Gwen sat in the study of the Lord's Mansion, looking at the latest reports from Kant and Leslie.
More than half of the report was about the establishment of the trade route. Padrick, whom he valued, had shown his value. With the efforts of the "merchant scholar", the southern merchants who had trade with Kant had been connected one after another. During this process, a large number of merchants were taken in by Padrick. He did not pay a lot of money for this. Instead, he used the spot alchemy potion as payment. In a short period of time, he made a considerable number of merchants voluntarily become distributors of "Cecil's potion" and let them take the potion on the road.
Due to the characteristics of these merchants traveling between territories, they often dealt with people like mercenaries. The low-level mercenaries who charged low fees were happy to be hired by the merchants to help the merchants drive away bandits and beasts on the road. In the process, the cheap and effective Cecil's potions entered the sights of these mercenaries who were not very well-off.
No one would be stingy when it came to protecting their own lives. A bottle of mixture that could cure diseases and wounds, as well as a bottle of potion that could staunch bleeding, added up to less than three silver coins. Even a mercenary in dire straits would be able to afford it. Therefore, even before the merchants arrived at their destination, the potions produced by Cecil Hill had already begun to circulate among the mercenaries throughout the Southern Territory.
The mercenaries who often went out on adventures and were often injured would be the first and most stable consumer of Cecil's potions.
On the other hand, Leslie had sent a new order for mining equipment and a letter hoping that Cecil's territory would send a few more "magic network technicians" to help them expand the magic network.
Gwen looked at the handwritten letter from Andrew Leslie, and a smile slowly appeared on his face.
The first batch of technicians sent to Leslie's territory had helped the Tansan Mine to set up the basic magic network, allowing the mine to use the powerful magic engine to pull the mine carts and crush the ore. Before the viscount could bring the production efficiency of these arcanotech machines to a certain level, he had no need to further expand the magic network. Now that he wanted Gwen to send another batch of magic network technicians, it meant that the viscount had tasted the sweetness of the magic network.
What would he do? Perhaps he wanted to set up the Weave in his own castle, or perhaps he wanted to cover the entire mine. The more likely possibility was that he wanted to use this opportunity to learn how to set up the Weave.
In any case, it was all within Gwen's expectations.
He called over the person in charge of laying down the Magic Net. He was originally a rune smith from the Captical, but now he was a "naturalized talent" who was determined to stay in this territory. He also gave him a mission to lead a team to Tanzania Town. After giving this mission, he reminded, "According to my estimates, Viscount Leslie might try to bribe you this time and have you tell him the key to laying down the Magic Net ….."
The technician's face suddenly turned serious. "I will never be swayed by money, my Lord!"
"No, I want you to accept the bribe," Gwen shook his head. What he said shocked the technical director in front of him. "Of course, you have to make it look difficult."
"My Lord … What do you mean?"
"The Magic Net is a very simple thing. Sooner or later, people will learn it, so I don't mind teaching the Magic Net technology to others, but I have to charge some tuition," Gwen said as he wrote a reply to Viscount Andrew. "Raise the price of the bribe. The technology is valuable."
After the technician left, Gwen called Heti.
As soon as the latter entered the study, Gwen said straightforwardly, "Inform the 'population introduction specialist' in Tanzania Town that there will be a large number of cheap mine slave workers and unemployed free miners in Tanzania Town for a period of time. Try to recruit these people as much as possible. Our factory is very short of people."
Heti looked confused. "Ah? How did you know? "
"Viscount Andrew has bought a lot of mining equipment. At least two-thirds of the miners are going to lose their jobs," Gwen said with a smile. "According to the customs of the traditional nobles, they will not keep useless labor in vain. What's more, there is no extra land around Tanzania Town to absorb the population released from the mine."
After Heidi left, Gawain finally finished dealing with the matters at hand. He stretched his body and prepared to take a rest.
But at this moment, he suddenly heard a slight click on the windowsill, followed by the crisp sound of springs and mechanical structures being released. Gwen turned his head and immediately saw a mechanical device on the windowsill bouncing up high!
The fully automatic anti- Amber warning device was working!
Gwen immediately reached out and held the head of a half-elf who had fallen from the windowsill. Her body was out of the shadow state and revealed her true form. "You're not going through the door!"
Amber yelled and pounced on him. "Who would put a mouse trap on the windowsill like you?!"
Gwen held the girl's head and easily suppressed all her resistance. "What mouse trap? That's a warning device. How can you be caught if you don't go through the window?"
Amber straightened her neck to maintain her dignity as a thief. "I wasn't caught! I was just shocked! "
He did not know what dignity she had to maintain.
Gwen glanced at the shameless half-elf. "How long have you been eavesdropping outside the window?"
"Ever since you shamelessly got a Weave technician to extort money for you," Amber said with a look of admiration. "Sigh, Old Dumpling, I realized that even if you weren't a noble, you could still do well. Your ability to trick people … Fine, fine, fine, I won't talk about it anymore …"
Gwen retracted his fist and looked at the girl from head to toe. Then, he got down to business. "I heard that you brought a bunch of people back?"
"A hundred or so bastards, all of whom I knew back then, but that's not all of them," Hu Po said proudly. "Let me tell you, there are even more of them, but they're all scattered in the neighboring territories. It's winter now, and those bastards are holed up in the black taverns, drinking themselves to death. We have to drag them out one by one. But I don't have to go personally. I've already gathered those people I trusted the most back then, and I'll get them to run and drag them out."
Gwen looked at Amber with some surprise. "If that's the case … your influence back then was not small?"
"Actually, these people can't be considered as' my force, '" Amber knew that Gawain was a layman in this aspect, so he explained with a smile, "These rogues don't have a stable organization at all. Everyone makes a living in the streets and alleys, and when they meet in the gutter, it's just a loose group for warmth. It's because I traveled more places back then, so I know more people. This is a sparse net, and I've only tied a few knots for you. But as long as these people are willing to help, they can help you find more people. "
Gwen was enlightened. "Then I understand. Do you need me to do anything? "
"Of course." Amber nodded. "I want to send my most trusted people to other territories to gather people. But you know how troublesome it is for them to pass through the territories of other nobles. They need documents and guarantors to prove that they're traveling on behalf of Duke Gwen Cecil. This will prevent them and their people from being hanged by the local nobles on the way."
In this era, people were tied to the land they grew up in. Every civilian was the private property of the nobles, and ordinary people were almost not allowed to leave or enter any territory at will. Otherwise, they would risk being hanged. If one wanted to become a merchant, a mercenary, or an adventurer, he or she needed to obtain documents from the nobles. But even with these documents, if the signer was not powerful enough, the person holding the documents could be harassed and blackmailed by the nobles' soldiers along the way (in fact, this was the main source of income for many of the nobles' private soldiers). This was the reality of this era.
But if they not only had the documents, but also the signer of the document had enough weight in the entire noble system, then they could go unimpeded.
Duke Gawain Cecil was no longer the Chief Guardian of the Southern Territory, but his name still played a significant role in this land. At the very least, as long as there was no conflict of interest, the conservative nobles had to show enough reverence to this name. This reverence for the superior nobles was also an important part of the nobles maintaining their decorum. Therefore, as long as anyone had a pass issued by Gawain Cecil, they could pass through the Southern Territory unimpeded, and basically did not have to worry about being blackmailed by the nobles along the way. This was also an important guarantee for the smooth development of Gawain's trade route.
Gwen agreed to Amber's request almost without hesitation. "No problem. But you have to make sure that the people who get the pass are reliable. Also, before they set off, you have to let them understand their mission and the importance of keeping a low profile. I don't want those people to take my pass and make a big fuss everywhere, making this matter known to the whole world. "
Amber giggled. "Don't worry about that. The people I brought out are all wily old foxes. They don't know anything else, but they're better at keeping a low profile and pretending to be weak than anyone else. They can walk around like refugees with the Duke's pass, you might as well let them die."
Gwen was speechless.
He felt that there was nothing to be proud of. Why did Amber look like she had saved the world when she said these words …
At this time, Amber began to sigh again. "A pass issued by the Duke … If it's an unconditional travel document, who knows how much this thing can fetch in the black market. You're probably the first great noble in history to issue such a document to a hoodlum. "
"I'm not the first." Gwen waved his hand. "When we first conquered the Northern Territory, Charlie alone signed more than a hundred certificates and permits for the local mountain people. According to the current perspective, the mountain people in the Northern Territory were all uncivilized barbarians, not even hoodlums. But they are the ancestors of the current Northern Mountain Army. "
"Whoa — You mean to let me lead a regiment in the future?!"
Gawain glanced at the half-elf who was taking advantage of the situation and raised his hand. "Tell me, should I knock or go through the formalities?"
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.
