On the evening of the ninth day of entering Provence, under the escort of fifty lords of the Viscount of Berion, Arte's grain caravan drove all the way to the city of Aosta, an important town in the east of Provence. 77dus

The once majestic city of Aosta is now in ruins, the tall walls have been smashed by siege equipment, the gates are charred after a blazing fire, and the moat under the walls is still floating with stumps, broken arms and bones that have not had time to be salvaged, and the stench makes people dare not breathe.

"Ser Art, you have finally arrived, and your lordship has been delaying in the city for two days just to wait for the rations you have sent." The knights of the Inner House of Berion stepped out of the gates, unconcerned by the stench that filled the sky.

"Lord Nadodd, why don't you clean up the corpses in the moat? This stench is really~" Art coughed a few times.

"Hey~ These corpses are all left by the Lombards, we have cleaned and buried them once some time ago, and now there are insufficient guards in the city, so I have the heart to take care of these mongrels. Moreover, these decomposing corpses can also be an obstacle to protect Aosta. Nadood's face didn't matter.

"This~ can you stand it?"

"After a long time, I got used to it, and watching these mongrels rot in the stinky ditch, the soldiers can also let out a bad breath."

"Alright, let's go meet Lord Berrion." Art patted Nadood on the shoulder and walked towards the city gate.

As a military town and a transit point for people and supplies, there is no shortage of soldiers in Aosta. The armies of Vilno from all over the country would assemble here and stand by, and the food baggage from all directions would be gathered in Aosta and transported to their respective battlefields.

Busy but not chaotic, miscellaneous and organized. It was no fluke that Provence was able to hold out for two years against the ferocious Lombards and pull the front back to Vilno.

The group pulled dozens of wagons through the dilapidated streets, squeezed out the ranks of soldiers, and arrived at the barracks in the city's church square.

Berion was already standing at the gate of the camp waiting for Art, who was escorting the food.

Seeing that Viscount Berion was actually waiting at the camp gate in person, Art hurriedly stepped forward and saluted Berion, "Lord Berion, thirty-three carriages have consumed a cart of grain on the way) have all been delivered, please send someone to receive them." ”

Barrion called the Legion's baggage officer and instructed him to make contact with the grain convoy.

"Brother Arte, let's go, go to my tent and drink a glass of fruit wine and rest for a while, we will go to see the palace finance deputy in the evening, I have already told the deputy minister what you asked me to do, and the deputy minister asked me to take you to meet him." Barrion got out of the way and allowed Art to enter the camp......

In the evening, the hall of the lords of Aosta.

Count Marcello, a thin, white-haired vice-chancellor of the court's treasurer, received Berrion and Yat in the official room.

Marcelo subverted Arte's impression of the position of treasurer, and he had the impression that a minister who managed the finances of a principality should be a pot-bellied and fat-headed. However, it was not easy to be a financial officer in war-torn Provence, not to mention the business and tax revenues that had withered due to the war, and the huge amount of money required for the war alone was enough for these financial officials.

When he entered the official room, Count Marcelo was still looking at a book of tax statistics of the duchy under the dim candle, and when he saw a guest entering, Marcelo put down the parchment book, looked up, and asked, "Berion, is this the Burgundian knight you said?" ”

Berrion came up to Count Marcello and replied, "My Count, this is the knight of the court guard of the Count of Burgundy, and this time he has answered the call to come to our aid with dozens of wagons laden with grain from the Count of Burgundy."

"Sir Art, before you is the Vice-Chancellor of the Court of Provence, Lord Count of Marcello."

Art stepped forward and bowed deeply to Count Marcello, "God bless you, honorable Earl. ”

"Sir Art, how much food can you provide for us?" Count Marcelo was so busy with affairs that he didn't have time to talk to Art.

"My lord, I have a caravan of twenty wagons in the Count of Burgundy, and since I received the call from the court, they have been buying grain from the north of the country and sending it to the border to hoard, and I have now hoarded a hundred thousand pounds of grain, and the amount of the hoarding is still increasing. Then I will hire a convoy to transport the food to Provence, and as long as the safety along the way can be guaranteed, I can deliver the food directly to the city of Aosta, as far further south I dare not guarantee it, after all, the south of Aosta is a war zone, and no convoy dares to take a huge risk to cross the war-torn area. But once I've delivered the food to Aosta, the rest of the journey can be carried entirely by the army or sent to the war zone by the baggage brigades. ”

"Sir Art, to tell you the truth, twenty wagons are nothing to Provence, which is in dire need of military rations, but you are the first merchant to bring grain to Aosta, and if you do what you say, you can be regarded as sharing a burden with us. Therefore, I can grant you your request for a concession for the southern goods trade. On behalf of the court, I grant you a licence to trade twenty wagons, but you are also to fulfill your promise to carry us not less than forty wagons of grain every month. ”

Art didn't expect the vice minister of finance to agree so readily, and he was quite surprised in his heart.

As soon as he finished talking about the surprise, the vice minister of finance put forward the next condition, "but~"

The joy on Art's face stopped, "But what? Lord Earl. ”

"But I have to revise the terms that Berion promised you. You have to escort the food yourself, and we can't send you an army. Now that the Vilno theater has entered the most tragic stage of fighting, and every one of our soldiers has to go to the battlefield, it is impossible for me to send men to help you escort the convoy, if I send troops to escort your convoy, what will the other merchants do? ”

If there is no escort from the Provençal army, Arte's caravan will not be able to deliver the grain safely, "Lord Count, you know the situation in the north of Provence, the reason why the merchants dare not go south is because the bandits in the north are raging, eight out of ten convoys will be looted, if there is no army escort, I'm afraid~"

"We can't do anything about this, if we can send an army to escort the caravan, then why don't I let them go south and drive the Lombards out of Provence as soon as possible?"

"Of course! And what you say is true. Art did not deny Marcelo's words.

After a moment of silence, Art said: "You see how this is, I am responsible for the safety of the grain convoy myself, but you have to authorize me to send an army into the territory of Provence on behalf of the court of Provence to escort the convoy." Also, the price of the food I send to Aosta will have to be slightly higher, as the cost of sending an additional escort army is too high. ”

Marcelo heard that Yat wanted to raise the price of food, and his heart was a little repulsed, now that the Provençal treasury was empty, he had to use every copper coin carefully, and after a moment's hesitation, Marcelo replied: "The matter of authorizing you to send a small army to escort the convoy can be discussed, but you must ensure that the troops entering Provence do not cause me trouble." ”

"As for raising the price of grain, I'm afraid I'll have to refuse, now the purchase price of the Aosta grain market has reached an astonishing one fennig per pound, if the price rises again, the court will not buy grain from you."

Seeing that Arte was silent, Marcelo also took a step back and said: "In this way, the price of grain cannot rise, and I will grant you an additional status as a merchant agent under the Chancellor of the Court of Finance, and you can enjoy a period of business after the war subsides in the future." How is it? ”

Art thought about it for a moment, and felt that it was all there was to be, "Okay, I promise you." ”

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Chapter 170 Trade Concessions