Just after the sacrifice, Rurik personally gave Gould himself a new and detailed task. He ordered him to personally organize a cargo ship to go to Lake Mälaren. What Gould did during this trip was still a transaction. The object of the transaction became recruiting mercenaries and purchasing a large amount of linen.
Doesn’t the Mellaren tribe have a large number of young people? Aren’t they eager to make a fortune by making military exploits in the war? Aren’t they not entitled to join the expeditionary force commanded by Olegin for various reasons?
Gould carried a pine board covered with writing, which was a memorandum of orders. He wants to follow Rurik's instructions and recruit at least five hundred Melalen men who are not afraid of death. Of course, the targets of his recruitment are all tribes in the entire Kingdom of Sweden.
The Russians only plan to give these people a small mercenary reward. For a group of men who are not very strong, earning silver coins and providing food by the Duke of Ross during the war is already very good. In fact, fighting for the Russians It was to conquer the hated Gotlanders, so mercenary behavior became a great thing.
After all, Rurik personally infiltrated the Melalen Market. He had sufficient knowledge, and a large number of his mercenaries had elements of Melalen.
Both he and Gould figured out the thoughts of young people in Mälaren, especially those fourteen or fifteen years old. They were eager to prove that they were men and eager to fight their way out of poverty.
He has strong confidence in the "extensive recruitment of mercenaries" implemented by Gould, so that in future wars, the Ross Army will have a mercenary team that can be sacrificed when necessary without worrying about losses. ,
So why buy large quantities of cloth?
Without him, Rurik considered the problem of identifying ourselves and the enemy on the battlefield. All Russian soldiers, no matter where they come from, are in the same camp. In order to avoid accidental injuries, they must try to keep their clothes uniform.
It would be ridiculous to issue the same style of clothing to every soldier in the army, at least with current production levels simply not being able to do it quickly. Rurik could only compromise and make some markings on the soldiers' clothes.
The most critical thing is that Rurik needs to use the newly purchased cloth to piece together and sew flags symbolizing Ross, which is the huge, ancestral "crossed oar" sewn on the sail of the Avrola. flag.
"Perhaps in this battle, I should define this flag as the true flag of the Prince of Rus. No! It's not just that. The flag and horn allow me to clearly see my warriors on the ever-changing battlefield and accurately pass on new instructions. The best way.”
Although some of the ideas are a bit ridiculous, Rurik wants to hang a small flag on the back of some soldiers, doing a job similar to that of a centurion, so that ordinary soldiers can follow the flag-planter and move accurately.
Rurik waited for Gould to return with a large number of fresh troops and bundles of linen. Oh, it would be best to bring a batch of local specialties and leather products to expand the Ross army.
To the south, calm Lake Malaren is stirring.
Gould sent people in the name of merchants to recruit troops in the Melalen market and residential areas.
Recruitment targets are very broad, ranging from fifteen-year-old boys to forty-year-old "old guys" who can sign up to participate.
It's just that according to the tradition of mercenaries, working for a businessman must be cut off from the current life.
There are many poor people in the huge Lake Malaren area. As usual, the second and third sons in the family cannot inherit the family business, and they have to start their own business. How easy is this so-called “starting a business”? Their fate is either to be servants for others, or to serve as thugs for powerful people.
A group of very young and elderly men left their hometown with Gould's servants. When they left, they were bare-handed, effectively cutting off the Melalen tribe.
The young man's parents only knew that their son had found a job as a mercenary for a businessman. As for the future, they no longer thought about it.
What's more, they simply ran away from home. Such boys simply want to get some money. They just want to survive as hard as they can. When they earn enough money, they can build a fishing boat and then marry a woman. Live like this. Of course, being a mercenary will expose you to danger. If you die, then die. Life will at least be easier than it is now.
A large number of people gathered on Gould Island, and only after they landed on the island did they realize that things had become very strange.
We are not working as mercenaries for businessmen, and how can a businessman be so crazy as to support five hundred mercenaries?
Gould gave some rewards to the men who were doing the work. He also ordered his men to take good care of the skinny boys and old guys to prevent them from having any plans to escape. He also rewarded them with some fish just for food.
Hundreds of people were imprisoned in the wooden castle on Gould's Island. Until this moment, Gould had no intention of revealing any substantive information to them. In other words, he was just afraid of these people who were destined to fight for the Russians. After learning the facts, the group fled en masse or caused chaos.
If they were really powerful, they would have been taken away by Olegin as soon as possible and sent to the army.
They were obviously weak, so how could Gould think so highly of them? The existence value of this group of people may only be in future battles to reduce the loss of Russians.
After the rain, production in the Mälaren area continued. The women took the time to produce cloth. After the rain, they collected woad and other anthocyanin-containing grasses to dye the linen. However, they had not yet discovered the medicinal uses of these indigo roots. The value (which is the European version of isatis root) is used as raw material for dyes. These are the tasks of the benefactor. Gould spread the news about collecting cloth and can also give a gratifying price. All the local women are doing their best.
On July 10th, a huge cargo fleet set sail from Gould Island.
Each cargo ship was packed with a hundred people. They were wearing simple clothes and their heads were covered with a piece of linen. At first glance, it was clear that the ship had hit a large amount of cargo.
A group of Melalen men were the cargo. They already knew to some extent that they were going to the Ross in the north. This was the formation, as if they were not going to be mercenaries for the Ross people, but to be slaves.
There are indeed people who are extremely afraid of the tragic future. If such people are beaten, the remaining people will be honest.
There are eight cargo ships carrying a full 600 people. If time is more generous, Gould can get more people and transport more people.
The fleet set off from Gould Island. The merchants had previously been doing normal summer trade under the banner of the Ross people. They had indeed purchased a variety of large quantities of goods, and it would take a huge fleet to transport them back to the north.
The Melalen people were busy doing business, and few of them paid attention to the departure of some tribesmen.
Just like they don't care about the refugees who are fleeing, they avoid beggars and regard them as thieves by default, and they have no intention of helping the poor and needy.
Maybe Olegin is still in his hometown and will be furious at the Russians' poaching behavior, but this guy's mind has been completely attracted to the "Silver Castle" further south.
There are three cargo ships, all of which are loaded with dyed rough linen. Due to the use of alum to fix the color, they are already quite washable and difficult to fade.
There are probably only three colors of linen, plain white, sky blue and earthy yellow. Of course, you can also use toner and cinnabar powder to provide new colors, but such linen clothing is really rare.
When the fleet left Lake Malaren and entered the sea, the fleet of fifteen cargo ships enjoyed the warm southerly wind and embarked on a two-day, non-stop voyage.
On July 12, after a short night, a huge fleet appeared in the eyes of fishermen actively working at sea near Roseburg.
This is the ship of the Gould family. Look at the big ship. The sails have the runes "GULD" sewn on the sea.
Soon the fleet arrived at Ross Pier, and hundreds of people on board finally saw the light of day.
It can be said that this is the biggest good news that Rurik has encountered in a while. He rushed to the dock with a group of mercenaries in great spirits.
Similarly, upon hearing that a new force from the Melalen tribe had arrived in Hong Kong to fight for the Russians, Otto also brought a group of older men to see the group of people hired by Rurik with a smile. Are the warriors strong? At least in Otto's thoughts, he admired the bravery of the Merlaren warriors when fighting in the south.
They had great expectations, but standing at the pier, the place smelled really sour!
Look at the people coming off the boat one after another. They are all men. Even if they are physically fit, they look like beggars who have been hungry for a while.
Their clothes were ragged and smelly, even worse than the slaves who were bound with ropes.
"That's it?" Otto's eyelids couldn't help trembling, and his big hand covered Rurik's head: "This is the mercenary you paid for? They are just a bunch of animals."
"Damn it, something must have happened."
Those who got off the boat left the pier one after another, and then sat on the ground in large numbers. Some people were also retching on the spot.
Rurik approached the embarrassed Gould aggressively, suddenly drew his sword and pointed it at the people sitting on the ground.
"What's going on? I asked you to recruit warriors. It doesn't matter if you are weaker. Who asked you to recruit these people?!"
Gould, who felt he was wronged, tried to defend himself: "Yes, I brought them to my island, and the situation is not that bad."
"They really stink!"
"Oh, that's because I've been sailing, and these people's shit has been dealt with on the ship. I will send someone to clean the ship immediately, and as for these people..."
"Forget it." Rurik really didn't want to say anything, so he immediately ordered his subordinate Yevro to send a group of mercenaries to kick and beat the new guys one by one to make them stand up.
Soon, people who were tortured by the long voyage got up one after another. Due to hunger and hypoglycemia, they subconsciously swayed, as if they could not stand at all.
Rurik ordered Yevro to squat down, and he sat on his neck to visually check the number of newcomers. He knew the number in his mind, and then looked down at Gould: "It looks like there are really five hundred people? You at least You need to get so many people for me.”
"It's six hundred people. If we have more time..."
"That's enough!" Rurik patted Yevro on the head. He was put down and immediately ordered: "You take all these guys away with your brothers and give each one a piece of dried smoked fish. They eat After finishing their things, drive them all to the sea, and let the sea water wash them clean. As for their rags, burn them all."
The donor's request was generally fine, but Yevlo asked more eloquently: "Although their clothes are very smelly, they can still be worn after washing. If they are really burned, what will they wear?"
Rurik shook his head: "Burn it! It is to force them to say goodbye to the past. Tonight I will only give them a few rags to cover their shame, and they will spend the night in those vacant wooden houses. I will give them new clothes tomorrow."
Jevro knew that he needed to speak again, so he led more than fifty old mercenaries who gathered to drive this stinky group of people away.
"Now they are all gone, and soon they will change their appearance." Rurik, who had regained his mood a little, asked Gould, "Where is the large amount of cloth I want?"
"They've all arrived, and you see, the linen bags they are carrying are full of cloth."
"Bring me a pack and take a look. Remember, I want blue cloth!"
An khaki cloth bag stuffed with blue linen. It has a blue cloth band at the top, so it is easy to identify.
Seeing the bundle of cloth, the onlookers were all excited. Yes, both men and women naturally have a desire for gorgeousness. They hope to get a variety of colors. The blue at the moment is precious and it is indeed expensive.
The strip of cloth was pulled apart, and Gould took out a ball of soft blue textile with a smile. He then spread it out with all his strength, revealing to everyone a large piece of sky-blue cloth.
Seeing it, the people present laughed happily.
Rurik touched its soft texture, then put his nose close to it, and smelled a strange smell of grass. This smell was different from the blue cloth dyed with blue moss, and the color was more pleasant.
"What's its price?"
Gould immediately pointed out: "The length and width of a stika of blue cloth cost three silver coins."
"It's indeed a bit expensive? How much did you buy?"
"There are twenty bales of blue cloth, and each bale contains five pieces of cloth. Look at this one. Its length and width are four stikas."
Rurik nodded. He had always felt that the lengths of stika and meter were extremely close, so he simply assumed that the two were consistent. Therefore, one pocket is stuffed with about 80 square meters of blue cloth, and twenty packs are 1,600 square meters!
Rurik was also surprised when he got such a result from his mental arithmetic. Of course, for these blue linen cloths, he had to pay nearly five thousand silver coins.
Gould noticed some wrinkles in Rurik's brows, and immediately explained with a smile: "Haha, my friends, do you know? This time I am targeting the entire Melalen tribe, and I have also sent people to Yerma as close as possible. The Lun tribe bought all the cloth they produced this year. I asked them to dye cloth on a large scale, and now they may have dug up all the woad in the lake area. If we want to buy it next year, we will have no choice but to I bought moss-dyed cloth, oh, I don’t like that kind of blue cloth.”
"Huh? Is twenty bales of blue cloth the maximum production capacity of the Melalen people?"
"Probably so. Unless you have greater needs." Gould shrugged.
Thinking about last year, Rurik sneaked into the Mälaren market and saw someone selling cloth, but the cloth sold was not much. Maybe that was the case. Without orders, the locals would not take the initiative to produce. For things like cloth, after they meet their own needs, they may not have more motivation to make more. Wouldn't it be better to have extra time to take care of the wheat fields and fish in the lake? ! After all, the ordinary people of the Melalen tribe need to fill their stomachs more.
"In addition to blue cloth, how much white cloth did you get?" Rurik continued to ask.
"There are one hundred and twenty packs, and there are five cards stuffed in one pack."
"Ah? Is that much? All the cloths added together are the entire production capacity of the Malaren people this year?"
Gould raised his head and thought for a while: "No. There is still some flax that has not been harvested this year, but too much woad and moss are used to make dyes. If adults still need it, when we sell food this year, we can still Get back a lot of flax stalks.”
"What are the prices of ordinary white cloth and khaki cloth this year?"
"One silver coin for white cloth and half a khaki cloth. The price is higher than before. I spent ten thousand silver coins for these cloths."
In the past, 10,000 silver coins were considered a huge sum of money. Now that times have changed, Rurik no longer feels like it is a waste. Because money has to be consumed eventually, if it is really buried in the ground and not used for a long time, that is the behavior of a miser.
Rurik calculated that 11,000 square meters of finished fabric had arrived in Roseburg.
After watching the show for a while, Otto came up with this astonishing number by doing some mental calculations.
He approached Rurik: "My son, you bought so much cloth, which is unprecedented for the tribe. You... want to sell the cloth to the tribe?"
"So be it." Rurik sighed, raised his head and said loudly: "We are Russians, different from others. In our army, every soldier must be proud to fight for Russia. I want to create unity for the army through assault The clothes must at least have uniform and very obvious markings.”
Otto immediately understood his son's intention, "Huh? Like those black-clothed warriors of the Melalen people? A large group of people dressed exactly the same?"
"Yes! It's just that their black attire must be different for us. Just like what we wore during the alliance, everyone wore white robes sewn with blue stripes. It's still a similar style. This time at least our soldiers must Dressed like this."
The raw materials of those robes were white cloth and blue cloth. Otto stroked his beard. He was quiet for a while and then laughed loudly: "Okay! If a melee breaks out now, at least our army will not accidentally injure anyone."
"Is that all?" Rurik couldn't help but ask.
"anything else?"
"They will feel glorious. We Russians are glorious, so we all dress gorgeously, while our enemies dress in a variety of ways. The enemies will be afraid, just because we are uniformly dressed. If they start to be afraid, then we have won half the victory."
"Oh, in that case." Otto turned around and looked back at the houses of the tribe: "It's time for all women to become tailors! They must sew suitable clothes for the men in their families."
