Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

The finished paper that the craftsmen have worked hard on is the kind of paper that merchants hold in their hands. From a modern perspective, it is definitely not very good, but it can be written normally and can be produced relatively simply. Orwell is already very Satisfied, he even generously gave each craftsman a bounty of one hundred dinars.

Judging from the appearance alone, they would never guess that this kind of paper was made of bark, so Orville graciously allowed them to take it home and try it out, and then think carefully about giving Orville a final answer.

He offered these businessmen an "unbelievable low price" and promised that as long as they cooperated with him, he would provide them with new paper at this price. These businessmen were thinking that no one would give Orville an answer on the spot, so they just took it. Paper leaves.

——

A few days later, in a luxuriously decorated bathroom in Rome, Nerva's servant was reading to him a new history book written by Procopius.

Since Orville arrived in Rome, the servant has been reading it on and off for almost two weeks. Now he has read the part where Orville conquered the Viking leader [Ivar the Boneless], and the whole book has come to an end.

After patiently listening to the servant read a few more words, Nerva said kindly: "Go down, that's it for today."

The servant, who was obviously a Greek, bowed slightly to Nerva, and then left with the book in his arms. Only the servant responsible for serving and a few of Nerva's companions were left on the scene.

He is a senator, so of course the people he associates with are almost all senators. These people all have some prestige and status within the Senate system.

One of them said: "The adopted son Vespa took in is indeed quite capable. At least he has a good ability to recognize people. I heard that the person who wrote the book was a provincial he found from a civilian area. It's not that I look down on people from other provinces. , but they are indeed much intellectually inferior to the natives.

It seems that his name is Procopius. He is from the province of Palphi, and he is also from the same hometown as His Highness Orville. I have to admit that his literary talent is quite good. "

Another senator disagreed: "I think it's just average. At most, it's easy to understand, simple and straightforward, so-so. Obviously he's not good at rhetoric. He can only speak out words, but he doesn't have much appeal and persuasion. From this point of view, this is an unqualified promotional book.”

Nerva replied: "Instead of paying attention to this scholar named Procopius, it is better to pay attention to what His Highness Orville and His Highness Tiya have done. This has an impact on our plan. What do you think? Woolen cloth?"

The elder who spoke first heard the words and replied: "Since Vesper has adopted Orville as his adopted son, it means that his ability is at least worthy of recognition in Vesper's eyes. You have to admit that Vesper's performance in recent years I have a very accurate vision and have never missed a bet, including the matter of His Highness Orville. If he were a Roman, I would have no objection to him anyway. On the contrary, he should be good as an emperor, at least better than the tyrant Nero and Claudius. The indecisive guy is much stronger.

As for Your Highness Tiya, you all know that if she were not a woman, we would be eager to make her the emperor. Her only shortcoming is her gender. If I have to say it, it may be considered too soft-hearted. Nothing else matters. "

"That's true. If you ask me, it seems good now. Although the Flavius ​​dynasty does not have the blood of Augustus, it did not do anything wrong. Both Vespa and his children are responsible." Another person The elder agreed.

Nerva smiled and shook his head: "It makes sense, but sometimes being too responsible may not be a good thing. I found that Her Highness Tia seems to be quite repulsive to those luxuries from the East. She agrees with Lord Pliny's statement , believes that we export hundreds of millions of sesterces (a type of Roman copper coins) to the East every year. This is a huge waste and extravagant enjoyment and should be banned.

I think if she comes to power, she will probably double the tariffs. In addition, Her Majesty Tia and Her Majesty Orville have a characteristic. They don't seem to care about us orthodox citizens living in Rome. "

These remarks did not arouse much resonance from everyone. Only one senator also complained: "His Majesty Vespa also has a problem. His origin makes him completely unable to understand the beauty of culture. He has no understanding of drama, Poetry, sculpture, painting and other arts are not popular. The Muses have nothing to do with him. His recent repressive policies against the Greeks have made our relationship with the Greeks too cold. I want to invite artists to perform. It's very laborious, even getting new scripts over there is a little laborious.

This is not good for the unity of the empire. Let’s not mention our cultural and spiritual pursuits. The Greek language and the Greeks in the Eastern Province are no less influential than the Romans and Latin. The relationship with them has become too stiff, tsk tsk tsk. "

What he said was reasonable, but Nerva actually knew very well that the senator was dissatisfied with Vespa's suppressive policies on the Greek provinces. These policies affected his income in the Greek provinces, and at the same time, many Greeks The artist gave him pillow talk, which made him quite dissatisfied with Vespa.

Nerva found that the senators were not very interested in this kind of topic, so he did not continue talking. Instead, he changed the topic. The senators started chatting again, discussing where the food was the most interesting and delicious, and where the cloth was the most delicate and the most delicious. fine.

——

Turn back to Orville, he also got the response from the merchants. In the end, only two families were willing to accept Orville's proposal. He was not angry. He invited another group of people from his list. Finally, he gathered five bookmaking workshops of decent scale. He merged these workshops to form a new giant workshop, and then he asked these people to start making books without stopping.

The first target was Orville's own marching log "The British War", which was needed for his political propaganda. Then there were some well-known "classic old books", such as "Iliad", "Aeneid", "Symposium", "Gallic War" and so on. There was no clear intellectual property law in those days, and books were extremely expensive. He sold these books at a low price, and basically had no worries about sales.

Soon, people all over Rome would probably know that Orville had made a low-cost paper by some unknown method, and then a large number of businessmen and even elders would come to inquire about the commercial secrets of this core technology, but unfortunately, at least in the next few years, they would definitely be disappointed.