Rise of Rurik

The Gould family is a typical businessman. Even if individual family members are upgraded to lords, the change in thinking cannot be completed immediately.

How should a businessman govern an area?

Now, Henry Nassau had to give up the substantive direct management of his hometown of Nassau due to management needs. Legally, he divided his hometown to his youngest daughter, Sophia Nassau, and his two sons had no objection to this matter.

The small hilly river plain in the village of Nassau is now in the fierce fighting area of ​​the Frankish Civil War, and its economy is far inferior to that of the wealthy Maritime Netherlands.

Sophia is just a well-protected "country girl" like a frog in a well. Although she has a noble status, she is indeed just nobler than those real country girls in terms of status.

Henry essentially transferred the governance rights to the Gould family of Ross, first the Blue Fox and then the Black Fox. The two temporarily served as stewards and could smoothly connect with each other.

As for how the nobles of the Gould family govern Nassau Village, this is something Henry is too lazy to think about.

Even in Henry's view, when he brought a group of people to immigrate to the Netherlands, he left the terrible whirlpool of the kingdom's civil war and stayed in a remote place on the coast, with the military protection promised by the Russians, and a worry-free life.

He didn't have grand plans, at least for him and his son. It was fine to live a step-by-step life as a vassal noble.

Obviously, the black fox is very ambitious, while the blue fox has already made some major changes to Nassau Village before his brother arrived.

Half of the villagers left, and the populations of all three settlements in the Barony of Nassau were reduced to just over a thousand people, including babies.

On the contrary, Blue Fox has nearly five hundred men under his command this time. They become merchants when they get out of the boat, and they transform into heavy infantry when they get off the boat. They are all strong men. With such a presence, it is not an exaggeration to say that the structure of Nassau Village has become a military camp.

Henry, who had many of his men assisting the immigrants, temporarily left. For this reason, Blue Fox, who stayed in Nassau Village, lost most of its ships.

Of course he still has 200 warriors!

With just this small amount of troops, can they go to the territory of the Middle Kingdom across the river to rob it? The scale of the war in the north has been very large over the years, and two hundred soldiers are nothing to a normal battle. However, the real situation inside the European continent is that two hundred highly armed soldiers can already run rampant.

Adhering to past experience, Blue Fox chose to be conservative. He is still a businessman at heart. When it comes to how to obtain wealth, his first thought is to buy low and sell high for materials, supplemented by bodyguards to ensure the safety of transportation.

Unlike absolute feudal lords, their method of acquiring wealth is almost locked in taxation of farmers in the territory.

It is natural to ask for taxes from farmers, and it is already advanced behavior to collect business tax, port tax, and tolls from businessmen.

If the lord personally plays the role of a merchant and integrates the foreign trade of materials in the ruled area, it will be too forward-thinking.

The nobles are just noble status, and they are all brave and rough. Letting them do business is not as interesting as fighting and hunting.

Of course, there is the most critical point. According to the priest's interpretation of the scriptures, businessmen get something for nothing by not doing production and acting as second-rate dealers. Businessmen are morally spurned by people who claim to be noble. In order to avoid this situation, the nobles would at least not do business in person. At most, they would arrange for their own stewards and trusted people to do the business. But more nobles didn't care at all, and hunting and fighting were still fun.

Conversion to the faith of the Frankish world was nothing more than a ruse.

Blue Fox himself knew Latin. He could read the scriptures directly without having to listen to the priests' nonsense. Only God knows whether these priests add their own private goods when explaining. At least Blue Fox can understand it personally.

Blue Fox was in Nassau Village, so he didn't bother to go to the monastery in the village. Even if it was a small mass event on Sunday, he would only stay there for a token time and then open the closed door and leave.

Every time this happened, Father Conrad was almost furious, but what was the use?

This Norman whose Christian name is Joseph is really unyielding, and even if he converts, he really worships Saint Andrew. The waving flag says it all.

Indeed, the essence of Ross's flag is an "abstract staggered oar", which Blue Fox interpreted as the "St. Andrew's Cross". In addition, he can sing opposite Father Conrad in Latin, so that the people's thoughts in Nassau Village remain. There was a violent turmoil in the world, and the so-called "Who should we listen to?"

Who do you listen to? Whoever can bring benefits to everyone will listen to him more. People will never have trouble with themselves on the issue of eating.

In principle, you still have to pay the tithe, and it’s double the tithe! One copy was given to the priest of the village, and the other was given to the nobles.

Taxes have to be collected during the autumn harvest, which is still very early.

Sophia is the de jure ruler of the barony. She is indeed just an ordinary little girl who knows nothing about how to be a ruler. The governance rights were all given to Blue Fox, and after Henry left, he could really do whatever he wanted.

Blue Fox really couldn't stand the poor infrastructure environment in Nassau Village. He wanted to transform the settlement to provide a better garrison environment for his brother and the corresponding army, and even provide a stable rear base for the army. It stands to reason that it is natural for farmers to serve the lord. He also wanted to recruit all local farmers, including boys and women who could do farm work.

There is nothing wrong with little boys doing farm work, and even women have to be mobilized. This is too shocking for Nassau Village.

Father Conrad appealed to the women of the village not to listen to those calls and not to blaspheme.

Originally, these women supported the priest on this issue, but Blue Fox directly used the army.

Blue Fox is very particular about it. He claims that all his actions are supported by Sophia Nassau. In fact, everyone knows what is going on.

Those village women who did not want to be exposed were forcibly pulled out of their homes and given tools to force them to work. Older women were also forcibly organized and asked to wash clothes by the river and set up pottery urns and iron pots to cook for the workers.

"I am forcing you to do this! You have not violated your beliefs. If you punish people first, you must punish me first. You must do what I ask. Those who disobey will be imprisoned, and those who cooperate will be rewarded."

Blue Fox embodies his cold side, and the people in the village have no choice but to obey his arrangements.

Of course, those who obey are not at a loss!

In the Swedish world, especially the Onkras tribe in Lake Mälaren, the ancestral home of the blue fox, the locals are mostly honest farmers, and they do not have as strong a business atmosphere as the Mälaren tribe. Due to the limitations of the times and environment, the number of slaves captured in the Swedish world was not large, and most of the so-called slaves were debt slaves (serfs). However, there are still many young laborers who need to survive. They will serve as mercenaries for wealthy businessmen and leaders, work as coolies for artisan families, and make money by selling their physical fitness.

These young people are rebellious, brave and fierce, so they are perfect to be hired as mercenaries and servants. In exchange, the host family must pay money.

You contribute money and I contribute effort. Such an employment relationship is natural in the world of Sweden and Denmark. Even the Russians, who immigrated massively and controlled the eastern Slavic world, still pursue this trick and even play tricks. The so-called state-owned factories in various industries such as They appear one after another like solitary mushrooms after the autumn rain.

Blue Fox gives cash compensation to all villagers who participate in labor. The commission is half the price in the northern world. Even so, it is already a huge reward for these villagers who are extremely short of cash.

This old northern man with a fat face speaks Latin. Even if it is blasphemy, he will bear the divine punishment. Moreover, this man really gave money, and the brand-new iron tools he got can be used while working for them. own housework.

The poor villagers got advantages and gradually became willing to do things for the Russians.

In Blue Fox's plan, living in Nassau Village was just a stopgap measure. What he really wanted to do was organize an army to capture the city of Koblenz on the other side of the Inn River, and then move Ross' shop there. This move was very risky. He wanted to be more stable. After careful consideration, he pragmatically decided to transform Nassau Village to ensure that he had a way out if he failed to capture Koblenz.

He brought a lot of silver coins with him, which were the initial capital for the construction of Ross's store and the first time in the history of Nassau Village that external capital intervened.

Blue Fox first built a walled military camp. He did it very carefully, and even paved the ground with gravel inside the wall to make it harder to replace the soft mud.

Pine trees penetrated deeply into the mud of the Lan River's bed. A number of brand-new trestles were built in the riverside area, and some wooden boards were also laid on the banks. Even a simple wooden man-operated lever crane was erected, and it immediately began to carry the stone.

In the settlement of the third barony, a small number of fishermen in Llandstein tried their best to catch fish, the Baden-Ems quarry tried their best to transport large rocks or shoveled gravel upstream, and the village of Nassau became a large construction site.

Even if Blue Fox brought advanced technology and relied on a large amount of real silver coins to buy local labor, the embarrassing thing is that the number of labor here is still seriously insufficient, and heavy manual labor is in urgent need of a large amount of wheat and salt. Nassau Village is not a wealthy place. Although it has a promising future, it is really poor now! Moreover, when Henry left with the able-bodied villagers, he also took away a lot of valuables, so that what he left to his little daughter was a poor mess.

This is a troublesome matter that can be solved with money.

Although Father Conrad has criticisms of the Russian Blue Fox who exposed his true nature, life will go on as usual, and Nassau Village is indeed facing some difficulties now.

On an ordinary day, Blue Fox, wearing casual clothes, went to the monastery.

After receiving the letter, Conrad thought that this guy suddenly had a conscience and wanted to confess, so he hurriedly sat in the confessional and waited through the wooden fence and the wooden window for the blue fox to feel heartbroken.

Where did Blue Fox come to confess? He shouted several times in the monastery, and was later invited to the confessional by the little priest on standby.

"Why, here you are," he said in Latin.

"My child, sit down." The wooden wall has a small window and is equipped with a wooden fence. The bald Conrad is sitting behind the wall wearing a "little melon skin hat".

Just when Conrad felt that this man was finally going to confess the blasphemous things he had done during this period and was willing to repent, unexpectedly, the other party did not say "I was wrong", but asked directly and abruptly in this sacred place: " I find that we are going to run out of food. What should we do? Is there a good place to get food nearby?"

Such a question immediately choked Conrad. After an awkward silence for a while, Conrad stood up directly behind the wall and said with a straight face: "Forget it! If you want to talk about this, let's change it." Talk locally.”

It is fair to say that Conrad had some gaffes. He was also a man of temper, and he was forced to suppress his true nature when he entered the priesthood. Want to talk about war and trade in a sacred place? This is the most serious form of blasphemy.

Of course, it is a reality that there is not enough food to eat, and even the monastery cannot survive the summer famine alone.

Conrad appeared in a moment, glanced at Blue Fox and asked him to go outside and have a good chat.

Even if you eat black bread to survive, you must first have rye. Recently, Blue Fox has mobilized the entire village's labor force to do heavy physical labor. Of course, it has given considerable rewards to attract the villagers to work actively. The Russians built a building on the riverside. A wooden fort, pier, and even improved roads in the village are said to be the next step to improve the villagers' housing.

Many actions are firstly beneficial to the Russian people's life here, and secondly, they have indeed improved people's lives. At the cost, the village's inventory of materials is being consumed at an unprecedented rate.

The food that Blue Fox brought himself was not enough to eat, and the stock in Nassau Village was not enough. It was precisely in this situation that the blue fox still had a lot of money in his hand, and people couldn't survive by chewing silver coins.

He just wanted to know whether there were other noble territories near Conrad and whether he could buy food.

The angry Conrad was in a bad mood under the scorching sun. He curled his lips and muttered: "You can go to Coblenz on the other side of the river and rob their warehouses and seize food. Anyway, this is what you came for. Go attack Lothair's territory, Ludwig won't say anything anyway. You will never listen to the attitude of our priests, what else can I do for you?"

Blue Fox didn't want to be angry with a helpless middle-aged man, so he asked: "Now is not the time to attack Coblenz. I just want to know where to buy food recently. Upstream is the Earl of Ingau Territory? I have fought with them, but I don’t know if their territory can buy the food we urgently need.” He also added solemnly: “Purchase wheat with silver coins very peacefully.”

"If you really have a peaceful attitude, there will be no problem." Conrad's attitude softened.

"Very good. Let's cooperate! I will provide the people and you will provide the guide. If it is better to take the water route, we will buy food to alleviate the current troubles."

"Yes, but I have conditions."

"condition?"

"No matter how much grain you want to buy, you must provide a thousand pounds of wheat for my monastery."

"So many?" Lan Hu was surprised. Then he thought about it and found it even more strange: "Aren't you unwilling to cooperate with a businessman like me?"

"Now and then, if our survival is threatened, it is not against faith to do such a thing. There is not much food in the monastery, and we have to ensure that we can continue to live before we get the tithe from the autumn harvest. There are only ten of us. , a thousand pounds of wheat will last well for three months.”

"That's fine. If you go out as a guide, it's best to take my people to the nearest place to buy food."

The blue fox soon learned a place name - Lorchhausen on the Rhine River.

Lorchhausen is the western frontier of the Earldom of Leingau. Unlike Nassau Village, which is a barony, this place is directly managed by the Robert family of Leingau.

Since Ludwig successfully returned to Mainz, the imprisoned Robert regained all power. A series of disasters caused Robert to have a deep grudge against Ludwig, but he still did not want to give up his territory, even though his strength had been greatly weakened.

However, Robert's current situation is extremely embarrassing. The core areas of the earldom are in Wiesbaden and Mainz, but it is here that Ludwig's Bavarian army continues to control, and the financial power is also controlled by the king. The earl simply has only one title, and his family has difficulty fulfilling its status as a great lord. A great nobleman who was neglected by the king lived like a joke. In addition, he was severely damaged mentally. He was already planning to withdraw from Yingao and join the new king.

Robert, who was released, moved the count's residence to the Taunus Mountains north of Wiesbaden and settled in a village at the foot of the mountain. This is the so-called founding of the town of Taunusstein. He was released and his ambitions were gone. He criticized the defeated Ludwig in the most vicious terms behind his back, but on the surface it was a complete showdown. He was a great nobleman, and being imprisoned was already the maximum punishment. If he was killed, it would definitely cause a large-scale rebellion by many nobles against Ludwig.

Ludwig, who knew the stakes well, knew that this guy was rude to him, so what could he do? Just let it go.

The Robert family temporarily lived a life like salted fish, not to say hazy, at least they no longer interfered with political affairs. He even thought that once Lothair defeated Ludwig in the civil war, he would immediately be loyal to Lothair.

What he can still control now are some villages in remote areas and continue to receive the allegiance of local knights. It was impossible to collect taxes from each knight. Fortunately, because his strength dropped to the extreme, he saved a huge amount without having to maintain a cavalry team of hundreds of people. Starting from directly controlling the villages to collect taxes, he lived like a rich man. Life is pretty good.

Among them, remote Lorchhausen is one such village.

Blue Fox and Conrad reached a cooperation. A long boat towed five small local fishing boats. A team of nearly thirty people headed for Lorchhausen, not far from Nassau on the upper reaches of the Rhine River, and successfully arrived there. Food was bought.

Lorchhausen, which was just on the Rhine River, could not produce much food, but the local area provided some wine. The fleet continued to rush along the river to the upper reaches of the village with real money and silver. Since it was buying food under the banner of Nassau Monastery, it naturally received the cooperation of the monasteries in the villages here. After all, the various monasteries have always maintained contact with each other, and they knew the news about the changes in Nassau. Now that they saw the priest leading a group of Normans who converted to the faith, the deal must be done well, and all kinds of questions must be asked. .

This is not a business, it is just an adjustment to the supplies of various monasteries!

The priests made excuses to make sure they were not blaspheming their faith, so they took out grain and collected silver coins. What surprised these Russians who were ordered to do things was that the local food price was much cheaper than in the northern world. After all, this was a richer food-producing area. In fact, this is not the case. In fact, the currency in circulation in the Frankish world was rarely used in remote areas, and many places lacked cash, resulting in the currency value of the existing currency in circulation being very high. The Russians came with hard currency, and the eyes of the villagers selling grain were bright. Grain was their only surplus property. In the past, there was almost no chance of converting it into more stable silver coins. Now that they have the opportunity, they cannot give up.

So when the fleet came back it was carrying a huge load, the long boats were piled full, and the small boats that were towing them were also loaded with enough.

For a period of time, the dilemma of food shortage was solved. These were regarded as part of the remuneration and began to enter the stomachs of the village workers, and Lord Blue Fox was really willing to give up.

Who can refuse a good thing like building a house and paving the way for Joseph Blue Fox, who can speak Latin, so that he can have enough to eat every day?

With this move, Blue Fox gained huge fans and all the people in Russia became good people.

After the farmers had eaten enough, the little girl Sophia Nassau began to eat delicacies. She began to slowly look like the "Gould family woman" that Blue Fox was familiar with, and her withered cheeks slowly bulged out. After all, this little girl is his younger sibling, so it is natural for her to gain weight.

This material purchase was paid for with good Frankish silver coins, which were also mixed with some poor-quality Eastern Roman silver coins. This is the behavior of the Russians, but the currency value of the two is exactly the same.

The news quickly reached the ears of Robert, who was retiring in the Taunus area. When he learned that this was what the Russians called it, he was shocked at first and felt the absurdity of the world. After calming down, he really couldn't lie down leisurely anymore.

"Damn it, how did these guys get under my nose? Is this a conspiracy between them and Ludwig? I'll find a chance to meet the Ross people..." He thought.

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Chapter 1093 Blue Fox has a way to conquer Nassau. Read it for free.