A new city appeared at the mouth of the Neva River.
In the beginning, it was just a simple cold-proof shack built by 20 people of rammed wood and earth. With the arrival of the new spring, urban development began to rush forward.
Brand-new agricultural tools began to be used to reclaim wasteland. The sturdy and cleverly designed curved shaft plow reclaimed the land covered with weeds with unprecedented efficiency.
The Russians who immigrated here had already opened up fertile farmland in the fertile riverside area.
In the first year, the immigrants set fire to the wastelands brought by the city lord Conuson in preparation for farming. In the spring of the second year, they began to be transported by the mother city of Roseburg on the banks of the dark river soaked by melting snow.
The curved shaft plow began to reclaim land quickly and efficiently.
Otto came with new immigrants and a large amount of supplies, and a larger-scale pioneering operation began.
A large amount of grassland was burned, and then the land was reclaimed by human-pulled plows, and a large number of oat grains were scattered randomly.
Until now, the Russians who work in agriculture do not understand how to plant fields well. They naturally think that farming is nothing more than spreading seeds into the soil, burning and plowing, and a new field will be cultivated. Does it require careful management?
?No one has experience, or everyone feels that further work is unnecessary.
They don't know how to irrigate or fertilize.
But heaven is not kind to them either.
The water flow of the Neva River is very large, which causes a large area on both sides to be naturally infiltrated. There is no permafrost here, and the soil is relatively moist. It can be said that the Russians farm in this area, and it does not need to be too natural.
Concerned about irrigation issues.
As for the issue of fertilizer, they have no concept of using farmyard manure. And because of traditional habits, they are willing to seal all human and animal excrement underground.
All Russian immigrants, with a married man as a small family, made an agreement with the big leader Otto.
The immigrants stand in the field of hope. Even if spring comes late in a few years, won't the wheat seedlings still grow vigorously?
The land is moist, and the occasional drizzle makes all the riverside farmland even moister.
According to the agreement, each household must pay a tax to the chief during the harvest season. For each household's 200 pounds of wheat, farmers who know something about farming estimate that the tax rate is about 10%. No one thinks that the tax rate is relatively high.
, the immigrants even generally felt that the leader was kind and reasonable.
Various farm tools on hand, a large amount of wheat provided in advance, even some poultry and livestock to be bred, and even some building materials. All these materials are provided by the chief family, and the price for obtaining them is to pay taxes to the chief family from generation to generation.
They could not make a living by farming in their hometown of Fort Ross, they could make a living by fishing, and they did not have their own boats, and the weapons they used to go out to fight were poor. Only in New Fort Ross did they find a future.
Originally, the earliest settlement on the Neva River in history was just a small trading stronghold for the Varangians. Hundreds of years later, the Kingdom of Sweden established a fortress here. After the end of the Great Northern War, the Russians built a large-scale construction here.
and became her heart for a long time.
The Russians never imagined what their descendants would do, but what they are doing now is entirely to make a historical fact appear in advance.
Otto wanted to run New Rossburg as the core area of the Russian people in the future. Based on this psychological consideration, he should have withdrawn directly to Rossburg in July with the tributes he collected from Novgorod. This summer
I simply stayed on the banks of the Neva River and never left.
The warm summer is always so short. Taking advantage of the pleasant weather, Otto personally led the people to speed up the construction of our city.
More and more wooden houses are appearing on both sides of the river, especially at the mouth of the river where there are the most houses.
A group of residents of the Novgorod area had to obey Otto's order, take their families on a Russian ship, and arrive at the "distant" Novorosberg to settle down.
The vast world could easily accommodate Russian and Slavic pioneers.
Otto forcibly took away a group of Slavs to open up the land for the purpose of collecting taxes in the future. He felt that these guys were mixed with the Rus. They could no longer obey the orders of the owner of the manor in their hometown, but only obeyed the orders of the people who were ordered to govern the local area.
Conuson's dispatch, they have made a cut with the past, they are already a new kind of Russian people - tax people.
After all, the large and small Slavic estates surrounding Lake Ilmen are not monolithic.
Because Pine Needle Manor took the lead in the resistance, it was the most harmed by the Russians. The other manor houses obeyed and were not plundered crazily. The average manor owner envied the Rigus of White Tree Manor, who was originally squeezed out by everyone.
At the manor in the "Rim Ilmen Lake Farming Area", I didn't expect that they not only happily became the Varyag people's dogs, but also waggled their tails happily.
Now, those guys are already using brand new plows and huge amounts of iron tools to start felling trees and reclaiming wasteland.
The owners of the manor were envious of Ligus as a dog, but they did not dare to flatter him outright due to practical reasons. After all, the Ross people came two or three times a year, but the Pine Needles Manor was seen every day!
Even after suffering a blow, the balance of strength among the manors in the Ilmen region has not fundamentally changed.
Manor owners have to consider some regional political factors when choosing who to follow.
Ordinary people don't have the time to think so much. The first thing they think about is how to survive.
Most people are afraid of the Russians and feel that their promises are just to deceive everyone into becoming slaves. Where can such a good thing in the world? Farm tools are given to them for reclamation, but the right to use them is indefinite? The most important thing is that they only charge 200 yuan a year.
Pounds of wheat were given as tribute, or tax.
There are always some farmers who feel that they cannot survive and decide to take risks. They declare their separation from the former members of the village and board the ship of the Russians amidst the cynicism and even curses of their relatives and friends. Now, the large areas of farmland opened by these people are about to bear fruit.
Already.
New Roseburg has been under construction at a rapid pace.
A small group of people went all out to cut down trees and build houses, while others hunted wild animals such as the active burrowing rabbits and even clever snowshoe hares on a large scale.
After the chickens brought from Novgorod spent the whole winter, the poultry began to reproduce rapidly, so that after a full year, the chickens that were first transported had multiplied into a huge population, so that the immigrants
Every household is raising twenty or thirty free-range chickens, and the number is still increasing. But you can't expect these turkeys to be so plump, because the white-feathered chickens with the highest feed conversion rate were born in the 20th century.
It was still mid-August, and in the fields that were first cleared and sown, the oats were showing signs of heading.
It has to be said that the climate conditions in New Roseburg are better than those in Lake Mälaren, so the wheat harvest period here is earlier.
After all, it has been quite cold this year, and various newly planted crops in Novorosberg have suffered varying degrees of reduced yields. Of course, this serious reduction in agricultural production also occurred in Novgorod.
It was God who sent disasters that reduced agricultural production.
The Slavs of Lake Ilmen made sacrifices, hoping to get help from the lake god to tide over the difficulties.
However, they did not wait for the Lake God to come, but instead killed the Ross army who came back to plunder food.
Otto can't control that much. Each manor must pay not less than a grain of grain, as well as a batch of leather and a batch of honey, all of which must be paid.
Except White Tree Manor.
It's strange to say that when Otto saw Svetlana, the youngest daughter of the owner of White Tree Manor, she became more beautiful after three months. She was smart and very close to him, which really warmed Otto's heart.
She is my son's destined wife, and she is the most important one.
Otto reduced the tribute from White Tree Manor, almost to the point where he only had to pay a small token amount.
The owner of the manor, Rigus, felt that this was a strategy of the Russians, and he still wanted to cultivate a fan who was extremely loyal to the Russians in the Ilmen area.
The result was destined to be like this, but the cause was not what he thought at all. It was entirely because Svetlana, a beautiful woman, made Otto so happy that he fell in love with her, so he simply reduced the pressure on the residents of the White Tree Manor to pay tribute.
It's a pity that this girl is only eight years old, and she has to be engaged to her son Rurik in at least four years according to tradition. Oh, if according to Slavic tradition, it is not an engagement, but a marriage.
What did the girl's old father think? Rigus wished that his youngest daughter would marry that Rurik now. He had already reaped huge benefits for his manor from his eldest daughter's marriage. If his youngest daughter...
Otto could more or less predict what Rigus was thinking. When he was preparing to open up the Slavs who were reclaiming New Roseburg with a large amount of looted supplies and captured orders, he gave Rigus a strange order.
: "Educate your little daughter well and train her to be an excellent wife, so that she can be worthy of my son."
Otto's fleet returned to New Rossburg smoothly, and the entire fleet simply docked on the Neva River. After they unloaded a batch of supplies, they carried out the autumn harvest under Otto's leadership.
The wheat and a batch of vegetables have been harvested, and Otto has also begun to count the various leathers obtained by the immigrants. It takes time to go back and forth. When will the work be completed? I am afraid it will be postponed until October.
Looking at the prosperous scene of New Roseburg, he admired his own vision. The terrain of this place was flat and the land was fertile. He even regretted why he had not led his tribe to pioneer here a few years earlier.
Otto was still in charge of New Roseburg, supervising his men to complete the statistics of wheat taxes collected and the statistics of various types of leather. At the same time, he was also conducting inspections of the entire settlement and surrounding areas.
Still in September, one day a north wind suddenly blew, and the raging cold wind swept across the flat land. At this time, there was some haze in the sky, and the extreme cold suddenly made him feel very bad.
"It's damn cold! At least the settlement needs to be built with a wall to keep out the wind!"
Originally New Roseburg had no pressing need for a wooden wall.
Just like the city of Moscow where the first wooden wall defense system was built in Russian history, the local nobles built the wall to guard against attacks from neighboring powers. They called it the "Kremlin". Sure enough, only half a year after the wooden wall was built, the Lithuanian army killed
Arriving at the gates of Moscow. Relying on the defense of the wooden walls, the Muscovites managed to persevere until the end.
But in today's era, on both sides of the Neva River and in no-man's land, the only ones that can really threaten the security of New Rossburg are bears. As for the nearest force, the Karelia people, due to some coincidences, the Ross people did not compete with this group.
People living on the north shore of Lake Ladoga met, and neither party knew anything about the other's existence.
Otto decided to build a wall to allow the tribesmen to avoid the wind and cold, and also to prevent wild beasts from sneaking into the settlement at night. After all, life is not what it used to be. Even if the times are bad, the Russian immigrants still harvest a batch of wheat, protecting the food from being eaten by wild beasts.
Damage by rats has become an important task for them during the winter.
While the wooden wall was being gradually constructed under Otto's supervision, the appearance of three longships caused a large number of people to become instinctively vigilant.
"What? Three ships are coming? Maybe it's our ship? Could it be a messenger?" When Otto learned this information, he felt that something was strange.
He stopped inspecting the construction site and headed straight to the sandbank at the estuary with more than 30 people.
Sure enough, three longships really approached quickly.
"Brothers, it may be a messenger sent from my hometown, or it may be another friend. We will wait here for them to dock."
Many people are instinctively worried. In this world, any unknown person, ordinary Russian immigrants, by default is an enemy.
Otto, who had experienced many battles, had full confidence. He clasped his hands and stood like a sculpture, as if Odin had descended to earth.
His majestic appearance had already been seen by the Rurik brothers.
"Well, if there were oars on my sails, they would know that my companions were coming." Arik felt a little regretful.
The cousin's words really reminded Rurik, especially the "Stone Island" he just passed was actually Kotlin Island. So-called if the Russians want to build a Baltic fleet, then the current position of the fleet belongs to
Port area. Of course a fleet must have a unified flag, first to distinguish between friends and foes in war, and secondly for honor.
If the education level of the tribe is high enough, then hanging flags representing letters on the cables can put together a greeting, and the two parties can negotiate over a very long distance.
Thinking too much is wishful thinking.
But at this juncture, Rurik has already started a shipbuilding plan this winter, so it is really important to specify a style of flag.
"St. Andre's naval flag? Oh, how come that flag is similar to our crossed oars? Is it a coincidence? Yes! Let's just do it. The diagonally crossed horizontal bars,
The oar that represents the Russian people." Thinking of this, Rurik smiled slightly.
Rurik had already thought about what to say to his father after the ship docked, and now the ship was about to land.
The sturdy longship crashed directly onto the soft sandbar. Otto on the shore was overjoyed and surprised at the same time. How could there be about a hundred soldiers from his hometown landing on the shore?
Otto had a reason for making this judgment, because he knew some of the faces.
Suddenly, two more particularly familiar figures miraculously appeared.
"Rurik! Arik! You guys?! Am I dreaming?"
In his desperation, Otto didn't care about the majesty of the leader. He was as happy as a 200-pound fat man. He ran over and lifted up his precious son. Rurik was also shocked by this "sudden rise to the sky."
"The operation shocked me.
"My dear, why are you here?" Otto put down his son and asked with a smile.
"Yes, I'm here. I just came to see you." Rurik immediately lied. "The high priest is right. Dad, you are indeed here."
"Is it Vilia? She is really clever, but I will be leaving for my return voyage in a few days. Rurik, you couldn't have come to me personally because you missed me?" Otto longed for a touching answer from his son.
"Yes, I just miss you, and I also came to see our New Roseburg. Ah, she is not far away." Rurik had already seen part of the standing wall.
Arik's appearance was also very strange. Standing in front of his uncle, he had to express himself more. With a whistle, his companion dropped some wheat and put it in his pocket.
"Ah, this is it?" Otto asked, pointing.
"It's wheat."
"Huh? Are you going to transport supplies here? By the way, the Mailaren people have harvested their wheat."
"No! This was snatched from the Baltic people. Chief, we met those people on the road and we defeated them. Haha, we won again."
This matter was something Otto had never heard of. He made some inquiries and got Rurik's confirmation.
"Oh, things have become amazing. The difficult Baltic people were defeated easily by you? I am very happy that you are here. Let's go, let your ship continue to go up, our dock at New Roseburg has been built long ago
Okay. Tonight we... By the way, rabbits are everywhere here. We will nibble on rabbits tonight. I hope your little teeth can still move."
Hearing this, Rurik couldn't help pinching one of his shaky front teeth and other teeth that were beginning to loosen. He was afraid that he would chew meat too hard and become chipped early. He didn't have any dental problems, especially because he ate meat in his life.
Too much, Rurik didn't even have cavities.
It is entirely due to the faster development of this Nordic body that nine-year-old Rurik has entered the tooth loss stage. The permanent teeth buried in his lower jaw are like their owner's ambition, ready to come out.