This is a huge expense.
But it's worth it.
Victoria looked carefully at the one-handed sword in her hand - it was a gift given to her by Gawain after the contract was formally signed. This sword was similar to every one she saw on Cecil's warriors. The swords are almost identical. The only difference is that Cecil's family emblem has been erased from the hilt and replaced with the emblem of the Wilder family in the north.
It is very sophisticated, with rigid lines and meticulous patterns, and almost no flaws can be seen on the surface. As a piece of mass-produced equipment, it is even more sophisticated than the weapons in the hands of the Royal Knights, and There are thousands of weapons that are exactly like it, and they are exactly the same.
This sense of uniformity made Victoria feel a kind of "power".
This is definitely not Cecil’s best weapon, because no one would be stupid enough to exchange the armaments at the bottom of his box for money unless he has no choice, but this is at least better than what Wang** has on hand now. As long as the weapons are good, that's enough.
Looking at the Duke of the North, who was holding a one-handed sword in front of her and lost in thought, Gawain couldn’t help but remember the memory of Gawain Cecil. He thought of his first On behalf of Snow Wilder, the Grand Duke of the North, that powerful mage had a long conversation with Gawain Cecil all night when he visited the South for the last time.
At that time, the duchy system of the Four Realms had been established, and the Central Kingdom and the four principalities were working together to build Ansu. However, the Duke of the North asked a question that seemed strange at the time: What if one day, the Kingdom The biggest threat is no longer the demonic tide outside, but the Guardian Duke himself. So what should we do?
Snow Wilder is keen on studying history, especially the history of the nobility of the Gondor Empire. He may have seen some hidden dangers in the duchy system of the four realms that was a last resort at that time. Unfortunately, the Gawain Cecil could not give him any answer - three days later, Gawain Cecil died on the battlefield.
Gawain came back to his senses. He looked at Victoria and asked a question seemingly casually: "Do you think Ansu's crisis will end with the end of the civil war?"
"If we win, then we will," Victoria raised her head and said in a tone that seemed to state the facts, "Welsh Morn is the legitimate heir to the royal family. As long as the king can defeat the rebels in the east, then Ansu The nobles will inevitably reunite. As long as the nobles reunite, Ansu will become a whole again, and the crisis will naturally be resolved."
"...I understand," Gawain nodded, " "Then let's go back to the city first."
Victoria blinked, a trace of confusion hidden under her calm face. She vaguely felt a hint of disappointment from Gawain's subtle expression, but then she felt a trace of disappointment. That might be an illusion. She saw that the other party had already walked away, so she did not ask further questions. Instead, she took two steps to the side of the magic car, pointed at the car and asked: "Duke Cecil, you are called The one who makes the magic vehicleWest...are they also sold? "
Gawain stopped, glanced at Victoria with a little surprise, and then showed a smile: "Sooner or later they will be sold, but not now. We can't make so many yet. At least we have to wait. half a year. And if you want to buy a magic car, you'd better repair the Kingdom Avenue first after you go back. "
Victoria lowered her head deeply: "I will, roads are the lifeblood of the kingdom. When the snow melts, my first thing will be to rebuild the kingdom's highway. ”
After returning to the Lord’s Mansion, Victoria quickly said goodbye and left. She wanted to return to the Autumn Palace to calculate how much money the king could spend to buy armaments, but Gawain didn’t. Stopping at the Lord's Mansion, he quickly boarded the magic car waiting at the door and ordered the attendant to go to the merchant area.
Mechanical vibrations came from the chassis of the car, and he sat in this car. In the magic car that was slightly ahead of its time, Gawain breathed a sigh of relief, and a shadow suddenly surged on the seat next to him, and Amber's figure emerged from the shadow.
"The Duchess seems to be in pain," Amber blinked. Although she didn't know where she had been secretly observing before, this guy had obviously been hanging around Gawain. "I'm afraid she wasn't prepared. All the dowry money was put into it. "
"That was a large amount of money. Even if half of it could be converted into supplies, it was beyond the capacity of Saint-Sunil's treasury. Victoria still chose to accept it. It seemed that she really wanted this The civil war can end as soon as possible, and I hope the king can win as soon as possible. "
"I haven't seen you being soft-hearted when cheating money," Amber opened his mouth, "You really have to do it. He is more or less your junior, and as a noble, he is also a good person. Well, you didn’t even get a discount. "
Gawain glanced at Amber and said slowly: "...Wang ** can't save Ansu. ”
In the hands of the king, those gold coins can only be used to slowly fill the battlefield on the Holy Spirit Plain. Rather than letting them be consumed in vain, it is better to turn them into gears and levers of the magic industry.
p>Amber blinked, then touched his chin: "Then what are you going to do now? "
"Go and meet another group of people who can't save Ansu either. ”
The magic car passed through the administrative area of Cecil City, passed through the ring road, and soon arrived at the merchant district on the west side of the city. Not long after, it stopped at a tall building In front of the brand new building - Cecil's Merchant Hall, a place specially used to receive wealthy businessmen and distinguished guests.
There is a brown window behind the second floor of the building. The short-haired young nobleman watched the movement on the street quietly. After seeing the magic vehicle approaching, he took a step back and left the window.
There were several other people in the room, all of whom were exquisitely dressed. Wearing silk or velvet clothes, wearing brooches or mechanical pocket watches, they all look like businessmen, but you can tell from their extremely vigilant and sharp eyes and the momentum of their gestures.It turns out that these people are not just businessmen.
One of them saw the brown-haired young man leave the window, stood up and asked: "Master, is there something going on outside?"
"Don't worry, he is here," the brown-haired young man said The man nodded and said in a deep voice, "I only have one entourage, and he should be here soon."
The people in the room relaxed slightly, and then came to the door with the brown-haired young man. Nearby, waiting quietly.
A moment later, the sound of footsteps came...
In the room of the Merchant Guild Hall, Gawain met those special guests.
In the past three days, he allowed Victoria and other visitors to the royal capital to visit the market, visit the streets of the city, and visit all the arranged places, and he himself was not idle. What he was doing, It’s about being in contact with these special guests.
The door closed behind him. Gawain looked at the brown-haired young man in front of him and nodded slightly: "Marquis of Belk, it seems that you followed my advice and did not run around."< /p>
The brown-haired young man - Belk Laurent, the eldest son of Silas Laurent, Duke of Eastland, bent down and saluted Gawain as a junior. Others also saluted, and in After saluting, this young man who had already reached the middle level in his early twenties couldn't help but said: "It's not comfortable to stay in the room."
"It will be more troublesome to leave the room," Gao Wen said. Looking at Amber and sitting down on the sofa in the center of the room, looking at Belk Lauren who was also sitting in front of him, he said, "The heir of the Duke of the East appears in Cecil City. This is not a good sign, and I believe Victoria She will definitely be happy to take this opportunity to make Silas Lauren lose his beloved son - you can't beat her."
Belk moved slightly awkwardly, although he wanted to control it. His own expression, but his skills in this area are obviously not as proficient as Victoria: "You received the envoys from the royal capital at the lord's palace, but let us hide among the merchants. Does this... express your attitude? ?"
Gawain couldn't help but laugh. He looked at the young man in front of him - Belk was a nice young man, polite, talented, and smart, but he was obviously too reckless and inexperienced. He is not very good at negotiating with others, but considering his age, there is no way to compare him with the Duchess of the North: "Frankly speaking, the so-called King** and the Eastern Army are both the same in my opinion. , there is no need to call the parents out when the juniors are fighting, but considering the geographical location, the connection between the southern border and the Holy Spirit Plain is obviously much stronger than that with the eastern border, and their visit has been made public a long time ago. ."
He paused before continuing: "As for you... I retain limited trust in you, just for the sake of Anthony Lauren."
"Forgive me for going too far, but you will see sooner or later that we are the ones who really want to save this kingdom," Belk said with a serious face, "The nobles of the kingdom who are indulging in peace in the Holy Spirit Plains Not aware at allWhen faced with the crisis, they could not see the changes in Typhon, nor the changes in the world. They only knew how to feast all night long and plunder the last copper coin from civilians' homes, but we know that——
"Tiphon Feng is reforming the land system, promoting education, developing technology, reorganizing the army, and opening up new lands. Their civilians can already eat meat once a week, but our people don't even have enough black bread in winter, even if Ansu rises now. It is difficult to catch up with Typhon even if we pursue him directly. Our only way out is to quickly concentrate the power of Anzu in the hands of a powerful new king and make Typhon fear him. Even if we only fear him for ten years or even five years, we will still be afraid of him. There is a chance..."
Gawain interrupted the enthusiastic young man: "Edmund is the 'powerful new king' you call him?"
"Edmund? Prince Meng has far-sightedness and charisma," Belk Laurent said very seriously, with admiration in his tone. "The farming war reward law, road construction bill, commercial bill and reclamation farm system that he tried in the Eastern Territory have all come into being. As long as the Holy Spirit Plains is willing to send a non-blind noble to take a look, they will also realize who is the qualified king - but they obviously don't dare."
It seems that this young man. Mr. Marquis still doesn’t know the connection between Prince Edmund and the Society of the Mortal Death, nor does he know the truth about the death of Francis II. Maybe it’s because of his superb acting skills that he deliberately pretends not to know?
Gawain didn’t care what Belk knew or didn’t know specifically. He waited patiently for the other party to finish speaking, and then nodded: “I probably know a few things too - precisely because I know these, I I am willing to try to give you some trust and allow merchants from the principality to establish trade routes in the east. You know, I have been lying in the grave for seven hundred years, and the people I know and trust are basically gone. I need to get to know everyone and any force in this era - even the descendants of my former friends -” Belk sat on the sofa and unconsciously rubbed the knuckles of his index finger. , this seemed to be a subconscious action when he organized the vocabulary: "Yes, my father and I both understand this... Mr. Cord left a deep impression on us, and the medicine he brought was exactly what we urgently needed, My father sent me here just to talk to you about this matter..."
"We were discussing this issue two days ago," Gawain nodded, "I know your I mean, you have an extremely huge potion gap, so not only do you want to order a large amount of alchemy potions, but you also want to buy a set of factory equipment, and you also want Cecil to help you train a group of people to operate the machines... To be honest, you It’s a lot to ask for.”
“We have no choice,” said Belk Roland.
The young Marquis knew that what he was asking for was a sensitive "technical foundation", something that Duke Cecil would find difficult to agree to. However, before setting off, Prince Edmund explained all this to him. Necessity - Alchemy potions, something that is crucial to the survival of the army, cannot always be controlled by others. Only by letting the Eastern Territory alsoHaving production capacity can ensure that the southern border will not fall into a too passive situation if the supply of medicine is suddenly interrupted one day.
The negotiations two days ago reached a deadlock on this issue, but today Duke Cecil is here again, which means that this issue may still be discussed.
Gao Wen was thinking quietly - he seemed very entangled and hesitant, while Amber beside him couldn't help but said: "Our machine was developed at a huge cost, it is knowledge. , You can't buy it with money..."
Gawain secretly gave Amber a thumbs up, his face full of seriousness: "But the East is still a part of Ansu."
"But what if we help them build the factory and they learn the technology directly and not only produce it themselves, but also don't allow our potions to enter the country?"
Belk said immediately : "I swear by my family blood, the Eastern Territory will not do such a thing that goes against the spirit of chivalry. Prince Edmund told me before I set off that we built our own factory just to prepare for emergencies. We still need the Southern Territory. Alchemy potion."
Gawain didn't believe Edmund's promise at all, but he nodded with trust: "I am willing to believe you."
Then he spoke again. Transfer: "But I want to protect the interests of the Southern Territory and the interests of the merchants who are loyal to me - so if you want to build a pharmaceutical factory in the Eastern Territory, I have a condition: the merchants I designate must jointly build the factory with you. "
"Jointly build a factory?"
"Yes, each will pay half of the cost to jointly build and manage the factory, and the business representatives from the southern border will also share in this process. I will protect the core technology from being leaked, and at the same time, I will provide you with technical guidance. This is the biggest concession I can accept."
Belk pondered for a moment, then stood up and talked to a few people around him. Discussed quietly and quickly.
After a while, he returned to his seat: "...I agree that I can represent the will of my father and Prince Edmund in this matter."
Gawain smiled Standing up: "Very good, then we have to recalculate the price..."
When the final price was estimated, the young Marquis fell into astonishment.
“So many?!”
“Isn’t this normal?” Gawain spread his hands, “If it were easy to build an alchemy factory, I wouldn’t have to be here at all. I have been hesitating about this matter until today. Moreover, I want to help you build more than one factory. The quantity of the first batch of alchemical potions you want to purchase is equivalent to the total of traditional alchemical potions produced in Ansu in the past three years. Think about the price of traditional alchemical potions, and you will find that the current price is nothing at all."
"This...is indeed true," Belk rubbed his knuckles again, his face. He looked embarrassed again, "But... Frankly speaking, the price is a bit beyond our expectations."
Gao Wen said lightly.Said: "This is because you made unplanned requests."
Then he proposed the method he had mentioned to Victoria before: using supplies to offset half of the cash.
However, this time, Belk still looked very embarrassed.
The Eastern Territory is just the Eastern Territory after all. Although the army is powerful and the proportion of extraordinary people in the army is much higher than that of the king, from the perspective of territory area, population and resource output, it is impossible. Compared with the king who occupies the Holy Spirit Plain and is supported by the "Western Territory-Augure Tribal Nation" trade line.
Obviously, their "paying ability" is very problematic.
The negotiations seemed to have reached a deadlock, but Gawain suddenly broke the silence: "There is another plan."
The young Belk immediately raised his head: "What plan do you have?"
"In the southwest area of the Eastern Territory, near the triangular intersection of the Southern Territory and the Dark Mountains, is there an area called the 'White Sand Hills'?" Gawain said unhurriedly, "It is said that Iron and copper are produced there, as well as a small amount of magic crystal veins."
"You want White Sand Hills?" Belk's eyes widened, and then he immediately shook his head, "Please forgive me for refusing - this is not true. It's possible. Although that area has not yet been developed, it is the long-term mining area of the East, and it is also a valuable territory of the East. It is too expensive to exchange a piece of permanent land for temporary alchemy potions and factories. "
"I don't intend to have it," Gawain interrupted Belk. "I will only mine it for a period of time - five years, five years in the south in the White Sand Hills, and then it will still be yours. According to the current situation, this civil war should be over in five years. By then, everything will settle and we can start to enter a new period."
Looking at Gawain's face. With that serious expression on his face, the future successor of the Eastern Territory, the young Marquis of Belk, hesitated for a moment.
Five years...
He stood up again and quickly discussed with the accompanying advisors and subordinates.
A few minutes later, he returned to Gawain again.
Probably not much can be mined.
"We agree."