Dodo Kingdom, Dengshi City.

Lord Eckert was sitting in the lounge of the police station, quietly waiting for the reception of Lord Sheriff Valmon Dwemik. The servant of the police station took away the untouched pine nut tea that had gone cold and offered another cup.

Steaming hot and fragrant pine nut tea.

This is the ninth cup.

Before that, Eckert had drank seven cups of pine nut tea and went out for convenience three times. This long time is enough for the Sheriff to finish the official business at hand and have a good sleep. However, compared to the caravan,

I stayed in Dengshi City for five days, which is nothing.

The more negligent the Sheriff appeared, the more patient Eckert became.

Dengshi City is the main city of the Dwemik family, and the Dwemik family is one of the seven powerful families in the Dodo Kingdom. It has ruled the southeastern part of the kingdom for more than 700 years. It has a profound foundation and extraordinary strength. Wamon Dwemik

As the Sheriff of Dengshi City, Ke has 4 trainee knights and 600 security soldiers under his command. He does have the qualifications to be arrogant.

However, the Wimbledon Chamber of Commerce is also not a weakling.

The Wimbledon Chamber of Commerce monopolizes the trade in green wheat, jaggery and purple cane wine, and its caravans travel to all major kingdoms. In terms of wealth and influence, the Wimbledon Chamber of Commerce is still above the Dwemik family.

The caravan in charge of Eckert is responsible for the trade of Climbing Stone City. He has always maintained good personal relations with the middle-level officials of the Dwemik family. The annual expenditure on running the security station is no less than 1,000 gold soles.

He is short-handed and soft-spoken. Valmon has benefited from Eckert so much that he should not be so cold to his old friend. The Sheriff's abnormal behavior convinced Eckert that he could find a problem here.

The answer is that he really doesn’t want to drink pine nut tea anymore.

Sunlight poured into the security office from the west window. A guard walked into the lounge and bowed: "Your Excellency, Lord Valmon is waiting for you in the office."

Eckert nodded, picked up the long wooden box on the table, and followed the guard through the cross corridor to the door of the office. The guard raised his hand and knocked twice on the oak door, then pushed the door open and signaled Eckert

Go in.

A giant bear head specimen hangs on the wall opposite the door of the office, and its owner is sitting behind the desk.

"Eckert, I thought you would leave on your own." Sheriff Lord Valmont's eyebrows knitted together, making no attempt to hide his helplessness and dissatisfaction.

"Sir, I am not ignorant of current affairs. The caravan still has more than a hundred carriages of goods that have not been sold. If I just go back like this, my hard work in the past four months will be in vain." Eckert smiled and held the long wood in his hand.

The box was pushed in front of the Sheriff.

Wa Meng opened the wooden box and took out a long sword from inside. The blade was cold and sharp, and the purple-gold sword was covered with swirling lines, which showed the brilliance of dragon scales under the reflection of the sun.

"A fine gold sword made with a hundred forging methods? Is it the work of master craftsman Bernardo? It seems that you spent a lot of money." Valmon stroked the sword and said happily.

"I heard that your eldest son is about to hold a coming-of-age ceremony. This is a gift from me." Eckert said calmly.

"Good sword..." Valmon nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "Eckert, we are old friends for more than ten years. If you have anything to say, just say it!"

"There are 58 merchants in Dengshi City who specially accept my goods. This time, three of their families died, eight of them even sold out their shops, and the remaining dozens are unwilling to continue to receive goods.

None of the more than 600 shops in Boulder City dared to do business with us."

"I did some research and found out that there were three hyena leaders in Dengshi City recently. They sent people to coerce the traders and did not allow anyone to take over the business of the Wimbledon caravan." Eckert shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I thought this was the case.

That's what you meant. Now, I just want to know... is this temporary, or will it be like this in the future?"

Valmon pondered for a moment and said: "Not all shops are afraid to do Wimbledon caravan business... I have a list here, you can take a look."

Eckert took the sheepskin scroll handed over by Valmont and opened it. It was full of shops opened by vassals of the Dwemik family, including the Sheriff's own three grocery stores.

These people are all old acquaintances of Eckert. In fact, they bought out 60% of the goods in the caravan. However, their purchase price was less than half that of the free folk traders, but their shipping price was twice as high as that of the free folk traders.

.

The Wimbledon Chamber of Commerce has its own charter. All shops with vassal backgrounds belong to official merchants, while free merchants are called private merchants. Private merchants deal with ordinary people and small lords in remote areas, and they are the main profits of the caravan.

Source. As the government and merchants serve the great lords, their share of trade and commodity prices must take into account the needs of the major forces. Marquis Sophia personally negotiated the deal and cannot be changed easily.

Eckert could not accept the suggestion made by the Sheriff. He handed the scroll back and shook his head: "You know, I can't violate the rules of the Chamber of Commerce."

Wamen took the sheepskin scroll, stuffed it into the drawer, and said regretfully: "This is the only way I can help you. If you don't agree, then drag the goods away. There is no point in wasting it like this."

"What happened?" Eckert couldn't help but ask.

The Sheriff was silent for a moment and then said: "Now, all the free merchants in Dengshi City can only do business with the Nanfeng Chamber of Commerce!"

"Nanfeng Chamber of Commerce? Never heard of it."

"It was originally the Ephesos Chamber of Commerce, but now it is under the control of the Peter family of the Borui Kingdom. The leader of the chamber of commerce seems to be Raymond Peter, the eldest son of Duke Peter." Valmon sighed helplessly: "This is all arranged by the above.

I can't help it. Eckert, let me tell you frankly, the Wimbledon Chamber of Commerce wants to do business with the free folk merchants at Denshi Castle, and they must first reach an agreement."

Eckert frowned and said: "You mean, my Lord is interviewing Lord Dwemik?"

"No!" Valmon shook his head, stretched out his index finger and pointed upward, and said, "Mrs. Marquis Sophia will personally convince His Majesty the King."

Convincing His Majesty Friedrich means that the entire Dodo Kingdom's free citizens and traders will not do business with us?

Eckert was startled, and after being stunned for a long time, he said bitterly: "I understand...I'm sorry, I have to go back to Cambis quickly."

When Eckert was about to go out, the sheriff stopped him.

"Old friend, make plans early."

"Thank you." Eckert reluctantly moved the corner of his mouth and walked out of the police station in despair.

As the sun set, the streets of Denshi City were crowded with people. Eckert wrapped himself in a light and breathable fine linen coat, boarded the carriage and drove towards the hotel.

When he arrived at the hotel, Eckert climbed up to the second floor with a sullen face and locked himself in the room. Several deputies of the caravan saw his solemn expression and did not dare to come forward to ask. After a while, Eckert

Walking out of the room again, he handed a sheepskin letter to his assistant and ordered: "Send the red-eyed messenger crow to deliver this letter to Lady Sophia."

——————————

The sun has set and the silver moon has risen.

The night in the eastern suburbs of Xiangye Town is dim and hazy, with more than twenty figures walking on a deserted path under the pale moonlight. The wormwood on both sides of the road is half a person tall, and the evening wind blows slowly, making the grass blades sway and rustle.

.Suddenly, a strange cry came from deep in the wormwood, and the grass blades shook violently and separated like water waves. The leading strong man was startled and fell directly to the ground.

"Pete, it's just a wild cat, how can it scare you like this?!" A gray-haired man over fifty mocked.

The strong man got up from the ground, hugged his muscular arms together, and showed a fawning and fearful expression on his fierce face because of the scar. He murmured: "I...I was scared by that group of people...

…”

"Okay." The gray-haired man stopped the strong man's explanation and asked impatiently: "Where is Swain?"

"Come on, come on, go through the woods in front and walk another mile, you can see the abandoned ranch. Boss Swain and his brothers are hiding inside." The strong man Pete nodded and said.

"Keep leading the way."

"Yes, yes, Master Balor."

The gray-haired man is Balor, the spy chief of the Randall family. On Victor's orders, he develops mercury lines in the Kingdom of Dodo.

Four months ago, Balor supported a secret agent in Fragrant Leaf Town, that is, Pete's boss Swain. Later, Balor received an order from the Randall family, and Victor asked mercury to be red.

The Falcon Mercenary Group and the Bear Group provided logistical support and intelligence support. With the assistance of Mercury, Fermi's Kestrel Mercenary Group coerced more than a dozen free folk traders, sneaked into the mountains, searched for mountain villagers, and opened up smuggling trade routes and mercenaries.

At the stronghold, Barritt's bear regiment also received sufficient supplies and was heading towards Wharton Prairie.

Balor completed his mission and returned to Hongye Town, only to find that Swain's power had been removed by a group of outsiders. Swain and several of his henchmen were missing. Just when Balor was about to investigate the outsiders,

When he discovered his identity as a killer, Swain's thug Pete contacted him. Pete said that Dwayne was hiding on the outskirts of Bayleaf Town, and offered to take Balor to find Swayne.

There are many unreasonable things about the incident in Xiangye Town. How could Peter's tricks be hidden from the cunning Balor. According to the secret agent's practice, he should kill Peter on the spot, eliminate all traces, and evacuate quickly. As for Germany

Wayne, that was just a temporary trap arranged by Mercury. His life and death were insignificant.

However, Xianye Town is very important to mercury.

Large-scale business groups use the radiation effect of major major cities to complete the circulation of goods and the distribution of materials throughout the territory. Victor went in the opposite direction. The smuggling caravans of the Randall family first controlled the cottages and refugee camps, and then affected related

In a village, the village chief will bring the goods to the town market for sale, and the local caravan will naturally sell the goods to the main city.

To put it bluntly, it is the difference between cities affecting rural areas and cities surrounded by rural areas.

Xiangye Town is located on the southeastern border of the Dodo Kingdom. It takes 12 days' walk to the west to reach the Dengshi City of the Dwemik family. To the east and north of it are vast mountains and forests. Four of the seven villages under its jurisdiction are connected to the mountains.

Related to Mincun Village. Xiangye Town is rich in spices, flax and iron ore. Although its geographical location is remote, there is an endless stream of caravans coming and going, and the permanent population exceeds 20,000.

With its remote location, rich products, prosperous trade, large population, and connection between the main city and the countryside, Xiangye Town's conditions fully meet the needs of Mercury's external development.

Swain is a native villain in Redleaf Town. Balor helped him replace the original boss. Although he took the position for a short time, he was recognized by the Sheriff. Although the Sheriff would not care about the changes in the local underground forces,

Two gang leaders have changed within a few months, and the police station cannot just sit idly by.

Balor smelled something unusual. He didn't know who his opponent was, but he was sure of three points.

First of all, the villain has no moral integrity at all. Even if Swain is still alive, he must have betrayed him. The thug Pete is leading them into a trap. Secondly, the opponent is not a fellow spy. Because the spy's acting style is low-key and cautious.

, changing two bosses in a short period of time, a blind person can see that there is a problem. The third and most important point is that if the Sheriff wants to deal with Mercury, he can organize an arrest in the town, and there is no need to set up a trap.

The opponent is neither a secret agent nor a peace officer, so there is no need to worry.

Balor decided to take the simplest and crudest method: crush the trap, capture two alive, and torture the opponent's origins. The elite guards of the Randall family were his confidence.

The road became narrower and narrower as we walked, and the shadowy bushes were not far away. The red wolf suddenly stopped and whispered: "Tou, don't go. There is danger ahead."

The thief red wolf has an extraordinary intuition for danger. Balor knew the red wolf's ability well. He made a gesture to signal the team to stop where they were and sighed: "Pete, do you know why I don't light the torch?"

Without waiting for Peter to answer, he pointed to the bushes and said: "If there is a group of crossbowmen hidden in the woods, we will become a living target while holding torches."
To be continued...