just to force his subordinates not to neglect.

“Be careful what you guys do! There must be no damage to these boards!”

“Almost hit the sideboard, Grund, you fought with a few women last night and today your brain is dizzy! If a board is broken, I will deduct your salary.”

“Hey, people over there! Be careful when you move, I will still deduct your money if the board is stained with mud.”

Rurik yelled and yelled at the port, and his yelling was justified. After all, these wooden boards will be kept as permanent documents. After the written records are completed, they will be pasted with a thin layer of beeswax to preserve them. They must not be damaged.

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The mercenary Grund didn’t understand what was going on with his master today. He didn’t like gold or silver, and he actually regarded a pile of burning boards as rare as gold and silver.

The old boy was very happy. The Finn from Gevlo became a local nobleman, and he himself was lucky to be in the position.

The Duke of Ross is young and generous. He remembers the kindness of not killing on the battlefield, so it is not enough to repay the favor. However, the brothers with the raven coat of arms have no better place to live. No lord can provide more than Rurik. Higher salaries and living conditions.

They are a group of self-interested desperadoes, and the Duke of Ross has given too much honor to money, women, and soldiers.

Grund knew that he would not really be regarded as the Duke’s close partner, and the brothers would live happily without the shackles of this aspect.

Rurik is almost moving his entire family to New Roseburg. He has not given an official order, but most of the family members and servants will be reunited in the East this year.

That will be at the end of October, and Rurik must arrive in Novgorod with a group of “female scribes” before that.

The Afulora was stuffed with a cabin full of supplies and personnel, so the prefabricated wooden boards were stacked neatly, as if they were materials for assembling wooden floors.

The intimate female relatives stepped on the board one after another, and Rurik stood on the bow of the old ship that had experienced many battles again, looking up at the huge city wall of New Roseburg from a very high position.

In front of the big ship, more than a hundred elite mercenaries were divided into four long boats, relying on oars to wait for the order to tow the big ship up the Neva River.

The shore was full of people, the men were cheering, the women were holding their children and shouting, and a group of boys were jumping and jumping.

Arik led the First Banner Team to put on the battle armor on purpose, lined up neatly, and beat the shield regularly with the sword.

This is a Viking farewell, moved by the warm atmosphere, the oarsmen who towed the big boat also roared in rhythm…

The faces of the female relatives were all smiling, and Carlota, who was the Duke of Ostara, also saw her own clansmen on the shore.

The clansmen are so easy to identify, an abstract and simple bull’s head coat of arms is sewn on a piece of white cloth, that is the flag of the Duke of Ostara that she set.

“Everyone is seeing us off, Rurik…” she said.

“Yeah, we’re only leaving temporarily. We’ll have the land counted before the first snow falls. We’ve got a long winter to count.”

“Is this… worth all the trouble?”

“Stupid.” Rurik pouted harshly, “Do your job well. And…” He pinched Carlotta’s neck with a smile: “You said I was like an April bull .I am a bull, or a stag in October. I will give you enough opportunities, and it depends on God’s will to succeed.”

Carlota smiled, everything went without saying, she was looking forward to it…

Rose’s flag was hoisted to the top of the mast, the Horn and the Ivory were sounded at the same time, the anchor was drawn up by the winch, and the tugboat was ordered to move forward.

A short voyage began. In late autumn and early winter, the highest leader arrived in Novgorod again. This was the first time for the principality, even if it dates back to the tribal period, it was unique.

After five days of uninterrupted voyage, the small fleet finally reached the White Tree Manor on the Volkhov River, or she is the city of Novgorod itself.

Looking around, the originally tall and dark green fir forest was cut down, and even the birch forest symbolized by White Tree Manor has partially disappeared.

The construction of city walls and internal buildings requires a lot of wood. The better material for building a city is of course stone. In the absence of materials, the almost inexhaustible forest is the source of building materials.

Those Slavs have been working, and Rurik clearly saw a group of warrior-like people wandering around.

Those who wandered were all old guys, after all, Otto Otto was still here.

Many loggers saw the retrograde ship and the flag flying on the towering mast from a distance. They hurriedly smashed their long-handled axes on the tree stumps, and rushed towards the city wall under construction, regardless of sweating on their bare backs.

Because, the duke actually arrived, and he arrived in Novgorod in October.

A man has become the master of the city, and Otto wants to retire here. He and a group of old buddies stranded here are the most honorable people in the city, even though this area is a vast ocean of Ilmen Slavs.

The good news suddenly reached his ears, and he raised his arms and called out: “My old friends! Rurik and those girls are finally here. Let’s go! Let me show you my lovely granddaughter.”

People laughed and responded, and some guys muttered silently, how much the old leader doted on her granddaughter.

The people building the city stopped their work one after another. It was already quite cold in October. Many people heard that the Russian army’s expedition to Karelia would continue until the world was frozen by ice and snow. Grand Duke Rurik thought too much about many things, but really Trouble ensues and delays ensue in trying to get these things done.

Thousands of the populace felt that the duke was busy with the expedition and that the surveying of the acres was to be postponed.

Measuring acres is a matter for nobles, dukes and boyars. Does it have much to do with ordinary farmers?

How many acres of land I have is watched by God, and taxes are paid according to the number of acres. People who have seen the destruction of Pine Needle Manor dare not provoke the Duke and cause fury.

Many people are simple-minded. They are ashamed of cheating, and they are even more afraid of being retaliated for showing insufficient respect for the Duke.

That was the Aurora, the flagship of the Principality. Her bow was full of scratches, and she was clearly a weather-beaten veteran soldier with a clearly recognizable posture.

Thousands of people gathered at the newly built pier by the river, and many stood on the trestle bridge to cheer for the boats.

“They are welcoming you.” Carlotta shouted excitedly: “Rurik, do you see… see your father?”

“Otto is there! It’s like the image of the great god Odin.” Rurik stood on the deck and stretched out his hand, Carlotta looked sideways and saw the old man, a man who was too old the old man…

Which girl here is the most excited?

Reason told herself to be reserved, after all, she would go back to her mother’s house and spend the winter here. Svetlana, who couldn’t hide her excitement, jumped with excitement, and her loose hair flew up and down with her dancing figure, completely indifferent to other people’s feelings.

The ten maids, all of them managed to squeeze out a smile for the first time, holding the railing of the ship with both hands, and faced the hometown of White Tree Manor, which was completely different from what they remembered, with complicated emotions.

Is this still home?

everything has changed…

[End of this Chapter]