Chapter 211 Let Them Have Money to Spend
The lord was still riding on his horse, looking down at Ardarian who was lying on the ground thirty meters away.
The explosion from such a distance was not enough to affect Alice, so the little mare remained calm.
Leon knew that Aldarian would not harm him - although this Noldor lord was irritable and brainless, he did care about the Noldor people.
There are two hundred young rangers living in White Hart Castle, all of them are the young seeds of the next generation of Noldor. As long as those rangers are still in Leon's territory, Aldarian will definitely not attack the lord - this is also the important reason why the lord tries every means to let the Noldor live in White Hart Castle.
"How is it possible... How can you use thunder magic!"
Aldarian turned over and got up, touching himself, his tone no longer so arrogant.
From the declaration of war to the defeat, it took less than half a minute...
He was not injured, and the horse should not be injured either - it could jump and run, and now it was almost out of sight, running very fast, so it was obviously not injured, it was just scared.
Aldarian probably thought that Leon was showing mercy, as he caused such a huge commotion but didn't hurt anyone... He now looked at Leon with a very complicated look.
But in fact, the grenade was originally an experimental product. There was no shrapnel in the shell. The iron shell itself would usually only be blown into three or five pieces. Of course, it could not hurt Aldarian who was wearing the Noldor rune armor.
"Humph... Do you know how powerful I am? Did you think I was protecting Lord Leon? You don't know what's good for you..."
Wendelfu rolled her eyes and took the opportunity to bluff again.
"Xindari? This is impossible... Lord Leon, who are you?"
Aldarian looked at Wendy in surprise, then at Leon, and then cautiously faced Leon and began to slowly back away, but his attitude had obviously changed, even the way he addressed him had changed.
“Aldarian, leave here, and don’t let your troops appear in my territory again, otherwise there will be no such warning now... Of course, if your people are willing to trade equally, you can also go to the market in the forest. At least I will not discriminate against your people.”
Li Ang still had the calm demeanor of a master, with his hands behind his back. If it weren't for the wound on his forehead that ruined his image, he would have looked like a real master.
After saying that, he turned around and walked away with Alice. As soon as he turned around, he began to vigorously shake his hands that were originally behind his back.
I just hid my hand behind my back and lit the fuse with one hand. As a result, my hand was smoked black and it looks like the skin was burned. I have to go back and let Anson treat it...
"A human who can use magic... Are you a royal family of Pender? You are a royal family of Pender! Only the blood of Kavala has magic... You want to restore your country? No! You will drag the Noldor into the war between humans! Even if I die, I will stop you!"
Aldarian stood behind Leon with a gloomy expression, as if he remembered something, and his tone gradually became hurried.
He raised the bow in his hand again and put an arrow on it.
It's just that the movements were a little hesitant.
Why would he react like this?
Does Aldarian have a grudge against the Pendor royal family?
Oh, probably, there is. Three hundred years ago, the war between the Noldor and humans was fought against the Kingdom of Pendor, and Aldarian was the leader of the Noldor at that time...
Li Ang was a little flustered, but he pretended to be calm and turned around: "What are you talking about? Restoration of the country?"
"Hehe...Islandil told me that you have one eighth of Noldor blood, so you can only be her descendant...I must kill you..."
There was a hint of sadness in Aldarian's eyes, but there was no warmth at all, only a sharp edge and a hint of ferocity.
This is definitely not a good memory, but more like remembering an enemy.
"Aldarian, what are you talking about? Do you know the consequences of doing this? If you destroy the hope of the Noldor tribe to leave the forest so easily, the three major families will become your enemies! You will start a civil war!"
Wendy drew her sword and rushed directly to Aldarian.
Although she seems like a naive little girl in some ways, she really knows everything .
At this time, Risadilan finally arrived beside Leon and drew his bow at Aldarian.
“Hehe… It was like this then, and it is like this now! He is just a human who can use Noldor enchanted items! He is no different from that woman back then! Your Majesty Felgoth-anr still hasn’t learned his lesson… Putting the Noldor’s hopes on humans? Ha… You will regret it!”
Aldarian looked at Wendy who had a nervous face, then looked at Risadilan who was pointing a bow at him, put down the bow, shook his head and slowly retreated.
There was a look of pain on his face, but he remained polite to Wendy.
"Aldarian! What are you talking about? What happened back then?"
Wendy didn't understand, what year was it? Who was that woman?
"Wendilfu, go ask His Majesty Felgus Anr about his great plan back then... go ask him where his son is now?!"
Aldarian said this through gritted teeth, gave Leon a fierce look, then turned around and left quickly.
Obviously, he knew that what Wendy said was right. If Leon died in his hands, the three major families of Nodo would become his enemy.
The Noldor could not withstand civil war.
Wendelf was stunned for a while, until Aldarian and his troops disappeared, then she turned around, only to find that the lord was also in a daze.
"Master Leon, leave here... He may still be nearby."
Lisa Dilan reminded.
"Aldarian will not come again..."
The lord shook his head and let out a breath.
Li Ang was a little scared. He could feel that his vest was soaked with cold sweat.
The so-called magic did not scare Aldarian, or the brave Noldor lord did not care about it, and he dared to shoot his arrows at any enemy.
Aldarian didn't seem to have as much awe for "magic" as the other Noldor. He was just shocked, but not afraid, and he didn't take it for granted that Leon was a magician.
Perhaps he is indeed a warlike and straightforward person, but he is obviously not too obsessed with the traditions of the Noldor, which makes him more sober than most Noldor elves - no wonder he ignored the decisions of the Elf Kings and pulled out a separate tribe.
If Wendelf had not stood in front of Aldarian in time, Aldarian might have really wanted to kill himself.
"I can't actually stop Aldarian, but he seems..."
Wendy frowned, somewhat confused.
"He doesn't seem willing to hurt you... Wendy, is there anyone in your family related to Aldarian? I haven't heard you mention it..."
Leon looked at Wendy thoughtfully.
"My Lord... My parents died many years ago , at the hands of the Jatu. Perhaps they were familiar with Aldarian, I don't know."
Wendy shook her head. “Aldarian was originally from the Finwe family. He must know my parents.”
That's true. The Noldor have a small population and a long lifespan, so most people in a tribe must know each other, so we can't look at it from the human perspective of kinship.
"But how do we deal with Aldarian? My lord, he probably won't attack you again, but there's no guarantee that he won't attack ... With his fighting ability, no one in the forest can stop him."
Lisa Dilan asked with some concern.
"What big plans did Aldarian talk about? And the son of His Majesty Fergus Anr... I really need to ask His Majesty Fergus Anr. Perhaps this is why he has always been so hostile to humans."
Leon looked at Wendy's.
"My Lord, I will go and ask."
Wendy turned and walked into the forest. She never did things in a sloppy manner.
…
Perhaps the grenade thrown by Leon did have some effect. In the next few days, Aldarian and his troops did not appear again.
The first group of merchants also arrived at the market in the forest smoothly, and the humans who built the road were not attacked.
But Leon still felt uneasy because Neuer sent news that Aldarian's troops had not returned to his territory yet.
He seemed to have disappeared completely and no one knew where he had gone.
However, it is a good thing that no one is causing trouble. The first transaction between White Hart Castle and Noldor has begun to operate on a small scale.
The Noldor were in great need of human goods, especially cloth, food, spices, and utensils.
These things were in great want in the forests of the Noldor.
Books were also in short supply - the Noldor were intellectuals, but they had difficulty in obtaining the books of Men.
When Wendy asked Leon about his salary, it was so that she could buy books to read in human society. Wendy liked to read all kinds of novels.
But although the demand was strong, a new problem arose - the Noldor had no money.
To be precise, they don't use money. They don't usually use the dinar, a common currency.
In fact, from the perspective of humans, the Noldor elves are very wealthy. Each of them can produce a large amount of high-quality leather, precious medicinal materials, exquisite handicrafts, and even some enchanted equipment.
Since they have a long lifespan, they have a lot of reserves over the years. If we look at the value of these reserves, every Noldor can be called a rich man.
But the problem is that they haven't used gold and silver coins for hundreds of years, and have no habit of using or saving money - dinars are not used in the Noldor Forest, and transactions between the Noldor basically do not require the use of currency.
After all, they are very familiar with each other, and transactions between the Noldor elves are like discussing with friends. They rely entirely on reputation and do not require any money at all.
Of course, the Noldor all realized that trading with humans actually required dinars. They all had culture and could understand the significance of currency, but they really didn't have any money.
Occasionally, you would encounter a Noldor elf who could give you a few dirhams, but these were just spoils of war from the slave-hunting teams that entered the forest... Not many of them could give you a dinar.
This meant that barter was the only option at the beginning.
But in this case, the trading volume appears to be rather bleak, because the road has not yet been built, and the food and cloth that the Noldor need most cannot be delivered on a large scale for the time being.
Currently, entering the forest requires crossing mountains and hills in the primeval forest, so the merchants entering the trade market bring very few goods, most of them only bring high-value spices or glass products.
There is no problem with bartering these things, but the problem is that there are too few of them. They are used up in half a day...
At the same time, the merchants did not have many dinars, so they could not buy many Noldor crafts and enchanted weapons.
This is not just because the road is difficult to travel, but also because the merchants are worried about the safety of the road.
In fact, the Noldor were also willing to exchange their goods for currency, but since neither side brought much money, the transaction volume naturally could not be large.
As a result, the first large-scale transaction between humans and the Noldor failed to achieve scale at all and seemed a little bleak.
In fact, the merchants and the Noldor could all understand it. After all, the road had not yet been built and the quantity of goods was small.
But the lord was quite disappointed - if the transaction volume remained low in the early stages of the market, it would be impossible to form demand inertia in the minds of the Noldor.
This is not a good sign...
The environment affects people’s judgment. The first batch of human traders entered the market at a risk. Now that the market looks a bit bleak, the next batch of traders may not be so motivated.
If the enthusiasm of human merchants is not high enough, the Noldor will not care too much about this market... If a diminishing return effect is formed, this market will be meaningless.
This is also the reason why the lord does not plan to run the business directly on his own.
Direct sales can certainly bring the greatest profit, but at the beginning you don’t have enough funds and materials to form a scale.
If you want to build a platform, don’t think you can take all the benefits. Only open platforms can form an exponentially increasing scale effect.
If a market can only operate on a small scale for a long period of time, then this market will appear less important and it will be difficult to make up for it later.
In fact, there is nothing wrong with the policies and methods of building various trade centers in many cities. However, because the initial investment promotion effect is not good, the occupancy rate is dismal at the beginning, and as a result, no one comes later.
This kind of business platform cannot be operated using the basic trading logic of "slowly growing from small to large".
It is necessary to attract more people in the beginning and bring in a large number of goods, so that the Noldor can continue to make money and the merchants can get high profits. Only then will more merchants join in and bring higher returns to the lord - and this return is not just money.
If we cannot quickly establish large-scale trading habits, then the Lord's ultimate goal will not be achieved.
What Leon wants is to promote trade between the two ethnic groups, so that the Noldor will form a trading dependence and turn it into a life dependence.
Then, as the controller of commercial output, he can obtain greater benefits in this transaction process - not money, but making the Noldor change their lifestyle, no longer relying on the output of the forest, but on the trading market.
——To be more precise, it is relying on the Lord.
Because this trading market is actually built on Li Ang, the lord himself is now a platform.
He wanted to make the Noldor forever dependent on this convenient material trading channel built at home, thereby kidnapping this ethnic group into his own business platform, and ultimately making them his true subjects.
This is the real intention of so-called trade.
This included the Dark Falcon Castle that had been taken over from the Stern Crow Realm before, which was the closest place to the Misty Mountaineers and the Jatu people - this was also what Leon was planning to do.
In order to control a relatively small group like the Noldor, all you need to do is make them rich.
Yes, make them rich.
First, they supplied food, cloth and other daily necessities in large quantities at low prices, and purchased weapons and handicrafts in large quantities at high prices, so that the Noldor realized that they could live comfortably just by doing what they were best at.
Subsequently, the supply of food and various daily necessities was continuously increased, which made the Noldor lose the desire to produce these materials on their own - it was not profitable, and the quality of the goods was not as good as those supplied by the lords, so it was more convenient to buy them directly.
Exchanging cheap supplies for high-value weapons and equipment would make the Noldor from top to bottom feel that it was a good deal, and it would also make the Noldor tied to this transaction and unable to turn back.
Once they gradually develop this trading habit, it will automatically prompt most of the Noldor elves to engage in the manufacture of weapons and handicrafts, or transform from hunters to scholars or professional warriors - these are things they are good at and can export, and will be purchased by Leon at a high price.
Many Noldor elves will also start to purchase goods from the market, engage in retail business, and bring the supplies to their various tribes. Because this can not only facilitate the tribes, but also make profits...
Just like those retailers in White Hart Castle.
In this way, their daily material expenditures will gradually be controlled, and their lifestyles will undergo tremendous changes, but at least they will seem to be changes for the better and more convenient.
When the lives of the Noldor were controlled by Leon, they could no longer escape from the ship. In order not to interrupt their supply, the Noldor had to accept all the demands of the lord - including fighting for him in all aspects.
These processes actually don’t take too long. If done well, they can be completed in one or two years.
Kidnapping with commercial supplies is easier than cultural infiltration and is more effective.
Especially when facing a party with a smaller population and unable to export daily necessities in the market.
In fact, even modern people cannot escape this kind of commercial infiltration, especially some small countries, where the entire population has become dependent on the material supply of certain big countries.
Especially in some small countries that seem rich, people seem to live a good life, but the prerequisite is that they have to be obedient.
If you don't obey, you will be subject to commercial sanctions...
If the leaders of small countries dare to disobey this, they will often be overthrown by their own people - perhaps the leaders have backbone, but the people do not want to suffer under commercial sanctions, and they do not want to become paupers from rich people under commercial sanctions.
After all, it only takes one inflation to go from a millionaire to a pauper...
In fact, the Barkley Empire did exactly that to Mettenheim, but it was not thorough.
If the Barclay Empire could buy up all the weapons and equipment made by the Mettenheim people at all costs, use dinars to directly attract the vast majority of Mettenheim people to become blacksmiths, and supply a large amount of low-priced food, so that farmers have no income and can only work as blacksmiths or sell weapons - then in just a few years, Mettenheim would be forced to become Barclay's arsenal, and would not be able to remain independent for too long.
But Barclay could not wait to suppress the war, which aroused a full-scale resistance from the people of Mettenheim and directly cut off the deal between the two parties. This is the thinking habit of traditional feudal countries - always thinking that traitors must be eliminated, but never thinking that there are more appropriate ways.
Now that the trading platform in the Noldor Forest has not been properly launched, Leon thinks it would be better to slow down and start over.
