Just after the sacrifice, Rurik personally gave Gould himself a new and detailed task. He ordered him to personally organize a cargo ship to go to Lake Mälaren. What Gould did during this trip was still a transaction. The object of the transaction became recruiting mercenaries and purchasing a large amount of linen.
Isn’t there a large number of young people in the Melalen tribe? Aren’t they eager to make a fortune by making military exploits in the war? Aren’t they not entitled to join the expeditionary force commanded by Olegin for various reasons?
Gould carried a pine board covered with words, which was a memorandum of orders. He wants to follow Rurik's instructions and recruit at least five hundred Melalen men who are not afraid of death. Of course, the targets of his recruitment are all tribes in the entire Kingdom of Sweden.
The Ross people only plan to give these people a small amount of mercenary remuneration. For a group of men who are not very strong, earning silver coins and providing food by the Duke of Ross during the war is already very good. Well, fighting for the Russians was actually conquering the hated Gotlanders, so mercenary behavior became a great thing.
After all, Rurik personally infiltrated the Melalen Market. He had sufficient knowledge, and a large number of his mercenaries had elements of Melalen.
Both he and Gould figured out the thoughts of young people in Mälaren, especially those fourteen or fifteen years old. They were eager to prove that they were men and eager to fight their way out of poverty.
He has strong confidence in the "extensive recruitment of mercenaries" implemented by Gould, so that in future wars, the Ross Army will have a force that can be sacrificed when necessary without suffering any losses. Worried mercenary team. ,
So, what is the purpose of buying a large amount of cloth?
Without him, Rurik considered the problem of identifying ourselves and the enemy on the battlefield. All Russian soldiers, no matter where they come from, are in the same camp. In order to avoid accidental injuries, they must keep their clothes on as much as possible. Unify.
It is ridiculous to issue the same style of clothes to every soldier in the army, at least the current production level cannot be completed quickly. Rurik could only compromise and make some markings on the soldiers' clothes.
The most critical thing is that Rurik needs to use the newly bought cloth to piece together and sew flags symbolizing Ross, which is the huge flag sewn on the sail of the Aurora. The ancestral "crossed oars" flag.
"Perhaps in this battle, I should define this flag as the true flag of the Prince of Rus. No! It's more than that. The flag and horn are how I see my warriors clearly on the ever-changing battlefield. And the best way to accurately pass on the new instructions."
Although some of the ideas are a bit ridiculous, Rurik wants to hang a small flag on the back of some soldiers, doing something similar to the Centurion. Work has enabled ordinary soldiers to follow the flag-planters and act accurately.
Rurik is waiting for Gould to return with a large number of fresh troops and bundles of linen. Oh, it would be best to bring a batch of local specialties and leather products to expand the Ross army. .
In the south, calmLake Mälaren is in turmoil.
Gould sent people in the name of merchants to recruit soldiers in the Melalen market and residential areas.
The recruitment targets are very broad, ranging from fifteen-year-old boys to forty-year-old "old guys" who can sign up to participate.
It’s just that according to the tradition of mercenaries, working for a businessman must be cut off from the current life.
There are many poor people in the huge Lake Malaren area. As usual, the second and third sons in the family cannot inherit the family business, and they have to start their own business. How easy is this so-called “starting a business”? Their fate is either to be servants for others or to serve as thugs for powerful people.
A group of very young and elderly men followed Gould's servants and left their hometown. When they left, they were bare-handed and essentially cut off from the Melalen tribe.
The young man’s parents only knew that their son had found a job as a mercenary for a businessman. As for the future, they no longer thought about it.
What’s more, some of them simply ran away from home. Such boys simply want to get some money. They just want to survive as hard as they can, and when they earn enough money, they can build a fishing boat. Get another woman and your life will go on like this. Of course, being a mercenary will lead to danger. If you die, then die. Life will at least be easier than now.
A large number of people gathered on Gould Island. Only when they landed on the island did they realize that things had become very strange.
We are not working as mercenaries for businessmen, and how can a businessman be so crazy as to support five hundred mercenaries?
Gould gave some rewards to the men who were doing the work. He also ordered his men to take good care of these skinny boys and old guys to prevent them from having any plans to escape. He also gave them some rewards. Fish meat just for satiation.
Hundreds of people were imprisoned in the wooden castle on Gould's Island. Until this moment, Gould had no intention of revealing any substantive information to them, or it could be said that these were destined to lead to a war for the Russians. He was afraid that this group of people would flee en masse or cause trouble after learning the facts.
If they were really powerful, they would have been taken away by Olegin as soon as possible and sent to the army.
They are obviously weak, how can Gould think so highly of them? The existence value of this group of people may only be in future battles to reduce the loss of Russians.
After the rain, production in the Mälaren area continued. The women took the time to produce cloth. After the rain, they also collected woad and other grasses containing anthocyanins to dye the linen. However, they have not discovered it yet. The medicinal value of these indigo rhizomes (the European version of isatis root) is used as raw materials for dyes. These are the tasks of the benefactor. Gould spread the news about collecting cloth and can also give a gratifying price. All the local women are doing their best.
On July 10th, a huge cargo fleet set sail from Gould Island.
A hundred people were squeezed into each cargo ship. They wore simple clothes and had a blanket on their heads.Zhang Azabu, at first glance, it was clear that the ship had hit a large amount of cargo.
A group of Melalen men are the goods. They already know to some extent that they are going to the Ross in the north. This is the formation. It seems that they are not going to be mercenaries for the Ross people, but to be slaves.
There are indeed people who are extremely afraid of the tragic future. Such people will be beaten up, and the remaining people will be honest.
There are eight cargo ships carrying a full 600 people. If time is more generous, Gould can get more people and transport more people.
The fleet set off from Gould Island. Previously, merchants were doing normal summer trade under the banner of the Ross people. They did purchase a variety of large quantities of goods and wanted to transport them back to the north. We really need a huge fleet.
The Melalen people were busy doing business, and few of them paid attention to the departure of some tribesmen.
Just like they don't care about the refugees who are fleeing, they avoid beggars and regard them as thieves by default, and they have no intention of helping the poor and down-and-out.
Perhaps Olegin is still sitting in his hometown and will be furious at the Russians' poaching behavior, but this guy's mind has been completely attracted to the "Silver Castle" further south.
There are three cargo ships, all of which are loaded with dyed rough linen. Due to the use of alum to fix the color, they are already quite washable and difficult to fade.
I’m afraid there are only three colors of linen, plain white, sky blue and earthy yellow. Of course, you can also use toner and cinnabar powder to provide new colors, but such linen clothing is really rare.
When the fleet left Lake Mälaren and entered the sea, the fleet of fifteen cargo ships enjoyed the warm southerly wind and embarked on a two-day, non-stop voyage.
On July 12, after a short night, a huge fleet appeared in the eyes of fishermen actively working at sea near Roseburg.
This is the ship of the Gould family. Look at the big ship. The rune letters "GULD" are sewn on the sail.
Soon the fleet arrived at Ross Pier, and hundreds of people on board finally saw the light of day again.
It can be said that this is the biggest good news that Rurik has encountered in a while. He rushed to the dock with a group of mercenaries in great spirits.
Similarly, upon hearing that a new force from the Mellaren tribe had arrived in Hong Kong to fight for the Russians, Otto also brought a group of older guys to see this with a smile. Are the warriors hired by Rurik strong? At least in Otto's mind, he admired the bravery of the Merlaren warriors when fighting in the south.
They had great expectations, but standing at the pier, the place smelled really sour!
Look at the people coming off the boat one after another. They are all men, but their physical condition is like that of beggars who have been hungry for a while.
They were dressed in rags and smelled bad, even worse than the slaves who were tied with ropes.
“That’s it?” OttoHis eyelids couldn't help trembling, and his big hands covered Rurik's head: "Are these the mercenaries you paid for? They are just a bunch of animals."
"Damn it, something must have happened. Some conditions."
Those who got off the boat left the pier one after another, and then sat on the ground in large numbers, and some people retched on the spot.
Rurik approached the embarrassed Gould aggressively, suddenly drew his sword and pointed it at the people sitting on the ground.
"What's going on? I asked you to recruit warriors. It doesn't matter if you are weaker. Who asked you to recruit these people?!"
Gould, who felt he was wrong, tried to defend himself. : "Yeah, I brought them to my island, and the situation wasn't that bad."
"They really stink!"
"Oh, that's Because I have been sailing, these people's shit and urine have been dealt with on the ship. I will send people to clean the ship immediately. As for these people..."
"Forget it." Rurik really didn't want to say anything, right now. He ordered his subordinate Yevro to send a group of mercenaries to kick and beat the new guys one by one to make them stand up.
Soon, people who were tortured by the long voyage got up one after another. Due to hunger and hypoglycemia, they subconsciously swayed, as if they could not stand at all.
Rurik ordered Yevro to squat down, and he sat on his neck to visually check the number of newcomers. He knew the number in his mind, and then looked down at Gould: "It looks really good." There are five hundred people? You have to get at least this many people for me."
"It's six hundred people. If there is more time..."
"That's enough! "Rurik patted Yevro on the head. He was put down and immediately ordered: "Take all these guys away with your brothers, and give each of them a piece of dried smoked fish after they have eaten. I drove them to the sea and let the sea wash away all their dirty clothes. As for their rags, they were all burned."
The donor's request was probably fine. Yevluo asked more. Although the clothes are very smelly, they can still be worn. If you really burn them, what will they wear?" Rurik shook his head: "Burn them! I just want to say goodbye to the past. I will give them some rags to cover their shame, and they will spend the night in those vacant wooden houses. I will give them new clothes tomorrow."
Jevro knew that he needed to say more, so he took it with him. More than fifty old mercenaries gathered and drove this stinky group of people away.
"Now that they are all gone, they will change their appearance soon." Rurik, who regained his mood slightly, asked Gould, "Where is the large amount of cloth I want?"
"They are all here. Look, the linen bags they are carrying are full of cloth."
"Bring me a bag and have a look. Remember, I want blue cloth!"
An khaki cloth bag stuffed with blue linen. It has a blue cloth band at the top, so it is easy to identify.
Seeing the bundle of cloth, the onlookers were all shocked. Yes, no matterMen and women all naturally have the desire to be gorgeous. They hope to get a variety of colors. The blue at the moment is precious and it is indeed expensive.
The strip of cloth was pulled open, and Gould took out a ball of soft blue textile with a smile. He then spread it out with all his strength, revealing to everyone a large piece of sky blue. blue cloth.
Seeing it, the people present laughed happily.
Rurik touched its soft texture, put his nose close to it, and smelled a strange smell of grass. This smell was different from the blue cloth dyed with blue moss. , the color is also more comfortable.
"What's its price?"
Gould immediately pointed out: "The length and width of a stika of blue cloth cost three silver coins."
"It is indeed a bit expensive? How many did you buy?"
"There are twenty packages of blue cloth, each package contains five pieces of cloth. Look at this one, its length and width are Four stikas."
Rurik nodded. He always felt that the lengths of stikas and meters were extremely close, so he simply assumed that they were the same. Therefore, one pocket is stuffed with about 80 square meters of blue cloth, and twenty packs are 1,600 square meters!
Rurik was also surprised when he got such a result from his mental arithmetic. Of course, for these blue linen cloths, he had to pay nearly five thousand silver coins.
Gould noticed some wrinkles in Rurik's brows, and immediately explained with a smile: "Haha, my friends, do you know? This time I am targeting the entire Melalen tribe, as well as I sent people to the nearby Yelmalun tribe and bought all the cloth they produced this year. I asked them to dye the cloth on a large scale, and now they may have dug up all the woad in the lake area. If I buy it next year, I can only buy moss-dyed cloth. Oh, I don’t like that kind of blue cloth."
"Huh? Is twenty bales of blue cloth the maximum production capacity of the Melalen people? ?"
"Probably so." Gould shrugged.
Remembering that last year, Rurik sneaked into the Mälaren market and saw someone selling cloth, but there were not many cloths sold. Maybe that was the case. Without orders, the locals would not take the initiative to produce. For things like cloth, after they meet their own needs, they may not have more motivation to make more. Wouldn't it be better to have extra time to take care of the wheat fields and fish in the lake? ! After all, the ordinary people of the Melalen tribe need to fill their stomachs more.
"In addition to blue cloth, how much white cloth did you get?" Rurik continued to ask.
"There are one hundred and twenty packs, and there are five pieces of cloth stuffed in one pack."
"Ah? Is that much? All the cloths added together will be the number of pieces of cloth for this year's Mera." The entire production capacity of the Lun people?"
Gould raised his head and thought: "No. There is still some flax that has not been harvested this year, but too much woad and moss are used to make dyes. Adults still have needs. When we sell food this year, we can stillGet back a lot of flax stalks. ”
“What are the prices of ordinary white cloth and khaki cloth this year? ”
“One silver coin for white cloth and half of khaki cloth. The price has increased compared with the past. I spent ten thousand silver coins on these cloths. ”
In the past, ten thousand silver coins were considered a huge amount of money. Now that the times have changed, Rurik no longer feels that it is a waste. Because coins have to be consumed after all, and they can really be buried in the ground for a long time without being used. , that is the behavior of a miser.
Rurik calculated that 11,000 square meters of finished fabrics have arrived in Roseburg.
After watching the show for a while, Otto. He came up with this astonishing figure after doing some mental calculations.
He approached Rurik: "My son, you have bought so much cloth, which is unprecedented for the tribe. You... want to sell it. Give it to the tribe? ”
“That’s right. "Rurik let out a long sigh, raised his head and said loudly: "We are Russians, and we are different from others. Every soldier in our army must be proud to fight for Ross. I want to make a surprise attack to make uniform clothes for the army, at least with uniform and very obvious markings."
Otto immediately understood his son's intention, "Huh? Like those black-clad warriors of the Mellaren people? A bunch of people dressed exactly the same? ”
“Yes! Just their black attire, we have to be different. We all wore white robes sewn with blue stripes, just like what we wore during our alliance. It's still a similar style, this time at least our soldiers must be dressed like this. "
The raw materials of those robes are white cloth and blue cloth. Otto stroked his beard. He was quiet for a while and then laughed loudly: "Okay! If a melee breaks out now, at least our troops will not accidentally injure anyone. ”
“Is that all? "Rurik couldn't help but ask.
"What else? ”
“They will feel glorious. We Russians are honorable, so we all dress richly, while our enemies dress in all kinds of colors. The enemy will be afraid just because we are uniformly dressed. If they start to fear, then we have won half the battle. ”
“Oh, in that case. Otto turned around and looked back at the houses of his tribe: "It's time for all women to become tailors!" They had to sew suitable clothes for the men of their families. ”