Rise of Rurik

Rurik firmly believed that "the productive forces determine the relations of production" is a truth.

For the Iron Pine Tribe, which was once in the fishing and hunting economy, when their people began to use iron tools a lot, began to use the water power of the river, and the fire power of the furnace, their productivity had undergone a qualitative change.

Rurik felt that he had no need to beat the Kowen people with whips at all. The productivity of their entire tribe had been greatly improved. To obtain their labor value more reasonably, it would be better to keep them as slaves than to keep them as slaves. It is more economical to convert all into "tax residents".

"Now I want to make a contract with you. First of all, I must state that the relationship between you and me is still master and servant, but you have another identity, taxman."

"Taxman? What is this?" Mechasta heard the Norse word for the first time.

"For the time being, you don't need to figure it out. In short, I need you to work for me for a long time. I hope that you will not be forced to work for me, but that you will happily smelt iron and give it to me. Now I stipulate that starting from next year, your tribe will Two thousand axes and five hundred draft axes must be made for me every year. Do you understand?"

Although Mechasta heard it really, he also felt Sisi's malice, but his body was trembling.

"My lord, your request turned out to be..."

"What?" Rurik tilted his head, "I think my requirements are too high? The people I saw with you already knew how to smelt, and even knew how to build a furnace. Your people even knew how to burn charcoal and use reindeer to Transporting ore. I was going to produce five thousand axes a year for your assignment. I've lowered the standard, what else do you want?"

Mechasta gritted his teeth. He considered that the current daily output of axes is relatively stable at 50 a day, although there was a time when the daily output reached 100. Hoard a lot of ore. The Rus people will leave for the time being, and the smelting work for the rest of the time is all the work of the Kewen people. Due to the amount of ore transported, the amount of charcoal fired, and even the use of labor by prime-age men, several parties have reached a steady state, and the production capacity has also entered a steady state.

Rurik understood this, and the order he put forward also estimated the production strength of Mechasta's men.

Mechasta responded with difficulty: "Okay, I'll do it."

"You don't have to work so hard this year." Rurik waved his hand and said, "We have an appointment in your hometown. In September we will go to the Oulu River to collect tribute from the Kowen people. For your Iron Squirrel tribe, you must pay this year. Your tribute is a thousand axes! We'll be back from the summer solstice until September, and you'll have more than two months to make them.

Oh or for you it is not tribute, but tax. You really only have to pay the tax of a thousand axes, and if you make more, I will exchange it with you for oats and flax. "

Hearing this, Mechasta instantly realized the commercial atmosphere.

"Ah! As long as we pay what you need and we make more things, they belong to our tribe?"

"Of course! You can only sell the axe you overproduced to me. As for the leather, you should also sell it to me first, and we will give you a better price. If you sell things that shouldn't be sold without authorization , it's okay to sell it to us Rus, if I sell it to other tribes, even the Balmers, if I find it, I will be punished.

I think you don't really need silver coins, you need better grain and cloth. So in your trade, I would proactively use flax and oats.

Listen, you only have the obligation to accept this contract, you have to accept it! I won't listen to any of your reasons for not being able to complete the mission, those are all excuses. If you really can't finish it, you will also be punished.

listen! Don't betray my trust in you. You have to understand that your son and daughter are controlled by me. "

Rurik's determination is really precious. Mechasta was fortunate to be able to lead his clan to make everyone's life better by producing more things in exchange for more consumer goods. The problem now becomes, Ang. If they slack off, the Rus will definitely take revenge.

Rurik was aware of the other party's fear, "Are you nervous? Oh, of course you can be nervous. You must understand that there is no free meal in this world, I am your master after all, and we Rus are conquerors! Your current stability is pure It's my charity, and you have to pay the price. I don't ask you much, you even have the ability to earn private wealth, and I have no intention of looting your private property."

Mechasta nodded: "I think, I still have to pay a further price."

"Yes! If there is a war and an enemy attacks us Rus, you Cowens must organize an army to fight with us. In terms of combat, I am absolutely fair. If your people make a contribution, they will get and Rus. Exactly the same reward for warriors."

"Ah? This..."

"What? Surprised?"

"We..." Mechasta's mind was very confused for a while. He felt that the Ross people were harsh, and they were reasonable, and now they have become kind?

Mechasta couldn't use a simple word to describe the noble boy in front of him. Due to the current situation, he knew that he had only one option, and he agreed with all of Rurik's requirements.

He didn't say any more, then bowed down and signaled, "I totally agree with your decision, and I will do it well."

"Get up!" Rurik estimated that the other party still had a lot of questions, and any questions were meaningless now. "You just do what I tell you, but I will no longer give you a lot of food for free. You will get food by yourself, such as hunting or fishing. The rivers in the north have a lot of catch, you can Get it by yourself. If you don't have enough food, don't worry, I will organize fishing boats to transport the catch to you, and you can exchange it with me for smelted iron, ores and leather. Remember! Only iron, if you sell it privately If you give it to outsiders, you will get my punishment, and you will bear all the consequences."

Mechasta had long thought of this, and he knew that he couldn't eat a lot of high-quality food forever. Leading the tribe back to the old tradition of hunting and fishing, he didn't have much pressure. Besides, there were a lot of wild beasts in the area. When the tribe started to use better arrows, the efficiency of hunting was greatly improved.

However, another problem is that if people are assigned to hunt, the number of people who can smelt iron by themselves will be reduced. Of course, women can also go hunting. Most of the women are archers, but as the leader, the responsibility of obtaining food cannot be overly entrusted to the women of the tribe. I'm afraid that forging iron and mining ore in exchange for the food provided by Rurik is the most suitable.

In any case, Mechasta knew that he only had to agree.

In this way, Rurik added some terms and made a written contract on a wooden board in Roman letters that Mechasta could not understand.

The two sides signed a contract that made the defeated Iron Squirrel tribe no longer strictly a slave.

They were what Rurik called a special kind of "tax citizen", or they became the first "industrial population" of the Rus tribe. Rurik dreams of owning his own large iron factory. This dream seems to be realized in the Elon Orava Fort. The Kewen people who make a living by fishing and hunting have turned into "steel workers", and because of the waterwheel put into use, Rurik believed in their production capacity.

Rurik's return is approaching, what does it mean for Elon Olava Castle? Probably a fresh start.

Because of the contract, Rurik planned to ship most of the ironware produced before the summer solstice back to Roseburg.

Also on the list of goods is a large amount of rough tanned beast leather.

Forged ferrochrome tools are better than normal hardened wrought iron tools and even comparable to mild steel tools. Rurik hopes to make up for his financial expenses by selling them all.

All kinds of iron tools are always very profitable. Even the most common and inferior wrought iron, even a small axe, is worth as much as a ferret.

Today, finished iron has become extremely profitable, and its value has gone far beyond leather.

So how valuable is it that the Rus people go to great lengths to catch wild beasts and strip them for their hides?

I am afraid that its commercial value has weakened, but leather is not an ordinary commodity. In areas where there is no linen, cotton cultivation or even trade, leather is the only clothing material for the locals.

The leather trade is still the mainstay of the Ross tribe's economy, and now it may be the dawn of the so-called multifaceted flowering.

Rurik was already counting the goods to be brought back, and as the statistics deepened, he was a little surprised by its scale.

For example, the once very precious polar bear skin, its treasure is that to kill a polar bear has always risked his life. Hunting a polar bear is no less than the life and death struggle of two soldiers.

However, with the use of the crossbow, the efficiency of hunting polar bears has been greatly improved.

As a master, Rurik received a lot of offerings. There are as many as 80 polar bear skins and as many as 50 brown bear skins.

This is just bear skins. Of all the hides, the most numerous is actually the long-legged snow rabbit.

Rurik noticed early on that those long-legged and alert snow rabbits were difficult to capture and raise. What can really be raised is the hole rabbit, but their activity area needs to be warmer in the south. For example, in the area where New Roseburg is located, there are many short-legged rabbits. They are easier to domesticate after being caught. They are the so-called domestic rabbits.

Snow rabbits were originally the food of wolves, foxes, and even bears. Now, even if they are very alert, they cannot guess the traps of human beings, and even arrows flying from nowhere can kill them with one blow.

So how many rabbit skins did Rurik get?

This number is a bit shocking.

The number of snow rabbit skins not only exceeds a thousand, but the area of ​​each one is really not small.

It can be said that this is the unexpected harvest of the pioneers. It is not the first time for the northern land Rus people to come here, but in the past, everyone hunted here in winter, and it was quite difficult to capture the white snow rabbit in that situation.

However, the Ross fleet arrived at its destination in May. There is a saying that it is better to arrive early than coincidentally. Ross hunters and Kewen hunters, when they were logging on a large scale, they saw extremely bold snow rabbits with white hair every day. Jumping around repeatedly, they are so bold and provocative, is there any reason not to hunt them? !

May to June is the breeding season of the Finnish snow hare. They are always vigilant in winter, only these two months are uncharacteristically.

In a sense, the large number of animal resources in this area, such as snow rabbit resources, maintains Mechasta's self-confidence.

According to the current price level of Roseburg due to the inflow of a large number of silver coins, the reindeer skins that used to sell for only one silver coin are now doubled, or the prices of most materials are doubled. In this way, the price of a snow rabbit skin can also reach a silver coin.

The bustling wharf has become more lively now, and more and more people set foot on the boardwalk. With the large cargo ships coming to the port, the shipment of goods has finally begun.

The hunting, lumbering and building journeys of the Rus warriors who followed Rurik, the "war chief" to the north, are coming to an end. At first, the soldiers had the urge to fight an unknown enemy, but life soon became boring. Only hunting and eating could make everyone happy.

Finally going home!

The negative emotions hidden in people's hearts disappeared in an instant as those sturdy and large cargo ships arrived at the port.

They became porters and began to load Rurik's spoils to large ships. And each of them had their own sackcloth pockets on their belts, which were full of dingy silver coins, which was the reward for everyone's work in the past two months.

The leader of the Iron Squirrel Tribe, Mechasta, stood on the wooden wall and watched all this with relish.

For him, when Rurik left with a large amount of goods, his tribe would also welcome his summer solstice priest in a brand-new settlement, for which the shaman was already preparing.

Mechasta made his own judgment. The so-called complete implementation of the contract means that after paying the heavy taxes, his tribe still has plenty of opportunities to accumulate wealth for himself.

He himself has ordered to his own people that all new iron products produced after the summer solstice are not allowed to be sold to the Ross fishermen without permission. The only buyer is Rurik himself. Once the illegal transactions were discovered, Mechasta threatened to take drastic measures against the violators, namely the punishment of cutting off his hands.

It was really his helpless act to issue this violent and harsh order. He didn't know what Rurik's punishment was. Rurik didn't make it clear. This unknown fear continued to ferment, which made Mechasta believe that the boy in Rurik had already taken extreme measures to punish him. , as if he ordered the execution of Voima Kashad.

But Mechasta noticed many operational loopholes in the contract, or the so-called loopholes were actually a back door to Rurikliu.

He noticed that the biggest limitation of the contract was dealing with iron. That kid obviously wants to monopolize all the ironware. Transactions other than the iron trade are not too severely restricted.

It is true that Rurik left a back door for these Kovins in the very important leather trade.

Mechasta knew that Rurik was encouraging his own men to sell him the leather, and there was no penalty for selling it to someone else. In other words, Rurik actually acquiesced to free trade in leather.

There is a saying that the traditional economic foundation of the various tribes of the Kowen people is based on the leather trade. In the Oulu River Basin, the Kowen people completely regard the squirrel skin as a hard currency, and the squirrel skin is a special form of currency in ancient Finland. , but anything of value can be measured by the skin of a squirrel. Rurik wanted to plunder wildly from them first, and knew that he could not take too much. Based on this idea, the traditional economic model of the Kovins must be preserved.

The very real problem is that the Kewen people have almost no silver coins in their hands. Without such a medium of exchange, after the iron trade was monopolized by themselves, of course, they could only hope for fishing and hunting, and exchange materials with the Rus people with leather. Due to the relatively long production cycle of iron tools, one thousand axes are taxed this year, and it takes a long time to produce these axes, and they cannot bring benefits to the Iron Squirrel Tribe.

If even the leather trade were to be monopolized by themselves, I am afraid their enthusiasm for hunting would not be high.

In fact, Mechasta also realized a truth from the contract, the so-called unconstrained is compliance.

For example, Rurik did not make it clear whether the newly promoted Kewen blacksmiths paid for repairing iron tools to the Russian fishermen were also included in the income from iron smelting. If it doesn't say so, it doesn't count!

In Rurik's eyes, he is willing to believe that the Kovins are simple as a whole, and that he is also willing to believe that the Kovins are never stupid. Their failure is only due to the poor quality of the soldiers and the backward weapons and equipment.

Now, they have set foot on the ships of the Rus, and the level of weapons and equipment has been greatly improved. In the Iron Squirrel Tribe, all archers are replaced with iron cluster arrows, all marching sticks are equipped with iron spearheads, and logging axes are all made of high-quality chrome iron. They transitioned from the Stone Age to the Iron Age in an instant.

It was the belief that they were intelligent that Rurik had to be wary of them.

Rurik reckoned that he could not completely prevent the Kovins from secretly selling the beaten iron tools to the Ross fishermen.

Anyway, the contract has been determined, and Rurik's psychological bottom line is their future annual tax of 2,000 axes. If it is found that they are trading in private, the so-called punishment method is actually not bloody, or it is a kind of soft knife cutting meat, that is, punitive tax increase.

As the population increases and production tools are upgraded, their production efficiency can only continue to rise, and more taxes will be charged for this. How to raise taxes reasonably? Then claim that they were secretly selling iron tools, and that tax increases are a reasonable punishment.

Of course, since going through the battle and personally commanding the soldiers to kill a large number of enemies, the dark and violent side of Rurik's heart has also stood up unknowingly.

Although he was not naturally violent, he is now being forced by the times to become a hardliner.

What if the Iron Squirrel Tribe becomes lazy and they can't meet their tax demands? Then only harsh means can be used, such as punishing the Kewen people with similar "Eleven Laws", tying up the unfortunate and then piercing the heart with thousands of arrows, using such harsh means to force them to believe that the authority of the Lord cannot be violated. , the task given must be completed by all means.

Of course Rurik wouldn't show the violence until they missed the date, he didn't even tell Mechasta what "real punishment" was.

He felt that this set of punishments that had been buried in his heart for the time being had the harshness of the "Qin Law". Although the method of beheading for failure was a bit harsher, for servants, it was the simplest and most effective method at present.

Thinking a little further, Rurik became more and more convinced that the entire tribe was in a wild and harsh environment, facing coveted enemies and scheming allies, and even the residents of Narvik Port who did not know their enemies and friends, the situation of the tribe. It is too extreme, so the entire tribe also needs to use an extreme method to overcome all difficulties.

In the final analysis, the greatest danger is still the military threat of foreign enemies.

Coupled with Rurik's ambition, I am afraid that it is a good strategy to arm the Ross tribe into a large army camp and include all servants into the "big army camp".