Although most caravans will set off with a convoy of comparable size, it is very common for caravans to hire escorts along the way. Only a few large caravans with a clear purpose, such as Perez, who came to Las Vegas at short notice, did not have a problem hiring escorts.

The point is that each caravan is a team that has the right to make decisions and operates alone.

According to Stewart's introduction, in the western United States, most of the caravans follow the "big cycle", and continue to trade on the way, so as to reduce trade risks, speed up the turnover of funds, and strive to expand the scale of the caravan in the shortest possible time.

For any caravan, only if the scale is large enough, can it be strong enough.

Interestingly, almost all caravan captains start as the lowest deacon, then lead the caravan's general affairs, and then work their way up. Stewart was no exception, serving as a deacon for a month and only became the head of the caravan after the death of his predecessor. What's more, with the exception of a few caravans with a clear purpose, all caravans were small caravans when they were formed, and gradually developed into large caravans by following the "big cycle", constantly accumulating wealth, recruiting more personnel, and gradually developing into large caravans.

In this regard, Chu Tianjiang also felt a little strange.

The caravan can develop and grow, the core is the caravan captain, and the captain starts from the general affairs, so the general affairs are the number one contributor to the expansion of the caravan, and the strength of a chamber of commerce is determined by the number and scale of the caravan, but the status of the caravan captain in the chamber of commerce is very low, not to mention the general affairs like Stewart, even the general affairs, the general manager and the general manager, are just pawns who work hard for the chamber of commerce, and are not the biggest beneficiaries of the chamber of commerce at all. So, why should the powerful caravan captain work for the Chamber of Commerce?

To this end, Stewart gave a clear answer.

First of all, whether a caravan is qualified to do business in various trading towns, especially large trading cities, depends on the qualification certificate issued by the chamber of commerce. Only after obtaining this qualification certificate will the identity of the caravan leader be recognized, and then engage in trade activities. Secondly, any caravan needs a guarantee of credit, especially when exchanging money, that is, exchanging gold and silver coins issued by local separatist forces for gold and silver coins in the place where they are bought and sold. For example, the commission of the junior general affairs is only 5 percent, while the commission of the senior general affairs can reach 20 percent, and the general manager in charge of one party and the general manager of the caravan can extract 5% and 10% of the profit of each caravan, so only by making the caravan bigger, can more commissions.

These three points bind all the caravans to the Chamber of Commerce.

Although this is not absolute, there are some caravans outside the Chamber of Commerce, but these caravans are very small, and more often than not, they are engaged in business activities, but plundering other caravans, and even raiding some small towns, and then taking the harvest to other places to sell.

This unique mechanism determines that the caravan leader must find ways to expand the size of the caravan.

Obviously, this is also after Chu Tianjiang proposed a partnership, and Stewart immediately agreed. When Chu Tianjiang showed enough financial resources, Stewart immediately obeyed the root cause of his orders. Perhaps, it will be difficult for Stewart to obtain direct benefits before reaching Denver, but as long as the size of the caravan grows and Chu Tianjiang fulfills his promise, he will be able to have a huge caravan when he arrives in Denver. This caravan will be the capital for him to climb up, allowing him to have a greater say in the Houston Chamber of Commerce.

The key to expanding the size of the caravan is not how much capital there is, but how strong the guard force is.

In Stewart's experience, for a caravan dominated by the slave trade, the number of guards should be at least half as many as the number of slaves. If the main thing is to sell other commodities, the amount of the guard force is linked to the total value of the commodity, that is, the expenditure on the amount of the guard force must reach at least 30% of the total profit. If you sell some extremely valuable goods, you need to reach 50%.

To put it bluntly, the larger the caravan and the more valuable the goods sold, the more guards are needed.

According to this standard, Chu Tianjiang needs at least a thousand guards before they leave Las Vegas.

It's just that Chu Tianjiang felt that he couldn't do so much. The reason is that the guards are not only used to fight against external threats, but also to maintain order in the caravan.

For caravans dominated by the slave trade, the guards were of greater significance in maintaining order in the caravan.

Even the best entertainment slaves are not valuable compared to other valuable goods. If it's a labor slave, it's very cheap. Because the slave trade was prevalent everywhere, and because slaves themselves were not valuable, powerful legions were divided from various places, and slave caravans were rarely plundered. The convoy had to deal with mainly robbers from all over the country, as well as some armed groups that were outside the power of local separatism.

It was precisely because of this that Chu Tianjiang thought that there was no need for too many guards.

First of all, Chu Tianjiang did not treat the slaves he bought as slaves, so he was sure that he would make these people obey the command, so as to minimize the number of people who maintained order. Secondly, Chu Tianjiang did not think that the robbers were a great threat, nor was he afraid of the powerful legions in the local area, so there was no need to hire too many guards to deal with external threats, and even thought that there was no need for this at all.

Of course, some guards will definitely be needed, after all, the caravan is mainly composed of women and children.

With this idea, Chu Tianjiang mentioned that he should try to hire free mercenaries instead of going to those more powerful mercenary corps.

There are only these two kinds of people who can be hired.

Stewart was more familiar with the apparently freelance mercenaries. Don't forget, before he met Chu Tianjiang, Stewart was just the head of a small caravan.

Interestingly, freelance mercenaries are paid a bit more.

Most of the freelance mercenaries are small caravans, and they are all short-distance escort missions. Only large caravans with strong capital can afford to hire mercenaries, and they are often escorted throughout the mission, that is, the mercenaries must accompany the caravan throughout the trade journey.

Freelance mercenaries and mercenaries have their own characteristics, as well as their own pros and cons.

Reputation freelance mercenaries often have their own small team, and they are very reputation-oriented, and as long as they take on the task, they will desperately escort them to the end. In addition, the freelance mercenaries were more capable of dealing with the robbers who posed the greatest threat to the small caravans. The size of mercenary legions is generally more than 500 people, and some large mercenary legions can reach thousands of people, and even have heavy equipment, and their combat effectiveness is very strong. It's just that there are very few mercenary corps that really talk about credibility, and most of the mercenary corps members are rabble, and they are barely able to deal with robbers, but as long as they encounter a legion with local separatism, they will often abandon their employers and flee for their lives.

Obviously, mercenary regiments are not as credible as free mercenaries.

As a result, a phenomenon has emerged, that is, those who can afford to hire mercenaries are often some large caravans with their own guard power, and the main purpose of inviting mercenaries is not to let mercenaries fight against external threats, but to be responsible for maintaining the order of the caravan, so that the caravan's own guard power can be freed. In addition, some large caravans often use mercenaries to increase their momentum.

The vast majority of small caravans, mainly hired free mercenaries.

It is precisely because of this that few small caravans rashly expand in size when they go through the "big cycle". Some caravan captains who are lucky enough to complete the "Great Cycle" will accumulate wealth along the way, and then expand after returning to the place of departure, that is, the area where the Chamber of Commerce is located.

After Stewart explained this truth, Chu Tianjiang also understood what diamonds were so valuable.

Obviously, the captains of small caravans would exchange gold and silver coins for diamonds, and as large as possible, in order to carry their accumulated wealth.

Because the number of small caravans accounts for ninety percent of the total number of caravans, there are special places to hire guards in each trading city. In addition, large caravans are almost all the core of the Chamber of Commerce, only serving the Chamber of Commerce, while small caravans are for the purpose of chasing profits, and bring greater benefits to the trading city, so the large trading cities attach great importance to the industry of hiring guards, and often provide convenient conditions in terms of taxation and venues to attract more free mercenaries and mercenary legions, so that the caravan can hire enough guards. In Las Vegas, for example, the Escort Hire Market is just north of the city, near the start of the main trade route to Salt Lake City. After the caravan hired guards here, it was easy to get on the road without too much delay.

In a sense, the thriving hiring market for security guards is a direct reflection of the city's situation.

Las Vegas is one of the five major central trading cities in the western United States, and although it is not as large as Denver, it is on par with the other three central trading cities, namely Salt Lake City, Houston and Phoenix. Add to that the second-largest slave trading market in the western United States after Salt Lake City, and several nearby gold mines, so Las Vegas has the largest security guard hiring market after Denver and Houston. In addition, Las Vegas is the intermediate station of the Great Loop, with Salt Lake City to the north and Phoenix to the south, both of which are not very far away, making it ideal for small caravans to run short trips to and from the city, where many freelance mercenaries will settle down and wait for their next employer.

After Stewart finished introducing the situation, Chu Tianjiang also drove to the escort employment market.