A man who was desperately urging his horse to gallop under the scorching sun caught the attention of the guards guarding the city gates, and the guards immediately became nervous when they looked like they were drenched in sweat as if they had been fished out of the water.

In such turbulent times, when war could break out at any moment, such people often bring bad news, or the bad news that they are about to be involved in war, because no good news requires such complete disregard for the physical strength of the horse and the rider.

"What's going on, is there going to be a war?" The guard tried to calm the mount by tugging hard at the reins of the horse, which seemed to have gone completely mad from the gallop, but the rider on the horse did not appreciate it at all, and he pulled the reins of the horse from the guard's hand, and at the same time let out a cry of change of tone: "Get out of the way!" Get out of the way! I'm going into town! ”

The guard stretched out his hand again with some annoyance, but the rider swung his whip in his hand and swept it away in the air, and by the time the guard shouted angrily, the horse had already neighed and rushed into the city.

"What's the matter with that person, rushing to hell?!" The guards guarding the city cursed and tried to catch up, but they were already stopped by their companions who had heard the news.

"That's a message to the Chamber of Commerce in the city," an old soldier shook his head as he looked at the long trail of smoke and dust that had disappeared far away, leaving only a long string of smoke and dust on the street, "Leave them alone, those merchants have already greeted the people above, didn't you notice that the strange sign on that man's horse, it was the symbol of the Fugger family, I think it was their messenger." ”

"What are they going to do," muttered the guard, shaking his fingers scratched by the reins, "don't they know that such a desperate journey will tire the horses to death, and if they are in a war, they will be able to fine the merchants a great deal of money." ”

"Who knows what they're up to, don't mess with them, those merchants are not only rich but also powerful," the veteran kindly persuaded his companion, and then looked at the street in the distance as the horses passed by, and looked puzzled, "but it seems that something is really wrong." ”

While the guards at the gates were talking, the rider who had rushed into the city had already passed several streets, and although he had to slow down in the city, he was still weaving as fast as he could through the narrow alleys, until at last he came to a great palace that was magnificent and slightly pretty.

The building is located on a small flat hill in the north of the city, and the slight slope is not steep, which makes the palace much easier to build, especially since it was built in the city, so the owner of the house could not have spent a lot of money and materials on the construction of the city wall in order to defend against possible enemies, so the whole building was only blocked by a high wall, and from a little distance you can see the tall towers inside the wall and the splendid decorative statues on the roof of the building.

The rider rushed all the way into the courtyard, and after passing through the half-man's high, very neatly manicured flower bed, the horse even rushed up a few steps, and came to the door of the splendid palace of three stories, only to be stopped by the servant who had seen the man hurrying out.

"What's going on, kid?" An old fat man dressed in a splendid black velvet jacket came out of the gate, and when he saw that the messenger was just gasping for breath because he was too tired, he clapped his hands and beckoned the servant next to him to bring him a glass of wine, and after letting the rider get off his horse, the messenger took out a letter from his leather bag with difficulty.

"This is from Bolzano, and this is already the third stop." The messenger could no longer exert his strength when he had said a word, and he snatched the wine from the servant and poured it down his throat with all his might, and then fell down the steps and gasped for breath.

The fat man waved his hand to the servant next to him and motioned for them to take care of the obviously tired messenger, and at the same time, he looked at the seal on the mouth of the envelope a little puzzled, and then his expression that he didn't care much couldn't help but froze slightly.

The wax marks on the seal of the letter in three different places indicate that the contents of the letter are related to more than one place.

Bolzano was an important city of a princely city-state in the south, and the city at the foot of the southern slopes of the Alps was the farthest frontier city of Rome in the north in the early Roman Empire, just as the Romans regarded the Rhine as the natural border of the northern Roman Empire, and the Alps separated Italy from Germany on the other side of the mountain, which in the eyes of many Germans was not only very far away, but even like another world.

But for the Fugger family, Italy is one of the most crucial and preoccupied places for them today.

Because he realized that something might have happened, the fat man immediately tore open the seal of the letter, and the content of the previous letter was written on the inside of the envelope, and there were several thick pieces of paper in the envelope, and the fat man first opened them all and spread them out on the table, and then began to read the contents of the letter.

But after only a short look at it, his face changed, and he immediately grabbed the documents sent with the letter from the table and looked at them carefully, looking at the dates and a series of numbers listed on them, and the fat man's eyes showed panic.

"Go to Jacob," he instructed the servant next to him, and then immediately waved his hand anxiously, "no, I will go to him myself, and I will go and tell Joseph that he should hurry to the pavilion and that something is wrong." ”

The fat man said as he hurried through the palatial halls and corridors, and in a rush of inexplicable swift footsteps to the servants he walked through the whole building to the back garden, a stone pavilion carved in perfect white marble with four prismatic Roman columns and a Gothic spire.

"Jacob, are you there?" The fat man first screamed into the gazebo, but he didn't stop at his feet, but ran up the steps in a few steps, and when he saw his brother napping in a wheelchair, he didn't care about whether to disturb him, and hurriedly came to him and squatted down with some effort, "Jacob, are you still asleep?" ”

"David, you're disturbing my nap," even in such a month, the man who was still wearing a very thick plush robe slowly opened his eyes, he had a thin face, slightly high cheekbones set off his face a little long, a pair of eyes that were deeply sunken into the eye sockets looked a little tired, but he was very energetic, seeing his brother because of the running of the whole fat face was sweat This person chuckled, he seemed to want to raise his hand but his arm only moved and then weakly put down, Then he leaned back on the soft back of the chair wrapped in precious leather behind him, looked at his brother and smiled, "What happened, is it because the Pope has died, or has the Emperor found another lover?" ”

Seeing his brother's calm appearance, David Fogel, who was originally a little panicked, finally calmed down a little, and said that he obviously had an advantage in age, but whether it was his eldest son or Joseph as the second son, he preferred to listen to this brother, and Jacob Fugger did not live up to the expectations of his brothers and the entire family, and it was he who made the Fugger family one of the richest families in Europe in this era.

"There's a letter from Bolzano saying that the price of copper is falling." David Fugger carefully handed the letter to Jacob, who was sitting in a chair, and said that it may have been the transition of these years of hard work, Jacob Fugger was obviously not in good health, especially the cold weather in Suggsburg had a very bad impression of his health, and not long ago he even had a very bad rheumatism, and according to the doctor, if he was not careful, he could have caused a stroke.

This news shocked everyone in the Fugger family, for the entire Fugger family, Jacob is their spiritual support, at least until no one can take over the head of the family, his health can be said to be related to the future of the entire Fugger family.

"Copper prices have fallen?" Jacob Fugger did not appear alarmed by the news, he did not even look at the letter handed by David first, but glanced at his other brother Joseph, who also heard the news in the distance, and then took the letter and looked at it seriously.

Jacob Fugger looked at it very carefully, and from time to time he took the documents from David's hand that had been sent with the letter, which were the price lists of the local copper prices copied by their merchants in Bolzano or other cities near the north in Italy, who had been in charge of selling their copper for the Fugger family, so as to ensure that the price of copper would always remain low.

Jacob Fugger's plan was actually very simple, the Fugger family used their huge funds to control most of the copper market at low prices, and then they obtained the large copper mines of Hungary through loans from the emperor, and then they used the almost complete monopoly of copper mining rights to strangle the lifeblood of the copper industry in Europe in one fell swoop.

This plan can be said to be so simple that there is no difficulty at all, but the huge amount of manpower and material resources required and the intricate relationship with those powerful people are the key to this plan that seems to be completely difficult, but in fact it may be ruined if there is only one wrong step.

This requires a large enough financial resource and a strong enough backer.

Fortunately, the Fugger family has both of these things.

"Is anyone trying to keep the price of copper down?" Joseph Fogle stood on the other side of Jacob and asked with some concern, he was as thin as Jacob, but he was in good health, and when it came to suspicion that someone was trying to ruin their good deeds, Joseph Furgle's face showed a bloodthirsty coldness, in fact, unlike his brother David, who was more suitable to stay at home and be Jacob's helper, Jose Furgger was in charge of many of the outside business, and he was a ruthless businessman to many people.

"It doesn't matter, in fact, I had already thought that someone would do this," Jacob Fugger was not surprised at all by the sudden situation, he stood up with the help of his two brothers with some difficulty, and then slowly walked out of the gazebo, feeling the hot but very humid and dreary air, Jacob Fugger shook his head slightly, "We need to change places, so that several of us will be sick, I don't want us to lie in bed and enjoy our wealth in the future, Not even if the bed was made of gold. ”

Hearing that the brothers could still joke wittily, the two Fugger brothers couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, in their impressions there was never something Jacob couldn't do, thinking about the dismal end of those opponents who had beaten their family or were beaten by their family, David even felt a little embarrassed about his previous panic.

"I already knew that there was a fight against us when the price of copper kept going up," Jacob walked slowly in the garden, "because no matter how much copper we put in, no matter how low the price is, it will disappear like a drop of water that melts into the sand, and I knew from that time that it was someone who was against us, and that is why I have been cautious about not borrowing money from the Jews, because I don't know who is secretly fighting against us. We had to be careful not to be trapped, just as we had done before, so I waited until reliable news came from Hungary. ”

Fugger beckoned to a servant as he spoke, then picked up a letter from the tray in the servant's hand.

"This is the latest news that the Bosnian king Rwaqi has failed, and now the Hungarian copper mines have completely fallen into the hands of that Prato," seeing the surprised looks of the two brothers, Jacob Fugger smiled pleasantly, he stretched his arms with some effort, and then raised his head to let the sun shine on Xie Ding's head, "I believe that it is precisely because those people also got this news that they began to sell their bronze objects at all costs." ”

"God, aren't those people trying to compete with us for the current market for finished copperware, they are also playing the idea of Hungarian copper mines?" Joseph Fugger suddenly whispered, a flash of anger in his eyes, "They want to snatch the right to buy copper ore from us, first they keep selling the copper in their hands at low prices, so that we have to lower the price with them, so that in order to get out of this predicament as soon as possible, we will have to squeeze out the right to buy the copper ore from that Prato's hands." ”

"Yes, they are forcing us to cede our share of the copper ore to them," Jacob Fugger nodded slowly, his forehead was also bald to the middle of only a pair of bulging brow bones, and then said to David next to him, "Have you noticed, so far only three cities have seen the price of copper falling, which means that although our opponents have already done it, their real purpose is still the copper ore in Prato's hands, if we rashly turn our attention to those cities at this time, Those people will most likely take the opportunity to steal what they want from that Prato. ”

"So what are we going to do, just watch, knowing that if we don't do anything, maybe the market will be robbed by those people, and they can even buy our copper directly from the market," said Joseph Fugger in a deep voice, "Although that may cost them a lot of money every day, but as long as we can't get enough copper ore from Hunnia for a day, we can only let our stock keep depleting, God knows how much money they have prepared for this, We can't risk letting them break through the bottom of the vault and keep draining it, or we're done. ”

Jacob listened silently, he knew that Joseph was right, in order to control the price of the copper market, he did not hesitate to lose money and dumped at a low price, but from the changes in the market during this time, it can be seen that the other party has no signs of relaxation at all, and the copper price has been rising, but now the situation in three consecutive cities seems to indicate that the other party has run out of patience and is ready to start a head-on fight with their Fugger family.

Then the only way to get this war is to cut off the source of the other side's attempt to control the copper market from the source.

"How many ore did we get from that Prato?" Jacob thought for a moment and finally asked in a low voice.

"It's about 40% of the ore he has now, and it cost about 1.8 million florins." David Fugger replied cautiously, and at the same time glanced at Joseph next to him with some concern, but what he saw was Joseph shaking his head slightly with his lips tensed.

"4 into 1,800,000 florin," Jacob took a deep breath, he raised his right hand and shook his fingers slightly, "I said before that up to 60% of that money, because we will have to use the rest of the money to push down the price of copper in the market for a long time, and now it seems that we have to change our plans." ”

"You're going to buy more?" David Fugger's face turned slightly pale, he wiped the sweat on his fat face with his sleeve, and when he saw Joseph next to him never saying a word, he couldn't help licking his lips, "But isn't this too risky, you know, if we put all the money into it, but if the next Prato can't continue to mine copper in time, then will the inventory in our hands be able to maintain until he supplies the second batch of ore?" ”

"This is what I want to say to you, Joseph," Jacob looked back at Joseph, and his eyes flashed with a colder glint than Joseph's, "I want you to do it yourself, and I will do it immediately, this time I will not only buy all the copper ore I have, but I will also ask that Proto to sell me all the ore he will mine after that, I know that it may be difficult, as we know, after all, the more he mines now, the greater the loss, but I don't care about this, I want you to take him into our own hands," Saying that, Jacob raised his hand with a little difficulty, pressed Joseph's shoulder, and pulled him closer to him, "Spend that money, don't be afraid of anything, I want you to guarantee that not a single copper ore will fall into the hands of our opponents, this time we will not only dominate the copper industry in the whole of Europe, but also give our opponents a bloody lesson, we will let all enemies see the strength of our family." ”

"I promise you." Joseph nodded, then greeted David, who was standing aside, and turned to call his attendant to prepare what he needed for his trip.

"This is our chance, David, and our enemies have done something stupid this time, and they are in a bit of a hurry," Jacob beckoned the servant over, and he raised his glass to salute his brother, "Let us salute the bravery of our enemies, and wish our own good fortune." ”

David also picked up his glass, looking at the red wine in the glass, he felt that Jacob seemed to enjoy such a "killing moment".

Joseph Fugger set out overnight, passing through the entire territory of the Grand Duke of Vienna and then a long journey to reach the small Hungarian town of Pécs, where Prato now stands.

And on the third day after Joseph Fugger left, another fast horse rushed into the estate of the Fugger family in Sagsburg!

Then, for several days in a row, people from different places, even different countries, kept sending the same terrible news: the price of copper had plummeted!