The Rise of Iceland

　　　　 The sky was gloomy, with a slight rain falling from the sky, and the waves on the sea were larger than before, but fortunately there were no major thunderstorms, so even if the Thor's Hammer and the Hope went cautiously, they were still safe.

　　 It took several hours to clear up gradually, and then the sun appeared in the sky, and it was midday.

　　 Olaf walked out of the cabin with Pikku, looked up at the sky, let out a sigh of relief, and turned his head around, only to feel a sense of loss.

　　 Suddenly Pikku pointed to the continent that appeared in the far north and shouted: "Master! There is land there!"

　　 "Oh?" Olaf turned to look, then turned to the cockpit and shouted, "Big Brother! Is Ireland here?"

　　 It was Ulav who was sailing today. He heard Olaf's voice and counted the time, and said loudly, "It's almost almost here. Is the angle wrong?"

　　 "Fifty degrees south of the rudder!" Olaf saw the angle deviation in the blink of an eye, and then shouted.

　　 After adjusting the rudder, Ulav finally saw the continent in the distance through the window, and he let out a sigh: "Finally, it's coming! I should be able to get to Dublin in the afternoon!"

After spending half a month at sea, Olaf was so bored that he carved a chessboard on the table with a knife a few days ago, and then used the front and back of a copper coin to distinguish the chess pieces, teaching Ulav and Hagrid, Pikku, etc. People gobang, played chess to pass the time.

　　In the afternoon, the two ships entered the Celtic Sea just south of the island of Ireland. At noon, they had a fresh-caught seafood meal. The ships turned north and entered the Strait of St. George, between the island of Great Britain and the island of Ireland.

　　 Standing on the deck at this time, you can see scattered fishing boats in the strait fishing, but boats as big as Thor's Hammer and Hope are rare.

Because the Irish region is very poor and agricultural planting is the main economic entity, there are few fishermen. Olaf and others saw a bay in the northwest, which is a large port similar to Reykjavík. Then Ulav and Hilter sailed past.

"This is Dublin!" Hagrid said, pointing to the clearer and clearer port in front of him. "Since England occupied Ireland, it has been unstable here. The Irish are not convinced by the British. Later, they suppressed a few times before they became honest, but here is better. Iceland is still poor. Except for a few large estate owners and old nobles who are rich, there is also the Governor of Dublin. The current governor is Carnarvon Stephen, an old noble in England. He has a cousin with the Prime Minister and serves as the Governor of Ireland. It has been twelve years. He is a traditional nobleman, very arrogant and valued money, so it is not difficult to deal with him. Besides, he has always lived in the governor’s mansion. Before, there were few goods. We usually only deal with his subordinates."

"When you arrive in Ireland, don’t talk to ordinary Irish people, don’t use the term Southerners, because the richest Irish people are Southerners, and they hate this term... Ordinary Irish people are just the lowest-ranking people, and our goods are mainly Sold to the noble manor and Governor Stephen in Ireland, you can watch and talk less on the road."

　　 Hagrid gave Olaf the things that needed attention little by little, and Olaf also listened attentively. After entering the port, the ship slowly slowed down and docked in the harbour under the command of the port flagman.

　　 This port is built with pine wood and is fairly strong, but five or six large ships have been docked. Sailors are busy carrying goods. It seems that they are basically moving grains on the ships. Only a few salt, sugar and cloth are removed.

Seeing Olaf’s eyes, Ulav lowered his head and said: "The British agricultural tax in Ireland is very high, and the governor and large farmers have both added 20%. Therefore, it is said that more than 70% of Ireland’s annual grain has to be handed in. It is said that many areas in the north People will starve to death every year. These should be the Governor and the Irish manor carrying food out of the country."

Olaf knew it instantly, and thought to himself: "No wonder the Irish rushed to Vinland to become a white slave. They were about to be exploited and squeezed by the British government, colonial governors, and big landlords in their hometown. They stayed at home. It's also dead, it's better to go out and break in."

While Ulav and Olaf were talking, a wooden plank was put on the boat, and then a short red-haired man with a broadsword in his hand took two soldiers up, and he turned around and looked at the Hope and Thor’s Hammer. I didn’t recognize the flag on the ship, but there was the Danish Red Cross flag right next to him, so he raised his eyebrows and looked at Hagrid and the other sailors.

　　 "Who is the captain? What are you here for?"

　　 The English with an Irish accent made Olaf and others frowned frequently. They thought it was not as good as the accented Icelandic.

Hagrid stepped forward, quietly stuffed the man a few silver shillings, and then explained in English: "We are merchants in Iceland. We come here to sell some Northland specialties. I don't know what the adults call? We used to be the tax officer of Simmel. Friends, don’t know why he’s not here?"

The red-haired dwarf packed up the small silver coin, and grinned: "Simir drank too much in the winter and froze to death outside. The officer Kildall is the newly appointed port tax officer by the Governor. You see it all. Honest man."

　　 squeezing a self-confident smile at Hagrid, the tax officer Kildall turned his head and said to the guard behind him: "Old Crooked Mouth, just measure the length of the inner deck of these two ships!"

　　 Two soldiers took out the scaled ropes and stood on both sides of Hope’s deck and straightened the ropes. The oldest soldier with a crooked mouth yelled, "70 feet!"

　　 After speaking, the two of them went to the Thor's Hammer to measure the width of the deck, and shouted: "Seventy-two feet and nine inches!"

　　 Kildall looked at Hagrid with a smile: "Sir, according to the regulations of the English Parliament, your two ships will have to pay 27 pounds and 18 shillings. After paying the tax, you can stop and do things in Dublin as you like. Welcome to Dublin!"

In the era of great navigation, the ports of various countries relied on the taxation of merchant ships as income. However, in the developed areas of commerce, exchange personnel were sent to follow the transaction, and about 10% of the transaction tax was collected. However, for the backward areas such as Iceland and Ireland Sea-going trade is conducted under the monopoly of domestic capitalists, and the taxation method is simple and convenient.

Hagrid knows that paying taxes like this is taking advantage of it. If it is based on the transaction tax of London, Lisbon, Amsterdam and other major ports, it should be taxed at more than 10% of the transaction volume. He knows that it is not bargaining if it takes advantage of it. The advantage made Kildall calculate a few feet less, which is in his best interest.

　　 happily took out twenty gold coins and more than forty silver coins from the purse, Hagrid counted them twice before handing them to Kildall.

Nowadays, gold and silver currencies are used in a mixed manner. There are many counterfeit coins with extremely low gold and silver content on the market~www.wuxiaspot.com~ As tax officials, they are all proficient in arithmetic and sensitive to currency, Kildall I checked them one by one, and then calculated in my heart against the conversion standards of the British pound and the Baltic Mark, French Ecu, etc., and finally put it away, nodded, and said: "Yes, I will charge you an extra shilling, friend, What's your name?"

　　 "My name is Hagrid, sir." Hagrid smiled and nodded, and after the two shook hands, Kildall disembarked with the soldiers.

　　 Olaf simply calculated the pound sterling, and then he couldn't help but slapped his tongue and said: "They do not collect taxes on the value of the goods, but on the size of the ship. It is too unfair to the merchants who deal in cheap goods."

Hagrid chuckled: "Olav, you don't understand. There is no way to limit the value of the goods on the ship. For example, a **** skin can be sold in a few marks, but the local merchants can sell dozens of marks, not to mention the goods. Prices are changeable and cannot be limited. If taxes are set according to the value of the goods, it is not a good thing to say to the nobles and big businessmen of the countries who really control the bulk business. No one wants to implement this. Therefore, in small places such as Ireland and Scotland, we are like this. A merchant ship that runs hard currency once a year is the most advantageous. If we are in London, we will really pay taxes according to the transaction amount."

Olaf thought for a while, nodded and said, "Yes, many goods in such a small place have basically no market prices, and local merchants also want to evade tax! Hey! If there is no supervision in the sale and purchase process, unless it is a land and house with a change of property rights, it will Even the governor cannot levy transaction tax, he can only collect tax by ship!"

　　Note: British currency units are pounds, shillings, and pennies, but before the currency reform, the British pound referred to one pound of silver. The currency form is basically a gold coin of more than twenty shillings, and the value is equal to one pound of silver.