Maybe there were still some of them alive, Rurik certainly hoped so, but the chances of them surviving were slim indeed.
The Russians lost the opportunity to seize wealth in Denmark. In addition, the biggest loss was the missing blue fox.
When Rurik's emotions calmed down and he regained his rationality, he thought carefully about his loss and comforted himself that the loss was not big.
The loss is indeed not big, but the insult is very high.
Novgorod and Novorosberg, people in various principality settlements are still immersed in the joy of this autumn's harvest.
The prince has openly stated his attitude - revenge must be taken.
The prince chooses to use war to vent his anger, and Rus will declare war on Denmark.
Since most of the immigrants in Rus' headquarters were around Lake Ilmen, Rurik decided to hold a general meeting first.
In the city of Novgorod, the reserved open space is shared, and people are still wielding flails to thresh wheat. There are also children holding branches to scare away the eyeing sparrows to prevent the hard-earned food from being eaten by the birds.
In the longhouse of the Rosduma Parliament in the city, all the wooden windows were opened, and the benches inside were filled with people.
Everyone is in a good mood. The attitude of the elites and the general public is the same. When the initial anger dissipates, what remains is more of a desire for war.
Think about it carefully, if a group of mercenaries died, what does it matter if the businessman's son Blue Fox died? Maybe this is fate.
At least there must be a reason to launch a large-scale war against Denmark, otherwise it will be difficult to gather momentum just by gathering an army.
Of course, Rurik did not use this meeting to declare war on Denmark.
The attitude of starting a war has long been clear. He needs the people who escaped from the "shop attack" incident to describe what they saw and heard in person, so that all the Ross elites can know what happened in the distant place.
Old Eric was born in Denmark. Even if he joined Rus and became a new Rus, the majority of people in Rus would have no idea about him.
In the bright longhouse, pairs of eyes stared at the old guy wearing a fox fur hat, listening to him tearfully describe what a disaster Ross's shop had experienced in Hedeby.
"According to reliable information, a large army entered Denmark. Its leader was Horik Klarsson. He easily mistaken the king of all Denmark and then sent troops to take over the free Hedeby. The Danish king demanded huge tribute from us and then expelled us. We! The King of Denmark said that Russians are not qualified to do business in Denmark..."
Old Eric said a lot more, and everything he said was true.
He didn't even need to invent some unreasonable demands from his enemies to increase everyone's anger, because just the last so-called "order" was enough to make everyone furious.
The angry bullfighting people's eyes widened with anger, and everyone was holding their breath.
Then everyone roared angrily, shouting that a war would begin immediately.
Rurik sat on the most noble podium and watched their anger, and also watched as they gradually became quiet.
Suddenly, the unruly Arik stood up again: "A reckless villain calls himself the King of Denmark, and dares to ban our trade. We bring goods to Denmark to do business because we think highly of them, but they don't appreciate it."
"It's me who thinks highly of them!" Rurik shouted in shock, and deliberately blamed himself: "I am responsible for the death of Blue Fox. I naively thought that I just wanted to do business quietly, especially in the sea of the Borderlands. Zebi is doing business and no one will interfere with me.”
The prince is guilty of his own fault. Even though many people think it is unreliable to open up the market in Denmark, no one dares to stand up and act with the benefit of hindsight.
Rurik's self-blame was indeed sincere, and he also considered the presence of Gould, an old father, to appease his emotions.
Arik took over the conversation carelessly: "So, when will we start the war?!"
"This matter should be considered in the long term. Today, we all have to listen to old Eric's description. You will all face the Danish army personally in Denmark itself. All of us must learn more about our enemy, and ultimately use minimal means to defeat the Danish army." An unprecedented victory at a price."
It was another beautiful scene, and everyone's ears were filled with calluses.
Many people whispered that the prince was still too conservative and it was better to restore tradition. Brothers, use this winter to sharpen your knives. Next year, the whole army will go over and see the Danes, kill them all and burn them all!
Old Eric was ordered to continue describing it. In his words, Hedeby was indeed a free city, so free that bandits were rampant. The business atmosphere there is indeed strong. Due to banditry, some wealthy merchants are doing business with swords.
The relationship between the Hedebe merchants and the Ross merchants was not hostile, but they still tried their best to make deals.
But the sudden appearance of new forces changed everything!
"So, the man named Horik is the source of all evil?" Arik asked angrily.
"It's him!" Old Eric lowered his head and glanced at Arik, his emotions full of grief and anger. "We should have continued to do business safely, but that man ruined everything."
"Oh? Is that man's army stronger than Hafgen who was killed by us?"
"Indeed. They have cavalry and armored warriors. They may have a lot of troops, and maybe they have the support of the Franks behind them."
"Frank? Those people from the far south over there?" Aric shook his head and was too lazy to listen anymore. He followed the atmosphere of the brothers' booing and shouted arrogantly: "I will chop off my head anyway!"
Old Eric did say a lot, but it was not enough.
This meeting did allow the elites of the Principality of Ross to have a deeper understanding of the enemy. As for when the war with Rurik would begin, Rurik did not come up with a clear time point, and simply suspended the meeting with a "reconsideration".
Novgorod has returned to normal life, and a large amount of wheat has been transported by the people to their own barns.
Revenge is necessary, so as a more organized national group, it is time for the Principality of Ross to stock up on supplies for the war against Dan, and the first to bear the brunt is military rations.
The autumn harvest has finally come to an end. Even on the so-called fertile farmland, the yield per hectare is still around two thousand pounds. Without the assistance of fertilizers and irrigation systems, even if technological innovations in sowing only improve efficiency, the increase in yield has not been significantly achieved.
However, farmland in various places has still achieved huge harvests due to economies of scale.
The Slavs who have lived by the lake for generations are happy with their current living conditions. Because the Rus began to farm their own fields, they no longer have to frantically exploit and demand tribute, which in turn gives them more surplus grain.
It was September, and a rain at the end of August disrupted Rurik's tax collection operations.
This rainfall is the so-called "autumn rain". It is characterized by long and rainy weather that lasted for up to ten days!
When the sun reappeared, the entire climate changed.
Rurik's taxation work began. In Novgorod, taxation was originally a major task of Governor Medvet. This was the first time that agricultural taxes were collected in the Slavic living area. The first time was of great significance, and he served as a supervisor. Those who want to do it themselves.
The empty Ross fleet is anchored in Lake Ilmen, and the fleet's work around the lake has officially started!
Rurik has data on the acres of all surrendered farms. The data is all on paper, and the area of fertile farmland and poor farmland is recorded very clearly.
Although the principality followed a tithe tax, Rurik set a tax rate per hectare with a stroke of his pen: a tax of 200 pounds for good land, a tax of 150 pounds for middle land, and a tax of 100 pounds for poor land.
Excluding the newly opened acres this year, the entire area around Lake Ilmen exceeds 40,000 hectares. In the foreseeable future, the total number of acres in the prime areas around the lake will continue to increase dramatically.
However, the Ross natives and other Varyag people who have immigrated here currently only control 10,000 hectares of it. For this part of the land, the tax rate is completely different, and there is even a time-limited tax exemption.
Rurik's own farmland output all went into the state treasury, and the remaining acres became the region's grain tax base.
Times have changed. Pine Needle Manor no longer acts as a local swindler, and Ross does not need to exploit the local Slavs again.
The principality received nearly four million pounds of grain tax at a low tax rate!
What a crazy concept is this?
If there were a full 10,000 people in Ross, everyone could eat an average of one pound of oats a day until tax time next year.
The Prince of Rus personally supervises the taxation work. Which farm dares to refuse? Among them, those who paid the most taxes were the White Tree Estates of Novgorod's main residents, who were already the largest Slavic population group in the region.
At this point, all the surrendered manors could no longer hide their population and fields. The female scribes of the principality investigated each farm separately. They all worked hard, hoping that after achieving real results, they would gain the favor of the prince and then get a chance to get close to each other. In order not to suffer from their own power, the men of White Tree Manor also assisted the clerks in thoroughly investigating the precise number of acres of neighboring farms.
When it comes to taxation, it is a very scientific and efficient measure to collect taxes based on statistical data and the drawn "fish scale book". It can also highlight the fairness of the contract to all taxed farms. After all, taxes are indeed It's not collected randomly. From this work, Rurik also understood that the Russians were too conservative in plundering local materials in the past, and even learned that the productivity of the local Slavs was severely limited by poor agricultural tools in the past.
The principal granary in Novgorod is full, and Mstisk is also building new granaries to store huge amounts of surplus grain.
The largest granary in the principality is in New Roseburg, and a very critical task is faced by Rurik - transporting at least two million pounds of oats there.
The tax collection work around Lake Ilmen came to an end, and Rurik also received a huge amount of wheat from his property rights. Only those who know clear data can realize how amazing the Russian people are now in terms of food assets. Ordinary people can only generally describe that they can live a good life eating wheat porridge every day.
Today, in terms of per capita grain possessions, the subjects of the principality have reached a rather outrageous level, and are absolutely ahead of a big country like Frank.
Because the population of the principality is not large, most small families have a large amount of food wealth, but they have very few children.
How to express the ecstasy after the harvest? In addition to people spontaneously offering sacrifices to gods and eating extravagantly, couples also do something they love to hear and see - giving birth.
The Ross natives who picked up shovels and sickles naturally understood the true meaning of agricultural life the moment they became farmers.
They must have as many children as possible, not only because the family can raise more children, but also because children are labor, and as long as there are more boys, there is more strong labor. A family with many boys will desperately expand into the forest and cut down the forest to create new farmland. The more farmland there is, the more wealth they will have. This is a business that is sure to make money!
The Rus and other Varangians are still excellent fishermen. They are different from Slavic farmers. Now it is too cold to open up wasteland. A large number of fishing boats have begun to appear on Lake Ilmen and Lake Ladoga, and there are booming fresh fish trading markets. When you appear in Novgorod, everything is like the hometown of Rossburg, except that the fish market here adapts to local conditions and the most common fish are bass and catfish.
The Russians cannot lose the sea, and New Rossburg is also the central point of political and economic communication between the east and the west of the principality.
The largest amount of food must be stored in the capital, and the large granary there must store enough food for 10,000 people to eat for a whole year before Rurik would really feel at ease. This standard is actually four million pounds of oats. The temporary goal cannot be achieved. At the current speed of the principality's land development in the Eastern European plains, it will eventually be achieved within a few years.
The grain fleet carried two million pounds of oats and one hundred thousand pounds of wheat. The former is a strategic reserve, while the latter is bread for daily consumption.
At the beginning of October, eroded by a bad but rainless cold current, the fleet finally arrived at the mouth of the Neva River.
Rurik was willing to call the sea area at the mouth of the sea Kronstadt. This place was indeed a natural military stronghold, most suitable for anchoring a fleet.
Compared with the Gulf of Bothnia, the entire Gulf of Finland also freezes in winter. According to previous years' experience, the freezing period at the mouth of the Neva River is generally from the end of November to the end of March of the following year. It will be even worse if there is a mild winter. alright.
All the large ships of the fleet were anchored and pulled with a large number of cables, which were tied to wooden piles on the shore. Most of the rowing boats have been pulled to the shore and fixed with wooden stakes.
Under the cold current, some people have noticed that the water in the outdoor pottery has frozen over overnight, and few people are walking around in the freezing cold outdoors. Most of the cattle and sheep raised were driven back to their pens, and some reindeer were not afraid of the cold and were still gnawing on the yellow-white grass on the banks of the Neva River in the harsh cold weather.
Rurik's biggest task when he came to the capital was to escort grain into the warehouse, followed by paying attention to the construction of the principal temple.
Affected by the bad sea conditions, the work of collecting hard granite on Gogland Island has been suspended, and Slavic people who are eager to make money digging stones have no choice but to give up.
However, the clay-burning workshop was still in operation, and green-gray bricks of acceptable quality were still produced until the clay and charcoal fuel reserves in the workshop were temporarily exhausted.
The Grand Temple will use granite to lay a solid foundation, and the stones will be combined with clay to form a solid wall. Cement powder and river sand from the native land of Fort Ross will serve as adhesives to ensure that the walls are strong.
The construction of the big temple requires enough time, but now the wind is like a knife and the haze outdoors makes people feel desolate. Men and women who are eager to sell their physical strength to make money can only stay in their warm homes to accompany their children.
The same goes for Rurik as a prince. The palace became a real palace. He accompanied the high priest Rumia in the palace. Apart from her, he had no other wives or concubines around him.
The wind outside became more and more fierce, and it seemed that it was just wind, not a snowstorm.
Rumia was forced to suspend all sacrificial work, and the little priests recruited unexpectedly (all young girls selected from the local area) were also ordered to go home first and train etiquette later.
Rurik lay calmly in the cold night. His tired body could finally rest, but he didn't feel sleepy at all.
Rumia leaned over. She still had a lot to say to her man, especially about the construction of the great temple, and Rurik listened to her talk.
"You know? I still have another worry." Rurik's sudden start made Rumia startled.
"What's wrong? What else can you worry about? Is there still a war against Denmark? Don't worry, I will hold a ceremony to bless all the soldiers."
"Oh, that's not it!"
"what exactly is it?"
"Spuyot."
"Our great explorer? Yes, he hasn't come back yet."
"Ah! I was just worried that he would be in danger at sea. I asked them to go to Britain to get food, but they encountered this damn storm on their way back!"
"Don't worry, don't worry about anything." Rumia couldn't help but hug her man tightly: "They are your warriors. They will march to the end of the north and overcome all difficulties."
What else could Rurik say? Even if he was very confident in the principality's large ships, the imitation Caravel-type sailboat was still small under the power of nature.
Maybe a storm will really destroy them.
Rurik had no choice but to pray that Spyot and his gang arrived at New Roseburg safely with British wheat, and everything would come to an end soon.
Because if they can't get into port before the sea freezes in November, there's no need to fantasize.
