lizard lord

Chapter 181 Seaport
In recent months, the Castells have been in the spotlight as newcomers among the military aristocracy.

The current patriarch is a fifth-tier warrior with outstanding commanding ability. He was considered a very strong rank among the earls. He was promoted to Duke.

Norton Castei is a military officer directly assigned by the royal family to Lufford, responsible for reorganizing the defense, but his work is not particularly smooth.

The area around Lufford was somewhat depressed by the hobgoblins. Most people wanted to restore production and the economy first, and then consider military issues. They didn't pay much attention to such things as expanding the army and improving the quality of the army.

In addition, most of the local feudal nobles and big businessmen are more wary of this Mr. Castei - he has [-] troops in his hands, and he also has the command of the army directly under the royal family stationed outside the city. Having so many soldiers, coupled with the righteousness behind the duties entrusted to him by the royal family, has been able to completely change the current situation.

The distribution of interests in the west of Oran, especially in the center of Lufford, has been stable for a long time. The royal family must have external considerations in choosing to extend their hand here, but people with discerning eyes can also see that there are also internal considerations.

For the time being, there is still no apparent disobedience, but the secret reluctance is indispensable. Judging from the information obtained before Tang Zhao, many wealthy merchants and landlords are secretly increasing the number of private soldiers, because they believe that the existing strength is not enough. to protect them.

There was a conflict between the airborne newcomers and the local traditional forces. Under such circumstances, Norton approached Tang Zhao.
-
The place of conversation was not some magnificent manor, but a carriage parked quietly at the door.

【Long story short, is there anything I can do to help? 】

After some consideration, Tang Zhao decided to be more friendly with the other party. Strengthening the military power in the west of Oran would certainly be beneficial to him in the short term. In the long run, he would have to question what the other party had to say before making a decision.

"Don't worry, Mr. Carlos, I didn't come to you for the troubles near Luford, but to ask for your help. You should know something about Oran. My family recently inherited a territory, but The problem in the territory is not small. I heard that you are going to transport a batch of goods to Yintao City recently, I thought you might be able to help me there a little bit?"

Yintao City is where Tang Zhao is going to deliver the goods. There is the headquarters of the Heim Church, and it is also the last fiefdom of the rebellious Marquis family that was deprived of most of its territory.Seeing that they did not directly participate in the rebellion and that their ancestors had produced many heroes, the Oran royal family chose a very wealthy fief for them. This is a typical seaport city, and the commercial tax can support the entire family.

【I want to confirm what exactly it is that made me do it, and who it is. 】

"If I have to say something, it's probably the idea of ​​the Castell family. In short, it has nothing to do with His Majesty the King. We don't mean to make things difficult for the poor Earl of Stirling, but there are some things there that make me very personal. care about."

Tang Zhao didn't interrupt the other party, but listened quietly.

Judging from the information obtained by the Castei family, there are demons active in that area, and the level is not low.The members of the Castell family suspected that the remnants of the Sterling family had not been cleaned up, and the current earl had even shielded some people.

Now is a special period, and it is not good for the Castei family to do anything or inspect the members of the Sterling family, otherwise it would seem to outsiders to kill them all, and it is not good for them to deal with them directly.

Therefore, they hope that Tang Zhao can take a look at the situation there when he goes to Yintao City, not to mention solving those demons, as long as he can bring some conclusive evidence, the people of the Castelyi family can also go on business. .

[This is your own idea, I suggest you better tell the truth. 】

After finally listening to it, Tang Zhao didn't believe it at all, there were too many loopholes and doubts.This matter is probably just Norton's personal idea, and it was rejected when it was reported to the Patriarch, and the Patriarch asked someone to watch him closely, so he had to ask outsiders for help.

Norton chuckled twice when he heard the words: "This is the truth, or what you should know. I'm telling the truth. I can swear this before the noble goddess. How about it, have you considered it?"

[It depends on your salary. Of course it’s okay if you want me to help you do things, but my asking price must be relatively high. 】

"One thousand royal gold coins, plus one thousand marquis gold coins. By the way, you can stuff food in the cabin of the merchant ship when you return. As long as you do what you want, I'm willing to pay this kind of reward."

Tang Zhao really wanted to ask, "Can you find someone else if you have the money?", but he held back in the end.

Judging from this bid, the so-called "elimination" of demons is definitely not easy. Either they have thoughts about the Sterling family, or they have thoughts about Tang Zhao, and they are trying to trick him.

Seemingly seeing Tang Zhao's hesitation, Norton turned around and opened the mezzanine under the carriage seat, and there was a small pile of golden coins lying inside.

"Please don't worry, Mr. Carlos, I have financial resources, and I have absolutely no intention of harming you. Now the matter in my hands has already made me burnt out. I don't need to add a few more enemies, especially the ones in my hands. The enemy who controls the military here, isn't it? Here is a quarter of the deposit, if you are willing to accept, I can hand over the deposit to you now. Regardless of whether things end up as I expected, I will still pay. "

After hesitating for a while, Tang Zhao still accepted the other party's suggestion, because two thousand gold coins is indeed not a small sum, which can allow him to purchase a large number of war horses from Oran, solve the problem of insufficient mobility, or let the entire settlement People eat for a long time.

Behind a lot of money is a huge risk, but it is not surprising that people take risks for money.

Norton smiled politely, then greeted the knight under him, and sent the gold coins into the Hermes Chamber of Commerce.
-
Norton's incident was a bit of an episode. After the supply was completed, the entire fleet set off smoothly, and sailed all the way down the Dewar River towards the king's capital.

The current situation in Oran is indeed a bit chaotic, but it is not a problem for the entire fleet: First, they basically do not dock, and the docks are also in areas with good law and order. Second, there are heavily armed soldiers on board. The robbers did not dare to rob.

After drifting on the river for several days, they finally came to the vicinity of the capital.

With Norton's mission on him, Tang Zhao was not in a hurry, he stayed in the capital as usual, and went to find Princess Julia on the same day, hoping to meet her.

If you go through the procedures, this matter is very complicated. After all, members of the royal family don’t meet whenever they want, but Julia has provided him with a special channel before—a tavern, which is her property, and the tavern is considered from the owner to the staff. her people.

Considering that neither the lizardman nor the dwarves were so handsome, a small group of elves was responsible for taking Tang Zhao to the tavern.

The chaos in Oran has not been completely resolved. There are officers and even troops from the Southern Elf Kingdom in the capital. At this moment, there are more elves in the city than usual, and most people still dare not mess with these elves.

There is such a consideration in taking some elves out, at least in the eyes of humans, they look decent, and they will subconsciously be more polite when negotiating with others.

Things went smoothly, and Tang Zhao obtained the permission to meet the princess after negotiating. The location was not in the palace, but in a manor outside the city.

As soon as he saw Julia, Tang Zhao made it clear that he wanted a high-standard venue, and he wanted to sell something here.

Julia's reply was also simple. She directly gave Tang Zhao an address, and then asked Tang Zhao for [-] gold coins as a reward. The previous work was done for nothing, and the money was returned.

However, there is nothing to say about the venue provided by Julia. A small manor near the royal capital is said to be a place where nobles often come to have activities. Dances and banquets are often held. The decoration is very good, and the location is even better.

She was quite interesting, and didn't ask Tang Zhao how long they would use it, which meant that after paying the money, she could use it casually until the end of the job.

Then, the dwarves began to make temporary modifications over there, and transported the weapons in the boat to the manor, and began to arrange the venue.

A few days later, the first batch of military nobles were invited by the elves and dwarves to the manor to watch the exquisite weapons and equipment forged by the dwarves.

In fact, in terms of practicality, there is no essential gap between these weapons and other weapons for the time being, but they look different—all kinds of processing techniques of mountain dwarves have been used on them, combined with precious metals, gems, and precious wood And more special materials, each weapon has high ornamental value while being of excellent quality. Like many famous swords in history, it is no problem to say that it is a work of art.

If it was promoted by a human blacksmith, the effect may not be very good, but the dwarves forge the weapons, and the beautiful elf girls sell the weapons. Coupled with the advertising words of Tang Zhao combined with the previous life, the former members of the dwarf guild With the help, I compiled a set of sales pitches, and the effect was outstanding. There were orders from military nobles on the same day, and a lot of swords prepared in advance were also sold.

After selling in the manor for a few more days, I have to say that the list provided by Bourne is really accurate. According to the nobles above to sell weapons, basically every sale is accurate, and even the plate armor is willing to be customized.

According to the prices of the European Renaissance era in the previous life, the price of a set of ordinary plate armor can reach six or seven pounds, while the price of the plate armor prepared by the Duke for his son is as high as hundreds of pounds, and the price of the plate armor used by the prince reaches three to four hundred pounds. No surprise.

The same as modern things, the higher the premium, the higher the price, you get what you pay for, and you get what you pay for for a dollar.

Now the price of a set of ordinary custom-made plate armor they sold can reach nearly three hundred gold coins, and the profit margin is exaggeratedly high.

During the period, some people questioned whether these foreigners could trade normally in the capital. At this time, the Southern Elf Kingdom gave them face and coordinated in front of the financial officer of the capital. With them, things would be much easier.As long as they don't cause trouble in the capital, they can do whatever they want, and pay taxes on time when they go in and out.

After receiving a lot of orders from the capital, Tang Zhao promptly stopped selling them.

Now these orders in hand can keep the dwarf blacksmith in charge of these things busy for several months, which is enough.Wait a few months to come back, I believe that after those weapons really become popular among the nobles, the price they can sell will be higher, don't rush for a while, it's meaningless to be too conspicuous and ostentatious now.

Before humans mastered similar technologies, Tang Zhao believed that there was still a certain market for his weapons, as long as he could sell some of them.

In fact, selling a few such weapons is a trivial matter in the eyes of the local nobles. Many military nobles came to see Tang Zhao and the others with the purpose of obtaining a large number of high-quality weapons to equip the army, but they were all rejected by Tang Zhao. Their own production capacity is not enough now, and they have little ability to export.

After a little bit of a sense of presence in front of humans, he didn't stay in the capital for a long time. After achieving his goal, he took the fleet to Yintao City.
-
The closer to the coastline, the wider the river, and the more boats move on it.

The view on the boat is very good. He can take this opportunity to observe and visit the eastern part of Oran. It is completely different from the mountainous and broken plains in the west. There are large tracts of livable plains here, with fertile land and a good climate. Suitable for human farming and settlement.

The crops that are growing in front of us are the root of Oran. This is one of the reasons why the population of Oran is more distributed in the east than in the west. Eighty percent of the population is distributed in the east. Most of the struggles in Oran are also in the east.

Wangdu is one of the centers, and judging from the current situation, Yintao City is likely to be another center.

The closer to the royal capital, the better the public security situation, and the closer to the current territory of the Castei family, the more depressing the situation looks.

Small warships patrolling can be seen on the river, and there are occasional patrolling soldiers on the road built close to the river. Tang Zhao has very good eyesight and can clearly see the serious expressions on their faces. Just looking at this situation is enough to make everyone vigilant.

While everyone was waiting, the fleet finally arrived at Yintao City, located in the delta of the river mouth, and saw the endless ocean.

Not long after arriving in Yintao City, serious-looking guards stopped them and wanted to inspect their ships.

Tang Zhao did not resist this, and asked his subordinates to cooperate. At the same time, he showed the full set of documents to the guards to show that his actions were completely legal.

The guards seemed to be very interested in the complex ethnic composition on board, but they didn't ask any more questions in the end. They saw that the certificates were qualified, and they didn't find any prohibited items. After verbally warning everyone not to make trouble, they were allowed to enter Yintao City officially.

(End of this chapter)