"Sir Mark, welcome to Hawksbill Island!"

Samwell stood at the mouth of the valley and gave the knight of the House of Murendal from Highland City a hug.

The two are also old acquaintances.

"Lord Caesar!" Mark Mulendale looked at Samwell with excitement and adoration in his eyes.

He had seen the young baron rise from a down-and-out pioneer knight to a champion knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

And that took less than a year.

Returning from King's Landing, Sir Mark remembers the comical look on his father's face when he told his father, Viscount Martin, about the grand occasion of the King's Landing tournament.

Of course, then Viscount Martin came to his senses and immediately sent his son to Hawksbill Island, just for one thing-

Asking for debt.

In order to support Samwell's development, Viscount Martin sent all the craftsmen and apprentices in Highland City, and in return, Samwell promised to return the craftsmen and apprentices after one year, as well as ten times the rental money.

In fact, when Viscount Martin found out that Samwell had not started the so-called piracy business, he felt that he might have been deceived.

But Nian Zai has already been sent out, and he can't call them all back directly, so he won't break the contract and get no compensation.

Moreover, after all, Hawksbill Island can produce brandy and silver, and with these two things, Viscount Martin is not too worried that Samwell will not be able to pay back.

This time, when I heard that Samwell had won the spear championship in the jousting tournament and won a huge reward of 40,000 gold dragons, Viscount Martin couldn't help but send his son to test it-

The one-year lease period is also coming up, is it possible to pay back?

Samwell also seemed to have guessed Mark's intentions, and without mentioning the matter of paying back the money, he dragged him around the territory, drank and bragged, and showed him his collection of "Dragon's Treasure".

"Lord Caesar." Mark finally couldn't help but say, "Actually, I'm here this time for the contract between the two of us, and you must know that there are only two weeks left before the agreed one-year period, so ......"

"Really? So fast? I almost forgot. Samwell laughed, "But, since you mentioned it, I'm going to confess something to you." ”

"What's the matter?"

Samwell spread his hands: "I can't afford to pay the rent." ”

Hearing such a crisp and straightforward answer, Mark was stunned in place for three seconds before he reacted, and then exclaimed:

"Impossible! Master Caesar, you're kidding me, aren't you? The champion reward of the spear competition is 40,000 gold dragons! ”

"They're all here." Samwell pointed to the "dragon treasures" piled up in front of him.

Mark's face suddenly became extremely complicated, as if he wanted to laugh, and as if he was distressed, and he said for a long time:

"Lord Caesar! You've been scammed! ”

"How could it be. These are treasures that I bought at great expense from the good merchants of King's Landing, and they are worth a fortune. Or maybe not. Samwell looked reluctant, "If you fancy any of them, I can give them to you, even if the rent is deducted." ”

"I don't want any of them." Mark shook his head, "I just want the golden dragon." ”

"There is no golden dragon." Samwell said very humiliatingly, "If you don't believe it, you can find it in the castle yourself, and it's all yours to find it." ”

Mark was speechless for a moment, and only after a long time did he say: "Then it's okay to pay with silver deer, there will never be no silver in your territory, right?" ”

"Then I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while." Samwell said, "My realm is currently financed by that silver mine. Before the silver deer could be minted and cooled, it was carved up by those damn suppliers. Ah, Sir Mark, I am really poor! ”

Mark became more and more helpless, but he still took out a roll of parchment from his bosom and said, "Lord Caesar, you can't do this." We have signed a contract, you see, under the witness of the Seven Gods! ”

"I understand." Samwell said with a serious face, "Don't worry, I will never break my word. ”

Mark breathed a sigh of relief: "So you're going to pay it back, right?" ”

"Nope. I'm really out of money. Samwell shook his head slowly, then made an extremely heartbroken expression, gritted his teeth, and said, "So, I have to let you take the collateral." ”

"Collateral?" Mark looked down at the contract in his hand again, "Dock? ”

"Yes. Since you can't afford to pay back the money, you can take the wharf on Eagle's Beak Island. ”

Mark suddenly had a bad premonition, because the last time he came to Hawksbill Island, he clearly saw that there was nothing on the pier, only a bare trestle bridge......

"Can I go see that pier?"

"Of course." Samwell immediately led the way, "Please follow me." ”

When Mark actually saw the so-called dock with his own eyes, he was completely dumbfounded.

"Kai, Kai, Caesar, my lord, that's what you call yards, docks?" Poor Sir Mark couldn't even speak.

"Yes, according to the contract, I can't pay back the money, you can take this dock."

"No way!" Mark was really angry this time, "Lord Caesar, you are deliberately playing tricks on us!" ”

Samwell pointed to the contract in Mark's hand and said lightly:

"It's written in black and white, it's clearly written. What did I do to you? This contract was agreed to by Viscount Martin himself, but I did not force him to sign it. ”

"I, I, I ......" Mark looked at his father's signature on it, and didn't know what to say.

Samwell saw that the other party's face turned red, and finally laughed:

"Well, I'll be kidding you, Sir Mark, don't take it seriously."

Mark was overjoyed: "You're scared me to death, Lord Caesar!" So you'll pay it back, right? ”

"I really don't have any money." Samwell shrugged, and before Mark could get angry, he said again, "Still, there are quite a few people. ”

"What do you mean?" Mark's face changed again.

"Follow me." Samwell beckoned.

Confused and angry, Mark followed.

The two of them walked along the beach, and soon Mark heard the sound of neat slogans, and at the same time saw the soldiers training on the beach.

"Sir Mark, what do you think of my soldiers?" Samwell gestured to the team that was training ahead.

"Well trained." Mark complimented.

For the young baron's military attainments in front of him, Mark still recognizes it, after all, the other party has a series of brilliant achievements there.

"Well, that's what I just said." Samwell smiled slightly: "I really don't have you asking me for money, and since you are not willing to take the dock according to the contract, then, I will give you one more choice, soldier." ”

"Soldiers? You mean, exchanging soldiers for craftsmen? ”

"That's pretty much it." Samwell explained, "You can think of it as a mercenary, a mercenary from Hawkspew.

I'm in charge of their training, their weapons, their pay, they're fighting for Highland City, and the Murundale family is just in charge of feeding them. I can rent the same number of soldiers to you, and as long as the craftsmen are still in Eagle's Beak, these mercenaries will stay in Highland City to fight for the Murundal family.

What do you think? If we agree, we can sign a new contract immediately. ”

"Mercenaries?" Mark was lost in thought.

This is actually a plan that Samwell has been thinking about for a long time, and he is going to make Eagle's Beak Island a mercenary export area.

The reason why he did this was also a helpless move after seeing the population of his territory skyrocket.

Hawksbill Island was too barren to farm, and brandy brewing and silver mining alone couldn't fully absorb that much labor, so Samwell had to find a way to export it.

But in fact, in this world where there is almost no secondary and tertiary industry, there is a surplus of labor, which is why there are so many landless homeless people and beggars. Samwell wanted to export labor, but he couldn't find a pick-up.

Since labor could not be exported directly, Samwell thought of another way - the export of force.

The savages in the territory were originally hunting for a living, and they obviously had a higher military quality than the farmers who farmed, as long as they were given weapons and equipment, and then trained, they were qualified professional soldiers.

There is no shortage of war on the continent of Westeros, and as long as there is a war, there will always be a need for soldiers.

The fact that there are so many mercenary groups large and small active today is proof of this.

So Samwell planned to gradually arm the large number of wildlings in the territory and let them go out to serve as mercenaries.

First, you can earn commissions, and secondly, you can use this way to train your own reserve army.

If Samwell needs it in the future, he can call these mercenaries back and fight for himself.

Of course, he also knew that the loyalty of the mercenaries cultivated in this way would definitely not be as good as the standing army in the territory, but with the current situation in Eagle's Beak, once the size of the standing army exceeded 1,000 people, the financial pressure would become extremely great, so Samwell could only sacrifice some quality and loyalty for the sake of quantity.

However, Samwell also took some measures to increase the loyalty of these mercenaries.

For example, the families of these mercenaries all stay in Eagle's Beak Island, such as arranging trusted people to be officers, such as insisting that they pay these mercenaries their salaries and pensions, such as brainwashing them to make them believe that they are their masters, the princes in the prophecy, and so on.

In fact, as long as Samwell's strength continues to expand and his fame continues to rise, the appeal to these scattered mercenaries will also increase.

Of course, these mercenaries can only be used as auxiliaries at all times, and the real core army is still the standing army in the territory, which Samwell is well aware of.

"Sir Mark, what do you think of my proposal?" Seeing that the other party was silent for a long time, Samwell opened his mouth to urge.

He believed that Mark would agree to his new terms, unless the other party was willing to take the broken dock.

"I need to go back and talk to my father." Mark didn't make up his mind after all.

"Yes." Samwell smiled, "I'm sure Viscount Martin will approve of my new plan, after all, the pace of war is near." ”

(End of chapter)