Although the plan was good, there were some surprises, and for various reasons, the pick-up time was changed to noon the next day.

After Han Tianxiang took ten Pulun cavalry to have a hurried lunch in the tavern where he stayed, he didn't bother to stay and visit the most prosperous trading city, so he hurriedly mounted his war horse and set off to the outskirts of the city.

Before leaving, he retrieved the weapon from the guards guarding the door, but he had to pay a fine of three more silver coins, because he had to pay a deferment tax because of the delay in the storage period.

Taxes are levied on almost every action in the city, and almost every three days the tax is enough for Han Tianxiang's total expenses yesterday and today. This means that the city receives an average of nearly 3,000 gold coins a month in taxes, which shows how wealthy these Yorkshire nobles were.

However, the paradox is that although the aristocrats have bulging pockets, of course, compared to the Scottish aristocrats, they are indeed all millionaires. However, whether it is the aristocracy of millionaires, the aristocracy of multimillionaires, or the Duke of York, who controls the whole of Yorkshire.

In addition to the relatively wealthy city of York itself, the surrounding villages are almost all poor, not to mention starving to death every year, and strong men from the village must be mobilized from the village to participate in the war every time there is a war. Therefore, while the nobles sang and sang extravagantly every day, the lower classes of the people struggled day and night, eating black bread as hard as stones, and drinking soup of roots and weeds, but they could afford more than 90% of the agricultural development of the entire British Isles, the source of taxes, and the supply of soldiers in times of war!

There is another thing that is quite interesting, but it is very common in this day and age.

Generally speaking, the farmers in charge of farming should not say that they can eat enough for every meal every year, but at least they can afford to eat some grains, right? In particular, some of the large agricultural regions, such as the Midlands and South of England, are granaries for large cereals.

But! The strange phenomenon is here, obviously it is the largest supplier of grain and grain, but the number of peasants and serfs who starve to death every year because they can't eat is also the most concentrated in these two places! Isn't that weird enough, you say?

"Well...... why is that, sir?"

A half-breed girl on horseback, Shaunia asked Tianxiang.

Not only was Shania curious, but even the ten Pullon cavalrymen who followed behind him pricked up their ears and listened carefully.

Tianxiang pondered for a moment, sorted out his thoughts, and then he slowly spoke: "The reason is very simple, Xiao Niya, this is the inevitable result of the superstructure. “

Food, in the Middle Ages, was a strategic material resource. However, due to the limitations of science and technology at that time, agricultural products were not ideal. There is one harvest in each of the two seasons a year, but the harvest is nowhere near the average population of the British Isles. Therefore, wars that break out because of food problems are not uncommon.

Secondly, since food is a strategic material resource, it will naturally be valued by the upper echelons. As a result, various rules and regulations were established, such as stipulating that there was a strict limit on the amount of grain and taxes that each nobleman had to pay each year, and those who failed to pay would be punished accordingly.

In order to escape punishment from the royal family, the nobles did not care about the lives of the local people, and ordered them to plough day and night. However, where were there any good tools for cultivating the British Isles in the 11th century, and the mode of arable land cultivation in this era still came from the technology of the Western Roman period. And how much can it produce?

Well, since the output is not up to the requirements, the nobles also said that they have no choice. They found that since the production could not be reached, then deducted! Where do you deduct it? Of course, they can't dig it out of their own mouths, they have to dig it out of the mouths of their opponents, their own people!

However, in the process of digging and gathering, the nobles found that the shortage of grain led to a doubling of the market price, and often a dozen bags of grain were enough to offset their territory tax for half a month. When the nobles saw that this was a way to make money, they immediately changed their minds and began to pile up large quantities of grain and throw it on the market to sell.

Of course, they sell for sale, and the nobles will not be stupid enough to take out nothing when the deadline for handing it over. Don't underestimate the talent of these nobles for bad ideas, and they banded together to pay the king a tribute to the grain that would be offset with taxes. At that time, the kingdom was at war and needed money to fill it, and the reigning conqueror William immediately agreed to the nobles' approach.

Thus, the source of the contradiction was born......

The people were responsible for growing the grain and then handing it over to the nobles. The aristocrats were responsible for collecting grain, selling it to the market, and then distributing some of the money they earned to the state, and most of the rest into their own pockets. Thus, from this point of view, there was a certain balance of interests between the nobility and the royal family, but it was the most basic and fundamental interests of the common people that were sacrificed.

What should people do if they can't eat? I had to buy it, but I didn't have the money? Then you can only "sell". Sell children, sell crafts, sell **, in short, basically sell everything that can be sold, sell it and no one wants it...... Then you can only wait for death.

But that's not the root of the problem!

The root cause is that the people have paid the most hard work, but the fruits of labor have been taken away by the nobles and divided equally with the royal family! The result is that the people grow food every day but can't eat it, and what is hungry is the front chest and the back, the bones are as thin as firewood, the wives are scattered, and the more terrible is the cannibalism of the child!

So in the city of York, I saw such a large number of food vendors, in fact, behind them were lying a mountain of civilian bones, which was really the glitz of the corpses in exchange for the corpses.

Although he sympathized with them, Tianxiang confirmed that he had to thank the nobles who were too stupid to be saved. These people, who have not yet realized their potential, live like pigs and dogs, and now in the eyes of Tianxiang, there are thousands of gold and silver mountains waiting for them to play their role!

In this world, especially in the era of cold weapons, the population can almost determine a qiē!

"My lord, our goods are all over there."

At this time, Tianxiang looked in the direction pointed by the Pulun cavalry, and sure enough, he saw nearly twenty carriages neatly placed in the middle of the dirt road, and a group of more than thirty people guarded around the convoy.

These escorts are the two mercenary forces hired by Tianxiang in the bar yesterday, after all, this time it is a matter of the system, and there must be no mistakes, otherwise once the business is out of the pool, even Tianxiang will not be able to drop the chain at such a critical moment.

After giving the vendors all the money, the deal was made, and the vendors dispersed with happy faces.

Hughes was left alone on the side of the road.

Tianxiang rode up to the side of Xiusi, looked down at him and asked, "Aren't you going yet?" I should have given you all the funds. ”

Hughes shook his head.

"My lord, I don't mean anything else. It's just that I can't resist the curiosity in my heart and want to ask. My lord, what are you going to do with this batch of grain? Hughes asked, looking at a lined convoy. There was almost enough grain and grain to feed thousands of people, and such a large convoy of grain was extremely rare in the whole of the British Isles, especially since William the Conqueror ended his state of total war with the Scots, and it was almost impossible for such a large armed convoy to appear again.

Tianxiang narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at Xiusi for a moment.

Then, without saying anything, he rode straight forward.

"Let's go!!" The leading Platen cavalry let out a neat roar, and the huge convoy headed northeast of the trail with the crunch of wooden wheels and the close protection of seventeen mercenaries on the left and right.

The Rose Banner of Glory, whirring in the gale, was fanned by the standard-bearer who carried it as he rubbed the head of Theseus.

"My lord, where are we going?" A cavalryman leaned over and asked Tianxiang.

Tianxiang nodded, then took out the map map of all the towns near Yorkshire that Edward had left him in his arms, and found the nearest village to him from it. Tianxiang pointed his finger at it and said to the Pleon cavalry, "Just here, then here, and finally here and here." There are seventeen villages on this map, and we have to run them all. ”

"Huh? All of them?! The cavalry shouted in surprise.

"What's wrong? Any objections? Tianxiang glanced at the cavalryman.

The latter was so frightened that he quickly shook his head. Just kidding, questioning their strongest king? This joke is really going to kill someone!

"My lord! Wait, wait! ”

At this time, Xius suddenly chased after him from behind, and seeing that he was out of breath, Tianxiang gave him a strange look, and then grabbed the reins of the horse and stopped.

Tianxiang said, "Xius, the deal between us should be over. If there is anything else you need next time, I will naturally send someone to find you. But if you follow me in such an uncertain way, I can't guarantee that you'll be safe. ”

When the Pleon cavalry heard this, they immediately showed fierce faces!

"Draw your sword!!" With a loud shout, ten cavalrymen drew their long swords at the same time and surrounded them murderously, and more than thirty mercenaries nearby also picked up their weapons and rushed over at the first time, surrounding Xiusi at once.

Tianxiang was quite satisfied with the reflexes of these mercenaries, and could see that his ten gold and twenty silver coins were not in vain. It's just a pity that although these mercenaries are first-class in combat, they are really ...... in terms of armament Anyway, when they faced Salon's gang of fierce bandits, weren't the city guards of Pullen still facing the enemy with crude spears and swords? Don't you kill all those fierce elite bandits?

"Wait, wait! My lord! Hughes was caught by the mercenaries with their spears and dragged back, while Hughes was still shouting, "My lord, I know where you want to go!" If you're planning to go to Rhodes, forget it! You're going to run for nothing! “

“…… Stop it! “

Tianxiang waved his hand lightly, and the mercenaries stopped in an instant as if they had been immobilized by some kind of immobilization technique!

"What do you mean?" Tianxiang asked with a frown.

"If, if the adults really plan to go to Rhodes Village. It would have been a trip for nothing, for it had already been swept away by the Scots some time ago, and I had just returned from there last month, and there was not a single living person left in the village! “

Hughes struggled to squeeze out of the human wall, and the cavalry did not stop Hughes from approaching at Tianxiang's signal.

"My lord, take me with you!"

Hughes's eyes shone with a different brilliance, as if he had seen a miracle, full of perseverance and the gaze that only people who want to try once will have.

“……… There are eyes in your eyes that are not what ordinary people should have" Tianxiang stared into the other party's eyes, and then suddenly said: "Sure enough, I have felt strange since yesterday, the fact that a man with obvious cultural background and good aristocratic cultivation would become a lowly scalping merchant is very strange in itself. Who the hell are you, Hughes? “

Xius was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly lowered his head with an embarrassed face, hiding the light in his eyes that could not be concealed.

"No, no, I think the adults should have misunderstood. In fact, I am just an ordinary businessman, but I have been an attendant of the nobles for a few years, and occasionally learned some aristocratic skills and etiquette. I'm not a small person to watch too much. “

The air around them fell silent.

Tianxiang stared at Sass carefully for a long time, and suddenly, he saw a relaxed and interested expression on his face and said: "Okay, just do it, come along, Sass but there is no time to wait for you to pack your luggage, just sit in the carriage and then we will set off immediately." “

"But, but I...... My lord! When the Pleon cavalry subconsciously wanted to stop the king, the first word of my king just jumped out of his mouth, and the second half was choked into his throat by an eye knife from Tianxiang.

"My lord! We don't know much about him, and it's likely that his presence will put the team in danger! “

The Pleon cavalry said with an expression that seemed to be about to cry. In fact, it is still a trivial matter to encounter danger, and the key is that if the adult in front of him who is responsible for the future and life of all of them is injured, it is a big thing. Of course, if there is a situation in the unlikely situation, the Pleon cavalry will already have the consciousness of dying on the battlefield, and even if they bite with their teeth, they will have to drag one more enemy's consciousness!

"It doesn't matter! Although it is said that everything is carefully taken care of, and if you are cautious and careful, then great things will come naturally. But once in a while, when you come across something that is interesting and you can't stop...... Hah! Just a respite and respite from the time of the fight, and with a bloated merchant who can't even run, I don't think he'll be able to make sure he's safe and sound if something happens. “

"After all, I'm the type of person who would send all of them to Yellow Springs with the hostages instead of being threatened with hostages by the enemy. No one can stop my plans, let alone anyone who will get in the way of me, I am such a simple person. “

Tianxiang turned around and continued to ride forward.

"Take him! We're about to go, and that's where the first phase of the revival of the royal city of Pleon begins. “

At this point, no one can continue to refute it.

Finally, with a new member, the convoy began to slowly move towards the village of Debel in the southwest.

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