The mage arrives

Gordon had made up his mind long ago that these smugglers wanted to carry out the silver and slave trade, and he wanted to ban all of them after he unified the entire peninsula.Because these trades are not only illegal, but also extremely harmful to the development of the territory.

Silver smuggling will lead to the proliferation of private coinage, which will affect prices.The huge profits from the slave trade in the black market will make slave traders take risks, and various scandals of forcing good people into slavery have been repeatedly prohibited.This will not only lead to the deterioration of the security of the territory, damage Gordon's prestige, but also be detrimental to the population growth of the territory.

Usserman may be a shrewd smuggler, aware of the changes in the situation, and knows that he can no longer use the advantage of monopolizing trade routes to blackmail Gordon at will.So he immediately changed his approach, lowered his stance, promised benefits, and tried his best to make friends with the young lord.

But Usserman has the limitations of his own identity after all, and he can't see clearly the fact that the existence of these smugglers is something that Gordon cannot allow.Not to mention small concessions such as shopping discounts and paying commercial taxes.Even if these smugglers give Gordon all their accumulated wealth now, as long as they continue to engage in smuggling, they will still not be allowed by Gordon.

Utherman, who couldn't see the situation clearly, didn't get a clear answer from Gordon, but he still thought he had gained something, and reached an agreement with the lord who was rapidly rising on the peninsula.After he left happily, another smuggler found Gordon quietly.

This is a bald-headed man in his thirties, named Bellulazzi.He was also a smuggler.However, among Usserman's group of people, Bellulazzi was quite inconspicuous, and he did not do much business. During several meetings between the smugglers and Gordon.Apart from reporting his name, he didn't say anything extra.

But this time, Bellulazzi gave Gordon a surprise, letting him know that among the smugglers who thought they were short-sighted.There are also some far-sighted people.

"My lord, I am willing to give up all the smuggling business, and from now on, I will be a legal businessman under your rule." Bellulazzi said straightforwardly.

Gordon was also shocked by the other party's words, and for a moment he didn't know how to answer.Such a straightforward person who seeks to hug his thigh without talking about any conditions.It was the first time he saw it.

Seeing Gordon's surprised expression, Bellulazzi smiled slightly: "My lord, you look surprised. Yes, even for myself, I am surprised to be able to make this decision."

"Maybe you can explain the reason well to dispel my surprise?"

Bellulazzi nodded.Bending down to Gordon: "My reason is very simple. Like Usserman, I see the future trend. I know that you will soon be able to establish your own merchant fleet and navy. At that time, those of us For you, the smugglers are no longer a channel of communication with the outside world, but have become a factor of instability and a big trouble. You must be thinking about how to get rid of us. The funny thing is that Usserman thought that Small concessions. And hypocritical allegiances can fool you into continuing your lucrative and sinful business."

"Oh? From your tone, it seems that you look down on Usserman? You are all smugglers, and neither is more noble than the other. And Usserman's business is much larger than yours."

Bellulazzi said disdainfully: "Although I am also a smuggler, I only traffic in some precious magic raw materials or luxury goods on the peninsula. These commodities are not illegal, and the reason why I engage in smuggling is that my capital is too small. I just want to avoid high taxes. There is an essential difference between me and those slave traders, at least I am worthy of the gods I believe in."

"Your personal persistence is admirable." Gordon nodded in approval.

But in his heart, Gordon didn't feel that the "thieves have the right way" Bellulazzi, and Usserman, a guy who made money with no conscience at all.There is an essential difference, but it's just fifty steps laughing at a hundred steps.

Of course, sometimes the difference in degree can also lead to the difference in essence.

It is also an illegal smuggling trade, but Bellulazzi's business scale is relatively small, and it is not the slave and silver trade that Gordon is determined to ban.So he can devote himself to Gordon without any scruples, but Usserman has a lot of scruples.

In the future, Bellulazzi will at most switch from smuggling trade to formal trade, pay a little more tax, and the profit will become a little thinner.But Usserman is facing the desperate situation that the entire family business will be destroyed.

It was precisely because there was no essential conflict of interest that Bellulazzi was able to make up his mind and join Gordon.

Having figured this out, Gordon also recovered from his initial surprise at Bellurazzi's decision.

"Mr. Bellulazzi, I naturally welcome your allegiance. It is a very congratulatory thing to have another outstanding businessman who abides by the law in my territory. But if it is just like this, we It’s time to end the conversation. But if you can provide more, then we can go to the castle’s study and continue our deep chat.”

It is a great honor to be invited by the lord to chat in the study.

Bellulazzi knew that if he wanted to gain a firm foothold under the rule of the Earl of Haiwen in the future and be valued, he might have to show more things.

"I know the smuggling routes of people like Usserman, the business operation mode, and the network of people who secretly operate. With my help, Lord Lord, you can easily catch them all in the future."

"I have to admit that I'm really interested in the information you can provide." Gordon nodded and smiled, and made a gesture of invitation to Bellulazzi, "Please, Mr. Bellurazzi, we can return Go to the castle and discuss in detail."

In addition to Bellulazzi, Hernandez, who had just recovered from seasickness, was also called by Gordon.He needed this intelligence chief to help him confirm all the information provided by Bellulazzi.

After a period of time in the study, both sides ended the conversation with satisfaction.With the information provided by Bellulazzi, Gordon can make arrangements in advance, and when the time is right, he will strike with thunder.Remove all the influence of the smuggling merchants from the Haiwen Peninsula, cleanly and neatly, leaving no future troubles.

And Bellulazzi also got what he wanted in return.Gordon promised that the Haven Chamber of Commerce would soon be formed.He will get the position of vice president—the position of president, which will naturally be filled by Gordon's old acquaintance Du Luo.

In addition, Gordon also promised to grant the exclusive rights of many products to Bellulazzi.Among them, there are a few gadgets invented by the lord himself, which are very popular among the noble class of Freyton.

profit in it.It is even higher than desperate smuggling.

After Bellulazzi left, Gordon did not continue to work for the first time, but announced that Sea Cliff Fort would go up and down for a day off. He even held a large-scale event to celebrate the large amount of booty captured by the Vulture Pirates. banquet.

The laughter of Sea Cliff Fort.Two days later, it also spread to Aldrich's mansion in the northern Black Iron City.

If it was the time when eyeliners were all over the southern part of the peninsula, the King of Haiwen would have known every move of Yunlin City within a day.But now, after Gordon's massive purge, the intelligence of the King of Haiwen is timely.Already discounted.

"Abel, I didn't expect that when your fleet was about to return, that mage boy from the North would have such good luck that he was able to capture most of the ships of the Vulture Pirates, including the Long Summer Beauty."

A middle-aged man with long hair smeared with bright pomade and neatly combed was sitting on the big desk of the King of Haiwen, and said with a half-smile.

It was rude of him to do it, and he called him by his first name, but the King of Haven didn't lose his temper—or rather.Even if he was angry in his heart, he didn't dare to attack this man.

Because this man with the back of his head, wearing a black gilt vest with a white shirt, and a gorgeous rapier pinned to his waist came from the Changxia Province.Behind is the powerful Frey family.

Since the Aldrich family's father-son fight, the attitude of the Frey family as collaborators is also very interesting.The head of the family, Marquis Walder Frey, took a wait-and-see attitude towards the battle between the King of Haven and the twin siblings.However, other members of the Frey family took this opportunity to divide into two parts, supporting the father and son respectively.

And the man with the big back was the faction in the Frey family who supported his father and sent him to Black Iron City to help out.

His name is Alger, a twelfth-level fighter, and his identity is now disclosed to the public as the head of the Strait Mercenary Group.But in fact, the Strait Mercenary Group that came to Black Iron City to help out, a total of [-] mercenaries, are all private troops of the Frey family.The Straits Mercenary Group is just a vest.Not long ago, Alger was still a hereditary knight loyal to the Frey family. Now he put on the coat of a mercenary leader and went south to the Black Iron City to help Abel Aldrich.

These private troops of the Frey family are not bad in combat effectiveness. Not only are they well-equipped, but they also train hard. They have achieved brilliant results in the past, whether they were fighting bandits and pirates or in conflicts with other noble private troops.

In fact, the private armies supported by the major noble families are often not inferior in combat effectiveness to the regular armies that directly belong to the Freyton royal family.It's just that in the face of a big war, these private armies from various families and not affiliated to each other were called up because of the mobilization order, and they improvised into a legion, and then found a noble with the highest title and sent the most troops to command. Combat effectiveness is naturally greatly reduced, far inferior to the regular army of the Empire.

Each of the mercenaries of the Strait Mercenary Group is equipped with a set of forged steel lath armor, which has considerable protection against sharp and blunt weapons.Every mercenary, or Frey's private army, has undergone strict military weapon training and can skillfully use weapons such as long swords, square shields, and crossbows.

Although the total value of the equipment is not as good as the cavalry of the Aldrich family that Abel spent a lot of money to build, but the combat effectiveness is even better.

Although Abel Aldridge was very willing to spend a lot of money when forming the cavalry team, but the background of the Aldrich family was insufficient after all. How could a retired pirate chief know how to build a real army?Even if you can spend money to hire some veterans as instructor consultants, it will be insufficient after all.

In fact, more than enough bravery, not enough toughness, is the patriarch of the Frey family's evaluation of the Aldrich Cavalry.So it's not surprising that this cavalry team, which was proud of the King of Haven, was almost wiped out by Gordon in a playful way.

But the Frey family was different.

The Strait Mercenary Corps has [-] soldiers and is equipped with ten field mages, which is even more than the ratio of one field mage per centurion of the regular imperial army.doubled.

From this point alone, we can see the background of the old noble family.

After all, high-tech talents like mages cannot be cultivated immediately with money.

With the help of the Straits Mercenary Group, Abel believed that he could defeat Gordon with full confidence.At that time, this menacing outsider from the Northland will be resolved.After getting rid of his good son and daughter and ruling the peninsula, he will make the title of "King of Haiwen" truly worthy of the name.

Although the Patriarch Aldrich faced the predicament of betrayal by his sons and daughters and internal strife in the family, he still decided to get rid of Gordon first.There is no such idea as to fight against the outside world first.

Because he knew that the reason why Hansel and Greta betrayed him, and many people in the family followed them, was in the final analysis, the reason was still related to the decline of his own authority.

It is precisely because of losing money in Gao Deng's hands again and again, not only destroying troops and destroying ships.Also lost prestige.In addition to the issue of heirs, the disapproval eventually led to division within the family.

In fact, on the issue of heirs, Abel also knew that although he felt guilty about Simon, this eldest son with intellectual problems was not the best candidate.And Hensel.Although he is very talented in spellcasting, his vision of seeing problems is too narrow, and he is not a good leader who can govern the territory and lead everyone.

The best way is actually to find a woman and give birth to a few offspring.

But the problem is that although the king of Haiwen has worked hard on women's bellies over the years, he has not yet borne fruit.He wondered if it was when he was exploring Mount Vesula many years ago.He fell into the source of the White River again, and his body was eroded by a strange high-concentration magical energy. It has something to do with it.

If it doesn't work, he can only adopt a child.

However, although the choice of heirs is the key to family division, it is not an urgent matter to be resolved now.The King of Haven understands.The top priority is to get rid of Gordon Freeman, an outsider from the north who has grown rapidly in less than a month after taking root in the peninsula.

And to do this, you only need to wait another half a month.

At that time, the First Fleet of the Aldrich family, which traveled far away to the Sea of ​​Stars and went to the southern desert continent to conduct high-sea trade, will return.Although the Second Fleet is still in the distant eastern country of Antoria, with the five [-]-ton warships of the First Fleet and the other fifteen [-]-ton military fast sailing ships, it is enough for him to regain his position. Back to sea advantage.

In addition to the sailors, each thousand-ton battleship can also carry a hundred soldiers, while the other fifteen smaller warships can also carry close to 500 people in total.

At that time, the King of Haiwen will have the ability to send a thousand-man army to any area along the peninsula anytime, anywhere.

He had already discussed with Argel, the head of the mercenary group in the Strait, and planned to set the first attack target at the largest settlement at the southern tip of the peninsula, Qingmai Town of the Aikan people.

Now that the Aikan people have attached to Gordon, Qingmai Town has become the most important grain storage base in the hands of the Earl of Haiwen.In addition, there are nearly [-] tribal captives waiting to be naturalized and subdued.

Seeing that the situation had changed, these prisoners only needed a little incitement to form a great force and threaten Gordon's rule.

This time, the King of Haiwen was going to do his old job as a pirate. He led the fleet to harass and plunder all the way, and made a big fuss in the southern part of the peninsula. With the advantage of mobility, Gordon's army could only be exhausted.

Drag it to the end, and when the time is right, launch a fatal blow and take the Sea Cliff Fort and Yunlin City.

Abel Aldrich and Alger from the Frey family were full of confidence and believed that the sea control was on their side.Although it was already known that Gordon had captured a large number of ships of the Vulture Pirates, neither of them took this news to heart.

Although Gordon has a ship, he still lacks enough skilled sailors to control those warships.Perhaps a year later, the Freeman Navy, which owns a first-class battleship like the Nagsumami, will pose a threat to the Aldridge family.But now, those ships are just a joke.

If Gordon does not have the heart to scuttle all these warships, Abel believes that the Long Summer Beauty, which was handed over to Bellamy for more than ten years ago, will return to his arms after a long absence. .

The rudder, which was unloaded from the warship as a souvenir, is still hanging in the dining room of the Aldridge house.When the time comes to reinstall it, it must be very suitable...

Just as the King of Haven, who was gearing up for battle, hoped, half a month later, his mighty First Fleet returned to the port of Black Iron City.During this voyage, not only did not a single ship be damaged during the arduous journey, but they also brought back countless spices and luxury goods that are special products of the desert empire.

With these commodities, the King of Haven obtained a large amount of military supplies from the Frey family. After another five days of preparation, 1000 private soldiers from the Aldrich family, plus [-] mercenaries from the Straits Mercenary Group, totaled [-] soldiers. People boarded twenty warships, large and small, and then sailed away from Black Iron City, heading south along the coastline.