The chubby Padraic Boom sat a little uneasy in the drawing room of Lord Cecil's "castle", and adjusted the position of his bow tie for the third time.
He is not a person who has not seen the world, but it is very difficult for people who have seen the world in this world to have the opportunity to have a secret conversation with a founding hero. He knows that the situation this time is completely different from the previous conversation in Kant Castle Last time, he accepted Duke Cecil's appointment in the crowd as a representative of Kant Land, but this time, it was Duke Cecil who called him from Kant Land to have a private face-to-face meeting .
The stress created by these two conversations is very different.
At the same time, Patrick was also curiously looking at this place that was extremely novel in his eyes.
This mansion is the castle of Duke Cecil, but its shape is completely different from the aristocratic fortress in the public impression. Rather than being a castle, it is closer to the "holiday manor" architectural style recently popularized by some nobles in the central region , it is probably not as strong as a castle, but the environment inside is surprisingly comfortable: wide floor-to-ceiling windows, a bright living room, and warm corridors and rooms, and the air does not smell at all like that often found in castles. Soggy, putrid smelling, it's an amazing thing indeed.
Most of the walls here are whitewashed and spotless, and the bright magic crystal lamps illuminate every corner of the building as if they don’t need money. In fact, not only in this castle, since entering Cecil After receiving the collar, the number of magic spar lamps Patrick saw even exceeded the sum of all magic spar lamps he had seen in the previous half of his life.
God knows how this newly established frontier managed to do this. In just a few months, neat brick houses were built here, wide and straight streets were built, docks, mills, Sawmills are available, and among all these things, the most eye-catching are the magic spar lamps that are lit just before dusk, and they are placed in rows on both sides of the roads and houses. In front of the main gate, it is not used to illuminate the lord's mansion, but to illuminate the place where the common people live!
Originally, Padraic thought that it would be a great feat for half of the citizens of Kant to light up the oil lamps after nightfall, but when he saw the brightly lit Cecil Territory after nightfall, he actually felt that he was familiar with it. The town instantly dimmed.
How rich is Cecil? Did they hire dozens or hundreds of official mages to recharge the street lamps at the door of the common people
And what happened to their incredible construction speed? And what about engineering projects that still don't stop during the winter? And what about those civilians who walk around the territory at will, talk and laugh loudly, and don't tremble with fear when they see patrolling soldiers? What are those huge buildings called factories that make strange noises
This territory seemed to be shrouded in countless mysteries, but Padraic didn't dare to delve into it. He knew the owner of this land and the origin of the Grand Duke Gawain Cecil, who had experienced the Gondor period and the Second World War. The legend that was pioneered this time is said to have reached a secret agreement with the lords of the four elements, and has close contacts with the royal families of elves and dwarves. Such a character is almost "inhuman" in Padrik's view, even if he borrowed it. Padraic also felt that there was no problem in using the power of the elemental lord to build this territory, but if he was a small person talking too much in this regard, then the problem would be big.
When Padraic was adjusting his bow tie for the fourth time, the stupid-looking little maid came up again, filling up the teacup on the round table for an unknown number of times: "Sir, have some tea."
"Oh, oh, thank you." Padraic hiccupped with the sound of water, but this time he had learned to be smart, just took a small sip from the teacup, and he realized that the little maid in front of him was not It’s not that she is trying to make things difficult for herself, nor is she being instructed by the duke to test herself, but that she really hasn’t learned how to receive guests from senior maids or head maids. Then stare at the guest and drink tea, but if the guest is too honest or thinks too much, such as the self half an hour ago, it is very likely that she will drink tea to death.
"Excuse me... does the Duke know that I'm coming?" After putting down his teacup, Patrick looked at Betty carefully and asked.
The other party is just a little maid, and it is impossible to compare with myself as the lord's advisor (former) in terms of status, but only a fool would use such a simple method to make a comparison. This little girl is just a maid. But she is the Duke's maid!
Then the "Duke's Maid" put her finger on her chin and fell into a dazed state for a few seconds. After thinking hard, Betty shook her head: "I don't know!"
Padraic sighed, giving up on asking anything from Betty.
And at this moment, the door of the living room was finally pushed open, and a tall figure stood there, making Patrick, who had just sighed, stand up reflexively.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting," Gao Wen said with a smile as he walked into the room, "I'm inspecting the alchemy factory, and it took me a while to sort out the samples, Betty, have you poured tea for the guests?"
Betty raised the big teapot in her hand: "Pour tea!"
Padraic hiccupped reflexively as soon as he heard the water in the large teapot...
Gao Wen was taken aback: Why did the fat man hiccup and still hear the sound
However, he didn't delve into this matter, but was very pleased with the growth of his little maid. After showing an approving smile to the little girl, he looked at Mr. Patrick who was a little nervous and hiccupped. : "Knight Philip praised you very much. When he came back to report the situation last time, he mentioned that you managed Kant's finances in an orderly manner. Still stabilize the merchants who have trade relations with Kant Land, so that they will still do business with Kant Land in the coming year?"
"I just did what I was supposed to do," Patrick nodded reservedly, "I have always been in charge of dealing with the chambers of commerce in the territory and making suggestions to the lord in this regard. I am ashamed to say that although I am proficient in heraldry And grammar and etiquette, but put more energy into the money, which is... probably not very respectable."
"It's really disrespectful when you are good at dealing with money but dare not admit it," Gao Wen smiled, "I came to you today to talk about money matters, I think you You should already know, right?"
"Ah, yes, I saw your letter. Your territory has entered a productive stage, so you want me to contact the trade route?" Patrick nodded, "Is it the alchemy potion?"
"Yes, alchemy potion, but I want to declare in advance that the way Cecil collar produces and sells alchemy potion is probably quite different from what you imagined. I have a brand new trade model, and I need you to help me form and sell it. Realize it."
"A brand new trade model?" Patrick frowned, he didn't know what Gawain meant, "Are you talking about your commission as a lord?"
"It's too troublesome to talk about. It's better for you to read the information directly," Gawain said while motioning for Hetty, who was following him, to pass a not-too-thick booklet to Patrick, " This will tell you what the 'new trade model' is."
Padraic took over the brochure, but although he was quite in awe of Gao Wen, he was still somewhat conceited when talking about his field of expertise. He asked himself that he had dealt with merchants for half his life, how would he be interested in laying commercial roads, buying, selling, and selling? That set of things is very familiar, and no matter how novel the trade model is, it will not be too complicated in his eyes. It is a bit of a fuss to use a booklet to explain it, but he dare not say it clearly, but can only respectfully nod: "Okay, I'll take a look right now. Your Excellency, you can rest assured that I am quite confident in doing business."
As he was talking, he saw some key words in the brochure: chain distribution, regional agency, distribution network, sharing model and market expansion...
Gawain didn't say anything, just watched quietly as Patrick quickly read through the not very thick booklet.
Padraic skimmed through the first pass for a few minutes, then tripled the time for the second.
When he was about to watch it for the third time, Gawain interrupted him: "Mr. Patrick, what do you think?"
Patrick rubbed his eyes, looked at Gao Wen blankly, and seemed to forget that he was in the living room of the Duke's mansion for a moment, his mind was full of those unimaginable nouns and specific operation plans, until he realized It was when Gao Wen called himself that he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat: "Yes... yes, Your Excellency Duke! I'm done, I'm done!"
"I know you've finished reading it, and I want to know what you think."
"This... this" Patrick looked down at the booklet in his hand, but suddenly realized that he had no words to use, "These ideas are really something I have never thought of, they seem weird...but they seem to be feasible ?But… "
The fat gentleman waited for a long time, and finally took a deep breath: "Well, I admit that there is no problem logically, if it is really realized, then it will quickly grow into a commercial monster in the southern region without any individual Hong merchants, sitting merchants, and even regional chambers of commerce can fight against such a well-organized, highly efficient, unified business group with the support of aristocrats, but I must also be honest, these ideas are almost impossible to realize. You ask this salesman All the people in the system are under the unified dispatch, the shops on the ground floor are under the command of the regional agent, and the regional agent is under the command of the general manager appointed by you, but no businessman has ever accepted this kind of restraint before. Of course, we can rely on money for this and the contract to barely achieve, but you also require the lowest-level shops to do business to the common people, this... "
Patrick spread his hands: "Alchemy potions are not stinky ointments made by rural herbalists. Even poorer mercenaries may not be able to use them. How can civilians afford them? Even if we sell them to civilians, they will No one bought it either!"
"You don't have to worry about this. Since I said that the new alchemy potions can be sold to civilians, I have naturally considered the price. I can guarantee that they are so cheap that ordinary civilians can afford them, and nobles from all over the world can afford them. This potion can be given to their army."
Gao Wen didn't say too much directly, and didn't promise that "even serfs can afford alchemy potions" because this is unrealistic. Not every territory is the same as the Cecil Territory. In most places in the world, the private property of the serfs is almost zero. Can't afford it. In this regard, the current Gao Wen can't do anything.
Making alchemy potions affordable for civilians (or citizens) with moderate conditions in other territories is already his biggest goal right now.
Regarding Gao Wen's statement, Patrick's first reaction was to doubt that this was impossible, but seeing the unshakable expression on the other party's face, he wisely did not say this, but simply carried out a review of the trade model in the manual. Evaluation: "Okay, then I will say that what is written here is full of wisdom. If you are not selling alchemy potions, but grain cloth, my evaluation of it will go up a level. But I still have One last question... Do you have so many alchemy potions?"
The "business scholar" spread his hands: "To 'feed' such a sales system, the amount of alchemy potions needed is not a small amount."
Gao Wen smiled slightly, and waved to the two attendants who followed him: "Go and bring those boxes of samples in."
"How many... how many boxes?"