Rurik invited many nobles from the Novgorod region, including old Otto, a heavyweight tasked with controlling the town.
Everyone called Kagan khan according to the custom of the grassland people, and everyone recognized that he was indeed the supreme ruler of Pecheneg.
After drinking to the point of excitement, Rurik hung the crystal cup high and advocated: "No one can question the power of my brother Kagan. If anyone objects to him becoming the Khan of Pecheneg, I will raise my troops to attack. All attacks
The behavior of my allies is tantamount to attacking Ross. Friendship will last forever!"
The nobles held up various wine glasses and shouted "Auld Lang Syne". They kept drinking, and the ale seemed to be endless.
Indeed, the Novgorod region, which has a large amount of grain, has the capital to squander grain to make wine. During the long winter, it seems that only wine can quickly warm people up. Drinking is not only a personal preference, it is almost a means for local people to fight against the cold.
Kagan had already followed the local customs. He had already felt how cold it was in the far north, and lamented that no force had the ability to defeat Ross. On the contrary, these northern behemoths could go south and bite at will.
"To our eternal friendship!" Kagan stood up with a drunken body, but accidentally sat down again. He smiled and looked at the wine glass that was half spilled, and drank it all.
There are ales, kvass, and flammable spirits. Any liquor deliberately added with some honey and stirred with a small stick becomes an original cocktail.
The dinner even made other dishes lose their elegance. Only the sizzling and oily roasted whole lamb made everyone salivate.
The banquet to send Kagan home was an opportunity, and at this opportunity Rurik happened to gather the boyars from the manors around the lake to the city.
When these nobles arrived, the good news that was deliberately leaked in advance had been spread by word of mouth among the people and naturally reached their ears.
Is there such a good thing? Because of the great victory of the expedition, three years of tax exemption?
Didn’t you say that you planned to be tax-free this year? Your Majesty, then you want to be tax-free for three years?
The good news is a little too good. People always repeat the "three-year tax exemption". Boyar caught someone at random and scratched his face, and the person who answered could only say, "I also learned about it from a friend."
Whether such a good thing is true or not, the boyars dare not speculate. They hope that this is true, and the first thing they are invited to do now is to send the Pecheneg people home.
The banquet was not to confirm whether the rumors were true. They tried to stay calm during the banquet. Only when everyone was drunk did someone faintly bring up the matter.
Everyone hoped that the king could publicly declare that this was true and immediately declare that all agricultural taxes from 841 to 843 would be exempted, that is, taxation would be restored from 844.
Rurik was seen shaking his head with a unique drunken smile. He didn't say anything, but he seemed to use this smile to acquiesce that it was true.
After all, there were a large number of nobles lying around in the banquet hall, and most of them were drunk and unconscious, making the whole scene too decadent.
Old Otto also wanted to regain his former bravery, but unfortunately he was too old, and his body couldn't bear it if he wanted to drink heavily. It seemed that he had been deprived of the right to drink by God, so he had to have a few drinks.
.
Now that the nobles have arrived in Novgorod by boat, there is no need to go back because the traditional inland river trade route has been restored. As the largest residential area in the kingdom, Lake Ilmen has a huge consumer population, coming from the direction of Novorosberg.
The ships deliberately waited until the snowmelt period in spring was over. The Neva and Volkhov rivers finally became much calmer, and merchant ships began to sail to Novgorod to unload and sell goods.
Leather products, salt, bacon jerky and ironware from the north gradually arrived, and locals flocked to buy them.
Even if the king does not collect taxes, the boyars of each farm will always need silver coins. The price of grain during the autumn harvest is extremely low, and they are often willing to store grain until spring and sell it to the outside world during the spring famine.
As the expansion of farmland across the country continues, the climate in recent years cannot be said to be smooth, nor can it be said to be bad. Macroscopically, grain production capacity has been increasing, and Rurik has set the official grain sales price at
A silver coin is worth ten pounds of oats or nine pounds of wheat. Food is indeed the anchor of currency value.
The official selling price is this, and the official also has a large inventory of silver coins, copper coins and even gold.
Even if grain can actually be used as ready currency, a sack of oats is often packaged for one hundred pounds, and the highest ratio is only ten silver coins. In theory, they can indeed trade directly with merchants at this exchange ratio, but the reality is
It's extremely unrealistic.
Any businessman likes metal currency that is light and easy to carry. Businessmen from the north will never buy goods and then transport a ship of grain back.
As the leaders of the farm, the boyars have to fulfill many obligations to the villagers. If the kingdom collects taxes, they are the tax filers. If the villagers want to trade grain, they will help the villagers sell the grain and earn some benefits.
Rurik set the official price for selling grain, and the amount sold every month was implemented by the standards he set. These grains are almost commercial grain supplies for the city. If it is not a famine year, people outside the city have no right to buy it.
.Anyone who attempts to disturb it commits a heinous crime and will be sentenced to the death penalty of a blood eagle, although this is never enforced.
Rurik set a bottom line for the grain market, and based on the current situation of the Rus Kingdom, although the kingdom's territory is huge, the population is actually too small and distributed in several large areas. Compared with the past era, business has indeed become more prosperous.
, but the bulk trading market for grains suddenly arises almost only during the autumn harvest period, and then quickly dies.
Except for the autumn harvest period, the grain trading market was generally sluggish. Even if the boyars deliberately delayed selling grain until spring, they would not be able to achieve the high price of ten pounds of wheat for one silver coin.
It happened that Rurik was the largest grain merchant in the country, and he could buy as much as he wanted during the autumn harvest at a low price of fifteen pounds per silver coin.
Whether they were Vikings or Slavs, as long as they were farmers and were eager to cash in on their grain, they would sell grain in large quantities to exchange money from the king.
Over the past ten years, the royal family has accumulated enough credibility that as long as a farmer has the ability to transport grain to the royal family's purchasing station, he can get the grain.
The kingdom then consisted of three large-scale grain purchasing stations, namely in Stockholm, Novorosberg and Novgorod. In terms of scale, Novgorod was the largest, and the city's granary was also the largest in the country.
Therefore, each boyar had to consider the loss cost of storing grain. They lacked the storage technology of the royal family. They also had to quickly exchange a large amount of silver coins to buy other daily necessities. Even if they delayed till spring plowing, they would not be able to make a lot more money.
Taxation has never been the first means for the king to obtain large amounts of food from the people. The king is the largest businessman and a monopoly businessman. Therefore, he can exchange various necessities for food from large grain owners. This is a kind of problem for the royal family and the boyars.
Just***.
"One silver coin exchanges for ten pounds of oats" is the foundation of the economic activities of the Rus Kingdom. The kingdom is indeed a grain-based country.
In fact, in Rurik's view, since food is the basis of survival and a real currency, he has every right to issue currency based on food.
"I can print a batch of grain exchange coupons. The cost of printing is paper and ink. I can use it as payment for some people, so that they can only use such paper to exchange grain from me."
The earliest banknotes were indeed commercial bills of exchange that were spontaneously produced by the private sector, and were later officially recognized as legal and officially endorsed for their credit.
Is there a shortage of silver coins in Ross now? No. There is indeed an upper limit to Ross's economic activities. If you touch this upper limit, you will encounter shackles. This is exactly the principle of "one silver coin for ten pounds of oats". If the royal family is in a certain situation
In future crises, if food equivalent to economic activity cannot be produced, or if official food stocks are suddenly exhausted, a crisis will erupt.
At present, Russia's economic activities are developing normally. Since there is no crisis in the flow of traditional currency, there is no need to resort to paper money.
Not only that, although Ross's expedition led to the defeat of many old warriors in the past, the "Operation Marriage and Population Expansion" that began more than ten years ago finally exploded with powerful force. Soldiers will not suddenly appear based on the king's willpower.
The preparations made more than ten years ago have resulted in thousands of twelve-year-old boys sprouting up in the kingdom.
These boys were born during the period when Ross's wealth was expanding. They knew nothing about hunger. On the contrary, they grew up eating wheat and fish, and their physical fitness was far better than that of their parents. They also learned basic cultural knowledge and could understand
Paper orders written in Latin letters, and they can understand any posted notices. They can go to the battlefield with weapons, but if they can be given more time to wait until they are fifteen years old, they will be better warriors
.
According to tradition, even if a child is born on the last day of the year (the day before Hanukkah), as long as Hanukkah has passed, the child is considered one year old, but in fact he is only two or three days old. Therefore, a large number of children are counted as twelve years old.
The boy is actually only eleven years old.
In 841, the second batch of twelve-year-old children made their debut. They were already considered adults and had the obligation to defend Russia's expansion of territory. They were more eligible to get married and have children. In fact, such children of Nordic descent, regardless of whether they were male or female, had genetic differences.
This determines their precocity and ability.
Of course, Rurik would not be so stupid as to actually let twelve-year-old boys enter the battlefield, unless it was a war in which he risked everything on the fate of the country and would lose the country if it could not win, just like the Battle of Gotland nine years ago.
On the contrary, Ross has created a relatively safe external space. With the existing standing army and the soldiers who have returned from various flag corps, it is not appropriate to recruit them for active expeditions. It is completely fine to defend the country.
Even if the civil war in the Frankish Kingdom is destined to become fierce, hasn't Ross already joined hands with Denmark to send personnel to the Western world to deliberately disrupt the situation? The main force of Ross does not need to participate, unless Ludwig of the Eastern Kingdom is really going to be beaten to death by his eldest brother Lothair
the edge of.
As a result, the kingdom received a period of strategic opportunity, and the entire kingdom needed to recuperate.
The news of the so-called "three-year tax exemption" was indeed spread by Rurik. He could predict the public's response after the news spread, and the people were indeed discussing it happily.
Why three years of tax exemption? According to the original plan, the tax exemption was to be implemented in 840 to stabilize the confidence of the expeditionary force and the people in the rear. As a result, the hard-working clerks had already finished manipulating the tax before the tax exemption order was sent back to their hometown. The tax exemption must naturally be implemented in 841. But
The kingdom indeed achieved a great victory in the expedition!
When Caesar held a triumphal ceremony in Rome for ten days, the people of Rome saw the majesty and glory of the army. But what really made the people support Caesar was another virtue - he treated the people of the city to free food and drink for a whole month.
In short, it is just spreading money. If you change the method, it is tax-free for the people.
Li Chuang then launched the banner of "three-year tax exemption" and got the hungry people's response. In just one year, the defeated Eighteen Cavalry swelled to an army of two million refugees.
With a clear understanding of history, Rurik could realize the significance of tax exemption, and the romantic thoughts deep in his heart were not destroyed by the ten-year expansion war.
The year 842 must be tax-free, which is equivalent to the feat of "Caesar invited the whole city to dinner". It has been tax-free for two years. Let's learn from the righteous deeds of various Eastern dynasties when they were first established and extend the tax holiday to three years.
Since the main grain-producing areas in Russia directly controlled by the royal family are highly concentrated in the area around Lake Ilmen, farms are villages, and they are the basic social units for organizing food production. Each farm has a boyar nobleman equivalent to a village, even if there are
In the past, the boyars were domineering, but now they are actually under the direct control of the Governor of Novgorod, and the governor is directly responsible to King Rurik, even if these boyars continue to be domineering and get the king's approval
If the government dares to refuse the order, the army will come to attack it in person, just like it has done in the past.
In fact, some privileges are naturally set up for the old Russian settlement of Rurik, but they are all treated equally in terms of agricultural taxes. There are more than 40 old and new Slavic farms around the lake. They are Slavs, and many of them have been raised since childhood.
They knew that the Russians among the Varangians who came by boat could not be offended. They were born with this awareness, and now they were relieved to be directly managed by the Rus.
A large number of Russians immigrated to the Lake District. Since they lived in the territory of the old Pine Needles Manor that had been massacred, they did not intrude on the acres of other manors. They made a comparison and found that Pine Needles Manor was also a small overlord back then, and each farm had to pay them
Supply. Now we are also providing supplies to the Russians, but the Russians have given everyone a lot of benefits, so that grain production has increased a lot. If we pay more grain to the Russians, we will keep more grain.
Even though the king did not have any tax-free decree, the days of the Slavic farms were still developing steadily. After all, they hardly sent troops on expeditions. Although they did not get a lot of spoils, they also had no losses. On the contrary, the boyars were ordered to serve as cavalry (acting as cavalry).
The son of the hostage) came back with a large amount of trophies. The boy became the hero of the whole village and a warrior recognized by King Rus. The men in the village who claimed to be brave also became excited, wishing that they could also have the opportunity to go to the battlefield to collect trophies and loot.
Personal honor.
More than forty boyars were ordered to participate in the banquet. Everyone was actually entertained by the king with wine and barbecue, and felt extremely satisfied and grateful.
In fact, this was also a performance performed by Rurik, just to make those boyars realize that even though they were forced to move their entire village from the forest to the lake to accept the rule of Ross, the King of Ross really did not treat them as outsiders.
.
So these boyars were allowed to wake up after drinking. After their spirits were completely restored, they were invited collectively to enter the parliament court in the city.
The parliament court was bustling with excitement. It was widely rumored that the king was going to announce a tax exemption order. When talking about this, many people simply shook violently with excitement, which was beyond the control of personal willpower.
Then when Rurik, a noble and kind man, appeared on the stage, all the boyars stood up one after another, roaring, stomping on the floor, and applauding, making a lot of noise in various ways.
Rurik waved to them and didn't bother to elaborate on the polite words.
Governor Medvet was present, as was the Supreme Clerk Ella, who stood on the left and right of Rurik respectively. Only in this way did the smart people among the boyars fully understand the meaning of the meeting. Because of any taxation activities, the governor would send
People carry the physical agricultural tax and supervise its implementation, while the top clerk sends people to do statistical work, and records everything in writing becomes the evidence.
Rurik said bluntly: "Have you all heard the news? I tell you that everything is true!"
The scene that had just been quiet quickly boiled like boiling water.
He slapped the low podium hard and scolded everyone to be quiet with a smile.
He also solemnly announced: "The tax exemption should have been last year, but something went wrong. Therefore, this year's tax exemption will take over from last year! It is also because the war was a great success, so glorious that it deserves the tax exemption. It will continue to be tax exempt next year. Since it has been tax-free for two years, let me give you another one.
Year after year, the tax exemption will continue the year after that. A full three years! This year is 841, and the tax exemption will continue until 843. When we collect agricultural taxes again, it will be 844!"
Rurik repeated more about the specific time to ensure that Boyar, who was hard of hearing, heard clearly.
They cheered wildly, praising the king for his wisdom, and praised the king with the best words in Slavic vocabulary, "Slava" and "Skoy", which together means "glorious hero".
The tax exemption order was first announced in Novgorod and then implemented in all settlements throughout the kingdom.
So, now that the tax is exempted, what will happen to the country’s expenditure? Will there be no fiscal deficit?
Due to the seizures of the war, and even the continuous blood transfusion of the metal smelting industry directly controlled by the royal family, the wealth flowing into the national treasury would indeed be more and more if the expenses of the huge war were reduced. After all, only agricultural taxes are exempted, and commercial taxes and customs are exempted.
Taxes should still be collected. What's more, he made some calculations and found that the war in 840 had indeed turned into a trade war, and the Eastern Kingdom had completely opened its doors to Ross. Ross now has the best iron ore in Europe, and it is the kingdom.
The huge source of wealth in the current historical stage is the export of iron products to Saxony, Flanders, the Netherlands, Britain and East Francia. The local geographical conditions determine that they are indeed short of iron, and it is impossible to refuse the good iron from the north.
Only in this regard, history has returned to its normal course. Since the Kingdom of Sweden discovered large iron ore, it began to export crude sponge iron or iron iron to the Holy Roman Empire. HRE craftsmen refined the iron iron, and then in the 15th century
Learning the technology of steelmaking and hydraulic forging made steel popularize rapidly. Shinra was able to achieve this largely by relying on the annual transportation of Swedish iron ore. This transportation is a thousand-year transportation.
Rurik did not do this intentionally. Due to various considerations, selling iron products to Saxony and the Eastern Kingdom is the best solution to seize local wealth. He is now in Novgorod, and he can be sure that Russian armed cargo ships will begin to circle around.
Cross Jutland towards Hamburg, Rotterdam (Rotterdam) and Utrecht...