The Principality of Rus ushered in the autumn harvest of 836, and all the labor force and even children were involved in the intense harvest work.
Novorosberg, Novgorod, Mstisk, Youth City, Novostar, and even all the Slavic farms around Lake Ilmen are full of people harvesting crops, and the joy of harvest is everywhere.
joy.
Drill sowing has once again proven that it is smarter than the past wide-spreading model. The ears of oats, wheat and even rye stand in line like a military column, making it easier to harvest wheat.
The long-handled scythe was manipulated by strong men, and the wheat ears and straw were cut off and pushed aside to form a raised "wheat mound".
Women and children followed closely behind, bundling up the straw containing wheat ears and setting them up in the fields. They were then pulled by handcarts to the nearest shared threshing floor, where they were tamped with wooden chains and flailed to remove the hulls.
The Slavs carried out harvesting operations in the most traditional way, without major technological innovations to speed up the process. On the other hand, the Viking immigrants such as the Rus still had to learn how to harvest from these local farmers.
At this most critical moment, Rurik was most worried about the disaster of reduced grain production caused by an untimely autumn rain, and he did not want the rain to occur during the threshing period. All he could do was to mobilize the labor force as much as possible and
He did everything himself, even going to the threshing floor with his shirt off and swinging a flail and sweating profusely.
This is a show, not a show.
As a prince, he is essentially the largest landowner in the principality. He has seized a number of fertile fields along the lake, and because of his superiority concept, his fields have the highest yield per mu.
Rurik is currently unable to figure out the machinery to speed up harvesting, but he knows the basic principles of increasing wheat production better than anyone else.
It was a wooden box mounted on a push wheelbarrow. It was filled with stinky excrement that had been diluted with water and fermented. There was a wooden conduit at the bottom of the wooden box, allowing the turbid liquid to flow directly to the wheat.
rhizomes to complete precise fertilization of wheat arranged in strips.
If the prince hadn't paid a sum of money, the mercenaries would not have been willing to do this kind of work that felt meaningless and would make them disgraceful. This was a very primitive farmyard manure, and it was Rurik's addition to digging Lake Ilmen.
Another method that comes to mind besides silt, but in terms of effectiveness, the "feces and urine tactics" are better.
Because he has no shortage of "suppliers", a huge school is a perfect source. If the urine of children is really a positive thing, it can make the wheat grow wildly and produce high yields. In order to cope with the fertilization of a large amount of farmland, excrement must be
The manure is accumulated in one place and becomes a huge manure pit. The manure is fermenting. Firstly, it allows the crops to absorb nitrogen fertilizer smoothly. Secondly, it is collected for quantitative fertilization. Some white particles are also precipitated, which is quite strange to be stuck on the soil.
It is soil salt, what Rurik noticed!
Nitrate is one of the by-products of manure fermentation operations, and its military value is only known to Rurik. But in reality, what the principality needs most is fertilizer. There is no quantified production requirement for this type of nitrate. It is used as a compound
Fertilizer can actually improve farmland fertility.
The real results are before our eyes. Wheat fields that have been sown with this primary farmyard manure have a high yield that is visible to the naked eye, and the yield increase seems to have reached 20%. This effect is already strong enough, because many Slavic people are envious of it. Another kind of
Rumors were also spreading in Rurik's favor - the prince had received help from the gods and his wheat fields were incredibly productive.
During the past summer, wood type printing continued to appear very quietly in response to the teaching needs of the school that was beginning to take shape.
In accordance with the requirements, the local carpenters in Novgorod collected some oak scraps used in shipbuilding, processed them into small squares with the same width and height, and then carved out mirror-style Chinese characters on them. The characters are divided into two types of letters, the Roman alphabet and the traditional Nordic rune script.
.In fact, compared to carving Latin letters with a certain degree of curvature, horizontal and vertical letters like runes are most suitable for the current carving ability of woodworkers.
Carpenters learn on the job, and they are happy to complete the tasks set by the prince. In fact, the prince is willing to pay a high price for this job, and precision work is worth more wheat remuneration.
Each letter has a corresponding large number of wooden movable types, as well as some pure punctuation marks.
As for the printing press, Rurik had already hatched the idea of making a printing press after he tinkered with a lever manual press for glassware in his hometown of Roseburg.
The wooden lever system, metal latches, and leather cushions are pieced together to form the core components of the printing press, and then placed on the wooden platform, a manual pressure printing press is completed.
It has a simple structure, but there were some problems during the preliminary printing experiments. They were all reflected in the uneven wooden pressure plate and the overall tolerance of all the wooden movable type blocks to complete the plate. The above are all small problems in the final analysis, and the solutions are
It's very simple, just use sandpaper (coarse paper coated with rosin gum and a layer of fine sand) to polish the entire surface.
As a result, the employed women workers engaged in papermaking had a new job - printing.
The first state-run printing workshop in the Principality also came into being in an extremely low-key atmosphere.
Rurik had no intention of publicizing it in a big way. At first, only a few people thought that this set of machinery was advanced. The only people who could share the common happiness with Rurik were his wives and concubines. They compiled teaching materials and sorted out data and information together, which took a lot of time.
Wives for pen and paper work!
With the printing press, copying became redundant.
Who would be in charge of the printing workshop? Rurik did not hesitate to drag his concubine Ella Historia over.
Strictly speaking, this girl has been separated from her mother's family. She was given the surname "History". The value of her existence in the principality is a series of information about the chief principality. She is a librarian. She is a quiet and quiet girl.
The girl is not as brave as her sister Carlotta. Carlotta is also happy to have this quiet job.
The information boards compiled by the late High Priest Vilia of the Principality of Rus were copied into paper documents, which were written in runes and Roman letters.
It was this summer that the Rus' "History" was immediately published. The runic version printed the original Norse documents, and the Roman alphabet version printed the three versions of Norse, Slavonic and Latin documents.
Four editions were being printed, and the mass-produced paper was immediately useful.
People who lacked entertainment immediately had reading materials at hand. The history of the Rus tribe was printed on thin paper, and some of the stories immediately aroused people's memories. Now Rurik had no worries about the sales of the paper. All the families from the Rus tribe were
If you are willing to buy it, keep this document at home to educate your children about the glory of their ancestors.
Finally, the Roman alphabet version of the document flowed into schools one after another, and it became the first mass-produced printed textbook. With this kind of textbook, children's learning efficiency of Norse, Slavic and Latin was significantly improved!
Relying on printed "History" to learn about Russia's past and glorious war victories further consolidated the sanctity of the Rurik family, and even became the key to creating a "unified Russian nation". It also strengthened language learning. Printed books
"Mathematics" is also put into use at the end of summer, which is full of content to teach children simple arithmetic.
As the wheat harvest approached, the school held its first examination since its establishment under the auspices of Rurik.
The so-called examination, what Rurik promoted to the outside world was the word "athletic competition" in Norse.
This suddenly attracted the attention of all the Viking immigrants. Many people rumored that the prince wanted to let the children fight in a competition and select the best ones, who would later be incorporated into the flag team and become good combatants.
Of course, the exam is comprehensive. The principality is in this period of great historical change, especially when external conflicts are quite intense and the territory that expands too quickly will breed internal conflicts. The principality needs to develop its armaments and mobilize all combat capabilities, and more importantly
Carry out unified ideological education, such as worshiping the seven gods, admiring the Russian flag as a sacred object, and so on.
It was a three-day exam.
The first day was a literary test. The so-called uniformly printed test papers were placed in front of them. The first test was "History", which was ten questions written in Latin to test whether the children knew the names of the past wars in the Principality of Ross.
, do you understand the noble status of Prince Rurik?
The second game involves simply writing three sentences each in Norse, Slavonic and Latin on a piece of paper. Children who are able to write more will be rewarded in kind with wheat and honey.
The third test is really "Mathematics". Compared with the others, this subject is the most rigorous, and it is also a highlight of Rurik's teaching work. The test tests the children's calculation ability, especially the multiplication table.
Mastery status. In the first semester of general education in Rurik, children only need to master basic mental arithmetic skills, and next year they will also need to strengthen their numerical calculation skills.
The second and third days were all physical fitness and military tests.
The children were divided into different ages. They ran a lap around the alleyways of Novgorod City. The top ten in each age group were given physical rewards of wheat. This is really a unique sport, and you have to train every day.
The children all completed the assessment, and the best among them received the reward immediately at the finish line.
The one-on-one duel that people were looking forward to did not exist. Instead, the children's marching performance on the threshing floor attracted the attention of thousands of people. They were only eight-year-old children. If this were given to them,
Aren’t the people standing here all brave soldiers for ten years? Look at them, they are marching in an orderly manner. Even though their faces are young, their bravery is already on display.
There are currently three types of real martial arts assessments: splitting wood with an ax, shooting with a bow, and shooting with a crossbow.
The three-day exam is like a sports meeting, and those with outstanding results will be rewarded with food and other physical rewards.
People who lacked fun gathered to watch, and even people from distant Slavic farms gathered in Novgorod after hearing the news. More than 10,000 people poured into the city in an instant, and the total population suddenly rushed to 20,000!
In this way, urban markets have become more lively, and the examination has created a wave of "sports economy".
This happened on the eve of the autumn harvest, and Novgorod's market made a surprise sale of iron tools that would help the harvest. The blacksmiths' union and Prince Rurik took the opportunity to make a fortune.
The people who went to the city to watch the theater saw with their own eyes the unique style of the two thousand children who had been trained by the prince. The children were all about the same age, both men and women were strong and strong, and there was a clear difference in complexion with their own children.
The children wore completely uniform clothes. If the robe of the girl who was not the wife was longer and resembled a skirt, it would be difficult to tell the gender. They were also cleaner and tidier. Someone in the queue was shouting slogans, and the entire queue changed formation.
, even their kicking and waving movements are exactly the same!
Children who have experienced a spring and summer training immediately burst into combat effectiveness in the autumn harvest work. Although they are young, their physical abilities far exceed the expectations of their biological parents.
The region-wide autumn harvest work was successfully concluded, and soon after, Rurik's tax collection work also began.
836 was a good year that everyone could sigh with emotion. On the one hand, the rain this year was normal. Although there was a brief haze during the autumn harvest, there was no rainfall at all. Even people transported the wheat back to the granary, and the weather was still good.
In mid-September, all the preliminary preparations were completed, and the tax collection work was first carried out in Novorosberg, Novgorod, Mstisk and Youth City. These areas are home to almost all Viking immigrants, and they collected taxes from everyone.
There will be no conflict with the tithe tax on grain. This tax rate is high, but the Viking immigrants go fishing and hunting during their off-farm periods, so there is almost no tax in this regard. Viking families have more
The open source method also has the ability to gain more wealth.
As for the large group of Slavs in the White Tree Manor in Novgorod, imposing heavier agricultural taxes on them will obviously not cause outrage. As the first batch of Slavic slaves, the labor force of the manor was left behind.
After Ke completed the purchase, they were organized to engage in a variety of handicraft industries, and the wealth they created was significantly higher than that of simply farming.
Rurik did not choose to overdraw his power. The 11th tax was the 11th tax. The tax was levied based on last year's hectare tax amount and was collected according to the fish scale book. At the same time, the fish scale book should also increase the area and ownership of the newly cultivated fields this year.
people.
As a prince, he stayed in Novgorod for a long time, but the capital of the principality was clearly Novorosberg.
The taxation work of New Roseburg is entirely carried out by Governor Cornusson and his sons. As a family entrusted to rule, they have the right to take a proportion of the tax revenue to maintain local finances.
Currently, the principality's former Fort Ross, North Ironburg, Tombstone Island and New Rossburg operate under this governor-general entrusted rule. The merchant class and industrialist class also shuttle through these large settlements that rely heavily on maritime transportation.
, the interests of these classes are deeply bound to the governors and princes.
If there is a problem with this system, it is not a problem now. Rurik knows very well that he very much needs Novgorod and Lake Ilmen, the agricultural and handicraft raw material production areas, to have major development, so that everyone in the world calls him Novgorod.
Vgorod is the real capital.
Indeed, the grain production in this lake area alone is enough to ensure that the people of the vast Principality of Rus do not starve. At least for the time being, there has not yet been a population explosion, and the per capita wheat possession is extremely gratifying.
From the student examinations in early August of the Julian calendar, to the harvest, threshing, warehousing work throughout August, and the completion of taxes that last until mid-September.
Although the people are busy all day long, as a prince, Rurik can be said to be busy from the beginning to the end of the year.
"After all, I have lived like a hard-working Yongzheng. It's time for me to take a good rest when winter comes."
The prince is by no means a greedy person. In the eyes of the world, Prince Rurik is worried about the development of the principality. Rurik also has this year's distance wealth, the total amount of wheat in the national and internal funds, because of the land area.
Absolute expansion, a year of good weather and increased production, the wheat tax in Novgorod alone reached the level of 5 million pounds, last year the figure was 4 million pounds.
A major reason why the overall tax revenue increased by 20% is that more people who have been hiding are being uncovered. In the end, it was Medved who did things poorly. He took his brothers into the forest to find people, and forced the villagers to immigrate to the lake by force.
Fertile soil.
It is certainly a good thing to have the right to cultivate the lakeside area, but their acres in the forest were fawningly looted by Medved to please the prince. The work of his men was indeed rough, and the food they got was like an unexpected surprise. Rurik didn't want to vomit after getting it.
He came out and praised Medved as a loyal minister of the principality. Anyway, those who were picked out had enough food and grain to grow. The surplus in agriculture could be used to purchase the qualifications for lakeside reclamation.