Chapter 706 Interest entanglement in a city without owners
It was the first time for Blue Fox to enter the monastery. He looked around and was disappointed after just one glance. Is the Frankish temple so shabby?
Eskil was not like that. He saw the blue fox looking at this and that, and immediately started to do his own business.
The old guy advertised to Blue Fox with a smile: "You are a noble person and you should also have a great faith."
"Faith?" Blue Fox couldn't help but take a step back, and suddenly understood this person's intention. "Eskir, I know your name. Why bother? I am just Lord Rurik's messenger."
"Yes. It doesn't matter if you put a sand clock on important things later. Those armed men believe in Odin, but you! You must not believe in this or that. You are not a warrior, you are a good person who believes in our god.
!It’s not too late to write a letter now.”
"Really? I still prefer gold and silver coins, and women."
The little fat man explained this way. This person is the kind of weirdo who doesn't believe in any gods. In Eskil's opinion, this kind of person is the easiest to be influenced.
"At least you believe in one god." Eskil's words were meaningful, even with a hint of philosophy: "We don't know the future, but the Almighty Lord must have determined everyone's destiny. Believe in our Lord,
You will avoid all kinds of disasters. Each of us will die. I can see that you have a noble soul. If you believe in our Lord, your noble soul can go to heaven..."
"No!" Blue Fox waved his hand vigorously: "Stop talking. I will carefully consider whether to listen to your suggestion."
He didn't say anything, which meant that there was still trouble ahead, and Eskil didn't feel that his persuasion would have immediate results. So he tried to comfort him again, adding some information: "You know, Hedebe is a borderland.
, the demon-like gangs that breed in the mud are most focused on big businessmen like you. They are not afraid of anything and are willing to take risks for money. You should think carefully and believe in our Lord and you will be blessed by Him. And to be more realistic,
, the Count of Hamburg and the Count of Bremen will give you real blessings."
"You want the protection of a Frankish noble?" Blue Fox didn't expect that this Frankish monk would speak like this. How qualified is a monk to say this? He laughed loudly and said with disdain: "I am a person protected by Prince Rurik."
Eskil, who has traveled far and wide, also did his part: "It's better to think about it carefully. This is already the domain of the Lord! Prince Rus is indeed great, but he is too far away. In this Lordless city, Frank will give you some practical information."
Real help. But you have to really become us..."
As a businessman, nothing can be done without fail, not to mention that Heideby is indeed not peaceful. Smart businessmen all know the principle of multiple friends and multiple paths.
Blue Fox's mood calmed down, and he said with a business-like smile: "I will consider your suggestion carefully, and I believe in your goodwill. Now, I don't want to waste any more time."
He immediately gave John Ingvar a look, and then the rope of the bag he had been holding was pulled away.
John Ingvar unfolded the rolled letter paper and sent it over to the surprise of the teacher Esquier.
"Pada, this is a personal letter from Prince Rurik to you. Don't worry, the whole text is in Latin."
"All in Latin? He..."
Esquier didn't know how to answer. At first, he thought it was a parchment document, and it had a completely different texture when he touched it in his hand.
What a strange writing material, like parchment or cloth. He didn't know about paper. He had been moving in the north of the kingdom and didn't know anything about papyrus.
Of course, he could quickly understand the Latin contents of the letters, but the contents were too strange.
"Ah! The auditorium is no longer suitable. Follow me, let's go to the clerk's room."
Eskil is a man of action, and this monastery is also his home in Denmark. He must regularly summarize the results of his work, and then send the letter to the nearby Count of Hamburg, and then send it to Prince Ludwig through the Count's messenger
in hand.
He was essentially the most important missionary in the North and the most radical person in spreading faith to Denmark. He had a high status in the church and had the right to use expensive parchment to write letters.
He was not surprised when he saw the paper for the first time because he had no idea what it was.
The document was actually written by the handsome young warrior king Rurik himself? The font is a bit strange, but I have to say that the font throughout the text is very neat.
With this document alone, he became extremely interested in Ross.
The content of the document involves major events, and even describes very bizarre situations.
Eskil has already read the document, which describes Rurik's request.
He took a deep breath and said, "Is this completely true? John, tell me the truth and don't lie."
"I can not."
Esquier looked at Fatty Blue Fox again: "My students are honest, and I dare not doubt Rurik and you, but... you actually kidnapped the princess of the Kingdom of Mercia, Wessex.
The bishop of the kingdom wrote to me about this. I tell you clearly that I know the girl named Mary."
When Blue Fox heard this, he immediately became interested: "But Mary is already dead. The letter made it clear that the cemetery is by a lake in the far east. My master just asks you to admit that her child believes in the god of your Franks."
Eskil's heart was beating wildly, because this boy named Reglaf was Rurik's son! The death of the princess Mary was a tragedy, but what is a boy born without an abdominal cavity but a miracle?
"John, Regrave was indeed baptized?" he asked.
"Yes, I am the Baptist."
"Ah!" Eskil's bald head looked up at the wooden ceiling, "Lord! Rurik of the East is a lamb who has been shaken, and his son has believed in you..."
There was a murmur of Latin words that Blue Fox couldn't understand, and he was a little impatient: "I just want to get an accurate belief. Do you recognize this child and grant him canonization?"
"Of course! I admit that child, but..." Eskil obviously had reservations.
"How?" Blue Fox asked.
"My John is not qualified to baptize. It is true that I left him in the north. John is not an official pastor. Previous baptisms do not count."
"Okay I understand, I will tell my master, Frank refuses to admit it."
Blue Fox's words were taken for granted. The words themselves were neutral, so Blue Fox didn't bother to care about what the child believed.
However, Eskil felt that he had offended this distinguished guest: "I have no ill intentions. You are going back to Rus in the autumn, and I want to go with you this time. I want to see Rurik in person, and I want to give Regraf a cure in person.
Wash. I also know that Mercia is in chaos, and that child is indeed the legitimate heir to the throne. I will also choose an opportunity to take him to Rome to officially obtain the throne..."
Eskil spoke a lot in the Danish dialect of Norse, but the blue fox didn't care what the guy said.
Lan Hu heard that this old boy planned to go to Ross again, and he would explain everything clearly to the prince face to face. Anyway, this was more effective than reporting on his duties in person.
In the end, Blue Fox did not tell Esquier his answer. He was very interested in the Frankish monastery and visited the worship hall, confessional, baptistery, etc.
It had to be said that what he saw had strange feelings for Blue Fox. The most peculiar thing was that he could not see any statues of gods, only a unique wooden carving depicting a man crucified on a cross.
Since Blue Fox was interested, Eskil was interested in introducing him more.
The monastery lacked gold and silver utensils. Frankish monks, big and small, all lived in poverty and dressed in extremely simple clothes. Their bedrooms were also extremely monotonous.
Believing in their gods will lead to a hard life? Who wants to believe this?
However, if their gods can avoid disasters and bring good luck, it is okay to believe in them.
Blue Fox met up with his armed guards waiting outside and casually described what he had seen to his brothers.
Someone asked why John Invall didn't come out.
Blue Fox's explanation instantly made everyone laugh: "That guy likes that monk, just like a wife likes her husband. That guy has a problem with his mind, and he will serve that old guy..."
Can men still like men? Even the friendliest comrades will not go further. Blue Fox and his guys don't understand. Naturally, John thinks that is happy, so let him go.
Blue Fox had his own way of rewarding his brothers, so he took them to find women to have fun with. There are several happy places in Haize, and the owners of those facilities are also friends of the "Business Guild". Have fun.
You can easily talk to the old guys about trading, because they are also doing leather business.
John Invall stayed in the monastery. This was his home. After not seeing him for more than two years, the place has indeed changed a lot. It is familiar and strange at the same time. What remains unchanged is of course Eskil's attitude towards himself.
Naturally, he brought some specialties of Ross with him when he came back. He added some honey and chrysanthemum water to make soap. After taking a bath, his whole body exuded a strange fragrance.
Fragrance is considered to have sacred power. John Invall went to the north for many years and his whole person became sacred?
"Wow! You are like an angel."
Eskil welcomed his student, his "lover", while John Invall was as obedient as ever.
Eskil found catharsis for the first time in a long time, and he also listened to John's more detailed report.
John's words were very detailed and rough, and some general but key information attracted Eskil's attention.
The Russians immigrated to the east on a large scale, and it was actually a place of prosperity. The Normans loved war, killing and plundering, which Eskil had always criticized. Rurik, the prince of Russia, actually led his people to cultivate the land and grow wheat. This is incredible.
.
If the Russians stop using violence and become docile farmers, they may be able to live in the East...
The more he thought about it, the more Eskil felt that it was more meaningful to go to the east to contact the Ross who had already immigrated than to expand his followers in northern Sweden.
Because John Ingvar described it very clearly, the Prince of Rus personally gave permission for the construction of a small monastery. The beautiful young man from Rurik had never rejected it, so he had a huge opportunity.
Before, John Invall was not a pastor, but now Esquier drafted the document. He has officially appointed John as a pastor, and he is qualified to be a real missionary, but he still needs to go through a legal process.
In the Frankish north, the Archbishop of Reims manages all the northern dioceses of the Kingdom, and all priests' appointments require official certification from Reims. The Archbishops of the Frankish Kingdom and all archdioceses throughout Western Europe need to be appointed by the Western Patriarch.
That is the so-called Roman Pope.
This is a very rigorous system, inherited from the destroyed Western Roman Empire, and now the huge Frankish Kingdom has been essentially divided. All the nobles support this system, so the kingdom is essentially divided into three princes.
The aspect of faith remains unified.
In this era, they still firmly believe that relying on a word of mouth and charitable actions can influence others. In the past few decades, Eskil has never, let alone dared to use any force. Unfortunately, no external force really wants to do so.
His life.
Rurik's previous house arrest was already rough, and of course Eskil's actions were uncharacteristically radical.
He has learned to stay in the ownerless city of Hedeby, Denmark, for fear that his radical missionary behavior will stir up some forces.
It was exactly five days before John Invall returned to Ross Store. He was almost unrecognizable in his black robe and black hat.
The guards were all laughing. They carefully observed whether the boy was walking with a limp. Not to mention, if there was a slight limp, they started laughing again.
John Invar didn't know why these guys were laughing. He came back today just to report some things to Blue Fox.
The most important thing is that the teacher has decided to go to New Roseburg in the East in the fall. Eskil still has many things on his mind, so there is no need to inform the big businessman Blue Fox.
These days, the Blue Fox doesn't care at all about John Ingvar's personal safety, and I don't think Eskil would hurt his baby.
In the past few days, Blue Fox attended a meeting. In a longhouse on the seaside, thirty wealthy businessmen from across the city gathered together.
A pair of wolf-like and tiger-like eyes stared at the blue fox, and this little fat man was the center of attention.
Because, this guy brought too much Ross squirrel skins, and the price was very comfortable, which made everyone rush to buy them like crazy.
The guys were not short of money and sent a lot of silver coins to Ross' shop, but no matter how much leather they had, there was a limit, so conflicts and disputes inevitably occurred.
In a sense, Lan Hu is already the president of this loose merchant guild. In fact, "president" is just a very empty title, and only interests are the most important.
He preached at the lively meeting: "We are all businessmen, and we will always cooperate for the sake of profit. It would be very difficult if we fight with each other. The contradiction between everything is that you are eager for more leather, and I bring
The quantity of leather still cannot meet your needs, maybe we should discuss a distribution principle."
Blue Fox has no worries that leather is not easy to sell, because he and Old Eric have clearly understood through this group of mixed merchants that the leather is not just sent to the Danish market, but a lot of leather will be sent to the Frankish Kingdom. Then
A vote of lords, big and small, are all buyers!
Don't they catch squirrels and ferrets themselves?
Of course, they were caught, but there were not many small animals in the kingdom, and the small amount of goods received could not meet the needs of the Frankish nobles. If they wanted more, they would have to invade Lady Wenderslav's territory, which would mean war.
Because Frankish merchants will also pursue greater profits, they can make big profits by transporting precious leather from the north to the south of the kingdom, especially if it is transported to Greece and Anatolia, where the Eastern Roman nobles and nobles are even more interested in northern leather.
Big spenders.
How could the low price proposed by the Russians make the Hedeby merchants excited? That was a total of 30,000 pieces of large red squirrel skins, which were the skins of the giant squirrels that had become extinct in Frankland!
Indeed, in the no-man's land of the frigid zone of Northeastern Europe, the Russians directly used crossbows to aim and shoot for hunting, coupled with traditional net bag trap operations, they swept away all the small animals in the undeveloped land.
Besides, the Ross Store is selling pure white polar bear skins this year. If they are sold to the Frankish nobles, they can make a fortune from just one skin!
Blue Fox already knows that leather will mainly flow into the Frankish market. Going to Frank for business is too far and risky. Now a large group of buyers are rushing to buy it. He and the Prince of Rus can easily and quickly make a lot of money!
Blue Fox pioneered the concept of futures at this meeting. However, the invention of the concept of "futures" is also inevitable. When economic activities reach a certain scale, it will begin to appear.
All the businessmen announced their financial resources to each other, and then they competed with each other, and then tried to say that they would pay a certain price to buy it.
This is the estimated price of various animal leathers after a large amount of leather enters the Hedebe market next year. This has evolved into a house buying market. All businessmen want to eat the biggest cake, so the price will naturally be to ask for a higher price.
Take the most share.
When Blue Fox realized that he could make huge profits by letting them mess around like this, he let them do whatever they wanted. He had a bottom-line price, as long as their offer was not lower than this.
Blue Fox knew nothing about the concept of "Tulip Mania", or perhaps all the businessmen did not know or understand this concept, but their group of businessmen had already started taking action.
Especially Blue Fox, he started taking extremely advanced actions.
This year's leather has been divided up by merchants, and Blue Fox signed a brand new agreement with this group of merchants.
He promised that 30,000 large squirrel skins would arrive at Hedebe next year, and the agreement signed on the wooden document was for this amount. A higher price was determined by the merchants, and everyone also determined their respective purchase shares, in the form of a document
Sure.
An interesting thing happened. Some businessmen suddenly realized that they could sell the documentary vouchers in their hands to their peers and get a sum of money immediately. Or they could buy the vouchers of their peers and get a huge share of the purchase. Such a large amount
Leather pulled to Frank to make greater profits.
These are things for later...
Lan Hu is indeed an excellent businessman, but his imagination is still a little short of. He is very happy, because the old business families in Hedebe are all about trade reputation, and subjectively they do not dare to bad reputation. This operation of his own is for Ross.
It will be clear that a large amount of leather will be sold next year. What is this if not a great achievement?
Suddenly he even felt that his seat had surpassed that of his eldest brother Bai Hu and his father.