When he had finished fetching water, Tom lifted the basin, but his father wouldn't let him go, so he put it down and listened to what his father had to say.

"Boy, are you twelve years old?"

"It's almost thirteen."

"But you're so thin, shorter than your brother, I don't know if you're my species."

"Maybe it was when my mother gave birth to me, and you kept asking for things about it, which made me like this."

I wanted to say this sentence but didn't dare to say it, Tom just said it silently in his heart.

"You're not a kid anymore, let's talk about you...... Life ideals. ”

After getting along with the mercenary group for a long time, Raymond also learned some advanced words.

"Aren't you a baker? You've already arranged it for me. Tom didn't understand.

"This position will be given to your brother in the future, and my land and house will also be given to him, and I plan to let you go to your uncle's house to work as a farmer, and it has been negotiated, you will help for ten years, and then marry their daughter in the future."

"Father, the girl is only four years old!"

"So let you wait for ten years, there are not many people in your uncle's family, you can relax."

……

At night, the dark curtain struck, and Tom couldn't sleep because of his father's words, staring at the leaky ceiling, thinking that the best situation in the future would be to inherit this big house and take care of the peasants who could only add or subtract no more than thirty, but his father's cold water woke him up.

This idea is a dream!

His body seems to be difficult to grow, and when he takes care of the adult horses of the mercenary group, he still needs to wipe the bristles against the mat, which means that he can't enter the Teutonic group, he is not qualified to hold a sword, and he cannot become a knight in the future, or even higher.

"What should I do?"

Running away from home with some money and food to go to Meath City or elsewhere?

This absurd idea exists for a while and then disappears.

Half-grown children wander alone, don't talk about the countryside, no one will hire you at all, really go to the city, there is no letter of introduction from any line, you can't do a development job, you can only sell some strength, or clean up the dirt work, but this job, it can only achieve food and clothing, and even no guarantor, and it is difficult to find a place to stay.

There is a high chance of being trafficked.

Tom has nowhere to go.

His mind was in a state of confusion.

"Kill!"

"Rush!"

"Hack!"

The sound of the mercenary group's training in the morning suddenly invaded his eardrums, making Tom's heart surge.

"Go to his baker, farmer...... Your Highness is here once, and I must seize the opportunity this time!"

The next morning, around half past three, Tom's body clock woke him up.

For civilians, an extra little sleep is a luxury.

Today, because of the wedding banquet of a villager, yesterday evening, Bran spoke, and he will attend in the morning to participate in the fun.

So the oven had to start early, took a rag to wipe his face, bit a dry branch that could clean his teeth, and then went to the kitchen to get a hard dry biscuit, and a few large mouthfuls of water with a little sugar to eat.

Tom was neatly prepared for the steps before he got to work.

In just a year and a half, he learned most of the processes, the proportion of flour, the temperature of baking, etc., and this master from the bread guild in the city always knew a little tom.

And Tom also tried to make some new bread with butter, dried fruits, fruits, etc., what a good apprentice.

There is no common quarrel in the general master-apprentice system (the master scolds the apprentice), and the two get along well.

If he had a daughter, the master would really consider marrying Tom.

"Do your best, learn this trade, and you will be able to live in a house with a vegetable garden and a backyard in Meath City, marry a girl from the city, have three or four children, become a baker that everyone envies, have your own storefront, and become the leader of the guild."

This kind of life is the pinnacle of a baker's life, and materially it is not too far from that of an ordinary knight, and may even be better.

The master would always tell Tom these words, and Tom used to be at ease, but with the decision made last night, when he stepped in again, he had no interest in the place where there was always smoke.

Even when he walked through the door today and met Master who said that he wanted to teach him a new bread method, Tom was not excited at all.

After more than three hours, the master and apprentice were finally able to stop and rest, and the master and apprentice sat outside the bakery.

The rain continued to fall, so tents were erected for the wedding feast outside.

When two middle-aged mercenaries came to serve bread, they also exchanged drinks with the baker with the wine they were waiting to drink, and chatted a few words

"Three people blow", this is a proverb on the peninsula, the master talked to the mercenaries about women, harvest, when he was young, he saw the big man, and the more he talked, the more he rose.

Tom listened in the corner as he bit into the bread and added a sausage that Master had just given him.

Suddenly, he heard a mercenary say that His Highness Bran had asked someone to get the mud out of the open space outside the office yesterday, and immediately went out in the rain to see the untreated ground in the distance.

"When His Royal Highness steps out of the affairs hall, it will inevitably get dirty......

Then Tom put all the bread and sausages in his mouth, swallowed them with a hum, and gestured to the master, and ran into one of the bakery's warehouses.

There were unused timber for construction, and large pieces of firewood ready to be chopped.

Tom chose some wood, began to put them together, and tied them with thick rope. Make three planks that are taller than your height (about 1.5 meters).

Then one person dragged the plank and moved it to the front of the office and went back and forth three times.

Many people saw it, and some told him to stop, but Tom directly replied that it was for His Highness.

At this time, because it was raining outside, Bran did not ride a horse in the morning as usual, but was at the table, thinking about "the matter of loans"

He talked to Mrs. Meghan about the idea of promoting the ruble coins of the peninsula and turning them into a kind of financial business called "bank".

In addition to depositing money, banks also have the function of exchanging money dealers.

And not just a single chamber of commerce, but the whole of Florence as a guarantee, began to provide services under a wide range of accounts.

Genoa, Venice, Marseille, Barcelona, London, Paris, Port of Tunis...... These large cities will have Florentine banks, which will have a lot of power that other chambers of commerce do not have......

And these must be supported by stronger forces and warships, starting with the financial unification of the peninsula, so the speed of Mrs. Meghan's efforts to win over allies will be accelerated.

On the table is a pair of yellow cypress "abacus" from the East, which was introduced by the Tatars and Persians (Abbasids), and has swept the hearts of European merchants more than 100 years ago and has become a must-have for business.

In addition to arithmetic books imported from the East, European merchants also invented their own formulas and quick calculations, which required day and night immersion training to become an efficient and error-free abacus.

There is also a bag of coins containing the currencies of eight different countries, some large and some small.

The currency of the peninsula, the gold ruble, was also among them, but it was not the most valuable, but the Frankish gold florin coins were at the top.

At present, the ratio is still one florin to two gold rubles, but the value has now been closer.