Rise of Rurik

At dawn, the breeze blew across the Great Lake, what should have been a bustling farmhouse, but now there are only a few figures swaying in the morning.

The area around the farmhouse was full of people, all of them gray and white, their blood soaked into the ground, and the land turned black.

Sleeping with thousands of corpses, the Ross army didn't feel too bad. They were both victors, and a brutal battle proved to Odin who the true warriors were.

The Rusian soldiers who got up early looked for combustible firewood everywhere, got clean water at the well surrounded by pebbles, and immediately cooked the captured wheat.

This group of farmers really didn't have any treasures to grab, and the brothers who simply seized a batch of grain could not really be satisfied, but they also had psychological expectations and concluded that there would be no rich spoils after the war.

In other words, this year's war in the East won't loot any gold and silver, and everyone is obeying the Duke's will.

The Rus and Balmers relied on hunting and fishing as their main means of livelihood during peacetime, and most of them were still not very interested in controlling farmland and growing wheat.

When many people are full, the work of cleaning the battlefield officially begins.

The corpses were tethered to their feet and pulled to the edge of the woods farther away to stand by.

Those warriors from White Tree, Calf, and Fisherman's Manor began to dig deep pits with wooden shovels and shovels, preparing to bury many dead bodies.

Most of the work of cleaning the station was left to the Allied troops. The Varyags, the absolute main body of the Rus army, still mainly stayed in the occupied farms to sit and rest.

The corpses that died in the farm were randomly thrown onto two-wheeled carts, the dead were transported away quickly, and the entire farm became less eerie.

To bury 10,000 corpses is a lot of work.

Rigus lived on a walking stick and rode the long boat of the Rus people to the battlefield in the morning. He was not surprised by the victory of the Rus army, but he never thought that victory would come so easily.

Then when he saw the corpses piled up on the edge, the whole figure seemed to have his legs turned into powder, and he was so frightened that he sat on the ground with a bang, and then passed out in a daze.

He was shot several times in the face before he woke up and gradually understood the current situation.

Usky of Calf Manor is already here, and he got those slaps.

"Uncle,

You see, Pine Needle Manor is over, and their people are all here. "He says.

"Ah! Corpses, all corpses."

"You shouldn't be here. We fought a big battle yesterday, and now our people are cleaning up the dead."

"Where's the Russ?" Rigus asked cautiously.

"They? Are they resting now? Busy cleaning up their spoils." Uski said with a hint of dissatisfaction. Indeed, he and his people arrived too late, and the best things were selected by the Ross army, and they arrived late. People can only hope to pick up leaks.

Rigus was helped to stand up, the miserable image in front of him blinked too much, he hurriedly turned his face away, and sighed: "Rurik asked me to come to the meeting, saying that there is something important to announce, now I am here, I want to go find him."

"It doesn't matter. Duke Ross is at old Borudne's house, and Tolly and I will be a little late."

"Alright. I'll see what my son-in-law has done then."

Rigus was escorted into the destroyed Pine Needle Manor. During the short journey, he saw multiple trolleys pulling the corpses towards the tomb to be sealed. He closed his eyes whenever he saw this tragic situation. There is no extravagance for the scene inside the manor.

Sure enough, some houses have collapsed, and the entire manor has obvious signs of looting and damage.

A large number of Rus military soldiers wearing classic Varyag helmets walked around with arms, or a few people gathered to chat with laughter.

How ridiculous! A lot of people have died here, but they still have the courage to laugh?

Are they not afraid of the ghosts of the dead?

Rigus has never seen many corpses in his life. He has only presided over the funeral of his White Tree Manor. He has never left the Volkhov River to go to Lake Ladoga downstream.

He has never participated in a war in which the two sides have invested more than 10,000 troops, and naturally he has never seen the tragic situation of corpses everywhere. Today is an eye-opener. He just wanted to leave this terrible place as soon as possible, and even the houses left by Pine Needle Manor had to be demolished, so that the unlucky place would completely disappear.

Ligus had more important things. He finally arrived at the occupied Borudne mansion. These buildings surrounded by walls were already Rurik's command center and a natural meeting place.

No, as soon as he entered the fence, he saw Rurik himself and his lovely daughter.

Svetlana, the girl dressed like a capable Varyag female warrior. Do not! She is a warrior, I am afraid she also killed the enemy. Look at her, sitting on a simple wooden bench patiently polishing an arrow cluster.

"Dad! You're here!" The girl stood up suddenly and greeted her with relief.

"I'm here on orders." After that, his eyes turned to Rurik.

The sword was sheathed, and Rurik walked slowly with his chest raised: "It seems that the people I sent out are very efficient. You are here, come in and sit down."

"well……"

Rigus took a good look at this young war madman. With this counter-insurgency war, he had a deeper understanding of his son-in-law. He was full of praise after seeing this handsome young man with his own eyes. Now more is fear. As long as this kid gives an order, an army armed with iron will rush up, and the whole world has no rivals.

If the White Tree Manor is not doing well, this kid will turn his face and ignore him.

Rigus had to think a little more. He was in awe of Otto, and now he was not only in awe of Rurik, but fear had taken the majority.

He continued to use crutches to enter the inner hall, and the aroma rushed towards him. No, the smell is also mixed with the smell of wine.

Otto was lying on his side on the wooden floor in the inner hall. Today, he took off his shirt and sat casually, with his white beard drooping to his chest. He didn't know how much he had drunk, and his rosy face could not even see age spots. Otto seemed to be lying on his side like this, but this attitude made Rigus even more awe-inspiring, because those deep eyes always exuded murderous aura.

"You're here first, and I just have something to inform you." Rurik was already sitting cross-legged, and his speech immediately attracted the attention of Rigus.

"Okay, I will follow any orders."

Rigus threw the stick to the followers, and those followers could withdraw. The old guy sat cross-legged with his back hunched over, under the scrutiny of two generations of Ross leaders.

Rurik and Otto had already discussed how to reward the hard-core ally White Tree Manor, and it was also clearly revealed at the previous meeting that today is to summon this person first to announce the reward.

Rurik cleared his throat: "I am now announcing a travel promise, and I will give you the last time. In this war, our army completely destroyed the Pine Needle Manor, and the huge farmland left behind are my spoils. I! Ruli, Duke of Ross Gram declared them mine, but the vast farmland needs to be cultivated for a long time. Now I give you 40% of the land."

Hearing this, the fear in Rigus's heart disappeared completely, and his aging eyes shone brightly, because this last time completely exceeded his expectations.

He hurriedly thanked the Duke for the award, and he really didn't know what else to do except for the words of thanks like a cannonball in his mouth.

Rurik motioned for him to shut up, and solemnly announced: "I reward you with these lands and will still receive tribute in the future, including the lands of your farm, which will pay tribute to the Duchy of Ross in the future, that is, TAX."

Rigus felt the difference keenly. He felt that part of his existing interests would be deprived. After all, there is no free banquet in the world.

"So, in what proportion will we pay the new tribute?" he asked cautiously.

"Eleventh tax! I have decided to collect tribute at this rate, and there is no special reason to not add tax. Rigus, not only your estate, but all estates in this area will pay tribute at this rate. ."

Is it just that? If Rurik decides to strictly implement the tax rate contract set by him, it will be a good thing for the future of White Tree Manor, because the tax level is not serious, and even in the long run, because of the acquisition of a large number of new crops, even throwing it in For the expanded new farmland, even if one tenth of each piece of farmland is taxed, the manor can still obtain far more food from the larger planting area.

But how is the problem so simple?

Rurik continued his declaration: "Rygus, I noticed when I came here that the acreage of your farm is disorganized, and the area of ​​​​the farmland is not uniform, and the work of measuring the acreage will also begin to be implemented. You...  Do you know about our Russian stika (98㎝)?"

"I know. My lord, my farm has been using your weights and measures."

Rurik's eyes lit up, "It's my fault that I don't know you very well! I can't believe that you have been in contact with us for decades and have already accepted some of our things. Very good! The length and width are both 100stika, which will be used as a Ross hectare ( hectare), 10 stikas in length and width make one area, and ten areas make up one mu (mu).”

When Rurik formulated these acreage planning rules, Rigus was actually a little confused.

It's easy to understand that people are dizzy when they hear it. After all, the Principality of Ross must become like a real country. Of course, the weights and measures must be unified throughout the territory, especially the measurement of agricultural fields must be more cautious. Clearing land and acres is a time-consuming and critical national project. Rurik is sober that the purely agricultural area he controls is small, and he has set the system early to save himself from the troubles when the area under his control becomes larger in the future.

The stika is the inherent unit of length of the Vikings, and its length always makes Rurik think that it should be a meter, so a hundredth of a stika is called a ministika.

After all, the unit of length is defined by people, and Rurik doesn't want to use the length of his feet to define what a foot is, and he doesn't want to use his current height to define what a meter is.

Based on the inherent and universal unit of length, the stika was appointed by him as the smallest unit for the measurement of fields.

He knows the definitions of hectare and area in modern English. They are actually modern international units of acres and acres. Since there is a very ready-made system, there is nothing wrong with copying them.

As for the Eastern method, one hectare is 15 mu, and it is quite troublesome to set aside 15 equal shares in one hectare. But the concept of "mu" is necessary. After all, one hundred areas are one hectare, which is too trivial. Especially now that there is no paper, and professional scribes do not yet exist, it is natural that the work of measuring fields cannot be done very carefully, and the area of ​​farmland should not be too trivial.

A hectare divided horizontally into ten equal parts is an acre (mu).

In the afternoon, Usky and Tolly, who were supervising the cleaning of the corpses, came back. They washed their hands with soap, and the extreme cleanliness made them feel that they also washed away bad luck.

The two apologized to Rurik for being late, and Rurik first served him with boiled honey water, and then announced that the two manors would receive one-tenth of all the seized farmland.

This seems to be a small area? For two small farms with a population of more than 700 people, if they get 10 percent of the farmland from a large farm with a population of 10,000, and the two families share the same, the newly ripened fields obtained by each of them must not be equivalent to their own old fields. half of the total area? The two were very satisfied with such a reward. As for Lord Rurik's appointment of an eleven tax, the two of them even raised their hands in favor?

Why? Just because such taxes can be paid less tribute than before! His lord the duke is a benevolent hero.

The joy of the two people can be seen clearly by Rurik. When he explained the plan to implement the new farm system, the two first looked at each other and supported each other.

In the evening, Rurik relied on the seizure of a large amount of agricultural materials to reward the army at the Pine Needle Manor occupied by him.

All the generals of the Ross Army and the leaders of the Allied Army gathered here.

Some of the captured livestock were killed, and noble people feasted on barbecued meats. People near the sea have never experienced a lack of salt, and the barbecue was sprinkled with high-quality Atlantic sea salt from the Balmers, which surprised Usky and Tolly! Unexpectedly, they can really work for the Rus people and eat salt freely.

This is the case in the area around Lake Ilmen. It seems that this area is very close to the sea, but in fact, with the poor sailing ability of the local Slavs, it is basically impossible to float to the Gulf of Finland. What's more, the large sea area where the Neva River flows into the bay is not so much a sea as it is a lake. The low salinity of the sea water seems to be fine even if it is drunk as fresh water.

The seized ale was indulgently drunk, and the spirits vodka they carried were shared with everyone.

Even the blue flames of the spirits in the exquisite glasses were frequently staged in everyone's wild laughter.

Don't look at Otto's old age. He is holding a clay pot and reaching out to dig honey to eat. He looks like a bear, and he is even more energetic in drinking spirits.

No, he drank a small cup of burning spirits, and unfortunately his gray beard was ignited. A piece of burlap was slammed into his face to make sure the beard didn't burn out...

The farce of drinking, drinking burning spirits, Russ people have long been surprised. But this game is clearly a miracle in the eyes of Usky, the leader of the calf manor, and Toli, the leader of the fisherman's manor! They watched in shock as the Rus sipped the burning wine from crystal cups, which also seemed cheap.

Because Arik was drunk, this kid had to show his uncle Otto that he was not afraid of spirits. He arrogantly grabbed the glass bottle and filled himself with two bottles. After a moment, he felt the world was spinning, and he forced himself not to be drunk. The glass plate holding the barbecue was also smashed. Seeing this, everyone laughed at this kid for being a big fool, and no one regretted the glass ballast.

Tonight, the Rus army began their victory spree, they lit bonfires everywhere, and feasted on boiled oatmeal and grilled fish.

The bonfires are densely packed, and the manor in the distance has witnessed these.

However, a group of uninvited guests have come to some manors. The dragon-headed warship suddenly landed, and the people on the shore hid in panic. Only the manor leader cautiously came over to ask about the matter.

There are as many as five longboats and soldiers divided into five routes to announce the fact that Duke Ross has completely annihilated the rebellion and no survivors of the Pine Needle Manor, and ordered the manor owner who received the information to arrive at the occupied Pine Needle Manor for a meeting within three days. Those who leave are regarded as resisting, and will suffer complete revenge.

Rurik gave the messenger enough time, and felt that he had given the manor owners enough time.

In fact, three days are still a little nervous, but isn't it a good thing to be nervous? They have no time to linger, and the manor owner must come to the meeting quickly to accept the key arrangement of Duke Ross.

even death...