The silently operating constant temperature magic circle shielded the bleak wind outside the castle, the decorative shields on the wall were polished shiny, the gorgeous classical tapestry depicts symbols about heroes, monsters and gods, and the precious smoke from the hands of fairies The incense quietly exudes a pleasant and elegant fragrance in the copper incense box. The light of the magic spar lamp is sprinkled from the roof and sprinkled into the gold-rimmed teacup. The bright red liquid has a warm layer inside. Floating.
Wenna, the gray elf, held up the teacup in front of her, gently shaking the liquid with a clear texture, her light-colored eyes reflected fine dots of light: "Goods from the Typhon Empire? This... is indeed a novelty, what is it specifically?" ?”
"Textiles, mainly textiles, as well as dyes and white crystals," Baldwin said with a smile. "The quality is high, and the supply is sufficient—friends from the Western Plains tribes should like it."
"Not to mention, I'm really interested in textiles," Wen Na raised her eyes, "Can I have a look at the samples?"
Baldwin smiled and stood up, nodding to the attendant next to him: "Of course, here is—open."
The attendant opened the wooden box containing the samples, and the guests from the Ogure Tribal Country cast their eyes curiously. Duke Baldwin stepped forward, took out a piece of white cloth from the wooden box, and handed it to the gray elves. In front of Wen Na: "Ma'am, please take a look."
Wen Na reached out to take the fabric, and looked at it carefully with anticipation and curiosity, but within a few seconds her expectant expression became a little stunned and disappointed. After a short silence, the gray elf clan chief frowned and shook his head. Shaking his head: "My friend, I was praising the creativity of human craftsmen in the field of art just now... but now I am a little confused."
As she spoke, she raised her head and looked at Duke Baldwin curiously: "With all due respect - isn't that distant Typhon Empire not good at craftsmanship? You should also be able to see that although the fabric is strong, it is not good at weaving. But there is no taste in the patterns and patterns. An apprentice who has just learned how to weave can weave something like this. It... "
"Sixteen silver shield coins." Baldwin said suddenly.
"What?" Wen Na didn't respond for a while.
"Sixteen silver shield coins," Baldwin smiled, and gently patted the wooden box beside his hand, "a total of one hundred and sixty rulers."
Gray Elf Wenna's ears couldn't help shaking: "...are you joking?"
"You had the same expression and words when I reported the price of the alchemy potion to you last time." Baldwin shook his head, sat back on the high-back chair, and the expression on his face became serious, "This is the real one. Price—As you can see, these fabrics are really tasteless in weave and pattern, and this is because they are woven by machines, which can only be woven with current machine technology. It won't catch the eyes of the upper class nobles, but from the price point... it will definitely be popular among middle class citizens and common people."
"Machine... It's not the first time I've heard this word," Wen Na's expression of astonishment and disappointment has disappeared, replaced by thinking, "If it's made by a machine, then I can understand its price, but I have a question - even if it is machine made, you have to transport this cloth from far away Typhon to the western frontier, after such a long journey, is the price of these things still so cheap? In my understanding, Even if a stone is transported from the east to the west of your country, the toll alone is a huge sum."
"We are building new roads, and new transportation technology can realize the rapid transportation of bulk goods—of course, even so, there are transportation costs, and the profits of these fabrics are very, very thin, but the Franklin family has always been looking for long-term business partners, small profits More sales is our code of conduct, you should know this."
Duke Baldwin said frankly, with a sincere and gentle smile on his face.
The gray elf Wenna looked at the smile on Baldwin's face, and after a slight silence for two seconds, she said: "You are really sincere when you are talking about business... So, you just shipped the cheap cloth that Typhon sold to you to the west Then sell it to us... This is different from the previous alchemy potion."
"The essence of trade is to convert the distance into profit, and transportation also costs money," Baldwin nodded, "but no matter what, these fabrics must still be of great value in your hands, after all... Regardless of taste , they are of high quality and totally worth the price.”
The gray elf's eyes narrowed slightly, which was her habit when she was thinking.
"Elves love art, and delicacy and taste are the elements that we value very much." After a few seconds of thinking, she slowly opened her eyes, with a shimmer in the light-colored pupils, "My friend, there is no doubt —Gold coins are the most tasteful things in this world.”
"It's very much in line with your personal style—it's also in line with mine," Baldwin's smile bloomed, "Then if everything goes well, we will be able to officially start accepting textile orders in the spring of next year, and the specific amount will be discussed later. According to the previously agreed delivery time, it will not be affected by the textile order. As for the settlement... "
"Half the gold coins, half the food and medicinal materials," Wenna said proactively, "Our king has agreed to your request, and we know the troubles that An... Cecil Empire is in. As old friends, we are happy to help— The first orders of grain will arrive at the border before winter begins."
"Thank you to the Gray Elf King for me," Baldwin stood up and said sincerely, "We will never forget every help from our friends."
Wen Na got up to return the salute, and then looked at the other box: "So, these should be other samples?"
"Yes, let me show you..."
…
The brilliance of the huge sun gradually sank to the west, and the more brilliant rays of light began to cover the earth along the clouds. Nameless birds sang in the background of the clouds and the sky, and hurriedly returned to their nests. Wenna, who had left the castle, raised her With his hand, he pushed back the hair on his forehead, and looked back at the classical and gorgeous castle of the Franklin family.
"What a big deal..." the gray elf said softly to himself.
The Honggu people walking beside couldn't help frowning: "They must earn more."
Wen Na shook her head: "When doing business, don't focus on how much other people earn. No one comes to do business with you just to lose money."
The human being with a gentle temperament said: "But anyway, the price of those fabrics is still surprising. After a long transportation, their price is still so low... It's really hard to imagine that the Typhon Empire is selling these How cheap is it when things are exported to Cecil."
"Yeah...it's really hard to imagine..." Wen Na turned her head again, her gaze swept over the centuries-old castle.
A craftsman is busy on the platform on the side of the castle, installing a strange magic device with no apparent use on the platform. The magic device has a base made of metal and a huge crystal.
What an old castle, it feels almost as old as the grounds.
But she had a faint feeling that something young was growing in this land.
Goods from the far east, on the other side of the continent... that's a long way.
…
Baldwin Franklin stood in front of the window of the living room, watching the guests from the Ogure tribal country board their own carriages and gradually disappear at the corner of the road in the distance, and then looked away.
A young man wearing a royal blue coat and a gold brooch on his chest entered the room, stood behind Patwin, and called out respectfully, "Father."
"Eleven," Duke Baldwin turned around, showing a gentle smile to his eldest son, "You should be able to hear clearly in the next room—from the look on your face, you seem to be very suspicious."
The young man named Eleven stood up straight. As an adult, he was still accustomed to obeying every word of his father's teachings, but he already had many thoughts and questions of his own: "Yes, father—why did you want to be the first?" Time to confess that those cloths are from Typhon?"
Baldwin looked at his eldest son quietly: "Why don't you confess?"
"... You have taught me that in the case of being able to monopolize the source of goods, confidential supply channels are one of the important means to maintain the monopoly and ensure profits. We import textiles from Typhon and sell them to the Ogure tribal country, which is essentially just reselling , but if we don't say it, the Ogore Tribes won't know about it, and we can raise the price a bit more—but now, the Gray Elves already know where those textiles come from, and sooner or later they will confirm the Typhon Empire's export The approximate price of textiles, cost transparency is the biggest taboo in doing business... "
Baldwin waited patiently for the young man to finish speaking, then shook his head: "You can think of these, which means that you are really learning what I taught you seriously, but you can only think of these, which means that what you have learned is only superficial.
"The first point is that what we want to do is a long-term business, and it is a country-to-country business. This kind of business needs stability, not temporary profits. The gray elves are not a closed group, and they will one day know about those textiles. Although from a commercial point of view, our behavior of keeping our supply channels secret is not deceitful, but if we use this to manipulate the price too much, then sooner or later we will hurt the feelings of our trading partners, and it will also hurt the future business.
"Second point, even if I disclose the source of the goods, we don't have to worry about this business being left behind, because Cecil is the only channel to maintain east-west trade in the northern part of the mainland. To the south is the wasteland of Gondor, and to the north is the wasteland, mountains and In the cold winter, if the trade goods of the Typhon Empire are to be transported to the Ogulei Tribal Country, we can only go through our route—unless the Gray Elves or the Eldar find a way to break through the blockade of the sea and restart the northern ring continent route.
"The third point is also the most important point: Do you think that our emperor asked me to sell those things to the Ogule Tribal Country at a price of almost zero profit, really just to sell textiles?"
The young duke's son was at a loss for a moment, and then showed a thoughtful look.
Baldwin Franklin laughed and shook his head: "What we really want to sell is the railway."
Eleven's eyes widened.
Baldwin looked away from his eldest son, and landed on a shelf not far away. On the shelf was a gift given to him by Emperor Gawain Cecil before he left the city of Saint-Sunil. .
A model of the first freight fel train.
Exquisite and ingenious, lifelike, from the "hand" of Saint Nicholas Egg, the chief craftsman of the empire.
However, this model is so peculiar, with no use or "artistic value", that the gray elf Wenna's attention was all attracted by the flashy magic pendulum, and she didn't notice that it really symbolized Items from Age of Empires.
But he believes that it won't be long before the kings of the Ogure Tribal Kingdom will notice it.
"Eleven, maybe I was too persistent in trying to train you into a person like me, and I ignored your real expertise and interests."
"Father?" The young duke's son was a little surprised, and then panicked, "Father, I'm not..."
"Don't be nervous, child," Baldwin shook his head, "You still make me proud, but now you need to be more diligent in order to keep up with the era created by His Majesty. Magic technology, trains, magic net radio, alchemy industry... There are too many new things in the new era, and these things, the teachers in the castle and the scholars in the territory themselves do not understand, let alone teach you.
"The Westlands are too far from the heart of the Empire, far from new technologies and knowledge, and from true 'civilization'.
"We can't sit at home and wait for a civilized society to come, we have to take the initiative to reach out.
"Your Majesty is building more educational facilities in the imperial capital, Cecil City, and building a new Imperial College. I have ordered five hundred bright young people from the entire Western Region to be selected to study, regardless of their background. You should go too—as the leader of the academy. , Let’s go to the south together. The old aristocratic era is over, and the Franklin family is no longer the direct ruler of this land, but you still shoulder the responsibility of fighting for the interests of this land and the people on it.
"I believe the Snow Duchess of the North is doing the same thing—we are never far behind."
Eleven quietly met the gaze of the Duke of the Western Territory, before lowering his head deeply for a long time: "Yes, father."
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