Cooper and Salter stood in the side hall's official room on the side of the Hwov Cathedral, accepting Bishop Olof's questioning.
"Your Majesty, we really don't know how we could offend the people in the Guild. The city of Besançon is short of southern goods. The southern goods we purchased from the southern counties at low prices were only sold to southern goods shops in the city when we arrived at Besançon, and there was no self-service. Selling it to the market at a low price has caused no losses to the local guild! Local merchants can buy southern goods that are in short supply during the war at lower prices, so they have no reason to object!" Salter replied in a low voice, with a hint of helplessness and confusion in his tone.
"Well, although I don't understand business matters, I also know that there is a huge shortage of southern goods in Besancon and even in other parts of the north. Besancon merchants are too late to welcome the southern goods shipped at low prices. They really shouldn't suppress you. However, since the guild has come out to embarrass you, there must be a reason." Bishop Olof couldn't analyze the reason either.
Bishop Orlov picked up the letter in his hand and read it again, and asked: "How much is your batch of goods worth?"
Salta glanced at Cooper, who nodded, "Your Majesty Bishop, these thirteen loads of southern goods can be exchanged for nearly 60,000 pfennigs in Besancon."
Bishop Orlov was surprised, "Is your caravan so big now?"
"I do remember that Art once told me that he wanted to make money from trade. At that time, I thought he just wanted to form a fleet of three or five carriages to transport goods for those merchant travelers. I didn't expect that he dared to spread out such a large formation all at once. I also promised him at the time that he could conduct some trade in the name of purchasing from Hewulf Cathedral, but now that the amount of your southern goods is too huge, this excuse is obviously not feasible."
Bishop Olof lowered his head and thought for a while, then put away Art's private message and said to the two people standing in front of him: "John George, the head of the Besancon Trading Guild, is a very big businessman. He is greedy and cunning by nature, and he has deep connections in the court and has contacts with many powerful people. He is a guy who is not easy to deal with."
The hearts of Cooper and Salt sank to the bottom of the valley.
"However, he has contracted several church mines in Lucerne diocese, and we have some interactions. I will write a private letter to him immediately. You can give the letter to him and then bring some property to send it, just say it is what I mean."
"Don't be too happy. He alone cannot control the guild. Since the guild has entangled you, there will definitely be a price to pay, and they will still keep an eye on you in the future. Go back and give Art a message. If he really wants to trade southern goods, he must consider a sound strategy. But you still have to remind him that being a knight and indulging in the merchant's path is not an honorable thing after all, and let him think about it clearly."
Salter listened with a serious face, and then replied devoutly: "What the bishop said is absolutely true. My family also told us that he will faithfully fulfill the vocation of a knight - to protect justice in the world for God. In the future, he will not do business matters himself. Moreover, my family also said more than once that after the caravan makes money, he will donate a fixed share to the church. As a holy mission to build a church to benefit the congregation, let God's light shine on every inch of the world." Bishop Olof showed a smile on his face and said kindly: "After all, he is a saint who has fought for our Lord. I am very happy that he has such an idea. You go, if the people in the guild still make things difficult for you, I will go find them myself."
Cooper and Sarthe drew the Holy Cross and exited the official room of the church side hall, and hurried back to Besançon...
In the official room of the Besançon Trade Guild, John George, the leader of the guild, read Bishop Orlov's private letter. Anger surged in his heart and he whispered to the attendants around him: "Dean, this bastard, didn't he say that the owner of that caravan was a helpless wild dog? What's this private letter from Bishop Orlov? Hurry up and find Dean for me. "Sir, the goods are worth tens of thousands of pfennig, so let them go like this?"
"Tens of thousands of pfennig? Use your pig brain, my monthly income from the three church mines in Lucesien is more than this amount!! How can I offend the bishop of the diocese?"
"What are you still doing here? Get out and find Dean!" John roared.
The entourage quickly turned around and went to the city to look for Dean.
After waiting impatiently, they had delivered Bishop Olof's private message and a box of jewelry worth one thousand pfennigs to the office of John George, the head of the guild. Although John had not yet met with a few people, the treatment they received this time was obviously much better. The last time they came to see John, they were left hanging for a whole morning before a servant came out and kicked them away without even a single person to talk to.
"Old housekeeper, do you think there is hope this time?" Lawrence asked.
Cooper was also a little uneasy, so he kept silent.
Sart, who has been in shopping malls for a long time, picked up a glass of fruit wine and confidently said to Lawrence: "We just have to wait patiently, this can be done."
"It's taken us half a morning, but I still feel like there is no hope~" Lawrence still had a sad look on his face.
Sart took a sip of fruit wine and said to the two of them with a smile: "Although we are still being left alone, at least this time we have a place to sit and have drinks and snacks. If things had not settled, we would have been kicked out long ago. This time it was Bishop Olof who came forward. The guild dared to bully an unknown caravan, but it would never dare to provoke people from the church. Besides, Bishop Olof is the bishop of the Lucese Diocese, and John has several mines in Lucese..."
Sure enough, just after the meal, John's entourage opened the door to the side hall and walked in. He said to several people with a smile: "Gentlemen, my master invites you to go to his official room."
Cooper and Lawrence looked surprised, but Salter was not surprised at all.
"Old housekeeper, can you let me talk to John later?" Salt asked Cooper beside him for instructions.
"Of course, you are the real expert in this area." Cooper replied readily.
Hence, several people followed the entourage out of the side hall door.
As soon as the few people left the side hall and entered the main hall, they saw a figure hurriedly walking out of the main hall door. When the figure disappeared through the door, he glanced back at the three people who were about to enter the office with a malicious look.
“Isn’t that Master Dean? What is he doing here?” Lawrence, who had the best eyesight, recognized the figure from behind, stopped and turned his head to look.
"You're wrong! Let's go, we have business to do." Salt pulled Lawrence and they walked into John's office.
The moment he stepped into the official room, even though he was well-informed, Salt couldn't help praising the wealth and luxury of the owner of the room - there was a wool felt blanket on the floor, portraits of famous nobles hanging on the wall, large silver-plated candlelights hanging from the ceiling, glass pieces embedded in the window frames, the whole room was decorated with sculptural porcelain, the furniture in the room was all made of yew, and even the chairs for entertaining guests were covered with a layer of soft leather.
Seeing the three people entering the room, John stood up politely and greeted: "I guess these are Sir Art's caravan stewards. Please sit down."
The three of them sat on the leather armchairs opposite John's official desk.
"I have read Bishop Olof's letter. Gentlemen, if you could explain your relationship with the Bishop earlier, then these misunderstandings would not have arisen between us." John said with a smile.
"Master John, my master does not want to disturb the Bishop for such trivial matters. It's just that the Bishop heard somewhere that we had some misunderstandings with the Besançon Trading Guild, and was worried that we would recklessly collide with the guild masters, so he took the initiative to ask about the matter." Salt started to talk nonsense, but this kind of half-false and half-truth made people unwilling to believe it completely, but they dare not not believe it at all.
John's eyebrows tightened as expected after hearing this, and then his smile returned and he said: "Of course, Sir Art is the son of the bishop's religious guardian. Of course, the kind and loving bishop will not let Sir Art get into unnecessary trouble." John didn't believe that Bishop Olof would take the initiative to help these people, but who dares to say that he won't...
"Mr. John, what about this batch of our goods~?" Salt asked tentatively.
John stopped thinking, raised his head and replied with a smile: "There is nothing wrong with the batch of southern goods you brought. It was because the people doing the work misunderstood what I meant. I will ask them to return the goods of your caravan. It's just~"
"Just what?" Salt knew that this guy's heart was not as bright as his fat smiling face.
“It’s just that your batch of southern goods must be purchased from a few shops designated by the guild. These shops all belong to the guild leaders. It is a fair sale anyway, and it is the same for everyone, right?” John put forward the first condition. The caravan’s batch of cheap southern goods must be bought from several designated shops in the city of Besançon. Of course, most of these shops are John’s own.
"Master John, I can promise you this, as long as you can guarantee to give us enough fairness." Salt replied readily.
"Well, of course, of course~ um~" John replied.
Seeing that John was still a little unsatisfied, Salter chuckled and said: "I guess Master John still has conditions?"
John touched a few beards at the corners of his mouth, his face regained some seriousness, and said: "Your Excellency is a sensible person, and I will not beat around the bush. I can let you go this time, but in the future you can no longer continue the southern goods trade from Tinets to Besancon!"
Salter knew that this was the real purpose.
Among all the southern goods trade routes in the entire County of Burgundy, only the route from Tinets to Besançon is the best route. Because the most convenient route for southern goods unloaded from the major ports along the Lombardy coast is to follow the mountains of eastern Provence through Verno, Aosta, and Kitzby and then cross the northern border into Tyniec and surrounding provinces and counties. Southern goods are no different than other goods. Most of the southern goods are valuables such as spices, jewelry, raw silk, satin, dyes, ceramics, tea, etc. Only in the large cities in the north of the country, such as Lucesne and Besancon, can there be enough merchants and dignitaries to buy these goods. The distance from Tinets to Besancon is the shortest compared to other provinces and counties, so the line from Tinets to Besancon is the "golden journey" of the southern goods trade.
In the past two years, this trade route was temporarily cut off due to the ongoing war in the southern continent. Southern merchants had to detour through the east-west route and travel hundreds or thousands of miles to trade in the north. However, the war will eventually end. Once the north-south trade route is open, this line will immediately become a "river" flowing with gold and silver.
Although Salt, who has been immersed in business travel for many years, has no chance to participate in the southern goods trade on this line, he also knows how high the "mountains" and how deep the water of this "golden river" are.
"How are you guys?" John broke Salt's meditation.
"What if we don't agree?" Salta remembered what Art had brought back from Tarburg through Lawrence, and his attitude suddenly became tough.
John did not expect that the guy in front of him suddenly changed his attitude, and he was speechless for a moment.
“Do you really think that relying on Bishop Olof can establish a firm foothold on the North-South Trade Road?” John’s tone was unkind, and his smiling face suddenly turned cold.
Sart did not answer directly, but changed the subject and asked: "Master John, I have already inquired, you have not intervened in this north-south trade route, our caravan will not have the slightest impact on your interests, you have not The reason is to fight with a potential partner for an unrelated business path. "
"Who said it is unrelated, your existence is threatened..." John realized that he had almost made a mistake and quickly shut up.
"Who do we threaten?" Salt asked.
"You threaten the stability of Besançon's southern goods trading market." John changed his answer.
Salt knew that these were all excuses, but he stopped asking, "Mr. John, I don't care who stabs us in the back, but a successful merchant noble like you should be wise. I just said, you should not be with a potential partner. Fighting, and besides, this partner is also receiving the Holy Light..."
"Oh? Potential partner? This idea is very new, I would like to hear what you have to say..." John regained his composure and asked curiously.
…..
Half an hour later, the three of them left John's office.
John promised to return the goods seized by the caravan, and he also promised that other goods sold by the caravan in the future would be treated fairly by the Besançon Trading Guild. However, John never relented on the issue of the southern goods trade. He even threatened the caravan that the southern goods transported into Besançon would not be purchased by any shop... "Old steward, it seems that the person who wants to stab us to death has a close relationship with Master John. What kind of person can he be?" Salter thought as he walked out of the guild's main hall.
Suddenly he seemed to remember something, stopped and asked Lawrence beside him: "Lawrence, what was the name of the man you just said you saw coming out of John's office?"
Faced with the sudden question, Lawrence was a little confused, "It seems~ it seems to be Master Dean? Hey, I just took a look, maybe I saw it wrong. Master Dean should lead the troops to fight in the east."
Sart thought for a moment, then asked: "This Master Dean seems to be the son of a wealthy businessman in Tyniec County, right?"
Cooper recalled: "Well, it seems that the master mentioned something. He was canonized as a trainee knight because his family contributed a lot of money to the palace to fight the war. By the way, Master Dean had a conflict with our master!"
"My family is a wealthy businessman in Tinets, and I also had a conflict with the adults~" Salt muttered to himself.
“Old housekeeper, I know who stabbed us in the back!”
…