King Asan's serious Chinese character face could not help but reveal a smile at this moment: "You are indeed as cheerful as Taina said. I like to deal with cheerful people. Regarding the purchase of grain, grass and military supplies from the valley, I have listened to Taina’s report. This is a very good idea, but it is not suitable for Cormier to come forward in this matter, because doing so is likely to cause a lot of suspicion and obstacles.
How about we divide the labor and cooperate, with the general handling the acquisition, and Cormier being responsible for the maritime transport, and the benefits being equally divided, what do you think? "
I don’t know if King Asan is a business wizard, but he allocates tasks just right and everyone takes advantage of their strengths.
Gavin has flexibility that the Kingdom of Cormyr does not have, and the resistance in the valley is relatively small. This resistance mainly comes from the Zhentarim and the Kingdom of Sembia.
The three major forces have been competing for control of the valley over the years.
Do you really think that the poor political structure in the valley can withstand the invasion of any of the three?
The valley is indeed protected by the most powerful men such as Elminster and Storm, but both the Kingdom of Cormyr and the Zhentarim have existences that are comparable to them, so it is not difficult to contain them.
The valley's survival to this day is the result of the balanced competition between the three major forces.
The reason why the valley has been unable to rise and unify is because the three major forces do not allow it. They will jointly suppress whoever takes the lead. Lashan, the owner of the Scar Valley in 1356, is a lesson learned from the past.
Therefore, although Gavin is developing territory in the Battle Valley, he will not easily launch a unification war in the valley. This matter requires an opportunity, an opportunity where the three major forces have too much to take care of themselves. In other words, Gavin can be strong enough to withstand the three major forces. The pressure of a joint encirclement and suppression campaign by major forces.
All in all, if the Kingdom of Cormyr wants to take action in the valley, the Zhentarim and the Kingdom of Sembia will stop it without asking the reason.
He is different. Even if he now shows signs of moving closer to the Kingdom of Cormyr, based on the value he has shown now, the Zhentarim and the Kingdom of Sembia will desperately try to win over him.
As for the Zhentarim and the Kingdom of Sambia, they once plotted against themselves, trying to treat themselves as a fat sheep and prevent their rise.
It can only be explained by the saying that there are no eternal enemies in this world.
At least this sentence is applicable to these two profit-oriented organizations, especially the Zhentarim. Gavin, who has stayed in it for more than ten years, is very clear about the operation mode of the dark intelligence network. He has no idea about this huge dark organization. As for the intelligence network, whether you plan against the dark intelligence network, plunder their goods, or fight against the Dark Fortress on the goblin frontier, it is a process of self-proven strength. Only in this way can you be qualified to join the entire dark network.
Those who join in this way are of course not slave cannon fodder, but at least emerging local backbones. Once they join, they will immediately receive a certain degree of resource tilt, gain greater authority, and embark on the fast track to success, at a price It is also huge. In this process, the soul will be slowly soaked until it falls into darkness.
The situation in the Kingdom of Sambia is similar. Since there is no way to destroy it, let you join the ranks of our wealthy government and proceed according to the rules we have established. If you can play it, it will be nothing more than the merchants' assembly of the Kingdom of Sambia. There is a new seat in the hall. If you can't play it, it won't take long before it will be commercially annexed by them, and not even the bones will be left. This is another, more high-end annexation mode of theirs, not for everyone. Everyone is eligible to enjoy it, and now Gavin is eligible.
The Kingdom of Cormyr has a maritime advantage.
Although the valley is connected to the endless wilderness on land, there are either dense forests, high mountains, or countless rivers along the way. The business roads are also twists and turns. Not to mention that Gavin is just a voyeur of the God of Roads now, and he is not even a reserve. If you really get the priesthood of the road, you need to plan for a long time to open this road, mobilize a lot of manpower and material resources, and spend a long time to promote this matter, and the effort is not proportional to the gain.
Because there is an extremely convenient sea route here, you can land in Tefram in Sesk across the Sea of Fallen Stars, and follow the golden road to the endless wilderness.
It's just that the ocean has never been the domain of land people. They are just passers-by and intruders here. Walking here is more dangerous than walking in the wilderness. At least in the wilderness, you know where your dangers come from and what you will encounter. What a danger.
But it's different at sea. Many times, when disaster strikes, you still don't know who your enemy is. Many top experts, when they get here, can't exert even a small part of their strength.
Compared to the aborigines of the Starfall Sea, the greatest danger still comes from the numerous pirates on the sea.
This inland sea has a large number of islands, especially in the middle, as many as pockmarks on a pockmarked face. This provides convenience for the survival of pirates. When pirates were at their most rampant, they not only established islands on the sea, but The Pirate Kingdom directly attacked ground cities. Another port metropolis of the Kingdom of Cormyr, Masembo, was a former victim. This was the beginning of a thousand-year feud between the Kingdom of Cormyr and the pirates of the Sea of Fallen Stars.
Even though this short-lived pirate kingdom soon disintegrated due to internal strife, the legend of the treasure left by the Pirate King and the Pirate Islands named after it have always been there.
If you want to transport a large amount of food and wealth here, without a large number of ships and a strong fleet to guard you, the possibility of safely traveling thousands of sea miles is very slim.
The Kingdom of Cormyr is one of the few existences in the Starfall Sea that possesses this kind of strength.
"I got a big advantage in this transaction. Your Majesty can do it without me, but without His Majesty's support, this transaction will be very difficult to carry out." Gavin will naturally not raise any objections. Even if he purchases more grain, It’s no use if it can’t be shipped to its destination, it’s just a matter of making more or less.
"Very good. This is the most exciting deal I have ever negotiated. I heard from Taina that you have many unique ideas in both business and politics. I have already ordered people to prepare a banquet. Why don't we talk while we eat." Ya King Sang took the initiative to initiate the invitation, which meant that the core affairs between the two parties had almost been discussed, and the remaining details needed to be advanced slowly.
"It's my pleasure." Gavin responded with a smile.
After entering the banquet hall, the atmosphere was obviously much more relaxed, and the topics discussed became very broad. It was not limited to politics and business. King Yasan was also very familiar with the adventurous life, and he was full of adventure stories. He also had Known as the Adventurer King, before inheriting the throne, he had taken the initiative or was forced to enter an adventurous life for a long time, and even joined several adventure groups. Many deep friendships were forged during that time.
When talking about this, King Asan can be said to talk endlessly. Gavin is a good listener. Not only can he listen carefully, but he can even pinpoint the key points to further stimulate King Asan's conversation.
If you really think of King Asan as a simple storyteller, you would be totally wrong.
Every story he tells has a certain purpose. For example, what he tells most is his adventure life in the Just Destiny Free Adventure Group with Seob, the lord of Dadeluk Town. The activities are mainly in the rocky land and The land of Thun, he remembered it as if it was yesterday, and many place names came to mind, and this overlapped with Gavin's current main territory, so it was naturally mixed with a lot of old and new issues.
Through insinuating these questions, I unknowingly got a lot of things out of Gavin's mouth and learned about his layout in the two places from the side.
Too much talk leads to mistakes.
No matter how high your intelligence is or how meticulous your mind is, you can't think about every word you say. Unknowingly, you have revealed a lot of things.
Fortunately, from beginning to end, Gavin's goal was not in the Kingdom of Cormyr, and he had a good impression of this ancient country that had been passed down for thousands of years.
There is no other way. Looking around, there are really few forces that can be called kind around the Falling Star Sea.
Needless to say, the Zhentarim and the Kingdom of Sembia are typically profit-oriented.
The eight-city alliance just formed on the Dragon Coast is an existence dominated by dark forces and has nothing to do with good.
Most of the various forces in the valley tend to be kind, but under the joint suppression of the three major forces, they have been divided and have not been able to raise their heads for many years.
No matter how much King Asan tries to get more from Gavin, it will be win-win cooperation and development side by side.
It's a bit exaggerated to say that he kneels and licks. As long as the Kingdom of Cormyr doesn't plot against Gavin's back, he won't easily go against this ancient country.
For Gavin, the more King Yasan likes him, the more he gets to know him, the more he likes him. He has wild ideas but does not deviate from reality, his methods are cruel and sophisticated but does not lose his humanity, he walks on the edge of gray but does not let himself fall into darkness. His character It perfectly complements the Crown Princess's old-fashioned, fair, strong-willed and kind-hearted character.
Tynarasta is the perfect choice for the guardian of the lord, and he is a model of opening up territories. The goddess of strategy is absolutely right to choose him as her elect. He is the kind of lord who will never settle down. Many times , it is not that the war comes to him, but that wherever he goes, he will bring the war.
It's not that he is the kind of warmonger who likes war. On the contrary, he seems to prefer to use business and trade and the development concept of peaceful coexistence to clear the way to achieve win-win cooperation instead of war.
This is pure goodwill, but what he brings is forward-looking and will have an impact on the existing rule. Those with vested interests will bear the brunt. For their own vested interests, they will do their best to stop it. , and eventually had to be put into war.
It was the same in the Giant Plains, it was the same in the Dragon Coast, it was still the same in the Goblin Frontier, and now in Cormyr, there has been no fundamental change.
It’s just that the Kingdom of Cormyr has been a country for thousands of years and has a strong foundation. I cleverly used the impact he brought to my advantage, but this does not mean that everything will be fine. Although the Obaiskir royal family stipulates that economic development should be used to determine the Yan region. Attribution, it is strictly forbidden to use force to solve problems.
But when it really starts to develop, how can this kind of thing be banned?
Especially when the three parties have invested a huge amount of manpower and material resources in it, will the loser really take the money and leave five years later?
Anyway, as a veteran, King Yasan will not believe this kind of perfect adult fairy tale. In the end, it is very likely that he will use force to completely eliminate the losers, and the winner will get everything. This is an inevitable development after the power develops to a certain extent. model.
As his strength becomes stronger and stronger, the waves of change will become bigger and bigger. When the time comes, the Obasiqir royal family will inevitably be affected by the waves. They must adapt and join in before then. Make yourself a new vested interest and let this wave of change become an opportunity for the Kingdom of Cormyr to create new glory.
If so, Gavin originally only represented this possibility.
Now that King Asan has come to this understanding, it is more than just a possibility. This scheming old fox will take the initiative to promote this later and win greater benefits for the Kingdom of Cormyr.
Therefore, in the following talks, Gavin received many preferential policies. These preferential policies were not in Rockland, but in the Kingdom of Cormyr, mainly in terms of investment promotion. This was to prepare Gavin to maximize his ability in this area. .
Gavin was really not idle at all during these few days in Susar.
During the day, there were meetings of all sizes, all related to the development of gambling in the Rockland. After King Asan set the main tone, he no longer participated in it. Instead, he handed over the matter to Crown Princess Tenarasta. She serves as the representative of the royal family.
Naturally, Gavin would not be able to end the fight in person. Instead, he would form his own resource team with Veranika as the leader, conduct in-depth planning on the matter, and scheming with the other two parties to finalize other details.
In the evening, there were various aristocratic social banquets.
Gavin was not grateful for such a banquet, because he knew that he was now an out-and-out outsider, and it would be difficult for him to integrate into such a banquet.
Either become an isolated object, or become a rare object of play for those ladies and ladies.
Except for being dragged by the Crown Princess to attend a few royal banquets that he couldn't avoid, he declined all the others. However, the accompanying girls he sent in advance from Amphier Village, with the help of power and money, came one after another. He got into this top-level social circle and collected all kinds of useful information for him.
It is not the kind of news related to the destruction of the world or the rise and fall of the country that is called intelligence. The interpersonal relationships between the nobles of the Kingdom of Cormyr and the gossip secretly circulated in the noble circle are all a type of intelligence, which can make oneself more aware. Identify your opponent clearly.
Mother Gowther, who came to Susar less than ten days before Gavin, was familiar with the complex relationships among the nobles of the Kingdom of Cormyr.
"The rise of the Red Crow Mercenary Group started by contracting some peripheral bandit suppression work in Arabay City, and then began to enter the security employment work of Arabay City Municipal Chamber of Commerce, until it became the largest mercenary in Arabay City and surrounding areas. The group became famous after they signed an employment agreement with the royal family to clean up the rocky land. Every year for this alone, they took hundreds of thousands of employment payments from the royal family.
In the middle of this year, the Red Crow Mercenary Group signed a wasteland reclamation agreement with Arabey City. The Red Crow Mercenary Group was responsible for organizing manpower to reclaim new farmland and build a new fortress manor in the wasteland north of Arabey City. In order to For this matter, Arabe City has to pay at least millions in hiring fees to the Red Crow Mercenary Group every year. "
As the main competitor for rock land development, Gavin is naturally the focus of attention. Regarding this mercenary group, Gowther's mother did a thorough investigation. Not only did she collect the latest news, but even the process of its rise was uncovered.
Gavin did not ask the stupid question of still using the Red Crow Mercenary Group even though Arabe City had powerful Purple Dragon Knights.
First, there is the issue of risk cost. There are some tasks with extremely uncertain risk factors that are not suitable for dispatching the Purple Dragon Knights. They spend a small amount of money and leave them to these peripheral mercenary groups to perform, especially those involving gray areas. , once something goes wrong, they can be pushed out immediately to take the blame. This is the fault of the temporary workers and has nothing to do with the Kingdom of Cormyr.
Secondly, as a regular army, the Purple Dragon Knights only have law enforcement rights within the Kingdom of Cormyr. Once they go outside, they can easily be tit-for-tat and denounced as illegal invasion, which is not as convenient as mercenaries.
The third one is a relatively gray type of internal and external collusion. For the pioneering activities led by Arabe City, all the manors developed will be owned by the city. And those pioneering by mercenaries, even if they are not entirely personal, still have a large number of preferential policies. , such as a certain degree of tax relief, limited-year ownership, etc.
This is the most typical drama of outflow of state-owned assets. It is very common to use the money of the country and the city to do your own things and seek benefits for yourself.
"Then what is the background of Leyana, the leader of the Red Crow Mercenary Group? What is her relationship with Ms. Milman, the Lord of Arabe City?" Gavin asked.
This kind of internal and external collusion, non-blood relatives, even close confidants cannot give too much trust. For the sake of profit, the drama of selling the immediate boss is too common.
"There are several legends. Some say that Leyana is the illegitimate daughter of Lord Milman. Others say that Leyana has royal blood flowing in her body. It is the blood of the royal family living outside. Compared with the third One, I personally prefer the second one. Arabey City’s tendency to support the Red Crow Mercenary Group is too blatant, but the Obaiskir royal family has no reaction. This is different from their past behavior. It is consistent, unless this matter itself is tacitly approved by the royal family.”
Gao Se's mother has always been very interested in this kind of tidbits. She said loudly, "This matter is also consistent with the temperament of the old dragon, and the age is also right. I just don't know who the mother is. Milman What role does the lady play in this? It would be interesting if she was the illegitimate daughter of two people."
"Leyana should not be the illegitimate daughter of King Asan and Ms. Milman. She has the blood of the fire genasi in her body, and King Asan and Ms. Millman are both pure humans." Gavin couldn't bear it. He recalled the previous meeting with everyone in the Royal Chamber and the behavior of the three people.
I didn't think about this before and didn't notice any abnormalities. Now that I think about it carefully, it seems that there is something really out of the ordinary.
From the beginning to the end, Leyana seemed to be discussing the problem with the palace mage, without even looking at King Asan.
But King Yasan didn't care at all, and his eyes showed a little guilt.
The most normal one is Ms. Milman. This city lord is as arrogant as a peacock. There are not many people who are qualified to look at her. Naturally, she does not take Gavin seriously.
"The general has begun to have a fixed mindset again. There are many ways to make one's body have elemental characteristics. It doesn't have to be inherited from parents. I heard that some special professional inheritance or powerful magic tools can also allow the owner to show them. A similar situation happened." Gao Se's mother shared another intelligence report, "Captain Leyana seemed to appear out of thin air. No one had seen her when she was young, but some people once said they had seen her. The blond-haired leader Leiana, it’s a pity that that person is an alcoholic, so no one believes this rumor.”
(End of chapter)
