My XX deal with Sister Nero

Of course, if he monopolized the iron ore and coal mines of the Iceni Kingdom, the merchants in the empire would have no choice but to sell the ore at high prices. Not to mention whether he had the ability to buy so much ore. Even if he did, once he did so, he would probably offend all the nobles and merchants in the entire British province.

So after thinking about it, Tony had to give up the idea. It would be enough to have enough coal mines and iron mines. If he wanted to make money, he could think of other ways.

So now, there are four things on Tony's schedule that he must prioritize.

The first thing is to watch the hand cannon made jointly by the Gunpowder Manufacturing Bureau and the Blacksmith Shop before tomorrow morning. Tony had heard of several explosions of varying sizes occurring during the preparation of gunpowder before, so this time Tony said that only an appropriate amount of gunpowder should be used and there was no need to put too much.

The second thing is to find a magician.

Before meeting Zero, Tony always thought that he had traveled to "FATE" like the protagonists of those fan fictions. He was also wondering whether the author would have copyright disputes with Mushroom for writing this thing. But now it seems that this world is not just the world of "FATE". After all, he had never heard of the existence of Zero in the world view of "FATE" before.

But no matter what, he wanted to give it a try and find a magician to see if he could summon a heroic spirit to play with. After all, he didn't know how to set up a summoning circle, but a magician should be able to.

The third thing was to go to the Iceni Kingdom to check out the mineral production situation, and the fourth thing was to go back to Rome. He had thought of a new way to make money, but it would not work if he did it alone without the permission of His Majesty the Emperor.

If a businessman has the government's support, he can make money in any way he wants.

After arranging a room for Zero, Tony decided to take Mary for a walk in the town.

In this era, people in remote areas rarely smile, except for children. Since Tony came here and improved the treatment of workers, the residents of the town have gradually become cheerful because they have savings in their hands.

"Hello, Your Highness." After walking around the town, almost every resident who saw Tony said the three words "Hello, Your Highness" from the bottom of their hearts. They sincerely hoped that His Highness would live a long life.

It looks like things are going well.

After returning to his residence and resting for a night, Tony sent someone to the Iceni Kingdom early the next morning to inform them that His Royal Highness Prince Tony of Odni would visit the Iceni Kingdom's capital, Ventalosnum, in a few days.

Among the many Celtic tribes, the Iceni Kingdom was considered to be very powerful. If it were not for the Roman Empire, it would only be a matter of time before the Iceni Kingdom unified Scotland and northern England.

Although the Iceni Kingdom has now become a vassal state of the Roman Empire and is being exploited by the Roman Empire, after all, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Tony thinks it is a good idea to win over this country.

After the messenger left, Tony took three leaders of his army and Zero, and the five of them went to the west of the town. There, Tony had specially marked out a piece of land to experiment with the hand cannon.

The three military leaders must be brought along, after all, hand cannons will be equipped in the army in the future. As for why Zero was brought along, the reason was simple. Although Tony felt that Zero would not hurt him, he still had to intimidate Zero.

After all, what if someone wants to hurt him? The invention of a new weapon like the hand cannon is enough to scare her, isn't it?

Firing a hand cannon is simple, just like those ancient muzzle-loading cannons. After stuffing the stone shell into the barrel, ignite the fuse at the back of the hand cannon, and then fire the shell.

For Tony, there was nothing much to say about this experiment. After all, he came from an era of hot weapons and had seen many guns and cannons in games and on TV. A hand cannon was not very attractive to him, especially since it fired stone shells. Although this shell broke the thigh-thick tree used for the experiment, in Tony's opinion, this was too childish.

But this weapon looks different in the eyes of several other people!

A trebuchet is a siege weapon that throws stones to destroy city walls. In terms of power, the trebuchet is many times more powerful than this hand cannon, but when a trebuchet throws stones, everyone can still see the parabola of the stone and then dodge it.

However, although the power of this hand cannon is not as great as that of the X-ray machine, its speed...how to put it, I saw a flame suddenly flash at the mouth of the metal pipe, and then I saw the big tree opposite was blown into two pieces.

If they hadn't seen a round stone being put into the metal pipe before, these people probably wouldn't have known what was going on!

"Your Highness, such a weapon is simply..." Mary looked at Tony, her excitement beyond words.

Tony knew what Mary wanted to say, so he waved his hand and said, "Sister Mary, don't think too much. The barrel of the hand cannon is easy to make, but the raw materials for gunpowder are too scarce. If gunpowder cannot be made, the hand cannon is useless. So it's not possible to mass-produce it immediately to equip the army. But it's not a problem to make one or two hand cannons in small quantities."

"Okay, I understand, Your Highness." Since Tony had said so, Mary didn't know what to say. If she thought about it carefully, how could such a new equipment be put into large-scale production immediately?

There must be some technical limitation!

"Okay, I'm very satisfied with the new weapons. Let's stop the weapon testing here. Sister Mary, please pack up. We will set off for Ventalosnum tomorrow morning." Tony, who was sitting on a big rock, stood up and said to Mary.

Let’s not talk about Tony’s side for now, and talk about the other side.

Inside the city of Rome.

Shortly after Tony left, the Roman emperor began to promote the meritorious nobility system throughout the country. Originally, the Senate opposed such a system because the senators were worried that Emperor Nero would use it to deprive them of their power. Unexpectedly, not only did Nero not deprive the senators of their power, but he also granted each senator a new noble title!

PS1: I feel like a lot of you want to see me in women's clothing... Let me write a book review in the book review section. If you want to see me in women's clothing, please leave a message in the book review section. I will make the next decision based on the number of messages.

PS2: I'm about to get busy here, so I'll update once a day starting from tomorrow, except for the extra chapters. But considering that words in a chapter may not be enough for you, I'll make it words per chapter starting from tomorrow.

PS3: There are still five days left in this month. I will not offer rewards for the next five days. Just focus on catching up on the chapters you owe. I will open the rewards on the first of next month.

Chapter 74 A sister who doesn’t cheat her brother is not a good sister

Although Nero did not deprive the senators of their power on the surface, they were still worried that Emperor Nero would take action against them. In order to preserve their own status, the senators felt that the best way was to arrange marriage.

There were two candidates for the marriage, one was Emperor Nero, and the other was Prince Oddney who was far away in the British province.

These two are the descendants of Claudius who are currently the most worthy of marriage alliance. They are also the most powerful people in the entire Roman Empire. By holding on to these two thighs, it is completely possible to ensure the long-term survival of one's own family!

If he is lucky, his descendants may even inherit the throne of the Claudius family.

"Your Majesty, you are almost seventeen years old, and it is time to talk about marriage. These young men are the descendants of the elders. They are elegant and handsome, and they are definitely worthy of you. Moreover, they also have several younger sisters who are beautiful and can endure hardships. Now that His Royal Highness the Prince is not here, Your Majesty, as His Royal Highness's sister, can help His Royal Highness find a wife." A middle-aged man in a white robe said in the Roman Imperial Palace.

On the high seat, Nero, dressed in the emperor's mythical ceremonial robe, glanced at the iron ring on the right hand of the man in white robe and said, "Sir Fenrio, I don't know if you still remember what the ring on your hand represents. Whether I have reached the age to get married and whether I need to talk about marriage, this doesn't seem to be your business, right?" Nero frowned.

Now Nero was distressed.

She was a princess when Claudius was in power. At that time, many people were interested in her, but not as many as now. Since she inherited the throne and became the fifth emperor of the Roman Empire, more and more people came to her to propose marriage, and even her younger brother was not spared.

He was only twelve years old! Although there were boys who got married at the age of thirteen in the empire, my brother was not yet thirteen, right?

Well, it seems that it is also a good choice to use the younger brother as a shield? But what is the best way to push him out?

Nero fell into deep thought.

Well, January 1st is New Year's Day, so let's transfer Tony back to celebrate the holiday, and spread the news by the way, so that everyone can focus their attention on him. Anyway, this little guy is very smart and there are plenty of ways to solve the problem.

Looking at Nero sitting there without saying a word, Fenrio felt a little uneasy.

Although the emperors of all dynasties wanted to take over the power and abolish the Senate, the Senate, as a symbol of the republican system, could not be abolished in a short time. In addition, Nero was now the chief senator, and the Senate could not directly target her. In addition, the first thing Nero did after launching the meritorious nobility system was to grant new noble titles to 300 senators, which greatly appeased these senators. However, in order to continue their own family, marrying the Claudius family was the best way. And for marriage, you have to find someone to act as a matchmaker, right? So these thoughtful senators found Fenrio and gave the Fenrio family many benefits, and Fenrio came to Nero to act as a matchmaker.

Now after Emperor Nero scolded him, he fell into deep thought. Fenrio's heart suddenly became nervous, wondering what Nero was going to do.

After an unknown amount of time, Nero came to his senses and found Fenrio still standing there. He asked in surprise, "Sir Fenrio, is there anything else you want to say?"

"Ah, Your Majesty, everything is fine." Fenrio said, bending down.

"If you don't have any, then please leave. By the way, I don't think you need to worry about my marriage. I will make the decision on my wedding myself."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Nero had said so much, Fenrio didn't dare to say anything more and had to say goodbye.

"The New Year is still two months away, and I don't know how my brother is doing." Looking at the empty and magnificent hall, Nero sighed lightly.

After Tony chose the town of Odeni as his fiefdom, Nero also looked up some detailed information about the town. Generally speaking, it was a small border town with scarce resources and poor financial conditions. Nero even thought that as long as Tony nodded in agreement, she would be willing to transfer Tony to the province of Egypt to be governor, and then give him some talents who were good at administrative and financial management, so that he could be a hands-off boss.

His mother had been exiled, and Nero now only had one younger brother as his immediate family member. If anything happened to him in this frontier town, Nero would probably regret it for the rest of his life.

My younger brother is indeed a bit willful, but in the end, it was me who agreed to let him go to Odney Town!

Well, after you come back in the New Year, don’t let him go!

Let’s not talk about Nero’s thoughts for now, and talk about the other side.

Although the Iceni Kingdom was not as strong as the Roman Empire, it was one of the most powerful countries on the British Isles when the Roman Empire had not yet invaded Britain. Even though the Iceni Kingdom has declined now, it can still gather an army of 80,000.

When Tony visited the Iceni Kingdom, it was like the prince of the suzerain state meeting the king of a vassal state. In terms of rank alone, Tony's status was no less than that of Prasutagus, so logically speaking, Tony's presence should be quite impressive.

It's not that Tony wants to make a big fuss, but he has to do so because his trip represents the face of the suzerain country, so the bigger the better.

But what was the reality? Tony could only bring one guard and one Zero, less than fifty people in total. How grand could it be? If Prasutagus had not been prepared and hurriedly sent five thousand people to escort, Tony's guards would have been wiped out by the bandits halfway.

After two days and two nights of travel, on the morning of the third day, Tony finally arrived at Ventalosnum, the capital of the Iceni Kingdom.

Ventalosnum is a typical Celtic city. Unlike the glamorous and grand city of Rome, this city is not very big. Most of the houses in the city are civil structures covered with thatch to protect against wind and rain.

"Your Highness, our Ventalosnum cannot compare to Rome. After all, it is the center of the world. Your Highness may feel a little uncomfortable here. Please forgive me." On the way into the city, Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni Kingdom, said with a smile.

"It's okay. I'm sure His Majesty the King knows that I have wandered outside before. I can survive in the wild. I think no matter how bad Ventalosnum is, it is definitely countless times better than the wilderness, right?" Tony also said with a smile.

Prasutagus laughed and said, "Your Highness, you are joking. I have heard that your Highness is very smart and can take care of himself after wandering alone for many years. To be honest, I would definitely not be able to do it if it were me."

Tony smiled and said nothing.

Do you think I'm stupid? You, Prasutagus, are a famous horse king, and the people of the Iceni Kingdom are tough and aggressive. If I leave you alone in the wilderness, I'm sure those little animals will be in trouble!

Tony glanced at Prasutagus and thought to himself, this kid is full of compliments. It seems that I have thought too highly of this king before.

PS1: Today is Wednesday, and this bounty will end at 23:59 tonight. So far, all bounty activities for this month have ended. There are only a few days left for me to make up for the updates I owe.

PS2: I posted a book review in the book review section and pinned it. If you really want to see me in women's clothing, please leave a message or like it. I will then decide what to do next based on the number of views. Believe me, even if I want to show you women's clothing, I will not do it easily.

PS3: Okay, it's time for the pleasant statistics again. Currently I have 1331 collections, 1020 recommendations, 48 ​​monthly tickets, 1600 rewards, 101 valid intermittent posts, 9 valid book reviews, and currently owe 97 updates. It's really scary. The conditions for adding more updates next time are 1349 collections, 1054 recommendations, 2400 rewards, 139 valid intermittent posts, and 53 valid comments. Just meet any one of the conditions

PS4: Goodbye, continue writing

Chapter 75: Minerals (Additional Update 27)

The place where the monarch of each country lives has its own characteristics, such as the world's largest palace complex that is about to break ground, Nero's Golden Palace, the Hanging Gardens of the former Babylonian Kingdom, the North and South Palaces in Luoyang at the same time, and the chief's longhouse of the Celtic tribal leader.

Compared with the palace complex in Rome, the chief's longhouse of the Iceni Kingdom is simply unsightly. The whole house is only slightly larger than the lord's longhouse in the girl scroll that Tony played in his previous life. In the middle is the meeting hall, and on both sides are the rooms for the king, queen and princes to rest.

Of course, there are no princes in the Iceni Kingdom, only princesses.

"Please take a seat." After entering the chief's longhouse and the host and guest sat down, Prasutagus sat on the throne and said, "I am very grateful that Your Highness can come to my small country. I am not a polite person. I think Your Highness must have something to ask for this visit?"

Prasutagus had heard of Tony's past and knew that Tony had been wandering outside for several years. He thought that since this little prince had been wandering outside for so long, it meant that he had never been taught by anyone how to communicate with nobles.

The so-called communication between nobles is naturally the kind where they talk about everything for a long time but never get to the point. Since he has not received such education, the young prince must be very uncomfortable with such routines. Since he is not interested, there is no need to make himself bored. It is better to get straight to the point.

Prasutagus was right in his guess. Tony really didn't like nonsense and liked to get straight to the point. The first reason was that he had not received any boring education on how nobles should chat with each other. The second reason was because of the job he did in his previous life. If he talked a lot and chatted with others about everything, then would he still be working?

Tony still had a certain favorable impression of Prasutagus' straightforward behavior, so he simply didn't hesitate and went straight to the point: "I do have something to discuss with your country, about the purchase of some minerals."

"Minerals? Iron ore...right?" Prasutagus raised his eyebrows.

Tony smiled but said nothing.

Not many people in Europe at that time knew the importance of coal to iron smelting, otherwise the standard sword of the Roman Empire would not be a dagger.

So what Tony wants is not iron ore, but all usable minerals.

However, the town of Odney does not have such financial resources now, so the first thing Tony needs to buy is iron ore and coal mines.

With these two things, plus the steel forging method he learned from history books, it would not be a problem to upgrade the military equipment of the town of Odney.

So from now on until the winter is over, Tony feels that the most important thing he should do is to acquire coal mines and iron mines. Now the British province has a low level of awareness of coal mines, and they are still limited to using them for heating. In addition, the output of charcoal is far greater than that of coal mines, so the sales of coal mines have not been very ideal.

In fact, the reason is very simple.

As we all know, most coal mines are buried underground. Compared with the world's coal reserves, open-pit coal mines only account for a very small part. Due to technical limitations, most of the coal that can be mined in this era are only open-pit coal mines. Moreover, due to the limitations of transportation tools, even in open-pit coal mines that can be mined, the amount of coal collected is pitifully small.

Coal can burn and generate heat, and charcoal can do the same, so it is natural for people to classify these two things as combustibles and regard them as things with the same function.

So the question is, which company has the best excavator technology?

Ahem, let’s not play with such an old joke.

So the question is, now charcoal and coal are both things that emit light and heat. The former is easy to obtain and has a large output, while the latter has a very small output. If you were a buyer, which one would you choose?

If I were a buyer, I would definitely choose the former.

Charcoal is sold everywhere and the price does not fluctuate much because it is easy to obtain and therefore very affordable. However, coal is just the opposite. It is not easy to obtain and therefore the output is not large. Even if the price is the same as charcoal, large charcoal consumers like blacksmith shops will have to choose the former because the latter is not enough for them to burn.

Therefore, it is precisely because of this that, although the coal mines of the Iceni Kingdom are also sold externally, the sales volume has always been small and the market cannot be expanded. To put it bluntly, the two trucks of coal that Boudica brought over when she visited Tony last time were already the largest single expense in coal sales this year.

As for coal mines, I think you know quite a bit about them.

Although he was a customs officer in his previous life, his previous growth path was actually determined by his father, who was supposed to follow in his father's footsteps and become a coal miner.

Of course, strictly speaking, Tony couldn't be a front-line worker in a coal mine after graduation. As a graduate of a professional school, he would at least be a technician...

Well, anyway, although his grades were not very good when he was studying, he had been exposed to the world for so many years and he still had some vision. He knew the importance of coal mines.

Seeing that Tony hadn't spoken for a long time, Prasutagus felt a little unsure. After all, Tony only said that he wanted minerals but didn't say what kind of minerals he wanted, and the iron ore was also his guess...

"How about this, you make a list of the minerals here and their corresponding prices, and I'll consider it as appropriate, okay?"

Generally speaking, Britain's area is not too large. Although it has rich mineral reserves, the minerals are relatively single. Coal, iron, oil and natural gas are the four main mineral productions in Britain. As for the Iceni Kingdom, Tony currently does not know what minerals it has.

After all, his knowledge of Britain's mineral production basically came from previous geography textbooks, which seemed to be of no use to the Iceni Kingdom in this era.

It can be used as a reference, but it is not very valuable. However, it doesn't matter. Tony has planned for a while to come to the Kingdom of Iceni this time. In addition to his own guards, there is also an expert in minerals who came with him.

It wasn't long before Prasutagus had a list of the minerals drawn up, along with their monthly production shares and prices.

"I know there are iron ore and black ore, huh? There are some other minerals that I don't know about." Tony looked at the list on the cloth and said, touching his chin.

Fortunately, I have intensively studied some words related to minerals in the past few days, otherwise I would have been very embarrassed.

In fact, no matter what minerals the Iceni Kingdom has, Tony only wants two kinds of minerals, iron ore and black ore.

Only with coal and iron ore can better weapons and armor be made.

Iron ore is a strategic material, so its price is naturally not cheap. Tony took a look and found that one kilogram of iron ore was sold for one gold coin! This is iron ore, not wrought iron!