Chapter 39

North, Newcastle.

As a result of last year's Newcastle uprising, the king ordered the construction of a military castle here as the core hub to control Newcastle. The project has been going on for nearly 11 months, and the construction speed is not fast, because there are sporadic violent activities in the local area.

At present, the transport ships that should have arrived a few days ago have not appeared, the construction has stagnated, and the Minfu and craftsmen who stay in Newcastle are anxious. They don't know what happened, whether the project can go smoothly, and whether they can return to their hometown as scheduled.

As the designer of the whole castle, James walked anxiously through a mess of wooden frames into the barracks of the military commander.

"What the hell happened!"

James angrily slaps a stack of material reports on the commander's desk.

"Stones can be excavated on the spot, but there is no wood! There's nothing left! What do you want me to build? Is that your sincerity? Throw me to this ghost place, and then give me nothing, want me to make a castle for your great majesty out of thin air? Why doesn't he take my head with him? "

James's anger is understandable. He would have been the designer of St. Giorgio's Cathedral. As a result, after seeing his resume, the king ordered him to come to Newcastle, where the turmoil had just ended.

The good thing is that James is very responsible for the architectural design. Although he is full of resentment against the king, he still tries his best to build the whole castle. It seems that he takes every building he designs as his own child.

The commander has been pointing his nose and yelling at him these days. He is picky about the quality of wood and the hardness of stone Of course, the most common complaint is the slow transportation of raw materials, and the transport ship of the five port alliance has become "a pile of waste whose speed is slower than that of snails".

Today, the commander is very calm.

He poured James a glass of red wine: "the five Port Alliance ship will not come."

“……”

James's incessant swearing stopped suddenly. He looked at the commander in amazement for three seconds, and then jumped up like an old cat stepped on its tail.

"What! Are you going to abandon this half built castle? Lord! You blasphemers, you will... "

"Stop, stop, stop! No matter what you say, I won't go to hell immediately. "

The commander stood up and pulled his cloak.

"The ships of the five ports alliance will not come again, but the castle will continue to be built. Follow me."

Newcastle is in the northwest of Legrand and the wind is blowing. James and the commander walked through the snow to the southwest gate of the castle. The gate of the castle was always closed in case of local rioters. The commander said a few words to the guard on the tower.

The suspension bridge crunched down.

The gate opens.

"See."

The commander said.

James took two steps forward.

The gate opened and the cold wind came in. Outside in the snow appeared a long line, flying scarlet flags, the Royal iron rose in full bloom on the flag by the cold wind. The team came slowly from far to near, with a small group of Armored Cavalry scattered around the team.

James saw it.

It's a long transportation team!

Their cars were loaded with neat piles of wood and other things, and the long motorcade came winding. The Armored Cavalry in front of the line found that the gate had been opened. He drove his horse forward and saw the commander and James standing behind the gate.

The cavalry turned over and dismounted: "the first batch of materials have been escorted, and the remaining materials will be delivered as soon as possible."

"What's going on?"

James looked at the wood and then at the commander.

The commander rubbed his hands and laughed. He patted James on the shoulder: "my dear Mr. designer! You should take your eyes away from the stones and timber. Our supplies will be delivered directly from angel in the future! How much wood do you want? It will never be rotten wood soaked in seawater! "

It took James a long time to understand why.

Angar Pradesh has the highest density of forest in the whole of Legrand and the best quality of iron forest in the whole of Legrand. It is not far from Newcastle, but before that, the relationship between angar state and the royal family was tense, and the castle was built to guard against the attack from angar, not to mention the timber directly transported from angar.

But now it's changed.

The kingdom of angar bows to the royal family. The highest quality iron trees will be continuously transported from the peaks of angar. The king will build the strongest castle.

Also smiling were the cavalry on horseback.

He was sent by the state of angar to protect the goods. He grew up in angel and was used to the fact that the angel people were poor in the lush forest. They live the toughest life on the most rugged land, but now the business gate of Legrand is open to them again.The timber was transported out of angar state, and gold pounds flowed into angar people's pockets. They were even allowed to trade with other places on the way of escort. For the first time, goods that used to be obtained only through robbery can be obtained simply - if they can travel peacefully, who wants blood and death?

This is just the beginning. The day when angel could not afford a button on the king's clothes with one year's tariff revenue will be gone.

"From angel to Newcastle, where the rose flag will fly, the blood of the Empire will never stop!"

Said the cavalry, bending over and swearing.

………………

The king received a report that the castle building was continuing.

Along with that, the architect James, who never wanted to appear in the report, attached a letter.

In the letter, the guy who seemed to be full of architecture praised the king's achievements, and then he made a request to the king. The iron wood transported by angel grows for a long time and is extremely hard. James has a new idea: he wants to give full play to the military function of the castle. He wants to build a higher exploration building than originally planned and build more military towers to take care of each other.

“…… They will be the observation tower standing on the earth. If they can use the hard crossbow forbidden by the Pope, they can even be called the terrible killing machine There will be no place to hide all the changes on the northern grassland... "

Finally, when it comes to his ideas, James's style becomes fanatical.

When the king saw this, he always felt that the tone was familiar: "did our madman academy miss a member?"

Look at the church designer. He's a war machine maniac.

At the end of the letter, James revealed his real intention:

- he reached out to the king for money.

The king crossed out James's skyrocketing price and ruthlessly wrote another number.

More money?

OK, let's wait until the five Port Alliance sinks.

The royal family is really poor now.

Although it is cheaper to buy timber from angel than to prepare transportation by the five port alliance, the quantity is huge. In addition, after the sheriff's change of blood, the militia recruitment and selection began. Some time ago, after the parliament agreed to the royal family's request to expand private soldiers, Baron Hearn began to be busy.

The king did not intend to choose his own private soldiers from the noble knights, so his military reform was just a dead letter.

The new soldiers will be chosen from all over the country and avoid too much contact with the old nobles.

According to the king's request, this newly established private soldier can not be strong enough at the beginning, but should have high potential - as long as there is potential, it can be cultivated through later training. Although Knights of noble origin have better physical fitness than civilians, their loyalty The king had to make a question mark.

Every day the army maintains, it will spend a day's grain and pay

All in all, in a word: income can't make ends meet.

The king was more and more eager to let the five Port Alliance sink into the sea with their broken monopoly system.

He put aside his pen, took out the port of Legrand free trade act, which had already been drafted, and checked it.

The name of the bill was drawn up by the king himself. When he wrote down the word "freedom", he laughed vaguely.

It's time.

……………………

The resistance movement of chambers of Commerce in Southeast China has developed to the stage of collective strike.

The busy port was quiet at this time, and the ships were berthing quietly in the port. A large number of goods on the ship are not unloaded. Workers who help load and unload goods gather at the wharf every day to watch the merchant ship sigh anxiously. The suspension of the port and the strike of businessmen have a huge impact.

At this time, snowy petitions flew from all over the country to the capital.

Those affected by the merchant revolt expected the movement to subside as soon as possible - no doubt they wanted the king to make concessions.

However, despite the increasing resistance of the southeast chamber of Commerce, the royal family never gave in.

The local nobles in the southeast chose to stand on the sidelines - the new port restrictions Ordinance has a great attraction for them. However, they do not intend to support the king, because the current situation seems to be more favorable to the five port alliance, and the royal family seems to be more unable to bear the business stagnation in the southeast.

It is said that the gulos family has prepared a feast in advance to celebrate the victory at kosiya port, the headquarters of the five port alliance.

As the situation developed, even small chambers of Commerce and small cities became uneasy, the royal family finally responded.

The king published a new maritime commerce act.

Legrand Port Free Trade Act.

This is a regulatory and antitrust bill in the name of "freedom.".

This bill broke the dream of the victory of the five port alliance.

Almost at the first time when the bill was published, the call order of the full meeting of the five Port Alliance flew from the port of kosiya to various coastal commercial cities.The king did give in.

But not to the five port alliance, but to all southeast coastal businessmen.

…………………

Cotsia port, all members of the five port alliance meeting held.

Unlike the five Port Alliance fraternity, the all member meeting of the five port alliance includes all members except the core five ports. There is a strict hierarchy in the five port alliance, and each city chamber of commerce is divided into formal alliance members and informal alliance members depending on its specific strength.

All along, the leading role of the conference has been the core five ports.

But today it has changed.

The meeting was quiet.

The face of the gurus patriarch was more ugly than before. The Dawson family refused to attend all the five Port Alliance meetings after they left the fraternity last time. The rest of the three business families sat at the top, their faces uncertain.

"Your attitude towards the new bill is amazing. Do you really think it's a freedom bill? That is the unified jurisdiction of the chamber of Commerce directly set up by the royal family. Do you intend to give up the autonomy that we have gained by sacrificing our efforts several times? "

His voice smothered his anger.

There was still silence in the meeting hall, and silence itself was a terrible gesture.

"It's you who have autonomy, not us."

Finally, someone spoke.

He is a representative of the Hennessy City Chamber of Commerce. Heinz is one of the formal members of the five port alliance, and gulos thought that the first to speak would at least be an informal member. The representative of Hennessy City Chamber of Commerce stood up.

"Heinz joined the five Port Alliance three years ago, because if we did not join the alliance, our ships would not be able to pass through the main ports smoothly, and we would have to bear twice the lighthouse tax as others."

"After you became members of the alliance, did the alliance not share the privilege of Shougang with you? No protection for you? " Asked gulos.

"If you say that privilege of giving more than giving is protection and equal treatment, then I have nothing to say." The representative of Hennessy chamber of Commerce replied coldly, "when we join the alliance, the citizens can indeed use the title of" Baron "of the alliance, have seats in your brotherhood, and speak on alliance affairs."

He spoke more and more quickly, obviously resenting for a long time.

"But that's all!"

He pointed out sharply.

"We must share the naval services of Shougang [2], bear the expenses of Shougang's participation in Parliament and various royal ceremonies, and provide Shougang with a large amount of alliance fees every year! But we don't have the right to vote! What's the use of participating in various affairs? We are dumb and bystanders! Who wants to take away such privileges and autonomy! "

"Heinz chamber of Commerce officially withdrew from the five port alliance!"

The representative of Hennessy chamber of Commerce tore off the emblem of the five port alliance from his chest and threw it on the ground. He looked at gulos and stepped on it directly in front of him.

The gurus clan leader almost didn't fall down in a breath.

The five ports alliance takes the five first ports as the core, and the white ship with the logo of the gurus family is in the middle of the badge.

"Please allow me to leave."

Another representative of the city chamber of commerce took off his badge.

"I also don't think that we in Kuwait have real autonomy - our municipal officials are sent from Shougang. In that case, isn't it the same for those who accept the royal family?"

Another man stood up.

Metal badges are thrown on the ground or on the table, making a clear sound.

Gulos, who had always been a tough old man, sat in his seat with no expression on his face, while the heads of the other three families were uncertain.

Why did it become like this?

Because of the new bill issued by the king.

According to the Legrand Port Free Trade Act, all chambers of Commerce, large and small, along the southeast coast will be treated equally.

The privilege of Customs Protection originally belonging to the five port alliance will be abolished. The franchise of wool red wine granted to the five Port Alliance in the 13th century will no longer exist. The duty of governor of the five Port Alliance in supervising the southeast market will be abolished. The five port alliance will no longer have the right to tax businessmen for managing lighthouses

As long as businessmen announce their withdrawal from the five port alliance and join the "free chamber of Commerce" to be set up under the supervision of the royal family, they will be able to enjoy these rights.

The king's purpose is clear.

Like a black sheep, he was willing to turn over all the powers to all the businessmen in exchange for the collapse of the chamber of Commerce Alliance built by the five port alliance.

"Damn it! Is he crazy?! How dare he let everyone have that right! "

Gulos couldn't help cursing at the empty meeting hall.

Only the first members of the five Port Alliance remain here.

"What are we going to do?" Looking at her white gloves, Mrs. poisonous spider in a graceful black dress asked softly, "you know, it seems that the Dawson family is going to throw themselves into the arms of the king? What about us? Like him? "

"No way."Gulos flatly refused.

He looks uncertain.

"There are others who can help us." He said slowly.

……………………

In the palace, the king read the news from the southeast.

"Without a rotten trunk, why should it fall when the wind blows?"

The king sighed.

The housekeeper came in softly: "someone wants to see you."

"Who?"

The housekeeper looked a little complicated: "your Scientists. "

It was very difficult for him not to say the word "lunatic" directly.

The author has something to say: [1] after the 13th century, the privileges of the first port of the five port alliance of England were greatly different from those of ordinary members.

[2] The first port refers to the five core port cities

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