Vol 2 Chapter 80: Free trade zone

Although Alexander described it well, Sophia did not know what Agry meant to him.
The perpetual wandering life makes Sophia more accustomed to non-stop migration from one place to another with the tribe's convoy. She can hardly imagine what those who stayed in one place for too long think, and do not understand those who live in the palace And how can people in a stone house that seems airtight tolerate that kind of depression.
So when Alexander said to her that maybe Nashan could be seen in Agri, she was really happy and had a good impression on this place in Agri.
Of course, the happily Sophia did not know that when he mentioned Agry, he must also mention another place called Cosenza.
Kessel ’s rebellion did not cause much loss to Cosenza. Apart from the punishment of a group of people who followed him, the only thing that made the Cosenza unacceptable was the loss of control of the Agrig Plain Too.
But when they saw their countess seemingly unconcerned about the apparently unbearable loss, people no longer talked.
The rumours of her opponents are very clear, but she will not explain to them.
She would not say that although it seems that Cosenza has lost the custody of the grain storage area of ​​the Agri Plains, her relationship with Agri has actually become more complicated.
Ruosha discovered that Alexander had greater ambitions than he said, before he had come to Naples.
Almost all of August, Alexander ran around the village channels in Agri. He took people from one village to another to understand the local situation, and sent people he selected to believe to be credible. Farms large and small went to check the fields, record the yield, and at the same time sent Carlo with a group of hunters recruited from the villages to start a careful inspection of the forests near Agri.
At first, Ruosha thought that Alexander was eager to know how much benefit he had earned. This made Ruosha belittle him a little, but then some things that Alexander had done made her gradually understand that her "brother" did not seem to be just satisfied. With the land of Agri, although as long as he is honestly willing to provide those cities with the food they need, for the time being, no one will actively provoke him.
Alexander aggregated all the numbers that he could collect as much as possible and began to analyze it carefully, then he came to a result that made him slightly depressed.
Agri is rich in food and animal husbandry resources. This can be seen from how long the cowsheds and pens and pig pens built in the farm villages are longer than other places, but Agri also has a very bad defect, that is here Lack of sufficient copper and iron and coal mines are obviously very important resources.
This made Alexander have to send someone to find Elliot who likes to fool around with the villagers in the haystack. After a long night of deep talks with him, the two sides signed a testimony by Rusha Secret agreement.
It was also from that time that Ruosha discovered Alexander's ambitions.
He was by no means a contented person willing to hide on the plains of Agrig. This was Ruosha's conclusion about Alexander.
What touched Zuosha a little was when Eliot proposed to use his father's marriage to Zuosha to guarantee the closeness of the agreement, but Alexander rejected it flatly.
"Either sign an agreement that is beneficial to both of us, or we all only do ordinary business, and I will not use the sacrifice of my sister's marriage as a bargaining chip." At the time, Alexander's words moved Rusha, even though she was not What is the sacrifice to maintain a marriage agreement.
Elliott chose the former because he knew the agreement was too important for Taranto, and even if there was no marriage contract, his father would be happy.
Taranto is an important city on the southern coast of Italy. As one of the most important ports on the southern end of the Apennine Peninsula, Taranto does not have the long tradition of Venice and the richness of the rich commercial atmosphere, but But because it is a key hub leading to Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Sea respectively, it is very prominent.
Especially nowadays, when the shadow from the Ottoman Empire on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea seems to cover the European continent at any time, Taranto has become more noticeable.
Like Venice, which is the top of the Adriatic Sea, Taranto has a rather powerful navy, but unlike Venice, Taranto ’s maritime trade is not so powerful, although it has a large port and occupy a favorable terrain, However, Taranto has always relied mostly on various transportation from land. At the same time, because it is located in the hilly area at the southernmost point of the Apennine Mountains, Taranto's food is almost entirely dependent on being obtained from other places.
Because of this, Elliott is full of eagerness to sign an agreement with Alexandria. According to the agreement, Alexandria must ensure that Taranto is provided with enough food to sustain the local life, especially during the irritating winter. The grain ship cannot arrive on time, and when there are various accidents on land, the price of grain in the city will fluctuate no small. This is the time when the rulers of Taranto have the most headaches, but such an agreement can To ensure that Taranto is given priority to buy food from Agri.
In return, Taranto had to pay to allow Agrig to establish an office in Taranto ’s port, and then allow those Agri to do business with the merchants in the port.
At first, neither Zuosha nor Elliott understood the purpose of Alexandria. After all, how did he feel that he was losing money in this agreement, which is why Elliott was not when Alexander refused to marry One of the reasons I care about so much is that with the passage of time and a letter about Agrig and Taranto, it seems that Laosha has discovered some of the mysteries.
Breakfast was eaten in a very embarrassing atmosphere. Looking at the girls who were sitting at both ends of the table, even if they could speak a little softer, Alexander sitting in the middle of the long table picked up a cyan apple. Take a bite.
"Are you still going to find those businessmen in Naples?" Ruosha asked, seeing Sophia on the opposite side immediately raise her ears, but she looked blank again. The countess proudly used a knife to gently fork a piece of meat roll to her mouth "There are not many people you send over Taranto, and they are also stupid. After all, whether it is Agri or Cosenza, there are too few real businessmen."
"Yeah, this is where my headache is," Alexander said helplessly. "I know a lot of nobles, knights and generals, and even a lot of drunkards in the tavern, but I know too few businessmen. But what I am missing now is ... "
Alexander stopped suddenly. He knew that he actually knew a businessman, and he should be a businessman who looks terrible. Is it just such a person, can he really become his business partner?
Alexander looked at Sophia. Although Groningen had assured him before that Sophia had not been hurt, he still did n’t want to mention that person in front of her. Just looking at Sophia, he knew he wanted to send her away. impossible.
"I will find a way," Alexander said only. "I will try to find some suitable businessmen to go to Taranto's office. As for Naples, it is easier to manage."
Talking to Alexander, he couldn't help but look back at the port behind the window.
Although it has entered the late autumn, the port of Santa Lucia not only does not see leisure, but is busier. Merchants must complete the run before the winter, otherwise once the winter monsoon period arrives, many routes will become difficult. Too.
There are always a large number of receivers at the port of Naples. Except for those large hoarders who have long-term transactions with the shipowners, these retail dealers are often weak and have no such power to place bulk goods. The only hope is The only thing is to encounter a merchant ship that also makes money by shipping bulk cargo or a small fleet of only one or two ships, so that they can distribute some of the goods from it, and then sell them in Naples or the farther inland.
Alexander doesn't need much capital for these people. In fact, he only wants a few people who know how to do business, because his "office" in Taranto is not doing business locally.
The first to discover this "secret" is Ruosha.
When Alexander signed a fixed supply of food in exchange for an office in the Port of Taranto, Ruo Sha felt that the sale was a huge loss.
She even thought about stopping Alexander, although she didn't give up in the end, but in the next two months, Ruosha was very hostile to this matter.
Pride made Ruo Sha not tolerate being regarded as a fool by others, even if it was her "brother" who was treated in this way.
However, some letters recently sent from Talento let Rusha gradually discover some clues. Some of these letters were sent by special messengers, and some were brought by merchants from Totalanto.
Although the content of these letters is different, when they mention more or less about the office of the Port of Taranto, they will always say that they let people "piggy back" what goods to Naples, or simply say something. The goods were sorted out of the goods originally sent to Taranto and sent to Naples.
Ruosha seemed to notice some differences in these letters, and she began to inquire about some news with interest, and then heard about things that some nobles had never noticed before.
For example, according to the routine methods of all ports today, all cargo delivered to the port, whether it is another country or the Taranto merchant ’s own ship, as long as the merchant ship docks, it must pay a sum based on the ship ’s water line. The standard beach tax, the deeper the waterline, the higher the tax payment.
Therefore, in order to pay less, many merchants often throw away a large number of ballast when they are about to enter Hong Kong.
And this is not counted, when the ship docks, anything that comes off the ship or is transported to the ship will be taxed according to weight or type, and any goods that are to be shipped out of the port They must pay another internal tax with different prices.
Although the profits of maritime trade are indeed staggeringly high, these taxes are indeed a headache for many businessmen, and for those cities that are deep inland, the checkpoint taxes and fees along the way make it cheaper. The goods have become so expensive that some people have exchanged a small bottle of spices for the same weight of gold.
Ruosha was not interested in these things before. She felt that they belonged to the city businessmen. But now she found that she seemed to be doing the job of those city businessmen, and she couldn't help but feel curious.
"What exactly are you doing in that office?" Zuosha finally asked after a long time. "They seem to be robbing business with the Taranto."
"That's not robbing business," Alexander felt it necessary to explain, and it also reminded him that if even his sister thought it was robbing business, you really have to pay attention to it. After all, he doesn't want to talk to Taranto People engage in rigid relations. "I call this free trade. After all, those merchant ships did not really enter the territory of Taranto. I just sent people to their ships, or our people negotiated with them in the port. Then, the goods still accumulated in the port are directly reshipped to Naples, so that those merchants only need to pay the Taranto a tax for entering and storing the goods, without having to pay the high internal tax. , Not to mention the various checkpoint fees along the way, and some merchant ships can negotiate deals without even docking, but this requires those who really have the skills to negotiate well, so I need people in this area now. "
"But isn't this just robbing business?" Ruosha asked strangely. "Those businessmen did not pay tax to the Taranto, nor did they unload their goods in Taranto. They didn't even earn a profit. This Of course, they are robbing their business. Do n’t you worry about the Taranto people because of this tearing up of your agreement, do n’t forget the food you sell to them, part of it is for barter, which will let you have You ca n’t get money for a long time. If they tear up the agreement, it ’s a big loss to you.

Speaking of this, Luo Sha glanced at Sophia, who had a black face across the table. She had heard that Sophia had ripped off a ticket for nearly Wan Durant, which made her even more determined.
The girl in front of her is really useless except for wasting "brother" money.
"Of course not," Alexander felt it necessary to explain to his sister, and it also made him aware of the need to make the Taranto understand something. "Knowing that I just provided an opportunity for those businessmen to avoid paying They can usually sell their goods at a higher cost. This low cost can ensure that they get more profits, and I can also provide such convenience for the Taranto people. They can also get no increase from me. I can buy more bargains with more taxes, and at the same time, I can even provide those farmers with a certain amount of compensation, and then allow them to sell food to the Taranto people at a lower price. I call this free trade. "
"You are crazy," Ruosha said in amazement. "Do you want to give those farmers money and then let them sell your food cheaply?"
"Actually, it's not mine," Alexander murmured to himself, and then raised his tone to Ruosha. "Don't just look at the little money for the farmers. Just know that if our food is sold at a lower price than other places, The Taranto people will only buy us, so that we can have the entire Taranto food market, which is exciting enough if you think about it. "
"But it's less profitable." Luo Sha was still a little dissatisfied.
"That may not be necessary," Alexander shook his head. He felt it necessary to give a simple economics lesson to his sister who could learn to learn. "We used Taranto's market with low-cost food, and at the same time got the free trade that I said before. Rights, and the Taranto people are not at a disadvantage, they buy cheap food, and then they can have free money to buy goods from us that are also obtained through free trade. "
Alexander said that he seemed to be suddenly inspired. He simply pushed the soup plate in front of him, and at the same time ordered Uliu, who was standing in the corner and ready to serve, to bring paper and pen for him.
"I have to write a letter to Elio. Although that person always wanted you to be his stepmother, I think this person is not bad."
While joking, Alexander began to write quickly on the letter paper.
Ruosha stood up and walked to Alexander's side and looked down at the content of his letter. When she saw that he had entered all that he had just said, Luosha could not help but slightly tilted the corner of her mouth, glancing proudly, and staring at closely. The plate in front of him seemed to be Sophia, who was about to burn the chicken on the plate with her eyes.
"... I hope to reach a certain consensus with your father, that both merchants with Cosenza and Agri as their cargo owners will receive preferential treatment of customs duties and taxes from Taranto. Will enjoy the same treatment in Cosenza and Agri. At the same time, I hope that this preferential method will eventually be recognized by Naples and Taranto. I believe this will be a good governance that will benefit the people, and all the merchants ’guilds will thank you. Kindness and wisdom. "
Alexander read the written letter lightly, and after a slight modification, asked Uliu to call a monk who spent a lot of money on him.
Alexander couldn't help but admit that Mahimo was still useful, at least that beautiful curly hand was more beautiful than what he wrote.
So as long as they are more formal documents, he will let Mahimo write a copy for him after writing.
"Do you think Earl Hawson of Taranto will agree to your suggestion?" Watching Alexander became a little excited, Russa asked hesitantly.
"Why not agree?" Alexander asked with a smile. "Be aware that once this mutually advantageous agreement is reached, whether it is Taranto or Naples, the businessmen of both sides occupy the other's market at a much lower price than other places, and If the merchants in other places want to squeeze into these places to do business, they can only accept this agreement. The more cities that accept the agreement, the larger the market for everyone to do business. This is a kind of Merchants have a suggestion that is good. I believe that Earl Hawson will agree if he knows my idea. If a ruler is not too stupid, he will never give up his people and himself. Opportunity to become rich unless ... "
Seeing the strange expression on Alexander's face, Zuo Sha couldn't help but curiously asked "Unless what?", And Sophia, who had been silent, couldn't help looking at Alexander with her eyes wide, as if waiting for him to answer.
"Unless they are people like Savonarola, they think that only by letting the people tolerate poverty can they better grasp it. In their view, people with wealth will become disobedient and even become their threats, so any Rulers who call for poverty as a virtue are hypocritical. "
Listening to Alexander, Ruosha looked at him thoughtfully.
Luo Sha always thought that something was wrong with this "brother", but she couldn't tell what was wrong.
But the words just now made Ruosha seem to find the answer.
Rusha can be sure ~ EbookFREE.me ~ Whether he is his own brother or not, he is a completely different person from others.
"But I have to admit that all this is the inspiration you gave me," Alexander said with some smugness. "If it weren't for you, I didn't even think of anything more. Now I'm a little confused in my head. Know that I have already With an updated idea, I am going to propose to the Tarantos to establish a place near Naples for the storage of goods, as long as the goods stored in that area should enjoy tax-free treatment, and I hope Can convince the count to establish the corresponding area on the side of Naples, so that there is no need for tedious procedures, and the merchants of both sides can smoothly complete the transfer of goods while saving a lot of expenses. "
Alexander said that he stood up. He walked back and forth in two steps and said excitedly: "I even thought about the name of this place, called the free trade zone!"
But when he just raised his hands to hug his lovely sister who gave him infinite inspiration, a crisp "Gaba" sound came from behind him.
Alexander turned his head slowly, and then he saw Sophia, who was holding a half-broken wooden spoon in his hands, staring at him with a kind of eyes that would eat them both. To find this site, please search for "" or enter the URL: