Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

After Simon arrived at the Chamber of Commerce, he started talking to the others.

"Gentlemen, business is good lately." Simon did not mention the mercenary business directly, but was subtle with the businessmen first.

A businessman said with a sad face: "Business is not easy to do now. Every time we pass through a noble's territory, we have to collect taxes. When we pass through the territory of bandits, we have to pay tribute to them. In the end, we can't make much money."

Another merchant was also indignant after hearing this: "I don't agree with what this guy said. Look at those big merchants who can directly hire guards for themselves. Some caravans hire thousands of soldiers. Those bandits and lords dare not even ask questions and just let them go. Especially when those lords said that the taxes collected are the same, as a result, we small merchants are the ones who are being taken advantage of, while the big merchants have already found their own strong partners."

Finally, with a sigh, Simon invoked his mercenary services.

"Everyone, the national war is going on right now. Most of the mercenary groups are fighting. Other large mercenary groups are basically controlled by great nobles and big businessmen. In addition to the years of military service, you may not be able to recruit people even if you go to the village. What's more, the local lords will definitely not be happy to see the population of their territory being lost."

"Then we can recruit some individual mercenaries," a businessman suddenly said.

But a merchant immediately retorted: "If you don't want to live, you can go and find someone. I heard that many bandits are now disguising themselves as mercenaries to take on merchant caravan missions, escorting caravans to the woods to rob them, and they don't give merchants any chance to live."

In the midst of the quarrel, Simon said: "Everyone, on my last return trip, I accepted the escort of the Black Watch Mercenary Group. I recommend this mercenary group to everyone. They have a large number of members and the price is very cheap."

At this time, anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was just a promotion of the mercenary group, so someone asked: "Are there nobles or chambers of commerce behind this mercenary group?"

Simon smiled bitterly and said, "Of course not, otherwise why would my family still do our business."

Someone else asked: "Does this mercenary group have anyone who can introduce them?"

Simon patted his chest and said: "I will use my caravan's 30 carriages as a guarantee. They are definitely a very competent mercenary group."

After hearing this, some businessmen were tempted. After all, it was indeed difficult to hire regular mercenaries nowadays. So that night some businessmen followed Simon to Charlie's camp.

As soon as the merchants arrived at the camp, they were shocked by the scene in front of them: there were rows of tents located in an orderly manner in the camp, and there were dozens of plumes of smoke from the bonfires alone. Various soldiers were talking, eating, or maintaining their equipment. What was even more surprising was that this mercenary group actually had a cavalry unit of a certain size.

Simon brought the merchants to Charlie's tent to discuss the hiring fee. When everyone saw Charlie and his bald head, they instantly calmed down. This hairstyle showed that he was an experienced and well-trained old mercenary.

The only thing left was to negotiate the price. Charlie prepared a table and chairs for the merchant representative. After both parties sat down, the merchant representative took the lead and said, "Excuse me, how do you calculate your hiring fee?"

Charlie said: "The commercial hiring fee is calculated by car, 10 gold coins per car."

After hearing the news, the merchant representative thought about it carefully and said directly: "Can you lower the price? After all, we are just transporting some ordinary goods."

Charlie refused flatly: "It's easy for you to say, but I have my brothers, and they still rely on this for their livelihood. You cut the price in half right away. Go and ask other towns in the eastern part of the kingdom which are willing to do this. Aren't they all going to the front lines to fight? Which of the remaining mercenary groups have as many people as us? And ask about the price. Which mercenary group offers such a low price?"

The merchant representative was speechless. Yes, it was true that they were cheaper because they had more people, but they were a small caravan with only one or two carriages, and the profit of each trip was only forty or fifty gold coins. Who would be willing to give a quarter to a mercenary group?

"What you said is indeed true, but it is still too much for us. Can you lower the price a little bit?" replied the merchant representative.

"I wonder why you are like this? You come to me for protection and I welcome you to do so. But you are going too far. Don't you see the current prices of food and other commodities? Even if my brothers can't drink and eat meat, at least they won't starve this winter." Charlie got so angry that his head turned red like a big red date.

At this time, Simon said quickly: "I say, everyone, how about this, let's gather more caravans and bring more business to Brother Charlie, then Brother Charlie can also be more considerate of us and see if he can reduce the price for us."

After several rounds of negotiations, the final price was set at 8 gold coins per car. After the negotiation, Simon left with the merchant representatives.

After returning to the Chamber of Commerce, the merchant representative explained the price of 8 gold coins per carriage to everyone, which attracted more caravans to join. By tomorrow morning, there will be about 50 carriages, plus Simon's 30 carriages, a total of 80 carriages and 500 Black Watch people (the other half guarding the camp) setting off for Provins, a large city in the Kingdom of Nice.

This city is located in the east of the Kingdom of Nice and the southeast of Midland. It is an important commercial port of the Kingdom of Nice. It provided Midland with food, weapons and various mercenaries during the war. The purpose of the caravan's trip is to sell Mond's mountain products in exchange for food and weapons to sell at the front line. It takes about half a month to travel.

On the way, you need to pass through several noble territories and a bunch of no-man's land. The noble territories are easy to pass, just pay some money. Those no-man's land are the most troublesome. If you pay protection money to this bandit this time, you will have to pay protection money to another bandit next time.

The entire team consisted of carriages lined up in a row, with the Black Watch mercenary group guarding on both sides, cavalry conducting reconnaissance in the front, and Charlie Simon sitting in the carriage.

"Your method is really effective. Look how many people came today." Charlie said to Simon happily. It turned out that he and Simon were performing a duet that day.

Simon replied: "Most people in the world are greedy for money, but merchants are the most cautious among them. If you don't lower the price for them like this, they will certainly be suspicious."

After that, Simon pointed to the map and said that although Provan was in the southeast of Midland, the front line was still very far away from here, so we only needed to pay attention to the nobles and bandits.

"Okay, I promise that if they come one will die, and if they come two will die a pair."

The journey was very smooth for the first two days. We passed through several noble territories and could set up camp and rest in the territories after paying money.

By the third day, the situation was getting worse and worse. There were refugee camps everywhere, as well as traces of the marching army and various bandits. However, most of them did not cause trouble for the caravans. Those who came to trouble were mostly horse bandits who came and went freely. However, their speed was greatly outstripped by the Black Watch Cavalry, and they successfully became the nutrients of nature and contributed to the greening of the world.

Fortunately, most of the bandit groups are not large in scale, and each has its own sphere of influence, so they will not attack the mercenary group together, so the journey is relatively safe.

On the seventh day, we finally arrived in Provins. The scale of the city here is beyond the imagination of Mond. The taller city walls, various towers on the city walls, and buildings taller than the city walls all show the wealth of this commercial country.

Because it is located in the south, Provins is an ice-free port all year round, and it is surrounded by many neighboring countries. There is a constant stream of merchant ships coming and going. The Kingdom of Nice can make a lot of money from customs duties alone.

After arriving at the city gate, the merchants paid Charles the employment fee first, and the two parties agreed to sign a return employment agreement two days later.