Chapter 388： The buds of the Guldot shipbuilding plan

Gould is an old age. He sometimes feels the pain of splitting his head (actually atherosclerosis). Whenever he has a headache, he asks his slave or concubine to rub his head for him, and he fears that his life will be approaching. Of course he is afraid of death, but death is something everyone will experience.

That's why he hung a deer head, shield and axe in his bedroom. He sometimes imagined that he was a warrior, so that after death, the soul might enter Valhalla gloriously. He feels better when he thinks of this.

He consciously found a good opportunity when he entered, but he had to grasp the extreme and obtain a little "God's grace" by contributing to the "son of God" Rurik. Of course, in reality, it is also to gain political capital for his descendants, especially the eldest son Snoreva, who will inherit most of his wealth, and he needs to get the long-term reuse of Rurik’s future for the eldest son because of his efforts.

"My great, invincible, and glorious leader." Gould used several good words to describe Rurik and Otto. Otto felt very refreshed, that is, Rurik got goose bumps all over his body. Up.

"What do you want to say?"

"Ah! If the leader permits, these hundred pounds of silver coins, I hope to exchange them for a new big ship."

"Huh?" Rurik understood Gould's attempt at once: "You? Are you planning to donate a big ship like the Aphrora?"

"Yes! Even if it is expensive, I will add some more money and let the Hotra family build it. I will give this ship to you as the second large warship of our Russ."

"Okay, since you are willing. I originally intended to rebuild at least five big ships, and your cooperation moved me."

Hearing it, Gould was only shocked, "What? There are actually five more?"

"Yes, if we have more wealth, we should build ten or more. I must have some powerful ships to defend our future maritime trade."

"That's true." Gould nodded, he admired and was shocked by the long-term vision of the child Rurik, "I have only one extremely humble request now."

"Let's talk about it. If you want to be the owner of the second ship, you can have many requirements."

"In fact, there is only one. I wish to name the ship. I wish it to be called the Gould."

"Huh? It's over?"

Gould nodded, but Rurik was not satisfied: "What do you call a ship? I need to tell you clearly that you need to call Gould ‘hon (her)’."

"Ah? You..." Gould also slapped his forehead, only to think of the so-called evil taste that Rurik has always had. "To this day, do you still call the ship a woman? It's really strange, but it's also a bit interesting."

"Really strange? But like our big ships, each one must have a unique name. A ship is like a woman, and a man drives a big ship like a wife. If a ship has a soul, then it is a woman, or a Beautiful elves from the sea."

Gould seriously confirmed the look in Rurik's eyes and determined that the child was serious.

He felt that this statement was very dreamy, but it was not. Rurik was quoted by the Roman poet Virgil. Roman poetry may have fixed this cultural phenomenon in the Greco-Roman classical era in a literary form, and influenced the navies of the European countries. Oh, except for Germany, Germany treats ships as brothers.

Rurik mentioned the "elf of the sea". He used the term "elf", which itself is hidden in the cultural life of the Rus or Vikings.

Gould thought for a while, he suddenly enlightened, and suddenly pulled out his necklace. Among the many ambers, he deliberately displayed an individual carved into a villain, or a female elephant.

"This is the lucky elf, I probably understand what you mean. Sailing is just like doing business, full of risks and opportunities. Every ship needs a lucky elf to guard."

Gould's remarks also surprised Rurik: "Ah... that's it."

Rurik thought about it again. Now that he can no longer bother to explain to Gould, the so-called contribution of Roman poets to the anthropomorphization of ships, and even the Rus people should try their best to learn from Rome if they want to make great achievements.

The Ross people obviously have their own excellent culture. He will do it all: "Maybe I should erect a wooden sculpture on the bow of Aphrora. It is no longer a hideous beast, but the image of a beautiful girl, best behind her. There is also a pair of wings. She is the elf of the ship and will make all sailors get lucky."

Gould smiled instantly, and he slapped his thighs violently: "Wonderful! Everyone is afraid of hitting rocks, ice and storms. If we do this, everyone will feel at ease. Then I can call her Gu for the boat I donated. Gulddotter."

Rurik immediately understood the meaning. This old guy was really witty, and he directly named Big Ship his daughter. After all, the funds for the second ship are the old guy who is willing to invest alone. The owner of the ship belongs to the family of the leader. He has got a big deal, so he can just name it.

As for the shipbuilding plan itself, Otto has no objections. His only concern is the funding issue. Rurik was able to pull funds from Gould, but the total cost of a big ship far exceeded Otto’s imagination. If it were placed three or four years ago, he would think it was a poisonous mushroom nerve. An opinion from a confused person.

After all, three years ago, in the corner of Roseburg, the currency as a medium of exchange was very scarce as a whole, which resulted in even copper coins having high currency values. Thirty silver coins are enough to build a fishing boat, and only one pound of silver coins for a long boat.

As a result of the successful revenge action, a huge influx of silver coins changed not only Roseburg, but also the entire tribal alliance. Although the price of shipbuilding has skyrocketed due to inflation, there is too much money to build such as the Aphrodite, even absurd.

A ship can't wait for twenty thousand silver coins! Otto only hoped that the Aphrodite could be as powerful as she was originally designed to demonstrate the authority of the leader.

Gould quickly took out two hundred pounds of silver coins. After taking out the funds, his family actually didn't have much deposits. Because of the trade, a large amount of silver coins actually flowed into the Merlaren tribe and spread to the main tribes in the several alliances around the lake.

The Russians must earn back these silvers through trade. This year, they hoarded a large amount of high value-added goods. Regardless of what he would talk about, Rurik would soon have to sit on the Aphrora, which was up and down, and simply let her carry a lot of cargo to make a fortune in Merlaren.

Taxation work will begin immediately.

As the chief of the tribe, Otto issued a special order to the entire Roseburg Fjord, which is to prohibit all ships from leaving the port for three days. Even if there is no ban, the wise people will not dare to rush into the sea that is still full of ice floes. The fishermen of the entire tribe are now waiting quietly.

A large amount of iceberg melt water is injected into the fjords and the vast Bothnia Bay. The floating ice on the sea is basically not a threat to the deliberately made very strong ships, as long as the ships will not be hit by the giant ice lumps. In this hydrological state, many merchant ships have the ability to run away. If they really get caught up in the dark, Otto will not be able to make any money.

As a result, some merchants really planned to escape at night.

But Otto is not a fool, and others are not confused. The escaping merchant tried to push his ship into the sea, and was soon caught by the ambush. How to deal with these anti-tax evaders?

Otto didn't put them to death, but they were not doing well. All goods and money were confiscated, and his whole family was demoted to slaves for logging, and they would be dispatched to remote places to work for up to three years! For example, Shilla Fort, which is in urgent need of labor.

Although Rurik feels a bit wrong about this standard of punishment, when they think that if the punishment is not severe, do they think that Roseburg is actually a good place to run whenever they want, and they can make money without paying taxes? Doesn't it mean that the Ross people have lost their tariff rights?

On a larger scale, this kind of escape behavior is a huge harm to Rose, and it is necessary to give strong punishment.

At least the Ross people did not kill these tax evaders. This method of killing the chickens and cursing monkeys has actually deterred those who intend to escape. Yes, Rurik thought that his family was a little bit indecisive last year. Some tax evaders slipped away with the money they earned before the ice and snow melted. Regarding the case of the ice trek provided by the messenger Mellaren, Rurik now does not think that the merchants who ran away last year would really freeze to death in the ice.

The agreed tax collection day is today, and Otto summoned all the merchants in front of the Aphrora, which was desperately awaiting launch.

There were more than 300 people here, all of whom were the heads of the merchant's household.

Since anyone trying to escape was captured, no one has escaped. It's just that all the wealth of those families has been confiscated. Thinking of the aggressive appearance of the Ross fighters, everyone still has lingering fears.

They became conscientious, just thinking about quickly handing over the money to keep them safe.

No, Otto stood directly on the bow. He looked down on everyone from a high position and said arrogantly: "You have to pay taxes if you make too much money in my territory. In the past winter, all merchants have earned money. When it comes to big money. Then you have to pay more taxes."

Otto didn't want to talk any more nonsense, he just wanted to clap his hands and announce the beginning of a performance.

Everything that follows is a drama.

Rurik, dressed in gorgeous costumes, accompanied by more than a dozen strong warriors, stood in front of a crowd of gorgeously dressed businessmen. Everyone has seen the beautiful Rurik, his face is still so clean, but the discerning people inadvertently noticed that his front tooth was missing.

"let's start!"

Otto roared from the heights. People still don’t know what happened. They saw a fat man with a fat body. He was also dressed in Chinese clothes, especially the woolen hat on top of his head, Shanghai with two green feathers (previously high price Purchased peacock feathers), this person is Gould infallible. Behind him, there are many little fat guys, needless to say, these are all cubs of the same family.

The more obese, the more proof the wealth of this family. The merchants are not fools either. They all know that what this family has done in recent years has been horrible things. They were jealous of the Goulds, and they wished they would come to be a doggie too, fortunately, the leader of Rose made a lot of money.

Some mercenaries kept by Gould carried two large wooden boxes together. They deliberately walked slowly to make the anxious merchants curious.

Their eyes focused on the heavy box, as if the contents were too heavy to describe in words.

The mercenaries were also acting. They unloaded the box in front of Rurik, pretending to be extremely tired, and the severe gasping sound seemed to have just finished the battle.

Gould deliberately loudly complimented: "The great leader of Ross, who is blessed by the great Odin, is the tax burden this year from my Gould family. According to the contract, I offer this year's 20,000 A silver coin to thank the Ross tribe for providing security and stability to my family."

Gould himself is revealing a principle that the so-called tax is not paid in vain, he is equivalent to the purchase of "Russian security."

The taxes amounted to 20,000 silver coins, and the clear figures shocked all the merchants present. Not only were they shocked that the tax burden was so high, but they were also surprised that Gould was doing such a big business.

"Very well, now I want to open the box." Rurik said in accordance with the script, "I want to see genuine silver coins."

The box was opened, and the white silver coins immediately attracted the onlookers.

They are more than three hundred people, they are the heads of all foreign merchants, and they are also the people in charge of wealth. The number of them is not large, so they almost all saw Rurik crouching down, stirring the silver coins with both hands on the spot, making a violent metal crash.

This is also in Rurik's plan to deeply stimulate their hearts.

"Boss, what do you think?" Gould asked, raising his head.

"You are doing a good job! You are really an honest person, I hope all businessmen have your honesty."

See what this said, other merchants standing under the huge ship, a strong sense of oppression made everyone nervous, and now the leader of the Russ hinted at a threat.

The merchants whispered to each other, and gradually some people began to shout that they would take money immediately.

More and more people are crying, claiming that they are also honest businessmen, and are infected by such an atmosphere. Who else would dare to say no?

The performance soon ended. Otto ordered the merchants to return quickly. Soon, he personally led a group of fighters to collect their taxes or tax-deductible goods from door to door. In order to act quickly in tax collection, he appointed his nephew Arik, his old buddy Harozsen and others, and also took the brothers to collect taxes separately.

This has almost evolved into a "predatory feast". Although the goods and money worth 30,000 silver coins are collected, it is normal for tax collectors to take advantage of the opportunity to gain a little more. There is no resistance from the merchants, and they would rather take more money to get rid of these tax collectors. In fact, they have no need to resist. First, they are looking for death. Second, they know the taxation policies of the Ross people from the beginning. They can come from merchants with some foundations only a pound of silver. They can get all the taxes.

The taxation work was extremely smooth, and it was finally completed in only two days. The currency of the tax was moved to the longhouse of the priest one after another, and the tax-deductible goods were moved to the warehouse built by Rurik for storage.

Rurik and his mercenaries immediately happily moved the two large boxes full of silver coins to the priest's long house, and then moved into the room where the wealth was stored.

He visited Veria by the way. The old man's condition was still bad, but her pain was not visible on the surface. If it is a person's luck to die without disease, when she sees that the things she has guarded for a lifetime have a great future and leave with hope, is it even greater luck?

Veria was extremely weak, and his thinking was still rigorous when he was awake.

She determined the time for this year's sailing ceremony, which was set on April 15th in the Julian calendar.

The day is very close, and it is not revealed that Mia has been walking around the priest's long house, reciting this year's sacrificial prayers.

Of course, this year's sailing festival is destined to be extraordinary, and the Aphrodite will be launched on this day.