Chapter 287 The Hidden Story Behind

More than ten years ago, Richard and Qiao Sen were both sons of barons. Richard had a higher social status and Qiao Sen had more power.

At that time, Richard was not the first heir to the title of William, and Johnson was the illegitimate son of Viscount Blue Shield, and he had no status.

At that time, the Harland family was a new aristocracy and had not yet established itself in the aristocratic circle. The external environment was also relatively dangerous, and the territory was in turmoil. The Langton family is a vassal of the Duke of Guise. Their personal connections and geographical location are stronger than those of the Harland family, and their strength is stronger than that of the Harland family.

The real status difference between the two is not very big, they are still in the same class.

More than ten years have passed, and the status of the two parties has become worlds apart, and their classes are no longer the same.

Richard became the Earl of Harland and ranked among the top ten in the Grant Kingdom. In addition to the king and the duke, his power was somewhat stronger than that of the earl and marquis.

Even King Roger, Jonathan, Edward and other dukes had to write letters to communicate with Richard when dealing with major events in northern Xinjiang.

The previous generation of Baron Langton whom Johnson relied on had already died of illness, and his brother Talon didn't care about his illegitimate son at all. Without the support of the nobility, Qiao Sen has become a middle- and lower-class businessman. You can only make ends meet, anyone can manipulate it, and you may lose your life if you are not careful.

Qiao Sen knew in his heart that he had old grudges with the Harland family. The reason why he came to Harland Territory was actually to take refuge.

Johnson was Baron Langton's favorite illegitimate son. Although he committed a crime and was caught by William, Baron Langton still paid a ransom worth three thousand gold coins. Before Baron Langton died of illness, he still left a property of two thousand gold coins to Johnson.

After Baron Langton died of illness, Johnson lost his supporter. Later, he stayed in Nolan to do business. Perhaps he had some talent in this area. Qiao Sen quickly seized the opportunity and hoarded a large amount of food in advance when the civil war broke out in Nolan, accumulating tens of thousands of gold coins.

In a feudal slave country like the Grant Kingdom, the channels for ordinary people to rise were very narrow. The only way to change their destiny was to achieve military merit and obtain a title. Only by obtaining a hereditary title and gaining a firm political foothold can economic interests be preserved.

Only by grasping direct power can economic operations ensure profits.

The Grant Kingdom is not a free market economy, and doing business here will inevitably involve bloody conflicts and competition.

Ordinary businessmen do not have the support of nobles behind them. The more they make, the faster they die. After Johnson became rich, he soon got into trouble. A court earl set his sights on his property.

When an ordinary businessman is targeted by a noble, the outcome is self-evident. In order to keep his property, Qiao Sen could only decisively leave Nolan and escape with his wife and children's property.

But the court earl was still unwilling to let him go, and kept sending people to hunt down Qiao Sen. Jolson first fled into the province of Sodamia, and then fled into the province of Gascoigne after his identity was revealed.

In the royal family's territory, the palace earl was very influential, and the palace earl was unwilling to let him go after he fled twice. During the process of escaping, seven or eight of the guards hired by Qiao Sen twice also died, and his wife and eldest son also lost their lives. If Qiao Sen had not become a mid-level professional, he probably would not have been able to escape into Harland's territory.

Unable to survive in the territories directly under the royal family, Qiao Sen could only go to the territories of the great nobles.

Among the great nobles of the Grant Kingdom, only the Harland family has the best food and the most fair administration in the territory. It is also the most friendly to businessmen coming in from the outside, and the channels for ordinary people to advance are the smoothest. Even for the future of future generations, Qiaosen can only choose Haaland to lead.

The most critical point is that the Haaland Territory is very close to the Gascoigne Province.

Qiao Sen was originally from a noble family, he made a lot of money through business, and he was better informed than ordinary people. Two years ago, he received news that the Harland Territory held an exposition, had lifted the ban on migration, and welcomed freedmen from outside. He immediately decided to move to the Harland Territory.

Before meeting Richard, Qiao Sen took out some money, bribed the person in charge, and used a forged identity to become a free citizen in King's County and become a free citizen of the Earl of Harland.

Qiaosen is a wealthy man. He bought real estate, shops, and a family business soon after naturalization. Because he pays a lot of taxes every year, he also received recognition from King County officials.

It has actually been two years since Qiaosen moved into Harland territory. The period of living in Harland territory was the happiest period of time for Qiao Sen in recent years.

The expo opens today. Qiao Sen came to Fort William from King County in advance and was going to walk around the streets to see if there was any business? He never expected to have such bad luck that he would be recognized by Richard on the street.

With their current social status, if Richard showed even a little bit of malice, Qiao Sen's whole family would be in catastrophe, including his newly married wife and the children who were waiting to be fed. Richard doesn't even need to speak, as long as the officials below know that he is the count who is responsible for the attack, they will spontaneously find trouble for Qiao Sen and kill him.

Seeing Qiao Sen's face full of fear, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing continuously to beg for his life, Richard waved his hand and said: "Because you paid the ransom for plundering the Harland family caravan, my father William decided not to do it again. The Harland family is a noble family that values ​​their reputation and will not punish you twice for the same crime. But in my heart, people like you are not welcome. I solemnly warn you to keep to yourself. , operate with integrity, don’t cause trouble for yourself, and since you come to Harland Territory, you must be a law-abiding citizen.”

Seeing that there was no intention of pursuing him in Richard's words, Qiao Sen hurriedly got up and bowed respectfully to Richard.

"Dear Earl, I swear to you that I will abide by the law and operate with integrity. I sincerely thank you for your forgiveness. Your mind is as broad as the sea, your morality is as noble as a saint, and your magnanimity will always be praised."

Richard knew that in the reality of the Dawn Plane, there were very few law-abiding businessmen. Especially the businessmen with big businesses, relying on the support of the nobles behind them, they like to monopolize the market with violence and kill competitors. After all, any business means are not as effective as violently destroying the body of competitors. Unless you meet a businessman with a strong background, it is possible to maintain peace under mutual checks and balances.

Rockefeller commanded mercenaries to massacre striking miners, and the DuPont family sent the whole family of competitors to ride in a homemade plane and blew up the competitor's gunpowder factory. Among the merchants in the Dawn Plane, they were all considered civilized people who abide by the law.

This is true for sedentary merchants, and it is the same for traveling merchants. After entering the castle, the caravan may still abide by the law, but in the deserted wilderness, killing and robbing is also a very common thing.

In reality, most of the businessmen have lives on their hands.

Even small merchants who wander around the countryside and walk the streets have high risks in their work. If you go to an unfamiliar area, you can easily lose your life.

If you want to make business prosperous, maintaining market order is the foundation.

The core of maintaining market order is to strictly enforce laws.

After the ban was lifted in Harland Territory, Richard increased the number of security forces and issued laws to protect the fairness of commercial trade.

Anyone who committed a crime in Harland Territory was punished very harshly, even if it was a caravan of the royal family or the duke's family, Harland Territory would never show mercy in punishment.

There was once a member of the Grant family branch who killed and robbed in Harland Territory, and the caravan was arrested and hanged. Even if someone got a letter of intercession from a great noble in the capital, Richard did not give him any face.

The royal family was like this, and the face of other nobles was even more useless to Richard.

By killing the chicken to scare the monkey and setting an example, the impression of the harsh and fair laws of Harland Territory has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Because of the harsh laws, the benefits and risks are disproportionate. In the Haland Territory, basically no one dares to bully the market, kill people and rob goods.

Even the caravans from other places have restrained their minions. After all, they cannot escape aerial reconnaissance and cannot beat the Warcraft cavalry.

The better the law is enforced, the more the Haland Territory can get the recognition of merchants, and the influence of the commodity fair will be greater and greater. The first two commodity fairs were basically nobles and merchants from the northern border. Starting from the third commodity fair, merchants and nobles from the east, west and south began to pour into the Haland Territory. There are even many foreigners from the Grand Duchy of Stannic.

Through the channels of the Fortune Church and the Watson family, the trade volume of Haland Territory's exports to the Grand Duchy of Stannic has increased seven or eight times. By this year, 76,000 gold coins of goods have been exported.

Many nobles of the Grand Duchy of Stannic were unwilling to be second-hand dealers. They were exploited by the Fortune Church, the Watson family and other large channels. They jointly formed a large-scale caravan and began to enter the Haland Territory for trade.

The commodity fair was held for twelve days, and the export volume hit a new high, an increase of 40% over last year, reaching 140,000 gold coins. There are many high-profit commodities here, which have earned very high profits for the Haland Territory.

The import volume is also very considerable, with a total of 110,000. Among them, 10,000 gold coins are various mineral raw materials, and 100,000 gold coins are slave trade. In just twelve days, the Haland Territory purchased 20,000 slaves. Counting the refugees who migrated to the territory because of the plague, the population entering the Haland Territory this year has reached 70,000.

Among the 70,000 people, 4,000 are free people who actively moved to the Haland Territory. These people include small businessmen, handicraftsmen, and losers in the political struggle of the noble territory. Many people are literate and have professional skills. A few people carry a lot of money. They are all very high-quality immigrants.

After a circle on the street, Richard went directly to the intelligence department.

"George, find someone to check on Qiaosen and see who he has offended?"

"Okay, Earl."

Although he didn't know who Qiaosen was, George was an intelligence worker and had subjective initiative in doing things. He first found Richard's guards and found out what happened today from the side. Then he found his brother Hayden and asked who Qiaosen was.

Hayden was also an eyewitness of the incident that year. He was the one who asked for the ransom himself, so of course he knew who Qiaosen was. After finding out about Qiaosen's situation through Hayden, George quickly found this person. He analyzed Richard's intentions and saw that Richard was unwilling to find the back account to pursue Qiaosen, so he investigated the inside story of Qiaosen's migration to Harland Territory from the side.

"The one who targeted Qiaosen was the court earl Steven."

George came to Richard's mansion and reported the reason why Qiaosen fled to Harland Territory.

When he heard this name, even Richard's expression was a little solemn. Because Steven is a heavyweight in the capital, the leader of the palace guards, and he held this position before King Roger was knighted, which shows how important Steven's status is.

This person is a member of the Grant family branch, with very good blood talent, and now he is a ninth-level knight. Now there are seven court earls in the Grant royal family, and Steven is the most important one.

"How much information do we have about Steven?"

George has a good memory and made preparations in advance before reporting. He immediately answered: "Most of it is public information. We only know that this person is very talented and was trained by Duke Brena."

Richard narrowed his eyes and suddenly asked, "Is Steven a greedy person?"

George nodded and said, "Steven was not a greedy person a few years ago, but after King Roger entrusted him with an important task, Steven was particularly ruthless in extorting money from merchants in Nolan. Some rich people who had no political backing were ruined by him. In the eyes of the citizens of the capital, Steven has become a person full of filth and a bad reputation. This change is a bit abrupt, and it may be that Steven deliberately showed it."

"On the surface, there seems to be no problem, but I always feel that there is something behind it. What happened. You have to keep a close eye on Qiao Sen. He is a mid-level professional with a very high level of vigilance. When you are following him, you must make a plan and don't get too close. My intuition tells me that there must be something behind Qiao Sen, otherwise Steven would not keep an eye on him and send people to attack Qiao Sen twice. "

"Although Steven has the blood of the Grant family, he is actually of a low origin and does not have many people he can trust. I also think that he would not send people to attack Qiao Sen several times just for some money."

Now the army and intelligence departments of the Harland territory are equipped with a large number of monocular telescopes.

Equipping the army with telescopes makes it easier for tracking and reconnaissance. As long as Qiao Sen is not a person with extraordinary vision and acquaintance with Ruiz, it is impossible for him to find someone on the windowsill two kilometers away who is specifically watching him.

After arranging Qiao Sen's affairs, the commodity fair was held very successfully.

After entering October, the Steam Engine Research Institute continued its efforts and successfully manufactured three steam engines using red rubber sealing rings.

These three steam engines are all used to pump water in coal mines. Each steam engine does more work than fifteen miners. The power of the machines is already looming, and productivity is about to usher in a leapfrog improvement.

In addition to pumping water, Richard asked the Mechanical Research Institute to draw personnel to study textile machinery, grinding machinery, and transmission machinery powered by steam engines. This year's elementary school graduates in Harland Territory are expected to be inclined to scientific research units such as the Steam Engine Research Institute, the Mechanical Research Institute, and the Botanical Research Institute.