"Bishop Olof has promised me that he will personally come forward when I have problems, but it is best not to move the bishop out unless it is absolutely necessary." After leaving the cathedral, Art said to Ron Felix and others while walking.
"Brother-in-law, do you really want to forcefully open the eastern trade route? The power of guilds is really not something that ordinary people dare to provoke. My father has been doing business for decades and has never had the idea of the eastern southern goods trade route." Felix still knew something about business and trade under the influence of Baron Galvin, and he had heard about the power of guilds in major cities.
At did not answer Felix, but asked: "Felix, do you know why my soldiers are more powerful than the average army?"
Felix replied: "Of course you are well trained. Is there any lord who can train his soldiers continuously every day like you?"
"What else?"
h "And your soldiers are well paid, well treated, and have better weapons and equipment."
h "Then why can't other lords train their armies like me?"
h "That lord can be as generous as you. Besides, like you Raising soldiers like this is too expensive and no one can afford it."
Matt nodded and replied: "The fundamental reason why my soldiers are so powerful is that I am willing to spend money on them. Money is the greatest force, and force is the greatest source of wealth."
Felix thought for a moment and realized something.
"Okay, no more delay, you should know where your shop is in Lucesien, right? Take me to see it."
The three of them jumped on their horses and ran towards the city...
Walking through the wide stone streets and the busy alleys with people coming and going, the three of them led the horses to the most prosperous area in the center of Lucesien. There are many shops, pubs and workshops and stalls here, and the sounds of various sales are endless.
Felix led Art and Ron through the bustling crowd and walked to the middle of the street. A two-story wooden building appeared in the eyes of several people. On both sides of the two-story wooden building were a tailor shop and a large tavern.
Felix led Art and the two of them into the shop. Several rows of wooden shelves were nailed to the three walls of the shop. The wooden shelves were filled with a dazzling array of various shops, neatly stacked pieces of linen, cotton, satin and other fabrics, bags of salt, nutmeg, fennel, pepper and other spices, and barrels of olive oil, wine and other wines to accompany food.
Three store clerks were introducing goods to the guests. An old man who looked like a bookkeeper was leaning behind a high table opposite the main entrance to record the accounts. Next to the bookkeeper stood a strong man with a short sword on his waist, who was obviously the store's guard.
To the right of the entrance is a heavy wooden door. On the other side of the wooden door is a warehouse where valuable goods are stored.
On the left side of the door, there is a wooden ladder leading to the second floor. A middle-aged man wearing a cotton shirt with a slight limp is walking downstairs laughing with a businessman-looking guy.
The middle-aged man in a short shirt just walked down the stairs and saw Felix watching in the shop. So as soon as he sent the guests away, he hurriedly walked to Felix and asked happily and unexpectedly: "Master Felix, when did you come to Lucesien? Why didn't you send someone in advance to tell me that I should pick you up personally."
After saying that, he hurriedly brushed the dust off Felix's body.
Felix rejected the middle-aged man's enthusiasm, pointed at Art and introduced: "Kenem, this is my sister's husband, the palace guard knight Sir Art, and he is also the new owner of this southern goods shop. "Master. "
Then Felix introduced to Art: "Brother-in-law, this is Kenem, the steward of this southern goods store. He is from Sap, and he used to be the deputy steward of his father's caravan. Because he suffered a leg injury and was unable to walk, he had always been practical, so his father sent him to Lucese to manage the store. "
As soon as Felix finished the introduction, Kenem took off his hat and bowed to Art. He saluted, "I have heard your name for a long time, and it is my lifelong honor to see you today."
Matt nodded slightly in return, but his eyes were always fixed on the smiling middle-aged manager named Kenem.
“This is a shrewd businessman who has worked hard on the trade route.” This was Art’s first impression of Kenem when he saw him.
Kenem looked at the young man behind Art, was surprised for a moment, and said: "I received a letter from the master half a month ago, in which he told me that he would give this shop to Miss Lottie's husband, Sir Art. . I have been waiting for you to send someone to take over this shop. I will clear out the account books and the coins of the past half month's profit as soon as possible and hand them over to the new steward." Kenem said while looking at Ron behind Art. He knew that this day would come sooner or later.
Matt smiled softly and said: "I have no intention of changing the steward of this store. Besides, the young man behind me can't even write his own name. He is obviously not the material to be a store steward. Since you are someone whom my father-in-law trusts, I have no reason to replace an excellent store steward."
"Then you are this time~"
"This time I am taking the caravan north to open up the Eastern Southern Goods Trade Road, and I just took a look at this shop."
"You are the one from the south they said~" Kenem almost said the word "wild dog".
"Have you heard before that I would come to the north?" Art didn't expect that the news had already spread before anyone arrived.
"I heard from the people in the guild. They said that there is a businessman from the south who is coming to disrupt the Northland South Goods Market~"
"It seems that someone has already set off before us." Art smiled.
Kenem felt that there were too many people on the first floor and it was not a place to talk, so he led a few people to the second floor, went to a room where he was meeting distinguished guests, closed the door, asked Art and Felix to sit down, and said, "Master Felix, Sir Art, are you really the southerners that the guild said?"
Matt nodded and asked: "Yes, what's wrong? Do they want to drive me back to the south?"
Kenem sighed: "No wonder the people in the guild didn't call me over. It turned out they were trying to suppress our people!"
"Please tell me more details." Matt asked.
"Two days ago, the head of the guild in the city convened the large and small southern goods shops in the city to discuss matters. I was wondering why I was not called. Later, I found a familiar guy and asked about it. He said that the guild was going to unite everyone to deal with a southern goods caravan coming from the south. When I asked about the details, another guy called away my acquaintance. I have never understood why everyone is circling me recently. It turns out it is because of you~" Kenem did not continue.
"Lord Ater, how many southern goods did you bring this time? If it doesn't work, just send them all to this shop for sale." Kenem, the store steward, said.
Matt thought about the size of this shop, shook his head and replied: "No, this shop can't possibly hold fifteen loads of southern goods. Besides, since people want to deal with me, this shop will never survive in the future. It's better then."
Kenem is also in distress. Business has its own rules. In this place and even in the entire country, the rules of business have always been controlled by guilds composed of big businessmen. From purchasing and transportation to centralized sales, they have carved up all aspects of the entire southern goods trading market, and any force that attempts to intervene will become their life-or-death rival.
After hearing what Art said about having a hard time in the future, Kenem thought it was true and nodded: "Sir, I guess it won't be long before the urban gangsters raised by the guild will start to harass the shop."
< br/> "Kenem, how much profit can this shop make every month?"
Hearing this, Kenem was about to get up and get the account books for Art to check, but Art waved his hand to indicate to Kenem that he could just talk verbally.
"Sir, although the street price of southern goods has skyrocketed, the supply of southern goods is insufficient. There are many southern goods shops in Lucerne City. Our shops are very weak in the city, so the supply of goods is even more scarce. You see a lot of goods in the shop now because Mr. Galvin bypassed the guild and secretly smuggled several carts of southern goods from the Western Front more than a month ago and stored them in the shop for sale. Therefore, in addition to paying salaries and taxes, there is a surplus of 4,283 pfennigs this month, but the previous monthly surplus was less than 2,500 pfennigs. If the guild is determined to kill us, the surplus may be even less. If the guild sends some urban gangsters to cause trouble in the shop every day, it is probably a question of whether it can continue to operate..."
"Kenem, in order to deal with the possible crisis, you need to do two things. First, in order to prevent people with ulterior motives from coming to cause trouble in the shop, you recruit two more reliable guards to guard the shop. You also tell the guys in the shop to shoot them out if anyone dares to make trouble. Second, Archbishop Olof is an old friend of my father, and he is willing to help us. In the past two days, you have personally gone to Hwov Cathedral to find the Holy Donation Deacon, so that The name of this shop is to donate two hundred pfennigs to the church every month, and the money will be spent from the shop's surplus. You can hint to the deacon that the owner of this shop is me. In addition, I will have a banquet in the city tonight with a Sir William, who is Bishop Olof's personal bodyguard and has some friendship with me. You can also go to the banquet today to get to know Sir William. If you encounter an unsolvable crisis in the future, you can ask Sir William for help. "
Kenem did not expect that Art would actually have a relationship with the Bishop of Lucesien Diocese. He was surprised and at the same time breathed a sigh of relief. As long as there was a strong force behind him, his opponents would at least have some scruples and would not kill them all.
"There is one more thing you should do immediately."
Kenem stood in front of him and listened to Art's instructions.
"You must know the head of the Lucese Ennan Goods Guild. You should contact the head and tell him that the guests from the south want to visit him in person."
"Yes! Sir, I will go to the guild right away..."