It has been two days since the huge team arrived in Novgorod, and the city has become extremely lively.
It is an exceptionally sunny morning, and even those who get up early can feel the warmth of spring.
In fact, the temperature at night still drops below freezing, which results in astonishing ice formations under the eaves of every house every morning.
Ice is dangerous, early risers will knock it off, and when the sun rises high enough, a trickle of water begins to appear on the wooden eaves.
The whole world is thawing. When the land becomes dry enough, spring plowing will begin. There is not much time left for plowing.
These days Rurik feels like the donkey of the production team. He had to be busy farming, organizing immigrants, and calculating time and weather
He didn't stay in Novorosberg for a few days at all. This time he returned to Novgorod and returned to the parliament chamber here. .
Rurik sat in the main hall, and people who had the right to participate in the meeting sat on both sides.
They are officers of the First Banner Corps, a few old guys from the Second Banner Corps, and master farmers and craftsmen in the city.
Old Otto and the local governor Medved were both there, as was Carlotta.
Today’s meeting was all about farming, but at first glance it looked like a military meeting.
Rurik didn’t make much preparation for this meeting, but he determined some things that must be done, and even when he preached, he just said it.
"It seems that everyone is here. I won't say any polite words. Let's get straight to the point. Today! What we are talking about is farming! Starting this year, young people from Ross will immigrate here in large numbers with their families. . I decided to build a new settlement at the old Pine Needle Manor to resettle the immigrants. The First Flag Team will have priority in the land there. When the snow melts, we will go over to delineate each family’s fields..."
Rurik is repeating the policy so that the brothers of the First Flag Team can be truly mentally prepared.
He continued to preach: "We in Russia will farm the land well when we come. I found that the local people only claim to be good at using land, but in fact they only have a rough grasp of it. You can obviously be highly productive, but poor technology limits the output. . I am not saying that Russians are good at farming. In my opinion, the farming methods that we all used to know are backward. Now it is different. I will directly interfere with your farming operations and make your farming more practical. The act of scattering seeds will end forever!"
Everyone thought that Rurik was using this meeting to reiterate what had been negotiated in the past. how? He wants to teach everyone how to farm?
He is a person blessed by God. He should have received farming wisdom from God, right? It's a great thing if that's the case.
The words are mainly directed at the White Tree Manor. They are the current main population of Novgorod. The selected farming masters entered the venue. They came proudly, but they were directly criticized by the prince for not knowing how to farm.
My self-esteem has been frustrated, but the prince will probably teach everyone new skills.
"So, Rurik, how will you guide us..." Rigus asked in a hoarse voice. Here he is very old, Rurik's father-in-law, and an old guy who has spent his whole life crawling in the dirt. His inquiry represents all Novgorod people.
Rurik stretched out his hand to quiet the restless people.
“Years ago, a batch of curved shaft plows arrived here, and you began to plow the fields efficiently. I noticed that your grain production increased, but it was very limited. In recent years, more agricultural tools have entered here. , the situation has not changed, all because you don’t know that there are better planting techniques and tools.”
“Is there a better way? There are better tools? Let...the deer you brought pull the plow?" Ligus asked again in surprise.
"Deer! Naturally, they have to pull the plow, and they are very reliable. Plowing the land only loosens the soil, and there is also a way to sow seeds later. In the past, men, women, and even children, each held a wooden basin full of seeds. Lining up to sow seeds in plowed farmland is so stupid. You are seriously wasting seeds. You are not allowed to do this from this year on. I want you to sow seeds in lines. ”
Spread into a line? how so? What's the point?
Rurik described it in Norse and Slavic languages, and everyone’s confusion was reflected in their expressions.
"I know you are confused, but this is necessary. You can understand it this way, our troops always line up to face the enemy, and our positions are neat, so we always win. On the other hand, the enemy , always standing in a chaotic group, why are we easily defeated? Because our soldiers stand in order, no one can use their abilities, so I want all the Maimiao soldiers to line up, so that they can fully get the sun. Power. Oh, by the way, I'm afraid you still don't know why wheat grows."
Arik listened for a long time, but he was bored by the simple matter of farming, and mentioned the positions of soldiers. This guy instantly perks up.
He took advantage of the moment when his brother was calming down and interjected: "You said that the wheat seedlings should be lined up like soldiers, so you must start from sowing."
The cousin interjected to consolidate his thoughts, "Yes! I plan that when the plow makes a groove, the seeds will be sown in it, and we will sow the soil at the same time. This will save us a lot of time. At least you all know that the time of sowing is very important to us, and we cannot. I don’t dare to delay.”
Everyone knows this description. Since soil plowing and sowing are started at the same time, it can be considered a pioneering work, that is, sowing directly in the grooves. The people of Baishu Manor have these tools. Never did this in years.
“You must not think that by sowing the seeds, you can wait for the autumn harvest. I know that you can only do some hoeing, but other than that, you don’t take care of the fields. These behaviors are stupid! When you raise cattle and chickens, do you still worry about whether the poultry and livestock are sick? For example, when you plant the fields, you neglect the seedlings? You don’t even know how wheat grows?High how scion. "
Speaking of excitement, he pointed his finger to the sky: "The sun gives us the power of the sky, which is the incarnation of Odin and the incarnation of Peron. It is the sun that makes wheat seedlings grow. If there is not enough sunlight, the wheat will ear late. "
He pointed to the earth again: "Mother Earth also has great power. Whether it is wheat or cabbage, there should be flax stalks, reeds by the river, and pine trees everywhere. Their roots must absorb the earth. power. In different regions, the power contained in the earth is also different. This is the difference between good land and poor land. ”
This theological explanation is a simple and crude explanation of why wheat grows. No one has ever made such an explanation before! Rurik’s identity is unusual. Everyone believes that he must have said this. Everything comes from the source!
Those farming experts understood the influence of sunlight, rain and the earth on the growth of wheat. As a result, the priest of the farm did not give any explanation. He kept saying, "It depends on the amount of harvest." "God's will", turned out to be completely dependent on the sky.
Only Rurik has ever come up with a set of explanations that can be justified. Naturally, there are some things he deliberately added. There are elements of strange power and chaos, but if the so-called "power of God" is understood as the law of nature, everything makes sense.
They are purely illiterate. The local Slavs have their own language, but they don't. The available texts are, at most, some abstract pictures that represent meanings. The Nordic runic script used by Rus and other Varyags is already advanced, and Rurik is already educating Rus' sons to read and write Latin.
Tell them that the root system absorbs nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to thrive. This is the book of heaven.
He has his own explanation: "We are born as humans, and our existence itself is favored by God. Since wheat matures only when it receives the power of the sky and the earth, we also rely on the power of the sky and the earth to survive. Then our feces are not completely stinky and useless. They contain some power and they can nourish the wheat seedlings. ”
This explanation seems to make sense, but when it comes to the word “feces”, everyone bursts into laughter.
When a person accidentally guesses the word “feces”, It would be unlucky to be laughed at by his companions. Now the prince actually said that feces is still a treasure. It was really ridiculous.
Rurik had to keep calm and wait for them to shut up.
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“This is the fact, we eat wheat, and wheat seedlings eat dung. Also, rotten reeds also contain power. If you put this smelly lake mud into the fields, the wheat seedlings will definitely grow better. What we regard as a stinky thing is actually a delicious meal for wheat seedlings. Ask yourselves, can you say no to barbecue? ”
Some people with great understanding have already had an epiphany, such as Carlotta and Medved.
Those farming experts even brainstormed, and some people stood up happily: "Prince! I see! When the wheat seedlings grow in a line, we can walk freely across the field. We could pour some buckets full of sticky muck into these... haHaha...these smelly things are poured on the roots. Wheat... can eat this dung with its mouth and grow better? ”
Someone can be considered enlightened, and Rurik was overjoyed.
But this description is also more funny, and there is endless laughter.
When the atmosphere stabilizes a little, stay Rick asked urgently: "You are absolutely right. May I have your name! ”
“Mstidar Uglievich. "
"Very good, Mstidar, I recognize your face now. Wait, I invited you..." Rurik looked at these "farming masters" who were invited. Their other identities are local carpenters.
They are recognized as farming masters and Their status as carpenters is directly related. During the period when iron tools were extremely scarce, the wooden shovels and wooden plows they made were the best local agricultural tools. Of course, their effectiveness was far inferior to the iron farm tools provided by the Russians.
“I remember. You are all carpenters. Mstidar, you can't leave after the meeting. All you carpenters stay, I want you to do something big for me. ”
If you can be chosen by the prince, you will definitely get a lot of benefits immediately. Mstidar is also an old man. His son has been fighting for the young prince and has earned a lot of trophies. , will he be used more seriously?
He praised the greatness of the prince, and sat down again with a smile.
"You should all find this, among the neat wheat seedlings. There are many narrow aisles, so it will be very easy for you to hoe weeds, and you don’t have to worry about trampling on the wheat seedlings. It is also easy to spread manure. People need to drink water, your cattle, sheep and chickens also need to drink water, especially wheat! I know you didn't water the wheat fields before. This is not right. We cannot completely count on rainfall. When the weather is dry, we draw water from the lake to ensure that the wheat does not lack water.
I can promise you that as long as the wheat fields act in accordance with our resolutions, the harvest season this year will increase by half! You will pay more taxes and you will get more output. In this way, you don't have to work hard to open up new land. Developing existing farmland to increase production is the lowest-cost method. "
Rurik said a lot, and everyone was completely frightened by his profound words, as if the god of agriculture was preaching to the farmers digging in the soil.
It is stupid to attribute all harvests to gods. They believe this, and Rurik just takes advantage of the situation.
He reiterated: "God brings wisdom to the world and gives power to individual people. I. It is my responsibility to guide you to explore the wisdom hidden by God, so that everyone can live better and better lives. The way I see it, spring plowing will be here soon, and as long as the warmth lasts for a few more days, we should start planting. Rigus, are your crops ready? "
"Appropriate. ”
“Very good. Your land has been surveyed and mapped, and I hope you will sow it according to my method. Don't worry, I will invent a tool for sowing, and sowing will become very easy. ”
Sowing tools? Anyone with keen ears sat upright.
Rurik has already explained from a philosophical level why wheat grows and matures. The theory needs to be proved by practice.
No amount of propaganda is better than letting the farmers directly see the increase in production, but they have no new operations before, and Rurik knows that to make them trust him, he must put on a big show - the prince Plow.
“I will personally cultivate the fields of the old Pine Needles estate, and also in Novgorod. I will use brand new tools, plows to turn the soil, tools to spread the seeds into grooves, and finally Plant a tool and then bury the seeds.”
This is like a big pie, and everyone is muttering about what kind of new tool this will be.
The meeting finally dispersed. Since Rurik represented the gods, he said that farming according to the new method could produce high yields. This was no lie.
Ligus and Medved walked out happily. The father and son discussed the possible beauty of autumn, and then hurriedly checked the prepared planting grain.
Carlotta is even more hopeful. She has a large amount of oats and a small amount of wheat supported by Rurik (mainly for experimental purposes). She had already understood the new farming elements mentioned by Rurik, and directly wrote them down on the paper using Latin vocabulary.
More than a dozen old farmers were deliberately left behind. They were all eager to see the miracle of an unprecedented harvest immediately.
Rurik did demonstrate a miracle, that is, he suddenly took out a roll of paper and unfolded it to reveal a mechanical structural diagram.
Real carpenters can draw spatial drawings in their minds, even if they have not received training. This is the accumulation of experience that allows them to directly visualize the entire processing technology.
This picture of Rurik is not complicated either. The principle is to transform the existing curved shaft plow.
A wooden funnel is installed behind the plowshare, and a wooden pipe leads directly to the bottom parallel to the plowshare, so that the wheat grains leak out and fall into the groove behind the cultivated soil.
There is an inclined wooden pole at the rear end of this funnel, connected to a baffle, which acts as a shovel to move the soil and cover the seeds.
The three of them are integrated. At first glance, the whole sowing process is just a matter of people and animals working together to pull a plow and go back and forth one after another after many years of farming.
Rurik asked them to look at the picture first, and then he pointed at the picture with a wooden stick and then preached.
Whether they are master farmers or carpenters, they are qualified intellectual talents in Novgorod, and they are elites who must be firmly attracted.
"I will collect the entire farm's plows, as well as the ones I have recently brought back. I may gather a hundred curved shaft plows, and you will all modify them. I know this is not a big problem for you, It will take some time before the ice and snow melt completely. I don't want to hear that the time is too tight to complete it. I will pay you a large reward as long as you complete the modification of one plow and pass my inspection, you can get it... ...Five silver coins. Think about it, you may all get half a pound of silver coins as a reward.”
Needless to say, Rurik’s proposed reward made them tremble.With their unstoppable smiles on their faces, these old guys seemed to be collectively going crazy.
The combined use of plows and seeders, which has been done in the East for hundreds of years, as well as the use of irrigation and farmyard manure, ensures that a bumper harvest of one seed for fifty is possible, unlike Among the traditional Slavs, even in the ninth century, it was still a poor output of five or six sons.
Rurik was full of confidence. He felt that he was indeed the god of agriculture. In this way, the local people directly skipped a long period of agricultural development and suddenly began to be exposed to intensive farming technology. Even if they just learned a superficial way, they would be much better than before. Of course, the cold climate here is destined to limit the upper limit of growth.
Even if they learn it awkwardly at first, once they start implementing it, it is a huge leap forward. Their agriculture was extremely backward in the past and they no longer had to worry about losing anything.
The carpenter started to take action, using a lot of tools provided by Rurik. They began to renovate Quyuanli on a large scale, and they even stayed up all night to fight for the reward of silver coins.
In a short period of time, the first modified plow was produced! Its structure is actually very compact. The wooden "spout" of the seeds is almost directly behind the plowshare, and there is a wooden partition mechanism to control the speed of the seeds falling.
Since the parts are mass-produced separately, carpenters make one type of part respectively. When the first plow is assembled and fixed, subsequent products will be continuously produced.
Although there has been no large-scale experiment, Rurik has personally verified its reliability in the wooden shed.
Next, we just have to wait for the modified plows to be completed, for the ice and snow to melt, for Lake Ilmen to completely thaw, and for the land to become dry again.
Rurik already has a plan in mind.
He is not just instructing the craftsmen these days. He has specially written some documents, which together are a set of books teaching the Russians how to farm.
He wrote four copies in Runevanian, Romanized Norse, Romanized Slavonic, and Latin, and ordered his wives to copy them for future distribution.
This will first benefit Russian immigrants, most of whom can understand rune. As for the local Slavs, the soldiers of the Slavic Banner Corps had some words patched up, so they could understand them even if they thought about it.
Of course, they all understand pictures! Rurik almost drew some cartoons, which were actually "pictures of farmers' farming", which his wives and concubines could copy better than gourds and gourds.
This is already a document with the nature of "Agricultural Classics", and he once again felt that he needed a wooden movable type printing press.