Black Iron Crown

When I came to the central square in front of the main castle, no one would come here unless there was anything to do, so it seemed very quiet.

The carriage stopped here, and Mrs. Moreland looked at Reiner with doubts, wanting to get an answer from him.

Reiner licked his lips and didn't speak immediately, but walked to the side of the carriage and opened the door, and whispered to Frante inside: "Come out...you have to see my mother and the others!"

"Your mother?" There were some waves on Frant's face, he pursed his lips and nodded, "Okay, I have to meet my future mother!"

As she spoke, she grabbed the door frame of the carriage and tried to get up.

Reiner grabbed her hand: "You have my baby now, so be careful with everything!"

Saying that, he took Frante's hand and got out of the carriage.

"Mother... This is my wife, the daughter of Earl Creek, Frante!" Reiner brought Frante to Mrs. Moreland, and said after a little hesitation.

"What?" Mrs. Moreland didn't react for a moment: "You mean, she is your wife?"

"Yes mother..."

"When did it happen?" Mrs. Moreland said in disbelief.

How could she not be surprised that her son went out to fight for seven months and brought back a woman who he said was his wife.

"Just... not long ago... to be precise, more than three months ago!" Reiner smiled reluctantly.

"That is to say, you got married on the battlefield?" Madam Moreland was shocked by Reiner's rashness.

Leaving aside how Frant is, just Reiner's sloppy behavior made her feel a little dissatisfied.

"Mother...I'm Reiner's wife, Frante..." She who was usually very clever seemed to be insane at this moment, becoming extremely clumsy.

"You are Reiner's wife?" Mrs. Moreland looked at Frante with a little scrutiny in her eyes.

Seeing his mother's face getting more and more ugly, Reiner hurriedly said: "A lot of things have happened, and I can't explain it clearly in a while, don't you think, Wende!"

Lena couldn't help it.

In order not to let his mother explode on the spot, he could only quickly divert his attention.

"Ah?" Wende hadn't reacted after being called by Reiner, but he immediately understood when he saw his brother's color, stepped forward and grabbed Mrs. Moreland's sleeve and said, "Yes, mother, this matter is true. It's too complicated, why don't we eat something first, and then talk about it after eating, you know that I really don't have anything to eat after marching all the way, I'm so hungry and skinny!"

"Oh, how did I forget about this!" Mrs. Moreland suddenly stroked Wende's head distressedly, and said, "Mother will send someone to prepare food, but you have to wait, tonight There will be a big dinner to celebrate your safe return!"

Wende's eyes were almost rolled up to the sky, and he looked at Reiner with desperate eyes, with an expression on his face that he would die for you without giving himself some compensation.

Looking at Mrs. Moreland's attitude, Farrant couldn't help but feel a little lost, frowning and wondering what he was thinking.

After finally coping with his dear mother, Reiner called Logan and Aizexi to learn about the current situation of the territory during this period after he settled Frante in his own room.

"There are no unexpected incidents in our territory, but it is worth mentioning that a large number of merchants from the Western Bazaran Kingdom have entered our territory, and they are buying all kinds of goods in the territory, from handmade items to animal skins. , to a small amount of food, they are all ready to come, and there is one more thing that caught my attention!"

"Among these commodities, the commodity that attracts their favor most is the iron farm tools in the hands of the residents. The residents buy farm tools from us and blacksmiths from all over the world, and then resell them to these merchants. In addition, they also buy farm tools from blacksmiths from all over the world. Buy a small amount of steel here, but according to my statistics, the total amount of these steels is definitely not a small number!"

With that said, Logan handed over the documents in his hand to Reiner.

Reiner looked at the above data and description, his eyes narrowed slightly, he subconsciously felt that this matter was not that simple.

Steel is an extremely important resource for any country and territory. If it weren't for the huge and large number of iron mines in the northern border, he would not sell steel to the outside world.

Even if he sells steel to the outside world now, it is only for the royal family and other lords, and there will be absolutely no outflow.

Perhaps the Kingdom of Bazalan found out about this news, so they set their sights on iron farm tools.

After all, although there is not much steel on farm tools, it can still be used as high-quality steel to make weapons and armor after melting.

But what made Reiner even more puzzled was that the empire did not produce any steel except for the northern border, but in other countries outside the empire, even if there was not much steel, at least it would not reach the point of extreme scarcity.

Traveling thousands of miles across the territories of the western lords to buy steel in the northern border, the high transportation costs must be unbearable for them. What drove them to do this?

There are more and more doubts in Leiner's mind, the current empire is in troubled times, and he is not allowed to be careless.

"Okay, I see, pay close attention to the next move of these people..."

After thinking for a while, Reiner said again: "Is there a leader among these businessmen? Or the richest and most powerful person?"

Logan thought for a while, and said: "There are Lord Dukes! One-third of these businessmen belong to a chamber of commerce, and a person named Ajasha is their vice president!"

"Do you want to see him? Your Excellency the Duke?" A gleam flashed in Logan's eyes, and he asked sinisterly.

"No, you don't need to take action on this matter, you just need to monitor their behavior and report to me all the time!"

After finishing speaking, Reiner turned his gaze to Aizexi and said, "Aizexi, you are in charge of the business in the territory, you should have dealt with this Baron Ajasha, right?"

"Yes... yes, Your Excellency the Duke..." Aizexi replied with averted eyes.

Reiner narrowed his eyes and stared at him, and said seriously: "Are you taking bribes from them behind my back?"

"No...how could it be!" Ai Zexi frantically denied.

"Ahem..." Logan coughed from the side.

Ai Zexi's face froze, and with a slumped face, he spread his hands and said, "Okay, my lord duke, I confess!" "

"I collected twenty gold coins from them up and down..."

"Ahem..."

"Alright, alright, thirty..." Ai Zexi was about to cry, and he wailed out the real amount.

Reiner raised his eyebrows and looked at Logan, only to see that Logan was looking at the ceiling pretending not to see it, and couldn't help being speechless.

"It seems that an all-pervasive intelligence organization is still very useful!" Leiner thought in his heart: "At least it is an absolute weapon in anti-corruption."

Thinking of this, Reiner couldn't help but angrily said: "Ai Zexi, I have told you that accepting bribes is prohibited, have you ignored my words?"

Hearing Reiner's reprimand, Aizexi became frightened, he was worried that his master would really deal with him.

"My lord, my lord duke, I know I was wrong, I will hand in all the money! Hand in all of it! Please don't hang me!"

Reiner had enacted a law at the beginning, and those who embezzled more than one silver coin were punished by hanging.

Looking at the crying Ai Zexi, Leiner narrowed his eyes and said, "Okay, hand over the embezzled money, and then go to get 80 lashes, divided into eight days, and I want you to give the horse Brother Ajiasha brought it to me!"