The Duke alone signed the same contract with hundreds of people? This had never happened in the past, and Aslaki, who claimed to be good at business, had never known about it.
She had numerous questions, not only about the strangeness of these writing materials, but also about the large number of contracts that needed to be signed. She smelled the amazing commercial value contained in them, and that was the writing materials themselves, because they should not, let alone
as writing material.
Aslaqi acted very calmly, but her eyes revealed a lot of information to Rurik.
Rurik also gave a similar look in return, confirming that there would be a private family meeting later.
Governor Cornuson received the order, and Arik also received the task. The meeting ended with the dinner, and it was time for them to go back home or go directly to work.
After they exchanged glasses of wine, Rurik wiped his mouth clean and said abruptly: "You guys can go back for the time being, but you must remember that I want to see the people gathered in the square tomorrow morning when the sun comes up."
"That's it? I'd rather have some strong drinks with you." Arik said cheerfully.
"No need. If possible, I would rather drink kvass. The bitter ale is not as good as this. What a pity!" Rurik deliberately emphasized his voice, "We have too little wheat in our hands."
Upon hearing this, Aslaqi, who had slumped her back, suddenly straightened her back, inadvertently revealing her enlarged and harmonious chest.
"It doesn't matter." Arik chuckled, "I found that strong liquor goes well with barbecue. You should ask your hometown to make more strong liquor. Forget it, since you asked to start immigration this year, they will all come over, and we will make wine and distill on the spot.
"
After that, he stood up and signaled to his wife: "Let's go! It's time for my brother and sister (referring to Svetlana) to have a good rest, and we will go back."
"I..." Aslaqi raised her head and glanced at her husband: "I still have something to talk to the prince."
"Aren't you done talking? Or are you saying you haven't eaten enough?"
"The next thing is... I am negotiating with the prince as the old Harald Khrolev family." Aslaki had already put on a serious face.
She was his second wife, and Arik also had an appointment with her, thus theoretically avoiding family conflicts. Based on the agreement, his relationship with Asraqi was not only a couple but also a kind of cooperation.
"Okay, in that case I won't bother you." Arik waved his hand, he was very sensible.
The already lively hall became even more deserted. Some women took on the role of servants, entering the room to clean up the leftovers after meals and unload the tables and chairs.
Rurik does not need personal servants to take care of his daily life. Based on the current situation, he thinks it is time to recruit a small group of maids.
He invited his sister-in-law into the inner hall, brought his wife and Aslaki to the bedroom to discuss some important matters in detail.
It was quite quiet here. Apart from the guards standing guard outside, the three of them were the only ones left inside the small palace.
Aslaqi sat sideways on the soft leather cushion, the soft light from the wall oil lamp illuminating her peaceful face and the high bridge of her nose.
Rurik noticed that his second sister-in-law's belly was swollen again, and secretly sighed that his cousin did not forget about business while hunting.
Wait a minute! My sister-in-law has also come to New Roseburg to spend the winter with Asgard in her arms. My brother and sister-in-law have actually moved here. My sister-in-law must be giving birth again, right? Is it a boy named Gil? Rurik hopes so.
Aslaki is a little reserved, the boy in front of her is quite handsome, and his wife Svetlana is young and beautiful, but still childish.
The prince is a very young boy, he is handsome and clean, his mind is full of command, and his strong body proves that he is a good fighter.
He thought he had all the virtues of a Viking man and had endless wisdom that surpassed that of a Viking man.
The boy blessed by Odin once again showed great wisdom, and those writable papers that looked like cloth or cloth were a brand new proof.
She wanted to mention this first, but Rurik spoke first.
"Sister, you...seem to have it again."
Rurik spoke very sweetly, and Aslaqi was surprised at first, and then secretly laughed, then she rubbed her belly: "Yes. I hope it will be a boy again. You know, I want to revive the family, and I will do things for you.
Then, let’s give this child a name too.”
"Me? No. You are the mother of the child. Since he is the successor of your old Harald family name, you are the only one qualified."
"That's true. Then, you...are not dating me alone just because of my second child. Indeed, you are the child's uncle."
"It's a major event about the future of the principality." Rurik put away his smile, put on a serious face and asked directly: "I need wheat seeds now. I know you brought some wheat from your hometown in Roseburg to make delicious honey.
You must still have bread in stock. Now, hand it over."
"Ah? Why is this?"
"Very important."
"Okay. Originally, I wanted to continue making delicious bread and sell it to their hunters. Since it is your order, I will do it."
Rurik was naturally satisfied with this answer, and he also knew that the woman had no choice after receiving the order.
"Very good. Then, you also want to know the purpose of my doing this." Rurik said deliberately.
"Yes." Aslaki paused and said, "If wheat is very important, I will declare that wheat will not be used as food in the future."
"Oh, how can things be so extreme? Of course you have to use wheat to make delicious bread. The problem now is this. We have too little wheat in stock but too much oats. Do we, the Principality of Rus, still need to import wheat from Britain every year?
If Northumbria betrays one day, how will we get wheat? Will we start a war again? I want to grow wheat myself, so I will grow wheat on a large scale in Novgorod."
The prince's words were impassioned. Asilaqi had never seen a wheat field in her life, not even a mature ear of wheat. Of course she had seen wheat grains when she was very young and knew that it was the best material for making bread.
, nothing more.
Since the prince is so ambitious, he naturally accepts it unconditionally.
"As you command. I will take out the wheat immediately, but there is not much left."
"How many more?" Rurik asked urgently.
"About five sacks? I'm used to a hundred pounds in one sack."
"That's five hundred pounds, which is not bad. Alas, I just don't know how much inventory there is in my hometown of Roseburg!" Rurik sighed, "I hope my order will be delivered in time, and I hope Harold Zosen didn't mess around.
."
There are about 500 pounds of wheat on hand at present, and as wheat seed, it can only be sown on a small part of the land. One hectare (Viking system, 0.96 modern hectare) is sown with 400 Roman pounds (Viking Roman pound, 0.392kg), Rurik
Plan to sow seeds with this value.
Rurik did not dare to mess around before confirming that spring wheat could produce high yields. He used the average yield of local oats as a reference, which is the tradition of producing two thousand pounds of wheat per hectare and leaving 20% for sowing grain. In this way
The cost of trial and error is not high, but the wheat on hand can only be planted to a little more than one hectare. If this is the case, it is just a test field.
Although trial and error is risky, Rurik is sure that he has enough money to squander. The so-called experimental field has to be a hundred hectares in one go, and all the wheat needs to be transported from his hometown in Roseburg for planting grain.
Regarding sending a new sled team to fight back to his hometown in this world of ice and snow, Rurik has made up his mind and will implement it immediately, but the entire operation is very sensitive to timing.
If the farming season is delayed, this year's large-scale spring wheat planting plan will be ruined.
Just in case, the wheat seeds provided by Yaslaqi must of course be sown at the most correct time. If the plan to transport grain on a large scale fails, the last hectare of wheat will be carefully cared for, and their output will be
All will be used as grain for next year. Even with the most conservative approach, Novgorod can still grow wheat on a large scale by spending more time.
The matter of wheat is what Rurik is most concerned about at the moment, and this matter has a relatively comfortable result.
Rurik knew that Aslaki had many things to ask, so he allowed her to hear the news.
As expected, she couldn't let go of the paper issue, and she even saw the business opportunities in it.
"Your Majesty the Duke." She spoke with a formal honorific: "Those writing materials must be Odin's wisdom, and you must have reproduced it in the world. I...I want to know the secrets, and I want to help you.
Make more.”
"You?" Rurik narrowed his eyes cautiously, realizing that this matter was not simple, "You want to make money by making paper?"
"No! It's for the Duke's cause."
"I believe you are sincere, but the matter of making money is also right. You don't need to interfere with this matter. If necessary, I will entrust you with it as appropriate in the future."
Of course, the paper industry can be developed into a huge profit industry. Making huge profits is not the purpose. Rurik needs paper to cooperate with him to exert his authority, etc. If Aslaqi only sees commercial value, it would be too simple.
Rurik decided to keep it secret until the paper industry started to develop from scratch. People like Aslaki could be excellent distributors. As for passing on the technology to her, Rurik was a little worried.
Because, this woman is not simple!
Aslaki, who was originally full of confidence, was poured cold water on her face. On the surface, she felt like a frustrated ball, but in fact, her fighting spirit sprouted in her heart. Since Rurik didn't say anything to death, would he have a chance in the future?
This must be the case. So I should continue to support it personally, and even explore the secrets. After all, Rurik has already said that Odin spreads the wisdom of God to the world, and everyone has the right to explore the wisdom of God.
It is never a delicacy open to a few people.
That night, Rurik and Svetlana slept soundly.
Regarding the tragedy of Princess Mary's death in childbirth, Rurik exercised self-discipline and restrained himself. He even "popularized science" about the relationship between fertility and age to his wives and concubines.
After all, it was a matter of life and death, so they restrained themselves without being frightened. If they didn't take the initiative to keep Rick alive, they wouldn't take the initiative either.
Except Carlotta and Rumia.
The two of them slept peacefully on the bed, nestling together like little bears hibernating.
But the entire New Roseburg couldn't be quiet, the peaceful winter life was broken, and the latest news made the whole city boil.
The Duke is going to fulfill his promise back then and give everyone land! The soldiers of the First Banner Corps will be the first batch of people to get the land!
All old Russians will be allocated the cultivated land!
The news spread became more and more outrageous, and residents under the dark night actually started to spontaneously communicate with each other.
In particular, the people of Ostara welcomed back their duchess and the saying about the anointed land. The people of Ostara had already begun to cheer!
At dawn the next day, before the moon set and the sky was still dark blue, people in fur coats began to appear in the snow-covered Harvest Square.
The number of people is increasing, and men, women and even children are leaving their homes one after another.
People in the city were the first to gather here. When the sun rose, the gates of the city wall opened, and people who had already gathered outside the city also poured into the city, gathering very purposefully in Harvest Square.
The huge square was originally prepared for large-scale gatherings of people. Now it has been trampled very smoothly. The golden light of the morning sun shines on the frozen city. There are nearly three thousand men and women standing in this square, all of them wearing leather.
, the whole body is gray and black, and the hairy body looks sturdy, just like three thousand bears.
This scene is quite grand!
The guards (elite mercenaries) who were on duty in shifts had seen this kind of battle, and all they could think of was that the enemy and we were gathering their armies when the war broke out.
The soldiers of the First Banner Corps were all wearing blue and white uniforms under their thick leather coats. They walked out one after another to ask the guards about the Duke.
At first the guards were willing to explain, but as too many people asked, they began to take the trouble.
The two sides even quarreled, even though they had fought side by side many times in bad wars.
It was Arik who had a keen eye and personally stopped the vicious fight between two groups of violent people.
But the matter was completely beyond his imagination. At this time, his subordinates were complaining, and the guards on duty were also complaining.
What could Arik do? He happened to see Governor Cornuson, who was trying to maintain order, and scolded him in front of him: "What's going on? We agreed that only the brothers from the First Standard Corps would come. I saw all the men in the city.
They are all here, and there are a large group of women. Look, there are also a group of brats here who are just having fun. There is actually a group of brats on the roof who are not afraid of falling."
Cornuson was also very innocent. He explained with an embarrassed smile: "Everyone's life is full of boredom. As soon as they heard that the Duke was going to distribute the land, they all came."
"You received the order and agreed to only notify the first flag team. You must have made some omissions and dared to falsely convey the order."
"I didn't!" Konuson denied flatly, "I swear on my honor, Rurik is a hero that the Russians only have in a hundred years. How could I dare to disobey. But the people are too enthusiastic. If they didn't trust the Duke very much,
How can they start gathering when it’s still dark?”
Arik gritted his teeth, it was true that his brother had incomparable prestige, and it was reasonable for him to attract thousands of people to pay homage to him.
It's just that there are not many pure old Ross settlers here in Rossburg, and there are a large number of brothers from the First Banner Corps who temporarily stayed here to catch squirrels. Arick was afraid that the land that should belong to his brothers would be advantageous to the new Ross who joined later.
people.
The noise continued, and Rurik in the palace learned the news, but he stamped his feet in anger.
He went to the bathroom and ate some dried meat, then cursed and put on his clothes.
Hearing the rumble outside, she knew that too many people had gathered. Svetlana was nervous and frightened. She first went to the main entrance and took a look, then hurriedly ran back to report to her husband: "The square is full of people!
The website is full of your followers.”
"It's not necessarily true that they are followers!" Rurik put his hat on, "I'm afraid they conveyed the order incorrectly and they all come to compete for my reward."
After that, he patted his face hard and signaled to his wife: "That's probably it, but... this is my authority. Smile for me, hold my arm and follow me. Remember! Lanna, I am the prince.
, you are the queen."
Indeed, Svetalana had been full of curiosity and affection for the name "Rurik" since she knew her destined husband. When she saw him in person, all her feelings instantly condensed into love.
Maybe Rurik is used to the feeling of ruling over the world, and she is not mentally prepared for the feeling of being a mother in the world!
She held Rurik's hand, and the two of them, dressed in furry white robes, walked towards the rammed earth platform of the square. Together they took off their hats and faced the gathered crowd and a group of urchins lying on the roofs of houses in the distance.
At this moment, Rurik desperately wished that there was an electric loudspeaker that could accurately convey his orders.
There are not many residents in New Roseburg. Rurik took a closer look and estimated that there were only more than two thousand people gathered. Most of the adults and teenagers in the entire city were here.
If they gather densely enough and keep quiet and are willing to listen carefully, they can really raise their voices and convey the words more accurately. That is obviously impossible. The wind will seriously interfere with the words, and they are not standing shoulder to shoulder.
Now that he had appeared, Rurik and Lanna deliberately raised their heads and let them look at them.
In fact, he also saw Carlotta taking hundreds of his own Ostara people to join in, so let them take a good look at the heroic appearance of the great benevolent man who gave him the land.
Rurik just stood there deliberately silent, and his unusual behavior gradually caused the chattering crowd to quiet down.
With only abundance left in his ears, Rurik finally drew his dagger and shouted: "Warriors of the First Flag Team! Assemble!"