Chapter 528 Another Business

This is a huge expense.

But it's worth it.

Victoria carefully looked at the one-handed sword in her hand - it was a gift from Gawain after the formal contract was signed, and this sword was almost identical to every saber she had seen on Cecil warriors. , the only difference is that Cecil's family emblem was erased from the hilt and replaced with the family emblem of the Wilder family in the north.

It is very sophisticated, with hard lines and meticulous patterns, and there are few flaws on the surface. As a mass-produced piece of equipment, it is even better than the weapons in the hands of the Royal Knights, and there are thousands of them here. Take the same weapon as it, and there is no difference between them.

This uniform feeling made Victoria feel a kind of "power".

This must not be Cecil's highest quality weapon, because no one would be so foolish as to exchange money for the armament they hold in the bottom of the box unless there is no other choice, but this is at least better than the weapons the Royal Army currently has, and that's enough.

Looking at the Duchess of the North, who was holding the one-handed sword in thought, Gawain's memory couldn't help but emerge from Gawain Cecil. He thought of the first-generation Grand Duke of the North, Snow? Wilder, the mighty mage, had a long conversation with Gawain Cecil all night during his last visit to the South.

At that time, the Four Kingdoms Duke system had been established, and the Middle Kingdom and the four principalities were working together to build Ansu, but the Duke of the North asked a question that seemed strange at the time: If one day, the biggest threat to the kingdom would no longer be outside. The tide of magic, but the guardian duke of the four realms himself, what should we do?

Snow Wilder is keen on studying history, especially the aristocratic history of the Gondor Empire. He may have seen some hidden dangers in the Duke system of the Four Realms, which was a last resort at that time. Unfortunately, Gawain Cecil did not. Failed to give him any answers - after three days, Gawain Cecil died on the battlefield.

Gawain came back to his senses, he looked at Victoria, and seemed to ask a question casually: "Do you think Ansu's crisis will end with the end of the civil war?"

"If we win, then we will," Victoria raised her head and said in a tone that seemed to state the truth, "Wales Moen is the orthodox heir to the royal family. As long as the Royal Army can defeat the Eastern Rebels, then the Anzu nobles will inevitably It will be united again, as long as the nobles are united again, Anzu will become a whole again, and the crisis will be resolved naturally."

"...I understand," Gawain nodded, "Then let's go back to the city first."

Victoria blinked, and there was a hint of confusion hidden under her calm face. She vaguely felt a hint of disappointment from Gawain's subtle expression, but then she felt that it might be an illusion,

Seeing that the other party had already stepped away, she did not pursue further questions, but took two steps to the side of the magic car, pointed to the car and asked, "Duke Cecil, you are called a magic car. Are things... for sale?"

Gawain stopped, glanced at Victoria with a little surprise, and then showed a smile: "Sooner or later, it will be sold, but not now, we can't make so many, at least half a year. And if you want to buy magic If you guide the car, then it’s best to repair the Kingdom Avenue after you go back.”

Victoria bowed her head deeply: "I will. The road is the lifeblood of the kingdom. When the snow melts, the first thing I do is to rebuild the Kingdom Avenue."

After returning to the lord's mansion, Victoria quickly said goodbye and left. She wanted to return to the Autumn Palace to calculate how much the Kingdom's army could spend to buy armaments. Gao Wen didn't stop at the lord's mansion, and he quickly took the opportunity. I got into the magic car waiting at the door, and ordered the attendant to go to the merchant district.

Mechanical vibrations came from the chassis of the car. Sitting in this magic car that was slightly beyond the style of the times, Gawain exhaled softly, and a shadow suddenly surged on the seat beside him. Amber's figure emerged from the shadows.

"That duchess seems to be in pain," Amber blinked, although she didn't know where she was watching secretly before, but this guy had obviously been dangling around Gawain, "I'm afraid she didn't take the preparation as a dowry. The money is in there."

"That's a lot of money, even if half of it can be converted into materials, it is beyond the capacity of the St. Sunil treasury. Victoria still chooses to accept it. It seems that she really hopes that this civil war can end as soon as possible, and that the Royal Army can Win as soon as possible."

"I didn't see you being soft-hearted when you were making money," Amber said, "It's really good to do it. That's your junior, and as a nobleman, you're a good person, but you don't even get a discount. Don't fight."

Gawain glanced at Amber and said slowly, "...The Kingdom's army cannot save Ansu."

Those gold coins in the hands of the Royal Army can only be slowly used to fill the battlefield on the Holy Spirit Plain. Rather than let them be useless, it is better to let them become the gears and levers of the magic industry.

Amber blinked, then touched his chin: "Then what are you going to do now?"

"Go and meet another group of people who can't save Ansu either."

The magic car passed through the administrative district of Cecil City, passed through the ring road, and soon came to the merchant district on the west side of the city. It didn't take long for it to stop in front of a tall and new building——

Cecil's Merchant's Hall, a place specially used to receive giant merchants and distinguished guests.

Behind a window on the second floor of the building, the young nobleman with short brown hair quietly watched the movement on the street. After seeing the magic vehicle approaching, he took a step back and left near the window.

There were several other people in the room, all of them wearing delicate silk or velvet clothes, pinning brooches or wearing mechanical pocket watches, they all looked like businessmen dressed up, but from their extremely vigilant and sharp eyes and the momentum of their gestures, It can be judged that these people are not just businessmen.

One of them saw the brunette young man leave the window, stood up and asked, "Master, is there any situation outside?"

"Don't worry, he is here," the brunette young man nodded and said in a deep voice, "with only one entourage, it should be up soon."

Several people in the room relaxed slightly, and then came to the door with the young man with brown hair, waiting quietly.

After a while, footsteps came...

In the room of the Merchant Hall, Gawain met those special guests.

For the past three days, he let Victoria and other visitors to the capital visit the market, visit the city streets, visit all the arranged places, and he himself is not idle, what he is doing is to contact these special guests .

The door was closed behind him, Gawain looked at the young brown-haired man in front of him, and nodded slightly: "Marquis Berke, it seems that you followed my advice and didn't run around."

The young man with brown hair—the eldest son of Silas Lauren, Duke of the Eastern Region, Belk Lauren bent down and saluted Gao Wen as a junior. Others also saluted. The young man who had reached the middle level in his teens couldn't help but say, "It's not good to be in a room."

"It will be more troublesome to leave the room," Gawain took Amber and sat down on the sofa in the center of the room, looking at Belk Laurent who was also seated in front of him, "The heir of the Duke of the East appeared in Cecil City, It's not a good sign, and I'm sure Victoria would love to take this opportunity to make Silas Lauren lose her son - you can't beat her."

Berkeley moved a little awkwardly. Although he wanted to control his expression, he was obviously not as proficient in this regard as Victoria: "You received the envoy from the royal capital at the lord's mansion, but let him We are hiding among the merchants, is this... an expression of your attitude?"

Gawain couldn't help laughing, he looked at the young man in front of him - Belk is a good young man, polite, talented, very smart, but obviously too reckless and inexperienced, he is not very good at negotiating skills , but considering his age, there is no way to compare him with the Duchess of the North: "Frankly speaking, the so-called Royal Army and the Eastern Army are the same in my opinion, and there is no need to call the parents out to judge when the juniors fight. Right or wrong, but considering the geographical location, the connection between the Southern Territory and the Holy Spirit Plain is obviously much stronger than that with the Eastern Territory, and their visit has been made public a long time ago."

Speaking of this, he paused, and then continued: "As for you... I reserve limited trust in you, this is only due to Anthony Lauren's affection."

"Forgive me for overstepping, but you will see sooner or later, we are the ones who really want to save this kingdom," Belk said with a serious face, "The nobles of the kingdom who are indulging in peace in the Holy Spirit Plain are not aware of the crisis at all. They can't see the changes in Typhon, and they can't see the changes in the world. They only know how to feast all night and loot the last copper coin from commoners' homes, but we know—

"Typhon is reforming the land system, promoting education, developing technology, reorganizing the army, opening up new lands, their civilians can already eat meat once a week, and our people don't even have enough brown bread in winter. Even Ansu It is difficult to catch up with Typhon if we try to catch up now. Our only way out is to quickly concentrate Ansu's power in the hands of a powerful new king, and make Typhon jealous, even if it is only ten years or even five years. There's still a chance..."

Gawain interrupted the enthusiastic young man: "Edmund is the 'powerful new king' in your mouth?"

"Prince Edmund's vision and charisma," Belk Laurent said very seriously, with admiration in his tone, "he tried out the Plough War Incentive Act, the Road Building Act, the Commerce Act, and the Farm Reclamation System that he tried out in the Eastern Territory. It has all had an effect, as long as the Holy Spirit Plain is willing to send a non-blind nobleman to take a look, they will also realize who is a qualified king - but they obviously dare not."

It seems that the young Mr. Marquis still doesn't know the connection between Prince Edmund and the End of All Things, nor the truth about the death of Francis II - it may be that he is acting superbly and deliberately pretends not to know?

Gawain didn't care what Belk knew or didn't know, he patiently waited for the other party to finish speaking, and then nodded: "I probably know something too—it's because I know this that I'm willing to try to give you some Only trust is allowed to allow the businessmen of the principality to go to the east to establish business routes. You must know that I have been lying in the grave for seven hundred years, and those people I have known and trusted are basically gone. -Even if it's the descendants of my old friends-I have to get to know them again."

Belk sat on the sofa, rubbing his index finger knuckles unconsciously, which seemed to be a subconscious movement of his vocabulary: "Yes, my father and I understand this... Mr. Codd left us with I was deeply impressed that the medicine he brought was exactly what we needed urgently, and my father sent me here to talk to you about this matter..."

"We were discussing this issue two days ago," Gawain nodded, "I know what you mean, you have a huge shortage of potions, so not only do you want to order a large amount of alchemy potions, but you also want to buy a factory Equipment, and I want Cecil to help you train a group of people to operate the machine... To be honest, you asked for a lot."

"We have no choice," Belk Lauren said.

The young Marquis knew that what he was asking for was a sensitive "technical foundation", something that Duke Cecil would have difficulty agreeing to. However, before he set off, Prince Edmund explained to him the necessity of all this - alchemy potion This kind of thing that is critical to the survival of the army cannot always be controlled by others. Only by making the eastern border have the production capacity can we ensure that one day the southern border will not fall into a too passive situation after the supply of medicines is suddenly interrupted.

The negotiations two days ago were deadlocked on this issue, but today Duke Cecil is here again, which means that there may be more discussions on this issue.

Gawain pondered quietly—seemingly tangled and hesitant, Amber next to him couldn't help but say, "Our machine was researched at a huge cost, that's knowledge, money can't buy it. of……"

Gao Wen secretly gave Amber a thumbs up, his face full of seriousness: "But the East Territory is always a part of Ansu."

"But what if we help them build the factory, and they go back and learn the technology directly. Not only do they produce it themselves, but what if they don't allow our potions to enter the country?"

Belk immediately said: "I swear by the family blood that the Eastland will not do such a thing that goes against the spirit of chivalry. Prince Edmund explained it before I set off. We built our own factory just for emergency. We still It needs the alchemy potion from the south."

Gawain did not believe Edmund's promise at all, but he nodded with confidence: "I am willing to believe you."

Then he changed his words again: "But I want to protect the interests of the southern border and the interests of the merchants who are loyal to me - so if I want to build a pharmaceutical factory in the eastern border, I have a condition: the merchants I designate must be You build a factory together."

"Jointly build a factory?"

"Yes, each will pay half the cost, jointly build and manage the factory, and the benefits should be shared equally. The commercial representatives of the southern border will protect the core technology from leaking during this process, and will also provide technical guidance to you. This is my The biggest concession I can accept."

Belk pondered for a while, then got up and discussed with a few people around him in a low voice and quickly.

After a moment, he returned to his seat: "...I agree that I can represent the will of my father and Prince Edmund in this matter."

Gao Wen smiled: "Very good, then we have to recalculate the price..."

When the final price was estimated, the young Marquis fell into consternation.

"so much?!"

"Isn't this normal?" Gawain spread his hands, "If it was easy to build an alchemy factory, I wouldn't have to hesitate to this day. And I'm going to help you build more than one factory. The quantity of the first batch of alchemy potions you want to buy is equivalent to the sum of the traditional alchemy potions produced throughout Ansu in the past three years. Think about the price of traditional alchemy potions, and you will find that the current price is nothing at all. already."

"That's true," Belk rubbed his knuckles again, with an embarrassed look on his face again, "but... frankly, the price is a bit beyond our expectations."

Gawain said lightly: "This is because you have made unplanned demands."

Then he proposed the method he had told Victoria before: offset half of the cash with materials.

This time, however, Belk still looked embarrassed.

After all, the Eastern Territory is only the Eastern Territory. Although the army is strong and the proportion of Transcendents in the army is much higher than that of the Kingdom Army, it is impossible to occupy the Holy Spirit Plain from the perspective of territory area, population and resource output. -Compared to the Kingdom Army supported by the "Ogure Tribe" trade line.

Obviously, their "ability to pay" is in question.

The negotiations seemed to be deadlocked, but Gawain suddenly broke the silence: "There is another plan."

Young Belk immediately raised his head: "What plan do you have?"

"In the southwest region of the East Territory, near the triangular intersection of the South Territory and the Dark Mountains, is there an area called 'White Sand Hills'?" Gawain said casually, "It is said that iron and copper are produced there, and there are also There are a few magic crystal ore veins."

"Do you want the White Sand Hills?" Belk opened his eyes wide, then shook his head immediately, "Please forgive me for refusing—this is impossible. Although that area has not yet been developed, it is a long-term mining area in the east. And it is also valuable territory in the East. It is too expensive to exchange a piece of permanent land for temporary alchemy potions and factories."

"I don't want it," Gawain interrupted Belk, "I only mine it for a period of time—five years, five years in the White Sands in the South, and then it's yours. According to the current situation, this civil war It will be over in five years, when the dust settles and we can start a new era."

Seeing the serious expression on Gawain's face, the young Marquis Belk hesitated for a while, the future successor of the Eastern Territory.

five years...

He got up again and quickly discussed with the accompanying advisors and subordinates.

A few minutes later, he returned to Gawain again.

Shouldn't be able to mine much.

"We agreed."