Chapter 724： Rurik in Mstisk

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On the ruins of the old pine needle manor, the Mstisk settlement of the Rus rose from the ground. The vast majority of the immigrants from the Rus family will settle here, and she will surely become the largest Rus settlement in the Principality.

The returning Rurik first listened to the local people's report in Novgorod.

With urban construction reports and production reports, the most important thing is everyone’s description of crops.

The old guy Rigus lived a lot. He laughed from ear to ear. The so-called good weather this year, the wheat rose very well, all the wheat has begun the heading process, and a wonderful harvest is not far away.

The descriptions of the residents of Novgorod are very consistent. They have never seen the agricultural scene this year. Everyone compares and estimates this year with previous years, and all have made a good harvest judgment.

A bumper harvest is almost inevitable, because technological innovations in plowing and planting have reduced the input of crops and increased the harvest. The wheat has been in order since it was planted, and the root system has absorbed the resources of the earth and has an unprecedented order. The technical advantages of the "drilled seeding" model have achieved initial success, but the people are more willing to attribute it to this year's climate.

Rurik deliberately investigated the acres near the city, especially observing the ears of oats up close.

The shape of oat ears and wheat ears is very different, and the yield is also lower than the latter. Although European oats have the advantage of cold tolerance, Novgorod is indeed warmer here. Rurik is very satisfied with the rise in oats here, and he is more concerned about the wheat "experimental field" in Mstisk.

As long as you continue to retrograde along the Volkhov River into the huge Ilmen Lake, the first settlement you will see is Mstisk. The vast number of immigrants temporarily staying in Novgorod must continue after a few days of rest. Journey.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Rurik’s ten maids hurriedly submitted the data on the acres they had surveyed and mapped out on other farms. In an instant, he piled up a thick pile of cardboard with densely packed data in front of him.

The night was already very deep, and the flame of the bronze lamp holder was beating.

In the warm house, Svetlana was just sleeping, she squinted at her husband's back.

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

Lanna furrowed her brows, she couldn't help but asked abruptly, "Do you want to keep watching?"

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

"I just want to be with you."

"You rest first."

The husband seems very cold? Lanna sat up slowly, being infected by Rurik and yawning hurriedly. "It's really necessary to watch it again. When tomorrow dawns, you have enough time to watch it."

"Time? All I lack is time. What do you think I am doing?"

Lanna was stunned, and said casually: "Just look at what those sisters wrote. There is also what I wrote in it, but it's about other farms."

"It looks like you all know it, but you haven't understood the meaning yet."

"I care about so much." As she said, she sneered and laughed, then lay down and twisted like a coquettish cat, and then whispered to ask Rick to fall asleep.

"I will continue to work..."

Regardless of his wife's pouting expression, Rurik still holds a charcoal block wrapped in a paper roll in his right hand as a pencil to do statistics and mathematical calculations on yellow and white paper. His time is indeed very tight, because the wives and concubines all worked as bookkeepers in the past, and the acres they counted are the most important tax source of the Principality's agricultural tax base.

The basis for how much grain tax the Principality can collect in Novgorod this year is the area of ​​land. Rurik plans to set a standard based on the average oat yield per acre of the people in the White Tree Manor in Novgorod, so as to collect eleven taxes from all farms. This huge amount of tax can theoretically provide Ross’s immigrants to live a whole year comfortably without working, because their wives, concubines and clerks have made a preliminary census of the farms very pragmatically, so that Rurik can go further. Know clearly how many men, women and children there are in each farm.

After summing up many data, Rurik learned not only the number of acres, but also the rough distribution of the location of the farms and the estimated area of ​​land that each mature man can be responsible for farming.

The ability to raise taxes in an orderly manner is a real test of the organization's ability of a political power.

The Principality is undergoing a transition period. A tribe dominated by fishing, hunting, looting, and trade will enter the era of farming. Many things must be modeled by the monarch. If there are a group of technocrats, Rurik does not have to actually go there in person. The current major contradiction is precisely because of these technical civil servants, and if there are any, it is just a cameo by his wives and concubines.

Civil officials will be promoted first from the group of cubs trained by themselves, regardless of male or female, those with outstanding mathematics and language skills will be selected and appointed. Of course, in all fairness, Rurik hopes that a group of male writers will stand out.

Rurik decided to take his men to collect taxes personally, so he would make field trips to the entire circular lakeside of Lake Ilmen, and even see how the life of the Ostala people who immigrated to the southernmost part of the Great Lake was.

He took the time to compile a list, first made a draft with charcoal pen, and then made the official list with a pen made by Dayan Feiyu dipped in ink, and he himself collected taxes based on this.

Through these statistics, he has learned that the total population of the Slavic farms under his control, including a batch of newborns, has reached nearly 30,000. When the Boyars of the various farms held meetings in the past, they all described that their farms had a small population. According to past knowledge, the farms that clearly surrendered to the rule of Ross seemed to have a population of just over 20,000, but the results of the current survey are It's all exposed.

They don't want to expose their economic strength and become a big fat sheep that is frequently mowed, and they dare not expose their potential military strength in front of the Ross army. They are all trying to pretend to be weak, and the reason for pretending to be weak is understood by Rylik.

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!

The agricultural tax rate collected by the ancient East can be as low as thirty one tax, but the poll tax must be collected. First, the poll tax means that the country can accurately know the population of its subjects, and secondly, it encourages the people to open up wasteland and grow grain, and to offset tax losses through new harvests. As for large-scale households raising slaves, the means to contain large-scale households is to collect heavy taxes. For example, double or even triple head tax is imposed on slaves, and the tax will naturally be paid by the master.

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

The poll tax is charged, even if it can be as low as a silver coin, or the equivalent of ten pounds of oats. Not only the local Slavs, this tax is for everyone in the duchy, and those who are eligible to pay this tax are regarded as true subjects of the Duchy of Russ.

The poll tax is a very novel thing for everyone. They only accepted the agricultural tax this year. In order to avoid complaints, the poll tax is determined to be postponed. He still needs to think about it.

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

Rigus revealed that Governor Medvete has been carrying more than 300 men on an armed expedition in the dense forest. The "expedition" is still going on and will be suspended until the autumn harvest.

It is said that Medvedt’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. Small farms with paths in the woods for hiding are connected with large farms by the lake. The inhabitants of these farms are usually only about a hundred people, but their number is very large, just like a large group of dim stars that exist around those bright stars in the night sky.

A messenger has sent news to Novgorod that Medvet has used military means to force up to ten small farms to forcibly relocate! These people were moved to a barren beach with reeds not too far south of Mskisk to build settlements. According to the messenger’s description, these forced relocations feared the powerful force of the new ruler and learned that they could freely develop the rich land on the lakeside. Most of them are really willing to stay, but hope that the adults will allow them to harvest at least this year's food so that they can pass the winter smoothly.

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

He has no doubt about Medved's methods. Although they are all Slavs, their positions are completely different, because Medved's identity is a great aristocrat of the Principality.

Medvedt, named after the bear, and his guys all dress up to imitate the authentic Ross fighters. They must be the converts who are fanatical. He will first resort to force to force immigration. The best policy of Sorgon and Proton has not been implemented at all. The immigrant's bad tactics came quickly.

"Perhaps forcing immigrants to destroy their homes and relocate them is actually a good strategy for long-term rule, but the methods are too violent. It must be touched! I also want to canonize the new Boyar, give them new farm tools, provide them with food and so on..."

In the future, more and more people will be caught out of the dense forest. Those who want to come are also the losers of the competition, and they must leave the lakeside farming area with better water and soil. Lurik doesn’t care about their emotions, and they need to go around Lake Ilmen. A large amount of labor is further developed. From the perspective of the monarch, Rurik now needs labor loyal to Ross to cultivate wheat and pay taxes. If the area actually has a Slavic population of 200,000, then all of them will be pulled out to the lakeside area to build one village after another.

Is 200,000 people considered a huge population for Lake Ilmen?

Even in the current purely agricultural society, the villages that can be formed by 200,000 people and the corresponding farmland, people living around Lake Ilmen, a large inland lake, are not short of resources.

As for why a large number of people are far away from the lake, a realistic reason is clear to Rürich-the old Pine Needle Manor does not want others to rob them of their interests. The entire lake was once its sphere of influence, and the manor that is allowed to continue to settle must go to Pine Needle Manor. Tribute.

The leader of Pine Needle Manor does have the qualifications and strength foundation to be a self-proclaimed prince, but it is a pity that he instantly turned into powder under the attack of Ross's powerful military strength.

After all, Rurik was asleep. He was undoubtedly sleeping with his wife. He just arrived in Novgorod just for a short rest. In the next month, because of the wheat harvest, the labor force in the entire region will be busy. I'm afraid that I will make my arm sore.

The three-day fleet in the berthing area continued to move forward. The immigrants took a rest and got a certain supply. The next stop is the hopeful Mstisk!

Soon, a huge lake came into view. The Ross people who are accustomed to seeing the sea don't think this is anything. They pay more attention to the eastern part of the fleet, in the flat near shore under the dark green pine forest sea. The scenery there is indeed not seen.

There seems to be a vast grassland with green pastures everywhere?

Indeed, if a group of goats are released, they will ruthlessly clean the spring oats Kendall that has just begun to ear.

The first batch of oats sown in late April entered the heading period, and those that were delayed until early May will have their heading time delayed. Whether heading or not, these crops are all gramineous grains, they are grass.

The Ross people have lived a good life with wheat every day for many years, but they have not seen a large area of ​​wheat fields. When someone pointed out that this was the wheat field, many pure Ross women were taken aback! It's the local Slav women who married into the Ross with triumph.

The dock in Mstisk has begun to take shape, but the huge fleet of Ross anchored still seems to be unable to do so.

Arriving here again, a sense of historical vicissitudes blows across the face. Rurik stood on the deck, and the southerly wind with a faint grassy smell was blowing on his face. The wind was strong, and the calm lake was shimmering, and the water waves kept beating against the reeds on the shore.

Compared to three months ago, this settlement has a major development visible to the naked eye.

The defensive and windproof wall system has been completed, and wood-framed towers have been erected at intervals. Some Ross flags fluttered in the wind on the wooden wall, showing that this is the home of the Ross people.

Rurik is very satisfied with their construction. After all, the heart of defense is indispensable. As an outsider, the Ross immigrants are living in the vast sea of ​​Slavs. At the moment when the ethnic integration has not yet been achieved, they avoid gang rebellion. Any settlement will be We must do a good job in city defense. Even the Slavs who live along the lake are not to be guarded against, but the Slavic ethnic group further south—the Krivic League.

Many men fished on the lake, and some even floated to Lake Ladoga.

After the fleet entered the pier, the immigrant crowd walked out of the trestle bridge with great interest and stepped on the sturdy lakeside flat ground. The so-called pastures that the immigrants could see clearly, the wheat fields that were connected to the lakeside were actually about to mature!

No one can ignore such a fleet. The people who stayed in Mstisk have learned that the hits from their hometown have arrived a few days ago.

Arik eagerly hoped that the tribesmen would enter the port successfully. When the boat docked, he brought a group of strong men with their sleeves up and drove the small carriage, or pushed and pulled the two-wheeled trolley, happily coming to help.

Men are the most active. They are not greeted by others, but their wives and children.

The women who landed take care of their own pots and pans, as well as boxes for money, and bundles of spare leather and common clothes. Young children were held in their arms by their mothers, and some urchins began to run around happily on the spot.

There are also those tribal elders who have immigrated. They had completed the last time of their lives and the longest voyage of their lives. They finally arrived in this warm and fertile land that the prince won for everyone. They will sleep here after death, and they will be happy in their twilight years.

Just unloading takes a long time, and a large number of net bags are unloading all kinds of people. The furniture is not heavy as a whole. However, this is the daily life of as many as 600 families. Everyone estimates that the unloading will have to toss until tomorrow.

Liurik organized the people to unload the goods independently, and was also gratified that some fishermen suspended their fishing.

Those fishermen were all young soldiers of the First Banner. They found their wives and children as soon as their ships docked. They didn’t feel distressed at all when they learned that the old home in their hometown had been sold. They only evoked the happy expressions of their wives and children. , The whole body also has endless strength.

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

"Brothers pay attention, find your wife and children, and take away your belongings first. Come back to help as soon as you arrive at home!"

"Make good use of the trolley to help other brothers transport goods. Put your children on the trolley or carriage, and take care that your children are not allowed to run around."

"Don't quarrel, if anyone quarrels, I will be punished!"

Arik gave the order. He is the manager of Mstisk. The brothers of the First Banner team admire him, making the whole unloading and transportation scene seem chaotic, but in fact there are rules. Some families that have packed their supplies have pulled their carts on the dirt road in the countryside to the city gate, and more and more families have begun to sing and leave.

Rurik finally let out a sigh of relief, and a big hand slapped him **** the shoulder.

"Aric? Is there anything else?"

"Nothing." Arik smiled. "There are no clans in the hometown, right?"

"There are still a group of left-behind people why?"

"Because we must control the mine and our shipyard. Even if we emigrate, we must not lose our hometown."

Arik nodded comfortedly. He still had a worry in his heart. He was so comfortable with hearing: "In this way, I don't have to worry about moving my father's tomb here."

"Uncle’s tomb? Don’t worry. The tribal cemetery in my hometown is always being guarded. Many of the new Ross people who joined us later live in Roseburg. The Harrodssons are still in charge of the management. We need the iron ore from our hometown very much. There is salt from farther north. We are just the people who have left our hometown, and we will still communicate with our hometown very frequently in the future."

"Alright. It seems that we are going to light a lot of bonfires tonight and we have to celebrate. Now we are going to continue unloading, come on!" Arik patted his brother on the back, "Boy, you are already a strong man, as Prince, I want to show your man's strength to my brothers. Let's unload the cargo together, finish the dock business early, and eat grilled fish in the evening. By the way, let me tell you about the good condition of this farmland, as well as those in the south. Those new guys."