() In a place like Constantinople, where land is at a premium, the neighborhoods near Dione are residential areas for non-rich nobles and wealthy merchants who cannot afford the extremely high maintenance costs of the palace. There are also buildings in the modern classical style.

The villa is distinguished from the stone palaces of the ancient Roman period in the old city.

Wendel's home is located in it. I am a little curious why Wendel doesn't move to the old city. You know, the common people dreamed of moving from outside the walls of Constantine to live in Arcadius.

The rich people in St. John's Square and Bull Square all wanted to live in Dione, and the nobles who originally lived here, their biggest wish in this life was to own a palace near Constantine Square.

Very few people continue to stay in Dione after owning capital.

Funding issues?

It's unlikely. Wen Dier's wealth is comparable to that of a wealthy family in the Constantinople Empire. It is not a problem at all to support a palace-level mansion.

That's just some other reasons.

Driving into this area, the groom guided me to my destination through the sign at the intersection.

This was the first time I saw her home. The reason I knew the address was because she casually mentioned it.

An old stone wall covered with vines and roses stands on the side of the street. Behind the iron fence is a huge green lawn. Behind it is a three-story building in classical style that was characterized by three convex main buildings decades ago.

Storey mansion.

It's a very good place, and the price is not cheap. From my perspective, this place is enough for a civilian imperial count noble who has served as the local governor for ten years to spend half of his savings.

The attendant jumped off his horse and walked to the iron fence and began to negotiate with the Leonidas servant at the door.

After a while, the door opened, and more than a dozen servants of the Leonidas family who had received the news hurriedly appeared from all directions and gathered in the aisle under the door of the mansion.

Wendel wore a long house-lined dress, the kind of thin silk skirt that women often wear under a gorgeous outer skirt and corset on TV. She put a layer of lace robe on the outside and stood in the hall.

Under the crystal chandelier, her slightly fluffy long hair was simply pulled up. Compared with the deliberate and careful dressing in the past, today's lazy wife has a different style.

"I must look ugly now. I'm so sorry."

"I should be the one to say sorry. I'm glad you didn't block me from the house."

It's very rude to come here in a hurry like I did today. According to the rules, if a noble wants to visit another noble, he must send a message to the other party in advance, agreeing on the time and place. Only after receiving an accurate reply can he make the appointment

When you visit other people's homes, it's a bit pretentious, but it's more out of consideration for both parties. After all, there are so many people who want to save face, so it's important to show your best side all the time.

...Just like now, I discovered a little secret of Wen Dier. Although the beautiful woman who lacked a corset today also has a lot of breasts, she still has a little less weight than before, but there is one flaw.

There must be something to be gained, and this kind of beauty is the real natural beauty.

"Look what you said, blocking you out will only be my loss. You must know that you are the clover that brings me luck... With such a treasure, I don't think it's too late to have a few more, so how can I block you?

Outside, can you please come up with me? My guest reception room is on the second floor." The beauty with longing eyes curled up her mouth, blinked her big talking eyes, and whispered with her eyes that only

A little secret that only the two of us know...

In fact, it was the saltpeter business and the legion's clothing business. And I bet that she had said similar things to people many times...

Wen Dier walked up the stairs first, and I followed behind. The hall on the second floor soon said that after a while, her maid also arrived and put the plate with coffee, sugar cubes and gravy on the table. .

"Would you like some coffee?" Wen Dier picked up the white porcelain spoon and asked.

I shook my head: "It's already late now. If I drink more coffee, I'm afraid it won't be easy to fall asleep at night."

"Oh..what do you need?"

"wine."

Wen Dier gestured to the maid, who immediately withdrew.

She made herself a cup of fragrant coffee, put in a few cubes of sugar, took a sip, closed her eyes and savored the bitter taste of the coffee for a while. When she opened her eyes again, her eyes had regained a lot of energy. , she glanced at the simple clothes she was wearing, and then exclaimed "Ah" in a low voice. She put down the cup and said: "It seems that I did something wrong again. I think I need some time to make up for my mistake. Because these clothes It cannot be used to entertain a Caesar's son. Can you wait here for a while? Of course, if you prefer my current appearance, I think I can forgive my little stupidity."

Making things difficult? Teasing?

I was a little confused about the idea of ​​a wife, so I smiled and replied steadily: "Although I am Caesar's son, you are the master here, and I am a guest."

"Then please sit here for a while and allow me to go back to my room for a while."

The wife left such a sentence and left, asking me to follow the maid at the door. I stared at the maid with big eyes and small eyes. I smiled subconsciously. The next second, the latter immediately looked at her nose and nose, and her eyes moved down to the floor. On the top, both hands kept stirring the robe, holy shit...

After sitting for a while, my butt couldn't sit still. I couldn't help it. I sat for a long time today! I got up and looked around the living room of Leonidas' house. It was a very decent mansion headed by a female noble. Inside the glass cabinet It is filled with expensive porcelain, collections, and warm champagne-colored tablecloths. The overall use of bright paper walls, exquisite porcelain, and gorgeous landscape oil paintings creates a delicate and warm atmosphere in the hall.

After walking around, I discovered the inner hall, which was a completely different world from the outer hall, with a thick atmosphere.

Dark wallpaper was used, and underneath were bookshelves filled with books. The four corners of the wooden wall were carved and gilded, and there was an extremely scarlet gold-rimmed carpet on the floor.

A huge wooden table with an imperial double-headed eagle was placed next to a copper globe. The closed window faced the sea, and the dark red window screen was tied with a gold rope... This room looked like a man. A room with a very domineering man. Could it be that this is the place where the wife’s dead husband handled official business?

At this time, the red wine I asked for arrived. I took a sip and felt a familiar taste in my mouth. It seemed that the wine in my hand was exactly the same as the red wine produced in the palace in Crete!

Well, you did it just to flatter me?

I walked into the back hall and looked up at the books on the bookshelf. The titles of the books strengthened my suspicion that this was really a man's room. In this era, it was impossible for a woman to read "The King" and "The King". Books such as "Imperial Nobles", "Strategy", and "Code of Nations" will be very boring books on strategy for them.

However, these books have been something I have been reading since I was a child. I haven’t touched them for a long time, and I can’t help but feel a little nostalgic in my heart. When Wen Dier changed clothes and came out, I was flipping through a book called "Kingdoms" that I hadn’t read in a long time.

Wearing an inverted triangle satin embroidered corset, the wife's ejaculation increased greatly. She held a porcelain cup at the door and asked with a smile: "Very good?"

"It's a nice collection." I complimented.

"How does that compare to Caesar's collection of books?"

The wife's question was a bit childish, so I closed the book and put it back on the shelf and said, "The two cannot be compared. Some of the books in your collection will never appear in my home."

"For example?" The wife frowned, her expression a little serious.

“For example, Augustine’s On the Trinity and City of God.”

Calling the maids out of the room, I asked straight to the point: "Madam, you should know that there have been some disputes between France and the Empire recently..."

"Yes, that guy named Colbert has raised the import tax again. Alas, he is the most annoying person when doing business in France. He increases the tax every few days without caring about us at all.

The hard work of middlemen." Wen Dier gritted his teeth when he mentioned the name of the French Finance Minister.

I further asked: "Have you made a lot less this year?"

"Of course, the original profit of one franc has been reduced to half a franc, and this money will eventually be used to repair ships and hire personnel. They have dozens of ships!" The fussy look made

The beautiful woman finally looks like a married woman.

"Do you want to hear good news?" I lowered my voice and leaned closer.

Wen Dier narrowed her eyes with a smile, stretched out her white little finger, and asked: "Don't tell me, let me guess, what good news are you going to tell me? Are you telling me to intervene in this matter?"

Has the foreign minister of the empire successfully negotiated with France? Can tariffs be restored to their previous levels? Is this right?"

Shaking his head: "No."

"So Caesar has a new business to sell to France?"

He continued to shake his head: "No."

"Okay, don't tell me that you have an idea that will make me a lot of money."

"Yes." I dare say that this woman definitely guessed my purpose, so she put the correct answer at the end.

"Then tell me, how should I repay you?"

Wen Dier smiled and asked a very suggestive question, what happened to this woman today?

"Let me finish first. Because my method is neither difficult nor easy." I put down my wine glass, knocked on the table, and spit out one word, "Smuggling."

"Smuggling?" Wen Dier was stunned.

"Well, it's smuggling!" Smuggling is a very strange but familiar word. In different languages, there are different long explanations for this word, but in the end, smuggling means no need to pay taxes and no need to pay imports.

There is no need to pay taxes, export taxes, or trade taxes. In other words, it is stealing money from the country.

Wen Dier said: "Smuggling can indeed exempt a lot of taxes. I didn't think about it some time ago, but in the end I gave up the idea because it was difficult to operate."

Operation is difficult, I don't deny this, but at this moment: "France's current tariffs have reached an astonishing level, smuggling can make huge profits, I think Mr. Colbert knows very well

At this point, if you want to smuggle, you must have a large enough network! A network big enough to be able to hide it from the eyes of the Finance Minister! Just because it was not possible in the past few months, does not mean that it is not possible now."

"how come."

"Why not?" I asked Wen Dier in return, "I think Madam knows better than me who are the people who serve the Sun King in France. There are many nobles, but His Majesty the French King seems to prefer to use those people.

The rich middle class. Here comes the key. Excuse me, beautiful madam, how did the French middle class become officials or even nobles serving the kingdom?"

"Being appreciated by the king... of course, those are only a small number of lucky people, and more people buy it with money."

I asked again: "Then why do they spend money to become officials?"

"Of course it is the official functions they value that bring them greater benefits."

"May I ask, what is the difference between those officials and businessmen?"

Wendy was immediately speechless, and I slowly said: "The reason why people are loyal is because the price of betrayal is not enough. What's more, smuggling only requires those officials to open one eye and close the other. This is far from the truth.

Betrayal. The most important thing is that smuggling is also of great benefit to them. You know, in France, especially in the south, there are many families who make a living by running transportation between Constantinople and Marseille. The upper class

There are also many nobles here who rely on this trade channel to live a decent life, especially some big nobles. They have a lot of expenses for banquets, attendants, and clothing. Colbert suddenly hit them with a heavy hand, almost strangling them to death. You

Are they going to sit there and wait to die?"

"But how exactly are we going to do it? Where are we going to find so many important friends?"

"Allies? They have already appeared. We don't need to look for them, they will come to us on their own." Who in this world is willing to carry out smuggling with their heads high? Naturally, they are desperadoes who are tempted by huge profits.
To be continued...