Chapter 2027: The Reverie of Ten Thousand Maozi Serfs

In later generations, Western historians did not believe that the Rus were Slavs, but that they were a branch of the Germanic people, who were invaders in Eastern Europe. But in this day and age, there is no such law. The local Slavs have all claimed to be descendants of the Kievan Rus.

This is a very important proposition, because Europe pays attention to blood inheritance. If you do not recognize yourself as a Rus, you cannot inherit all the legacy left by the Grand Duchy of Kievan Rus. Therefore, regardless of whether the real Russians are Eastern Slavs or not, Muscovites must also call themselves Russians in the age of blood supremacy.

Through chatting, Marin learned that the current domestic situation in the Grand Duchy of Moscow is very complicated, which is not quite the same as Marin thought. In Marin's consciousness, before Su Xiong controlled Russia, Tsarist Russia was a country where nobles, serfs and Cossacks coexisted.

But Raulsky told Marin that's not the case at the moment. Right now, the Grand Duchy of Moscow is in the midst of a drastic social change. This social change is not a common change that makes society progress, but a change that makes society regress—the free peasants of the Grand Duchy of Moscow are being forcibly transformed into serfs by the monarchs of the Grand Duchy of Moscow...

This is a kind of social regression, but Muscovites have learned from Western Europe...

Prior to this, due to the tradition of the Slavs, the land of the Grand Duchy of Moscow was controlled by hereditary boyar nobles and yeoman farmers. However, due to the social habits of extravagance and waste, the boyar nobles have been affected by wars and disasters. In order to maintain their daily life, they often sell part of their land in exchange for funds. Therefore, before the rise of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the number of free farmers in Eastern Europe and the proportion of land they held were actually on the rise.

But after the rise of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, everything changed...

Although the Grand Duchy of Moscow is a country of Russians, its history of prosperity was achieved by embracing the thighs of the Mongols' Golden Horde. Therefore, the Muscovites prefer a centralized system, and they have also completely inherited the post system left by the Mongols to maintain control over the country.

But relying solely on post stations can only convey orders and news, and it is difficult to effectively control the place. Therefore, the Grand Dukes of Moscow often select warriors who are willing to fight for them from all over the country, and then grant them fiefdoms, distribute them to various parts of the country, guard places for them, and control the whole country.

However, to gain the allegiance of the soldiers, there is also a price to pay. But the Grand Duke of Moscow is poor, what should we do? Of course, it is to plunder the peasants' land and distribute it to the soldiers...

Boyar nobles are not weak, so they cannot directly grab them. Therefore, the weak self-cultivators became the targets of being robbed. As long as an edict is issued, the original self-cultivating farmers, including their land, will suddenly become the fiefdom of the soldiers of the Grand Duchy.

This process began in the middle and late 15th century and was basically completed by the end of the 16th century. At that time, most of Russia's land was basically in the hands of the tsar's vassals. And the peasants in Russia were also transformed into serfs...

How fast is the process? According to Raulsky, at the end of the 15th century, that is, twenty or thirty years ago, the fiefdoms of the Grand Duchy of Moscow accounted for less than half of the country's arable land, and the arable land of the free people accounted for about 0%. But now in 1516, the free people's land is less than 0%, and the proportion is still decreasing...

From the perspective of social development, this is a serious retrogression of society and affects the development of social economy. But from a practical point of view, it is beneficial to the improvement of the combat effectiveness of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

It was not without price that the soldiers received the Grand Duke's edict and obtained the fiefdom. The price they paid was that each generation had to fight for the Tsar,

Known as the Tsar's loyal lackey.

And each vassal does not fight alone when he goes to the battlefield, but will choose the strong serfs of the fief to join him. In order to improve the possibility of winning and obtain military exploits, vassals will also conduct limited military skill training for the serfs under their rule to improve their combat effectiveness.

So, later, the Russian peasants lost their freedom and wealth, but they were better at fighting than their predecessors. Because, shameless grand dukes and vassals will ask them to prepare their own weapons and dry food, and fight with the army...

What? Not enough food to carry with you? You idiot, you won't grab it? Therefore, wherever the Tsarist Russian army fought and robbed, it was as virtuous as the soldiers of "My Qing Dynasty". For example, during the war, the Cossack cavalry of Tsarist Russia were regarded as demons. Wherever they go, they will burn, kill and loot, whether it is in the territory of an enemy country or an allied country.

...

Of course, this anti-historical process of converting owner-cultivators into serfs was not without resistance. How did the Cossacks come about? In fact, the main source is the owner farmers who have been deprived of their land. Unwilling to be deprived of their land, they rose up to resist. But mere farmers, where is the opponent of the army? Therefore, if they were lucky enough not to be killed, they could only choose to flee to the grasslands in the south and become Cossacks.

Because this anti-historical process was too violent, the Cossacks appeared suddenly and grew rapidly. By the 17th century, the Cossack group was already very large, reaching hundreds of thousands.

In other words, most of the Cossacks are actually peasants who resisted in the process of Russian serfdom, and they are also the thorns among Russian peasants.

The thorns have all run away or been killed, so the rest are naturally honest "obedient citizens"...

...

Raulsky's introduction made Marin suddenly realize that the Ross serfs who have become serfs but have not resisted are all honest peasants who do not resist...

Well, the thorns have all gone to be Cossacks, and the rest are just honest farmers? It is easy to manage such people when they are brought in, and it is not easy to cause accidents...

As for their next generation, Marin will use the school to manage them well. Not only must you be honest and obedient, but you must also speak German...

That is, after the Grand Duchy of Moscow defeated Lithuania, Marin sent troops, not only to defeat Maozi, but also to plunder a large number of Maozi farmers...and...Maomei...

As for whether those Maozi farmers will resist or run away? On this point, Raulsky's words are very pertinent-if they want to resist, in the process of taking them captive, they will resist. When the time comes, these resisters will not be brought back, they can be killed on the spot. Or, it is also possible to bring them back and escort them to dig coal mines. The Ruhr area is very short of people.

Even, in the process of being escorted back to Beihai, they can deliberately pretend to be lax in supervision, go fishing and enforce the law, to see who escapes... Those who run away, after being caught, are escorted to dig coal. The North Sea has the Ruhr area, but isn't there a shortage of coal diggers? Honestly go farming, dishonestly go down to mine... perfect!

At this moment, Marin suddenly felt that Ren Du's second channel had been opened up, and he was refreshed——

"Ah, I want ten... No, I want one million Maozi serfs!"