Chapter XXIV: The Neutral North Sea

When autumn came, the Kugit ascended to the heights of Dehrim. ()

The tide of battle turned out as one might expect: Kugit came prepared, Swadia was unprepared.

In this case, it is not uncommon for the Kugit to have good news.

The onset of winter is a challenge for both the Kugit and the Swadia, but there is a tendency in the mind to assume that the Kugit will be less affected, after all, the cold and harsh climate in the steppe is not comparable to the warm plains of Swadian.

Every day, the sailors on the pier bring new news from the docks in the southern marshes and even in the South Seas.

The king of the Kugit is said to have entered Svadia with the elite cavalry of the Khan's guard. At the same time, the subordinate tribes conscripted by the Kugit also crossed the border one after another.

These neutral tribes would never participate in the storming operation, and when the Kugit began to attack, these tribes passively avoided all calls--- they just silently watched the situation. Now, seeing that the Kugit are doing very well, these neutral tribes have suddenly become a strong backing for the Kujits.

King Qugit's westward advance is considered to be the most important of Kugit's offensive: King Kugit brought with him more than 4,000 cavalry and almost as many servants, and when this army entered Svadia with attendants, men, mules, horses, cattle and sheep, few would question the fighting power of this army.

But when the situation was one-sided, there was one place that surprised people, and that was the Swadia fortress called Fort Lundia. This small stronghold has not been abandoned.

At first, the Nords talked about the fact that if the fortress was captured by the Kujits, all its inhabitants would be executed;

Soon the Nords had no smiles, but discussed with some concern when the fortress would fall;

Eventually, when the autumn breeze began to force people to change into thick clothes, people already had a sense of awe for the fortress.

Meanwhile, Jill's illness is getting better day by day, and Jona comes every day to tell Jill about the outside world.

"Yesterday the doctor said you are recovering well. Your face is a lot better, which is a good sign. Be sure to eat more and take your medicine on time", Ruona brushed the hair scattered on her forehead to her ears, and then scooped out her freshly cooked soup with a spoon, "The doctor said that you are very lucky, you don't have the most serious lung disease, tsk, but it's enough to choke, look at how thin you are now, I don't know how much thinner you are than before you got sick." Come, drink the soup'''''

"By the way, Jona," asked Jill with the bowl and the hot air bubbling from it, "who is guarding the fortress of Lundia?" I asked you to ask, did you inquire? ”

"I asked Big Martin and he said he didn't know either", Ruona tilted her head and thought for a moment, "but one of the navigators knew that he was drinking with Big Martin at the time." He said it was a man named General Clyde. ”

"Clyde?"

"Well, the navigator said that this Clyde fought with us more than a decade ago."

"Oh, it's the North Sea War."

"You know about the war?"

Jona's words made Jill think of her family history at once.

"Oh, I know that after the war comes, there will always be people who suffer, and everyone will not benefit, and the lower the status, the worse the situation."

"Yes, I know that. When I was a child, I heard my brother say that things were so bad in those years--- that the Swadians and Nords, who were neighbors, suddenly became enemies. Before the war came, the village of the Nords and the village of the Swadias began to fight, and I used to hear when I was a child that the trees on the side of the road were often full of people, and it was terrible to hang all the way through."

"Well, I've heard a few '''That's right, why didn't you choose to go back to the south? At that time, there were a lot of Swadians who returned to the south. ”

"At that time, our family was already in decay. Originally, I heard that there was a family in Vichia who was quite rich, and I was going to go to the club, but then Vikia was also in chaos, so we didn't go. I also have a cousin there, her eyes are blue, but she is beautiful, and she has not been found in many years. ”

"Oh, I don't know much about Vicchia, let him inquire for you next time Mr. Martin goes."

Seeing Jill get better, Ruona was very happy, and she told Jill that now many wealthy gentlemen have cooperated with the White Pigeon Exchange, and these people will hand over the goods produced to the White Pigeon Exchange, so that the exchange will be responsible for transporting them to the dock and contacting the source of goods to sell to the south.

The purchase price of the White Pigeon Exchange is very reasonable, and it does not lower the purchase price, and the gentry only need to produce the goods and have the exchange people come to collect them, although there are still a few gentry who covet the profits of doing business on the dock, but it is no longer a concentrated challenge force.

Now on the docks, the Nord merchants are nominally neutral, but they are still biased towards the Kugit in their actions.

The goods that the merchants of Kugit or Salander had their eye on were easy to buy, while the Swadian buyers were often troubled in every way.

Most of the Nords were also happy to see the Swadias being taught a hard lesson by the Kujits, so the medicines, weapons, and food purchased by the Kugits had a smooth ride, while Swadia could only get things of poor quality and high price.

If the Svadians wanted grain, then the Nords would take out the grain that had been aged in the storehouse for a long time and perfunctory the Svadians;

If the Swadians asked for medicine, the Nords would make the Swadians pay a deposit, and then delay the delivery time again and again;

When the Svadias wanted to buy the Nord's fine tomahawks or chain mail, the Nords would spread their hands: "Sorry, I sold it to the Kujits".

The prejudice is so strong that the mayor has always kept a low profile about the news, not letting Jill know. Because the mayor vaguely knows that Jill seems to have a good relationship with Swadia, and Jill is also quite indifferent to Kugit during the conversation.

The new leader of the gentry--- the old man who had suffered some bad luck some time ago, no longer had the energy to deal with business matters. The poor old man took care of the business, and then recruited a few nephews to help take over.

Ivan told Jill that the young men were swingers, and that the business was a mess, and that the old man's business would be a mess in a few years.

Jill just said, "Got it."

Now it's very profitable to do a wool business in a small town.

The pastures near the North Sea are suitable for animal husbandry, and the wool produced here is also of the highest quality on the mainland, and every year the Nord people export a large number of wool and cashmere products. Influenced by this product, the textile industry of the Nord people is also outstanding, almost comparable to its counterparts in the Swadiasuno region.

On the one hand, this is due to the fact that the textile industry in the North Sea region was already based on the Swadiya people; On the other hand, it is true that this place is blessed with a unique climate, and in the time of Kallad, the North Sea was also known as the Wool Coast.

In Fandra, a good craftsman can sew a piece of leather armor in a day, which consumes seven whole sheepskins.

The cost of this armor was about thirty silver coins, but when it was sold to the Swadians, the Nords often asked for more than a hundred silver coins.

For the armor sold to the Kujits, the Nords would add a layer of wool felt lining to it. And for the Swadians, it was just a mess with rags.

The design of this Nord armor is excellent, and it is said to have been the design of a Swadian lord in the south--- which was invented by that lord during the North Sea War many years ago.

That lord responded to the call of the country that year and actively prepared for the war for most of the year. In that process, the lord and his own craftsmen carefully analyzed the leather armor of the countries of the continent, and thus summed up a complete set of armor-making techniques, and finally produced hundreds of sets of exquisitely crafted armor.

Later, due to coincidence, this batch of armor was finally peacefully received by a group of lucky Nord soldiers, which can be regarded as making the best use of things.

It was this armor that inspired the Nord armor builders. Thanks to these improvements, the Nord craftsmen now produce armor that rivals the Svadia armor of the past.

In fact, aside from prejudice, the exchange between Svadia and Nord is still very meaningful, and a Nord expert once said, "By studying the Swadian armor-making technology, our craft has advanced for at least ten years."

This spirit of learning is very common in Nord, and the Nords' skillful learning skills and imitation techniques are a big headache for Swadiaans, "Hell, as long as our soldiers fight the Nords a few times, those Nords will make a comeback in the same armor"

Shortly after Jona left, Martin arrived.

"Sir," Martin told Jill outside the door, "I brought you the Swadians you want to see." ”

"Well, let them come."

Martin beckoned a few people outside, who looked at the small room suspiciously, and then sat down on a few stools in the doorway.

"A few gentlemen have worked hard from afar," said Jill inside, "it's not that I'm neglecting you, it's just that I'm still sick and can't come out to see you."

"It's okay," said a Swadia man, his face a little worried, "but I've heard you can provide us with enough, don't you?" ”

"Well, we can provide you with whatever you want. My people have been watching you for many days, you have been at the dock for more than a month, but there seems to be no progress, if I am not wrong, you have not yet arrived'''".

Several Swadians looked at each other, thinking that this person had already been eyeing him, and the asking price must be very fierce now.

"We don't have to say that," said one Swadiya cautiously, "we already have enough goods, but we hope to stay here and promote trade with Guigang, so that we can cooperate for a long time in the future." I have observed here a regrettable phenomenon that the Nords seem to be very intent on helping the Kujits, which I don't think makes sense for a good merchant, who should only focus on gold coins, and everything else is a distraction. ”

"Well, if the merchant only cares about gold coins," said Jill lightly, "it would be a tragedy." ”

"Hehe, sir, I'm just saying my own thoughts, and you're not wrong at all," the Swadian laughed dryly, "well, sir, let me tell you plainly, that what we need now is mainly food and weapons and as much armor as possible. If you can get your hands on these things, we can buy them in large quantities, and if the price is reasonable, I'm sure we're going to work together more than just this one. ”

"Grain? We have heard that the Sunoye region is the largest granary on the mainland, and that there is no war there, and even if the whole of Eastern Svadia falls, Svadia should not be short of food, right? ”

"Sir," said the Swadia man, "I am only a small purchaser, and I am only responsible for transporting goods back to Swadia, and I do not know why I bought them. ”

The purchaser was right, he was just carrying out the tasks assigned to him by his superiors.

In the midst of the war, Duke Harlaus has been busy with tension.

The Duke obtained the royal court's purchasing rights through several councils of the nobility, which allowed Haraus to allocate large sums of money each year to buy everything the country needed. In normal times, this amount of money is quite difficult to use, and it has to pass layers of audits, and there is a limit on the amount. But it's not the same in times of war. Duke Haraus vigorously simplified the conditions for review, and at the same time allocated a large amount of money to purchase war resources--- including food, textiles, medicines, etc., which were not lacking in Svadia.

There was a customs inspector who once wrote to the royal family. The upright young man claimed that the Duke of Haraus often offered a hundred gold coins, but in the end he bought something worth only more than eighty gold coins, and that many of the purchase plans were very useless.

The royal family did not reply to the customs inspector, because the royal family's internal and external communications had been controlled by Harlaus's men.

Soon the inspector was transferred. It was later discovered that he had been transferred to the mountains as a forester.

Of course, Jill had no way of knowing these things, he only saw that the writing was strange, and he was a little puzzled by the Swadian procurement plan.

Gil finally sent the Swadians away, telling them to go back and wait for notice.

Seeing off these guests, Martin came over curiously and asked, "Sir, I don't understand, anyway, there is money to be made, what can I do if I sell it to the Swadians?" I don't think this battle will last long, it is said that Sunocheng can mobilize tens of thousands of men at once, and the Kugit people can't gnaw such hard bones. ”

"Uh-huh," Jill nodded approvingly, "I expected the same as you, Mr. Martin." But whether or not to sell Swadian stuff is really not something that a merchant wants to do. Didn't you hear the businessman say? For a good businessman, doing business is doing business. But now doing business with the Svadians is risky, and King Nord seems to be neutral, but everyone knows what King Nord is thinking, and of course his officials will think the same way. Now the real weakness is the Kugit side, and only by vigorously supporting Kugit will this war continue. And every weapon, every bag of grain, and every piece of armor given to Swadia is shortening the time of the war, and King Nord will not tolerate the war ending early because of his help, which determines that we can have business with the Svadians, but it is absolutely impossible to have it on the same scale as with the Kujits. ”

"How do the merchants know what King Nord thinks?"

"Haha, the mayor of the town has held so many business meetings these days, can those merchants who are as cunning as fish not hear what the mayor means?"

"So what do we do?"

"The Swadians give whatever they want."

"Huh? That''"

"Well, Mr. Martin, the mayor is also a businessman, he just doesn't allow anyone to do business with the Swadias."

"Understood".

"Go for it".

On the noisy docks of Fandra, countless packed goods began to be piled up on the shore, and the dock workers were packing the ship little by little.

At this time, the autumn is getting stronger and the temperature is gradually decreasing, but the pier does not seem to be affected.

Every evening, the dock workers gather in the newly built tavern on the docks. Around the port of Fendla, more and more builders, masons, and carpenters began to appear, and it seemed to be a large construction site again: large areas of shops, warehouses, and residential areas began to be planned and built, and the wharf became a powerful heart, which was pumping the blood of vitality into the whole land.

The Swadias got the goods they wanted from Gil, and the waterline of their pot-bellied merchant ships gradually fell. Finally, one day, the Swadian merchant happily told Jill that "it is time to go back home".

"Thank you for helping us a lot. Your prices are very reasonable, and I think I'll bring you new business when I go back. ”

Jill's illness is almost completely cured.

For the first time in a long time, Jill walked out of the room.

The afternoon sun was warm and dry, Jill took a deep breath of fresh air that had not been seen for a long time, looked at the small courtyard shining in the sun, and felt a burst of comfort coming from all around.

Jill smiled and said to the Swadian merchant,

"These goods are my heart, not just for you".

Gilles paused,

"Even more to Svadia".