Water Margin people

"How do you know that Qi will not care? You know before the people you sent out come back?"

Baldwin IV spoke.

"Two months. Do you know how long it takes to go to the Red Sea? A round trip takes a month!"

A businessman looked at Baldwin IV and said, "The person who could come back in a month has been missing for two months. Isn't this the best evidence?"

"If he hasn't come back, doesn't that prove that Qi has rejected him? Maybe he has other things to do, or maybe he's on his way. You businessmen should understand this best!"

Baldwin IV looked at the governor and everyone else and said.

The governor and everyone else were silent. Baldwin IV was right. So far, they had not heard that Qi was unwilling to accept surrender. It was too early for them to draw conclusions.

"What about the Black Death? If this continues there will be no one left in the city!"

The Governor looked at Baldwin IV and roared.

"I've said it before, rats are the root of everything, they are messengers of the devil. We must get rid of rats and everything they touch, and then we can control the Black Death!"

Baldwin IV said that his guess had been confirmed during this period. The root of everything came from rats and dirt. As long as the sanitation was improved, although the Black Death could not be eradicated, it would be possible to control it.

"But our goods!"

Those merchants were still unwilling to give up their goods.

"There is no solution. You guys didn't manage the warehouse well enough and didn't even know there were rats in the warehouse. Now there is nothing we can do except burn it down."

Baldwin IV said.

"Can't we just find the rats and kill them?"

Someone spoke.

"How big is your warehouse? How much cargo do you have? How can you guarantee that all the rats will be exterminated? You know how fast rats reproduce. A few rats can ruin everything!"

Baldwin IV said.

"It's all the fault of the Vatican. They say cats are the devil's pets and a symbol of evil. Cats are not allowed in the diocese. This is why rats are rampant. If we had enough cats, we wouldn't be able to deal with a few rats!"

A businessman said bitterly.

The natural enemy of mice is cats. People have had the habit of raising cats and dogs for a long time. Dogs can guard the house, hunt and herd sheep, while cats can guard the house and catch mice.

Ever since the Vatican declared cats to be a symbol of evil, the entire West has begun to hunt and kill cats on a large scale. Berlin even wanted to kill all the cats in the city.

"Cat? Yes! Cat! Keep a cat!"

Baldwin IV's eyes lit up. It was not easy for humans to deal with mice. No matter how hard they tried, it was difficult to kill them all. But it would be different if they had cats. As long as there were enough cats, the mice would be killed.

"That's easy for you to say. Where did the cats come from? All the cats that can catch mice have been killed."

The governor said in a cold voice that the Vatican had been exterminating cats for many years, and it was not easy to find a few cats now. The few cats that existed were just pets of some noble women, and they had long lost the ability to catch mice.

"There are still a lot of cats that can catch mice. They are in the forests. Many of them hid there. We just need to bring them out. We will have enough cats within a year!"

Baldwin IV said that cats reproduce very quickly. Under normal circumstances, they can reproduce two to three times a year, producing one to eight cubs at a time, and the cubs can reach adulthood in half a year.

"A cat can eat two mice a day, and kill more than a dozen mice. A hundred cats can solve the problem of one of your warehouses!"

Seeing that the merchants did not take it seriously, Baldwin IV immediately spoke up.

"Is that so?"

The eyes of those merchants immediately lit up. They were unwilling to give up the goods in the warehouse even if they died. They were willing to pay a huge price just to keep the goods.

"Catch the cat! Feed the cat! Cat, cat, cat, cat!"

The businessmen reached a consensus immediately.

The governor and other nobles also had their own ideas. If the cat alone could solve the problem, then the price would be too low. After everyone left, Baldwin IV finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally got over it!"

Baldwin IV spoke.

"Your Majesty, this is not a solution. If Qi State does not respond, these people will still come."

William looked at Baldwin IV and said that the purpose of the Governor of Venice and his men coming here was to get a response from Qi. As long as there was a response, the safety of the people in Venice would be guaranteed, and they would be able to carry out trade with Qi.

"Don't worry, Qi will not ignore it!"

Baldwin IV spoke.

"Your Majesty is so confident?"

William was very puzzled. He didn't understand why Baldwin IV was so confident. He always felt that Qi was not trustworthy.

"Because Qi wants this land!"

Baldwin IV spoke. He had no confidence in Qi, but he was very confident in Sun Lei's ambition and greed. With Sun Lei's greed, he would never leave such a big piece of fat meat uneaten. Sun Lei's habit was to eat it without spitting out even the bones.

The whole city of Venice became busy. The Doge, nobles, and merchants sent out all the people they could, just for some cats.

The public cat-catching effort was very efficient, and more than a hundred wild cats were caught within a few days.

"Is that all there is?"

The governor looked at the wild cats with some dissatisfaction. This little bit was not enough for them.

"It's winter now, and many cats are hiding for the winter. If it were summer, there would be more cats!"

Les said that although it had not snowed yet, the temperature was already very low, and it would not be easy to catch a cat.

"That's it. We'll sort them into male and female first, and then put them in pairs in the warehouse!"

The governor said that there were a lot of rats in the warehouse, and it would be a feast for these cats if they went in.

"Governor, we heard that several neighboring principalities have expressed their intention to send troops to attack us, and civilians in various places seem to have objections to our conversion to the Qi Kingdom's Imperial Religion!"

Rice looked at the Doge and said that after the incident became a big deal, the common people of the Kingdom of Venice also knew everything, and many staunch supporters of the Holy See were dissatisfied with this.

"There is Black Death everywhere, right? Let them go. When they die, they will come to save us!"

The governor said coldly, the Holy See doesn't care about the Black Death, now it all depends on them to save themselves, so why should they continue to believe in the Holy See? It's better to surrender to Qi State in exchange for greater benefits.

"Now all we have to do is raise the cats well and breed as many as possible! The more the better!"

The Governor looked at Rice and spoke.

“Get a cat!”

Rice was very puzzled. Wasn't this already happening?

"Don't you understand? The Black Death originated from rats. If we want to control it, we must eliminate rats. How do we eliminate rats? Of course, cats! Cats are hard currency! They are the medicine to cure the Black Death! They can be sold at a high price!"

The Governor said, this is a good business, and the hottest business.

“Can cats be sold as merchandise?”

Rice was a little confused.

"Of course! A cat will sell for one hundred gold coins! A female cat will sell for five hundred gold coins!"

A merchant swore a price. (End of this chapter)