HCB Chapter 258 The Early Duckling Gets the Dinner
Chapter 258 The Early Duckling Gets the Dinner
Outside a forest on the outskirts of Mont-de-Marsan, the area was bustling with people because of a hunting activity.
On a flat, open land at the edge of the forest, servants were setting up tents for nobles and merchants to rest. An endless stream of horse-drawn carriages constantly transported goods from Mont-de-Marsan to this place and back, forming a flow of traffic that would never stop.
"Yo, there's a clown too."
After watching a group of gaudy clowns enter the tent, John, who was riding on a hill, began to observe the flags below. It can be said that almost all the nobles John knew and some large chambers of commerce came to participate.
But what surprised John was that the Andrew Chamber of Commerce had also sent someone. John was not very familiar with this Chamber of Commerce, but this Chamber of Commerce had always been very mysterious when John knew it.
In addition to the construction guilds that unanimously asked John to buy materials from the Andrew Chamber of Commerce, most of the Mondemarsan nobles also owed debts to this chamber of commerce.
In the minds of many common people, if nobles owed money to common people, it would be fine even if they never repaid it in their lifetime. However, this was a different matter for merchants.
If a noble wants to borrow money from a merchant, he must sign and seal the contract. If the noble does not repay the loan on time, the merchant can sell the contract. At that time, the noble's debtor will change from the merchant to the person who purchases the contract.
The identities of the people who buy debt contracts vary. For example, they may be nobles who want to annex the noble's territory next to his; or they may be feudal lords who have a bad impression of him and want to take away part of his territory; or they may be other direct heirs who want to forcibly obtain the noble's title and territory through a contract.
In short, if a noble owes a debt to another noble, he runs the risk of being sued in the noble court by that noble, and at that time the problem is no longer something that can be solved simply by paying back the money.
As for why those nobles could beat up those small traders at will and not pay back the money they owed them, the reason was very simple. Those small traders had no money to pay the fees to join the Chamber of Commerce. Without the support of the Chamber of Commerce, they could not sign a legal contract with the nobles.
"Governor John, you're here early."
At this moment, a familiar voice sounded in John's ears. John looked towards the source of the voice and saw Count Hoss, who looked very similar to Behelet, riding his men towards John on horseback.
"I wonder if Governor John is living comfortably in Mont-de-Marsan. I'm afraid you've been living a hard life in the north, and suddenly you come to such a prosperous and pleasant place, and I'm afraid you're a little uncomfortable with it."
However, when the two met, Hoss made some sarcastic remarks, with the purpose of satirizing that the place where John was located was a bitter and cold land and the people in the territory were all savages. Of course, this was also in line with the stereotype of the Wendam people about the northern region.
After Hoss finished speaking, the people next to him were about to chuckle to agree with Hoss's opinion of John. However, before the corners of their mouths could rise, they were scared back by John's murderous eyes and his right hand that kept slapping his knees.
"Count Hoss, I have a different opinion from you. I have no interest in this place. If His Majesty the King hadn't asked me to be the governor here, I would rather go back to the territory and build snowmen. After all, no matter how high the official position is, it is not as good as a territory."
"Of course, I can't blame you for this. The main reason is that we didn't fight this battle well. An army of 100,000 people collapsed in just a few days. Even if it was 100,000 pigs, it would take the Lana army a month to capture them all."
"Of course, I'm not saying that you're a bad commander. What I mean is that all the senior officers in the standing army are basically useless. It would be better to find a general from the southern battlefield to lead the army. It's a waste of the king's army and salary to let a bunch of useless people who have never fought in a war and are just waiting to die every day lead the army!"
Listening to John's endless chatter about the border war, Earl Hoss became so angry that his face turned red. It might not be long before he would be transformed into the Overlord's Egg that could summon the Hand of God.
"Oh, why is Earl Hoss so angry? Please do your thing first. I'll go downstairs and see if there's anything delicious. You don't have to keep me during the dinner. I'll just go back to the embassy and eat something then."
Looking at John's receding back, Hoss felt as if several invisible arrows were piercing his back, causing him to feel deep mental pain.
After going down the hill, John happened to see the nobles hunting. Since John had centralized the management of the young nobles, the ones who came on the scene at this time were all noble men.
They did not go into the forest to hunt, but waited on the flat ground for the guards to drive the prey out.
As the sound of horse hooves in the forest got closer, a fox rushed out of the forest, and the nobles immediately rode on horseback to chase it.
There are also some rules for the nobles to chase prey. For example, nobles participating in hunting must be in a team and are not allowed to leave the team without permission. Second, only nobles in the front row can use bows and crossbows, while nobles in the back row cannot. These are to avoid unnecessary accidental injuries and prevent them from causing tragedies.
Just as John was watching with great interest and wanted to try it himself, the city defense sergeant who had come to protect John with benefits plucked up the courage to say to John:
"Sir, is there anything you need us to do now?"
John glanced at them and thought, with so many knights and soldiers around me, what can they do? Just as he was about to wave his hand to disperse them, he heard a voice saying:
"Sir, I have a gift for you, please see..."
"Huh?" John turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw Jacques walking towards him with a cage. John took a closer look and saw a black eagle in the cage.
"Oh, what is this?" John took the cage and held it up. At this time, the eagle in the cage had been jumping up and down in the cage since the beginning, and it was obviously dissatisfied with the cage.
Seeing this, John broke the lock on the cage in front of the surprised eyes of the city defense soldiers. After opening the door of the cage, he grabbed the eagle's neck with one hand and pulled it out of the cage.
After a series of operations by John, the originally ferocious eagle dared not even breathe in John's hands.
"It's okay, at least he's sensible."
As John spoke, he rode to the banquet table. After getting off his horse, John looked at the dazzling array of food on the table and quickly locked onto a piece of steak. John put Black Hawk on the table and then tore the steak into strips and fed it to Black Hawk.
Seeing the steak so close, the frightened Black Hawk immediately became lively. John gave it a piece of steak, and it swallowed it immediately as if it had never eaten meat before.
Looking at the black eagle in front of him, which ate like a pig, John couldn't help but think of Coal Briquette far away in Franche-Comté, wondering how it was doing.
Far away in Franche-Comté, Coal Ball slowly opened his watery eyes, looked at his white duck wife who was still sleeping, and then he twisted his way out of the duck coop.
At this time, the servants in the castle had already prepared food for it, probably vegetable porridge for breakfast with some shredded meat. Soon, crisp tapping sounds were heard in the corridor of the castle.
As the sky gradually darkened, John immediately set off to return to Mont-de-Marsan. However, in addition to John and a White Wolf Knight, Jacques, a city defense soldier, was also sitting opposite him in the carriage.
"Tell me, what do you want from such a big gift?" John asked. John was very satisfied with the black eagle that Jacques gave him, not only because the black eagle was handsome and obedient, but more importantly, it could really catch prey. When the black eagle caught hares and birds and kept flying towards John, arousing the envy of the nobles, John had to become the focus of attention in the hunting ground.
"Sir, you not only gave me money but also gave me a job. I dare not ask for more benefits from you. I now beg you to give me a chance to serve you. I am not afraid even if it is dangerous!"
When Jacques heard this, he knew his opportunity had come, and he immediately knelt down in front of John in the bumpy carriage.
"You want to serve me? I'm afraid this alone is not enough. After all, I am a noble. If you don't have any special skills, I'm afraid I won't recruit you. After all, I already have many people who can fight."
John was not in a hurry to recruit people. As he said, there were already enough Johns who dreamed of fighting in wars. As far as he knew, Jacques was just a retired veteran who had re-employed himself as a city defense soldier. If he only knew how to fight, there was really no need for John to recruit him.
Jacques also understood what John meant, and after thinking for a while, he said:
"The headquarters of the Bobber Gang is located in the fifth room of the third alley on the south side of West Street in the civilian area. There are ten crossbows, more than fifty swords, and a vault inside. He also has a house in the noble area..."
In order to gain John's trust, Jacques directly reported to John the locations of the gang lairs in Mont-de-Marsan. Although John could have found out by asking around, telling him in advance was already a token of his loyalty to John.
"Well, you know a lot." John first praised him, then asked:
"If I ask you to lead a team to capture the gang leaders and find their vault, can you do it?"
"It can definitely be done. If it can't be done, you can do whatever you want with it."
"it is good."
After John finished speaking, he calmed down and said in a serious tone:
"Jacques, I now appoint you as the leader of the Mont-de-Marsan wartime patrol, responsible for handling any incidents that cause unrest in Mont-de-Marsan. Are you willing to accept this?"
"Thank you, Governor General. Thank you, Governor General!"
Hearing this, Jacques couldn't help but feel excited. Just when he felt that his goal was gradually getting on track, the words of the White Wolf Knight beside him suddenly brought him to the bottom:
"Sir, isn't it a bit hasty to appoint a high-ranking officer in charge of public security in Mont-de-Marsan? After all, he was just a soldier before and has no ability to be an official."
But John waved his hand and said in a nonchalant tone:
"I was just a member of the supervision team at the beginning, but now I am the governor. If he doesn't know how to be an official, he can still learn."