"This place, it's still so broken," the fortress ambassador Perro stepped out of the cabin, and the smell of rotting wood came to his face. The air around me was humid and dreary, making people feel uncomfortable all over. He sniffed and looked up, and the sky was gray, as if a heavy rain was brewing.

"The last time you were here was a year ago," the aide politely draped the ambassador in a woollen coat, "and there is nothing here except stones." ”

"It was a year and a half ago," Perro corrected, "the Duke draws different people every season, and the last time I was in Frontier Town was in the summer. And in addition to the stones, there are all kinds of fine furs, as well as ......"

"What?" the assistant looked blank.

Perrot shook his head and did not answer. He stepped over the side of the ship and stepped on the mossy dock, the planks creaking beneath his feet. It would probably be a few years before the dock would fall apart, he thought. The border town has not only stones, furs, and even ...... Land. But there is no point in saying this, the assistant is just a little-known clerk of the town hall, and he does not see this at all.

Between the border town and the Changge Fortress there is a large area of uncultivated land, with the Desperate Mountains on one side and the Chishui River on the other, like a long and narrow corridor. As an outpost of the fortress, if you assume the responsibility of defending the line, a large area of land in the middle will be included in the hands of the fortress. They are uncultivated, can be planted many times without fallow, and with the natural barriers on both sides, it takes little effort to eat. This would alleviate the problems caused by the increasing population of the fort, and the border towns would become one of the forts, rather than two separate territories as they are now.

The only drawback is that it requires three to five years of operation and a large amount of upfront investment.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the predictability of investment, most aristocrats are not as good as a crappy businessman.

"Hey, why is the yard empty?" the assistant pointed to an empty tunnel in the distance, "shouldn't they have all the ore ready?"

Perro sighed softly, "Let's go to the castle to meet His Highness." ”

"Wait...... Mr. Ambassador, don't you wait for their reception party?"

I don't know if there is, but he thought to himself but didn't say, "Let's go, the stable is ahead." ”

Now, the trouble of dividing the two separate realms is obviously coming, and the king has thrown the fourth prince into this deserted place with a royal decree, what would a normal nobleman or royal disciple do? Ore and jewels in exchange for grain and bread, the prince may only see the golden dragon in his eyes.

If it were himself, he would do the same. Seeing the output of his territory being exchanged at such a low price, I'm afraid no one wants to accept it. Moreover, the prince did not have to go to the fortress, and most of the people in the family forgot the fact that the Chishui River did not pass only through the Changge Fortress. He could sell the ore at market prices to Liuye Town, to Shenlongling, and Chishui City, and then take the people to these places for refuge - nothing more than a little farther away.

And then what can the Changge Fortress do? Block the river and intercept the prince's party? That would be a blatant confrontation with the royal family of the Grey Castle! Everyone knows that the fourth prince is not liked by the king, but no matter how bad he is, he is also the king's blood, there is no doubt about this.

The two rode their rented horses and walked slowly along the stone path by the river. The stables were full of old horses, with mixed coats and skinny bones, and even if they walked slowly, their whole bodies trembled when they walked. And for the sake of these two fools, he had to pay two golden dragons as a deposit.

"Look, sir, that's Willow Leaf's ship?"

Hearing his assistant shouting, he looked in the direction pointed by the other party, and saw a single-pole sailboat flying green leaves and scimitar flags slowly sailing down the river. The hull waterline is high, indicating that it is loaded with cargo.

Pei Luo nodded expressionlessly, but his heart sank, and the other party moved faster than he imagined. If the prince had already started to contact the towns in the lower reaches of the Chishui River, he would have one less bargaining chip. He had planned to persuade his father to agree to buy the ore for 30% less than the normal price, so that he could still make money, not to mention jewelry, a luxury item that could be worth several times more when polished. It's a pity that this monopoly business is not up to him, and it's not the honeysuckle family that has the final say. There are six nobles involved in the mining of the border town, and without the consent of the majority, it is impossible to form a resolution.

But they were slow to react, thinking that the situation was still the same as before...... Or maybe the output of the mine doesn't deserve much attention. Anyway, the other five families were indifferent, and my father confidently rejected him. In fact, they are very wrong, the main reason for the low output of the mining area is this mode of barter, if it becomes normal trade, the more you export, the more you earn, and the ore output is likely to rise to a higher level next year.

If we talk about the previous monopoly plan, nine times out of ten, no, it will definitely not be realized. Perro thought to himself, it was clear from the empty dock yard that the prince had no intention of exchanging the stones for inferior wheat, and that he was already contacting other buyers.

If he still wants to hold on to this trade line, a 30% discount is his last bargaining chip. The distance between Willow Leaf and the border town makes it more expensive to transport ore, and there is more than one ore source in Willow Town, and the price they offer is likely to be half the market price. As for the Falling Dragon Ridge and Chishui Fort, it would only be lower, so that the Four Princes might agree to still have a monopoly on the Changge Fortress - especially the gem trade.

But the question is, if he makes an initiative to sign the contract, will his father agree? What about the other five families, will they feel that their move is simply a surrender to the border town and the transfer of family interests?

After all, in their eyes, the border town is still just a ranch controlled by the fortress's own people.

The two slowly crossed to the castle in the southeast corner of the town, it was not the first time Perot had been here, but this time, the owner had changed.

When the guards saw the ambassador's credentials, they immediately went in to inform the lord.

The fourth prince, Roland Wimbledon, soon summoned Perrault, and by the time the two were ushered into the drawing-room, the prince was already waiting at the main seat.

"Mr. Ambassador, you may be seated. ”

Roland clapped his hands and asked the maid to serve a sumptuous meal. There's roasted whole chicken, mushroom stewed wild boar legs, butter bread, and a large pot of vegetable soup. Obviously, in this land, the personal enjoyment of the children of the royal family has not been compromised in the slightest.

Naturally, Pero would not be polite, and it would take two days to get from the fortress to the border town by water, even if it was downwind, and even slower if it was a multi-masted cargo ship, which took three to five days. There is no galley on board, and it is common to eat your own strips of dried meat or wheat cakes. At the sight of the steaming dishes, he felt his saliva swell in his throat.

However, years of aristocratic cultivation have allowed him to maintain perfect dining etiquette, on the contrary, His Highness's eating appearance is much worse - especially in the use of knives and forks. Pei Luo noticed that except for the fourth prince, who would use a dinner knife when cutting meat, all other actions were done with a pair of small wooden sticks. And it looks ...... Two sticks are much more convenient than forks.

"What do you think?" Roland suddenly asked as the meal was about to end.

"Uh, what?" the ambassador didn't come back to his senses for a moment.

"This," the other party shook the wooden stick in his hand, and without waiting for Pero to answer, he said directly, "An iron fork is a luxury for most people, let alone a silver fork." If you eat it directly with your hands, it is easy to eat the dirty stuff in your stomach. Sickness comes from the mouth, you know?"

The ambassador didn't know how to answer, he didn't quite understand what it meant to be sick, but according to the previous sentence, it probably meant that dirty things stuck to food and eating them were easy to get sick. But that's how everyone came here, and I didn't see anyone die of illness because of it.

"A pair of oak sticks, as many as you need in the Hidden Forest, are clean and easy to obtain. I'm going to spread this around the town," the prince took a sip of wine, "of course, my people have little meat to eat now, and they will get better later." ”

Perot breathed a sigh of relief, he still knew how to take this sentence. After routinely expressing his approval and blessings, he was unimpressed in his heart. It's so whimsical that even the Grey Castle can't do that, let alone the remote place of the border town.