Chapter 787 Blood for blood
Ron nodded, took out the short knife from his waist, walked forward quickly, and plunged the knife into the thigh of the guy on the left who looked slightly sober.
The splatter of blood scared Wall who was standing aside and took two steps back.
At this time, the assassin, who was already in heart-wrenching pain, fell to the ground and rolled back and forth, cursing in Lombardy~
"You bastard, you still have a tough mouth!" After Ron said this, he stepped on the opponent's arm, tightened his fingers, and with a "click" sound, the fingers broke.
Seeing this, Art slowly stood up and walked to Assassin 8, and asked softly: "How many people are hiding in Tira City? Tell me and I will spare your life~"
Matt was squatting on the ground, but seeing that this guy was still tough, he took the short knife from Ron's hand and thrust it straight into the back of the assassin's hand~
"Ah! I said! I said-"
The assassin, who could not bear the severe pain, finally spoke. At this time, apart from fear, there was no other emotion in his eyes.
"We were sent by the Lombard court, ordered by the Minister of War to assassinate you. Except for the two of us, the other five people live in the hotel called the Free City in the southeast of the city. Once our operation fails, they will continue to complete the assassination mission.
There are more than thirty scouts who left Milan, but we really don't know the whereabouts of the others—"
The assassin's breath became weaker and weaker, and as soon as he finished speaking, he collapsed to the ground. At this time, the blood flowing from his body had flowed to Art's feet - "It seems that the Milan court will not let go until they kill me~" Art stood up slowly, frowning.
Since Flanders's assassination, Art has been assassinated several times by the Lombard court. But fortunately, every time there was a near miss, Art was able to survive until now.
Now that he is one step away from completely annexing Lombardy, Art will naturally not be willing to be killed by the opponent at this critical moment. But the repeated shameless behavior of the Duke of Lombardy made Art intolerable, so he decided to use the heads of these assassins as a return gift to the Duke of Lombardy.
"Sergeant Major!" Art turned to look at Angus, "Immediately take people to the hotel called the Free City and chop off the heads of those bastards. Remember, leave one alive and let him take these heads back to the Milan palace as a gift to that old guy Witote, blood for blood!"
"Yes, sir!"
Hence received this mission, Angus immediately led a squadron of elite soldiers and hurried excitedly towards the southeast of the city.——
Hirth Early the next morning, Tira City finally returned to its previous calm.
The pavement paved with stone slabs at the north city gate was as clean as new, with no trace of blood stains visible at all. But the ants crawling back and forth on the ground stopped around, looking for something that fascinated them among the cracks in the rocks.
Outside the hotel called Free City in the southeast of the city, the owner stood at the door with a blank look on his face, looking at the broken windows on the second floor and sighing repeatedly. The wood chips scattered on the ground and the blood stains remaining between the folds of the stone slabs silently told of an "accident" that happened here last night.
When the leading officer left the hotel, he gave the innkeeper two small gold coins as compensation for the damage to the windows and furniture caused by the pursuit of the thieves.
Outside the lord's mansion in the southwest corner, the number of troops suddenly doubled last night compared to the previous few days. In addition, the frequency and density of patrol teams in surrounding streets and alleys have also increased.
In addition, the guards at city gates suddenly received orders early this morning to step up checks on pedestrians and vendors, especially those with foreign accents.
Overnight, there were patrolling soldiers almost everywhere in the streets and alleys. If there is any slight disturbance, they will deal with it in the shortest possible time.
At this time, Art, who had returned to the lord's mansion late at night, lay alone on the soft and comfortable bed in the bedroom and fell asleep soundly, as if what happened last night had never happened.
It was not until noon, when the blazing sunlight shone through the window on the bedside, that Art woke up in a daze.
Humbling open the velvet quilt covering his body, stretching his body with sleepy eyes, Art walked to the window and took a big breath of fresh air.
At this time, the blue sea in the distance was sparkling, like a broken mirror randomly inlaid on it. The small fishing boats floating around looked like black spots, constantly moving up and down as the waves moved.
At the pier along the coast, the fishermen hawking were shouting and trying their best to sell their freshly caught fish to the customers.
Not far away, on a large cargo ship moored on the sea, the boatmen were cleaning the barnacles on the hull and the fishing nets entangled on it amidst the shouts of the supervisors. Soon, these cargo ships that have been parked at the dock for many days will set sail again, sailing to distant overseas countries to continue their mission. After lunch, Art ordered Ron to bring the government officials who arrived in Tira City yesterday to the Lord's Hall on the first floor, intending to inform a few people about the current situation in Tira City so that they can start follow-up work.
At the same time, Minister of Commerce Salter, who had arrived here a few days in advance, was also called.
On the left side of the long table, several officials were sitting side by side, looking a little reserved. A few people who were used to the cold and dry weather in winter in the north kept wiping the thin sweat on their foreheads, and from time to time they took a few sips of water from the water in front of them.
The parchments and quills placed neatly on the table are used by the officials for recording.
Sart, who was sitting opposite a few people, was writing furiously at this time, recording on parchment the prices of various precious southern goods that he had found in several free markets in Tira City in the past few days.
As the Minister of Commerce under the Government and the General Manager of Continental Commercial Bank, his trip will naturally not be in vain. In addition to completing the tasks assigned by Art, he also planned to buy a large amount of southern goods and go north, and sell these goods at high prices to the merchants and nobles in the north who were unable to purchase southern goods due to the war, making a huge profit.
Since the start of the war in the south, it has been difficult for southern goods entering through Lombardy to be delivered to those northern merchants. Although some southern goods can reach the north from the coastal ports of Provence, the amount of southern goods in Lombardy is not worth mentioning at all.
·Due to the shortage of southern goods, the price of southern goods has increased several times recently. Even so, demand still exceeds supply.
When Salt sorted out the book on purchase prices of southern goods, he slowly put down the quill in his hand. At this time, Art also suddenly appeared in front of several people.
Everyone stood up and saluted.
Att walked straight to his seat and asked a few people to sit down.
"Okay, I'm calling you here today, mainly to talk about the government affairs, commerce, and taxation issues in the city of Tira."
Several government officials immediately took notes and wrote down the aspects that Ater focused on.
Looking at the slightly unfamiliar faces in front of him, Art suddenly had a whim and began to inquire about their origins.
"Looking at you, you should have just left the school under the Government Affairs Office not long ago."
At this time, the relatively steady-looking official sitting at the front slowly stood up and replied: "Replying to your lord, I am one of the first batch of officials trained by the Valley School. I first served as a tax collector in Tyniec to collect taxes from merchants. Later, I was sent to the valley by the Government Office. Responsible for the registration and management of the newly joined territorial residents. When the war in the south broke out, he came to Lombardy with Lord Ian and was responsible for the daily management of the occupied area. "
After hearing the answer of this young official, Art was extremely satisfied. "I didn't expect that you are young, but your experience is much higher than most people. Since you can follow Ian to come to Lombardy to manage the government affairs of the occupied area, it means that your ability has been recognized by them."
Being recognized by the count surprised the watchman.
"What's your name?" Art continued to ask.
“My lord, my name is Locke.” The official raised his head and raised his chest, obviously more confident than before.
"Okay, Locke, since you are the official assigned here by the government affairs government, you will be responsible for the government affairs of Tira City." Art pointed at the young official in front of him, placing high hopes on him.
"I am willing to serve you!"
Subsequently, Art looked at several other guards. Knowing that most of them were still students at Valley Academy, Art was shocked but had to accept the arrangements of the Government Affairs Office. I only blame myself for opening up new territories too quickly, and Valley School’s pace of cultivating talents cannot keep up with my own pace.
After having a basic understanding and investigation of these officials, Art immediately got to the point. "-Currently, your most important task is to form a small-scale government, responsible for the unified management of agriculture, trade, fishery, tax collection and other aspects of Tila City. At the same time, it is necessary to make statistics on the population and buildings here and register them for later management. ”
“In addition, the various craftsmen in the city are the ones who should focus on the population statistics. Later, I will order the government to send people to deal with this matter. Remember, these craftsmen must not be allowed to move at will. These people are crucial to the future construction of the territory.”
“Cooper is still thoughtful~” Art couldn’t help but sigh.
After arranging the government affairs, Art turned to look at Salt aside.
"Sir, please rest assured, I have dispatched a large number of stewards and officials from the Ministry of Commerce to various occupied areas to conduct preliminary negotiations with local commercial guilds to establish a unified supply system for southern goods."
As the Minister of Commerce in the name of the government, Salter can always consider these aspects carefully for Art.
"Very good!" Art couldn't help but stand up and looked at Salt with approval.
After arranging a series of complicated political affairs in Tila City, it was already afternoon.
At this time, there was only the last day left before the expedition to Milan. On the street, the carriages of the Radial and Heavy Department were transporting a large amount of grain and grass materials collected from the city to be stocked outside the north city gate to make final preparations for the march one day later.