Even though it came late and the harvest was bad, the wheat finally started harvesting.
This year's poor harvest has become a reality as expected. Farmers are holding their own huge sickles. They stand in the ridges and look at the sparse and low-hanging wheat ears in their own farmland. How should they feel?
The ears of wheat are all withered and yellow. They are ripe, but the fruit is not much.
The farmers helped each other. A group of strong men controlled giant scythes and began to cut off the wheat stalks in large pieces. Then, with unique force, they moved all the wheat straws to one side of the field ridges.
The women, children, and even the elderly at home gathered the wheat, tied it into bundles with hemp rope, and began to carry it home.
Even though the harvest is almost complete, some women still stay in the fields, bending down to pick up the scattered ears of wheat and put them into their own rattan baskets.
Since ancient times, they will not waste any wheat ears. Especially in this bad harvest year, it has become extremely important to do their best not to leave any wheat grains behind.
It is already mid-September, and although winter has not yet arrived, the coldness every morning tells the residents along the lake that winter is coming.
I'm afraid this will be a difficult winter. Even if everyone survives the winter, what will happen next year's spring famine?
Even so, do you still need to take out the grain and sell it in the market to earn some silver coins?
Each family began to clear the compacted land in front of their houses. This was their threshing ground, which also served as a drying ground.
All the harvested wheat straws were thrown here. The family held their own wooden flails and began to beat the wheat straws fiercely.
They had to use great strength, and only in this way could the oats be shelled effectively.
Hulled oats are grown throughout Europe. They are very cold and drought tolerant, but the shelling process requires a lot of effort.
Farmers spend a lot of sweat to complete their own harvests. A man can often take care of more than one hectare of farmland. Even this yield is average in good years. The overall yield of oats per mu is one hundred pounds per mu.
A strong man can often take care of twenty to thirty acres of farmland. In Mälaren, there are many strong men who can take care of a half-hectare farmland. After all, they can naturally grow very tall.
Strong Nordic man.
The farmland is indeed vast, but even their planting and harvesting techniques cannot be complimented.
The Melalen tribe has never appeared from the beginning to the end. If the Novgorod Slavs have a traditional rural community based on blood and friendship, that is, a community similar to a natural village. They are fishermen themselves, and they have actually passed through half of the
As the century passed, the economic center of Mälaren became more and more focused on the agricultural cultivation of the region.
Most of the tribe's residents have become small farmers, and the proportion of traditional fishing in the economy is decreasing. Of course, this year's poor harvest will force farmers to fish on a large scale in the future. When they begin to worry about hunger
When you visit, you will feel the gift of Lake Mälaren.
In a good year, one and a half hectares of farmland under the care of a hard-working farmer can harvest up to two and a half tons of oats, which is 6,400 pounds when converted into the most commonly used unit of measurement in the Nordic world! This is an extremely astonishing number.
A few people only need 1,500 pounds of rations a year, which is enough to survive. If there is a lot of fishing during the slack season, they can further reduce their rations.
This is of course data from a good year, and it is data that can only be achieved by the hardest-working small farmers. It is not universal.
Most farmers who are debt-free can harvest nearly 5,000 pounds of shelled oats during a normal harvest season.
How to use this grain is very particular. First, 2,000 pounds of grain will be deducted from the family's ration first, and another 1,000 pounds will be reserved for growing grain. Theoretically, the remaining 2,000 pounds of grain can be sold at the market, even if the person who collects the grain
The price will be kept very low, and in the end farmers can still get back more than one pound of silver.
All this is a beautiful fantasy.
Greedy people will not expect to accumulate profits just by relying on their own labor. For the large families of the Melalen tribe, any period of famine is a feast for them to make a fortune!
Because there really aren't many independent small farmers who are debt-free.
If you borrow grain from a large family during a famine year, you will have to repay it in larger amounts during the new harvest season. What is this amount?
Even if the areas of the Western European world that were once controlled by Rome became new kingdoms ruled by barbarians, the ancient Roman tax system was inherited. Agricultural taxes were also tithes, which farmers had to pay to the lords. As for borrowing, because the lords and
Peasants are all the lambs of the Lord, and the interest rate on loans is in principle zero (the dirty work of collecting interest on mortgages is naturally done by Jewish businessmen for the lords). In order to protect the lambs in the actual sense, the lords naturally have to ensure their territory in times of famine.
The residents could survive, and if the bandits followed suit, the lord would build a wooden castle to protect the civilians, thus ensuring that his source of tax revenue would not die.
The people of Mellaren have no such concerns, otherwise where would the fields of those big families come from?
Ordinary farmers, after tamping wheat stalks and sieving wheat grains, use the new wheat as debt that needs to be returned. They have to pay back more, and when the spring famine comes, they still have to borrow grain.
Almost all debts started from the poor harvest in disaster years. They only borrowed a small amount of grain at the beginning. It is not a big problem to pay back more during the harvest season. Even the farmers are grateful to the big families and leaders for their help in their difficult times.
However, in the Nordic region, the agricultural environment itself is extremely fragile. It is not impossible to rely on farming to maintain small farmers in this region. It is just that the level of technology in today's era is too low. No one can expect to ensure that a bumper harvest is the norm with current technology.
No, every disaster year deepens the debt of farmers.
The big family and leader Olegin had no intention of harming their own tribesmen at first. They were willing to help the tribesmen in distress, and it was only natural that they would charge a certain amount of interest afterwards.
After all, the debts are getting bigger and bigger, and the strength of ordinary farmers has been declining, while the large households that have been accumulating wealth have already managed to ignore all kinds of disasters and famines. After they became stronger, when they saw their former compatriots, their eyes became more and more serious.
Ambiguous. When they began to raise a large number of slaves, raising serfs who sold their land cheaply to survive, their trusting relationship with their tribesmen dimmed.
Quantitative change has finally arrived at the time of qualitative change!
I don’t know since when, the life of the Melalen people, who helped each other and stayed together, turned into the rule of the leader and a few big families over the entire tribe. In recent years, this rule has become increasingly fierce.
Let’s talk about this year’s harvest.
The harvest season of 830 was an unprecedented disaster for the people of Mälaren. It was not a total harvest, and a 50% harvest deficit was already confirmed.
Farmers began to count this year's harvest, and the result was a disaster of blood and tears.
Families that could harvest 6,000 pounds of grain in a good year will only harvest 3,000 pounds this year. If they had no debt, this harvest would not be too bad, and at least starvation would not occur.
But wait!
There are many farmers who have debts worth 1,000 pounds of oats to repay.
During the harvest season, there are many families who only harvest 2,000 pounds of wheat, but they still have to pay off their debts. In this way...
Although there is still a lot of wheat in his hands, if he repays the debt, he will have more than a thousand pounds left. The men are crying, the women are crying, and the old man even has thoughts of seeking death. Only the innocent children don't know yet
What happened? He clamored to eat new wheat, but he also cried.
As a result, a very bad problem enveloped the entire Melalen tribe.
Those who already exist as handicraftsmen do not farm their own land, but wait to buy large quantities of new wheat provided by farmers during the harvest season.
Although it is a year of famine, and even though the bad news of a failed agricultural harvest has long been reported in Uppsala in the north, people in Mälaren still have extravagant hopes.
However, the prosperous farmers' market that everyone hoped for has not replicated the prosperity of last year.
This year's situation is shocking to everyone. There are no farmers carrying their own grain to sell in the market.
At this moment, the plans of those grain merchants who conspired to negotiate the purchase price completely collapsed.
Yes, there is already only a handful of food left, and part of it is still left to grow, and the rest is rations. Even if the rations are not much, they can at least keep the family through the winter until there is really no food left.
As long as the food is available, think of ways to do it.
No one sells food?!
The shocking news soon reached Gould Island.
Gould was so frightened that he had to tell the wise Rurik the bad news at a dinner party and get a wise explanation.
And Rurik also knew the news early. Because it had never been a secret, some people on the small Gould Island were already panicking.
There was a ceremonial exchange of toasts, and Gould explained this fact in concern.
"That's it. It seems that there are really no farmers selling grain this year. I learned that everything is the result of a poor harvest, and they really don't want to sell grain. What do you think about this?"
What else could Rurik say? He seemed to be making a statement of fact, and his concerns were hidden in it.
"Oh? Are you worried that Olegin won't be able to get the five hundred thousand pounds of grain?"
Rurik pointed directly to the topic, and Gould nodded hurriedly: "That's half a million pounds! Even if Mälaren has a large population, it will have to gather so much food in the famine years... I am really worried."
"Are you worried that the farmers won't be able to produce so much food, or are you worried that Olegin will break his promise?"
"Of course I am worried that Olegin will go back on his word. In my opinion, there is nothing he can do even if he drains his own people this year."
"That's his business, don't be too pessimistic." Rurik shrugged.
"Ah?" Gould was stunned for a moment, "I thought you would be kind..."
"What will happen?"
"Check those farmers. After all, you are kind and you are friendly to the poorest people."
"You are wrong." Rurik shook his finger, "Only those who are willing to submit to me will I regard them as my own people. Even humble slaves, as long as they are sincerely willing to do things for me, I can provide them with benefits.
, This is my principle. I am not related to those Melalen people, so why should I care about them? Unless they are almost starving to death, beg me to take them in, and swear to do things for me..."
"That's what you think." Gould sighed deeply, "Well, maybe at this time next year, you will add more servants."
There are some things that Rurik and Gould both understand, and they now understand each other tacitly.
"Rurik, do you really believe that Olegin will fulfill his promise?"
Rurik looked strange: "You have been dealing with him for so many years, don't you feel worried about him?"
"I..." Gould wondered how he could become so close to Olegin? "I just don't trust, Rurik. Among all the leaders, I only believe that you value the contract the most."
The flattery was good. Rurik chuckled and took a sip of the chrysanthemum tea: "Just believe him. Maybe he will regret it, at least not this year."
"Why? This year is a disaster year."
"Unless he feels that as the leader of the alliance, he can play with the Russians at will. Anyway, our alliance with each other is very fragile, and he doesn't want to lose us."
"Okay, but there are no farmers selling grain, so where will the five hundred thousand pounds we want come from? His own farmland alone cannot provide so much."
"What else can I do?" Rurik stared, and suddenly pulled out the dagger that was twisted at his waist. The buzzing sound was endless, frightening everyone present to look sideways.
"you……"
"Are you afraid? Gould? That's right. What method can Olegin use? This is the method!" Rurik held the dagger and stabbed it into the wooden table in front of him. This was self-evident.
How did Olegin obtain food? There was only one method: buying it by force.
Fortunately, he is the leader and the leader of the alliance. To maintain the most basic face, he cannot simply plunder like attacking outsiders.
This is not asking for tribute from merchants. The tribute he wants is actually silver coins and copper coins. For a long time, he has no reason to collect taxes from farmers who own acres of land, because in normal times, he only relies on his own farmland to live and feed.
, the famine years are still the same today.
After all, Mellaren is not a city-state. It only has a prototype and has just begun to implement a tax system in the true sense.
There is no agricultural tax in Mälaren, but a commercial tax called "tribute" that is tailored to local conditions. The "tax" that has been levied now is also what Olegin calls a variant of tribute, and it is also a commercial tax.
In order to fulfill the contract, enough 500,000 pounds of grain were collected during the harvest season and handed over to the Russians. The purpose was no longer just to obtain more than 400 pounds of silver, but also to regain the absolute support of the Russians. The Russians prided themselves on being weak.
If you believed it, you would be a fool. Later, Olegin thought about it and concluded that the Russians were actually very strong. Since they did not clearly show their coveting of his power, Olegin did not say anything.
In order to achieve his goal, Olegin began to carry out what he called "necessary evils".
He took a mighty move with his private army, and the people he wanted to "attack" were none other than the property-owning farmers of the same clan.
First, as the leader, he invited all the men of the tribe to hold an open meeting in an empty place.
Nearly 10,000 people came at one time!
It was truly an extremely rare conference, and a large number of allied businessmen who were watching the fun also took the opportunity to join in the fun.
The tribesmen didn't know what important thing the alliance chief said. As expected, it was really important. The tribesmen were so angry that they stamped their feet and beat their chests.
In the final analysis, Olegin was explaining an order: "Each household must provide three hundred pounds of grain, and I will buy it at the price of fifteen pounds of silver coins. You must complete it within three days, and those who complete it will receive my payment."
The wooden sign is used as a certificate. If you fail to give it after the due date, I will lead the troops to get it in person, and you will not get a single silver coin by then."
To put it bluntly, this is an open robbery!
The powerful Melalen tribe is a behemoth with more than 20,000 people. The entire tribe has more than 10,000 men in their prime. There are three thousand small families of five or six members (a couple can have as many as they want).
In normal years, farmers don't need to be forced at all. They often take out as much as a thousand pounds of grain to sell at the market. What does a mere three hundred pounds count?
However, this is a year of disaster, and the little food left has already plunged the entire tribe of farmers into pessimism. Unexpectedly, the leader not only refused to provide comfort, but also joined forces with the priests to emphasize in the meeting that the tribesmen must do this.
.
What else can be done? After all, he is the leader of the alliance, and after all, the big families and priests support him.
After all, everyone was at the rally and saw the private soldiers raised by Olegin!
Five hundred warriors wearing leather armor and chain mail suddenly appeared. Who dares to question the authority of their leader? They are really looking for death!
What else can an ordinary person do? It seems that the only option is to take out the grain obediently, squeeze out three hundred pounds from between the teeth, and finally get twenty silver coins.
Choose the lesser of two evils. A wise farmer knows that if grain is really sold, fifteen pounds of wheat costs only one silver coin, which is really ridiculous. This is the leader's order. If you obey him, you can still get a sum of money. If you don't obey, you can't do it.
A good leader will not even borrow wheat from now on.
In this way, Olegin's threats achieved satisfactory results. Of course, after the agreed time passed, some farmers still failed to hand over the grain. The reason why they did not give it was very simple: take out the last grain, and the family would be ready after the winter.
Bankruptcy.
Do you expect Olegin to be merciful? No! He took away the grain by force. As for the bankruptcy of the farmers, he gave what he said was a very suitable solution to solve the worries of the bankrupt farmers - becoming serfs.
"Rurik, you Russians can make a profit, but I will never suffer a loss."
When the grain that was forcibly purchased or even snatched was counted, the total amount exceeded one million pounds! And this did not include Olegin's own harvest.
This was his plan. He would deliver 500,000 pounds to Rurik and hoard the remaining grain himself. As for how to use this huge amount of grain, that was his own business.
For example, when farmers are hungry, they open warehouses to sell grain.
I am forced to buy fifteen pounds for a silver coin. When the time comes to sell grain by myself, no matter what, I will not be able to sell it for more than ten pounds.
This was his plan, but he had not yet thought that his actions of collecting food would bring him a solid reserve of materials for his major decision a year later, and give his allies strong confidence to follow him.