Chapter 237: Need a plow

Rurik didn't say that he was here to discuss making iron plows, nor did he show anyone the planks he had.

He sat beside Lilia obediently and asked many stories about Novgorod.

Lilia thought the child would ask about Svetlana, but she really intended to introduce her cute and clingy sister.

Unexpectedly, Lurik was particularly concerned about farmers' farming.

"You ask me how people from my hometown farm the land? How else can I grow the land? Use a wooden stick tied with stones to turn over the field, and then sprinkle with wheat. Isn't it all right?"

"Are you sprinkling seeds casually?" Rurik asked.

"Probably... just whatever, I saw my people walk around and sow seeds."

"and then?"

Lilia thinks about it for a moment: "Then press the soil again. Press the seeds in the soil."

"Is this all right?"

"Okay, otherwise, what else can I do? I am not a peasant woman farming." Lilia was a little displeased. She just told what she saw and heard, but it didn't mean she was a peasant woman. It is even said that Lilia doesn't look down on the farmer in her heart. As the eldest daughter of the manor, she is relatively pampered, and in her concept, the most intelligent person is the blacksmith.

Now, she has become the wife of the blacksmith, even if the blacksmith's shop is dirty, she doesn't mind. She even tricked her husband to create a batch of iron and bronze farm tool accessories, such as **** pieces and shovel pieces with holes, so-called gifts for her parents. In exchange, Kawei will receive great feedback. Because Lilia has decided that she must go back to her hometown to see her family this fall and report a good news of her pregnancy.

After hearing Lilia's detailed description, Rurik's mind sketched a scene of the Novgorod people farming.

Just reclaim a piece of land, sprinkle some seeds at will, there is no irrigation system, wait until the wheat is harvested in autumn, purely relying on the sky to feed?

It seems that their so-called farmers are still living a life of slash-and-burn cultivation, and their farming and intensive farming are not accounted for at all.

Rurik continued to ask, "So, what are your tools for turning over the land? A piece of stone?"

Lilia stopped her work and immediately made gestures.

In this way, Rurik understood that the locals had three tools for turning the land, like a shovel, which resembled Lei Lei's farm tools, a **** for plowing soil, and a wooden plow.

Yes, it is a wooden plow.

Rurik learned of an ancient Slavic vocabulary, which obviously means "wood plough". The residents of Novgorod used hard oak with specific twists to build it, which was towed by a strong man, and a wooden plough was manipulated by a woman behind it. There is nothing magical about the style of this object. It seems that all farming nations have similar styles of reclamation tools.

It is a plough crooked, basically it can only carve a dent in the ground that is close to a branch line, and its function seems to be limited to making the ground softer, and then sowing seeds.

Until this time, Rurik suddenly showed his plank and pointed to the pattern on it: "Sister, I came for the plow you said. Look at my picture, I plan to make a good plow."

"Plow?" Lilia looked at the picture, but she couldn't understand it at all.

Lilia's brain is good. The only reason why she can't understand Rurik's drawings is that she lacks a certain degree of geometric knowledge. She couldn't make up for the plow according to Rurik's picture. Besides, Lilia had no idea about the appearance of this so-called plow.

Of course, the girl's temporary ignorance cannot be entirely blamed here. The plow pattern marked in Rurik's picture does not exist in the whole of Europe.

Because it has a ploughshare, can plow the soil to one side, and plans to make an all-metal ploughshare.

The plow that combines these technical essentials can be described as high-tech.

What is the current state of farm tools in Western Europe? Is there a better vocabulary besides the poor description?

Even the most critical component, the ploughshare, is only a handful of Frank lords who have just begun to own. The vast majority of farmers and serfs still use strangely shaped hard branches as wooden plows. It is conceivable that this so-called wooden plough should have been thrown away the last time it was used, and bad farming tools are also one of the chief culprits in restricting food production.

Today, Rurik wants to try an agricultural revolution in a farming area controlled by his tribe.

First of all, a ploughing plow brings a leap in farming! Even from plowing, planting and even leveling the soil, a comprehensive reform is necessary to bid farewell to primitive agriculture forever.

The day when the leader departs is getting closer and closer, and now, the people who are selected to participate in the Sorgon sailing, their purpose is no longer limited to catching some living supplies.

Some women will get on sailing ships. They are locals in Novgorod. They married a Rus in the summer. With the permission of the leader, they can follow their husbands to visit their hometown.

Moreover, Otto had no intention of interfering in such family visits. It can be said that Rurik is constantly changing his thoughts on foreigners.

Of course, women do not leave empty-handed. They are generally pregnant. Apart from the Annunciation during the visits in the fall, there are also some treasures provided by their husbands to their maidens. For example, a hand axe, some clay pots.

The most valuable of these is salt!

Marriage is a means of mutual benefit. While solving the marriage problems of the Rus youths, the Novgorod people will receive metal tools and salt as gifts. Similarly, the locals will give their son-in-laws and daughters more wheat. In addition to the element of caring for her daughter, it is naturally also a vague appeal to the son-in-law.

It is very interesting that when the Novgorod people can get salt from the Rus at a relatively low price, they can't trade the Smolensk for the salt produced in the Black Sea at a high price. In addition to benefiting themselves, the materials saved can also be used by the Ross people to reap more benefits.

Almost every man who married a Novgorod woman was immersed in the good news of his wife's pregnancy and naturally prepared some gifts.

As the eldest daughter of White Tree Manor, Lilia has the most generous gift!

There are increasingly exquisite glassware made by her, and iron tools made by her husband. She even made some loose pieces of smooth glass and stringed twine in the reserved holes.

The earliest glassware was a woman's jewelry, and Lilia discovered its essence with a woman's intuition. She put on a necklace made of more amber and glass blocks, and she also prepared one for her sister and mother.

But what exactly is Rurik's special plow?

It would be a good thing if it really helps the people in the hometown to farm.

In the afternoon of the next day, Rurik arrived as scheduled.

Cavite, who had already received the news, intended to stay in the blacksmith's shop, as well as Clavasson and Kamnier. They sat on the leather cushions in the inner hall and listened to Rurik's explanation.

For a time, the blacksmith shop was full of academic atmosphere.

"Now we must make a tool that can easily plow the land, that is, a plow, but it is not a normal plow. It must have a metal ploughshare, and it must have a curved neck..."

Rurik tried his best to describe the so-called Quyuan Plow in words they could understand.

Clavasson was confused. Although Lilia had some concepts about the wooden plow, she couldn't understand the idea of ​​Rurik's equipment at all.

In metallurgy and crafting tools, Kravassen can be described as the top master of the Ross tribe. His top-notch is of course relative. He has a lot of practical experience and his own opinions on making equipment, but these experiences have not become a system at all.

Rurik wanted to pass the education of mechanics, so that two experts, Clavasson and Kawei, could understand that Quyuanli was really a powerful tool for breaking the ground. Torque? The direction of the force? What is force?

Very embarrassingly, Clavasson has never even seen a wooden plow!

Of course, the Ross tribe also farms the land. What they grow is just a handful of hardy varieties of Nordic onions. Plowing? nonexistent. The farmer used a **** and axe to ram the ground, and then planted onion roots. Of course, allies in the South used wooden ploughs to plow the land. Kravasson didn't care about the farmers. He didn't even have the time to go to the South, so naturally he did not understand.

Although I don't know anything about the function of plows and plows, according to the pattern carved on the wooden board provided by Rurik, and under the supervision of this child, to create a so-called plow, there are no technical obstacles.

Clavasson looked at the plank for a long time, and said solemnly: "Make it according to the picture, I can. Rurik, do you really need it?"

"Of course, I need a lot."

"Huh? Is it just for the Novgorod people to farm? If it is a good thing, why don't we use it ourselves?"

Clavasson's question was meaningless, and Rurik stood up and said in a commanding tone: "This is not only my decision, but also the decision of the chief. The chief has given you an order. You must make ten pieces before you set off. You must finish."

"Ah? So many?!" Kravasson was startled, "You know, I still have work to build steel swords, and even some axes..."

"I'll talk about those later, you must make the plow I want. Because this is related to the reclamation of our new Roseburg settlement next year. Listen! Our tribe is about to start farming!"

"So that's the case? Let's start." Kravasson stood up and made a very positive statement, "Rurik, what exactly do you want, at least give it a name."

"Name? It's kra."

Rurik invented a word that was actually a combination of "bend" and "earth-breaking tool" in the Gnostic dialect of his tribe, and he decided to use it to describe Quyuanli.

Next, production and processing began.

Clavasson's job is to forge the most crucial ploughshare by hand.

A piece of wrought iron began to be forged continuously, and it became more and more flattened as it smashed, and it was beaten into the shape of a Nordic forest axe. Then came the very critical operation. Over there, this special-shaped iron plate was bent and finally formed into a curly arc.

Is it useful? In Rurik's words, this thing was digging into the soil, and it kept moving forward, and the soil was taken out along the curly grooves, leaving a trench for seeding. In the future, the farmer will sow the seeds and sprinkle them accurately in the gully.

Clarvasson basically didn't understand this statement, but Lilia understood the subtleties of it.

Kawei is responsible for the processing of woodware, and Kamnier is responsible.

But who would have thought that Rurik, who seemed to just narrate the "Wisdom of Odin", was a complete doer.

Rurik does not know much about wood processing, but when wood and steel are used as structural materials, is there really a big gap between each other? With a dagger, Rurik personally carved marks on the block of wood, the so-called position of the lower chisel. He accurately determined the length of each wooden part, and personally guided the processing of Kawei.

The European-style scraper processes a piece of naturally bent oak branches at a slower speed. This object is the plough's curved shaft. The rest of the parts are processed around this curved device.

Quyuanli, the magical plowing tool, appeared in the Tang Dynasty. In 829 AD, the East was still Tang. In this era, no nation should have more advanced farming equipment than Tang, but Rurik quietly completed a study of Tang in remote Northern Europe, in the Poros Sea.

Of course, it can't be regarded as learning. Is re-engraving one's own count as learning?

To be fair, the Quyuan Plow is not a complicated device in terms of structure. Its magic is that it reduces the position of the force, which not only saves effort, but also makes the movement of the dragging object more stable. There are also the recessed ploughshares that it was designed for, and the sharp plow arrows that are inserted diagonally into the ground.

These designs can be described as treasures made by applying a lot of knowledge of mechanics.

When Rurik explained his design in public, only one day later, in the afternoon of the next day, the first Quyuanli made by the Ross tribe was born.

"Liurik, what do you think? It can really easily reclaim land?" Cravason was a little skeptical.

The curved plough with various parts assembled is placed in the shed of the smithy.

But Rurik also reproduced this treasure through his own cognition. Is it really easy to use? Undoubtedly, practice is the only criterion for testing truth.

"It should be excellent. Clavasson, let's try it now." Rurik said.

"Go to cultivate? Then you have to find a wasteland."

"No need." Rurik shook his head, his little finger pointed at the very smooth and solid sandy ground that had been trampled on at the door of the forge. "Just try it at the door. If it can even cultivate here and encounter normal wasteland, the effect can only be better."

Clavasson shrugged and ordered Kamnier casually: "Go! Get the twine."

Perhaps Europeans will never be able to use cattle well, especially in this era. Even if some families and manors have wooden plows, the driving force is the farmers themselves.

In the Ross tribe, the "farming bull" that drags the curved plough is the strong Kawei.

As for Clavasson, he stood behind the curved plow, holding the grip with both hands, so-called controlling the direction of advancement, and ensuring that the plow would not fall.

What a weird scene!

Rurik stood aside and watched with relish, but Kamnier and Lilia, the two Novgorodites, only looked at them in amazement.

Because the ploughshare has started to move forward!

Driven by the "farming bull", the sharpest plow arrow of the ploughshare leaned into the sand and gravel, and finally the entire ploughshare sank into the ground.

Kawei was twenty years old. He started to do miscellaneous work for his father when he was less than ten years old, and this morning he was already a young talent with infinite power. He didn't even breathe exhaustedly, and the curved plough manipulated by Clavassen had easily traveled at least ten meters away!

Only deep dents and unusually soft sands remained where the ploughshares passed. Under the sun, those tiny pebbles that hadn't seen the sky are already reflecting light.

The two men even had fun in the plowing field.

Quyuanli suddenly turned 180°, and Klavasen didn't think there was any trouble with this turn. He didn't know that it was this clever turn that was its third advantage.

What are all the advantages? Once I had to use a **** or manuscript to dig a little bit of loose ground, now I only need a strong man to pull a curly plow, kra is enough. Behind the strong man is the land that has been cultivated.

Lilia and Kamni were fully aware of what had happened. They had worshipped Rurik's wisdom, and now, Rurik has become the "god of agriculture."

Everything is in joy!

Soon, many people in the tribe began to comment on the large dent at the entrance of the Clavassen Blacksmith's shop, and even some good people made up stories. The so-called terrible sea worm came ashore, and the monster feared the **** Rurik. The identity of the son, leaving a scratch, returned to the sea.

The ghost knows whether this remark is to make up a story, or whether the good guy wants to curry favor with the leader.

In short, because there were no outsiders watching when experimenting with the Quyuan Plow, and those who knew the inside story were busy increasing production, this remark naturally fermented among the tribes. Who would benefit in the end? Of course it's Rurik.

The ploughshare is carburized, followed by surface hardening heat treatment. The ploughshare became sharp and hard. It was stuck on a special wooden pole. In order to be more stable, Kravasson tried to use the pine resin for bonding the seams as the adhesive. Whether it is effective or not is unknown.

The rest of the wood is oak, and those small oaks that may grow into the keel of ships are cut down by Kawei, and they become accessories for both.

With the success of the first piece, the manufacture of the remaining products becomes rapid.

Unknowingly, the day Otto's departure is finally coming, and Klavason and Kawei have seen the power of the plough of Quyuanli, and they have made 20 sets in a daze! That is, the main body of the curved plough and the traction hemp rope, it has become an empty high value-added agricultural machinery.

It is time to set a value for it!

How to price it? The Cravasons still don't understand its value The iron used in the ploughshare is enough to make two steel swords.

Cravason never worked as a blacksmith for the purpose of making money. He was eager to make better tools to make life more comfortable. The production of the Quyuan Plow fits his temper.

Of course, if the money is collected, he can ask Rurric to pay two thousand silver coins. He chose to make a major concession, and Rurik readily spent five hundred silver coins. Twenty sets of Quyuanli officially became Rurik's property.

It's fine now. With the appearance of these production tools and the demonstration in Roseburg, Otto was taken aback, and instantly realized that this thing would definitely help his tribes settled in the East to clear up waste. Moreover, their ownership belongs to Rurik, and Rurik is not a good man who makes a loss business.

The Quyuan Plow will be given to the people in Shilla Fort and White Tree Manor, just like receiving other equipment, they must pay in the future! The so-called remuneration will accompany them throughout their lives and even their descendants. The chief family will also benefit forever.

What is this called? This is tax, that is tax.

And it is a means of "fatting sheep and cutting wool". Otto can't wait to send these utensils over!