Stuttgart Castle does not occupy the main road that connects Munich and Berlin, in fact it is guarded by two Gothic knights. Tustaff didn't get any money from that road. The task of the Count of Stuttgart was not to control the road, but to control the peasants and minor nobles on both sides of the road. Leaving this road, which would become almost impassable on a snowy day, untouched, is what Tustaff should do. His income comes from the dominion's contributions, and only commercial taxes are included.

The merchant taxes paid by the dwarves accounted for a large portion of Tustaff's income, relative to the farmers' taxes. With so many dwarves, a large number of adventurers and mercenaries were willing to stay outside the castle for a while while passing through Stuttgart. In addition, wealthy merchants were willing to come to Stuttgart to buy gems mined by the dwarves. Unlike Tosto, where gemstones are mainly sold to Burgundy, the gems here in Stuttgart end up in the Kingdom of Italy.

Thanks to these distribution channels, business in Stuttgart is much more prosperous than in the surrounding areas. If Munich is dominated by Bavarian aristocracy, Stuttgart is dominated by Bavarian merchants. Among them, as in Tosto, it is the dwarves who work hard to support the industry.

No complaints, no arguments, these dwarves are Tustaff's money makers, and Tustav clearly sees more than the lords of Tosto. He takes the dwarves in his territory very seriously, and in his territory, there are no slave catchers against the dwarves. Those with dwarves. It is subject to extreme scrutiny in Stuttgart. in his territory. Dwarves had to bear heavier merchant taxes, but could not easily leave Tustav's territory.

The greed of the dwarves allowed some of them to enter the Earl's Castle and hold some low-level jobs in it. However, it is precisely because of this low-level work that the actions of these dwarves in the castle are not noticed and suspected. Except for those particularly secretive places, the first and second floors of the entire Stuttgart castle have been clearly mastered by the dwarves.

On the leather map that appeared in front of Xiao Yan's eyes, there was not only a plan that was strictly reduced according to geometric dimensions, but also a variety of marks on this plan. At the same time, at the bottom of the floor plan, there are special notes.

"What's that?"

Xiao Yan asked, pointing to these markers.

Carpenter took the dry straw sandals handed by the other dwarf, and felt the slight tingling sensation of the rough grass seeds rubbing against his big feet, which lifted his spirits. Walking to Xiao Yan's side, the bearded dwarf looked at the map, rubbed his beard and said, "That's a record, the time and way of action of the important people in the castle." ”

Seeing that Xiao Yan didn't know why, Carpenter continued, "You see, this triangle has a record underneath, representing the captain of the castle guard. Every day at 10 a.m., he would come down from the 3rd floor of the castle and go to the restaurant behind the castle to eat. Then I will leave the restaurant at half past ten. Head to the training ground behind the castle where you can get about 4 hours of exercise......"

"No, I know the significance of these records," Xiao Yan interrupted Carpenter's explanation, and he asked, "What I want to know is, what are you recording these for?" ”

"I thought you were going to go into the castle."

"Yes, of course I will enter this castle and give the count a blow that he will never forget. But I don't need these records, listen, Carpenter, we're going to go in and get out of the way of all those who dare to stand in our way. Only such an entry would let the Earl know who not to provoke. If we were content to slip into the Count's bedroom like a thief, and leave a dagger and a letter of admonition at the head of his bed, that would scare the Count at best, but not teach him a profound lesson. On the other hand, in the eyes of the Count, we did this as an admission to him that we dared to deal with him only in this way, and not in a more direct and effective way. ”

After a pause, Xiao Yan continued: "When we don't have strength, we would rather avoid him than expose our weakness in this way. And now that we have enough strength, weishenme still has to avoid him? ”

Carpenter shrugged, lifted the map, and said, "Well, what you say is what you say, so, where does our strength come from?" ”

"Did I tell you that I was once the princess of the empire in Speyer?"

"Yes, you did."

"Did I tell you that I once met the Emperor of the Empire, Bixia, in Speyer?"

"Yes, you did."

"Did I tell you. I used to get two maids in Speyer. ”

"Yes, you used to ......, did you say?"

"Look me in the eye, Carpenter, and see, what do you see?"

"I saw your eyes, my lord, oh no, Mr. Fryman."

"No, I mean, what do you see in my eyes?"

"See my reflection, Mr. Fryman."

"What else?"

"Oh, I see there's something strange about your pupil color, and, uh, you've got nice eyelashes, uh, and, what?"

"Sincerity, Carpenter, don't you see sincerity in my eyes?"

"IMHO, do nobles have sincere eyes? Or rather, is there a sincere aristocracy? ”

"......, I'm the exception, Carpenter, I'm the exception, I'm a sincere aristocrat."

"You seem to have asked us not to call you noble. In addition, every nobleman and dwarf would say that he was a sincere nobleman when he spoke. You are not the first, and you must not be the Zuihou one. ”

"......, I see that you have made great progress, Carpenter, because the burden of your heart has been lifted?"

The bearded dwarf smiled and said, "Well, Mr. Fryman, don't care if I'm progressing or not. Yes, I admit, you once told me about those. It's about two maids, yes, it's about saying that, two maids. ”

Seeing Carpenter wink at himself slyly, Xiao Yan suddenly found that many of his previous judgments seemed to be problematic. For example, dwarves are just dwarves, they may no longer have the cunning of nobles, they are very simple. But looking at it now, this carpenter proves that dwarves are also people, and dwarves have nobles, and dwarven nobles also have intrigue among themselves. Therefore, there will be no shortage of things between human nobles among the dwarves.

Putting these cranky thoughts aside, Xiao Yan continued: "Okay, I have two very beautiful maids, very, very beautiful. I was going to meet them in Württemberg. But now Jihua has changed, and they, I mean, they're going to be in Stuttgart in the next few days. ”

"Haode, my lord, what does this have to do with your occupation of this castle?"

"I heard, Tustaff has a very jerky son?"

Carpenter looked at Xiao Yan, was quiet for a while, and said very seriously: "Using your own servants as bait, my lord, this is against the dignity of the nobles." ”

"Do nobles have dignity?"

Xiao Yan asked rhetorically, and then, he said equally seriously: "I didn't intend to let my servants be bait, they will stay by my side, however, bastards are always bastards. Flies always find their purpose, no matter how cleverly it is hidden. Can you believe it, as soon as my servant arrives at my side, that son of Tustav will find us in less than three days. ”

The corners of Carpenter's mouth twitched slightly, smacked his lips, and said, "You're right, my lord, bastards are always assholes." My question is, though, how many bastards do adults think they're going to find you? ”

"How many? How many sons did Tustaff have? ”

"Three, my lord, each one is a jerk. That's what the dwarves here told me, and of course, the map says a lot about it. For example, Tustaff's eldest son likes to force sex with the cook in the kitchen, even if the sound spreads throughout the castle. The second son of the Count of Stuttgart, although he was an adult, refused to leave the castle and go to his own domain. What he does every day is to record the evil deeds of his eldest son one by one, and then report them back to his father, hoping to obtain the right to inherit the family through this method. As for the bastard you're talking about, he's actually just a fledgling compared to his older brothers. ”

Xiao Yan smiled bitterly and said, "It seems that this is completely a noble family that is about to fall, not what an earldom should be. Tustaff had raised such a group of unscrupulous sons, and his ambition seemed to last only until the moment of his death. After that, the owners of the Earls of Stuttgart most likely had to change their courts. ”

"That's a bunch of gentlemen, not one, but three. But Mr. Fryman, all the children of the nobility are the same, so that the gentlemen can live with the gentlemen. ”

Xiao Yan nodded and asked, "What will be the recent activities of Tustaff?" Balls or dinners and the like. ”

"There's going to be a big dinner, and of course the ball is essential, and the dwarven tavern has been told to prepare a lot of ale, and there's plenty of food to store in the castle's kitchen."

"I want to go in open, Carpenter, what do you think?"

"That's a good idea, you need a carriage to get on the haode, a good coachman, a perfect housekeeper. Then, a magnificent appearance is needed. (To be continued......)