It is true that Rurik himself did not have the ability to finish the leather. The fur was not deeply tanned, and once it decayed it was no different than waste.
The Gould family has been operating in Fort Ross for many years. Thanks to the long-term and stable environment provided by the tribe, they have become very wealthy. Of course, Rurik is convinced that he is a nobleman of Gould, and he wants to show his support to this extremely wealthy country.
It is natural for businessmen to ask for more wealth.
Since the trade of various metal tools and weapons within the tribe was monopolized by Rurik, the blacksmith group and even the newly promoted Kewen blacksmith actually had a community of interests with Rurik.
Rurik would openly sell the chromium steel and chromium iron tools he brought back, almost all of which were axes. An ax cost twenty silver coins or an equivalent amount of silver coins in exchange. Rurik decided to price the existing
No modifications will be made.
However, the large amount of leather brought back will require a lot of work.
All furs, including all polar bear skins, were sold to Rurik at a fixed price, fifty silver coins for a bear skin, two silver coins for a snow hare skin, and five silver coins for a reindeer skin.
In this way, the price has greatly exceeded the market price, which means that the price of bearskin is not too high.
Rurik did it intentionally and forced them to buy it. He had already figured out the concept of "leather consumption tax for big businessmen" to suppress the Gould family when they desperately refused, forcing them to accept this weird name.
, a malicious new tax.
In the final analysis, Rurik wanted to make money from great wealth to relieve the pressure on financial expenditure that was increasing under his rule.
After hearing Rurik's quotation, the two obese young men opened their eyes, which were almost narrowed into a line due to their obesity, on the spot, clearly revealing their blue pupils.
The elder brother argued hard: "My distinguished lord, the price you proposed is really too high. How can there be such a high price in the market? We have suffered losses from completing this transaction."
"What? You refuse to trade with me?"
Rurik only frowned slightly, and the two of them were frightened to withdraw their resistance.
"However, the price is still a bit high."
"What? Want to bargain? Listen, we hunted the most ferocious beasts from the far north. You should praise my bravery, but now you are telling me that the price set is too high."
"No! I don't mean that, sir." The elder brother pulled his younger brother. The two knew that there was no way out now. They really couldn't think of a better solution. For the sake of the longevity of the family, they covered their hearts and bowed slightly: "Then follow your instructions.
The request. We...we are willing to spend money to buy it."
It was helpless. Soon after Gould immigrated to the Ross tribe, he began to have some doubts about his actions. Specifically, he had a complicated feeling in his heart.
Generally speaking, by joining the Ross people, you should be able to gain long-term stability, and your descendants are also expected to enter the core group of the Ross people. This is a political right that they cannot enjoy in their hometown. Just to get it, the family
The bleeding really continued, as if his family had become Rurik's sheep, but Rurik was indeed not a man who indulged in pleasure, and the funds he asked for were actually used on ordinary people. Gould was very cunning, and he knew that this was to win people's hearts.
Of the policy.
The education Gould gave his children was to ask them to obey Rurik's request, even if the request was somewhat unreasonable.
Especially since Rurik participated in the great war and returned home across the frozen sea.
If Gould was nice to Rurik at the beginning, it was to maximize commercial benefits. Now he is more afraid of Rurik. He really doesn't know how a single soldier can kill seven or eight hundred enemies.
Children (Rurik, as a victorious chief canonized by Otto, naturally gets the greatest honor of victory), what extreme measures will he take once he is angered by himself?
Gould's children followed their father's orders and bought Rurik's leather goods at a very high price within a short time of the fleet docking. As for the subsequent matters, Rurik didn't care about it. In short, he carried the goods.
His servants, men, and soldiers returned to their far away homes.
That night, the servant of the Gould family came to the door of the leader's house carrying a heavy suitcase.
They unloaded the box and evacuated, and there were as many as nine thousand silver coins in it!
Rurik also immediately ordered the mercenaries to work with him to transport the silver coins to the room where the "big money box" was stored in the longhouse of the priest. Rather than building a treasury himself, Rurik thought it would be better to arrange for people to act as gatekeepers.
It makes the most sense to guard the sacred priestly realm where silver and gold coins are stored.
It was in the chief priest's house that Rurik saw Rumia, who was dressed in plain robes and was receiving one-on-one priestly education from the elderly Vilia.
Just like a sister seeing her long-lost biological brother, Rumia rushed over excitedly, hugged Rurik, and kept telling her about her sins for not welcoming him with all her heart.
It was this hug that finally calmed Rurik's heart.
Ah! Finally home.
But why hasn’t Arik come back yet? Is the fighting still going on?!
Not only has Arik not returned, Rurik still lacks the latest information on where Otto's fleet is now.
The sacrifices for the summer solstice arrived as scheduled.
On this day, the Russians had no night.
Just when the light was at its dimmest and the orange sun was fixed on the horizon, the Russians completed their sacrifice.
Compared with a year ago, Rumia has grown much taller and stronger. She has shown the graceful figure of a girl. When she puts on the plain robe of a priest and the antlered helmet with a flower crown on her head, her whole body looks like a girl.
Became more beautiful and solemn.
Rurik's ten maids immediately received some technical training on sacrificial rituals after returning. The girls wore flower crowns and surrounded the stone ship altar. Rumia, the owner of the largest flower crown, as usual, stood before the high priest on crutches.
Under the guidance of Villa, he presided over this sacrificial activity.
As agreed, Rurik half-knelt at the altar and prayed to the gods for the safety of the entire tribe.
In the past, Rurik felt that these sacrificial activities did not have supernatural magic power, but they could really calm people's hearts.
Now, Rurik realizes that what he needs most is the human heart!
He sincerely prayed that the tribe's development strategy could be implemented stably and that there would be no huge irresistible changes caused by sudden wars or natural disasters.
He especially prayed that his father, cousins, and all the Russians who were wandering outside could return to their homes before winter.
The money obtained from the Gould family relieved Rurik's financial pressure. But what really made him relax was the "dividends from sales of mild steel supplies" collected, which were actually paid by the blacksmiths to the company
Tax.
In addition, Rurik made another fortune by selling more than 500 chrome steel axes without wooden handles that he had on hand.
Silver coins are just a medium of exchange, but there are really a lot of silver coins circulating in the Ross tribe. The prices of various goods traded within the tribe have naturally increased. This strange high price situation is of course abnormal.
Rurik wanted to train his men, especially the boys. He felt that he needed a larger group of professional soldiers who were completely off-duty. To feed this group of people, he had to purchase a large amount of supplies out of his own pocket. When the grain had been exhausted,
At the moment, Rurik can only hope that large-scale fishing by fishermen will provide a large amount of food and ensure that the daily diet quality of more than 300 boys and girls remains at a high level.
The world is full of hustle and bustle, and fishermen go out to fish just to live a good life. They spontaneously continue to raise the price of their catch, and test other people's ability to bear the price, and the price has stabilized at a high level.
The current situation is not unusual for Rurik. He is desperately trying to find a way to reasonably collect the large number of silver coins in circulation into his own hands from the market, in order to force prices to drop through such operations. However, he really has too many people.
It’s time to support! The money spent just to buy the catch every day actually exceeds one hundred silver coins, and it has a tendency to continue to rise!
The fishermen have benefited and more fishermen have become diligent.
The supply of fish catch on the market has increased, but the price has not dropped. The reason is quite simple.
In this era of general scarcity of resources, even the Russians who settled by the sea generally lacked food. Because of war dividends, many families suddenly had a fortune, and the first way they thought of spending money was usually to buy food.
This demand caused a fishing boom among fishermen.
On a macro level, the fish and meat consumption of the entire tribe continues to increase, and the silver coins in the hands of fishermen have also begun to accumulate.
Rich fishermen first choose to buy excellent weapons and tools from the blacksmiths controlled by Rurik. Although they pay a higher price, they get excellent steel swords, which gives them the confidence to go to sea. They all feel that the steel in their hands
The sword can bring you good luck.
Even so, a large number of fishermen still had some spare money in their pockets, so they began to move south until they broke into the territory of the Malaren people.
In 830 AD, during the busiest months of July and August at the Mälaren Market, those mysterious Rus people finally ceased to be very mysterious beings.
Some ordinary Russian fishermen came with a large amount of silver coins. Many of the fishermen were simply dressed, with a beautiful dagger hanging from the rope belt around their waists. Didn't they risk running to Lake Mälaren and snatching fish from the locals?
obtain resources.
They are a group of consumers who buy whatever they need in the market, even slaves from far away, such as the poor Briton women.
Rurik saw the spontaneous actions of the tribesmen and it was difficult to say anything.
If he really had something to say, he could only express one emotion: "People in the ninth century had very little knowledge, but their minds were still very smart."
Every day, new fishing boats are pushed into the sea on Roseburg's sandy beach.
Every day, there is a continuous sound of ding-ding-dong-dong from the airtight wooden shed on the seaside, as new ships continue to be built.
Time has entered July, and life seems to be back on track.
But every time he stood on the hill where the children were trained and looked at the sails raised in the fjord in the distance, Rurik's mind turned more and more to the ships.
He often thought of the agreement he had made with his cousin regarding the marauding phalanx against the Gotland fishermen.
"Arik, come back!"
Turn around until July 15th in the Julian calendar.
A brisk longship entered the fjord waters. It did not raise its sails, but a group of unkempt warriors rowed hard.
The fishing boats all noticed this tribal warship, wondering whether its sudden appearance brought important news.
As expected, they were not only messengers, but also warriors who ended the robbery!
They immediately went to the home of Harold Johnson, who was in charge of staying behind, and reported to him with Arik's message that the plundering and victorious fleet was already on its way to triumph.
What a huge piece of good news! Rurik summoned these messengers and learned some of Arik's daily looting.
The messenger mentioned how many hostile fishermen they had killed, how many catches they had captured, and how many tools they had captured.
Most importantly, they focused on the captured ships.
"Well, it looks like I need to prepare the money to exchange ships with my brother."
It's true that whatever is lacking comes, and now Rurik realizes that he is not short of metal tools, and the need for fishing boats is really urgent. Of course Rurik can place an order with the tribe's shipbuilder, but it is a pity that even though he has a noble status, he is more and more willing to pay attention to it.
The contracted shipbuilder also accepts orders based on the current market price.
The price of a fishing boat continued to rise, and coupled with the time it took to build the boat, the number of boats built at the same time was unable to satisfy Rurik.
In this case, it is better to wait for Arik to bring back the captured fishing boat.
Rurik was looking forward to it, confident that on the third day after the envoy returned, a huge fleet suddenly broke into the fjord.
If I were to use one word to describe this fleet, it would be "swagger".
The fleet was vast, and Aric was just like his uncle Otto. He stood on the bow of the fleet leader, holding the raised bow of the ship with one hand, and holding the hilt of his sword tightly with the other hand.
He was high-spirited, just like the entire triumphal team he led. All the people who participated in the plundering war that lasted for more than two months did not have the fatigue of the long battle on their faces. Instead, they were filled with the joy of victory and the longing to go home.
Of course, there is also a dream of getting rich.
"Brothers, we are about to enter the harbor! Send my order down, watch the towing fishing boat, and don't let the rope break!"
"Remember, each fishing boat costs two hundred silver coins. Watch the boat carefully and don't be the sinner of your brothers!"
The soldiers had no fools. Their warships towed a large number of fishing boats with wooden hulls connected in series. It seemed that as long as a few axes were struck on the bottom of the boats, they would turn into a pile of useless and sinking wood.
Having towed too many ships, Arik spent a lot of time at sea. Now entering the port, the speed of the fleet is still slow.
The only advantage of traveling slowly is that this young "warrior hero" will further gain the respect of his tribe.
The Russians are always full of respect for the brave men in battle.
A large number of Russians gathered at the dock. Some people said that this was the triumph of the great leader, while well-informed people said that this was a righteous soldier who attacked the Gotlanders.
In short, they are a triumphal fleet, and those who return need to be cheered by their tribesmen.
Rurik led his men to seize the best position on the beach. The children formed a neat square formation. Everyone was carrying a wooden shield in one hand and a wooden stick in the other hand. The sticks kept beating the shields, making a warm sound.
A welcome gift from Rurik to his victorious cousin.
Rurik put on his gorgeous ferret costume, and his "wives and concubines" who were destined to be married were also gorgeously dressed.
Arik, who was on the bow of the ship, could see the large number of tribesmen gathered, and his ears could hear their warm cheers. He was sure that he was the triumphant hero, and he was immersed in the excitement of this spirit, and two lines of hot tears flowed from his blue eyes.
"Now, I am also a hero recognized by you!"
Arik regretted his bad fate. He loved his younger brother deeply. As he grew older, he could not stop feeling jealous of his younger brother.
The younger brother is a god blessed by the great god Odin, and he is just a mortal with flesh and blood.
How high can a mere mortal reach?
Seeing the cheers of the tribesmen, Arik wiped away his tears. He felt that he must continue to receive the congratulations of the tribesmen after landing as a majestic warrior.
Soon, Arik saw the neatly arranged people. Needless to say, this must be an interesting trick of his cute little brother. Although his subordinates were still children, he had to admit that these children only needed ten years to grow up and they were members of the tribe.
The new warriors are even more promising.
He quickly noticed some snow-white human figures. Needless to say, Rurik himself and his wives and concubines were dressed in ferret furs to show off their wealth.
I saw my younger brother, my mother (actually my aunt), my wife, and even the infant child Askard.
"Brothers, adjust the course! Head towards the children who are lined up, we will hit the beach in front of them!"
The oarsmen roared, and they were well-trained and quickly corrected their course, leading the entire fleet straight towards Rurik.
"Arik, are you finally going to land?" Rurik soon saw his cousin, a man standing at the bow of the ship holding his sword high.
During this trip, Arik carried the sword of his late father, Rurik's uncle Ogier. As the successor of the sword, Arik renovated the sword into a steel sword and gave it a very fierce name.
"Avenger". Therefore, Arik has two steel swords. Compared with fighting with a sword and shield, he increasingly feels that holding two swords can make him more intimidating and directly scare the enemy.
Therefore, the soldiers who fought with him began to jokingly give Arik a nickname: Two Swords.
It seems like this is a domineering nickname, and Arik naturally likes it.
Of course, the two swords will eventually have new heirs. Arik hopes to have two sons so that the two brothers can inherit their own swords! Oh, the eldest son inherits the family business and must inherit his grandfather's "revenge"
"As for the newly made steel sword, it will naturally be inherited by the unborn younger son.
The ship washed up on the beach, and the strong keel wood carved deep dents in the sandy beach flattened by the tide.
The empty fishing boats connected in series rushed to the beach one after another due to their inertia, making a dull roar and shaking the beach. Soon the sandy beach was overcrowded with boats!
Rurik saw his cousin, with a very cool gesture, supporting the side of the boat with one hand, jumping down with his whole body and the bow, and setting foot on solid ground.
He glanced unconsciously again and saw a large number of empty ships stranded, and he couldn't help but feel happy.