"I won't say much about things in the palace, and I'll tell you something little when you come today."

"Tell me." Art listened, with a respectful attitude.

"In the last few months I have sorted out the affairs of the whole diocese of Lucesen, and I have noticed that the firm that was in charge of the purchase of religious goods throughout the diocese has a lot of problems, and I have decided to change a few more firms. I also gave you a nominal offer to buy religious goods, and now I give you a chance to turn this piece of parchment into a real cooperation, what do you think? ”

Joy fell from the sky, and Art stayed in front of Orlov for a while.

As a privileged class above the secular world, the Church was staggeringly wealthy, and the ability to establish real trade relations with the Church was something that many businessmen could only dream of.

"Don't rejoice too soon, I just gave you a chance, and if you can't meet the church's requirements, I'll take it back. Moreover, I no longer intend for a single firm to monopolize the religious goods of the entire diocese of Lucesen, so you will only be in charge of the procurement of the goods of the Cathedral of Khvov for the time being, and if you have done a good enough job, I will consider leaving the procurement of the monastery outside the city to you. ”

"Son, everything must be grasped, whether it is to make money in business or to march and fight." Olof taught.

"Yes, Your Excellency."

"You go to the church deacon in a while, and he will explain this matter to you~"

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

After returning to Besançon again, Yat visited several other important ministers who controlled the palace council one by one, except for the military minister and the court dà fǎ official who put down their busy schedules to meet Yat in person, and the rest of the magnates did not meet Yat in person, but Yat still gave a batch of valuable agate, spices, silk and other gifts to several important ministers' butlers on his behalf.

Of course, this certainly does not include Chancellor of the Exchequer Bernard.

In addition to supervising the daily training of the army, he also took Angus and his guards to visit the jousting and gladiatorial arenas in Besançon and several surrounding cities.

Art's personal martial arts skills are not very outstanding, so he does not specifically go to participate in the gladiatorial competition, except for a bow and arrow competition in the jousting arena in Besançon, the rest of the time he leads people to lobby the backstage of the gladiatorial arena on the martial arts occasion.

That's right, Yat wants to recruit talent from the gladiatorial arena. However, Yate lobbied not for the Warriors who were active on the court, but for those who were responsible for training and teaching behind the Warriors.

Most of them were wounded and retired veterans from the army, some of them had served as soldiers in the palace guard, and some of them had been fighting with the mercenary army for many years, but they had to withdraw from the battlefield due to their age or unfortunately serious injuries in one battle.

These people were either too old or disabled, and compared to those who lost their hands and feet and became beggars, they were lucky enough to be able to get a bowl of scraps in the jousting arena and gladiatorial arena, so their pay was about the same as that of ordinary laborers. So when Art offered to hire them into the army as instructors and explained the preferential treatment, these people didn't need to talk about it at all, and immediately packed up their things and went to the barracks to register and make a register.

Out of the gladiatorial arena, the captain of the guard, Ron, looked confused, "Master, if you really want to recruit warriors with rich combat experience into the army, you can directly recruit those gladiators or mercenaries, what can these old guys with missing arms and legs do?" ”

"And enjoy the treatment of a soldier and a monthly salary of eighty pfennig, this is already the salary of our soldier combat team leader, isn't it too high? I inquired, and these people are paid sixty-five pfennighels a month for all their own care. ”

"Ron, these people who lack arms and legs can still be recruited by the gladiatorial arena, which means that they have abilities that ordinary people can't achieve in training gladiators and instructing joust knights, otherwise they would have become beggars in the streets and alleys."

"We will face a new round of military expansion next, whether it is officer training or recruit training, we need people with rich combat experience and good teaching to serve as instructors. It's one thing to have one's own martial arts, it's another thing to be able to teach one's martial arts skills to others. ”

"After returning to the valley this time, I will establish an officer academy, and all those who want to be promoted to officers in the future must be trained in the officer academy before they can go to work."

With the promotion of the knighthood, the necessity of opening an officer academy became more and more high, and Yate planned to separate an officer academy from the parish school attached to the church to train the command and combat personnel of the army, and then expand it into a military academy when the time was ripe in the future.

"Sir, isn't our parish school a training officer? Why build another officer academy? Ron was puzzled.

"Although the parish school is currently responsible for cultivating military talents, it is also a place to train civil affairs system administrators, and I need a school dedicated to the army."

"Oh. Now that we've recruited two, do we still have to recruit some more of these "instructors"~"

"Keep recruiting! I've already given an account to Triduok and Reyek, and they're also gathering a bunch of veteran mercenaries into the army through their former mercenary fellows. ”

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

After a week in Besançon, due to the complicated process, the court's documents for the title of knight were not coming down for a long time, but Artco couldn't wait.

After returning from the eastern border, more than 100 soldiers under Art were canceled from the banner of the first company of the palace guard, and since they did not belong to the palace army, they naturally could no longer accept palace support.

Even more than 150 mouths of people and horses consume a huge amount of grain and grass every day, besides, this is the capital of goods, the price of grain and forage is expensive, Yate is not short of money, but let the army be a gold-swallowing beast here every day is not something Yate can support.

So Art decided to stay in Besançon with his guards and wait for the court audience, and let the army return south first.

At the end of April, the Yates army, led by Otto and Angus, finally packed their bags and set out on the road back to the southern valley.

The adjutant of the army, Odo, entered Yat's military tent to report on the logistics and miscellaneous affairs of the army, and replied: "My lord, Young Master Felix has been sent to Lucesin and lived in the Abbey of Serankev, and we have left a soldier to take care of Young Master Felix, and the steward of Kenneim, the southern goods shop in Lucesen, was also a man of Lord Galvin, and he has taken over Young Master Felix. With them there, you can rest assured. Other seriously wounded soldiers were also placed in the monastery, and we offered a consecration to the monastery at your request. When they have recovered from their wounds, the caravan will take them back to the valley. ”

Ata nodded and asked, "What about the sergeant major?"

"The sergeant major has set out with a sentry cavalry and a few baggage men, and they will go to the castles, fortresses, and villages along the way, according to your arrangement, to recruit bankrupt farmers, miners, laborers, and craftsmen, while I will go south along the north-south trade route with most of the infantry, and we will meet at the county town of Tignats, and let us return to the valley together."

"Okay, you will go according to the plan, go back to the valley first, and then decide the rest when I return. You go busy. ”

"Yes!" Otto was ordered to leave the tent.

As soon as Art raised his glass and was about to take a sip of wine, Ron lifted the curtain, "Sir, Uncle Lawrence has arrived at Besançon. ”

Art quickly put down his glass, "Quick, bring Lawrence in." ”

Ron turned to leave, and in a few moments a thin, dark-skinned Lawrence walked into the tent.

"Your Excellency!"

Lawrence was about to salute, and Art hurriedly stepped forward to support him, "Lawrence, thank you for your hard work!" ”

"My lord, it's nothing to work hard, I'm afraid that I won't do well and won't be able to share my worries for adults." After being a businessman, I can't even speak differently.

"If you do a good job in Beiguan Military Fort and suddenly pull you out to run a caravan, it can be regarded as embarrassing for you." Art reassured.

"My lord, hard work is secondary, the main thing is that I have never been a merchant before, and I only followed the steward of Salter to help suppress it, and suddenly let me accept a large caravan, I am afraid every day, for fear that something will go wrong and cause trouble for you." Lawrence was right, he was originally just an ordinary farmer, but because he had performed well with Scott and the old butler in the fields, he was selected as the deputy captain of the valley guard, and then he went out with the caravan a few times, and after returning to the valley, he was promoted to the rank of craftsman steward.

Whether it is farming or repairing the fort, Lawrence can do it with extraordinary hard work, but suddenly making him the steward of a caravan, Lawrence, who doesn't even know a few words, really feels extremely difficult.

"My lord, at that time, you urgently needed to establish a caravan in the south, and the steward of Salter had to go to the south, so I had no choice but to take over the caravan in the north, but for more than half a year, I have been managing the caravan with great care every day, but the caravan's income has still declined. Therefore, after returning to the valley this time, you will choose someone else to manage the caravan, and I will go back to repair the military fort or farm the land~"

Art didn't look like Lawrence was modest, considering that caravan management does require a lot of experience in business, he nodded, "Okay, I promise you, I'll find someone to replace you after this time." But you're going to have to hold me up in the meantime. ”

"I had planned to build a shop in Besançon, but for other reasons I didn't want to do it. But recently the Earl Balwin's butler came to me, and he wanted to expand the shop and establish trade with us, and I agreed, that you should find time in the next two days to go to the general store next to the tailor's shop by the gate of the southern city and consult with the steward, and we will supply them with a copy of the southern goods. ”

"My lord, but our southern goods can only be shipped to Lucesen, and we can't go to Besançon."

"Don't worry, I've already negotiated with them, and they'll go to Lusesin to pick up the goods themselves, and you just need to reserve them for them. As for the price, it will be reduced by one-tenth according to the market. ”

"Yes! I get it. Lawrence replied.

"Besides, how did you do to recruit the second batch of orphans into the academy?"

"My lord, we have recruited thirteen boys who are about fifteen years old, and according to your requirements, they are all in good health and have a nimble mind. And we also recruited four or five clerks and merchants who were familiar with the paperwork, and these people could go into the caravan or stay in the civil administration later. ”

"Fabulous!"