There used to be owners in Hedeby. Since the death of Godfrey, the great Danish leader, the merchants in Hedeby have been freed.
Is this freedom good or bad? No one can explain clearly.
Big businessmen long to do business freely, accumulate wealth and then hold on to their wealth.
The city of Hezeby has entered a period of absolute and unlimited freedom. For more than 20 years, some people have claimed to be the ruler of the city, but the ruling forces have never successfully penetrated. Many merchants seem to remember that Hazéby was a free coastal city-state from the beginning, and her freedom could almost split the city apart instantly, and the city disappeared.
This is a city of merchants. In order to protect their wealth, they hire heroes from all walks of life as mercenaries. The big businessmen are all doing business with their swords. To this day, no one can achieve a monopoly. Since no one can be the absolute winner, let's sit down and talk about various matters!
Merchants formed loose guild organizations, negotiated and negotiated to resolve disputes, and then divided the scope of trading activities in order to avoid future disputes.
Dozens of big businessmen are the "collective city lords". Now that the Russian forces have intervened strongly, the balance of power has reversed and then quickly returned to balance.
A large group of small businessmen followed the big businessmen, and a large group of mercenaries protected the large and small businessmen.
A variety of craftsmen, fishermen, and farmers provide supplies to these merchants and mercenaries.
It seems that this is a stable urban system. Where the sun cannot be found, some forces inevitably exist.
If encountered on the vast sea, armed merchant ships can turn into pirates in an instant when facing fishermen. Fishermen can't help but take action when they encounter a merchant ship that is defenseless.
There is no real order here. The latter said that the existing order is that all parties rely on their fists to reach a balance.
Murders and violence occur every day in the city. Dead bodies suddenly appear in the twisted streets early in the morning. The bodies are also thrown into the sea nearby by people who can't stand the stench.
But it is also filled with wealth and desire.
The great missionary Eskil, who was given a huge mission, built his "operation base" here. Firstly, this is part of the Danish world. Secondly, this is a land without one, and there are injured souls everywhere who can be influenced. Lamb. He called it a city of sin that had nothing to do with civilization. Perhaps the Count of Hamburg should lead his troops to occupy this place and incorporate it into the East Frankish territory under the jurisdiction of Prince Ludwig, thus embracing civilization.
The Earl of Hamburg did not dare to do this. Although this was an ownerless city, to launch an attack, one had to cross the Schleswig Great Wall. This was a pure invasion and would first encounter a crazy attack by a large number of Danish tribes.
The scheming Eskil knew the stakes. He didn't care about the nobles' struggle for power, he only cared about his own career.
The big businessmen of Hedebe have always lived a rather glorious life, and their noble lives have always been well protected by the mercenaries. Because they are given enough money, the mercenaries will fight to the death to protect their masters for money.
Who are the blind people trying to steal wealth from big businessmen through open armed robbery?
No, while Blue Fox and Old Eric were selling leather, the investigation after the attack was also going on.
Investigating the culprit is not difficult.
"Karl the Gray Wolf? Is this a gang that suddenly appeared? It actually has some influence in the city. It seems to be just a dirty gang, nothing to worry about."
Even though he thought so, Blue Fox still honestly expanded his mercenary team. He didn't recruit openly, for he was afraid that the gangsters would mix in with the crowd and be recruited by him. What was this other than raising a mole?
One place that is actually a good place to recruit new mercenaries is Hedeby's famous slave market.
Men, women, and even a group of children were bound by iron collars and chains.
These people are obviously different from the Danes or Saxons in appearance.
Their chins are generally more pointed and their hair is mostly brown, which is very different from the average golden retriever and the first two.
Because they are almost all the Oberlidit tribe of West Slavic forces. Their birthplace is in the Vistula River Basin in Poland, and they have penetrated into the eastern borders of Denmark and Frank this morning. Some Danish tribes have been facing military attacks from the Oberlidd tribe alliance. This group of people also teamed up with their Pomeranian relatives to attack Denmark until the heroic Godfrey leader led the Danish coalition to severely defeat their opponents.
The slaves were all deliberately hunted by the Danish tribes. They were trying to wipe out all the Oberliddite forces in Jutland and turn all the other people into slaves.
Those prisoners of war were transported to Hedebe, where the men were made into slaves and the women into prostitution.
The needs of the merchants were difficult to meet, and the Danish tribes continued to send troops to arrest people.
For this kind of barbaric behavior, Eskil can only mentally pity those poor lambs, but he is actually doing some good things. Ludwig continued to provide funds so that Eskil could "rescue" slaves on a large scale. He targeted the slave children. It didn't matter their origin. He bought them as much as he could, and then personally educated and trained them into priests.
He was keen to spread the faith, and Prince Ludwig supported this behavior. Because Oberlidd and Pomerania have long been coveted by various northern noble lords in the kingdom, Ludwig is the biggest greedy one! Bavaria was snatched from the hands of the Wenderslavs, and those Pomeranians were also Wenderslavs.
Ludwig desperately hoped that these foreigners would accept the sacred faith and accept his rule uniformly. Then not only can you get a new force, but you can actually expand your territory, increase your tax base and expand your wealth.
Although the eldest brother and the second brother are blood relatives, why not kill them in the struggle for power? After reunifying the Franks, he opened up a large amount of new territory in the east, so that his achievements would far surpass those of his grandfather Charlemagne.
Ludwig would have sweet dreams, but in essence he has been fighting on two fronts over the years. After his father and fourth brother Charles were put under house arrest by the brothers, the civil war between the three brothers reignited. He began to deliberately encroach on the territory of his eldest brother Lothair, and bore the brunt of encroaching on the territory of Polish tribes to the east. Unlike his two brothers, the ethnic composition of his East Frankish Territory is the most complex. In addition to the Franks of his family, the second most numerous are the Saxons, followed by the Thuringians and the Alemanni. In fact, everyone spoke a very similar language, and essentially had a common ancestor. Ludwig knew that he had to unite all the people in the territory who spoke a very similar language. If there was a centrifugal tendency internally, he would not want to fight with Lothair. Big brother fights for supremacy. A concept that existed in the past began to be mentioned again, that is, "Germany", which means "we are people who speak the same language."
The prince wanted to give more benefits to the Saxon nobles and Thuringian nobles under his command. The former was eager to annex Pomerania along the coastline, and the latter was eager to seize the Polish forest area directly east.
As for attacking Denmark, the prince really didn't want to send troops himself. The Danes were rebellious and not easy to mess with. On the other hand, the Slavic tribes were easier targets to attack and embezzle.
In this way, Horik Klarsson was supported, and now the prince also received the successful information.
However, the situation has become a little beyond my control...
Blue Fox bought as many as thirty Oberliddite men at the slave market, and brought these people into Ross's shop like cattle and sheep.
They were all young men, all carefully selected, and clearly destined to do hard work until they died of exhaustion. Those companions who tried to resist were killed. Seeing their companions lying in a pool of blood, the will to resist also dissipated.
A group of men with dull eyes squatted on the wooden floor. It was precisely because they were Slavs that they could squat so easily.
Blue Fox appeared in front of them with his entourage in an arrogant manner. As soon as he opened his mouth, they all looked up.
"You! You will not be servants! You will be subjects of Ross and now my mercenaries."
The words were spoken in the Ilmen Slavic dialect. Blue Fox was a smart man. Knowing that the prince was exploring the East, he hurriedly learned some Slavic languages.
At this time, the language drift of the East and West Slavic peoples was not dramatic. After all, they almost all lived in one family on the Vistula River two hundred years ago.
The shackles of all the male slaves were smashed, and Blue Fox announced that they had regained their freedom. However, in this mixed-race Hedeby, life would obviously be in danger if they were separated from Rose's protection.
There was a small group of Eastern warriors in the team protecting the Blue Fox. They were Ilmenslavs, who were ordered by Rurik to protect the Blue Fox. In addition to these people, there are also Finns who are good at archery in the team.
The Ilmen and the Obertridites spoke very similar languages. They were shocked that they were actually the same race. However, after repeated inquiries, they discovered something was wrong and began to realize that the size of the world was far beyond everyone's imagination. .
The Ilmenslavs have always been indifferent to Denmark's attitude. Lord Rurik led everyone to attack Denmark and made a fortune. Because the initial encounter was like this, the Ilmens naturally believed that Denmark was actually weak. The Oberliddites have a completely different set of perceptions. They describe Denmark and Franks as hungry wolves that eat humans and giant fish that devour everything.
Since the King of Rus would protect everyone, Rus's attitude towards Denmark was also hostile, and the male slaves' hearts were soon shaken.
The slaves changed their identities, and the new brothers put on the white-and-blue-patterned robes of the Russians. They swore an oath to the flag of Russia, swore allegiance to Rurik, the prince of Russia, and vowed to protect the big businessman Blue Fox and the Ross store with all their strength. safety. They were trained in fighting and issued with bucklers and daggers. They enjoyed a good diet, including wheat and fish every day.
He wears a unique outfit, a leather helmet that can protect half of his face, leather boots on his feet, and cloth strips wrapped tightly around his calves.
Rose's Warriors First Flag Team is dressed like this, and Blue Fox's mercenaries in Hedeby are also exactly the same.
Blue Fox appointed a man named Vady Zdalovich as the leader of this team. He was also very principled in recruiting thirty new guards, because thirty people happened to fill a battle longship. The so-called " "Ship", four "ships" constitute a hundred-man team. Four centurions can form a flag corps.
All the mercenaries and sailors formed a hundred-man team of more than 120 people. They were well-trained, including sword, shield and archer. The old mercenaries among them had sufficient experience in defeating the Danes. They thought very highly of themselves. I even felt that the prince's attitude towards the security of Ross's shop in Denmark was too much.
There were indeed attackers, and those blind idiots were annihilated like chopping melons and vegetables. Killing them was as easy as crushing a poultry.
Conquering a group of new mercenaries just means upgrading the security force? These newcomers come from the Oberlidit tribe that has resisted Danish encroachment for generations. They also speak Slavic and believe in the God of Fire. Their performance in all aspects is quite similar to what the Blue Fox learned in Novorosberg and Novgorod. for similarity.
"If the prince is still opposed to Denmark, I can suggest that he win over the Oberlidits, buy their things, and sell a batch of weapons. Having one more ally will also provide one more choice in the future."
The open-air shop counters continued to sell goods, and all the leather was sold. What the Russians now sold were pure transparent glassware and colored glassware at very high prices. There is also smelly sulfur soap, which is said to be able to kill lice and fleas on people's bodies. It is indeed effective and attracts businessmen and wealthy people to flock to it. There are also wonderfully scented honey butter soaps, seal oil soaps and whale oil soaps.
Businessmen big and small who are very particular about life are important customers, but Ross's cheapest soap is affordable to local craftsmen, and Ross is selling these supplies smoothly.
One side is selling, the other side is buying.
Prince Rurik issued an order to purchase everything useful, with emphasis on crop seeds.
"Since there is no shortage of wheat seeds in Ross, we also need various vegetable seeds."
It just so happens that Danish spring cabbage has entered the harvest season. A batch of cabbages will be deliberately left by professional farmers until they bloom and go to seed. Blue Fox sends people to take action in advance and gives a sum of money, asking a vegetable farmer to leave the cabbage in the entire field until it blooms and goes to seed, and finally turns it into a big bag. Blackened seeds.
As for buying other vegetables, Lan Hu really doesn’t have much choice in Heideby. First of all, the local Danes don't like to grow vegetables. After planting wheat, they go fishing during the slack period. The vegetable farmers were either Franks or Saxons. They also lived in Hedeby, but in villages close to Schleswig that were under the supervision of the Frank army. They rowed boats to transport vegetables to the city.
Schleswig is still controlled by the Count of Hamburg. A Frankish army is stationed in the city. Not far to the north of the city is the Great Wall of Schleswig. The coastal city of Heidebe is exactly at the mouth of the Schlei Bay. A city sandwiched between Denmark and Frankia.
There are not many good vegetable choices in Northern Europe today. Apart from cabbage, there are yellow-rooted carrots, which are also in high demand in Russia. Carrots are already being grown in New Fort Ross, making Ross self-sufficient.
This is not the case with cabbage, but take this packet of seeds back and plant them in Novgorod next year.
How much does it cost to buy vegetables? It's just a very small expense.
Looking at the whole Haidebi, he was not interested in the commercial blue foxes that could be seen everywhere. He entrusted Old Eric and Little Eric to buy gems and amber, and he himself bought more than ten female slaves.
Just like those male slaves were selected, these selected women were young and beautiful. Their fate was destined to be prostitutes in Hedeby. Blue Fox bought them all and appointed them as servants.
Of course this young fat man loves women, but he is far from being amorous. He was happy with the nameless concubines he had raised, but he really didn't know which one to make his wife, so he simply put it aside for now.
It was already the end of June, and the merchants here in Hedeby were busy celebrating the arrival of the summer solstice.
It was almost the third anniversary of the death of the old alliance leader Hafgen, and no one was willing to hold a grand event in Hedeby where a large group of slaves were killed to worship Odin.
That's not the case here at Rose's Shop. The smart Blue Fox knows that his safety depends entirely on the protection of his mercenaries. He must give these armed men spiritual comfort and generous rewards.
They lit a bonfire in the closed wall. Blue Fox imitated Rurik's tricks, priested the Viking gods and Slavic fire gods with dancing flames, and everyone had a feast together.
The blue fox had his own tricks. He bought the old sheep and deliberately kept them until the summer solstice at the end of the month. Old mutton doesn't taste good, but roasting it makes a difference.
Everyone had a portion of the roasted lamb, even the newly bought maids got a large piece of the sizzling lamb.
Compared with the beginning, the Oberlidit mercenaries became stronger. In a short period of time, they ate delicious meals that were difficult to eat in their hometown. Later, they learned that the Prince of Ross had set a standard for all warriors. Even if As a mercenary, he must eat a pound of oats a day, and these food expenses are not included in the remuneration.
They were filled with gratitude at first, but as they got used to such a life, they couldn't bear to part with Prince Ross.
In a sense, these mercenaries are the Guards in various senses. Prince Rurik pays for everything such as food and military pay. Even though the Blue Fox has a private army that seems to be managed by him, in fact it is still Rurik's people. In the autumn, the Blue Fox has the right to find Rurik to reimburse the living expenses of this year's personnel.
In this way, the Blue Fox can devote a lot of energy to trade, and the time has entered July. Although there are rumors that the self-proclaimed king Horik Klarson will personally come to Hedeby to collect taxes, the news has been there for a long time. Rumor has it that it's already July and there's no real movement on Heideby's side, so the merchants have no time to pay attention.
Because a group of merchants who bought Rus' leather had already entered Schleswig by boat, the local Frankish army asked for some bribes as usual and then allowed them to enter the city and sell the leather to Frankish merchants on the spot. But the huge number of squirrel skins instantly shocked the Earl of Hamburg. He really couldn't imagine how such a high-quality and huge squirrel skin could be transported to that ghost place in Denmark where there were not many squirrels.
The Earl of Hamburg soon understood the reason through the merchant's mouth - these were brought by the Russians.
Russians? The count didn't understand, so he conveniently described rus as "rosa", which means rose, through the transliteration of the merchant's description. This was also the description in the letter he wrote to Prince Ludwig during the surprise attack. Squirrel skin is a good thing! He ordered the messengers to hurry up and tell the Baron of Schleswig to keep all the Danish merchants, and they must provide them with good food and drink. Then he used his wealth and inventory, and also mobilized the Frankish and Saxon merchants in Hamburg to go north to fight for Buy all the huge amounts of leather.
And that’s another story.
