The land on both sides of the Neva River is not permafrost, especially the large area of the mouth of the sea is full of silt and sandbars. They are quite hardened. With the construction level of today's era, building large houses on them does not have to worry too much about problems such as land subsidence, but if you are considering building a dry dock and building a large ship, this aspect must be carefully considered.

Just digging the dry dock and the sea channel is a problem. Fortunately, in terms of manpower, Ross can mobilize some people in the capital who want to make some extra money. Although the siege technology is full of earthen methods, simple machinery can still be put into use. One-man tools such as shovels and shovels are quite affluent.

According to the estimates of the Hortra family, the excavation work will continue until next spring ploughing without incident. If it is simply excavation, it is enough to employ 200 people.

They drew up their own engineering plans and put them before King Rurik.

Because the property rights of the dry dock and the canal would belong to the king, Rurik would be Party A, and the Hortra family would be Party B. The "Engineering Plan" lists the cost of labor, the cost of wooden construction machinery, and even the proportion of the remuneration that the Hortra family who undertakes this matter should receive.

In Changming's room, Rurik lit an oil lamp to study the terms verbatim, and muttered as he watched.

"They plan to only give food to workers? It will save me a lot of money."

"I also paid for the winch made of wood? I paid for the cable? So in the end the equipment belongs to me? You won't keep it for your own use?"

Rurik's muttering drew Ella closer, "Is there anything for me to do? I mean, I can continue to be a clerk."

"Not for now. But..."

"You can leave everything to me."

"Okay." Rurik put the papers aside. "The drydock can come to an end. They want the money from me. And you"

"As ordered."

"I haven't said it yet."

Ella smiled and snuggled up beside him, enjoying this tenderness alone. "I'll do it."

"Well, it's still scribe work. I'm sending people to look for big trees on both sides of the Neva River, especially in the southern woodlands of the big river. Not only to build new wooden towers for this year's Hanukkah, but also to prepare materials for big ships. You It's right here, when the wood arrives, you can count the situation of the wood, so that I can have a good idea."

"I'll do it."

Royal logging teams poured into the forest on orders to find the Nordic oaks, oak and oak, as well as tall spruce and red pine. Oak and oak trees are the most important. According to the plan, the state will reserve a batch of logs in this area, which will be used as a strategic reserve after drying in the shade to provide high-quality keels, ribs and masts for the shipbuilding plan.

Spruce and Korean pine can also be used as mast wood, but if there is a sufficient supply of oak, they will naturally be sidelined. They will be cut into massive sheets, the muscle of a large ship.

The climate of northern Europe is always cold, and the whole here is not suitable for all kinds of oak trees to survive. Rurik still placed the hope of obtaining a large amount of oak in the Novgorod region in the south. As long as the oak was found, it would be cut down immediately, and then it would be transported by water all the way to the Great Novgorod Fortress.

Ross is in a pretty solid financial position right now, the tax cuts have reduced a lot of tax revenue, but this year the tax base has grown considerably! Ella's work can't go wrong. Her report clearly pointed out that those "hidden people" so-called Ilmen Slavs who encircled themselves in the forest have passed the tax holiday after completing the forced move. Their large population also opened up a lot of new fields. Even though the quality of the new fields is not good and the output is limited, they are paying taxes. The oats paid by the new tax-paying peasant households have greatly compensated for the part of the tax-reduced grain.

It is conceivable that when normal taxation is resumed next year, the total amount of taxed grain will be guaranteed once in the future.

Because of the eastern part of the Rus Kingdom, the population has exceeded 150,000 people, and accurate statistics indicate that the population is even more! Those Slavs who were forcibly relocated to Lake Ilmen were like mushrooms that suddenly sprouted after the autumn rain in September, and their huge population was staggering.

And this is the truth, the total population of the Ilmenslavs is quite large, but they are diluted by the larger sea of forests.

Novgorod Governor Medvet's "search operation" will continue. This operation is not only aimed at finding people who are hiding, but also expanding the public's awareness. Because the world due west of Lake Ilmen was very unfamiliar to Medved, he just learned from the map provided by the king that as long as he continued to run due west, he could find a huge mountain, which was called the Ural Mountain. This is a huge world that cannot be described in words.

Medved's men did not find the mountain the king said, but learned of a small lake.

The size of the lake is not important, the key is the existence of the village of Ilmen Slavs.

The order was naturally to force the locals to migrate to the Lake Ilmen area, but was rejected by the villagers. Medved's men had run too far to the west, they caught some villagers and hurried back before winter.

Instead of harming the captives, they were incorporated into the villages adjacent to Lake Ilmen.

All of these messages were compiled by Medvedt's subordinates into a report and sent to Rurick with the sled.

That unnamed lake had a name that didn't count in the captive's moutha flood of water.

In fact, that is Lake Valdai, a relatively high point in this vast northeastern European plain. This plain is also named after this humble lake, the Valdai Hills.

The problem of the country's productivity is here, and the population is still absolutely insufficient, so there is a lack of manpower to defend the large territories. At best, those new territories belong to "control areas" or "spheres of influence". Rurik spoke highly of the report from Novgorod, and it is gratifying that the population around the lake continues to expand benignly.

The entire king is essentially divided into three major sections: the Duchy of Rus, the Swedish section, and the Finnish section. Sweden has a population of 30,000 at best, and Finland in a broad sense has a population of only 30,000. In the Rus Principality, the Viking population has reached 30,000 (of which 60% are children), and the Slav population has exceeded 100,000.

There are 200,000 people in the kingdom, of which 130,000 to 140,000 can be directly ruled by the king. Although the mobilization power of a kingdom in the Middle Ages will not be very good, the current population size alone is already the largest in Europe.

Ross is indeed a Nordic hegemon, with a strong navy and the ability to mobilize 10,000 soldiers.

There's going to be a kingdom war next year, so the Hanukkah ritual of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new must be done well.

A towering wooden tower was erected as usual, still chimney-like, stacked with grease-rich pine, making it an extremely flammable thing. In order to make the burning effect more gorgeous, a batch of fish oil, whale oil and seal oil was also poured on the pine wood after being burned in a liquid state. The wooden pagoda is covered with a layer of grease, and the base part is not known to be piled with a lot of pine branches and waste wood. Before the ignition ceremony, the 111 reindeer used for sacrifice were all piled under the pagoda.

This year's Hanukkah festival, thousands of people are waiting for the fire tower to detonate, everyone is comfortably baking around the fire tower and waiting for the new sun.

In recent years, the festival of Hanukkah has become more and more grand. People, both noble and lowly, are looking forward to the war that will start in 840 AD.

Sure enough, this is really a gorgeous and gorgeous pattern!

That's one hundred and eleven reindeer!

This number has a special weight in the traditional life of Vikings, and the sacrifice of Odin is very particular, and the top sacrifice is the heads of 111 slaves.

A considerable number of people do not oppose human sacrifice based on current values. After all, the sacrifices are slaves, and slaves are not human.

But here in the Principality of Ross, there are no slaves who are not human at all. There are people who are equivalent to slaves. They are at best untouchables, and after living for a period of time, the informal identity of untouchables is gone. The warrior culture is still revered, and Rurik, who has the right to interpret beliefs, established the fact that those who lived under Ross, believed in Odin, and fought for the royal family, their noble souls could enter Valhalla.

With such an explanation, even the lowly Ludi people can be recognized by the royal family through their military exploits.

Ross has been a reindeer sacrifice since ancient times. In the past, he was poor and could not provide many sacrifices. Now Ross's deer herd is extremely large, and he has taken out hundreds of deer. Priest Rurik thinks it is not a bad thing.

It is the people who lament that this is a waste. Wouldn't it be a waste if the deer skin was stripped, the antlers were dug up, and all the remaining venison was burnt to ashes?

The fire tower was burning hotter than the scorching sun, and the air was filled with the tempting smell of barbecue. It was the venison burning in the fire, and thousands of people stayed at a distance to avoid being burned, admiring a fire dragon rising into the sky, and sighing at the brutal burning of the venison to ashes.

The fire tower is very huge, and it has been five days since it burned to only warm white ashes.

Rurik was particularly tired from the heavy work before Hanukkah. According to the Viking tradition, one must eat and drink a lot, and eating and drinking is also exhausting.

Times have changed, and today's supplies are more abundant than ever, and there are more food and drinks under the control of the royal family.

Old Otto has been drunk all the time, and Rurik's wives and concubines are not exempt from the custom. This festival, both men and women, have to drink.

Oatmeal ale was simply not enough, and it gave way in the royal family to better-tasting low-alcohol wheat wines and warm-tasting combustible spirits.

As a real man, you can be a real man by taking a sip of the burning spirits and swiftly covering the flames of the beard that ignited accidentally.

Men's entertainment is as simple as that. They sip burning vodka from glasses and shout that their stomachs are so warm that the fire seems to be still burning in their stomachs.

Not only the royal family and numerous Viking immigrants, but the huge Slavic populace was happy to imitate the Vikings, especially when it comes to drinking. How can we survive without wine in this flat and snowy world? Alcohol accelerates blood flow and accelerates muscle heat. People don't know or bother to know the secret, that is, they know that they are very warm after drinking alcohol.

It wasn't possible before, but now that supplies are abundant, small Slavic families from all over the world began to brew wine by themselves without any hesitation. Although they brewed low-alcohol ale, they deliberately waited until major festivals to drink it.

Naturally, people who can feast on fine wines are concentrated in the capital, Nova Rosberg. The state-run brewery in Rurik is located in the city. The distilled spirits can be sold at high prices. However, there are a group of merchants living in the capital for a long time, and they spend money on them. This, as a king may get a fortune of violence.

But the work of distilling wine was also integrated into the combat readiness supplies.

It is possible to purify the liquor to 90 with the current technology, and it is also possible to be careful when purifying the water of life to 96. Rurik gave instructions to purify it to 75 and then seal it in a glass bottle, and paste a piece of paper smeared with pine glue on the bottle, and the word Medic in Roman letters is printed on the piece of paper. At this stage, no medicine is more suitable for treating trauma than high-strength spirits. There is no anesthesia for wounded soldiers, but people are anesthetized when they are drunk.

It is the existence of spirits that makes today's Rus soldiers not afraid of being injured. It is inevitable that there will be casualties in the war. Hundreds of people have died in battle. If they are injured and slowly die of fever, can such a soul still go to the Hall of Valor? Fortunately, spirits are a magical thing, and the people have reached a consensus based on their own understanding. Combustible spirits have been blessed by God, and can kill all the curses of filth, and the wounded soldiers will basically die.

Thus, the people of the state-run brewery were given this order, and they felt that their work was very noble.

The days are getting longer and longer, and the time has come to 840 AD. Although it is not yet his birthday, according to tradition, everyone says that His Majesty the King is nineteen years old, and he must do something when he is young and strong.

Long before Hanukkah began, a small sleigh team arrived from Novgorod, escorting a lettera letter from Pecheneg's friends.

For Kagan to unite with the Kiev people again and organize a caravan of horses to do business in Ross, Rurik has an estimate. They came just right, as if the gods gave Ross a chance to win over mercenaries.

But Kagan mentioned his sister Bejahir and the marriage.

Rurik was taken aback by this, and he thought about it before he realized: I did say last year that I could marry his sister.

Kagan really took it seriously. I am afraid that this matter was the result of the discussions among the nobles of the Pecheneg Khanate, because this is a marriage. With this marriage, their Pecheneg people must have greater demands.

"At least, that Bejahir must be a beauty, and must be able to listen to me honestly..."

Rurik has yet to publicize this matter. After all, he will soon return to Novgorod to implement some very important things. After returning, Kagan will discuss anything.

The huge sleigh team assembled again, and the king rushed to Novgorod with almost all the members of the royal family.

But the Supreme King Otto and the Queen Mother Nia did not leave.

Otto was no longer the hero he used to be. He especially remembered whether he was about forty-seven or forty-five. Now his son is nineteen years old, so he is almost seventy years old.

"God! Do I still have a great mission? Do I have to witness my son's expedition in the kingdom?"

The more Otto thought about it, the more he felt that this must be the case, and Rurik simply agreed with his father.

King Taishang is now unable to even hike. He needs a group of soldiers to accompany him to go out. If there is no major event, he will stay at ease.

The carefully woven chainmail was hung with rows of thin copper sheets, each plated with gold. This is a golden scale armor that is more decorative than actual, and can show the nobility of the wearer. Otto enjoys such ceremonial armor that even his brand new leather helmet is gilded, with the feathers on the top mixed with the blue-dyed feathers of the geese.

This ceremonial armor is not heavy, but Otto noticed that it was a little difficult to wear a suit, but fortunately it was no problem to stand.

Several plans for ceremonial armor were thrown at the favored vassal Kamne.

Kamne did not dare to neglect, let alone covet the gold and silver delivered by the King of Mexico. Gold-plated and silver-plated armor is ceremonial, and wearing it on the battlefield is an act of death.

So a batch of sturdy armor is also being built, which will be delivered to the senior officers of the army. Ordinary soldiers can wear iron armor on a large scale. In principle, this is feasible. It is to make a thousand sets of chain armor or iron plate armor. The workload is too great. UU reading www. uukanshu.com

Fortunately, Ross's enemy's armor rate is extremely low. As long as he is not fighting with the Romans' armored cavalry, the disadvantage of Ross' protective gear is not a disadvantage.

New Rose Fort has entered the peak period of combat readiness. As the daytime gets longer and longer, the working hours of various craftsmen will be extended. Or because the day when the army is assembled is not far away, businessmen and craftsmen are eager to move, and every soldier in the so-called Rus army is at least physically decent, and this kind of person is definitely not a poor ghost. No one felt that they were carrying too many supplies when they went to the battlefield. The merchants and craftsmen were busy stepping up production, trying to sell supplies to the soldiers to make a fortune.

The real bulk of the war preparation material reserve work is still under the supervision of the governor of New Roseburg, Konusson and his son. Things such as the time for the assembly of the army and the number of troops are state secrets. Before March, prepare 5,000 men's hard-wheat biscuits for a month's battle, and other armaments should be prepared regularly.

This means that the king will have a large-scale assembly in March. Obviously, the king has no time to supervise this year's spring ploughing this time.

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