Leonardo sat in his exclusive place again, in front of the large window where he could soak up the sun, the small square table at his feet was covered with soft cashmere cushions, and the old guy was flipping through several documents to report, which were densely packed with income and expenditure accounts, making it difficult for people with dense phobias to look directly.

"According to your order, the cargo hold of the Chamber of Commerce is full of grain and forage, and the supplies of the nearby peasants, except for the basic necessities, have almost been purchased by us, which is enough to cope with the siege of the city for more than three months." Leonardo stared at the ledger without raising his eyes, and the height of the presbyopia made him narrow his eyes like cracks in a stone, and the parchment stretched as far as he could.

"Three months? Still siege warfare? Please, please have a little confidence in your lord, why is it so arbitrarily determined that the battlefield will stay in Nijmegen? ”

I yawned and replied intermittently that I had spent the night with Serena last night and had been woken up several times by my crying son who was sleeping in the crib next to me, and his eyes were bloodshot.

Serena insisted on taking care of the child by herself, and did not worry about leaving her son to be taken care of by a maid, although she was very naughty when she was a girl, but as a responsible mother, Serena was undoubtedly qualified.

Leonardo looked up at me with rare remarks, and continued noncommittally: "The border with Luxembourg is closed, and there is not much impact on the total amount of trade, but many foreign merchants feel the crisis of war and do not dare to come to Nijmegen to do business again. ”

"I remember when I was a child, I heard the old man tell a story and said, a sage from the ancient East, like you, he is also the king's palace minister, called guarding the country's wealth inside and the world outside, to put it bluntly, it is to keep the wealth of your own country, to earn foreigners' money, the truth is simply to balance the enemy through a series of economic means, to achieve the purpose of surrendering the army without a fight, about his story and wait for me to have time to tell you slowly, I guess you will be very interested."

I began to keep it secretive again, or how to say that the 5,000-year-old civilization is broad and profound, and it is enough to have fun with Westerners.

"Pass on my order, from now on, use all channels to purchase grain, leather, cast iron, charcoal, cloth, and all other war materials at high prices, and if the other side raises prices, it is not allowed to bargain with them, and continue to raise the principal until the other side is satisfied, it is to create an illusion that Nijmegen is in urgent need of materials to prepare for war, to confuse the enemy's judgment, and to fight an economic war without gunpowder with them before the real sword and gun are played."

"What do you mean...... Buying them all so poor that they don't have enough supplies to fight us? "Leonardo was interested in manipulating the economy and was right on the point.

"This is only one aspect, when the enemy shows his own materials, the flow to Nijmegen becomes more and more uncontrollable, will definitely use coercive means to prohibit the sale, at this time the ban should not be too strict, the lords who love to take advantage of small advantages and the merchants who chase huge profits, are still secretly smuggling into Nijmegen, and then this matter will inevitably attract the attention of the higher lords, they will understand the crazy accumulation of Nijmegen as a harbinger that the war may start in winter and the main battlefield is on the border between the two countries, if it is changed, how can you deal with it?"

"Only more frantically than Nijmegen is to assemble troops, loot villages, and hoard supplies, so that the enemy's territory becomes unstable and unstable, and the army is assembled for a long time, and consumes a lot of supplies, and at the same time produces a sense of fatigue and comfort, think about it, what may happen if this continues until next spring?"

"The common people fled one after another, the aristocratic territory was uncultivated, the land was abandoned in large quantities, the army's fighting spirit was sluggish and had no will to fight, and they completely lost the ability to win a decisive battle in the field, so they had to huddle in a coffin-like castle to defend it, and then the difficulty of our attack will be greatly reduced, and we will achieve the goal of surrendering without a fight, understand?" I tried my best to explain the idea of business warfare, and when I was foaming at the mouth, I hurriedly poured myself wine and poured it down to moisten my throat.

The old guy nodded suddenly, he didn't expect that money could do so much in addition to buying Neiying and traitors, so he immediately picked up the pen and put it in the ink bottle and dipped it, turned to the back of the full account and chose to remember, chattering while writing:

"I didn't expect that we, the merchants who have always been ostracized, can become the force that determines the success or failure of the war, using gold coins as swords and guns to fight the enemy to the death on the invisible battlefield."

I proudly raised my chin, gladly enjoying Leonardo's self-worship of myself, it was not easy to make this old guy think about it for the first time, although he was a businessman, he was a little unruly and had a unique vision: "Follow me well in the future." Keep your food and spicy food! ”

Controlled by Leonardo, through the top-down management of the Nijmegen Chamber of Commerce, which is similar to the nature of a monopoly guild, he acted quickly, like a machine running at full strength, the old guy is the general button that decides the switch of the machine, and I am the big hand that pushes the button, and now most of Europe knows that the Nijmegen Chamber of Commerce is the richest business force, parasitic on the trunk of the powerful principality.

The merchants affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce drove their own carriages and cargo ships, running towards their different goals, but with the same purpose, spending all the money on their bodies, in exchange for as many supplies as possible, this business has no measure of loss, only whether to buy out the results of a region, making money needs to dig out the mind and brains, and compared to spending money, it does not require too much technical content, scare each other with their own wealth, that's all.

Christmas is just around the corner, and the big animals have gained a lot of weight after the last round of autumn replenishment, and it is time to slaughter, and the meat and sausages for the festival are waiting to come out of them, and the discarded water will be placed in a special position at the edge of the forest to worship the elves, which is actually an evolution of an ancient shamanic ritual to provide meat for the large beasts that overwinter so that the well-fed predators will no longer harass the village.

Nijmegen's economic levers soon took effect, radiating to many surrounding countries, prices were inflated, and some nobles had begun to loot the winter food of the village people, and the situation was basically according to the script I had planned, both to sweep the grain circulating in the market and to empty the lords' money cellars and warehouses, causing panic in the people.

Some people are naturally uneasy, the Duke of Normandy has made a lot of oil and water in southern Italy this year, and before he can squander, he encountered inflated prices, which made him worried, and he had to contact the Nijmegen Chamber of Commerce to ask for a report on the situation.

The fact that Normandy, as a titular vassal of the French king, was able to agree to meet with the Duke of Nijmegen, a vassal of the enemy German emperor, at such a sensitive time shows the trust that Duke Richard placed in me personally, and it also shows the terrible economic weapons of Nijmegen.

I went to Utrecht to visit the Bishop, and Duke Richard was even more amusement, and the Duke of Richard was even more amusement, and he spread the news that he had contagious herpes, and both sides secretly arranged their trips day and night, and finally arrived at the small border town of Flemish on the appointed date.

"What the hell are you going to do? The merchants of Nijmegen threw money like crazy, more carefully than the voles that dig holes, and collected almost every grain that could be bought and sold in the hands of the people of Normandy, and if I had not given the order in time, I am afraid that I would have to drink the northwest wind by now! "Duke Richard hasn't seen him for a long time, his golden eyes are still bright, and the water and soil in Nanyi are good, and his chin is fattened.

"Lord Duke, you don't have to be so violent, your impatient personality is easy to hurt your liver and spleen, come and drink a little wine."

I smiled and poured him a glass of wine: "You must know better than me what is going on in the country, this war seems to be bound to break out, His Majesty Robert will definitely not honestly stand by, and His Majesty Henry will definitely take the opportunity to make trouble, so as to solve the long-pending Brabant and Burgundy problems, you and I are afraid that we will meet again in arms, don't you allow Nijmegen to make some preparations in advance?" ”

"Everyone knows the result of this kind of thing, His Majesty Henry has a big game, divorce his wife is just an introduction, finding a reason to do something big is his purpose, you and I are our own masters, and we can't help ourselves in fighting before the battle, but as an ally, we always have to communicate some information in private, and there is some room for maneuver on the battlefield."

Duke Richard pushed away his glass, stared at me solemnly and asked, "You don't really want to go on the offensive around Christmas, do you?" ”

"Please, if it's really like you said, why did I come here to meet with me?"

I spread my hands and smiled: "The war will break out after the spring of next year at the earliest, what the Chamber of Commerce is doing now is just some small tricks to knock the seams for military operations, I have no intention of acting as His Majesty's pawn to fight against you, who is willing to fight if you can die less?" ”

Duke Charles looked at me from top to bottom in distrust, and raised his eyebrows suspiciously: "You are a notoriously despicable person, I don't believe this statement, what should be prepared or done, it is best not to clash head-on with Nijmegen, I still have lingering fears about your explosive bottles." ”

"I'm relieved if you're scared, haha!"

I happily joked and moved my chair closer: "Then again, our relationship really needs to go further. ”

Duke Charles immediately opened his hands to protect his chest and shouted in horror: "Don't beat my daughter's idea!" Don't you already have a wife? ”

"If you don't come to this set, who will you show the exaggerated performance?"

I smiled lewdly and pulled down his arm, and replied in a mocking manner: "My henchman Kohler, the one who saved your daughter in Rome, wants to find him a suitable marriage, and strengthen the relationship between the two countries through marriage. ”

"It should be said that he is blessed to marry the pearl of the palm of his hand."

Duke Richard propped up his chin and frowned: "Let me think about it......"

(End of chapter)

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