Two miles from Alençon, Baron Richard and his more than 1,900 soldiers were ready to go, and William and his generals, knights, and soldiers also went out of the city to bid Baron Richard farewell.

"His Royal Highness William, don't say goodbye to me again, let's divide it here!" Baron Richard shook his head slightly and persuaded him.

"Your Excellency Baron Richard, I really can't bear you, although we have only known each other for a few days, you are indeed the old man I respect the most besides my uncle Robert." William did not hesitate to praise and said reluctantly.

"Your Highness William, if you want to see me, come to Baron Agentang to find me!" Baron Richard smiled at William's praise, smiled and said loudly.

"Yes, I will definitely go to Agenton to see you!" William shouted as he waved his hand at Baron Richard, who was getting farther and farther away.

It was not until Baron Richard's army disappeared from the horizon that William returned to Alençon with his generals and army.

......

It was already evening when all the army camps were settled, and at this time, William's impression was that both the city of Rouen and the county guard of Evere were lively times, whether it was a tavern restaurant or a XX courtyard, it was very lively, and even there were all kinds of small vendors selling ornaments and groceries on the roadside.

But when William and Sir Hubert and the rest of his guards walked down the street, the shops on both sides of the road were closed and deserted.

William randomly found a tavern and walked over to take a look, and found that the door frame was covered with a thick layer of cobwebs, and the door was also full of dust, and it was obvious that no one had opened for business again for a long time.

In the past, William was busy purging the remnants of the enemy, and then he was busy rearming for war, and he had little time and experience to pay attention to whether the commerce in the city had been restored, but now William walked casually only to find that this was the result.

With such a withered business, even if William occupies the entire Alençon City commercial resources and the Normandy consortium of Evreux's sales channels, it will be difficult to support it without active commerce and retail.

In William's view, these shops were probably the real estate of the Normandy consortium, but now the energy of the entire Normandy consortium was forced by William to devote itself to banking, military industry, manufacturing, mining and other financial and heavy industry industries.

Whether it is financial, human or material resources, the Normandy consortium has not actively invested in commercial activities such as the retail industry, the service industry, and short-distance transportation, and has developed these industries.

Of course, the Normandy consortium did this is also William's idea, after all, the creation of this consortium has a certain imitation of the Chinese state-owned enterprise ideas, such as valuing banking and finance, arms and heavy industry, grain trade, infrastructure and transportation and other commercial industries that are related to lifeblood, as for other industries such as retail and service industries, William intends to open them to all the citizens of Alençon.

But judging from the current situation, the idea of encouraging the citizens of Alençon City to rent and open stores that William and Bruce discussed before can be said to be completely unworkable.

In order to learn more about the business situation in Alençon, William walked down a few more streets, and finally came across two pedestrians, oh or six, a lovely little sister and her mother, who were only five or six years old.

"Come, little sister, come to the big brother, I'll give you candy!" William stopped the mother and daughter, spread out his palms to reveal the sugar cubes in his palms, and said in as gentle a voice as possible.

"Don't mess around with other people's things, you know? Lisa! The mother, who was a little pretentious, slapped off Lisa's little hand that was reaching for the candy and shouted at Lisa.

William, on the other hand, also withdrew his right hand stupidly, revealing an embarrassed smile.

"The little sister of this era is simple-minded, there are not so many twists and turns, and she is obedient when she gives a candy to eat. But no matter what era or place, a mother's vigilance and desire to protect her children are the strongest! William thought.

"This lady, we are merchants from the county guard of Evreux, and we did not have any ill intentions before, but we just wanted to ask you how to get to the tavern inn here, and how to get there if we purchased some goods here. We walked around here and it looked like the taverns and inns were closed, and many of the shops selling groceries and handicrafts were gone! William glanced at Sir Hubert beside him, and Sir Hubert immediately understood what it meant, and took two steps forward to Lisa's mother, and said in a sincere tone.

I don't know if William was mistaken, but Lisa's mother's cheeks were clearly visible, except for two flushes, it was impossible to tell that the tall and handsome middle-aged knight Sir Hubert was still a woman killer.

"I see, I misunderstood you just now, I'm really sorry." Lisa's mother waved her hand and said apologetically, "If you want to find these shops, then you have found the right person, I'll show you the way, come with me!" ”

Lisa's mother led little Lisa, William, Sir Hubert, and twelve of her fellow guardsmen.

Walking and walking, under the guidance of Lisa's mother, William and the others walked through the narrow alleys, and after walking for more than half an hour, William's vision finally opened up.

"Come, come, come! Fruits are sold cheaply, fresh apples, fresh pears, all for one dinaris to pick ten. ”

"Half a dinarith is full, one dinaris is good, two dinaris are a drink, the lowest price in the city!"

"Clean and comfortable suite, six dinaris each, definitely a price you can't imagine."

......

William had no idea that there would be such a large open space in the dense and crowded residential area, where there were groups of stalls selling some food, cotton clothes, handicrafts, etc., and of course there were some taverns, restaurants, and inns in the vicinity to solicit customers.

Lisa's mother pointed to the vendors here and said, "This is the black market in Alençon, you can buy almost everything, whether it is food and lodging, or purchasing goods, and there are some trophies captured by soldiers to sell here."

Of course, after selling the goods, the owners here also have to pay about 20% of the value of the goods to the gangsters here, the Wolf Brotherhood.

Although they collect money a little ruthlessly, they will still do their best to maintain the order of the black market, otherwise they will not have a chance to win this quite lucrative draw. ”

"Aren't they going to rent a shop from the lord? I've heard that the rent is very good and that there is not much to pay, so why don't the people here go to their lords? William asked, in a questioning tone.

"Do you need money for such a deserted store? Don't give it away for free! What's more, the stalls here are not rented, and you can pay 20% of the protection fee. How can it be cost-effective to pay rent and business taxes! Lisa's mother snorted, expressing her displeasure with the lord.

William and everyone present were silent.