The caravan begins to gather!
Gould's ships docked at the docks of Unglas, forming a caravan of twenty ships.
Just like in previous years, Gould would transport handicrafts made by tribal farmers, such as some wooden tools and surplus linen, to the Melalen market for sale.
Most of the other merchants in the tribe are doing similar things, but their destination is not necessarily the Malaren Market. In any case, you can only make a small amount of money by trafficking these items. The two key materials that can really make big money are grain and leather.
The bulk cargo Gould trafficked happened to include a large amount of leather.
He was thinking that the group of merchants who followed him a month ago also bought leather goods from the Ross tribe, and they must have sold them all in the Malaren market.
If I transport the materials there now, I will definitely be able to create a time lag. By then, I will not be under excessive competitive pressure, so I can deliberately raise the price of leather goods.
On May 31st of the Julian calendar, which was the last day of May, Gould set the time for the caravan to set off.
On this day, the family members gathered at the dock. Gould stepped onto his cargo ship, followed closely by his eldest wife, who was also the highest-status wife among the female family members. As for the two newly pregnant maids from Briton, they are already living in Onclas's hometown, and Gould will not take them with him in the future.
Gould had no regrets about not having a young woman by his side.
Because, he can get new young women in the Melalen Market and continue to raise them. Can this body's bones still restore the glory of its youth? Gould no longer had that much confidence. He knew that it would be good if this body could last until he was sixty years old.
Gould temporarily appointed a mercenary to temporarily lead other brothers to protect the wealth hoarded in his hometown of Oncras and the safety of his family.
Although his determination made Yevluo, who was accompanying him, somewhat regretful, a lot of time had passed since that night talk, so he thought about it and let it go.
Yevluo got on the boat and asked bluntly: "My lord, maybe this is just the last time I will personally protect you?"
"You? No! You are the last one?" Twice." Gould laughed.
"Then the last time."
"Of course we go to Roseburg in August. Javlo, do what you are doing now, believe me, I have arranged it for you A bright future."
Originally, Gould should talk to the tribe leader Angreev again. He didn't want to talk nonsense about this year's commercial voyage, even if Angreev had already brought him with him. He ran to the dock with the so-called guard of honor.
Two old guys, one on the shore and one on the boat, just looking at each other.
Gould hired another group of hungry farmers in his tribe and promised them food.In exchange for their oars, they replaced the small number of excellent Russian oarsmen who had returned long ago.
The fleet began to float along the river towards the vast Lake Mälaren. Gould, standing on the bow of the boat, watched his homeland drifting away.
At this time, the whole world was lush and green, but a sadness poured into his heart.
Although my hometown is small and somewhat shabby, it is also the hometown where my family has been running for generations.
Gould felt that his decision was very correct and would bring greater benefits. Another problem now is that the ship has set sail, and there is no turning back for him or even the entire family.
The sun shines on the vast lake, and the surrounding scenery is lush. Standing on the bow and looking around, there are a large number of small islands looming not far away.
Lake Malaren is a vast lake area with many islands and the lake is generally shallow.
Every winter, especially in October, when the first snow falls, the lakes begin to freeze, and traditional commercial activities are cut off.
The warm summer is a good time for trade, and Mälarenberg, which is built along the lake, has also entered the most prosperous time of the year.
Gould's fleet this time only had twenty large cargo ships, but each one was loaded with cargo, so that the oarsmen were worried about sudden wind and rain all the way. The waves can overturn the boat.
In the past few days, a rainfall that swept across Eastern and Northern Europe did have a certain impact on the maritime trade in the Baltic Sea, but it also brought benefits to the region's agriculture.
Farmers simply cannot handle the high technology of water truck irrigation, and it is impractical to carry water in wooden barrels for flood irrigation of fields. In general, they just look forward to rainfall and rely solely on the weather for food.
A May rain brings great hope to the farmers of the Melalen tribe.
The Melalen tribe has a population of more than 20,000, and now, at least 5,000 people have poured into their market.
Most of the tribe's population is concentrated in Melalenberg, a giant human settlement with many small islands at the mouth of a river on the northern shore of Amber.
The population of the settlement exceeded 12,000 people. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it is a city.
It’s just that Melalenburg is not a real city.
A large number of traveling merchants are like migratory birds. Alliance merchants row boats carrying goods and build their own temporary shops on various islands, where merchants from all over the world conduct traditional trade.
When the wheat harvest was completed at the end of August, and the last and largest grain transaction of the year was completed, the prosperous shops suddenly turned into depression.
Because everyone has to face the harsh winter, each tribe goes into hibernation like a bear.
The fleet arrived at the prosperous dock. Standing on the bow, Gould saw more and more ships around him.
Most of those are fishing boats, catching some edible freshwater fish.
AlsoThere are many fat ships, which are fellow traders.
There are some splashes on the water surface. If you take a closer look, you will see that it is the diving trick of naughty children.
Seeing them, Gould also remembered his childhood.
Just look at my bulging belly and pinch my old face full of fat, so forget it.
"Sir, we are about to enter the port." The mercenary captain Yevluo pointed.
Jevro's words ended Gould's daze, and he cheered up. In a deep and honest baritone, he ordered his flagship; "Brothers, pay attention to the diverted route and turn into our own Island!”
After all, Gould is a wealthy family, and his family directly occupies a small island off the coast of Melalenburg. He set up a permanent shop here, which was looked after by his eldest son Snoleva, a fat man of thirty who was destined to inherit the main family business. This is completely different from the Gould family and those traveling merchants. For example, Gould always stayed in Roseburg in winter, and his eldest son Snoleva simply settled in Mälarenberg in the past five years.
The merchants of the Melalen tribe all know the Gould family more or less. As a big businessman, Gould has a certain commercial influence on the leader of the Melalen tribe. force.
In this era, the concept of tariffs had not yet been invented in the Nordic world. Commercial ships did not have to pay a port entry fee when entering the port. They did not have to pay anything.
Orekin, the great leader of the Melalen tribe, has never had the concept of collecting taxes in this area. In fact, if he decides to collect customs duties, port entry taxes, ship maintenance fees, and other taxes that every port will collect in a thousand years, this will be an astonishing amount of income.
Unfortunately, Olegin never thought about it this way. He felt that the gathering of businessmen from allies completely proved the strength of the Melalen tribe. At the same time, relying solely on traditional trade, especially traditional leather and grain trade, the Melalen tribe is the tribe that accumulates wealth the fastest in the entire alliance.
Of course, this old guy simply cannot imagine that the Russians in the north have begun to try to use high value-added economic products to quietly change the alliance's commercial hegemony of the Melalen tribe for hundreds of years.
Gould's ship aimed at his own island and rushed towards it. It can be said that this island is Gould's "territory".
In this time and space, the Siiya Tribe Alliance is still a long way from forming a feudal country called Sweden. Swedes and Danes still have no clear boundaries between each other. Specific to each tribe, there are no clear boundaries between each tribe.
The people of the Melalen tribe are only particularly sensitive to their own farmland. As for other ownerless lands, as long as people from allies come over, they can declare this land privately owned.
Therefore, the most powerful Olegin’s family forcibly claimed ownership of many wastelands within the Melalen tribe’s sphere of influence.for yourself.
Olegin will not make strong claims about the large number of islands near Mälarenberg.
His family has long controlled the power of the tribe and even holds the title of leader of the alliance. He has a very special understanding of the alliance.
The so-called alliance is an alliance established in business. The strong bond of the alliance is the trade route! No one should be offended, but the merchants of the allies.
He is actually very happy to see businessmen from his allies put their own totems on many islands, because after businessmen do this, they often establish permanent commercial bases.
Olegin of Mellaren was most worried about those foreign businessmen withdrawing from their commercial base and running away. Seeing them planting flags under his nose, he was actually very happy.
There was a small flag flying on Gould's island. This flag was very simple and crude, using traditional runes and marked with the words "ONKRASGULDA".
So this island is directly called Gould Island by colleagues.
Everyone on the island saw a fleet of boats rushing towards them. Seeing the beauty on the sails again, everyone realized that their master was coming.
Snoreva, the eldest son, counted the days. He knew that it was during this period that his father would come.
Because a month ago, he learned that his father's fleet had entered the Great Lakes, and he still wondered why his father didn't rest here. Now, I can explain my questions to my father in person.
"Brothers, our big businessman is here! Everyone enter the dock and get ready!"
"Hey, you guys! Don't wait any longer. Wait for the ship to dock. , you must hold on to the cable."
"The porters over there, pull the cart over and get ready to load and unload the goods."
"Women, make a fire and cook immediately! "
......
Although the Snoreva people are fat, they are not stupid in their minds.
He tried his best to direct the people on the island to prepare for the ships to enter the harbor.
At this moment, there were still several merchant ships stopping at the port. When they saw Gould's own fleet rushing over, they immediately drove away their ships with a smile. I vacated the berth, took stock of my money, and planned to buy a batch of Gould's merchandise as soon as possible.
Businessmen all know that this old guy must have brought a lot of good things from the Russians. Take, for example, the ferret fur that has become so valuable these days!
The ship loaded with cargo slowly approached the trestle, and the eager people on the shore immediately grabbed the cable thrown by the oarsman. The people on the boat on the shore fixed the ship in the shortest possible time. They were all well-trained. The work of loading and unloading supplies began as soon as the ship docked.
Gould got off the boat, and his eldest son came towards him cheerfully with his arms spread out.
The son hugged his father. To outsiders, it looked like two fat men hugging each other.
"Dad, you are here at last. You worried me so much that you should have stopped at my place a month ago."
"Oh! My boy, that's because Something else. Look, I'm already here." Gould enthusiastically patted his eldest son on the back. Jevro looked at this scene with envy.
At this time, the eldest son’s wife and two daughters came over one after another, especially the two girls, the older one was almost twelve years old and could be engaged to her. The granddaughter is also six years old.
After all, it is my own flesh and blood, then it is a girl.
Gould gently pushed his eldest son away, struggled to pick up his two granddaughters one by one, and put his old face towards them enthusiastically.
It must be said that the entire Gould family is all fat, including the two granddaughters. They have lived here for a long time. In their short lives, they still don’t know what hunger is. Although they are young, they are already hungry. With a chubby little face.
Gould's island is very small, only about the size of two football fields.
It is originally a sandbar. There are more than a dozen pine trees on the island. Other than that, it is just some rocks.
Mälaren originally means a stone beach, and this is indeed the case. There are a lot of stones on the shores of Lake Mälaren. These stones, as well as the lush local trees, are excellent materials for construction. .
What is different from his hometown of Oncras is that Gould’s buildings on his island are basically made of stone.
Long ago, workers built stone walls out of irregular stones, then created a sandwich of moss and earth, and then built an outer stone wall. Although this kind of stone chamber has no foundation, its thermal insulation effect in winter is actually quite good.
Many houses of the Melalen tribe are built like this. Only poorer families live in pure wooden houses.
Architectural styles are adapted to local conditions. The main building material of Gould's home in Roseburg is also wood. Although it is made of wood, both the Rus and Mälaren people know the technique of using moss and earth as a thermal interlayer.
Gould's fleet had just docked, and he sold thirty ferret skins and fifty fox skins in a short period of time, officially starting this year's trade.
A large stone room was the eldest son’s banquet room. However, in the next few months, his father became the master of the island again, and his eldest son Snoleva became a second-class existence.
Gould brought his wife over this time, and the family held a small family banquet. It was a rare occasion for three generations of grandparents to sit together and everyone was happy.
With a perfect start, the eldest son is full of hope for this year's trade.
He smiled and said: "Dad, you are finally here. I saw that there is some sulfur in the goods you brought back? Although this thing is a good thing, I'm worried that I won't be able to sell a lot. ”
“Silly boy, why is that sulfur? It is a treasure that can clean everything. It was created by the Russians.New thing, because of it, I have made a lot of money in our hometown. "While speaking, Gould showed his pride without hesitation.
"Really? ”
“Of course! Six thousand silver coins! "
Snoleva was shocked when her father showed off like this: "Dad! Is that thing real...it's valuable...and it can really clean everything? "
"The meat will be roasted for a while. Gould said with a smile, "Wait a while, we will grab the roasted lamb and eat it with our bare hands. You don't have to worry about the greasy hands at all." Finally, we can use the baby named soupa, which is the baby that smells of sulfur, and can wash away the grease! ”
“Oh, that’s wonderful. "
Gould shrugged: "Child, is there anything interesting at the market these days? ”
“Yes! "In this regard, Snoleva couldn't wait to order the servant, and after a while, two transparent quilts were brought over. "Dad, look, this is the latest treasure in the market. "
"Crystal cup? ! "When he saw this thing, Gould's eyes really lit up.
"Yes, it's a crystal cup. The merchants said they got good stuff from the Danes. "
"Quick, show me! "
Gould carefully played with these so-called crystal cups and couldn't help but sigh at its regulations. "Ah, it's so wonderful. You must have spent a lot on this thing!" The crystal bottle I bought cost 30 gold coins. What about you? It should be more expensive, right? ! "
Snoleva smiled and snapped his fingers again. The servant brought a transparent pot with wine in it.
Seeing this, Gould He was shocked again. He could tell at a glance that the two crystal containers were a set.
"Did the Danes get these?" Why haven't I gotten it before? ! ”
“It should be the treasure of the Romans. The Danes got it, and then some merchants took the risk to transport it to us and sell it. Snoleva said: "I bought two sets and spent a thousand silver coins on them." ”
“It seems that this is the only thing that will prevent our Olegin from doubting whether there are Danes among the merchants. You paid the equivalent of one hundred gold coins. In my opinion, if I were to sell it, my price of five hundred gold coins would not be an exaggeration. After all, it is a rare treasure! ”
Gould felt that his son had picked up a mistake, and he was very happy about it, but he didn’t know...
After all, when Gould set out, Rurik’s glassware It is still limited to the concept, even if it is sold to the victorious warriors and the merchants who have not left Fort Ross, it is also a matter of May. The merchants will take the treasures in their hands and rush across the sea to transport them. The Melalen Market was sold quickly
Gould had no idea that his son actually suffered a big loss, and now he was happy that his son had some treasures.
"So, are there still these crystal utensils in the market? "
"No more." Snoleva said regretfully, "I bought it as soon as those merchants put it on display. There were also many crystal bottles and cups that the big leader sent people to buy. Let's go. Dad, you know, that guy is very rich, and he paid a high price." "It doesn't matter," Gould told his son with a tight mouth: "I can only say, get it. It's your luck if you don't get it, kid, remember my words."
"Yes, dad. Next, let's trade this year."
"Just in time, I want to announce a major event that is extremely important to our family!" As he spoke, Gould raised his fat chest and said honestly and seriously: "I have decided that the main body of our family will enter this year. In autumn, everyone moved to the Rus. The hundreds of years of our family’s stay in Onkras are over. From now on, we will live together with the Rus.” After saying this, the eldest son Snoreva. There was an uproar.