Urban Sims

Chapter 67 Armed Trafficking
mid-July.

A straight, winding wooden track stretches from Yokonland to the top of the formidable ridge of the Urah Plateau.

Like a miracle in the world, all the people who saw this track for the first time were horrified and deeply shocked.

This short track of about 100 kilometers across the sky may not be considered much in modern times, but in this ancient civilization world, there are only the church's temple of holy light with a height of [-] feet, the thousand-story lighthouse of the Kingdom of Aguston, A few miracles of civilization, such as the Baizhang Stone Man in the Kingdom of Prussia and the Sky City in the Kingdom of Nevis, can be compared with it.

A total of 6174 workers died of various altitude sicknesses during the construction of this track.

For the more than 6000 dead workers, most of whom were savages and a few were bought slaves, Zhou Ming did not forget them. A small monument records the achievements of these workers for future generations to remember.

……

end of July.

Inside the New Merchant Station on the east side of Yocanland.

Starting from the leaders of many members of the Free Trade Union, caravans carrying all kinds of goods gathered in this large trading station. For a while, people called horses and it was very lively.

In the center of the commercial station, inside a large wooden house.

A group of luxuriously dressed nobles are sitting around a large table for a meeting.

Sitting at the top, holding a list of goods in his hand, Earl Horton of the Earl of Barme, who was elected as the rotating chairman of the Chamber of Commerce this year, read the text on the list and said: "Youcan collar, 50 cars of canned meat and nuts , Nathan collar, 20 carts of bread, Patton collar, 200 carts of ceramics, Grand collar, 500 carts of furniture, fur clothing, paper and ironware... and goods from other territories, a total of 1000 carts of goods, so much Goods, sold to the Copper Mountain Kingdom, what else can we get besides gold coins, copper from the Copper Mountain Kingdom?"

Earl Holden asked a little puzzled, if the iron of the Iron Castle Kingdom has a great effect on the merchant alliance, then it is necessary to trade with it, but the copper of the Copper Mountain Kingdom is not so important. It's also worth the money, but it's not as practical as iron.

"Edward Knight, the plateau corridor you built is easy to transport goods from the Merchant Alliance to the outside, but it is a bit troublesome to transport the goods from outside to the Merchant Alliance. You can't even ride a plain horse in this ghost place. , only Gaohan horses can pull light things, and you can pull more when you go to the south...but how do you pull the heavy copper of the Copper Mountain Kingdom from the south to the north?"

Another earl raised a question, feeling that the plateau corridor opened up by Zhou Ming had huge flaws in terms of commerce and trade.

"Of course I want copper, and I will find a way to transport it from the south, but not now. What we lack most now is not copper, but people."

"people?"

Everyone looked at Zhou Ming in surprise.

"Yes, it is people, to be precise, slave miners, slave miners in the countless mines of the Copper Mountain Kingdom, and these slave miners are the commodities that the Free Trade Union currently lacks the most."

Zhou Ming explained for everyone.

With the progress of the agricultural technology of the members of the Free Trade Union over the years, the meat rations needed by the territories are not in short supply, and there is no shortage of primary handicrafts such as furniture, farm tools, fur clothing, etc. Now it is restricting the continued development of the business alliance Yes, it is still the population base.

Zhou Ming made statistics and found that the seven counties in the north and south of the Kingdom of Voriss, the difference in economic output in the past two years is not very big, but in terms of population, the seven counties in the north are only one-third of that in the south (not counting the royal territory, which accounts for 1/5 of the kingdom's population), because of the cold climate, the birth rate in the north is not as high as that in the south.

If the Civil War breaks out in the Kingdom of Voris in the future, the individual combat capability of the knights in the north will be stronger than that in the south, but in terms of the number of soldiers, the north will be at a big disadvantage. In the war, not to mention defeating the South, even a tie is more difficult for the North.

Therefore, Zhou Ming needs as many people as possible to expand the market size of the Free Trade Union, to promote the economic vitality of the Free Trade Union, to tap the mineral resources within the Free Trade Union, and to increase the war potential of the Free Trade Union.

Therefore, he established a mercenary trade union, which absorbed a large number of floating population such as mercenaries and thieves; he opened up the plateau corridor, obtained slave miners from the Copper Mountain Kingdom, and transported them to the mines of the members of the Free Trade Union to mine gold and silver. Various underground resources such as copper, iron and coal (many territories of the Free Trade Union also have iron ore and copper mines, but the reserves are small and the grade is low, but they can also be used).

And as long as the population base of the Free Trade Union changes from quantitative to qualitative, the power that will eventually erupt may not be able to resist a small Southern Business Alliance.

After hearing Zhou Ming's theory, the eyes of all the barons and earls present lit up.

"I happen to have an iron mine in my territory, but I'm short of people to dig it. After this business is over, can you sell me 1000 slave miners?"

"I also have mines in my territory, give me 3000 slaves!"

"I want at least 5000 slave labor!"

"1!"

"..."

Seeing the enthusiasm of these nobles, Zhou Ming agreed one by one, thinking to himself, after these nobles realized the infinite convenience brought by slave labor, maybe they would be like African black slaves in the history of his world, The tragic scene of being sold to the Americas in quantities of hundreds of millions, and most of them died during transportation, is likely to be similarly staged in this world.

Poor?

Of course, but this is capital!
……

late August.

Copper Mountain Kingdom, the eastern border.

A group of uninvited guests suddenly arrived in the eastern mountains of the baronie of Bamo.

Hundreds of these uninvited guests were heavily armored knights with bright armor and holding spears; thousands of them were ferocious mercenaries holding various weapons; , their faces were very tired, but they cheered together because they arrived at their destination.

Seeing this group of uninvited guests, Baron Gerardy, the lord of Bamo, was almost scared to pee, because the place is closed and has not experienced wars for hundreds of years, and the fief knights drawn out are not much stronger than stronger farmers After being teased by the knights brought by Zhou Ming, they were all captured alive. The desperate Baron Gerardy's legs gave way, and he immediately knelt down and begged for surrender.

Zhou Ming did not embarrass him, but instead sent some gifts to show his friendship, saying that he was just a businessman, and he wanted to come to Tongshan Kingdom to do some small business with his caravan.

After looking at the exquisite goods brought by Zhou Ming, the golden-eyed Baron Gerardy soon became his first client. Paper, dozens of fur clothing, and more than 10 gold coins, millions of copper coins, and a large amount of food in Baron Gerardy's castle warehouse were exchanged for hundreds of years.

Baron Gerardy, who has accumulated hundreds of years of family property and squandered it all, doesn't care at all, because the small copper mine in his territory is enough for his family to dig for thousands of years.

Zhou Ming got off to a good start with the first deal, and his confidence swelled up!
In addition, I learned from Baron Gerardy that although the Copper Mountain Kingdom is a large country with 47 earldoms, the combat effectiveness of the army is not very good. The army defending the kingdom is mainly composed of foreign mercenaries. More wins less... The so-called riches and honors wear down fighting spirit, and arrogance and extravagance corrode ambitions are the true portrayal of this country sitting on top of copper mines.

It's like Zhou Ming's rich Middle Eastern countries, all of them are extremely rich, but the princes and soldiers who are armed to the teeth are the scum that even the guerrillas can't beat.

Knowing this, Zhou Ming, the next thing will be easier. Under the banner of doing business, he led his caravan to swagger through the city and passed by several earl territories. Facing this elite knight and a large number of servants The huge caravan guarded by soldiers, and the lords from all over the place, except for the initial test, no one dared to step forward to provoke.

Looking at the exquisite goods brought by Zhou Ming, they spent a lot of money and bought them generously.

early October.

Before the arrival of the snow season, the goods had been sold out long ago. At this time, Zhou Ming and the others were holding a large amount of gold coins and copper coins to buy mine slaves from various slave traders in the Copper Mountain Kingdom. After buying more than 2 slave miners of all ages, men, women and children, and with a balance of nearly one million gold coins (both gold and copper coins), after more than a month of hard work, they finally arrived on the first day of November. Before the snow fell, we returned to Yorkan Territory.

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(End of this chapter)