Otto informed his son that he had received 30,000 silver coins as an offering, and told him more bluntly: "From now on, the public wealth of the priests will be managed by the chief. Now, the high priest still has close to 20,000 silver coins. , as well as some gold coins and gems. I will take care of them now. If you take over my position in the future, you will be in charge."
"Ah?! That's their money. I" Rurik's mind was a little confused. He felt that he needed to make a statement, that is, he obeyed Vilia. Even if the priests took some measures, he did not covet their money. .
But this incident obviously did not allow Rick to gain fame and reputation.
Otto covered Rurik's little head with his big hand: "I tell you, these are all orders from the high priest. The existing female priests are unreliable! My child, you need to train your own priestess, and you need to manage the priests on their behalf. Money. To prevent the priests from using their brains, we must manage the money for them. I think you are so smart, you should understand."
Rurik, does he understand? Of course I understand.
The great chief had secular public power, and the high priest had the ability to control thoughts. In this time and space, the discord between these two forces in many countries is a major cause of civil strife.
To eliminate the possibility of such chaos, the great leader must keep the priests under firm control. Now Rurik understood from his father's words that the high priest Vilia, who had almost died, made a major decision when his oil was exhausted. The so-called priestly group will become a vassal of the great chief.
Rurik could only think of one word: centralization.
Since he will have the right to control the finances of the priests as the great leader in the future, why doesn’t the great leader control more? By controlling money and food, a large population can be controlled. In this still barbaric era, it is time for the Ross tribe to bid farewell to the tribal era. The big leader, when upgraded to a monarch, the Rus tribe should be upgraded to a kingdom.
The problem is, since it must be upgraded to a kingdom, it should have a treasury.
But now he is not the leader, let alone the king of the kingdom.
Facing his father, Rurik felt that he needed to make a major suggestion to his father on the use of money that would benefit the tribal residents, or in other words, an innovation.
Rurik's face turned serious.
"dad."
"I am here."
"About the priests' money, and your money. You mean, the money that you and I can control in our family already amounts to 70,000 silver coins. It's really a huge sum of money."
"Hehe." Otto continued to rub his son's little head, "Sooner or later it will be your money."
"Really? But." Rurik raised his head and said seriously: "But the priest's money is not my money."
"That's true, but you can use it."
Rurik shook his head: "Even so, it is still not my money. Now, Dad, I just want to make one thing clear. If it is not my money, I can use it. In what name should I use it? ? Is it used as a big leader, or something else?"
For a moment, Otto couldn't figure out his son's intentions.
Rurik simply made his attitude clear: "I think we need a great money box. This box contains a lot of treasures. These treasures belong to our Ross tribe and are the wealth owned by all tribesmen. But the right to use it lies with us. In the hands of the great leader.”
"Huh? Your idea is really strange." Otto shook his head.
"Strange? In the past, the priests had a public money box. The wealth belonged to all priests, and the right to use it was in the hands of the high priest. I think this system is okay and should be extended to the entire tribe. In my opinion, the priests The existing 20,000 silver coins and other belongings are all counted as belongings to our tribe’s large money box. With this money, we can do many things.”
Otto still feels a little strange: "Go on, what should you do?"
"Well, for example, repair roads and build houses for poor tribesmen. We can use this money to improve the lives of our tribesmen."
"Are you sure you want to do this? Whether they are poor or rich is their own business. Are you going to care about the poor? They have hands and feet, so they can naturally go fishing and fight. Will they still be poor if they do these things? ?”
The words came out of my father's mouth. He is the leader of the tribe!
Rurik felt a little uncomfortable.
Of course, the young and strong warriors of the tribe can carry axes to rob enemy tribes to gain wealth, or they can float on the sea and catch fish. A healthy young person is certainly capable of supporting themselves and their family, but once they get old, they simply cannot maintain the same living conditions they once had.
Especially those warriors. If they die in battle, their wives and children will almost lose their source of income.
Rurik had thought of many things. For example, some women of the tribe would bury their husbands who died in battle. There might be economic reasons for this. For a woman who loses her husband, her life will become extremely difficult, and death may be a relief.
He asked: "Dad, aren't the weak ones in our tribe worthy of your attention?"
"them?"
"For example, some older people, or children who have lost their father?"
Otto had never thought about this carefully, so he casually said: "People's fate is doomed. Some people are born noble, and some people are born unfortunate. For example, you are the happiest person."
"So, Dad, can you let them die early? Or wait for death in the days of hunger and fullness?"
Otto was startled and quickly replied: "No, I don't mean that."
"But you did not make some decisions. You are the big leader, but there are still many people in our tribe who live in the most dilapidated houses and live on limited food. Now you still support our execution for at least five years. The ten-year rule of dividing spoils has been changed. Those who did not participate in the war or the tribute voyage will not receive much money or food from their families. This is not right."
Otto was unhappy after being criticized by his son. But he can actually question his decision, which shows that this child definitely has other ideas.
Regarding changing the tribe's dividend model, Otto has his own reason: "Rurik. Our Roseburg is in a bitter cold place, and only the strongest can survive. Our tribe needs new heroes and brave ones. Those who are weak are Will die, all power, only the strong deserve to enjoy it. You are a smart boy, I think you can understand."
"So, those weak people should die early?" Rurik complained from his soul.
Otto was not to be outdone: "This is the foundation of our strength. Only the strongest group of people can survive, and those who can participate in the battle are also the strongest. If we were weak, we would have perished long ago. Remember That grove? Some children are born weak, and they are abandoned when they are born. Rurik, the weak do not deserve to live. Even if they are lucky enough to survive, they will die of disease at a young age."
Natural selection, survival of the fittest? It's so cruel.
Rurik understood what his father meant. Based on this barbaric era, the material resources of Roseburg should only be able to support a group of the strongest people to survive. But the tribe is still a giant of four thousand people.
Because of the tribe's long-standing "extensive dividend system", people who find it difficult to walk can still get a share of the fruits of the Sorong voyage.
Times have changed, and what Rurik has learned in the past few months is the serious wealth inequality that exists in the tribe. Now the situation has become even worse, such as his buddy Fisk. This guy's father died, which also prevented the family from participating in the war, let alone sailing to Novgorod. The tribe's two major operations this year have made huge profits, but this obviously has nothing to do with the Fisk family.
There are many such families and tribes. If he had not accepted his own relief, Rurik dared to assert that Fisk would most likely not have survived to adulthood.
Rurik did not agree with his father Otto’s words of “social Darwin” at all. Based on his own thoughts, he would never agree with this concept.
If the tribe's wealth and supplies are scarce, the only way for the tribe to remain strong is to sacrifice the weak and the strong to take all.
Now, is the Ross tribe really short of supplies? of course not!
"Dad, I still don't agree with what you say." Rurik said firmly, "I want to help the weak in the tribe. I think that as a big leader, I have reason to help them. No matter what, they are our tribe. Even if they Even if they are vulnerable, we must help them too.”
"I heard that you treat your one hundred and fifty men to dinner every day. Do you think this is right?"
Rurik nodded deeply: "Some of them have fathers who died unexpectedly or in battle. I cannot bear to let them go hungry! I will always give them food so that they can be used by me when they grow up."
"But this requires too much money!"
"Dad, do you still doubt my ability to make money? I pay a sum of money to support the poor, and I still have the confidence to make more and more money."
Fascinated by this soul question, Otto looked at the transparent cup on the table and smiled innocently.
Rurik continued: "Dad, as far as I know, almost everyone in the tribe believes that I am a child blessed by Odin. My identity is noble. This is the identity given to me by Odin and also given to me by you. I have a noble status, but I am not here to enjoy the blessings. My mission is to lead our tribe to prosperity. I want to make the strong stronger, the weak able to have food and clothing, and I also want the foreigners to surrender. us."
For a moment, Otto thought of what his son had said about his attitude many years ago, when he had just learned to speak. Looking back on that year, I still remember that shocking feeling.
"So, you will spend a lot of money to help those poor people?"
"Yes!" Rurik said firmly: "We need a big money box, which belongs to all the people of our Ross tribe. In my opinion, in the future, we will allocate part of the tributes from our victory in battles and tribute voyages. Go into this big money box. The money in the big money box exists to help the poor tribesmen."
Otto slapped his forehead: "Hey! Isn't this the same as before?"
"It's very different! This money is controlled by the big leader. Who to fund and how to fund it are also arranged by the big leader. Not only that, the big leader can use this money to hire craftsmen from his own tribe and foreigners to build new houses. , build a dock, or simply build a big ship. I feel that the big leader has many obligations to the tribe, not only to lead the tribe to victory in the war, but also to ensure that no tribe member freezes to death or starves to death."
Rurik consciously said something grand, hoping that Otto would be moved.
The reality is that Otto, the current leader of the Ross tribe, was not very moved by his son's great ambition.
Otto felt that after all was said and done, his son still planned to take action personally to feed the poorest and weakest people in the tribe. As for the "big money box", isn't that his son's money? With a new name, it is still money for the son to be the leader of the new generation.
Because Otto really couldn't understand his son's philosophy. He couldn't decide whether his son's ideas were great and noble, or whether they were based entirely on maximizing his own interests, or both.
Big boss? Being a big leader means enjoying the great feeling of having power, which can also bring tangible economic benefits. Only when they have money and power can the clansmen organize "competitions", where the strongest will fight to the death for this noble status.
As for how much obligation the big leader needs to fulfill to the tribesmen.
Otto felt that he was commanding the tribe to win the war, leading the tribe to open up a new living space, and even finding partners for the young boys of the tribe. Aren't these very great and wise decisions? Did those leaders in the past have their own greatness? !
No! Those seniors basically just indulged in their own enjoyment and were masters of fighting, nothing more.
Taking this opportunity, Otto listed his wise actions.
In exchange, his son shook his head. Just one sentence is not enough!
Because Rurik's thoughts are still oriental.
In the East, the army is a public weapon of the state, and the granary is also a public weapon of the state.
The power to live comes from heaven. This so-called heaven is a "great being of the highest level". What the monarch has is the "mandate of heaven", which is a kind of authorization from the great being.
The monarch has the right to collect taxes from his subjects and place them in the treasury. This treasury is more often referred to as a large granary.
The subjects should respect the monarch as they respect their father. The monarch is even more obliged to take care of his subjects like a father takes care of his children.
The monarch cannot waste national funds for no reason. When his subjects encounter disasters, he must open warehouses and release grain to help the people.
In this way, the monarch and his subjects have a relationship similar to that of a family.
Rurik, he appreciates this relationship model more.
Because what he saw in the ninth century West, especially this remote Roseburg, was a barbaric place.
After careful consideration, the strong men of the tribe decided that from now on, they would no longer share the war dividends with the poor and weak people of the tribe.
A group of people who were robbed or simply bought joined the tribe, and the demographic composition of the tribe was quietly changing.
The tribal society that once existed is irreversibly changing rapidly.
Is the tribal society in Roseburg really becoming more advanced as it changes? I want to talk about "The Rise of Rurik" with more like-minded people, follow "Youdu Literature" on WeChat, chat about life, and find confidants~
