Chapter 865： Delivery

Those land nobles did not feel that the free trade zone created by the Russ had any negative impact on their business and life. The trade with the Russ continued as usual, and the volume of trade this year was greater than usual.

The business transaction between Rurik and this group of nobles went very smoothly, because they had completed their negotiations more than half a year ago, and now is a good time for one party to deliver the ship and the other for food.

Especially the nobles of the Melaren tribe, they admire the big ships of the Rus people, and suffer from the lack of the shipbuilders of their tribes to build big ships. In other words, the tribes originally existed. Talents with skills immigrated to Ross one after another in pursuit of profit and stability. The loss of talents made the Mellaren tribe incapacitated.

Eight standard armed cargo ships berthed near the shore in Stockholm's port area. These ships floated from the far east and participated in the enthronement ceremony of Rurik in Uppsala.

These experiences are the best sea trials, and the ships have proved their seaworthiness.

The weapons of the eight ships, the only torsion slingshot installed on the bow of the ship, were unloaded. The ships have become pure cargo ships. As for whether to continue to transport cargo or to fish, or even enter the war, these are the wishes of the buyers.

As the king, Rurik was fully aware of the wishes of the nobles. They would not hesitate to transform them into weapons after purchasing the large ships at high prices. Although they were not capable of possessing the heavy weapons of the Russ, it was no problem to place a group of archers on the ship.

As far as weapons are concerned, these armed cargo ships are a supplement to the Russ fleet. Selling eight ships has no effect on the king's strength.

Their excitement can be seen from the smiling faces of the buyers. Holding this kind of ship can not pose any threat to the Ross people. It is enough to deal with other forces. This is exactly what the great aristocrats in Sweden need.

They used the newly harvested oats as currency. The delivery of the eight ships was quickly over. The total selling price of the ships was equivalent to 1,600 pounds of silver coins. The sails of traditional long boats generally steer large ships, drifting towards their tribe slowly following the wind.

They naturally took out 1,600 pounds of cash in one go, and completed the transaction with 1,600,000 pounds of oats. The price of this oatmeal is much higher than the current market price. Since it was negotiated more than half a year ago, it seems that the Ross people have suffered a big loss.

The four large tribes in Sweden bought a total of eight ships, and the nobles knew that the current market price of oats was one silver coin to fifteen pounds of wheat. The price of currency wheat bought for ships has increased by more than 30%, and the nobles feel that they have made a profit.

Rose suffers? not at all.

The comprehensive selling price of the armed cargo ship was also deliberately raised a lot by Lurik, which offset the high price of this grain.

The oats were thrown into the huge balance with the huge sack that contained it. The "grain spy" made by curling the iron sheet directly into the sack to check the quality of the wheat.

Rurik can tolerate some damp oats, and even tolerate the weight of the sack itself, and can't tolerate soil, sand, or even a pile of wet things in it.

As the king, he emphasized this point in particular, and made the nobles not dare to deceive the king by using fake and military threats.

It took three full days for the 1.6 million pounds of wheat sold from the ship to be transferred to the warehouse at Fort Gould Island.

The warehouse has piled up like a mountain, and the existing warehouse has completely burst, and the extra oats can only be transferred to the cabin of the ship that is still anchored as soon as possible.

The joy of a bumper harvest appeared on people's faces. Although Rose did not produce food in Lake Mälaren, everyone did welcome a bumper harvest.

"For a good harvest! Cheers!"

The huge mansion was brightly lit, and the top nobles of the Rus Kingdom gathered in the Gould Island fortress.

Rurik smiled, and many of his wives are looking forward to the dinner tonight.

A group of children openly played in the table. They were all the children of top nobles, chasing and screaming one by one.

They are their own flesh and blood, nephews with blood, and nephews with blood.

Some children are already very aware of their noble lineage, especially Velika. At the age of six, she knows her identity best-the successor of the High Priest of the Kingdom.

Velika is now acting as an ordinary lively girl, chased by a group of younger brothers, and she is also chasing her cousin.

Arik’s eldest son, Asgard, is nine years old. He is a full-fledged eldest child, less than three years away from the traditional twelve-year-old adult. The boy has grown into a ruthless man as heroic as his father in all aspects. The blood of the Slavs did not make him lose the slightest Nordic berserker's aura, or that he inherited the former and also had the "Slavic warfare". The power of the bear".

Asgard Alix was trained by his father Arik as a fighter. He can show fierce eyes. Although he has never killed anyone, he has already practiced with reindeer.

However, six-year-old Gustav, as his half-brother, looked much calmer because he was raised by his mother Asraki as a businessman.

Gustav had a very good friend, Kuznetslav, the eldest son of the royal blacksmith Kawi. The two parties did not have a direct common blood line, and they were distant relatives built by in-laws.

The clever Asraki builds his family’s business map in the Kingdom of Ross. One day Kuznetslav will become an extremely successful blacksmith, or the leader of the kingdom’s iron industry, and his son will become close friends with him. The opportunity to marry the two families in the future is really a wonderful thing.

Regrave is only five years old this year. He already knows very well that he is the designated heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Mercia. Unfortunately, his biological mother is dead. He is in Rose. Although King Rose is his father, this is not home after all. Although he is young, there is always caution and fear in his eyes.

Osborne Slav, the first heir to the throne of the Rose Kingdom in de jure, is the true eldest son, he is just an infant child. Although Oleg, the son of High Priest Lumia, was three years old and could run around, he was too weak.

The son of Carlotta, Duchess of Ostara, is about to be three years old. He has learned to walk, and his blond hair is exactly the same as his parents, especially his father Rürik.

The children are growing, and more children will be born soon.

Obviously, when the time entered the autumn of 840, a large number of the top nobles of Rose fell to the ground.

More than the top aristocratic group, the entire kingdom of the Rus Principality part, the baby boom in recent years has never stopped. The infant mortality rate has dropped greatly, because more food is produced and stored, and it is possible to raise more children.

What is the food harvest in the East this year? This can be seen only from the wheat harvest in Lake Mälaren in the west!

The children were still playing until the soldiers walked into the warm house carrying a large urn full of cooked oats on their shoulders.

Then all the children obediently returned to their seats, clasping their little hands and waiting for their delicious meal to be delivered.

The scent of wheat permeated the large room, and people who smelled the scent were drooling.

The men who had drunk some ale spoke freely, and Otto, who was blushing, raised his glass again: "Okay! This is this year's new wheat! We will be happy if we eat it."

"Then don't linger? Let your subordinates sell it to everyone." Ruriek glanced at the white fox and urged.

At this moment, the white fox has something to report to the king. Everything is good. He needs the king Rürik to feast on the big harvest this year in Sweden.

The cooked oats are sprinkled with some salt, and you can eat them after stirring.

This kind of food is called "porridge", which is the second most traditional food in Sweden, which is different from raw herring.

The Ross people are from Sweden, so it is not surprising that they eat wheat like this, but as aristocrats, even eating this simple traditional cuisine must add some luxury.

The honey poured on the wheat, and everyone chewed with relish and waited for the hard dish of the barbecue.

After giving birth, the mother fed her child, like Regalaf without her biological mother, and it was Queen Svetlana who took care of Osborn while taking care of him.

The men here are eating wheat and drinking wine, as if they had made a cut with women and children.

Rurik then ate and drank more and more, but because the room was a little hot, he was only wearing a white soft linen shirt, and he rolled up his sleeves to reveal the golden hair of his arms.

It seems that Arik is more rough, he took off his shirt and the warrior's a little exaggerated "golden chest hair", and the proud record on his arm-a scary scar. This is the glorious medal of Gotland after the battle.

What about the white fox? He didn't care too much, his chest hair was also showing up, and he even had a big round belly.

"You! You are a fat white seal." The slightly drunk Arik said unceremoniously, and his words were even more exciting: "I really don't know how much oil is in your stomach."

"Oil? I'm afraid it's not oil, but I'm still a baby! It's a pity that I am a man and can't have children."

The self-deprecation of the white fox caused the audience to laugh, and even the old Otto was as excited as a monkey, waving his glass vigorously while laughing wildly, and splashing the unfinished ale everywhere.

The white fox enlivened the atmosphere and saw that King Rurik was in a good mood, and the report was due at the time.

Smile and laugh enough. Before the barbecue dish was served, he pulled out the folded paper from his waist and showed it to the public.

"Friends, come and see me. Look at what I have in my hands."

"What are you?" The slightly drunk Rurik asked when he looked up.

"Wang! This is... our harvest statistics in Sweden this year. I tried my best to count. Is this a surprise for you?"

"Is it a wonderful list?" Rurik understood what he meant, and ordered: "Surprise everyone to share."

"Yes!"

White Fox showed a long statistical report. He himself was slightly drunk, so he sat cross-legged and spread out the paper to read the data.

Ross's glassware, soaps, leather products, and ironware products sell very well, and the benefits of these products for Ross have increased as compared with previous years.

In particular, he pointed out that there has been a surge in iron sales this year, and some of the mass-produced iron axes that might have been unsalable have actually been sold.

The statistical report pointed out a very clear reason. The so-called majority of ironware transactions took place in the free trade market, and it was those farmers who brought surplus food in their homes that bought these ironware.

Rurik nodded, expressing joy.

"It seems that the local people, no matter what tribe they are from, have a huge demand for our ironware."

The king seemed to repeat a nonsense, but it was not. Rurik immediately added: "The free trade zone that we rushed to establish has more room for development, white fox!"

"exist."

"Starting next year, you will expand the free trade zone, and then you plan to make the trading venue better."

"Ah? This...your order! That is, how should I expand? Some areas are already occupied by big merchants."

"It's okay. You can open up a new trading field and fill the existing trading field with lakes to make land. You have to plan the wharf well, and there are many things to do. How can I teach you these?"

The white fox was deeply concerned: "I promise to do good things. Then..."

The white fox chuckled for a while, then deliberately scanned the people in the room, and then pulled the paper with both hands and held it up to reveal the words above: "Except for the one and six hundred thousand pounds of oats obtained from the transaction between us and the nobles, we and Ordinary farmers also traded as much as 500,000 pounds of wheat."

"Five hundred thousand pounds?" Lurik was overjoyed.

"Exactly! It's true."

"This...impossible?!" Rurik slapped his forehead vigorously, "Don't make a mistake about your statistics."

The white fox straightened his back and winked his eyebrows, which made his chubby belly even more funny. "I have the honor to guarantee that this is absolutely true. How dare I deceive the king? King! Don’t you appreciate the warehouse on the island? The warehouse is completely full! We have to transport the unloaded grain in advance to put it on. , Where did this happen in the past?"

"That's true. But, half a million pounds..."

Rurik was drunk but not stupid. He didn't know anything about trading in the free trade market, so if the white fox was tampering with the trading data, he would not be able to learn it for the time being. However, it is a fact that the granary on the island has exploded, which has brought trouble to the transfer of personnel and materials this year.

Rurik took a drink and asked a very sharp question: "I learned that those farmers used to have difficulty directly trading with us. Now this king rewards them with an opportunity. Those farmers really took out half a million pounds of their own surplus?"

"That's why we sold all the materials in our inventory. For this reason, I also paid a batch of silver coins in cash." Bai Fox pointed out.

"I don't mean that. I mean, they really dare to take out their surplus food? Are they not going to live to buy our goods? What can they do if they don't have enough food."

"You can only fish?" The white fox shrugged. Since the king asked, he said, "The other identity of the farmers is fishermen. They can survive by fishing in advance and making dried meat. As long as they have the first one. The food succeeded until next year’s planting season, and everything is fine."

"Aren't they afraid of the spring famine?" Rurik asked urgently.

"Then after they planted the seeds, they rowed the boats and the whole family to fish and even hunt. According to my investigation, the farmers urgently need our iron tools. In order to obtain the iron tools, they will face huge risks in their lives now."

"It's crazy." Rurik knocked on his forehead again, but he could understand it.

Ironware is not a consumer product, but a means of production far superior to stoneware, especially the axe, which is a model of multi-function tools, has been snatched wildly.

"It seems that next time we will bring more iron axes for them to buy." Rurik's words were meaningful.

The harvest season in Lake Mälaren is over, and the Ross fleet anchored in the lake is about to leave.

It was already September, and the eastern part of the kingdom had completed the autumn harvest. This time was also the time when the kingdom was collecting agricultural taxes in the east, so the fleet triumphed.

It was fair to say that Rurik had underestimated the grain production in the Lake Mälaren area and admired the local people's choice very much.

As long as this batch of oats is properly preserved, it can guarantee that 10,000 people will eat for 200 days and not die of starvation. Although it is not a problem for men who are engaged in heavy physical labor to eat three pounds of oatmeal a day, it is also possible to maintain 10,000 strong men to maintain the heavy work for a month.

What is heavy work? War is one.

Considering that the conquest of the Gotaland area will begin next year, the Rus Kingdom army is bound to organize a large army. With less than 10,000 troops, 3,000 are still possible. With past experience in warfare, Rurik could not trust his allies to do adequate logistics. In the end, the Russian army had to support the allies. Besides, the supply of logistical materials, no one will dislike the food they have on hand after the war starts.

However, the quality of these imported Swedish grains is not good. They have not experienced enough time to dry. The wet wheat kernels put a lot of pressure on storage. These wheat will be put into daily life for normal consumption immediately, and sold to the main ones in Shilla Fort. People, and even high-quality feed for raising horses. As for the reserve of war rations, it is allocated from the output of the East.

There is only one Ross ship moored on Lake Mälaren The cabin is stuffed with foodstuffs, and the second most is linen poles. Large amounts of onions, carrots and cabbage were also thrown into the cabin.

The fleet has become an all-out food and vegetable transportation team, and most of the cabins are full, forcing people to stay on deck continuously.

Thanks to the reinforcement of ships from the homeland of Roseburg, the transfer of personnel and materials can be carried out in an orderly manner.

Amid the magnificent horns of the huge Ross fleet, the anchors were pulled, the spinnaker tilted one after another, holding the north wind and drifting eastward.

The huge fleet followed a small fleet, but more than 20 traditional long oars boats tried to keep up with the footsteps of the Russians.

They are the Granites who sold all their assets and formally implemented the immigration plan under the leadership of Duke Svalgard. They will eventually return to their old way of life and settle with the Ostala people who have long immigrated. They became the queens of the fleet, the last to leave Lake Mälaren.

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