Rise of Rurik - Chapter 723

[Chapter 724 Rurik in Mstisk]

On the ruins of the old Pine Needle estate, the Rus settlement of Mstiysk rose.

Most of the Ross native immigrants will settle here, and she will surely become the largest Ross settlement in the Principality.

Returning Rurik first listened to reports from the locals in Novgorod.

There are urban construction reports and production reports, and the most important thing is everyone’s description of the crops.

The old guy Rigus lived a long life, he was grinning from ear to ear, he said that the weather is so good this year, the wheat is rising very well, all the wheat has started the earing process, and a wonderful harvest is not far away.

The descriptions of the residents of Novgorod are very consistent. They have never seen the agricultural scene this year. They compared and estimated this year with previous years, and they all made a good harvest judgment.

A bumper harvest is almost inevitable, because technological innovations in plowing and sowing have reduced the input in growing grain, but the harvest has further increased.

The wheat has been in order since it was sown, and the root system has absorbed the resources of the earth in an unprecedented order. The technical advantages of the “drill” mode have achieved initial success, but the public is more willing to attribute it to this year’s climate.

Rurik deliberately scouted the fields near the city, especially observing the ears of oats at close range.

The appearance of oat ears is very different from that of wheat ears, and the yield is also lower than that of the latter.

Although European oats have the advantage of cold resistance, it is indeed warmer here in Novgorod.

Rurik is very satisfied with the rise of oats here, and he is more concerned about the “experimental field” of wheat in Mstisk.

As long as you continue to go retrograde along the Volkhov River and enter the huge Ilmen Lake, the first settlement you will see is Mstisk. journey.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Rurik’s ten maids hastily submitted the field data that they had surveyed and mapped in other farms. In an instant, a thick stack of cardboards with densely packed data was piled up in front of him.

The night was already very deep, and the flames of the bronze lamp sockets were beating.

In the warm house, the quiet Svetlana just dozed off, squinting at her husband’s back.

Rurik continued to cheer up, relying on the flames to continue reviewing these documents, he couldn’t help yawning.

Lanna frowned, and couldn’t help but asked abruptly, “Do you want to continue watching?”

“You…haven’t slept yet.”

“I just want to be with you.”

“You rest first.”

Husband seems very standoffish?

Lanna sat up slowly, and yawned hastily after being infected by Rurik.

“It’s really necessary to watch it again. You have enough time to watch it tomorrow.”

“Time? All I lack is time. What do you think I’m doing?”

Lanna was stunned for a moment, and said casually, “Just look at the things written by those sisters. I also wrote in it, but it’s just about other farms.”

“It seems that you know it all, but you just haven’t recognized the meaning inside.”

“What do I care so much about?” She laughed out loud, then lay down and twisted her body like a coquettish cat, and coquettishly asked Rurik to sleep.

“I have to keep working…”

Rurik didn’t care about his wife’s pouting expression. In his right hand, he still held a sharpened piece of charcoal wrapped in a paper roll, using it as a pencil to do statistics and mathematical calculations on yellow and white paper.

His time was indeed very tight, because the wives and concubines all worked as clerks in the past, and the acres they counted were the tax base of the principality’s most important tax source, the agricultural tax.

The basis for how much grain tax the Principality can collect in Novgorod this year is the area of these lands.

Rurik plans to set a standard based on the average oat yield per mu of the people of the White Tree Manor in Novgorod, so as to collect ten taxes from all the farms.

Theoretically, this huge amount of tax can provide for the immigrants in Ross’s main area to live comfortably for a whole year without working, because his wives, concubines, and scribes are very pragmatic and have made a preliminary census of each farm, so that Rurik can further clarify Find out how many men, women and children there are on each farm.

After summarizing all the data, what Rurik learned was not just the number of acres, but also the rough distribution of the locations of the acres in each farm, as well as an estimate of how much land each farm could be cultivated by a man in his prime.

To be able to raise taxes in an orderly manner is a real test of the organizational capabilities of a regime.

The Principality is in a period of transition. A tribe dominated by fishing, hunting, robbery, and trade will enter the farming era. Many things must be done by the monarch himself to set an example.

If there were a group of technical bureaucrats, Rurik really didn’t have to go in person. The current major contradiction is precisely the existence of these technical bureaucrats.

Civil officials will give priority to promotion among the group of cubs they have personally trained. Regardless of gender, those with outstanding math and language skills will be selected and appointed.

Of course, in all fairness Rurik hoped that a group of male scribes would stand out.

Rurik decided to take his subordinates to collect taxes in person, and by the way, he would make a field trip around the entire lakeside of Lake Ilmen, and even see how the life of the Aostara people who immigrated to the southernmost end of the Great Lake was like.

He seized the time to sort out a list, first using charcoal to make a draft, and then using a pen made by Dayan Feiyu dipped in ink to write an official list, and he collected taxes based on this.

Through these statistical data, he has learned that the total population of the Slavic farms under his control, including a group of newborns, has reached a scale of nearly 30,000.

When the boyars of various farms held meetings in the past, they all described that their farms had a small population. According to past perceptions, the farms that clearly surrendered to Ross’s rule seemed to have a population of just over 20,000. It’s revealed.

They don’t want to expose their economic strength and become big fat sheep that are frequently cut, and they dare not expose their potential military strength in front of the Ross army.

They were all trying to play weak, and Rurik understood the reason for playing weak.

Because the agricultural tax of the eleventh tax is still considered a heavy tax based on the current production, Rurik has not even ordered the collection of the poll tax!

The agricultural tax rate of the ancient east can be as low as 30 to 1, but the poll tax must be collected.

The poll tax is to enable the state to accurately know the population of the subjects under its rule, and to encourage the people to open up wasteland and grow food, and offset the loss of tax revenue through the newly added harvest.

As for the raising of slaves by rich families, heavy taxes are the way to curb them. For example, double or even triple the poll tax is charged on slaves, and the taxes must naturally be borne by the master.

This model has both advantages and disadvantages. In a country like the sun rising in the morning, its advantages outweigh its disadvantages.

A poll tax was charged, even if it could be as low as a silver coin, or the equivalent of ten pounds of oats.

Not only the local Slavs, this tax is for everyone in the Principality, and those who are eligible to pay this tax should be considered the real subjects of the Principality of Rus.

The poll tax is a very new thing for everyone. They only fully accepted the agricultural tax this year. In order to avoid complaints, Rurik decided to postpone the poll tax. He still needs to think carefully about it.

Because the number of Slavic people in this area is not at all the 30,000 people on these books!

Rigus revealed that Governor Medved has been carrying more than 300 men on an armed expedition in the dense forest. The “expedition” is still going on and will not be suspended until the autumn harvest.

It is said that Medved’s work has made some progress, but the means adopted are very violent.

Some of those “hidden ones” were not really isolated, and the small farms that had hidden paths in the woods connected with the larger farms by the lake.

The residents of these farms are usually only a hundred or so, but their number is very large, just like a large group of dim stars around the bright stars in the night sky.

A messenger sent news to Novgorod that the so-called Medved had used military means to force as many as ten small farms to relocate!

These people were relocated to the reedy wasteland not far from the south of Mskiysk to build settlements. According to the messenger’s description, these people who were forced to relocate were afraid of the powerful force of the new ruler, and after learning that they could freely develop the fertile land by the lake Most of them are really willing to stay, but they only hope that the adults will allow them to at least harvest this year’s grain so that they can survive the winter smoothly.

Rurik believed the messenger’s description, maybe when he went to the east bank of the lake, he would be able to count thousands of people in the emerging settlements of forced immigrants there.

He had no doubts about Medved’s methods. Although they were all Slavs, their positions were completely different, because Medved was a relative of the principality’s noble family.

Medved, who is named after a bear, and his guys are all imitating the authentic Ross warriors in dress. It must be the fanaticism of the converts. He will first use force to force the immigrants. The best strategy of Sogon and Proton has not been implemented at all. The immigrant’s bad move came quickly.

“Perhaps forcing immigrants to destroy their homes is actually a good strategy for long-term rule, but the method is too violent. It must be appeased! I will also enshrine new boyars, give them new farm tools, and provide them with food…”

In the future, more and more people will be pulled out from the dense forest. Those people will be the losers of the competition, so they have to leave the lakeside farming area with better water and soil. Rurik doesn’t care about their emotions. A large amount of labor is needed for further development. From the perspective of the monarch, Rurik now needs labor loyal to Ross to reclaim wasteland, grow wheat and pay taxes.

If the area actually has a population of 200,000 Slavs, then all of them will be picked out and dragged to the lakeside area to build one village after another.

Is two hundred thousand people a huge population for Lake Ilmen?

Even in the current purely agricultural society, with a village of 200,000 people and the corresponding farmland, people living around Lake Ilmen, a large inland lake, are not short of resources.

As for why a large number of people stay away from the lake, Rurik is clear about a realistic reason—the old Pine Needle Manor does not want others to plunder their interests. The entire lake was once its sphere of influence. pay tribute.

The leader of Pine Needle Manor did have the qualifications and strength foundation to be a self-proclaimed prince, but it was a pity that under the blow of Ross’s powerful military strength, he was instantly reduced to powder.

After all, Rurik is asleep. He is undoubtedly with his wife, you and me. He just arrived in Novgorod for a short rest. In the next month, because of the wheat harvest, the labor force in the whole region will be busy. I am afraid that my arms will be sore from exhaustion.

The three-day fleet in the berthing area continued to move forward. The immigrants took a rest and got some supplies. The next stop is the hopeful Mstiysk!

Soon, a huge lake came into view.

The Ross people, who are used to seeing the sea, don’t think this is a big deal. They pay more attention to the eastern area of the fleet, the flat area near the coast under the reflection of the dark green pine forest sea. The scenery there is indeed something that everyone has never seen before.

There seems to be a vast grassland, full of green pastures?

Indeed, if a group of goats were released, they would ruthlessly clean up the spring oats that had just begun to ear.

The batch of oats from the first sowing in late April entered the heading period, and those that were delayed until the first ten days of May were sown, and the heading period will be delayed again.

Regardless of earing or not, these crops are all gramineous cereals, which are grasses.

The Ross people have lived a good life with wheat every day for many years, but they have never seen a large area of wheat fields.

When someone pointed out that this was a wheat field, many pure Rose women were taken aback!

On the contrary, the local Slavic women who married Rus were very proud.

The wharf of Mstisk has begun to take shape, but the huge fleet berthing Ross still seems unable to do what it wants.

Arriving here again, a sense of vicissitudes of history blows over us.

Standing on the deck, Rurik was greeted by a southerly wind with a faint grassy smell. The wind was strong, and the calm lake surface was blown sparkling, and the water waves kept hitting the reeds on the shore.

Compared with three months ago, this settlement has significant development visible to the naked eye.

A defensive and windproof wall system has been constructed, with timber-framed towers rising at intervals.

Some Rus flags flutter in the wind on the wooden walls, showing that this is the residence of the Rus.

Rurik is very satisfied with their construction. After all, it is necessary to be defensive. As outsiders, Ross immigrants are in the vast ocean of Slavs. At the moment when national integration has not yet been achieved, gang rebellion should be avoided. Any settlement Do a good job of city defense.

It is even not the Slavs living along the lake that need to be guarded against, but the Slavic national group further south-the Krivich League.

[In other words, currently the best app for reading and listening to books, change the source app, www.huanyuanapp.com to install the latest version.

】

There are many men fishing on the lake, and some even floated to Lake Ladoga.

After the fleet entered the dock, the immigrant crowd walked out of the trestle with great interest and stepped on the solid lakeside flat ground.

The so-called pastures that the immigrants could see clearly, but the wheat fields that are about to mature are all connected by the lakeside!

No one can ignore such a fleet, and those who stayed in Mstiysk were informed a few days ago that the homeland hit had arrived.

Arik hoped that the people of the tribe would enter the port successfully, and when the boat docked, he would lead a group of strong men with their sleeves rolled up to drive a pony cart, or push and pull a two-wheeled cart, and happily came to help.

Men are the most active. What they welcome is not others, but their own wives and children.

The women who landed took care of their pots and pans, as well as boxes of money and bundles of spare leather and cloth clothes.

The young children were held in the arms of their mothers, and some urchins began to run around happily on the spot.

There are also those tribal elders who immigrated, who completed the last and longest voyage in this life in their dying years, and finally arrived at the warm and fertile land that the prince won for everyone.

They will be buried here after death, and they will be happy to be happy in their old age.

It takes a long time just to unload the goods, and a large number of net bags are unloading all kinds of goods from the people.

The furniture is not heavy as a whole, but this is the daily necessities of as many as 600 families, and everyone estimates that unloading the goods will have to be tossed until tomorrow.

Rurik organized people to unload their cargo independently, and was also pleased that some fishermen had suspended fishing.

Those fishermen were all young soldiers of the First Banner Squad. They found their wives and children as soon as their boats landed. They didn’t feel bad at all when they learned that the old house in their hometown was sold. , I have endless strength all over my body.

Arik arrived in time with his men, and the young and strong people immediately joined in the unloading work.

“Brothers, pay attention, find your wives and children, and take away your belongings first. Come back and help immediately when you bring them home!”

“Make good use of the trolley and help other brothers transport goods. Put your children on the trolley or carriage, and make sure your children don’t run around.”

“There must be no disputes. If someone quarrels, I will punish you!”

Arik gave orders this time. He is the manager of Mstisk, and the brothers of the First Banner Team all admire him, making the entire unloading and transportation scene seem chaotic, but in fact there are rules.

Some families who packed their supplies have already pulled their carts and walked on the dirt roads in the countryside to the gate of the city. More and more families began to sing and leave.

Rurik finally breathed a sigh of relief, and a big hand slapped him hard on the shoulder.

“Aric? Anything else?”

“It’s nothing.” Aric smiled, “There are no people in my hometown anymore, right?”

“There are still a group of left behind.”

“Why?”

“Because we have to control the mines and our shipyards. Even if we emigrate, we must not lose our hometown.”

Arik nodded gratifiedly. He still had one concern in his heart, and it was really reassuring to hear this: “In this way, I don’t have to worry about moving my father’s tomb here.”

“Uncle’s tomb? Don’t worry, the tribal cemetery in my hometown has always been guarded. Many of the New Ross people who joined us later live in Roseburg. The Harrow Zorsen family is still in charge. We need the iron ore from our hometown very much. There is salt from the farther north. We are just people who have left our hometown, and our contact with our hometown is still very frequent in the future.”

“Alright. It looks like we’re going to light a lot of bonfires tonight and celebrate. Now we’re going to continue unloading, come on!” Arik patted his brother on the back, “Boy, you are already a strong man. As a prince , but I want to show you the strength of your man. Let’s unload the goods together, finish the dock work early, and we will eat grilled fish in the evening. By the way, I will tell you about the good condition of this farmland, and those in the south New guys.”

[End of this Chapter]