It has been two days since the huge team arrived in Novgorod, and the city has become extremely lively.
It was an exceptionally sunny morning, and even those who got up early could feel the warmth of spring.
In fact, the temperature at night still drops below freezing, which results in astonishing ice formations under the eaves of every house every morning.
Ice is dangerous, early risers knock it off, and by the time the sun is high enough, a trickle will begin to form on the wooden eaves.
The whole world is thawing. When the land becomes dry enough, spring plowing will begin. There is not much time left for plowing.
These days Rurik feels like the donkey of the production team. You have to be busy farming, busy organizing immigrants, and calculating time and climate.
He didn't stay in Novorosberg for a few days at all. This time he returned to Novgorod and returned to the parliament chamber here.
Rurik sat in the main hall, and people who had the right to participate in the meeting sat on both sides.
They are officers of the First Banner Corps, a few old guys from the Second Banner Corps, and master farmers and craftsmen in the city.
Old Otto and the local governor Medved were both there, as was Carlotta.
Today's meeting was all about farming, but at first glance it looked like a military meeting.
Rurik didn't make much preparation for this meeting, but he determined some things that must be done, and even when he preached, he just said it.
"It seems that everyone is here. I won't say any polite words. Let's get straight to the point. Today! What we are talking about is farming! Starting from this year, the young adults of Ross will immigrate here in large numbers with their families. I decided to visit the old Pine Needles Manor. A new settlement will be built there to accommodate immigrants. The First Flag Team will have priority in enjoying the land there. When the snow melts, we will go over and demarcate each family’s fields..."
Rurik is repeating the policy so that the brothers of the First Flag Team can be truly mentally prepared.
He continued to preach: "When we come to Russia, we will farm the land well. I found that the local people only claim to be good at using land, but in fact they only have a rough grasp of it. You can obviously be highly productive, but poor technology limits the output. I am not saying that the Russians are good at using land. As far as being good at farming is concerned, in my opinion, the farming methods that we all knew in the past are backward. It is different now. I will directly interfere with your farming operations and put an end to your random behavior of spreading seeds forever. !”
Everyone thought that Rurik used this meeting to reiterate things that had been negotiated in the past. how? He wants to teach everyone how to farm?
He is a person blessed by God. He must have received farming wisdom from God, right? It's a great thing if that's the case.
The words were mainly directed at the White Tree Manor, who are the current main population of Novgorod. The selected farming masters entered the venue. They came proudly, but they were directly criticized by the prince for not knowing how to farm.
Your self-esteem has been bruised, but the prince will probably teach everyone new skills.
"So, Rurik, how will you guide us..." Rigus asked in a hoarse voice. Here he is very old, Rurik's husband, and an old guy who has spent his whole life crawling in the dirt. His inquiry represents all Novgorod people.
Rurik stretched out his hand to quiet the restless people.
"Years ago, a batch of curved shaft plows arrived here, and you started plowing the fields efficiently. I noticed that your grain production increased, but it was very limited. In recent years, more farm tools have entered here, and the situation has not changed. , all because you don’t know there are better planting techniques and tools.”
"Is there a more wonderful way? There are better tools? For example, let...the deer you brought pull the plow?" Ligus asked in surprise.
"Deer! Naturally, they are used to pull plows. They are very reliable. Plowing the land only loosens the soil, and then there is a way to sow seeds. In the past, men, women, and even children, each holding a wooden pot filled with seeds, lined up after plowing. It is stupid to sow seeds indiscriminately in the farmland. You are seriously wasting seeds. You are not allowed to do this starting from this year. I want you to sow seeds in lines one after another."
Spread into a line? how so? What's the point?
Rurik described it in Norse and Slavic languages, and everyone's confusion was reflected in their expressions.
"I know you are confused, but this is necessary. You can understand it this way. Our troops always line up to face the enemy. Our positions are neat, so we always win. On the other hand, the enemy always stands in a mess. , were easily defeated by us. Why is this? Because our soldiers stand neatly, and no one can use their abilities. So I want all the wheat seedlings to line up like soldiers, so that they can fully get the power of the sun. Oh, by the way, I'm afraid You still don’t know why the wheat grows.”
Arik listened for a long time, but he was bored by the simple farming matter. When he mentioned the soldier's position, he instantly became energetic.
He took advantage of his brother's moment to calm down and interjected: "You said that the wheat seedlings should be lined up like soldiers. You must start from sowing."
The cousin's intervention put his thoughts into perspective, "Yes! I plan that when the plow makes a groove, the seeds will be sown in it. We will clear the land and loosen the soil and sow the seeds at the same time. This will save us a lot of time. At least you all know, The time for sowing is very important to us and we cannot and dare not delay it.”
Everyone knows this description. Now that soil plowing and sowing have begun at the same time, it can be considered a pioneering work, that is, sowing directly into the grooves. The people of Baishu Manor have not done this in the past few years since they had the curved shaft plow.
"You must not think that by sowing seeds, you can slowly wait for the autumn harvest. I know that you can only do some weeding, but other than that, you don't take care of the fields. These behaviors are stupid! When you raise cows and chickens, You also have to worry about whether the poultry and livestock are sick, for example, if you neglect the seedlings when planting the fields? You don’t even know how the wheat grows tall and how to scion.”
Speaking of excitement, he pointed his finger to the sky: "The sun gives us the power of the sky. It is the incarnation of Odin and the incarnation of Peron. It is the sun that makes the wheat seedlings grow. If there is not enough sunlight, the wheat will ear late."
He pointed to the earth again: "Mother Earth also has great power. Whether it is wheat or cabbage, there should be flax stalks, reeds by the river, and pine trees everywhere. Their roots must absorb the power of the earth. In different regions, the earth contains The strength is also different, this is the difference between good land and poor land."
This theological explanation is a simple and crude explanation of why wheat grows. No one has ever made such an explanation before! Rurik's identity is unusual, and everyone believes that he must have revealed the origin of all this!
Those farming masters understood the influence of sunlight, rain and the earth on the growth of wheat. However, the priest of the farm did not give any explanation. He kept saying that "the amount of harvest depends on God's will." The result was still a complete failure. Watch the sky and eat.
Only Rurik has ever provided a self-defeating explanation. Naturally, there are some elements of strange power and chaos that he deliberately added, but if the so-called "power of God" is understood as the law of nature, everything makes sense.
They are all purely illiterate. The local Slavs have their own language, but there is no usable text. At most, they are some abstract pictures that represent meaning. The Nordic rune script used by Rus and other Varangians is already advanced, and Rurik is already educating Rus' sons to read and write Latin.
Telling them that the roots absorb nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to thrive is a heavenly message.
He has his own explanation: "We are born as humans, and our existence itself is favored by God. Since wheat is matured by the power of the sky and the earth, what we rely on for survival is also the power of the sky and the earth. Then our feces are not perfect. The stench is useless, it contains some power, and it can nourish the wheat seedlings."
This explanation seemed to make sense, except that the word "feces" made everyone burst into laughter.
If a person accidentally guesses dung, he will be laughed at by his peers and be unlucky. Now the prince actually says that excrement is still a treasure, which is really ridiculous.
Rurik also had to keep calm with a smile on his face, waiting for them to gradually shut up.
"This is the fact. We eat wheat, and the wheat seedlings eat dung. Also, the rotten reeds also contain power. If you put this smelly lake mud into the fields, the wheat seedlings will definitely grow better. We regard it as a smelly thing. But it is a delicious meal for wheat seedlings. Ask yourselves, can you refuse barbecue?"
Some people with great understanding have already achieved enlightenment, such as Carlotta and Medved.
Those farming masters were brainstorming, and some people stood up happily: "Prince! I understand! When the wheat seedlings grow in a line, we can freely walk through the fields. We can pour some buckets full of sticky manure, Pour these...hahaha...these smelly things on the roots. Wheat...can eat these dung with its mouth and grow better?"
Someone was enlightened, and Rurik was overjoyed.
But this description is also more comical, and there is endless laughter.
After the atmosphere stabilized a little, Rurik asked urgently: "You are right. What is your name!"
"Mstidar Uglievich."
"Very good, Mstidar, I recognize your face now. Wait, I invited you..." Rurik looked at these invited "farming masters" again. Their other identity is that they are locals. carpenter.
They are recognized as master farmers and are directly related to their status as carpenters. During the period when iron tools were extremely scarce, the wooden shovels and wooden plows they made were the best local agricultural tools. Of course, their effectiveness was far inferior to the iron farm tools provided by the Russians.
"I remember you are all carpenters. Mstidar, you can't leave after the meeting. All you carpenters continue to stay, and I want you to do something important for me."
If you can be chosen by the prince, you will definitely get great benefits immediately. Mstidar is also an old man. His son has been fighting for the young prince and has made a lot of trophies. But he will be used more seriously?
He praised the greatness of the prince and sat down again with a smile on his face.
"You should all discover this. There are many narrow aisles among the neat wheat seedlings. It will be very easy for you to hoe weeds and you don't have to worry about trampling the wheat seedlings. It is also easy to spread manure. People need to drink water, and so do your cattle, sheep and chickens. Drink water, and wheat needs water even more! I know you didn’t water the wheat fields before, which is wrong. You can’t completely count on rainfall. When the weather is dry, we will get water from the lake to ensure that the wheat is not short of water.
I can promise you that as long as the wheat fields act in accordance with our resolutions, the output of this year's harvest season will be increased by half! You will pay more taxes and you will get more output. In this way, you don't have to work hard to open up new land. Developing existing farmland to increase production is the lowest-cost method. "
Rurik talked a lot, and everyone was completely frightened by his profound words, as if the god of agriculture was preaching to the farmers digging in the soil.
It is stupid to attribute all harvests to the gods. They believe this, and Rurik is just taking advantage of his scheme.
He reiterated: "God has given wisdom to the world and given power to individual people, and that is me. It is my responsibility to guide you to explore the wisdom hidden by God, so that everyone can live better and better. In my opinion, spring plowing will be soon. It's coming, as long as the warmth lasts for a few more days, we should start planting. Rigus, are you ready to plant grain?"
"appropriate."
"Very good. Your land has been surveyed and mapped. I hope you will sow according to my method. Don't worry, I will invent a sowing tool and sowing will become a very easy thing."
Sowing tools? Those with keen ears sat upright.
Rurik has already explained from a philosophical level why wheat grows and matures. The theory needs to be proved by practice.
No propaganda is better than letting the farmers directly see the increase in production, but they have no new operations before, and Rurik knows that to make them trust him, he must put on a big show - the prince himself works the land.
"I will personally work on the fields of the old Pine Needles estate, also in Novgorod. I will use completely new tools, a plow to turn the soil, a tool to spread the seeds into grooves, and the last tool to bury the seeds .”
This is such a big deal, everyone is muttering about what kind of new tool this will be.
The meeting finally dispersed. Since Rurik represented the gods, he said that farming according to the new method could produce high yields. This was no lie.
Rigus and Medved walked out happily. The father and son discussed the possible beauty of autumn, and then hurriedly checked the prepared planting grains.
Carlotta is even more hopeful. She has a large amount of oats and a small amount of wheat supported by Rurik (mainly for experimental purposes). She had already understood the new farming elements mentioned by Rurik, and directly wrote them down on the paper using Latin vocabulary.
More than a dozen old farmers were deliberately left behind. They were all eager to see the miracle of an unprecedented harvest immediately.
Rurik did demonstrate a miracle, that is, he suddenly took out a roll of paper and unfolded it to reveal a mechanical structural diagram.
Real carpenters can draw spatial images in their minds, even if they have not received training. This is the accumulation of experience that allows them to directly visualize the entire processing technology.
Rurik's picture is not complicated either. The principle is to transform the existing curved shaft plow.
A wooden funnel is installed behind the plowshare, and a wooden pipe leads directly to the bottom parallel to the plowshare, so that the wheat grains leak out and fall into the groove behind the cultivated soil.
There is an inclined wooden pole at the back end of this funnel, connected to a baffle, which functions as a shovel to move the soil and cover the seeds.
The three of them are integrated. At first glance, the whole sowing process is just a matter of people and animals working together to pull a plow and go back and forth one after another after many years of farming.
Rurik asked them to look at the picture first, and he pointed at the picture with a wooden stick and then preached.
Whether they are master farmers or carpenters, they are qualified intellectual talents in Novgorod, and they are elites who must be firmly attracted.
"I will collect the plows from the entire farm, as well as the ones I brought back recently. I may gather a hundred curved shaft plows, and you will all modify them. I know this is not a big problem for you, and there will be some time before the ice and snow melt completely. . I don’t want to hear that time is too tight to complete it. I will pay you a large reward. As long as you complete the transformation of a plow and pass my inspection, you can get... five silver coins. Think about it. Look, you all might get half a pound of silver."
There was no need to say more. The reward Rurik proposed made them tremble with shock. Coupled with the unstoppable smiles on their faces, these old guys seemed to have a collective epilepsy.
The combined use of plows and seeders has been practiced in the East for hundreds of years, as well as the use of irrigation and farmyard manure, which ensures the possibility of a bumper harvest in which one seed can be exchanged for fifty. Unlike the traditional Slavs, all nine Century is still a poor output for five or six sons.
Rurik was full of confidence. He felt that he was indeed the god of agriculture. In this way, the local people directly skipped a long period of agricultural development and suddenly began to be exposed to intensive farming technology. Even if they just learned a superficial way, they would be much better than before. Of course, the cold climate here is destined to limit the upper limit of growth.
Even if they learn it awkwardly at first, once they start implementing it, it's a huge leap forward. Their agriculture was extremely backward in the past and they no longer had to worry about losing anything.
The carpenter set to work, using a host of tools provided by Rurik. They began to renovate Quyuanli on a large scale, and even stayed up all night to fight for silver coins.
In a very short period of time, the first modified plow was produced! Its structure is actually very compact. The wooden "spout" of the seeds is almost directly behind the plowshare, and there is a wooden partition mechanism to control the speed of the seeds falling.
Since the parts are mass-produced separately, carpenters make one type of part respectively. When the first modified plow is assembled and fixed, subsequent products will be continuously produced.
Although there has been no large-scale experiment, Rurik has personally verified its reliability in the wooden shed.
Next, we just have to wait for the modified plows to be completed, for the ice and snow to melt, for Lake Ilmen to completely thaw, and for the land to become dry again.
Rurik already had a plan in mind.
He didn't just instruct the craftsmen these days. He specially wrote some documents, which together became a set of books teaching the Russians how to farm.
He wrote four copies in Runic, Romanized Norse, Romanized Slavonic, and Latin, and had his wives copy them for future distribution.
This will first benefit Russian immigrants, most of whom can understand runes. As for the local Slavs, the soldiers of the Slavic Banner Corps had some text patched up, so they could understand it even if they thought about it.
Of course, they all understand pictures! Rurik almost drew some cartoons, which were actually "pictures of farmers' farming", which his wives and concubines could copy better than gourds and gourds.
This was already a document with the characteristics of "Agricultural Classics", and he once again felt that he needed a wooden movable type printing press.
