The huge Ross fleet arrived at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, and the people living in the shallow waterways watched in horror as large ships with triangular sails drifted into the lake.
Every gray-white sail is sewn with huge interlaced blue strips, and a unified flag is hung on the top of the mast.
The merchants around Lake Malaren are looking forward to the arrival of the Ross caravan, and then follow the Ross fleet to arrive safely at Rossburg port.
It is already October. The defeat of the coalition forces and the heavy losses of the Melalen tribe have caused an obvious depression in the trade in the market.
Some powerful businessmen have heard a saying that the Russians defeated the Gotlanders and plundered a large amount of treasure.
More businessmen hope to try their luck in the north, even if they have to pay a tax burden.
They don’t let go of eagles when they see rabbits, because legends are legends. Even the powerful Melalen tribe was defeated, and King Olegin was killed in the battle. How could the Russian He De really achieve a great victory with his own strength?
Only a few leather merchants spontaneously went north, while the vast majority of merchants were waiting and watching.
Of course, this year's industrial merchants in Mälaren need to buy enough winter food on the market after the harvest season.
Buying food rations for the whole family is not a high expense, but something strange happened this year.
Because of those big families with private soldiers and large amounts of farmland, they teamed up with the new king Karl and almost bought up all the farmers’ surplus grain.
More than twenty large and powerful families set crazy grain purchase prices, forcing all the free farmers of the Melalen tribe to sell their surplus grain at low prices.
Whether they are businessmen selling timber, concentrated ores, jewelry, metals, leather and other industries, or even second-tier dealers who are not involved in production, everyone has to find those big families who set up grain shops in the market. Silver coins could only buy ten pounds of wheat, and the price was too high.
What price is this?
This is the price for a bad harvest year!
As for the purchase price offered by the big families, one silver coin is enough to buy twenty pounds, and they will make double their profits.
Businessmen from all walks of life cannot buy grain directly from farmers, so they have to buy it at high prices from big families.
The most powerful people in Mellaren have used force and teamed up to monopolize food prices.
This is not the end yet.
The trend of price increases has spread throughout the Svealand region, especially the tribes around the Melalen people. They suffered a lot of losses in the war. In order to restore their strength as soon as possible, they need a lot of money.
The tribes welcome the increase in food prices. They hope to sell the food in exchange for more wealth.
Melaren’s food has been concentrated in the hands of major families, and farmers’ families only have rations and seeds left. A bumper harvest? What a travesty. The plunder of the big families was like a flood, and the people experienced warThe loss was followed by another disaster.
For example, the local big families such as the Yermalen people and the Onkras people are not so barbaric, and their people can still make a fortune during the period of high food prices.
Also because the tribes were forced to obey the arrangements of the Melalen people, the Melalen family and the king's family set prices, and all tribes had to abide by them.
But the question is, who is the big buyer?
Businessmen from all walks of life bought grain with their noses in their hands. Of course, they could not digest it successfully with a good harvest. What to do with the remaining food?
Every tribe is eyeing the Russians, and the Russians are the big buyers!
Each small tribe has its own ideas. If the Russians can be good people and buy food at a loss, everyone will be happy. If they don't buy it, the food is food. It's okay for the tribesmen to eat it slowly. Brewing wine is another option.
Especially the big families of Melalen, they hope that the Russians can be taken advantage of.
The Russians are finally here.
The Aurora landed on Gould Island, and a group of elites including Rurik, Otto, and even Gould got off the ship.
Following them were hundreds of uniformly dressed Rus warriors.
The docking of the huge fleet is really breathtaking. The large number of masts form a forest on the lake, and the large number of cargo ships make the fishing boats on the lake seem insignificant.
With the return of Arik's fleet, the Russians had no time to repair the ships, so they had to order these hard-working ships to assemble all forty cargo ships and rush to Lake Mälaren.
They didn’t even have time to clean up a cabin of sheep dung eggs left behind when transporting sheep.
The modified cargo ship can carry up to twenty tons of cargo! It is also possible for the overloaded Aurora to carry forty tons of cargo.
The Ross fleet came prepared and bought one million pounds of wheat, equivalent to more than 300 tons. They did have enough ships to transport it back.
The long voyage made Rurik mentally depressed, but after drinking a glass of low-alcohol wine that resembled grape juice stored on the island, he recovered a lot.
The Russians began to eat wheat cakes made from new wheat on the island and gnawed on newly caught grilled bass.
"The food is very good. It seems that the rumors are true. The people of Mälaren are celebrating a good harvest." Otto was in a good mood. He wolfed down his food and called Gould, "Big businessman. , the next thing depends on you."
"Of course, we are big buyers of grain. Lake Mälaren has a bumper harvest this year, and we will use a sum of money to buy more grain."< /p>
Gould was confident, Rurik nodded and pointed, "According to our plan, we need to give farmers more money. Our plan is to win over those ordinary people and create a relationship between them and Yael (Big Landlord family)"
"Okay, I think we will succeed."
Gould laughed out loud, but the people who stayed on the island, their. His eyes kept wanderingDing, obviously there is something bad that he wants to report.
"You guys." Gould asked casually, "Has anything happened to Lake Malaren in the past few months? The Duke of Ross is here. Please report to the Duke immediately."
Those people are deeply trusted by Gould, and each of them can serve as an excellent accountant. They looked at each other and reported the most important things.
Their introduction was surprising, followed by fury!
Gould was stunned for a moment, then slammed the table: "Damn hungry wolf! Shameless rat! Despicable Karl!"
Aric drew his sword directly, "Hateful ! If I had known I would have killed him in Visby! I never imagined that this villain would dare to trick us over the food issue."
Otto's eyes were bloodshot, and his anger was reflected in his hands. The deformed silver cup.
Fortunately, Otto was not a firecracker that would explode at the first moment. He hurriedly turned to look at his son, "Rurik! It was a major test. Karl became a despicable person. What should we do? Just go ashore and chop him down." Did you kill him?"
Otto was not polite at all, because the whole of Mellaren was saying that the initiator of the crazy low-price forced acquisition and the even more crazy high-price sales was Karl.
Part of the truth is indeed true. Karl did not think too much. He knew that he would use this method to establish his power and deterrence. Just like a father can discipline his son at will, isn't his power, Karl, questioned? Now, the people have tasted the power of the tyrant, and he demonstrates his power in this way.
The situation has changed dramatically. Rurik gently closed his eyes and carefully considered the current situation to plan a new countermeasure.
Everyone is waiting for this young think tank to come up with a new plan.
The emotional situation was not in Rurik's prediction. Now that the deal was done, his mind opened his eyes again after a high degree of calculation, and he thought of a new set of countermeasures.
“Our purpose is still to create confrontation among the Melalen tribe, to turn ordinary farmers against powerful landowners. Therefore, we still have to buy food from farmers.”
< p> "You still want to buy farmers' grain?" Gould stretched out his fat head: "What my people investigated is true. Karl looted their wheat, and it is unlikely that they would sell their grain rations. Give it to us.""No! As long as we give you enough money.""This is true," Gould said silently. Mouth.
"Those farmers must save enough grain and rations. They have a lower limit. And we don't really want to take away their rations. I only buy one pound of wheat. Pay them ten silver coins.”
Who doesn’t think this is ridiculous?
Gould concluded that Rurik had a plan. Sadly, he was a self-proclaimed business elite but could not immediately realize it.
“Why?”
“I want to send people to target every farmer and go door to door to buy them.They have a pound of wheat. I want to tell them that the people of Mellaren lost a lot in the war, and this unequal sale is an emotional compensation given to them. It was the Russians who took pity on them. ”
“Is that just that? Gould grimaced and shook his head: "Do you hope they owe you a favor?" Expect them to turn against the leader of Mellaren because of this? I don't think so. These farmers would feel that they deserved the silver coins given by the Russians. "
Otto also agreed with what Gould said: "Rurik, I think this is inappropriate. They are the defeated, how dare a defeated person ask for spoils of war? How ridiculous. "
Rurik shrugged: "I don't expect them to appreciate it. I just hope that through this move, I can tell the most ordinary farmers that the Russians are rich and will give them money generously. There are farmers among them, whose husbands died in Olegin's war to get rid of debts. Now that her husband is dead, the family is still in debt. As long as we give such people a sum of money, the debt will disappear immediately. At this time, if we persuade them to immigrate, will it be very smooth? "
Gould thought for a while, and he felt that doing things this way would have a positive effect, but the final result was really hard to say.
"Perhaps, the farmer will think carefully and not give up what they have already done. Some land. They are not fools and know that the soil in Roseburg cannot grow a single wheat seedling. "
Rurik immediately said: "They may not be willing to immigrate immediately. They at least know that if they can't survive, there is a new way to go to Russia. ”
“So, you still place your hope on their own decision? Gould thought of another thing and still expressed doubts: "If you give them money, it will naturally subsidize their lives, and debtors can also repay their debts." But I don't have any expectations for Carl. I believe this person will give many reasons, such as inventing a new tax and taking away the silver coins from the farmers' hands. In this way, the farmer is still in debt and his life is still the same. Also, because of the failure of the war and the death of the man's family, their debts will not be reduced, and their future life will be particularly difficult. ”
“Oh! That would be great! Carl did a great job for me! "Rurik's attitude seemed quite abnormal.
Otto immediately asked: "What good can a leader who abuses his tribe do?
Rurik was about to laugh but stopped: "So you think they have nothing after their money is taken away?" ”
“Isn’t it? "Gould asked rhetorically.
"No! They were also disappointed with the leaders of Mellaren and the big landowners. Disappointment will turn into anger, and anger will turn into hatred. Unfortunately, they are just ordinary people and cannot oppose those big players. Their hatred is difficult to express, but they are really angry, and then they find themselves powerless. At this time, they will think of escaping from Mellaren and finding a new world to take root. These farmers and fishermen are the real strength of the Melalen tribe, and our New Fort Ross and the vast areas to the east can accommodate them. And what I have to do is to keep them alive and they will be supported.hold. "
Now Gould understood it, and Otto understood it to a certain extent.
"How wonderful! In this way, no matter what Carl does, things will develop towards the goal we designed. "Gould praised.
"This matter cannot be rushed. Mälaren would not fall apart because of a modest defeat. "
Otto nodded: "Just do as you say. Tomorrow, we will send people into the farmhouses that live along the lake and give them silver coins. "
That night, Rurik revised their old plan.
The ultimate goal of the Russians is to take away as many civilians as possible from the Melalen tribe. The Russians will not Any violent means, even if there is violence, is an act of killing with a knife.
The Duke of Ross must appear to be a sincere and good person, because Rurik does not think that those farmers have many evil intentions. . If you give money to them, you are a good person. If you take their money, you are a bad person.
Rurik is already eager to give money to the civilians and then send troops to steal the money.
< p>The weather was getting colder and colder, and to make matters worse, an extremely cold light rain fell the day after the Ross caravan arrived.The rain started at night, and the rainfall itself was not heavy. The temperature dropped to a very bad level.
On this night, some poor and elderly Melalen people froze to death in their sleep, but what happened to these big families who owned vast farmland. What's the relationship?
The huge Ross fleet is surrounded by the wooden castle on Gould Island, and the largest Avora is like a floating island.
It is extremely humid and cold! The weather is really not a good time to do business. On this day, the Merlaren Market was supposed to be open to the Russians. All the merchants closed their wooden doors based on their usual experience. Only madmen would trade in the rain despite the mud. , then the result of opening the business is that there are no customers, only cold and humid air.
After all, they didn’t even invent umbrellas, and they didn’t even have so-called rain ponchos. Just leather.
The cold weather could not stop a brave man named Bjorn.
Bjorn took a boat and rowed his own private army. In the early morning, he arrived at Gould Island in the rain.
In the dim light, he wiped his face covered with water and noticed that a group of small boats had also left Gould Island. < /p>
“Who is it? Could it be that he is the leader of the Rus? Or a businessman negotiating to buy wheat? ”
With the tasks entrusted by many big families, Bjorn was elected as the negotiator between the big families and the Ross people. He must try his best to facilitate transactions and sell the excess grain obtained by each family to Ross. Not to mention, he still wanted to make a lot of money.
But what happened to those small boats?
Bjorn didn’t think much about it. , he hopes to see Russian people who speak with weight when he lands on the island.It would be best if the Duke of Ross himself were here, so that his work would be easier to handle.
He is also an ambitious man who hopes to gain the second power of the Melalen tribe. If Karl loses power, it's time for him, Bjorn, to take his place.
As long as you do this well, each family can make a lot of money, and your strength will be recognized by each family.
The arrival of an uninvited guest surprised the people hiding in the warm wooden castle.
The cold and damp made Otto not want to move, but what about Rurik? He just wants to sleep well.
Only those sailors and soldiers who were ordered to give money to the poor farmers of Mälaren worked the hardest. As long as they completed their work well, the benefits would be inevitable.
Now, the uninvited guests are coming. This man immediately claimed that he was "Bjorn, the representative of all the landowning families in Mälaren", and made a straightforward statement to the guard guarding the gate. He came this time to discuss the major issue of grain trading with the Russians.
Now Rurik no longer has the right to sleep soundly. He stood up suddenly, intending to quickly discuss the purchase of wheat with the representative of the "Malaren Landlord Class" named Bjorn, because the Russians always needed a lot of wheat.
There is another key point. Rurik needed to know what the local landowners' attitude was towards King Karl who succeeded to the throne. If it is doubt and hatred, it must be provoked immediately.