The whole day was like a dream.
Gould returned to his island in the evening and immediately leaned against his bear-skin-covered chair.
Seeing his father frowning in thought, the eldest son Snoreva approached cautiously: "Dad, those things during the day..."
"Damn it! Maybe this business shouldn't be done. We are just businessmen."
"Dad, we have..."
"Yes! Once on the ship, you can't get off!" Gould stood up suddenly. Apparently he finally figured it out: "Olegin, you are a fool! Otto was busy conquering Novgorod and the East. This land is incomparable to someone like you who is hiding in the lake and is content. You want Otto himself to come, but he can’t come!”
"Dad..." Seeing his father's rage, Snoleva didn't know what to do for a while.
"Snoleva!"
"exist!"
"Prepare the boat and go back to Fort Ross!"
"Ah! This..."
"You have to convey my words to Rurik. Everything we discussed with Olegin today can only be decided by Rurik. I hope he can agree with us. I hope you bring a lot of silver coins with you when you come back. Get on a lot of empty ships. Oh, it would be best if you could invite Rurik to come to Mälaren.”
The former things are easy to solve, but the latter is the only one. Snoleva choked for a moment: "Dad, he is still a child, maybe..."
"But he is the future leader. You! As long as my words are conveyed, it all depends on Rurik whether he comes or not."
"As ordered." After saying this, Snoleva turned and left.
"Oh, wait a minute."
"Dad, do you have any more orders?"
Gould wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Organize a small fleet and try to bring back some of the goods we purchased. Listen, in the future we must organize a large number of merchant ships to transport food full-time."
There will not be enough transport ships, so we are trying our best to clear the inventory. Snoreva realized everything and started to do things in a hurry.
On only the third day, a fleet of five transport ships set sail. Its stocky cabin was piled with a large amount of onions and cabbages (which did not grow well due to the cold climate), as well as half of the cargo ship's storage space filled with flax purchased from Yermalen tribe merchants.
A proud fat man, with more than forty followers, controlled the entire fleet and embarked on an important task that must be completed quickly.
The sea breeze in August is always changeable, the climate has turned colder, and the northerly wind blows far more often than the southerly wind.
Is it possible for wheat to ear well in such a climate?
The men of the Gould family were not ignorant of grains. The fat Snoleva standing on the bow of the ship did not think that Olegin could use normal means to get the five hundred thousand pounds of oats that his father needed.
However, if that guy can really plunder so much food, Rurik must be the happiest person.
"Fifty thousand pounds of wheat. When the harvest season comes, my family will buy some grain in Onkras. Will there be 600,000 pounds shipped back to Rossburg? Otto will plunder it from Novgorod." Grain, and taxed in New Roseburg. Will Fort Rose be able to stock up on a million pounds of wheat this fall?"
Snoleva was fat, and his round head was full of calculations, just like his father. He estimated that the population directly controlled by the Ross tribe should reach 6,000 people.
Rossburg is not an exclusive settlement of the Ross people. Every winter, about 3,000 residents migrate here like migratory birds.
Foreign traders almost always come with large amounts of food, and the Russians have no need to supply them with food.
As a result, the total population of all kinds of people who really respect the leader of Ross, including the recently surrendered Kewen people, has exceeded 10,000.
Among them, there are probably only 4,000 people living in Roseburg now, and the remaining 3,000 are merchant families.
A group of Russians became pioneers and opened up a new living space in other places. They did not need new food supplies at all.
There are four thousand mouths in Roseburg, including children and old people, as well as a large number of young laborers. If there were one million pounds of wheat, each person would receive an average of 250 pounds.
The actual situation cannot be calculated like this. Snoleva really understands that even if there is no large amount of food, the Russians can use their own hands to catch fish from the ocean to feed everyone. Rurik will definitely distribute the food without hesitation, so that the Russians can often have enough to eat and most of the young and middle-aged people can become strong.
The men of the entire tribe are tall and strong, and the women of the tribe are also full of health and vitality. They also have the ability to smelt the best iron tools. They have a large population and have a strong desire to expand. How can such a tribe not be strong? reason.
Thinking about it this way, Snoleva felt that the Melalen people were slowly handing over the alliance's hegemony to the Russians in the north. For my family, that is really the best thing.
There was no food harvest, and a large number of merchant ships that were supposed to go north were unable to buy food for the winter, so they had no great intention to move forward. Their eyes are always fixed on some large business families represented by Gould. If these people don't take action, why should they take the lead?
Now, the time is approaching September in the Julian calendar, and the weather is getting colder day by day.
For the Russians, the great leader's fleet has not returned, nor has a large number of merchants returned. For a time, many people simply went to the longhouse of the priests to try to get information to determine whether the calendar had reached the correct moment.
This day passed, and the end of August, which was supposed to be lively and bustling, turned out to be a quiet scene.
Life must go on. What is going on in the south, the fishing boat can just go and find out.
But the footsteps of winter are slowly approaching, and the fishermen cannot care so much. For the fishermen, who account for a large number of the tribal population, they serve as soldiers in wartime and are fishermen in peaceful days. In order to spend the winter smoothly, they began the largest scale of fishing before winter. of fishing.
The women of the tribe will not be idle, so near the beach, a large number of pottery urns are set up and heated over the fire, just to cook the sea salt to pickle the catch. Some simple wooden houses were scorched by smoke and fire all day long. Hundreds of herrings with their internal organs and heads removed were hung on the bonfire to bake, and finally turned into relatively hard dried fish full of smoky flavor, which was enhanced with a small amount of salt. Keep fresh.
Even the Brython female slaves in Rurik's house were asked by Niya to process fish and store it.
No matter what, life has to go on as usual, and residents of every household are stocking up on food based on fish.
Rurik also asked hundreds of children under his command to carry more than a hundred axes into the nearby woods, cut down small trees and then chop them into firewood. There are a large number of orphans who are actually raised by Rurik with money. Of course, this gift is not completely free. They must work to support themselves when they can. For example, they personally chop the firewood they have stored. It is their fuel for heating and cooking in winter.
The entire tribe was actively preparing supplies for the winter. Seeing the busyness of the tribe, Rurik, who was originally a little worried about outsiders, felt a little relieved.
Always a small fleet, they lit up their wide linen sails and attracted the attention of fishing boats throughout the sea.
Is he a businessman returning from the south?
They are indeed members of the Gould family. Anyone with good eyesight can easily make this judgment as long as they see the fat man standing on the bow of the boat.
The fleet headed straight for the dock of Gould's house. Each of the transport ships rushed against the north wind and rode the wind and waves. Finally, they threw cables to the people on the trestle, and all the ships docked smoothly.
"Sir, are you all back? Where is the master?"
"They are all in the south. Quick! Unload all the goods you are wearing and put them into the warehouse." Snoleva ordered immediately after landing.
"Oh, sir, we will do it right away. Please go home and have a good rest."
"No need! I want to see the leader immediately."
After saying that, Snoleva went straight to Chief Ross's house without looking back, which made the Gould family's servants look puzzled. Who would have thought that the eldest son of the family would suddenly return and go straight to the leader's house without even visiting the family brothers who stayed behind. Besides, the big leader Otto is not here. Shouldn't he visit Harold Zosen who was ordered to guard Rossburg?
The hurried Snoreva moved forward so quickly that both of his followers had to run to keep up.
When he stood at the door of Rurik's house, he was out of breath.
He took off his beautiful white fox hat and faced the mercenary standing guard at the door; "Quick! Go and tell your master! I... Snoleva of the Gould family, I want to see Rurik, I have something to ask for Report the matter."
The heavy door was opened, and Rurik, who was taking a nap without anything to do, learned of the mercenary's report and subconsciously concluded that something big must have happened in the south.
Rurik sat cross-legged in the hall. He asked Carlotta to pour him a cup of chrysanthemum tea filtered with petals.
Snoleva drank it all in one gulp, but her heart was still pounding.
"Something big happened in the south? Where is Gould? Is he back?"
Snoreva hurriedly wiped his mouth and said urgently: "Sir, my father negotiated a business deal with the leader of Melalen. Some very critical matters must be decided by you, so I came back."
"Me?" What a breaking news. "I...I didn't ask your father to negotiate with that leader."
"But sir, business opportunities always come without warning. Only by seizing the opportunity can you make a lot of money. My father asked me to bring you a message."
"What did he say?!"
"He quoted the leader of Melalen as saying that the Melalen people would pay a lot of money for Ross's steel swords, spearheads, and even crossbows."
“Where’s the price?!”
The question that Rurik blurted out without thinking about it immediately made Snoleva understand that his little master had a very strong interest in trade.
"A pound of silver for a sword and half a pound for a spearhead. Or a crossbow. The man offered two pounds for it."
"It's actually like this..." Rurik pinched his hairless chin. The price proposed by the other party exceeded his expectations.
Originally, the purpose of building blast furnaces and developing mines in the north was to better arm ourselves and maximize profits by selling products.
For consumer goods such as soap and luxury goods such as glassware, their market space is probably very small.
How to make big money? Ironware! Especially military iron weapons!
"I have long planned to bring some excellent ironware to the south and sell it to make a lot of money. I didn't expect the people of Melalen to show up uninvited. But Gould will never let you come back in a hurry just because of this." He muttered for a while. , Rurik suddenly raised his head, and his attitude became very serious: "Tell me, what is the most important task assigned to you? How is it completed? Also, what are the businessmen in the south doing, and why haven't they come back yet? ?! Could it be that the Melalen people are causing trouble?"
"It's about grain. My father successfully negotiated a deal with that Olegin. Chief Melalen will personally sell us half a million pounds of oats..."
"Wait! What did you say? How many pounds of wheat?!" Rurik's little head suddenly stretched out, Snoreva jumped, and the three girls including Carlotta who were waiting were also shocked.
"It's half a million pounds. Just the Melalen tribe, their leader will provide half a million pounds."
"Ah? So much! Is this possible? Can they really come up with so much food?"
Snoleva shrugged: "I was skeptical. I heard this amount proposed by Olegin with my own ears."
"What about the price?" Rurik asked anxiously.
"Fifty thousand silver coins."
"Ah! So much?! Five hundred pounds of silver?!"
"Sir, that Olegin said that one silver coin buys ten pounds of wheat. This is their price, and they will not make any changes."
"That's ridiculous." Rurik shook his head. "I remember the price during last year's harvest season. One silver coin could buy up to seventeen pounds of wheat. Is that Olegin crazy? How can he be so virtuous? Just because he is Leader?"
"I'm afraid that's the case. Olegin also asked the big leader Otto to go to Mälaren. That person will hold an alliance as the leader of the alliance. Maybe the date of the alliance will be next year."
For a long time, Rurik regarded the Siya tribe alliance as nothing. The Rus people have been living their own lives, and their interaction with the south almost lies in the spontaneous business exchanges of merchants. After all, we are all brothers in an alliance. The alliance leader intends to hold an alliance conference. As the northernmost Russian in the alliance, we are indeed obliged to participate.
"Meeting alliance? Do all tribes need to participate?" Rurik asked knowingly.
"Of course, the leaders of all tribes must participate."
"What if you don't participate?" Rurik asked deliberately provocatively.
"Who knows?" Snoleva shrugged: "But for our future business, we should participate. Also, Carlotta of Ostara should also participate in the alliance as a leader.
"
Snoleva's words touched Carlotta's heart. A year ago, she wandered in the Mälaren Market and almost died there. Because of this experience, all she got in Melalen was indifference, but what she got in Roseburg was a new life. Thanks to the grace of the Byros, the remaining Ostara people settled down and the tribe began to reproduce again.
Even though there are only a hundred women and children left in the tribe, the tribe is still part of the alliance.
"Yes! We must participate, Rurik, we Ostarians will always stand on the side of the Rus."
Rurik glanced at Carlotta's determined eyes and nodded: "You are the leader of Ostara, and I am not the big leader yet. I think my father will participate, and he still needs to make a decision on this matter."
Snoreva immediately took over the words after hearing this: "Sir, the big leader is not in Rossburg. Regarding the matter of buying grain, Olegin is waiting for the reply from the Ross leader. This matter must be decided by you."
"Me? I'm not the big leader yet. Maybe it's Harrow Johnson who..."
"No! My father said that if the big leader is not here, the matter must be decided by you. Because, besides Otto, you are the real leader."
Rurik felt pleased after hearing this. Besides, he was responsible for organizing and taking charge of buying food. Regardless of whether or not there was the incident of "Chief Melalen personally going down to sell grain", Gould would return with a large amount of grain as usual this year.
"Sigh...it's just that the price Olegin proposed is too high. What on earth did he think?"
"Sir, the food situation in the south is not good. It is too cold this year. The price of food must really rise during the harvest season. We can't even guarantee that one silver coin can buy ten pounds."
"Ah!" For a moment, Rurik thought of the fact that the climate this year was very cold. "By the way, you just said that a lot of wheat doesn't even have ears?"
"Yes, my lord, many fertile fields are about to be harvested. I think we need to seize this opportunity."
Realizing that there was a very serious situation in the calm, Rurik thought for a moment, what exactly did Olegin want to do? You must sell a huge amount of grain in exchange for a huge sum of money during the years when the harvest is actively short, and you must use the huge sum of money to buy excellent quality Russian ironware.
That guy wants to expand his army!
Expansion of the army? Will it be detrimental to the Russians? No! I'm afraid that guy was deliberately wary of the aggressive Danes and Gotlanders.
Rurik slapped his thigh and stood up: "I'm sure about this deal! We must complete it. By the way, what else did your father say?"
"He...he invited you to go directly to Mälaren. Maybe you can negotiate with that Olegin in person, which will have a very positive significance for our future trade."
"Okay! Then go to the south."
