Mercenaries and Adventurers

Kil nodded, feeling that what the old businessman Fentigia said made sense. So he bid farewell to the crowd here and rode towards the front of the open space.

At this time, the trading materials from the previous trophy sale had gradually arrived. Mr. Barfoot was leading people at the gate to check the trading materials. Various valuable goods recaptured from the bandit's lair were transported according to Keir's wishes. They were replaced by daily supplies and tools that had been severely overstocked recently.

Several hungry and emaciated donkeys, several large boxes of iron nails that could be used everywhere, and even brand-new sewing tools were all sent by local small and medium-sized businessmen. The sewing tools included several rolls of strong thin threads. Scissors, needlework and other small professional tools.

Several boxes of tableware used by civilians, including clean dinner plates and wooden bowls, as well as large wooden spoons for cooking and iron forks for baking food.

Thin but tough planks, this is the material prepared to replace the old planks found in the carriages.

There are several bags of special powder used for leather making and kneading, as well as brushes and scrapers for cleaning animal fur and scraping grease. It even includes a simple fur hanger that is easy for hunters to carry in the wild and can be set up and transported at any time.

In addition, there are handy felling tools that loggers like. With these complete sets including a two-person saw, loggers can easily fell the tree and quickly turn it into a tree for everyone to use every day. Firewood Timber.

There is also a pedal turntable grinding table sold in the blacksmith shop. With this tool, all kinds of old bandit weapons and equipment in the hands of the people can be polished at any time to ensure sharpness and rust removal.

Apart from that, the most valuable item is of course a set of blacksmith forging tools. This item was specially selected for exchange for this item among the most valuable boxes of goods. Whoever can come up with a complete set of forging tools they need can get several boxes of valuable goods in their hands.

Therefore, several businessmen joined forces to pool their money and jointly spent money to purchase this set of things. When it was brought in, it took several handcarts by local blacksmiths and merchants to transport the items, including iron felt and refractory furnaces.

Of course, the people at the blacksmith shop only brought a complete set of tools, and the consumables for operating the furnace, including melting iron, were not included here.

It is up to the buyer to prepare these consumables. After all, coal from the central provinces and local charcoal are not cheap, although local iron materials are very cheap.

However, large-scale iron-making furnaces and forging furnaces used by individual blacksmiths are two different things and cannot be confused.

At the gate of the open space, the materials that were exchanged for goods arrived. After being inspected by Mr. Barfoot and Priest Batal, the corresponding goods could be taken away under the surveillance of armed people.

Overall, this is a win-win transaction. Everyone feels that they have benefited from the transaction and have not suffered a loss in the transaction, and even made a huge profit.

Local merchants used part of their money and a large amount of materials and commodities that were no longer needed or even difficult to sell recently to summon more valuable robbed goods. Even if those goods were valuables that had been robbed or even lost on the trade road in the past few years.

Anyway, the things have been lost. Even if the box containing the goods still has the name of a certain chamber of commerce, all this has nothing to do with these trophies today. After all, after the goods are lost in the hands of the robbers, the ownership has nothing to do with the original owner. The things are The ownership of the goods seized by the knight named Kil was already in the hands of the knight.

They also got it by spending money.

As for Kiel, his team used various useless trophies in exchange for a rare supply of urgently needed supplies.

With these seemingly miscellaneous supplies, many young people in the team who have nothing to do can start working fully instead of just sitting on the ground and chatting away in boredom.

-

Keir found a young man from the Fortune Fruit Chamber of Commerce who was doing nothing at the gate of a busy open space, and greeted him to lead the way.

After seeing Kiel's attire at this time, the chamber of commerce guy who sent the invitation rubbed his eyes and checked again and again before realizing that the young man riding on the tall prairie horse was even several years younger than him. The young man was the northern knight who was wearing a mottled metal armor.

"I'm sorry, sir, your transformation is so great that I didn't recognize it for a moment."

The other person bent down and bowed repeatedly, trying not to anger the young knight with the surprised expression on his face.

Kil shrugged: "It doesn't matter, although it's still early, but in order to attend your banquet without being rude, I plan to go to the town to buy some things. Do you know which jewelry store and shop selling cloaks in the town are good?"

The young chamber of commerce clerk immediately smiled and said: "Jewelry store and clothing store? I understand, Lord Knight, if you want to go there, I will lead the way. There should be enough time."

The other party thought wrong. A young man like Keir would not spend too long shopping in a store. Unlike the wives of businessmen, they would not spend the whole day in the store just to dress up. .

Then the two of them walked out together, Keir on horseback, and the chamber of commerce guy ran to his truck waiting outside the gate of the open space.

When passing by the gate, Keir said hello to Mr. Barfoot and Priest Batal, who were extremely busy, and suggested that they find more people to help.

The priest thought the suggestion was good, but Mr. Barfoot seemed to be busy and did not hear it. He was still busy checking the quality and quantity of the materials exchanged by the merchants.

At the gate, Kiel's horse was stopped by someone. He looked down and saw that it was Mr. Raul, the middle-aged manager of the store who had signed a contract with him to find someone to participate in promoting the sale.

Although the other party stopped in front of the horse and said nothing, as if he was worried that what he said would be heard by the people around him, Kil knew what the other party meant.

"Thank you, Mr. Raul, for your efforts in this sale. As you can see, this sale of seized trophies was very successful and solved a lot of troubles on my side."

Upon hearing what Knight Kiel said, Mr. Raul showed a smile on his face: "This is what I should do. I cannot bear the praise of the Lord Knight."

Kil winked, reached into the bulging money bag at his waist, and grabbed a handful of gold and silver coins. He counted out three gold coins and then put the other money back into the purse.

He bent down and secretly handed the three gold coins to the other party. Without saying much, Kil waved and walked away.

The middle-aged shop steward, Mr. Raul, quickly turned his back, bit the three gold coins with his teeth, and after confirming that they were genuine, he put them away and sat proudly on several boxes of broken goods outside the open space. Friends said: "What did I say? Didn't the money just come? Haha. Let's go, I'll treat you tonight and go to the tavern to celebrate."

One of his friends kicked the wooden box he was sitting on with his heel: "What about these junk things we bought with money? Send them to your house?"

Glancing at several boxes of old stuff with disgust, Mr. Raul frowned, hesitated for a moment and then said: "What do you care about these for? Whoever wants to take them can take them."

Mr. Raul, who had received three gold coins for nothing, naturally looked down upon the old goods that could barely be exchanged for money, but his friends cared about them and valued them, so they let them do whatever they wanted with the things they bought with money. , the two of them carried a box one after another, and ran away quickly without the help of others.

This forced Mr. Raul to shout loudly: "Don't forget! Meet at the old place tonight, I'll treat you!"

"Don't forget it! Just bring enough money!"

His friends spoke and ran away carrying their things.

Mr. Raul didn't care. He sniffed proudly and shook his head. He felt that it was still early and he was too lazy to care about things in the store at this time. He thought that before night came, he could go to the red house and spend some time.

But of course it was inappropriate to wear the clothes of a shop steward, and I had to tell my family.

Thinking of this, he took a detour and walked to his home in the town.

-

Keir rode a horse and followed the truck of the 'Fortune Fruit' Chamber of Commerce, quickly heading towards the town of Dorne in the north.

Before, he was wondering why the guys from the chamber of commerce wanted to wait for him at the gate of the open space with a carriage carrying a load of firewood. After they passed through the smelly streets on the outskirts of the town and arrived at a relatively clean and flat area, he saw Only when the guy from the chamber of commerce jumped off the carriage did he understand.

This guy from the Chamber of Commerce simply didn't want his shoes to be stained by the smelly mud pollution from the streets outside the town.

"Are you always like this? Get in and out of the car, avoid the smelly mud on the ground and so on."

Kil asked curiously.

The young chamber of commerce guy first responded to Kil with a smile, and then looked back with disgust at the churning mud on the street not far behind him: "Sir Knight, if you tell us, then we can use some of the cleaner paths around us. When entering the town, you don’t take the main roads. No one cleans up the excrement excreted by the animals pulling the vehicles, and some residents even dump their daily sewage into the streets at will.”

"As for those big shots, they either don't leave the central area of ​​the town, or the areas in the middle where the ground is okay. Even if they have to leave the town, they only take cars in and out."

Keir felt strange: "I think someone is responsible for cleaning the streets in the town, right? Then why is there no one cleaning the area outside where ordinary people live?"

The young chamber of commerce guy seemed surprised: "Ordinary people? Commoners? No, no, no, Lord Knight, you misunderstood, here." He pointed to the street where the two of them were now.

"This is the civilian area where ordinary people live. The area outside is not a civilian area with some property, but a slum area where poor people who have no property except themselves live."

Keel raised his eyebrows. There were also slums in Kendall City, but each household there had its own one- or two-story house. Some even had front doors and backyards, with independent water and sewage outlets.

Only then did he understand that the so-called slums of the Kendal people were just a kind of self-mockery. Those people in Dorne Town who lived in houses like beehives and had nothing to do, were really poor because they couldn't put together a set of clothes.

Frowning, Kil gestured to some of the tomb-like buildings he had seen before and asked what those places where people were always coming in and out were for.

Unexpectedly, the young chamber of commerce guy who was leading the way next to the horse winked: "Sir, that is not a place that a big shot like you should know. All I can say is that it was the last scythe work of the farmer in autumn, and it was the work of the small traders. The last day in the village is the last meal of milk for the kittens and puppies.”

"A place of pleasure?"

Keir guessed.

Unexpectedly, the guy from the Chamber of Commerce waved his hand: "No, no, no, they can't call it a place of enjoyment. Let me put it bluntly, sir. This is the place where they drain the last iron coin in their hands. Without the money, there is nothing." Only the poor will compete with each other for a day's hard work and a job that only pays one or two copper coins. Thanks to this, the labor cost in the town is very low, and everyone can make a profit."

After saying this, the other party didn't say anything more, but Keir already understood.

"The person who came up with this method is very good at taking advantage of human nature."

"Who says it's not, Lord Knight? This is the method that the previous President of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce came up with. Hey, it works well with the system of debtors reselling labor devised by the current President."

The young chamber of commerce guy obviously admired these two people and said excitedly.

Keir didn't comment, but felt a little sad. But when he thought about it, he found something interesting.

The poor people work every day and earn one or two copper coins per day. After a year, their income is roughly close to 5,000 iron coins and about 5 silver coins. If it is more, it is estimated that the labor can be close to one gold coin. income.

And this income, which seems to be looked down upon by local people and belongs to the lowest income level, has exceeded the income of almost all farmers in rural areas.

Yes.

Almost all farmers in rural areas work harder throughout the year and have to depend on the weather for food. Throughout the year, their income is less than half of the income of the so-called "poor" in Dorne Town.

If farmers in more remote rural areas do not have channels to monetize their grain, that is, grain merchants from all over the country go to grassroots villages to collect grain from trading activities, the grain in the hands of farmers will not be able to sell even a single iron coin. All year round, their income is almost zero except for the large amount of food that is stolen by animals at any time.

Without money, any goods that can only be obtained with money are unaffordable.

Keir breathed out, remembering the song of Kendall County, and understood what it meant to ordinary farmers to earn one gold coin a year.

That's why guys from various chambers of commerce have a high loss rate of trading personnel when they travel far away, but there is still a steady stream of new people joining.

That's why bandits are constantly being banned on the trade roads in various places. No matter how noble knights eradicate them, new bandit gangs will still be formed to rob the passing caravans.

In the final analysis, it is nothing more than profitable.

-

The two of them were walking and talking. The young chamber of commerce clerk led the knight and introduced the shops on both sides of the street and the chamber of commerce behind the shops.

This man was so familiar with the relationship between various shops and the chamber of commerce behind them. He was obviously not an ordinary chamber of commerce clerk, especially one who could be sent to deliver him firewood and invitations.

Keir guessed that they should be the young backbones that the Fortune Fruit Chamber of Commerce focuses on cultivating.

After all, although most chambers of commerce rely on family wealth and skills and experience to pass on the chamber of commerce, that is only done by small and medium-sized chambers of commerce. For large chambers of commerce with trade spread all over the world, it is simply not enough to rely solely on family inheritance and personal teaching to cultivate talents, and they dare not use it.

I asked the other party and learned that, for example, there were several large chambers of commerce in Dorne Town that formed a joint chamber of commerce, each of which was formed with the money and efforts of several powerful families. But this is just the beginning. As the Chamber of Commerce develops, the talents cultivated by the family will not be enough.

Especially when doing business abroad, various personal risks always exist, including but not limited to death or disability due to illness, disability and death caused by banditry, death or injury caused by attacks by peers caused by foreign trade, and imprisonment caused by greed for profit. Risks of death and disability, accident risks caused by natural weather, etc.

Therefore, absorbing talents from all walks of life and cultivating them in the chamber of commerce is the only method that large chambers of commerce can use today.

Such a chamber of commerce clerk is trained since he entered the chamber of commerce in his teens. By the time he is middle-aged, he can basically use more than ten years of business experience to become the real backbone of the chamber of commerce.

The family behind a large chamber of commerce can then marry with it to bind talents to the chamber of commerce.

My wealth is my wealth, and your people and wealth are ultimately my wealth.

Although the man didn't say anything about the similar reasoning, Kil knew it as soon as he guessed it.

The main difference between this model in the other world and the previous life is that people here basically don't value education very much. Common people's main pursuit is to obtain a livelihood skill, so there are a large number of apprentices in each workshop for the craftsmen to work.

As for professional language and writing, as well as various business skills education, here it is basically a model of mentoring by the chamber of commerce. Even some chambers of commerce are good at cultivating the key talents they like, but most of them just care about making money and wait for talents to show up occasionally.

As they walked, the clerk from the chamber of commerce guided Keir to a clothing store, which specializes in selling all kinds of ready-made clothes, and of course also supports tailor-made clothes.

"If you need a suitable cloak, this store is very good. This 'Fine Clothes' store is where managers from several chambers of commerce come to make clothes."

At the entrance of the clothing store, the young chamber of commerce clerk pointed at the store's signboard and introduced it.

A piece of golden cloth is hung from one corner of the signboard to the other, which is very eye-catching and conspicuous. People who come and go will always take a few glances unconsciously.

So did Gere. He noticed that the golden cloth used as part of the sign seemed to have a lot of gold threads mixed into it.

Even though gold is a soft metal, if so many gold threads are added to the cloth, wouldn't it be difficult for the cloth to become stiff?

"I saw that a lot of gold threads were added to the cloth on the sign. Don't you think it's hard? Could you use it to make clothes?"

Kil dismounted and handed the horse to the store thug who came out of the gate. At the same time, he asked the chamber of commerce guy next to him.

The clerk from the chamber of commerce naturally didn't know what the answer was, but fortunately, a shop clerk at the door of the store heard it and took the initiative to come over and answer: "Guest, this kind of cloth is a specialty of the Southern United Kingdom. I heard that it has undergone mysterious alchemical processing. , gold can also become as soft as silk thread, and a piece of this kind of cloth is even worth three times the weight of gold!"

"Good guy, so powerful?"

Keir exclaimed and looked up at the shop sign again: "Aren't you afraid of losing it? Just hang it outside like this?"

The store clerk seemed to have answered a similar question countless times: "Guest, we will take it back every day and hang it up when we open the door the next day."

Keir laughed and walked into the 'Fine Clothes' store.