Boundless ice floes still wrap around the entire Åland Islands. Most of them come from the depths of the Gulf of Bothnia in the north. Optimistically speaking, the frozen ocean is still melting rapidly. Pessimistically speaking, it will still take some days for the ocean to resume safe navigation.
In fact, the course from Tombstone Island to Stockholm has barely resumed navigation. The merchants and their crews forced the boat to sail, and the risk was less than encountering an ocean storm.
Generally speaking, they seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. The more money and supplies they have on hand, the more cautious they will be.
They were envious of the king's large ships, and were thinking of ordering a larger cargo ship of their own.
Almost all of these merchants came from Lake Malaren, and a rather embarrassing problem posed before everyone - families of craftsmen who were good at building large ships immigrated to the East collectively for profit.
Who would refuse to make a fortune? Capable shipbuilders went to the East to seek gold, and the huge Ross fleet now anchored on Tombstone Island was built by these craftsmen.
The news that King Rurik of Rus is spending huge sums of money to build a brand new giant ship is true. The huge hull cannot be covered by a wooden shed. The construction of the new ship is completely open to the public, and anyone can comment on it before it is launched.
The glory belongs to the royal family, but the price is the decline of the shipbuilding industry in Lake Mälaren, Sweden. The longship is still the most important type of ship, and the craftsmen left behind in Lake Mälaren can only build it.
Of course, it is not a problem for wealthy businessmen to go to the shipyard loyal to the royal family in New Roseburg to order a "standard cargo ship", a ship designated by the royal family. The problem is to come up with the money immediately.
At least two hundred and fifty pounds of silver coins in cash or goods of equivalent value. Even those who claim to be wealthy would find it difficult to come up with such a sum of cash.
Unless, take advantage of some opportunities to make a lot of money.
Purchase the horse leather from the Frankish war horses from the king to make a variety of hard, wear-resistant and cold-resistant leather products. This is obviously very profitable for sellers who are motivated to become warriors, mercenaries, and adventurers to make a lot of money.
.
They first followed King Rurik's description and did not hesitate to bid for it, believing that even if the price was outrageous, they would still make a lot of money in the end.
The logic is this. A young warrior will spend all his savings or even take out a loan to buy himself a piece of equipment that will last him for most of his life.
In the past, the Baltic Sea was divided by various forces, and bandits were rampant on the sea. Merchants could only carry out business with swords and had to recruit mercenaries to protect them. Today, the Baltic Sea seems to be peaceful, and the perspectives of merchants are also projected to more distant places. Merchants are eager for greater success.
Ships were able to travel to more distant places in search of wealth. The authority of King Rus was afraid that unknown places could not be covered, so the large-scale shortage of mercenaries stimulated a large number of young people in Sweden to explore.
To order a bright white Ross steel sword and a jet black and hard Ross chrome hand axe, the young mercenary has to pay one pound of silver coins or more than a thousand pounds of oats.
Swedish businessmen have noticed that these young people are willing to spend money on weapons, so they must spend huge sums of money to buy a good dress, a good pair of shoes, a good belt, etc.
The businessmen who succeeded in bidding have ignored the farce caused by the Gould family. People want to believe that this domineering family will eventually retire when its wealth comes to an end.
Twenty copies of horse hides were purchased through joint bidding by more than a dozen Swedish businessmen. For this purpose, they actually spent a corresponding amount of money and moved boxes of silver coins to the Tombstone Island dock, waiting for the long ship transporting horse hides to arrive at the port to unload.
Today, Rurik is dressed in fancy clothes, looking like a clown with all his gaudy clothes.
The pier was full of colorful and jeweled merchants, in stark contrast to the crowds of onlookers in tan attire. The king himself was undoubtedly the shining star, and the bear-headed and heavily armored berserkers accompanying him were also aggressive.
The merchants were waiting anxiously, and hundreds of onlookers were just enjoying themselves to see the majesty.
The quality of horse leather depends not only on its odor, but also on the size of its defects.
Those so-called high-quality horse leathers all come from horses whose hooves were cut off on the battlefield or whose necks were fatally wounded. The horses that were dying after the war were executed, and a large area of intact leather was peeled off after the wounds.
The skin below the neck of the war horse is cut from the horse's belly, all the way to the end, and extended to the calf joints of the four hooves. The length of the horse leather cut in this way reaches three meters, and the width is also two meters.
After all, these are all Frank's big horses, and the leather area of some individuals is larger than expected!
In fact, the old Russians who were proficient in the tanning industry also praised the peeled leather immediately after the war. It was spread out to reveal a ridiculously large area, which was eye-opening.
In principle, Rurik could play a word game and use inferior horse leather to attract the merchants who had bid. Considering his noble status, he would just resort to shady tactics for today.
Ma Ge had already been divided into three, six or nine grades. He sent his subordinates to take out a thousand pieces from the best grade, even though it once caused his subordinates to feel distressed.
Some people lamented: "Why would your Majesty give the best goods to those Merlaren merchants? Even if you really give them alms, wouldn't it be better to give them medium goods?"
Rurik had his own explanation, but he had no intention of explaining too much to his subordinates.
As a king, I have to think a lot. Going into battle personally to make money and replenishing the treasury is the only way to maintain the stability of a kingdom established by force. At this stage, the only way to do this is through business. In order to allow the forces in non-core areas to join the "Ross Kingdom",
Only by making money under a large framework can they consider and understand that only by maintaining this community of thought can their wealth be permanent.
Because even those chiefs who were granted the title of duke or count were military nobles and also big businessmen.
The Hanseatic League was not a kingdom. It relied on close trade to monopolize the commerce around the Baltic Sea and North Saxony. It became a decentralized group of countries and maintained it for more than 200 years. Since they can maintain it for so long, there are naturally endogenous factors, or
It is said that all ethnic groups in Japan have exactly the same desire to make money, and their common interests transcend barriers of faith, ethnicity and geography.
The king deliberately gave away profits, at least on the surface, to win over the merchants in the Lake Mälaren region and ensure the willing submission of the Swedish part of the kingdom.
After all, Rurik's other title is King of Sweden, and he is the king of the merchants present!
Heavy horse hides were lifted from large cargo ships to longships, stacked ten to a sheet, and bundled with hemp rope for transportation.
The heads of the horses were all decapitated, and the leather on the horse's neck was folded, while the huge horsetail manes were collectively left outside. The leather was slightly curled due to the convenience of packing. As the first stack of horse leather was carried ashore by many strong men, everyone was waiting anxiously.
The businessmen gathered around, shouting.
They noticed that the horse leather was loaded with weight, and they were all shocked by its thickness, and then they all praised it.
Each one has a bright coat color, reflecting beautiful light under the early spring sun.
Rurik opened his arms and ordered: "Don't be anxious! Everyone take a few steps back and let the soldiers untie the ropes and spread the horse leather! I want you to open your eyes!"
In fact, it was just a matter of inspecting the goods. The merchants retreated in response, their hearts beating wildly with excitement.
The dagger cut the rope, and the four strong men worked together to pull it open. The air was filled with the unique smell of unprocessed leather, but the tanning process was not a problem. The merchants ignored the smell, and their jaws dropped in shock at the sight in front of them, and they praised
More intense!
"Wow! Four coats can be made from one piece of leather!"
"I can make at least ten pairs of leather boots!"
"Haha, even scraps can be made into good belts."
“The smallest scraps can be sewn into gloves and hats.”
These businessmen are not second-rate dealers. They have workshops or close connections with tanner families. They are experts in how to make the best use of a piece of leather.
A piece of leather may not be able to explain the problem. As Rurik ordered people to continue to demonstrate, although each piece of leather is different, their huge value potential is favored by businessmen.
More and more horse leather is arriving at the dock, and the areas that have been deliberately cleared are constantly being piled into hills of gray-brown leather.
Even though it was high-quality horse leather, Rurik still made some reservations. The army obtained some rare white horse leather on the battlefield. White horses are rare after all. Just like all bear skins, white bear skin is the most expensive.
White horse leather was recognized by Rurik as the best, and it would be exclusive to the royal family. The clothes, leather shoes and other products made from it would firstly be used to equip the standing army.
The sun shone on the golden laurel crown on Rurik's velvet hat, and it shone brightly.
People saw the majestic king with his hands on his waist, and behind him were piles of horse hides and scales borrowed from the Gould family.
Now, on the left side of the balance, there were placed eight pounds of fine Frankish silver coins, eight hundred in total, each of which was engraved with Charlemagne's head.
Rurik raised his head and faced the eager merchants: "My goods have arrived! Your money is here too! Look at the scale next to me. There are eight hundred eight-pound pieces on one side. They are all of the earliest quality.
Fine silver coins minted in the past fifty years. They have been hidden in Frank's warehouse and paid to me as war reparations! You can believe in their quality, and you must also believe in my king's business ethics. Now let's start the delivery,
A portion of twenty horse hides and a portion of forty silver coins. Who comes first?!"
Standing next to the king is a kind of bear-headed berserker. Who dares to question the king's deception at this moment?
But everyone can deny that the king is very smart and his methods are just as sharp.
Because in the Nordic world, even with the influx of huge amounts of hot money from outside the region in the past decade, inflation has been objectively very severe every year, causing the prices of various materials to rise to varying degrees. If Rurik, the largest grain buyer, had not set the parity price
One silver coin of grain is equal to ten pounds of oats, and the use of iron fist to kill those who try to speculate on grain prices has made the fluctuations in grain prices in the Swedish world within a reasonable range. However, the prices of other consumer goods are soaring, such as traditional beverages such as ale and mead.
The secret behind the so-called bad coins driving out good coins is that the Western Roman silver coins, which have been in circulation for four hundred years, are still in circulation. They are no longer round and have defects. Even if more and more good Frank silver coins flow into the market, the old silver coins are still in circulation.
Still in use.
Both Western Roman silver coins and Frankish silver coins contained extremely high silver content, while Eastern Roman silver coins were always mixed with lead. The first two were the mainstream transactions in the Nordic world, and silver was silver, even if someone deliberately cut off a little silver from the silver coins.
The scraps were collected and recast into one. Rurik's trade of equal weights made this trick meaningless.
To buy a piece of horse leather for eight pounds, the merchant had to carefully put the silver coins in the cash box into the hanging plate and stare at the pointer in the center. The pointer was an extremely finely ground iron needle, marking the left and right
The black line of balance is also extremely thin. The merchant continuously puts silver coins into the hanging plate on the right, and watches with King Rurik at the same time. When the thin iron needle coincides with the thin black line, the delivery of one share is completed.
For this purpose, the merchant who had a large number of old silver coins invested 800 more. What convinced everyone was that it indeed weighed eight pounds.
Although the silver coins taken out by the merchant must have been mixed with lead, considering that the original estimate of selling a piece of skin for fifteen pieces was abruptly increased to forty pieces by the help of the Gould family, it far exceeded Rurik's psychological expectations.
The so-called wealth loss caused by lead is ignored.
Rurik earned a large amount of hot money, which allowed him to happily buy cheap primary supplies in the Swedish world. He could also send the hot money to the newly surrendered Götaland region and the Danish world of the alliance to buy salt and fish products.
Wait. One thousand horse hides were eventually exchanged for four hundred pounds of silver coins. On Tombstone Island, the Kingdom of Ross actually completed the largest single fur trade in history, and the profit was also the largest in history.
And Rurik will never misuse these four hundred pounds of hot money. It is a very important fund and its use has been planned.
"How far has my Sea Monarch been built? How long is it until the sea trial? It should be launched into the water this year, right?!"
A behemoth, a dry dock has been dug since 839, and she is also the greatest masterpiece of Ross shipbuilding industry. For this reason, a large pit had to be dug to build a dry dock to meet her size.
The horse leather has a new owner, and the smell of the leather is considered by the buyer to be fragrance.
Next, all the tannery workshops on the island will be at full capacity, and all the Glauber's salt on the island will be consumed. Finally, the merchants who are eager to complete the tanning of the leather will go straight to the north after setting sail. After all, Rossburg is backed by a mountainous area.
It is not only the steel smelting center of the kingdom, but also the largest exporter of various strange minerals. The locally produced Glauber's Salt has the lowest overall cost.
Unlike processing other leathers, even using deerskin as a comparison object is inappropriate. The overall performance of horse leather is second only to cow leather. It is thick and hard, and the consumption of Glauber's salt to tan one piece is extremely high.
A large number of large-scale leathers will be processed in a short period of time. The consumption of Glauber's salt will surge in a short period of time, and its price will rise accordingly, which is tantamount to increasing the financial income of Roseburg's hometown.
Harold Zuosen, who once dreamed of being the leader of the Ross tribe, has fulfilled his dream in a sense. The area controlled by the Governor of Rossburg is larger than the territory of the Ross tribe in the old days. He is already an old man with real power, and the next governor will be Liuli.
Rurik's friend and young general Kanuf. Without the conditions to quickly establish a strict tax system, Rurik had to rely on the crude "tax collector system" to collect taxes first.
The Governor of Roseburg is a tax collector, and the governors of other areas also have corresponding responsibilities. They take out the king's taxes, and the rest is his own. However, the Governor of Roseburg cannot say anything to the local Ironforge Town. This is Roseburg.
The satellite city is directly responsible to the king. After all kinds of craftsmen have paid their wages at the beginning, the remaining wealth is the king or the country's money.
Therefore, Rurik is very concerned about the management of Ironforge Town. The "city lord" is Kawei, his brother-in-law, and his seniority is his uncle. There is no complicated seniority theory in Northern Europe, but the next generation of Ironforge Town lord participated in the entire war in 840.
Kusneslav, this child is twelve years old this year, and a huge war has become an incredible coming-of-age ceremony for him. His nickname is Kudya, the son of the queen's sister, and this relative, Rurik, trusts him very much.
The huge amount of silver coins was temporarily secretly transferred to the heavily guarded Gould family's mansion, and Rurik naturally wanted to make a big fuss out of this money.
In the mansion, Old Gould entertained his king with a family banquet. Everything was as usual. The king was entertained with roasted goat and fish that he could never tire of, as well as the timeless fine flour scones and mixed noodles.
After all, old Gould was senile. Under his seemingly calm appearance, he suffered from hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes and atherosclerosis. Although there were no such detailed fatalities in this era, Gould was very concerned about his physical condition.
He knew clearly that he could die at any time, and as long as he sent all his sons to do some good work in the kingdom before his death, he would die without regrets.
The first generation of pirates, the second generation of merchants, and the third generation of nobles. This proverb is being implemented in the Gould family. The third generation of the family must all be nobles!
Everything seems to have returned to the year 829. It was twelve years ago that Rurik first reached a business contract with Gould. At that time, he was making money by making soap. That business made the two of them achieve a huge win-win situation, and the subsequent cooperation became more and more successful.
As they grew older, the Gould family became rare and powerful businessmen.
Ryuri ordered all his entourage to retreat, and many of his nobles and generals stationed on the island did not attend the private banquet.
Although it was a separate meal system, two tables were put together. Gould, his two sons, and Rurik himself sat cross-legged together, gnawing on the leg of lamb and sipping ale.
Oral administration.
So in the eyes of the two brothers, Black Fox and Red Fox, their young past was no different from their own. The king was never untouchable. After temporarily taking off his power, he was a strong man who was willing to take revenge.
In many ways, Old Gould watched Rurik grow from a baby to what he is now. The old man was very open-minded, but his two sons were still cautious.
After three rounds of wine and five dishes, looking at the delicious meals on the table and the roast lamb full of minced meat, Rurik estimated that the Gould family's diet of heavy salt, oil and meat would only make them lose weight if they continued to eat it for a year.
People who grow into hemp poles can also become "fat seals".
This is their choice, and eating diseases are their own fault. Rurik has more self-control when it comes to eating. In addition, he is always passively exercising, so his body is getting stronger and stronger.
"This time your family has made great achievements. I have heard some stories. Red Fox and Black Fox, you two boys are incredible. You are very good at making those cunning guys angry. You tempted them to raise prices crazily, but let me
Made a lot of money..."
Rurik was deliberately polite, Gould, who was slightly drunk, was cheerful, and the two boys were flattered.
"This is what we should do." Black Fox said.
"I am willing to serve the king." Red Fox added.
"Very good!" The slightly drunk Rurik was in a very good mood. He knocked on the table and shouted: "During the war, your second brother Lan Hu made a special statement to you two. Of course I have known about you for a long time, and I have also secretly observed whether you
There is potential for me to use it. I can't just listen to the recommendation of Blue Fox. Through this opportunity, I feel that both of you are talents."
This is what the two brothers Black Fox and Red Fox want to hear most. Their fat bodies are trembling. For a while, they dare not say anything to take credit, but everyone is listening attentively.
"Now my business tentacles have penetrated deep into the Frankish hinterland, and I have built brand new trading outposts in distant places, one is Rotterstad, and the other is Nassau Castle. Blue Fox is the Count of Gothenburg, and he will manage it for me in the future.
The newly conquered Götaland region, but I need to hand over the management of the two Frankish strongholds to trustworthy people. They must be young, know business, and the most important thing is to be loyal to me! In my opinion, you two are the best candidates.
!”
Isn't this the opportunity that the two brothers and their father, Old Gould, longed for? The brothers hurriedly rushed to talk, each swearing to be loyal to the king.
"Then work hard! I only have two special requirements for you two!" Rurik, who was in a good mood, continued to point at them, "You are too fat! This is not good. Maybe you should do some military training, such as
Like your second brother Lan Hu. Lan Hu is an excellent businessman and a warrior recognized by the soldiers. The two of you will develop in a distant place and face many problems. You will have to fight personally at the critical moment. You...
Do you dare to fight?"
The two of them did hesitate for a moment, then gritted their teeth and swore they would lose weight and dare to fight.
"Very good, the secret of losing weight is to move more and fight more, even if it is more frequent than shooting arrows. The second request, you..." Rurik had to think about it, "What do you believe in?"
"It's Odin!" Black Fox didn't even want to answer.
"No. You don't have to flatter me." Rurik shook his head, "I understand you. Your family only believes in money! Don't think that claiming to believe in Odin means you are flattering me. If you are willing to believe in a god, it is not as useful as believing in Frey, the god of wealth.
."
"We believe more in the King." Red Fox then said, "You are the God of Wealth in our family."
"Very good flattery. But for practical reasons, you should learn from your second brother Blue Fox. From now on, when you go to the Frankish hinterland, you must believe in their gods, so that you can move freely. There is no need to have any grudges, there are people who
It’s a place blessed by God. When you go to a new area, of course you have to find a local protector. Can you understand what I’m saying?”
The two looked at each other and couldn't say that this was impossible, but it was outrageous to suddenly believe in another god, because it was not their own choice.
However, out of practical interests, both of them nodded and said they were willing to accept the king's arrangement.
"Then without further ado. I will send you to Hamburg in the south, where you will believe in God. After that, you will meet up with your second brother, Blue Fox. I will not ask you to work independently for the time being. Just stay with your second brother.
It will be good for you to have some experience in the future. After all, according to our tradition, the main wealth of the Gould family was inherited by your eldest brother Bai Hu, which is a huge opportunity for you two. This is a magnificent era, you
You can create your own merit and wealth status in the wider world."
The two brothers were promoted by the king again and looked forward to their own new future...
They have already made psychological preparations.