Chapter 109: Delivering the Ransom

After Richard came back, he immediately told Sophia and William about the experience of this operation.

The Harland family has three hereditary barons, and they can quickly make a big fuss about this matter at the noble meeting by writing a joint letter.

Howard is still in their hands. If they investigate through this line, they are not afraid that Jerram will never admit it.

But in this way, the Harland family offended Prince Felix and was passively involved in the struggle for the succession of the princes, which is not a good thing for future development.

But the Harland family could not bear to be attacked by Jerram's hired men.

Besides, the Sixth Squadron died in this battle. Even if it offended the great nobles of the capital, Richard had to get rid of Jerram.

After discussing with Sophia and William, the Harland family reached a consensus.

Just before Richard was about to go to the capital to complain, the middleman Jerram found came to Fort William.

This person was Richard's old superior Sharp.

Jerram was uneasy. He knew that Richard had caught him. If he didn't handle this problem properly, his life would be threatened. So he decided to find Sharp as a middleman to negotiate with Richard.

He hoped to control this matter and limit it to the province of Gedda.

Sharp was Richard's old superior.

Although the Sharp-Prafell Union Territory was under the management of the Gascoigne Province, Sharp had been an official in the North for many years. He had a rich network of connections and had met Jerram in the province of Gedda several times. .

After Jerram came to the door, Sharp learned about the matter and thought about it for a short time. He agreed to help him talk to Richard and promised to control the negotiations between the three of them and not let others know about the existence of this matter.

Then, Sharp came to the Harland Territory.

Like Richard, Sharp was a soldier. He didn't like to cover up and spoke quite directly.

"I came here to act as a middleman at the request of your provincial high official Jerram. He is very sorry about the attack on you. But he hopes that this matter can be controlled within the province. If you have any request, you can talk to him."

"How to talk, where to talk?"

"Richard, now you have Jerram's handle, you have the upper hand.

How to talk?

What conditions to put forward?

Where to negotiate? It all depends on your opinion."

The interaction between nobles has always been based on interests.

After thinking deeply, Richard felt that negotiation was the best way to deal with it. Even if he hated Jerram very much in his heart, he still had to negotiate when it was time.

After all, although the two sides had a grudge, no important person in the Harland family died at the hands of Jerram. ˜”*°•.˜˜.•°*”˜

It is not to the extent that hatred cannot be resolved. Even the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, who have deep hatred, can negotiate, let alone this little hatred.

Now that Richard has Jerram's handle, as long as he grasps the opportunity, he can get more benefits from Jerram and accelerate the development of the territory.

The place for negotiation was chosen to be Vick Castle.

After being attacked by Jerram's men, Richard paid great attention to his own safety, and the negotiation must be chosen in the Harland family's own castle.

Jerram did not come to negotiate in person, and the representative of the Holland family was his butler Savile.

"Baron Richard, as long as you can get Howard back, any conditions can be negotiated?"

"How about a ransom of 30,000 gold coins?"

"It can be negotiated. After Howard is freed, we will pay the ransom."

"Hiring mercenaries to attack nobles, I am very pessimistic about Jerram's character. It is impossible for me to release people first, you must pay first."

Paying money first means that you must believe in Richard's character. 30,000 gold coins is a very large amount of money for the baron's territory.

The baron's territory in the south is relatively small, and the annual income is less than 10,000 gold coins.

The barons in the northern region have large territories, but there are not many people, and they are often poorer.

If Richard did not make extra income from steelmaking and winemaking, and relied on growing grain, even if he reclaimed all the paddy fields in the territory, after deducting the rations, the income from selling grain would only be a few thousand gold coins after tens of thousands of people worked hard for a year.

Thousands of gold coins are also needed to support the army, to socialize with other nobles, and to integrate into the noble circle.

Need to collect books, hire tutors, and pay salaries to the managers of the territory.

After a year of hard work, there is no money saved at all.

Even if the treatment of soldiers in the territory is raised to the same level as the main legion, 30,000 gold coins can support seven squadrons of soldiers for two years.

The two sides have no mutual trust now, and Savile dare not agree to pay first.

In the end, it was Baron Sharp who guaranteed Richard and gave Savile a way out.

With Baron Sharp's guarantee and agreeing to pay first, Savile still wanted to bargain with Richard and lower the price.

For an afternoon, Richard didn't say a word and had a bad face. No matter how much Savile spitted, he would not let go.

At the end of the meeting, Richard sneered and said, "Mr. Savile, tell Jerram that the 30,000 gold coins cannot be less than a penny. If it weren't for the face of old Chief Sharp, I would definitely make Jerram look bad this time.

Didn't you arrange a master hiding in the dark? You can try to let this person take action?

You must understand that it is not only your Holland family that will use dark means, assassination will be used by everyone.

You can take this sentence as my threat. If this matter is not resolved, I will not only sue the Noble Council, but also use any rules to solve the problem."

After hearing what Richard said, Xavier was shocked. Xavier was sent by the Holland family to Jerram to assist Jerram. Of course, he was very smart and immediately obtained the hidden information from Richard's voice.

"Richard knew that Simon was hiding in the dark. There are only two possibilities. The first is that there is a spy arranged by Richard around Simon, and the second is that Richard's mental power exceeds 20 points and awakens the talent of danger perception.

The Harland family is just a small noble family. They have no foundation in the capital. It is impossible for them to know that Simon exists. It seems that Richard's mental power has exceeded 20 points and has been promoted to a mid-level professional. He is still so young. It is probably not a good thing for the Holland family to offend such a person in the long run."

Richard's words were so hard that it immediately made it difficult for the negotiations to continue.

Xavier continued to pester for two or three days. Seeing that Richard was impatient, he had already shown his willingness not to negotiate.

Jerram was caught by Richard and was naturally at a disadvantage in the negotiations. Xavier knew this very well, so the only one who made concessions in the end was the Holland family.

At the end of the negotiation, the two sides reached a verbal agreement.

Jerram compensated Harland Territory with 30,000 gold coins, and Richard released Howard and stopped pursuing the matter.