Gould was a young man, and he would sometimes feel pain like his head was about to burst (actually due to atherosclerosis). Whenever he had a headache, he would ask his slave girls or his concubines to rub his head for him, fearing that his life span was approaching. Of course he is afraid of death, but death is something that everyone must experience.
That's why he hung a deer head, shield and ax in his bedroom. He sometimes imagined that he was a warrior, so that after death, his soul might enter Valhalla gloriously. He would feel better every time he thought about this.
He consciously found a good opportunity when he entered, but he had to seize it to the extreme and obtain a little "God's favor" by contributing to the "Son of God" Rurik. Of course, realistically speaking, it is also to gain political capital for his descendants, especially the eldest son Snoreva, who will inherit most of the wealth. He also needs to be favored by Rurik for a long time in the future because of his efforts.
"My great, invincible, glorious leader." Gould used many good words to describe Rurik and Otto. Otto felt very happy, and even Rurik had goosebumps all over his body. .
"What do you want to say?"
"Ah! If the leader allows me, I hope to use these one hundred pounds of silver coins in exchange for a new big ship."
"Huh?" Rurik suddenly understood Gould's intention: "You? Are you planning to donate a big ship like the Aurora?"
"Yes! Even if it is expensive, I will add more money and let the Hotla family build it. I will give this ship to you as the second large warship of our Russian people."
"Okay, since you are willing. Originally, I intended to build at least five more large ships, and I am touched by your cooperation."
Hearing this, Gould was shocked, "What? There are actually five more ships?"
"Yes, if we had more wealth, we should build ten ships, or more. I must have some powerful ships to protect our future maritime trade."
"That's true." Gould nodded. He admired and was shocked by the kid Rurik's long-term vision. "I only have an extremely humble request now."
"Tell me. If you want to be the sponsor of the second ship, you can have many demands."
"There's only one, really, that I want to name the ship. I want it to be called the Gould."
"Huh? Is this the end?"
Gould nodded, but Rurik was not satisfied: "What do you call the ship? I need to tell you clearly that you need to call the Gould 'hon (her)'."
"Huh? You..." Gould also slapped his forehead, and then thought of a so-called bad taste that Rurik, a kid, always had. "Are you still going to call ships women? It's so weird, but also kind of funny."
"Really weird? But like our big ships, each one has to have a unique name. The ship is like a woman, and a man controlling a big ship is like controlling his wife. If the ship has a soul, then it is a woman, or a Beautiful spirit from the sea.”
Gould carefully checked Rurik's eyes and determined that the child was serious.
He thought this statement was very dreamy, but it was not the case. Rurik was just quoting the Roman poet Virgil. Roman poetry may have fixed this cultural phenomenon in the Greek and Roman classical era in the form of literature, and influenced the navies of various European countries. Oh, except for Germany, which treats ships as brothers.
Rurik mentioned the "sea elf" and he used the word "elf", which itself is hidden in the cultural life of the Rus or Vikings.
Gould thought for a while, suddenly enlightened, and suddenly pulled out his necklace. Among the many ambers, he deliberately displayed an individual carved into a little person, or a female elephant.
"This is the Lucky Elf. I probably understand what you mean. Navigation is just like doing business. It is full of risks and opportunities. Every ship needs a Lucky Elf to protect it."
Gould's words also surprised Rurik: "Ah... that's it."
Rurik thought for a while, and under the current situation, he no longer needed to explain to Gould the so-called contribution of Roman poets to the personification of ships, and even the fact that Russians should try their best to learn from Rome if they want to make great achievements.
The Russians obviously have their own excellent culture, so he took advantage of his plan: "Maybe I should erect a wooden sculpture on the bow of Avrola. It is no longer a ferocious beast, but the image of a beautiful girl, preferably behind her With a pair of wings, she is the spirit of the ship and will bring good luck to all sailors."
Gould instantly burst into laughter and slapped his thigh fiercely: "Wonderful! Everyone is afraid of hitting the rocks, hitting the ice, and storms. If we do this, everyone will feel at ease. Then I can call the boat I donated Gu Gulddotter.”
Rurik immediately understood the meaning. This old guy was so smart that he directly named the big ship after his daughter. After all, the old guy was willing to finance the second ship on his own. The ownership of the ship belonged to the leader's family. He got a big advantage, so he could just let him do whatever he wanted in terms of naming.
As for the shipbuilding plan itself, Otto had no objections. His only concern was the funding issue. Rurik was able to attract funds from Gould. However, the total cost of a large ship was far beyond Otto's imagination. If this was done three or four years ago, he would have thought that he was a psycho who had eaten poisonous mushrooms. Opinions from deranged people.
After all, three years ago, in a corner of Rossburg, currency as a medium of exchange was very scarce, which resulted in even copper coins having a high currency value. Thirty silver coins are enough to build a fishing boat, and only one pound of silver coins is enough to build a long ship.
Due to the successful act of revenge, a huge amount of silver coins poured in, which changed not only Roseburg, but also the entire tribal alliance. Although the price of shipbuilding has skyrocketed due to inflation, the money to build a ship such as the Aurora is too much, even absurd.
A ship deserves 20,000 silver coins! Otto only hopes that the Aurora can be as powerful as her original design, so as to demonstrate the authority of the leader.
Gould quickly took out two hundred pounds of silver coins. After taking out the funds, his family actually didn't have much silver left. Because of trade, a large amount of silver coins actually flowed into the Melalen tribe and spread to the main tribes in several alliances around the lake.
The Russians must earn back this silver through trade. This year, they have accumulated a large amount of high value-added goods. No matter what the alliance talks about, Rurik will soon have to board the launched Avrora, and simply let her carry a large amount of cargo to make a lot of money in Merlaren.
Taxation work begins immediately.
As the leader of the tribe, Otto issued a special order to the entire Roseburg Fjord, which prohibited all ships from leaving the port within three days. Even if there is no ban, smart people would not dare to break into the sea that is still full of ice floes. The entire tribe of fishermen is now waiting quietly.
A large amount of iceberg meltwater pours into the fjords and the vast Gulf of Bothnia. The ice floes on the sea are basically not a threat to the purposely built strong ships, as long as the ships are not hit by giant ice lumps. In this hydrological state, many merchant ships have the ability to escape. If they really escape in the dark, Otto will not be able to make any money.
It turned out that some merchants really planned to escape during the night.
But Otto is not a fool, and he is not stupid. The fleeing merchant tried to push his boat into the sea, but was soon caught by an ambush. What to do with these tax-defying tax evaders?
Otto did not execute them, but it was not easy for them either. All goods and money were confiscated, and his entire family was demoted to logging slaves and sent to distant places to work for up to three years! For example, dispatch New Roseburg, which is in urgent need of labor.
Although Rurik feels that this punishment standard is a bit inappropriate, when they think of the punishment if it is not severe, do they think that Rosberg is actually a good place where they can come and run away as they please, and they can make money without having to pay taxes? Doesn’t it mean that the Russians have lost their customs rights?
On a larger scale, this kind of escape behavior is a huge harm to Rose, and strong punishment is necessary.
At least the Russians did not kill these tax evaders. This act of killing chickens to scare monkeys essentially frightened those who intended to flee. Yes, Rurik thought that his family had been a little indecisive last year, allowing some tax evaders to sneak away with the money earned before the ice and snow melted. Regarding the ice field trek case provided by the Mellaren Courier, Rurik now does not think that the merchants who escaped last year would really freeze to death in the ice field.
The agreed day for tax collection was today. Otto summoned all the merchants in front of the Aurora, which was urgently waiting to be launched.
There were more than three hundred people here, all heads of merchant families.
Since those who attempted to escape were caught, no one has escaped. It's just that all the wealth of those families was confiscated. Thinking of the menacing appearance of the Russian soldiers, everyone is still frightened.
They became submissive and just wanted to hand over the money quickly to ensure safety.
No, Otto stood directly at the bow of the ship. He looked down at everyone and said arrogantly: "You have made too much money in my territory, so you must pay taxes. In the past winter, all businessmen made When it comes to big money. Then, you have to pay more taxes."
Otto didn't want to say any more nonsense. He just wanted to clap his hands and announce the start of a performance.
Everything that follows is a drama.
Rurik, dressed in gorgeous clothes and accompanied by more than a dozen strong warriors, stood in front of a group of businessmen who were also dressed in gorgeous clothes. Everyone has seen the beautiful Rurik. His face is still so clean, but those with a discerning eye may inadvertently notice that one of his front teeth is missing.
"let's start!"
Otto roared from above. People still didn't know what had happened. They saw a fat man with a stout body. He was also dressed in gorgeous clothes, especially the velvet hat on his head with two green feathers (previously high prices). Purchased peacock feathers), this person is undoubtedly Gould. Behind him, there were several fat guys. Needless to say, these were all sons of the same family.
The fatter one is, the more it proves that the family is rich. The merchants are not fools. They all know that what this family has done in recent years has been shoddy. They were jealous of the Gould family and wished they could be a scumbag so that they could make a lot of money from Chief Ross.
Some mercenaries raised by Gould worked together to carry two large wooden boxes. They walked deliberately slowly to arouse curiosity among the anxious merchants.
Their eyes focused on the heavy box, as if the contents inside were too heavy to be described in words.
The mercenaries were also acting. They unloaded the boxes in front of Rurik, pretending to be extremely tired, and their heavy breathing sounded like they had just finished fighting.
Gould deliberately complimented loudly: "Great leader of Rus, Rurik who was blessed by the great Odin, this is this year's tax burden that my Gould family presented. According to the contract, I present this year's tax burden of 20,000 A silver coin to thank the Ross tribe for providing security and stability to my family."
Gould himself revealed a principle, the so-called tax is not paid in vain, it is equivalent to the payment of "Russian security".
The tax amount amounted to 20,000 silver coins. The clear figure shocked all the merchants present and trembled with surprise. Not only were they shocked that the tax burden was so high, they were also surprised that the Gould family had grown such a large business.
"Very good, now I want to open the box." Rurik said the lines according to the script, "I want to see genuine silver coins."
The box was opened, and the white silver coins immediately attracted the onlookers to gather around.
There are more than three hundred of them, they are the heads of all the foreign merchant families and the people in charge of wealth. There were not many of them, so they almost all saw Rurik squatting down and stirring the silver coins with his hands, making a violent metal collision sound.
This was also part of Rurik's plan to deeply stimulate their hearts.
"Big Chief, what do you think?" Gould raised his head and asked.
"You're doing a great job! You're such an honest person. I hope all businessmen are as honest as you."
Seeing what he said, other merchants stood under the huge ship. A strong sense of oppression made everyone nervous. Now the leader of the Ross people hinted at a threat.
The merchants were whispering to each other, and gradually some began to shout that they would get their money immediately.
More and more people are raising their voices, claiming that they are also honest businessmen. Infected by such an atmosphere, who else dares to say no?
The performance ended soon, and Otto ordered the merchants to go back quickly. Soon, he personally led a group of soldiers to collect their taxes or tax-deductible goods door-to-door. In order to speed up the tax collection work, he appointed his nephew Arik, old buddy Haro Zuosen and others, and also led his brothers to collect taxes separately.
This almost turned into a "feast of plunder". Although goods and money worth the equivalent of 30,000 silver coins were collected, it was normal for the tax collector to take the opportunity to get a little more benefit. No one from the merchants resisted, and they would rather take more money to send these tax collectors away. In fact, they have no need to resist. Firstly, resisting is seeking death. Secondly, they have known the tax policy of the Russians from the beginning. They are all businessmen with some foundation. They can pay the tax of only one pound of silver. .
The tax work went extremely smoothly and was completed in only two days. The tax currency was gradually moved to the priest's longhouse, and the tax-deductible goods were moved to the warehouse built by Rurik for storage.
Rurik and his mercenaries happily moved the two large boxes filled with silver coins to the longhouse of the priests, and then moved them into the room where the wealth was stored.
He stopped by to visit Vilia. The old woman's condition was still bad, but her pain was not visible on the surface. If dying without illness is a person's luck, is it even greater luck when she sees that what she has guarded all her life has a huge future and leaves with hope?
Wei Liya was extremely weak, but his thinking was still rigorous when he was awake.
She determined the time for this year's Great Sail Ceremony, which was set on April 15 in the Julian calendar.
The day is very close, and Mia has been walking around the longhouse of the priests, reciting this year's sacrificial prayers.
Of course, this year's sailing ceremony is destined to be extraordinary, as the Avora will be launched on this day.
