Spring plowing is coming to an end, and overtired people will take a good rest for a while before continuing to work in various ways to gain benefits and improve their lives.
If major construction projects are to be carried out in the kingdom's major cities, these idle people will be the best migrant workers.
If the kingdom wants to go to war, they are recruited as warriors.
In order to prevent the Smolensk people from attacking the north, Rurik, who was on an expedition to the west, faced the dilemma of being empty in the rear, and had to be merciful and fully arm the Slavic peasants in the Novgorod area. The inferior but large-scale forged iron spears were
Widely distributed, they were not even sharpened, and many of the spear blades were not wide. The sharpening and binding of the wooden poles were all given to the villagers, who were ordered to stick to their homes.
As a result, the war in the rear did not break out, and the spear fragments distributed now were not recovered.
To Rurik, a piece of worn cast iron was nothing, but to an ordinary farmer it was enough to change a lot. With the iron spear, these forest dwellers suddenly had the courage to form a team and enter remote forest areas to hunt.
Bear.
A newly peeled brown bear skin can be sold for at least twenty silver coins. The income from just one skin is enough to improve the hunter's life a lot. The bear meat can be eaten, and the bear bones, especially the whole bear head, are sold separately.
There were more than thirty farms that were forced to relocate by the army. They left the forest and got a better life by the lake, but they could not really let go of their past lives.
Living in the forest, they had to build some low walls for the old camp to prevent attacks from wolves and bears. Unfortunately, most of the tools at hand were wooden and bone tools. Although they always won when facing crazy beasts, they would lose every time they failed.
Someone has to be injured or die, and injury often means a more painful death.
Kamni, the blacksmith whom Rurik carefully trained, has become a man of his own and has become extremely strong. The thin and short child has become a young man with a square chin and a beard. His arms are strong and powerful, and he can hold a hammer and strike red-hot iron ingots repeatedly.
A thousand times.
Kamnier's parents died in a bear attack. The simple idea of the villagers teaming up to hunt bears was to eliminate this beast that feeds on humans in exchange for safety. Nowadays, hunting bears has obvious benefits, so why not?
Every standing army soldier should have an iron helmet decorated with a bear's head, and the upper jaw of the bear's tusks should be used as a sun visor for the soldier. The king had such a long-cherished wish, so the army had a large consumer market for bear products.
, economic interests drove the Slavs, who had a large number of iron spears, to rush into the forest.
Not only them, the new and old Russian warriors are even better at hunting.
The collective "winter hunting" of the Russians in the past has become a thing of the past. What is presented to them is the vast Valdai Forest, and the broad view is the dense forest that stretches all the way to the Ural Mountains.
The vast world has not been developed. The so-called "hidden people" were found in large numbers and forcibly moved. After passing through Lake Valdai and continuing eastward, the only humans that can theoretically be encountered are the rare and lost Finnish tribes.
A large number of men entered the forest, carrying a large amount of dry food with the intention of staying in the forest for a longer period of time.
The straight-line distance between Lake Valdai and Lake Ilmen, where Novgorod is located, reaches 90 kilometers, and it seems that you have to pass through a dense forest to get there.
Due to the past explorations of the "Hidden Man", there is a path in the forest that leads to the lake in the east in a more tortuous way.
Medved and his army, who entered the forest to carry out forced immigration, eventually followed this path and conquered the settlers of Lake Valdai. He did not take full responsibility for relocating the locals and allowing them to continue their current lives. After taking away
After some tributes were made, explaining the new changes in the Western Great Lakes region, he left.
Farmland has been opened up in the villages of Lake Valdai, and the locals were forced to continue their journey because of the failure of the power competition in Lake Ilmen. Living on the shores of Lake Valdai cannot be said to be a paradise. What you have to watch out for here are almost wild beasts. In addition to the large number of available
They had nothing but wood. They had no iron tools, and since there was no stone in the area, their tools were sharpened bones.
They were able to cope with the attacking beasts, but they cleverly surrendered without a fight against Medved's steel-armed warriors.
Nowadays, the village of Valdai Lake has been recognized by King Rurik as the easternmost settlement in the kingdom. This also proves that the more distant east has not been explored.
The leather of big animals, cherish the tender skin of small animals, the hunter's heart yearns for it.
But the roads leading to the local area are not just forest roads opened by ancestors.
Most of the old Russians immigrated to Lake Ilmen with their families, and then built a large settlement on the banks of the Msti River east of Novgorod. That was the developed land of the old Pine Needle Manor, Rurik
I also own a large area of official land there. Sitting on vast hectares of fertile land, continuing to explore along Msti and upstream is still a specialty of the Russians.
In this way, an adventure happened.
The river gradually narrowed, which was not a problem for long boats with shallow drafts. They went all the way in the opposite direction, and finally drifted to a lake. The unnamed lake still leads to the Msti River channel to the east. If you continue eastward rashly, it is better to enter the lake. It is bold.
The explorers turned their heads to the south and discovered that the lake was extremely long and slender, divided into multiple small lakes of varying sizes and connected to each other by wide waterways. Finally, they saw a settlement and met a guy standing on a raft fishing.
The explorers were surprised that the people were not afraid of them, so they rowed boldly and started a conversation in Norse.
So the matter has been found out, the upper reaches of the Msti River is in the Valdai Lake, and the so-called Valdai Lake is not a small lake, it is an extremely large lake area, even no less than Ilmen Lake, it is just a dense virgin forest
Covering its true appearance.
Rurik's mind was once entirely focused on the war against the West, and until now he is still concerned about the kingdom's commercial expansion in Frankland.
After all, the leather, linen, ironware and other goods produced in Ross need a larger consumer market to be dumped, and the goods must be rushed to places with large populations. Exporting to Frank is currently the most cost-effective option.
The war suddenly took on the meaning of trade war, which made exploring the Valdai Lake area eastward unimportant.
The returning soldiers heard the news - many ferrets were found near the lake in the east.
The people of Mstisk were ready to take action, and Arik was also tempted.
Although Rurik didn't have time to think about the Eastern expedition, he couldn't help his brother coming to find him with a smile.
After finishing the retreat, he finally choked out the most important chapters of "Rossaga", and combined with other mythological stories compiled by Ella, a Nordic mythology system with the most rigorous logical chain as possible was officially created.
All that's left is precise proofreading, and then arranging for manual printing to achieve mass production.
He reappeared, and people who had been waiting for him for a long time gathered around him.
Since they had already completed their triumphal ceremony in the capital, the expeditionary force did not need to spend any more time in Novgorod. The overall performance of the triumphant army was a bit low-key, but the large amount of loot did not lie.
Among the many people who were eyeing him was Vodgen, the director of the state-owned textile factory. This old guy wanted to eat all the Flanders wool. This idea was immediately approved by Rurik. Instead, he casually asked: "I
I thought you would lead the people to unload the cargo after the ship docked, why haven't you done anything yet?"
The old guy happily went to the temporary warehouse to move the goods, followed by some processing, and finally produced a large number of woolen sweaters. What is a monopoly? This is a monopoly. There is only one textile factory in Novgorod, and the Vodgen family is the
Industrial owners who are loyal to the royal family naturally enjoy privileges. After all, it is a state-owned factory belonging to Rurik. It was expanded and changed the property rights on the basis of the old Vodgen workshop. The workers have a group of slaves, most of whom are female workers who are idle in the fields.
, including Ragnar’s tribesmen who work as part-time workers.
The reason why Fo Degen is so anxious is that in addition to his salary, he also gets dividends from the products. The cost of the factory's incoming materials is almost all paid by the royal family. He only takes people to be responsible for the processing, and the labor compensation is in principle given by the king. Fo Degen
It is a professional manager. He does not have to worry about business risks now. He has only one task, which is to expand production capacity as much as possible, so that he can get more production capacity dividends, which is a huge amount of money with great future.
Voldegen's personal visit reminded Rurik of his promise to Ragnar.
"Yes, it's time for his people to go home."
Rurik knew that Kagan and Carlotta still had something to do, and the three of them should choose a day to discuss it in detail.
The date was set, but there was still some time before that, and two things needed to be resolved quickly.
On a calm night, there are only two brothers in the warm room. Rurik is not yet ready to act like a king to his eldest brother. But now, Arik is ignored by his beloved wife, the clever Asraqi, and he has already ignored his younger brother.
More awe.
However, as he drank some strong alcohol, that awe disappeared, and Arik loudly shouted his opinion while laughing.
"You know that our most eastern settlement is on Lake Valdai. Now many people have discovered direct waterways leading there, and our fishing boats are already floating in the eastern lakes."
"Is there anything else?" Rurik opened his eyes wide and was surprised.
Seeing his brother's reaction, Arik couldn't help but slapped his thigh and continued shouting: "In addition to being warriors, we old Russians are also fishermen and hunters. Isn't the purpose of our annual northern hunt to catch valuable ferrets? Now, isn't it?
There is intelligence that there are ferrets all over Lake Valdai."
"This is real?"
"It's absolutely true! Brothers can't lie. So I plan to organize the brothers to go to the upper reaches of the river. If we can capture a large number of ferrets, wouldn't it be a huge fortune? What do you think?"
Arik raised his head, his eyes seemed to have light bulbs. The desire to get rich was written on his face, and Rurik had no intention of objecting to this. He pinched his beard and had to think about it.
As a king, Rurik would not simply talk about getting rich like his brother. But it is a good thing that he thinks so.
In the past, when there were not many silver coins in circulation in Sweden, the price of tanned ferret skins was as high as two silver coins. The color of ferret leather is essentially different with the seasons. In summer, it is brown-black, and in winter, it is pure.
White. People who don’t understand will think that these are two small animals. Smart hunters know that they are the same species and will focus on catching a certain color according to the season. The white mink is the most popular, but the black one is still beautiful.
.
An area of leather the size of a man's thumbnail can contain 100,000 fine hairs. Mink fur is extremely smooth and extremely warm. Fur clothing made from it is both noble and extremely comfortable. Mink fur has always been a hard currency in the Nordic world.
, it is actually difficult to catch, but now Ross has more tools to make more and more advanced traps specially designed for hunting small animals.
So, will those Frankish nobles, big and small, want my mink?
"They definitely want it."
Rurik judged that even the knights of the village wanted to wear a mink coat that felt extremely smooth. Of course, the gentlemen lacked cash wealth. What they had was the food they plundered from the people in the territory.
Food is always needed by the Kingdom of Rus, and no one denies having too much food.
Rurik paid attention to his elder brother's description. He had already figured it out and asked tentatively: "Are all the soldiers willing? The spring plowing has just ended, and they plan to take a break and continue to be hunters?"
"Who wouldn't want to have the chance to make a fortune? Besides, it would also be nice to catch a group of mink brothers and make their own clothes."
"It's indeed very good. How many people do you plan to mobilize?"
"This..." Arik, who was dazed, made a conscious decision, "Let's not go to war this year, right? At least you won't take the initiative to attack?"
"Of course. This year I just want to make a fortune quietly."
"Well, I will try my best to mobilize the brothers and set off. I will also bring some young people from the Youth City, if they are willing. There may be five hundred people going to Valdai, and maybe we will spend the whole summer there. If
I found a strange village during the hunting process, so I just attacked and captured some slaves. Haha."
"Okay." Rurik smiled and nodded: "How many mink skins do you think you can bring back? I am very concerned about your harvest."
"Maybe a thousand, maybe more."
"Do your best. Since you told me about this, I agree now. I... will also give you some conditions."
"But it doesn't matter."
"I will send my scribes to follow you."
"Oh?" Arik suddenly had an idea: "Is it possible that we still need to tax the hunted leather? You can't do that."
"Hey! What are you thinking about? We agreed that this year will be completely tax-free, and I'm sure of it. My scribes are all proficient in drawing and writing. Brother, we should be prepared to explore the unknown world in the future. The team passed those rivers and mountains
, try to draw the terrain as much as possible. Also draw the strange animals you encounter. Also, write down what happened every day, what the weather is like, and what problems the brothers encountered. This will make it easier to summarize after the exploration.
"
"This... is too troublesome. If something happens, can everyone just come back and say no?"
Rurik shrugged: "I am afraid that you will encounter too many things and forget a lot, so my scribe will record the things you encounter for you."
"Okay. One more person is not a problem, but I'm afraid your clerk won't pee his pants when everyone encounters a bear."
"Is this possible? If a bear really appeared, wouldn't you just shoot it with crossbows and arrows?"
"Haha, that's not the case. We will stab the bear's vitals with a spear. After all, only intact bear skins can be sold at a good price."
The action plan has been approved by the king, and the king also wants to deploy people to participate in it. The expedition to Lake Valdai is not a journey to make a fortune hunting wild beasts. Rurik wants to take the opportunity to conduct land exploration, even though the price of such exploration is primitive.
Because Rurik also has a long-cherished wish.
He knew very little about the huge Eastern Europe, and he was no better than his own people. Now, through commercial trade with the Pechenegs and Kievs, the Rus Kingdom basically understood the direction of the Dnieper River, and occupied the upper reaches of the river.
The Smolensk Horde Alliance of the Passage.
Where is the very important Volga River? This large river is somewhere further east, and there must be a large number of tributaries converging into the main river. Ross's explorers did not have to insist on looking for the main river. All rivers that flow eastward as a whole have a larger number of tributaries.
There is a high probability that it will flow into the Volga River.
Rurik did know the Caspian Sea, the final estuary of the Volga River. What is certain is that the narrow riverside plain in the estuary area is now completely occupied by the Pecheneg Khanate.
It would be great if we could reach our allies through shipping, and the trade costs for both parties would be greatly reduced.
Thinking of this, Rurik made an updated request to his elder brother. "You try to explore as far east as possible. There is also a very wide river in the east. It is wider than the Rhine. I call it the Volga River. If you find it
, we will build a settlement where we found it. We will build ships there and we will go down the river.
"Where will we end up?" Aric asked casually.
"The territory of the Pechenegs."
"Ah! What a miracle."
Rurik's face was serious and he didn't mean to be joking at all. His younger brother always predicted the unknown, and he often received revelations from Odin. The "Volga River" was completely inexplicable to Arik. You can find it by exploring eastward, and then find a direct contact with Pei.
Channel for the Chenegs? It would be great if it worked.
Arik has always been willing to be an explorer and hopes to make more contributions to this end. He fully agreed to his brother's additional suggestions.