vstars Chapter 278 Taking advantage of the situation
Chapter 278 Taking advantage of the situation
"Boom!"
As Andrew's head fell into the bucket under the guillotine, the executioner grabbed his head by the hair and lifted it up, first showing it to the noble officials in charge of the trial, and then turned the head around on the scaffold to show the citizens underground that Andrew, who had ruled Mont-de-Marsan for several years, had now been beheaded.
After seeing Andrew's head, all the citizens present either celebrated joyfully or cried bitterly when they thought of the relatives Andrew had killed. Some even rushed to the execution platform to whip Andrew's remains.
"It's so lively. It seems like this is the first time I've attended a large-scale event here." John said as he looked at the lively crowd in front of him.
"By the way." John turned around and asked Jacques.
"Have you found out who sent that unknown assassin?"
"I don't know. I've tortured him several times, but he won't tell me. However, according to the warden, this person's accent is the one found only in the southern part of the border mountains. He is most likely from the Southwest Peninsula."
Hearing about the southwest peninsula, John quickly thought of the enemy south of the mountain, so he asked:
"Is it possible that they were sent by the Lana people?"
Jacques nodded and said:
"The nearest road from the Southwest Peninsula to Monde Marsan has been blocked by Lana and Midland. It's hard not to suspect that a Southwest Peninsular person suddenly appeared in Monde Marsan at this time. There is a spy colluding with others to send him in."
John thought about it and realized that it was true. Suddenly, he seemed to remember that the Holy Gospel Church had not been searched yet, so he continued to ask:
"Have you investigated the Holy Gospel Church and the Sage?"
Jacques quickly responded:
"I first asked Bishop Mont-de-Marsan for information about the church, but he told me that the church would send him a sum of money every month to "support the church," while their own residence was always deserted and they didn't hold any celebrations or other activities."
"So this means that the bishop was bribed and didn't care about them, and they were secretive and even set up a fake headquarters to divert people's attention?" After listening to Jacques' words, John sorted out all of this and finally came to a conclusion:
"Isn't this a spy organization?"
"Okay, now your job is to work with Cali to investigate this church. Aren't they mainly targeting high-ranking officials? Just send people to investigate these people secretly, and by the way, find out who they get close to every day and where they go most often."
After watching the execution, John returned to the embassy to continue his work. In the afternoon, he received the property of Andrew Chamber of Commerce counted by people sent by Simon Chamber of Commerce.
In Mont-de-Marsan alone, the Andrew Chamber of Commerce has a headquarters covering an area of more than a thousand square meters, and there are no less than fifty workshops and mansions of various sizes in the city. The gold coins he found in the vault are almost twenty boxes. Although there are only more than 10,000 gold coins in the vault, his butler confessed the locations of more of Andrew's vaults in various places, which can be found out within a week.
In addition, the major warehouses of the Chamber of Commerce also had great gains. In addition to common resources such as wood, stone and iron ore, there were also large numbers of armors, weapons, shields, and various valuable luxury items.
John roughly calculated that the wealth of Andrew would be equal to John's business income and territory income for ten years.
But the problem is, John envisioned completely controlling the Andrew Chamber of Commerce and turning it into a branch of the Simon Chamber of Commerce in the southwest region. Now it seems that its size is almost equal to the Simon Chamber of Commerce plus the Black Watch Mercenary Company, so much so that the people sent by the Simon Chamber of Commerce need a week just to count the property.
Since Andrew was killed, John expected that a large number of the Chamber of Commerce's top executives and branch presidents would flee. Of course, even if they were here, John didn't trust them very much. However, this management vacancy would lead to chaos in the management of the entire Chamber of Commerce, and even affect the grassroots work of the Chamber of Commerce, triggering a chain reaction of grassroots personnel fleeing.
However, in the short term, John still made a lot of money. At least this time he not only had military expenses, but also had money to push the Lana people back to their homeland from the border.
However, just when John was satisfied, Jacques rushed in from the office door. Without waiting for the guard to come in and report, Jacques knelt down and said to John:
"My Lord, a member of our patrol has been murdered."
John was greatly surprised. Andrew, who was the most nervous, had been killed, so how could someone dare to do such a thing to challenge his authority in broad daylight?
According to Jacques' description, it turned out that his men were patrolling the streets of the slums as usual, and they smelled a pungent odor at the entrance of an alley. Then they found several covered iron barrels at the end of the alley.
When a few people opened the lid, they found several remains of people wearing wartime patrol armor, soaked in a bucket of bubbling liquid. Considering that there were several people from the wartime patrol living nearby, they checked every house and found bloodstains and hidden bodies of relatives in the house.
"It's extremely bad." John said after listening to the report. John must investigate this matter thoroughly, but John has no clues at the moment, so he can only send someone to find his own spy and assassin chief Wesker.
Through this incident, John deduced that there must be a foreign spy force inside Mondemarsan, and that they were arrogant and would not restrain themselves even if he killed Andrew.
"It seems that if we want to break the deadlock, we have to take the initiative." John said this, turned around and looked at the map of Midland. After looking at the west for a while, John said to Jacques:
"I will be out for a few days. You will be in charge of public security in Mondemarsan. Arrest suspicious persons first and then interrogate them. If there are special circumstances, you are allowed to handle them with the White Wolf Knights stationed here and the army."
After saying this, John ordered a team of White Wolf Knights of a hundred men to get ready, and sent people to the military camp outside the city to transfer a thousand troops and several cannons. After John's convoy left the city, it set off northward in a mighty manner.
A week later, in the palace of Count Loire, Count Loire looked at John who had been eating for half an hour, and thought to himself, didn’t this guy say he had something to ask him, why is he eating alone?
"Ahem, Governor John, I have to thank you for helping my good-for-nothing son get a position with the king."
“This fried chicken leg is delicious.”
Looking at John, who was not talking to him at all, and his dinner which was about to run out, Count Loire could not help but say:
"What on earth do you want to see me about?"
John then wiped his mouth with his own towel and said:
"I hope you can send troops to help me fight the war."
"how much do you need?"
"You can send as many as you can. It's better to send at least a thousand people. Oh, and they should be armed, not conscripted peasant soldiers."
"puff!"
Count Loire was completely unable to hold back. He had heard that John had brought tens of thousands of fully armored troops with him when he returned to take office as the Governor-General of the Southwest. However, he did not expect that in his understanding, a count could lead thousands of armored soldiers. What was there for Yoda to fight? He should be thankful that he could retreat to Dordore and defend it.
"There are only two thousand registered soldiers wearing armor in my territory. Maybe my vassal has some more, but what benefits can you give me?"
John waved his hand and said:
"That's nothing. The lord either wants money or territory. I definitely can't give you the territory because the Southwest Governor's Territory is the king's territory, but I can give you a good reward."
At this point, John changed the subject and said:
"I remember that a gold mine in your territory was contracted by the Andrew Chamber of Commerce. This was originally an agreement between your father and the Chamber of Commerce. At the beginning, your father just thought it was an ordinary mountain, but the Chamber of Commerce mined gold. As a result, your generation could only watch the gold dug out of the mine being transported away, and they could only collect the meager rent."
The Count of Loire, who was touched on the sore spot, said with a sullen look:
"Is this the only reason you came here to mention this well-known fact?"
"No, no, no, I'm busy. I don't have time to run around and make fun of others. Only those idiots who have nothing to do will do such things." John rejected it first, and then continued:
"The Andrew Chamber of Commerce was closed down because it was found to be guilty of treason, and Andrew himself was also killed by me, so now the right to use the mine is in my hands."
"Of course, if you are willing to do me a small favor, I can also return this mine that I have never seen to you."
When Luval heard this, he was a little tempted, but he still pretended to be threatening:
“Since the Andrew Chamber of Commerce is gone, why can’t I send troops to take it myself.”
John heard this and said:
"You can. My soldiers are outside the city now. As long as you make sure your soldiers can withstand the bombardment and defeat my army, I can give you the mine... By the way, some of your vassals are hiring Black Watch mercenaries to do patrol missions. They have bases all over your territory, and they can gather about 2,000 people. Together with the Black Watch mercenaries in the surrounding territories, your territory will definitely be surrounded by enemies."
Seeing this, Count Loire regained his composure. After thinking for a long time, he spoke:
"Okay, let's do as you say. I'll provide a thousand fully armored soldiers, but they can only fight in the lord of Midland and cannot go abroad."
Seeing that he had agreed, John stopped hiding his intention and just said:
“They’ll only get as far as Bernas, and you just have to get them there before the spring.”