customs clearance base

Chapter 1652 Rise (14)

Alice asked with a reddish face, "Your Excellency, you are serious, you are not playing tricks on me, are you really willing to lower the price by [-]%?" Zhao Huzhong snickered, this silly girl is just a fool!He didn't even know the strategy of retreating to advance, in fact, Zhao Hu had already arranged it secretly last night.

It is necessary to show their military strength in front of the Kazakhs, and not to drive the Kazakhs to death. This time, the Kazakhs did not hesitate to use the national treasury to buy food. It can be seen that the most critical time has come.

If you hide the life-saving food and don't sell it, or the price is too high for the Kazakhs to afford, and the Kazakhs are desperate, the [-] Kazakh elite cavalry will abandon the imperial capital and attack the iron tower fortress with a large amount of food. Even if he has tens of thousands of soldiers and a strong city and fortress, he cannot withstand the full attack of [-] Kazakhs who are not afraid of death.

At that time, chickens will fly and eggs will be beaten, and people and money will be empty. Not only will the food not be kept, but also the fate of fleeing in a hurry. Instead of this, it is better to sell half of the food in your hand to the Kazakhs. Let the Kazakhs better consume the strength of the imperial capital.

Sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight, why not do two things with one stone.

Lower the price first, and the Kazakhs will not take the risk if they can buy basically enough grain. The grain sold can also be bought back from the poor rural nobles in the south who only have grain left with the gold coins paid by the Kazakhs. Come and go, I also made a lot of money.

No matter how fierce the Kazakhs are, they are still human beings, and they are all like this. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, no one is willing to break the pot.

With this awareness on Zhao Hu's side, the negotiations naturally progressed quickly, and the originally planned ten-day negotiations were basically settled on the third day.

On the suspension bridge of the Iron Tower Fortress, wearing fiery red scale armor, Alice, who had a good image of Zhao Hu, crossed her hands and bent down to perform the most honorable Kazakh Namaste to Zhao Hu: "Dear Marquis Zhao Hu, thank you for your support in our Kazakhs!" We Kazakhs respect friends who are willing to help us the most. I can assure you that our troops will withdraw from the [-] villages and towns around the Iron Tower Fortress according to the agreement, and put the iron tower The northern border is completely handed over to the adults!" Watching Alice's graceful figure disappear into the depths of the Kazakh military camp outside the city.

After three days of bargaining, Zhao Hu and Alice finally reached an agreement. The Kazakhs will use 40 gold coins, 50 good war horses, [-] ordinary draft horses captured from the Roman Empire, and the northern part of the Iron Tower Fortress. The sixteen villages and towns in the country were exchanged for [-] shi of grain for the Iron Tower Fortress.

As for the nobles who were captured, Zhao Hu's attitude was very clear. Ransom was impossible, but food could be considered. The standard was to exchange 500 shi for food per person. Kazakhs were welcome to exchange it or not.Anyway, those prodigal sons are also raised by you Kazakhs, and no one cares if they like it or not.

Such a low standard made it difficult for Alice to accept, and she immediately rejected this possibility. Finally, after a while of hesitation by the wretched Zhao Hu, he redeemed all the captives at the price of [-] shi.

"My lord, if His Majesty the Emperor finds out that we supply the Kazakhs with such a large amount of food, your lord will not be afraid that our enemy will be held accountable?" Tie Long looked at Zhao, who was leaning on the battlement and fanning himself violently with a handkerchief. Tiger asked with a worried face.

"Assisting the enemy? We sacrificed our own 60 shi of grain in exchange for the honorable adults in the north. This should be a noble character worthy of praise. We are noble knights, how could we do such a shameful act of enlisting the enemy? Something!" Zhao Hu continued looking at Tielong, who had a big mouth that could swallow eggs.

"It's not to find someone to take the blame for. What do I want those wastes who only eat and don't work? One hundred thousand shi of grain, if it is used to feed pigs, it is enough to raise two thousand pigs." Zhao Hu's face was full of pain, as if he had suffered a huge wronged.

Three days after Alice left the Iron Tower, three thousand Kazakh cavalrymen drove the thousands of horses and 40 gold coins to be exchanged to the border of the Iron Tower. One thousand defenders in sixteen villages and towns.

In addition to money and horses, Mengda who went to exchange brought back a group of beggars in tattered clothes. Outside the city of the iron tower fortress, there was a sea of ​​people.

Hundreds of battle flags embroidered with three-legged falcons of the Falcon family fluttered in the wind, and two thousand spearmen wearing iron scales and holding three-meter spears in full armor were divided into ten long square formations The tens of thousands of villagers watching the excitement were isolated 20 meters away, and a thousand heavy infantry in heavy armor and holding tall shields stood on the inside of the road like two steel fences.

"Are you ready? Remember to make the atmosphere more lively. It is best to make the entire Roman Empire know how much our Iron Tower values ​​the high-level of these empires, how much we abide by the knight code of loving nobles, and how virtuous we are." Gao Shang is willing to spend 60 shi of grain to redeem these big shots, after all we have to rely on them to take the blame for this enemy!"

Zhao Hu stood on the suspension bridge of the iron tower fortress in heavy armor, and behind him was a long red velvet cloak that represented the identity of the commander. He stretched his neck like a fat goose and looked into the distance, and asked in a low voice who was with him. iron dragon.

"Please rest assured, my lord, according to my lord's instructions, not only arranged the top three thousand army formation, but also mobilized all the nearby villagers to watch. I believe that within ten days, the iron tower will use 60 shi of grain from the Kazakhs. News of the ransom of 160 great men will spread throughout the Roman Empire!"

"My lord, how do you arrange these captives after they come back? In terms of status, they are all important figures in the imperial capital and the north. In terms of status, there are such big figures as Duke Hans. If they are arranged according to their ranks, these 160 high-level prisoners should be The nobles are satisfied, which is not a small expenditure for our iron tower.

The Kazakhs can treat them as ordinary captives. If we follow the same standard as the Kazakhs, not only will the reputation of the adults be damaged, but once the war subsides, these big men with real power will return to the imperial capital or their northern territories. I'm afraid that I will do something that is not good for adults in the future! "

The finance officer behind Zhao Hu, Starn, had a sad face. This former knight who was driven back to his hometown by the northern lords due to war injuries had always been resistant to these northern lords, and he also opposed the decision to change the prisoners this time.

"Hehe, what's so difficult about this, am I not the city lord of Chaoyang City? Put all these big shots who spend money like water in Chaoyang City, so that these big shots who are used to living in the prosperity of the north can also see what is called Baili. Changhong Street, Chaoyang City that never sleeps. With the spending support of these adults, it is difficult for my Chaoyang City to be prosperous. As for the problem of money, it is easier to handle. They have no money but their family has money. He asked us If you want money, we will ask their family for money. If you don’t have the money, you can’t blame us on the tower, you can only blame your family for refusing to give money!
Anyway, we are acting as a middleman, so naturally we have to take part of the handling fee!The more they spend, the more we get, what are they spending money for?Not only to make them spend money, but also to encourage them to spend extravagantly. "

Zhao Hu responded disapprovingly, and retracted his neck that had been stretched for a long time, and murmured.

"What kind of aristocrat is this? It's the beggar gang alive. Who is that old man running at the front?"

On the road ahead, a group of ragged beggars, surrounded by hundreds of soldiers, pushed each other and stumbled towards the iron tower fortress.

The one who ran in the front was a stubborn old man with white hair and beard. He was tall and strong, and his feet were as fast as flying. His fierce energy could not match his age at all, and he threw out the young people behind him by a large amount He was wearing the best clothes on his body, and the Kazakhs even allowed him to wear his old mail armor that had all the tattered links falling off.

Although the nobles behind have been pushing each other, trying to occupy a good position that can reflect their identity, but no one can run forward to surpass him, because he is one of the three Dukes who are responsible for guarding the northern border. Grand Duke.

"Woo! Woo! Woo!"

Three loud trombones sounded from the top of the iron tower fortress, not only startled all the captives, even the stubborn old man who ran at the front almost fell to the ground, only then did he realize that the front of the iron tower fortress At the gate, there was a sea of ​​people, and it was very lively. Two rows of murderous heavy armored infantry stood on both sides of the road holding large shields and holding swords in their right hands.

The old man's excited heart just now was poured with cold water: "What do you want to do? Is this Master Zhao Hu going to kill all of us nobles who were captured by the Kazakhs?
"Swish"

The [-] spear phalanx soldiers standing outside the city put their feet together, and their bodies were neatly stretched. The crisp sound of their heels colliding with each other carried an unspeakable majesty. The spears in the soldiers' hands shone in the sun, like a In the spear forest, the stimulating old man trembled.

"Never mind him, he is dead. Now there is no other way out except to go to the iron tower. Even if he wants to go back to the north, he will be arrested again by the Kazakhs!" Grand Duke Hans showed his bachelor spirit. Regardless of the inexplicable arrangement in front, he was the first to run up to the stones where heavy infantry stood on both sides.

(End of this chapter)