For the sake of face and glory, the price was actually a pound of silver coins. After leaving the door, Rurik felt physical pain for a second.
Losing a pound of silver, Rurik doesn’t think it is a big loss now.
What surprised him very much was that as a manufacturer of wine, when he sold it to Gould, the price was already very high, all because of the need to distill and purify ordinary ale. Use charcoal to filter it into a fine wine. The concentration process alone makes the cost of the wine rise a lot.
As for the glass bottle that carries the wine, it itself is a consumable that tends to be mass-produced. It is indeed rare and expensive at the beginning. In the long run, its value will definitely not be as good as the internal one. Liquor is high.
The "wholesale price" of a bottle of wine is approaching the price of a bottle of one-pound silver coins. Unexpectedly, after changing hands, the price increase in the Malaren tavern is not serious.
This surprised Rurik. It really did not conform to the rules of a businessman pursuing profit.
"Perhaps no one really buys it if it is too expensive? The people of Mellaren sell spirits with small profits but quick turnover?"
After all, everyone has seen Merlar The so-called tavern in London is really a chaotic place, but this kind of place is controlled by that guy Olegin.
Arik patted his younger brother on the back: "Dear, how do you feel about this place?"
"Not great! It's dirty and messy. I'm afraid of those who drink." The drunk guy rushed up and was stabbed in the throat by you."
"Hey, that's for sure. My attitude is to kill any attacker."
Rick shook his head and tried to persuade him like an adult: "You are so reckless. This is the territory of the Melalen people. If you kill their people, how can we escape unscathed?"
" It doesn't matter." Arik squeezed his brother's shoulders hard. Rurik understood that this was his brother's way of expressing his tough attitude, and he just endured the pain in his shoulder and remained silent.
"No matter where the enemy attacks, only the enemy will die. Brothers have killed so many enemies on the battlefield, how can we be afraid."
After saying that, Arik was stunned. The wanton laughter made others laugh even more arrogantly.
Rurik looked up at his cousin with disdain.
After all, a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers. After fighting a few battles, he became more and more cruel and ruthless. This is his brain, but he is still too naive.
"Aric."
"What's wrong?!"
Rurik shook his head with a tight mouth: "That bottle of wine is still too expensive. "
"Oh, now that I think about it, I am really extravagant, I apologize."
"It doesn't matter, at least you have earned enough face for the brothers. Haha, the owner of the tavern is Mei. Leader Laren, at least we know this information. Now we are all Norwegian travelers, at least they think so." "Okay!" Arik pinched his waist, "Brothers don't need to cover up anymore.What, we are Norwegians. Let's go and see what other strange things there are in the market. ”
There are all kinds of people coming and going, almost all of them are plainly dressed, and a few are gorgeously dressed, walking surrounded by people carrying swords or axes.
Serving as a role for wealthy households Being a thug is an acceptable option for many powerless young people in Melalen. After working as a servant for a few years, they can either buy some acres or order a small boat. He spent the rest of his life getting the capital to survive.
Rurik took aim at the fat man wearing a velvet hat.
"Arik. "
"What happened again? Speak louder sometimes. "
"That person. Rurik still whispered, "That's a rich man. Let's follow him quietly to see what this guy will do." "
Following an indifferent person, Arik felt that it was unnecessary. Since his brother had this idea, he and his brothers followed quietly.
In the market There were many people wandering around, and the following behavior did not arouse any alarm.
After a while, the rich man who was protected by the mercenary thugs was finally seen in the crowd. He stood up straight in front of the crowd.
At least dozens of people gathered together to look at the special products.
"What's going on? ! Rurik was shocked, "Arik, look at those pillars." Why are there some men tied up there? Are they guilty? Is this the execution site? "Rurik subconsciously thought that a thief had been captured by the patrolling private soldiers of the leader of Melalen. He estimated that he was at the scene of the execution of the prisoners.
Hearing what his brother said, Arik subconsciously thought This is definitely the place of execution. Look at those tied up people in ragged clothes. All it takes to end their lives is a chop with an axe.
Jevro coughed twice and froze. Face said: "Adults, that is not a prisoner, that is a slave. "
"Slave? "Rurik immediately turned around.
"What? Master, do you think it’s strange? "
"No. I'm just curious, are these slaves tied here because they ran so hard? "
"Of course not. "Jevro knew the slave market of the Melalen tribe very well. He deliberately pointed to a pillar that was erected like a ship mast: "Master, if any escaped slaves are caught, they will be hanged on that wooden pole. superior. "
Rurik looked at the pillar and was deeply moved in his heart.
He looked at the slaves tied up with ropes for sale, and couldn't help but feel... Their situation was difficult.
This is human nature! For a moment, Rurik had the idea of saving them, but in the face of the current situation, he saw that a group of local rich people had already arrived. , my own reason has prevailed, I won't lose anything by sitting back and watching, and I'm afraid it will be too much trouble to intervene rashly.
Rurik’s psychological fluctuations were keenly noticed by Jevro.
"Master, do you plan to buy these slaves?"
"No, I have already arranged the purchase of slaves for Gould. Now we are just spectators."< /p>
After saying that, Rurik continued to watch. The more he watched, the stronger the feeling in his heart became.
They do not regard slaves as human beings, or rather the Melalen people or even the entire alliance. The concept of human beings in the narrow sense is limited to boys and girls of the alliance who are twelve years old.
The so-called slave trade does not have any regulations that need to be followed, and it relies entirely on unspoken rules created by everyone voluntarily. For example, those bankrupt farmers will voluntarily become slaves to earn a living, while young people who have no strength are willing to work as mercenaries for the rich. Even some begging children, boys may be trained as laborers, and girls may be beautiful, but they will be taken away by wealthy households and become slaves.
Asking himself, Rurik felt that in the past two years, he had also relied on this set of unspoken rules within the alliance since ancient times to obtain many typical slaves for Rosberg. Even if Rurik himself didn't want to admit it, the Russian people and the businessmen who had business dealings with Gould all knew this - the Russian leader and his family were powerful slave owners.
Rurik heard a few guys with scary eyes speaking some awkward language. They were selling their goods in front of the public - five Briton men.
"They are actually Britons? Yes, their hair is not blond."
Rurik held his chin, and even his entourage acted as spectators.
The slave trader quoted his price, which was fifty silver coins for each Briton to be sold.
"Ah! This price is even far less than a bottle of wine! The value of a person is so low?!"
Aric obviously heard his brother's muttering, a pair of big hands Pressing on my brother's shoulders: "What? You actually treat them as human beings? You are so kind."
"Then forgive me for being kind. Alas, I wish we, the Russians, would do it again If you find some laborers, I can arrange for them to go mining.”
“You still want to buy them? Rurik, we only have one pound of silver coins.”
"Forget it! You and the others are unlucky and are destined not to be servants of my kindhearted people."
Listening to his brother's words to put gold on his face, Arik smiled. To be honest, Arik looked down upon these Britons at all. Thinking that the five elderly Bryton maids raised by Rurik were worshiping a strange god, Arik felt that these guys were really not good.
Arik actually liked the people of Novgorod, not only because his wife was from Novgorod, but also because he noticed that the women he married were all kneeling down to worship the people of Russia. The goddess Freya, especially no Novgorod woman died in childbirth, everyone said that the goddess protectedYou made these outsiders become your own, which made Nuo and the others completely give up their beliefs in their hometown.
After all, he is a strong and young man. His wife was just a beautiful ordinary village girl in Novgorod. She saw that her young brother was actually raped by the uncle who was the leader. There were a lot of engagements arranged, and Aric said it was impossible not to envy them. However, the son is not yet one year old, but the wife still remains young and beautiful. Just like this, if I get a few beautiful women from Novgorod to marry, I'm afraid this will make my family crazy.
Getting a group of maids from Novgorod to serve himself and his family has been included in Arik's plan. What's more, he also has a "wolf ambition" deep in his heart. Since you can have a group of oriental maids as concubines, why not have some oriental male servants as hard labor? If all these can be realized, I can definitely go further.
For example, younger brother Rurik became the master of the Novgorod people. I heard that there is a place called Smolensk in the south. The people there also speak the same language as Novgorod, but it is not as powerful as the north. He is destined to be less noble than his younger brother, but he is also more noble than other Ross people.
"In the future, I will lead my brothers to conquer Smolensk and make the local people my slaves. From now on, I will collect tribute every year? It's wonderful to think about it."
The so-called Britons being peddled by the real Norwegians, the locals assumed that the slaves obtained by the Norwegian slave traders were all Britons, and it even became another word to describe slaves.
In fact, these so-called "Britons" are the residents of the Kingdom of Northumbria on the island of Britain. Rurik remembered that most of the real Britons had orange-red hair, because their ancestors were Celts. These people have brown hair and are relatively tall. Looking at their sluggish faces, there is a strong sense of familiarity.
Whether it is Northumbria or Mercia, the main groups of people who make up the two kingdoms come from the Saxon tribes and Anglian tribes that landed four hundred years ago. In essence, these people are the same as Mellaren. People have strong similarities in blood. It's just that immigrants and the survivors of Roman Britain intermarry on a large scale, and there are fewer people with pure blond hair.
Because they knew that the once noble Roman nobles were all black-haired, the chiefs who established the kingdom, while accepting the Christian faith, also tried to make their descendants have longer and longer hair in their bloodline. The darker.
But the age of Viking raids had begun.
The fjords of Scandinavia facing the North Sea formed a tribal alliance of Norwegians to plunder Britain, and the captive populations were either digested by themselves, or sold to the other side of the mountains to live in Sve. People who live in Alan's "holy land" can make great profits.
The five slaves were inspected like livestock, and their mouths were opened by the wealthy buyers. By observing the teeth, a knowledgeable buyer can know a series of information such as the slave's age and physical condition. This inspection routine was originally used to inspect cattle.Sheep's, just as useful for checking slaves.
After all, these people are buying them back to work as coolies doing farm work. Compared with tenant farmers who pay rent, they still use slave labor to farm, and they can earn greater profits.
A number of wealthy buyers gathered together. Apparently they had considerable differences over the division of slaves and needed to negotiate among themselves on the right to purchase.
There are many passers-by watching here. The scattered copper coins in their hands cannot buy a strong slave, not even the weakest female slave. They are simply watching the fun with greed, after all, their lives are full of boredom.
No one paid attention to the dozen or so people wearing burqas, and Rurik and the others seemed not to exist.
"It seems that the animal has an owner. Maybe we should bring more silver coins when we come again, so that we can satisfy your kindness." Arik said politely.
Rurik didn’t think his cousin was praising him, but more like sarcasm.
"I won't read it." Rurik deliberately showed disdain.
"Then let's go deep into the market and take a look?" Arik asked.
"That's fine. The Melalen people's market is really big. They are selling all kinds of things. I'm very curious about that Olegin."
Yevlo He hurriedly bowed down and said, "Sir, I believe you will be able to see that person soon."
"Is it because Gould sent a messenger? I am already standing here, Jevlo, Do you know where Olegin lives?"
"Ah! This..." How could Yevlo not know? Everyone in the team knows this, including all the mercenaries from Melalen.
"Bring me over quickly, I want to find out."
Yevlo's face was very nervous. He continued to bow and persuade: "Sir, Olegin, come here quickly." Arrogant, I am afraid that if we ask to see him rashly, he will be rejected."
"What? If I don't give him a meeting gift, he will refuse to see me?"
"I'm afraid that's the case, my lord. He is really a proud man. He has powerful private soldiers in his hands, and no one dares to challenge the rules he has set."
"Bah! Listen to you. , Why do I think that is a greedy and arrogant man? Anyway, I just want to see that guy's mansion, as long as I can see it from a distance."
Chief Yevluo. Take a breath, if the master only asks for this, of course you can do it. What he fears most is that the two sons of the leader of Ross will cause some trouble in the territory of the Melalen people because they are too unruly.
Although he very much hopes that Rurik, whom he serves, can and will have hegemony over the entire alliance when he grows up.