Gould was very young. He would sometimes feel pain like his head was about to burst (actually due to atherosclerosis). Whenever he had a headache, he would ask his female slaves or concubines to rub his head for him. He was also afraid of his life span. Coming soon. Of course he is afraid of death, but death is something everyone will experience.
That’s why he hung a deer head, shield and ax in his bedroom. He sometimes imagined that he was a warrior, so that after death, his soul might enter Valhalla gloriously. He would feel better every time he thought about this.
He consciously found a good opportunity when he entered, but he had to seize it to the extreme and obtain a little "God's favor" by contributing to the "Son of God" Rurik. Of course, realistically speaking, it is also to gain political capital for his descendants, especially the eldest son Snoreva, who will inherit most of the wealth. He also needs to be favored by Rurik for a long time in the future because of his efforts.
“My great, invincible, glorious leader.” Gould used many good words in succession to describe Rurik and Otto. Otto felt very happy that Rurik Rick had goosebumps all over his body.
"What do you want to say?"
"Ah! If the leader allows me, I hope to use these one hundred pounds of silver coins in exchange for a new big ship."
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"Huh?" Rurik immediately understood Gould's intention: "You? Are you planning to donate a big ship like the Aurora?"
"Yes. ! Even if it is expensive, I will add more money and let the Hotla family build it. I will give this ship to you as the second large warship of our Rus."
" OK, since you are willing. I originally intended to build at least five more ships, and I am touched by your cooperation." After hearing this, Gould was shocked, "What? Five? "
"Yes, if we have more wealth, we should build ten, or more. I must have some powerful ships to protect our future maritime trade."
"That's true." Gould nodded. He admired and was shocked by the kid Rurik's long-term vision. "I only have an extremely humble request now."
< p>"Tell me. You want to be the sponsor of the second ship. You can have many requests.""Actually, there is only one. I want to name the ship. I want it to be called Gould. No."
"Huh? That's it?"
Gould nodded, but Rurik was not satisfied: "What do you call the ship? Tell you, you need to call Gould 'hon (her)'"
"Huh? You..." Gould also slapped his forehead, and then he thought that Rurik had always been there. A so-called bad taste. "Do you still want to call ships women? It's so strange, but it's also a bit interesting."
"Really weird? But like our big ships, every one of them must have A unique name. The boat is like a woman, and a man is like driving a big boat.Control your wife. If the ship had a soul, it would be a woman, or a beautiful spirit from the sea. "
Gould carefully checked Rurik's eyes and determined that the child was serious.
He thought this statement was very dreamy, but in fact it was not. Rurik I just quoted the Roman poet Virgil. Roman poetry may have fixed this cultural phenomenon in the Greek and Roman classical era in a literary form, and influenced the navies of all European countries, except Germany, which regarded ships as ships. Brother.
Rurik mentioned the "sea elf", and he used the word "elf", which itself is hidden in the cultural life of the Rus, or Vikings. < /p>
Gould thought for a while, suddenly enlightened, and suddenly pulled out his necklace. Among the many ambers, he deliberately displayed an individual carved into a little person, or a female elephant.
“This is the lucky elf, I probably understand what you mean. Sailing, like doing business, is full of risks and opportunities. Every ship needs a lucky elf to guard it. "
Gould's words also surprised Rurik: "Ah...that's it. ”
Rurik thought about it again. Under the current situation, he no longer needed to explain to Gould the so-called contribution of Roman poets to the personification of ships, and even the Russians wanted to make great achievements. We should try our best to learn from Rome.
The Russians obviously have their own excellent culture, so he took advantage of it: "Maybe I should erect a wooden sculpture on the bow of Avrola, so that it is no longer ferocious. A beast, but the image of a beautiful girl, preferably with a pair of wings on her back. She is the spirit of the ship and will bring good luck to all sailors. "
Gould immediately beamed with joy and slapped his thigh violently: "Wonderful! Everyone is afraid of hitting rocks, ice, and storms. If we do this, everyone will feel at ease. Then the boat I donated, I can call her Gulddotter. ”
Rurik immediately understood the meaning. This old guy was really smart. He directly named the big ship after his daughter. After all, the old guy was willing to finance the second ship on his own and owned the ship. As for the leader's family, he got a big advantage, so he could just let him do whatever he wanted regarding the name.
As for the shipbuilding plan itself, Otto had no objections. His only concern was the funding issue. It is a skill to get funds from Gould, but the total cost of a large ship is far beyond Otto's imagination. If he had put this in three or four years ago, he would have thought it was proposed by a man who had eaten poisonous mushrooms and gone insane.
After all, three years ago, the currency as a medium of exchange was very scarce in this corner of the country, which resulted in the high currency value of even 30 copper coins. There were enough silver coins, and a long ship only cost one pound of silver coins.
Due to the successful revenge, a huge amount of silver coins poured in, which changed not only Rossburg, but also the entire world.A tribal alliance. Although the price of shipbuilding has skyrocketed due to inflation, the money to build a ship such as the Aurora is too much, even absurd.
A ship deserves 20,000 silver coins! Otto only hopes that the Aurora can be as powerful as her original design, so as to demonstrate the authority of the leader.
Gould quickly took out as many as two hundred pounds of silver coins. After taking out the funds, his family actually didn't have much silver left. Because of trade, a large amount of silver coins actually flowed into the Melalen tribe and spread to the main tribes in several alliances around the lake.
The Russians must earn back the money through trade. This year, they have accumulated a large amount of high value-added goods. No matter what the alliance talks about, Rurik will soon have to board the launched Avrora, and simply let her carry a large amount of cargo to make a fortune in Merlaren.
Taxation work begins immediately.
As the leader of the tribe, Otto issued a special order to the entire Roseburg Fjord, which prohibited all ships from leaving the port within three days. Even if there is no ban, smart people would not dare to break into the sea that is still full of ice floes. The entire tribe of fishermen is now waiting quietly.
A large amount of iceberg meltwater pours into the fjords and the vast Gulf of Bothnia. The ice floes on the sea are basically not a threat to the deliberately built and sturdy ships, as long as the ships are not damaged by giant ice Tuo impact. In this hydrological state, many merchant ships have the ability to escape. If they really escape in the dark, Otto will not be able to make any money.
It turned out that some merchants really planned to escape at night.
But Otto is not a fool, and he is not stupid. The fleeing merchant tried to push his boat into the sea, but was soon caught by an ambush. What to do with these tax-defying tax evaders?
Otto did not execute them, but it was not easy for them either. All goods and money were confiscated, and his entire family was demoted to logging slaves and sent to distant places to work for up to three years! For example, dispatch New Roseburg, which is in urgent need of labor.
Although Rurik feels that this punishment standard is a bit inappropriate, if the punishment is not severe, do they think that Rosberg is actually a good place where they can come and run away as they please, and they can work hard to make money? But don’t have to pay tax? Doesn’t it mean that the Russians have lost their customs rights?
To put it more seriously, this kind of escape is a huge harm to Rose, and strong punishment is necessary.
At least the Russians did not kill these tax evaders. This act of killing chickens to scare monkeys essentially deterred those who intended to flee. Yes, Rurik thought that his family had been a little indecisive last year, allowing some tax evaders to sneak away with the money earned before the ice and snow melted. Regarding the ice field trek case provided by the Mellaren Courier, Rurik now does not think that the merchants who escaped last year would really freeze to death in the ice field.
The agreed day for tax collection was today. Otto summoned all the merchants in front of the Aurora, which was urgently waiting to be launched.
There were more than 300 people here, all heads of merchant families.
Ever since those who attempted to escape were caught, no one has escaped. It's just that all the wealth of those families was confiscated. Thinking of the menacing appearance of the Russian soldiers, everyone is still frightened.
They became submissive and just wanted to hand over the money quickly to ensure safety.
No, Otto stood directly at the bow of the ship. He looked down at everyone and said arrogantly: "You have made too much money in my territory, so you must pay taxes. In the past In winter, all businessmen make a lot of money. Then, you must pay more taxes." Otto didn't want to talk nonsense anymore. He just wanted to clap his hands and announce the start of a show.
Everything that follows is a drama.
Rurik, dressed in gorgeous clothes and accompanied by more than a dozen strong warriors, stood in front of a group of businessmen who were also dressed in gorgeous clothes. Everyone has seen the beautiful Rurik, his face is still so clean, but the discerning person inadvertently noticed that one of his front teeth was missing.
"Let's start!"
Otto from the heights roared. People still didn't know what happened, but they saw a fat man with a stout figure. He was also dressed in fine clothes. The clothes, especially the velvet hat on the head with two green feathers (peacock feathers purchased at a high price in the past), clearly indicate that this person is Gould. Behind him, there were several fat guys. Needless to say, these were all sons of the same family.
The more obese you are, the more it proves the wealth of this family. The merchants are not fools. They all know that what this family has done in recent years has been shoddy. They were jealous of the Gould family and wished they could be a scumbag so that they could make a lot of money from Chief Ross.
Some mercenaries raised by Gould worked together to carry two large wooden boxes. They walked deliberately slowly to arouse curiosity among the anxious merchants.
Their eyes focused on the heavy box, as if the contents inside were too heavy to be described in words.
The mercenaries were also acting. They unloaded the boxes in front of Rurik, pretending to be extremely tired, and their heavy breathing sounded like they had just finished fighting.
Gould deliberately loudly complimented: "Great leader of Rus, Rurik blessed by the great Odin, this is this year's tax burden from my Gould family. According to the contract, I offer this year’s 20,000 silver coins to thank the Ross tribe for providing security and stability to my family.”
Gould himself revealed a principle, the so-called tax is not paid in vain. , which is equivalent to the purchase of "Russian security".
The tax amount amounted to 20,000 silver coins. The clear figure shocked all the merchants present and trembled with surprise. Not only were they shocked that the tax burden was so high, they were also surprised that the Gould family had grown such a large business.
"Very good, now I want to open the box." Rurik said the lines according to the script, "I want to seeGenuine silver coins. ”
The box was opened, and the white silver coins immediately attracted the onlookers’ merchants to gather around.
They were more than three hundred people, and they were all the heads of the foreign merchant families, as well as There are not many people in charge of wealth, so they almost all saw Rurik squatting down and stirring the silver coins with his hands, making a violent metal collision.
This also left a trace. Rick's plan to deeply stimulate their hearts
"Big boss, what do you think? "Gould raised his head and asked.
"You did a good job! What an honest person. I wish all businessmen could be as honest as you. "
Looking at what he said, other merchants stood under the huge ship, and a strong sense of oppression made everyone nervous. Now the leader of the Ross people hinted at a threat.
The merchants were whispering to each other, and gradually some people began to shout that they should get the money immediately.
More and more people shouted, claiming that they were also honest businessmen. Who else was infected by this atmosphere. Dare you say no?
The show ended soon. Otto ordered the merchants to go back quickly. Soon, he personally led a group of soldiers to collect their taxes or tax credits from door to door. In order to collect taxes quickly, he appointed his nephew Arik, his old friend Haro Zuosen and others to collect taxes separately.
This almost turned into a " "Feast of Plunder", although they collect goods and money worth the equivalent of 30,000 silver coins, it is normal for the tax collectors to take the opportunity to get a little more benefit. No one from the merchants resisted, they would rather take more money to send away these tax collectors People. In fact, they have no need to resist. Firstly, resisting is seeking death. Secondly, they have known the tax policy of the Russians from the beginning. They are all businessmen with some foundation. They only take one pound of silver in tax.
The tax collection work was extremely smooth, and it was finally completed in just two days. The tax money was gradually moved to the priest's longhouse, and the tax-exempt goods were moved to the warehouse built by Rurik. .
Rurik and his mercenaries immediately moved the two large boxes filled with silver coins to the priest's longhouse, and then moved them into the room where the wealth was stored.
He paid a visit to Vilia. The old woman's condition was still bad, but her pain was not visible on the surface. If death is a person's luck, when she saw that what she had guarded all her life was revealed. With the huge future ahead of her, is it greater luck to leave with hope?
Villa is extremely weak, but her thinking is still rigorous when she is awake.
She is sure. The time for this year's Great Sail Ceremony is set on April 15th in the Julian calendar.
The date is very close, and Mia is already walking around the priest's longhouse. , kept reciting this year's sacrificial prayers.
Of course, this year's sailing ceremony is destined to be extraordinary, and the Aurora will be launched on this day.