Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Laurist left after setting the bottom line for a truce. He left the rest to Duke Kemus and the others to negotiate. Even if the four families of the Northern Lands were the victorious party, they could not force the Fisablon Family to sign a surrender treaty that would humiliate the country. This was the Galinthea World, not Laurist's previous world. The conditions that Laurist had raised were already very excessive.
Generally speaking, in the Galinthea Continent, when two families fought, the loser would have to compensate a large sum of money. If they had no money, they could cede their territory. If they did not provide the winner with money in installments, of course, there would be interest. Laurist did not need the Fisablon Family to compensate. On the contrary, if they monopolized the trade routes, the capital of the Fisablon Family's territory would be slowly sucked dry by the high-priced goods of the Snow Salt Merchant Guild. This was the way to make money in the long run.
Even if they signed the truce treaty, Laurist would not let down his guard against the Fisablon Family. If they really thought that everything would be fine and peaceful once the truce treaty was signed, then they must have been kicked in the head by a donkey. However, the signing of the truce treaty allowed the Fisablon Family's armed forces to retreat by a hundred miles. It also allowed them to station their troops in the Makinohara Province. These two points were the most important. At the very least, it increased the reaction time and also reduced the Fisablon Family's strategic maneuvering space.
Two days later, Duke Kemus brought the drafted truce treaty to Laurist to look over. Other than the cliche at the beginning, which stated that the war between the four families of the Northern Lands and the Fisablon Family had occurred due to a misunderstanding, the Fisablon Family's armed forces had to retreat by a hundred miles. They had to inform the border guards of the four families of the Northern Lands before any action. Similarly, if the border guards of the four families of the Northern Lands had to inform the Fisablon Family's armed forces to prevent any misunderstandings.
"But what's with this clause that states that no regular troops can be stationed at the border, only garrison troops?" Laurist asked.
Duke Kemus hurriedly explained, "Steward Alidok of the Fisablon Family and their deputy, Napol, insisted on the principle of fairness. They said that the Fisablon Family's armed forces had retreated a hundred miles away, but our alliance of the four families in the north had deployed the Monolith Legion at the border between the Southern Province and the Eastern Barren Province. This made them unable to eat and sleep in peace, so they insisted that only garrison troops should be deployed at the border of the two families and not regular offensive troops. I thought that since we stopped fighting, it didn't matter, so I agreed to their request. "
"You always give me trouble." Laurist glared at the grinning Duke Gammus and instructed, "Genolio, send a copy of this truce agreement to Bofinger later. Tell him that from today onwards, the Monolith Army will be renamed as the Monolith Garrison Army. They will call themselves the local garrison army, but their actual treatment will not change. Oh right, get this guy to reimburse you for the cost of changing the banner. "
Duke Kemus shrugged and spread his hands, muttering, "You're too stingy. You're not even willing to pay out of your own pocket for a hundred gold fords …"
Laurist ignored him and continued to read. The following were all business terms. To put it bluntly, as long as this armistice agreement was signed, the Fisablon Family would have to go through the Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce in the future, from small transactions such as a grain of salt or a piece of paper to large transactions such as a cow or a horse. For example, the goods they purchased this time were only worth a little more than six hundred thousand gold fords. In the past, they could only sell for around eight hundred thousand gold fords at most, but this time, they had to bleed a lot. The price had doubled to two million gold fords. No wonder Kemus had proudly announced that Count Filim and Count Shahin would receive a dividend of three to four hundred thousand gold fords …
Kemus was still very reliable when it came to business. This guy loved to be a middleman, and he enjoyed doing such transactions with his left hand and his right hand. At most, he would help to transport the goods. He was not like Laurist, who liked to set up a production base in his family's territory. According to him, production not only required investment, but it was also very risky. If the goods could not be sold, it would be a problem. If the production cost was too high, the price would be too high, and they would lose competitiveness with other products of the same kind. They also had to invest money to develop new products or improve their quality. In short, it was a lot of troublesome things. It was not as easy as reselling.
When he saw the last clause, Laurist was a little dissatisfied, "What, the Fisablon Family is not willing to hand over the entire province?"
"It can't be helped. I've tried my best to persuade them, but they're only willing to use the Socus River as the boundary. The territory in the north belongs to us, and the territory in the south belongs to them. They want to split the province into two. They also say that we occupy more than half of the province, which is enough to ensure the safety of the north. I've tried my best, but I can't convince them. I can only hand this agreement over to you. "Duke Kemus made a helpless expression.
This was indeed more than half of the territory of Muye Plain Province, which was equivalent to two-thirds of the area of Muye Plain Province. However, at the beginning of the war, most of the territory had already been swept through by the Hunter Legion many times. There was no one for thousands of miles, and no one could be seen. The Fisablon Family's Fourth Border Ranger Legion was ambushed by the Hunter Legion and suffered consecutive defeats. The defeated soldiers escorted their people to retreat across the Socus River and held their positions by the river. It was not until Duke Fisablon led hundreds of thousands of barbarian cavalry to set up an ambush and defeated the Hunter Legion that they recovered the province. The terms of the agreement only restored the situation to before the defeat of the Hunter Legion.
From the looks of it, this should be Grand Duke Fisablon's bottom line. In any case, the territory north of the Socus River in the Makinohara Province had already been abandoned, so he might as well give it up as a concession. This would also show the sincerity of the Fisablon Family in signing the armistice agreement. Laurist pondered for a moment and made a decision, "Then let's do it this way. Let them sign this agreement."
"One more question," Duke Kemus asked, "How many years are we going to sign this agreement for?"
There was a time limit to the agreement. This was a guarantee that two opposing families or alliances would swear in the name of the God of War to avoid conflict and war. There was a time limit. After the time limit was up, they would decide whether to continue the war or sign another agreement based on the development of the situation. If the two sides improved their friendship and eliminated their hostility, then they could sign a peace agreement and no longer treat each other as enemies. Both sides could then resume free trade and human exchanges, and they could reduce the garrison troops at the border to save on armaments.
Laurist smiled, "Let the two envoys bring this time limit back to Duke Fisablon to decide. We will sign it for as many years as he wants. Whether it's one or three years, we don't care how long the Fisablon Family thinks they can recover and take revenge on us. As long as they dare to make a move, we can still teach them a deeper lesson. We can even make them feel more pain than death. This is where the confidence of the four northern families comes from. "
Duke Kemus' blood was boiling from Laurist's heroic words. He was full of confidence, "Alright, then I'll tell them exactly what you said. Tell them to tell Duke Fisablon that they can sign for as many years as they want. We don't care. However, the next time they lose, the price of our goods won't be so cheap anymore. It'll at least double … "
The duke then walked towards the door in high spirits. However, he suddenly stopped at the door and returned to Lollister with a straight face. "Erm, Locke, may I ask if it's true that Baron Shredder wrote to me that your family will be selling a large number of large ocean-going merchant ships that are seventy to eighty percent new?"
Ugh … Can't you take care of business first before talking about personal matters? However, Laurist still nodded, "It's true. The family is streamlining our naval forces and deleting a large number of large, medium, and small merchant ships and ships."
"The deleted ones are going to be sold at a discount?"
"No, I'll announce this during the New Year's celebration at the end of this year. At the same time, I'll open Northsea City, Oxhorn Bay, and Silovas Island to auction off these surplus ships. I'll allow nobles and merchants to form their own merchant guilds to engage in maritime trade and fishing …" Laurist explained.
"Oh, is that so …" Duke Kemus looked a little disappointed, "I originally wanted to buy all the ships you deleted and sell them. I didn't expect you to have such an idea."
"Hehe …" Laurist laughed loudly, "Do you believe that these ships won't be in high demand? I'm worried that there won't be enough for the auction. You still want to take advantage of it? That's not a good idea. However, I think you can invest in these merchant guilds, or form your own merchant guild for maritime trade. "
"Also, I'm not familiar with this aspect of forming a merchant guild for maritime trade. Secondly, I don't feel safe and secure when I'm with you. That's why I'm not planning on doing this. The Snow Salt Merchant Guild is already enough for me to deal with. Moreover, it can also be involved in maritime trade. My family's order at Oxhorn Bay is actually because my father is preparing to form his own family's maritime trade fleet. However, if he wants to purchase goods, he won't be able to bypass our Snow Salt Merchant Guild. At most, I'll give him a small discount. If he wants to take advantage of it, there's no way … "Duke Kemus had a smug expression.
Seeing Duke Kemus preparing to earn money from his father, Laurist was speechless. However, he had to admit that this fellow was a very smart person. He knew the benefits of cozying up to someone powerful. The Snow Salt Merchant Guild was run by Duke Kemus alone. He had half of the shares and half of the dividends. The other half was split between Count Phelim and Count Shahin, who each had 20%. Laurist had 10% of the shares. Originally, the three families each had 30% of the shares. However, Phelim and Shahin felt that it was not right to take it for free, so they each gave 10% of the shares to Kemus, handing over the entire Snow Salt Merchant Guild to him.
It was originally just a small merchant guild that had been set up as a joke. Unexpectedly, under Kemus's painstaking management, it had developed into the largest merchant guild in the northeast. Its annual trade volume reached a huge amount of two to three million gold fords, and it became an important link of interest that connected the four families in the north. For Count Phelim and Shahin, the two families with poor finances, the Snow Salt Merchant Guild's annual dividends had become a very important source of income for their families. Duke Kemus had also earned a large amount of profits from the Snow Salt Merchant Guild, to the point that he was able to take out nearly a million gold coins and resources to support the Phelim and Shahin families when they exchanged territories.
Once upon a time, a conversation between Duke Kemus and his father reached Laurist's ears through the mouth of an intelligence agent from Warlibell. It was Kemus's father reproaching Kemus for giving up the family business to run the Snow Salt Merchant Guild. Kemus immediately took out the account book, which made his father lose face. What he meant was that the Snow Salt Merchant Guild's business was so big that it had long surpassed his family's business by several times. To be honest, he was used to transactions that were worth millions of gold fords, and the family's businesses that were less than a million in total should not be taken out in public.
His father was furious. No matter how small the family business was, it still belonged to the Kemus Family. Yet, you made the Snow Salt Merchant Guild's business so big that it was not a loss at all. Half of the profits were made for others, and sometimes, you even suffered a loss to compensate Count Phelim and Shahin, rounding up the dividends to give to them. Even when he was running the Merchant Guild alone, he refused to falsify the accounts to get some profits back. Not only was one of his family members severely punished, but a large number of his relatives were also fired.
Duke Kemus laughed. He said that his father was old and did not understand the situation. The four families in the north had already formed a powerful alliance. Among the four families, the Kemus Family was actually the weakest in terms of military strength, and they did not even have as much money as the Norton Family. It was already lucky that the three families were willing to support him. He had painstakingly run the Merchant Guild because he wanted to contribute to the alliance. In fact, if he really wanted to do business, he would not lack professionals. The three families could easily hire people to run the Merchant Guild, and the Kemus Family would be excluded.
Since the three families trusted him, he would not let them down. Looking at his family's business, even if it was a million gold fords business, after deducting the capital costs, he still had to lower his head and bribe the nobles. Even if he could earn a profit of 300,000 gold fords and pay tribute everywhere, the family would only receive less than 100,000 gold fords. If he was unlucky, he would either default or work for nothing.
Looking at the Snow Salt Merchant Guild, it had the backing of the Norton Family, the Filim Family, and the Şahin Family. It was so powerful that it did not have to beg everywhere like his own family did. Even in places where the four families of the north alliance had not reached, the nobles would still be respectful at the mention of the Snow Salt Merchant Guild. They would conduct transactions in an orderly manner and would not have any crooked ideas. This kind of business was much more comfortable than the family business, and Kemus was willing to do it no matter how hard it was. Moreover, Kemus was very confident that with the expansion of the four families of the north, the Snow Salt Merchant Guild's development opportunities were far from reaching a bottleneck. Sooner or later, it would develop into one of the seven giants of the Ford Commercial Alliance.
Therefore, Kemus told his father that he would put his mind and energy into the management of the Snow Salt Merchant Guild, determined to maintain the four families of the north alliance for as long as possible. Whether it was the huge amount of aid to the Filim Family or the subsidies given to Count Şahin, it was all for this purpose. Only in this way could the Kemus Family's position in the four families of the north alliance become more and more secure. And with the development of the four families of the north alliance, the Kemus Family would gradually integrate into the circle of traditional aristocrats, becoming one of them, and not be seen as an anomaly or a nouveau riche.
After hearing Duke Kemus's words, his father was silent for a long time before letting out a long sigh. Then, he called for a family meeting and gave the position of head of the Kemus Family to Duke Kemus. He also stated that he would only be responsible for the family's business in the future, and that all the matters of the family would be decided by Duke Kemus.
This was also the reason why Laurist trusted Kemus so much. In the alliance, only those who were clear-headed and aware of their position and what they should do would be able to maintain and develop the alliance for a long time.
"Alright, don't be so cocky." Laurist patted Kemus on the shoulder. "Since you plan to develop the Snow Salt Merchant Guild's maritime trade, let me remind you. You can first purchase a trading fleet for the Merchant Guild. It doesn't need to be too big, just test the waters first. As for the safety of the North Sea, you don't need to worry at all. The Norton Family's North Sea Fleet will protect the Snow Salt Merchant Guild's ships, but you have to develop the market yourself. As the saying goes, only by being one step ahead of others can you pick the biggest and best apple. "
"Got it. I've sent two messengers to find Baron Shredder." Duke Kemus left in high spirits.
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