Rise of Rurik

Carlbrand's team majesticly operated their longboat to blend into the night fishing team. They returned early in the morning and headed straight to the port and their homes.

Five families returned. They were asked by Rurik to keep silent. If anyone heard about "where have you been", they would say that they went to the west to see what good things there were.

Naturally, they did not arouse any suspicion when they blended into the morning market. People went about their business buying freshly caught herring, cod and seabass, and then buying hot wheat cakes freshly baked in the bakery. The people who settled in the capital have adapted to a new life, and a citizen group is quietly forming, even if its population is small.

Nearly ten thousand people have lived in the capital and nearby areas for a long time. Small businessmen are entrenched here, and many Finns come here to work. The processing of leather and linen is a pillar industry in the capital, so almost all of the kingdom's large reindeer herds are housed near the capital.

The economic industry of the old town of Roseburg was completely transformed into ore mining and metallurgy, and families who were good at tanning leather spontaneously immigrated to New Roseburg on the Neva River.

The leather industry of the Ross tribe has been famous in this sea area since ancient times, and now it is getting bigger and stronger. As the disputes in the Baltic Sea were eliminated by the Alliance Treaty, the economy that had been suppressed in the past exploded in the second year after the treaty was signed. Even traders from Zealand, Denmark, rowed long boats all the way east into New Roseburg. People who arrived here for the first time were shocked by the size of the city, the complexity and bustle of the market, and even witnessed the patrol team's public pronouncements and punishments for caught thieves.

Thieves should have their fingers cut off and then be deported! If you steal too much, you will be beheaded. The Danes have their own standards. It is strange that the Russians only sentenced thieves to work such as felling wood, digging stones, and digging clay. The sin of doing slave labor for a year is understandable.

Denmark and Sweden have no worries about being robbed on the Baltic Sea route. There are always larger armed ships flying the Ross flag cruising the southern waters. Danish merchant ships from the southwestern Baltic Sea wore white raven decals (designed by Ragnar) to identify themselves, replenished and rested at Tombstone Road, and then headed straight to the capital of Rus in the east.

After paying the parking fee, they can take their goods to sell at open-air markets outside the city. Salt, grain, and dried salted fish are the commodities most easily available to Danes. They deliberately sold these at low prices to cause the goods to be sold out quickly, and then bought a variety of goods from New Roseburg, especially all kinds of leather.

While they were doing business, the ship was restored to full custody by the Governor, who promised to pay compensation if the ship was damaged. Therefore, it is natural to pay a higher storage fee when returning. This "storage fee" is a commercial tax. In order to control the collection cost, the berthing fee and ship storage fee are direct taxes on foreign merchants.

However, Ross claimed that no commercial tax was levied, but only fees related to ship berthing. How to collect the "storage fee" specifically? The standard for collection is based on 1% of the total estimated value of the goods at the time of entry. This is the tariff agreed in the treaty. The customs duties are collected correctly, but the name is "storage fee". The extremely low tax rate is very friendly to everyone.

This is a play on words, as if the Russians were not collecting taxes. Therefore, the more prosperous the business, the better the financial situation of the capital. It is obvious that collecting agricultural taxes and handicraft industry taxes locally is not as profitable as collecting tariffs. What's more, the tax-free policy is fair. Rurik is kind to the people in transit. All subjects of the Rus' Principality in the kingdom are tax-free for three years in all kinds of businesses.

Governor-General Cornuson and his son paid taxes as national funds in proportion, leaving only the proportion to run the governor's palace. There must be corruption here, but in this period of rising financial conditions, Rurik doesn't need thunderous anti-corruption efforts. The corruption situation is certainly very abominable, but it is like psoriasis on the body. A small patch on the body is just itchy, but if there are too many, it can be fatal.

A big problem is that Ross's political system is not perfect enough, and a large number of government agencies are either small workshops or non-existent. There are still a lot of remnants of the tribal era in New Fort Ross. Ross's expansion is as rapid as it happened in history. Ross is facing a new era of history.

Rurik did not come here to reform the governor-general's institution. Before the scribes can all become reliable professional bureaucrats on their own, the reform should not be carried out too quickly.

He plans to add some new institutions, the most important of which is a large state-owned printing office, so that a state-owned media agency can be established across the ages.

He firmly believes that people have a strong need to obtain information from the outside world. With the power of the media, the royal family can influence everyone's thoughts. To achieve this, the reality of small workshops in the printing department must be changed. The state-run printing house will be established this year, and for this purpose there will be some major appointments and personnel adjustments.

So, after deliberately lying dormant for a night, the cavalrymen hiding in the woodland blew their horns.

Some people who entered the forest early in the morning to look for mushrooms were subconsciously shocked when they suddenly heard the melodious sound of a trumpet. Soon they were shocked to see the neat ranks of the cavalry walking out of the forest.

Look! Isn't that blond man wearing a golden laurel crown the king? !

The lance was hung vertically on the saddle, with blue and white streamers flying. They carried Ross's flag and all were uniformly dressed.

The cavalry remained in column formation, and Rurik ordered the warriors carrying horns to blow continuously to make their presence known to all early risers.

While he was literally being watched by people passing by, he did not interact with these subjects. Rurik held his chin high, showing his majesty and arrogance, and now the whole army rushed to the cemetery.

"Let's go! Young warriors, walk past the tombs of the fallen warriors and let their heroic spirits see your grace."

Rurik shouted an order, which immediately shocked the spirits of the soldiers.

There are births every day, and deaths every day.

Different tribes in the Viking world had their own opinions on whether the dead were cremated, buried or buried at sea. In the Danish world, it is a recognized funeral ritual to place the deceased on a ship, cover it with a large amount of firewood, set it on fire, push the ship into the sea and let it burn and sink. But in the traditional Swedish world, burials are more common.

After all, Ross built the huge cemetery "Valhalla on Earth", which is a large marked area in the south of the city. Anyone can dig a hole here to bury the dead, regardless of ethnicity or whether the deceased was a warrior. These are all within the jurisdiction of the Governor's Mansion. Since the city's total population is not extremely large, a rough management model can also manage it.

An elderly person died suddenly, and today there was a small burial ceremony as in the past.

The Governor's Palace is responsible for approving a cemetery for the family of the deceased, and the priest sends someone to conduct the funeral. It is reasonable for the family of the deceased to pay a small fee.

The people who presided over the ceremony were all lower-level priests under the high priest. These people were all women. Many of them ended up in this profession due to misfortune in their lives. In this way, they could not remarry, they could no longer inherit their deceased husband's property, and they could spend the rest of their lives in the godly priesthood.

The cavalry swaggered across the destination, and their appearance stunned everyone at today's giant funeral.

The junior priests were surprised that the king suddenly appeared as if he had cast some kind of magic, because everyone in the capital knew that the king was still in Novgorod. The king did plan to return to the capital, but he planned to return by boat from the upper reaches of the Neva River, not to appear on horseback.

The cavalry gathered in front of the funeral crowd. Rurik glanced at it and realized that the deceased was just an ordinary person. If the soldier himself was willing to dismount and pay tribute to him in person. Because this is the sacred cemetery designated by him, the royal family members are obliged to pay tribute to the deceased warriors, and only to the deceased warriors.

Rurik asked the priest: "Don't be nervous. Is my arrival magical? Where is the high priest?"

The leading priest was still so nervous that he took three steps back and stammered a reply: "The high priest... is at the great temple. Everything is fine. Everything is fine..."

"Very good. Don't be surprised if you continue your ritual." After saying that, Rurik thought about it. After all, he passed by the funeral scene. The deceased didn't seem to be from Old Ross, so he might as well give him some "share".

A silver coin was his share of the money. It was a small courtesy but heavy affection. As the cavalry left, all they could hear was the constant thanks from the family members of the deceased.

In the eyes of many warriors, the king's move was too much of a performance art, but in Rurik's view, it was a cultural inheritance.

The Queen is riding a horse, with Prince Osborne sitting astride her. Svetlana at least leaned closer to Rurik and listened to the king's teachings to the prince.

"Osborne, remember. Any distinguished person must remain solemn in this cemetery. If possible, try to give a little gift to the people who are being buried. This is friendship."

The prince was confused. The boy didn't ask any more questions and just nodded.

The cavalry successfully passed through the cemetery area in the south of the city, and what appeared in front of them was a tall wooden city wall with a cement and stone base. Due to construction cost considerations, it would be very expensive to completely turn the city wall into stone, and it would take many years for the wooden city wall to slowly transform into a stone wall. At least the city's southern gate is now completely petrified.

Outside the city wall belongs to Guocheng, where there are many shanties, and the settlers who arrived later can only build their own settlements outside the main city. Compared with the inner city, the overall feeling of Guocheng is not that of a slum, but this scene immediately reminds people of the conditions of the old settlement in Fort Ross. Once upon a time, the ordinary families of the Ross tribe were highly concentrated on the limited land in the fjord, and the longhouses were arranged in a disorderly manner. If everyone was not used to living there, it would indeed look very chaotic at first glance.

At least the main road of the Outer City is an extension of the main road of the inner city. On both sides of the main road, there are not only very serious double-story buildings, but also some new buildings are building masonry bases. The visible future is that the Outer City will also move inward as a whole. The city is on par.

The population is only 10,000, which can be said to be dense or too small. The inherent inner city can only satisfy the early settlers, and the latecomers can only expand their living space outside the city. The city is also expanding like a pie.

A small family has its own main house, small courtyard, dry toilet, and even a handicraft workshop. The more proficient families are in leather processing, the more they build their own workshops with great fanfare.

Leather is tanned by traditional crafts. Not to mention the stench coming from animal skins, the Glauber's salt water used to tan the leather also has a smell. If there is a lack of Glauber's salt, plant ash can also be used, but the latter is less effective and smells more unpleasant.

They are engaged in tanning processing in the pungent stench, and all kinds of leather are processed in the city. The air is always filled with stinky odor. Thanks to everyone being used to it since ancient times, no one complains about it.

Especially for foreign businessmen, the stench from tanning leather processing is simply a kind of aroma. Without this smell, they would worry that their trip would be in vain.

Novorosberg has three major exits, east, west and south. The east and west exits are extensions of Nevsky Prospekt, each forming two outer city markets along the road outside the city. The road extending from the gate to the south of the city is not very wide, and the market derived from it is not large either.

Even so, the five people from Pskov who arrived in the capital of Rus for the first time were trembling with surprise at what they saw.

They saw that this was a city with extremely prosperous commerce, and their ears were filled with the roar of people shouting. The air was filled with the obvious smell of tanned leather, and the lingering smell of salted fish.

People coming and going could not ignore the appearance of the cavalry. They saw the proud king and the majestic cavalry.

I just heard soldiers shouting loudly: "The king is coming! Pay my respects to the king!"

Rurik does not require his subjects to kneel down. Ordinary people can stand on both sides of the road and take off their hats to cheer. Only soldiers should kneel down on one knee and salute. The so-called ability to kneel down and salute is actually the privilege of the warriors of the kingdom.

The weather was good today, and the five-person team from Pskov widened their eyes as the cavalry finally entered the inner city.

They saw the gorgeous costumes of the guards guarding the city gate, and the respectful look of the guards when they saw the king.

The cavalry, brightly dressed yet domineering, lined up in neat columns on the slightly narrow southern road. The guards saluted the king and were given direct orders by Rurik.

The captain of the guard in charge of security at the South Gate received an order: "Go and inform the Governor that I am back. Ah! I am going to have a tour in the capital. Go and inform the Governor to wait at Harvest Square."

The captain of the guard was ordered to hurriedly take care of the matter in person and reported to the low governor's palace located next to the huge attic of the palace.

The Governor's Palace where Konuson and his sons worked was the earliest palace in Rurik. It was actually a large longhouse.

Rurik had his own unique obsession with the palace. He really admired the Japanese castle tower-style architecture. The ruling center was located in a tall attic. It was the commanding height of the entire city, allowing the ruler to have a bird's eye view of his city. A feeling of excitement arises spontaneously. Of course, realistically speaking, in the Neva River Basin and surrounding areas where there are no mountains or even hills, the tall attic is actually an important landmark that ships passing by can overlook, and it can act as a beacon to a certain extent.

The cavalry continued to blow their horns, and the costumed team paraded on the gravel road under the city wall.

There is no need to send people to deliberately spread the news of the king's return. Who can have such a pomp? As long as you see the huge cavalry, you will know that someone big is coming. Look at the golden crown on the leader's head, and his golden ponytail flowing in the wind. Who dares to overstep his bounds? Only the king has this image.

Rurik personally led the team, holding his chin high and letting people on both sides of the alley cheer. The bay windows of the two- and three-story buildings were also opened, and from time to time someone stuck their head out and shouted greetings. The settlers were almost all Vikings, but the loud shout was the Viking war cry, and the more they heckled Rurik, the happier they were.

Look, a group of young children are jumping and jumping in front of the horse team, laughing and running and stopping.

Some young girls also walked out of their houses because they had just heard that there were many young men in the cavalry that suddenly came into the city. It was obvious that those young men must have just grown up, and the childish look on their faces was by no means a bad thing. It must mean that most of these young men were not married yet.

Now who doesn’t know that the cavalry made great contributions in last year’s war? People are all seeking profit. When the people realize that the cavalry is actually the most valued arm of the king and the group that is most likely to make great achievements in land warfare, it is a good choice to marry their daughters to cavalry warriors. What's more, his daughter is also a Viking who speaks Norse. Even if the ancestral wish does not come from Old Rus, it is still a noble existence. The wise man took the opportunity to greet the king and took his daughter to observe the new cavalry boys and look for a good son-in-law.

Of course Rurik could estimate how these guys felt. Before setting off, he promised his subordinates that after arriving in the capital on horseback, they would solve marriage problems for many people. This was not a spiritual encouragement.

Sweeping through the market is a strategy that kills two birds with one stone. This is an opportunity to find a son-in-law. The old Russian family wants to find a husband for their daughter, and the guest merchant family hopes to use their beautiful daughter to complete the marriage with the cavalry and gain a higher status in Russian society.

The cavalry walked a figure "8" around multiple lanes in the inner city, and finally entered the bustling Harvest Square, which serves as a grand market.

The news has spread all over the world, and people who lack fun are pouring into the inner city, so that the Harvest Square is overcrowded.

The cavalry gathered here. They faced the royal family's attic palace, the stocky Governor's Palace, the colorful glass-walled temple, and the Ross Duma Parliament Chamber.

Behind these large buildings is the wide Neva River and Rabbit Island on the other side.

The high priest and a group of people changed into costumes and appeared. Governor Conuson and his son came to pick them up in shock.

Everything happened too suddenly. It is undeniable that because of this parade, the sudden arrival of the king has become a reality. As for how the king arrived, it is enough for thousands of people who are too busy to talk about it.