The harvest of Aosta and his party was not small, the purchase price of a quarter of a fennig was sold at the price of four-fifths of a fennig in Aosta, and the price of grain bought for the Provençal court as military rations in the future would reach one fennig per pound, which could be doubled or even doubled after deducting the long distance transportation costs and the caravan's internal expenses. 77dus: However, compared to the lucrative southern goods trade, the profits from selling grain will not be cared about.

"Twenty wagons, that's enough for us to collect the goods from the south for the Northlands. My lord, this is a very good solution, the Dean family has cut the size of our caravan in half, and we will get the other half back in Provence, no matter how strong the power of the Dean family is, it is impossible to meddle in the southern goods market of Provence. Since leaving Aosta City, Raven, the deputy steward of the caravan, has been following Yat on horseback, and the purpose of this trip to Aosta has basically been achieved, so Raven is also very happy.

"Laven, you're right, after we gain a foothold in Provence, we will be able to buy southern goods in the south at a low price, which will be much cheaper than buying southern goods in the south of the Count of Burgundy, and once we have formed our own stable source of goods, we will be able to slowly control the southern goods market in the north, and then the Dean family will have to weigh whether they dare to restrict us......"

Just when Art was dreaming of Laven's domination of the southern goods trade, Lusignan, who had been in charge of guarding near the convoy, rushed to Art's side and reported urgently: "My lord, a group of shadows following a mile away from the left flank of the convoy appeared, quite a few people, but all on foot. What to do? To fight or not to fight? ”

"Raven, keep all the guards on guard."

Ravan turned his horse's head and arranged for the convoy to be guarded with weapons.

Art then asked Lusignan, "Are there any enemies or ambushes in front of the convoy?"

"Directly ahead is sentry by Jafar himself, and there is no hostile situation or ambush."

Art bowed his head and thought about it for a while, and ordered Felix, who had caught up: "Felix, order everyone to get into the carriage, and we will pass quickly." ”

The convoy sprang into action at once, and everyone got into empty wagons, and the long convoy galloped towards the north......

"These cowards, they're really fast. But it looks like their carriage is empty, forget it, don't chase it, guys withdraw! ”

The large group of shadows that followed the Yate convoy stopped their pursuit, allowing a cloud of dust to rush to the north......

After narrowly escaping the catastrophe, Arte simply let all the caravan attachés and escorts ride the carriage and gallop quickly, so that everyone can quickly pass through the dangerous area, and even if there is danger along the way, the carriage can be formed into a chariot formation to resist the impact.

It took three days to gallop all the way, and the southbound grain delivery convoy successfully returned to Kitsby City.

Sarthe, who had been sent to contact business friends in Provence more than ten days earlier, also returned to Kitsby with good news.

In a tavern in Kitsby, Art celebrates the initial success of his journey south with a simple banquet for the caravan escort attachés and employees.

"My lord, the trade routes of Provence have almost all been cut off, and as you might expect, the merchants of Provence have long been anxious about the idle coins, and they say that they are willing to lend money to our European trading houses to expand their power as long as we do have the strength, but they demand that in addition to the silver coins lent on time, they also demand a quarter of the profits from the money invested."

"My lord, a quarter of the share of the profit is indeed higher, but we are in dire need of a large amount of silver coins into the European Merchant House at our worst time, so I tentatively agreed to their terms and promised to persuade you to agree."

Art nodded when he heard this, picked up his wine glass and touched it with Salte, "Salter, since I sent you to negotiate with them, I absolutely trust you, and what you say represents what I mean." ”

Salter held the wine glass in both hands and said to Art with some excitement, "Thank you for your trust in me." With that, he took a sip of the wine in his glass and poured a full glass for Art.

"Your Excellency, now that you have obtained the license of the Provençal court to trade southern goods, and you have the privilege of becoming the court's merchant agent, with a charter and a special status, those merchants are more willing to cooperate with you. Tomorrow I will take these two documents with me to talk to my merchant friends, and try to get the silver out of their money bags as soon as possible......"

Art listened carefully to Salter's plan, and after Salter finished speaking, Art added: "We can sign a loan contract with the merchants, and use the business license as a guarantee. Tell those merchant friends that if our cooperation can earn them a lot of money, I want to be their "business agent" and sign a "contract of cooperation" with them, and I will give them a share of the profits of one-third to one-half of their silver coins as a share of the European comptoirs......"

"In addition, the southern caravan of the European Comptoir was immediately established. Now that I have the status of an agent of the court of Provence, I can openly recruit caravan chariotemen and escorts in Provence, and I have thought that the southern caravan is composed of twenty carriages and thirty attachés including stewards, escorts, coachmen, stables, and miscellaneous servants), and most of the members are recruited from Provence, and they are more familiar with the situation here than the people of Burgundy, but the caravan stewards need to be sent by us, and our men need to be led by the guards and coachmen, After a while, I'll have a few suitable wounded legionnaires join the Southern Caravan as escorts, and you can also draw a few reliable men from our Caravan in the Northland to work in the Southern Caravan. I'll give you 50,000 Fennig to rent a carriage, hire an attaché, and start moving around. ”

"The northern caravan is basically on the right track, and there is not much to fight for, I plan to temporarily arrange for Lawrence to take over the northern caravan, and the southern caravan will be led by you personally, after all, Provence is where you have been doing business for many years, and there are many things that need to be handled by an excellent businessman like you, and I really can't find a more suitable person than you." Art patted Salter on the shoulder.

Salter was deeply moved, "Don't worry, my lord, I will let the European Comptoir take root and flourish in Provence." ”

"But my lord, I have a request." Salter said.

"You say!"

"My lord, the officials and chauffeur attachés of the southern caravan can recruit Provençals, but the backbone escort I hope to use the men and horses of the Northland caravan led by Laven, most of the northland caravan escorts have experienced battle formations, and the captain of the escort like Raven himself came out of your army, and now the situation in Provence is more dangerous than that of the Count of Burgundy, and I can be more relieved to have them to protect me."

Art put down his wine glass and thought for a moment, as Salter said, now the southern trade route of the Count of Burgundy has calmed down a lot because of the previous crackdown on bandits, and the Northland Trade Guild has accepted the European trading houses, so the danger of the Northland caravan is not high, and the recruitment of ordinary young people can also be competent as guards. But Provence is different, the country is in a situation of raging war, the principality is in chaos, without a reliable escort, it is very difficult for the southern caravan to gain a foothold, and the army that Art is about to send is only to escort the grain south, they cannot always escort the caravan to buy southern goods.

"Okay, I agree to your request, except for leaving a few old guards to reorganize the Northland caravan guards, I will transfer all the rest of the guards to the southern caravan, and the other insufficient manpower will be recruited by you and Raven personally."

"That's great, thank you, sir." Salter raised his glass again.

Art also picked up the wine glass on the table and touched it lightly with Salte, and asked, "Salter, do you know where your two sons and daughters are now?" Would you like to take them to live in the valley? ”

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Chapter 171: Southern Caravan