Deep in the mountains on the border between Rimi Shrine and Liangyue Castle, a fortress sits quietly in the deepest part of the forest. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Nearly 100 women wearing ghost masks, armed with knives, longbows and feathered arrows, and wearing black and white witch costumes lurked in the woods. The ghost masks they wear are completely different from ordinary witches, with the patterns on the masks of the regular witches being black-toned, while the grimaces on their masks are painted in red.

These people are the "shrine maidens" that Koha and Kotori once mentioned, of course, they are not the shrine maidens of Ira Shrine, but the shrine maidens of the evil witches. Their job is not to sacrifice and celebrate, but to protect the lair of the evil witch, and to protect the great witch and the shrine maiden.

The fortress behind them is the "shrine" that Konoha and Kotori once mentioned. This fortress, named "Black Shrine", is the lair of the evil witch and the hiding place of the great witch of the evil shrine. There are no shrine-related buildings in the fortress, only barracks, warehouses, and the residences of the Great Shrine Maiden and the Long Shrine Maiden.

The long shrine maiden who lives in the fortress is higher than the long shrine maiden outside, and is the "Wishing the Shrine Maiden Chiefmaiden", and is the highest level of the long shrine maiden. If the Great Witch is compared to the emperor, the Shrine Maiden is the king of the Great Witch Maid, but these kings do not have fiefs and live next to the emperor.

The shrine maidens in the fortress are all shrine maidens, and only shrine maidens. It is possible to be promoted to the Witch Maiden with excellent performance, but there are very few people who are promoted in this way, and generally speaking, the Witch Maiden is directly picked by the Great Witch and the Witch Maid Elder Witch from the Evil Witch's apprenticeship camp.

A carrier pigeon crossed the dense woods, dropped in height as it flew deeper into the woods, and finally landed in a clearing that belonged to the residence of the chief shrine maiden. When the witch who was guarding the courtyard saw the pigeon, she immediately ran over and grabbed it, took off the small wooden tube tied to its legs, and hurriedly knocked on the door of the dormitory.

About an hour later, several women wearing golden grimace masks gathered in the council chamber of the Black Shrine. The shrine maiden costumes on their bodies are also hundreds of black, no different from ordinary evil witches. After these people waited in the council hall for a while, a woman wearing a purple-gold grimace mask came to the council chamber, accompanied by a dozen evil witches wearing blue grimace masks, and sat down unceremoniously on the chairman of the council hall, and their shrine maid costumes were also hundreds of black.

The woman wearing the purple-gold grimace mask is the Great Witch, the woman wearing the golden grimace mask is the Shrine Maiden Chief, and the Evil Witch wearing the blue grimace mask is the Great Witch's personal guard, known as the "Black Guard". When the chief witches saw the great witches coming, they immediately sat in two columns on the left and right, and saluted her respectfully.

"You're in a hurry to see me, what's wrong?"

The voice of the great witch was slightly vicissitudes, and it seemed to come from the mouth of an old woman.

The chief witch sitting on the right sat on her knees and took a few steps forward, leaning over to salute the great witch.

"Your Majesty, the minister has something to do."

In fact, just a few years ago, the Great Witch was called "Adult" by her subordinates, but now she has become "Your Majesty", and she is actually on the same level as Emperor Ira. She asked her subordinates to call themselves courtiers, as if she wanted to live in this ravine to be an empress.

"Speak."

Although the Great Witch has thought about being an empress, she has never been in the court, so she naturally does not know the etiquette in the palace. Her perception of the palace and imperial power is still stuck in the storyteller's jokes. However, the storyteller has never entered the palace, so what is said in this passage is false. But the Great Shrine Maiden took it seriously and made it the rule of the Black Shrine.

For example, you must kneel on the ground and take a few steps to play, and you must bow down and wait for the emperor's permission before speaking. None of these things had ever happened in the Ira's court.

"Your Majesty, the minister has just received news that a large army has been sent from the twenty-nine villages, and Nami Jushi and Yanhe are also among them, and it seems that they are heading towards Shangjin County. Combined with the information he received a few days ago, the minister felt that something big might happen in Shangjin County. ”

A few days ago, the shrine maiden received the news that the Rimi Shrine had transferred the troops gathered in the Grand Bazaar to Kamijin Prefecture, and at that time she also reported the information to the Great Shrine Maiden as well.

"What happened in Shangjin County, and what does it have to do with us?"

The Great Witch's voice looked a little tired, as if it was because she hadn't rested well last night.

"Your Majesty, the affairs of Shangjin County have nothing to do with us, but the affairs of the Twenty-Nine Village have something to do with us." The chief witch said, "Didn't Your Majesty want to expand your influence to the twenty-nine villages a long time ago? It's just that a few bandits entrenched in the boundary of the twenty-nine villages are not long-sighted and refuse to greet Your Majesty, so they can't-"

"I see what you mean." The Great Witch raised her hand and interrupted her, "You want to take this opportunity to do a big job in Twenty-Nine Village, right?" ”

"Yes, yes, Your Majesty is wise!"

I wish the witch a long witch to bow again, and the big witch who is patted on the horse is very comfortable, so that she can't help but feel a little fluttery. The chief witch of the shrine maiden was familiar with the character of the great witch, so she said while the iron was hot.

"The minister has already buried people next to those bandit leaders, as long as the minister's people fool those bandits to take the opportunity to attack the twenty-nine villages, let them lose both, and then let's go and kill them all and rob all the good things! By the way, grab a few smart men and make the sisters happy! ”

There are occasional men in this black shrine, but they are all snatched from the outside, and they should be given priority to the great witch maidens and the shrine maidens who wish the shrine maidens. These women have long reached the age of wolves and tigers, how can ordinary men withstand their tossing? So it won't take long for the robbed man to become "useless" and be directly executed by the shrine maiden.

This is said to the heart of the great witch, she has not tasted little fresh meat for a while. The other Wishing Witches couldn't sit still, looking at their urgency, it seemed that as long as the Great Witch gave an order, they would immediately take their evil witches to the twenty-nine villages.

"Hmm...... Very good. The Great Witch pretended to be very calm and nodded, "Just do as you say." Immediately give orders to the major teams to assemble their strongholds in the twenty-nine villages. ”

The Witch's stronghold, which is where the Witch's brigade headquarters is stationed, is usually a secret place like a bandit's den, and after being selected, they can't move around casually, otherwise they won't be able to receive orders from the Black Shrine.

After the order was issued from the Black Shrine, the evil witch brigades from all over the country immediately set off and moved to the stronghold in the area of Twenty-Nine Village. The Evil Witch had never attacked a target of this level in Twenty-Nine Village, and for the sake of safety, the Black Shrine also dispatched a certain number of people, and the Great Witch also sent 20 people from her Black Guard.

Some people may ask, Satomi Shrine also sent a large number of troops to Kamijin Prefecture, why didn't the evil witch attack Rimi Shrine?

There is a reason for this. In addition, even if the Rimi Shrine is drawn troops, there are three fortresses in the territory, as well as enough war witches and soldiers to defend the territory. Even if the witch comes out, she may not have much to gain, but it is better to only attack those weakly defended villages as before.

But the 29th Village is different, the 29th Village mainly relies on the personal strength of Nanyi Jushi and Yanhe in terms of military affairs, and the combat effectiveness of the soldiers is very average. Now that Nami Jushi and Yan He are gone, the main force has also been transferred, there are no fortifications in Twenty-Nine Village, and there are still several powerful bandit forces in its territory that can be used as cannon fodder for the evil witch, there are so many favorable factors in front of them, of course it is impossible for the evil witch to watch the boiled duck fly.

Of course, the Great Witch never thought that she could easily take the Twenty-Nine Villages. But in her opinion, even losing half of the witch was worth it. Because as long as she captures Twenty-Nine Village, she will become famous all over the world and become the object of awe and even worship of many lawbreakers.

Due to the danger of this battle, the Great Witch did not go to the Twenty-Nine Village in person, but appointed the chief shrine maiden who played the music to take full command of the battle. Before leaving, she swore to the Great Witch that if she couldn't capture the Twenty-Nine Villages, she would come back to see the Great Witch.

Yu Mingli and Yu Changnian, who temporarily held military and political power, were completely unaware of this. They were now wondering how to invite Maier to Village Twenty-Nine and ask him more about Gray. Message from Byrons.

It also happened that Maier was going to visit Twenty-Nine Village these days - to be exact, he was passing through Twenty-Nine Village.

"Dyed pottery and Tugu for muskets?"

Mel blinked, not understanding what Kazuya meant.

"Why don't you sell these dyed pottery to Satomi Shrine?"

"Because Rimi Shrine no longer accepts this batch of pottery." He Yan Ruizhi smiled bitterly and said, "Originally, I wanted to keep this batch of pottery and sell it when the Rimi Shrine buys pottery next time." But in the past few days, I suddenly realized that Rimi Shrine seems to be the first time that dyed pottery has been purchased in large quantities, and it may be the only time, and there will be no such shop after this village. Therefore, this hope is unrealistic, and the batch of dyed pottery on hand must be disposed of as soon as possible. ”

"Dugu people like to dye pottery?"

"No, they don't like it. But I sold dyed pottery cheaper than regular pottery, so they would ask for it. ”

"But aren't you losing money in this way?"

"Strictly speaking, it's definitely a loss, but it's not the kind of loss you think." He Yan Ruizhi explained with a smile, "This is equivalent to doing two orders of business at one time." ”

"Two orders?"

"That's right." He Yan Ruizhi nodded, "The business of selling pottery must be losing money, but I didn't get cash in this business, but in exchange for Dugu muskets, so these are two businesses." I'll pull the Dugu musket somewhere else and sell it, so I'll make a lot of money. ”

"Oh, that is to say, as long as the profit from selling the ancient musket is higher than the loss from selling pottery, it will not be considered a loss of money when you go out this time?"

"That's it."

He Yan Ruizhi nodded appreciatively, and then continued.

"If you use this method, you may be able to make more money."

"That's ...... so"

Maier nodded instructively, and began to ponder the "utilization" of what he said. He Yan Ruizhi didn't bother him, and looked at the thinking Maier with a smile.

There is no doubt that what he said was teaching Maier the tricks of doing business. As the saying goes, there are enemies in the peers, and although Maier is only a businessman now, he may not always be a businessman. If he uses the method taught him by He Yan Ruizhi to run a business to make money, he may become a businessman at some point. In case he returns to Liangyue City and does the same business as the Heyan family, the Heyan family will have one more competitor.

If it is an ordinary person, this kind of thinking is understandable, but it is further from Yan Ruizhi. First of all, does he know that Mel is Gray? Byrons's son, under the protection of his father's great prestige, can easily blend into high society even if he is just a mediocre talent. What's more, Maier is not a mediocre talent, he will definitely develop in the future, and a mere Liangyue City can't fit him at all.

He Yan Ruizhi is a businessman, and he teaches Maier these tricks on the one hand because he is kind to the He Yan family, and on the other hand, he follows the instinct of a businessman to make reasonable investments. For businessmen, investment does not necessarily have to throw money, but directly smashing favors into it, which is much more cost-effective than throwing money.

What's more, He Yan Zhiheng now regards Maier as a close friend. As the saying goes, those who are close to Zhu are red, and those who are close to ink are black, and it is better to let this stupid son follow Meier than to let him fool around alone. As long as He Yan Zhiheng has been following Maier, and Yan Ruizhi knows what Maier has taught, he may be taught by him one day.

In this way, Maier received a second commission from Heyan Ruizhi, and together with Heyan Zhiheng, he led a caravan full of dyed clay pots and set off towards the Kingdom of Egus.