Rurik firmly believes that it is a truth that "productivity determines production relations".
For the Iron Pine Tribe, which was once a fishing and hunting economy, when their people began to use a large number of iron tools, began to use the power of water in rivers, and the power of fire in stoves, their productivity underwent a qualitative change.
Rurik felt that there was no need to whip the Kovin people with a whip. The productivity of their entire tribe had been greatly improved. To obtain the value of their labor more reasonably, it would be better to treat them as slaves than to continue to treat them as slaves. All of them converted into "tax residents" have more economic value.
"Now I want to establish a contract with you. First of all, I must make it clear that the relationship between you and me is still that of master and servant, but you have another identity, taxman."
"Tax people? What is this?" Mechasta heard this Norse word for the first time.
"You don't need to figure it out for the time being. In short, I need you to work for me for a long time. I hope that it will not be through force, but that you will happily smelt iron and contribute to me. Now I stipulate that starting from next year, your tribe Two thousand axes and five hundred manuscript axes must be made for me every year. Do you understand?"
Although Mechasta heard it very clearly and felt Sisi's malice, his body was trembling.
"Sir, your request is actually..."
"What?" Rurik tilted his head, "Do you think my requirements are too high? I saw that your people already know how to smelt and even build stoves. Your people even know how to burn charcoal and use reindeer to Transport ore. I originally planned to give you the task of producing five thousand axes a year. I have lowered the standard, what else do you want?"
Mechasta gritted his teeth. He considered that the current daily output of axes is relatively stable at fifty axes a day. Of course, there was a time when the daily output reached a hundred. This was entirely based on the hard work of the excellent Ross blacksmith and his advance. A large amount of ore was hoarded. The Rus people have to leave for the time being, and the smelting work in the remaining time is all the Covin people's own business. Due to the amount of ore transported, the amount of charcoal fired, and even the use of labor by mature men, several parties have reached a steady state, causing production capacity to also enter a steady state.
Rurik knew this, and his orders were based on estimates of the production strength of Mechasta's men.
Mechasta's difficult response: "Okay, I'll do that."
"You don't have to work so hard this year." Rurik waved his hand and said, "We have an agreement in your hometown. In September, we will go to the Oulu River to collect the tribute from the Kovin people. For your Iron Squirrel tribe, you must pay this year The tribute is a thousand axes! From the summer solstice to when we come again in September, you have more than two months to make them. Oh, or you are not paying tribute, but paying taxes. You actually only have to pay a thousand axes For the tax on axes, if you make more, I will exchange it with you in oats and flax.”
Upon hearing this, Mechasta instantly realized the commercial atmosphere.
"Ah! As long as we pay what you need and we make more things, they will belong to our tribe?"
"Of course! The axes you over-produced can only be sold to me. As for the leather, you should give priority to selling it to me, and we will give you a better price. If you sell things that shouldn't be sold without authorization , it’s okay to sell it to us Rus people, but if I sell it to other tribes, even the Balmoks, I will be punished if I find out.
I think you don't need silver coins very much. You need high-quality grains and cloth more. So in your dealings with me, I would actively use flax and oats.
Listen, you are only obliged to accept this contract, you must accept it! I won't listen to any reasons why you can't complete the task. Those are all excuses. If you really fail to complete it, you will be punished.
listen! Don't betray my trust in you. You must understand more that your son and daughter are both under my control. "
Rurik's determination was true every step of the way. Mechasta was glad that he could lead his people to produce more things in exchange for more consumer goods, making everyone's lives better. Now the problem becomes, Ang If he slacks off, the Russians will definitely take revenge.
Rurik noticed the other party's fear, "Are you nervous? Oh, of course you can be nervous. You must understand that there is no free meal in this world. After all, I am your master, and we Russians are the conquerors! Your current stability is pure It's my charity, and you have to pay the price. My requirements for you are not high, you even have the ability to earn private wealth, and I have no intention of robbing your private property anymore."
Mechasta nodded: "I think I still have to pay a further price."
"That's right! If there is a war and an enemy attacks us Rus people, you Covin people must organize an army to fight alongside us. In terms of fighting, I am absolutely fair. If your people make military exploits, they will get the same reward as Rus. Exactly the same reward for a warrior.”
"Ah? This..."
"What? Are you surprised?"
"We..." Mechasta's mind was very confused for a moment. He thought the Russians were harsh for a while, and then thought they were reasonable. Now they have become kind?
Mechasta could not use a simple word to summarize the noble boy in front of him. Due to the current situation, he knew that he had only one option, and he agreed with all Rurik's requirements.
He said no more, and bowed down to indicate: "I fully agree with your decision, and I will get things done."
"Get up!" Rurik estimated that the other party still had many questions, and any questions were meaningless now. "You just do what I tell you, but I will no longer provide you with a lot of food for free. You will get food by yourself, such as hunting or fishing. The rivers in the north have a lot of fish, so you can Obtain it yourself. If the food is not enough, don’t worry, I will organize fishing boats to transport the catch to you, and you can exchange it with me for smelted iron, ore, or leather. Remember! Only iron, if you sell it privately If you give it to outsiders, you will be punished by me, and you will bear all the consequences."
Mechasta had already figured this out, knowing that he wouldn't be able to eat a lot of good food forever. He didn't have much pressure to lead the tribe back to the old tradition of hunting and fishing. Besides, there were a lot of wild animals in the area. When the tribe began to use better arrows, the hunting efficiency greatly improved.
However, another problem is that if manpower is allocated for hunting, the manpower for iron smelting will be reduced. Of course, women can also go hunting, and most women are archers, but as a leader, they really cannot leave the responsibility of obtaining food to the women of the tribe. I am afraid that blacksmithing and mining of ores in exchange for the food provided by Rurik would be the most suitable.
In any case, Mechasta knew that he had no choice but to agree.
In this way, Rurik added some terms and made a written contract on the wooden board in Roman letters that Mechasta could not understand.
The two parties signed a contract, so that the defeated Iron Squirrel tribe was no longer slaves in the strict sense.
They are what Rurik calls a special kind of "tax people", or they have become the earliest "industrial population" of the Rus tribe. Rurik always dreamed of owning his own large iron factory. This dream seemed to be realized in Elon-Olava Fort. The Kovin people who made a living by fishing and hunting turned into "steel-making workers", and because of the water wheel put into use, Rurik believed in their production capabilities.
Rurik's return is approaching, what does it mean for Elon-Olava Castle? I'm afraid it's a new beginning.
Because of the contract, all the iron produced before the summer solstice, Rurik planned to ship most of it back to Roseburg.
Also on the cargo list is a large amount of roughly tanned beast leather.
Forged ferrochromium tools are better than ordinary hardened wrought iron tools and even comparable to mild steel tools. Rurik hoped to make up for his financial expenses by selling them all.
All kinds of iron tools are always very profitable. Even the most common and inferior wrought iron, even a small axe, is worth as much as a ferret skin.
Nowadays, finely processed ironware has become extremely profitable, and its value has far exceeded that of leather.
So how much value does it have to say that the Russians went to great lengths to capture beasts and skin them?
I'm afraid its commercial value has been weakened, but leather is not an ordinary commodity. In areas lacking flax and cotton cultivation or even trade, leather was the only clothing material available to the locals.
The leather trade is still the mainstay of the Ross tribe's economy, and now may be the dawn of the so-called multifaceted flowering.
Rurik was already counting the goods to be brought back. As the statistics progressed, he was a little surprised by the scale.
For example, the skin of a polar bear was once very valuable. It was valued because killing a polar bear always involved risking one's life. Hunting a polar bear was no less than a life-and-death struggle between two warriors.
However, with the introduction of the crossbow, the efficiency of hunting polar bears increased dramatically.
As master, Rurik received a large number of offerings. There are as many as eighty polar bear skins and as many as fifty brown bear skins.
And this is just bear skin. Of all the leathers, the most abundant is actually the long-legged snowshoe hare.
Rurik noticed early on that it was difficult to capture and raise those long-legged and alert snowshoe hares. The ones that can really be raised are cave rabbits, but their activity area needs the warmer south. For example, in the area where New Roseburg is located, there are many short-legged cave rabbits. They are easier to tame after being captured. They are the so-called domestic rabbits.
Snowshoe hares were originally food for wolves, foxes, and even bears. Now, even if they were very alert, they were unable to predict human traps, and were even fatally struck by arrows that flew from nowhere.
So how many rabbit skins did Rurik get?
This amount is somewhat shocking.
Not only do the number of snowshoe skins exceed a thousand, but the area of each one is quite large.
It can be said that this was an unexpected harvest for the pioneers. This was not the first time that the Russians came to the northern land, but in the past everyone had hunted here in winter. Under those circumstances, it was quite difficult to catch the snow hare, which was all white.
However, the Ross fleet arrived at its destination in May. Youdao arrived early rather than arriving by chance. Ross hunters and Kewen hunters saw extremely bold snowshoe rabbits with white fur every day when they were doing large-scale logging. They are jumping around repeatedly around me. They are so bold and provocative. How can they not hunt them? !
May to June is the breeding season for Finnish snowshoe hares. They are always alert in winter, but these two months are unusual.
In a sense, the region's large animal resources, such as snowshoe hares, maintain Mechasta's self-confidence.
According to the current price level in Roseburg due to the influx of large amounts of silver coins, reindeer skins that once only sold for one silver coin have now doubled, or in other words, the prices of most supplies have doubled. In this way, the price of a snow rabbit skin can reach one silver coin.
The already lively dock is now even more lively, with more and more people stepping onto the boardwalk. As large cargo ships arrive at the port, the loading of goods has finally begun.
For those Rus warriors who followed Rurik, the "war chief", who fought in the north, their journey of hunting, logging and construction was finally coming to an end. At first, the majority of soldiers had the urge to fight an unknown enemy, but life soon became boring. Only hunting and eating could make everyone happy.
Finally going home!
The negative emotions hidden in people's hearts disappeared without a trace in an instant as those large and sturdy cargo ships docked at the port.
They became porters and began loading Rurik's loot onto the large ships. And each of them has his own small linen bag hanging on his belt, which is full of tinkling silver coins. This is the reward for everyone's work in the past two months.
Mechasta, the leader of the Iron Squirrel tribe, stood on the wooden wall and watched all this with relish.
For him, when Rurik left with a large amount of goods, his tribe also had to welcome its summer solstice priest in a brand new settlement, and the shaman was already preparing for this.
Mechasta made his own judgment. By fully implementing the contract, his tribe would still have plenty of opportunities to accumulate wealth for themselves after paying heavy taxes.
He himself has ordered his own people that all newly produced iron tools after the summer solstice are not allowed to be sold privately to Russian fishermen. The only buyer is Rurik himself. Once the illegal transactions were discovered, Mechasta threatened to take drastic measures against the violators, including cutting off their hands as punishment.
Issuing this violent and harsh order was really a helpless act for him. He didn't know what Rurik's punishment was. Rurik didn't explain clearly. This unknown fear continued to ferment, making Mechasta believe that Rurik, the boy, would already take extreme measures to punish him. , as if he had ordered the execution of Woima Kashad.
But Mechasta noticed many operational loopholes in the contract, or the so-called loopholes were actually backdoors left by Rurik.
He noticed that the biggest restriction of the contract was related to the transaction of iron tools. That kid obviously wants to monopolize all the iron tools. Transactions other than the iron trade were not severely restricted.
Yes, Rurik left a back door for these Covin people in the very important leather trade.
Mechasta knew that Rurik encouraged his people to sell the leather to him, and there was no penalty for selling to others. In other words, Rurik actually acquiesced to the free trade of leather.
There is a saying that the traditional economic foundation of the tribes of the Kovin people is based on the leather trade. In the Oulu River Basin, the Kovin people completely regard squirrel skins as hard currency. Squirrel skins are a special form of currency in ancient Finland. , but everything of value can be measured by squirrel skin. Rurik wanted to plunder crazily from them first, and he also knew that he could not ask for too much. Based on this idea, the traditional economic model of the Kovin people must be preserved.
The very real problem is that the Kovin people have almost no silver coins in their hands. Without such a trading medium, and after the iron trade is monopolized by themselves, of course they can only hope to fish and hunt, and use leather to exchange materials with the Russians. Due to the relatively long production cycle of iron tools, one thousand axes are taxed this year. It takes a long time to produce these axes, and they cannot bring benefits to the Iron Squirrel Tribe.
If even the leather trade was to be monopolized by themselves, I'm afraid their hunting enthusiasm would be low.
In fact, Mechasta also realized a truth from the contract, the so-called unconstrained is compliant.
For example, Rurik did not clearly state whether the newly promoted Kovin blacksmith's payment for repairing iron tools to Russian fishermen was also included in the income from iron smelting. Since it’s not stated clearly, it doesn’t count!
In Rurik's eyes, he is willing to believe that the Kovin people as a whole are simple, and he is also willing to believe that the Kovin people are never stupid people. Their failure is only due to the poor quality of their soldiers and backward weapons and equipment.
Now, they have set foot on the Russian warship, and their weapons and equipment have been greatly improved. In the Iron Squirrel Tribe, all archers are equipped with iron cluster arrows, all marching staffs are equipped with iron spearheads, and all logging axes are turned into top-quality chromium iron. They transitioned from the Stone Age to the Iron Age in an instant.
Just because he believed they were smart, Rurik had to be wary of them.
Rurik estimated that he could not completely prevent the Covin people from secretly selling hammered iron tools to Russian fishermen. After all, both parties would definitely have real trading needs.
Anyway, the contract has been finalized, and Rurik's psychological bottom line is their future tax of two thousand axes per year. If they are really found to be trading privately, the so-called punishment method is actually not bloody, or it can be said to be a kind of soft knife, that is, a punitive tax increase.
As the population increases and production tools are upgraded, their production efficiency can only continue to increase, and for this reason more taxes will be collected. How to raise taxes reasonably? Then claim that they were exposed for secretly selling iron, and raising taxes is a reasonable punishment.
Of course, since he experienced the battle and personally commanded the soldiers to kill a large number of enemies, the dark and violent side of Rurik's heart also unknowingly emerged.
Although he was not born violent, he has been forced by the times to become a hardline figure.
What if the Iron Squirrel tribe gets lazy and they can't fulfill their tax demands? Then we can only use harsh methods, such as imposing punishments similar to the "Eleven Rules" on the Kewen people, tying up the unlucky ones and then piercing them with thousands of arrows. This harsh method is used to force them to believe that the authority of the master's family cannot be violated. , the assigned tasks must be completed by all means.
Of course Rurik would not show violence until they had delayed the date. He did not even tell Mechasta what the "real punishment" was.
He felt that this set of punishment methods that he had buried in his heart for the time being was quite harsh in the style of the "Qin Law". Although the method of being executed when the time was missed was harsher, for the servants, this method was currently the simplest and most effective.
Thinking further, Rurik became more and more convinced that the entire tribe was in a wild and harsh environment, facing covetous enemies, allies with ulterior motives, and even the residents of Narvik Port who did not know their enemies or friends. The tribe's situation It was too extreme, so the entire tribe also needed to use a more extreme method to overcome all difficulties.
Ultimately, the greatest danger is still the military threat from foreign enemies.
Coupled with Rurik's ambition, it might be a good idea to arm the Ross tribe into a large military camp and include all the servants in the "big military camp".
