"What's going on with the Buryat family now? Are they in such a desperate situation that they need to rob the mountain people?"

As soon as the round table meeting ended, Victor summoned the spy leader Balol. The Buryat leaders' infiltration into the mountains and the steady flow of refugees made Victor restless.

"Sir, according to the news coming back from Mercury, Yehliu City is still quite peaceful and supplies are abundant. The Buryat family has not yet reached the point of being at the end of its rope." Balor said.

Victor nodded and said: "This is reasonable. The Buryat family has been running the territory for hundreds of years, and an ant plague will not make them so poor that they have no food to eat. So, why do they want to rob the mountain people? Why is there such a thing?

How many victims are there?”

Balor thought for a while and said: "Sir, I think the Buryat family is trying to throw away their burden in the name of the ant plague."

"The permanent population of Buryatia is more than 50,000, and the number continues to grow. Such a large population makes the Buryat family overwhelmed. This ant plague caused the grain harvest in Buryatia to be cut off, and the villages were also damaged.

There was a lot of loss, but there was almost no loss of population. It was in the name of the disaster that the Buryat family deliberately failed to provide relief to the people and caused an outflow of victims, in order to reduce the population pressure in the territory. They drove away the mountain people, probably to clear the way for the outflow of victims.

obstacle."

Victor pondered for a moment and asked: "It makes sense. But if they send excess population to their neighbors, won't they be criticized by the surrounding lords? If they don't help the people and deliberately create disaster victims, how can the church tolerate them?"

"It can only be said that the timing of the Buryat family is great!" Barol explained: "Viscount Buryat died in the battle, leaving behind the 5-year-old heirs Primo Buryat and Zhu

Mrs. Tiv. According to convention, the heir of a lord must be 12 years old or older before he can inherit the title. Before that, other members of the family assisted the Viscountess in handling territorial affairs. However, Lord Austin, the younger brother of Viscount Buryatia, had a fight with Mrs. Judy.

They are very powerful. They blame each other on the refugee issue. The surrounding lords have no idea who to hold accountable, so they can only consider themselves unlucky."

"The attitude of the church is very ambiguous. Generally speaking, the church in the territory affected by disasters will come forward to provide relief. But the presiding priest in Buryatia did not make any move, and instead allowed the victims to flow out. I think Lord Austin may have reached some kind of agreement with the church.

consensus!"

"So, it is Austin who led the exodus of victims. What is the basis?" Victor asked with interest.

Balor said: "According to Mercury's investigation, there are three baron families and seventeen lord families under the command of Viscount Buryatia. These vassal lords can be divided into two forces, the old and the new. The new force's families have knights but no territory, and the old force's

The family has few knights but a large territory. Although Lord Austin is a direct blood descendant of the Buryat family, he does not have much territory. He is the leader of the new force, and the three baron families are representatives of the old force. Buryat family

After the death of Viscount Art, the new forces supported Lord Austin to inherit the title of Viscount, while the old forces supported Lady Judy. During the battle against the ant plague, Austin was promoted to the Silver Knight. He not only controlled the army of Yehliu City, but also

Gained huge popularity. Therefore, Austin has actually controlled the Buryat Territory, and only he can lead the exodus of victims."

"Indeed, Austin has the ability to do this. So what's his motive? To divert the excess population for the family, at the expense of offending the church? He did this purely for the sake of the family, sacrificing himself to make his nephew a success!" Victor asked puzzledly.

road.

The contradiction between the old and the new is a problem that all ancient families have. The old forces occupy territory resources, while the new forces want to obtain resources. There are two ways to solve the problem, either to expand outwards or to reshuffle the internal forces. The lord encounters unexpected events, and the successors

Weak and powerless, the old and new forces of the Buryat family can only resolve conflicts through internal fighting.

Austin is a direct blood descendant of the Buryat family and is eligible to inherit the title of viscount. As a Silver Knight, he has also won the support of the family's new forces. He seems to have the upper hand, but without the approval of the church, he wants to

Inheriting the territory can only be a delusion. The eldest son of the Viscount of Buryatia is the first heir to the title. In Victor's view, taking advantage of the disaster to divert the population is what a lord should do, and Ost

Ding should use his family's grain reserves to provide relief to the people in the name of the church, in order to gain recognition from the church and inherit the title of viscount.

"Sir, Mercury has observed several things. Austin received an invitation from the royal family to participate in the hunting event. When he returned, he was accompanied by Viscount Varus, the captain of the guard of Archduke Williams. Three days later, Viscount Varus left Yehliu City.

Then Austin recruited craftsmen from all vassal lords in the name of repairing Yeliu City. The carpenters, blacksmiths, and stonemasons from Buryatia moved their families to Yeliu City. Then, he also collected food from the lords everywhere, so the victims

came into being. And the church has not made any statement on this.”

x-3 operates quickly, and in the flash of lightning, Victor understands the cause of the matter.

"The uncle and nephew compete for the title. The situation of the Buryat family is so similar to that of the royal family. Austin's participation in the hunting event was not invited by the queen at all, but by the invitation of Archduke Williams. The relationship between Archduke Williams and the church

Well, he had the ability to influence the church's attitude toward Austin.

From the church's point of view, the victims of the Buryat family just flowed from one parish to another, which did not shake the fundamental interests of the church and only affected the performance of the Buryat priests. In addition, Gambis' experience

After the ant plague, the church was under great pressure to provide relief, and the people fled the famine. The priest in Buryatia was somewhat relieved.

With the support of the Grand Duke, the approval of the church, and the support of emerging forces, Austin believed that the position of the lord was stable, and he began to solve the problems within the territory.

In the Buryat family, there are conflicts not only among the upper-class nobles, but also among the lower-class civilians. There are too many people and life is difficult for everyone. If Austin drives away some of them, the remaining civilians will only support Austin even more. Since the vassal lord ruled

The population is reduced and the land is no longer tense, and Austin will ask the vassal lords to cede territory to the newly promoted knight families. Haha, except for Judy and her son and those who were kicked out, everyone will accept Austin as a cloth

Viscount Riat."

"Your Excellency is wise!"

After receiving the information from Mercury, it took Balor a lot of time to figure it out, but Victor figured out the link almost instantly. This intelligence convinced the old spy.

"Sir, what is Mercury's next mission?"

Victor said: "Grow your power and penetrate into other territories."

Balor was stunned and asked: "Should we increase our penetration into the Buryat Territory?"

"How deep has the mercury penetrated?" Victor asked curiously.

"Monkey hangs out in a small gang and becomes a small leader. Femi runs errands for a grocery store, and the boss is the steward under the Yeliu City garrison. Mia becomes the mistress of a vassal lord, and Spider opens a business in that vassal lord

When working in a hotel, Red Wolf became the leader of a group of thieves, with more than a dozen thieves and spies working with him."

Victor frowned and said, "Except for the red wolf who has developed some little thieves who are of some use, the others have infiltrated into the upper class of the Buryat family. What do you think?"

Balor's heart skipped a beat, and he said in panic: "Sir, I thought you wanted to interfere in the affairs of the Buryat family. So, mercury is seeping into the upper echelons of the Buryat family."

"Why should I interfere in the internal affairs of other families?" Victor said, dumbfounded, "I pay attention to the Buryat family for only two reasons. First, I want to find out whether the Buryat family has been seriously affected by the disaster.

Can the refugee flow be controlled? I don’t want the Randall Territory to experience another freedman turmoil. Since Austin has gathered craftsmen to prevent the brain drain, it means that the Buryat family did not lose control of the refugee flow and was driven out.

The number of people is also limited, so there is no need to worry about this problem.

Secondly, before the Free Folk Chamber of Commerce was formed, the mountains and forests were important trade routes, and the mountain people were the force we wanted to control. If the Buryat family drove the mountain people away to control the mountains and forests, then I would give them some color.

.But I think your analysis is very reasonable. The Buryat family is clearing obstacles for the flow of refugees. After all, the cost for the lord to directly control the forest is too high."

Balor said repeatedly: "Sir, I understand. I will remove the mercury right now, train some more people, and infiltrate into other territories."

Victor thought for a moment and asked: "Balor, Mercury's main task is to provide intelligence support for the Free Folk Merchant Group. The Free Folk Merchant Group stretches from west to east, from south to north, and has footprints in all empires and kingdoms.

How many manpower does Mercury need? How much money? How much time? To do it?"

Balor opened his mouth, and after a long while he said: "Sir, I estimate that I need to train thousands of spies, invest several million gold soles, and it will take another two hundred years to almost complete it."

"Two hundred years?! That's useless!"

Cold sweat broke out on Balor's forehead, and he said tremblingly: "Sir, maybe the time needs to be longer, and more money needs to be invested... I can't say for sure, I'm afraid the Sasan Empire won't either.

There will be such a large secret agent organization."

"It's too slow, and it's too expensive!" Victor paced back and forth with his hands behind his hands, then stopped and said, "The Free Folk Merchant Group will be robbed by the lord if they're not careful. Mercury doesn't need to spy on any secret information.

As long as you can keep an eye on the lord’s movements. Let’s do this. Open inns in every town. You can both make money and collect intelligence. Just do it!”

Speaking of this, Victor's eyes lit up with excitement. He had various cooking recipes. The Goat Hotel had made a lot of money. Opening a hotel chain was fast and profitable. It was definitely a good way.

"Sir." Balor wiped his cold sweat and said cautiously: "Inns and taverns opened by outsiders are the focus of investigation. If there is anything wrong, they will be taken away by the lord."

"Uh... Okay." Victor calmed down and thought for a long time before saying, "Then develop both internal and external lines."

"Two lines?"

"Yes!" Victor explained: "Don't monkeys join gangs? Don't red wolves train little thieves? Mercury is the inside, and those thieves and villains are the outside. Let Mercury teach these people the skills of deception, abduction, and fighting.

Make friends with them and let them develop freely. If you plant seeds in one town after another, there will always be someone to eat the rice, and there will always be someone who comes to the fore. When the freemen's caravan passes by this territory, Quicksilver goes with it and reminisces with old friends.

The outside line has become Mercury's eyes and ears, and maybe it can play a greater role. For example, in the name of dealing with black goods, the outside line can let the outside line disperse the caravan's goods into the town. When they taste the benefits, they will spontaneously cover the merchants.

The outside line of the regiment can be developed freely. It doesn’t require much investment or much time. Even if the lord kills it, it doesn’t feel bad. It can just be planted again. When the lord is also brought in, the outside line will be useless. "

"The insiders must be carefully trained in the way of secret agents, but instead of the traditional infiltration, lurking, collecting, spying, and passing on, they must be disguised, cooperated, taught, seduced, intelligence analyzed, and supported in the form of a small team. Balor, you

how do you feel?"
Chapter completed!