Rise of Rurik

"The Rise of Rurik ()"

The huge Ross fleet arrived at the estuary of Lake Mälaren. People living in the shallow waterways watched in horror as large ships with jibs drifted into the lake.

Great staggered blue strips were sewn on each grey-white sail, and the mast-tops were all hoisted with a unified flag.

The merchants around Lake Mälaren were looking forward to the arrival of the Ross caravan, and then followed the Russian fleet to the port of Roseburg safely.

It was already October, and the great defeat of the coalition forces and the heavy losses of the Melalen tribe had led to an obvious depression in the market's trade.

Some powerful businessmen have heard a saying that the Rus defeated the Gotland and plundered a lot of treasure.

More businessmen want to try their luck in the north, even if they have to pay a tax.

They do not see rabbits and do not throw eagles, because legends are legends. Even the powerful Melalen tribe was defeated, and the great king Olekin was killed in the battle. How could He Dehe of Rus really achieve a great victory by himself?

Only a few leather merchants went north spontaneously, and most of them were watching.

Of course, the industrial merchants in Melalen this year need to buy enough winter grains in the market after the harvest season.

Buying food for the whole family is not too expensive, but this year something strange happened.

Because of those big families with private soldiers and a lot of farmland, they teamed up with the new king Carl, and almost bought out the remaining grain of the farmer's house.

More than 20 large and powerful families set crazy food purchase prices, forcing all the free farmers of the Melalen tribe to sell their surplus food at low prices.

Whether it is the sales of wood, concentrate, jewelry, metal, leather and other industrial merchants, or even the second-hand dealers who are not involved in production, everyone has to find those big families who set up grain shops in the market, and a silver coin can only buy ten pounds of wheat ,the price is too high.

What price is this?

This is the price for those who owe the harvest!

And the purchase price that the big families came up with, one silver coin is enough to buy twenty pounds, and they will make twice as much.

Merchants from all walks of life could not buy food directly from farmers, they had to buy at high prices from big families.

The most powerful men in Melalen, who have used force, have teamed up to monopolize the price of food.

It's not over yet.

The trend of price hikes is fascinated by the entire Svealan region, especially the tribes around the Melalen people. They lost a lot in the war. In order to restore their strength as soon as possible, they need a lot of money.

The tribes welcomed the rise in food prices, and they hoped to sell food for more wealth.

Melalen's food has been concentrated in the hands of major families, and only rations and crops are left in the farmer's family. Harvest? What an irony. The plunder of the big family is like a flood disaster, and the people suffered another disaster after the war losses.

However, the local big families, such as the Yermalen people and the Ankras people, are not so savage, and their people may still make a fortune in the period of high food prices.

Also because the tribes were forced to obey the arrangements of the Melalen people, the big family of Melalen and the king's family set a price, which all tribes had to abide by.

But the question is, who are the big buyers?

Merchants from all walks of life bought grain while pinching their noses, but of course they couldn't talk about the success of the harvest. What to do with the rest of the food?

The various tribes are staring at the Rus, and the Rus are the big buyers!

Each small tribe has its own ideas. If the Rus people are good people and suffer from a loss to buy food, then everyone will be happy. If they don't buy it, the grain is the grain, and the clansmen can eat it slowly, and wine is another option.

Especially the big family of Melalen, they hoped that the Russ would make a fool of themselves.

The Roths are finally here.

The Avrora lands on Gould Island, and Rurik, Otto, and even Gould and others, a group of elites disembarked.

It was followed by hundreds of uniformly dressed Rus warriors.

The port of call of the huge fleet is really amazing,

A large number of masts constitute a forest on the lake, and a large number of cargo ships make the fishing boats on the lake seem insignificant.

With the return of the Arik sub-fleet, the Russ had no time to repair the ships, so they had to order these hard-working ships to assemble all forty cargo ships to go to Lake Melaron.

They didn't even have time to clean up a cabin of sheep dung eggs left behind when transporting sheep.

The modified cargo ship has a maximum cargo capacity of twenty tons! And the overloaded Avrolla can carry 40 tons of cargo.

The Ross fleet came prepared to buy one million pounds of wheat, equivalent to more than three hundred tons, and they did have enough ships to transport them back.

The long voyage had made Rurik lethargic, but the low-alcohol wine stored on the island, which resembled grape juice, refreshed his spirits a lot.

The Rus began to eat wheat cakes made by Xinmai and nibble on freshly caught grilled sea bass on the island.

"The food is very good. It seems that the rumors are true. The people of Melalen welcome the harvest." Otto was in a good mood, he devoured his fill and greeted Gould, "Big businessman, the next thing depends on is you."

"Of course, we are big buyers of grain. This year's Lake Meralen has a bumper harvest, and we will use a sum of money to buy more grain."

Gould was confident, Rurik nodded and pointed, "According to our plan, we will give the farmers a little more money. Our plan is to win over those ordinary people and create conflicts between them and the Yar (big landlord family). "

"Well, I think we'll make it."

Gould laughed out loud, but the eyes of the people who stayed on the island had been erratic, and they obviously had something bad to report.

"You guys." Gould asked casually, "Has anything major happened to Lake Mälaren these past few months? The Duke of Ross is here, and you should report to the Duke as soon as possible."

Those people were deeply trusted by Gould, and each could be an excellent bookkeeper. They looked at each other and reported the most important things.

Their presentation was astonishing, followed by rage!

Gould was stunned for a moment, then slammed the table: "Damn hungry wolf! Shameless rat! Despicable Carl!"

Arik drew his sword directly, "Damn it! I knew I would cut him in Visby! I never thought that this villain would dare to harass us on the issue of food."

Otto's eyes were bloodshot, and his anger was reflected in the deformed silver cup in his hand.

Fortunately, Otto didn't blow up the gun battle at one point. He hurriedly turned his head to look at his son, "Rurik! A major test, Karl became a despicable villain. What should we do? Go directly to the shore and cut him?"

Otto was not polite at all, because the whole Melalen was talking about the crazy low price forced acquisition and then the crazy high price sale, and the initiator was Carl.

Part of the truth is that Carl doesn't think much of it, and he sees this as a deterrent to his power. Just like a father can discipline his son at will, isn't Carl's power questioned? Now, the people have tasted the power of the tyrant, and he has shown his power in this way.

The situation had undergone tremendous changes, and Rurik closed his eyes gently, carefully considering the current situation and planning a new countermeasure.

Everyone is waiting for the young think tank to come up with a new plan.

The mood situation was completely within Rick's prediction. Now that the boat was done, his mind opened his eyes after a high degree of calculation, and he thought of a new set of countermeasures.

"Our purpose is still to create a confrontation in the Melalen tribe, to make ordinary farmers oppose those powerful landowners. Therefore, we still have to buy food from farmers."

"And the farmers' grain?" Gould stuck out his fat head: "What my people are investigating is true. Carl scavenged their wheat, and it's unlikely that they would take out their rations and sell them to us. ."

"No! They will. As long as we pay enough."

"This... this is also true." Gould silently closed his mouth.

"Those farmers, they have to keep enough grain and rations, they have a lower limit. And we don't really want to take their rations away. I only buy a pound of wheat and pay them ten silver coins. "

Who doesn't think this is ridiculous?

Gould decided that Rurik had a strategy, but sadly, his self-proclaimed business elite didn't realize it right away.

"why?"

"I'm going to send people to every farmer, going door-to-door to buy them a pound of wheat. I'm going to tell them that the Mellarens have lost a lot in the war, and this unequal deal is an emotional compensation for them. Yes. The Rus pity them."

"Just like that?" Gould shook his head with a sullen mouth. "You want them to owe you a favor? Expect them to oppose the leader of Melalen because of this? I don't think so. These farmers will feel that the silver coins given by the Rus people They deserve it."

Gould also agreed with Otto: "Rurik, I don't think this is appropriate. They are defeated, and even a defeated person dares to ask for spoils? It's absurd."

Rurik shrugged: "I don't expect them to appreciate it, I just hope to tell the most ordinary farmers through this act that the Rus people are rich and will give them money generously. There are no farmers among them, and the husband wants to get rid of them. Olekin, whose debts will die, fights wars. Now that her husband is dead, the family is still in debt. As long as we give this kind of people a sum of money, the debt will be gone immediately. At this time, if we persuade them to emigrate, will it be very smooth? ?"

Gould thought about it, and he felt that doing things like this would have positive effects, but the final result was really hard to say.

"Perhaps the farmers will not give up the land they have. They are not fools, knowing that the soil in Roseburg will not grow a single wheat seedling."

Rurik immediately said: "They may not be willing to immigrate immediately. At least they know that if they can't survive, there is a new way to go to Ross."

"So, you still rely on their own decisions?" Gould thought of one more thing, and still expressed doubts: "You give them money to subsidize their lives, and the debtors can also repay their debts. But I I don't have any expectations for Carl. I'm sure this guy will give a lot of reasons, such as inventing a new tax and forcibly taking away the silver coins from the farmer's hands. So the farmer is still in debt, and his life is the same. And because of the defeat of the war , the families of dead men, their debts are not reduced, and the future life will be particularly difficult."

"Oh! That would be great! Karl did a good thing for me!" Rurik's attitude seemed rather abnormal.

Otto immediately asked: "What good is a leader who abuses his tribe?"

Rurik wanted to laugh before he stopped: "So you think that they have nothing left after being robbed of their money?"

"Isn't it?" Gould asked rhetorically.

"No! They are still disappointed, the leaders of Melalen and the big landowners. Disappointment will turn into anger, and anger will turn into hatred, but unfortunately they are just ordinary people and cannot oppose those big households. Their hatred is difficult to exert, But they are really angry, and then find themselves powerless, and at this time they will think of fleeing Melalen and finding a new world to take root. These farmers and fishermen are the true strength of the Melalen tribe, our New Roseburg and the vastness of the East There is room for them. And I, all I have to do is keep them alive and they will be supported."

Gould understood now, and Otto understood somewhat.

"How wonderful! This way, no matter what Carl does, the situation will develop towards the goal we designed." Gould praised.

"It's just that it shouldn't be rushed. Melalen won't fall apart in a loss that's not too big."

Otto nodded: "Just do as you said. Tomorrow, we will send people into those farmhouses that live along the lake and give them silver coins."

That night, the Ruriks revised their old plan.

The ultimate goal of the Rus is to take as many Melalen civilians as possible. Rus people will not take any violent means, even if there is violence, they will kill with a knife.

The Duke of Ross had to act like a sincere good man, because Rurik didn't think the peasants had a lot of heart. Give them money, they are good people, and rob them of money, they are evil people.

After Rurik was too eager to give the civilians more money, Karl went to steal the money again.

The weather was getting colder and colder. To make matters worse, the very cold light rain fell the day after the Ross caravan arrived.

The rain started at night, the rain itself was not big, but the temperature dropped to a very bad level.

It was this night that some poor and elderly Melalen people froze to death in their sleep, but what did these big families have to do with their vast farmland?

The huge Ross fleet surrounds the wooden castle of Gould Island, and the largest Avrora is like a floating island!

The extremely humid and cold weather is really not a good time to do business. This day was supposed to be the Melalen Market which was open to the Rus, and all the merchants closed their wooden doors. Based on their ordinary experience, only a lunatic would ignore the mud and rain to trade, so the result of opening the business is to welcome no customers, only the cold and humid air.

After all, they didn't even invent umbrellas, not even ponchos to keep out the rain. The so-called rain gear is just leather.

The cold weather could not stop a brave man named Bjorn.

Bjorn took a small boat, rowed under his own private soldiers, and arrived at Gould Island in the early morning rain.

The light was dim, and he wiped his face full of water, noting that a group of boats had also left Gould Island.

"Who is it? Will it always be 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 Rus. He must try his best to facilitate the transaction and sell the surplus food obtained by each family to the Rus. Make a fortune.

Just what's up with those boats? Why are there still boats going to remote places?

Bjorn didn't think much about it. He hoped that he would see someone from the Ross who speaks when he landed on the island. It would be better if the Duke of Ross himself was here, so that his job would be easier.

He is also a careerist, and he hopes to gain the second power of the Melalen clan. If Carl loses power, he should be replaced by Bjorn.

As long as this matter is done well, each family can make a lot of money, and their strength will be recognized by each family.

The landing of an uninvited guest surprised the people hiding in the warm wooden castle.

The cold and dampness made Otto not want to move, and what about Rurik? He just wanted to sleep well.

Only those sailors and soldiers who were ordered to give money to the poor Melalen farmers were the hardest. As long as they did their jobs well, the benefits were indispensable.

Now, here comes the uninvited guest. This person claimed that he was "Bjorn, the representative of all the landlord families in Melalen", and stated bluntly to the guards that he came here to discuss the big issue of food sales with the Rus.

Now Rurik has no right to sleep soundly. He got up abruptly, intending to quickly discuss the purchase of wheat with the representative of the "Merlaren landlord class" named Bjorn, because the Rus people will always need a lot of wheat.

There is another key point. Rurik needed to know the attitude of the local big landowners towards the king Karl who succeeded the throne. If it is doubt and hatred, it must be provoked immediately.