Vol 4 Chapter 111: Perfume, gold, and Cantrera

Dinner was very enjoyable, although Barendi didn't speak much from beginning to end, and Constantine also had a gloomy face that made the atmosphere of the party a bit wrong, but Old Rovere was still very kind to Alexander.
After the meal, Barendi found a reason to retreat and leave, and the old father and son of Luo Weilei began to negotiate with Alexander about the Genoese soldiers.
Alexander suggested that the amount of 3,000 Genoese soldiers made Old Rovere a little bit embarrassed. Although the Genoese did n’t mind being mercenaries, they still fought for their cities, or they were mostly fighting the Venetians. .
Because of the resentment accumulated over the years, the army of the two cities once reached the battlefield is almost an endless result, which gives the Genoese a sturdy reputation, but if they are allowed to obey the command of others, and the number is still Many, Old Rovere felt somewhat difficult.
"Can you support 3,000 people, plus your own existing army, you will have an army of 5,000 people," the old Rovere asked slightly puzzled. "This is no small thing for anyone. Burden, especially when not fighting. "
Alexandria understood the meaning of Old Rovere. The reason why the past feudal monarchs were keen to launch such wars was because it would bring them enough benefits, and it was also to take the pressure of supporting the army to plunder and seize The loot way offsets.
Because of this, as the Eastern Expedition became obsolete, monarchs had fewer and fewer ways to transfer trouble through war. They began to no longer support specialized armies, but instead recruited temporary mercenaries.
But now Alexander's move is obviously different from the most common way of using mercenaries now, which makes Old Rovere a little strange.
"Sir, I need this army," Alexander did not answer Old Roveray's doubts, but looked at Constantine next to him. "I hope this army is following orders. I know that the Genoese are brave, but this does not mean They are suitable to be soldiers. "
Constantine's face was a bit ugly, he knew what Alexander meant.
Apparently Alexander was not optimistic about the discipline of Genoese soldiers.
"You can get the number you want, but how to make them obedient is your own business," Constantine said unpleasantly. He felt that Alexander's words were more of an insult. "Our soldiers can brave the enemy. , Or the same brave rush to the girl, which is enough, they ca n’t learn to use your perfume or beautiful clothes to seduce women. "
Alexander smiled. He had noticed that Constantine had an unspeakable hostility towards him, or that anger was more appropriate, and now he knew why.
Alexander looked back at the old Loweley, and saw that the cardinal was making a helpless expression to him while drinking, and Alexander felt that there was no need to continue pretending.
"Adult, I want to explain to you about perfume."
Alexander already knew at this time that Constantine's seemingly indignant look was actually the advice of Old Rovere. Obviously, they would rather give the perfume to Gonzalo and Kotzach than outsiders like him. The decision to cooperate with relatives was very unsatisfactory.
"Perfume can bring us a lot of profits, and I have no intention of excluding Rovere's family," Alexander explained to the old Rovere, who was still indifferent. "In fact, I am planning to be helped by someone I can do in France. This business, for example your daughter. "
Old Rovere's hand gave a light meal, and of course he knew that it was only an excuse for Barenti to do this business. What he noticed was that Alexander said that doing this business in France aroused his interest.
"Have you already planned to do business with the French?"
"It's not just us who want to do business with the French now." Alexander looked at Old Rovere.
Old Luo Weilei's eyes became more dignified, he heard the meaning of Alexander's words.
"Who else do you think is going to deal with the French?"
"It's not good to say now," Alexander smiled. He couldn't directly say the name of Borgia, although he believed that Old Rovere should have heard of such a connection between the Borgia family and the French. " But if the French are interested in perfumes, I do n’t mind earning their money. "
"You can talk to Barendi about this," Old Rovere seems to feel that the purpose of this dinner has been achieved today. Regardless of the strange eyes cast by his son, he stood up and patted Alexander's shoulder gently. "Put your These thoughts tell Barendi that she will be interested. "
Get a hint that Alexander stood up and bowed.
Looking at the back of him walking towards Barenti's room, Constantine looked at his father in amazement: "Father, are you so entertaining Gumbre so hard today just for a perfume business, for which you promised to be for him Provide an army? "
"So what do you think is still for?" Old Rovere glanced at his son, then shook his head slightly disappointed. "Constantin, sometimes I think you really should learn from Barrendi, she may not be very clever, but absolutely She is the most diligent. She is willing to learn something she does n’t understand, and sometimes you prefer to be self-righteous. "
Hearing his father's unwelcome criticism, Constantine looked ugly and took a drink from the glass, but he couldn't help but ask: "But those perfumes are really so important, is it worth doing?"
"Perfume should be very profitable. You can see how proud that Gonzalo is to show off to others, but this is not the key. The important thing is that this matter has made our relationship with Gombré closer." Old Luo Weilei looked at the door where Alexander disappeared. "Trust your father's vision, everything we do today will pay off in the future."
Balendi ’s room is in a courtyard on the corner of the villa, which is modeled on a Roman-style courtyard with a circle of verandas. The rooms of this ancient Roman style villa are generally small but bright, and the bar can be seen through the open door. Lundi was sitting in a chair with her back to the door, and a maid opposite her seemed to help her organize her skirt.
The maid looked up and saw Alexander approaching the door just about to speak, but was stopped by his silent gesture. Looking at the mistress who was napping on the back of the chair, the maid withdrew carefully.
Balendi's skirt is very cumbersome. Although it is quite casual compared with other young women, it still has a hem with a straight knee and a slightly exaggerated look, and a multi-pleated neck liner that tightly wraps around the neck. It also made her look a little uncomfortable in the chair.
Balendi lifted his hands and lifted the neck lining. It was like a skirt around a plate that wrapped the entire neck tightly. Even in very cold November, it still felt a bit sultry after a long time.
In a trance, Barenti felt that the neck lining seemed to be gently loosened. The comfortable feeling made her not let out a snort from her nose, and then she felt a warm touch slide across her neck.
Balendi frowned a little unpleasantly. She didn't like others being too close to her, even if she was a maid.
Because she knew she was not beautiful since she was a child, she hated those who deliberately flattered her in order to please her. As for those who pretended to be interested in her, in fact, they only valued the status and power of the Rovere family. .
Balenti was about to speak. Suddenly a strong fragrance drifted into her nose. At the same time, the warmth that touched her neck before turned into a faint cool.
A scented cool liquid ran across her neck and dripped into her clavicle fossa. The scent was more intense, which made Barendi finally realize that this was not a dream.
She opened her eyes and first felt the finger touching her neck, then with more fragrance, a translucent bottle passed from behind her to her eyes.
"what are you doing?"
Barendi tried to calm herself down. She had never encountered such a scene. Although she was a fiancé, Alexander had n’t even kissed her forehead before, but now he was touching her neck, which made Barendi There is something uncomfortable about him.
"Perfume your father wants," Alexander looked up from behind and placed the perfume bottle in Barendi's hand. "And I dropped a few drops on your neck. You can taste it yourself."
Barendi frowned, somehow she didn't want to admit that she was not good at this kind of thing. She was busy when other women dressed up or stood in front of the mirror and took off their new clothes. Checking the account books and various reports sent from all over the place made her feel proud in the past, but now she has found her shortcomings.
"I'm not interested in these. Let my maid distinguish between them, as long as it can make money for me." Barrondi said as he tried to stand up, but the pressure from his shoulder pressed her back into the chair again.
Barendi was a little uneasy. She really didn't like the feeling of being suppressed.
"I thought about it," Alexander's voice came behind him. "You are right, I should respect your identity as a fiancee, so I apologize for everything I did before."
"That's fine, I'm willing to accept your apology," Barenti said quickly. At this time, she only hoped that Alexander would stay away from her. "Maybe we can talk about the perfume division. I want to hear from you ..."
Barrondi still wanted to say something, but her words were suddenly blocked.
A sudden kiss made her stunned, but before she could react, Alexander behind him had let her go and backed away.
"Okay, I have apologized. We can talk about perfumes later, and I have promised your father that the business of selling perfumes in France is entirely up to you."
Barendi turned and looked at Alexandria slightly away from her.
"I'm sorry, I still have to talk to your father about something else, so I'll say goodbye first."
Alexander said, bowing slightly, and quickly hurried away.
Looking at Alexander's back as if he was running away, Barronti couldn't help but squeeze the perfume bottle in his hand.
Regardless of whether Barendi was willing to admit it, she knew that Alexandria did cause a storm in the city of Rome.
But the Romans were obviously willing to withstand the ups and downs brought about by this storm.
The miracle of Pisa is about to reappear in Rome. This news makes all the Romans who are eligible to be part of this storm extremely excited.
Some Rovere ’s friends are more happy than others, because the person who caused this upcoming wealth storm is the future son-in-law of Old Rovere, which makes them think that they are the first in this future tide of wealth Those who can be rewarded.
Whether it's a chamber of commerce working with Rovere's family or an old Rovere's ally, these people are probably most looking forward to the young couple getting married as soon as possible.
Because of things about Alexander and Lucrezia, they felt some kind of crisis, especially the Pope's overly positive attitude in establishing the exchange, which also made the old Luo Weilei's allies a little uneasy.
They came to the old Rovere's house and explained to him the wishes of these people. This gradually made Barenti feel that for whatever reason, it seemed that she and Alexandria were already connected by an invisible chain. together.
Barendi noticed that when it came to selling perfume to the French, Alexander seemed to have deliberately avoided discussing how to divide it, which could be explained by the exchange of conditions for the 3,000 Genoese soldiers, but on the other hand, it also explained the Alexander and Lovere family There have been new changes in the relationship.
In the past, even if the two parties were married, they only cooperated with each other, and now Alexander seems to be ready to become a real ally with Rowire.
Alexander followed the previous order and came to the Vatican before dinner the next afternoon.
Alexander VI did not let him wait for a long time this time, which made many foreign monks and messengers who were waiting to see him a little jealous.
Then seeing Alexander holding a bulging leather bag, those people's eyes showed a look of anger.
The bag may be a bit of real estate or a deed of land, or there may be a few vineyards, and those people are slyly malicious.
It ’s just that these people did n’t know that when he saw the pope signalling him to sit at the table and raised a wine glass filled with crimson wine, Alexander was not flattered, but thought of the famous Cantere of the Pogia Pull.
Will you die after drinking a glass of wine?
This thought shocked Alexander secretly. Although Caesar has not yet won the title of Duke of Poison, his father is no worse than that of his son, and he is even more secretive in using poison than Caesar, who is too unscrupulous. And cunning.
Killing the son-in-law seems to be the tradition of the family, and thinking of this made Alexander's lips a little dry.
"This wine is good," the Pope continued to signal to Alexander. "You should be happy, because your proposal is about to succeed."
"Your suggestion, Your Majesty," Alexander sat down without touching the glass. "As a credit guarantor of the exchange, the Vatican can get 30% of the trading profits."
Alexander VI was silent, he was still waiting.
"And you can get to 20% yourself," seeing the Pope's indifferent look, Alexander went on to say, "Your Majesty, I don't think you will treat this exchange as a deal that can be completed with only one profit."
"How long do you think you can do?" Alexander VI did not conceal that he did have such a thought. "You should know that the Ottomans are still threatening us. Since the war, your business will be over. I promise you to guarantee. In order to make you lose money in the future because of war. "
"Your Majesty, if you are willing to believe me, I can assure you that this exchange will do for a long time, and 20% of the profits will always be owned by the Borgia family."
"Two percent?" Alexander VI asked in a deep voice.
"It is 20% of the entire European market in the future, Your Majesty," Alexander reminded, "I think you may not know how much wealth the Fugel family has, but I can assure you that you will not get more than the Fugel family every year. Make less. "
Alexander VI's hand stopped slightly.
He certainly knew what the wealth of the Fugel family meant.
If the Medici family is the rich man of the Italian peninsula, then Fugel is the King of Solomon in Europe.
The almost unmatched wealth has made the people of the Fugel family the guests of all European monarchs. Few people do not want to establish a close relationship with this family.
Even as a pope, Alexander VI knew that he was not only difficult to compare with that family in wealth, but even in front of that family, he might still feel a bit shabby.
Being able to possess wealth that can match Fugel is enough to suffocate even if you just think about it.
The pope slowly put down the glass and looked at Alexander with a scrutiny.
He wanted to know if Alexander was deceiving him.
"Do you really know what the wealth of the Fugger family means," Alexander VI asked, "If you really know, what can you do to ensure that your promises are fulfilled."
Faced with the pope's aggressiveness, Alexander did not flinch. He knew that he had to let Alexander VI realize his importance as soon as possible, otherwise the pope would really give him a cup of Cantrera.
"Your Majesty, I think you must be very clear about Florence."
Alexander's words really caught the pope's attention, and Alexander VI listened slightly.
"Florence is very fragile now, and their people's lives are hard. Because of the chaos in the market before, Florence's bread is already prohibitively expensive."
Alexander ’s words made the pope in contemplation, and perhaps he could not be impressed by other metaphors. But when he heard the bread, Alexander VI could n’t help but glance at the young man in front of him with profound eyes.
The turmoil caused by Alexander's dumping of goods to Florence at an almost unreasonably low price had long been reported to the Vatican by the eyeliner arranged in Florence.
Because of this, after hearing Alexander ’s proposal to establish an exchange, despite the anger that Caesar was held as a hostage, Alexander VI was still willing to make some
concessions
in this matter.
"You're right, I know the tricks you did in Florence," the pope took an apple on the table and took a bite. Then he chewed and tapped a finger with Alexander. "I also admit that you did It ’s beautiful, but you have to admit that your method may be more than enough to deal with Florence, but it may not be useful to deal with other cities. Just long enough roads will make all your previous advantages negligible. Do n’t you think Just relying on Pisa to control Tuscany and even the entire Romagna, let alone Venice.
So if you can't convince me, even if your exchange is built, many of my things may not be as good as you think. "
Alexander knew that the Pope was warning him that if the exchange could not bring such a huge profit as he said, then the promised benefit of only 20% would not satisfy his appetite.
"This is what your Majesty is going to tell you," Alexander slowly came up with a document. "Someone here needs your grace to sign a permission of the royal merchant appointed by you."
Alexander VI took the permit and took a closer look, then put the document aside: "Who is this Grogening, and the name is Lowlander."
"He is a Dutchman and he is now my business partner in Rome," Alexander looked at the permit. "As you said, the Florence trick succeeded because it happened to be very close to Pisa, and this The method may not work for other places, but what if other places also become ports like Pisa that can provide cheap goods? "
"Do you mean those lowland places, such as Amsterdam?" Alexander VI looked slightly.
Since the tide of the Eastern Expedition receded, the influence of the Holy See has become smaller and smaller. For example, in the lowlands like the Netherlands, the empire has firmly controlled those places, and the influence of the church in those places is decreasing year by year.
Now hearing that Alexander suddenly said that trade controlled by the Roman exchanges could be arranged in those places, Alexander VI was originally only completely concerned about how to make a fortune and could not help but slightly more thought.
"What can your businessman do for you locally?" Alexander VI asked seemingly casually.
"He is a noble from the Netherlands, and the family has a certain influence in the Hanseatic League." Alexander replied.
"But this is still a long way, isn't it, and the German lord's checkpoints along the way will make you pay a heavy tax, and when your goods are shipped to the place, you will find that maybe your low price is simply It has no effect. "Alexander VI waved his hand in disdain." If you can't make them charge you only one tax, the money you can make is certainly pitiful. "
Alexander looked at the pope slightly unexpectedly, but he did not expect the pope to have such a rare idea of ​​a unified tax, but now this is not the most important, he will risk being fed a cup at this time. Trera's risk came to see Alexander VI ~ EbookFREE.me ~ for the next most important thing.
"Your Majesty, with regard to the German lords, I believe that someone can help me solve this problem. As you say that the road is far away, I already have a more feasible plan." Alexander slowly stood up and took it from his purse A map is out.
"Your Majesty, although it is very convenient to travel from Amsterdam to the interior, I have a more convenient and convenient way, which is enough for us to avoid the checkpoints of the lords as much as possible," Alexander spread the map in front of the pope. "One A port that you ordered to develop and build, a town built entirely for our trade union. "
Watching Alexander's finger fall on a small spot on the map that seemed to be divided into numerous swamps by dense waterways, Alexander VI narrowed his eyes and looked carefully for a long time before recognizing the name of the place.
"Lu Demu?" The Pope looked up at Alexander in doubt.
"Now it's called Ludham, but I have decided to change its name," Alexander looked at the little point and smiled slightly. "I want to call it Rotterdam."