Chapter 197 Gould Island, Gould's Island, near M?larenburg
The caravan begins to gather!
Gould's ships docked at the docks of Anglas, forming a caravan of twenty ships.
Just like in previous years, Gould would transport handicrafts made by tribal farmers, such as some wooden tools and surplus linen, to the Melalen market for sale.
Most of the other merchants in the tribe are doing similar things, but their destination is not necessarily the Melalen Market. In any case, you can only make a small amount of money by trafficking these items, but you can really make a lot of money.
There are only two key materials, namely grain and leather.
The bulk cargo Gould trafficked happened to include a large amount of leather.
He was thinking about the fact that the group of merchants who followed him a month ago also bought leather goods from the Ross tribe, and they must have sold them all in the Malaren market.
If I transport the materials there now, I will definitely be able to create a time lag. By then, I will not be under excessive competitive pressure, so I can deliberately raise the price of leather goods.
On May 31st of the Julian calendar, which was the last day of May, Gould set the time for the caravan to set off.
On this day, the family members gathered at the dock. Gould stepped onto his cargo ship, followed closely by his eldest wife, who was also the first wife with the highest status among the female family members. As for the two newly pregnant Bree
The maids who were swallowed are already living in Onkras's hometown, and Gould will not take them with him in the future.
Gould had no regrets about not having a young woman by his side.
Because he can get new young women in the Melalen market and continue to raise them. Can this body regain its youthful glory? Gould no longer has so much confidence. He knows himself. This body
It would be great to be able to persist until the age of sixty.
Gould temporarily appointed a mercenary to temporarily lead other brothers to protect the wealth hoarded in his hometown of Oncras and the safety of his family.
Although his decision made Yevro who was accompanying him feel sorry for it, a lot of time had passed since that night talk, so he thought about it and let it go.
Jevluo got on the boat and asked bluntly: "My lord, maybe this is just the last time I will personally protect you?"
"You? No! It's the penultimate time." Gould laughed.
"Then one last time."
"Of course we will go to Roseburg Javlo in August. Do your best now. Believe me, I have arranged a bright future for you."
Originally, Gould should have another chat with the tribal leader Angreev. He didn't want to talk nonsense about this year's commercial voyage, even though Angreev had already arrived at the dock with the so-called guard of honor.
Two old guys, one on the shore and one on the boat, just looking at each other.
Gould hired another group of hungry farmers from his own tribe, promising them food in exchange for their oars, to replace the small group of outstanding Russian oarsmen who had returned.
The fleet began to drift along the river towards the vast Lake Mälaren. Gould, standing on the bow of the boat, watched his homeland drifting away.
At this time, the whole world was lush and lush, but a sadness poured into his heart.
Although my hometown is small and somewhat shabby, it is also the hometown where my family has been running for generations.
Gould felt that his decision was very correct and would bring greater benefits. Now another problem is that the ship has set sail, and there is no turning back for him and the entire family.
The sun shines on the vast lake, and the surrounding scenery is lush and green. Standing on the bow of the boat and looking around, there are a large number of small islands looming not far away.
Lake Malaren is a vast lake area with many islands and the lake is generally shallow.
Every winter, especially in October, when the first snow falls, the lakes begin to freeze, and traditional commercial activities are cut off.
The warm summer is a good time for trade, and Mälarenberg, which is built along the lake, has also entered its most prosperous time of the year.
Gould's fleet this time only had twenty large cargo ships, but each one was loaded with so much cargo that the oarsmen were worried that wind and rain would strike and the waves would overturn the ship.
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In the past few days, a rainfall that swept across Eastern and Northern Europe did have a certain impact on the maritime trade in the Baltic Sea, but it also brought benefits to the region's agriculture.
Farmers simply cannot handle the high technology of water truck irrigation, and it is impractical to carry water in wooden barrels for flood irrigation of fields. Generally speaking, they just look forward to rainfall and rely solely on the weather for their livelihood.
A May rain brings great hope to the farmers of the Melalen tribe.
The Melalen tribe has a population of more than 20,000, and now, at least 5,000 people have poured into their market.
Most of the tribe's population is concentrated in Mälarenberg, a giant human settlement with many small islands at the mouth of a river on the northern shore of Amber.
The population of the settlement exceeded 12,000 people at one time, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it is a city.
However, Mälarenberg is not a real city.
A large number of traveling merchants are like migratory birds. Alliance merchants row boats carrying goods and build their own temporary shops on various islands, where merchants from all over the world conduct traditional trade.
When the wheat harvest was completed at the end of August and the last and largest grain transaction of the year was completed, the prosperous shops suddenly turned into depression.
Because everyone has to face the harsh winter, each tribe goes into hibernation like a bear.
The fleet arrived at the prosperous dock. Standing on the bow of the ship, Gould saw more and more ships around him.
Most of them are fishing boats, catching some edible freshwater fish.
There are also many fat and fat ships, which are fellow traders.
There are some splashes on the water surface, but if you take a closer look, you will see that it is the diving trick of naughty children.
Seeing them, Gould also remembered his childhood.
Just look at my bulging belly and pinch my old face full of fat, so forget it.
"Sir, we are about to enter the port." The mercenary captain Yevluo pointed.
Javro's words ended Gould's daze, and he cheered up. In a deep and honest baritone, he ordered his flagship: "Brothers, be careful to change the route and turn into our own island!"
After all, Gould was from a wealthy family, and his family directly occupied a small island off the coast of Mälarenberg. He set up a permanent shop here, and his eldest son Snoleva, who was destined to inherit the family's main industry,
This thirty-year-old fat man is responsible for taking care of it. This is completely different from the Gould family and those traveling merchants. Just like Gould always lives in Roseburg in winter, the eldest son Snoleva has simply settled in May for the past five years.
Larenberg.
The merchants of the Melalen tribe all know the Gould family more or less. As a big businessman, Gould has a certain commercial influence on the leader of the Melalen tribe.
At this time, the concept of tariffs had not yet been invented in the Nordic world, and commercial ships did not have to pay an entry fee when entering the port. They did not have to pay anything.
Orekin, the great leader of the Melalen tribe, has never had the concept of collecting taxes in this area. In fact, if he decides to collect customs duties, port taxes, ship maintenance fees, etc., each port will definitely collect them after a thousand years.
of taxes, which would be an astonishing amount of revenue.
Unfortunately, Olegin never thought about it this way. He felt that the gathering of merchants from allies completely proved the strength of the Melalen tribe. At the same time, he only relied on traditional trade, especially the traditional leather and grain trade.
, the Melalen tribe is the tribe with the fastest accumulation of wealth in the entire alliance.
Of course, this old guy simply couldn't imagine that the Russians in the north had begun trying to use high value-added economic products to quietly change the alliance's commercial hegemony of the Melalen tribe for hundreds of years.
Gould's ships aimed at his own island and rushed towards it. It can be said that this island was Gould's "territory".
In this time and space, the Siwea tribal alliance is still a long way from forming a feudal country called Sweden. The Swedes and Danes still have no clear boundaries between each other. Specific to each tribe, each tribe
There is no clear boundary between them.
The people of the Melalen tribe are only particularly sensitive to their own farmland. As for other ownerless lands, as long as people from allies come over, they can declare this land as private property.
Therefore, Olegin's family, the most powerful one, forcibly claimed ownership of many wastelands within the Melalen tribe's sphere of influence.
It's just that Olegin won't make strong claims about the large number of islands near Mälarenberg.
His family has controlled the power of the tribe for a long time, and even holds the title of leader of the alliance. He has a very special understanding of the alliance.
The so-called alliance is an alliance based on commerce. The strong link of the alliance is the trade route! Don't offend the merchants of your allies if you offend anyone.
He is actually very happy to see the merchants of his allies put their own totems on many islands, because after the merchants do this, they often establish permanent commercial bases.
Olegin of Mälaren was most worried about those foreign merchants withdrawing their commercial base and running away. Seeing them planting flags under his nose, he was actually very happy.
There was a small flag flying on Gould's island. This flag was very simple and crude, using traditional runes and marked with the words "onkras gulda".
Therefore, this island is directly called Gould Island by colleagues.
People on the island saw a fleet of boats rushing towards them. Seeing the beauty on the sails, everyone realized that their master was coming.
The eldest son Snoreva counted the days, knowing that it was during this period that his father would come.
Because a month ago, he learned that his father's fleet had entered the Great Lakes, and he still wondered why his father didn't rest here. Now, he could explain his questions to his father in person.
"Brothers, our big businessman is here! Everyone enter the dock and get ready!"
"Hey, you guys! Don't wait any longer. When the ship docks, you must hold on to the cable."
"Porters over there, pull the cart over and get ready for loading and unloading."
"Women, make a fire and cook immediately!"
…
Although Snoreva is fat, his brain is not stupid.
He tried his best to direct the people on the island to prepare for the ships to enter the harbor.
At this moment, there were still several merchant ships parked at the port. When they saw Gould's own fleet rushing over, they immediately drove away their ships with a smile, vacated the berths, and took inventory.
With my own capital, I plan to purchase a batch of Gould's products as soon as possible.
Businessmen all know that this old guy must have brought a lot of good things from the Russians. For example, the ferret skins that have become very precious now!
The ship loaded with cargo slowly approached the dock. The eager people on the shore immediately grabbed the cable thrown by the rower. The people on the shore fixed the ship in the shortest possible time. They were all well-trained
, the ship has docked and the work of loading and unloading materials has begun.
Gould got off the boat, and his eldest son came towards him cheerfully with arms spread out.
The son hugged his father. To outsiders, it looked like two fat men hugging each other.
"Dad, you are finally here. You made me very worried. You should have stopped at my place a month ago."
"Oh! My child, that's because of something else. Look, I'm already here." Gould enthusiastically patted his eldest son on the back. This scene made Jevro envious.
At this time, the eldest son's wife and two daughters came over one after another, especially the two girls. The eldest was almost twelve years old and could be engaged to her. The youngest granddaughter was also six years old.
After all, it is my own flesh and blood, then it is a girl.
Gould gently pushed his eldest son away, struggled to pick up his two granddaughters one by one, and put his old face towards them enthusiastically.
It has to be said that the entire Gould family is uniformly chubby, including the two granddaughters. They have lived here for a long time and have not known hunger in their short lives. Although they are young, they already have chubby faces.
Gould's island is very small, only about the size of two football fields.
It is originally a sandbar, and there are more than a dozen pine trees on the island. Other than that, it is just some rocks.
Mälaren originally means a stone beach, and that is indeed the case. There are a lot of stones on the shores of Lake Mälaren. These stones, as well as the lush local trees, are excellent materials for construction.
What is different from his hometown of Oncras is that Gould's buildings on his home island are basically made of stone.
A long time ago, workers built stone walls with irregular stones, then made a sandwich made of moss and soil, and then built an outer stone wall. Although such a stone chamber has no foundation, its winter warmth retention effect is actually quite good.
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Many houses of the Mellaren tribe are built like this, and only poorer families live in pure wooden houses.
Architectural styles are all adapted to local conditions. The main building material of Gould's home in Rossburg is wood. Although it is made of wood, both Ross and Mälaren people know the technology of using moss and soil as a thermal insulation interlayer.
Gould's fleet had just docked, and he sold thirty ferret skins and fifty fox skins in a short period of time, officially starting this year's trade.
A large stone room, this was the eldest son's banquet room. However, in the next few months, the father became the master of the island again, and the eldest son Snoreva became a second-class existence.
Gould brought his wife over this time, and the family held a small family banquet. It was a rare occasion for three generations of grandparents to sit together and everyone was happy.
With a perfect start, the eldest son is full of hopes for this year's trade.
He smiled and said: "Dad, you are finally here. I saw that there is some sulfur in the goods you brought back. Although this thing is a good thing, I am worried that I will not be able to sell a lot of it."
"Silly boy, why is that sulfur? It is a treasure that can clean everything. It is a new thing created by the Russians. Because of it, I have already made a lot of money in our hometown." As he spoke,
Gould showed his pride without hesitation.
"real?"
"Of course! Six thousand silver coins!"
Snoleva was shocked when her father showed off in such a way: "Dad! That thing is real...it is very valuable...can it really clean everything?"
"The meat will be roasted for a while longer." Gould said with a smile, "Wait a while, we will grab the roasted lamb with our bare hands and eat it. You don't have to worry about the greasy hands. Finally, we can use the baby called soupa, which is the one that radiates
This sulfur-smelling baby can wash away greasiness!”
"Oh, that's wonderful."
Gould shrugged: "Child, is there anything interesting at the market these days?"
"Yes!" In response, Snoleva eagerly ordered the servant, and after a while, two transparent quilts were brought over. "Dad, look, these are the latest treasures in the market."
"Crystal cup?!" Gould's eyes really lit up when he saw this object.
"Yes, it's a crystal cup. Those businessmen said they got it from the Danes."
"Quick, show me!"
Gould carefully played with these so-called crystal cups and couldn't help but sigh at their regulations. "Ah, it's so wonderful. You must have spent a lot on this thing! The crystal bottle I bought cost thirty gold coins. What about you?
?Should it be more expensive?!”
Snoleva smiled and snapped his fingers again. The servant brought a transparent pot with wine in it.
Gould was shocked again when he saw this object. He could see at a glance that the two crystal containers were a set.
"The Danes got these? How come I didn't get them before?!"
"They should all be treasures of the Romans. The Danes got them, and then some merchants took the risk to transport them to us and sell them." Snoleva said: "I bought two sets and spent a thousand silver coins on them.
"
"It seems that this is the only thing that will prevent our Olegin from doubting whether there are Danes among the merchants. You paid the equivalent of one hundred gold coins. In my opinion, if I were to sell it, I would price it at five hundred gold coins.
It’s not an exaggeration. After all, it’s a rare treasure!”
Gould felt that his son had made a mistake, and he was very happy about it, but little did he know...
After all, when Gould set out, Rurik's glassware was still limited to concept. It was sold to the victorious warriors and the merchants who had not left Fort Ross. This was also in May. In terms of business issues, the merchants
He would rush across the sea with the treasures in his hands, transport them to the Melalen Market and sell them quickly.
Gould had no idea that his son actually suffered a big loss. Now he is happy that his son has some treasures.
"So, are there still these crystal utensils in the market?"
"No more." Snoleva said regretfully, "I bought it as soon as those merchants put it on display. There were also many crystal bottles and cups that the big leader sent to buy. Dad, you know
Yes, that guy was very rich and he paid a high price."
"It doesn't matter." Gould told his son with a tight mouth: "I can only say that if you get it, it's your luck. If you don't get it, it's your fate. My child, remember my words."
"Yes, Dad. Next, our trade this year."
"Just in time, I want to announce a major event that is extremely important to our family!" As he spoke, Gould raised his fat chest and said honestly and seriously: "I have decided that the main body of our family will start from this autumn.
All began to move to the Rus. The hundreds of years of our family’s stay in Onkras are over. From now on, we will live together with the Rus.”
As soon as this statement came out, the eldest son Snoleva was in an uproar.