Chapter 345 Rurik can earn Olegin without any loss

Oats harvest season is finally here.

Even though it came late and the harvest was terrible, the wheat finally started harvesting.

This year’s poor harvest has become a reality as expected. Farmers are holding their own huge sickles. They stand in the ridges and look at the sparse and drooping wheat ears in their own farmland. How should they feel?

The wheat ears are all withered and yellow. They are mature, but there is not much fruit.

The farmers helped each other. A group of strong men controlled giant scythes and began to cut off the wheat stalks in large pieces. Then, with their unique strength, they moved all the wheat straws to one side of the field.

Following them, the women, children, and even the elderly at home gathered the wheat, tied it into bundles with hemp rope, and began to carry it home.

Even though the harvest is almost complete, some women still stay in the fields, bending down to pick up the scattered ears of wheat and put them into their rattan baskets.

Since ancient times, they will not waste any wheat ears. Especially in this bad harvest year, it has become extremely important to do their best not to leave any wheat grains behind.

It is already mid-September. Although winter has not yet arrived, the coldness every morning tells the residents along the lake that winter is coming.

I’m afraid this will be a difficult winter. Even if everyone survives the winter, what will happen next year’s spring famine?

Even so, do you still need to take out the grain and sell it on the market to earn some silver coins?

Each family began to clear the compacted land in front of their houses. This was their threshing floor, which also served as a drying ground.

All the harvested wheat straws were thrown here. The family held their own wooden flails and began to beat the wheat straws fiercely.

They had to use great strength, and only in this way could the oats be shelled effectively.

Hulled oats are grown throughout Europe. They are very cold and drought tolerant, but the shelling requires a lot of effort.

Farmers spend a lot of sweat to complete their harvests. A man can often take care of more than one hectare of farmland. Even with this yield, it is average even in good years. The overall yield of oats per mu is about one hundred pounds per acre, and a strong man can often take care of as many as 20 to 30 acres of farmland. In Mälaren, there are many strong men who can take care of a half-hectare farmland. After all, they are Nordic people who can naturally grow very strong.

The farmland is indeed vast, but even their planting and harvesting techniques cannot be complimented.

The Melalen tribe has never appeared from the beginning to the end. If the Novgorod Slavs have a traditional rural community based on blood and friendship, it is a community similar to a natural village. They are fishermen themselves. After half a century of transition, the economic center of Mälaren has become more and more focused on agricultural cultivation in the region.

Most of the tribal residents have become small farmers, and the proportion of traditional fishing in the economy is declining. whenHowever, this year's poor harvest will force farmers to fish on a large scale in the coming years. When they start to worry about hunger, they will appreciate the gifts of Lake Mälaren.

In a good year, one and a half hectares of farmland under the care of a hard-working farmer can harvest up to two and a half tons of oats, which is 6,400 pounds when converted into the most commonly used measurement unit in the Nordic world! This is an extremely astonishing number. A family of several people only needs 1,500 pounds of food rations a year, which is enough to survive. If there is a large amount of fishing during the off-season, they can further reduce their rations.

This is of course data from a good year, and it is also data that can only be achieved by the hardest-working small farmers. It is not universal.

Most farmers without debt can harvest nearly 5,000 pounds of shelled oats during a normal harvest season.

How to use this grain is very particular. First, 2,000 pounds will be deducted from the family's rations first, and another 1,000 pounds will be reserved for planting grain. Theoretically, the remaining 2,000 pounds of grain can be sold at the market. Even if the grain collector keeps the price very low, the farmer can still get back more than one pound of silver in the end.

This is all a beautiful fantasy.

Greedy people will not expect to accumulate profits solely through their own labor. For the wealthy families of the Melalen tribe, any period of famine is a feast for them to make a fortune!

Because there really aren’t many independent small farmers who are debt-free.

In the lean years, we borrowed grain from large households, and we had to pay back more in the new harvest season. What is this amount?

Even if the areas of the Western European world that were once controlled by Rome became new kingdoms ruled by barbarians, the ancient Roman tax system was inherited. Agricultural taxes were also tithes that farmers had to pay to their lords. As for borrowing and lending, since the lords and farmers are all the Lamb of the Lord, the interest rate for borrowing and lending is in principle zero (the dirty work of collecting interest on mortgage loans is naturally done by Jewish businessmen for the lords). In order to protect the lambs in the actual sense, the lord naturally had to ensure that the residents in the territory could survive during the famine years. If the bandits followed suit, the lord would also build a wooden castle to protect the civilians, thereby ensuring that his source of tax revenue would not die.

The Malaren people have no such concerns, otherwise where would the fields of those big families come from?

For ordinary farmers, after tamping the wheat straw and sieving the wheat grains, the new wheat will be regarded as debts that need to be returned. They want to return more, and when the spring famine comes, they still have to borrow food.

Almost all debts started from the poor harvest in disaster years. They only borrowed a small amount of grain at the beginning. It is not a big problem to pay back more during the harvest season. Even the farmers are thanking the big families and leaders for their support. Help in difficult times.

However, in the Nordic region, the agricultural environment itself is extremely fragile. In this region, it is not impossible to rely on farming to maintain small farmers. It is just that the level of technology in today's era is too low. No one can expect to be able to maintain the current situation. Technology to ensure a bumper harvest is the norm.

No, every disaster year deepens the debt of farmers.

The big family and leader Olegin had no intention of killing their own people at first. They were willing to help the people in trouble, and it was only natural that they would charge a certain amount of interest afterwards.

After all, the debts are getting bigger and bigger, and the strength of ordinary farmers has been declining, while the large households that have been accumulating wealth have already managed to ignore all kinds of disasters and famines. After they became stronger, their eyes became increasingly ambiguous when they saw their former compatriots. When they began to raise a large number of slaves and serfs who sold their land cheaply to survive, their trusting relationship with their tribesmen dimmed.

Quantitative change has finally arrived at the time of qualitative change!

I don’t know since when, the life of the Melalen people helping each other and staying together has turned into the rule of the leader and several big families over the entire tribe. In recent years, this dominance has become increasingly fierce.

Let’s talk about this year’s harvest.

The harvest season of 830 was an unprecedented disaster for the Mellaren people. It’s not like there will be no harvest, 50% of the harvest is already confirmed.

Farmers began to count this year’s harvest, and the result was a disaster of blood and tears.

Families that could harvest 6,000 pounds of grain in a good year will only harvest 3,000 pounds this year. If they had no debt, the harvest wouldn't be too bad, and at least starvation wouldn't happen.

But wait!

There are many farmers who want to repay debts worth 1,000 pounds of oats.

During the harvest season, there are many families who only harvest 2,000 pounds of wheat, but they still have to pay off their debts. In this way...

Although there is still a lot of wheat in their hands. , but after repaying the debt, it was left with more than a thousand pounds. The man was crying, the woman was crying too, and the old man even had thoughts of seeking death. Only the innocent children didn't know what was happening. They clamored for new wheat, but they also cried.

As a result, a very bad problem enveloped the entire Melalen tribe.

Those people who already exist as handicraftsmen do not farm their own land, but are waiting to buy large quantities of new wheat provided by farmers during the harvest season.

Although it is a year of famine, and even though the bad news of a failed agricultural harvest has long been reported in Uppsala in the north, people in Mälaren still have extravagant hopes.

However, the prosperous farmers' market that everyone hoped for has not replicated the prosperity of last year.

This year’s situation is shocking to everyone. There are no farmers carrying their own grain to sell in the market.

At this moment, the plans of those grain merchants who conspired to negotiate the purchase price completely collapsed.

Yes, there is already only a handful of food left, and some of it is left to grow grain, and the rest is all rations. Even if the rations are not large, at least they have to last the family through the winter, and they will think of a way to survive until there is really no food to eat.

No one sells food? !

This orderShocking news soon spread to Gould Island.

The frightened Gould had to tell the sad news to the wise Rurik at a dinner party and get a wise explanation.

And Rurik also knew the news early. Because it has never been a secret, there is already some trepidation on little Gould Island.

Courtesy exchanges of drinks, Gould explained this fact in concern.

"That's it. It seems that there are really no farmers selling grain this year. I learned that everything is the result of a poor harvest, and they really don't want to sell grain. What do you think about this. "

What else could Rurik say? He seemed to be making a factual statement, and his concerns were also hidden in it.

"Oh? Are you worried that Olegin won't be able to get the five hundred thousand pounds of grain?"

Rurik pointed directly to the topic, and Gould nodded hurriedly: "That's Five hundred thousand pounds! Even if Melalen has a large population, it will be difficult to get so much food in a famine year... I am really worried."

"You are worried that the farmers will not be able to produce so much. I am still worried that Oleg will break his promise."

"I am certainly worried that Oleg will regret it. There is nothing he can do if he drains his own people this year."

"That's his business, don't be too pessimistic." Rurik shrugged.

"Huh?" Gould was stunned for a moment, "I thought you would be kind..."

"What will happen?"

"Body Consider those farmers. After all, you are kind and friendly to the poorest people." "You are wrong." Rurik shook his finger, "Only those who are willing to submit to me. , I regard them as my own people, even if they are humble slaves, as long as they are sincerely willing to do things for me, I can give them benefits. This is my principle and I am not related to those Melalen people. Why care about them? Unless they are almost starving and begging me to take them in and swear to do something for me." "That's what you think." In one breath, "Okay, maybe at this time next year, you will add more servants."

There are some things that both Rurik and Gould understand. The two of them are mutual now. Tacitly.

"Rurik, do you really believe that Olegin will fulfill his promise?"

Rurik looked strange: "You have been dealing with him for so many years, do you think he has any doubts about him?" Are you worried?"

"I..." Gould wondered how he could become so close to Olegin? "I'm just worried, Rurik. Among all the leaders, I only believe that you value the contract the most."

The flattery was good, Rurik smiled and took a sip of the anus. Tea: "Let's believe him. Maybe he will regret it, at least not this year."

"Why? This year is a disaster year."

"Unless he feels that as the leader of the allianceYou can play with the Russians at will. Our alliance with each other is already very fragile anyway, and he doesn't want to lose us. "

"Okay, but without farmers selling grain, where will the five hundred thousand pounds we want come from? His own farmland alone cannot provide so much. "

"What else can be done? "Rurik's eyes widened, and he suddenly pulled out the dagger that was twisted around his waist. The buzzing sound was endless, frightening everyone present to look sideways.

"You..."

"Are you afraid? Gould? It’s okay to be afraid. What can Olegin do? This is the method! "Rurik held the dagger and stabbed it into the wooden table in front of him. The meaning was self-evident.

How did Olegin get food? There was only one method: buying it by force.

Fortunately, he is the leader and the leader of the alliance. To maintain the most basic face, he cannot simply plunder like attacking outsiders.

This is not asking for tribute from merchants, he wants tribute. In fact, they are silver coins and copper coins. For a long time, he has no reason to collect taxes from farmers who own acres of land, because in normal years, they can only rely on their own farmland to live and feed, but now it is still the case in famine years.

There is no agricultural tax in Melalen, but one based on local conditions. "Tribute" is nothing more than a commercial tax. The "tax" that has been levied now is also a variant of what Olegin calls a commercial tax.

In order to fulfill the contract, enough money must be collected during the harvest season. The purpose of handing over 100,000 pounds of grain to the Russians was not just to obtain more than 400 pounds of silver, but also to regain the absolute support of the Russians. The Russians thought they were weak, and they would be fools if they believed it. After thinking about it, he concluded that the Russians were actually very strong. Since they did not express their desire for power, Olegin did not say anything.

In order to achieve his goal, Olegin began to execute him. The so-called "necessary evil"

He led his private army into action, and the people he wanted to "attack" were none other than the property-owning farmers of the same clan.

At that time, nearly ten thousand people came! It was really an extremely rare meeting, and a large number of allied merchants who were watching the excitement also took the opportunity to join in the fun.

The tribesmen did not know what important things the alliance chief said. As expected, it was really important. The angry tribesmen stamped their feet and beat their chests.

In the final analysis, Olegin was explaining an order: "Each household must give out three hundred pounds of grain, and I will pay for it at the rate of fifteen pounds per silver coin." price to buy. You must complete it within three days, and those who complete it will receive a wooden plaque issued by me as a voucher. If you fail to give it after the due date, I will lead my troops to get it myself, and you will not get a single silver coin by then. ”

To put it bluntly, this isIt's a steal!

The powerful Melalen tribe is a behemoth with more than 20,000 people. The entire tribe has more than 10,000 mature men, and a small family of five or six members (a couple can have more children as long as they can) , there are three thousand households.

In normal years, farmers don’t need to be forced at all. They often take out as much as a thousand pounds of grain to sell at the market. What does a mere three hundred pounds count?

However, this is a year of disaster, and the little food left has already plunged the entire tribe of farmers into pessimism. I never expected that the leader not only refused to provide comfort, but also joined forces with the priests to hold a meeting at the meeting. Zhong stressed that the tribesmen must do this.

What else can be done? After all, he is the leader of the alliance, and after all, the big families and priests support him.

After all, everyone was at the rally and saw the private soldiers raised by Olegin!

Five hundred warriors wearing leather armor and chain mail suddenly appeared. Who dared to question the authority of their leader? Really looking for death!

What else can an ordinary person do? It seems that the only way is to take out the grain obediently, squeeze out three hundred pounds from the gap between the teeth, and finally get twenty silver coins.

Choose the lesser of two evils, and sensible farmers know that if grain is really sold, fifteen pounds of wheat will cost one silver coin, which is really ridiculous. This is the leader's order. If you obey him, you can still get a sum of money. If you don't obey, the leader may not even be able to borrow wheat in the future.

In this way, Olegin's intimidation achieved satisfactory results. After the agreed time, of course, some farmers still failed to hand over the grain. The reason for their refusal was very simple: if they took out the last grain, the family would go bankrupt after the winter.

Expect Olegin to be merciful? No! He forcibly took away the grain. As for the bankruptcy of the farmers, he gave what he said was a very suitable solution to solve the worries of the bankrupt farmers - becoming serfs.

"Rurik, you Russians can make a profit, but I will never suffer a loss."

When we count the amount of food that was forcibly purchased or even snatched, the total amount exceeds one hundred Thousands of pounds! And this is not counting Olegin’s own gains.

He planned to deliver half a million pounds to Rurik and hoard the remaining grain himself. As for how to use this huge amount of food, that is your own business.

For example, when farmers are hungry, they open warehouses to sell grain.

I am forced to buy fifteen pounds of silver coins. When the time comes to sell grain by myself, no matter what, I will not be sold for more than ten pounds.

This was his plan, but he had not yet thought that his actions in searching for food would bring him a solid reserve of materials for his major decision a year later, as well as give his allies the opportunity to follow him. "Strong confidence.