In the early morning of the seventieth day when he was stationed in Talburg, Lawrence returned to Talburg with a detachment sent by the army's caravan. This caravan carried three carriages: two carts of fresh meat, vegetables and other food supplies, and one cart of arrows, kerosene and other equipment for defending the city. Thanks to the looting after the capture of Biltenburg, the food reserves in Talburg were relatively sufficient, but there was an acute shortage of fresh fruits and vegetables, because these difficult-to-preserve goods were directly ignored during the looting of Biltenburg, and the fresh fruit and vegetable vendors in Glalu County did not dare to bring these fresh goods to Talburg for trade. Therefore, the several carts of supplies brought by the military caravan this time made the defenders of Talburg very happy.
Returning with the detachment were seventeen young men recruited by the caravan to garrison Talburg and a private letter from Bishop Olof to Art.
The food supplies were stored in the warehouse in Talburg, and the young man was handed over to Odo and Angus for training. At this time, Art was reading Bishop Olof's private message.
Bishop Olof's letter praised Art's heroic fighting while he was stationed at the border, and promised to ask the court to commend Art. In the letter, Bishop Orlov also emphasized that Art's army must maintain a sense of fear of God. First, they must not invade the church's holy place, and second, they must not kill innocent civilians indiscriminately...
Lawrence is sitting on the wooden bench opposite to report to Art about the caravan accompanying the army.
"Sir, the old housekeeper and Steward Salt are currently in the city of Zurich. This time the caravan encountered a big trouble in its southern goods trade."
At heard this, his heart tightened, and he quickly asked: "What's the big trouble?"
“Because we carried too much southern goods this time, the southern goods trading guilds in Zurich made things difficult for us. They said that the southern goods we brought into Zurich were sold at too low a price, seriously disrupting the southern goods market in Zurich, and ordered us to carry more goods. We must raise prices and require that all southern goods shipped into Zurich in the future must pay a tax of 15% to the guild or pay a membership fee of 10,000 pfennigs to the guild and become a member of the Zurich Merchant Guild, otherwise they will seize all our goods.”
"Sir, those dozen cars of southern goods are worth nearly 50,000 pfennigs!!!" Lawrence spoke with uncontrollable anxiety.
After hearing this, Art tried his best to calm down and asked: "Didn't you show them the lacquered document issued by Tyniec County for transporting military supplies?"
"I showed it to them from the beginning. They said that most of these southern goods were not military supplies, so they refused to acknowledge it. They even threatened that we were using the army's trains to carry supplies privately, and that they would send us to the palace for severe punishment." Lawrence looked angry.
Our goods cannot leave Zurich at all. If we follow the prices set by the guild, there is no way we can compete with the local southern goods merchants.”
"Salt once told me that when the caravan expands in size, it will definitely encounter the crowding out of large merchants and guilds from various places. But now we are still in the war, the north-south trade is basically cut off, and Zurich really needs goods from the south. Why did the guilds suddenly stand up to make things difficult for the southern goods caravan at this time?" Art recalled what Salt had said about the power of the guild.
"Lawrence, have you encountered any difficulties in other places?" Art asked Lawrence.
"No, the prices of the goods we brought from Talburg were also very low, but no one cared about them at all. Everything went smoothly in other places. Not long after we returned to Zurich after purchasing southern goods from the south, people from the guild found us as soon as we found a place to stay." Lawrence recalled carefully.
"That's weird~ Why? It doesn't make sense~" Art lowered his head and thought for a long time but couldn't figure out the end of the problem.
After a while, Lawrence tentatively asked: "My lord, can you write to ask the Vice-President to see if he can help us."
Art shook his head and said: "Now Earl Baldwin is very busy with the war in the east. How can he pay attention to our trivial matters? Besides, with us and Bowen, He may not be willing to help because of the relationship with Count Irwin. "
Matt thought for a moment and said, "You reminded me that Bishop Olof is now the bishop of the Lucese Diocese. He must know some dignitaries in Zurich and may have some influence in the guild. Now we can only ask the bishop for help."
After saying that, Art pulled out the wooden box placed under the bed, took out a set of quill pens and carbon-ink letter paper and began to write a letter to Bishop Olof. In the letter, Art explained that the purpose of the caravan was to support the huge expenses of the troops stationed in Talburg, and talked about the current difficulties the caravan was encountering. Finally, he hoped that Bishop Olof could come forward to help coordinate, and all the expenses incurred during the period would be borne by the caravan itself.
"Lawrence, I must be stationed in Talburg now and cannot go to see the Bishop in person. You will rush back to Zurich tomorrow with the caravan and this private letter, and go with Cooper Salter to Lucese to find Bishop Olof and ask him to help us overcome this difficulty."
“Tell Cooper and Salter to hold on to me. Those guys in the guild always bully the weak and shy away from the strong. We will definitely deal with these people in the future. If we are soft now, we will not be able to be tough again.” Art ordered.
Lawrence took the private message covered with fire paint and blew it dry before carefully putting it into the pouch on his waist. He raised his head and replied to Art: "Sir, there is no need to wait for tomorrow. I will take the caravan and set off after lunch. If the matter is resolved earlier, the caravan will lose less."
"Okay, let Spencer prepare some delicious food for you." Art admires Lawrence's enthusiasm...
After Lawrence left, Art was still sitting at the wooden table thinking about how to solve the problems encountered by the caravan. For future development, the caravan will continue to expand, and there will definitely be many such problems in the process. If you can't think about how to solve them in advance, it will be more difficult to deal with these problems after the war is over.
While Art was still deep in thought, Angus walked in. Seeing that Art didn't respond at all, he lightly knocked on the edge of the table in front of Art.
"Lord Art, if you are so fascinated, you must be missing your Miss Lottie, right?"
At came back to his senses, smiled at Angus, and said with a serious face: "How can I have the mind to think about these things now. Sergeant Major, our army caravan is in trouble in Zurich. The Zurich Trade Guild has seized our goods..." Art told Angus in detail about the difficulties that the army caravan encountered in Zurich.
Angus scratched his hair and said: "This is going to be difficult. I grew up in Zurich and I am used to the guilds being so helpful, especially the trading guilds. Their members are all big businessmen with considerable wealth and power. Not only are they closely connected with the dignitaries of the palace, but the trade guild also has a well-equipped guild guard, and many local gangsters in Zurich are also working for the guild.
Matt covered his face with his hands and wiped his face. "I didn't expect that the people from the guild would come so soon. I have asked Lawrence to send a letter to Bishop Olof of Lucesien, asking the bishop to help solve the problem."
"I can't get away now. The caravan's difficulties can only be solved by Cooper and Salta themselves with the help of Bishop Olof."
"By the way, Sergeant Major, what was the result of your sentry inspection over Bilten?" Art simply ignored the caravan for the time being and concentrated his energy around Talburg.
Angus straightened his body and replied solemnly: "I'm here to tell you this. Yesterday I took Ron to scout around Bilten. There are dozens of elite soldiers guarding and patrolling around Bilten's city wall. The defense is very tight. The surrounding villages, manors and settlements are all closed. Roads everywhere are cut off. Everyone in the entire Bilten area is in danger. Look. The guy who came to Jeffrey was scared out of his wits. He was also worried that we would take advantage of the situation to capture Bielten again or lead troops to plunder the surrounding villages and estates. "
"Baron Jeffrey will not go out again for the time being, but he still has to guard against the enemy forces on the other side of Teblon City. You have Ron's sentry team continue to monitor the border developments and report immediately if there is any abnormality."
Matt swallowed a sip of saliva and continued: "The army has been fighting continuously for two months. Taking advantage of the calm during this period, I plan to have the army renovate and train. Some time ago, there were a lot of casualties among the soldiers, and there were shortages in each team. This time, Lawrence brought a group of young men, together with the prisoners of war who had returned to free status. You and Odo will seize the time to conduct basic training for the new recruits, and then reorganize them into the combat team. Odo will take charge of the new recruits' training, and you will assist. Also, see if any of the soldiers in Tarburg are suitable for cavalry. If there are such soldiers, you can select them and let them be trained by you alone."
"By the way, what's going on with those territories where Earl Baldwin is subject to peasant and military service?"
“Odo is trying to keep some peasant soldiers with potential as soldiers. Currently, there are four single men who have decided to join us. It’s hard to say about the others.” Angus replied.
"Well, all those who are willing to serve as soldiers will stay. As long as there are not too many of them, I will report death in battle to Earl Baldwin. If the others are determined to leave, just give them some food and coins to go home. After all, they have overstayed their service for so long. There is not much pressure from the war in Tarburg now, and most of them have families. We can't force anyone to stay in the countryside."
After Angus took the order and left, Art sat quietly for a while, and then thought of the difficulties the caravan encountered, and couldn't help but muttered: "It's difficult to travel on the trade road~"
...
In the official room of Zurich's trade guild, Dean, a trainee knight in a rich and splendid uniform, was exchanging glasses of wine with the guild leader John George.
"Uncle John, on behalf of my father, I offer you this glass of wine. Thank you for seeking justice for our family." Dean picked up the silver wine glass and touched the guild leader's wine glass gently, then drank it all.
The head of the guild also took a big sip, patted his belly and replied: "Your father is a good friend of mine. We have been doing business together for many years. How could I just sit back and do nothing about his affairs? Besides, your family has always been in control of the southern goods trade route from Tyniec to Zurich. That bitch Min was lucky enough to be promoted to a trainee knight, and he began to want to take advantage of the war to intervene in the trade between the north and the south. He really thought that he was the master of this world, and he was a little naive. Go back and tell your father, let him rest assured, I will definitely let those untouchables who are snatching food from the tiger's mouth know what it means to be difficult to trade!!!"
The leader of the guild said a few harsh words, then touched the bulging money bag on the table and laughed loudly, and Dean also laughed a few times.
After laughing for a while, the guild leader remembered another thing, and asked Dean in a low voice: "Dean, you are now responsible for escorting military supplies by the side of the Deputy Prime Minister. How did you go about what I told you last time?" The leader of the guild whispered in his ear: "I have exchanged the newly recruited military rations for the old grain in your warehouse and transported them to the Eastern Front. That batch of military rations will be delivered to your grain store tomorrow. According to the old rules, I will get three points of the money earned."
The smile on the guild leader's face became even brighter after hearing this...