Rise of Rurik - Chapter 752

[Chapter 753]

A group of people gathered at the docks of Novgorod. It is not surprising that the Ostara people entered the city. Men and women watched with wide-eyed eyes, accompanied by ten tall horses.

With the support of her attendants, Carlotta, with a big belly, went ashore tremblingly, and then walked towards Rurik’s palace in the city.

Ma Ke Sakei and his group didn’t know where it was. They were amazed at the size of the city. Seeing the noble woman advancing, they led the horse and walked inward, ignoring the pointing of the onlookers.

Because of the construction of the school in the city, a group of workers always came in and out with wood.

This city is a society of acquaintances, and the guards of the city gate will not stop them at all when they see a lot of familiar faces. The honorable Duchess Carlota of Australa bowed at the meeting.

Only the riders and horses were stopped directly.

“Oh? What does this mean?”

The gatekeeper was also a Slav, and he said casually, “Look at your faces, you are not local. It is very suspicious that you came here with a horse.”

“We…we want to see your prince.”

It is this description that makes the gatekeepers even more vigilant.

Six people gathered together holding whistle sticks, and the leader said bluntly: “My lords, you can see it casually. Explain your identities, why you came here, and your horses… Could it be that you want to sell the horses?” ?”

The gatekeeper guessed very well, Ma Ke nodded hastily, and took out a silver coin from his pocket.

The leader of the gatekeeper looked at him, then at his subordinates, with a sullen face and no words.

“Oh, it’s too little money.” Sakeyi hastily took out ten coins to the obvious leader, and said with a smile: “Please inform me.”

At that time, Carlotta in front saw that the counterfeit behind did not follow up, turned around and saw Ma Ke being entangled by the guard.

She said casually: “They are my guests, follow me to meet the prince, let them come in.”

With the guarantee from the Duchess of Ostara, the gatekeeper let it go, and of course the ten silver coins were all taken away.

“Why are the Russians here like Smolensk? They have to pay after passing through their territory? Well, ten horses can be sold for a high price, and I will earn back what I lost.” Sakey was obviously unwilling to hand over the money. money.

But as he really entered the city and saw the prosperity inside, he gradually understood the reason for collecting money in an instant.

Completely different from the clutter of the Smolensk people or the settlements of their hometown Kyiv, this city called Novgorod is quite tidy inside.

There is still a lot of snow outside the city, but not only is there very little snow inside the city, there are straight roads here, and the strange thing is that the roads are not muddy.

Just not being muddy is enough to give them a huge shock.

It turns out that the big cities of Novgorod and other principalities followed a basic principle in the construction of internal roads.

Naturally, the road needs to be rammed with stone piers to keep it level. After the land is compacted, it can resist a certain amount of rain erosion, which is still insufficient in the long run.

Muddy city roads can be a nightmare. Not only do roads have to be kept dry in special ways, but stagnant water in cities has to be dispatched quickly.

And look at these roads, because of the lack of stone, the Novgorod roads were replaced by a large number of pottery blocks.

It is actually a kind of fired clay brick. Since it is only used for paving roads, there is no particularly high requirement on the shape. The only requirement is to ensure that it is hard enough.

The main road is densely paved with brick roads, and the rest of the roads are simply paved with gravel and broken pottery.

Today’s vehicles are structurally unable to haul too much cargo, and Rurik doesn’t worry that the road he spent to repair will be damaged in a short time.

He can completely build cement roads. The Principality of Ross has indeed mastered this technology, but the production capacity limits the road paving plan. The cement road will be built in New Roseburg, and currently only a small number of roads can be paved.

Brick pavement is an excess, and even that has largely freed city dwellers from the spring mud.

The Eastern European world must be facing an extremely muddy nightmare during the snow melting period. Some outdoor paths that are stepped on by a pair of feet will be covered with knee-high mud.

Even if spring plowing could theoretically start now, no one wants to sow seeds in muddy fields.

Almost all urban residents belong to the White Tree Manor. Thanks to the solid and dry brick road, a group of residents rest and adjust their farm tools on the public road.

Flat and hard large fields did not exist in the past era.

They openly repaired shovels and hoes, and checked the curved shaft plow with columbine cart.

They took some seed grain out of their homes and dried it in the sun again.

Some women also took out the stone mill sticks and small millstones at home, and sat down on a piece of sackcloth on the brick road in the light of the outdoors, carefully grinding the wheat grains into powder.

Even children kept pounding with stone mortars, pounding thyme leaves dried and stored in a building into powder.

There are also markets in the city, where there are fishmongers peddling a batch of perch hanging from wooden racks.

There are also traders selling live rabbits and chickens, which are put into wooden cages.

At the market, there are also many women sitting and chatting with rattan baskets and headscarves. They are all selling eggs, and chatting with each other to pass the time in their spare time.

What Mark Sakye saw was a neat city, with no smell of human or animal feces in the air.

The roads here are clean and tidy. It is obvious that small trees have been deliberately planted on both sides of the main road.

There are ditches on both sides of the path, and the water flowing inside is actually running water.

They were just looking at the flowers, but suddenly someone stopped them with anger.

It was a soldier patrolling with a sword. Seeing that the horse leader didn’t stop, he simply intercepted him.

“Huh? What did we do wrong?”

The patrolling soldiers drew their swords directly, pointing at the horse dung on the road: “You have committed a crime! You dare to throw dung on the road, you are arrested!”

Sakey wanted to explain, but the soldiers acted directly.

All the riders were arrested, the movement attracted hundreds of people to watch, and Carlotta, who was walking in front, was speechless.

Obviously the city of Novgorod is not very big, why are those Kyiv horsemen always causing trouble.

It is true that this is not a big city. Rurik was busy compiling the children’s teaching materials in the palace, and the noise outside made him simply go to see what happened, so as to change his mood.

Because Sakey and his group regarded the action of the patrolling soldiers leading the horses as robbery, and what was even worse was that when they resisted, they got searched by the soldiers.

Now they confiscated even the coils in the leather jacket, the hidden defensive daggers and short swords.

The soldier said bluntly: “We have learned that you are businessmen in a foreign land. If you do not obey the rules, you will be punished. It is also dangerous for you to carry weapons. This matter should be decided by the governor.”

When the matter developed to this point, the men and women watching the play had gathered to a scale of 500 people, and a large group of children ran around in front of their parents again, laughing and laughing as they watched the soldiers take people.

Carlotta stroked her forehead lightly and complained, “Can Rurik still do business with these guys?”

Medved was the first to be alarmed, and he brought more soldiers to resolve the situation.

A soldier rudely disperses the crowd, calling for everyone to disperse.

Seeing a big man, Sakei hastily expressed his intentions.

Patrol soldiers also hastily reported the situation.

“Sell the horse? Sell it to the prince? All right. But…you should be punished for making mistakes. You still have weapons hidden on your body, and you want to see the prince like this? It’s unreasonable. Come here, put them in a cage and lock them up, wait for the prince Fall.”

As soon as the words fell, just when Sakey was at a loss, the noble figure finally arrived!

“Don’t bother, let them explain the truth now.”

It was Rurik, walking out of the palace with Svetlana.

Due to various actions in the past, Rurik has always displayed an image of being too close to the people among the people, and the onlookers are cheering for the appearance of the prince, and continue to watch the development of the situation.

At this moment, all the horsemen were pressed down on the ground and had to kneel down. Sakey raised his head and saw a blond young man with a mustache and another noble woman. He couldn’t imagine that this was the prince of the Ross people. couple.

“My lord, these people from afar want to see you, and they seem to want to sell their horses.” Medved spoke up.

“Selling horses? Merchants? You…” Rurik looked at the horses carefully, and his heart beat wildly.

Too bad, it’s a feeling of heartbeat!

Rurik didn’t care about the others. He hurried over, stroking the horse’s mane with both hands, and gestured that the height of the horse’s shoulders and his own were not important. There was no obvious difference between them.

“Ah, these horses are so tall. Are they… all horse sellers?”

“Yes.” Medved responded hastily.

Rurik kept his eyes on the horses, and said without looking back: “Release them all, and bring them all to the Rusduma. I bought all these horses.”

“But my lord, they are responsible for the horse manure on the ground.”

“So that’s why you got them?”

“Exactly.”

“Yes, if you dare to leave manure on the road, you must be fined, even if it is horse manure. This account will be settled first, and I will deal with these businessmen properly. You shovel the horse manure into the gutter, and it will be settled.”

In this way, the dazed Sakye stood up again. He had been completely disarmed, and he had to admit one thing, the young man with the golden ponytail was the supreme ruler of the Principality of Ross.

Rurik had already seen the presence of Carlotta with a big belly. Compared with his own woman, the presence of ten horses was too eye-catching.

Carlota glanced at her mouth slightly, but she just watched silently and didn’t bother to intervene.

After a while, Rurik could be regarded as coming to strike up a friendly conversation, and naturally asked about the situation of the child in his womb.

“All is well, this son of yours will be born soon,” she said.

“Indeed everything is fine. Stay with me tonight, and you will stay in Novgorod until the baby is born.” Rurik had good intentions and was sure that Svetlana would fully support her.

Carlota nodded, pointed to the riders and horses and said, “They come from the southern city called Kyiv…”

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“What?” Rurik was taken aback, the sudden change in expression startled him.

“What’s wrong?”

“What city is it?”

“ki~yev~” Carlota read it with a straight face, her pronunciation was very standard, and it was because of this that Rurik’s expression was even more exaggerated, and looking at Ma Ke again, his attitude was even more complicated.

“It’s actually a businessman from Kyiv, coming from such a far away place. Hurry up! They are all guests! A banquet is held tonight to welcome distinguished guests.”

The words are all in Norse, and the conversation with Carlotta is naturally in the language of his hometown.

The horsemen couldn’t understand, it seemed that the brothers didn’t have to worry about being hurt by Prince Ross at all.

Carlotta went on to explain, especially those horses, she emphasized the importance of a batch of fine horses to the Principality, and even put forward her own outstanding insights: “Breeding strong bulls widely will result in a large number of strong calves. Here are two strong stallions, you control the most horses and soon you will have a strong herd and you will be very strong.”

Only a few elites can have such insights, and she seems to understand more profound things.

Rurik thought about it. He encountered a strong cavalry attack during the war against Britain. Ross needed a cavalry, but suffered from the fact that the existing horses were not suitable for riding.

The horses brought by the riders were astonishingly tall at the shoulders. They were clearly born to be war horses. The purpose of wanting to come to the riders like this was indeed not pure.

Could it be that they were entrusted by the Slavs in Kyiv to get in touch with Ross?

Carlotta patted Rurik, who was in deep thought, and said with a light smile, “Unexpectedly, you still care more about horses. Anyway, how about father and mother?”

“Them? Everything is fine, now busy teasing the children.”

“It just so happened that I went to visit them. You…you should be busy with your important affairs.” Then she glanced at Svetlana again, and said in an affectionate tone: “Sister, I’m finally back. Let’s go, let’s talk sisters… …”

Because according to the traditional Nordic customary law, Carlotta is the adopted daughter of Otto, and her relationship with Rurik belongs to unrelated siblings. Also because they are not related by blood, their combination is also in line with the rules.

With this relationship, Carlota and the Svetlana sisters are commensurate and compliant, and because there is no so-called interest in competing for favor with each other, the relationship is quite harmonious.

The female relatives left on their own, and Rurik was very happy for their knowledge.

In this way, I can negotiate trade with merchants very well.

The parliamentary chamber of the Rus Duma, with Rurik sitting on one side and all the horsemen on the other.

The house is spacious and cleaner, brightened by the open wooden windows.

Rurik gave them a glass of ale with honey, and after they drank it, they went straight to the topic.

“Since you are selling horses, tell us your price.”

“Ah! Your honorable lord, I didn’t even introduce myself.” Sakey said while clutching his heart.

“Really? Your accent is a bit strange, but fortunately I can understand it. Tell me, your name.”

“I’m Sakye, a businessman from Kyiv.”

“Oh, your name is a bird of prey, a very brave bird. You come from Kyiv, I know that place.”

“Then, you…”

“I am the Prince of Rus!” Rurik opened his eyes wide with a smile, “Here is my southern city, Novgorod. Our territory is very vast and rich in products, my army is very powerful, and I also have a lot of gold coins. and silver coins. So, how much do you sell your horses for?”

The conversation turned sharply. The horseman Sakye felt that he was an extremely noble person at a young age, and he was ordered to continue: “I have ten horses, two males and eight females. They are all very young horses. I can’t hide them if I think about it. Your eyes. They are very fine horses…”

“Are you hiding something? Tell me your selling price.” Rurik narrowed his eyes lightly and urged.

Sakye still insisted on his rhetoric: “We people in Kyiv bought horses from the Pecheneg people in the grassland, and after two months and a lot of hardships, we finally sent the horses here…”

“So, you’re going to pay a high price? What are you talking about? Pechenegs? These are actually steppe horses from those nomadic tribes?”

“Indeed, it’s just…” Sakye couldn’t help but widen his eyes, “In fact, you knew from the very beginning that these are excellent Pecheneg horses? You are really a saint.”

“It’s overrated.” Rurik waved his hand, his heart beating wildly, and he said, “You talk a lot of nonsense, just to show that the price is high and justified? You say a price, and we can discuss it carefully. Don’t worry, I am very rich , will not be intimidated.”

“Yes.” Sakey swallowed hard: “They are all good horses. A male horse is worth five pounds of silver coins, and a female horse is worth ten pounds because it can breed foals.” He was afraid that Prince Ross would be disgusted by the unhappiness caused by the price discussed, so he had to lower the price a little, but it was still an astonishingly high price.

“That’s it?” Rurik, who was listening attentively, was really taken aback.

“Why? Do you think it’s too expensive? If you are interested in buying it, we can talk about it. But you have to think about it. We have gone through too many adventures before sending ten horses to you with great difficulty.”

“Forget it, I know your hardships.” Rurik said frankly: “Actually, you can just say what price the horse sells for. Indeed, this price is astonishingly high for ordinary people. If you are as rich as me, it doesn’t matter. I know the direction of Kyiv very well, and I also know about the Pechenegs. I actually like Kyiv especially, where the land is very warm and fertile, where horses run on the grassland, and the grassland transformed into farmland is the best black field. means a high yield of wheat…”

Rurik couldn’t help but talk a lot. At first glance, the horsemen felt that this adventure and windfall was a certainty, and Prince Ross showed great affection, and even claimed that a banquet would be held at night for the brothers to celebrate. Great success in the horse trade.

Horsemen have been immersed in the joy of making a fortune.

Ma Ke also knew this. They didn’t know that Rurik’s heartfelt remarks were clearly full of ambitions for the Kyiv region.

[End of this Chapter]