Rise of Rurik

Harvest Square was roaring continuously, and people were everywhere watching the excitement. The king finally returned to the capital, and God knows what new decrees he would issue.

The news about tax exemption has already spread to the capital with the businessmen coming and going. The three-year tax exemption applies to all subjects. Is this true? The people of the capital also needed the king's commitment here.

The high priest Rumia wore the ancestral antlered helmet and pulled her daughter Velika. The mother and daughter looked happy. Rurik dismounted hastily, and the soldiers behind him did the same.

Rumia saw Queen Svetlana, accompanied by Noren, Bayasil and Ella. She felt a little disappointed, it seemed that she could no longer have her man to herself.

She is a high priest, but she is still thin. She approached Rurik under the gaze of people: "You are finally here. Now that the summer solstice sacrifice has ended, you are late."

"It did take some time. But..." Rurik pinched her cheek gently: "As promised, important events cannot be without you. Look, Ella is here too, and the compilation of "Rossaga" is completed. .You... know what this means."

Rumia's eyes widened upon hearing this. She understands so well! Today's priesthood has expanded greatly, but it lacks a universal classic.

"Rossaga" is the classic that the high priest needs most!

He couldn't help but ask more: "Has it been bound? You can give it to me immediately. I will immediately organize others to study. And... I want to take a good look."

"There's no rush." ​​Rurik said, "There are still more things to be implemented."

The governor-general, the elder Cornuson, was waiting aside and did not dare to interrupt. At this moment, the slightly late young Cornuson also arrived.

The old man personally led the king's horse, and also winked at the rare prince, which made Osborne smile evilly.

The prince in old Cornuson's memory was just a baby. At that time, the king also showed off like this to let the people see the royal style. Now the prince has grown up, and his small body not only rides a horse, but also stands on solid ground and clings to his mother's body.

His eyes scanned these cavalry soldiers, and their childish faces could not be concealed. "They are all newcomers!" A realization emerged in his head, and the old Konuson concluded that this was a brand new cavalry team.

Finally, Rurik turned his head and said, "My governor, how is everything? I see that the capital is peaceful."

"Yes, I govern according to the king's orders, maintain law and order, punish thieves, and collect customs duties according to the treaty."

"Very good." Rurik nodded.

"So, this cavalry." He couldn't help it.

"Oh, them? They're all new."

"New? Also, how did the king come? It seems that he really arrived on horseback?"

"That's natural. Cornuson, you and your son have arrived just in time. Go and summon all the prominent people in the city. We will hold a meeting in the Rus Duma tonight. I will announce an important matter and let as many people as possible participate!"

Rurik deliberately kept his words secret. He also needed to spend some time sorting out his language, and he also wanted to spend some time with his high priest in the capital.

She was her first woman and gave birth to two children. She does not have peerless appearance, and her status is even higher than that of the queen.

Rurik, who returned, arranged the garrison of the Second Cavalry and rested in a barn in the city for the time being. All the war horses were taken to the pens of the "State-owned Reindeer Breeding Base" outside the city and fed with grass and oats.

Although riding for a long time hurts the buttocks, the young warriors have been enduring it. What they need most is to eat the bread and lie down to sleep. They were given a holiday, brought their own bedding and equipment, and slept soundly in broad daylight in a dry and spacious barn.

Even a group of five people from Pskov, who were guests and were temporarily accommodated in a private room. Unlike the tired warriors, they are fully motivated and want to see the beauty of this big city. It was just a parade around the city, but they still didn't move. Why did the young "War Chief" have such a great reputation that the people of a big city cheered for him.

Look at this outrageous reputation. His boss, the leader of Pskov, Gorsige Famsun, is really not even one-tenth of it.

Some people couldn't help but wonder: "Could that guy be King Ross?" Such speculation before was unbelievable. Based on the current situation, the five-person group can at least conclude that this person is at least the sole heir to the leadership position. The five-person group was very lucky that after leaving the river, they collectively carried the boat and walked a dry road for a while to reach another river. It was their fate to meet the Ross Cavalry.

The five people were provided with good food and drink, but they were effectively placed under house arrest in this small wooden house. The Governor's Office received an order that these five people were non-alliance outsiders. They were not qualified to travel freely in the capital and could not travel without permission. If they were allowed to go out, they must be accompanied by patrolling soldiers.

It was really uncomfortable not being able to go out, but the Russians provided soft wheat cakes and a lot of ale. It was not just any ale, but was deliberately blended with vodka base.

The cast bronze still has the ability to distill ordinary ale to almost 96° alcohol. Simply drinking this stuff is a recipe for death. Distilling this stuff can either be used as a base for cocktails or provided to priests.

The priests have the duty to save lives and heal the wounded. Alcohol is a commonly used disinfectant, and spirits are an anesthetic. In practice, they became more and more adept at dealing with trauma. In this era, one of the major causes of sudden death among civilians was scurvy from wound infections. Nowadays, the so-called "curse of fever" is no longer considered an extreme disease. This is possible because distillation technology and equipment are increasingly perfected in the continuous production of materials.

It was rare to drink alcohol, and the high-strength ale was obviously mixed with honey. They were so drunk that they felt happy and did not want to go out and run around. Rurik did this deliberately.

The royal family has its own royal enjoyments. The attic palace has been cleaned all the time. When Rurik came here again, he was still faced with a neat but deserted residence.

He checked the items hidden high up, and there were quite a few important items. The team of servants left behind are mostly selected from local women. They are older and manage the Governor's Palace. Cleaning the palace and Rus Duma all day long is their important job. The cooks are good at cooking, and their daily job is to cook for the officials in the Governor's Mansion, and even provide meals for the soldiers who work at home. Now they are the ones cooking delicious meals for the returning king.

Ross's national treasury still follows the old rules. It is controlled by a group of priests, who use the so-called "sacred buff" to dispel people's malice.

The only thing Rurik was not worried about was the priest's death. No, the high priest who had eaten had already been dragged into a separate bedroom by Rurik, and he even declined the queen.

"One more. Velika and Oleg also need a younger brother."

"What if it's my sister?"

"Then we have an extra priest-cardinal."

Rurik intended to learn from the Catholic ways. The so-called bishops and cardinals, as well as the bishops from all over the country, all knew each other. Rus could follow suit, but it would be best for high-ranking priests to have royal blood.

Let her experience the joy of being a woman again. Rurik knew what Rumia wanted, so he satisfied her desire on the first afternoon after returning.

She fell into a deep sleep in happiness due to fatigue, and the energetic Rurik began to think about how to announce big things with those guys in tonight's meeting.

So after an afternoon of deliberation, the good news spread wildly among the people, and it seemed that some of the previous statements were true.

Not just cats and dogs can participate in the Duma. Participants either hold important positions in the capital, are important industrial owners, or are rich men with relatively large financial resources. Only residents of the capital and some subjects of the Principality of Rus who have lived here for a long time have the right to participate. Most of the miscellaneous matters in daily life are discussed and resolved in Dumali, and some even vote to formulate some local regulations.

Traditional "Nordic democracy" developed further in New Roseburg, and people from various Viking tribes subconsciously welcomed it. The capital area has an endogenous self-management model that is accepted by everyone. This is one of the reasons why Rurik can let the local area go.

What is quite strange is that, as a king, he behaves more like a king who can speak his mind when facing the extremely large Slavic population in the area around Lake Ermen. Because the local area has completely evolved into an agricultural economy, the locals need a supreme arbiter.

Rurik was clearly aware of the difference between the two. As a king, he behaved extremely kindly in the capital. Even if he had to do things, he would discuss them with the wealthy gentlemen.

The long room of Rus Duma was filled with local powerful people. They were leaders in all walks of life. Some of them were relatives and ministers of the royal family, as well as a large number of collaborators.

So amid endless expectations, King Liuli made his grand reappearance.

He took his place and announced two very important things.

"About the three-year tax exemption you learned about. It is true and has been fully implemented in Novgorod. You are the local elite. Even if you are not farming, taxes will be levied on you as usual. My decision is fair. Yes, you are all subjects of the principality and all enjoy this benefit."

The emotions that had been suppressed suddenly burst out. When the king announced this, it was as if the roof of the house was about to be blown off by the sound.

After the boiling soup pot gradually cooled down, Rurik took out his improvised speech and personally spoke about the second major event - promoting the canal and the second route.

A second road to Novgorod already exists? We don’t even have to cut down trees to build roads in the forest anymore?

And all this was mainly due to the spontaneous exploration of fishermen from old Russia, who accidentally discovered the inland waterway?

This matter was doubtful, but because the king personally led the cavalry to explore the route in the opposite direction and personally proved the existence of the channel, it instantly became extremely credible.

It is not the case that there is a smooth passage, and if intervention is not considered, a necessary passage is a dry road. If the boat was sailing, the worst possible scenario would be for travelers to drag the boat across or grab it and carry it away.

The matter of digging canals is too bizarre, because in the past, people did not realize that they could directly transform the earth with their hands, such as digging ditches to create rivers.

Then some local businessmen who were gearing up were eager to give it a try. In the warm atmosphere, they stood up and raised their voices: "It doesn't matter whether the man-made waterway is reasonable or not! At the worst, my people will row across, and the boats will bring their own trolleys. The final route will be through the dry road with the trolleys." We can also reach Novgorod. At least we don’t have to go the hard way back on the Neva.”

It’s understandable to use words like “robust” and “stamina” to describe people paddling, but this is not their active choice. If the wind is strong, sail with the sails lowered, and if you have the choice, prefer the gentle runoff.

Most of the merchant and industrialist families in Old Rus' and New Rus' contributed their sons to serve as the king's standing army. The children experienced the war, became real men, and learned extraordinary cultural knowledge under the king, and then began to give back to their father.

It's like opening a God's perspective. Many leaders already understand the geographical structure of northern and eastern Europe. They can all understand drawing abstract maps. As for understanding why the world is a ball, it doesn't matter. They are more concerned about whether the business path is reasonable.

So Rurik made a wonderful metaphor based on the current situation.

He saw his sister-in-law Aslach and her son Gustav here, making a big fuss about their family's industry.

"Just like our water mill, the wooden plank water row on the water wheel has made a full circle and has to return to the starting point. As a businessman, you no longer have to brave the violent Neva River and Volkhov River after the snow melts in the spring. River. You can take the Reed River in the west. Even if you sail against the current, the soothing current will not require much effort on your part. You will complete the voyage in a shorter time, and there will be as many as three supply stations along the way. The riverside areas are everywhere They can all be used as temporary resting places. You will eventually pass through the canal and pay a toll to safely enter Lake Yin'ermen."

Smart businessmen know how to make trade-offs and compromises. It is really a good thing to spend a small amount of money in exchange for time. After all, in the past, small-scale caravans had to bite the bullet and sail against the Neva River during high water periods, which was a bit self-inflicted. Only by investing a lot of manpower and material resources can the cost of spring navigation be reduced. This is why in the past few decades, The Ross tribe always formed large troops to go backwards, relying on more people to paddle and using the wind to offset the flow speed of the Neva River.

In the spring, we will take the inland river route in the west and pay the canal toll to enter Yin'ermen Lake. The route is expected to be completed in one week. Stay in Novgorod to complete the trade, and use the high flow rate of the traditional waterway to return to Novorosberg from the east with the newly purchased agricultural products at a low cost. In this way, the water wheel completes a rotation cycle.

Everyone is said to be ready to move!

Even for the Aslaqi family, which monopolizes the big mill, she produces cheap instant breakfast cereals and even some high-end honey scones and cakes for the capital, using existing materials in various ways to create delicious meals. Ordinary fishermen and hunters buy the cheapest long-lasting dry food, while wealthy people buy high-end delicacies. To maintain this industry, it relies heavily on the import of wheat, oats, honey and dairy products from the Novgorod region.

As a relative of the royal family, she spent money from the national warehouse to exchange for affordable wheat, which was limited every month. If she wanted to expand production, she had to import surplus grain from the people. Due to cost considerations, apart from sending a ship to the Mälaren Lake District in Sweden to import a batch of local wheat in the autumn, the most prudent way is to buy goods from Slavic farms in the lake area. A very practical reason is that the best material for making delicious meals is wheat, and now various Slavic farms are beginning to expand.

As long as there is an opportunity, people should try their best to satisfy their appetites, and Aslaqi would like to do it. Common people's money must be earned, and the rich's money must be earned even more. Her family is actually a pioneer in the kingdom's food industry and has great future prospects. The current development bottleneck visible to the naked eye is the contradiction between the need to expand production capacity and the efficiency of raw material imports.

Being wise, she jumped up and praised the king's decision with a high-pitched voice.

People present could see that she was not cheering for the king because she was a relative, but she was completely standing as a businessman and pointed out the huge prospects.

Leaders from all walks of life combined their own industries and came to the exact same conclusion.

It is said that logistics efficiency determines the scale of the economy. Everyone reached a consensus and began to think about optimizing the structure of their long-distance caravan based on the new traffic conditions. The canal is currently being excavated and is expected to be completed as soon as next autumn, which means that the second channel will be completely connected by 843 AD. It will not be a problem for a small boat to reach Novgorod in seven days without much effort.

Smart people have optimistically estimated that with the most efficient navigation and efficient dumping and purchasing in Novgorod, a set of processes from Novorosberg, a large commercial city, to Novgorod, the main production area of ​​various materials and raw materials, is the fastest Half a month is enough.

Wealthy merchants can organize several caravans to carry out sailing cycles on the two routes without interfering with each other. The most optimistic estimate is to organize at least two caravans to set off one week apart. In this way, after the first caravan arrives in Novgorod, the second caravan sets off. When the first caravan returns to the capital, the second caravan also arrives in Novgorod. Gorod.

Another batch of supplies arrives every week. If three caravans are organized, the time interval between arrivals can only be further shortened.

Only the dredging of the second route and canal can make it possible. Once implemented, the eastern part of the Rus' Kingdom will enter a period of rapid economic growth, and everyone sitting here at the Rus' Duma meeting will reap the dividends.