The Principality of Rus ushered in the autumn harvest of 836, and all the labor force and even children were involved in the intense harvest work.
Novorosberg, Novgorod, Mstisk, Youth City, Novostar, and even all the Slavic farms around Lake Ilmen are full of people harvesting crops, and the joy of harvest is everywhere. joy.
Drill sowing has once again proven that it is smarter than the past wide-spreading model. Oats, wheat and even rye, the ears of wheat grow like military columns and stand in line, making it easier to harvest wheat.
The scythe was manipulated by strong men, and the wheat ears and straw were cut off and pushed aside to form a raised "wheat hill".
Women and children followed closely, bundling up the straw containing wheat ears and setting them up in the fields. They were then pulled by handcarts to the nearest shared threshing floor, where they were tamped with wooden chains and flailed to remove the hulls.
The Slavs carried out their harvesting operations in the most traditional way, without major technological innovations to speed up the process. On the other hand, Ross and other Viking immigrants also need to learn how to harvest from these local farmers.
At this most critical moment, Rurik was most worried about the disaster of reduced grain production caused by an untimely autumn rain, and he did not want the rain to occur during the threshing period. What he could do was to mobilize the labor force as much as possible and do it himself, even going to the threshing floor shirtless and sweating profusely while waving a flail.
This is a show, not a show.
As a prince, he is essentially the largest landowner in the principality. He has seized a number of fertile fields along the lake, and because of his superiority concept, his fields have the highest yield per mu.
Rurik is currently unable to figure out the machinery to speed up harvesting, but he knows the basic principles of increasing wheat production better than anyone else.
It was a wooden box mounted on a wheelbarrow, and it was filled with stinky excrement that had been diluted with water and fermented. There is a wooden conduit at the lower end of the wooden box, which allows the turbid liquid to flow directly to the wheat rhizomes to achieve precise fertilization of the wheat arranged in strips.
If the prince hadn't paid a sum of money, the mercenaries would not have been willing to do this kind of work that felt meaningless and would make them disgraceful. This is a very primitive farmyard manure, and it is another method Rurik came up with besides digging the mud of Lake Ilmen. In terms of effectiveness, the "feces and urine tactics" are better.
Because he has no shortage of "suppliers", and the huge school is a perfect source. If the urine of a child is really a positive substance, it can make wheat grow wildly and produce high yields. In order to cope with the fertilization of a large amount of farmland, manure must be accumulated in one place to form a large manure pit. The manure is fermenting, which allows the crops to absorb nitrogen fertilizer smoothly. Secondly, it is collected for quantitative fertilization, and some white particles are also precipitated. It's quite strange to stick to the dirt.
It is soil salt, Rurik noticed this!
Nitrogen is one of the by-products of manure fermentation operations. Its military value is only known to Rurik. However, in reality, what the principality needs most is fertilizer. There is no quantified production requirement for this nitrate. It is used as a compound Fertilizer can actually improve farmland fertility.
The real results are before our eyes. Wheat fields that have been sown with this primary farmyard manure have high yields visible to the naked eye, and the yield increase seems to have reached 20%. This effect was already strong enough, because while many Slavic people were envious, another rumor in favor of Rurik was also spreading - the prince received help from the gods, and his wheat fields were incredibly productive.
During the past summer, wood type printing continued to appear very quietly in response to the teaching needs of the school that was beginning to take shape.
In accordance with the requirements, the local carpenters in Novgorod collected some oak scraps used in shipbuilding, processed them into small squares with the same width and height, and then carved out mirror-like inscriptions on them. The writing is divided into two alphabets, the Roman alphabet and the traditional Nordic rune script. In fact, compared to carving Latin letters with a certain degree of curvature, horizontal and vertical letters like runes are most suitable for the current carving capabilities of woodworkers.
Carpenters learn on the job, and they are happy to complete the tasks set by the prince. In fact, the prince is willing to pay a high price for this job, and precision work deserves more wheat remuneration.
Each letter has a corresponding mass of wooden movable type, as well as some pure punctuation marks.
As for the printing press, the idea of making a printing press was hatched by Rurik after he tinkered with a lever manual press for glassware in his hometown of Roseburg.
The wooden lever system, metal latches, and leather cushions are pieced together to form the core components of the printing press, and then placed on the wooden platform, a manual pressure printing press is completed.
It has a simple structure, but there were some problems during the preliminary printing experiments. They were all reflected in the uneven wooden pressure plate and the overall tolerance of all the wooden movable type blocks to complete the board. The above are all minor problems in the final analysis, and the solution is very simple, which is to use sandpaper (coarse paper with rosin paste and a layer of fine sand) to sand it completely.
As a result, the employed women workers engaged in papermaking had a new job - printing.
The first state-run printing workshop in the Principality also came into being in an extremely low-key atmosphere.
Rurik had no intention of promoting it in a big way, and at first only a few people thought this set of machinery was advanced. The only people who can share the common happiness with Rurik are his wives and concubines. They compile teaching materials and organize data and information together, and they spend a lot of time working with pen and paper!
With the printing press, copying became redundant.
Who would be in charge of the printing workshop? Rurik did not hesitate to drag his concubine Ella Historia over.
Strictly speaking, this girl has been separated from her mother's family. She was given the surname "History". The value of her existence in the principality is a series of information about the chief principality, and she is a librarian. She is a quiet girl, not as brave as her sister Carlotta. Carlotta is also happy to have this quiet job.
The information boards compiled by the late High Priest Vilia of the Principality of Rus were copied into paper documents, which had both runic and Roman alphabets.
It was during this summer that the Rus's "History" was immediately published. The Rune version printed authentic Norse documents, while the Roman alphabet version printed three versions of Norse, Slavonic and Latin documents.
Four editions were being printed, and the mass-produced paper was immediately useful.
People who lacked entertainment immediately had reading materials at hand. The history of the Ross tribe was printed on thin paper, and some of the stories immediately aroused people's memories. Now Rurik had no worries about the sale of the paper. Families from Rus's hometown were willing to buy it and put this document at home to educate their children about the glory of their ancestors.
Eventually the Roman alphabet version of the document trickled into schools, and it became the first mass-produced printed textbook. Also relying on this kind of teaching material, children's learning efficiency of Norse, Slavic and Latin has been significantly improved!
Relying on the printed "History" to learn about Rus's past and glorious war victories further consolidated the sanctity of the Rurik family, and even became the key to creating a "unified Rus' nation". It also strengthened language learning. The printed book "Mathematics" is also put into use at the end of summer, which is full of content to teach children simple arithmetic.
As the wheat harvest approached, the school held its first examination since its establishment under the auspices of Rurik.
The so-called examination, what Rurik promoted to the outside world was the word "competitive competition" in Norse.
This suddenly attracted the attention of all the Viking immigrants. Many people rumored that the prince wanted to let the children fight in a competition and select the best ones, who would later be incorporated into the flag team and become good combatants.
The exam is of course comprehensive. The principality is in this period of great historical change, especially when external conflicts are quite intense and the territory that expands too quickly will breed internal conflicts. The principality needs to develop armaments, mobilize all combat capabilities, and carry out unified ideological education, such as worshiping the seven gods and revering the Russian flag as a sacred object.
It was a three-day exam.
The first day was all about literature tests. The so-called uniformly printed test papers were placed in front of them. The first test was "History", which was ten questions written in Latin to test whether the children knew the names of the past wars in the Principality of Ross. , do you understand the noble status of Prince Rurik?
The second game involves simply writing three sentences each in Norse, Slavic and Latin on a piece of paper. Children who are able to write more will be rewarded in kind with wheat and honey.
The third test was really "Mathematics". Compared with the others, this subject was the most rigorous, and it was also the highlight of Rurik's teaching work. The exam tests children's calculation skills, especially their knowledge of the multiplication tables. In the first semester of general education, Rurik only requires children to master basic mental arithmetic skills, and next year they will also need to strengthen their numerical calculation skills.
The second and third days were all physical fitness and military tests.
The children were divided into different ages to run, so-called running around the lanes under Novgorod City. The top ten in each age group were given physical rewards of wheat. This is really a unique sport. Children who have been training every day have completed this assessment, and the best ones received rewards immediately at the finish line.
The much anticipated one-on-one duel did not exist. Instead, the children's parade on the threshing floor attracted the attention of thousands of people. They are only eight-year-old children. If they were given another ten years, wouldn't those standing here be all brave soldiers? Look at them, they are marching in an orderly manner. Although their faces are childish, their bravery is already on display.
There are currently three types of real martial arts assessments: splitting wood with an ax, shooting with a bow, and shooting with a crossbow.
The three-day exam is like a sports meeting, and those with outstanding results will be rewarded with food and other physical rewards.
People who lacked fun gathered around to watch, and even people from distant Slavic farms gathered in Novgorod after hearing the news. More than 10,000 people flooded into the city instantly, and the total population suddenly reached 20,000!
In this way, urban markets became more lively, and the examination created a wave of "sports economy".
This happened on the eve of the autumn harvest. Novgorod's market suddenly sold iron tools that would help the harvest. The blacksmiths' union and Prince Rurik took the opportunity to make a fortune.
Those people who went to the city to watch the theater saw with their own eyes the unique style of the two thousand children trained by the prince. The children were all about the same age, both men and women were strong and strong, and there was a clear difference in complexion with their own children. The children wear exactly the same clothes, and if the girl who is not the wife has a longer robe that resembles a skirt, it is difficult to tell the gender. They were also cleaner and tidier. Someone was shouting slogans as they walked in the queue, and the entire queue changed formation. Even their kicking and waving movements were exactly the same!
Children who have experienced a spring and summer training immediately burst into combat effectiveness in the autumn harvest work. Although they are young, their physical abilities far exceed the expectations of their biological parents.
The region-wide autumn harvest work was successfully concluded, and immediately after, Rurik's tax collection work also began.
836 was a good year that everyone could sigh with emotion. On the one hand, the rain this year was normal. Although there was a brief haze during the autumn harvest, there was no rainfall at all. Even people transported the wheat back to the granary, and the weather was still good.
In mid-September, all preliminary preparations were completed, and tax collection work was first carried out in Novorosberg, Novgorod, Mstisk and Youth City. These areas are home to almost all Viking immigrants, and there will be no resistance to collecting tithes on food from everyone. This tax rate was high, but the Viking immigrants went fishing and hunting during their off-farm periods, so there was almost no tax on this aspect. Viking families have more open source methods and the ability to obtain more wealth.
And the large group of Slavs in the White Tree Manor in Novgorod would obviously not be outraged if they were imposed heavier agricultural taxes. As the earliest batch of Slavic slaves, the labor force of the manor was purchased by Rurik. They were organized to do a variety of handicrafts, and the wealth they created was significantly higher than that of simply farming.
Rurik did not choose to overdraw his power. The tithe tax was the tithe tax, and the tax was based on the tax paid per hectare last year and was collected according to the fish scale book. At the same time, the fish scale register will also increase the area and ownership of newly cultivated fields this year.
As a prince, he stayed in Novgorod for a long time, but the capital of the principality was clearly Novorosberg.
The taxation work of New Roseburg was entirely carried out by Governor Cornusson and his sons. As a family entrusted to rule, they had the right to take a proportion of the tax revenue to maintain local finances.
Currently, the principality's former Fort Ross, North Ellenborough, Tombstone Island and New Rossburg operate under this kind of governor-general entrusted rule. The merchant class and industrial owner class also shuttle through these large settlements that rely heavily on maritime transportation. , the interests of these classes are deeply bound to the governors and princes.
If there is a problem with this system, it is not a problem now. Rurik knows very well that he very much needs Novgorod and Lake Ilmen, the production areas of agricultural and handicraft raw materials, to have major development, so that everyone in the world calls him Novgorod. Vgorod is the real capital.
Indeed, the grain production in this lake area alone is enough to ensure that the people of the vast Principality of Rus do not starve. At least for the time being, there has not yet been a population explosion, and the per capita wheat possession is extremely gratifying.
From the student examinations in early August of the Julian calendar, to the harvesting, threshing, warehousing work throughout August, and the completion of taxes that lasted until mid-September.
Although the people are busy all day long, as a prince, Rurik can be said to be busy from the beginning to the end of the year.
"After all, I have lived like a hard-working Yongzheng. It's time for me to take a good rest when winter comes."
The prince is by no means a greedy person. In the eyes of the world, Prince Rurik is worried about the development of the principality. Rurik actually has this year's distance wealth. The total amount of wheat in the state and internal funds. Because of the absolute expansion of the land area, the good weather and the increase in production, the wheat tax in Novgorod alone has reached To the extent of five million pounds, last year it was four million pounds.
A major reason for the overall 20% increase in taxes is that more people who have been hiding are being uncovered. In the end, it was Medved who acted roughly. He took his brothers into the forest to find people, and forced the villagers to immigrate to the fertile land near the lake by force.
It was certainly a good thing to have the right to reclaim the lakeside area, but their acres in the forest were fawningly raided by Medved to please the prince. The work of his men was indeed rough, and the food they received was like an unexpected surprise. Rurik did not want to vomit it out after getting it, and praised Medved as a loyal minister of the principality. Anyway, those who were picked out had enough food rations and grain crops left, so the agricultural surplus could be considered as purchasing the qualification for lakeside reclamation.
