Mercenaries and Adventurers

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

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

He then thought, since he couldn't refuse, why not get closer?

As soon as his thoughts changed, his expression immediately changed. A smile appeared on his originally slightly unhappy face, and he immediately called his subordinates in a cheerful voice: "Puthead! Open the No. 3 box in the cargo and bring a roll of parchment to the Lord Knight! "

An ugly-looking young man responded. Although he was confused and didn't know what the boss meant, he just did as he was told. The young man returned to his carriage, untied the ropes tied to the cargo box, picked through it, and took out a roll of off-white sheepskin.

Taking the parchment, the steward smiled and handed the thing to Kil with both hands. He turned to Knight Crow and said, "Sir, please use the parchment from our Chamber of Commerce. I won't bother you to look for it elsewhere."

Keir raised his eyebrows: "How much?"

He hadn't developed a good sense of shame 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 did not refuse the man's action.

Seeing that the knight had no objection, Kiel accepted it. He found a bright place with a campfire, squatted down and started tinkering.

The businessman Ouluo Bi carries writing pen and ink on his body, although his hand is given to Kiel for use. Keir unfolded the map of other people's chamber of commerce, then unfolded the much larger parchment scroll, used the dagger as a scale to determine the size, and began to enlarge the content on the map and draw it onto the parchment scroll.

-

On the other side, Knight Crow returned to the topic of these local businessmen following the army and taking advantage of them.

This time the form was different. The caravan steward who had the map copied and the parchment presented to him uncharacteristically followed Knight Crow's words. In a few words, he talked about how they merchants provided compensation to the Kendal people. Things come up.

The other two stewards wanted to interrupt, but they were afraid of causing dissatisfaction among the knights by interrupting, so they mumbled and hesitated, begging their companions not to pay too high a price for their advantage.

They were obviously overthinking, as they were all businessmen who had been doing business all year round. Although the caravan manager who flattered Knight Crow seemed to have betrayed everyone, he obviously wanted to take a retreat to reduce costs.

"Sir, do you think this is good? Please set a total price based on the size of the caravan we are following. Then the three of us, the three larger ones you see now, will serve as representatives to contact the others who are following us. Little caravan, share the total price together. Will the money be handed over to you tomorrow evening?"

"Is there anyone who is unwilling to pay? Also, do you have the ability to get the money?" Businessman Ouluo Bi stood behind Knight Crow and interjected.

What Ouluobi asked was also the question of Knight Crow. They were all caravans from all over the world. Why should those small caravans give money to the three of them, right?

Facing the Kendall people's question, the caravan manager smiled confidently: "This is our business. No matter whether we can ask other small caravans for money tomorrow day, we will give you enough money." .”

Seeing that the other party was very confident, Knight Crow, who was not very interested in this, nodded and agreed: "Let's do it this way. You can worry about your own affairs. After all, we are not locals. It's good to have you come forward. So, What do you think the price for the caravan following our army should be?"

"this?"

Speaking of the key points, the three chamber of commerce managers were a little hesitant. They didn't know what price to give. Of course, it would be best if it was less. But thinking about it, I know it's impossible. After all, following an army that won't try to wipe them out, not only in terms of safety, but also in terms of hidden troubles, this is very important to the three people who have been doing business all year round. As far as managers are concerned, they know it all too well.

Similar to the way a fox fakes a tiger's power, before the Kendall army arrives in the southern provinces, following such an army and using the other party's name can save caravans of all sizes from too much trouble.

For example: First of all, the plundering of horse bandits on the grassland can be reduced or even completely eliminated. Secondly, greedy lords and soldiers in some towns on the trade routes could also use the power of the army to pay less unreasonable transit taxes.

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

Although there are limits.

But what these merchants want is this limit, and they should be protected in every aspect. They themselves are worried about whether the army will eat up the caravans.

Finally, businessman Ouluobi came up with a plan to calculate a total price based on the number of people and vehicles following the caravan.

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

After some calculation, they secretly communicated and felt that there was something to be gained, so they agreed to this rough plan.

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

After all, they were not fighting in the Western Province, they were just passing through, so the accuracy of the map was not high and it did not matter much.

"Sir, the map has been copied." Kil handed the parchment map to Knight Crow, while he returned the caravan's map to him.

The knight unfolded the parchment and looked at it carefully. He felt that there was nothing wrong with it. It was naturally not accurate enough for use in combat, but it was more than enough for just transiting along the trade route to the southern province.

Relying on this map, you can travel through most of the western provinces of the kingdom without any problem.

"Very well, Kil, let's go now." After saying that, Knight Crow got on his horse. Before leaving, he said to the three local businessmen who looked at him: "Tomorrow during the day, I will send someone to carefully count the people following behind. The size of the caravan, remember to hand over the money tomorrow night."

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

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

"I haven't done much business before, but I lost a lot of coins first. According to the plan just now, each of our families will have to hand over dozens of gold coins. Hmm, what do you think?"

The caravan steward who was being questioned by the two men looked around and drove away the guys who were looking at them and eavesdropping on their conversation.

When the people around him walked away, he leaned close to the two of them and whispered: "Idiot, this kind of non-greedy army is rarely seen now. This is an opportunity, do you understand? An opportunity!"

"Chance?"

"what chance?"

"You call me stupid, but you are really stupid. Only we know this plan, and the other people in the small caravan don't know the calculated price. How much does each person and each carriage cost tomorrow? It's not up to us to decide. Forget it? If you ask for too much, those people won't really dare to confront other knights and ask."

As the steward said this, he rubbed his fingers and smiled proudly.

The other two were not as bold as him, and they dared to target local small businessmen. But as soon as this 'making money' method appeared, they thought about it twice and became interested.

The three of them hit it off immediately, and immediately found someone to take out a pen and paper and start calculating how much the 'price increase' would be if the small caravans were willing to pay and the maximum profit they could earn.

After doing the math, a few people discovered that this was really not a small amount of money. If other caravans joined on the way to the southern province at this time, the larger the size of the caravan and the more people they joined, the more money they would earn by then. The 'price difference' is actually more.

-

The next day, the army continued to march.

But at noon, Kiel was called by Knight Crow and asked to ride a horse with a group of soldiers and several scribes to count the local caravans following 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 army caravan in his own county, which was gradually shrinking in size, Keir met the local merchants who were gradually increasing in size.

Compared with only three relatively large caravans last night, there were many more people and vehicles among the many small caravans that joined them during the day.

The traveling caravans in the Western Province are different from the caravans in the Northwest Province, or in other words, from the caravans 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 Province. 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 was different elsewhere. Even if the western provinces exported horses, it would be difficult for other kingdom provinces to afford large-scale horse breeding.

The military counts separately.

More than once, Keir heard Baron Kendall discussing with two knights during meals to establish a small cavalry force in the county. Even the baron's own guards are all equipped with horses.

In this regard, the two knights had different attitudes.

Knight Rumi urgently hopes that the baron will establish such a cavalry force. Even if the number is small, it can effectively help his territory to intimidate the surrounding noble lords.

Because his territory is not on the traditional Kendall boundary on the north side of Bingxun Pass, but is separated from Gloomy Forest Village by a whole mountain, and the connection with the county has to go south around Bingxun Pass to get there.

Knight Rumi also hoped that the baron could organize a group of people to open up a road in the mountains and forests from Bingshuguan to the west, so that he could receive rapid support from the cavalry.

The Crow knights did not recommend the establishment of cavalry units.

Although Baron Kendall had a profound conflict with the Earl, the master of the Northwest Province, they were not at odds at this time, and there was no need to build a cavalry force to stimulate the other party.

On the contrary, Knight Crow suggested that no matter what the Baron does at this time, it must be seen after their trip to assist the war on the southern border to see what direction they need to strengthen in this battle.

It would be great to have a cavalry unit directly under his command, but the baron's own money did not come from strong winds.

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

The baron listened to the opinions of the two people repeatedly, and finally settled the matter temporarily.

When the clerk, accompanied by the militiamen, counted the size of the passing caravans on the roadside, Keir thought about these things repeatedly.

"Are you the warrior beside Knight Crow yesterday?"

Someone suddenly asked in Kil's ear. He looked over and saw that it was the attentive caravan steward from yesterday.

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

Kil lifted up his helmet and visor: "Yes, you are right, but I was wearing iron armor yesterday and hard leather armor today. How did you recognize me?"

The other party rubbed his hands: "Haha, a little secret. By the way, we calculated the size of the caravan this morning and recorded it here. You can take a look at this."

Kil twitched the corner of his mouth and took a piece of paper handed over by the other party. It was filled with the names and sizes of each caravan, as well as the calculated amount of money payable.

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

It turned out that the plan given by Ouluobi was relatively crude. Each person in the caravan had to pay five silver coins, and each carriage was three gold coins. The type and weight of the goods are not counted, only these two are used to calculate the cost.

But I didn't expect that the total price would be so much.

He looked carefully and realized what the problem was.

It turns out that in terms of number of people, the caravan guards hired by each caravan are also included in the number of people inside the caravan. In this way, the manpower of the caravan has doubled. Some caravans do not know what valuables they are transporting. , the more guards you hire, the more money you pay at this time.

On the carriages, large cargo carriages and traveling carriages are also included. One of the convoys carrying noble families accounted for the majority, and there were also many guards in this convoy, which naturally greatly increased the final total price.

This is already a lot of money, and Keir thinks it’s okay. But you can't just win the trust of one side, especially an outsider. So Kil just nodded, and then put away the full paper, preparing to compare it with the data recorded by the clerks later.

"Please wait a moment, I have to look at our people's records again." Keir explained.

"It should, it should. But I believe that the data of the two are definitely consistent. Please believe in the integrity and integrity of a believer of the God of Wealth." The businessman compared his clothes to the believer of the God of Wealth who didn't know when he had pinned them on. Emblem, said solemnly.

Kil nodded perfunctorily. He had never dealt with the priests of the Church of the God of Wealth before, and he didn't understand them either.

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

As for believers, come on, you are not a priest. Anyone can become a 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 the data over.

Comparing the two, except for some slight differences 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. If you count them outside, you can't obviously see them. The difference is here.

After the data came out, Kiel led his people to move forward quickly, passing the following caravan through the weeds on the roadside, and returned to the army.

But before leaving, the businessman stopped Gere.

"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, look at the situation in the sky, there will be continuous spring rain in the next two days. Once it rains, it will be unstoppable until the master of the sky is willing to stop. Tell your knight , we must be prepared for rain, and there is also the problem of hindrance to the march after rainfall.”

Keir glanced at the sky. Indeed, as the other party said, there have been more and more clouds overhead in the past two days. When he left Grass Rat Town to pursue the army, there were still clouds. But yesterday, all the clouds above his head had turned into clouds. The rain clouds covering the sky in the main film obviously mean that the amount and scale of rainfall will not be small.

This is a problem.

"Thank you, I will remind Lord Crowe and Lord Baron." Kil said, and then led the people to speed up.

When they camped near a village that night, the three caravan stewards they had seen yesterday brought more than 20 guards and carried a small box to the Kendall military camp.

The merchants and guards were amazed by the neatly arranged tents, carriages, campfires and other items in the military camp. After all, their camp was too crude and chaotic in comparison.

Moreover, the soldiers in the military camp did not run around. Each team basically only gathered at the door of their own camp to talk and practice martial arts. There were also neatly dressed soldiers patrolling the military camp under the leadership of more sophisticated soldiers. The defense was obviously very tight.

The caravan guards also noticed that some sentries were hidden on top of the carriages, and the defense was much more than what appeared on the surface.

In the middle of the camp, outside the tents of the three nobles, local businessmen handed over the collected money. Only then did they see the real owner of this army, a baron lord from a remote border area in the north.

However, the army and strength he saw showed that this lord was not like what ordinary people thought. The northwest province or border areas were filled with poor people and shabby lords.

The other party is obviously very powerful and powerful. Not only does he have the strength to march to the southern border to support the army against neighboring countries, but he is also far superior to ordinary nobles in terms of dress and appearance.

In particular, Baron Kendall's slightly glowing magic 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 polite.

So, after the clerks counted the gold coins in the wooden box, the baron immediately waved his hand and sent these locals out of the military camp.

"Are all the merchants in these western provinces like this? It's weird."

The baron said to the two knights.

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