"This place is still in such a state of decay." As Fortress Ambassador Perro stepped out of the cabin, a putrid smell of rotting wood hit him. The damp, stifling air around him made him feel sick to his core. He sniffed the air, then looked up at the gray sky, which seemed to be brewing a heavy rain.
"You last came here about a year ago," the assistant said, carefully draping the ambassador in a wool coat. "There's nothing here but stones." "It was a year and a half ago," Perro corrected. "The Duke sends different people here each season. My last visit to Border Town was in summer. And besides stones, there are all kinds of fine furs, and..." "What?" The assistant looked utterly bewildered.
Perro shook his head without answering. He stepped over the ship's rail onto the moss-covered dock, the creaking of wooden planks beneath his feet. He thought the dock would crumble in a few more years. Border Town had more than just stones and furs—it even had... land. But such words meant nothing; the assistant was just an obscure clerk at the town hall, utterly unaware of these things.
The vast unclaimed land between Border Town and the Long Song Fortress stretches like a narrow corridor, flanked by the Desolate Mountains on one side and the Chishui River on the other. As the fortress's forward outpost, should it assume defensive responsibilities, this central expanse would fall under its control. The uncultivated land could be repeatedly harvested without fallow periods, and with the natural barriers on both sides, sustaining it would require minimal effort. This would effectively alleviate the growing population's challenges, integrating Border Town into the fortress's unified territory rather than maintaining the current separation into two independent domains.
The only drawback is that it requires three to five years of operation and a substantial upfront investment.
Unfortunately, when it comes to investment foresight, most Nobles are no better than a mediocre businessman.
"Wait, why is the stockyard empty?" Pei Luo pointed to a vacant tunnel in the distance. "Shouldn 't they have prepared all the ore?" He sighed softly. "We must go to the castle to pay homage to Your Highness." "Hold... Ambassador, aren't you expecting their entourage?" He wondered, not knowing if they had arrived yet, but kept it to himself. "Let's go—the stables are ahead." Now, the trouble of being divided into two separate territories was clearly coming. The King had issued a decree to banish the Fourth Prince to this remote land. What would a normal noble or royal heir do? Naturally, they would claim the entire territory. Exchange ore and jewels for food and bread? The Prince's eyes would only see golden dragons.
He would have done the same. Witnessing his own territory's produce being sold at such rock-bottom prices would be unbearable for anyone. Moreover, Prince needn' t even visit the fortress—most in the family had forgotten that the Chishui River flows past more than just Changge Fortress. He could sell the ore at market rates to Liuye Town, Zhui Long Ridge, or Chishui City, then lead the people to these safer havens—just a bit farther away.
What could the Long Song Fortress possibly do? Block the river to intercept the Prince and his party? That would be a blatant defiance of the Graycastle royal family! Everyone knows the Fourth Prince is unpopular with the King, but at the very least, he's the King's bloodline—no doubt about it.
The two rode their rented horses along the riverbank's cobblestone path, moving at a snail's pace. The stables housed only aged horses—mottled in color, emaciated, and trembling with every step, even at a leisurely pace. For these two wretched creatures, he had to pay two golden dragons as a deposit.
"Look, sir, is that the ship from Liuye Town?" Hearing his assistant's shout, he turned toward the direction the man was pointing. A single-masted sailing vessel with green-leaf and curved-sword flags was gliding along the river. Its high draft indicated it was fully loaded with cargo.
Perro nodded indifferently, his heart sinking as the other party moved faster than expected. If Prince had already contacted the towns downstream of the Chishui River, he would have lost another bargaining chip. He had planned to persuade his father to agree to purchase the ore at a 30% discount below the normal price—still profitable, let alone luxury items like jewelry whose value could multiply several times after polishing. Unfortunately, this monopoly business wasn't under his control, nor was it the Jin Yin Hua family's. Six Nobles were involved in Border Town Mining, and without majority approval, no resolution could be reached.
Yet they remained slow to react, assuming the situation would stay unchanged... Or perhaps the meager output from the mining area wasn't worth their attention. The other five companies showed no interest, and their father confidently turned them down. In reality, they were gravely mistaken. The low output was primarily due to this barter-based model. If it shifted to regular trade, higher production would mean greater profits, and the ore output could likely reach a new level by next year.
If we stick to the original monopoly plan, chances are it won't work.' Prince isn't going to trade these stones for cheap wheat,' Perro thought. 'The empty docks and storage yards speak for themselves—he's already reaching out to other buyers.'
To maintain control over this trade route, a 30% discount becomes their last resort. The distance between Liuye Town and Border Town drives up ore transportation costs, and with multiple ore sources in Liuye Town, their prices are likely half the market rate. As for Zhui Longling and Chishui Fort, they would likely offer even lower prices. This might lead the Fourth Prince to agree to keep Changge Fortress as the monopoly—especially for gemstone trade.
The dilemma was this: Would my father approve of me signing the contract unilaterally? And what about the other five families? Would they see this as a surrender to Border Town, surrendering their family's interests without a fight?
After all, in their eyes, Border Town remained just another frontier pasture controlled by the fortress's own people, where they could take what they wanted.
The two made their way slowly to the castle at the southeastern corner of the town. Though Perro had been here before, the place now belonged to a new owner.
The guards, upon seeing the ambassador's credentials, promptly entered to inform the Lord.
The Fourth Prince, Roland Wimbledon, promptly summoned Perro. When the two were ushered into the drawing room, the Prince was already seated at the head of the table.
"Please have your seat, Ambassador," Roland said, clapping his hands as the maid brought out a lavish meal. The spread included roasted whole chicken, mushroom stewed wild boar legs, buttered bread, and a large bowl of vegetable soup. Clearly, even in this remote frontier, the royal family's personal indulgences remained unimpaired.
Perro couldn't be bothered with formalities. The waterway from the fortress to Border Town would take two days even with favorable winds, and a multi-masted cargo ship would require three to five days. With no onboard kitchen, passengers usually subsisted on their own dry meat strips or wheat cakes. The sight of steaming dishes made his throat water.
Yet years of Noble upbringing had preserved his impeccable dining etiquette, while His Highness's eating manners were markedly inferior—especially in knife and fork usage. Pei Luo observed that apart from using a dinner knife for meat cutting, the Fourth Prince performed all other actions with a pair of small wooden sticks. What was striking was how these sticks proved far more convenient than forks.
"What do you think?" Roland asked abruptly as the meal was drawing to a close.
"Um, what?" The ambassador was momentarily taken aback.
"Here," the man waved his wooden stick, cutting off Perro's reply, "an iron fork is a luxury for most, let alone a silver one. Eating with bare hands risks swallowing dirt.' Disease enters through the mouth '—you know what I mean?" The ambassador was stumped. Though he didn't fully grasp the phrase, the earlier remark suggested that dirt stuck to food could cause illness. But everyone had survived this before, and no one had died from it.
"A pair of oak sticks—any amount needed in the hide-and-seek forest, clean and easy to find. I plan to promote this in the town," Prince took a sip of wine. "Of course, my subjects have almost no meat to eat now, but things will gradually improve." Perro let out a sigh of relief, knowing exactly how to respond. After his routine expressions of agreement and blessings, he felt inwardly dismissive. To expect meat for all subjects? Pure fantasy. Even Graycastle couldn't achieve this, let alone the remote Border Town.