The two of them stayed in Venice for two days.
The first day was about having fun.
After taking a good look at the scenery and special products of Venice,
We also visited the floating church in Venice.
The layout of the floating church amazed Knock.
Shakespeare earned a good fortune performing on the streets of Venice.
At least today, he shouldn't need Knock to pay for accommodation in advance.
Of course, their biggest gain was not seeing the beautiful scenery and having fun.
Instead, they heard some news that made them excited.
Recently, there was a merchant ship sailing from Venice to Santa Rome.
Merchant ships are sea ships, transporting precious commodities, and they are precisely prepared for the election of cardinals.
The ship owner is a famous businessman in Venice, Mr. Grandet.
The reason why Monsieur Grandet is famous is not because of the size of his business.
But because of his own stinginess.
It's not a last resort, he just saves it when he can. Never spend any money.
Even his caravan mates were slaves he bought with money, not employees he hired.
Ten years of wages from an employee can buy a slave.
Although buying a slave costs as much as ten years of an employee's wages, what he does is
But it does much more than one employee.
Mr. Grandet, who is very calculating, never makes mistakes in settling accounts.
Even if someone says a word to him,
He has to calculate whether he can get any benefit from this person.
Only then did he decide whether to talk to him or not.
By the way, his wages are calculated as half of other chambers of commerce.
In other words, someone else’s employee can buy a slave for five years’ wages.
In his case, it would take ten years of work before he could afford a slave.
There is a chance.
Because no one knows whether Mr. Grandet will find an excuse to deduct one year or even three to five years of your salary.
Don't think that Grandet can't do this kind of thing.
He has actually done this.
It is said that their family, although they are among the top 20 richest people in Venice.
But the whole family, young and old, wears patched burlap clothes at home.
Only when he goes out to discuss business will Grandet wear the decent clothes he has worn for twenty years.
The euphemistic name is: frugality.
Don't think this person is stingy, but he has a very vicious vision in doing business.
No, he saw the opportunity and stocked up a boatload of goods early, planning to elect a cardinal in the Holy Court.
Pull him to the city of San Roma to make a fortune.
But in order to save transportation costs, he actually started selling ferry tickets two months in advance.
He planned to use his merchant ship to pick up a group of guests who wanted to go to the city of St. Rome and earn a fee.
After Nock heard about this in the market, he planned to buy a boat ticket from Mr. Grandet.
But when Nock took Shakespeare to find Mr. Grandet the next day,
I was still frightened by the wide mouth of the lion of Mr. Grandet.
A room with a bed costs one hundred gold coins per person, not including food and accommodation.
A cabin without beds also costs ten gold coins, not including food and accommodation.
This is not making money!
This is clearly an act of robbery by giving away a trip around the peninsula!
But this old man refuses to take any advantage. Even if Nok reveals his identity,
The other party just smiled politely with a stiff smile.
But in business, never take a step back.
If you say one hundred gold coins, it means one hundred gold coins.
Nok reluctantly paid the ticket price of 110 gold coins, just in case.
Unexpectedly, Nok guessed it right.
When boarding the ship from the dock on the third day.
Nock was still frightened by Monsieur Grandet's shamelessness.
In a space of less than three square meters, there are two wooden piers with a 90 cm wide wooden board placed on top.
This is the "room" that Knock bought with a one hundred gold coin ticket!
Looking at the next room separated by wooden boards, it goes without saying that the next door is an equally small space.
Obviously, Grandet's calculations went to the extreme and he made the best use of everything to divide one room into two rooms.
Sold to people who buy room tickets.
"Shakespeare, you've seen it too. It's not that I don't want to take you in, but it's just that it's difficult for both of us to stand down here.
Stop talking. "
Nok sighed with an ugly expression, which made Shakespeare, who was planning to live with him shamelessly, not want to speak anymore.
After all, it is difficult for a person to lie down in such a space. Is it possible that he can live in the cabin at the bottom of the Knock Road ship?
Give him the room? No matter how thick-skinned he is, he can't do it!
"Okay, don't feel wronged. You can take the money first and use it as food expenses on the ship.
I guess we've had to endure a lot along the way. If anything happens, we'll meet on the bow deck at noon every day.
If it's urgent, come to me in the room. There are dragons and snakes on the boat, please protect yourself. "
Knock gave a few simple words and asked Shakespeare to leave. He should go to the bottom cabin of the ship early to get a good seat.
Lest there be no place to sleep.
Because Nock felt that a man like Grandet, who had all his tricks, might fill the cabin with people!
Fortunately, although Grandet loves money, he is not stupid.
The more guests who can afford a hundred gold coins to stay in a room, the better.
But Grandet did not attract many "poor people" who only paid ten gold coins.
Except for a few "poor people" he was familiar with, the others who bought cabin tickets were
They are all the servants and servants of the "distinguished guests" in the guest rooms.
The rest were all the slaves of his chamber of commerce and the crews of the ships he hired.
The number of people is definitely several times that of the "poor ghosts", which eliminates the opportunity for people in the "poor ghosts" to cause trouble.
Even if he has bad intentions, with his absolute advantage, the "poor guys" can't even think of trying to take advantage of him!
He, Grandet, had been in the business world for decades, and he didn't just rely on frugality to save his wealth.
The merchant ship slowly left the port.
Although Grandet was usually stingy, he was not stingy at all when it came to renting merchant ships.
What he rented was a sea ship that could carry hundreds of people.
Moreover, we employ the most experienced captains and seamen, all of whom have been working together for more than ten years.
He also paid more than other businessmen for the wages of captains and seamen.
But the captain and sailors were kept secret.
Because he knows that being on the sea can ensure the safety of his goods and himself.
Not the guards he invited, but these battle-hardened crew members and guards.
Their experience can smell pirates from afar,
Their technology leaves pirates far behind.
He, Grandet, would never be stingy with these people.
Because he can get higher returns from these people.
Merchant ships float on the sea.
On the first day, those who were not used to the bumps of the waves stayed in bed.
However, there are only a handful of such people.
Because there are few people in Venice who cannot adapt to the waves.
Shakespeare is one of the very few.
Nock found that Shakespeare did not appear at noon, so he asked someone.
It turned out that Shakespeare was seasick!
When Nok heard the news, he couldn't help but laugh with schadenfreude.
But Knock still went to visit Shakespeare.
Then he was surprised to find out.
This bitch lives better than he does!
Although there are many beds and bunks in the cabin, they are all occupied by Chamber of Commerce slaves and crew members.
But apart from them, there were less than fifteen "guests" in the cabin!
Living in a spacious cabin is much more comfortable than "distinguished guests" like Nok living in a small "coffin"!
Of course, the air quality cannot be compared to Knockna.
Nock doesn't envy this.
After learning that among these guests, two were husband and wife, who were taking a boat to St. Rome for business,
The other thirteen people, including Shakespeare, are actually servants of the guests in the guest room.
It was only at this time that Nock learned that, in addition to a captain's lounge and Grandet's room, there were
The remaining rooms were divided into single rooms by Grandet to make money.
Unfortunately, not all rooms were sold this time.
Therefore, although people like Nok live in small cubicles, they can still be regarded as occupying an original room by themselves.
The cubicle next door is unoccupied.
When he learned the news, Knock had thought about opening a room for Shakespeare.
But considering my suspicion of him and the fact that he didn't have much travel expenses, he already had a lot of money.
After all, Richelieu had borrowed half of Nok's travel expenses, and Nok was paying the bills along the way.
Richelieu and Roger Fit didn't bring any money, and were deceived by the two special envoys of the church.
With funds running low, Nock decided that Shakespeare would have to suffer.
But even so, Nock was shocked by Grandet's ability to make money.
The room fee for ten guests alone is one thousand gold coins, plus one hundred and fifty gold coins for fifteen "poor ghosts".
This amount alone is probably enough for Grandet to pay off the ship rental fee and the crew's salary.
Maybe there's still money to be made.
The rest of his cargo was a pure profit!
For a few days on the way south, the road was calm.
There was no wind, no heavy rain. It didn't even snow.
Go south along the coastline, occasionally replenishing fresh water and food in coastal cities on the east coast.
Nock and others had it easy.
Even guests in guest rooms like to walk around on the deck because of the small size of the rooms.
They are also quite familiar with each other.
If you like it, you may even make a superficial friend.
It also counts as having a talking companion during the journey.
Nock even got along with Grandet.
After all, others don't know Knock's identity, but Grandet knows it very well.
Although he couldn't make concessions on the deal, outside of the deal, Grandet still wanted to please Knock.
For such a young bishop, I am afraid that his achievements in the future will be very high.
In addition, this trip is to the Holy Court. If there is such a bishop to take care of him, he may be able to develop new connections.
Although he also had connections in the Holy Court, the person who took care of him had an increasing appetite.
If he has a new backer, he can get rid of that person and find someone to cooperate with.
This young man might benefit Grandet's descendants a lot.
Therefore, when they both intend to make friends with each other, they can be regarded as "friends" who talk about everything.
However, in addition to Grandet, Knock also made a special friend.
A woman who lived next door to him was said to have been accompanied by an escort, but due to the difference between men and women, she was on a boat.
She didn't let the guard follow her.
Only when eating in the restaurant, I will communicate with the guard about the situation of the day, so that the guard can have peace of mind.
The lady was only twenty years old and was said to be married.
My husband is also a businessman. Since my husband has not been home for half a year,
She just wanted the escort to accompany her to meet her husband.
Nock also discovered that this woman missed her husband too much and always liked to cry alone at night.
I couldn't help but help and comfort this lady.
With Nok's comfort, the woman eased her lovesickness and talked about her husband less often.
His face was radiant and his smile was sweet.
Knock felt that his merits were immeasurable and he decided to go to Holy Rome.
We must work tirelessly to help this woman and help her open up her heart.
No longer tormented by longing.
Maybe she can bring good news to her husband by then, and she will have a big fat baby next year!
