Rise of Rurik - Chapter 698

[Chapter 699 Spring Plowing Landscape of Ross Principality]

After the snow melts, the forest is full of mud, and only the flat areas around the lake can quickly become dry.

The speed of snowmelt was beyond Rurik’s imagination, and the continuous good weather brought the nighttime temperature back above freezing.

The warmth of spring overcomes the severe cold within a few days, Lake Ilmen has thawed, the ice of Volkhov has thinned and completely broken, and the once frozen Aurora is now also thawed.

Thanks to the oak bottom of this old ship, there are some traces of ice friction at her waterline. She has been scarred by hard work, but she still sails freely.

When you see that the river is full of torrents, according to the traditional experience of the local people, as long as there is no rainfall, a large number of fields by the lake can be cultivated after at most seven days.

A large number of remodeled plows were placed on a flat ground. Looking at them, old Ligus eagerly wanted to use them.

The old guy was as curious as a child. There was nothing unusual about the plowshare. He just paid attention to the funnel-shaped structure mounted behind it.

“Put the seeds in, and it will slowly leak down like an hourglass. It’s brilliant!”

His praise really surprised Rurik, so he said with a smile: “It really looks like an hourglass. Since you know about an hourglass, no one has tried to modify it?”

These words directly confused Rigus.

It’s like the steam wheel toy was invented a long time ago, but it was two thousand years later that the steam engine really became a steam engine.

There is a columbine behind the plow, and the leak mouth of the columbine that goes deep into the ground has a controllable partition to adjust, and a baffle at the end to cover the soil.

These transformed plows belong to the entire Baishu Farm. Just like the surveying and statistics of the field last year, Rurik is fully aware of their economic structure-the most critical farm tools are shared by everyone, and everyone flocks to cultivate the autumn harvest. .

An old man, Rigus, is naturally the most noble in the farm. In fact, he has been a farmer all his life, but now he has no strength to harvest wheat in his dying years.

The onlookers realized its beauty, and immediately discussed the spring plowing plan.

Rurik even directly smeared the paper with pine gum, and pasted the so-called “Nongjing” in a public place, so that anyone who understands one of the scripts can know the farming rules provided by the prince, and then spread it by word of mouth.

Random sowing is random sowing, relying on probability to basically use the entire farmland.

Maybe they should upgrade to the on-demand mode first, which is more efficient in terms of land utilization, but also requires physical effort.

The use of new agricultural tools will be directly upgraded to the drill mode, achieving the extreme value of sowing cost performance under the current technical conditions.

After transforming all the plows, Rurik did not ask them for “technical fees”. Technology is the primary productive force, and it must be used immediately.

The old people of Conglong in Baishu Manor have sharp eyes. The Duke improves the farm tools for everyone and pays the craftsmen. He is a good person, so it is reasonable to pay more taxes.

Rurik could indeed benefit in a short period of time, and now he still has as many as fifty curved plows in his hands, most of which have been remodeled.

Even Carlotta’s Ostara team had twenty of them, and she had no time to modify them.

It doesn’t matter, she has already reached the significant manuscript of “Nongjing”, a few sheets of paper are strung together with twine and crudely mounted as a book.

She copied the book herself, and now the content is deeply engraved in her mind like a stamp of thought.

The land inside the wall has returned to dryness, and the surrounding fields have entered a relatively humid state.

In April of the Julian calendar, there is little precipitation in Lake Ilmen, and heavy rains may occur in May.

However, the overall rainfall in this area is low, and the effective precipitation is mainly concentrated from the beginning of October to January of the following year in the Julian calendar, and most of it falls in the form of ice and snow.

Surrounded by Lake Ilmen, the Volkhov River, the Lovati River and the Msti River, although the latitude around Lake Ilmen is high, oat-style agriculture does not lack water.

The people who are ready to go under the continuous good weather are full of confidence. In order to further inspire people, Rurik specially held another meeting.

Rus Dumane in Novgorod was crowded with more than 200 people. They were local farmers, the first batch of permanent immigrants from Rus and representatives of Austalians.

They kept quiet and listened to the resolution of the prince.

“According to the plan, we will start spring plowing in two days. This is a major event for all Varyags and all Slavs to act together! We now have the best farm tools and the most intelligent farming methods. Now the lakeside fields are back to dry, We have to finish the task in this warm and rainless period.

We will start operations in different regions, according to the previous plan.

My friends, I will work with my wife in a field near the city. I will be a farmer myself, and this autumn I will eat the wheat I planted.

”

The prince’s description of the Slavs made them feel at ease. They felt that Rurik had become a fellow with them. Maybe he knew the hardships of the farmers from the cultivation and harvest himself, and could give everyone a better strategy.

As soon as he changed the subject, he looked at the young people of the First Banner Team, especially his cousin Arik.

“The river near the old Pine Needle estate is called the Msti River, and I decided to call the new settlement Mstisk, as the locals say.”

Arik said cheerfully: “Then according to us, it’s called Msjistad. It doesn’t matter if it’s a name.”

“Very good. Brother, you can farm according to the method I provided. I will send my wives and concubines to help you and demarcate the land according to the contract. I have also prepared everything for growing grain.”

“Very good. It’s just that there must be a large piece of land there, and you won’t really let it go to waste? I’m actually worried about that…”

“The ship transporting wheat and grain in my hometown? It’s okay, let the extra land be abandoned for the time being. If they delay the time, I will plant onions and hemp stalks, no matter what…”

After going back and forth, they reiterated their plan for farming, and the words finally fell on the people of Aostara.

Although Carlotta is his wife and concubine, she is also a high-ranking leader.

For them, Rurik was worried or worried, and there was nothing to say, so he gave his last condolences: “Carota, I will transport you to the mouth of the Lovati River by boat, and I will send you five hundred reindeer, You want to develop freely. If you need it, come to the north shore of the lake for help.”

She nodded, tears of emotion fell down.

According to the etiquette of the Slavs, a large number of people gathered towards the lake.

The flotilla headed ahead, led by the resumed Aurora, the largest ship, towing all the longboats.

Her cabin is stuffed with oats, which are all grown food.

Rurik arrived at the agreed shore of the lake one step ahead of others, and took his wives and concubines along the rope net to get off the boat to complete the landing.

The world that was once covered in silver light has returned to dark green. If you look carefully, those branches are struggling to sprout.

Look at the land again, the grass has sprouted.

A large dark area appeared before the eyes.

“This is the altar from before, and the fire tower has become black charcoal all over the place!” Svetlana was quite surprised by the strange traces after the sacrifice, and asked casually, “Are we going to build a fire tower this time?”

“That’s not necessary, we’re doing it as a matter of routine this time.”

Some specific time nodes and the eve of major events should be sacrificed to calm people’s hearts. Baishu Manor sacrifices to the god of spring and agriculture every year.

The local priests did not describe a definite image of a god, but the foreign Rus provided a real god.

Rurik was going to offer sacrifices to Fredja here. According to legend, he is the god in charge of labor and production, and the sacrifice was at the right time.

This is a sacrificial activity exclusive to almost all Varyags, and all Norse-speaking populations in the region came here in various forms.

The sacrifice was carried out in a lively atmosphere, and Rurik’s wives and concubines wore plain clothes and crowns of fresh green branches and buds.

A handful of oat kernels are buried in the altar and become the key to the ceremony.

“The gods bless us! God Freja protects us! The people of Ross stand here, please give us a good harvest…”

The ferocious warriors galloping across the ocean will turn into scythe-carrying peasants, far from abandoning the bravery of the past, but adding new skills to their inherent bravery.

A total of more than 1,000 first batch of Varyag settlers completed their sacrifices, and various Slavic farms scattered by the lake are also doing their spring festival activities.

The crowd began to disperse, and they rushed to different areas with their luggage.

The men of the First Banner Team rushed to the old Pine Needle Manor under the leadership of Arik, and Rurik dispatched a surveying and mapping team composed of wives and concubines, with those contract documents and measuring tools, to delineate the world of each household while planting seeds. .

All the boats in Novgorod were assembled, and the Ostara people in Kalotta took all the treasures and went to the Lovati River in the south of the Great Lake. New Ostara officially started her construction .

A huge and thriving picture of spring plowing has been revealed.

The whole of Novgorod was busy, and the new agricultural tools were put into use immediately.

The city has basically become a city for the people of White Tree Manor. This situation will soon change greatly with the immigration of a large number of Ross people.

A private field purely belonging to the Rigus family was taken by Rurik. It was just a field of about 20 meters in length and width.

This is the land he chose to cultivate himself. The area is small, but the significance is the most important.

Rurik just wants to show that he is working on it himself, to show everyone in the know that what he said is true, and even become a big show that is kept year after year.

This is the emperor’s “two acres and three parts of the field”, and the emperor personally cultivated it to show his subjects, who are mainly farmers, that the monarch attaches great importance to agriculture.

A hemp rope hung over his shoulders, and Rurik stepped on the ground with his boots.

A group of his guards guarded the standing tree stumps on the ridge of the field. They were ordered to simply stand and not help the owner to do anything. They also prevented onlookers from stepping into the field.

The rope was attached to the plow, and Rurik was literally a bull.

Svetlana’s hair was braided around her head, and a turban covered her entire head.

She was dressed as a capable Varyag, but what she held on to was the handle of the plow.

The columbine behind the plow was filled with wheat grains, and she held another hemp rope in her hand to control the rate of sowing.

“Rurik, many people are watching. Why are we like this? You are a prince, maybe you don’t need to pull the plow yourself.” She really couldn’t bear it, and felt that her noble man was making an embarrassment in front of the onlookers, farmers and women.

Rurik gritted his teeth: “It’s okay, I just want them to see! I’m going to exert my strength! Lanna, control the equipment!”

This was Rurik’s first time plowing by himself, and it was also the first time in Svetlana’s life.

She is a well-protected girl. In the past years, she was forbidden by her family to do the hard work of spring farming and autumn harvesting. All of this has her own father’s intention.

Since old Otto revealed that his youngest daughter was to be his only son and wife when she was still a baby, Rigus deliberately trained his daughter to be the best Slavic woman.

It can be said that she has become a person with delicate skin and tender flesh, which is really very different from the children of local farmers.

Both Rigus and his wife stood around the ridge with wooden sticks, and it was a great feeling in their hearts.

“In the end, our daughter is still farming, and Rurik seems to really like farming. It seems that we have raised our daughter for so many years.”

The wife’s doubts were directly refuted by Regus: “What do you know! Rurik is performing. He does value farming, but he can’t keep farming. He is a prince and has too many things to do.”

“I mean our daughter.”

“I know all that. If she hadn’t been dressed up, how would she have gotten where she is now? I dare say they planted the field, and it’s our business to take care of the field.”

Li Gusi’s description was very thorough, and his ears had already heard the whispers of many onlookers, and almost all he heard were voices praising the prince.

The plowshares swept across the developed ripe fields, and the hardy wheat grains from Britain fell instantly into the soft ravines.

Rurik straightened his body forward, his strong legs pushed hard on the ground, and the whole plow moved forward steadily under Lanna’s control.

[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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He can choose to use deer to plow the land. Domesticated reindeer can pull sleds docilely, and they are also good at pulling plows.

He made a point of it, but it wouldn’t be much of a show to do that.

Not far away, old Otto changed into a warrior’s attire. Now he was too old to fight. He stood upright like a god with his long sword, watching his son’s efforts.

Ravines were dug out, seeds were sown, and the ravines were instantly filled, leaving only some traces on the surface.

No one helped the couple, and Rurik forbade any help.

He and Lanna didn’t rest at all, and the price was being out of breath towards the end.

Lanna was impatient: “Rurik! You are too tired, why don’t you take a rest.”

“It’s okay!” He shouted vigorously, “War is more tiring than this, I can persevere.”

That being said, Rurik completed the work due to too short and strenuous physical labor, relying on strong willpower to not fall down.

He blushed and staggered to the field ridge. John Ingvar and the maids from his hometown had prepared honey water.

He hugged the stall and poured warm honey water, and everyone could see clearly his plain white linen shirt soaked in sweat, and those with sharp eyes could even see his shoulders and arms bruised by the hemp rope.

The young prince has the strength of a horse?

The women onlookers covered their mouths, and the men buzzed.

His precious son-in-law, the great prince blushed from exhaustion, and Rigus rushed back on crutches.

He looked at Rurik who was hiding his tiredness with a smile, and for a moment he didn’t know what to say, but his old face was indeed trembling.

“Prince! You… succeeded.” Rigus held back his words for a long time.

After a while, Otto cheered up, and led a group of veterans, walking thousands of miles with the heaviness of the old era.

Rurik’s wet head was covered with one hand, and Svetlana’s wet turban was covered with the other.

Otto spoke: “Is this… is it that you personally sacrificed to the gods?”

“Yes.” Rurik smiled unabated. “The gods are fair. They have seen my efforts and will definitely give us a good harvest.”

This is a beautiful expectation. Otto believes in the gods, but he is not sure about the attitude of the gods towards the large-scale farming of the Ross people.

Is it really appropriate that a brave warrior is being a farmer?

If everyone gets used to a comfortable life and loses their armaments, the warriors will lose their warrior souls, and they will be abandoned by the gods.

This is fate!

At least Rose took control of the harvested land and could eat with an open appetite forever.

Otto saw the performance of his son and daughter-in-law. They not only told the gods, but also performed to the conquered Slavs.

He had a lot of words, but now they turned into two hands ruthlessly rushing over the heads of the two. The force of pressing down was the belief of this old soldier, and it also represented a thousand words.

A new era has begun, and Rurik has personally demonstrated that the fields plowed by the princes and fathers have been sown with wheat seeds waiting for an opportunity to germinate.

The entire farmland around Lake Ilmen is being cultivated, and the land acquired by the First Banner Team is the most lively.

In order to get the rich land, the sword of the young warrior of Ross has gone through the blood of the enemy, and now he has finally got his own land.

Unlike the Slavic community, the Rus’ society has undergone fundamental changes. They fished in small families in their hometown, and now tend their fields as small farmers.

This is the case in economic life, but everyone is used to living together, and now living together as a family is still helping each other.

They are the strongest Ross men so far. Some of their fathers are soldiers of the Second Banner. Seven hundred men not only have to demarcate their own fields, handle farm tools and sow seeds, but also cut down trees to build new houses to house the women and children who are about to arrive. them.

A city named Mstisk rose on the ruins of the wine pine needle manor. As the captain of the banner, Arik planned to move his family here.

In just one year, all the 10,000 people in the Old Pine Needle Manor were buried under the ground. The Principality of Ross completely occupied the place in the name of countering the rebellion, and began to build its own city and cultivate its own fields.

The frozen world is completely revived, and the seeds germinate as soon as they touch the soil.

But within a few days, Rurik saw green shoots sprouting from the field he had personally plowed. They were definitely not weeds but real wheat seedlings.

Not only his own plowing fields, but all the fields that have been sown can be found to sprout seedlings.

Ross’s first settlers were beginning to see their fruits, but spring plowing was a process that lasted for the better part of a month.

According to the experience of the locals, the latest period for spring plowing is May 15th in the Julian calendar. After this date, no seeds can be planted, even if the weather has become warmer.

By planting the seeds too late, the harvest season will hit a frost.

Rurik actually gave the people in his hometown enough time. On the fifth day of May, two large ships without a hull number, pulled by several oar boats, sailed against the wind and successfully rushed to Novgorod .

A young man whom Rigus knew very well happily jumped off the long boat without any fatigue. He was none other than Kawei the blacksmith!

There was also a fat man who cautiously climbed down the big ship’s rope ladder awkwardly. He was not a stranger either, but Blue Fox, the second son of the great businessman Gould!

This guy was supposed to go to Hedeby, Denmark, so it was a surprise to be here.

Their arrival really surprised Rurik, and the large amount of wheat they brought was genuine.

A young man who was eager to receive credit brought his buddies to stand in Novgorod after many years. He is the explorer Spyot. He is the hero who transported wheat from Britain to the hinterland of Eastern Europe. Report to the prince, looking forward to the prince’s heavy reward.

Now, Lord Rurik is standing on the banks of the Volkhov River, behind him is the city named Novgorod, and farmland everywhere.

[End of this Chapter]