On the evening of the ninth day after entering Provence, under the escort of fifty private soldiers of the lords of Viscount Bellian, Art's grain transport caravan drove fast and finally arrived at Aosta, an important town in the east of Provence.
The former majestic city of Aosta is now in ruins. The tall city wall was riddled with holes by siege equipment. The city gate is a charcoal color after being burned by the fire. The moat under the city wall is still filled with broken limbs and skeletons that have not had time to be salvaged. The pungent stench makes people dare not breathe.
"Sir Art, you have finally arrived. Your Excellency has been delaying in the city for two days, just waiting for the rations you sent." Balian's inner knights walked out of the city gate, paying no attention to the stench that filled the sky.
"Lord Nadod, why aren't the corpses in the moat cleaned up? The stench is really..." Art coughed a few times.
"Hey, these corpses are all left by the Lombards. We have cleaned and buried them some time ago. Now there are not enough guards in the city, so who cares to take care of these bastards. Besides, these rotting corpses can also become an obstacle to the defense of Aosta." Nadod looked indifferent.
"Can you bear this?"
"You will get used to it after a long time. Seeing these bastards rotting in the stinking ditch, the soldiers can also take a breath of bad breath."
"Okay, let's go see Lord Balian." Art patted Nadado's shoulder and walked towards the city gate.
………
As a military town and a transfer station for personnel and materials, there is no shortage of soldiers in Aosta. Troops from all over the place leaving Wilno will gather here and wait for orders. Food and baggage from all directions will also be gathered in Aosta City and then transported to their respective battlefields.
Business but not chaos, miscellaneous but orderly. It was no fluke that Provence could face the ferocious Lombards for two years and pull the battle line back to Verno.
The group of people pulled dozens of carriages through the dilapidated streets, squeezing out the passing soldiers, and arrived at the military camp located in the church square in the city.
Belion was already standing at the gate of the camp waiting for Art who was escorting the food.
Seeing that Viscount Balian was actually waiting at the camp gate, Art quickly stepped forward and saluted Balian, "Lord Balian, all thirty-three carriages (one cart of food was consumed during the journey) have been delivered. Please send someone to receive them."
Balian called the legion baggage officer and told him to contact the grain transport convoy.
「亚特兄弟，走吧，到我的营帐喝杯果酒休息片刻，我们晚上去见宫廷财政副臣，你让我做的事情我已经给副臣说过了，副臣让我带你去见见面。」贝里昂让开道路让亚特进入营中......
............
晚上，奥斯塔城领主大厅。
The thin, white-haired palace finance minister, Count Marcello, met with Balian and Ater in the official room.
Marcelo overturned Art's impression of the position of fiscal officer. In his impression, an important minister who manages the financial power of a principality should have a fat belly and a fat head. However, it is indeed not easy to be a financial officer in Provence, which is plagued by war. Not to mention the business and tax revenue that have been ruined by the war, the huge waste required for the war is enough for these financial officers.
When he entered the official room, Count Marcelo was still reading a tax statistics document of the principality under the dim candle. When he saw a guest coming in, Marcelo put down the parchment document, looked up and asked: "Ballion, is this the Burgundian knight you mentioned?"
Balian stepped forward and saluted Count Marcello and replied: "Your Majesty, this is the knight guarding the palace of the County of Burgundy. This time he responded to the call and brought dozens of carriages full of food from the County of Burgundy to come to our aid." Your Majesty, Lord Marcello."
Att stepped forward and bowed deeply to Earl Marcello, "God bless you, your esteemed Earl."
"Sir Art, how much food can you provide us?" Count Marcelo was busy with his affairs and had no time to chat with Art.
"Your Majesty, I have a caravan of twenty carriages in the County of Burgundy. Ever since they received the palace's call, they have been continuously purchasing grain from the northern part of the country and transporting it to the border for hoarding. At present, I have hoarded 100,000 pounds of grain, and the amount is still increasing. Then I will hire a caravan to transport the grain to Provence, as long as it is safe along the way. If it can be guaranteed, I can transport the food directly to the city of Aosta. As for going further south, I can't guarantee it. After all, the south of Aosta is a war zone, and no convoy dares to take huge risks to cross the war-torn area. However, after I send the food to Aosta, the rest of the journey can be carried by the army itself or sent to the war zone. "
“Sir Art, to be honest, twenty carriages are simply insignificant for Provence, which is in urgent need of military rations. However, you are the first merchant to transport food to Aosta, and if you can continue to deliver food to Aosta as you said, it can still be considered. You have shared a heavy burden for us. So I can agree to your request to grant a trade license for southern goods. On behalf of the palace, I grant you a business license for twenty carriages, but you must also fulfill your promise to transport no less than forty carriages of grain for us every month."
Att did not expect that the Vice Minister of Finance would agree so readily, and he was quite pleasantly surprised.
Just after talking about the surprise, the deputy finance minister put forward the next condition, "But~"
The joy on Art's face stopped, "But what? Your Majesty."
"But I have to modify the conditions that Balian agreed to you. You have to escort the food by yourself, and we can't send troops to you. Now that the Verno war zone has entered the most brutal stage of fighting, every one of our soldiers has to rush to the battlefield. It's impossible for me to allocate manpower to help you escort your convoy. If I send troops to escort your convoy, what will other merchants do?"
If there is no escort from the Provence army, Art's business The convoy cannot safely deliver the food. "My lord, you know the situation in the north of Provence. The reason why merchants dare not go south is because of the raging banditry in the north. Eight out of ten convoys will be robbed. If there is no army escort, I'm afraid~"
"Of course! What you said is also true." Art did not deny Marcelo's words.
After pondering for a moment, Art said: "What do you think? I am responsible for the safety of the grain convoy on my own, but you must authorize me on behalf of the Provence court to send an army into the Provence border to escort the convoy. Moreover, the price of the grain I sent to Aosta will also have to be slightly increased. After all, the cost of sending an additional escort army is too high."
Marcelo was a little repulsed when he heard that Art was going to raise the price of grain. Now that the Provence treasury was empty, he had to use every copper coin carefully. After hesitating for a moment, Marcelo replied: "It is negotiable to authorize you to send a small army to escort the convoy, but you have to ensure that the army entering Provence cannot cause trouble for me."
"As for raising the price of grain, I'm afraid I have to refuse. Now the purchase price in the Aosta grain market has reached an astonishing one pfennig per pound. If the price increases again, the palace will not buy grain from you."
Marcelo saw Art's silence and took a step back, saying: "Well, the price of food is unlikely to rise. I will grant you the additional status of a trading agent under the Palace Finance Minister. When the war subsides in the future, you can franchise a section of the business road. How about it?"
At thought for a while, he felt that this was the only way, "Okay, I promise you."