Chapter 1344 Latvia Under Rurik and Its Special Prosperity

Stekander has already sent an envoy back to Riga in advance. Among the envoys are old guys from the Danish community and local Latvians who participated in the operation.

Riga's rapid dispatch of troops to support the attacked Polotsk had actually demonstrated the attitude of the locals. Now the arrival of the sled with the Russian flag flying suddenly shocked the entire city.

The Battle of Polotsk was won! The King of Rus led a personal expedition and easily conquered Smolensk! The mastermind of the war was beheaded by King Rus himself!

And the glorious King Rus will arrive in his loyal Riga tomorrow, and the army of King Rus is already not far outside the city.

The people who learned the news were looking forward to it. They all learned that King Rus was a handsome and tall young man. He was extremely neat, with golden hair and deep eyes. His image was like the legendary king who lived in Ah The God of Sgard.

So, when Rurik's army marched along the frozen Daugava River to the coastal city, he saw a large number of people who had been waiting for them, and then heard cheers from a distance.

"Are you really welcoming me? It seems that there are smart people everywhere here." Rurik said to Stekander.

"Of course. There is no doubt about the honor of the king, and they sincerely welcome you."

Stekander seized the opportunity to say good things, and Rurik responded with a satisfied smile: "This way I feel at ease. They will be fully prepared for the war, and I will also pay for their future efforts. A sum of money that satisfies everyone. Let’s go, hold your chest high!”

After that, Rurik gave instructions to the accompanying trumpeters and drummers.

So these trained warriors played "Grenade" with Nordic instruments very meticulously.

The melody of "Soldiers' March", of course, is now named "Soldiers' March".

The infantry all got off their sleds and formed a marching column. The cavalry and infantry marched to Riga with rhythmic tunes and drums. Many soldiers carried hunting flags and walked toward Riga.

This is unheard of in Riga! They didn't know for a moment that the white thing that was approaching quickly was an army, and they didn't see the details until the opponent was approaching.

Is this the real Ross Army? The team was neat and everyone was following the same movements. This neatness made onlookers immediately think of "shield wall" and "simultaneous paddling", and the Ross Army was able to implement the sense of neatness.

The army just passed by under the wholehearted welcome of the people, and pairs of eyes could clearly see all the details of the Russian army!

Even their clothes were uniform, their bucklers were painted exactly the same, and their hats of the same style all had huge feathers on them. At first glance, they even looked the same.

They always exuded a majestic atmosphere, so that the people in Riga only dared to observe their martial prowess, but no one raised their legs and approached without authorization.

Smart people noticed something subtle, or a murderous intention, and when they thought that this army had just completed a victorious expedition, everything made sense.

This has never happened before. A majestic armed group entered Riga with an absolute superiority in strength.

You must know that even if the entire large settlement is mobilized, Riga cannot provide 3,000 troops. Even if all the people who can fight are organized and barely enough to collect 3,000, it will be nothing more than a group of rabble.

But then again, why should Riga be nervous about the Russian army?

Those nervous people are just a group of idiots who don't know anything about the affairs, but they don't know that this Russian army can be regarded as one's own army.

Because the strongest combat force in Riga, the armed merchants of the Danish community, they had suffered heavy losses in a series of conflicts in Smolensk. More than a hundred strong men were killed in battle, and as many as hundreds more were injured.

A hundred men may not be considered much, at most the combat power of three longships. They are all the first-class soldiers in this city. Even if Riga puts together a "behemoth", the only ones who can really fight are these Danish immigrant soldiers.

Those Latvian villages have long outsourced their security to people from the Danish community. They are spending money to buy peace, while Danish immigrants use mercenaries to protect the safety of these local nobles and people. The relationship between the two sides is quite good. rapport.

Now, a group of Latvian nobles have left the village and arrived in Riga after getting the message. They just saw the majesty of the real Russian army. Originally, they thought that the neatly dressed Earl of Saaremaa Island was the leader of the Russian army, but now everyone actually saw the King of Rus himself!

It is self-evident who is the real leader, especially Spyut of Saaremaa. People saw this Rus nobleman leading a horse to his king.

In the crowd, a few pairs of vigilant eyes carefully stared at the Ross army and the legendary King of Ross through the crowd.

These sneaky guys are not evil people, but they have heard good things about Ross and King Ross, but they never expected that they were doing business in Riga and planning to go home after the spring sowing season. They unexpectedly saw them in the middle of winter. King of Rus

My true self.

They are Pskov merchants.

Rurik already knew about the presence of Pskov merchants in Riga.

All the noise gradually dissipated, and the Russian army stayed in Riga and set up their own camp in a snow-covered wasteland.

No one dared to stop the Russians' actions, and the city people saw a forest disappear in a short time amid endless noise.

When the cavalry is stationed, people need to live in suitable buildings, and the most precious horses need to live in stables that are warm and sheltered from the wind.

Taking advantage of the extremely abundant manpower, Rurik suddenly issued a logging order to the soldiers, so the people with double saws and long-handled axes began to move quickly, especially with the high efficiency of the "high technology" of the double saw, a piece of The pine forest was gone in one day.

The Russian army did not enter the city itself, and Rurik did not need to plunder the city that surrendered to him. Although he learned that a Russian community had emerged in Riga, which was built under the leadership of Spuyut and is now home to some immigrants from Saaremaa Island. It was a perfect place to serve as the palace of the Russian king, as it was very convenient for the army to move in. Not suitable - not enough space.

After all, the majority of the infantry had to evacuate after staying in Riga for three days. Rurik himself planned that the main force of the army would be passers-by in Riga.

Of course, the appearance of the army is an obvious threat to everyone. Even if they remain silent, as the saying goes, armed with sharp weapons and eager to kill, the Russian army has the ability to sweep across Riga and plunder at will, and can also loot all Latvian villages.

Rurik would not be stupid enough to cut off his arms, but he was worried about the Latvians who had the largest number of people.

This kind of thing is not

It's not just random imagination. A few days ago, the army stayed in the territory of the Seron people. Even though the Ross army treated them well, there were still three villages that were said to have abandoned their homes and fled for their lives because of fear.

The army camped outside the city. This behavior itself immediately calmed the hearts of the people in the city.

After Rurik ordered some matters, he took all four cavalry teams and circled the entire large settlement. They swaggered through the city to let the locals see clearly the power of the Ross army. After that, the cavalry withdrew, leaving only Rurik. Stay within the Ross community with a small number of cronies.

The Danes worship the strong, especially the sworn brother of the King of Rus and the King of Denmark.

The men and women of the Danish community quickly surrounded the Ross community with their families, and the air was filled with the smell of happiness. The elderly people also saw the true appearance of King Ross with their cloudy eyes, and couldn't help but sigh: "He is really a king. "

He has blond hair, a golden laurel crown, deep eyes, a very elegant beard, a tall figure, neat and gorgeous clothes, a sword and even a very elegant style of leather boots.

The local Latvian nobles who were temporarily staying in the city also followed the trend and came to see the majesty of King Rus from a close distance, and they got what they wanted. Isn't the arrival of these people an opportunity for me? Rurik thought that he no longer had to publicly call for the local nobles to come to the meeting. They came uninvited, so the surprise meeting was held in the longhouse of the Earl's Mansion in the Ross community.

The content of the meeting was clearly discussed at last night's bonfire. The Ross community of our own ethnic group will definitely comply with it, and the Danish community as die-hard servants will also comply with it. How are the Latvians? It is said that they may have a size of 30,000 people. It seems that

The population is small, but such a number is already considered a giant in Northeast Europe in today's era.

Most of the local nobles arrived in Riga on horse-drawn sleighs and reindeer sleighs, and many of them just arrived yesterday. Since King Rus is coming, he must show his loyalty in person and at least show his face in front of the king. This will be another insurance for the safety of his village.

So Rurik still followed the old method, and all the Latvian village leaders present were named boyars. Legally, they had to obey the death of Earl Stekander. An old Danish immigrant became a great nobleman of the entire Latvian tribe. It seemed that this would make the locals furious, but in fact it was not the case. Over time, Stekander was a good man, and the military power he held was also relied on by the Latvians.

Has life changed? The statement has changed, but the essence seems to have not changed.

It's just that everyone learned that the Seron people living in the hilly areas have equal status with the entire Latvian tribe, which surprised everyone - what kind of virtue can those guys hiding in the ravines and woods have?

Anyway, everyone has not had much contact with the Seron people since ancient times, so it doesn’t matter what they do to us.

Now King Rus has given everyone the opportunity to make a fortune!

Grain, dried fish, smoked animal meat, salt, honey, cloth, leather products...any necessities related to travel and hiking that Latvians can produce are within the scope of Ross's purchase.

Even the sun-dried wood for building ships is on the purchase list.

The most important thing is the horses and finished arrows.

Ryurikro made a list. As for the market price of these materials in the Gulf of Riga, everyone is a shopping mall.

Old fritters, after some discussion, there is no talk of blackmailing each other. How much is an arrow worth, what is the price of a horse, how much is a pound of dried fish, how much is a pound of salt, all the supplies are listed and the prices are agreed upon.

Since this is the largest order the city of Riga has ever received, specifically the first military supplies order, even the village elders have never seen such a battle.

Everyone has concerns in their hearts, and they dare not openly question that King Ross may break the contract after submitting a large order. After all, if the contract is broken, the Latvian people who are gearing up to produce a lot and get no benefits will be a big loss. They took the most traditional method and held a small-scale sacrifice at the city's altar, with the gods as witnesses to ensure that King Rus's promise would come true.

Of course Rurik could afford to pay a huge sum of silver coins. Besides, how could it be a huge sum?

Until now, the silver coins that have been circulating in the Baltic world, and even a large number of Frank silver coins, have flowed into the core area of ​​​​Russia's rule due to the dividends of Russia's expansion war. Russia continues to suffer from imported inflation. To alleviate this pain, external expansion deliberately consumes On the contrary, national funds and private wealth are a method.

Because war requires material reserves, the Slavic people, whose population has reached 300,000, are bound to get a share of the deliberately created prosperity of military supplies as producers, and a large amount of hot money left in their hands has gradually begun to flow into the hands of these villagers.

Giving the Latvians a sum of cash that they were very short of, these people dared Danish immigrants to work together to move south. Silver coins were the hard currency throughout Europe, and their purchasing power was astonishingly high in many areas.

Latvia

The village leaders in Asia are not simple farmers. These local nobles have become semi-Vikings. If they change their clothes, who would dare to say that they are Latvians, and they are a group of Varangians who run the inland trade route. As long as you have cash, you can take them to various places to buy many high-quality and cheap things, and you will definitely make a fortune in the end.

The two parties adhered to a tacit understanding. When Rurik personally participated in the local people's small sacrifices, this tacit understanding became a contract. What surprised these local nobles again was that King Rus attached great importance to the contract. He wanted to write the contract on paper, engrave it on a yellow and white pine board, and form a written document in multiple copies. Finally, he used The quill is signed in the traditional rune script commonly used in Northern Europe.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Latvians, the King of Rus received great honor from a person who was not glorious. Everyone knows their exact strength. Thanks to King Ross, he thinks highly of everyone spiritually and actually gives everyone the opportunity to make a fortune. Naturally, they must be loyal to him!

because! King Rose is already paying cash!

It was a batch of silver coins plundered from the local nobles of Smolensk. They did not weigh much. According to the rules established ten years ago, half of all the plundered coins had to be turned over to the King of Rus.

How much money did the soldiers plunder? Rurik didn't have the time or energy to investigate, but he did hold a batch of silver coins in his hand. There were not many silver coins, and it felt like less than fifty pounds had been preserved to this day.

This money is still a huge amount of money in the capital and Novgorod, but it is nothing to Rurik. It is converted into official food, which is 50,000 pounds of oats, and the new oats that are shelled and have a higher moisture content during the harvest period. then you can buy

to eighty thousand pounds.

The annual grain income from the royal family's official fields has reached more than five million pounds! And this is based on the fact that the Kingdom of Rus has suspended the collection of food taxes. Without him, most of the good land plundered during the war belonged to the royal family, and a group of Slavic mages were hired to take care of it. Even with a relatively rough farming method and a sufficient area, the harvest was still very impressive.

The use of new agricultural tools, preliminary irrigation systems, the introduction of leguminous implants, and the use of crop rotation can be said to be a kind of intensive farming compared with the past era, making the unit output of grain indeed increase steadily and on a small scale.

Even though Rurik still feels that his own agricultural level can still be described as "poor", it is actually twice as strong as other ethnic groups in the region in terms of output per unit of grain. After the food is lost, it will be three or four times stronger.

In an unfavorable environment, relying on the improvement of traditional agriculture, the unit yield per mu in the core grain area of ​​the Rus Kingdom is approaching the limit of the current technological level. After all, Rurik knows that even if he uses chemical fertilizers, he cannot increase the yield per mu. A thousand pounds of agricultural miracle - even if this cold rotten land is sprinkled with golden garbage, and there is a good harvest, the yield of winter wheat will only be 400 pounds per acre.

The agricultural environment in the Gulf of Riga is on the same level as Novgorod, and Rurik does not expect the locals to produce a large amount of food for the army. On the other hand, smoked herring jerky and crudely processed sodium salt can be made in batches, and the old Russians have regarded herring as their staple food since ancient times, but wheat is a rarity.

If the Russian army once again eats fish and fish oil as a staple food, Rurik estimates

There is nothing wrong with that either.

Furthermore, the Russian army still carries a large amount of plundered food. When the cavalry troops are stationed, the food that people eat and horses chew does not need to be provided by the locals.

However, the people of Riga have already taken action. Women carrying baskets boldly approached the Russian army's camp outside the city, selling homemade salty cheese, large salt tablets, and freeze-dried fish. Some young women even sell their lust...

Women are like this, and so are men. When everyone understands that this Russian army is their own force, a large number of Latvians think of making money immediately, and even very young Russian soldiers who have a sum of cash in their hands are willing to do so. Buy some souvenirs for toothpaste. After all, there are indeed ice fishermen carrying frozen large cod to sell. The appearance of the Ross garrison directly led to the depression of Riga’s fresh fish market. Or from another perspective, the catch trading market is not depressed, but Moved to the Russian camp.

Without him, the Ross soldiers really gave money, and even spent generously!

A larger cod can be exchanged for a silver coin. This is a good deal in the eyes of the young Russian warriors, and it is generous in the eyes of the Latvians who lack advanced skills.

Immediately, the reputation of the Russian army as rich and willful spread throughout Riga, and then quickly spread to nearby villages. So more villagers stopped waiting and watched, and moved towards Riga with their own local products, fearing that the Russian soldiers would spend all their money and cause I missed it myself.

This was something Rurik did not expect, and it makes sense when you think about it: "We, just like the US military stationed in South Korea, are creating a special munitions boom."