"...Sir, according to the current development speed of the caravan, I'm afraid I have to recruit a group of people from the Ministry of Government to enrich the caravan."
On the first floor of the lord's hall of the wooden castle in the valley, Salt, the caravan manager, after explaining the situation of the caravan to Art for more than a month, asked Art for instructions on expanding the size of the caravan.
At took a sip of the wine on the table and asked: "In your opinion, how many people are needed?"
"Sir, I only need fifty people."
Ater thought for a moment, patted the table and said, "No problem. There are basically enough construction personnel in the south of the valley. You can go directly to Cooper later and ask him to select fifty young men from various government departments for you."
“Thank you, sir!” Salter’s face was full of excitement. I thought Art would refuse the fifty-man expansion, but I never thought he would agree so readily.
"Sart, it is a good thing for the caravan to expand in size. In the long run, the larger the caravan, the greater our trade volume. In that way, the more the Continental Trading Company will earn. As long as what you do is conducive to the development of the caravan, I will naturally support you with my full support."
"It is a great blessing for the Continental Trading Company that the Earl can think like this." Salter was very emotional.
After everyone arrived, they re-registered and then followed the officials sent by the caravan to the valley to wait for orders.
On the second day, Salter personally went to the temporary shacks where these people lived and began to arrange their positions. Most of them became caravan guards. A few people stayed at the warehouse of the Continental Trading Company not far from the wooden castle in the valley to assist the officials in taking care of some of the goods stored by the trading company here. The original guards joined the ranks of caravan guards and were transferred from their original posts.
This is a regulation of the personnel arrangement of European Continental Commercial Bank. After working in a specific position for a period of time, employees will be transferred and replaced. The main purpose is to deal with the idea that some guys will become self-indulgent after staying in one position for a long time. This has happened once before. The changing of the guard system was also gradually established after this incident.
This time, two of the people responsible for garrisoning the valley warehouse claimed to be caravan guards from Provence-Farmer Norman and Thin Joel.
The two of them were very happy after learning that they were about to be transferred from the construction site to join the caravan. In addition to escaping the heavy labor, they finally waited for the opportunity to get close to Art.
What is even more coincidental is that due to their outstanding performance, the two of them were assigned to the position of guarding the valley warehouse together. This is tantamount to creating an excellent opportunity for the two of them to assassinate Art. The next thing to do is to secretly find an opportunity to get close to Art and wait for an opportunity to kill him.
………
In the city of Kodor, a small caravan brought the cargo of two carriages and checked into a hotel in the north of the city before dark.
In a room near the corner on the second floor of the hotel, a caravan leader with brown hair, blue eyes and prominent cheekbones was sitting around the table with five caravan guards.
"Listen, everyone, now that we have entered the city of Codor, we must be careful in everything we do, and we must not reveal our identity."
"Yes, my lord steward."
"As the richest area in the Burgundy Kingdom outside of Saône, the city of Codor is home to many big businessmen. According to the information I have learned before, there are still many big businessmen in the city who are dissatisfied with Flanders' rule. We hate the European merchants even more. One of the main purposes of our mission is to secretly win over these people and become the Duke's eyes in the Kingdom of Burgundy. In addition, we must also secretly investigate who supports Flanders and who secretly opposes him. Once it is found out, those who support him will be gradually eliminated, and those who oppose him will be recruited. Do you understand? "
"Understood!" Several people replied in unison.
"Remember me, we are in enemy territory now. Once exposed, our lives are at stake. Be careful when going on missions."
h The lair of our opponent Bernard. Bernard has been running this place for decades, and there are still many confidants living in the city. These people hate Flanders, so Thorne City will be the focus of our mission. Once it is completed, your lord will be indispensable~"
Several people looked at each other and smiled.
According to the plan of the Duke of Lombardy, a caravan went to Wales to inquire about Art, and also looked for opportunities to win over him. If it doesn't work, find an opportunity to deal with this stumbling block. Another caravan went north through the Côte d'Or province, secretly collecting intelligence along the way, wooing those who opposed Flanders, and assassinating those who supported him. Only in this way can Flanders' strength be weakened step by step and create opportunities for the Principality of Lombardy to invade the Burgundy Kingdom.
But what the Duke of Lombardy did not expect was that the caravan sent to Wales was imprisoned by Art without even seeing his face, and became the prisoners of the newly promoted earl. Another caravan was also discovered by Art during the interrogation, and Zheng sent people around to find the whereabouts of this caravan. Once locked up, apart from torture, the only thing waiting for them might be death.
………
In the afternoon of the same day, on the commercial road leading to the Saône Province from the west of Besançon, eight cavalrymen wearing black robes were running wildly towards the Saône Province.
"Hurry, follow us all," the man running at the front ordered the cavalry behind him, "Be sure to get to the castle in front before dark, and then find a place to rest."
"Yes! Sir!"
Then the group raised their whips and accelerated their pace~
In the evening, a few people finally arrived at a hotel in the castle before it got dark.
"Hey, some adults. Please come in quickly, please come in quickly." The hotel clerk who was wiping the counter saw a guest coming in from outside the door, and hurriedly dropped what he was doing and stepped forward to greet them.
"Are the adults staying in a hotel or eating?"
"First serve us all the good wine and food in your shop, and then prepare a few rooms."
"Okay, okay, some adults, wait a moment, I will arrange it right away."
After hearing that several people were eating and staying in the hotel, the waiter hurriedly ordered to go down.
After a while, the table full of good wine and meat was served. Several people who had been hungry all day immediately grabbed the stewed meat and fruits on the plate and stuffed it into their mouths, swallowing it down with beer.
"Sir, when do you think we can find those bastards?" A soldier in a burqa asked the man next to him, and after speaking, he poured the beer from the cup into his mouth.
"My lord has told us in his letter that the group of people will definitely move from the Côte d'Or province to the Saône province. As long as we secretly inquire along the way, we are not afraid of not finding them. Eat quickly, rest early after eating, and continue on the road tomorrow morning."
A few days ago, the leader received a secret message from the south. The letter stated that a group of about 20 Lombard spies dressed as businessmen had sneaked into the Burgundy Kingdom and tried to instigate merchants and nobles who were dissatisfied with the Marquis. The mission of these people was to find the group of people before they arrived in Thorne Province and then report back. Naturally, someone will take over the rest. Their task is to find that group of people and then closely monitor their every move.
After having breakfast early the next morning, a few people continued on horseback to Thorne City~
………
At the Continental Trading Company warehouse in the south of the Valley Wooden Castle residential area, the two guards who had just been assigned to guard the warehouse looked around from time to time, observing everything around them.
Since being assigned to the warehouse, the two often wandered around the surrounding residential areas while the officials were out, trying to figure out the layout of the surrounding wooden castle.
The two of them have been in the valley for more than a month. Except for meeting Art once when they first entered the valley, they spent the rest of the time "building" a business road on the construction site south of the workshop area. Now I finally got the opportunity to get close to the earl, and I had to plan it carefully, take the opportunity to get rid of Art, and then go back to collect the reward.
After many careful investigations, the two finally figured out the layout around the wooden castle in the valley. He also learned about the security situation around Art through secret observation. Even tried to understand Art's schedule. Helplessly, in addition to the soldiers patrolling around the wooden fort in the valley, other passages in and out of the wooden fort were guarded by soldiers, making it impossible to get close. Moreover, the count's bodyguards were almost never far away. It is almost impossible to assassinate him at close range.
After careful consideration, the two decided to poison Art's food. In this way, not only can the count be eliminated, but his wife and children may also be killed. It can be said that you get more for one job.
In the next few days, Walder Burley's doctor who was good at poisoning (pseudonym Joel) secretly observed the servants and handymen who were responsible for preparing food for Art's family, planning to attack them and wait for an opportunity to poison the food.
At this time, Art seemed to be unaware of the dangers lurking around him~
………
"Open the city gate! Open the city gate!"
In the middle of the night, outside the gate of Soronborg in the northern border of Lombardy, a man in tattered clothes, covered in mud, and looking like a beggar, knocked hard on the city gate.
"Who is it! The city gate has been closed. If you want to enter the city, come back tomorrow!" the defenders shouted from upstairs.
"Open the city gate immediately. I want to see Earl Walder. If you delay my business, I will make your head fall to the ground!"
The soldiers guarding the city became anxious upon hearing this. Seeing that the person who came was not good, they immediately asked him for his identity.
“Who are you?”
“I am the Earl’s inner knight, open the city gate quickly!” The man downstairs roared loudly.
片刻后，城门被打开～
…………
「你怎么这身打扮？」看着自己派出去打探消息的内府骑士如此狼狈，瓦德.伯雷睁大了眼睛，围着眼前这个乞丐模样的家伙上下打量了一番。
"My Lord Count, it's a long story..."
The inner knight told his story one by one.
A few days ago, this man and another fat man named Aleph were walking through the dense forests in the mountains, approaching the wooden castle in the valley from the northern dense forests. Unexpectedly, I encountered two ferocious hunting dogs on the road, and a human figure appeared faintly behind the hunting dogs.
The two of them immediately retreated when they saw something was wrong. Unexpectedly, the two beasts followed closely. When the two ran into an open area, the hunting dog suddenly launched a fierce attack and pounced on the two. The fat man Aleph fell down while escaping, and was bitten by the chasing dogs. His skin and flesh were torn, his stomach was torn, and his intestines were scattered on the ground.
Hunter Hunter saw his companions being bitten by hunting dogs, and the pursuers from behind also appeared. He rushed forward to die, and then escaped while the hunting dogs were biting Aleph...
.........
"Waste! They are all waste! I have spent so much money training you, and you show me this!" Walder Burley shouted angrily after hearing this.
"How is the thing I asked you to do?" Walder Burley continued to ask after calming down.
"Returning to your lord, Earl, this person is indeed the man who fled to the Northland. He is also the Earl of Wales - Art Wood Wells."
Ward Burley was stunned for a moment when he heard the news, and then paced back and forth in the room, with a slight look of anxiety on his face.
Although I already had the answer in my mind, when I learned that Art was not only alive, but also became the new earl of the Burgundy Kingdom, a thought flashed in my mind: This man will definitely come to seek revenge.
While Walder Burley was thinking about how to get rid of Art, the inner knight continued: "My lord, there is one more thing that you must be very interested in." The knight pretended to be profound.
"Speak quickly!" Walder Burley suddenly turned around.
"Do you know the unclaimed land between the northern part of Lombardy and the Kingdom of Burgundy?"
"Of course I know. This place is located between Lombardy, Provence and Burgundy. It has been uninhabited for decades. Why do you mention it?"
"My lord, I escaped all the way back from the north of the valley."
"What?" Walder Burley was shocked.
"My lord, Art is ordering people to build a trade road from the north to the south of the valley. I'm afraid he already knows that the valley can lead to the northern border of Lombardy~"
"Tell me again, what is that bastard doing?" Ward Burley couldn't believe it. The intention of that guy Art was obvious. He wanted to open the road from Wales to Lombardy. The northernmost part of this road is his own territory. Once he succeeds, the first person to be threatened will be himself. If we don't get rid of him before he can open up business routes, the two of them will eventually meet at war.
Suddenly, Walder Burley remembered that in addition to the guy who died, there were two other guys who had not come back.
"Where are the other two?"
"Back to your lord, the Earl, when we escaped, the chief was planning how to approach Art and wait for an opportunity to kill him. They are still in the valley at this time."
Ward Burley breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that his people were still lurking around Art. If these two people could get rid of Art before he opened up business channels, then they would have nothing to worry about.
However, it is not necessarily reliable to completely rely on those two guys to assassinate Art. He must also use the power of the Duke of Lombardy to eradicate this guy in one fell swoop.
Previously, because the Principality of Lombardy and the Principality of Burgundy were separated by Provence, the Duke of Lombardy was beyond his reach. Now, since there is a shortcut to the Burgundy Kingdom, the Duke of Lombardy will definitely send troops to conquer the Burgundy Kingdom...