Roland looked at Pérot with great interest and suddenly laughed, "You are the first person to ask me this question," he took a sip of water from his cup and said in a relaxed tone, "Longsong Stronghold is undoubtedly mine, even if I'm not here. However, I do need a person or a family to manage the stronghold for me. So, what you should ask is not the ransom, but the agency fee. "
Agent... Pérot was no stranger to this word. Some sharp-eyed merchants always stared at the nobles who had a large output in their territory, but had no time or disdain to do business. In order to obtain this right, they had to pay a sum of money in advance as a deposit.
"How many pieces of Golden Dragon do you want?" He took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
"This is a long-term process, so there is no need to pay it all at once," Roland paused, "30% of the stronghold's tax revenue every month, as well as 1,000 pieces of supplies, the rest is yours."
It's not outrageous, Pérot thought, as long as I can completely occupy Longsong Stronghold, such a price can even be said to be fair. The other side is not joking, he confirmed this point, His Royal Highness really intends to do this.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Pérot told himself in his heart. He and the Prince were not enemies, the Duke had been completely defeated, and his children would be deprived of their inheritance. If the coalition of the six families could not defeat the Prince, who else could stop him from actually owning the Western Territory? Relying on a powerful force was the basic rule for the continuation of the aristocracy. If they could get His Royal Highness' approval before the other four families, the Honeysuckle Family would become the largest aristocratic family in the Western Territory.
"Your Royal Highness, why don't you stay here? This castle is much larger than the one in Border Town. "
"You actually want to ask why I don't manage the stronghold myself, don't you?" Roland looked at the slightly embarrassed Pérot and said with a smile, "There are many reasons. For example, the forces here are too complicated, and it would take me a long time to straighten out the relationship between them, not to mention to profit from it. If I support a local aristocrat, presumably he knows better than me how to govern this place, this is a win-win deal. In addition, there are many reasons, you can go back and think about it slowly. " The prince toyed with the silver cup. "By the way, if I choose you as my agent, you won't take revenge on me for the Duke, right?"
"Of course not, Your Highness!" Although the last question was a little abrupt, Pérot still replied immediately.
Now that the Duke was gone, the first thing the five families thought of was how to divide his territory. Who cared about revenge?
However, Pérot also knew that the reasons given by Her Highness were not the real reasons. The forces were too complicated and difficult to straighten out? In the face of overwhelming power, he could completely eliminate the opposition forces. In one to two years, all the nobles would forget the loser Ryan, just like what Ryan had done in the past. But two years was absolutely not enough to build Border Town into a big city like Longsong Stronghold.
His Highness Roland must have a deeper plan.
"That's good. Then, this city …"
"I'm willing to represent you, Your Highness!" Pérot blurted out, but soon his expression became hesitant, "But, the King, no, I mean your brother, may not necessarily agree with this result. If he assigns a new Duke to the Western Territory, I will be powerless to fight against King's City. "
"You don't need to fight," Roland threw two letters in front of him. "Look at this, and also the documents I found in the Duke Of Ryan's study."
Pérot quickly scanned the contents of the letters and couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.
The first letter looked like a secret letter. The new King Timothy fought with the Queen of Clearwater in Eagle City and suffered a major defeat? The content of the second letter was even more frightening. Only half of the letter was written, but the Duke Of Ryan's intention to annex the Northern Territory and become an independent King had already been expressed on the paper. Because there was no end, it was not clear who this letter was to be sent to.
He immediately understood His Royal Highness's meaning. There was no need to resist, because the new King was already too busy to take care of himself. Otherwise, the Duke would never want to raise the flag and become independent. His elite Knight Regiment was enough to conquer the Western Territory, but compared to King's City's Knight Regiment, it was still far from enough.
The secret letter may have been forged, but this document was indeed Osmond Ryan's handwriting, unless the Prince found a witch who could imitate other people's handwriting … He thought for a moment, then immediately denied this speculation.
There was no need for the other party to go through so much trouble to deceive him. Acting as the agent of Longsong Stronghold wasn't a one-sided deal. If he couldn't gain a foothold in Longsong Stronghold, His Royal Highness wouldn't be able to benefit either. Moreover, the Duke appointed by Timothy would inevitably be the enemy of the 4th Prince.
If the Honeysuckle Family wanted to be above the four big families, they would have to rely on the Prince's support. On the other hand, in order to ensure that the treaty wouldn't be abolished, the Prince would also have to make the Hull Family sit in this position more stable.
Thinking of this, Pérot slowly stood up and bowed to Roland, "The Hull Family is willing to serve you."
"Very good," the latter nodded, "But now I can't decide who will be your agent. First, I'll ask you a few questions. "
"Your Highness, please ask."
"How do you plan to deal with the forces that oppose you?"
"What is your estimate of the monthly tax revenue? How can you guarantee a thousand points of goods? "
"If I ask you to vigorously develop trade, what measures will you take?"
"…"
Pérot originally thought that His Highness just wanted to take this opportunity to understand the information of the various nobles in the Western Territory. He didn't expect that the other would actually ask such strange questions, it was as if he was testing his administrative means and business knowledge.
After a series of questions, Pérot racked his brain to answer them one by one, and His Highness's expression became more and more satisfied. Finally, he clapped his hands and said, "Good, that's all for today. When you confirm the ransom of three thousand points, you can come and redeem the Earl. Rest assured, I will entertain him well in the next few days. "
"Your Highness, the agency …"
"It will also be revealed on that day." Roland gestured to the Knight to see him off.
Pérot walked out of the hall with a complicated mood, and then saw Carter put the God's Stone of Retaliation back into his hand. It was still the same bright blue one, the one that was worth fifty Golden Dragon Stones.
*****
"How was it?" Roland looked at Nightingale, who had just appeared beside him.
"Well, what I said was basically the truth," she shrugged, "I was much more sincere than the previous few. By the way, is it really okay for you to repeat the same words to everyone? And those letters, the contents are all confidential. "
"Not everyone," the Prince looked at the list in his hand, "They are all from the five big families, and only these great nobles are suitable to manage the stronghold on my behalf. If they are not strong enough, even if they sit in this position, they will not be able to operate the stronghold, and will only cause the various forces to fall into endless internal strife. As for the news of Timothy Wimbledon's defeat in Eagle City, it is not a secret, sooner or later this news will spread throughout the whole Graycastle, what I have to do is to make it spread a little faster. "
And these two pieces of news really came at the right time, he thought, if the Second Prince had not suffered such a crushing defeat, I am afraid I would have to spend a lot of effort to recruit an agent, and if I had used coercive means, the result might not have been so good.
"So … you have chosen him?"
"If nothing unexpected happens." Roland said with a smile, "He is the first person to take the initiative to ask me about this matter, subjective initiative has always been the most important quality of an employee. And I did not expect that the five big families would have someone so proficient in administration and trade, I thought they only knew how to ride horses and kill. "
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
