The Rise of Iceland

　　　　 The upper class in the early seventeenth century was troublesome and chaotic. Unless there is no other way, nobles generally cannot walk because it will stain their shoes and the hem of their robes, which is very rude to a nobleman.

　　 Now Ulav and Olaf are going to visit the governor-general as descendants of the nobles of the ancient Kingdom of Norway living in Iceland, so they naturally want to maintain the aristocratic demeanor.

　　 After getting off the boat, Ulav asked Valitu to find a carriage, and then Olaf, Ulav and Valitu got into the carriage, and the two white slaves and the goods could only squeeze beside the driver.

　　 The carriage slowly left the port. Olaf sat in the bumpy carriage and looked at the scenes on both sides. He found that some places on the dirt road were padded with gravel, and some places were muddy. The road was basically flat, but occasionally there were potholes.

Leaving the port, go north to the bridge to the north side of a Heishui River, and then go west along the north side of the river bank. On the right side of the road are low wooden houses and stone houses, and there are not many pedestrians, and the clothes are worn and poor. They are poor people who live by coolies.

After walking for about a thousand steps, I reached a north-south bridge entrance. Looking south along the bridge entrance is a garden and tall and tidy houses. There are many neatly dressed women watering flowers in the yard, but the north of the bridge is still dilapidated. In the scene, further north is a busy city, and at the intersection, you can vaguely see a lot of "wild warblers" showing their white arms to attract customers.

Ulav, who has been to Dublin several times, is very clear about the situation here, so he whispered: "This Heishui River is the bigger Heini River in Dublin. There are twelve bridges on the river, the slums to the north of the bridge, and the nobles to the south. The place where you live with the wealthy is probably the Governor’s Castle on the south bank of the Fourth Bridge, which is the center of Ireland. There is also St. Patrick’s Cathedral just south of the castle. This was when the Lord’s gospel was in the 5th century in Ireland. The place where the patron saint Patrick is preaching is currently presided over by a cardinal."

　　 "Catholicism is still believed here? Didn't England also convert to Protestantism?" Olaf raised his eyebrows slightly and asked.

　　 Ullaf shook his head slightly: "I don't know this. Maybe it's because the King of England didn't ask Ireland to also be converted, or Governor Bowers didn't want to change too much, but this has no effect on us."

　　 "Yes." Olaf nodded, and then the carriage turned from a white slate bridge to the south, and when it entered the south bank of the Heini River, there were birds and flowers everywhere.

　　Ulav pointed to the tall castle not far away, and said, "That is the Governor's Mansion."

After a while, everyone got off the bus in the square in front of the castle. Ulav gave the coachman a few pennies. Then Olaf looked up at the castle and found that the castle was simple and tall, and the dark black mottled walls silently expressed the time in it. The mark left on the body.

　　 "Very beautiful castle!" Olaf nodded and smiled, "I like it very much!"

　　Dublin Castle is a castle built by the King George of England in the early 13th century. It was used to store the wealth he squeezed and squeezed from Ireland. However, since the beginning of the last century, King Henry VIII of England completely declared the king of Ireland in the name of preaching Catholicism. This marked that Ireland had completely become the territory of England. At the same time, he sent the governor to lead the army stationed at Dublin Castle. Land assets were looted and confiscated. At that time, people in Ireland were accused of "blasphemer" and "rebel" every day, deprived of their wealth, killed or became slaves.

　　 More than a decade ago, King James I of England nationalized 3 million acres of arable land in the Ulster region of northern Ireland, and then bestowed it on the nobility of England and Scotland.

Therefore, with the increasing oppression and deprivation of the England team, Ireland, the Governor’s responsibilities and powers are also increasing. At present, the Governor’s House has 500 guards stationed throughout the year. After all, Ireland has a population of millions of people. England had to be on guard.

　　Pikku walked to the moat in front of the castle, and said that his masters Ulav and Olaf were invited by Lord Bowles to visit the Governor.

　　 After a candle was burning, the hanging door slowly fell, and a strong man in half-length plate armor came out, looked at Ulav and Olaf, and then asked: "Are you Ulav, a businessman from Iceland?"

　　 "Yes, sir." Ulav replied politely.

The strong man nodded and led everyone into the castle. After entering the gate was a huge garden, flanked by bunkers and many halls below. The strong man pointed to the huge inner fort behind the garden and said, "The Governor and Bauer Mr. Si is drinking tea in the St. Patrick's Room on the second floor. Please follow this guard up."

　　 A young guard walked over, and then Ulav and Olaf followed the guards into the inner castle, followed the stairs to the second floor, and walked into a magnificent hall after turning three turns.

　　 There were two guards standing at the entrance of the hall. There were two small doors in the hall, which seemed to be a lounge. The two guards asked the guards who led the way, and then went in alone to report and came out after a while.

　　 "You can go in."

Olaf followed Ulav and his four men steadily walked into the inner hall, and then saw that the inner hall was only 30 steps in radius. There was a long table on which was embroidered with gold-rimmed woolen dark green tablecloth. The table was sitting on one end. A man with tendrils in a trench coat looks handsome in his 50s and 60s. Not far from him sits a forty or fifty-year-old man with brown beard and hair, pretending to be rich and handsome. Also wears two opal rings.

　　Ulav stepped forward two steps, stroking his chest while taking off his hat, and then said loudly: "After the Grey Cloak of the Kingdom of Norway, Ulav, the son of the Icelandic chief, has met Governor Stephen and Lord Bowers!"

　　 Olaf also learned something. After the two salutes, the tendril man waved his hand and said, "Since they are descendants of the northern nobles, they seem to have learned a lot, please sit down."

Stephen touched his beard and chuckled: "I heard Bowers just now that you are in your twenties, but you have inherited the family for several years. Yes, young people must dare to fight! Yours Brothers are good too, very good."

　　 "Thank you for your compliment. May the Lord bless you!"

　　Ulav and Olaf smiled and thanked them, then sat down, their waists straightened, lest they be rude.

　　 Bowers took a sip of his tea, pointed to a few people who were still standing, and said, "Uraf, you should bring **** skin and royal jelly, please see how the quality is, Master Governor?"

　　 Governor Steven waved his hand, and an Irish servant who was waiting on his side came forward to receive the tea set.

　　Ulav hurriedly got up and ordered Pikku and others to take out the leather goods and put them in front of the governor and Bowles.

　　 The two picked up the **** skins and stroked them, smiling, and the wrinkles on their faces softened.

　　 "Beaver skin feels as smooth as silk and satin, no, it should be better than silk and satin. There are fewer and fewer leathers of this grade now. Very good!"

　　 Steven picked up a leather and touched it for a while before putting it down, then looked at the other leathers one by one, and then said with a smile: "Your leather goods are of very high grade, how many **** and **** skins do you have?"

　　 Ulav got up and said, "Return to the Governor, we only bought these leather goods in the deep northwest of the Baltic Sea this time. The quantity is not large, and the cost is huge..."

Before Ulav finished speaking, Stephen waved his hand, turned his head to look at Bowers, and asked: "I think these two little guys are really good. Give them a fair price. You can tell me how much you want, don’t grab **** skins. , I'll give you all the other leathers, how about?"

　　 Bowers thought for a while, touched the opal on the index finger of his right hand with his left hand, smiled and said: "You have to share a few of me. I will go to London next month to make a gift for the Prime Minister's birthday."

　　 "All right. For your friendship." Stephen shrugged.

Bowers looked at Ulav this time and said, "It’s not the first time you have come to Dublin. We all know the price of **** skins, so let me give you the price of 20 pounds for a **** skin. If you want gold coins, It’s 2 pounds, **** skins are 15 pounds silver, bearskins can give you 40 pounds, fox and wolf skins are 9 pounds, how do you feel?"

　　Ulav thought for a while, then nodded, and said, "I can accept the price of your lord."