"How did you provoke the guild?"

Cooper and Salter stood in the side hall of the Hwoff Cathedral to be questioned by Bishop Orlov.

"Your Excellency, we really don't know how to get the people of the guilty society, Besançon City lacks southern goods, and the southern goods we buy from the southern counties at a low price to Besançon are only sold to the southern goods shops in the city, and we do not sell them to the market at a low price, this kind of thing has not caused any loss to the local guilds! Local merchants were able to buy the southern goods that were in short supply during the war at a lower price, and they had no reason to object! Salter replied in a low voice, with a bit of helplessness and confusion in his tone.

"Hmm~ Although I don't know anything about commerce and trade, I also know that there is a shortage of southern goods in Besançon and even in the north, and it is too late for Besançon merchants to welcome the southern goods shipped at low prices, so they really shouldn't suppress you. However, since the guild has come forward to make things difficult for you, there must be a reason. Bishop Orlof could not explain why.

Bishop Orlov picked up the letter in his hand again, read it, and asked, "How much is your shipment worth?" ”

Salta glanced at Cooper, who nodded, "Lord Bishop, this batch of thirteen truckloads of southern goods can be exchanged for nearly sixty thousand pfennighs in Besançon. ”

Bishop Orlov was surprised, "Your caravan is so big now?" ”

"I remember Art once told me that he wanted to make money from trade, and I thought he was just trying to form a convoy of three or five carriages to transport goods for those caravans, but I didn't think he would dare to spread out such a large formation at once. I had promised him that he could do some trade in the name of purchasing from the Hwóv Cathedral, but now that the quantity of your southern goods is too large, it is clear that this reason will not work. ”

Bishop Orlof bowed his head and pondered for a while, then put away Arte's private message and said to the two people standing in front of him: "John George, the head of the Besançon Trade Guild, is a great businessman, this man is greedy and cunning by nature, and he has a lot of connections with many powerful people in the court, so he is not easy to deal with. ”

Cooper and Salter's hearts sank to the valley.

"But he has contracted several church mines in the diocese of Lucesen, and we have some intersections, so I will write him a private letter at once, and you will give him the letter and then send it with some belongings, and say that it is my intention."

Cooper and Salter smiled again.

"Don't be too happy, the guild is not something he can do alone, since the guild is entangled with you, there must be some price, and they will still stare at you in the future. You go back and bring a message to Art, if he really wants to do southern goods trading, he must consider a foolproof strategy. However, you still have to remind him that as a knight, it is not a glorious thing to indulge in the business path after all, let him think about it. ”

Salter listened with a serious face, and then replied reverently: "What the bishop said is very true, and my lord has also told us, that he will faithfully fulfill the duty of a knight - to protect the justice of the world for God, and he will not do business matters himself in the future, and my lord has said more than once that after the caravan makes money, he will donate a fixed share to the church as a holy service for the construction of the church and the congregation, so that the light of God will shine on every inch of the world." ”

A smile appeared on Bishop Orlov's face, and he said kindly: "I am glad that a saint who fought for my lord could have such thoughts. Go ye, and if the guild people still make things difficult for you in every way, I will go to them myself. ”

Cooper and Salter withdrew from the chapel's chapel with the Holy Cross in their drawings and hurried back to Besançon......

............

In the official room of the Besançon Trade Guild, the head of the guild, John George, looked at Bishop Orlov's private message, and his heart swelled with anger, and whispered to his entourage: "Dean, bastard, didn't he say that the owner of that caravan was a helpless wild dog?" So what's going on with this private message from Bishop Orlov? You go and get Dean for me. ”

"Master, but that batch of goods is worth tens of thousands of fennigs, so let it go?"

"Tens of thousands of pfennigs? Use your pig brains, my three church mines in Lucesin earn more than that in a month!! Can I offend a diocesan bishop? ”

"What are you doing standing here, get me out and find Dean!" John roared.

The retinue quickly turned around and went to the city to look for Dean.

"Stop!"

The head of the guild stopped his entourage and instructed, "You ask the servant to take the three guests to the side hall and wait, and then bring some drinks and snacks to entertain them, and don't be lazy, and wait for Dean to find out the situation." ”

Cooper and Salter Lawrence sat anxiously in the side hall of the guild, they had already delivered a private message from Bishop Orlof and a box of jewels worth a thousand fennigs to the official chamber of the head of the guild, John George, although John had not yet met a few people, but this time they were treated much better, the last time they came to see John, they were hung out for a morning before a servant came out and drove them away, not even a person to talk to.

"Old butler, do you think there is hope this time?" Lawrence asked.

Cooper was also a little apprehensive, so he kept his mouth shut.

However, Salter, who had been in the mall for a long time, picked up a glass of fruit wine and said to Lawrence with confidence: "Let's wait patiently, this can be done." ”

"I've been drying us for half a morning, how do I think there's still no hope~" Lawrence still had a sad face.

Salter took a sip of fruit wine and said to the two of them with a smile: "Although we are still hanging, at least this time we have a place to sit and drinks and snacks, if things are not settled, we will be kicked out long ago." This time it was the Bishop Orlov who came forward, and the guild dared to bully a nameless caravan, but it definitely did not dare to provoke the people of the church. Besides, Bishop Orlof is the Bishop of the Diocese of Lucesen, and John has several mines in Lucesen......"

Sure enough, just after a meal, John's entourage pushed open the door of the side hall and walked in, and said to a few people with a smile: "Gentlemen, my lord invites you to his office. ”

Cooper and Lawrence looked surprised, but Salter was not surprised.

"Old butler, may you let me talk to John in a moment?" Salter asked Cooper beside him.

"Of course, you're the real expert at that." Cooper replied crisply.

So a few people followed their entourage out of the side hall gate.

As soon as a few people came out of the side hall to the main hall, they saw a back figure hurriedly walking out of the main hall gate, and when the back disappeared from the door, he glanced back at the three people who were about to enter the official room with resentful eyes.

"Isn't that Young Master Dean? What is he doing here? Lawrence, who had the best eyes, recognized the back, and stopped and turned his head to look.

"You're wrong! Let's go, we've got business to do," Saltra gave Lawrence a handful, and the men walked into John's office.

The moment he stepped into the official room, the well-informed Salter could not help but praise the wealth and luxury of the owner of the house—woolen felt carpets on the floor, noble portraits on the walls, silver-plated candlesticks hanging from the ceiling, glass tiles embedded in the window frames, sculptures and porcelain all over the room, the furniture in the room was made of yew wood, and even the chairs for hospitality were covered with a layer of soft leather.

Seeing the three of them enter the house, John politely stood up and saluted: "Presumably a few of them are Sir Art's caravan stewards, please take a seat."

The three of them sat in a leather chair across from John's desk.

"I have read Bishop Orlov's letter, gentlemen, if you had explained your relationship with the Bishop earlier, there would have been no such misunderstanding between us." John said with a smile.

"Lord John, my lords do not want to disturb the Bishop for such a trivial matter. It's just that the Bishop didn't know where he heard that there was some misunderstanding between us and the Besançon Trade Guild, and he was worried that we had recklessly bumped into the guild's masters, so he took the initiative to inquire about the matter. Salter began to ramble, but the half-truths were unbelievable and unbelievable.

Hearing this, John's eyebrows tightened, and then he resumed his smile again, and said, "Of course, Sir Art is the son of the Bishop's religious protector, and the merciful Bishop will certainly not let Sir Art get into unnecessary trouble." John didn't believe that the Church of Orlof had offered to help these people, but who would have said it wouldn't......

"Master John, what about our shipment~?" Salter asked tentatively.

John stopped thinking, looked up and replied with a smile: "There is no problem with the southern goods you brought, it is the people who do the work who have misunderstood what I mean, and I will ask them to return the goods of your caravan." It's just ~"

"Just what?" Salter knew that this guy's heart was not as bright as his smiling fat face.

"It's just that you have to buy this batch of southern goods to a few shops designated by the guild, these shops are all from the leaders of the guild, anyway, it's a fair deal, it's the same for everyone, isn't it?" John put forward the first condition, the caravan's cheap southern goods had to be bought from a few designated shops in Besançon, most of which of course were John's own.

"Master John, I can promise you this, as long as you can promise to give us enough justice." Salter replied briskly.

"Well, of course, of course~um~" John replied.

Seeing that John was still a little unsatisfied, Salter chuckled and said, "I guess Master John still has the conditions, right?"

John touched a few beards at the corners of his mouth, his face regained some seriousness, and said, "Your Excellency is a person who understands, and I don't go around in circles." I can release you this time, but you can't continue the southern trade from Tignets to Besançon in the future! ”

Salter knew that was the real purpose.

Of all the southern trade routes in the whole of Burgundy, only the route from Tignets to Besançon was the best. Because the most convenient route for unloading southern cargo from the major ports on the coast of Lombardy in the south is to enter Tignets and the surrounding provinces along Vilno, Aosta, Kitsby in the mountains of eastern Provence, and then through the northern border. Southern goods are not more than other goods, most of the southern goods are spices, jewelry, raw silk, silk, dyes, ceramics, tea and other valuables, only in the north of the country in Lucesen and Besançon and other large cities can have enough merchants and magnates to buy these goods, and the distance from Tignets to Besançon is the closest one relative to other provinces and counties, so the line from Tignets to Besançon is the "golden journey" of the southern goods trade.

In the past two years, this trade route was temporarily cut off because of the continuous wars on the southern continent, and the southern merchants had to take a detour to the east-west route and walk hundreds or thousands of miles to trade in the north, but the war would eventually end, and once the north-south trade route was unblocked, this line would immediately become a "river" flowing with gold and silver.

Although Salt, who has been immersed in business travel for many years, has no chance to get involved in the southern goods trade on this line, he also knows how high the "mountain" and "water" of this "golden river" are.

"How are you?" John broke Sarter's musings.

"What if we don't say yes?" Salta remembered what Art had brought back from Talburg through Lawrence, and her attitude suddenly hardened.

John didn't expect the attitude of the guy in front of him to change suddenly, and he was a little speechless for a while.

"Do you really think that with Bishop Orlov you can gain a foothold on the north-south trade route?" John's tone was not good, and his smiling face suddenly turned cold.

Salter didn't answer directly, but changed the subject and asked: "Master John, I have inquired, you have not intervened in this north-south trade route, our caravan will not have the slightest impact on your interests, and you have no reason to fight with a potential partner for an irrelevant trade route." ”

"Who said it doesn't matter, your existence threatens ......" John realized that he was almost speechless, and quickly shut up.

"Who are we threatening?" Salter asked.

"You threaten the stability of the southern goods trade market in Besançon." John replied.

Salter knew that these were all excuses, but he didn't ask any more questions, "Master John, I don't care who stabbed us in the back, but a successful merchant nobleman like you should be wise, as I just said, you shouldn't fight with a potential partner, and besides, this partner is also under the ...... of the Holy Illumination."

"Oh? Potential partners? It's a fresh idea, and I'd like to hear from you......" John asked, regaining his composure, curious.

............

Half an hour later, the three of them left John's office.

John promised to return the caravan's seized goods, and he promised that the Besançon Merchant Guild would treat the caravan's other goods in the future fairly. However, John never relented on the issue of the southern goods trade, and he even threatened that the southern goods that the caravans would bring into Besançon in the future would not be bought by any of the merchants......

"Old butler, it seems that the person who wants to stab us to death has a lot to do with Master John, what kind of person will it be?" Salter pondered as he walked out of the main hall of the guild.

Suddenly, as if he remembered something, he stopped and asked Lawrence beside him; "Lawrence, what did you just say was the name of the man you saw coming out of John's office?"

Faced with a sudden question, Lawrence was a little confused, "It seems ~ It seems to be Young Master Dean?" Hey, I just took a look, maybe I was wrong, Young Master Dean should lead troops to fight in the eastern border. ”

Salter pondered for a moment and then asked, "This young master Dean seems to be the son of a wealthy merchant in Tignats, right?" ”

Cooper recalled for a moment and replied: "Well, it seems that the master mentioned a few words, he was canonized as a trainee knight because his family funded a lot of money to fight in the palace war, by the way, Young Master Dean and our master had a conflict!" ”

"The family is a wealthy merchant in Tignats, and he has had conflicts with adults~" Salter muttered to himself.

"Old butler, I know who stabbed us in the back!"

............