The salt production project is finally on the right track, a few days later, the laborers are familiar with the process, the daily output has reached more than 800 kilograms per day, and now the city lord's mansion can receive nearly 300 kilograms of salt every day, the old city lord personally went to the cellar every day to check the quality of the salt blocks, and then personally watched the servants break up the salt blocks, and then grind them into salt powder little by little.

He felt that it was not good not to look at it, this thing was very valuable, and if the servant quietly hid a little bit in the bag every day, how much would he lose in a month? At least the income of the City Lord's Mansion in the past month! The most important thing is that he has never seen his family make so much money in a day, although the city lord's mansion has income from various other channels, but in addition to human capital, excluding the cost of maintaining the army, there is really not much left, that is, he can barely maintain a decent life, the hundreds of thousands of gold coins in the treasury are for decades, a little bit of it has been pulled out of the teeth, and he is usually reluctant to spend money, and now with this income, not only can he live a truly luxurious aristocratic life, but the number of the army can also be expanded by at least fifty percent, In fact, more can be afforded, but the Kingdom of Kate stipulates that if it is not for the royal family to issue a war mobilization order, the number of troops of any border lord cannot exceed a certain value.

Therefore, the expansion of the number of troops is the limit, although the Kingdom of Kate is a feudal country, and the lord is not as fearful of the royal family as the Kingdom of Aurora, but the necessary rules must be observed, otherwise the nobles who dare to associate with a family that will break the rules openly.

The old city lord watched the salt bricks being crushed into refined salt, and saw the gold coins entering his family's vault, and he was relieved, and felt more and more that it was the right choice to have a good relationship with Udir before, and the Kate Kingdom paid great attention to the relationship between teachers and students, if it was not for the friendship with Udier. He thought that Chen Xiansong, that kid might not be willing to give a part of this transaction to the City Lord's Mansion.

Just as he was happy, Zelong'er came to his side and said, "The messenger of the Bauhinia family has arrived, bringing enough ransom and a letter. ”

Now Duncan was still locked up in the kiln, just eating and drinking, and there was no abuse except for the first three days in prison, which had been broken for the first three days, and now his hands had been reconnected and had almost recovered. This is an unspoken rule among the aristocracy. is known as the privilege of the nobility, who knows if he will become a prisoner in the future, so everyone will leave some affection and morality for each other, and they will see each other in the future.

"Show it to me."

A letter trimmed with gold and scented with redbuds was placed in the hands of the old city lord. He slowly opened it and looked at it for a moment. Then give it to Zelonger. said with a smile: "The Bauhinia family is indeed proud, although they paid the ransom as promised, they still intimidated us, and threatened us not to enter the royal city, otherwise we will bear the consequences." ”

After reading it. also smiled: "After all, it is an old aristocrat, and it is normal to be a little arrogant, as long as the ransom is paid, we will explain to Chen Xiansong." If he threatens, let him threaten. Anyway, no one in our family would want to go to the royal city to develop, the water there is too deep for new nobles like us. ”

"Makes sense." The old city lord was very satisfied with Ze Long'er's statement: "You will receive the envoy of the Bauhinia family, and he is not enough for me, the tomb master, to come forward." On the contrary, things are better, now Chen Xiansong is a big tree for us to enjoy the shade, but he can't make him feel that our family is not doing things authentically. ”

Zetayl nodded slightly, and then left the cellar. As he ascended the stairs to the ground, Zelonger saw a young man dressed in aristocratic clothes approaching, and compared with the visitors, his dress looked very plain.

After recognizing the appearance of the comer, Ze Longer's eyes narrowed slightly, his head lowered slightly, and he shouted: "Big brother, why are you here too." ”

"Can't I come?" Although the visitor deliberately lowered his voice, his words were still a little rushed, and his tone was a little unfriendly: "Ze Longer, I didn't expect you to negotiate the business of making salt, it's really good." It's just a little bad, for what is it, our city lord's mansion only accounts for thirty and a half, we contribute, it shouldn't be so little, at least fifty percent, if it's me, at least let Chen Xiansong spit out sixty percent. ”

The eldest brother's name was Bill, and he rarely stayed in the city lord's mansion, and spent most of his time managing the grain business in the shops in the city center, and the farm taxes collected by the city lord's mansion from the peasants were almost all grain, and they couldn't eat so much, so of course they had to sell most of them. The business of the grain shop is average, and under Bill's management, there is always a small amount of gold coins that disappear inexplicably, but the old city lord and Zelonger are too lazy to pay attention, as long as they hand over most of the gold coins.

Ze Long'er laughed in his stomach, but there was a sincere expression on his face: "My ability is limited to this, if the eldest brother has any ideas, you can talk to my father, he is under the cellar, if you can really talk about sixty percent, I believe that the family will take off just around the corner." ”

"Don't worry, I'll tell my father about this, although Chen Xiansong is the president of the Soul Ponderers Association, what can he do with the next newly appointed hairy boy." Bill snorted, his chin raised high, and he looked like he was holding a victory roll: "As long as you send a thousand cavalry, that little guy will be scared of, I'll go to borrow troops from my father, you can go first." ”

When he had finished speaking, he waved his hand as if he were chasing a fly, and then went down to the cellar in style.

After the figure of the eldest brother completely disappeared into the dark shadow of the stairs, Zelong'er finally showed a strange smile on his face, he shook his head while slowly walking out, before he could go out of the door, he heard a faint roar from the cellar, and the echo of the passage many times, the old city lord's voice had long been distorted, but the roar that was full of anger because of anger could be felt clearly.

Ze Luer had already expected such a situation, none of his brothers and brothers could provoke the prosperity of the family, let alone prosperity, it was already good to be able to keep the family business. But he is not the eldest son, according to the tradition of Kate's kingdom, he has no family inheritance, now it depends on his father's will, if his father passes the title to him, it will naturally be better, if he is allowed to develop outside, it doesn't matter, Verde will definitely follow him, so that he has an elite cavalry team in his hands, as long as his father gives him a small fief, he believes that he will not have ten years. will be able to regain ownership of Black Rock City.

But the more this is the case, the more he must maintain the alliance with Chen Xiansong, no matter what the situation is, for him, a genius soul thinker is a great help, only a fool like the eldest brother would think of picking food from someone else's mouth and offending the president of the Soul Ponderers Association with such a bright future.

Thinking wildly, he walked down the castle's aisle to the backyard, stopped in a hidden pavilion, and asked the two servants standing by him to lift a stone slab. There was a staircase below, and he picked up an oil lamp from the stone table next to him and walked down.

The dungeon of the City Lord's Mansion is very large, and there are many people locked up, although the ventilation facilities are good. But the light is pretty bad. Zelonger walked through the tunnel with an oil lamp, and two guards followed him. Next to it are cell cells. The prisoners inside were covered in a foul smell. They watched Zelong'er walk in with an oil lamp, and they all threw themselves in front of the iron fence, begging Zelong'er to let them go, although they would not starve to death if they were in prison, they had food and shelter, but the dungeon was extremely dark, and it was difficult to see the five fingers when they stretched out their hands. There is no sunlight all day long, and as long as it is closed for a few days, it is even more uncomfortable than death.

Zeron was accustomed to these terrible cries, and he carried an oil lamp through the tunnels. After walking for about three minutes, I passed through at least a hundred or so underground cells, then turned left three times, and then walked up two flights of stairs to the end of the road. There are four cells, only symbolically installed with an iron door, and there are beds, tables, and a few books, and most importantly, a ray of light coming through the walls in each cell. Although the light was still a little dim, it was much better than the previous prisons.

This is a place dedicated to the detention of nobles, and the conditions are naturally much better than the prison cells of ordinary people.

Duncan was sleeping on the bed, his hands wrapped around a ribbon, he heard footsteps, he got up, saw Zelong'er and smiled: "Why, you busy man actually have time to come here to see me?" ”

"How does it feel to be in a dungeon? I hope my servant didn't abuse you. Ze Longer asked with a smile, everyone is a nobleman, although it is a little unpleasant, but it has not yet reached the point of life and death, there is no need to mock each other as soon as they meet.

"It's boring, and it's a bit new." Duncan smiled and moved his arm: "After all, it is the first time that my freedom has been restricted, and I will definitely be very impressed in the future, and I think I will never forget it for the rest of my life." ”

"It's good if you're happy." Zelonger looked at Duncan's face that was a little too pale because he hadn't seen the sun for more than twenty days, and said with a smile: "Your family's messenger is here, bringing enough ransom, let's go, you are free." ”

"Really!" Duncan's face was overjoyed, and he immediately jumped out of bed. Although he expected the envoy to come in the next few days, he was still very surprised, after all, he was restricted in his movements, and he would know the value of freedom in the Dao.

Following behind Ze Long'er, the two of them came out of the dungeon, the sun was blazing, Duncan immediately covered his eyes with his hands, tears flowed out of his fingers, this was not that he cried with joy, but that he was locked in a dark place for too long, and suddenly saw a bright light, and his eyes suddenly did not adapt, which was a normal physiological reaction.

Ze Long'er has seen a lot of this situation, and he already knows what is going on, he handed over a handkerchief that had been prepared for a long time, Duncan thanked him, wiped away his tears, and waited quietly for a while, Duncan adapted to the sun, and then the two walked to the hall of the City Lord's Mansion, where the messenger of Bauhinia had been waiting for a long time.

The messenger was dressed as a butler, with gray-brown hair and cyan eyes, middle-aged with a stereotypical butler image, and his hair was combed back neatly. He looked at his young master for a moment, and there was no other injury except for the bandages on his hands, and then nodded with satisfaction.

"Omuri, I didn't expect you to come in person." Duncan was a little surprised, this man was his father's direct butler, and he had a lot of power, and he was a very important figure in the Bauhinia family.

"It's me, young master." Omuri said indifferently: "The master is very worried about you, besides, His Excellency Chen Xiansong is not here. The master said that the ransom would be handed over to him personally, and by the way, he wanted to ask him a word. ”

"Not here, he should be in Greystone Village." Zeloner said.

"Then let him come to me." Omuri said calmly, but with great impossibility.

"Are you sure?" Hearing this, Ze Longer was a little unhappy: "He is a soul thinker, and now he is still the president of a branch, and he also has a knighthood, you are a housekeeper, and you actually let him come to see you, don't you think you are too self-conscious?" (To be continued......)