Rise of Rurik

The land on both sides of the Neva River is not frozen soil, especially the large area at the mouth of the sea is full of silt land and sandbars. They are already quite hardened. With today's construction standards, you don't have to worry too much about land subsidence when building large houses on them. However, if you consider building a dry dock to build a large ship, this aspect must be carefully considered.

Just digging dry docks and sea channels is a problem. Fortunately, in terms of manpower, Ross can mobilize some people in the capital who want to make some extra money. Although the siege technology is all crude methods, simple machinery can still be put into use. And single-person tools such as shovels and shovels are quite abundant.

According to the estimates of the Hotela family, the excavation work will continue until next spring plowing as expected. For pure excavation, hiring 200 people is enough.

They drew up their own plans for the project and laid them before King Rurik.

Because the property rights of the dry dock and sea channel will belong to the king, Rurik will be Party A, and the Hotla family will be Party B. The "Project Plan" listed the labor costs, the cost of wooden construction machinery, and even the proportion of remuneration that the Hotla family who undertook this project should receive.

In Changming's room, Rurik lit an oil lamp and studied the terms word for word, muttering as he read.

"They plan to only give rations to the workers? It will save me money."

"I also paid for the winch made of wood? Did I pay for the cable? So in the end these equipments belong to me? You won't keep them for your own use?"

…

Rurik's muttering attracted Ella to come over, "Is there anything you want me to do? I mean, I can continue to be a scribe."

"No need for the moment. But..."

"You can leave anything to me."

"That's fine." Rurik put the documents aside, "The dry dock matter can be brought to an end. I will give them the funds they want. And you..."

"As commanded."

"I haven't said it yet."

Ella smiled and snuggled next to him again, enjoying the tenderness to herself. "I'll do it right."

"Okay, it's still a scribe's job. I sent people to look for big trees on both sides of the Neva River, especially in the southern woodlands of the river. Not only to build a new wooden tower for this year's Hanukkah, but also to prepare materials for building big ships. You It happens to be here. When the wood arrives, you can make statistics on the condition of the wood, so that I can have a good idea."

"I'll do it right."

Royal logging teams poured into the forest. They were ordered to find Nordic oak trees, namely oaks and oaks, as well as tall spruce and red pine. Oak and eucalyptus are the most important. According to the plan, the country will reserve a batch of logs in this area, which will be used as strategic reserves after drying in the shade to provide high-quality keels, ribs and masts for the shipbuilding plan.

Of course, spruce and red pine can also be used as mast wood. If there is sufficient supply of oak, they will naturally be moved aside. They will be cut into massive slabs, equivalent to the muscle of a large ship.

The climate in Northern Europe is always cold, and overall it is not suitable for various oak trees to survive. Rurik still placed his hope of obtaining a large amount of oak in the Novgorod area in the south. As soon as he found oak, he would cut it down immediately and then use water transportation all the way to the Great Novorossberg.

Now, Ross's finances are quite strong, and the tax cuts have reduced a lot of tax revenue, but the tax base has increased significantly this year! Ella's work was unmistakable. The report she compiled clearly pointed out that those "hidden people", the so-called Ilmen Slavs who had grown up in the forest and enclosed their land, had already passed the tax holiday after completing the forced relocation. Their large population also opened up a lot of new fields. Even though the quality of the new fields is not good and the output is limited, they still pay taxes. The additional oats paid by tax-paying farmers greatly offset the tax exemptions.

It is conceivable that when normal taxation resumes next year, the total amount of taxation and grain will be guaranteed in the future.

Because the population in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Rus has exceeded 150,000, and accurate statistics show that the population is even higher! Those Slavs who were forcibly relocated to Lake Ilmen were like mushrooms that sprouted suddenly after the autumn rain in September. Their huge population was staggering.

And this is the fact. The total population of the Ilmenslavs is quite large, but they are diluted by the even larger sea of ​​forests.

The "search operation" of Novgorod Governor Medvet will continue. This operation is not only to find hidden people, but also to expand the scope of people's knowledge. Because the world directly west of Lake Ilmen was very unfamiliar to Medvet, he only learned from the map provided by the king that as long as he continued to run due west, he could find a huge mountain called the Ural Mountains. To the east of the mountain was This is a huge world that cannot be described in words.

Medved's men did not find the mountain that the king had mentioned, but they learned of a small lake.

The size of the lake is not important, the key is the existence of Ilmenslav villages in the area.

The order was of course to forcibly relocate the locals to the Lake Ilmen area, but the villagers refused. Medved's men had gone too far to the west. They captured some villagers and retreated before winter.

They did not harm the prisoners anymore, but were integrated into the villages adjacent to Lake Ilmen.

All this information was compiled by Medved's men into a report and sent to Rurik on the sled.

The unnamed lake had a name that was not a name in the mouths of the captives - a big water.

In fact, that is Lake Valdai, which is a relatively high point in this vast northeastern European plain. This plain is also named after this inconspicuous lake, namely the Valdai Hills.

The country's productivity problem lies here. The population is still absolutely insufficient, so the large territories conquered will lack manpower to defend them. At best, those new territories belong to "controlled areas" or "spheres of influence." Rurik spoke highly of the report from Novgorod. It is gratifying that the population in the area around the lake continues to expand healthily.

The entire king is essentially divided into three large parts: the Rus' Principality part, the Swedish part and the Finnish part. Sweden has a population of at most 30,000 people, while Finland in general has a population of only 30,000 people. The Viking population in the Principality of Rus reached 30,000 (60% of which were children), while the Slavic population exceeded 100,000.

There are 200,000 people in the kingdom, and 130,000 to 140,000 people can be directly ruled by the king. Although the mobilization power of a kingdom in the Middle Ages would not be very good, the current population size alone is already the largest in Europe.

Ross is indeed the overlord of Northern Europe because of its strong navy and the ability to mobilize 10,000 soldiers.

There will be a kingdom war next year, so the Hanukkah festival to say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new year must be done well.

A tall wooden tower was built as usual. It was still built in the shape of a chimney, and the grease-rich pine wood was stacked, making it highly flammable. In order to make the burning effect more brilliant, a batch of fish oil, whale oil and seal oil were also extravagantly poured on the pine wood after being burned into liquid state. The wooden tower was covered with a layer of grease, and a large number of pine branches and scrap wood were piled at the base. Before the lighting ceremony, one hundred and eleven reindeer used for sacrifice were piled under the tower.

This year's Hanukkah Festival, thousands of people are waiting for the fire tower to burst into flames, so that everyone can sit around the fire tower and bake comfortably while waiting for the new sun.

In recent years, Hanukkah has become more and more grand. People, both noble and low, are looking forward to the war that started in 840 AD. They can get spoils and honors. Everyone estimates that the king will come up with some new tricks during the festival.

Sure enough, this is really a gorgeous and gorgeous pattern!

That's one hundred and eleven reindeer!

This number has a special weight in the traditional life of the Vikings. Sacrifice to Odin is very particular, and the top sacrifice is the heads of one hundred and eleven slaves.

A considerable number of people do not object to human sacrifice based on current values. After all, the sacrificial objects are slaves, and slaves are not considered human beings.

However, here in the Principality of Ross, slaves who are not considered human beings do not exist at all. There are people who are equivalent to slaves. They are untouchables at best. After living for a period of time, their informal untouchable status disappears. Warrior culture is still respected, and Rurik, who has the right to interpret beliefs in the past, has established the fact that the noble souls of those who live under the rule of Rus, believe in Odin, and fight for the royal family can enter Valhalla.

With this explanation, even lowly Ludi people can be recognized by the royal family through military exploits.

Rus has been offering reindeer sacrifices since ancient times. In the past, he was too poor to offer many sacrifices. Now, Rus's deer herd is extremely large, and the priest Rurik thinks there is nothing wrong with bringing out hundreds of deer.

It is the people who lament that this is a waste. Wouldn't it be a waste to have the deer's skin stripped, its antlers dug out, and all the remaining venison burned to ashes?

The fire tower, hotter than the scorching sun, was burning, and the air was filled with the enticing smell of barbecue. It was venison burning in the fire. Thousands of people stayed far away to avoid being burned, admiring a fire dragon filling the sky, and sighing at the brutal burning of the venison into ashes.

The fire tower was very huge, and it was already five days after it burned down to only warm white ash.

The heavy workload before Hanukkah made Rurik feel particularly tired. According to Viking tradition, such a festival requires a lot of eating and drinking, and eating and drinking can also cause fatigue.

Times have changed. Today's materials are more abundant than before, and the royal family has more food and drinks.

Old Otto was drunk all the time, and Rurik's wives and concubines were not exempt from the custom. Both men and women had to drink orgy on this festival.

Ale made from oats simply could not meet the demand, and it gave way to the better-tasting low-alcohol wheat wine in the royal family, and to the warm-tasting flammable spirits.

As a real man, you can be a real man by taking a sip of burning liquor and deftly covering up the flames of your beard that you accidentally ignited.

Men's entertainment is so simple. They drink burning vodka from glasses and complain that their stomachs are so warm, as if the fire is still burning in their stomachs.

Not only the royal family and many Viking immigrants, but also the large Slavic people were happy to imitate the Vikings' behavior, especially in terms of drinking. How can we survive in this peaceful and snowy world without drinking? Alcohol accelerates blood flow and accelerates muscle heating. People don't know and are too lazy to know the secret. They just know that the whole body is very warm after drinking alcohol.

This was not possible before, but now that supplies are abundant, small Slavic families everywhere have begun to brew wine by themselves without any worries. Although the brewed wine is low-alcohol ale, they deliberately wait until major festivals to drink it.

Naturally, people who can enjoy fine wines are concentrated in the capital city of Novorossberg. Rurik's state-run brewing factory is in the city. The distilled spirits can be sold at high prices. However, there are a group of businessmen living in the capital for a long time, and they have money to spend. This, as a king, you may gain a lot of violence.

But the work of distilling liquor was also integrated into war preparation supplies.

It is possible to purify the wine to 90° with current technology, and it is also possible to purify the eaux-de-vie to 96° with some caution. Rurik gave instructions to purify it to 75°, seal it in a glass bottle, apply rosin gum on a piece of paper and paste it on the bottle, and print the word Medic in Roman letters on the paper piece. At this stage, there is no medicine that is more suitable for treating trauma than high-strength alcohol. There is no anesthetic for treating wounds of wounded soldiers, but people are anesthetized even if they are drunk.

It is the presence of strong alcohol that makes today's Ross soldiers not afraid of injury. War inevitably has casualties, and a hundred people died in battle. If they slowly die of fever after being injured, can such a soul still go to the Hall of Valor? Fortunately, strong liquor is a magical thing, and the people have reached a consensus based on their own understanding. The flammable strong liquor has been blessed by God and can kill all filth and curses. The injured soldiers basically cannot die.

In this way, the people in the state-owned breweries received this order, and they felt that their work was extremely noble.

The days are getting longer and longer, and the time has come to 840 AD. Although it is not his birthday, according to tradition, everyone says that His Majesty the King is already nineteen years old and must make great achievements in his prime.

Long before Hanukkah started, a small sleigh team came from Novgorod, carrying a letter - letters from friends in Pecheneg.

Rurik has an estimate for Kagan once again uniting with the Kiev people to organize a cavalry caravan to do business in Russia. They arrived just in time, as if the gods had given Ross a chance to win over the mercenaries.

But Kagan mentioned his sister Beyathil and the marriage.

This incident surprised Rurik. After thinking about it for a while, he suddenly realized: I did say last year that I could marry his sister.

Kagan really took it seriously. I am afraid that this matter was the result of discussions between the nobles of the Pecheneg Khanate, because this was a marriage, and with this marriage, the Pechenegs must have greater demands.

"At least, that Beyahil must be a beauty and be able to listen to me honestly..."

Rurik has not publicized this matter yet. After all, he will return to Novgorod soon to implement some very important things. Kagan will discuss everything after returning.

The huge sleigh team was assembled again, and the king rushed to Novgorod with almost all members of the royal family.

But King Otto and Queen Mother Niya did not leave.

Otto no longer had the heroic demeanor he once had. He especially remembered whether he was about forty-seven or forty-five when he had a son. Now my son is nineteen years old, so I am almost seventy years old.

"Oh God! Do I still have a great mission? Do I have to witness my son's expedition in the kingdom?"

The more Otto thought about it, the more he felt it must be the case, so Rurik simply complied with his father's wishes.

The Supreme King is now too weak to even go out for a hike. He needs a group of soldiers to accompany him when he goes out. If there is nothing serious, he can stay there peacefully.

The carefully woven chain mail was hung with rows of thin copper sheets on the front and back, each piece of copper plated with gold. This is a golden scale armor that is more decorative than practical, and can show the wearer's nobility. Otto enjoyed such ceremonial armor that even his new leather helmet was plated with gold, and the feathers on the top of the helmet were mixed with blue-dyed goose flight feathers.

This ceremonial armor was not heavy, but Otto realized that it was a bit difficult for him to wear one. Fortunately, he had no problem standing while wearing it.

Plans for several sets of ceremonial armor were given to his favorite Kamne.

Kamne did not dare to neglect, let alone covet the gold and silver delivered by King Mo. Gold-plated and silver-plated armor is ceremonial, and wearing it on the battlefield is an act of seeking death.

Therefore, a batch of strong armors are also being built, which will be delivered to senior personnel of the army. Ordinary warriors can wear iron armor on a large scale, find Shuyuan www. zhaoshuyuan.com In principle, this is feasible. It is to make a thousand sets of chain mail or iron plate armor. The workload is really too much, and the huge amount of work will take several years for the state-owned blacksmith shop.

Fortunately, Ross's enemies have very low armor coverage. As long as they are not fighting Roman armored cavalry, Ross's protective gear disadvantage is not a disadvantage.

Fort New Rose enters the peak of war preparations, and as the days get longer, craftsmen of all types will work longer hours. Or is it because the day for the army to gather is not far away, and merchants and craftsmen are ready to take action. The so-called every soldier in the Russian army is at least in decent shape, and such people are definitely not poor. When going to the battlefield, no one felt that they carried too many supplies. Merchants and craftsmen were busy stepping up production, trying to sell supplies to make a profit for the soldiers.

The real large-scale war preparation material reserve work is supervised and implemented by the governor of Fort New Rose, Conusson and his son. Things such as the time for the army to gather and the number of troops are state secrets. Rurik did not even inform the governor of this secret. He only explained this arrangement: You must A supply of dry wheat biscuits for the five thousand men for a month's campaign was to be prepared before March, and other ordnance was to be prepared at regular intervals.

This is equivalent to saying that the king will conduct a large-scale gathering in March. Obviously, the king will not have time to supervise this year's spring plowing this time.

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :