Chapter 1,036 The Gift of Tax Exemption

At the banquet, Kagan got drunk.

Rurik invited many nobles from the Novgorod region, including old Otto, a heavyweight tasked with holding the position.

Everyone called Kagan Khan according to the custom of the grassland people, and everyone recognized that he was indeed the supreme ruler of Pecheneg.

After drinking to the point of excitement, Rurik hung the crystal cup high and advocated: "No one can question the power of my brother Kagan. If anyone objects to him becoming the Khan of Pecheneg, I will raise my troops to attack. All attacks The actions of my allies are tantamount to attacking Ross. Friendship endures!"

The nobles held up various wine glasses and shouted "Auld Lang Syne". They kept drinking, and the ale seemed to be endless.

Indeed, the Novgorod region, which has a large amount of grain, has the capital to squander grain to make wine. It seems that only wine can warm people up quickly during the long winter. Drinking is not only a personal preference, it is almost a way for locals to fight against the cold.

Kagan has long since followed the Romans. He has already felt how cold it is in the Far North and laments that no force has the ability to defeat Ross. On the contrary, these giant beasts from the north can go south and bite at will.

"To our eternal friendship!" Kagan stood up with his drunken body, but inadvertently sat down again. He smiled and looked at the wine glass that was half spilled, and drank it all in one gulp.

There was ale, kvass, and flammable spirits. Any liquor is deliberately added with some honey, and stirred with a small stick to become an original cocktail.

The dinner even made other dishes lose their elegance. Only the sizzling and oily roasted whole lamb made everyone salivate.

The banquet to send Kagan home was an opportunity, and at this opportunity Rurik gathered the boyars from the manors around the lake to the city.

When these nobles arrived, the good news that was deliberately leaked in advance had been spread by word of mouth among the people and naturally reached their ears.

Is there such a good thing? Because of the great victory of the expedition, three years of tax exemption?

Didn’t you say you plan to be tax-free this year? Your Majesty, after this, you want to be tax-free for three years?

The good news is a little too good. People always repeat the "three-year tax exemption". Boyar caught someone at random and scratched the fine lines. The answerer could only say, "I also learned about it from a friend."

Whether such a good thing is true or not, the boyars dare not speculate. They hope this is true, and the first thing they are invited to do now is to send the Pechenegs home.

The banquet was not to confirm whether the rumors were true. They tried to remain calm during the banquet. Only when everyone was drunk did someone faintly bring up the matter.

Everyone hoped that the king could publicly declare that this was true and immediately declare that all agricultural taxes from 841 to 843 would be exempted, that is, taxes would be restored from 844.

Rurik was seen shaking his head with a unique drunken smile. He didn't say anything, but he seemed to use this smile to acquiesce that it was true.

After all, there were a large number of nobles lying around in the banquet hall. Most of them were drunk and unconscious, making the whole scene too decadent.

Old Otto also wanted to regain his old bravery, but unfortunately he was too old and his body couldn't bear the heavy drinking. It seemed that God had deprived me of the right to drink, so I had no choice but to have a few drinks.

Now that the nobles have arrived in Novgorod by boat, there is no need to go back, because the traditional inland river trade route has been restored. As the largest residential area in the kingdom, Lake Yinelmen has a huge consumer population, coming from the direction of Novorosberg. The ships deliberately waited until the snowmelt period in spring was over. The Neva and Volkhov rivers finally became much calmer, and merchant ships began to sail to Novgorod to unload and sell goods.

Leather products, salt, bacon and ironware arrived one after another from the north, and locals flocked to buy them.

Even if the king did not collect taxes, the boyars of the various farms would always need silver coins. The price of food during the autumn harvest is extremely low. They are often willing to store food until spring and then sell it to the outside world during the spring famine.

As farmland expansion continues across the country, the climate in recent years has been neither smooth nor bad. On a macro level, grain production capacity has been increasing, and Rurik set the official grain sales price at ten pounds of oats or nine pounds of wheat for one silver coin. Grain is indeed the anchor of currency value.

The official selling price is this, and the official also has a large inventory of silver coins, copper coins and even gold.

Even if grain can actually be used as ready-made currency, a sack of oats is often packaged for one hundred pounds, and the maximum comparison is only ten silver coins. In theory, they can indeed trade directly with merchants at such an exchange ratio, but the reality is that it is extremely unrealistic.

Any businessman likes metal currency that is light and easy to carry. Businessmen from the north will never buy goods and then transport a ship of food back.

As the leaders of the farm, the boyars have to fulfill many obligations to the villagers. If the kingdom collects taxes, they are the tax filers. If the villagers want to trade grain, they will help the villagers sell the grain and earn a little profit.

Rurik set the official price for selling grain, and the amount sold each month was implemented according to the standards he set. These grains are almost commercial grain supplies for cities. Unless there is a famine, people outside the city have no right to buy them. Anyone who attempts to disturb it is guilty of a heinous crime and will be sentenced to the Blood Eagle, although this is never enforced.

Rurik set a bottom line for the grain market, and based on the current situation of the Rus Kingdom, although the kingdom's territory is huge, the population is actually too small and distributed in several large areas. Compared with past eras, commerce has indeed become more prosperous, but the bulk trading market for grains almost only suddenly arises during the autumn harvest period, and then quickly dies.

Except for the autumn harvest period, the grain trading market was generally sluggish. Even if the boyars deliberately delayed selling grain until spring, they would not be able to achieve the high price of ten pounds of wheat for one silver coin.

It happened that Rurik was the largest grain merchant in the country. He could buy as much as he wanted during the autumn harvest at a low price of fifteen pounds per silver coin.

Whether they were Vikings or Slavs, as long as they were farmers and were eager to cash in on their grain, they would sell grain in large quantities to get money from the king.

Over the past ten years, the royal family has accumulated enough credibility that as long as a farmer has the ability to transport grain to the royal family's purchasing station, he can get the grain.

The kingdom then consisted of three large grain purchasing stations, respectively in Stockholm, Novorosberg and Novgorod. In terms of scale, Novgorod is the largest, and the city's granary is also the largest in the country.

Therefore, each boyar had to consider the loss cost of storing grain. They lacked the royal family's storage technology capabilities. They also need to quickly exchange a large amount of silver coins to buy other daily necessities. Even if they delay till spring plowing, they will not be able to earn much more.

Taxation has never been the first means for the king to obtain large amounts of food from the people. The king is the largest businessman and a monopoly businessman. Therefore, he can exchange various necessities for food from large grain owners. This is a kind of problem for the royal family and the boyars. Just***.

"One silver coin exchanges for ten pounds of oats" is the foundation of the economic activities of the Rus Kingdom. The kingdom is indeed a grain-based country.

In fact, in Rurik's view, since food is the basis of survival and a real currency, he has every right to issue currency based on food.

"I can print a batch of grain exchange coupons. The cost of printing is paper and ink. I can use it as payment for some people, so that they can only use such paper to exchange grain from me."

The earliest banknotes were indeed commercial bills of exchange spontaneously produced by the private sector, and were later officially recognized as legal and officially endorsed for their credit.

Is there a silver coin shortage in Ross now? not at all. There is indeed a limit to Ross's economic activities, and touching this limit means encountering shackles. This is precisely the principle of "one silver coin for ten pounds of oats". If the royal family is unable to provide food equivalent to economic activities in a future crisis, or the official stock of food is suddenly exhausted, a crisis will erupt.

At present, it seems that Russia's economic activities are developing normally. Since there is no crisis in the flow of traditional currency, there is no need to resort to paper money.

Not only that, although Ross's expedition resulted in the loss of many old warriors in the past, the "Operation Marriage and Population Expansion" started more than ten years ago finally exploded with powerful force. Soldiers will not suddenly appear based on the king's willpower. The preparations made more than ten years ago have resulted in thousands of twelve-year-old boys sprouting up in the kingdom.

These boys were born during the period when Ross's wealth was expanding. They knew nothing about hunger. On the contrary, they grew up eating wheat and fish, and their physical fitness was far better than that of their parents. They also learned basic cultural knowledge and could read paper orders written in Latin letters and understand any posted notices. They can go to the battlefield with weapons, but if they can be given more time to wait until they are fifteen years old, they will be better warriors.

According to tradition, even if a child is born on the last day of the year (the day before Hanukkah), as long as Hanukkah has passed, the child is considered one year old, but in fact he is only two or three days old. As a result, a large number of boys who are counted as twelve years old are actually only eleven years old.

In 841, the second batch of twelve-year-old children made their debut. They were already considered adults and had the obligation to defend Russia's expansion of territory. They were more eligible to get married and have children. In fact, children of Nordic descent, regardless of their gender, had genetic differences. It determines their precociousness and ability.

Of course, Rurik would not be so stupid as to actually let twelve-year-old boys enter the battlefield, unless it was a war where everything was staked on the fate of the country and the country would be destroyed if it could not win, just like the Battle of Gotland nine years ago.

On the contrary, Ross has created a relatively safe external space. It is not appropriate to recruit the existing standing army and the soldiers who have returned from various flag corps to take the initiative to go on expeditions. It is completely fine to defend the country.

Even if the civil war in the Frankish Kingdom is destined to become intense, hasn't Ross already joined hands with Denmark to send personnel to the Western world to deliberately disrupt the situation? The main force of Ross does not need to be involved, unless Ludwig of the Eastern Kingdom is really going to be beaten to the brink of national subjugation by his eldest brother Lothair.

As a result, the kingdom received a period of strategic opportunity, and the entire kingdom needed to recuperate.

The news of the so-called "three-year tax exemption" was indeed spread by Rurik. He could predict the public's information after the news spread, and the people were indeed discussing happily.

Why is it tax-free for three years? According to the original plan, the tax exemption was to be implemented in 840 to stabilize the confidence of the expeditionary force and the people in the rear. As a result, the hard-working clerks had already completed the tax collection before the tax exemption order was sent back to their hometown. Naturally, tax exemption must be fulfilled in 841. But the kingdom did achieve a great victory in the expedition!

When Caesar held a ten-day triumphal ceremony in Rome, the people of Rome saw the majesty and glory of the army. But what really made the people support Caesar was another good policy - he treated the whole city to free food and drink for a whole month.

In short, it is just spreading money. If you change the method, it is tax-free for the people.

Li Chuang then used the banner of "three-year tax exemption" to get the response of the hungry people. In just one year, the defeated Eighteen Cavalry swelled to an army of two million refugees.

With a clear understanding of history, Rurik could realize the significance of tax exemption, and the romantic idea deep in his heart was not destroyed by the ten-year expansion war.

It must be tax-free in 842, which is equivalent to the feat of "Caesar inviting the whole city to a meal". We have been exempt from tax for two years. Let us learn from the righteous deeds of various Eastern dynasties when they were first established and extend the tax holiday to three years.

Since the main grain-producing areas in Russia directly controlled by the royal family are highly concentrated in the area around Yin Ermen Lake, the farms are villages, and they are the basic social units for organizing food production. Each farm has a boyar nobility equivalent to a village. Even though some boyars were domineering in the past, they are now actually under the direct control of the Novgorod governor, who is directly responsible to King Rurik. , even if these boyars continue to dominate and dare to refuse the king's decree, the army will come to attack them in person, just like they have done in the past.

In fact, some privileges are naturally set up for Rurik, the immigrant settlement of the old Russians, but they are treated equally in terms of agricultural taxes. There are more than 40 old and new Slavic farms around the lake. They are Slavs, and many of them have known since childhood that the Russians among the Varangians who came by boat were untouchable. They are born with this awareness, and now they are relieved to be directly managed by Ross.

A large number of Russians immigrated to the Lake District. Because they lived on the territory of the old Pine Needle Manor that had been slaughtered, they did not intrude on the acres of other manors. They made some comparisons. Back then, Pine Needle Manor was also a small overlord, and every farm had to pay tribute to them. Now we are also providing food to the Russians, but the Russians have given everyone a lot of benefits, so that the grain production has increased a lot. If we pay more grain to the Russians, we will keep more grain.

Even though the king did not issue any tax exemption decree, the life of each Slavic farm was still developing steadily. After all, they almost never sent troops on expeditions, and although they didn't get a lot of loot, they also had no losses. On the contrary, Boyar's son, who was ordered to be a cavalryman (acting as a hostage), came back with a large amount of loot. The boy became the hero of the whole village and a warrior recognized by King Rus. The men in the village who prided themselves on being brave also became excited, eager to have the opportunity to go to the battlefield to gain trophies and personal honor.

More than forty boyars were ordered to participate in the banquet. Everyone was actually entertained by the king with wine and barbecue. They were extremely satisfied and grateful mentally.

In fact, this was also a performance performed by Rurik, to make those boyars realize that even though they were forced to move their entire village from the forest to the lake to accept the rule of Ross, the King of Ross really did not treat them as outsiders. .

Then these boyars were allowed to wake up after drinking. After their spirits were fully restored, they were collectively invited to enter the parliament court in the city.

The parliament court was bustling with excitement. It was widely rumored that the king was going to announce a tax exemption order. When talking about this, many people simply shook violently with excitement, which was beyond their control by personal willpower.

Then when Rurik, a noble and kind man, appeared on the stage, all the boyars stood up one after another, roaring, stomping on the floor, and applauding, making a lot of noise in various ways.

Rurik waved to them, not bothering to elaborate on the polite words.

Governor Medvet was present, as was the top scribe Ella, both of whom stood on the left and right of Rurik. Only in this way did the wise men among the boyars fully understand the meaning of the meeting. Because of any taxation activities, the governor will send people to transport the physical agricultural taxes and supervise the implementation, and the top clerk will send people to do statistical work and record everything in writing as evidence.

Rurik said bluntly: "Have you all heard the news? I tell you that everything is true!"

The scene that had just been quiet quickly boiled like boiling water.

He slapped the low podium hard and told everyone to be quiet with a smile.

He also solemnly announced: "It was supposed to be tax-free last year, but something went wrong. So this year, we will take over last year's tax exemption! And because the war was a great success, it was so glorious that it deserves tax exemption. It will continue to be tax-free next year. Since it has been tax-free for two years, I will give you another one. year, and the tax exemption will continue the year after that. Three full years! This year is 841, and the tax exemption will continue until 843. When we collect agricultural taxes again, it will be 844!"

Rurik repeated more about the specific time to ensure that Boyar, who was hard of hearing, heard clearly.

They cheered wildly and praised the king for his wisdom. They praised the king with the best words in Slavic vocabulary, "Slava" and "Skoyin", which together means "glorious hero".

The tax exemption order was first announced in Novgorod and then implemented in all settlements throughout the kingdom.

So, now that the tax is exempted, what will be the country’s expenditure? There won’t be a fiscal deficit?

Due to the seizures of the war, and even the continuous blood transfusion of the metal smelting industry directly controlled by the royal family, the wealth flowing into the national treasury would indeed be increasing if the expenses of the huge war were not reduced. After all, only agricultural taxes are exempted, and commercial taxes and customs taxes should still be collected. What's more, he made some calculations and found that the war in 840 had indeed turned into a trade war, and the Eastern Kingdom had completely opened its doors to Rus. Rus now has the best iron ore in Europe. It is a huge source of wealth for the kingdom at this stage in its history. It exports iron products to Saxony, Flanders, the Netherlands, Britain and East Frankia. The local geographical conditions determine that they are indeed in short supply. Iron, it is impossible to refuse the good iron from the north.

Only in this respect has history returned to its normal state. Ever since the Kingdom of Sweden discovered large iron mines, it began to export crude sponge iron or iron iron to the Holy Roman Empire. Shinra craftsmen refined the iron, and then learned steelmaking and hydraulic forging techniques in the 15th century, making steel rapidly popularized. Shinra can achieve this largely by relying on the annual transportation of Swedish iron ore. This transportation is a thousand-year transportation.

Rurik did not do this intentionally. Due to various considerations, selling iron products to Saxony and the Eastern Kingdom was the best solution to seize local wealth. He is now in Novgorod, and he can be sure that Russian armed cargo ships must have begun to go around Jutland towards Hamburg, Rotterstad (Rotterdam) and Utrecht...