Someone knocked on the door of the study. Genolio pushed the door open and entered with a thick folder in his hand. "Your Highness, this is a secret report from the Trade Union from Lord Tagger."
Secret reports were different from urgent reports. In the Norton Family's intelligence classification, urgent reports were generally related to the family's vital interests. They were usually sent by messenger eagles and described in the most concise manner what had happened and how it happened. Secret reports were different. They were all major events that affected the region, but had nothing to do with the Norton Family. They were just worth paying attention to. Basically, it was a summary of the entire incident. After investigation and confirmation, the report, proof, and other documents were packed and sent back to the family's territory. Back then, the Queen's illicit affair should have also been classified as a secret report. However, because of Laurist's gossipy nature, he adopted the form of an urgent report, using messenger eagles to convey the latest developments …
Fatty Shi also stopped and asked curiously, "What's the big deal this time?"
Genolio opened the folder, scanned it, and reported, "Your Highness, there was a rebellion in the Trade Union on the 15th of September. Grand Duke Cambert used the Double-Headed Dragon Merchant Guild's army to carry out a bloody and cruel purge and suppression. Nearly 20 merchant guilds were involved in this rebellion, and 17 were wiped out. It is said that the initiator of the rebellion was Marquis Krilos, the vice president of the Double-Headed Dragon Merchant Guild. He contacted a large number of merchant nobles who were dissatisfied with Grand Duke Cambert in an attempt to overthrow Grand Duke Cambert's rule. Unfortunately, they failed.
After the rebellion was suppressed, Marquis Krilos disappeared. Grand Duke Cambert declared Marquis Krilos a traitor, and his bounty was as high as 10,000 gold fords. At the same time, Grand Duke Cambert announced a series of administrative measures to increase the development of the Trade Union's territory. He also decided to gradually reform the noble title system, changing the nobles from the territory to honorary titles and an annuity payment system. He also sent envoys to the Freedom Alliance, the Peterson Kingdom, and the other five countries to reiterate the Trade Union's determination to live in harmony with the other countries and maintain peace … "
Laurist was moved. "It seems that the Trade Union has risen from the ashes after this rebellion. Grand Duke Cambert is indeed a hero. These series of measures are going to be taken seriously."
Fatty Shi was curious about the initiator of the rebellion. "Who is this Marquis Krilos?"
Genolio quickly found the information on Marquis Krilos in the folder. "Hey, this Marquis Krilos has been to our kingdom before. He wanted the Storm Sword Sage to kidnap His Majesty the King and the nobles of the kingdom to Morent City. In the end, His Highness stepped forward and fought with the Storm Sword Sage and was seriously injured. Marquis Krilos is the envoy who was denounced as a liar by His Majesty and sent back with feathers all over his body. "
"Oh, so it's him." Laurist still remembered the impression of Marquis Krilos.
Fatty Shi was puzz. King Shi's "Marquis." Marquis " Union "King from Sea." Is. He should have been poisoned long ago. How is it possible for him to still be alive? "
"Marquis Marquis King is is is Is Is Is. is Is is should. Is is is Is Is Is Is Is is is is is is. is. Been. Is is. "Is. is.. God. Re. What Is. Is." Mar: "
Fatty Shi replied calmly, "You don't understand. I have seen it with my own eyes. When we were young, there was a raw lacquer shop next to our house. Once, a startled horse broke into the shop and smashed a large barrel of raw lacquer. The shop assistant, the stableman, and the startled horse were unlucky enough to have the raw lacquer smeared all over their heads and upper bodies. In the end, after cleaning the lacquer, they developed an allergic reaction within two days. The parts of their bodies that were stained with the raw lacquer all festered and oozed pus and blood. Even the famous pharmacist hired by the shop owner was helpless. The shop assistant and the groom couldn't stand the pain and itch, so they committed suicide. The frightened horse's neck also festered and died. It was a horrible sight.
The raw paint shop closed down because of that. Later, I found out that even when the painters painted raw paint, they wore thick protective clothing. They weren't naked at all, and their wages were the most expensive. That was why the furniture with the raw paint as a primer could be preserved for hundreds of years. There was no need to worry about it being eaten by insects. The strangest thing was that after the raw paint was applied to the furniture as a primer and dried, there was no need to worry about its toxicity or allergies. You could even touch it with your bare hands. That was why people chose to use raw paint as a primer. When I was young and studying at Dawn College, I studied raw paint for a while. I really wanted to figure out the reason behind it, but unfortunately, I couldn't figure it out. "
Genolio rolled his eyes and said, "Since you couldn't figure it out, why are you pretending to be an expert? Marquis Krilos is a noble. Even if he got allergic to raw paint, he could naturally spend a lot of money to find the best pharmacist to treat him. This should be completely different from the treatment of the shop assistant and the groom when you were young. Besides, so much time has passed. Maybe there are pharmacists who have come up with a way to cure the poison and allergies of raw paint. "
Fatty Shi was rendered speechless by Genolio's retort. He flew into a rage out of humiliation and grabbed Genolio, ruffling his hair into a mess. "You've grown hair recently, haven't you? How dare you talk to me like that? I'll teach you a lesson …"
Loriste didn't know whether to laugh or cry. As he read the documents, he said, "The two of you should be enough. Shredder, you're the chief knight of the family. In terms of age, you're also Genolio's uncle. Be careful not to be remembered by Genolio. When that rascal of yours comes to be my attendant in another two years, Genolio will definitely give him a hard time … "
"He wouldn't dare …" Fatty Shi let Genolio go and opened a bottle of black currant wine. He wasn't in a hurry to leave. He came over and started to read the secret report about the rebellion in the Trade Union.
"Your Highness, you can rest assured now. The rebellion of the Trade Union this time is too bloody and cruel. So many nobles of the Chamber of Commerce have been suppressed, and more than ten thousand people have been killed or hanged. This time, the Trade Union has really suffered a great loss. They can't do anything even if they want to. "Shi Fatty quickly finished reading the entire secret report.
"You're wrong. I don't think the same as you. I think the Trade Union now deserves more vigilance. The rebellion gave Duke Camberlet a good excuse to wipe out his opponents. It was certain that he had slaughtered almost all the nobles who opposed him, and destroyed the superfluous chambers of commerce. The rest are basically his allies and supporters.
Soon, we'll see that Grand Duke Cambert will integrate the power of all the trade unions in the Trade Union to unify the development and planning of the territories in the four provinces. He'll reform the Trade Union's current outdated rules and regulations. In a few years, the Trade Union will recover most of its strength and become a threat to the countries in the central and southern regions again. "
"Your Highness, don't you think you think too highly of the Trade Union and Grand Duke Cambert? You should know that in the countries and regions in the central and southern regions of the mainland, the Trade Union's market has now been occupied by the products and goods of our family's territory. If the Trade Union wants to revive, it has to fight with our family for the market to reap profits.
But the problem now is, are the goods produced by the Trade Union as exquisite and cheap as those produced by our family's territory? If not, where will it get profits from? Besides, Your Highness, you once said that war is all about logistics. Without profits, how will the Trade Union arm the army of the trade unions? How will it recover its strength? "Fatty Shi argued, unconvinced.
"You're right. The goods produced by our family's territory have an absolute advantage over the Trade Union. But you've forgotten something important. The Trade Union has a huge geographical advantage over our family in a certain specialty. " Loriste raised his glass and took a sip of the black currant fruit wine. "Think about it. The four provinces now occupied by the Trade Union used to belong to which countries?"
"The Kingdom of Telimbo, the Duchy of Delia, and the former Duchy of Mokeby …" Fatty Shi blurted out. After the Kingdom of Telimbo was destroyed and annexed by the Trade Union, the country's fifteen counties were divided into five provinces: Mawei Fulin Province, Jerodana Province, Chalbuco Province, Cuyadero Province, and Leolica Province. Now, Mawei Fulin Province belonged to the restored Duchy of Kabasi, while Jerodana Province, Chalbuco Province, and Aligoma Province, which used to belong to the Duchy of Delia, became the territory of the Petersen Kingdom, which broke away from the Trade Union.
The Trade Union occupied the former Kingdom of Telimbo's territory, leaving only Cuyadero Province and Leolica Province. Among them, a small part of Cuyadero Province was occupied by the Petersen Kingdom and turned into a defensive line against the Trade Union's armed forces. The other two provinces were Toskao Province, which used to belong to the Duchy of Delia, and Fimsilan Province of the former Duchy of Mokeby, which was adjacent to the recently restored Tenerig Province of the Duchy of Mokeby.
"The specialty of the Trade Union you're talking about should be glass, right …" Fatty Shi quickly understood what Lorist was referring to.
"Yes, I'm talking about green glass and oil glass," Loriste nodded. "Most of the glass products produced by our family's territory and sold to the central and southern parts of the continent are exquisite utensils, such as cutlery, the glass glasses we hold in our hands, and all kinds of shapes and decorations made from glass. These products are very profitable, so they can be sold everywhere. But no one sells large quantities of green glass and oil glass from our family's territory to the central and southern parts of the continent.
It's very simple. To merchants, they won't do anything that isn't profitable or even incurring losses. A piece of green glass is only worth three or four copper coins. Back when our family's territory didn't have the technology to make glass, Kenneth's family's trade union bought green glass from the Kingdom of Telimbo and transported it all the way to the north. When they sold it to us, it was already a small silver coin, which was almost five or six times the original price. This was already a 50% discount for our family.
To the Kenneth family's trade union, it was actually very difficult for them to sell it to us at this price because the profit was very small. The cost of transportation and manpower along the way, as well as customs and taxes, added up together, even the cheapest piece of green glass in Moronte City became an expensive luxury decoration. Back then, many northern lords used wooden planks for windows in their castles because they didn't have the financial resources to install green glass on their windows.
This was also the main reason why I decided to go to the Kingdom of Telimbo to get the glass formula and technicians at all costs. Now, our family's glass workshop has become a major source of income for our family's finances. The green glass and oil glass produced are sold in most of the provinces in the kingdom. Now, no trade union is willing to buy green glass and oil glass from the trade union because it's no longer profitable.
Similarly, the green glass and oil glass in our family's territory can't be sold to the central and southern parts of the continent because the trade union can also produce green glass and oil glass. From a certain point of view, we can't compete with the trade union for the green glass and oil glass market in the countries of the central and southern parts of the continent. Even if we have zero costs and subsidies, we can't beat the trade union. The high transportation and labor costs will make all our efforts go to waste. The more we sell, the more we lose. "
Loriste shook his head with a bitter smile and sat down on a chair. He fiddled with a few intelligence documents in his hands. "Back then, the Kingdom of Telimbo relied on the trade of green glass and oil glass to accumulate tens of millions of gold coins over a hundred years. Now, the trade union can also rely on green glass and oil glass to quickly accumulate wealth. Especially after the war in the central and southern parts of the continent subsided, countries will increase development and construction in order to restore the prosperity of the past. Whether it's nobles or commoners, as long as they have the conditions, they will do their best to decorate their homes. Green glass and oil glass will become a big business.
The era of peace is when merchants are the most active. It's easy to imagine that the revival of the trade union is just around the corner. This document says that Duke Camberlet intends to gradually reform the noble title system. He wants to change the noble title system to an honorary title and an annuity payment system. This was originally an idea I wanted to give to Ledos. I wanted the Freedom Alliance to adopt this honorary title system so that the Freedom Alliance could maintain its ambition and vitality. I didn't expect the trade union to take the lead.
Even the salt monopoly system can't stop the development and revival of the trade union. Bribery and smuggling can easily institutionalize the salt monopoly system. The only thing we can be thankful for is that we've trapped the trade union in its current four provinces. If the Mana Hill Plains and Morent City are still in the hands of the trade union, then all we can do now is expand our army and prepare for war with the trade union in three or four years. "
Fatty Shi protested unwillingly, "Your Highness, you think too highly of the Trade Union. If it's really as you say, why don't we take advantage of the fact that the Trade Union has just quelled the rebellion and is now in a state of panic? Our family will mobilize our army to launch another attack on the Trade Union and completely eliminate this threat."
Genolio nodded hastily. He thought that Fatty Shi's words made sense. This fellow was too blinded by the Norton family's unbeatable reputation.
Laurist laughed involuntarily. "What excuse do we use to send our army? We've just signed a truce and restored peace. Why should our family be the first to stand out? It's not a good thing to attack the trade union now. Instead, it will make us the destroyer of peace in the eyes of the countries in the central and southern parts. Whether it's raining or sunny, it's none of our business. Anyway, it's not our family that will suffer when the time comes.
To our family, we only need to do two things well. One is to support the Freedom Alliance and maintain a friendly relationship between us. The other is to ensure that Morent City is the wholesale and transfer market for goods produced in our family's territory. Other than that, the survival of the other countries in the central and southern parts of the continent has nothing to do with our family. There's no need for us to interfere with the internal affairs of these countries as long as they pay for the goods they purchase from us. "
Fatty Shi and Genolio nodded thoughtfully.
Laurist asked Genolio, "Is there anything else?"
"Yes, Your Highness. Knight Rummond has returned. Yes, he brought his four wives with him, and he has five more children … "Genolio replied.
"…"
…
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