Chapter 83

Barrow put down his firewood knife and raised his hand to wipe the sweat on his head. He has worked continuously for two hours. He is really tired.

Barol is very depressed now. After he came to Victor as a free man, he was assigned to work in brick kiln village for two months. And Victor gave him the task, but he didn't have a clue.

It's not that Barol is incompetent. As a professional spy, he is familiar with all kinds of spy methods, but he cuts firewood for more than ten hours every day. He's as tired as a dog. How can he check it?

However, barrow did not make no progress. He found an amazing phenomenon.

At first, the brick kiln village like wasteland began to take shape under his eyes. Hundreds of people used to sleep in tents, but now they have moved to built shacks. The earth kilns in the open space have been demolished and replaced by three brick kilns. Now there is a super large brick kiln under construction. It is said that as long as a huge chimney dozens of meters high is built, it can be put into use. All this took only more than two months.

Barol doesn't know why he built dozens of meters high chimneys or why he built such a huge brick kiln. But he knew these free people couldn't work hard. Besides, it's for nothing! The kind that only eats and doesn't take money. It's unthinkable. Free people work in vain. Are they still free people?

Barol soon understood why the Liberals were so crazy. They wanted to join the work point system. Victor's liberals knew that as long as they joined the work point system, they would step into the vassal class with half a foot. If you want to join the work point system, you must first become a leader. If you want to become a leader, you must work hard. Last month, 30 people have been promoted to lead the people. The leader of the villagers has spoken. Six villages will soon be built in the territory. Whoever joins first will have the hope to join the work point system. The rest of the people screamed excitedly and rushed to work like crazy.

As an old spy, Barol learned more things, such as hill camp, small canteen, and so on.

Barrow judged that those spies were hidden among the members of the work point system. Only they could know all kinds of movements in the territory, and only they could pass on the news. Because the only way to leave the territory is the convoy to Heibao town.

The area has been demarcated. Barrow is worried about how he enters the hill camp? Now the members of the work point system have formed a class. They are familiar with each other and suddenly join a new face. It is difficult not to attract attention, not to mention the identity of Barol as a free people. Barol was at a loss.

"Old Denver, come and get the meat ticket!"

A companion is greeting barrow to get today's reward.

Meat ticket is a reward! These log chips can be exchanged not only for fragrant wild boar meat, but also for linen short clothes, leather boots, gloves, sheepskin felt, and even sweet purple cane wine.

The depressed Barol sighed, got up and walked to the place where the invoice was. A familiar figure blocked him again. It was shack.

"My Lord, I want to see you."

Familiar people, familiar words, Barol's mood is different. He follows shack behind him with a sad face to see victor.

Victor is even more depressed than Barol. He has received a summons from Nelson. The sales of sugar and coffee made Victor sit in the office for a long time.

Then Victor was furious. He thought Sylvia was deliberately embarrassing him,

No wonder, when you gave up coffee, you were ready to deal with me! What is this? Do you really want me to be your pet?!

After losing his temper, Victor gradually calmed down. He read the sheepskin letter carefully again. Victor noticed the same sentence: caravan, rules, new products, lower prices.

Victor was born in the Marquis house. He knew that the Marquis house was the largest merchant in the kingdom of Gambis. There were four chambers of Commerce and more than a dozen caravans under his name, and the trade scope was almost all over the whole human world. But he didn't know the rules of the caravan, and no one taught him these details.

To solve a problem, you must first understand the problem. Victor thought of Barol, so he ordered shack to bring Barol.

Barol boarded Victor's carriage, and when he saw the grim Lord, his heart beat a drum.

"Good day, my Lord." Barol said in panic.

Victor looked sternly at the frightened Barol and asked coldly, "did you find it?"

"Yes, a little." Barrol said with a stiff head.

"My Lord, those spies should be in the hill camp. They may be guards or leaders. I can confirm that they are members of the work point system. They should transmit information through the convoy. Therefore, please promote me into the hill camp so that I can check it."

Victor was silent for a moment, which he expected, but now he wants to find barrow to solve another problem.

"Let it go. You sit first."

Victor said to Lilia, "Lilia, make barrol a cup of coffee and sugar."

Lilia took out a silver cup and skillfully put the brown coffee powder and crystal sucrose into the cup. With the boiling hot water, a strong aroma came to her nose, which shocked barrol's spirit.

Barol tasted it carefully. The sweet taste spread on the taste buds and went straight to his heart. He couldn't help praising it.

"How fragrant!"

"I've drunk a lot of expensive drinks. No one can compare with my coffee. But the coffee can't sell at a high price. Businessmen are only willing to buy it at a very low price. Can you tell me why?"

Victor knew that barrow collected money from businessmen all year round, and no one knew them better than him.

Barol was stunned by the Lord's question. He thought for a moment and said to Victor: "My Lord, if you sell this drink to merchants, you really can't sell it at a high price. Merchants buy goods according to the rules of the caravan. If the purchase price is high, they will be out of stock by the caravan, which is tantamount to smashing their jobs. In fact, small merchants are appendages of the caravan, and they must protect the interests of the caravan."

Victor understood that the caravan was the boss of the merchant. The merchant had no ability to resist. Otherwise, once the goods were broken, how would he do business?

"It seems that the problem lies in the caravan." Victor muttered to himself.

"Barol, what do you know about caravans?" Victor asked again.

Barol felt a little strange. The Lord is clearly a baron of the Wimbledon family. How can he not understand the caravan? The Wimbledon family is a commercial aristocrat now!

"My Lord, I don't know much about caravans. I only know some common sense. Caravans are usually set up by feudal officials according to the Lord's wishes, mainly to trade goods with other territories. However, the survival of caravans is not easy. They are divided into private merchants and official merchants."

"The so-called private merchants are the caravans that come to the territory to trade without the Lord's consent. Such caravans will generally be investigated and dealt with by the Lord, the goods will be confiscated, and the personnel will be detained or expelled, even if passing by. Therefore, private merchants will pass through the boundary of the territory. There are usually mountainous areas, where monsters and orcs are frequent, and bandits are very risky, Maybe the whole caravan will be slaughtered. "

"Officials and businessmen are legal caravans. They pay taxes to the Lord, and then they can trade in the territory." Barol explained to victor.

"How can the caravan become an official business?" Asked victor in a deep voice.

"Sir, the caravan is under the banner of a family. The Lord decides whether he is an official businessman or a private businessman. The Allied family or a neutral family are both official businessmen, but the taxes are different. The hostile family is a private businessman. Therefore, the identity of the same caravan is different in different territories."

"My Lord, the Wimbledon family is an unimpeded official business. You can let your family run this kind of coffee and you will sell it at a high price!" Barol suggested.

Victor had understood a lot at this time. The relationship between lords was complex. There was no problem for the caravan to pass through the alliance or neutral territory, but after passing through the hostile family, it was necessary to take a risk, either bypass or secretly go to the border. This was the blockade.

The Wimbledon family can trade unimpeded between countries because the family has long collapsed. The family has lost its territory, and its members are scattered everywhere. Although they are involved, they do not buy each other, which meets the needs of the Lords. Even hostile families have the need to trade with each other, so they need intermediaries. Without territory, they have no military strength, and their members are loose Scattered families became the best choice, and these families became business aristocrats.

The biggest feature of the commercial aristocracy is dispersion. Except for the same surname, they are like strangers to each other. For example, Victor's cheap father is poor with a baron title, while the old Marquis of Wimbledon is rich.

Barrow suggested that Victor contact the family caravan, but how could this be possible? Now, Victor just wants to stay away from Sophia, not have anything to do with her.

"I see. You go down first and I'll arrange for you after a while." Said Victor faintly.

After barrow left, Victor said to Lilia, "Lilia, let's go back to the hill camp."

"Yes!"

Lilia leaned into Victor's arms, gently hugged him, and asked with some worry, "Victor, are you okay?"

Victor lost his temper in the office and frightened Lilia. She had never seen Victor so angry.

"Nothing." Victor shook his head and said, "Lilia, tell me a story."

"Ah?!" Lilia is a little silly. What does it mean to tell a story? She can't!

"Tell me about your experience of being employed to protect the caravan." Victor squeezed Lilia Xiuting's nose intimately.

"Oh, we usually take the task in the tavern. Once we took the task of escorting the caravan. At the beginning, we were still passing in a safe place. After leaving the territory, the caravan began to move forward in the rugged mountain road. We mainly guard against the attack of the bandit group and also need to clean up the monsters in the way. Finally, we met a group of well-equipped bandits, and then In a bitter battle, there were even three trainee Knights among them. Fortunately, there were also trainee knights in the caravan. Finally, we defeated the bandits and sacrificed four partners. " Leia whispered.

"Ha, there is a rogue group of trainee knights? Isn't that what the LORD put under his hand?" Victor sneered.

"Yes, so my brother didn't kill those trainee knights, but killed many ordinary bandits. We all know that those are the Lords. In fact, many bandits have something to do with the Lords, and they specifically intercept and kill some caravans." Lilia nodded.

Victor was silent for a moment. He asked again, "how about the strength of the caravan itself?"

"It's very strong. Some caravans even have Knight guards. Once a knight came to the tavern to hire mercenaries. He hired three mercenaries at a time, and the price was very high, but we didn't dare to answer. Later, it was said that the caravan was taken by a gang of bandits, and the hired mercenaries were also seriously killed and injured. Only a few people escaped back. We all know that it was the leader."

The Lords of the same kingdom can't attack each other at will, but they can block the caravans of hostile families, or refuse to let the caravans enter the country, or draw ultra-high taxes, and use these means to force the caravans to go along the border. At this time, the Lords can send people to disguise as bandits, intercept the caravans, seize goods and weaken the opponent's strength. In fact, Victor had a similar experience.

"Will the caravan choose a particularly remote road?" Asked victor.

"Yes, but it needs a lot of guards, because the jackals will track the caravan all the way. At night, they will continue to attack the caravan. They don't want goods and just want to abduct people. Such a journey must not be long, otherwise the jackals will gather more and more, and no one can escape in the end. Generally, we don't accept such a task without the participation of four mercenaries."

"Victor, let's set up a caravan ourselves so that we don't have to be pressed down." Lilia suggested that she was very sure that sucrose could be worth a lot of money because it was invented by Victor.

"We will build the caravan, but now is not the time." Victor shook his head and smiled.

The caravan is easy to build. The problem is who will receive the goods? Can't the receiver lower the price? At the same time, it will also face the problem of high taxes. Victor now has no allies because of unequal power. If Victor wants to improve his strength, he needs money. This is a dead circle.

"What about that?" Lilia asked anxiously.

Victor smiled and said, "we don't sell sugar anymore. We send sugar!"

"Send?!"

Lilia quickly reached out and stroked Victor's forehead. She was worried whether Victor had a fever. Victor grabbed the little hand touching his face.

"Inform Nelson that there is no need to bargain. For every pound of coffee, half a pound of sucrose will be sent, and the remaining sucrose will be destroyed. Another thing is that coffee can not be sold to the Wimbledon caravan. In the future, we will only sell crude sugar and coffee!"