At Tal Fort, northwest of the enemy outpost, Bass, the captain of the first team left behind to guard the military fort, was busy organizing his men to transport the baggage captured from the enemy's territory to the military fort warehouse.
"Old housekeeper, Steward Salt, you have been working hard all the way, and you have just arrived here. Go down and have a rest first. Just have Kazak and Lawrence here to help." Bass said to Cooper and Salt, who were stacking and counting supplies in the warehouse.
"We're fine, we'll be responsible here. Bring more people and go to the cave and bring all the supplies back as soon as possible. Although you can't bring back those carriages for a while, don't destroy them. Find a place to hide them. We'll find a way to get them back later. The master will definitely need a lot of carriages to expand the caravan in the future. In addition, if you can see the master, ask him to come back quickly. He has been injured by an arrow and cannot take risks."
After hearing this, Bas nodded and exited the warehouse, organizing his men to return to the cave on the border to carry the goods.
Sart finished counting the baggage in the warehouse, handed the birch bark in his hand to Cooper, and said: "Old steward, if I had known that you could seize so much food and weapons, we should have purchased a batch of other northern goods in Besancon and sold them along the way, so that we could make another profit."
Cooper took the birch bark and read the densely packed names and numbers of the goods on the bark. The birch bark was full of details of the purchase and sale of trade goods with the military caravan and the income and expenditure of money since the expedition. Although Cooper was literate, he had never experienced business travel, so he could not understand Salt's records. He just took a look at the approximate amount of money received and spent. The birch bark was returned to Salt, "Sart, the master is now a sleeping lion that has just awakened. Just looking at his layout in the valley and the southern border, you can see that his plans are not small. I can see that the master still values you very much, otherwise you would not have become the steward of the wooden castle and the caravan just after joining. Remember, as long as you do things well, the master will definitely not treat you badly."
Sart nodded and said, "The old housekeeper is right. I am a down and out person. Your Excellency gave me a chance to turn around. I will definitely take advantage of it..."
While the two were talking in the warehouse, Bass rushed in and told the two that Art had returned victoriously with his troops. "My lord, they intercepted another batch of baggage at the outpost, all of which were fine weapons and armor..."
When Cooper and Salt rushed to the inner castle, Art was lying in the inner castle and Spencer was cleaning and dressing his open wound.
"Sir, is the arrow wound serious?" Cooper hurriedly walked to Art and checked the wound on his left shoulder.
"There's nothing wrong with it. No bones were injured. It has already begun to heal. There were some tears due to the bumpy ride on the way back." Art said as he glanced at the linen bandage that was still bleeding.
"Master, you can't be careless. You have to rest in the castle for the next few days. Wait until the wound heals before going out. The weather is starting to get hotter. If the wound festers, your life will be in danger." Cooper said worriedly.
h Ate looked at the subordinates surrounding the room with his right hand and said: "That's fine, I'll just rest in Tarburg for a few days to recover from the arrow wound."
hh "Odo, bring more people to transport all the supplies in the cave back. Pay attention to your whereabouts and try your best to hide them. Don't let anyone find out. When you come back, give a military reward to the soldiers and officers who went out to fight and stayed at the fort, and cook a sumptuous meal to reward everyone in the evening."
"Sergeant, you will be responsible for arranging the sentry posts around Tal Fort, including setting up sentries and sentry posts."
"Ron, you assist the sergeant major in setting up the sentry. In addition, you must guard the captured enemy soldiers so that they cannot escape or cause chaos."
"Cooper, we have repaired the basic defense of this military fort, but there are still many loopholes. Now that you are here, you will lead people to strengthen the military fort, especially the outer fort. I do not plan to defend here, nor do I intend to garrison it for a long time, but we must at least be able to defend it. The enemy has not noticed the small-scale attack on Tal Fort yet, but it will definitely be exposed over time. "
At this time, Bass stepped forward and said: "Sir, I'm afraid we have been exposed. Yesterday afternoon, the sentry saw someone snooping on the southeast hill. When I led people up, there was no one on the hill. We guessed it was a hunter, but it might also be an enemy sentinel."
After hearing this, Art pondered for a while and said: "Recently, the sentry post has been moved two miles away. If there is any enemy situation, report immediately."
"Excellent!" Art praised Bass.
"Cooper, it seems you can't rest. You have to hurry up and reinforce the military fort." Art turned to the old man who had been traveling with the caravan for more than a month.
"No problem, sir, I can do it." Old Cooper's wrinkled face was full of determination.
"Sart stayed behind to talk about the caravan accompanying the army, and everyone else can work on their own."
After hearing this, everyone left the inner fort and went about their business.
After everyone else left, Art called Salt, the caravan steward, over and said: "Sart, sit down."
At this time, Salt was no longer as desolate as Art had rescued him from the edge of the Aosta war zone a few months ago. He was a businessman who was more concerned about his dress. After paying his salary, he first bought himself a suit of suitable clothes, and now he looked quite wealthy.
Sart handed a piece of birch bark to Art, who took it and looked at it briefly.
"Sart, has the journey been smooth?" Art asked.
"Sir, with the old butler personally in charge and the assistance of Zakak and Lawrence, this journey has gone smoothly." Salter said a few polite words.
"Sart, I have always thought you are a straightforward person, so there is no need to say these false words. The old butler has never done business, so how can he take charge of the caravan? I let the old butler follow the caravan mainly because I can't fully trust you. You know that my current family is too thin, and I just count on this caravan to support me. War plunder can certainly obtain urgently needed money and materials in a short period of time, but war gains are not long-term, and such opportunities are not. It happens every time, so I attach great importance to trade. In the future, I will need more money to support it, and my caravan will continue to expand. If you can help me do a good job in business, naturally you will be indispensable."
Salt adjusted his clothes and sat upright. He looked into Art's eyes and replied: "Sir, the old housekeeper just talked to me about this in the warehouse. He said that you are like a sleeping lion who has just awakened. If you ask me to do things for you, you will not treat me badly."
Salter paused and continued: "I am already thirty-five years old, and I am not an age that can withstand hardships. I was disheartened after the caravan in Provence was destroyed last time. But I happened to meet you again and asked me to manage the caravan. This time I went with the army to trade. I realized that money is only safe when it is with swords in troubled times. So I will definitely run the caravan well for you. But~" Salter was a little embarrassed to speak.
Att moved his body and asked: "Just what? Just say it."
"However, I am a businessman at heart, and businessmen are just for money, so I think~"
"You want me to give you a salary increase?" Art interrupted.
"No, sir, as a steward of a caravan, the salary you are giving me now is not low. It's just that I want to share in your business in the future."
"Yes, my lord, you are a military noble, marching and fighting is what you are good at; and I am a businessman, and doing business is what I am good at. If a military noble wants to do business without being despised by the world, he needs an agent, and I After many years of business, although my fortune is finally gone, I know how to turn a copper pfennig into a silver mark. And I need your promise that when I run your caravan successfully, you must let me become one of its partners and share in the profits of the caravan."
"Sharing? With the current size of the caravan, a north-south trade trip can earn nearly ten thousand pfennigs. How much do you want to share?" Art's face was a little unhappy. Now the salary he gave Salt was equivalent to the salary of the squad leader, but this businessman wanted to get a percentage of the caravan's profits, which was too greedy. In future generations, a new employee would never make such a stupid request.
"Sir, I think you have misunderstood." Salt noticed the displeasure on Art's face and quickly explained.
“The sharing I am talking about is a way of operating the caravan. For now, the north-south trade has temporarily stagnated due to the war, so a trade trip with the military caravan can make a lot of money, but such a war will not last forever. Once the north-south trade road is unblocked, countless merchants will resume north-south trade. By then, your caravan You may not be able to compete with those big caravans and trading houses, and you can't make money like you are now." Art thought about Salt's words, and felt that there was some truth to it. He regained his composure and asked, "You mean that once the war stops, I will be suppressed by other caravans or trading companies?"
"There is a possibility that if you maintain the current size of your caravan, no one will suppress you, but if you continue to expand the caravan, or even want to rely on the caravan to maintain the expansion of your army, just those wealthy merchants will find ways to squeeze you out, not to mention the viscounts and guild giants. Now they are all because of the war. It has stopped, but as soon as the war is over, they will swarm up, trying their best to occupy the market that is empty due to the war. "
Art gently tapped the broken table in front of him with his right hand, thinking about Salt's words. After a while, he raised his head and asked, "I will consider what you said carefully, but what does this have to do with the division you said?"
The tension on Sart's face eased a little, and he replied: "Sir, what I mean is divided into two levels. The first level is out of selfishness. I am a businessman, and I think I still know a little bit about how to make money in business. If I don't have a chance to stand up, that's it. Now that you have given me a chance to stand up, I will definitely still want to work hard, but If you just give me a fixed salary every week, it is certainly a lot, but for a businessman, it is impossible to stimulate my enthusiasm for working hard. But if the caravan I serve has my own share, then of course I will try my best to make the caravan more money, because the more the caravan earns, the more I can get."
Seeing that Art was confused, Salt used a vivid metaphor: "Now you give me a salary of one pfennig per week, and I can earn a hundred pfennigs per week with your caravan. But if you give me a share of one hundred and one pfennig, I can earn you a thousand pfennigs. In that case, although I will get nine pfennigs more in return, you will make nine hundred pfennigs more in profit."
Art knows. Salter meant, but he wanted to listen more to the thinking of businessmen of this era. Pretending not to understand Salter's words, he asked: "What if I directly give you a salary of ten pfennigs per week?"
Matt interrupted Salter and said: "I roughly understand what you mean. If I give you a share, you are doing things for yourself, so you feel motivated and will naturally work harder. If I give you a fixed salary, you will feel that you are always doing things for others, and you won't care too much about whether you make more or less. That means you don't want to be loyal to me at all, right?"
Sart quickly stood up and waved his hands to deny: "Sir, you misunderstood, I didn't mean that, I meant..."
Sart smiled and waved for Salt to sit down, "Don't take it seriously, I was just joking."
Sart sat down slowly and wiped the sweat on his forehead.
"I probably understand the first meaning of what you said, but I still need to think about it more. Please tell me the second meaning."
Seeing that Art really didn't mean to be angry, Salter went on to say the second level of meaning, "Sir, the second level of meaning I'm talking about is from the development of the caravan and the development of your army."
At heard this, Art became more interested. He sat up straight and listened attentively.
"I just said that your caravan will lose its advantage after the war, and may even be squeezed out by other caravan guilds. That is because your foundation is not deep and your business connections are too shallow. The north-south trade starts from Jeala in the south to Havre in the north. It takes thousands of miles, every section of the trade road, every time There are many merchants operating in this city, and our caravans can still go out and trade while they are dormant. Once the war stops, they will stop all the wild wolves that compete with them for meat. Your army cannot fight against all the caravan guilds. "
Att nodded.
Salt was encouraged and continued: "So you need a business partnership. Let the merchants who own the market accept you and invest in your caravan to get a share of the profits. I know many such merchants. Some of them are workshop owners who can provide you with the cheapest goods, and some are shop owners who can sell the goods of your caravan. Some of them are city guild leaders. Your goods must obtain their permission before they can enter their cities. Some of them earn interest by lending money to merchants. If you want to make more money, you must have your own shop in the future. The shop needs people to manage it, and you must also give the people who manage the shop sufficient reasons to seek higher profits for you..."
Sart explained a lot of business matters to Art. After listening to this, Art sighed that this was the transcendence of the thinking of businessmen of the era. These business thoughts hundreds or thousands of years later could actually be spoken from the mouth of a down-and-out businessman. Art suddenly felt a huge pressure...
“What I just talked about was the development of the caravan, and let me talk about the development of the army. I discovered a problem during the time I followed you. You pay your officers and soldiers a lot of military salary every week, but your officers and soldiers don’t know how to spend the money. There is no place to spend money in the wooden fort in the valley, and no time to spend money when you go out to fight. Daily food, clothing, housing and transportation are provided by the army without spending money, and most of your officers and soldiers are single men. Their military salary can only be kept in money bags to mold. If they can invest part of their military salary in the caravan, the caravan will give them a corresponding profit share according to their investment share, so that their military salary can be guaranteed. Useful, they can also support themselves and their families with the profits earned from military pay. For those officers, you can even directly determine their share of the caravan based on their military positions. In this way, as long as the caravan can make money, they can continue to make profits. Their vital interests are closely tied to you, and they will naturally be more loyal to you. Cheng, you won’t have to worry about allocating fief land to them in the future~ Of course, these are just things to say later, provided that your caravan and army can have enough strength. At present, our main task is to make a lot of money by taking advantage of this war. Only when we have money can we expand the size of the caravan and be qualified for development..."
………
Throughout the afternoon, Art listened to Salt's explanation of the caravan's development blueprint. This time, he really felt that his knowledge was shallow.