Balor put down the wood knife in his hand, raised his hand and wiped the beads of sweat on his head, he had been working for two hours straight, and he was really tired enough.

Balor was very depressed now, and after he arrived at Victor as a freeman, he was assigned to work in the brick kiln village for two months. And the task that Victor gave him was not at all clue.

It's not that Barol is incompetent, as a professional secret agent, he is familiar with the various methods of secret agents, but he chops wood for more than ten hours a day, and he is as tired as a dog, so how can he check?

However, Barol is not without progress, and he discovers a striking phenomenon.

The brick kiln village, which was like a wasteland at first, began to take shape under his nose. Hundreds of people used to sleep in tents, but now they have moved to the shacks that have been built. The kilns in the vacant lot have been demolished and replaced by three brick kilns, and now there is a super-large brick kiln under construction, which is said to be ready for use if a giant chimney tens of meters high is built. And all this took just over two months.

Barol didn't know why he wanted to build a chimney tens of meters high, or why he wanted to build a brick kiln of such a huge scale. But he knew that these freemen could not work hard. Moreover, it is the kind that only eats and does not take money. It's inconceivable, if a freeman works for nothing, is it still a freedman?

Barol soon understood why the freedmen were so crazy and wanted to join the division of work. The freedmen of Victor knew that as long as they joined the division of labor, they would step into the vassal class with half a foot. If you want to join the division of work system, you must first become a leader, and if you want to become a leader, you must work hard. Last month, 30 people have been promoted to the rank of lord, and the village leader has already said that six villages will soon be built in the territory, and whoever joins first will hope to join the work sharing system. This made the rest of the people scream with irritation, and rushed to work like crazy.

As an old agent, Barol learns more about hill camps, small cafeterias, and more.

Barol judged that those spies were hidden among the members of the division of work, and only they could know all kinds of movements in the territory, and only they could pass on the news. Because, the only way to leave the territory is to go to the convoy in Blackcastle.

The scope has been demarcated, and Barrol is worried, how can he get into the hill camp? The members of the current division of labor system have formed a class, they are familiar with each other, and it is difficult not to attract attention when they suddenly add a new face, not to mention that Barol is still a free man. Balor was at a loss for what to do.

"Old Denver, come here to get the meat ticket!"

A companion beckoned Barol to receive today's bounty.

These pieces of wood can be exchanged not only for fragrant wild boar, but also for linen jackets, leather boots, gloves, sheepskin felt, and even luscious purple cane wine.

The depressed Barol sighed, got up and walked towards the place where the invoice was issued, and a familiar figure blocked him again, it was Shak.

"My lord, I want to see you. ”

Familiar people, familiar words, but Barol's mood was different, and he followed Shak with a sad face to see Victor.

Victor is even more distressed than Barol, who has already received a summons from Nelson. The sales of cane sugar and coffee made Victor sit in his office for a long time.

Victor then became furious, believing that Sylvia was deliberately trying to embarrass him.

No wonder, you gave up on meddling in coffee, and you were ready to deal with me! What is this? Do you really want me to be your pet?!

After a tantrum he had lost his temper, Victor gradually calmed down, and he read the parchment letter carefully. Victor noticed this sentence: caravan, industry rules, new products, price reduction.

Victor was born in the Marquis Mansion, and he knew that the Marquis's Mansion was the largest merchant in the Gambis Kingdom, with 4 chambers of commerce and more than a dozen caravans under his name, and the trade scope was almost all over the entire human world. But he didn't know the rules of the caravan, and no one had taught him these details.

If you want to solve a problem, you must first understand the problem. Victor thought of Balor, so he ordered Shaq to bring Balor.

Barol boarded Victor's carriage and saw the grim-faced lord, and his heart beat a drum.

"Good day, sir. Balor said in amazement.

Victor looked sternly at the frightened Barol and asked coldly, "Did you find it?"

"Yes, a little bit of an eyebrow. Balor said stiffly.

"My lord, those spies should be in the camp on the hills, maybe guards, maybe they're people, I'm sure they're members of the division system. They are supposed to send information out through the convoy. So, please promote me into the hill camp so I can investigate. ”

Victor was silent for a moment, which he expected, but now he had to find Barol to solve another problem.

"Let's put this matter aside for a while. You sit first. ”

Victor instructed Lilia, "Lilia, make Barol a cup of coffee and add cane sugar." ”

Lilia took out a silver cup and expertly poured brown ground coffee and sparkling cane sugar into the cup, and as the boiling hot water poured in, a rich aroma hit Barol's spirits.

Barol took a careful sip, and the sweet taste spread to his taste buds, straight to his heart, and he couldn't help but admire.

"It smells so good!"

"I've had a lot of expensive drinks, and none of them can compare to my coffee. But this coffee could not be sold at a high price, and the merchants were only willing to buy it at a very low price. Can you tell me what the reason is?"

Victor knew that Barol had been collecting money from merchants for many years, and no one knew them better than he did.

Lord Lord's question made Barol slightly stunned, he thought for a moment, and said to Victor: "My lord, if you sell this drink to merchants, it is indeed impossible to sell it at a high price. Merchants buy goods according to the rules of the caravan to give money, if the purchase price is high, they will be out of stock by the caravan, which is equivalent to ruining their own jobs. In fact, the small merchants were vassals of the caravan, and they had to protect the interests of the caravan. ”

Victor understands that the caravan is the boss of the merchant, and the caravan can buy as much as it says, and the merchant has no ability to resist, otherwise once the goods are cut off, how can he do business?

"It seems that the problem is with the caravan. Victor muttered to himself.

"What do you know about caravans, Balor?" asked Victor again.

Balor felt a little strange, the lord was obviously a baron of the Wimbledon family, how could he not know about the caravan? The Wimbledon family is now a commercial nobleman!

"My lord, I don't know much about caravans, only some common sense. Caravans were generally organized by vassals at the behest of their lords, mainly to trade goods with other realms. But the survival of the caravan was not easy, and they were divided into private merchants and official merchants. ”

"A private merchant is a caravan that comes to trade in the territory without the consent of the lord. Such caravans will generally be investigated and dealt with by the lord, the goods will be confiscated, and the personnel will be imprisoned or expelled, even if they pass by, so the private caravan will pass through the junction of the territory, where it is generally a mountainous area, where monsters and orcs have frequent activities, as well as banditry activities, the risk is very large, and if it is not done, the entire caravan will be slaughtered. ”

"Officials and merchants are legitimate caravans, they pay taxes to their lords, and they can trade within their territories. Barol explained to Victor.

"Then how can a caravan become an official merchant?" asked Victor in a deep voice.

"My lord, the caravan plays the family banner, and the lord decides whether he is an official merchant or a private merchant, and the allied family or the neutral family are all official merchants, but the taxes collected are different. A hostile family, that's a private businessman. Therefore, the same caravan, in different territories, has different identities. ”

"My lord, the Wimbledon family is an unimpeded businessman, and if you let your family run this coffee, it will definitely sell for a high price!" Barol suggested.

Victor had already understood a lot of things by this time. The relationship between the lords is complicated, and it is no problem for the caravan to pass through the alliance or neutral territory, but after passing through a rival family, it is a risk, either bypassing or stealthily walking the border, which is a blockade.

The Wimbledon family was able to trade between countries unhindered because the family had already collapsed, the family had lost its territory, and the family members were scattered all over the country, although they had a relationship, they did not buy each other, which met the needs of the lords. Even rival families have a need to trade with each other, so they need intermediaries. Losing territory and having no military strength, loosely composed families became the best option, and these families became business aristocrats.

The most characteristic of the merchant aristocracy is that they are scattered, except for the same surname, they are like strangers to each other, for example, Victor's cheap father is poor with a baronal title, and the old Marquis of Wimbledon is rich.

Barol suggested that Victor contact the family's caravan, but how was that possible? Now, Victor wanted nothing more than to get away from Sophia, not to have anything to do with her.

"I know, you go down first, and after a while, I'll arrange for you again. Victor commanded lightly.

After Balor left, Victor said to Lilia, "Lilia, let's go back to the hill camp. ”

"Hmm!"

Lilia leaned into Victor's arms, hugged him gently, and asked with some concern, "Are you okay, Victor?"

Victor loses his temper in the office, frightening Lilia, who she has never seen in such a flash.

"It's fine. Victor shook his head and said, "Lilia, tell me a story." ”

"Ahh

"Tell me about your experience of being hired to protect the caravan. Victor affectionately pinched Lilia's suff nose.

"Oh, we usually pick up missions in the tavern, once we took a caravan escort mission, at the beginning we were still in a safe place, after leaving that territory, the caravan began to move through the rough mountain roads, we mainly guard against the attack of the bandits, and we also need to clear the monsters that stand in the way. In the end, we encountered a well-equipped group of thieves, and a hard battle ensued, among them even had 3 apprentice knights, fortunately there were also apprentice knights in the caravan, and in the end we were able to repel the thieves and sacrifice 4 companions. Lilia whispered.

"Hah, there's a group of thieves with apprentice knights, isn't that the lord's men?" Victor scoffed.

"Yes, so my brother didn't kill those apprentice knights, but just killed a lot of ordinary bandits. We all know that those are lords. In fact, many bandit groups have a relationship with the lords, and they specialize in intercepting and killing some caravans. Lilia nodded.

Victor was silent for a while, and then he asked, "How is the caravan's own strength?"

"It's very strong, some caravans will even have knight guards, once there was a knight who came to the tavern to hire mercenaries, he hired three mercenary groups at a time, and the price was very high, but we didn't dare to take it, and then I heard that the caravan was served by a group of bandits, and the hired mercenaries also suffered heavy casualties, and only a few people escaped back. Everyone knew it was the lord's doing. ”

The lords of the same kingdom cannot attack each other at will, but they can block the caravans of rival families, or refuse to let the caravans enter, or extract extremely high taxes, and use these means to force the caravans to take the border line, at this time, the lords can send people disguised as bandits, intercept the caravans, grab the goods, and weaken the opponent's strength. Actually, Victor had a similar experience.

"Would the caravan choose a particularly remote road?" asked Victor.

"Yes, but that would require a lot of guards, because the gnolls will follow the caravan all the way, and at night they will constantly attack the caravan, and they don't want goods, they just want to take people. Such a journey must not be long, otherwise the gnolls will gather more and more, and in the end no one will be able to escape. Generally, we will not accept such a mission without the participation of four mercenary groups. ”

"Victor, let's just form a caravan of our own! Lilia suggested, being pretty sure that sucrose would be worth a lot of money, since it was invented by Victor.

"We'll build a caravan, but it's not the time yet. Victor shook his head and laughed.

The caravan is easy to build, the question is who will pick up the goods? Won't the people who receive the goods lower the price? At the same time, there will be the problem of high taxes, and Victor does not have any allies now, because of the unequal power. If Victor wants to improve his strength, he needs money, and this is an endless loop.

"What then?" asked Lilia worriedly.

Victor smiled: "We don't sell cane sugar anymore, we send cane sugar!"

"Send?!"

Lilia hurriedly reached out and stroked Victor's forehead, she was worried about whether Victor had a fever. Victor laughed and grabbed the little hand that was touching his face.

"Inform Nelson that there is no need to bargain. For every pound of coffee sold, half a pound of cane sugar was sold, and the rest of the cane sugar was destroyed, and the point was that coffee could not be sold to the Wimbledon caravan. In the future, we only sell jaggery and coffee!"