Chapter 724 Rurik in Mstisk

Style: Historical Author: The reborn star fruitWords: 5230Update Time: 24/01/11 10:46:51
On the ruins of the old Pine Needles estate, the Russian settlement of Mstisk rose. Most of the Russian immigrants will settle here, and it will become the largest Russian settlement in the principality.

Rurik, who returned, first listened to reports from the locals in Novgorod.

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

Old guy Ligus had a lot of life. He was smiling from ear to ear. It was said that the weather was rare this year, and the wheat was growing very well. All the wheat had begun the earing process, and a wonderful harvest was not far away.

The descriptions of the residents of Novgorod were very consistent. They had never seen the agricultural scene this year. Everyone compared this year with previous years and made judgments about a bumper harvest.

A bumper harvest is almost inevitable, because technological innovations in plowing and sowing have reduced inputs in growing grains and further increased harvests. Wheat has been in an orderly manner since it was sown, and the roots have absorbed resources from the earth in an unprecedented order. The technical advantages of the "drill sowing" model have achieved initial success, but people are more willing to attribute it to this year's climate.

Rurik deliberately scouted the fields near the city, especially to observe the oat ears up close.

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 being cold-resistant, it is indeed warmer here in Novgorod. Rurik was very satisfied with the growth of oats here, and he was more concerned about the wheat "test field" 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. The majority of immigrants who have temporarily stayed in Novgorod must rest for a few days before continuing on to the final destination. journey.

Rurik's ten maids took advantage of this opportunity and hurriedly submitted the data on the fields they had surveyed and mapped on other farms. In an instant, there was a thick stack of cardboard recording dense data piled up in front of him.

The night was already very deep, and the flames of the bronze lamp holders danced.

In the warm house, the quiet Svetlana was just dozing, squinting and staring at her husband's back.

Rurik continued to brace himself, relying on the flames to continue reviewing these documents, and couldn't help but yawn.

Lana frowned and couldn't help but asked abruptly: "Do you want to continue reading?"

"You... haven't slept yet."

"I just want to spend time with you."

"You should rest first."

Husband seems very cold? Lana sat up slowly and yawned loudly due to Rurik's influence. "It's really necessary to keep reading. You'll have enough time to look at it when it gets up 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 what those sisters wrote. I also wrote something in it, but it's about other farm matters."

"It seems that you know everything, but you haven't understood the meaning yet."

"Why do I care so much?" As she said this, she laughed out loud, then lay down and twisted her body like a coquettish cat, then cooed and asked Rurik to sleep.

"I still have to continue working..."

Rurik didn't care about his wife's pouting expression. In his right hand, he still held a sharpened charcoal wrapped in a paper roll. He used it as a pencil to make statistics and mathematical calculations on the yellow and white paper. His time was indeed very tight, because all his wives and concubines were working as scribes in the past, and the acres they counted were the tax base for the agricultural tax, the most important source of tax in the principality.

These land areas are the basis for how much grain tax the principality can collect in Novgorod this year. Rurik planned to set a standard based on the average oat yield per acre of people in the White Tree Manor in Novgorod, and use this to collect a tithe from all farms. This huge amount of tax revenue can theoretically provide for the immigrants in Russia to live comfortably for a whole year without working, because his wives, concubines, and clerks were very pragmatic and made a preliminary census of each farm, so that Rurik could further Know exactly how many men, women and children there are on each farm.

Once the many data were compiled, Rurik learned not only the number of acres, but also the rough distribution of the acres in each farm, as well as an estimate of how much land each mature man in each farm could be responsible for cultivating.

Being able to raise taxes in an orderly manner truly tests the organizational capabilities of a political power.

The principality is in a period of transformation. A tribe that mainly focuses on fishing, hunting, robbery, and trade will enter the agricultural era. Many things must be done by the monarch himself to set an example. If there is a group of technocrats, Rurik does not really have to do it personally. The current major contradiction lies in the existence of these technical civil servants. If there are any, they are just guest appearances by his own wives and concubines.

Civil servants will give priority to promotions among the group of young people they have trained by themselves. Regardless of male or female, those with outstanding mathematical ability and language ability will be selected and appointed. Of course, to be fair, Rurik would have preferred a group of male scribes to stand out.

Rurik decided to take his men personally to collect taxes. He also made a field trip to the entire circular lakeside of Lake Ilmen, and even saw what the life of the Ostara people who had immigrated to the southernmost tip of the lake was like.

He wasted no time in sorting out a list. He first made a draft with charcoal, and then used a pen made by Dayan Feiyu and dipped it in ink to write the official list, and he collected taxes accordingly.

Through these statistics, he has learned that the total population of the Slavic farm under his control, including a group of newborns, has reached nearly 30,000 people. When the boyars of various farms held conferences in the past, each one described that their farm had a small population. According to past knowledge, the farm that clearly submitted to Ross's rule seemed to have a population of just over 20,000. Now the results of the investigation are All exposed.

They don't want to expose their economic strength and become a big fat sheep whose wool is frequently cut, and they don't dare to expose their potential military strength in front of the Russian army. They were all trying to pretend to be weak, and Rurik understood the reason for pretending to be 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 a poll tax this time!

In ancient times, the agricultural tax rate in the East could be as low as thirty to one tax, but the head tax must be collected. The head tax allows the country to accurately know the population of its subjects, and it also encourages people to open up wasteland and grow food, so as to offset the loss of tax revenue through new harvests. As for the wealthy families raising slaves, the means to curb them was to impose heavy taxes, such as double or even triple the head tax on slaves. The tax would naturally have to be borne by the master's family.

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

A poll tax was charged, even though it could be as little as one silver coin, or the equivalent of ten pounds of oats. Not only the local Slavs, this tax applies to everyone in the principality, and those who are qualified to pay this tax are considered true subjects of the Rus principality.

The head 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 head tax. He still needs to think deeply about the matter.

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

Rigus revealed that Governor Medved had been conducting an armed expedition in the dense forest with more than 300 men. The "expedition" was still going on and would not be suspended until the autumn harvest.

It is said that Medved's work has made some progress, but the methods used are very violent.

Some of those "hidden people" are not really isolated from the world. There are paths in the forest that allow small hidden farms to communicate with large farms by the lake. The residents of these farms often only number a hundred or so, but their numbers are very large, just like a large group of dim stars surrounding the bright stars in the night sky.

A messenger conveyed news to Novgorod that Medvet had used military means to force as many as ten small farms to relocate! These people were moved to a reedy wasteland not far south of Msskisk to build settlements. According to the description of the messenger, these forcibly relocated people were afraid of the strong force of the new rulers and learned that they could freely develop the fertile land around the lake. , most of them are indeed willing to stay, but they only hope that adults will allow them to at least harvest this year's food so that they can survive the winter smoothly.

Rurik believed the description of the messenger. Maybe when he went to the east bank of the lake, he could count thousands more people in the emerging settlements of forced immigrants there.

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

Medvet, who is named after the bear, and his men all imitate authentic Russian warriors in their dress. They must be fanatical converts. He will first use force to force immigrants. The best strategy of Sorgon and Proton has not been implemented at all. Forced The decision to immigrate came quickly.

"Perhaps forced immigration, destroying families and repopulating villages is actually a good strategy for long-term rule, but the method is too violent. It must be appeased! I will also ennoble the new boyars, give them new farm tools, provide them with grain and so on..."

In the future, more and more people will be pulled out of the dense forest. Those people will probably be the losers in the competition, so they have to leave the lakeside farming area with better water and soil. Rurik does not care about their emotions, and the Lake Ilmen needs to A large amount of labor is needed for further development. From the perspective of the monarch, Rurik now needs labor loyal to Rus to cultivate wasteland, grow wheat and pay taxes. If this area actually has a Slavic population of 200,000, then all of them should be taken out and moved to the lakeside area to build villages one after another.

Is two hundred thousand people considered a large population for Lake Ilmen?

Even in the current purely agricultural society, where 200,000 people can form villages and corresponding farmland, people's lives around Lake Ilmen, a large inland lake, cannot be said to be in shortage of resources.

As for why a large number of people stay away from the lake, Rurik is clear about a practical reason - the old Pine Needles Manor does not want others to plunder their interests. The entire lake was once its sphere of influence, and the manor who is allowed to continue to settle must submit a request to the Pine Needle Manor. Pay tribute.

The leader of Pine Needle Manor did have the qualifications and strength to proclaim himself a prince, but it was a pity that he was instantly turned into powder under the attack of Ross's powerful military strength.

Rurik finally fell asleep. He was undoubtedly having sex with his wife. He had just arrived in Novgorod for a short rest. In the next month, because of the wheat harvest, the entire region's labor force would be busy. He only had I'm afraid my arms will get sore from exhaustion.

The fleet that had been parked for only three days continued to move forward. The immigrants took a rest and got some supplies. The next stop was Mstisk, which is full of hope!

Soon, a huge lake came into view. The Russians, who were accustomed to seeing the sea, didn't think this was anything. They were more concerned about the eastern area of ​​the fleet, the flat area near the coast reflected by the dark green pine forest sea. The scenery there was indeed something that no one had ever seen before.

It seems to be a vast grassland with green grass everywhere?

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

The first batch of oats sown in late April has entered the heading stage, and the heading stage of the oats that were delayed until early May will be further delayed. Regardless of heading or not, these crops are all grass cereals, they are grass.

The Russians have lived a good life with wheat every day for many years, but they have never seen large areas of wheat fields. Many pure Russian women were shocked when someone pointed out that this was a wheat field! On the contrary, the local Slavic women who married into Rus were very proud.

The dock at Mstisk is beginning to take shape, but the huge fleet docked in Rus still seems to be insufficient.

When I arrived here again, I felt a sense of historical vicissitudes. Rurik stood on the deck, facing the south wind with a faint smell of grass. The strong wind blew the calm lake surface into sparkling waves, and the water waves kept lapping the reeds on the shore.

Compared to three months ago, the settlement has seen significant development.

A system of defensive and windproof walls has been constructed, and timber-frame towers have been erected at regular intervals. Some Russian flags flutter in the wind on the wooden walls, indicating that this is a Russian residence.

Rurik was very satisfied with their construction. After all, it was necessary to guard against others. As outsiders, Russian immigrants were in a vast sea of ​​Slavs. At a time when national integration had not yet been completed, they had to avoid gang rebellions. Any settlement would We must do a good job in city defense. What we need to be on guard against is actually not the Slavs living along the lake, but the Slavic national group further south - the Krivi League.

There were many men fishing on the lake, and some even drifted into Lake Ladoga.

After the fleet entered the pier, the immigrants happily walked out of the trestle and stepped on the solid flat land beside the lake. The so-called pasture that the immigrants could see clearly, and looking around the lakeside, were actually wheat fields that were about to mature!

No one can ignore such a fleet. The people stationed in Mstisk have learned that the fate of their hometown has arrived a few days ago.

Arik looked forward to the victory of his clansmen entering the harbor. When the ship docked, he led a group of strong men to roll up their sleeves and drive a small carriage, or push and pull a two-wheeled car, and happily came to help.

Men are the most positive. What they greet is no one else but their own wives and children.

The women who landed took care of their pots and pans, as well as boxes containing 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.

There are also those tribal elders who immigrated. They completed the last and longest voyage in their lives in their dying years, and finally arrived in this warm, rich and fertile land that the prince had won for everyone. They will rest here forever after death, and they will be happy in their later years and shed tears of joy for this.

Just unloading the goods takes a long time, and a large number of net bags are unloading all kinds of people's belongings. The furniture is not heavy overall, but it is daily necessities for as many as 600 families. Everyone estimates that unloading will have to be done until tomorrow.

Rurik organized people to unload cargo on their own and was pleased that some fishermen suspended fishing.

Those fishermen were all young soldiers of the First Flag Team. They found their wives and children as soon as their boats docked. They were not distressed at all when they learned that their old home in their hometown had been sold. Seeing the happy expressions of their wives and children, they only felt aroused in their hearts. , there is endless strength all over the body.

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

"Brothers, please pay attention. Find your wives and children, and transport your belongings first. Come back immediately to help when you get home!"

"Use the handcart well and help other brothers transport goods. Put your children on the handcart or carriage, and watch your children not to run around."

"There must be no quarrels. If anyone quarrels, they will be punished by me!"

Arik was giving orders this time. He was the manager of Mstisk, and the brothers of the First Flag Team all admired him. This made the entire unloading and transportation scene seem chaotic, but in fact there were rules. Some families who had loaded up supplies were already pulling small cars on the dirt roads in the countryside heading straight to the city gates. More and more families began to leave singing songs.

Rurik finally let out a sigh of relief and slapped his shoulder hard with a big hand.

"Aric? Is there anything else?"

"It's nothing." Arik said with a smile, "There are no clan members in my hometown anymore, right?"

"There are still a group of people left behind."

"Why?"

"Because we must control the mines and our shipyards. Even if we immigrate, we must not lose our hometown."

Arik nodded happily. He still had another concern in his heart. He felt very at ease when he heard this: "This way, I don't have to rush to move my father's tomb here."

"Uncle's tomb? Don't worry, the tribal cemetery in my hometown has always been taken care of. Many of the New Rus' people who later joined us still live in Roseburg. The Haro Zuosen family is still responsible for the management. We need the iron ore from our hometown very much. There is salt from further north. We are just people who have left our hometown, and we will still have very frequent contact with our hometown in the future."

"That's fine. It looks like we are going to light a lot of bonfires tonight and have a good celebration. Now we have to continue unloading, come on!" Arik patted his brother on the back, "Boy, you are already a strong man. As a Prince, you have to show your manly strength to your brothers. We brothers will unload the goods together and finish the work at the dock early. In the evening, we will have grilled fish. By the way, I will tell you about the good situation of this farmland and the south side. Those new guys.”