"Uncle Alaric, you first sail back to Outianhope Island. Old Peter should have prepared the boats and weapons and equipment we bought. Except for the horses, bring them all here!"
"Okay!" Alaric nodded and said, "Thank you, Don! Don't worry, I will be back as soon as possible!"
After sending Alaric away, Tang Ping found Karldottir again: "If you want to buy something here, who should you trade with?"
"There are some smugglers who will sell goods to us, but the goods are very expensive!" Karldottir said helplessly: "Because we don't have our own country, and countries like Selwicks like to enslave us and use them as slaves. slave."
"So not only are the prices high when trading, but you also have to be very careful. Some smugglers are actually slave traders. They will take advantage of the trade to kidnap our people and use them as slaves."
"If we don't really need it, we rarely trade with outside merchants. The main things we trade are weapons and medicines and other necessities."
"But what if I want to buy a lot of food?" Tang Ping asked, "Where should I buy it from?"
"Food?? Why buy food?? We grow and hunt ourselves!" Carldottir said: "We never buy food outside."
Tang Ping scratched his head: "So your food is never enough."
Although the selected Vikings are considered strong, the Vikings sacrificed the food rations for the old and the weak to support them.
Every year, many old and weak people of the Vikings died in winter. There was nothing they could do about it. They had to ensure that the strongest Vikings had enough food to work and fight.
But in Tang Ping's opinion, it's still not enough. If he wants to increase the amount of training for these people, they will naturally consume more food. It is impossible to starve all the old and weak Vikings to death.
So he had to purchase a batch of grain. He still had a lot of money, but he didn't have the channels to buy grain here.
"Contact a few smugglers!" Tang Ping told Karldottir his thoughts: "Let's buy some food from them first, and we'll be fine when we get back to Waiteanhop Island."
Alaric's return trip is not a matter of two or three days, it takes almost two to three months.
Tang Ping will not let these few months go to waste, so the military training for the Vikings is about to begin here, and food is a must.
Karldottir agreed and called Tang Ping for news about her.
About two days later, she found Tang Ping: "We have contacted a smuggler and he promised to sell us a batch of grain, but..."
"But what?" Tang Ping asked.
"It's too expensive, my God, I never thought that someone would dare to sell food so expensively. That's something only the devil would do!"
Karldottir complained: "According to what you said, he asked for three hundred gold coins for three months of food for a thousand people. Does he know how much three hundred gold coins are?"
One gold coin is equivalent to one hundred silver coins, and one hundred silver coins is equivalent to one hundred iron coins. When we were in Porto, three iron coins were enough for a person to eat for one day.
(The conversion in Europe at that time was not based on the decimal system, but it was written that way for the convenience of the plot. Otherwise, according to their algorithm, one pound of silver would be minted into 240 dinar silver coins, which would be too troublesome.)
If calculated this way, 27 gold coins would be enough, but these smugglers increased the price by more than ten times.
Tang Ping finally understood why Karldottir thought it was expensive.
He still had so many gold coins, but it was too unpleasant to think that these profiteers had stolen them away.
It’s just that if you don’t spend this money, then the training cannot start. Do you need more than two months of training or these 300 gold coins?
Tang Ping hesitated and chose the former. Money can be earned at any time, but time cannot be earned.
"Promise them that we are willing to pay for this batch of grain, but they must ensure the quality of the grain." Carldottir hesitated for a moment but said nothing more. This was Tang Ping's decision, so she could just follow it. .
A few days later, Karldottir said to Tang Ping: "The other party agreed, and we are going to return to the sea to trade with them."
This is how they usually trade, so that the location of their settlement will not be exposed and it will be safer.
Tang Ping asked Lao Cui and the others to bring their money and boarded the Viking ship. A total of six ships headed to the sea. After walking for more than an hour, they finally saw three sailboats on the sea.
Carldottir waved the flag in his hand, and the other party built a springboard to let the people on the boat pass.
"Chief Karl, I'm glad to see you again." A greasy businessman opposite wanted to come up and hug Karldottir, but she pushed him away with a palm.
"Yuris, we have no friendship, so where are our things?"
Karldottir didn't have a good impression of these smugglers.
"Okay, you are really ruthless, Patriarch Karl, but where is the money?? What you want to buy this time is not a small amount!"
Tang Ping asked Lao Cui and the others to open the cash box and let him take a look at the gold coins inside.
Yuris looked at the gold coins in the box greedily, and his breathing became rapid.
"Okay, you've seen the money, but where's the food we want? Don't fool me with those things that are going to go moldy!"
"Don't worry, Patriarch Karl, this is not the first time we have cooperated!" Yuris smiled slightly: "Please come with me to the cabin and have a look!"
He led the way and took Tang Ping and the others down to the cabin.
Then soon a group of people with weapons surrounded them.
"Yuris, what do you mean??"
"Chief Karl, I really underestimated you. I didn't expect that you could still earn three hundred gold coins in such a rural place!" Yuris said with a smile: "It's a pity that I won't be able to find so much food for a while."
"So you are..."
"Hehehe, Chief Karl, it will take me more than ten years to earn 300 gold coins for the money I earn from you. Since you have sent me 300 gold coins, I naturally don't need to do business with you anymore. !”
This guy had set up a trap to rob him forcefully. This was the first time that Tang Ping met such an unscrupulous businessman.
But it just so happens that you don’t have to pay.
"Old Cui, come on!"
Tang Ping gave an order, and all his guards drew their weapons and rushed forward.
In this era, the stab-proof clothing that was almost invulnerable and the sword that could cut off almost any enemy weapon allowed Lao Cui and the others to eliminate all of Yuris's men in just a few minutes.
