Mercenaries and Adventurers

When Knight Crowe made this request, the three caravan stewards in front of him looked at each other in blank dismay.

However, although the maps used internally by each chamber of commerce are valuable information, they are generally not copied. But at this moment, facing a knight from another place, the steward who just presented the map could not refuse.

He changed his mind, since he couldn't refuse, why not get closer?

As soon as he thought about it, his complexion immediately changed. A smile piled up on his face that was slightly displeased, and he immediately greeted his subordinates with a cheerful voice: "Push head! Open the No. 3 box in the cargo, and bring a roll of parchment to Lord Knight! "

An ugly young man responded, although he was puzzled and didn't know what the boss meant, but he just did it. The young man returned to his carriage, untied the rope tied to the cargo box, picked and picked inside, and took out a roll of off-white sheepskin.

After receiving the parchment, the steward smiled and handed it to Kiel with both hands, but turned his head to Knight Crowe and said, "My lord, please use the parchment from our chamber of commerce. Don't bother you to look elsewhere to buy it."

Keir raised his eyebrows: "How much?"

He hasn't practiced his face enough yet, so he asked about the price.

The businessman waved his hand: "Sponsored, sponsored. Hehe."

The knight exhaled a puff of air from his nose, and then hummed in a low voice with unknown meaning, but he didn't reject the man.

Kiel saw that the Cavaliers had no objection, so he accepted it. He found a place where the campfire was shining brightly, squatted down and started working.

Merchant Orobi has a pen and ink for writing on his body, although he gave it to Kiel to use. Kiel unfolded the map of other people's chambers of commerce, and then unfolded the much larger parchment scroll. Using the dagger as a scale to determine the size, he began to enlarge and draw the content on the map onto the parchment scroll.

-

On the other hand, Knight Crowe brought the topic back to the fact that these local businessmen followed the army and took advantage of them.

This time the form was different. The caravan steward who had the map copied and the parchment presented uncharacteristically followed the words of Knight Crowe. After a few words, he talked about the fact that they, the merchants, provided compensation to the Kendalls. Things come up.

The other two stewards wanted to interrupt, but they were afraid that interrupting would cause dissatisfaction among the knights, so they muttered inwardly, hesitating, and only begged their companions not to give them too high a price for the opportunity.

They were obviously overthinking. They were all businessmen who had been doing business all year round. Although the caravan steward who flattered Knight Crow seemed to sell everyone, he obviously wanted to take a way of retreating to reduce costs.

"My lord, do you think this is good? Please set a total price according to the size of the caravan we are following, and then the three of us, which are the three relatively large companies you see now, will act as representatives to contact the other caravans that follow us." Small caravan, share the total price together. Will the money be handed over to you tomorrow evening?"

"Is there someone who is unwilling to pay? Also, do you have the ability to ask for money?" The businessman Ou Luobi stood behind Knight Crowe and asked.

What Ouluo must ask is also the doubts of the Knights of Crowe. They are all caravans from all over the world. Why should those small caravans hand over the money to the three of them, right?

Facing the question from the Kendal people, the caravan steward smiled confidently: "This is our business, no matter whether we can ask other small caravans for money tomorrow, we will give you enough money .”

Seeing that the other party was very confident, Knight Crowe, who was not very interested in this, nodded and agreed: "Let's do it this way, you worry about your affairs yourself. After all, we are not locals, so it's good if you come forward. So, What do you guys think should be the price for the promised caravan to follow our army?"

"this?"

Speaking of the key point, the three chambers of commerce were a little hesitant, and they didn't know what price to give. Of course, it would be best if it was less. But when you think about it, you know it's impossible. After all, following an army that won't try to eat them up, not to mention safety, but how many troubles can be avoided implicitly, this is very important for the three perennial merchants. As far as the steward is concerned, they couldn't be more clear.

Similar to a fox pretending to be a tiger, before the Kendal army arrived in the southern provinces, following such an army, using the name of the other party, large and small caravans could save too much trouble.

For example: First of all, it can reduce or even completely avoid the looting of horse bandits on the grassland. Secondly, the greedy lords and soldiers in some towns on the commercial roads can also pay less unreasonable transit taxes by relying on the power of the army.

When the Kendal army accepts them to follow, it also means that the Kendal will shelter those who follow them.

Although there is a limit.

But what these merchants want is this limit, and they are really protected in every way. They themselves are worried about whether the army will wipe out the caravan.

In the end, it was the merchant Orobi who proposed a plan, that is, to calculate a total price according to the number of people and vehicles following the caravan.

Immediately, according to the plan proposed by Orobi, the three caravans began to calculate how much they should pay.

Forget it, they communicated secretly and felt that it was worthwhile, so they agreed to this rough plan.

At the same time, Kiel also copied the front and back of the map. He moved so fast, and the overall accuracy and neatness of the natural map were average, but after all, it was in a rough wild environment, and he couldn't do it even if he wanted to copy it accurately, so he just made it simple.

After all, they were not going to fight in the western provinces, they were just passing by, so the accuracy of the map was not high, and it didn't matter much.

"My lord, the map has been transcribed." Kiel handed the parchment map to Knight Crowe, and he himself returned the caravan's map to him.

The knight unfolded the parchment, looked at it carefully, and felt that there was nothing wrong with it. Naturally, it was not accurate enough for combat, but it was more than enough if it was just passing through the southern provinces along the trade route.

Relying on this map, there is no problem at all in traveling through most of the western provinces of the kingdom.

"Very good Keir, let's go now." After finishing speaking, Knight Crowe got on his horse, and before leaving, he said to the three local businessmen who were looking at him: "I will send someone to carefully count the people who are following me during the day tomorrow. The size of the caravan, remember to hand over the money tomorrow night."

The knight waved his hand and took Kiel and the others away from here.

When the Kendall people walked away, the stewards of the other two caravans pulled the steward who was so courteous to the three caravans: "What happened just now? Why did you take the initiative to hand over your money to the other party?"

"I haven't done business a few times, but I lost a lot of coins first. According to the plan just now, each of us has to hand over dozens of gold coins. Hmph, what do you think?"

The steward of the caravan who was questioned by the two looked around and drove away the guys who were watching them and eavesdropping on them.

When the people around him walked away, he moved closer to them and said in a low voice: "Idiot, this kind of non-greedy army is rarely seen now. This is an opportunity, understand? Opportunity!"

"Chance?"

"what chance?"

"It's a fool to say that it's really a fool. Only we know this plan, and the other people in the small caravan don't know the calculation price inside. How much each person will cost tomorrow, and how much each carriage will cost, it's not up to us to say Forget it? If you ask for more, those people will not really dare to confront the knights and ask them."

The steward rubbed his fingers while talking, and smiled triumphantly.

The other two were not as bold as him, and dared to hit the local small businessmen with their ideas. But as soon as this method of 'making money' appeared at the moment, they made some calculations in their minds and became interested.

The three of them hit it off immediately, and immediately asked someone to take out a pen and paper to start calculating. The extent of the 'price increase' was the biggest benefit those small caravans were willing to pay, and they could earn.

After the calculation, several people found out that this is really not a small amount of money. If there are other caravans joining on the way to the southern provinces at this time, the larger the caravan they join, the more people they will earn. The 'price difference' is actually more.

-

The next day, the army continued to march.

But at noon, Keir was called by Knight Crowe, and asked him to ride a horse and lead a group of soldiers and several clerks to count the local caravans behind the army.

This was obviously to confirm the action of yesterday's plan. Keir understood, so he led the people back in the opposite direction.

Soon, after passing by the dwindling military caravans of his own county, Kiel came face to face with the growing local merchants.

Compared with the three relatively large caravans last night, these people who joined many small caravans during the day had a lot more people and vehicles.

The caravans in the western provinces are different from the caravans in the northwestern provinces, or in Kendall County. Their vehicles are basically pulled by pack horses, and there are basically no donkeys or mules in sight. This is also caused by the local situation in the western provinces. Compared with other places, the maintenance cost of local horses is not high.

Especially in seasons other than winter. Even in winter, there is an unlimited supply of hay that is dried and stacked in autumn, and the cost of raising horses is very low.

But it is different in other places. Even if the western provinces export horses, it is difficult for other kingdom provinces to afford large-scale horse breeding.

The army counts separately.

Keir overheard Baron Kendall and the two knights discussing the establishment of a small cavalry unit in the county more than once during meals. Even the baron's own guards are all equipped with horses.

In this regard, the two knights have different attitudes.

Knight Rumi desperately hoped that the baron would establish such a cavalry force, even if the number was small, it could effectively help his territory deter the surrounding noble lords.

Because his territory is not on the traditional Kendall border on the north side of Bingxun Pass, but is separated from Yinyulin Village by a whole mountain, and the connection with the county even has to go south to detour through Bingxun Pass.

Knight Rumi also hoped that the baron could organize a group of people to open up a road in the mountains from Bingxun Pass to the west, so that he could get quick support from the cavalry.

The Crowe Knights do not recommend the establishment of cavalry.

Although Baron Kendall had deep conflicts with the Lord Earl, the owner of the Northwest Province, the situation was not at odds at this time, and there was no need to set up a cavalry unit to stimulate the other party.

On the contrary, Knight Crowe suggested that no matter what the baron does at this time, it depends on their aid to the southern border war and see what direction they need to strengthen in this battle.

It's great to have a cavalry unit directly under him, but the baron himself doesn't have the wind to blow his money.

Kendall County has limited productivity and resources must be directed where they are truly needed, especially where they will help in future conflicts.

The baron listened to the opinions of the two of them repeatedly, and finally put the matter on hold for the time being.

When the clerk, accompanied by the militiamen, counted the size of the caravan passing by by the roadside, Kiel thought about these things repeatedly.

"Are you the soldier next to Knight Crowe yesterday?"

Someone suddenly asked in Kiel's ear. He looked over, and it turned out to be the caravan steward who was so courteous yesterday.

At this time, the other party was rubbing his hands and looking up at him, a little hesitant and cautious.

Kiel lifted the helmet visor: "Yes, you are right, but I was wearing iron armor yesterday and hard leather armor today, how did you recognize it?"

The other party rubbed their hands: "Haha, a little secret. By the way, we counted the size of the following caravan this morning, and recorded it here. You can read this."

Kiel twitched his lips, and took a piece of paper handed over by the other party. It was filled with the names and sizes of the various caravans, as well as the calculation of the payable money.

Kiel glanced at the total at the end, and found that it was as high as more than 500 gold coins! Only then did he take a closer look.

It turned out that Oulobi's plan was relatively rough. Each person in the caravan had to pay five silver coins, and each carriage was three gold coins. Among them, the type and weight of the goods are not counted, and only these two are used to calculate the cost.

But I didn't expect this, the total price is so much.

He looked carefully and found out where the problem was.

It turns out that in terms of the number of caravans, the caravan guards employed by each caravan are also included in the number of caravans. In this way, the manpower of the caravan has been doubled. Some caravans do not know what valuable things are being transported , If you hire more guards, you will pay a lot more at this time.

As for the carriage, the large cart and traveling carriage are also counted together. One of the convoys carrying noble family members accounted for the majority, and there were also a lot of guards in this convoy, which naturally raised the final total price severely.

It was a lot of money, and Keel thought it was okay. But if you can't, you can only win the trust of one side, especially if you are an outsider. So Kiel just nodded, and then put away the paper full of writing, preparing to compare it with the data recorded by the clerks later.

"Please wait a moment, I have to look at our records again." Keel explained.

"Should be, should be. But I believe that the data of the two must be consistent. Please believe in the integrity and integrity of a believer in the God of Wealth here." Emblem, said solemnly.

Keir nodded perfunctorily. He had never dealt with the priests of the Church of the God of Wealth before, and he didn't know anything about it.

If it was the God of Forging and the God of Saturn, he quite believed in these two church members.

As for believers, please, not priests, anyone can become a certain believer, let alone the church of the God of Wealth.

-

After waiting for a while, after the scattered and chaotic caravans passed by, the clerks made a final calculation and brought over the data.

Comparing the two phases, except for some discrepancies in the number of people, the data are basically the same.

As for the difference in the number of people, it is obvious that some people are inside the carriage at this time, and they are counting outside, which is obviously invisible. The difference is here.

After the data came out, Kiel led his men forward quickly, overtook the following caravan from the weeds by the roadside, and returned to the army.

But before leaving, the businessman stopped Kiel.

"Young man, I don't know if you northerners know something, but I still have to remind you." The businessman said.

Keir blinked: "You can just say it, I'm listening."

The businessman pointed to the sky: "I have to remind you, depending on the situation in the sky, there will be continuous rain in spring in the past two days. Once the rain rains, it will not stop until the master of the sky is willing to stop. Tell your knight , To be prepared for rain, and after the rain, the problem of hindering the march.”

Keir glanced at the sky, and it was indeed as the other party said, there were more and more cloudy clouds over the past two days, when he left the chasing army from Grass Rat Town, there were still patches of clouds, but yesterday, it was all over his head. The rainy clouds that cover the sky in the positive film, the amount of rain and the scale are obviously not small.

This is a problem.

"Thanks, I will remind Lord Crow and Lord Baron." Kiel said, and then led the people forward.

When camping against a village that night, the three caravan stewards I met yesterday brought more than 20 guards ~www.readwn.com~ to the Kendal army camp carrying a small box.

The neatly distributed tents and carriage campfires in the barracks amazed the merchants and guards. After all, their camp was too simple and chaotic in comparison.

Moreover, the soldiers in the barracks did not run around. Each team basically only gathered at the door of their own tent to talk and practice martial arts. Moreover, there were well-dressed soldiers patrolling the barracks under the leadership of better soldiers. The defense was obviously very tight.

The caravan guards also noticed that there were distant sentries hidden on the roofs of some carriages, and the defenses were far more than those on the surface.

In the middle of the camp, outside the tents of the three nobles, the local merchants handed over the collected money. Only then did they meet the real master of this army, a baron lord in a remote northern border area.

However, the army and power seen in his eyes showed that this lord was not what ordinary people thought. The Northwest Province or the border areas were full of poor people and shabby lords.

The opponent is obviously very powerful and powerful. Not only does he have the strength to go to the southern border to support the army against the neighboring country, but he is also far superior to ordinary nobles in terms of dress and pomp.

In particular, Baron Kendall's shimmering magical accessories of various colors blinded the eyes of several knowledgeable businessmen.

Therefore, when the three of them talked to the baron, they were a little too courteous.

So, after the clerks finished counting the gold coins in the wooden box, the baron immediately waved his hand and sent the locals out of the barracks.

"Are all the merchants in these western provinces like this? Weird."

The baron spoke to the two knights.

"Perhaps, they know the goods." Knight Crowe glanced at the various magical weapons and accessories that the baron had specially worn before, and said with a grin.