Chapter 724 Rurik in Mstisk

On the ruins of the old Pine Needles estate, the Russian settlement of Mstisk rose. Most of the Russian immigrants will settle here, and it will become the largest Russian settlement in the principality.

Rurik, who returned, first listened to reports from the locals in Novgorod.

There are reports on urban construction and production. The most important thing is everyone’s description of the crops.

Old guy Ligus had a lot of life. He was smiling from ear to ear. It was said that the weather was rare this year and the wheat was growing very well. All the wheat had begun the earing process. It was a wonderful harvest. Not far away.

The descriptions of the residents of Novgorod are very consistent. They have never seen this year’s agricultural scene. Everyone compared this year with previous years and made judgments about a bumper harvest.

A bumper harvest is almost inevitable, because technological innovations in plowing and sowing have reduced inputs in growing grains and further increased harvests. Wheat has been in an orderly manner since it was sown, and the roots have absorbed resources from the earth in an unprecedented order. The technical advantages of the "drill sowing" model have achieved initial success, but people are more willing to attribute it to this year's climate.

Rurik deliberately scouted the fields near the city, especially observing the oat ears up close.

The appearance of oat ears is very different from that of wheat ears, and the yield is also lower than that of the latter. Although European oats have the advantage of being cold-resistant, it is indeed warmer here in Novgorod. Rurik was very satisfied with the growth of oats here, and he was more concerned about the wheat "test field" in Mstisk.

As long as you continue to go retrograde along the Volkhov River and enter the huge Lake Ilmen, the first settlement you will see is Mstisk. After a few days of rest, we must continue our final journey.

Rurik's ten maids took advantage of this opportunity and hurriedly submitted the data on the fields they had completed surveying and mapping on other farms. In an instant, there was a thick stack of cardboard recording dense data piled up in front of him.

The night is already very deep, and the flame of the bronze lamp holder is dancing.

In the warm house, Svetlana was just taking a nap, staring at her husband's back with squinted eyes.

Rurik continued to brace himself, relying on the flames to continue reviewing these documents, and couldn't help but yawn.

Lana frowned and couldn't help but asked abruptly: "Do you want to continue reading?"

"You... haven't slept yet."

"I just want to spend time with you."

"You should rest first."

Husband seems very cold? Lana sat up slowly and yawned loudly due to Rurik's influence. "It is really necessary to keep reading. You will have enough time to read when it gets up tomorrow."

"Time? What I lack is time. What do you think I am doing?"

Lanna was stunned for a moment and said casually: "Just look at what those sisters wrote. I also wrote something in it, but it was about other farm matters."

"It seems that you know everything, but you haven't understood the meaning yet. "

"Why do I care so much? "As she said this, she chuckled, then lay down and twisted her body like a coquettish cat, then whined again and asked Rurik to sleep.

"I still have to continue working... ”

Rurik didn’t care about his wife’s pouty expression. In his right hand, he still held a sharpened charcoal wrapped in a paper roll, using it as a pencil to make data on the yellow and white paper. Statistics and mathematical calculations. His time is indeed very tight, because his wives and concubines have all been working as scribes in the past, and the acres they count are the tax base of the agricultural tax, the principal tax source.

The principal can do this this year. The basis for how much grain tax is collected in Novgorod is based on the area of ​​these lands. Rurik plans to set a standard based on the average oat yield per acre of people in the White Tree Manor in Novgorod, and use this to charge 10% from all farms. One tax. In theory, this huge amount of tax can provide the immigrants in Ross with a whole year of comfort without working, because his wives and scribes were very pragmatic and made a preliminary census of each farm, which made Liuli Ke can further know clearly how many men, women and children there are in each farm.

Once the many data are compiled, Rurik learns not only the number of acres, but also the rough distribution of the locations of the acres in each farm. The situation, and the estimation of how much land each mature man can cultivate in each farm

The ability to raise taxes in an orderly manner really tests the organizational ability of a political power.

The civil servants will give priority to promotion among the group of young people they have trained, regardless of their mathematical ability or language ability. Those with outstanding abilities will be selected and appointed. Of course, to be fair, Rurik hopes that a group of male scribes will stand out.

Rurik is determined to personally lead his men to collect taxes, which will easily affect the entire Lake Ilmen. He made a field trip to the shores of the circular lake, and even looked at what life was like for the Ostara people who immigrated to the southernmost part of the Great Lakes.

He took the time to sort out a list, first making a draft with charcoal. , and then a pen made by Dayan Feiyu was dipped in ink to write an official list, and he collected taxes according to this.

Through these statistics, he has learned that the Slavic farms under his control include a group of newborns. Including this, the total population has reached nearly 30,000 people. When the boyars of each farm held meetings in the past, they all described that their farms had a small population. According to past perceptions, they clearly submitted to the rule of Ross. The farm seems to have a population of just over 20,000, but now the results of the investigation have revealed the truth.

They don’t want to expose their economic strength.And it became a big fat sheep whose wool was frequently cut, and it did not dare to expose its potential military strength in front of the Ross army. They were all trying to pretend to be weak, and Rurik understood the reason for pretending to be weak.

Because the agricultural tax of the eleventh tax is still considered a heavy tax based on the current production, Rurik has not even ordered a poll tax this time!

In ancient times, the agricultural tax rate in the East could be as low as thirty to one tax, but the head tax must be collected. The head tax allows the country to accurately know the population of its subjects, and it also encourages people to open up wasteland and grow food, so as to offset the loss of tax revenue through new harvests. As for the wealthy families raising slaves, the means to curb them was to impose heavy taxes, such as double or even triple the head tax on slaves. The tax would naturally have to be borne by the master's family.

This model has advantages and disadvantages. In a country, like the rising sun in the morning, its advantages outweigh its disadvantages.

A poll tax was charged, even though it could be as little as one silver coin, or the equivalent of ten pounds of oats. Not only the local Slavs, this tax applies to everyone in the principality, and those who are qualified to pay this tax are considered true subjects of the Rus principality.

The head tax is a very new thing for everyone. They only fully accepted the agricultural tax this year. In order to avoid complaints, Rurik decided to postpone the head tax. He still needs to think deeply about the matter.

Because the number of Slavic people in this region is not at all the 30,000 people listed on these books!

Rigus revealed that Governor Medved has been conducting an armed expedition in the dense forest with more than 300 men. The "expedition" is still continuing and will not be suspended until the autumn harvest.

It is said that Medved's work has made some progress, but the methods used are very violent.

Some of those "hidden people" are not really isolated from the world. There are paths in the forest that allow the small farms hiding to communicate with the large farms by the lake. The residents of these farms often only number a hundred or so, but their numbers are very large, just like a large group of dim stars surrounding the bright stars in the night sky.

A messenger conveyed news to Novgorod that Medvet had used military means to force as many as ten small farms to relocate! These people were moved to a reedy wasteland not far south of Msskisk to build settlements. According to the description of the messenger, these forcibly relocated people were afraid of the strong force of the new rulers and learned that they could freely develop the fertile land around the lake. , most of them are indeed willing to stay, but they only hope that adults will allow them to at least harvest this year's food so that they can survive the winter smoothly.

Rurik believed the description of the messenger. Maybe when he went to the east bank of the lake, he could count thousands more people in the emerging settlements of forced immigrants there.

He has no doubts about Medved's methods. Although they are both Slavs, their positions are completely different, because Medved is a noble relative of the principality.

Medeved, who is named after the bear, and his guys are all imitating authentic Russian warriors in their dressing up, so they mustIt was the fanaticism of the converts who was at work. He would first use force to force immigrants. The best strategy of asking for tribute and protons was not implemented at all, and the worst strategy of forced immigration came quickly.

"Perhaps forced immigration, destroying families and repopulating villages is actually a good strategy for long-term rule, but the method is too violent. It must be appeased! I will also ennoble the new boyars, give them new farm tools, provide them with grain and so on "..."

In the future, more and more people will be pulled out of the dense forest. Those people will probably be the losers in the competition, so they must leave the lakeside farming area with better water and soil. Rurik Regardless of their emotions, Lake Ilmen requires a large amount of labor for further development. From the perspective of the monarch, Rurik now needs labor loyal to Rus to cultivate wasteland, grow wheat and pay taxes. If this area actually has a Slavic population of 200,000, then all of them should be taken out and moved to the lakeside area to build villages one after another.

Is two hundred thousand people considered a huge population for Lake Ilmen?

Even in the current purely agricultural society, where 200,000 people can form villages and corresponding farmland, people living around Lake Ilmen, a large inland lake, cannot be said to be in shortage of resources.

As for why a large number of people stay away from the lake, Rurik is clear about a practical reason - the old Pine Needle Manor does not want others to plunder their interests. The entire lake was once its sphere of influence and is allowed to continue. Settled estates must pay tribute to Pine Needles Estate.

The leader of Pine Needle Manor did have the qualifications and strength to proclaim himself a prince, but it was a pity that he was instantly turned into powder under the attack of Ross's powerful military strength.

Rurik finally fell asleep. He was undoubtedly having sex with his wife. He had just arrived in Novgorod for a short rest. In the next month, because it involved the wheat harvest, the entire region The labor force will be busy, and I am afraid that my arms will be so tired.

The fleet that had been parked for only three days continued to move forward. The immigrants took a rest and got some supplies. The next stop was Mstisk, full of hope!

Soon, a huge lake came into view. The Russians, who were accustomed to seeing the sea, didn't think this was anything. They were more concerned about the eastern area of ​​the fleet, the flat area near the coast reflected by the dark green pine forest sea. The scenery there was indeed something that no one had ever seen before.

It seems to be a vast grassland, full of green grass?

Indeed, if a herd of goats were released, they would mercilessly clean up the spring oats that had just begun to ear.

The first batch of oats sown in late April has entered the heading stage, and the heading stage of the oats that were delayed until early May will be further delayed. Regardless of heading or not, these crops are all grass cereals, they are grass.

The Russians have lived a good life with wheat every day for many years, but they have never seen large areas of wheat fields. Many pure Russian women were shocked when someone pointed out that this was a wheat field! On the contrary, the local Slavic women who married into Rus were very proud.

Mstiysk’s terminal is beginning to take shapemodel, but the huge fleet anchored in Ross still seems to be insufficient.

When I arrived here again, I felt a sense of historical vicissitudes. Rurik stood on the deck, and the south wind with a faint smell of grass blew in his face. The wind was strong, and the calm lake surface was blown into sparkling waves, and the water waves kept lapping the reeds on the shore.

Compared to three months ago, this settlement has seen significant development.

A defensive and windproof wall system has been constructed, and timber-frame towers have been erected at regular intervals. Some Russian flags flutter in the wind on the wooden walls, indicating that this is a Russian residence.

Rurik is very satisfied with their construction. After all, it is necessary to guard against others. As outsiders, Russian immigrants are in a vast sea of ​​Slavs. At a time when national integration has not yet been completed, it is necessary to avoid gangs. In case of rebellion, any settlement must be well defended. What we need to be on guard against is actually not the Slavs living along the lake, but the Slavic national group further south, the Krivi League.

There are many men fishing on the lake, and some even float to Lake Ladoga.

After the fleet entered the pier, the immigrants walked out of the trestle in high spirits and stepped on the solid flat land beside the lake. The so-called pasture that the immigrants could see clearly, and looking around the lakeside, were actually wheat fields that were about to mature!

No one can ignore such a fleet. The people stationed in Mstisk have learned that the fate of their hometown has arrived a few days ago.

Arik eagerly awaited the victory of his clansmen into the harbor. When the ship docked, he would lead a group of strong men to roll up their sleeves and drive a small carriage, or push and pull a two-wheeled carriage, and happily go forward. Come and help.

Men are the most positive. What they welcome is no one else but their own wives and children.

The women who landed took care of their pots and pans, as well as boxes containing money and bundles of spare leather and cloth clothes. The young children were held in the arms of their mothers, and some urchins began to run around happily.

There are also those tribal elders who immigrated. They completed the last and longest voyage in their lives in their dying years, and finally arrived in this warm and prosperous land that the prince had fought for for everyone. Fertile soil. They will rest here forever after death, and they will be happy in their later years and shed tears of joy for this.

Just unloading the goods takes a long time, and a large number of net bags are unloading all kinds of people's belongings. The furniture is not heavy overall, but it is daily necessities for as many as 600 families. Everyone estimates that unloading will have to be done until tomorrow.

Rurik organized people to unload cargo on their own and was pleased that some fishermen suspended fishing.

Those fishermen were all young soldiers of the First Flag Team. They found their wives and children as soon as their boats docked. They did not feel distressed at all when they learned that their old home in their hometown had been sold. They saw their wives and children The expression of joy is only arousing in the heart, and there is endless strength in the whole body.

Arik and his men arrived just in time, and the young and strong people immediately joined in the unloading process.Cargo work in progress.

"Attention, brothers, find your wives and children, and transport your belongings first. Come back to help as soon as you get home!"

"Use the trolley well and help. Other brothers carry the goods. Put the children on the cart or carriage, and watch your children not to run around."

"You must not have any disputes. If anyone quarrels, you will be punished by me!" /p>

Arik is giving orders this time. He is the manager of Mstisk. The brothers of the First Flag Team all admire him. This makes the entire unloading and transportation scene seem chaotic, but in fact there are rules. Some families who had loaded up supplies were already pulling small cars on the dirt roads in the countryside heading straight to the city gates. More and more families began to leave singing songs.

Rurik finally let out a sigh of relief, and slapped his shoulder hard with a big hand.

"Arik? Is there anything else?"

"Nothing." Arik said with a smile, "There are no clan members in my hometown anymore, right?"

"Why?"

"Because we must control the mines and our shipyards. Even if we immigrate, our hometown will never be Can't throw it away."

Aric nodded happily. He still had a concern in his heart. He felt very at ease after hearing this: "This way, I don't have to rush to move my father's tomb here."

"Uncle's tomb? Don't worry, the tribal cemetery in my hometown has always been taken care of. Many of the New Rus people who later joined us still live in Rossburg. The Haro Zuosen family is still responsible for the management. We very much need the iron in our hometown. Ore, and salt from further north. We are just people who have left our hometown, and we will still have very frequent contact with our hometown."

"It looks like we will light a lot of bonfires tonight. , Let's celebrate. Now we have to continue unloading, come on!" Arik patted his brother on the back, "Boy, you are already a strong man. As a prince, you have to show your strength to your brothers. . We brothers will unload the goods together and finish the work at the dock early. By the way, let’s tell you about the good conditions of this farmland and the new guys in the south.”