East Berkeley businessmen came like a group of disgusting hyenas, smelling blood, and unpleasant figures crowded the church door.
During their years of confrontation with the royal family, they knew the importance of alliances and monopolies - just like now.
East Berkeley merchants formed a tacit alliance to raise the price of grain to a uniform price, and would not drop a Solo under any circumstances. When the head of procurement appointed by the royal family could not find a businessman who could be persuaded, they had the opportunity to negotiate with the royal family. As one of the worst-known businessmen, the East Berkeley businessman has rich experience in business negotiations and claims to be able to scrape away any copper coin from the sucking object.
As they expected, after the queen's royal businessman returned without success, a royal carriage with the royal coat of arms and all the curtains drawn tightly arrived at Samba, the most important city in East Berkeley.
"It's kind of weird."
Dunlo's fingers counted unconsciously in the wide sleeves.
A shrewd wheat merchant, he looked exactly as one would expect of his type—potbellied, seemingly smiling, with a philistine twinkle in his squinted eyes, who could, if need be, Become extremely vicious.
Merchant Dan Luo's eyes swept over the dark door with a cross hanging on it—the silver plated on the cross and its craftsmanship could sell for at least fifty gold coins, he calculated instinctively in his heart. Surprisingly, the "Imperial Ambassador" appointed by the Queen to be in charge of the negotiations has not yet appeared in public since arriving in Samba. All tentative visits are declined.
It wasn't until yesterday that the other party suddenly sent someone to send them an invitation letter for business talks with these business representatives.
Early this morning, Samba Cathedral has gathered so many merchants in history.
But although they were invited, they were not allowed to negotiate directly with the royal family - hell, they came here so early in the morning, and they didn't even see the Queen's representative. The other party only asked them to write down their requests, submit them to the servants, and then wait for the reply in the nave of the church.
This is so strange.
"Our very honorable Majesty the Queen, who has sent a ostentatious big shot to handle the affairs?" He couldn't help but said to his companion.
"Who knows?" The companion shrugged, "But no matter who comes, we just need to insist on the same conditions."
"It's legal and legitimate, even the Congressional Court has no way to refute it." Dan Luo felt a little relieved.
The tightly closed iron door suddenly opened at this moment, and the conversation between Dan Luo and his companions came to an abrupt end. The next moment they felt the light at the door dimmed, and a tall and thin man shrouded in dark black appeared at the door. The merchants were taken aback, and after gathering their composure, they recognized that the mysterious representative of the queen was Rodri, the youngest archbishop of the empire. East Berkeley businessmen exchange glances.
They always thought that the queen should appoint a financial official to come here, but they didn't expect it to come...
It turned out to be a bishop known for his conviction.
Did she think a sermon would fix everything
"Your conditions have been known," the young archbishop said, perhaps because the location was in a church, his words naturally carried a condescending sense of judgment, "Now I announce the final judgment—"
"Acquisition at standard price only."
The whispers and smiles of the merchants disappeared in an instant, and they looked at the archbishop who calmly announced the royal family's response in disbelief, almost suspecting that they had heard it wrong.
"Don't even think about adding a Solo copper coin."
Archbishop Rodri said coldly.
The door of the church slammed shut, and the light suddenly dimmed. The merchants turned around in panic, and saw that the monks in the church had all been replaced by Templar Knights at some point. They wore black smocks, hidden in the flickering candlelight of the church.
"You are illegally imprisoned! You have no right to do this!"
Some of the merchants protested loudly, and his protest was quickly supported by the crowd.
"This is against the laws of the empire! Even the queen has no right to imprison others because a trade contract cannot be reached!"
"Congress will not allow you to do that."
...
"Don't be nervous, gentlemen," said Archbishop Rodriguez unhurriedly, as he walked through the pews in the nave, behind the splendid polychrome mosaic mural depicting the Holy Father's judgment before the end of the world An epic picture of the world, "This is not captivity."
"Given that the vast majority of you ignore the pope's decree prohibiting trade with East and West Ule, but are stingy with spending time doing enough mass to save your souls. As the archbishop of the empire, I have the right to help the believers in the pastoral area under my jurisdiction Make up for your mistakes."
"Or, do you prefer to be expelled?"
The businessmen looked at each other.
They didn't expect the situation to develop like this at all, but the hell... Rodri could indeed do this. The Queen cannot legally imprison them, but he can religiously compel them to confess. "Excommunication" was a threat powerful enough that the pope could even force secular monarchs to walk on foot with it.
But this is obviously a business negotiation!
To make matters worse, monks filed in immediately, lit a candle for everyone, and distributed a confession book.
"Now, please repent." Archbishop Rodri said.
"etc-"
A businessman couldn't help standing up.
"How long are we going to repent?"
"Wait until your sins are washed away."
… … … … … … …
Not many people took this "confession" seriously at first, but they soon discovered their mistake.
Archbishop Rodrik kept silent about anything about food, and really gave the sermon of confession his whole heart. The subsequent encounters left the businessmen even more dumbfounded. They did not have any worries about their lives, but from the moment Archbishop Rodrik announced that they should repent for their crimes, the iron gates of the church were completely closed. What the priests offered them was the driest black bread and the most tasteless water.
Tortured by the boring sermons for most of the day, these businessmen, who were originally white and fat with hands and feet, and looked like fighting cocks, couldn't help but sluggish.
More than once in the middle, someone asked them how long they would repent.
The answer I got was always the same sentence: "Wait until the sin is washed away".
At night, when the monks led them to their residences and saw the hardest plank bed, the roughest sheets, and the fireplace that didn’t burn – and wouldn’t – their faces instantly became as gray and ugly as the walls.
"Could it be that he actually wants to use this method to force us to back down?"
The merchants cursed angrily.
"Let him dream!"
"Don't even think about missing a single copper coin!"
"I'd rather let those loaves sink into the sea than let me drop a copper coin!"
…
While in the dark, the merchants endured the unpolished wooden boards, rough sheets, and mosquitoes that appeared from time to time, while they ruthlessly supervised each other to carry out the confrontation to the end.
They have full confidence in other businessmen outside.
They will never accept the royal family's bribe when they can profit the most by killing the price with one bite. As long as the few of them persevere, the queen will definitely be the first to fail, and they may be able to raise the price again by then.
Just cheering each other up like this, for a while, the merchants who were forced to "confess" were quite confident, and even developed a sense of dedication that "I am enduring hardships for the entire Berik merchant group".
However, even if their determination was indeed as firm as a rock, on the third day, when they saw the monks bringing dry black bread again, they still felt their throats burning on reflex.
—Where did the damned Archbishop Rodri find these roughest and throat-grinding black bread
… … … … … … …
Just when these East Berkeley business representatives were tossing and turning, tortured by the harsh environment and the monks’ boring confessional sermons, their stewards, collaborators, and other businessmen who were not qualified to directly negotiate with the royal family representatives, He is also waiting anxiously outside the church.
The iron doors of the church were closed.
"They are devoutly repenting."
No matter how they questioned, they could only get consistent answers from the monks who guarded the gate.
"repent?"
This answer made many people laugh angrily, and almost made many people lose their anger on the spot.
During the few days when the major merchants in East Berkeley were negotiating with representatives of the royal family, a huge amount of grain suddenly rushed into the eastern market monopolized by Berkeley merchants. Almost at the same time, royal merchants sold grain at normal prices in several cities in the east that were experiencing famine.
The remaining Berik merchants immediately fell into a panic. They didn't know where the batch of grain came from. Rumors then spread that several representatives of the Berek merchants who were negotiating with the royal family accepted the secret conditions offered by the queen, betrayed the entire East Berek merchant group, and shamefully handed over the food they hoarded to the royal family—otherwise, how could they Explain the source of this batch of food that hit the market and stabilized prices.
Seeing the price of grain being lowered little by little, the merchants who had been sitting firmly on Diaoyutai couldn't bear it anymore, and eagerly wanted to get in touch with the negotiating representatives.
The representatives of the merchants are huddled in the church, and the euphemistic name is: confession.
"When they finish their confession, everything will be over."
A Berik businessman whose funds are far less than others said resentfully.
Grain prices are falling again, and seeing that he will lose money in a few days, the businessman hesitates, and finally casts aside the attention of others. Under the guidance of a monk, he walked into the church from a hidden side door.
At first, he was a little apprehensive, a little anxious.
At this moment, he saw a monk leading another person across the courtyard, also coming along a path. He took a closer look and saw that it was the familiar flour merchant Vixen. Join him in the morning to reprimand the "repentant" representatives outside the big iron gates of the church.
Seeing him, there was an awkward look on the other side's face first, and then there was an imperceptible, secret lightness.
Now, he immediately felt extremely relaxed.