At the beginning of May, Salt, the commercial officer and general manager of the European trading company, settled the many chores of the southern caravan and rushed back to the wooden castle in the valley with a few guards.
…Sir, this is the situation of the southern caravans. As the war has just subsided, the Provence Branch of the Continental Commercial Bank has opened the southern cargo market in the east of Provence. We have rented two large warehouses in Kitzby and Aosta City as cargo gathering and transportation warehouses. "
“Now that the European trading houses have full trade privileges in the east of Provence, and with the support of Viscount Bellian, the southern goods trade route from Verno via Aosta to Kitzby and then north to Burgundy is basically under our control. According to your order, the European In addition to supplying the north, the southern goods of the trading house also extend to the west. I have contacted several French merchants who have had business dealings in the past. Our southern goods will be transported to the Kingdom of France through them, but this route is not the best route, so the profit is much thinner. "
"Before returning north to the valley this time, I also received news that the Provence Palace is negotiating with the Principality of Lombardy. As long as the Principality of Lombardy completely opens the passage from the southern seaport to Verno, those valuable southern goods will be continuously transported to our border post through the route controlled by the European Commercial Bank. As long as the southern goods arrive at the border post, the rest of the matter will be much easier to handle."
"But~" Salt hesitated.
"But what? If you have any questions, just tell me." Art stood up from the recliner.
“However, Viscount Balian requested to receive one-tenth of the annual income of the Provence Branch of the Continental Trading Company as a bonus. His reasons are also solid. After all, there are many noble lords to deal with on the long road from Wilno to Kitzby. Viscount Balian needs to complete every level. One-tenth of the dividend is not something Viscount Balian can swallow alone.”
Matt thought for a moment. Being able to open up the southern goods transportation channel in Provence would basically control the supply of goods from the north to the south. Moreover, the key to Art's European trading company being able to gain a foothold in Provence was that Viscount Balian, as a rising noble in the court, was willing to help Art open up and protect this trade route. For the sake of long-term interests, Art was willing to bear the pain of cutting off his flesh.
"Tell Viscount Balian that I agree to hand over to him one-tenth of the annual profit of the Provence branch of the Continental Trading Company. If he can obtain more abundant and cheap southern goods from the southern port cities of Lombardy through special channels, our Continental Trading Company will also raise the price to purchase them." , if he could really completely control the trade route in eastern Provence, ideally, the European trading companies would be able to earn a price difference of more than 500,000 pfennigs from the south to the north of Provence every year. And after the southern goods entering Burgundy through Kitzby City were sold in the northern part of the mainland, the trade difference could reach an astonishing 1.7 million pfennigs. This huge commercial benefit would be enough for him to maintain about 1,500 legionnaires.
Of course, these are profits under ideal conditions. If the goods collection and transportation lines in the south are blocked or the goods in the north and south are unsalable, the Continental Commercial Bank's profits for one year will be able to barely maintain the current size of Art's army.
Matt stood up, walked to Salter, patted him on the shoulder, and said: "Sarter, you are one of the few capable confidants around me who can control the overall situation. Now my layout is getting bigger and bigger, and I need more and more money. This year, I barely solved my money crisis due to several unexpected gains, but we can't expect such lucky things to happen every time, so I attach great importance to the development of the European Commercial Bank."
“The Burgundy country is in turmoil, and there may be chaos one day, so I don’t plan to expand the Burgundy branch of the Continental Trading Company for the time being. Now that I control the entry throat of southern goods from the east, it will be easier even if I want the Continental Trading Company to expand in the north in the future. Anyway, as long as the storm stops, the merchants in the north will still have to follow me. With the supply of southern goods in hand, I will be able to enter the northern land smoothly. "
Salt nodded, but still had some doubts, "Sir, if there is no wind or rain in the north, will we miss the opportunity? This year is the best opportunity to seize the southern goods market in the north."
“Sart, you have to dig deeper into the nature of commerce. As long as we control the best sources of goods and the most convenient transportation routes, we will always hold the lifeblood of southern goods in our hands. Even merchants in the North can find ways to get southern goods from the east and west routes, but the price will definitely be more expensive than on our route. The quantity will definitely not be greater than ours. As long as we are determined to let high-quality and low-priced southern goods flow into the north, those merchants will not refuse us."
“Well, Lawrence has left the northern caravan. I plan to temporarily merge the northern caravan into the southern caravan. In addition, I will ask the civil affairs to allocate two hundred thousand pfennigs to the Continental Commercial Bank. You can use this money to buy shops and set up goods acquisition, storage and transportation points in important city fortresses along the eastern side of Provence. If If you have enough money, you can also buy some reliable small caravans to work for the European trading companies. "
"Your first task this year is to take advantage of the opportunity of post-war reconstruction to give me a layout in the east of Provence. I want the European trading companies to control the southern goods trade route in eastern Provence."
Sart's eyelids were a little twitching. This was what he dreamed of, but establishing a commercial dominance in a foreign country was not easy. "Sir, the European Commercial Bank has only established a foothold in Provence. If you want to control the entire eastern trade~"
“I know what you are worried about. For difficulties in the court of Provence and the lords of various places, you can ask Viscount Balian for help. He has a share of 11% in the Continental Trading Company. He has no reason to refuse the expansion of the Continental Trading Company. If he thinks that money is needed to open a way, you can ask me. I will not be stingy on these matters. In addition, in the past and You have to win over the Provence merchants and guilds of the Dean Family Cooperation Alliance. I authorize you to use 11% of the shares of the European trading companies to ally with those guild merchants. They are businessmen who will not fight against money." Salter was reassured. He was also worried that Art would not let others share the pie.
"Sir, what about the north?"
"In addition to the trade of goods at the border outposts in the north, for the time being, you only need to transport the southern goods to Lucerne and Besancon on time and in quantity and sell them in batches to various guilds. You are not forced to pocket all the terminal benefits of the southern goods."
"Terminal benefits?" Salter didn't quite understand this word.
"It's the money earned by those merchants selling southern goods from us and buying them for those who really enjoy the southern goods."
"Oh! This is a new word." Salt looked like he was being taught.
"By the way, I asked you to search for suitable business talents in various places, have you found them?" Art has already assigned Salt the task of searching for business talents.
"Sir, I definitely take what you told me to heart. From last summer to now, we have successively recruited nine people from various places who are proficient in business. Most of them are merchants who were bankrupted by the war. They are now doing administrative work in European trading houses. If they are really good, I will ask you to give them important tasks."
"This time I will bring back a Provence. There is a down-and-out businessman in Sri Lanka, his name is Manid. I met him in a tavern in Aosta City. This man..."
Art interrupted Salt, "Since you have brought it back to the valley, it means that he can satisfy you. In this way, I will go to the workshop area for inspection in the afternoon, and you will take Manid with me."
........................
"Sir, this is this full-body plate armor. Except for the iron embryos, which are purchased from the south by the caravan, the rest of the hammering and forging are all done by the craftsmen in the weapon workshop." In the weapons workshop in the valley workshop area, the workshop manager Swabian craftsman Dim pointed to a set of full-body plate armor on the wooden frame and introduced it to Art.
This set of full-body plate armor includes eight main parts: helmet, gorget, arm guards, gauntlets, two pieces of leg armor, plate armor boots, breastplate and back armor, as well as the cowhide ropes connecting and fixing these parts and the soft leather or linen padding.
Att walked to the wooden frame and stretched out his hand to touch the breastplate of the plate armor a few times. The traces of heavy hammer forging and hand hammering were still very obvious. The surface of the breastplate was also very rough, not as smooth and shiny as expected. The thickness of the plate armor also varied. Although the joints of the parts had been trimmed with a file, there were still a lot of burrs and protrusions. It can be imagined that wearing this plate armor would definitely not allow flexible movement.
"How much does this set of plate armor weigh? How many craftsmen and how long does it take? How much money does a set of plate armor cost?" Art asked a series of questions.
This piece of plate armor was not forged by Dim, so he took a slight step forward and motioned to a craftsman with curly eyebrows and brown hair and dark skin to come forward and introduce it.
This man was obviously a little nervous. Dim waved his hand twice before he groped forward, "Sir, this set of full-body plate armor weighs fifty-seven pounds. It will take ten skilled craftsmen half a month to complete from embryonic making to assembly. As for the money spent, I estimate it will cost between nine hundred pfennigs and one thousand two thousand pfennigs. About 100 pfenniers. The main reason is that it is not easy to forge the entire steel plate. It took us a lot of iron embryos to make these relatively suitable steel plates~"
Matt was stunned for a moment and was noncommittal, which made the weapon craftsman brought back from the Black Iron Castle very nervous.
Seeing that Art didn't answer for a long time, Dim explained: "Sir, we really don't have rich experience in forging this kind of armor. We are more proficient in half-body plate armor now, but this kind of full-body plate armor is really difficult. We use charcoal to temper the forged steel plates..."
Matt raised his hand to indicate that Dim did not need to explain too much, "You have done a good job. Although the gap between a piece of plate armor and the plate armor sent by Viscount Balian is not small, at least you have been able to control yourself, which is an improvement in itself. As for the existing problems, they still need to be improved step by step. I will let the civil affairs reward the craftsmen and craftsmen who participated in the production of this set of plate armor."
The craftsmen then smiled.
Matt repeatedly rubbed the plate armor deck again. After a moment of silence, he turned to the commercial officer Salt who accompanied the inspection and asked: "Sart, is it possible for us to recruit plate armor craftsmen from the Principality of Lombardy in the southern continent?"
Salt shook his head repeatedly, "Sir, if you want to buy plate armor, those workshops will definitely serve you like God, but if you want to poach a craftsman who is proficient in armor-making, unless you can capture the entire Principality of Lombardy."
"If we can't hire a craftsman, we have to find another way."
"Gloran!" Groland was the craftsman who stopped Art at the Black Iron Castle.
Gloland stood up in response.
"Since we can't hire craftsmen from the Southern Continent, we'll learn it ourselves. Get ready, select three craftsmen who you think are the smartest from the weapon workshops and go to the Principality of Lombardy to enter their plate armor workshops to learn armor making. All the expenses will be paid by me. After you complete the studies, you can return to the valley, and I will make you a weapon craftsman."
Saar Special."
"Sir?"
"You personally go to Viscount Bellian for help. Provence and Lombardy have restored friendly relations, and ask him to help Groland enter the plate armor workshop to learn skills."
"Yes!"
"Sir, what about this set of plate armor~"
"After dismantling it, let Gloron take it to the Southern Continent."
"It's my lord."
Att patted the set of plate armor, and then led a group of people to inspect the iron helmets, half-body plate armor, pierced armor and other armor made in the weapons workshop, as well as weapons such as swords, spears, axes, and crossbows and arrows. There were many weapon craftsmen in the weapon workshop, and these people had no problem making ordinary weapons and armor.
Yat ordered the civil affairs to give priority to the production of the weapons workshop and ensure that the weapon workshop has enough raw materials and equipment as well as charcoal and other consumables.
After coming out of the weapon workshop, Art inspected the brewery and textile workshop. These two were the first to get on track. In addition to producing wine and cloth for self-sale throughout the territory every month, the workshop had begun to provide export goods for the caravan to earn money.
The most fortunate thing is that the "straw paper" secretly developed by the textile workshop has basically succeeded. Although the color and smoothness of the paper are not enough, there is no problem with basic writing.
"Talusy Paper" is a treasure that Art left in his hands. His current strength is not enough to protect this treasure from greedy people, so he issued a silence order not to let anyone mention it. Then he once again allocated money to improve the quality of the paper...
After coming out of the workshop area, Art led a group of people to the battlefield. On the newly cultivated land plowed by the slaves, he personally picked up wheat seeds and sowed the first seeds for the new land, and then prayed very devoutly in front of the large cultivated land to God to bless the food harvest...
After doing this, he set foot on the road back to the wooden castle. Along the way, he also visited several territorial villages to encourage the residents to work hard and create a better life.