Gould wanted to describe the Ross people as a producer of leather and other economic materials. She had a larger population and a stronger military. It was entirely because the leader's brother was killed by the Gotlanders that Ross was destroyed. People have been trying to attack the Gotlanders for years to get revenge.
The story of the Russians seems to end there.
This is how Gould tells the story. The reason is very simple. The Ross people are not qualified to show off their strength to the alliance leader, even if the tribe's strength is really comparable to the Melalen tribe, such a moment It is better to pretend that you are weaker.
What is this? It was clearly some discussions that Rurik and Gould had had, and perhaps the concept of "keeping a low profile against the Melalen people" is more appropriate.
In other places, the Rus are experiencing an unprecedented and active expansion accompanied by Iron and Blood, which is something that the Melalen people, who are obviously not enterprising and have begun to involute, do not possess. Regarding these, Gould showed the composure of an old businessman, and these "trade secrets" were best kept hidden from potential rivals.
Olegin believed this, because many of Gould's pragmatic words were worthy of belief.
Gould came in the morning, and it was a long time after this conversation.
Olegin's eyes widened. He listened with great interest and even forgot about hunger.
So what does this guy know?
Yes, the Russians are really a production base for bulk commodities, and their population cannot be underestimated.
Some of these products made Olegin more interested than ever before.
"They can make some of the best swords, I know that, and since they can, they should make them in large quantities. Leather is for clothing and armor. Soap and glass are just for cleaning and playing with. It's better to have it than to live without it. But the sword! I need it."
The strong business opportunity is in front of me, Gould said with a hoarse voice for a long time. Asked: "Great leader, what do you mean?"
Olegin's face was solemn, and his ferocious eyes seemed to burst out of his eye sockets, "Give me the sword! Give me the spear! Give me the Russian one." Weapons, I know you understand what I mean."
"Huh?"
Of course Gould understands the other party's intentions, but I am afraid that the things involved are beyond his control. .
"What? You still don't understand what I say? Or are you pretending to be confused?" Olegin said straightforwardly: "I want weapons made of hard iron, especially swords. I need There are a lot of them, and I will pay a big price for each one.”
Once money is involved, Gould’s mind starts to spin quickly.
He asked tentatively: "Money? Distinguished leader, those Ross swords that can cut off ordinary swords are not cheap."
"How much can it have?" Expensive?"
Huh? Could it be that he doesn't know the price? So for this fool, is there any reason not to kill him? !
GouldI believe that my old friend Rurik will "kill him with pain" when faced with such a person.
What happened to the people of Mälaren? Maybe it's not a problem with the Melalen tribe, it's just that this guy Olegin intends to arm his private army of several hundred people with better weapons. He controls the mercenaries that are completely supported by this person. The key to power.
This is a seller’s market today.
Since we’re talking about business, let’s talk about business. Gould didn't know Olegin's psychological expectations. He deliberately said: "An ordinary iron sword. There are people selling these in the market. Over the past few months, I have found that the Gran people are selling the swords they made. Each one costs five silver coins. Sir, this still doesn’t satisfy you.”
“Forget it! It’s not like I haven’t seen a Ross sword before, and I happen to have one.”
p>After saying that, Olegin stood up and suddenly pulled out a shiny sword from a neatly folded piece of leather.
There is a gem inlaid at the end of the sword hilt, oh, or it is a piece of colored glass. The sword is long and slender, and its entire body is bright white.
"Sir, how did you get this sword?" Gould asked in surprise.
"What's so strange?" Olegin shrugged: "My tribe is very powerful, and my market is very lively. There are all kinds of people in the market, and of course there are also people selling the Ross Hard Sword. People."
Gould closed his eyes gently and rolled his eyes rapidly for a while: "Oh, my leader, you already have a psychological price."
"Of course. I bought this sword with two pounds of silver coins, but it is not the best sword. I heard that the leader of the Onkras people has a more exquisite sword, and it is your sword. You are Sold it for two pounds of gold."
Gould was a little surprised that Olegin actually found out this information, but after thinking about it, he estimated that it must be Ungreave of Unclas. Showing off everywhere made many people aware of it.
"So, noble and wealthy great leader, you are willing to buy a large number of Russian hard swords. Do you mean that you will pay two pounds of silver coins for each sword?"
"Put away your set of compliments!" Olegin put the sword back into the oak scabbard inlaid with silver, "I am indeed rich, but not rich enough to own a mountain of gold like the Gotlanders. Oh, I wish the Gotlanders did."
"They do, so the Gotlanders are disgusting."
"Forget it. The upstarts who killed the Danes are traitors to our alliance. I respect anyone who attacks them, including the Russians."
"Yes." Bow your head and do as you please.
“I don’t believe that the Russians made a hard sword and sold it for 200 silver coins. The merchant must have made a lot of money from me. Its price is definitely not low. With a hard sword Sword, the opponent's sword has become a branch, it must be an expensive weapon. So, I will buy a hard sword for a pound of silver. What do you think?what? "
Gould's eyes trembled a little. He was quite excited inside, but he remained calm on the surface: "Is this your price? "
"What? Too little? Then tell your new master that I intend to buy a hundred hard swords, and my wish is one sword for one pound of silver. As for the spearheads, for the fifty silver coins of my wish, I also want a hundred. "
"So, you intend to use fifteen thousand silver coins to buy these weapons? "Gould was surprised because since it is to equip private armies with mass-produced weapons, why should each use the best? Isn't an ordinary iron sword with five silver coins beautiful?
Olegin Gritting his teeth secretly, he pretended to be indifferent and continued: "If your master can provide more, I will also purchase more as appropriate. ”
“Oh? So how much will I ship next year and you will buy it at this price? ”
“Of course! I heard that the Russians also have a kind of bow made of iron, which is very powerful. Tell me the price of this weapon. "
Gould's strong business enthusiasm was severely hit by Olegin's words. He didn't understand. This guy was clearly talking about a crossbow, and he knew that it was a crossbow. A monster made of iron. Maybe it was a message spread by some businessmen?
Olegin took Gould's hesitation and fear as a sign of his unwillingness to cooperate, and he put forward his price: " Maybe it's very expensive or maybe the Russians don't want to sell this? Don't worry, I'll buy it at a higher price. "
"Ah! This...this thing, Chief Ross may not necessarily sell. ”
“Not even a higher price? "
"Ah, it needs to be decided by Chief Ross himself. I am just a businessman, just a humble businessman working for the leader of Ross. "
Olegin curled his lips and shook his head: "You are an extraordinary businessman. There is no need to belittle yourself, your wealth is known to the world and you are a big businessman. Do you still want to pretend now? You are indeed humble. You are a loyal dog of Chief Ross. You are selling goods for Chief Ross. No one except your family enjoys this honor. Don't think I don't know, Rose's Gould. Let me tell you the truth, I am very interested in Russian weapons and I intend to buy them heavily. I have a message for you, Chief Ross! "
When things have reached this point, continuing to cover up has become downright stupid and boring.
Guldera frowned: "Dear leader, I am indeed Ross. The chief eagle dog. So, what do you have to say to my master? "
"You finally admitted it? That's fine. Leader Ross must also have something to tell me. Gould, I'll let you say it last. Now listen to me. "
"Follow your orders. "
"Ask me, tell Otto, the leader of the Rus people. In the name of the alliance leader, I asked them to give me the best sword and the best spear, one pound of silver coins for each sword and half a pound of silver coins for each spear head. Give me an iron bow and I will take every oneGive two pounds of silver. "
The sword is a steel sword, the spear is a steel spear, and the so-called iron bow is a steel-arm crossbow.
Gould nodded deeply and said politely: "I'll write it all down. , distinguished leader of Melalen, distinguished leader of the alliance, I will implement it. I will give you an answer as soon as possible. I hope the Russian answer satisfies you. "
"I don't need any reply from you. I have a lot of silver coins in my hand and I want to see the goods. Next spring, you just need to bring back the goods I asked for, which is better than any rhetoric. "
"Follow your orders! "Gould bowed fiercely.
"Then it's your turn to speak. Tell me what Chief Ross wants. ”
It is not so much the request of the leader, but the request of the leader’s son. For now, Gould doesn’t want to push Rurik to the forefront. After all, he is still a child and is not qualified for many things.< /p>
“Yes, noble leader. The leader of Rus asked me to bring you a message. The Rus people live in a bitter cold land and they are eager to buy a lot of food to avoid starvation in the long winter. The Rus say that those who can provide a large amount of food are the powerful Melalen people. They are interested in buying in bulk if you want. "
"They actually want food? "Olegin pinched his beard subconsciously and thought carefully about this Gould. The massive purchase of grain last year was actually selling grain to the leader of Ross. He was thinking about a powerful possibility of making money.
It seems that Olegin intends to spend a lot of money on the excellent weapons of the Russians. In fact, when this guy revealed his attitude, it was as if his skin was being cut with a soft knife, and he really felt pain. < /p>
It hurts. The reality of the pressure trend is that Olegin must bleed out now to ensure that he can still have stable power in the future.
This is exactly what Gould guessed. Olegin's real idea.
This guy doesn't dare to openly state that he needs the best weapons and equipment to make his private army have the most extreme combat effectiveness. He is also smelting iron and forging weapons by himself. Although the quality of these iron weapons is definitely not as good as that of the Russians, it must be enough to arm his tribe.
Olegin's idea is that everyone who can fight. A man must at least have a shield and a short spear.
He especially needs to arm himself with a "heavy infantry".
To accomplish this, he knows he must. The cost was high, but his prestige was indeed indirectly damaged by the Russians' campaign against the Gotlanders. At the same time, he was not able to save Ostara from its destruction, and his reputation was even more damaged.
Isn't the threat of war more serious than reputation? He must expand his armaments and continue to maintain his power, especially to show off his power to the tribes living in the entire lakeside plain area, and to reserve his strength for possible future wars. Moreover, the close contact with the Russians has resumed. The leader of Melalen, Olegin, is really interested in re-alliance with the Russians.
Olegin wants to form an alliance with the Russians.Due to his status as leader of the alliance, he simply held a meeting of leaders involving the entire alliance. They must strengthen commercial ties with each other and strengthen military cooperation to fight against the aggressive Danes and their servants.
Meeting an alliance is not something that can be done just by the allies talking about it.
It has been too long since the Russians left, and the relationship between the alliance is almost only maintained by a group of businessmen like migratory birds.
In order for the leader of Ross to come to Mälaren happily, Olegin boasted that he had to pay some price, and now an opportunity was in front of him.
"Since the Rus want food, I can sell most of the tribute collected to the Rus. What is the price of the Rus?"
The development of the situation was completely unexpected to Gur. De's expectations, he couldn't help but sigh, if his action of purchasing a huge amount of grain for Rurik could get the full cooperation of the largest landowner in Mälaren, the task on his shoulders would not only be completed smoothly, but also exceed Quantity completed. Rurik has long said in dialect that regarding food, you don't need silver coins for food. Even if the silver coins in the "big money box" can be counted on one hand, you still have to exchange them for mountains of food.
Gould tried to suppress his excitement: "According to the price during the harvest season in previous years, one silver coin can buy fifteen pounds of oats."
"But the situation this year is obviously not good. ." Olegin responded calmly.
"Yes! I saw only a few wheats beginning to ear. Damn the weather, spring came too late, and there will be a massive grain shortage this year."
"So the price will Rise."
"But even so, the Russians still want to buy food, and they will be willing to pay a high price."
"Forget it, I will give you a price. Ten pounds of threshed oats for one silver coin. I hope the Russians have the money to buy it." Gould couldn't believe it for a moment. He heard, "Half a million pounds? That's a lot of money. Sir, how did you get so much grain, especially since the wheat harvest will be very poor this year."
Olegin was a little impatient, "What do you think? Don't worry about it. Instead of worrying about me, you should worry about whether your master can produce 50,000 silver coins in one go." Hearing this, Gould secretly cursed this guy for his lack of experience. , is truly a fish that can only roam in the lakes of Mälaren, and does not dare to swim in the saltwater ocean.
But if this guy really spent 500,000 pounds of grain, he would have gritted his teeth and bought the wheat with all the money he had on hand.
Gould couldn't help but think of last year's harvest season, when he collected many cargo ships and carried as many as twenty-three pounds of sun-hardened oat grains straight to Roseburg. Also transported were large quantities of vegetables and cash crops such as dried flax stalks.
The wheat is beginning to ear, and some vegetables have been harvested, such as onions with a short growth period, which are already being sold in the market.
Wheat must be purchased in order to achieveRurik put forward the great dream that "people can eat oats all year round", Gould just wanted to make a great contribution, even if he had to pay for the grain first.
Olegin emphasized that his attitude was that the Russians would give 50,000 silver coins and he would give 500,000 pounds of wheat. If even one silver coin was missing, the whole deal would be ruined.
Gould secretly cursed this as stupid stubbornness. However, for Olegin, he regarded this matter as a test. The Russians really paid such a huge sum of money, which showed that the exchanges between the two parties had reason to develop in depth. .
But the question also arises. If all the money is spent on food, vegetables, flax, oil, wool, slaves, or even hiring new mercenaries, what will be done with the money?
Gould finally understood that Olegin just wanted an answer. He didn't want to wait until next year to get the opinion of Chief Ross when he was trading grain during the passively postponed harvest season.
What should I do?
What is very bad is that Otto has asked a messenger to tell the tribesmen that his fleet will wait until Novgorod’s autumn harvest is completed and return. A messenger secretly reported this to Gould. He knew that Otto was not in Roseburg at this moment.
Olegin is pressing so hard. He needs the Ross leader to express his attitude and come up with real money to buy food. At this point, Gould feels that this business has reached a point where it must be done. .
What’s worse is that if you don’t do this well, you will really alienate the already indifferent relationship between the Ross and the Melalen people and become a sinner.
"Action must be taken! Without Otto, Rurik must make the decision."