Just as spring plowing was approaching, Rurik completed the transaction with Kiev Horse.
According to Maksakye, the total price of the horses, two males and eight females, is equivalent to ninety pounds of silver coins, which is equivalent to nine thousand silver coins!
How could ten horses be worth this money?
In private, Sacchi confided that the total price of these horses was at most forty pounds.
"You mean you feel guilty for deceiving me? You actually suspect that I am a stingy noble? The deal has been set, and I will not take back the price. You will get the money immediately, and I also encourage you to purchase products from our country locally.
Supplies, so you can make money from both ends." Rurik's generous statement once again shocked Sakhi to tears of gratitude.
The focus of this transaction was not at all the price of the ten horses. Rurik felt that he had made a huge profit.
Because intelligence information is also a huge wealth that is difficult to measure in terms of money. For the first time, the Principality of Rus obtained intelligence about the geopolitical relations in the southern region, which will help formulate appropriate roadmap plans for future conquest operations.
In this way, Sakhi and his gang are still fed and fed, but now they have to spend their own money to buy delicious meals and even go to the market to trade.
It was already April, and most of the ice in the waters near New Roseburg had melted at the end of March. Everyone was hoping that the ice would break up enough for navigation.
As the high priest, Rumia worshiped the gods on the Spring Equinox in the Julian calendar according to the rules. She had to preside over the ceremony to worship the seven gods. Now it involves the melting of ice and snow and the resumption of navigation. For the so-called safety of navigation, the sea gods and sea monsters also have to be sacrificed.
.
Ten years ago, the Rus people were also very fussy when offering sacrifices to gods, because they really didn't have many large animals to raise, so bringing out five deer was an extreme luxury.
Times have changed, and now the sacrifices all start with ten deer.
The Principality of Rus inherited the traditional Viking customs and holds two grand sacrifices throughout the year. The Winter Solstice is dedicated to Odin, which is equivalent to celebrating the New Year. The Spring Festival is dedicated to the gods and the ocean, which is actually a celebration of the beginning of production and life.
New Roseburg is fully revived and the fishermen, farmers and merchants are fully prepared!
However, because Ross lost the Danish market, the average price of all types of fur goods in New Rossburg's fur goods market plummeted.
The truth really turned out to be "Help us if the leather is unsaleable".
This was the moment for bargain hunting. Ryuri ordered Governor Konuson and his son to take immediate action and buy as much of the hunters' goods as possible with the money from the treasury.
Princes and businessmen worked hard to complete the acquisition, and as many as 100,000 squirrel skins, 5,000 ferret skins, 2,000 fox skins and 200 polar bear skins were acquired.
Merchants will transport their leather to Lake Mälaren as usual, at least Ross has not lost the Swedish market!
Rurik had at least 50,000 squirrel skins on hand, as well as a thousand mink skins and all 200 polar bear skins. What he actually paid to the hunters was part of the silver coins, copper coins, and a higher proportion of wheat in kind.
Lake Ladoga has dissolved, and thousands of streams, along with Lake Onega water, are pouring water here, directly causing the Neva River's water volume to surge!
This situation directly caused the waterway traffic between Novorosberg and Novgorod to become more responsible. Going down the river would be extremely fast, while going backwards would be an arduous battle with the river water.
But the prince ordered that a large amount of leather must be shipped to Novgorod.
What does Rurik mean? Nothing else, just because tens of thousands of Slavic women will suddenly have free time after the busy farming. In fact, they can also do work such as raking grass, weaving baskets, making woodware, etc., which is the labor value generated.
It is difficult to measure in terms of money. In other words, this kind of labor cannot be exchanged for real food rewards.
A fleet transporting leather moved up the Neva River, and on the order of the prince, a distinguished "great tailor" moved with his full set of handicraft workshop personnel.
Times have changed. Fordegen is no longer a small industrial owner of a tailor shop in Lake Ladoga. He has as many as fifty slave workers under his command, and he has also figured out a strategy in production, which is to divide the workers into groups.
Improved the efficiency of making leather clothing.
Since the Principality can produce carbon steel, it is also possible to make steel needles. However, the Principality does not yet have the fine processing technology of the East and can only produce some quenched steel needles that are overall thicker.
Although this needle cannot reach the level of embroidery, it is very suitable for sewing leather and linen.
Making clothes does not require high technology. Even if you don't have a sewing machine, you can still ensure good efficiency by relying solely on handwork.
The entire handicraft workshop staff set off with the fleet, and ten long rowing boats worked together to pull three standard armed cargo ships towards Novgorod.
Leather and finished ironware are two key products. Slavic women will earn real money by participating in leather processing, and finished ironware directly enhances the work efficiency of Slavic men.
More importantly, the Novgorod Shipyard needs a large number of iron tools, such as steel axes, scrapers, and planes, and steel consumables such as nails are also in urgent need of a batch.
Soap, glassware, and pottery are also on the transportation list. At this stage, they are all commodities that Russian immigrants can afford. They can be in small numbers but must be available because the people need to consume them.
A small domestic demand market is expanding, such as leather made into clothes, which first of all meets the needs of the people of the Principality of Rus. This market is temporarily small, but with the rapid growth of the population, it will expand rapidly!
After all, the Lake Mälaren Market in Sweden only has a size of 50,000 people, and the Principality of Ross can theoretically surpass it soon.
Having lost the Danish market, Rurik can only comfort himself that tomorrow will be better. At least in the foreseeable future, leather mixed with linen will cause a batch of Novgorods to change into new clothes. To change into new clothes, this
In ancient society, it was a good thing that could be shown off everywhere. With the help of this domestic demand market, you could earn some scissor-gap profits.
For Vordegen, Novgorod is a novel place. Due to inner considerations, he is not willing to move to a new area just after settling in Novorosberg. It is obvious that he can run a workshop in Novorosberg.
Great, why leave?
Since the prince made the request in winter, he did not dare to disobey, and now the fleet also entered the Volkhov River, which runs north to south.
The small fleet from afar is really a distinguished guest. The arrival of Vodgen and the entire professional team did not cause much trouble. Only Rurik was very happy. What made him happy was not even Vodgen himself, but the people under his command.
A group of skilled workers.
There is such a small group, they are all female slaves, and their own value is very pure. They are professional tailors, a group of tailors who are completely separated from land production. They survive by making clothes for their masters, so even if they have excellent skills
, is still being exploited crazily by the master. As the master, Fo Degen feels that he is a good person. Without his leader, all the women would have met a tragic end long ago.
Rurik received the anxious Vodgen with a smile, and after some pleasantries at the dock, he invited him into the palace and had a secret conversation in a separate room.
This move made Fo Degen even more uneasy.
The room is almost airtight, it is Indian summer outside, and the interior is quite dark, still requiring oil lamp lighting.
"Sir, what do you mean, you have something secret to discuss with me?"
"Exactly. I...ask you to make a concession." Rurik hesitated for a moment, but still described firmly.
"What is it? I can't build a workshop in Novgorod and you have a new decision? Just do it. In fact, I am very willing to build a workshop in Novorosberg."
"Oh? You don't like this place?"
"No." Fo Degen hurriedly denied and agreed: "I owe my wealth today to your help. Under your protection, there is no problem with the safety of my wealth."
"Yes, you are also aging."
"I'm a bit older, at least much younger than that old guy Gould."
"You are getting older and should make use of events in your life."
Rurik was obviously trying to cover up the truth, and Fordgen was a little impatient, but he didn't dare to ask more questions, so he had to test: "What do you mean?"
"Then I will make it clear that I fancy you as a slave girl."
"Ah? They? You..." Ford wanted to say something very ridiculous, as if the prince was attracted by the beauty of those slaves. Wait a minute, those are a group of old women, how can they be pretty. Because he realized the absurdity, Ford
I was afraid that if I spoke too much, I would be wrong and hastily shut up.
"It's those female slaves. I!" Rurik patted his chest vigorously, "I decided to buy them."
"Ah! You!?" Fordgen understood everything in an instant, and his face became ferocious and frightened as he stood up suddenly, "You want to take away my wealth? That is my lifeblood, and I am a garment merchant.
.”
"Sit down first!" Rurik scolded, causing the other party to collapse in a hurry. "Do you think I'm trying to kill you? That's ridiculous. I was just afraid that you would be too nervous, so I met you in a secret room. Do you think my
If the request is outrageous, then talk slowly. I tell you clearly that you will still build a permanent clothing workshop in Novgorod, but it will become very different from what you understand."
In this way, Rurik expressed his attitude. Because the core of the garment workshop is the female slaves, they are a group of skilled workers. Whoever controls them can build the factory immediately. In terms of financial resources, no one can challenge the prince. Rurik's operation
That is to directly nationalize the workshops that are purely private and solely responsible for their own profits and losses.
Rurik gestured with his hands to describe the grand occasion: "You don't have to pay for the construction of the factory yourself, and you don't have to pay for the slave workers' accommodation, food and a series of other payments. I won't charge even a copper coin for your existing wealth.
On the contrary, I will pay you a sum of money to buy this group of slave laborers. You are still engaged in this business, and I will hire you as a lifelong manager. I will pay you generous remuneration and will not collect taxes. Isn’t this very strange?
Okay, your purpose of setting up a workshop is to make money. If you follow my method, you don’t have to take all the risks, you will only get a steady stream of rewards, and you will become a respected master tailor."
"Ah? Then our previous contract..."
"Is the previous contract better than my current proposal? You are a smart man. It's time for us to revise a better contract."
People like Fordegen were among the early industrial capitalists, and they were also the cornerstone of the Hanseatic League. As a businessman, he made a sudden calculation. Although he found it strange, after all, it must be a sure-profit business.
I thought that I had already fallen into the hands of the prince, and if I tried to refuse, this boy would find an excuse to do it.
Prince Rurik is not just a handsome man on the surface, but a murderous madman. You must not be deceived by the kindness he shows now, and you must not disobey the prince's orders.
With a long sigh, Fordgen felt that a great period of his life had come to an end, and the next step was to be forced to work for the prince.
Just after logging in, a secret contract was signed and directly replaced the old contract.
In a sense, the garment workshop that Vodgen has been running for twenty years has ceased to exist. All the factories in Roseburg or Birka Market have been sold, and the garment workshop no longer has any heavy assets.
, only a group of soft goods that can be transported quickly and a group of slave workers are left. These are light assets.
For a long time, Slavic clothing making in the Novgorod area was all family workshops, with nothing more than women sitting at home, operating primitive looms to make linen and clothes. In principle, they all hope to make better products.
Although they have mastered very advanced weaving technology for their clothes, due to the lack of materials and tools, they cannot sew high-end goods, especially the lack of leather clothing and woolen clothing making skills.
In fact, apart from Vordegen himself, Rurik was still able to appoint Bloma, the mother of his close comrade-in-arms Fisk, as the master tailor and quickly build a professional textile team.
Now that Fordegen agrees with the new policy, it is necessary to create a state-owned textile workshop and hire one of these two as a manager (factory director) and one as a technical director.
The biggest reason why Rurik was so quick to pay was that his treasury had always been full due to past wars and looting. He bought all the female slaves in Vodgen at a price that was 10% higher than the market price.
ownership, the next move is nothing short of fantastic.
For those slave workers, they were very happy to become the dependents of the prince himself. Everyone praised that working for the prince was always very profitable, and I thought everyone's treatment would be better.
On the second day after Fordgen arrived, all fifty slave workers were led to the entrance of the palace, a small open area.
Rurik announced directly in front of everyone: "You! All textile slave workers! You will have the opportunity to be completely free! Work for me for five years, and you will be free. Once the five years are up, you can still continue to work.
For your tailoring work, I will give you extra rewards at that time..."
The prince never broke his promise. He promised board, lodging and one day off a week, especially the absolute freedom gained after five years, including the possibility of marriage. Therefore, some young slave workers could still get married and have children, and by then, according to the prince
With the promise, their identities have completely become "Russ natives", and they belong to the first echelon of subjects in the hierarchical society of the principality.
They were so moved that they burst into tears. They put aside the issue of freedom for the time being. The king would provide everyone with more daily necessities and promised a rest day every six days. All of this would not be given by Buddhagen, after all.
In that man's eyes, the sisters were destined to be cows and horses throughout their lives.
But they still can't rely on Fo Degen's management. Although everyone doesn't understand, they still have to see each other day and night.
New factories are to be built in the city. Fortunately, Novgorod enclosed a lot of open space when it was fenced. The city is not the city of White Tree Manor. The population of other ethnic groups is almost all technical people. They are destined to
It will fill up the space in the city.
A plaque covered with chalk mud and painted with carbon black was made by surprise first. It was marked with three words, and together they were "Principal Tailor Factory".
This is the first state-owned textile factory in the Principality of Rus. All assets belong to Rurik personally. Of course, based on the principle of "I am the country", it is also state-owned.
The final form of leather is to become a variety of clothing, and there are processing profits and logistics profits in each link. Rurik directly connected the upstream and downstream of the industry, from catching small animals to making fur coats, completing the industrial ecological closed loop.
Eating up all the profits that can be made in an industry.
The workplaces are large longhouses in the woodcarving style, which combine the two styles of Viking and Slavic architecture. They are most suitable for intensive workshop-style manual tailoring work. The same dormitory area has the same construction principle, and the workers will sleep
In Datongpu, the houses were built to accommodate 200 people at once.
How can a state-owned factory be just a small workshop with 50 people? The factory dormitory can only accommodate 200 people, which is just the manpower needed at this stage.
The plaque is now hung on the newly installed pile foundation columns. The load-bearing wooden piles of the first batch of houses were constructed quickly due to the generous reward.
Now there are two large construction sites inside the city: a school and a garment factory.
More than a thousand villagers, both male and female, were employed, with the men receiving a pound of wheat per day, and food for the labor was provided by Rurik.
The booming urban construction also led to the rapid destruction of forests outside the city. In the end, people threw out the tree roots and leveled the land. This was the so-called "asking for farmland from the forest." Urban construction and pioneering movements were carried out at the same time, and participation in
Everyone among them has gained profits, and Rurik himself has gained more reputation. This is actually a plan that kills four birds with one stone.
The horse riders in Kiev were amazed by this sight. They also saw that the horses they had sold were already involved in pulling the carts, and they looked closely and saw that those horses were all females.
Where are the two stallions? The horseman sensed that the people of the Rus Principality were waiting for the farmland to become harder, and they had prepared a variety of dazzling farm tools. The horseman was authorized to visit the farming roads, and was promised that he could also exchange labor for free.
Feast.
While waiting, they accidentally found two stallions. Their speculation came true, the Russians were indeed using Pecheneg horses to breed local ponies!
Finally, the spring plowing in 836 began!
The Russians, who had made adequate preparations, were sowing this spring's wheat seeds in various places. Compared with last year, more wheat seeds were sown this year. In addition, in the Lake Ilmen area, because a large number of hidden people came out of the woods to open up wasteland, more people
Put into agricultural production. Counting the acres of various levels of land in the area around the lake, as many as 30,000 hectares of fields have begun to be sown with a variety of crops, of which oats, wheat and rye are the absolute mainstream. Onions, yellow root carrots and cabbage, these
When growing vegetables, you also need to sow a batch of seeds.
Naturally there is also flax, which is widely cultivated south of the lake.
Rurik set an example with his noble status as a prince. He cultivated the land himself, and wrote self-proclaimed articles on paper to publicize it to the public. The image of him personally operating the plow was painted by himself, not to mention, compared to
A group of "handicapped" people were gathered together, and a man like Rurik, who after all knew a certain amount of sketching knowledge, drew a "spring plowing scene" properly.
This show is to build a relationship with the Slavs, the most populous people, and also to experience with your own hands the effects of the curved shaft plow that integrates plowing, sowing and burying of seeds.
He even used a trick, which was to get ten Kiev horsemen to try the beauty of the curved shaft plow and the bound seeder.
Almost instantly, his goal was achieved.
Maksakye directly asked the dusty Rurik in the field: "Sir, this plow is very wonderful. How much does it cost? Let's buy it!"
"You want to buy it? Why buy it? I will give you a set! Wait, this is for you, the leader of Kiev, especially you!" Rurik patted Sakhi on the shoulder, "You will return soon,
You tell your leader what you saw and heard in Rus, and also tell him our support for peaceful trade. We look forward to more merchants coming to Rus with their goods."