With the autumn harvest completed, classes resumed in Rus' school in Novgorod.
The school only teaches cultural knowledge for two academic years to enrolled students, and one academic year only refers to the period after spring plowing and before autumn harvest. Because all children, even if they are only five years old, are small laborers in the family. A small labor force suspends production.
Going to study is a good thing for everyone in the long run, but a short-term trouble for the child's family.
Therefore, all enrolled students enjoy free meals, and the expenses are borne by the king.
Of course, these children do not just study and do nothing. They only learn knowledge in the morning, and must work voluntarily in the afternoon, exchanging the fruits of their labor for food in their stomachs.
Child labor is a common occurrence in this era, or anyone who cannot work will be disliked by fellow villagers and even close relatives.
Most of the boys will arrange physical work, such as carrying an ax and a two-man saw to learn the orthodox "Viking-style directional lodging logging technique", cracking flax fibers to make fine hemp rope, and peeling off trees with knives and small hand axes.
Then, the tree trunks are made into a large number of small vertical wooden sticks to be used as arrow shafts. Those children who show great potential for strength at a young age are directly sent to the blacksmith shops in the city to be apprentices, and the future of such children is shaped like this -
—A popular blacksmith.
Girls are often assigned to work as apprentices in state-run paper workshops and garment factories, and are even required to wear water-soaked cloth masks and participate in the work of tanning leather in a smelly environment.
They are mainly descendants of the Old Rus's, followed by the descendants of the New Rus's of the Viking line, and finally the Slavic children from the White Tree Manor.
The education currently promoted by Rurik can only benefit its core population. As for other Slavic farms, except for the children of boyar nobles who have been recruited, the rest of the children can almost repeat the traditional life of their ancestors for thousands of years.
As a result, a noble ethnic group has expanded from the beginning. They can come from multiple tribes, even from Slavs, and now they all call themselves "Russians".
In the War of 840, the cavalry in the kingdom's standing army was always granted the privilege of independent action. Rurik did not give them a very clear task, but after setting a general direction, the commander was free to do so.
In battle, the cavalry became a surprise force.
The standing cavalry also suffered a lot of losses, but the parents of the deceased in the battle have received a large amount of wealth and glory that the sacrificed son gained for the family. At the same time, a vacancy for a cavalry appeared, and the brother of the deceased in the battle could
Inheriting an elder brother's position in the military, or if the parents of the deceased in battle nominate a relative to take over if there is no suitable son to replace him.
The First Cavalry was quickly resurrected. After all, there were many young men who wanted to become noble cavalry.
Should we ignore the long-cherished wishes of the squealing cubs?
No! Ross's cavalry must be expanded to meet the kingdom's needs for activities in the eastern forests and grasslands.
The most lively period of Novgorod is temporarily over, some warriors are exploring eastward, and some ruthless people are going south to build new settlements.
The area around Lake Ilmen has entered a period of "mass production", but farmers adhere to the pattern of working from sunrise to sunset. Even though the daylight hours are now very long, their overall pace of life is still extremely slow. They have a very special
The huge potential needs to be tapped urgently, and Rurik is not in a hurry to exploit it, because the current economic chain of the kingdom does not require the entire population to produce various materials.
In the past, local Slavic farmers were trapped in extremely backward agriculture and had to struggle with hunger and hunger. At the same time, they had to pay tribute to the conqueror Rus.
Now that everything is getting better, every household's warehouse has finally begun to have surplus grain. Farmers are finally qualified to accumulate wealth. Based on the king's newly reclaimed land being tax-free for the next year and tax-free for three years, a little calculation shows that a piece of newly reclaimed farmland has a total of five
A tax-free policy for each year. Even if taxes are collected in the future, the kingdom's scribes will determine the grade of the acres after the land is allocated, and the grain will be collected in corresponding proportions according to the grade. How to calculate the calculation? As long as the farmer family chooses to cultivate wasteland, they will make more and more money in the long run.
.
Extremely smart people noticed a loophole in the policy - there is no tax on growing vegetables. So before the king adjusts the tax policy, it is profitable to grow a variety of vegetables.
All children who have reached the age of twelve are considered adults, and the Slavs are no exception. They have begun to find wives for their adult sons, and families with daughters are also trying to marry off their adult daughters as soon as possible.
Naturally, there is another problem here. Ordinary families on the surrendered farms really hope that their daughters can marry a boy with the blood of the old Ross.
In recent days, farmers have rowed boats to Mstisk and Novgorod to sell their daughters to the locals. Of course, those beautiful girls were snatched up like crazy and became the daughters-in-law of the old Russians, and were given
A considerable gift from the girl's parents.
This is a normal intermarriage. Rurik and everyone are very clear about the purpose of the marriage of those farm people. Rurik likes this situation very much. As long as the people spontaneously make the relationship entangled due to marriage, it will ultimately be beneficial to his rule.
.
After sending Carlotta and Kagan to the south, Rurik joined the team by water, and also organized manpower in the city to complete the compilation and proofreading of all the current contents of "Russian Saga".
In principle, it can be printed and mass-produced and then bound into books for sale.
A small trouble is that although Novgorod can print, there are too few wooden movable types in stock. This is not a capital city, and only Novgorod has enough equipment for large-scale printing and mass production. Besides, wooden movable type
It is just a temporary measure. The most cost-effective option under the current conditions is to use lead movable type. Where can I ask where the most lead is? Naturally, it is New Roseburg and the hometown of Roseburg in the north.
Some chapters of "Russian Saga" can be trial printed in Novgorod to see the effect. As for mass production, it still needs to be implemented in Novorossberg.
Rurik thought that he had an important agreement with the high priest Rumia. Looking at the current time, he probably would not be able to return before the summer solstice ceremony. At least he would have to arrive in the capital in July with all the manuscripts and a large amount of paper.
.Because the capital New Rossburg is stuck in a unique geographical location. The east is the continent and the west is the ocean, especially the Baltic Sea in the west. People who believe in Odin are everywhere along the coast. They can understand it if they get the "Loss Saga".
Such books are the only "literary works" they can get. Various stories of gods and demons enrich ordinary life and greatly strengthen their belief in Odin. Naturally, Rurik also mixes in private goods, and has always emphasized that the Russian royal family has indeed obtained
Odin's gift.
Other Vikings, such as residents of Sweden and Denmark, must not be able to understand the Latinized Norse language, so Rurik thought of this and gave Ella a temporary task, which was to compile another edition written in traditional Rune script.
books.
Her cheeks were as bulging as a frog with anger, but what could she do? She could only translate honestly. And another embarrassing problem was that Novgorod did not prepare rune wooden movable type, so they immediately started carving out
The mirror script and rune script of the letters are essentially carved on a wooden board with a knife, so that all the letters are just a combination of various straight lines, which is much easier to handle than the written Latin letters.
For this reason, Rurik had to postpone his return to the capital, but it did not mean that he would be idle in the next time.
Because what was promised to the fighting hero Brody, now is the opportunity to implement it.
"Bald" Fisk, captain of the 1st Cavalry, led some of the cavalry south to assist Carlotta in the construction of Lukiholm. There are still a group of cavalry resting in the rear.
All standing cavalry have experienced brutal wars and have sufficient combat experience. In principle, each of them can serve as a junior officer.
The selection of the 2nd Cavalry was held outside the city of Novgorod. All boys who had received two full years of education in school and were over the age of twelve were eligible to apply.
This time Rurik intends to recruit another 300 people, who will join the 2nd Cavalry, and the captain appoints Brody, who has done meritorious service.
Originally, it was Rurik's plan to add fresh blood to the standing army. The standing army will no longer set up new infantry units. The current infantry unit, so-called bear-headed berserkers, will not be expanded after the number of personnel is established. However, there are also new recruits. They
They only replace those who died in battle.
The Second Cavalry is the only one to expand the army. Joining it means that you can get a salary. Of course, you will definitely face tough battles in the future. As the saying goes, those who are afraid of death are cowards. The descendants of old Ross are brave and fearless. It is said that "real warriors"
"You can charge with an iron horse." In fact, if you join the cavalry, you have the opportunity to seize the most loot. If the elder brother dies in battle, the younger brother will take over. If the father dies in battle, the son will take over. The family behind the cavalry will always benefit from having a standing cavalry in the family.
Of course, the king would not raise useless people to eat Kong Xiang. Now that the young boys have received cultural knowledge, they also learned basic fighting skills during their school days.
Select outstanding candidates through "competition". In the past, this method was used by Old Ross to select chiefs. It was the kind of competition where warriors competed with each other. It is not surprising that people were killed in the competition. The written test "competition" is an examination in a general sense.
, which determines which children can learn deeper cultural knowledge, and then determines which children can work as scribes and receive salaries.
Competing in martial arts is the easiest "competition" for the old Russians to understand. Children naturally don't fight with wooden swords and shields, and their competition is very harmonious.
The first priority of a cavalryman is not to be afraid of horses, and the second priority is understanding.
They have not yet received riding training, but Rurik found "training horses" that he thought were extremely docile. In this way, the horses understand the slogans, and they will perform tasks such as sprinting and emergency stops under the commands of a real standing army.
, the sport of sharp turns, as long as the child holds the reins and rides firmly in the saddle without being thrown out, it is qualified.
On the day of the "competition", thousands of people came to the open fields outside the city to watch the show. In addition to Novgorod and Mstisk, boyars from several farms heard the news and brought other children from their own families.
The bastard came to try his luck. Everyone knows that the king has a contemptuous attitude towards ordinary farms, but the king will not show contempt or discrimination publicly. In this way, the king actually acquiesces that all brave people can participate in the "competition", so in the family
The second, third and even fourth sons all have the opportunity to find a good job in the Second Cavalry.
The boyars of the manor all send their children to school. They do this firstly to show their loyalty to the king, and secondly for the benefit of the family. It is not luck for them to become boyars. Their families have long enjoyed power in the farm and are very powerful.
The extent is that this family pays more attention to wisdom than others. Even if it is plunder or speculation, they have more property in the farm and have more say. Now they have to go to Ross to find this huge backer.
The boyars brought their sons to "compete", which of course pleased Rurik who was watching.
For example, the die-hard Calf Manor and the Fisherman Manor actually joined forces with the Rus-White Tree coalition and formed a larger coalition due to the special geographical location (very close to Novgorod). This is already ten years.
Years ago, due to their geographical proximity, the two farms provided agricultural products to Novgorod nearby. With their complete economic ties, their lives were getting better and better.
Ten years have passed, and the youngest son of the Boyar family has grown up, and Boyar has multiple daughters and sons in the two manors. The two manors originally had a small population. After the good times came, every family was trying their best to have children, with a family of five or six children.
Not surprising, and the probability of living to the age of twelve is much higher.
Boyartori and Uski are also getting older. They have begun to have large areas of gray hair, and the wrinkles on their faces are no longer noticeable.
The two wore beautiful hats and took their young son with them to bow deeply to Rurik, who was supervising the competition.
"Your Majesty, this is my little son." Tori said.
"These are my third and fourth sons. They are old enough to serve the king." Uski said quickly.
Rurik glanced at the corner of his mouth: "Needless to say, I understand where you are coming from. You are loyal ministers, and your youngest sons can become cavalry. However, they have to go through the same trials as everyone else. After all,
On the battlefield, the enemy doesn't care whether you are noble or not."
The two boyars looked at each other and hurriedly recommended their sons, claiming that the boys were brave enough.
"Brave? Maybe. Pass the riding test first. Be careful, you might die if you fall off the horse suddenly."
Rurik was not joking, even though the test site he chose had soft grass and the site had been trampled by horses. In this way, the bad ground has a natural buffer, but if the impact is too strong, you will break your legs, and if you fall on your head,
There may also be sudden death.
People may die in such a "competition", so any child participating must swear to accept any unknown fate, which is equivalent to signing a life and death certificate.
The parents of the children tried their best to wrap them up as tightly as possible, and even though it was the warmest period, each child actually put on winter clothes.
Such a move is wise. After all, even docile horses can easily fall off their riders when switching between acceleration and emergency stop and deceleration. At first, some riders fell off their horses, rolled over on the mud, struggled to get up, cried in pain, and some were strong and stubborn.
Stand up. No one died, but they all suffered internal injuries after falling from the horse, and the thick clothes wrapped around their bodies were also full of mud. They were all losers, and those who reached the finish line on horseback would enter the next stage.
It's a pity that Uski and Tori's youngest sons were all smashed up in the mud.
"This is fate. They are born with a lack of understanding of riding horses. Maybe after more training, they will know how to ride horses, but I need elites now. I want to ensure that the most elite warriors fight cruel battles."
Rurik's words were very tactful, and the two of them had no reason to complain, so they had no choice but to bring their dirty little son to pay tribute to the king.
More than 400 people passed the riding selection, and such a unique "competition" suddenly became the talk of the town in Novgorod.
The children who passed the competition were given a feast, and they competed in archery and lumberjack competitions the next day.
In archery, select the person with the best archery skills. Four hundred and fifty will advance to three hundred and fifty.
When it comes to logging, select those who are the strongest and are good at chopping. Three hundred and fifty will make it to three hundred.
After a competition, no one can say it is unfair. It is the king who gives the participants the greatest fairness. Even if the parents of the participants are blond boys from the old Ross tribe, they still have to compete with other children and rely on their excellent strength.
stand out.
Such a competition selected 300 good seedlings worth cultivating. They were very young and were only twelve years old. They were quickly assigned to their own mounts, which were also young horses that were only two to three years old. Both the riders and the mounts were very young.
, and they have enough time to cultivate feelings for each other.
In the end, Rurik, wearing a golden crown and riding a horse, gave a grand lecture to these new cavalrymen.
He wanted to make a show by holding the flagpole in his hand and the Ross flag fluttering in the wind.
Brody was riding a horse and waiting with a solemn expression. He kept paying attention to the group of children in front of him from the corner of his eyes. For the time being, they were simply arranged in a matrix without riding horses. Everyone was uniformly dressed, and their young cheeks ranged from green to ferocious.
After an impassioned speech, Rurik raised the flag high in his right hand and turned his horse's head to face Brody.
"This flag is handed over to you! The Second Cavalry is now established, and you are the captain of the cavalry! Brody, I don't give you much time. You must train these children in the shortest possible time, at least ensure that they can
Horse riding, followed by training in mounted shooting, thrusting, and chopping.”
"Yes!" Brody took the flag, so that the king had completely fulfilled his promise. The moment he took the flag, he was so excited that he almost cried.