I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 244 Establishing a Caravan
"Sir, these are the letters we found on Joseph Jr.

Deep in the forest, Ryan handed a blood-stained wax letter to the knight on horseback.

"Except for one archer who escaped, the rest were all killed."

"One of the three warhorses was wounded by crossbow bolts, there were two sets of chainmail, three helmets, and two damaged leather armors."

"Sir, I must say, Berry really cares about his son. His armor is so much better than Clovis's. If he hadn't taken off his helmet himself, we might have had to send him to meet God."

Having followed Luke for a long time, Ryan had some knowledge of the quality of armor. He wiped the blood splattered on his eyebrows and said...

Luke bent down to take the letter, glanced at his eight men. He had not participated in the raid himself, but had handed over the command of the battle to Byrne and Jean. He also took the opportunity to train two members of his private army, one of whom was Andrew, who was guarding the bridge.

“Byrne, you and Grimbald did a good job. In addition to the reward you deserve, replace that lame horse with a perfectly fine one.”

"Thank you for your generosity, sir."

Byrne gave a polite, slight bow and said:
"However, I am very sorry that the archer escaped. His archery skills were good, and I was afraid that chasing after him would result in unnecessary casualties."

"Your decision is right."

Luc began to open the letter. The bearded archer himself knew that the other party was not only skilled in archery but also adept at tracking. Apart from George, the others in the forest would likely be worn down by him.

"Besides, we also need to leave one person alive to go back."

Luc quickly read the letter, but his smile gradually faded as he read. He closed the letter and ordered Ryan to rummage through the pile of junk to find a package. When he opened it, an inconspicuous earthenware jar lay on a linen cloth.

"Master, what is this?"

Ryan leaned closer to take a look. His master had now become a wealthy lord, no longer the same as before when he killed Henry and wouldn't even spare half a sack of peas.

Ryan couldn't make heads or tails of the rough-surfaced pottery jar.

"poison."

Luc's face was grim as he slowly uttered a few syllables: "It contains a poison specially concocted by the Dijon court apothecary!"

"Ha, Berry is indeed Finn's father. This father and son even have the same idea of ​​killing."

"Sir, are you saying that Berry used this poison to assassinate you?" Ryan's eyes widened, and he suddenly felt a chill of fear. If they hadn't intercepted little Joseph this time, they would probably be next to die.

"Not only that, but also Duss, and little William, he even included the babies who weren't born yet."

“In addition, Berry also wants the Duke to increase tariffs on the Saône River, especially on wine, and incidentally to sell large quantities of salt to the County of Champagne instead of shipping it south. If I remember correctly, the city of Macon made a lot of money by collecting salt taxes and exporting wine.”

"This is an attempt to punish Count Kahn."

Luc tightened the reins with a cold smile, or rather, he was forcing Kahn to give up on himself.

Upon hearing that William the Younger was also involved, Ryan's anger almost burst from his pupils. As Luke's close attendant, he had long regarded Luke's son as the next lord and his own family.

Luke reassured Ryan that he and Beryl had long been enemies since the Battle of Knightsburg. He had schemed against Beryl, and Beryl had schemed against him. Although Luke was angry, he was not surprised.

He glanced at Jean, the soldier who had killed little Joseph, hesitated for a moment, and finally gave the order to leave.

After turning his horse around, Luc recalled a sentence that had been mentioned only briefly in the letter:

"I hope Your Grace will once again grant me the poison to kill Sir Baldwin."

……

With George around, the group easily slipped past their eyes and returned to Knightsburg.

Gil was guarding the city wall; he had become the guard after every trip Luke took off, and two other private soldiers stood beside him.

After distributing Finney's reward to everyone, Luc went straight back inside and immediately began preparing to write a letter to Hugo. Now that he had intercepted the other side's plan, he naturally had to devise a countermeasure, the first being salt.

The small salt hill behind Luc is not very big; it pales in comparison to the salt mines near Dijon.

It is said that the reason why the previous Duke of Burgundy dared to challenge the King of France was because he controlled a large iron mine, a silver mine, and four or five salt mountains. He also controlled the Saône River to the east and the source of the Seine River to the north. He was incredibly wealthy.

Unfortunately, the previous duke was incompetent, and the current duke seized the position by offering to cede the County of Nerville to the French king.

"We definitely can't compete with the official salt routes. Although we have higher-grade salt, our production volume is limited. However, if the official salt routes are damaged, we can smuggle salt and make higher profits. It's a double-edged sword."

Luke silently closed his eyes and began to calculate the gains and losses.

After Hugo handed over the crude salt refining technology, Hugo began to assemble a caravan and urged Luc to send his men to join them as soon as possible—this was a condition of the agreement between the two parties.

Luc provided the technology, Hugo provided the distribution channels, and the caravan was jointly established by both parties, with profits to be shared afterward.

"manpower."

Luke rubbed his head, feeling a headache coming on. Including those in Tihar, he now had nearly two hundred men under his command, including quite a few trusted confidants. Miller hadn't even been involved in the assassination of young Joseph. He also had many technical personnel; Saul had already arrived in Tihar with his construction team. Hearing that food would be provided for the church construction, the people of Tihar were very enthusiastic. Oliver managed to find a new hive of bees almost every year, and recently even requested more manpower. Of course, this wasn't just because of financial constraints; more importantly, this rather vain fellow, seeing that Saul had assistants, couldn't resist wanting to experience what it was like to be a mentor.

During this time, Luke was so pleased that he picked out a clever child from the serfs and assigned him to him, and even assigned a hand to the carpenter, young Maiman.

He also instructed old Eck to train a professional leather craftsman.

But when it comes to business talent, Luc has absolutely no one under his command.

Only old Eck, who had served as a caravan guard in his early years, could be considered half a member, but the manor could not function without him for the time being.

After much deliberation, Luc finally opened his eyes.

"Hoffmann"

Of all the people Luc knew, had worked with, and were somewhat reliable, only Hoffman was a good fit.

The only drawback is that Hoffmann is an independent caravan leader, not under Luc's command.

Luke tapped the table. Smuggling salt was a very serious matter, on a completely different level from selling pine resin. It had to be firmly under his control.

"Old friend, I'm sorry, but it seems I'll have to take over your caravan."

Luc slowly stood up. As for the wine, he had connections with old Pons, who was on good terms with Viscount Moore. He could sell it to the Aquitaine region by starting with the Avar River.

No one can resist wine.

After thinking it all through, Luc picked up the bottle of poison from the corner of the table and examined it closely. Compared to the black nightshade, this was a true medieval poison.

pharmacist.
Lynn was, after all, a monk. He could be entrusted with researching normal herbs, but poisons were usually prepared by apothecaries.

"I've heard that the Vikings once had berserkers whose fighting power was greatly enhanced after drinking a potion?"

Luc recalled the Viking warriors that had been rumored a century ago.

With castles rising and knights emerging, the era of Vikings was long gone, but their shadow still loomed over the continent.

"Vikings!"

As Luc was pondering, he suddenly realized that the voice he was thinking of was right next to his ear. He paused for a second, then realized that someone was speaking from below the castle.

Suddenly, Ryan appeared below the castle, waving his arms and shouting:
"My lord, Raoul has arrived, and he has brought a Viking with him!"

(End of this chapter)