British hegemon

Chapter 60 The First Maritime Trade

On September 10, 1305 AD, Roger was born on the sixty-seventh day of his life.

The climate in Northern Europe is cold, and the brief "hot" period will soon be over.

Having temporarily dealt with the tax matters, Roger began preparations for his southward trade.

As has been the custom in recent years, Arran Island organizes a southward trade trip every year after the autumn harvest, before the unpredictable late autumn arrives.

The goods in this trade included wool purchased in the summer, but more importantly, goods looted from occupied territories as was customary.

However, the army on Arun Island returned empty-handed this year, having only managed to seize a small amount of goods, mainly food, which is essential for survival in the autumn and winter seasons and is only taken in and not given out.

In addition, Baron John's condition worsened, and the Inner Court knights were also injured and unable to travel south, so Baron John refused Roger's request to travel south to trade together.

He planned to sell the goods in the Baron's castle at a discount to merchants from Glasgow and Islay.

Roger was not Baron John. Half of the coarse salt boiled on Holly Island would be sold to the islanders, and the other half would be kept by the salt mills for further processing.

However, there was quite a lot of refined salt that Roger personally guided the purification of recently, as well as fine salt that was sifted from coarse salt. In addition, there was also a lot of wool piled up in the warehouse of the Milk House Manor, so it was worth a trip to sea.

More importantly, Roger planned to personally travel south to investigate the market.

In the harsh northern lands, apart from a very few lords, most people are poor and have hardly ever seen fine salt, let alone be able to afford refined salt.

Therefore, Roger positioned his salt market in the south, where the Irish, though also suffering under the brutal rule of English lords, were at least wealthier than the Scots.

Moreover, Scottish goods can currently only enter England through the Irish, or be secretly sold to places like France.

Furthermore, Roger really wanted to establish contact with the European continent, even if it was just indirect contact or to get some reliable information.

This southward voyage was truly risky. The English fleet had just routed the island of Arron, and the White Sail from Milk House Manor, along with its sailors familiar with the route, was gone.

Moreover, Roger's current manpower is very limited. Not to mention whether he can fight enemy ships, just determining the route and avoiding enemy patrols are problems.

After much deliberation, and with Baron John's consent, Roger hired an old sailor from the "Baron" at a high price to temporarily serve as captain of the ship south.

The veteran sailor had made numerous trips south to Ireland for smuggling, was familiar with the routes and sea conditions, and was highly experienced.

Besides this outside helper, Roger screened all the talents in Milk House Manor and sent everyone he could.

Both Marne and Olaf had battlefield or naval experience, so they naturally had to be brought along.

Since Bald Head, Ponytail, and Black Dog have been decided to become guards, they will be trained as professional soldiers and will also gain experience and knowledge.

Then there were the sailors in charge of steering the boat and manning the sails—the old fisherman and the five fishermen from Ramlash village who had been trained for half a month.

Although there was no pay for the boat training during this period, Mr. Roger provided two dry dishes and one soupy dish every day, which greatly excited the five fishermen.

This time, Roger raised the wages to two pence per fisherman per day, including meals.

If they encounter danger, they will receive a substantial sum of compensation.

In order to train young people, the underlings and the young horse grooms were also brought along. One went back to his old job as a handyman and lookout, while the other went on board to serve as a temporary bookkeeper.

Because this voyage south was quite risky, Roger took out all the weapons and armor from the warehouse of Milk House Manor, and even the fishermen received a short spear or a short sword.

The crew was a hodgepodge, so to be on the safe side, Roger led everyone in a practice run around Arun Island early yesterday morning.

During normal navigation, things were fine, but when simulating emergency operations in crisis situations such as being intercepted by the English fleet or being pursued by pirates, the entire team made numerous mistakes and encountered constant problems.

The hired temporary captain shouted himself hoarse, the old fisherman who served as first mate and sail handler wore his hands raw, and several fishermen were sweating profusely. In the end, they were caught up by Olaf's "imaginary pirates" and engaged in a chaotic battle. Baldy and Black Dog, who were unfamiliar with naval warfare, were "killed" on the spot.

However, Roger didn't have time to train everyone to work together seamlessly, so he could only hone the hammer and chain in actual combat.

Knowing the capabilities of the temporary team, Roger proposed the overall strategy of "going around if possible, running away if possible, and hiding if possible."

At sunrise, on the simple pier in the bay outside the village of Ramlash.

Marne and Olaf were leading Baldy, Ponytail, and others to load barrels of fine salt, bags of wool and leather, salted fish, cheese, ale, and other miscellaneous goods such as fox pelts and nuts purchased from island hunters onto the Seawolf.

The North was too barren, and there wasn't much to offer. However, because these goods were exempt from heavy tariffs and commercial taxes, they were still profitable in Ireland's smuggling trade.

Bitter Gourd Face was originally worried about Roger and wanted to go south with him, but there were still many things to do after the autumn harvest at Milk House Manor.

So he had no choice but to stay and take care of things. At this moment, he was seriously checking the goods list made by the young stable boy and correcting a few minor errors.

Seeing Roger, clad in chainmail, shake off the incessantly chattering old lady seeing him off at the dock and walk onto the pier, the man with the sour face quickly went up to him with the parchment cargo manifest, "Sir, the cargo manifest for the ship has been checked and verified, please take a look."

Parchment is a valuable item, so this parchment used to record the goods list has been reused repeatedly. You can see that the ink has been washed off, and there are also knife marks on the surface of the parchment.

To save space, the handwriting had to be written as small as possible. In addition, the young stable boy had terrible handwriting, and with his sour face, he had to make repeated corrections. Roger had to open his eyes wide before he could recognize the crooked Gaelic characters.

It roughly states: "Thirteen barrels of fine salt, 1,300 pounds; six barrels of refined salt, 600 pounds; four sacks of wool, 1,456 pounds; fifty-two sheepskins; eight barrels of ale; eighty pounds of cheese; one hundred pounds of salted fish..."

Roger glanced at the list briefly, noted down the numbers of a few main items, and handed it back to the grumpy-faced man. "When I return from this maritime trade, I'll have to teach you some Arabic numerals. I'm too lazy to decipher your scribbles."

The man with the bitter face had no idea what "Arabic numerals" were, and just thought his master was talking nonsense again. "Master, you must be careful this time when you go south. The pirates, the English ships, and the Irish lords along the coast are all no good."

The man with the bitter face paused for a moment, then said, "If you are really caught, you should obediently hand over all your money and goods and tell them that you are a knight and can pay the ransom. It might save your life in a critical moment."

Roger cursed inwardly, feeling like he'd been cursed before even leaving the house, but he couldn't say it aloud. So he changed the subject and asked, "Have all the food and water been moved up?"

"The mill ground some flour, the fat cook made fifty pounds of knight's bread, three barrels of beer and five barrels of fresh water were also loaded onto the ship, and there was salted fish and salted meat among the cargo."

"There's enough food for a round trip, but you must replenish your fresh water before returning. Also, the hawthorns you requested are in the bag with the nuts."

Roger specifically requested that the hawthorns be brought along. He originally intended to bring some fresh fruit to supplement vitamins, but the island didn't produce much fruit, and apples were difficult to preserve, so he used dried hawthorns instead.

Roger actually thought that this trip south was not a long voyage, so he shouldn't get diseases like sepsis. He figured it was fine to just treat it as a snack to pass the time.

"Did you name the bread that the fat cook baked?" Roger asked curiously.

The man with the sour face smiled, a rare occurrence. "Indeed, the fluffy bread you taught the plump cook to make has become famous. Many islanders, even gentry and lords, come to the Milk House Manor to buy this fluffy bread. To get a good price, we named it 'Knight's Bread.'"

"I had the plump cook teach my ponytail sister how to make yeast. Now the bakery on the estate is working non-stop every day and has already made a lot of money."

Roger was quite surprised that something he had tinkered with out of sheer boredom while "in prison" could actually become a way to make money. He laughed and said, "That has to be kept secret. Don't let outsiders learn the secret method."

The man with the bitter face nodded heavily. "I want to set aside a small storeroom in the manor specifically for making our secret yeast powder, and I will never let outsiders learn it."

"Very good. Once you've made up your mind, just do it. As long as it's beneficial to the manor, you can do whatever you want." Roger encouraged the man with the sour face.

At the end of the pier, Sergeant Marne's shouts rang out. Roger looked up and saw that the "Sea Wolf" had already raised its sails and the oars were already extended from the side. He turned around and waved to his adoptive mother who was seeing him off at the dock. He ran a few steps to the end of the pier, stepped on the wooden planks, and jumped over the ship's side.

Marne, Olaf, and the others all looked at Roger, awaiting orders.

"set sail!"

............