In the early morning of the seventieth day of the garrison of Tarburg, Lawrence returned to Talburg with a detachment sent with the caravan, which carried three wagons: two wagons of fresh meat and vegetables and other food and baggage, and one cart of arrows, fire oil and other equipment to defend the city. Thanks to the raid on Biltenberg, the grain reserves in Tartenburg are quite sufficient, but there is a shortage of fresh fruits and vegetables, because these goods that are not easy to preserve were directly ignored when they raided Biltenberg at that time, and the small traders of fresh fruits and vegetables in Glaru County did not dare to bring these fresh goods to Tarburg to trade, so the few truckloads of supplies brought by the caravan this time made the defenders of Tarburg very happy.

The detachment returned with seventeen caravans recruited young men to garrison Tarburg and a private letter from Bishop Orloff to Arte.

The food supplies were stored in the storehouse in Tarburg, and the young man was handed over to Otto and Angus to arrange training, while Art was reading Bishop Orlov's private message.

In his letter, Bishop Orlof praised Yater's heroic battle during his time at the border and promised to ask the court to honor Arter, in which he stressed that Arter's army must maintain the fear of God, not to disturb the holy places of the church, and not to indiscriminately kill innocent civilians......

Lawrence was sitting on a wooden bench across from him to report to Art about the caravan with him.

"My lord, the old butler and the steward of Salter are now in the city of Zurich, and this time the caravan is in big trouble for the southern goods trade."

Yate's heart tensed when he heard this, and he quickly asked, "What's the big trouble??" ”

"Because we carried too much southern goods this time, the southern goods trading guild in Zurich City made it difficult for us in every way, they said that the price of the southern goods we brought into Zurich was too low, which seriously disrupted the southern goods in Zurich, and ordered us to increase the price of the goods we carried, and demanded that all southern goods imported into Zurich in the future must pay a tax of 15 taxes to the guild or pay 10,000 fennigs to the guild and join the guild to become a member of the Zurich trade guild, otherwise they will seize all our goods."

"My lord, those dozen truckloads of southern goods are worth nearly 50,000 fennig!! Lawrence spoke with an unquenchable anxiety.

After hearing this, Art tried to calm down his emotions and asked, "Didn't you show them the lacquer documents issued by the county of Tinies for the transportation of military supplies?" ”

"At the beginning, I showed them, and they said that most of these southern goods were not military supplies, so they refused to admit it, and even threatened us to embezzle the materials carried by the army's baggage team, and they would send us to the palace for severe punishment." Lawrence looked angry.

"Then have you found a way to get through the guild?"

"It's useless, the old butler and Steward Salter have gone to the heads of several guilds afterwards and tried to send them some money to settle the matter, but they didn't accept it at all. Now that the caravan is being targeted by the guild forces, our goods will not leave Zurich at all, and if the price of those goods set by the guild is at all, we will not be able to compete with the local southern goods trading houses. ”

"The old butler and the Salter steward are now trying to contact the southern goods stores in the city to see if they can sell the southern goods after the price increase......

"Salter also once told me that after the caravan expands, it will definitely encounter the exclusion of big merchants and guilds from all over the country, but now it is still in the midst of war, the trade between the north and the south is basically cut off, and Zurich really needs goods from the south, why does the guild suddenly stand up at this time to make things difficult for the southern caravan?" Art recalls that Salter had spoken about the power of guilds.

"Lawrence, have you been troubled elsewhere?" Art asked Lawrence.

"No, the goods we brought from Talburg were sold at a very low price, but no one cared about them, and it went well in other places, but not long after we returned to Zurich from the south, we just found a place to stay, and the guild people found us." Lawrence recalled.

"That's weird~ Why? It doesn't make sense~" Art lowered his head and thought for a long time, but he couldn't think of the knot of the problem.

After a while, Lawrence asked tentatively, "My lord, can you write to the deputy minister and see if he can help us?"

Art shook his head and said: "Now Count Balwyn is busy with the war in the east, how can he pay attention to our little things, besides, with our relationship with Lord Balwin, he may not be willing to help."

Art thought for a moment and said, "You reminded me that Bishop Orlof is now the Bishop of Lucesinn, and he must know some of Zurich's dignitaries, maybe he can have some influence in the guild, and now we can only ask the Bishop for help." ”

After that, Art reflexively pulled out the wooden box placed under the bed, took out a set of quill pens and carbon ink stationery and began to write a letter to Bishop Orlov, in which Art explained that the purpose of the caravan was to support the huge expenses of the garrison army in Talburg, and talked about the current predicament of the caravan, and finally hoped that Bishop Orloff could come forward to help coordinate, and the expenses incurred during the period were borne by the caravan itself.

"Lawrence, I must now garrison Talburg, and I cannot go to see the Bishop in person. Tomorrow you will return to Zurich with the caravan detachment and this private letter, and go with Cooper and Sarter to Lucesin to find Bishop Orloff, and ask him to help us through this difficult situation. ”

"Tell Cooper and Salter, let them stabilize me, those guys in the guild have always bullied the weak and afraid of the hard, we will definitely deal with these people in the future, and now we will not be tough after being soft." Art commanded.

Lawrence took the private message covered with fire paint, dried it, carefully put it into the pouch on his waist, looked up and replied to Art: "My lord, don't wait for tomorrow, I will take the convoy to set off after lunch, and the matter will be resolved sooner The caravan will suffer less losses." ”

"Okay, let Spencer prepare some delicious food for you." Art admires Lawrence's drive......

After Lawrence left, Art still sat at the wooden table and thought about how to solve the problems encountered by the caravan, for the future development, the caravan will continue to expand, and there will definitely be many problems like this in the process, if you can't think about how to solve them in advance, it will be even more difficult to deal with these problems after the war is over.

While Art was still pondering, Angus walked in, and seeing that Art didn't respond at all, he gently tapped the edge of the table in front of Art.

"Mistress Art, I'm so fascinated, shouldn't I be missing your Miss Lottie?"

Art came back to his senses, smiled at Angus, and said, "How can I think about these things now." Sergeant Major, our caravan is in trouble in Zurich, and the Guild of the Zurich Trade has seized our goods......" Arter told Angus in detail of the difficulties encountered by the caravan in Zurich.

Angus scratched his hair and said, "It's difficult now, I grew up in Zurich, and I'm used to seeing the guild's face, especially the trade guild, their members are some big businessmen with considerable wealth and power, not only are they intertwined with the dignitaries and dignitaries of the court, but the trade guild also has a well-equipped guild guard under it, and many ruffians in Zurich are also working for the guild." These people are ruthless and unscrupulous for personal gain, and they are not easy to deal with. ”

Art covered his hands and wiped his face, "I didn't expect the guild to come up so soon." I have asked Lawrence to bring a letter to Bishop Orlof of Lucesen, asking him to intervene to help resolve the matter. ”

"Well, right now, the people of the church can make those guys in the guild have some scruples, Lord Art, you are quite good at finding a backer." Angus laughed.

"I can't get out of the way now, and the caravan's difficulties can only be solved by Cooper and Salta themselves with the help of Bishop Orlov."

"By the way, Sergeant Major, what was the result of your visit to Bilten's sentry?" Yat simply stopped thinking about the caravan for the time being, and concentrated his energy on the area around Tarburg.

Angus straightened up and replied solemnly: "I'm here to tell you about this, yesterday I took Ron to spy around Bierten, there are now dozens of elite soldiers patrolling around the walls of Biertenburg, and the defense is very tight, the surrounding village estates and large and small settlements are all closed, the roads and pedestrians everywhere are cut off, and everyone in the entire Bierten jurisdiction is in danger. It seems that Jeffrey has already scared his heart, and he is worried that we will take advantage of the situation to attack Birtten again or lead troops to plunder the surrounding villages and manors. ”

"Baron Jeffrey won't go out again for the time being, but you still have to guard against the enemy troops on the other side of Tebrunn City, you let Ron's sentry continue to monitor the movement of the border, and report back immediately if there is any abnormality."

Art swallowed a mouthful of saliva and continued: "The army has been fighting continuously for two months, and while the surrounding area is calm during this time, I plan to let the army also repair and train. Some time ago, there were a lot of casualties among the soldiers, and there was a shortage of personnel in each squad, but this time Lawrence brought a group of young men, and they were incorporated into the recruit team together with those prisoners of war who had regained their free status. Recruit training Otto is in charge, and you assist. Also, you see if there are any soldiers in Talburg who are suitable for cavalry, and if there are such soldiers, you pick them out and let them be trained by you alone with the Sentinels. ”

"By the way, what about those territories of Earl Balwyn that were conscripted into peasant labor?"

"Odo is trying to keep some peasant soldiers with combat potential, and there are already four lone men who have decided to join us, and the rest is hard to say." Angus replied.

"Well, those who are willing to be soldiers will stay, as long as there are not many of them, and I will report the death of Earl Balwyn when the time comes. If the others are determined to leave, they should give them some food and money to go home, after all, they have been serving for so long, and now the pressure of the war in Talburg is not very high, and most of them have families and fields, so we can't force them to stay. ”

After Angus took the order to leave, Art sat quietly for a while, and then remembered the predicament encountered by the caravan, and couldn't help but say: "The trade route is difficult~"

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

In the official office of the trade guild in Zurich, the midshipman Dean, dressed in a fine suit, was meeting with the head of the guild, John Brown. George handed over the glass.

"Uncle John, on behalf of my father, I salute you for this glass of wine, and thank you for bringing justice to our family." Dean picked up his silver glass and gently touched the guild leader's glass, then drank it down.

The head of the guild also took a big sip, patted his belly and replied: "Your father is a good friend of mine, we have been in business together for many years, how can I sit idly by and ignore his affairs." Besides, the southern trade route from Tignets to Zurich has always been in the hands of your family, and that untouchable man has just been promoted to a midshipman and began to delusionally meddle in the north-south trade while the war is raging. Go back and tell your father that he can rest assured that I will let those untouchables know what it means to be a difficult trade !!"

The head of the guild let out a few cruel words, and then laughed out loud as he touched the bulging money bag on the table, and Dean laughed a few times along with him.

After laughing for a while, the head of the guild remembered another thing, and asked in a low voice to Dean: "Dean, you are now in charge of escorting military supplies by the side of the vice minister, how did I do what I told you last time?"

Dean looked around, and after making sure that there was no one, he whispered in the ear of the head of the guild: "I have exchanged the newly recruited military rations with the old grains in your treasury and transported them to the Eastern Front, and that batch of military rations will be delivered to your grain store tomorrow~ According to the old rules, I will take three points of the money I earn."

The smile on the head of the guild grew even brighter when he heard this......