Rise of Rurik

With the return of a large number of laborers, the originally difficult spring plowing work was immediately improved.

The war lasted for a whole year, and a large number of capable laborers were no longer in the agricultural areas. The women and children left behind had to face difficult problems in farming.

Women and children are not as strong as strong men, so they need to spend more time completing sowing and harvesting.

But they have already enjoyed the economic dividends of Ross's expansion. The old and new Ross families who immigrated to the Inelmen Lake area have accumulated a lot of cash wealth. They have not forgotten how to get rich through hard work, but out of human instinct, they desire to work less but earn more. Any innovation in agricultural tools is for this purpose, but it lacks sufficient power for spring plowing and autumn harvest.

Therefore, women whose husbands stayed away from home and stayed at home were able to earn money by doing handicrafts. During the autumn harvest, not only did they start working with their children and scythes, but they also hired local Slavs to work and paid wheat as wages. remuneration.

In this way, the employment relationship emerges naturally and both parties are satisfied.

As with autumn harvest, you can also hire people to plant seeds in spring plowing.

Even if the expedition people don't come, half of the farmland in the entire Yin'ermen Lake area has been sown. Some smart old Russian women discovered that the most important sowing and harvesting of the year did not require their own work at all. They could easily recruit Slavs to work in exchange for silver coins or real grain.

Some mean-spirited women would take their children and supervise, while some kind-hearted women would prepare clean water and dry food to provide logistics for the working men.

Old and new Russian families who received land due to victory in the war have tended to become landowners. This was first of all to ensure food production when the family's strong laborers were away. Now, the returned men are reunited with their families. In addition to discussing the great things about the war, things about farming are also a topic of conversation.

The men were concerned about whether their wheat fields had been sown, but when they came back, some of them were surprised to find that the fields were either completely sown or half sown. He did have to work hard during the farming season, but it was quite different from what he had expected when he was wandering on the ocean.

Smart people are acutely aware of this situation.

"Why should my family be exhausted during the sowing and harvesting periods? Just spend some money and let the Slavs handle it. Give them a sum of money and they will be very happy."

Because it was nearly 400 years ago that various Viking tribes entered the agricultural age. Before the expansion of the Ross tribe, there was no planting industry. The Viking tribes knew about rough agriculture, and were very fond of sowing and harvesting. They had no idea about watering and fertilizing. The output of the autumn harvest was regarded as a gift from the gods, so in terms of sacrifices, many sacrifices were made to the god Frey who was in charge of wealth. one time.

It has only been more than ten years since the Rus tribe expanded from a small tribe into a kingdom. Although the old Rus people have the highest social status in the country, they are not as obsessed with farmland as the Slavs. Even if there is no farmland, fishing by boating, fishing, or even trawling is the ancestral method.

Outsourcing the sowing and harvesting of farmland to Slavs was not a problem.

Of course, the Ermen Slavs who make a living by farming are almost as rough when it comes to farming. Their technology is only a little more advanced than the Russians who have just learned farming. At most, they know how to weed weeds and collect some lake mud and throw it away. Just in the fields.

In Rurik's view, the agricultural level of both sides was comparable to that of a dragon or a phoenix. He provides brand new farm tools, as well as advanced seeding technology for farm tools.

However, the change in awareness of agricultural planting does not happen overnight.

Even the Slavs still don't apply a lot of farmyard manure, and they still don't bother to dig canals for irrigation.

For the old and new Russians, each family has a hectare of wheat field, and usually during the autumn harvest they can produce more than 2,000 pounds of wheat. This is actually a very crazy output. After paying taxes, the family can have a lot of surplus food. Because they are Vikings, it is customary to fish and eat meat. Wheat is considered an important supplement. It is best to have a lot of wheat. There is no complaint about living on fishing without it.

Many people are easily satisfied. New and old Russians have all solved their food and clothing problems and every family has a balance. Even though they are struggling to have children, the family's wealth has not been diluted.

This is the fundamental reason why they firmly support King Rurik. Everyone believes that if they accept the leadership of the king, their wealth will only increase.

As a result, classes began to appear in the agricultural area around Yin Ermen Lake.

The labor force of the lowest Slavic farms, after sowing and harvesting the farmland of their own farm, brought their own tools to work in the Varyag farmland to earn wages.

The old and new Rus are the Varangians in the local narrow sense. Most of them have to sow and harvest by themselves. With the obvious benefits of hiring Slavs to work, employment will only become more and more common. However, the old and new Russians generally do not sit back and enjoy their gains. Even women will do more value-added work, especially in the leather processing industry and other handicrafts that the old Russians are best at. They are on the same level as the earliest White Tree Manor from Dragon.

The highest level is none other than the royal family. Rurik has a huge area of ​​royal land, which cannot be handled by the emperor himself.

It was Rurik who was the first to employ Slavic labor to sow and harvest his huge fields, and others simply followed suit. When Rurik led his army on an expedition, King Otto, like a god and Buddha, calmed the entire lake area to ensure that order remained. The work of taking care of the Wang Tian was nominally handed over to Queen Svetlana, but it was the local Slavs who finally implemented it.

So far, Rurik has only determined the grain tax system, but not the corvee system.

No one is willing to sow and harvest Wang Tian for free unless they are given money.

This was the case with Svetlana, who as queen had the right to use internal funds to hire labor. After all, she was the second lady of Baishu Manor, and the labor force she hired was to recruit strong and young young men from her own family to work, and the remuneration given satisfied the young people.

The current management system of Ross is still simple and rough, and there is no clear distinction between internal funds and public funds in the treasury. Although the bureaucracy began to be established, management still relied heavily on feudal nobles, squire boyars, governors and the army.

A group of young bureaucrats have been born. They all come from good families among the old and new Russians, as well as simple boys from the White Tree Manor. Because their physical fitness is inherently weaker, they are considered less suitable to take up arms and serve as soldiers. In the past, such people were considered cowards and looked down upon by traditional society.

It is different now. They are the first people to receive cultural education. They have accepted tests and assessments. They are excellent in mathematics and Latin. They can master calculation and writing skillfully, and further learn more advanced knowledge.

They were the earliest technocrats, numbering more than fifty. They are willing to serve the king and receive regular salary, and all are under the management of the highest scribe, Ella.

These people are busiest during the tax collection period after the autumn harvest. At other times, they also serve as teachers, teaching extremely important mathematical knowledge to younger children, and educating the children according to the textbooks compiled by Rurik himself.

When the spring plowing is over, the school in Novgorod will start classes again.

To universalize compulsory education for all subjects, even if it is only two years of compulsory education, Rurik cannot do it despite his great ambitions and the current shortage of teachers.

Now only Novorosberg and Novgorod have established schools. Among them, the school in Novgorod is the largest, with 4,000 children receiving education at the same time.

They needed to learn language and writing, to know the spelling of the Latin alphabet, to learn Cyrillic and Norse languages, as well as Latin. All language learning is mainly aimed at daily use. There is not much content to be learned, and it is not difficult to master.

The most difficult thing is mathematics. It was Rus who first used the Arabic alphabet in Europe, and it has become very mature. It is far better than the Roman alphabet that has been used for a long time. Students must be familiar with the multiplication table and be proficient in using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, including the process of operation. For ordinary students, this is a mathematical education, in which the smart ones will stand out in the test and receive more advanced knowledge, and such people will have a high probability of being selected as scribes, bureaucrats in the city who receive salaries.

It was Rurik's method to select smart people from people's children as bureaucrats through mathematics. After all, he needed to implement a large number of calculations and written records, and he needed such smart people to work.

The wisest among them is undoubtedly one of his concubines, Ella.

Now, Ella must solve a fundamental problem for Ross - establishing the national myth of the kingdom of Ross.

It turns out that the spacious wooden house located in the city is Ella's office, and she has to continue working even though she is pregnant. Now that the child has just been weaned, she wants to continue her job, especially when the king returns, she must perform well.

On this day, Rurik, who was in a good mood, specially arranged to be alone with Ella.

Even Queen Svetlana had to take the prince to avoid it for the time being. She felt that this was the king's whim, and he wanted to favor sister Ella and have a baby in the future. She felt a little disappointed, obviously she was the one...

Svetlana, who has been away for a long time rather than newly married, has pestered the returning Rurik several times. She wants her man to fill the emptiness in her heart, and she also hopes to give birth to a prince or princess to continue to consolidate the status of the royal family. After all, she is a queen, and she is more feminine now that she is older, which Rurik is happy to satisfy.

That's all, Carlotta also came up screaming. The Duchess of Ostara was no ordinary person. Regarding the feudal official who guarded the southern gate of the kingdom, Rurik felt that he had to satisfy her when it came to giving birth to more sons.

The "April Bull" was very busy. Kagan, who was staying in Novgorod, wanted to have a good talk with Brother Rurik. He never thought that this guy would come back and rush to his wives and concubines...

Anyway, as long as he ensures to return to his hometown before autumn, Kagan can board for a few more days and have a good meeting with Rurik.

In other words, Kagan also needs some time to gather information. All the returning soldiers are describing the vastness of the war, and unheard news is circulating in their ears. Those Pecheneg warriors who no longer belong to the cavalry slaves and joined the Russian cavalry still have feelings for their past master Kagan. They are happy to tell their old master what they have seen in the distant western world. Many of the things they described are fascinating. Shocked.

Today Rurik is in casual clothes, but he still does not forget his golden crown.

Ella had already handed over her infant son to the nanny. She was plainly dressed and looked gentle and shy. Because her brave sister Carlotta had whispered something to her before, and now that the king is here in person, she must seize the opportunity.

She saw the opportunity and took the king's arm first, boldly approached him, and said a few more words with a blushing face.

"Oh? Then I will tell the attendants that I will not go to the palace tonight. I can have a good look at our son, the lovely Amberman, and you. I hope the bed in your accommodation can be big."

"This... I will arrange for someone to make the bed bigger now." She scoffed.

"Okay. But I have something important to do today, and you know what it is."

Ella nodded and whispered softly: "I have been actively editing."

"put

Xin, I will also help you compile it. This year, you and I will spend more time together. "

The last words made Ella happy. She knew that the king actually needed her talents very much, so she could not let him down. Secondly, it is to solve your own personal problems.

Ella's office is very large. It is actually a complete and independent residential house, divided into a living room, office and bedroom, and has a separate toilet.

Rurik gently pushed open the wooden door, and was greeted by the smell of ink.

He looked at it in the living room and commented: "Not bad, you decorated it again."

"Yes." Ella replied with joy: "If my place is shabby... I will embarrass you."

"Then there's no need to hang an ax and buckler on the wooden wall. You're not a warrior."

"Hehe, just to look good."

"Go inside and have a look." After saying that, Rurik took off his coat and hung it on a nail on the wall.

Coming here was like going home. He knew that a large number of documents were stored in this large wooden carving. Ella's office had essentially become the archives of the Kingdom of Ross.

The key to an archive is the information it stores. When the information carrier becomes paper, it becomes easier to store and can be stored in large quantities in a small space.

As they entered the real office, the place was filled with a stronger smell of ink, and Ella was already used to it. She opened the wooden window with glass panes to let in some air, and then began to introduce the compiled tax documents.

Rurik brought a wooden chair and sat down, reviewing the documents to clarify the results of last autumn's tax collection.

The autumn of 840 was a very normal year. Grain production in Novgorod had increased and the taxation situation was also normal. But his order last year was to be tax-free throughout the year. When the messenger arrived in Novgorod with the order, the agricultural tax had already been collected.

"Very good! Very good." Rurik simply scanned the document without looking at the fine details.

Ella thought it was perfunctory, so she could only laugh along with the embarrassment and didn't dare to ask any more questions.

Rurik cleared his throat: "I originally intended to be tax-free last year. Since the tax has been completed due to some things, it will be tax-free this year. You and the scribes will not be very busy in the golden autumn."

This was a good thing. Ella's embarrassed face immediately turned into pleasure, and she answered quietly but happily: "This way I don't have to be very tired."

"Do you want to relax?" Rurik listened intently and turned his head to look at her face: "You still have a lot of writing work to do. I will not take the initiative to start a war this year, but I will do a lot of things internally. I You are much needed."

Rurik's eyes were bright, staring into Ella's eyes. The young woman was moved. She couldn't help but tremble. Although she didn't know what big thing Rurik was going to do, since she had to do something well, she had to do it. good.

"Yes! Leave it to me! You can leave everything to me!" Her eyes were firm and full of expectations for the future.

"Very good." Rurik nodded, "What are your results on the mythological stories I asked you to sort out? There are also Ross's past historical records."

"As best as I can, I've sorted it out. Just waiting for your inspection."

Ella's eyes were shining with confidence when she said this.

"Then show it to me quickly."

"As you command!"

That's all. Ella hurriedly ran like me. After rummaging through boxes and cabinets, she pulled out the wooden box from under the bed, picked up a stack of documents strung with twine, and delivered it to Rurik herself.

"That's it? It's quite thick. And..." Rurik glanced at it and admired the woman's beautiful handwriting. He briefly flipped through it again and confirmed that this stack of documents was indeed a collection of various mythological stories.

“It’s already a book!”

"How...did I do?" Ella asked cautiously in a soft voice.

"Very good, I'm going to take a good look at it, haha. I believe people will like the story here. This is an object that I care about very much, and I will also add some content to it in my writing. It's time to give it a name. It is our Rus’ classic “Russian Saga”, it will be the core of our faith. It is also our strongest weapon.”

Ella basically didn't understand Rurik's explanations. She only saw that her man was very satisfied, so her work in the past two years was very worthwhile.

Rurik stood up slowly and brought another wooden chair. "Sit down too. Let's read the content of the book together. I'm like a student, and you, as the writer, have to explain it to me."

Ella straightened her hair and sat down beside Rurik virtuously, with a serious attitude: "Okay. Let's start from the beginning, Thor and Jormungandr...":,,.