After meeting with Duren and his men, Bran went to the Grand Commercial Hall for two days.

At this time, the subordinates said, "Your Highness, the consul (Albert) wants to see you, and I ask you to take your time." ”

"Know, his daughter has just been born, and get two more trustworthy and smart maids to take care of it, so as not to make the child sick.

Tell them again that they are husband and wife, and wait patiently. ”

Servants, help Bran get dressed in the back.

Bran looked at the hem of his clothes in the mirror, this aristocratic dress was still too cumbersome, and he decided to change it to something simpler.

The lord's hobbies influenced his subordinates, and slowly, more and more vassals appeared throughout Florence, learning from Bran to change his clothes into lighter clothes.

Tomorrow before leaving Meate, Bran wrote a letter to Zoe at the High Court Palace (manor), "I will go north, please wait in the territory, and if there is a need, ask Marlene for everything, and wish all the best." ”

After Bran spent some time with Zoe, he also understood that this woman was just a tool in the marriage.

According to the servants, she was frugal, and when she was on the estate, she repeatedly asked the steward to reduce the cost of her food, and asked someone to give what she had saved to the peasants.

She is a nobleman and also has the blood of the Purple Chamber, and Bran respects her according to her etiquette, but if Zoe is willing to be frugal, Bran will appreciate her even more.

After calling his men and bringing the letter to the manor, Bran continued to write.

This one is for Asho Clayfang.

Aegean giant, Tai Yuan the Counterfeiter, Emperor of the Purple Chamber......

Bran sketched out these men in his head.

Recently he received portraits of these three men.

Aschu Clay is the most thoughtful in appearance, and if the painter does not have a false brush, then it can be said that he is a ruler at a glance, and his imposing majesty is imposing.

The emperor looked ordinary, while Tae-yeon was more like an old herdsman.

According to the rest of Dandoro, the Purple Emperor was seriously ill.

The throne could fall into the hands of a very small son.

Byzantium was a system of military princes, and Ashur was considered the first army leader, but if the Purple Emperor died, he could have a new challenger.

Aschu Clay is no longer in Venice and is rushing back to the Aegean fiefdom to deploy in order to deal with future changes and control greater power.

They must have heard of the change of the city consuls, so Bran first found an excuse to start with the celebration of Ashklay's upcoming birthday, and then slowly revealed that the city wanted to demand money from Duke Never because of some financial difficulties.

If it can be recovered, it will be on the birthday of His Royal Highness Aschuclair, and some will be contributed.

It costs money to fight a war, and it costs money to win support.

This is revealed to them, you let me collect the debt, and you will have more money to buy off the nobles of the country and fight for the regent of your empire.

Bran decided that if he got permission and won the battle, he would sacrifice the silver carriage.

No matter how luxurious the carriage is, it is only used to haul people.

There is no value.

The second letter was to Nefer, and when he wrote this letter, Bran felt a sense of humiliation, and when he came to the big business hall and was forced to bow his head, Bran also felt humiliated.

However, in terms of wording, Bran still maintains a good cultivation among the nobility.

"Our friendliest and staunchest ally [Florence], the chief monarch of Northern Italy, His Royal Highness the Duke of Niver, the weather is getting cooler, how are you lately?

According to the repayment decree signed by both you and me, the first loan has been repaid only four times since the former government took office four years ago, and the principal is not repaid.

and the subsequent rate of borrowing, in accordance with the decree on the interest rate of the city, I now request a reimbursement of one thousand and one gold rubles from your country, and after reading the letter, please contact our country as soon as possible. ”

This account, Bran calculated, and also seized all kinds of assets in the territory, manors, shops, etc., and they probably had to pay back 700 coins.

But after Bran seized the assets, he forced them to pay them all.

This is bullying.

The letter was made public, and when it was delivered to Hilde, a business assistant asked him, "How did you get this gold ruble?"

"This is the overland trade fee from the city of Meath to the territory of the Duchy of Barcelona, and after leaving our border, you have to pass through three checkpoints until you enter the Never Palace, which costs about one gold ruble.

His Royal Highness means that this transportation letter expenditure will also let them out. ”

When the business assistant heard this, he could only convince Hilde that he reacted so quickly.

"It's nothing, everything is learned from His Highness, you have to think more, watch and listen more, in order to better assist Your Highness."

"Lord Hilde is the smartest man in the Order."

"No, it's second to His Royal Highness the Grand Duke and His Royal Highness, barely third."

When accepting the sycophants of his subordinates, and boasting about himself, he did not forget to say the names of the two monarchs, so that even if it came out, Hilde's evaluation would not be affected.

When Hilde delivered the letter, he thought about how he could benefit from it.

"If His Highness seals Northern Italy, then the prices over there will rise, and I should buy some more supplies to stock up during this time."

Ever since Hilde found out that he could use the power of the Knights and the Shops to help him secretly transfer profits, he couldn't help himself and immersed himself in this feeling.

The magic brought by the golden ruble was so powerful that when he was in Rome, he slept with a noble lady who was forced to live in poverty.

The son of a farmer, who originally wanted only to be a baker, but after a few years, he made the proud noblewoman obey him, and Hilde did not want to stop climbing the road, and he would not stop.

And Bran, who wrote this gold ruble, was not as Hilde had guessed, but he found that there was still a little water in the quill at that time, and wrote two more words and wrote it down.

In the third letter, Bran addressed the four counts of northern Italy except for the Duke of Never.

These four monarchs are all God-believing fellow monarchs.

The name is stinky and long.

Combine the title with the family name and the wife's family name.

Bran sent four letters to each of the counts, inviting them to send messengers to the Alps to meet the lord of the valley with Bran.

The first step towards the establishment of the "Hanseatic League" was taken.

If the Hanseatic League succeeds, then Venice is recovered.

He will not just be the Grand Duke.

He was to establish the Kingdom of Italy.

With the Kingdom of Italy as the main de jure title, it also ruled Venice, the Alps and other places.

The character and strength of these four counts are not tough, and they are open-minded when they see money, so when Duke Nefer developed in Northern Italy, these princes did not unite, shirked each other, and finally half-pushed and half-obeyed the opinions of the Duchy of Barcelona.

At one time, because of this, it cost more money to pay Never to transport Bran's paper raw materials, and Bran also despised the four lords.

But now the timing is different, and if these monarchs are still soft on themselves, it will be "really fragrant".

The fifth step is the transfer of funds within the country.

At that time, Mrs. Meghan relied on the help of the Teutonic mercenary group and her personal guards.

Therefore, for the allocation of funds in the country, it is simply a blatant misappropriation.

This tripled her wealth in an instant, but she plucked the wool of many nobles, so she made many enemies.

Also, Meghan does everything like a business.

For example, mercenary groups other than Teutoni can protect cities.

She also gave the three mercenary groups the same rights, and allowed them to expand and merge.

As long as they can pay the mercenary fee to the city.

This gave Blanco the opportunity to continuously expand the number of mercenaries.

But now that he had made the Teutonic knights the sole main force in the country, he wanted to eliminate the fragmentation and make all the armed forces subordinate to him.

The Teutonic was responsible for maintaining law and order in the country.

Eliminated the mercenaries and guards who were too old and weak, and replaced them with peasants or artisans.

The saved treatment was given to the soldiers who were not eliminated and their gratitude, and these eliminated could only try their best to appease and help, although they were dissatisfied, but the whole was beneficial to themselves.

Bran had already written eight edicts for the Teutonic Knights, which will be added over time.

The first is that "the servants of God, the warriors of the House of Chaman, are responsible for defending Florence." ”

Put the family behind God and let the soldiers look up to the Charman.

The previous set in the manor, Bran also wants to expand.

Let all the soldiers earn as much as they want to spend on the family's related industries.

Control their birth, old age, sickness and death.

In this way, no one could shake the family's position in Florence, which was like a complete transfer of funds.

This method of covert seizure was also appreciated by the nobles, but Bran had soldiers in his hands, and the Holy See, which could have relied on it, was now in the hands of Chaisu, and the apostolic seat supported by Ashclay was far away in Venice.

Neither the clerical nor the military can resist Bran.

Bran also deliberately pushed the price of wheat to the bottom, spending the city's money.

The people praised the Knights, and the city lost blood.

Therefore, the trust of the people could not shake the Teutonic Knights or even the Chaman family.

The fifth letter was addressed to his men.

In this era, transportation is inconvenient and inconvenient.

As a messenger of the lord, you must be loyal and reliable, brave and decisive, and have a clean family background.

The messengers used by Bran were all from the manor, and Bran helped them marry wives, and the wives and children were all in the manor (also surveillance), so that they could not easily betray the monarch's letters.

The quill pen was written and stopped, and by the time Bran was ready, it was dark.

The servant reacted quickly, and before it was dark, he came in and lit the candle while he was pouring tea and delivering snacks.

So Bran, who was preoccupied, didn't notice that it was too late.

I wanted to rest, but my men reported, "Lord Simon is here." ”

"Let him in, Bran bites on a snack as he asks for information from Venice."

When Simon came in, he took off his wide hat and shouted, "Your Highness." ”

"Sit."

"Your Highness, according to your instructions, I have sold one-third of the city's debts at an interest rate of thirty percent a year, and the funds will enter the Knights' treasury in these two days."

"Okay, after annexing the other mercenary groups, the number of our knights is approaching two thousand, as long as the equipment is better and the number is larger, it will be an extremely strong regular army, which will clear the obstacles for us.

Find a way to expand to 3,000, and the extra force is mainly infantry and spearmen. ”

Bran said again, "Simon, have you eaten?"

Bran saw that Simon was full, "Feel free to eat some, I can't finish it." ”

After Simon became a priest, his posture was proportional to his age.

Bran looked at the letter in his hand and fell into contemplation for a moment, then put down his pen and looked at Simon.

Simon looked uncomfortable and asked, "Your Highness?"

"You haven't been married, do you want to find a suitable one?"

"Ahh Your Highness...... No, I'm a devout person, and I spend most of my days meditating. ”

Meditation went to the tavern? Meditate on the idea that you bought a big house in Meath City and raised a little Frankish lover?

This little lover also found a young man to eat soft rice, and you mobilized mercenaries to smash it?

After arriving in Swabia and wandering for too long, Bran returned to the peninsula this time to investigate all the habits of his men.

Simon is no different from the worldly aristocracy now.

"Come with me to Northern Italy this time."

"Shall I go too? What about selling the city's debts? I still have some aftermath to clean up. ”

"Those will be done by your men, you and I will go to meet the earls, and talk to their ladies by the way, and if there are any eyes on you, your marriage will be done."

"It's too sudden, Your Highness, I ......"

"Okay, so you don't want your descendants to also be crowned with a noble family?

Don't want them to be called Your Excellency and Lord by the servants in their daily lives?

Don't want their names to be spread by businessmen and poets?

I see, you must still want to do penance.

It's me who underestimated you, that's fine, after a while, you go to the great monastery, I'll help you get an abbot, and you can change all the contradictions and omissions in the scriptures.

Like my old dean Franklin,

You will get up in the morning and sleep at night, and in a few decades your teeth will fall out, and you may become a saint, and countless faithful will come to you and call you 'Abbot Simon.'" ”

"No, no, I'm not worthy, I'm willing to continue to be tempered in the world, everything is a test of the Lord!"

Simon's fascination with aristocratic blood is the same as everyone else's.

In fact, even if Bran doesn't say it, he has the idea of starting a family.

After following the Grand Duke for many years, he saw the power of the Charman family gradually growing.

It would be stupid not to hurry up.

As for the age, looks?

Don't make a fuss, you don't have to think about it at all.

These two things are the last thing that nobles need to consider when they get married.

"Great Family", "Bloodline", "Prestige".

These conditions are the most important.

Simon was in a good mood and swept away the snacks on the table.

When Bran finished reading the page in his hand, he came up with a solution.

As he reached for it, he looked up at Simon, and the blood stains on his purple eyes almost choked him to death.

But he thought too much, and Bran just stayed up too late.

……

A day later, Bran led a hundred light horsemen on a rapid northward march.

The horses' hooves regularly trodden the avenue of the Republic, and the riders were strong and heroic, with bows behind their backs and daggers at their waists.

Desley, Uller, Ichisu and others all followed Bran.

Ichisu, who was born as a horse thief, has not changed his old problem, and while riding a horse, he is judging the horse's character.

Bran was the leader, he was in high spirits, and he rode his fast horse, and at this time he also felt that the sky and the earth were in his hands.

The grass and trees passed in an instant, and the names of countless heroic monarchs also flashed in their minds.

Bran Charman will also enter this 'Game of Thrones' on the mainland!