Chapter 218： Merchant Fodgen is here again

Carlota and Ella, their lives finally calmed down.

The days go by day by day, and it's the end of July in a blink of an eye.

In the past month, even though the Mälaren people knew that the Danes had attacked the south, the enemy had no intention to continue fighting north. The Mellaren people took precautions, and all the men made the most basic war preparations.

The enemy did not expand the war, and over time, people gradually stopped worrying.

Because the climate is gradually getting cooler.

Autumn is coming, and the wheat fields around Mälarenburg have entered the final heading state, which is already a step away from maturity.

But before the wheat harvest, many crops have matured and transactions are completed in the market.

Gould didn't know whether the Roths were interested in the bunch of goods he brought back. After all, Rurik's attitude was that he wanted anything useful.

Onions, cabbage, yellow root carrots, these kinds of storage-resistant and large-volume vegetables, Gould has a lot of reserves.

There are also a lot of fresh raspberries. He also sent someone to buy these prunes and bake them into dried prunes.

He wondered, Rurik promised to buy food at twice the market price. What about fruits and vegetables? Does it also double the purchase price?

The only thing he can be sure of is that this year's Ross people are in great need of food.

In the past, my fleet going north often had a large number of empty ships. This year, the situation has to be completely changed.

Gould sits on the island himself, and sends his eldest son back to his hometown to inform him of the move.

In this way, his family members in Unkras, as well as the large amount of property still hoarding there, must first arrive at Gould Island.

In the imaginable future, this island, which has about two football fields, will become a huge cargo yard with a large number of ships mooring around the island.

Even if Gould has not started the move, his reputation has spread in the market.

Because the Briton men and women captured by Norwegian merchants were all bought by Gould.

He took away all the dirty little beggars on the street.

Beggars, those in rags squatting in the corner, they are real beggars.

They don't ask for money but just a bite of food, even if it is the fish bones they have eaten, they will try to eat it again. Sometimes a stench comes from hidden places in the street, and not surprisingly, it is a rotting corpse of a beggar who has been dead for a long time.

Does anyone have mercy on such a person? Yes, there are too few people who are kind.

The Mellaren tribe is indeed prosperous, and the gap between rich and poor within it is even more extreme. Once there is a natural disaster, the tenant farmers of the tribe go bankrupt. They don't want to become slaves, so they can only stay on the streets.

Merchant Gould almost collected all the beggars he had joined, and the security of the whole bazaar became better. For example, during this period, fish sellers basically no longer have to worry about their fish being stolen, and farmers who sell carrots do not need to consider their "extra losses."

Because all the beggars are on Gould Island, this place has become a nest of children!

To feed more than 70 children, if only to feed them, it is not a huge number. Besides, the children here are mainly girls, and some boys are too young to feed them. They don't need much food.

So many children want to become Rurik's servants?

Maybe the problem is not so simple.

Gould will transport as many children back as agreed, and he will make a reasonable amount of money from it. So what is the fate of these children? He naturally remembered the group of boys who had followed Rurik for war training. Perhaps Rurik was already preparing his young men for a wife in ten years' time?

Thinking about this, he was quite excited.

Gould has been idle recently, even with the two Ostara girls.

The boring days are temporary. He knows that when the wheat harvest season arrives, he will bring people into the market and buy the wheat as soon as possible, even if the wheat hasn't been dried yet.

Finally, there was a fat old guy who suddenly visited in a rowing boat.

This person is wearing a beautiful ferret hat with two beautiful feathers on the top. The man also wore a ferret coat, and the waist belt was wrapped with gold thread. His boots are made of black calfskin, and the stitching of the upper and sole is quite tight.

Such a well-dressed man is no one else but the businessman Verdegen.

The appearance of this person made Gould instinctively think that he had to finalize a big deal again.

At the dock, Gould met him personally.

Two businessmen with financial resources embraced each other enthusiastically. It was this smile, full of business atmosphere. They laughed on each other's faces, and when they talked about business topics, they all wanted to get the most benefits.

Goodall is willing to do business with Fodgen, his picture is the leather and leather clothing in Fodgen's hands.

Because in the Merlaren business circle, mainstream merchants all know this Verdegen, who buys cowhide and processes it into leather clothes, and then earns another processing fee. In the past, a few tailors who lived in the diaspora did this kind of thing, but Fodgen had gathered a group of tailors to work for him.

"My friend, is it my good thing that attracted you? Maybe you should land on my island earlier. I'm sorry, my high-quality goods will be sold clean."

Fodgen gently pushed the old man away: "Don't mention it, I have suffered a lot this year."

"You have an accident?"

"South! The Ostala people were attacked, and I was also implicated. You should have heard about this. I escaped with the Gran people to avoid being hacked to death by the Danes..." Fodegen deliberately Describing his own experience a bit miserable, in reality, his loss was not serious.

"Oh, it's so miserable, let's talk about it in the room. Come here, make arrangements for my friend."

Gould recruited two mercenaries to entertain Fodgen and his attendants into the chamber.

He turned around and called Jeflo: "Go and call those two girls."

"Yes, my lord."

Jeflo quickly ran away, and soon he pulled Carlotta and Ella who were having fun, and brought them to Gould who had been waiting for a while.

"My lord, is there anything important?" Carlotta asked weakly, receiving a happy face.

"One thing. A friend of mine just came here. I suspect that your sisters also recognize that person. Now come with me and verify my guess."

"We recognize?" Carlotta thought for a while, "Well, it would be great if we could know the whereabouts of my people."

What other acquaintances do you have? Carlotta felt that this fat Gould could be described as a businessman with great powers, maybe he had been dealt with in his own tribe.

The two girls followed closely behind Gould and walked off the side door to enter the chamber, which is the place for business negotiations.

At this time, Fodegen, who had come a little earlier, had already stared at the transparent crystal glass filled with wine, and his mind was full of envy. He wanted to take it as his own, just because there were Gould's mercenaries around him staring fiercely like a door god.

Gould came, and he coughed twice, which caused Fodgen to look up suddenly.

It was precisely this rising head, Carlotta and Ella, they were stunned.

"It's you?! Fodgen!" Carlotta exclaimed and then suddenly covered her mouth, subconsciously grabbing Gould's belt.

Ella was even more frightened, so she hugged her sister's body tightly and closed her eyes tightly.

"You...you? Carlotta, Ella?! Is it you? Why are you two here?!" Verdegen was shocked on the spot, his trembling hand almost made the glass fall. On the ground.

Gould was a little surprised at this. Thinking about the girl's previous self-reports, and even Fodgen's self-reports, he estimated that he was afraid that each other had already been in contact.

"Hehe, I guess you know you. Haha, Verdegen, it's really you." Gould laughed, then shook his head with his mouth stretched. "Sit down, Verdegan, my friend. I hope you won't frighten these two canaries in the future."

"I..." Fordgen was sluggish for a while, he sat down and thought about the current situation, thinking more in his mind.

Even if they were a little fatter, Fodgen remembered the two faces.

Verdegen frowned: "My friend, I saved these two canaries and they ran away. They do not belong to me, but they do not belong to you. We are friends, I advise you, they are just as beautiful as they are. , It's not you and I can accept as wives and concubines."

"Yes! I heard. These two girls have told me what you want."

"Indeed, if I knew their identities long ago, I wouldn't have those thoughts. But you!" Verdegen's thick old face was strained, like a dark cloud suppressing the earth. "Friends, no matter what causes you to get them. Believe what I'm saying now, they are nobles of the Ostara people, and they are not owned by merchants like you and me. For our benefit, you should let them go! ."

"Oh? What if I don't agree?" Gould knew what the man meant, and he asked this on purpose.

"You disagree? Then, maybe I will lose a friend like you."

Now, Gould sipped his glass and smiled without saying a word.

Calota calmed down and sat next to Gould. She was surprised and tried to cheer up. First, she coughed twice and said: "Fordgen, since you know our identity, there will still be that kind of Ideas?"

"You... Carlotta, I don't dare. You are beautiful, but you are not a gem that someone like me can have."

"No!" Carlotta shook his head, "not only did you want us to be your concubines, you also ignorant of our amber and our gold coins. You are really greedy."

Gould immediately agreed and said: "I heard them tell me about this, but I didn't expect it to be you. Fordgen, you won't be able to do business for long when you are in danger."

"I... You two joined forces to attack me?" Verdegen blushed and said, "If I knew her identity, I wouldn't want her to be my wife."

"Furthermore, you forced many of my people to be slaves. You are really vicious." Carlotta continued to criticize.

Carlotta was very young, and she uttered harsh words like a knife with a sullen face, which made Fodgen uncomfortable.

He immediately defended: "Carlotta, you can't say that. I didn't force your people! Your people are going to starve to death. I bought cows from the Granites and gave you beef. I am a businessman. It’s right to ask you for a reward! My boy, you don’t have to deny it. If you and Ella didn’t eat my beef, you would have starved to death!"

There is indeed no falsehood in this matter. Carlotta nodded: "It is. But our surviving people are still your slaves. They must all be sold by you, because that's what you said at the time."

Gould also interjected with a sullen face: "You are a merchant of duty, and you did not expect to be a slave trader, just like those Norwegians. If you are selling enemies, I have nothing to say. Now you It has fallen to the point where even the clansmen of allies sell it."

At this time, Fodgen seemed to be demonstrating well, he himself was already mad, and he simply followed their inferences for the time being.

Verdegen deliberately put on a fearless appearance: "You are right. Doing business, I just ask for money. The Ostara people are indeed miserable. Compared to the Danish army that kills people, I at least A hundred people have been saved, and they are at least still alive."

"Slave? It's better to be alive than to die." With these words, Carlotta had already shed two lines of tears.

Upon seeing this, Verdegen denied it, and he shook his hands desperately for it: "Child, you are wrong. Gould, you are all wrong. Don't get me wrong again, I didn't really become a slave trader."

"That's a liar! A greedy liar! You offended me." Carlotta said the most vicious words in the weakest posture, and her little face was flushed with the anger of Lili.

Fodgen didn’t talk to the little girl. He told Gould: “I’ve heard something these days. You said I’m going to be a slave trader, Gould, you’re not trying to collect the beggars on the streets of Mellaren. Er. I have heard about this. It is said that a businessman almost took the beggar away. There are rumors that that businessman is you and you are also a slave trader."

"I do not deny what you learned is the truth, but not the truth. I have raised those children well, and now all the children are healthy. In the future, I will send the children to the Ross people. ."

"Send to the Ross people? What are you doing?"

"Because..." Gould thought about it again, and casually made up a reason to say: "The heads of the Russ like children very much, and they finally realized that abandoning baby girls is stupid. They have even gone to the East to absorb foreign women. Wife, I think you can understand."

"It's incredible. I thought they were still girls and simply couldn't afford to raise children. Did they just dislike little girls in the past?" Verdegen shook his head, "So you collected a lot of children? Oh, then you Really kind. You can feed so many beggars. You are really rich. Oh no, you are really kind."

"Haha, put away your flattery! Of course I am rich." Gould laughed. "The Ross people have said that they need more children, or a larger population. Friends, maybe you can guess, the Ross people..."

"Are they showing mercy?"

"No! They are too ambitious!" Gould said solemnly.