Chapter 844 When four standard cargo ships are launched
A gentle spring rain falls on the earth. It greatly accelerates the melting rate of the remaining snow. Although it creates extreme muddy conditions in the entire region, people know that after the rain ends, when the earth becomes dry, spring plowing can be fully started.
.
People are waiting at home for the last time. Each farmer has sorted out his own crops, the columbine used for sowing has been repaired, and the plow has been wiped to a shiny finish. They check their shovels, hoes and axes, and check their baskets and
Rope, and washed the linen towel used to wipe sweat cleanly.
Rurik is also preparing for farming. The specific planting work is of course left to the servants, and some farmers are even hired to do it. There is no doubt that it has excellent resources in the preparation of planting tools and animal power resources.
Almost all horses belong to him, and whether the horse is assigned as a riding horse or a pack horse is basically based on his likes and dislikes.
Although in principle the purpose of riding a horse is and can only be used in battles, it is perfect for carrying things or pulling a plow at critical moments.
Whether to use horses or oxen for plowing has never been a question for Ross.
Based on the current situation of Rus, or the current situation of Slav farming under Rus, due to economic and historical reasons, they rarely get cattle and only a small number of horses, not to mention that even iron tools are extremely scarce. It was still ten years ago
Before that, the Slavs around Lake Ilmen received large-scale iron export from the Russians for the first time, and this was how they began to sow innovation.
They had completely evolved from fishing and hunting nomads on the Vistula River into settled farmers. At that time, they relied on human power to pull wooden plows to plow the soil, and only a very small number of nobles could use horses to cultivate the land.
As one of the key products exported by the Principality of Ross in agricultural technology, the core component of the curved plow is the metal plow. The plow made of pig iron has become a mass-produced tool, including shovels and hoes, all of which are mass-produced by casting.
tool.
You can buy a shovel head for only three to five silver coins, and the farmer can make a wooden handle and fasten it tightly to become a shovel or shovel.
Because the curved plow uses up to three shovel heads, as for the wooden structure on it, in principle, the farmer's family can make it by themselves. Mass production has driven down the price, and the finished curved plow was rated by Rurik as one pound of silver coins. For
Generally speaking, it is a small Slavic family. If the whole family takes good care of the farmland during the warm period, actively works as a temporary worker in the handicraft industry for the prince during the slack period, and saves money, the year's output will have enough surplus to buy a curved shaft plow.
A group of farmers even modified the shovels they purchased, imitating the curved shaft plow and made their own wooden parts from fir, and finally inserted the shovel at an angle. This was a spontaneous twist on their traditional wooden plow. Of course, every family
The forcibly transformed new plows come in all shapes and sizes, and they are all indifferent to the result-oriented approach.
At most, farmer families raise some poultry and rabbits. The chickens they raise do not eat meat, but simply consume eggs. The rabbits they raise eat meat, and more importantly, they keep an eye on the rabbit skin.
At that time, their productivity level was too low, and they had to rely on dozens or hundreds of blood-related families to come together to cultivate, sow, and harvest the crops. Men, women, old and young all worked together. Now each small family has private property and land.
The basis for the production means of realizing the small-scale peasant economy already exists, and the transformation of traditional farms into the vast ocean of small-scale peasant economy is slowly proceeding.
But their productivity levels are still too low!
Even if we sit on the fertile acres in the Ilmen Lake area, the land fertility is higher than that in the forest area. In terms of high fertility, the fields in the Kiev area are truly black soil, and the climate adjacent to the Black Sea is also very good. Control the south.
The vast plains exist on the future road map for Ross's conquest, but it is not something that can be achieved now, let alone in the next few years.
The vast majority of Slavic farmers still have to rely on manpower to till the soil, sow seeds, and bury the soil. At least these labor-intensive operations have been replaced by iron plows and columbines, which are much easier than before.
But the real descendants of the old Rus, as the top ethnic group in the principality, enjoy the love of the prince, and their farming will fully use horses.
The principal cattle in the Rus' Republic are dairy cows, and the purpose of raising cows is to obtain milk to make storable cheese and butter. Their breeds are not Holstein cows with amazing milk production, but are essentially the preliminary domestication of European aurochs.
. Those cows have huge horns that point straight forward. If these domesticated cows are frightened, they can spread their hooves and rush wildly. It is not inappropriate to become a tool to kill enemies.
Ross's cattle are not that docile, and the horses controlled by Ross are much better overall.
The war horses transformed into plow horses. After they completed spring plowing, they entered the breeding period of the herd. At that time, all mares entered the summer training period and fertility period. Ross could also take the opportunity to get some mare's milk.
Mare's milk can make wine, but there is no relevant process for how to make mare's milk. But mare's milk can be drunk, and as a special diet, Rurik himself is willing to taste it.
The spring rain nourishes the world, and people of all kinds around Lake Ilmen and New Roseburg are preparing for spring plowing.
The majority of businessmen simply have to wait for the spring rain to end, because the ice sea has thawed, and all the ships pushed ashore must enter the sea. The goods stored in the warehouse can be transported away as soon as possible. As for transporting them to Mälaren, Sweden, it is still
It was entirely up to the merchant's own will to transport it quietly to Denmark at the risk of being killed.
Ross has been a fur supplier in this area for the past hundred years, and now Ross's leather industry, or the entire handmade textile and leather industry, has achieved dominance.
Some merchants are no longer transporting simply tanned leather, but finished linen clothes, leather clothes, leather boots, hats, gloves, belts, linen bags, and even backpacks. After processing once, the finished goods will naturally increase.
Because the price is high, merchants are willing to spend more to buy it. As second-rate dealers, they can earn more as long as they sell it successfully.
How could Rurik allow various businessmen to plunder their own interests? The finished leather and linen textile products were exported to the West by the Gould family. Since they had to satisfy Ross's own consumption first, the number of products exported to Sweden was not very large.
The price is not extreme, at least the peasant women of the Mellaren people can afford it.
Only bear skin, mink skin and fox skin are the best leathers. For example, deer skin has been unable to rise in price due to the high supply, while squirrel skin has become an absolute bargain due to the extreme production volume.
All the settlements were agitated, and every day there were people personally exploring whether the land was still muddy after the rain.
The Slavs need to sacrifice to the God of Spring. The principle is that beautiful girls collect newly grown wild flowers to make corollas, present bouquets to the wood carvings of the gods, pray for warmth, and then offer wheat seeds and pray to the gods for a good harvest. Since Rus rules here, farming
The rituals have added "bloody" rituals as always.
After all, this year is different from previous years. It can be said that three generations of Russian princes gathered in Novgorod. This city does not have a big temple, but at least there is a stone ship altar made of granite.
The high priest himself was in New Roseburg, so Rurik naturally took up the priest's job.
Although the land is not completely dry, there is mud all over your hands when you hit it with a hoe, so the opportunity is fully ripe for worship before spring plowing.
The prince issued a notice to hold the sacrificial activities, and thousands of people flocked to the altar outside the city. People dressed in spring clothes dragged their families with them, making the sacrificial scene crowded.
The young and extremely beautiful girl is dressed in a plain white robe, with a corolla made of young pine buds and wild flowers on her head. In order to increase the gorgeousness, some glass beads are also hung on the corolla.
Old Otto never wanted others to see the decline of his age. Anyway, his face was white, so he smeared a small amount of chalk mud powder on his old face to try to cover up some age spots. His beard had strange braids, and his head was covered with inlays.
He wore a gold leather helmet, wore a bear skin, and carried a long sword on his waist. He used a halberd as a wooden staff, and without any support from his entourage, he sat in the posture of an old general to supervise the normal sacrifices.
And Queen Svetlana was holding Osborne Slav with big light blue eyes. In principle, this boy was the first heir to the third generation of princes. The queen and the prince participated in the priesthood before spring plowing, in order to let
Take a good look at the most numerous Slavs in the region.
A stag was killed as a sacrifice by Rurik himself, and the earth was moistened with its blood as a sacrifice to the Russian god of spring and wealth. The ceremony continued with flowers and wheat being presented to the Slavic god of spring.
kind.
This is not the end yet. At night, a fire tower is still lit. There is no special reason, but Rurik himself likes it.
At night, the fire tower was lit. Although it was not large, it attracted a lot of people to watch. People worshiped fire, so the prince naturally had his own intention to light the fire tower. The flame represented power, and the burning fire tower
The flame is also like a starting signal.
The next day, a perfect sunny day!
The time has entered April in the Julian calendar. Although Rurik himself is not in Novorosberg, he is sure that the businessmen there have already begun to take action. This is because many forces are ready to move here in Novgorod.
Kagan and Maksakye urged the Russians to quickly start spring plowing. They took the opportunity to lend horses to farmers for plowing, and took the opportunity to earn some supplies, and then organized horse teams to go south with a large amount of goods.
The mood of King Bjorn of Sweden was extremely complicated. He was not really willing to give up the throne, but the current situation forced him to give up the throne. Rurik of Rus gave himself a decent enough opportunity, but he knew that he could not delay time.
But it is already April, and Prince Rus himself will come to Lake Mälaren to be crowned King of Sweden at the Great Temple in Uppsala.
The mentality of other nobles was surprisingly consistent. They wanted Rurik to arrive at Lake Malaren as soon as possible to complete his enthronement, and they wanted to take the boat back now.
The Swedish nobles and noble envoys all arrived in the hinterland of the far east on the Ross ship. They all clearly noticed that the people here were preparing for spring plowing with great fanfare, which suddenly made them very nervous, fearing that their own territory in the far west, their own
The tribesmen are not good at spring plowing.
These same people were looking forward to another thing - a big ship to order.
The Hortra family built two new shipbuilding workshops in the east. The second eldest son of the family, Karl and Stein, managed Novorosberg and Novgorod respectively under the arrangement and funding of Rurik himself.
Two shipbuilding workshops.
In Novgorod, Laosan Stein, who is in charge of the local shipbuilding business, mainly manufactures traditional rowing long boats in the inner lake area due to industrial structural arrangements. This winter, he has copied the design
Drawings to manufacture standard armed cargo ships/fishing boats.
As many as four large ships are hidden in the large, airtight wooden factory. Thanks to the inexhaustible supply of giant fir trees in the area, the factory can be built huge even with wooden materials.
Once, Rurik was the first to announce the sale of a standard cargo ship to his old Swedish friends, with a price of one hundred pounds of silver coins. He had very flexible standards, and he doubled the price on the pretext of a snowstorm.
Look at these nobles, they are scrambling to see how the boats they have built all winter are doing. Rurik's deliberate price increase did not dissuade them from buying the boats at all.
Spring plowing is bound to begin in full force over the next two or three days, for Ross's inland shipyards, as the ground becomes dry enough and critical work will be carried out.
The Swedish nobles, who have been looking forward to the big ship for a long time, have been asked not to spy on the construction progress of the shipyard, but they still quietly sent spies to gather information, and they were convinced that the Russians were building big ships at an extremely fast speed, and the Mellaren tribe was indeed
I can get the five ships I ordered at a huge sum of money this year.
The nobles all received the invitation, and one by one, led by Rurik, they arrived outside the shipyard.
"I saw you laid a lot of pine wood? What is this?" Bjorn couldn't help but ask.
Rurik secretly wondered why this guy has never seen the world. He pointed to the rows of peeled pine trees: "This is the track. They will push out the hull of the big ship in a while."
Bjorn was a curious baby, and pointed to another wooden pole and hemp rope to assemble a huge staircase: "What is that?"
"It's the place where the mast is installed. King of Sweden, don't ask any more questions, just watch it with peace of mind."
Bjorn was the more talkative, and the Pecheneg princes Kagan and Maksakye were also onlookers. They were surprisingly curious as they watched the process of Ross building the big ship. Because they didn't understand it at all, they just couldn't talk about it.
The track began to be smeared with a mixture of whale oil and seal oil by craftsmen carrying wooden barrels. Behind it, after opening the wooden door, two rows of strong men walked out. More than thirty people pulled some cables reasonably and pulled out the inner hull.
The waterline length of a standard cargo ship is also equivalent to thirty meters, which is quite slender, especially after being pulled outdoors. When changing the hull, a main mast, a small stern mast, and a forward mast like a narwhal must be installed. Even if
It is a standard cargo ship, and improvements to it have never been heard of. The hull itself will not change, and the objects added to the hull are the result of the shipbuilder's imagination.
The process of installing the mast is very exciting. For the Hotla family, this is just a laborious job. The brothers and hired men are all very skilled.
It was only in the morning, and the masts of the four ships that were pushed out had all been installed and fixed, and even the mainmast's jib was hung up.
The four boats entered and were pushed to the lakeside in full view of everyone. Each boat stood on a very delicate platform. Obviously, if the four cables pulling the big boat were broken, each boat could slide in sideways along the high-slope slide.
In the lake.
The boat launching process is another wonderful experience.
Each industry believes in its own patron saint. Even if Rurik, who has been blessed by God, is present, Steinhotlasson is adhering to the tradition of his family and industry. If he builds a small boat, he can build any boat with a deck.
Big ships need to be careful.
Unlike Rus' customary sacrifice of deer, the Hotla family sacrificed fresh fish.
They sacrificed fish and prayed to the river gods, lake gods, and sea gods. After that, people holding torches rushed to the ships and burned the cables directly.
Rurik had never paid much attention to this kind of thing. Who would have thought that they actually used this method to break the rope? Obviously this is the professional ethics of masters in the shipbuilding industry, and he was interested in watching the whole process.
The cable caught fire! Slowly it began to tear and be torn off. A large ship suddenly slid into the water and splashed violently. Although the hull shook very violently, it swayed left and right for a while and then stabilized.
The four boats fell asleep one after another, and the onlookers cheered when they witnessed this grand event.
Bjorn's nervous face finally showed a smile. He approached Rurik, completely ignoring the attitudes of other nobles and envoys, pointing to the four boats launched into the water: "I bought five of your boats, and these four are mine!
You have to help me lead me back to Melalen!"
"Okay. But money..."
"I will pay in August, and I guarantee it with my honor. If I break my promise, you can chop off my head. As for other things..." Bjorn said it seriously and winked hard.
"I know, you don't need to remind me again."
It would be better for Bjorn to become the king, but it would be difficult for Rus to directly rule Mellaren, and he still had to support an agent to manage on his behalf. This person was undoubtedly Bjorn. This was a secret political deal between Rurik and this guy.
Four boats were launched into the water, and in fact, thousands of people watched the process. The farmers onlookers thought this was a good sign as the big boats were as steady as water.
Spring plowing activities have finally begun. All along the shores of Lake Ilmen, regardless of men, women, old or young, or high or low status, almost everyone is involved in spring plowing-related work.
As a monarch, Rurik deliberately put on a show, and worked with Queen Svetlana to control the horse-drawn plow to sow wheat in the prince's private fields in front of the public.
He symbolically did the work for the first time, and then articles praising the hard work of the prince and his wife were printed on paper and posted everywhere. How the prince handled his private land was up to him, and the people did not care, but the people were happy that the prince showed his ability
emphasis on farming.
Horses were used as much as possible for spring plowing. Due to the sufficient labor force, the spring plowing work in the three core control areas of Novgorod, Mstisk, Youth City, and the Rus on Lake Ilmen was completed within ten days, and the people
On the surface, it has entered a slack period, and Rurik is not willing to leave everyone idle.
He also issued another order to gather the brave men in the principality, organize an army, and take the main force of the fleet directly to Lake Mälaren to obtain the entire Swedish throne belonging to Rurik.
In this way, the old Russians, Vikings and Slavs from all walks of life were excited about it. They all hoped that they could win this honor and witness that Rurik's title was upgraded from prince (princep) to king (kuniag).