Before daybreak, the diligent early-rising merchants on the Danube River saw someone who was as diligent as them. Two sails and oars of the Austrian river army left the port in a boat.

Some people on board wore cloaks embroidered with a winged fish, said to have been designed by His Highness Ladislaus Habsburg himself.

"Flying Fish Suit" is the symbol of the Intelligence Bureau, and its appearance on the river usually signifies an anti-smuggling operation, so many law-abiding businessmen cheer them on.

Only when smugglers can be cracked down can legitimate taxpayers be competitive enough to compete with them.

Boss Sirica was also on board, and he started working immediately after returning to Vienna.

However, this time it is not about cracking down on smuggling. Recently, large-scale smuggling activities on Vienna's waterways are at their lowest point. The river army camp and the northern sluice gate on Danube Island are very difficult. Those smuggling predators have not yet found a way to crack it.

The little shrimps on the land are not worth the Sirica boss to deal with.

A small team was left to fill up the vacancies. Boss Sirica also handed over these tasks to his deputies, while he took a dozen elites to do more important work and went overseas to establish a "new drug testing center."

Ladislaus had a great desire for new sources of wealth. Sirica, as an absolute confidant of the monarch, knew that Ladislaus wanted to establish a standing army of fifteen thousand to twenty thousand, and the capital militia would also be as cold as five thousand.

More than one person.

Just this military expenditure and the reimbursement of lion expenses to the mages almost consumed all the seizures of Venice and Florence, not to mention that Ladislaus had to build churches for Barbarossa and cultivate water on the north bank of the Danube.

land.

So Boss Sirica knows very well that he has a heavy responsibility.

However, because Jones was paralyzed when trying to test the power of his new weapon with his hands, which delayed the enchanting of Sirica's dagger, he set off two days later than expected.

"This dagger is probably worth a hundred, no, two hundred acres of land, right?" An Austrian intelligence team member held Boss Sirica's new weapon in both hands and worshiped it.

The dark green blade is covered with a crystal-clear sheath. The weapon made Jones' fingers feel uncomfortable for several days even after a cut was made. It is an absolutely dangerous item for low-level rogues.

When Boss Sirica was a smuggler, he was very taboo about his subordinates looking at his weapons. Some people even lost their lives because of this, but now that he is an Austrian civil servant, he has no objection at all to his subordinates looking at his new equipment.

In the past, his authority relied entirely on his own force and sense of oppression, but now Ladislaus is the guarantee of his power. The extraordinary weapons that his subordinates know about are not dangerous at all.

"Two hundred acres? I think it's worth at least five hundred acres. It's the best irrigated land on the North Shore!" Sirica felt a headache at this time and decided to wait a while before teaching them math.

It is still different from the past. Of course, the smuggler leader himself must be able to figure out the accounts. The more confused the other subordinates are when it comes to figures, the better.

As the deputy director of the Austrian Intelligence Service, he had to educate his subordinates on science, because Ladislaus introduced literacy and numeracy into the assessment standards for military officers and civil servants.

A school-based valuation is also an important knowledge point for intelligence personnel.

Boss Sirica's phalanx of recruiting subordinates mainly from scum has now produced bad results, and now he is suffering from a headache due to a large number of subordinates who are sick and dizzy after reading the book.

However, not everyone wants to make progress. Kelal is very interested in participating in the studies organized by the Secrecy Bureau. He is just illiterate because he has never had the opportunity to study.

It's just not easy to study on the boat. He was also chatting with his companions.

"I have never been to the north bank, but this time I bought five acres of irrigated land on the south bank and rented it to nearby farmers. The five acres of land cost a total of 950 thalers. The newly cultivated irrigated land on the north bank is the best than the one on the south bank.

Ripe land that can be irrigated is 20% cheaper. For one hundred acres, it’s 15,000 to 16,000 thalers,” Keilar paused here. And the deputy director’s dagger should be worth ten

Let's talk about Wantale, that's six to seven hundred acres of fertile land."

Boss Sirica has a higher opinion of Kelal's ability, and he is indeed a talent that can be made.

But after all, the vision is not broad enough. The price of this weapon is too conservative. Ladislaus gave a price of 180,000 thalers for this +1 dagger with a saving throw difficulty of 15 and 2d5 physical damage.

Valuation.

Although intelligence work is best done without bloodshed, Boss Sirica is more or less looking forward to using this weapon that is different from what it used to be.

Although this weapon and Jones's only consumed less than 20% of the dose of the poison used by Chancellor Hohenzollern, it is obvious that this poison cannot be used up completely.

After it drops to a certain amount, it cannot be processed.

From the perspective of Boss Sirica, if such processing is to be carried out again, there must be supplements.

One hundred and eighty thousand thalers is really a great reward, but one hundred thousand thalers is enough to make the subordinates dizzy.

"One hundred thousand thalers, one hundred thousand thalers." After hearing this number, several people fell into a state of dementia.

But they soon returned Sirika's weapons. After all, this kind of thing was too far away from them. What Keilal said made them even more concerned.

"Captain Keilal. Have you bought a land this time? When will you get a wife?" Keilal's salary is a little higher than most people, but he can't afford top-notch land in the capital area. This time he went to China

He carried the five acres of irrigated land back to Italy.

He killed a Florentine wizard, and the robe he stripped off was bought by a Viennese wizard for a thousand talers.

War is so wonderful, as long as you can survive it.

"I was going to get married soon. A priest of His Majesty the Knight of Vision has contacted me with several girls, but isn't there going to be another war?" Kai has five acres of land in the capital and is a mid-level officer. These two advantages gave Kai

Although Lal had the disadvantage of being an Italian outsider, it was not difficult to find a well-educated daughter of a wealthy family.

"But can't we all be allocated land on the north bank? If you buy the land on the south bank, it will be difficult to manage it in the future."

"Isn't it so easy to dig ditches? The paddy fields that have been created must first be distributed to the families of those who died in the war. We don't know when they will be able to receive them."

The soldiers discussed avidly that being able to receive land after retirement was also their biggest concern.

Although there are many rivers flowing through it, most of the land in Austria is dry farmland that depends on the weather. There is very little irrigated land that can maintain harvests despite droughts and floods. Through the state machinery, the land along the rivers is acquired and converted into paddy fields, which can greatly increase the population. In the long run

It is one of the most important affairs of a country and a major policy of a nation for thousands of years.

This is of course not a simple matter. It is not surprising that it will take a generation, but it is still acceptable for the soldiers to let the families of their deceased comrades divide the land first. Everyone hopes that even if they die, they can leave something to their families.

Sirika couldn't help but think of his grown-up children. Their wives and dowries were the current motivation for Sirika's work.

Of course he was able to get a larger share of the spoils than Kelar. In order to transport the spoils, he rented a third of the cargo hold of a Spanish merchant ship in Siena before transporting the goods to Austria.

However, Sirica's marriage targets are all big shots in Austria. Although Ladislaus wants to review the marriage of top powerful people, he will not interfere in most cases. After all, marriage of well-matched people is the teaching of Barbarossa.

For these interests, Boss Sirica must work hard.

Only the first part of the journey can be taken by boat. After passing through Bratislava and entering Bohemia, the rest of the journey is by land.

You can rest in Bratislava the same night after departing from Vienna.

This is the second largest city in Bohemia, but because it is the first foreign city on the Danube trade route, it has become the focus of Austrian intelligence strategies. It has been riddled with holes by the Austrian intelligence agencies, and Jones's are everywhere.

The subordinates may be puppets who have been caught.

Acting here, Sirica feels like she is even at home.

The city gate officer nodded and bowed, and the tax collector cowered.

These guys, who were extremely vicious towards businessmen, had no temper at all when they saw the Austrians.

Of course, even when they face other businessmen, they are only busy making benefits for themselves, and they don't care at all about smuggling.

Bratislava is one of the most important relay points on the trade route between Vienna and Buda. The tax situation here is so chaotic that it naturally deprives the Kingdom of Hungary of the benefits of the recently developed trade to a large extent.

Not only did the Austrians successfully set up an "experimental drug distribution point" in three days, they didn't even pay taxes on the disguised goods when crossing the border.

After more than ten days of bumpy journey, the Austrians arrived at their second destination, Prague, the capital of Bohemia, which was also headed by the King of Hungary.

This was the place where the expertise of the Austrian intelligence agents was really expected to be tested.

"Sir, we are a caravan from Venice." It was Shylock who was in charge of the negotiations. To the surprise of most Austrian nobles, he rejected the title of baron and asked for another reward to ask Barbarossa to help him stabilize a business.

Psychic Key makes his new tongue.

"My tongue is my most powerful weapon. Without it, I can't serve you." Ladislaus was a little moved by these words, but he didn't think this was possible. After all, Shylock's belief in Jergal

It is unshakable.

Barbarossa's support actually surprised Ladislaus, because Shylock did not give up his faith in Jergal, but Barbarossa used the power of the Pool of Ambition to rebuild his tongue.

Although he is a master of psionic key cultivation, using psionic keys to create a tongue and strengthening the muscles in other locations are completely different things. He can't do it without the help of divine power.

Moreover, recovering from a disability has always been very costly. It is a rare opportunity even for one’s own believers.

Ladislaus and Ode Kessler both had questions about this, but Frederick did not respond to them.

Of course, Ladislaus could not continue to be entangled with such a loyal minister Shylock.

Fortunately, most people only think that Sherlock believes in Cyric, otherwise there will be more doubts.

"Venice, I heard that your place is quite chaotic." The city gate tax officer casually looked at the list of goods and said casually. The customs duties have been settled at the border customs, and theoretically no taxes are collected here.

In any case, Hungary is still a centralized kingdom. Arbitrary tax collection is theoretically unacceptable. Of course, if you are not respectful, no business will be done.

In addition to some ordinary commodities, there are several carts of specialized fungi on the manifest.

"Who says it isn't? The damn Cretan rebels actually colluded with the pagans. We can only try the northern trade route." Shylock carefully handed over a bag containing silver coins from his robe, and at the same time he thought in his heart

I quickly relived my story. "It's Christmas and New Year's Day soon. This year's business is in shambles. Let's see if we can get off to a good start next year."

Delicious and juicy fungi are a popular ingredient, paired with plump foie gras, a favorite among ladies.

These fierce Italian guards were recruited from Bavaria. They were all veteran mercenaries who had participated in suppressing peasant uprisings, so they looked particularly fierce.

Sherlock quickly reviewed his homework in his mind.

There is no need to go through the forged resume again. Sherlock has already devoted himself to the performance and has no reaction to the name Sherlock.

"Let's go in." Who would have thought that the city gate tax collector would be so bold and didn't avoid his colleagues, he just took the money bag and weighed it, and after confirming that it was a lot, he let it go. Not only did Sherlock's preparations

It came up empty, even the bill of lading was wrong.

Not only was this tax officer unwary of spies, he didn't even care about smuggling.

As New Year's Day approaches, caravans from all walks of life are very active. How can the tax collector have the energy to check everything?

"Thank you sir, thank you sir."
Chapter completed!