Chapter 650 Reciprocity
The reason why Lavati dared to unite other autonomous cities to oppose the Lombard court was of course fueled by Art Wood Wells, Earl of the Southern Territory of the Count of Burgundy.
Long before the Welsh Army withdrew from Lavati and retreated to Santia City, Art had discussed the matter in detail with several major leaders in Lavati City. However, as the Lombard army moved northward, it was temporarily shelved. Now, the Lombard army has retreated to Soronborg south of Lavati, and the Lombard court is facing an unprecedented crisis. The opportunity to unite other autonomous cities in Lavati has emerged.
At first, the Lavati people's attitude towards the Welsh Legion was the same as that of the Lombard mercenaries. No one would be welcomed by the Lavati.
When the Lombard mercenaries were short of food and fodder, they tried to recruit Lavati. However, due to the power of Lavati's garrison and the special status of the city, the Lombard mercenaries withdrew.
However, Lavati, who thought he could shut out the Welsh Army in the same way, planned to repeat his old tricks. The urban autonomous army built with heavy investment showed his fist in front of his opponents. But as the besieging army increased and the encirclement narrowed little by little,
the Lavati people realized how stupid their behavior was. In this way, the Welsh Army captured Lavati without any effort.
The nature of businessmen is profit-seeking. Even if they are Lombards, they cannot refuse Art's proposal.
As one of the few autonomous cities in Lombardy, the prosperity of Lavati is obvious to all. Although Art captured the city as an occupier, he did not intend to carry out some degree of change here. On the contrary, Lavati's prosperity and governance methods allowed him to see another possibility - to learn from Lavati's reasonable and efficient business model and extend it to the entire province of Wales. Reusing the trade routes and cargo distribution points of the Continental Trading Company in the northern continent can not only greatly reduce the cost of goods and earn more profits, but also use it as a weight to allow the Continental Trading Company's goods and goods to enter the northern Hanseatic League area, truly making the Continental Trading Company a caravan with huge influence.
If Lavati can retain its original autonomous status and sell its goods through the trade routes of European commercial houses, then Lavati, who is based on commerce, has no reason to reject Art's proposal.
It is true that not all the merchants and nobles of Lavati trust Art unconditionally. Even if he is a Lombard, it cannot change the fact that he is the count of the southern border of the Burgundy Kingdom. Moreover, it is an indisputable fact that Art occupied a large area of land on the Po River plain in Lombardy, and the large amount of wealth that he looted from the occupied area is even more terrifying. But why Dudu is so partial to Lavati, the Lavati people don't know why.
But later Yat used actions to dispel the doubts of the Lavati people.
Since the Welsh Army entered Lavati, in addition to disarming the armor and weapons of the citizens and taking over the city defense, Art did not order the army to burn, kill, and loot the city to seize the wealth accumulated by the Lavati people.
This move won the favor of the Lavati people, so the citizens went to express their condolences to the soldiers and officers of the Welsh Legion with fruits and vegetables, bread, bacon and wine. Although the legionnaires looked at the prosperity of Lavati and couldn't help but want to plunder, they gave up the idea due to the strict laws of the legion.
Over the next few days, the Welsh Legion and the citizens of Lavati lived in harmony until the Lombard mercenaries moved north, and the Welsh Legion temporarily withdrew from Lavati. With the sacking of Lavati by the Duke of Lombardy, the Lavati people who were still in a wavering state were completely angered and pushed towards the hostile side.
A few days later, the Duke of Lombardy was defeated and Wolffox fled back to Milan. After hearing the news, the Lavati people sang and danced happily. This time, they opened the city gate and welcomed the Burgundians in.
With the help of the Welsh Legion, the Lavati people are more confident. As soon as the war ended, the guild leaders of the autonomous cities in Lombardy received Lavati's invitation to attend the city autonomy meeting to jointly resist the tyranny of the Lombard court and defend the rights and interests of the citizens of the autonomous cities.
As the date agreed upon by the city autonomy meeting gets closer and closer, the city of Lavati begins to be overcrowded.
In addition to the large number of businessmen and nobles from various autonomous cities who were invited, many traders, jugglers, wandering poets, prostitutes, refugees and thieves who smelled the scent also began to gather in every corner of Rawati, preparing to take advantage of this opportunity to make a fortune. After all, wealthy Rawati has never been short of rich people.
The large flow of people has injected more vitality into Lavati, and also made the merchants in the city make a lot of money. In addition to the shortage of grain, vegetables, meat, fruits and vegetables in the city, a large number of people flowed in front of various shops of all sizes. With the short end of the war, the goods that had been stockpiled were snapped up by these foreign merchants and customers.
The increase in the flow of people has made the security situation in Rawati not optimistic. In addition to the autonomous citizen army responsible for city defense, Lavati recruited a new group of young men to maintain public security in the city.
The patrol teams shuttle back and forth throughout the city in groups of six, armed with spears and shields, ready to respond to unexpected security incidents at any time.
The autonomous citizen army stationed at various key road crossings checked the goods and people entering and leaving Lavati. Occasionally, a few drunken and trouble-making guys would be beaten severely and then put into a dark cell.
Since the battle outside Santia, the Lavati autonomous army that supported the Welsh Army returned and was responsible for the defense of Lavati. In this battle, the army formed by the Lavati people with a lot of money was very powerful. Although it was not as powerful as the soldiers of the Welsh Legion, it was able to deal with the Lombard mercenaries with ease.
At the beginning of the war, it was the timely appearance of this army that drove back the Lombard cavalry on the flanks, creating an opportunity for the Welsh Army to annihilate the Lombard mercenaries.
After returning to Lavati, this autonomous citizen army that fought for the Lavati people received a generous reward. The noble merchants of Lavati also understand a truth - only the sword in their own hands can guard the wealth in their hands.
In another corner of the city, the head of the Lavati Commercial Guild was personally arranging food and accommodation for a distinguished guest.
"Tell the people below that you must put the good velvet mattress on top. It is said that Earl Art has a special hobby for velvet~"
In the spacious and bright bedroom of the mansion, the head of the Chamber of Commerce repeatedly paid attention to the butler beside him.
"Don't worry, sir, I've remembered it. The chair in the study is also covered with good bearskin according to your request. In addition, the fireplace in the house is also taken care of by someone. The two guys in the kitchen are also chefs hired from the best tavern in the city at a big price. ,
In a luxurious mansion in the city where Lavati dignitaries live, the head of the Lavati Commercial Guild is inspecting the layout of the house to see if there are any omissions, accompanied by the butler.
He spent a large sum of money to buy this mansion from a viscount of the Lombard court, and it was specially used to entertain guests of high status.
The mansion is not only wide, but also has high walls and deep courtyards. It is luxuriously decorated, showing the wealth and status of the leader.
In order to cater to the earl's preference, the leader specially selected an excellent deer head from the fur market and hung it on the wall at the top of the hall.
Seeing that his master knew the guest's preferences so clearly, the butler couldn't help but sigh, "Sir, you know the Earl's preferences very clearly!
After hearing this, the leader raised the corner of his mouth slightly, smiled slightly, and said: "As a businessman, if you can't even figure out the customer's preferences, you will go bankrupt sooner or later."
“Sir, do you think you should go to the largest Moulin Rouge in the city to find some of the most beautiful girls to spend this cold night with the earl?” The butler looked at the leader and let out a lustful laugh. Because based on past experience, whenever his master arranges for guests to stay in this mansion, he will most likely ask the housekeeper to find a few charming girls to come and drink with the guests.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Look at me, I almost forgot about this." The leader rubbed his hands, feeling a little embarrassed, and said to the housekeeper: "In this way, you can choose from different types of girls, and there will always be one that will satisfy Earl Art!"
"Yes, sir." The butler laughed twice.
After saying that, the leader of the commercial guild checked other places under the leadership of the housekeeper, for fear of any omissions.
After confirming that everything was arranged properly, the leader of the commercial guild walked out of the mansion, a thin layer of sweat gradually forming on his forehead. Rolling up his sleeves and wiping his sweat, the leader breathed a sigh of relief.
Looking up at the sky, it was estimated that Art and his group were not far from Lavati. The guild leader decided to take people out of the city along the business road to meet the Earl of Northland, for fear of neglecting the other party.
Two miles north of Lavati City, Art and his group stood on a gentle hill on horseback, and the entire Lavati appeared on the horizon not far away.
Hate put his hands together and took a look, then jumped off the horse, walked to the weeds on the side, unbuttoned his trousers, took out a huge object, and poured out a stream of turbid liquid, making a sound from the grass. After a while, Art walked towards Angus and others who were waiting with satisfaction.
"Ron, when you arrive in Lavati City, you will deliver the gifts I prepared for the heads of the various guilds in Lavati to their mansions."
After saying that, Art got on the horse again, turned the horse's head, and walked down the hillside.
Angus, who was following him, asked with some confusion: "Sir, why spend so much money on those guys? It's enough for us to recruit dozens more young and strong soldiers."
"Army. Sergeant, when did you become so short-sighted? Lavati helped us defeat the Lombards this time, no matter what, we should express our gratitude." Angus didn't listen, but it was difficult to understand what Art was doing.
As he was speaking, a dozen or so armored cavalry came towards the group of people.