Chapter 289 Return
"Piri, are these all the slaves you brought with you?"
Gervis withdrew his gaze and looked at the slave trader in front of the unicorn.
"Master Gervis, yes, this time I brought a total of 735 slaves, 196 families, including 479 young male slaves, 177 young women, 33 elderly people, and the rest are all children."
Piri did not dare to be negligent and answered Gervis' questions in detail. Then he looked at Gervis with some trepidation. After all, although the more than 30 elderly people were not so old that they could not move, they were no longer able to do heavy physical work and could only do some ordinary farming work at most.
He was just a small slave trader, but Gervis was the Earl's husband. Moreover, looking at the hundreds of fully armed soldiers behind Gervis, Piri was afraid that his slaves this time would not satisfy Gervis.
"Piri, do you remember that day before I left, I told Le to recruit craftsmen and artisans. Did you do it?"
Gervis was satisfied with the ratio of slaves. Now he began to care about whether there were craftsmen. His territory was in a state of disrepair, but the population was sparse and there were almost no craftsmen. Without craftsmen, construction could not be carried out. Gervis was in urgent need of talents.
"Remember, Master Gervis, I am doing my best to serve you. I have brought all the slave craftsmen I can find in Winterfell!"
Piri nodded and bowed quickly to show that he was working very hard for Gervis. As he spoke, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket and called out the names of the ragged slaves not far away.
Soon, Piri read out the names of more than a dozen slaves. All the slaves whose names were called stood out from the crowd timidly, standing there not daring to look up and look directly at Gervis.
"Master Gervis, these are the craftsmen you need, 10 stonemasons, 7 carpenters, 1 tailor, and a blacksmith!"
Piri introduced him to Gervais with a flattering look on his face.
Gervis looked at the slaves whose names were called. Although Gervis did not ask them whether they were real craftsmen, he could tell some clues from their appearance.
The other slaves were all pale and thin, but these few were much stronger. It was obvious that after becoming slaves, they did not suffer from hunger like the others, and the treatment they received was probably much better than that of other slaves.
Slave traders only care about money and not their lives. Being able to provide extra food to feed these people shows that they are valuable and that they can make money from them in the future. After all, craftsmen are considered talents in this world.
"Very good, Piri!"
Gervis finally nodded with satisfaction, and nodded to Anna behind him under Piri's expectant gaze. Anna immediately rode forward and handed a purse to Piri.
"Master Shegvis! Master Shegvis!"
Piri first opened the purse and saw the golden coins inside. He immediately smiled from ear to ear. He turned around carefully and counted them. He even took out a gold coin and put it in his mouth and bit it. After making sure that the quantity and quality of the gold coins were no problem, Piri's face was almost wrinkled with smiles.
"Okay, Piri, get out of my way, I'm going back to my territory!"
Gervis didn't mind Piri's actions. He was not a fraud anyway. Moreover, this transaction was indeed a big business for a small slave trader like Piri. It was not uncommon for nobles to cheat people by cheating.
"Yes, yes! Master Gervis, take care. If you need anything in the future, you can come to me. I will definitely bow to you!"
Piri did not dare to delay, and immediately stepped aside with several of his helpers and saluted Gervis.
Gervis did not respond to Piri's words. He kept his eyes straight ahead and urged the unicorn to move slowly towards the road ahead.
As Gervis moved, everyone behind him also moved, including the personal guards, spearmen, and even slave longbowmen and longswordmen were in the team.
These longbowmen and longswordmen won the bet from Kevin. They are only loyal to the person who holds the scepter. Now the small whip that symbolizes the scepter is in Gervis's hands, so Gervis can use it with confidence.
In addition to soldiers, Gervis's team also has dozens of horse-drawn carriages, most of which are loaded with food and other daily necessities. Gervis purchased more than 700 slaves today. If he does not buy food back, Storm Territory cannot afford to supply them. If he wants these slaves to be self-reliant and grow crops, he will have to wait until next year at the earliest.
As for the remaining carriages, they were loaded with various exquisite utensils that Gerves had moved out of the new mansion. Gerves didn't have much time to return to Winterfell, so of course he would move these good things back to Stormwind. More importantly, Gerves had another little idea, that is, when he came to Winterfell in the future, he would prefer to live in Rose Castle.
Don't get me wrong, it's not because Gervis is attracted by Alice's beauty. Gervis has a very legitimate reason, which is that living in Rose Castle makes it convenient for him to go to Alice's study to read books.
As the team slowly moved forward, the personal guards naturally arranged the newly purchased slaves at the rear of the team.
With the addition of these 700-plus slaves, Gervis's convoy suddenly became more than a mile long, which was quite spectacular. However, the slaves had been starving for a long time, and their walking speed was very slow, which seriously reduced the team's progress.
But Gervis was not in a hurry, as he had returned with a full load, including both people and gold coins.
After this return, Storm Territory will surely see improvement. This trip also proves that Gervis's trade strategy is correct. Gervis is full of confidence in the main direction of Storm Territory in the future.
Suddenly, Gervis seemed to realize something in his heart, so he turned around and looked up at the towering Rose Castle on the mountainside. Thanks to his extraordinary eyesight, Gervis vaguely saw a purple figure standing on the balcony on the third floor of the Rose Castle.
"This cheap wife didn't come out of the castle to see me off. What is she doing standing there looking at the strong wind?"
Although the face of the purple figure could not be seen clearly, there was no doubt that Gervis was Alice. Gervis muttered to himself, but at last he showed a smug smile, and suddenly raised his hand and waved towards Rose Castle without any hesitation, not caring whether Alice could see him or not.
…
"Sir, it's windy here, let's go in first!"
Lina stood behind Alice and saw that the hem of Alice's skirt was blown up and down by the cool breeze, and reminded her with a slight concern.
Now it is autumn, the tail of summer has slipped away, the weather is getting cooler, standing high on the balcony, the cool breeze blowing on people brings a hint of coolness.
Alice held the railing and saw Gervis in the distance, wearing a red cloak, suddenly turn around and wave at her. Her cold and pretty face couldn't help but smile. Then she turned her back to Lina and said slowly, "It's autumn now. This year's conscription order will be issued soon. Lina, you need to let the blacksmiths forge weapons with the mithril I gave you. I think this southern expedition will not be as easy as in previous years."
In the past, the annual southern expedition was a good opportunity for nobles of all sizes in the principality to compete for merit, because the Principality of Alban was weak and was attacked by two countries.
The Duchy of Alban was suppressed by the Duchy of Jean every autumn and could only defend itself. If it were not for the secret support of the church, the Duchy of Alban would probably have been destroyed long ago.
But this year the church actually took the initiative to interfere in the internal affairs of the Principality of Zeon. Alice had a vague feeling that the church could no longer hold back.
"My lord, I have called all the blacksmiths to start forging and ensure that it is completed before the southern expedition."
"Um!"
Alice hummed, then stopped talking and continued to watch the team in the distance disappear from her sight.
(End of this chapter)
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