Chapter 860: Those Free Fishermen

In Uppsala, Rurik secretly summoned Longstall, Duke of Hjärmalen, and submitted a crookedly written document. Rurik finally had a certain understanding of the situation at the southern tip of Scandinavia. learn.

Of course, his wife Carlotta can provide some information about the south, but that was all ten years ago. How far the Götaland people in the south have expanded now requires Longstall of Hjälmalen to do a good job. Let me introduce you.

It turns out that the Götalans have penetrated into the Pan-Svealand region, which is close to Sweden's traditional territory, and the traditional border has fallen.

The current information is the most heartbreaking for Carlotta, the Duchess of Ostara. Because her hometown is essentially without an owner, the small bay has often become a fishing spot for the Jotalans.

"They stole my wealth, we must fight against them!" Carlotta bared her teeth like a she-wolf, and his angry emotions directly made Rurik angry.

Therefore, while the army was still in Uppsala, Rurik designed a road map plan to conquer the Jotalan forces based on this information.

The purpose of the war is not to kill, but to integrate the tribal alliance of Jotalan into the kingdom. They are also Vikings, and they are equally brave in fighting. It is unrealistic to expect that verbal persuasion and an outspoken presentation of interests will make them surrender.

For example, target a small part of their power, win a battle by force, and force them to surrender. Of course, this kind of behavior may also force the opponent to gather an army for a decisive battle, so let's fight! The Kingdom of Rus is never afraid of a war to destroy the country.

What's more, according to intelligence, the future conquest of Rus will definitely gain huge advantages in the navy.

There is no other reason for this, because the Ghotalans also have to live by water and grass.

Directly south of Hjälmalen in Sweden is another large lake, which is almost the same size as Lake Mälaren. Because there is no surface river connection to this lake, it is impossible for the Ross Navy to pass through Lake Mälaren.

However, if you take the old Ostara tribe's bay (Norrkoping) and go upstream to the small Grand Lake, you can reach the big lake by continuing westward.

The Russian army, which has mastered navigational advantages, can maintain high mobility in any waters. This time, Rurik decided to pay special attention to his enemies. No matter whether they were strong or weak, Rus would bring elite troops armed to the teeth to attack the Jotalans.

Rurik even planned to use cavalry troops to let the expanded cavalry standard corps bathe in the blood of the enemy.

Winter is coming, and Ross, who has a huge reserve of supplies, can make great efforts to reorganize his armaments in the east.

To attack the south and conquer Jotaland, the army must reserve military supplies half a year in advance.

Now, the wheat harvest around Lake Mälaren has begun, and at the same time, in the Novgorod region of Lake Ilmen in the far east, the harvest of the large Russian granary has been completed.

This year's climate cannot be said to be particularly smooth. In normal years, it is quite satisfactory, which is enough. There is much more arable land in the east than in Sweden, and the climate is warmer. The yield of grain, especially oats, is higher than that in Sweden. Due to the advantage of scale, the eastern part of the kingdom has more surplus grain.

Rus annexed the Swedish homeland. Although a kingdom was born, the economy within the kingdom was still fragmented.

In Sweden, the nobles still firmly control their tribes, and the people still live a very traditional life. It's true that Birka (Stockholm) changed the King's flag. This has nothing to do with ordinary people.

The ten-year tax-free decree proposed by King Rurik has benefited the most from nobles and businessmen. The others are the traditional fishermen families staying in Stockholm.

In Sweden, there are indeed many real yeoman families with husbands and wives and children, and they are also extremely free. However, due to debt problems, they have financial contacts with the nobles.

Each tribe is composed of several families, some of which are large families. Such families maintained a number of slaves, and sometimes bankrupt families were reduced to slavery due to debt.

In the Swedish area around Lake Mälaren, the civilization levels of various tribes vary greatly. Hundreds of people from these small tribes form villages. They all have the same ancestors and form a natural village by blood. We are all relatives, and individual productivity is limited, so the entire village must form a community.

A giant like the Mellaren tribe, without the tyrant-like King Olegin, evolved into an aristocratic republic of major landowners.

They were accustomed to their own way of life, and Rurik had no intention of changing it. If anyone wants to be changed, it is the huge Melalen tribe.

This tribe has the largest population in Sweden. It is not a monolith, but a giant made up of countless micro-tribes. As long as she is still a giant, she will naturally pose a threat to Ross's rule.

After all, the history books kept by Ross make it clear that about a hundred years ago, it was the Melalen tribe that pushed away the ancestors of Ross.

Although Ross no longer knows the subsequent history of Melalen, Melalen still firmly occupies the vast and fertile area on the north shore of the lake, and no outsiders are allowed to set foot there.

How to dismantle and weaken this overlord? To attack their nobles? Naturally this is not advisable.

Faced with the current political ecology rationally, the king must maintain cooperation with the traditional Swedish aristocracy.

In his heart, Rurik still wanted to directly rule the ordinary people.

The interests of those nobles should be preserved, but the huge civilian class can be won over! Because the handicraft industry in the eastern region of the kingdom, the mining and metallurgy industry in the northern region, and the shipbuilding industry that flourished at three o'clock, needed laborers who could understand Norse.

Rurik was certainly busy having intimate relations with his wives and concubines these days. His body was so replenished that a majestic man recovered!

He openly and with great fanfare entered Stockholm, his loyal city, and lamented that this port area had become his own in ten years.

A group of rowing long boats docked, and warriors in costumes disembarked one after another. They approved Rose's white robe with blue stripes and a white bear hat with a large goose feather on his head. They also carried round shields on their backs, each held a long-handled halberd, and blue, white and red cloth strips were tied together to make decorative tassels.

They were dressed powerfully and gorgeously, and the glass beads hanging on their bodies jingled in various colors.

Rurik took more than 300 people with him and marched into Stockholm with great force when the wheat harvest in the whole region was busy. The army rallied under the huge flagpole of Ross's store.

Everyone saw the king holding his head high, looking at the high-waving flag in silence without the autumn sunshine.

This made Governor Bai Hu, who was responsible for picking up the driver, quite surprised.

"Your Majesty, are you hesitating?"

Rurik quickly came back to his senses, "Nothing, just a little emotional. Let's go! Take the guards you trained and let's go on an armed parade in the city!"

"Yes! But..."

"How? Do you have concerns?"

Bai Hu told the truth: "Our regular army is mighty and majestic, but the people I recently recruited have no such domineering attitude. Wouldn't it be a humiliation to the army to let such a group of people go with the army?"

The garrison is also here, numbering two hundred men. Many people are new to the group, and the system is not unified at all. In particular, some freelance mercenaries who are looking for employers are also absorbed, making the overall dress more diverse.

They were here, and Rurik felt a little uncomfortable seeing their appearance.

Rurik could not forget that the armed parade of Olegin and his five hundred "black warriors" caused a commotion throughout the city. The 500 people in Olegin were not uniformly dressed, but they were all painted black to look more consistent.

The key isn't the clothes, it's the behavior.

"It doesn't matter!" Rurik said clearly, "You can solve the dressing problem of the garrison by yourself. Now I have gathered five hundred people, just like Olegin back then. I want to show my authority in front of the people!"

"As ordered." Bai Hu said nothing more.

The King's armed parade was very grand, and the well-informed local land aristocrats were supervising whether their serfs were harvesting wheat properly. However, the King came with a large army, either in person or by sending spies to hide the crops. among the people.

These large landowners had to supervise the serfs' operations such as wheat harvesting and threshing. The nobles of the entire Melalen tribe have indeed achieved an internal republic, so the five slender ships ordered were crowdfunded. Bjorn is still the Duke of Malaren elected by everyone. He must satisfy everyone's interests, and everyone is willing to fulfill their responsibilities.

Trumpets and drums intertwined, and the king's parade began with great fanfare.

Many people had already heard the news, and they gathered on both sides of the winding road when they heard the noise.

Rurik saw a large number of fishermen in rags gathering on both sides of the winding road, watching the majestic Rus army armed parade led by the king.

Civilians are not soldiers, and they do not have the custom of kneeling down to salute. Both men and women nodded and bowed with smiles. There were also a group of children sitting casually on the ground, their faces dirty with runny noses, and their eyes dull as if they were begging.

The big white fat man who accompanied the king on the parade was Governor Bai Hu, and he was quite disdainful towards the group of fishermen who were watching.

"Even ten years from now, don't think about how much tax you will collect from these people. They are just poor fishermen, living a life of barely enough food."

"Oh? Are you exaggerating?" Rurik asked.

The White Fox boasted that he had seen everything and said: "In those wars back then, all the men who fought in Mälaren were farmers. On the other hand, these pure fishermen did not seem to be Mälaren people and were not willing to take risks with Denmark. People fight.”

"It shouldn't be so miserable."

"However, after you issued the order, Stockholm became a free port. A large number of fishermen should not have come to the port area in the past because they could not pay tribute. Now that they have come boldly, they will definitely cause a lot of trouble to my governance. There are even nobles Tell me they feel concerned."

After hearing what the white fox said, Rurik suddenly thought of something. As the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun. After granting tax exemption rights, wouldn't it mean creating a slum in Stockholm? Is it possible to allow a spontaneous fishing village to be embedded in a commercial port?

Rurik reserved his opinions for the time being and patiently completed the entire tour.

The army basically completed its inspection of the entire city in one day. Rurik noticed that a large number of new sheds were being built and the city had a larger population, which was quite different from his past perceptions.

He also passed by the former king's mansion occupied by Duke Bjorn of Malaren, and also passed by the romantic scene in the city.

The Stockholm area has been the core area of ​​the Mellaren tribe since ancient times. However, this city adjacent to the Great Lakes is too dirty and messy. Of course, there are many people engaged in a variety of industries, including slaves from Bergen, Norway, who tied slaves as animals. Traffickers, the poverty of the vast majority of people is written on their faces.

Although the population is small, the most valuable areas of Mälaren are occupied by the landed aristocracy, causing a group of poor fishermen to flock to Stockholm for profit.

Aren’t these fishermen perfect candidates for immigration?

At night, Rurik did not return to Gould Island. Dajun slept on the floor in the warehouse area of ​​Ross's store, and he himself was chatting with the white fox in the attic of the store.

Under the candlelight, the two men faced each other.

There are fragrant barbecues and exquisite wines. The white fox wanted to entertain the king well, so he made a simple meal after the king's order.

Rurik had no intention of eating or drinking, and he had a lot of emotions during the day's parade.

He talked for a while and finally got to the point: "I see those poor fishermen, they will only become poorer if they continue to live their current life. I am very worried that their children will be taken away as slaves. I am afraid that these things are already happening. .”

The white fox asked keenly: "You want to give them a new way of living a good life."

"So be it. I'm going to give you a task that you must complete."

The white fox did not hesitate, he had already guessed the king's needs.

Rurik continued: "There are too many Malaren people who rely on fishing to survive, or they don't think they are Malaren people. In the past, we forced some people to move to our Ross, and I don't remember this either. How many fishermen were involved? They seemed to appear suddenly after I gave the order. Now that they have appeared, I will move them all away!"

"Order them to immigrate to the East forcibly?"

"Exactly! I've made up my mind!"

"What if they don't want to?" Bai Hu asked cleverly.

The topic was brought back to Rurik, and he answered simply: "Ask your private soldiers to arrest people for me. Ah! No!"

Rurik slapped his thigh suddenly, "You shouldn't be the only one to do this. A large number of grain merchants will soon be stationed in tax-free Stockholm. These large numbers of free fishermen may directly turn into bandits. For the sake of business stability, these groups All those who are almost extinct from commerce must be captured. I will transport them first to Tombstone Island, and then to the north and east. I will use very rough means to clear the area to ensure that no one touches my commerce."

If thousands of fishermen were missing, it would not be a blow to Stockholm. White Fox fully supported: "Your Majesty is wise! The local nobles are also happy now. I killed a group of gangsters who disobeyed the king a few days ago, and a large number of people came from these hateful fishermen. They have always been evil people who destroy business. They are born Low and dirty, like maggots in dung.”

The white fox spoke very excitedly. He indeed despised these free fishermen, and at the same time he agreed with the king's decision.

These words were quite harsh to Rurik, "Your words are too rough. I don't think they are maggots either."

"ah?"

"Poverty is the root of all evil. As long as they live like this, they will remain poor. I'm afraid they don't dare to lose their current life. They don't have the money to risk the lives of their whole family, so I have to take tough measures."

"Is this... letting the army land? It's like preparing for war?"

"Indeed. In other words, it's a clearance. Stockholm is a trading port, and only nobles, merchants, and craftsmen who serve merchants can be in the port area. I have made up my mind, and I will contact the local nobles immediately. And you!"

"exist."

"Reorganize your garrison immediately and find Shuyuan www.zhaａhuyuan.com. Mark the fishermen's settlements clearly. You must ensure that you don't arrest the wrong person."

"As you command. I'll do it tomorrow morning."

Rurik shook his head, "You do it now. I want to inform those nobles overnight, and you immediately send a messenger to tell them to come here urgently, to the governor's office. Especially Bjorn! Let him come quickly."

It is estimated that the king will take action in the next two days tomorrow. This is really to build a stable and refreshing trading environment in the city in the early stage of large-scale grain trade. White Fox dare not neglect it. Not only is this the king's order, but also because he has done this to deal with it. All merchants and landed aristocrats are good.

In the silent and dark night, messengers holding torches gathered unexpectedly.

As the king, Rurik personally lectured, which surprised many messengers who were originally coolie porters.

This is the king's order, and everyone still holds a letter written by the king himself. Feeling that they had received great respect and even the possibility of making a fortune in the future, they swore an oath one after another and hurriedly disappeared into the dark city, heading straight for the landed nobles whose residences were in the city...

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