Chapter 163 Creditors Come
"Sir Mark, welcome to Yingzui Island!"
Samwell stood at the mouth of the valley and gave the Mullendoll family knight from Highland City a hug.
The two are old acquaintances.
"Master Caesar!" Mark Mullendall looked at Samwell with excitement and admiration in his eyes.
He witnessed the young baron step by step from a down-and-out pioneer knight to a champion knight who is now famous in the Seven Kingdoms.
And it took less than a year.
He came back from King’s Landing before, and Sir Mark still remembered the funny expression of disbelief when he told his father, Viscount Martin, about the grand occasion of the King’s Landing Tournament.
Of course, then Viscount Martin came to his senses and immediately sent his son to Yingzui Island for one thing—
Want debt.
In order to support Samwell's development, Viscount Martin sent all the craftsmen and apprentices in Highland City. In return, Samwell also promised to return the craftsmen and apprentices in one year, as well as ten times the rental fee. .
In fact, when Viscount Martin found out that Samwell had never carried out the so-called pirate business, he felt that he might be deceived.
But since everyone has already been dispatched, we can’t just call them all back. Wouldn’t that mean breaking the contract by ourselves, and we won’t get any compensation.
Besides, Yingzui Island can produce brandy and silver after all. With these two things, Viscount Martin is not too worried that Samwell will not be able to pay back the money.
Hearing that Samwell won the long spear championship in the martial arts tournament and won a huge reward of 40,000 golden dragons this time, Viscount Martin couldn't help but send his son to test it—
The one-year lease period is coming up soon, can I pay back the money?
Samwell also seemed to have guessed the purpose of Mark's visit, and never mentioned the matter of repaying the money. He dragged him around in the territory, drinking, bragging, and took him to visit the "Treasure of the Dragon" in his collection. .
"Master Caesar." Mark finally couldn't help it, "Actually, I came this time because of the contract between our two families. You must also know that there are only two weeks left before the agreed one-year period, so..."
"Really? So fast? I almost forgot." Samwell said with a chuckle, "However, since you mentioned this, I have to confess something to you."
"What's up?"
Samwell spread his hands together: "I can't afford to pay the rent anymore."
Hearing such a straightforward and bachelor's answer, Mark was stunned for three seconds before he realized it, and then shouted:
"Impossible! Lord Caesar, are you kidding me? The champion reward of the jousting is 40,000 golden dragons!"
"They are all here." Samwell pointed to the "Dragon Treasure" piled up in front of him.
Mark's expression suddenly became extremely complicated, as if he wanted to laugh, but also as if he felt distressed. It took a long time before he said:
"Master Caesar! You have been deceived!"
"How is it possible. These are the treasures I bought from a good merchant in King's Landing at a great price. Each piece is priceless. How about this." Samwell said with a very reluctant expression, "If you look Which one I win, I can give it to you, and it will be deducted from the rent."
"I don't want any of it." Mark shook his head, "I just want a golden dragon."
"There is no golden dragon." Samwell said very bachelorly, "If you don't believe me, you can look for it in the castle yourself. If you find it, it will be yours."
Mark was speechless for a while, and said after a long while: "Then you can pay with silver deer. There will be no silver in your territory, right?"
"Then you may have to wait for a while." Samwell said, "The current expenses of my territory are all supported by that silver mine. Before the silver deer was cast and cooled, it was divided up by those **** suppliers. Empty. Why, Sir Mark, I am poor indeed!"
Mark became more and more helpless, but still took out a roll of parchment from his arms, and said, "Lord Caesar, you can't do this. We have signed a contract. Look, this contract is under the witness of the Seven Gods!"
"I understand." Samwell said seriously, "Don't worry, I will never do anything that breaks my promise."
Mark breathed a sigh of relief: "So you will pay back the money, right?"
"No. I'm really out of money." Samwell shook his head slowly, then made an expression of great heartache, and gritted his teeth, "So, I have to let you take the collateral."
"Collateral?" Mark looked down at the contract in his hand again, "Wharf?"
"Yes. Since you can't pay back the money, you can take the pier of Yingzui Island."
Mark suddenly had a bad premonition, because when he came to Yingzui Island last time, he clearly saw that there was nothing on the pier, only a bare trestle...
"Can I go and see that pier?"
"Of course." Samwell immediately led the way, "Please follow me."
After Mark saw the so-called pier with his own eyes, he was completely dumbfounded.
"Kay, Kai, Caesar, my lord, is this what you call a yard, dock?" Poor Sir Mark could barely speak.
"No!" Mark was really angry this time, "Master Caesar, you are deliberately playing us!"
Samwell pointed to the contract in Mark's hand, and said lightly:
"It's clearly written in black and white. How did I trick you? Viscount Martin himself agreed to this contract at the beginning, and I didn't force him to sign it."
"I, I, I..." Mark looked at his father's signature on it, and didn't know what to say.
Samwell saw the other party's face flushed, and finally laughed and said:
"Well, here's a joke, Sir Mark, don't take it seriously."
Mark was overjoyed: "You scared me to death, Lord Caesar! So you will pay back the money, right?"
"I really don't have any money." Samwell shrugged, and before Mark got angry, he said again, "However, there are quite a few people."
"What do you mean?" Mark's expression changed again.
"Follow me." Samwell beckoned.
Mark followed up with doubts and anger.
The two walked along the beach, and soon Mark heard the sound of neat slogans, and at the same time saw the soldiers who were training by the sea.
"Sir Mark, what do you think of my soldiers?" Samwell pointed to the training team ahead.
"Well-trained." Mark praised.
Mark still approves of the military accomplishments of the young baron in front of him, after all, the other party has a series of brilliant achievements.
"Well, that's what I just said." Samwell smiled slightly: "I really don't have money if you ask me for it. Since you don't want to take away the pier according to the contract, then I will give you another choice." ,Soldier."
"Soldiers? You mean, trade soldiers for artisans?"
"It almost means that." Samwell explained, "You can understand it as a mercenary, a mercenary from Yingzui Island.
I am responsible for their training, weapons, and military pay. They fight for Highland City, and the Mullendall family only needs to be responsible for feeding them. Previously, Highland City leased 270 craftsmen to me, and I can rent you the same number of soldiers. As long as the craftsmen are still in Yingzui Island, these mercenaries will stay in Highland City to fight for the Murendall family. .
How about it? If you agree, we can immediately sign a new contract. "
"Mercenaries?" Mark was lost in thought.
This is actually a plan that Samwell has been thinking about for a long time. He is going to make Yingzui Island a place for exporting mercenaries.
The reason why he did this was because of his helplessness after seeing the population of the territory soar.
Yingzui Island is too barren to farm, and brandy brewing and silver mining alone cannot fully absorb so much labor, so Samwell must find a way to export labor.
But in fact, in this world where there is almost no secondary and tertiary industries, labor is already surplus, so there are so many refugees and beggars without land. Samwell wanted to export labor, but couldn't find a receiver.
Since the labor force cannot be exported directly, Samwell thought of another way—force export.
The savages in the territory are hunting for a living. Compared with the farmers who are farming, they obviously have higher military literacy. As long as they are equipped with weapons and trained, they will be qualified professional soldiers.
There is never a shortage of wars in Westeros, and as long as there is a war, there will be a demand for soldiers.
The many large and small mercenary groups that are active today are proof.
So Samwell planned to gradually arm the large number of savages in the territory and let them go out as mercenaries.
First, you can earn commissions, and second, you can use this method to train your own reserve army.
If Samwell needs it in the future, he can recall these mercenaries to fight for himself.
Of course, he also knows that the loyalty of the mercenaries cultivated in this way is definitely not as good as that of the standing army in the territory, but given the current situation of Yingzui Island, once the size of the standing army exceeds a thousand people, the financial pressure will become extremely great , so for the sake of quantity, Samwell can only sacrifice some quality and loyalty.
However, Samwell also took some measures to increase the loyalty of these mercenaries.
For example, the families of these mercenaries stayed in Yingzui Island, such as arranging trusted people to be officers, such as insisting on paying these mercenaries their military salaries and pensions, such as brainwashing them, making them believe that they are their masters, Is the prophesied prince and so on.
In fact, as long as Samwell's strength continues to expand and his reputation continues to rise, his appeal to these scattered mercenaries will also increase.
Of course, these mercenaries can only be used as auxiliary. The real core army is still the standing army in the territory, which Samwell knows very well.
"Sir Mark, what do you think of my proposal?" Seeing that the other party remained silent for a long time, Samwell urged.
He believes that Mark will agree to his new conditions, unless the other party is willing to take the broken pier.
"I need to go back and discuss it with my father." Mark couldn't make up his mind after all.
"Yes." Samwell said with a smile, "I believe Viscount Martin will approve of my new plan. After all, the pace of war is approaching."
(end of this chapter)