Chapter 10 Strategic Deterrence
A new store recently opened in Weissenburg. The proprietress is Nina, the former head maid who has served the Weissenburg family for more than 20 years.
Nina is forty years old this year. Her father is a family businessman of the Wesson family and died of illness a few years ago.
Nina's husband, Janis, inherited his father-in-law's job and behaved quite well. Now he is sent to Mingxing City to sell "Wesson Syrup" and "Wesson Candy Bars", that is, maltose and Ding Ding. sugar.
It’s just that Nina had a habit of gossiping about things in the castle. Frederick always disliked her, so she was voluntarily resigned after the new master took over the housekeeping.
Frederick remembered her years of hard work, so he paid for her to open a "steam bread" shop.
Compared with bread, making steamed buns saves fuel, time and space, so it is cheaper. The freshly made steamed buns are much softer than bread, and with the bonus of "little master's invention", the sales are pretty good. .
On this day, the carriage convoy of Baron Philipp von Ertal, a diplomat from the Principality of Mainz, was passing through Weissenburg on its way to Mingxing City in the Principality of Bayern. When the convoy passed by a steamed bun shop, it saw the shop. There was steam outside the door, and out of curiosity, he stopped the carriage and went to see what was going on.
Nina saw a customer coming and was about to greet the business. She was stunned for a moment and immediately saluted behind the counter: "Welcome to our store, Lord Baron Eltar."
Philip was startled. He didn't expect that a roadside landlady here actually knew him, and her courtesy was so standard. Are all the residents of Wesenland monsters?
He had a good memory, and he quickly remembered that he had seen this landlady himself, and she must have been a servant in the castle when she came to Wesenland as a guest three years ago.
Nina remembered Philip simply because he was a dignified and gentle man, and he was the most dazzling presence among the many guests.
Philip asked her curiously: "What are you selling?"
Nina replied respectfully: "Reporting to your lord, what I sell is the steam bread invented by our Baron Wesson. "
She said, picking up a few steamed buns with tongs and placing them on the tray on the counter.
In Weisenland and many places, because bread is an important material to ensure the survival of residents, the public sale of bread is subject to special legal provisions, commonly known as the "Bread Law".
There are four types of wheat flour ground in the mill: coarse flour with bran, ordinary flour with only bran sifted out, excellent flour blown out of ordinary flour by windmills, and refined flour.
Veisenland's law stipulates that all bakeries can only sell six kinds of bread: excellent white bread, excellent white bread with salt, ordinary bread, ordinary multigrain bread mixed with chestnut flour or bean flour. , bran bread and bran multigrain bread.
If you want to buy fine bread made with fine flour, you have to go to the castle to buy it. Ordinary people cannot eat such expensive bread all year round, and there is no sales at all.
At the same time, the prices of various types of bread are fixed. If food prices fluctuate, only the size of the bread can be changed, but the price cannot be changed.
"Steam bread" is also bread and is also governed by the "Bread Law", so there are six types of steamed buns.
The main reason why Frederick did not sell the buns was because the legal issue of whether the buns were bread or snacks was not clear.
The tax on selling snacks and selling bread is different. The tax rate for survival necessities such as bread is extremely low, while the tax rate for snacks is much higher.
Now scholars studying law at Weisenberg University have been discussing this matter, and with the multigrain bread and flower rolls disrupting the situation, this matter has risen to a philosophical issue of how to define quantitative change and qualitative change.
Philip didn't know that this incident would later give Frederick a place in the philosophical world. At this time, he was concentrating on studying the several kinds of steamed buns in front of him.
The excellent steamed buns are as white as snow and soft when poked with your finger. They are made from local high-gluten flour and are slightly elastic. They are warm when they come out of the steamer, reminding him of his daughter's little face.
Nina habitually gossiped about things in the castle: "This kind of steam bread is delicious. Even Lord Richard Nar likes it. I heard that he bakes a plate every night. Pig's trotters, a plate of steam bread and a large glass of beer. After finishing the roasted pig's trotters, I also ate sauerkraut with steam bread..."
Philip immediately grasped the key point of this sentence and made She asked with a nonchalant look: "Is the Lord Richardnar you are talking about the Sword Master Richardnar?"
"Of course!" Nina said proudly, "Richard Lord Denard came here last month. He is now our master, Baron Wesson. I heard that he teaches him how to use forbidden spells every day."
"I also heard that, it's reasonable. Mr. Chardnar will go to teach students at a university in the north!”
"Those of us who used to work for the master all have a quota as a student of Mr. Richard Nare, but the one in my family is not up to expectations..."
Philip didn't listen to her talk about the family's shortcomings, so he asked his servant to take it. I came over with a basket and bought a few of each kind of steamed buns, and then left.
On the carriage, Philip quickly wrote a letter to Frederick, saying that he was in such a hurry that he had no time to stop and would definitely visit him on his return trip.
Frederick met the messenger while having breakfast at the end of the first day of training, and let him leave after a few polite words.
After completing the task of delivering the message, the messenger settled in the city and went around asking for local news every day.
In the restaurant, Richard Nall sneered and asked Frederick: "Did you spread the news about my arrival?"
Frederick did not make excuses and answered bluntly: "Yeah, it's close now." The neighbors here and the king far away want to take a bite of us while we are weak. They will definitely not act rashly after knowing that the master is here."
Richard Nall pointed to the people who were having breakfast together with his chin. Manuai and several other scholars said: "We can indeed scare the wolves here for you, but I have to set a rule for you."
"We can help you protect the territory, but , you have to do it yourself to expand the territory." Manuai continued: "With Sir Richard Nar and us, the enemy will not attack openly, but there will definitely be various small moves."
"I have studied the surrounding situation. The Wesson family and several surrounding nobles are the pawns arranged by your king between the Principality of Mainz, the Principality of Bain and the Free City of Nuremberg."
"Last year The defeat caused your king to lose face and dignity, and the surrounding chess pieces were a little unstable, so your king used you as meat to feed the surrounding chess pieces so that they would continue to be loyal to him."
"Political. We are not good at this, otherwise we would not have escaped from Constantbul. I suggest that you recruit at least two professionals in the future."
Frederick stood up and solemnly thanked the two.
Now that there is a sword master and many magicians from Weissenburg University in the territory, it is equivalent to a country having a nuclear warhead and an elite army.
The problem is that King William and the neighboring Archduke Bain and the Archduke Mainz have more nuclear warheads in their hands. The Wessen Land only leads in per capita number, which makes all parties feel that it is not worthwhile to go head-to-head with the small Wessen Land.
Strategic deterrence is the greatest role played by Richard Nall and Manuai in Wesenland.
The fact that he would not act rashly in the military does not mean that he would not act politically, and Frederick knew nothing about this field.
Frederick said to everyone, "The most precious thing in the world is talent. If the territory wants to develop and grow, it cannot do without the help of all kinds of talents."
"Now Master and all of you Academics provide an umbrella for Wesenberg, an advantage that can now be used as a platform to attract talent from around the world. ”
Richard Nall glared at him coldly and said angrily: "You want to use me as a gimmick again, don't you? Believe it or not, I will hang you on a tree and whip you."
Frederick had a cute smile on his face and tried to pass the test by being cute.
Manuel said with some embarrassment: "This advantage is not obvious."
Frederick thought for a while and asked: "If our school treats all scholars and schools Treat everyone equally?"
Manuai frowned and asked: "What if the pagans come?"
Frederick was stunned for a moment. He had never thought about this question. After thinking about how long it would take to finish a piece of white sausage, he replied: "Only for academic purposes."
He was not very interested in religion and went to church to join a group. Building activities is just a formality.
Now the Church of Light is not very powerful, and its strength is directly proportional to the degree to which the lord has been deceived.
But the church also had value, and Frederick decided to discuss business with them later.
However, this business is also useful for the development of the university, so Frederick said to Manuel: "Recommend two students with good character and flexible brains to me. I have important research for you. They have made at least one knight.”
Because "knight" and "cavalry" are often confused, "sir" is often used instead when referring to knighthood.
Although the knights were just workers among the nobility, they had their own fiefs and belonged to the family of the landlord class who broke away from the proletariat and joined the landlord class.
Traditionally, the knighthood is not hereditary forever, but only for two or three generations. If the descendants fail to make meritorious service and keep the family property, they can only return to the proletarian family.
In this era, except for the children of businessmen and craftsmen, there were very few opportunities for civilians to receive off-the-job education and training. Therefore, as long as there was no cessation of heirs and nothing unusual happened, the knighthood could be inherited.
This reward is extremely attractive to civilian scholars, and even Manuai is thinking about whether his own children should occupy a quota.
Richard Nall had an experience with maltose, and this time he asked first: "What are you going to do again?"
Frederick replied: "Something that can replace parchment, I don’t know if it will succeed.”
He decided to use papermaking and printing as a means to attract scholars and make money on the way.
At the same time, it can also gain a reputation among scholars, making some people hesitant to do it themselves.
If there is no talent, there will be no talent. It is not impossible to start from scratch and slowly explore.
Richard Nall asked again: "Is it okay for a woman?"
Frederick raised his eyebrows and asked the master with a smirk on his face: "Is it beautiful?"
Richard Denard sneered and said: "My daughter."
(End of this chapter)