Rise of Rurik

The talks were over in a day, and Rurik returned to Gould Island with the plank full of contracts.

It seems that now, Rurik and his guys just have to wait for the looming harvest season.

But the problem is probably not that simple.

After all, a big deal was finalized, and the entire Gould Island was in a happy mood. In order to celebrate the joy, several old sheep bought from the market were slaughtered, and their skins were cut off as usual.

The woody and thin old mutton is used as a reward for ordinary people, such as Rurik. He is at the dinner party of Gould's house. As the most distinguished guest, he naturally wants to eat the most beautiful delicacies.

Between the intertwining of gongs and chips, the sufferings of the Melalen people naturally have nothing to do with all the Rus people on the island.

Gould was slightly drunk, and Arik was also blushing.

"This time, we have finally finalized the business. Haha, don't worry about anything, we can just wait for them to deliver the food."

Rurik's mind was always clear: "Gould, do you really believe them? I think..."

"You're a little worried? Worried that the food won't be in place?"

"Yes! After all, it's half a million pounds, which is double the grain we transported last year. The farmland conditions are really bad this year."

"Are you worried about that guy Olegin? Haha." Gould smirked for a while, and drank another cup of strong wine, "That man will try to raise food for his own face. You don't even have a deposit. Give him, if he really defaults, what do we have to lose?"

"That's true."

"But!" Gould suddenly turned a serious face emotionally: "He will exploit his own people and force them to hand over their food to him. Rurik, do you know such a thing?"

do you know? Although Rurik had never seen it before, with his understanding of the concept of "landlord", he could of course guess what extreme measures Olegin, a super-landlord, might take.

"I can think that despite the suffering of those farmers, we Russ don't have to go hungry anyway. For eleven pounds of wheat for a silver coin, we are not at a loss."

"Hey, we still made some money, at least saved nearly 6,000 silver coins. Rurik, you did a good job, and you managed to bargain with him."

Flattered by Gould,

Rurik felt a tinge of joy in his heart.

Rurik frowned: "I don't like that Karl, a stupid man."

"Oh, what did you say about him?" Gould was another type of hehe: "A guy who likes women, to be honest, I envy him, but unfortunately I'm old. It's not wrong to like women, and it's stupid to humiliate allies." It was here that Gould had the intention of criticizing Arik, and considering Aric's noble status, he just wanted to stop.

Gould held the glass in his right hand: "Brave Arik, I salute you."

Arik blushed and filled himself with another glass, which the two men drank.

Cup after cup of spirits, Rurik learned that Gould’s officers were squatting at the market again. There were farmers selling their own brewed ale. The first time the ale was bought with wine and wooden barrels, it was in the warehouse on the island. No less than a hundred barrels have been piled up.

However, these wines seem to be very large, and the real distillation is completed to obtain flammable spirits. Each barrel is poured into nearly seven blown small glass bottles at most. With a businessman's intuition, Gould estimated the spending power of the wealthy in Mellaren. Melalen is indeed the largest clan in the alliance, with a population of about 30,000, which is already a behemoth in the general concept. But for businessmen, this population maintains only a very narrow market.

Making and selling spirits on a large scale may not make much money. But wine is wine, such a rare delicacy in the world, why should the Melalen people be the first to enjoy it? Of course, the Rus people have a good taste.

Gould has been inseparable from spirits. He always saves his inventory and drinks a few cups a day.

I saw that Arik finally couldn't bear the power of alcohol, and with the things he experienced during the day, he just lay down on the hide, unconscious in the sound of snoring.

The confused Gould put down his glass, shook his head, and asked listlessly, "Rurik, there are still some things you need to prepare for."

"What's up?"

"About that Fodgen who made leather coats, and a master shipbuilder."

"Oh, it's them!" the sleepy Rurik cheered up.

"I will... send someone to inform them in the near future that the son of the chief of the Rus people is going to meet them. Haha, I have already sent someone to tell them what the Rus people are saying. Guess what they think?"

"how to think?"

Gould laughed foolishly for a while: "They are businessmen themselves, just like me. They said that as long as the price is high enough, they will rely on it. If they become Rus... they can get more benefits, they don't mind. what."

"Wow! That's great. I'm going to meet them, and I can represent the chief and acknowledge them as my masters. You know, I treat all kinds of skilled people for my use."

"This is the best. I'll make arrangements, at least not today. Oh, I'm too drunk." Gould's voice just fell, and the wine glass in his hand fell to the ground. He was like a fat pig full of feed, lying on the ground. Sleeping on the leather.

What else can Rurik say? He looked at Carlotta, who was bored and ate the dried fruit, and smiled.

After three days, more wheat entered the heading state.

The farmers have been busy for a year (in fact, they did not spend much time tending their fields), just waiting for the autumn harvest. For them, fishing and logging are all means of survival on weekdays. Only after the wheat is harvested can the surplus grain be sold at the market in exchange for cash that is very important to the family.

In fact, the situation this year is very special.

Olegin and Rurik signed this year's food agreement, and he has sent the news of the huge amount of food to the tribe through his private army system. This is amazing! A group of businessmen who are waiting for the new wheat to be listed one after another and get together to plan this year's grain price, what can they do when they see this situation?

What the merchants who buy grain do is to buy at a low price during the harvest season, and then sell it at a high price after entering the spring drought, so as to seek big profits. This year's harvest is destined to be bad, but they have a lot of silver in their hands! Both farmers and businessmen are naturally fighting for pricing power. The farmers of Melalen are scattered, and there is no grain merchant guild formed among the businessmen. If the price is set too low, farmers will not squeeze out rations for money; if the price is set too high, the grain merchants will lose money again.

As a result, the order of the Rus people was like a bolt from the blue, hitting the grain merchants hard, but also giving ordinary farmers who didn't know the specific content a glimmer of hope. Those self-cultivators who own fields and acres are willing to believe that their leaders will propose a very good purchase price. Although they have a bad harvest and grit their teeth, they can still exchange for a sum of money for selling grain. After all, they always need to reserve a sum of silver coins and copper coins for emergencies.

The peasants held out hope, and the limited number of professional craftsmen of the entire tribe saw the malice in it.

Potters, carpenters, blacksmiths and even shipbuilders, they have been alienated into pure craftsmen. At most, they use their own fishing boats and occasionally go out to catch a little fish. They spend most of the year taking orders and making money selling their products. They represent the industrial and commercial practitioners of the Melalen tribe. In today's era, they are indeed more vulnerable than farmers.

What conclusions did some craftsmen draw from the information revealed by the leader?

First of all, the Ross leaders began to actively participate in the own trade system of Lake Mälaren as never before, and they would no longer retreat behind the scenes and be represented by their own merchants as before.

Secondly, the leaders of Ross are rich and powerful. After they step in, they will inevitably make the water of Lake Melalen turbid. If they want to fish in troubled waters, it is not something ordinary businessmen can do.

third. This is a crisis and an opportunity. Since the Rus people are also recruiting talented people, if they are willing to accept the most critical conditions they put forward, they can simply join them.

After a real investigation, Fodgen was thoroughly prepared for immigration.

On the island he controls, those slaves and servants have been ordered to stop working.

Very interesting thing, Fodgen, this guy, is really active in buying slaves. Different from those wealthy households, they can live a prosperous life by relying on a large number of fields and rent from tenant farmers. The purpose of their purchase of slaves is mainly to serve as slaves to the land and to serve as maids in daily life.

This was not the case with Verdegen. He was fond of the Britton slaves brought over by the Norwegians, and he was particularly concerned with the female slaves. This is by no means concerned with the appearance of a woman. In fact, he deliberately prefers some with a worse appearance, so that the purchase price can be kept very low.

All he needed was the tailoring ability of the slaves. After some contact, he figured out the identities of the female slaves who had been raising them for many years, and even the new female slaves who were slowly increasing every year.

When the slave girls began to understand the Norse language, they began to mention some small place names, and even larger place names.

Northumbria? Bamburgh? Kent? West Saxony?

It was a rare female slave with orange-red hair, describing a Pictish title.

Fodgen doesn't matter, these are probably tribal names on that distant island. He did notice that these women were carving some pieces of wood to form a staggered existence, making them into necklaces to hang on their chests. Every morning, the women would gather together to say some strange words in their native language.

This is their belief, which is the belief spread by the legendary black man from Rome.

If they could say something that would settle them down to work, Fodgen wouldn't say anything.

Anyway, these captive women are peasant women in their hometown. In addition to logging and fetching water, they also assist men in farming. Their greatest ability is weaving and sewing, and they have very rich experience in sewing.

Up to now, the weaving workshop in Verdegen is not only continuing to improve the work of purchasing leather and sewing leather clothes, but also training female slaves to complete the one-stop work of ramming flax rods to make fibers, weaving linen, and tailoring into linen clothes.

What he paid the most to his slaves was to ensure that they had enough food rations, and the slaves ate more than they did in their hometown. This was by no means merciful. He was really a calculating businessman. Hungry, how can I get more high-quality output?

After the terrifying encounter in the south last summer and the field trip in Roseburg in winter, the move must be done. As old friend Gould sent a messenger to pass the official summon order for the son of the leader of Ross, he has already moved. Well prepared.

The harvest of wheat is a matter of the next three or four days. Although there is no possibility of heading for a large amount of wheat, those heading wheat are rapidly turning yellow. A few oats have become more hardy due to genetic mutations. Melalen farmers have no such concept at all. They can only passively collect the heading wheat and keep some of it as seed grain. This is a passive "scientific selection", so that year after year, the Nordic oat varieties can only become more and more cold-resistant.

Why didn't Fodergen want to live a good life of eating bread every day? He has saved enough capital, and the silver coins he has accumulated are not 20,000 or 18,000. This is all the belongings he has accumulated all his life. He can rely on this money to live the rest of his life. Now that he is old, he naturally has to consider the things behind him, as well as the prosperity of his children and grandchildren.

He had to think a lot, if the Rus people really did as the messenger said, as long as they paid a tax every year, they could get the safety promise of the Rus leaders, and even the military guarantee of the Rus warriors, why should he spend a lot of money every year to support a group of people What about private guards? After all, the money for hiring mercenaries is a lot of expenses in a year, even higher than the so-called tax.

In the final analysis, he changed into a hard-core immigrant because he was mainly chasing the market and interests.

However, a group of aspiring shipbuilders not only pursued interests, but also admired that Rurik's lofty goals. After all, as craftsmen, they are eager to create miracles in the shipbuilding industry in this life.

They are eager to build big ships, and they are eager for their children and grandchildren to build big ships from generation to generation! They are admirers of Thor, eager for a challenge.

In this way, the two groups of people landed on Gould Island on the eve of the wheat harvest on the agreed day provided by the messenger.

The visitors included the gorgeously dressed Fodgen, and there were as many as ten middle-aged men of various ages in simple and capable clothes. They do have one thing in common, that is, their beards that are tied into various pigtails.

Yes, even for someone like Fodgen, he braided his stubborn beard so he wouldn't get in the way when he was eating bread and soup. None of them ever thought about cutting off their beards. Of course, they have tools to cut their beards, just because they follow a very simple logic of doing things—no hair on the mouth is not good.

What awaits these people is a feast ordered by Rurik.

So far, everything is within Rurik's calculations, and Gould's suggestion is good. Those businessmen who are invited to visit are in the final analysis to seek wealth and stability.

If the Rus people want to stabilize these talents, they must put on a grand show in public, so that their most fundamental demands can be satisfied at the first time.

Gould Island was deliberately choreographed to be busy, and the hired sailors, slaves, and even a bunch of kidnapped children were all set to work. In fact, it is to move all kinds of goods packaged in wooden boxes around, and even there is nothing in the box. They deliberately moved around the pier, just to show visitors what a "busy pier" is.

Mercenaries and Ruth warriors, Rurik had them clothed in chain mail, with shields hanging from their backs, swords and axes revolving around their waists, and a short throwable spear in their hands. In order to show luxury, Gould also hung some white furry fox fur on their bodies, and the top of the helmet was temporarily decorated with gray goose feathers with turpentine.

They were the ruthless characters who fought furiously against the Gotland fishermen in the sea a few months ago. Everyone's eyes showed ferocity. They also basically received queue training (Otto once ordered), and this time they played the role of Rus. 's honor guard.

They formed the passage and went straight to the gate of the wooden fort at the heart of Gould Island.

The brightly dressed Rurik brothers, and even Carlotta, were waiting at the pier with Gould and his son, and saw a few boats approaching with oars.

"They're here! Be careful! Stay alert!" Rurik shouted, and the trained warriors stiffened.

After a while, three ships docked, and the gorgeously dressed and the plain ones boarded the platform one after another. They were the invited ones.

However, they couldn't help but feel timid when they saw the array of illustrious and powerful people. Incredible? You have never seen such a soldier before! Is this the style of the Ross Warriors?

Fodgen quickly saw Rurik and Carlotta. Even though the two were wearing gorgeous coats and hats, the two of them grew a lot taller for more than half a year. Because of their close contact, he recognized it at a glance. two people.

With acquaintances here, he has no comfort. Those ten shipbuilders saw Ross warriors for the first time. As for the two short and gorgeous children, should they be the sons of the legendary Ross leader? One of them must be Rurik!

The boat builder followed Fodgen cautiously, only to see him approach a boy, take off his hat and salute: "My friend, here I am."

"You're here at last. Have you made up your mind?" Rurik asked with a smile.

"Of course! I will follow you with all my family members and servants. I hope that after arriving in Rosburg, I can get your recognition as soon as possible, and I will also be a new Russian."

Rurik nodded with satisfaction, and he was actually ecstatic, because Fodegen is a snobby guy, and those people under him are all master tailors. "You will. I can represent the leader and recognize your identity now."

"Oh! That's really nice."

Rurik had thought that this guy would kneel down and give a big salute, but he never thought that he would turn around and introduce his cautious-looking new friends with a smile.

Fodgen also changed his title in an instant: "My leader, please allow me to introduce, these ten are the shipbuilders of Melalen. I can say that they are the best shipbuilders."

In fact, Fodgen was bragging, and Rurik didn't feel it at all. His eyes widened, and the joy in his heart could no longer be suppressed.

He rarely became emotional, and stomped his feet suddenly: "Okay! Shipbuilder! A shipbuilder who can build big ships! I need you so much! Quick! Come with me."