In the tavern next to Besançon Church Square, Ron opened the door and walked into Art's room. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Sir, the Minister of Public Security still refuses to see us, but after several delays, his butler finally accepted the gift we sent." It seems that my immediate boss, the Minister of Public Security, has also become a centrist and wants to avoid offending both sides. I am afraid that neither party will get the best of it in the end. "
"Sir, you are already a border baron and you can appoint officials on your own. Why do you want to spend money to expand the patrol officer's responsibilities and the size of the patrol team?" Ron expressed confusion about Art's heavy bribery of the Minister of Public Security to expand the scope of the patrol officer's responsibilities.
Matt raised his head and took a sip of wine, praising: "Bodor's wine is of the best quality. After drinking this wine, it will not taste right if you drink other wines."
h "Ron, if it is just a barren valley fief, I will not be able to complete the mission assigned to me by the Deputy Prime Minister. Moreover, the valley is too closed. The valley is only our foundation. If we want to develop in the long term, we must firmly guard the trade routes in the south. And my special power is only useful in the valley barony. If we want to control the trade routes, we must have a legitimate reason. Since we have established the Boulder Town camp for the patrol team to be stationed, why not find a foothold on the issue of patrol officers and patrol teams? "
“Once I get the permission of the Sheriff, I will expand the size of the patrol team to fifty people and establish patrol posts along the trade road from the border post to Tyniec. Once the posts along the way are completed, the entire trade road will be truly in my hands. By then, I will be able to control the entire eastern trade route of the country~”
"But the Dean family and those nobles and wealthy businessmen who profit from that "golden river" can sit back and watch us control the business roads? Our eagle eyes in the city of Besançon reported that people from the Dean family have often been in and out of Count Bernard's mansion in recent days, and it is reported that old Dean has been invited by the Marchioness to enter the inner court. Although the evil wolf of the Dean family has made less noise in the south, their actions in Besancon are getting bigger and bigger. " Ron said.
"Do you know what the Dean family did in the palace?" Art asked.
“The palace was too well guarded and could not inquire about the inner court, but our eagle eye bribed a servant in Count Bernard’s house who often came here to drink, and through the servant we found out some of the conspiracy between the Dean family and Count Bernard.”
At heard this, he put down his wine glass and asked: "What conspiracy?"
Ron recalled it and replied: "It seems that the Dean family spent a huge amount of money to build something called the "Assassin Sect" in the Thorne Province, the fiefdom of Count Bernard. As for what this "Assassin Sect" is, the servant has no idea. After all, he is just an ordinary servant, and he will send them away if he does anything secretive. "
"Sir, although we don't know what evil the Dean family is holding back, we have to guard against it!"
Matt sat back on the chair again, tapping his fingers on the wooden table, and said in his mouth: "Assassin~ Assassin~ How do I feel like I have heard this word somewhere before~"
Matt lowered his head and searched his mind for a long time but could not recall what it was. "Ron, give the order to the Eagle Eyes of Besançon, so that they must find out what this "Assassin" created by the Dean family is! And in the future, all news related to the Dean family or Earl Bernard must be transmitted to you through the European trading houses for summary. "
"Yes, sir, I will make arrangements. But I would like to discuss with you whether we can increase the salary and mission expenses of our Hawkeyes in the city of Besançon. This is the palace of the capital. Hawkeyes often need to bribe servants of high-ranking officials to inquire about information, and they often have to invite people to eat and drink in the tavern. This cost is too high, and the Hawkeyes' salary is not enough to collect information." Ron is now in charge of the entire intelligence network, and of course he has to think about the people under his command.
Matt nodded after hearing this and said: "What you said makes sense, and I agree with your suggestion. You will go find the fat man (Friend Angus, the owner of the tavern, and Eagle Eye) later. He is the leader of the Besançon intelligence point. You Come to me after the two of you have discussed a specific amount and a feasible distribution plan.”
"Last time the northern caravan came to see you in Besançon, our Eagle Eye in the caravan reported a message to me."
"What news?" Art looked up at Ron.
A profit of 20,000 pfennigs~ How is this possible? And I have checked the account books, and the account books brought back through the caravan must be forged and false accounts."
In the wooden castle in the valley, the lord's wife Lottie was sitting in Art's official room on the first floor of the mansion, talking to Cooper, the civil administrator and steward of the valley.
"Madam, Lawrence said that he had personally visited and confirmed that the two stores were indeed in poor condition, and the shop stewards had to sell a large amount of goods stored in the middle at a discount. Lawrence has always been reliable and should not do anything to deceive us." Cooper hurriedly explained to Lottie.
"Uncle Cooper, the problem should not be with Steward Lawrence, but he is not Steward Salt and has no experience in operating commercial goods. He also knows very little about the skills of merchants. What I suspect is that there is something wrong with our two store stewards~"
"This~ Madam, I don't understand the matter of commercial trade. How do you think we should deal with it? Now we are short of people who are good at business. If we directly remove those two managers, I am afraid we will not be able to find suitable managers for a while~" Cooper was also in trouble after hearing Lottie's words.
Lottie put down the account book in her hand, thought for a while, raised her head and said to Cooper: "Uncle Cooper, hurry up and send people to Fort Sap, and bring all the wives and children of the two shop stewards to the valley. Just because I thought of their husbands working hard outside, I took them to the valley as guests. I will decide on the rest after my husband comes back." "
Cooper thought for a while and couldn't help but look at the lord's wife in a different light, "Madam, I will ask Bas to send garrison peasant soldiers to Sap to pick them up."
"Uncle Cooper, I also discovered a problem." Lottie took out an account book of food and material expenditures for the new villages in the valley.
"This is the food receipt account of the newly built village. According to the previous grain quota for each new resident, the young people received one pound per day and the children half a pound per day. After the spring, the task of land reclamation was heavy, and the young people increased it to one and a half pounds per person. But I calculated the food consumption in the last month. Even based on the highest share calculation, the new village received an extra 120 pounds of food a month. Originally, this amount of food was not considered for the valley. What, but we can't tolerate people making small moves in the supplies that belong to the valley. "
Cooper wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied: "Madam, during this time, I have focused all my energy on the Beiguan Army Fort construction site, and I really didn't pay attention to the movement in the new village. I immediately took people to inspect the new village and get rid of the guy in charge! 」