Chapter 163

Chapter 163 The investor

 "Sir Mark, welcome to the Eagle Island!"

  Samwell stood at the entrance of the valley and hugged the Mullendore family heir.

  The two can be called old acquaintances.

  "Lord Caesar!" Mark Mullendore looked at Samwell with excitement and admiration in his eyes.

  He has personally witnessed this young baron climb step by step from a down-and-out pioneer knight to a champion knight who is now famous in the Seven Kingdoms.

  And that only took less than a year.

  When he returned from King's Landing, He still remembers the funny expression of disbelief when he told his father, Viscount Martyn , about the jousting tourney in King's Landing .

  Of course, then Viscount Martyn immediately sent his son to Eagle island for one thing -

  to collect debts.

  In order to support Samwell's development, Viscount Martin sent all the craftsmen and apprentices of Upland City. In return, Samwell also promised to return the craftsmen and apprentices in one year, as well as ten times the rental fee. .

  In fact, Viscount Martyn felt scammed after the deal .

  But since his people has already been dispatched, he can't just call them all back.

Wouldn't it mean breaking the contract with no compensation.

  Moreover, Eagle Island can produce brandy and silver . With these two things, Viscount Martyn was not too worried that Samwell will not be able to pay back the money.

  This time when he heard that Samwell won the jousting championship and won a huge reward of 40,000 golden dragons. Viscount Martyn couldn't help but send his son to test it out—the one-year contract.

  The lease period is coming soon, can he pay back the money?

  Samwell also seemed to have guessed the purpose of Mark's visit, and never mentioned the matter of debt. He dragged him around in his territory, drinking, bragging, and also took him to visit the "Treasure of the Dragon" in his collection. .

  "Lord Caesar."

Mark finally couldn't help it, "Actually, I came this time because of the contract between our two families. You must remember that there are only two weeks left before the agreed one-year period, so..."

  "Really? So fast? I almost forgot."

Samwell said with a chuckle, "However, since you mentioned this, I have to confess something to you."

"What is it?"

  Samwell said spread his hands: "I can't afford to pay the debt."

  Hearing such a straightforward answer , he was stunned for three seconds and then shouted:

  "Impossible! Lord Caesar, you real ? Are you kidding me? You won 40,000 golden dragons for the tourney !"

  "They're all here." Samwell pointed to the "dragon treasure" piled up in front of him.

  Mark's face suddenly became extremely complicated, as if he wanted to laugh, but also in pain .

After some time , he said, " Lord Caesar! You have been deceived!"

"The treasures i bought are priceless. How about this."

Samwell with a very reluctant expression,

"If you fancy any one, I can give it to you, and it will be deducted from the debt. "

  "I don't want any of them." Mark shook his head, "I just want golden dragon's."

  "There are no golden dragon." Samwell said very clearly , "If you don't believe me, you can look for it in the castle yourself. If you find any, all will be yours. "

  Mark was speechless for a while, and then said after a long while: "Then you can pay with silver deer coins . There is siver mine in your territory ,right ?"

  "Then you may have to wait for a while." Samwell said, "The current expenses of my territory are all supported by that silver mine. Before the silver deer was cast and cooled, it was divided up by those damn suppliers. It's empty. Hah!, Sir Mark, I'm really poor!"

  Mark became more and more speechless , but he still took out a roll of parchment from his arms and said, "Lord Caesar, you can't do this. We signed a contract, Look, this contract, under the witness of the Seven Gods!"

  "I understand." Samwell said seriously, "Don't worry, I will never do anything that breaks my promise."

  Mark breathed a sigh of relief : "So you will pay back the money, right?"

  "No. I really don't have any money." Samwell shook his head slowly, then made a heartbroken expression, and gritted his teeth, "So, I have to let you take the mortgage ."

  "The collateral?" Mark looked down at the contract in his hand carefully again, "The wharf?"

  "Yes. Since i can't pay back the money, you can take the wharf of Eagle Island."

  Mark suddenly he had a bad premonition, because when he came to Eagle Island last time, he clearly saw that there was nothing on that pier, only a bare trestle...

"Can I go and see that pier?"

  "Of course." Samwell immediately led the way, "Please follow me."

  When Mark really saw the so-called pier with his own eyes, he was completely dumbfounded.

  "Caesar, my lord, is this what you call the warf, the pier?" Poor Sir Mark couldn't even speak.

  "Yeah, according to the contract, I can't pay back the money, so you can take this pier."

  "No!" Mark was really angry this time, "Master Caesar, you are deliberately tricking us!"

  Samwell pointed at the contract in Mark's hand, he said calmly,

  "It's clearly written in black and white. How did I trick you? Viscount Martyn himself agreed to this contract at the beginning, and I didn't force him to sign it."

  "I, I, I..." Mark looked at his father's signature on it, and didn't know what to say.

  Seeing that the other party's face was flushed, Samwell finally laughed and said,

  "Okay, I'm just joking with you, Sir Mark, don't take it seriously."

  Mark was overjoyed immediately: "You scared me to death, Lord Caesar! So you will return Money, right?"

  "I really don't have any money." Samwell shrugged, and before Mark got angry, he said again, "However, there are quite a few alternatives ."

  "What do you mean?" Mark's expression changed again .

  "Come with me." Samwell beckoned.

  With doubts and anger, Mark followed up.

  The two walked along the beach, and soon Mark heard the sound of neat slogans, and at the same time saw the soldiers training by the sea.

  "Sir Mark, what do you think of my soldiers?" Samwell pointed to the training team ahead.

  "Well-trained." Mark praised.

  Mark still recognized the military accomplishments of the young baron in front of him. After all, the other party had a series of brilliant achievements.

  "Well, that's what I just said." Samwell smiled slightly: "I really don't have money if you ask me for it. Since you don't want to take away the pier according to the contract, then I will give you another choice , soldiers."

  "Soldiers? You mean, trade soldiers for craftsmen?"

  "It's almost the same meaning." Samwell explained, "You can understand it as mercenaries, mercenaries from Eagle Island. "

  "I'm in charge of their Training, weapons, military pay and they fight for Upland City, and the Mullendore family only needs to be responsible for feeding them. Previously, Upland City leased 270 craftsmen to me, and I can rent you the same number of soldiers In the future, as long as the artisans are still in Eagle Island, these mercenaries will stay in Upland City to fight for the Mullendore family. "

  "How about it? If you agree, we can sign a new contract immediately."

  "Mercenaries?" Mark was lost in thought.

  This is actually a plan that Samwell has been thinking about for a long time. He is going to make Eagle Island a place for exporting mercenaries.

  The reason for doing this was also his helpless move after seeing the population of the territory skyrocket.

  Eagle Island is too barren to farm, and brandy brewing and silver mining alone cannot fully absorb so much labor, so Samwell must find a way to export labor.

  But in fact, in this world with almost no secondary and tertiary industries, there is always a surplus of labor force, so there are so many refugees and beggars without land. Samwell wanted to export labor, but couldn't find a receiver.

  Since the labor force could not be exported directly, Samwell thought of another way - the export of force.

  The savages in his territory used to hunt for a living. Compared with the farmers who farmed the fields, they obviously had higher military literacy. As long as they were equipped with weapons and trained, they would become qualified professional soldiers.

  There is never a shortage of wars in Westeros, and as long as there are wars, there will be a demand for soldiers.

  There are so many large and small mercenary groups that are active today is proof.

  So Samwell planned to gradually arm the large number of savages in the territory and let them go out as mercenaries.

  First, he can earn commissions, and second, he can use this method to train his own reserve army.

  If Samwell needs it in the future, he can recall these mercenaries to fight for him.

  Of course, he also knows that the loyalty of the mercenaries cultivated in this way is definitely not as good as that of the standing army in his territory, but given the current situation of Eahle Island, once the size of the standing army exceeds a thousand people, the financial pressure will become extremely great , So for the sake of quality, Samwell can only sacrifice some quantity and loyalty.

  However, Samwell also took some measures to increase the loyalty of these mercenaries.

  For example, the families of these mercenaries stayed in Eagle Island, such as arranging trusted people to be officers, such as insisting on paying these mercenaries their military salaries and pensions, such as brainwashing them….., making them believe that he is their masters, he is the prophesied prince and so on.

  In fact, as long as Samwell's strength continues to expand and his reputation continues to rise, his appeal to these scattered mercenaries will also increase.

  Of course, these mercenaries can only be used as an auxiliary, and the real core army is still the standing army in his territory, which Samwell knows very well.

  "Sir Mark, what do you think of my proposal?" Seeing that the other party remained silent for a long time, Samwell urged.

  He believes that Mark will agree to his new conditions, unless the other party is willing to take the broken pier.

  "I need to go back and discuss it with my father." Mark couldn't make up his mind after all.

  "Yes." Samwell said with a smile, "I believe Viscount Martyn will approve of my new plan. After all, the pace of war is approaching."

  [END]