Next to the Royal Bank is the Secret Service. This is not intentional. It is really a coincidence that when the Secret Service was signed, the Royal Bank was still the property of the Moses family.

However, the Office of the Secret Service was closed all day long, and no one knew what these secret agents were busy with.

Of course, the public office on the surface is mainly because an accounting review team sent by the inner government works here.

In fact, the real news and other information are not clear about the agents in secret, even ordinary agents in the Secret Service.

The backyard of the bank, the Roman courtyard, is a concave-shaped stone building complex, with the middle of the concave character being a statue fountain.

This concave two-story stone building is now quite magnificent and is also the main building of the courtyard owner's family.

In fact, during the Roman Republic, because the population of Roman city was increasing, it could only expand space to high-rise buildings. There were many apartment buildings on four or five floors. This kind of apartment building often lived on the first floor with relatively wealthy classes, and the upper floors were poor people. Moreover, it was easy to catch fire. Once a fire broke out, it would be difficult for the upper floor residents to escape.

The building built by the Jews, which can also be called a castle, was built by the real nobles.

There are more than 100 large and small rooms in the building. Moreover, today's luxury houses and residences basically have the function of castle defense. This main building is no exception. The narrow windows on the second floor can be used as a cover shooting point for archers.

The functions of the room are relatively rich. Of course, it mainly includes dormitories, study rooms, etc., bakeries, wine press rooms, kitchens, etc. This luxurious manor has other buildings, including maids. Only maids are in the first floor, while male servants have to live in the atrium complex.

However, the basement of this concave building has a storage room that stores grain, storing meat, etc., as well as a wine storage room that stores various wines. However, rows of wooden barrels can also hold clear water.

In this way, you will be surrounded by the enemy or encounter disasters and plagues. As long as you can resist the enemy's attack, the plague will not be brought in. At least in a short period of time, food and water will be provided.

At this moment, Lu Ning was looking through the secret military information sent by the Secret Bureau in the extremely spacious study converted from the second floor chapel.

It was an analysis of the entire Principality of Ross. It was a dozen pages, and the infiltration and investigation of the Principality of Ross was finally achieved.

Nowadays, the Principality of Ross can actually be regarded as a collection of more than a dozen city-confederate alliances, or as a collection of three major ethnic groups.

As for city-states, many large towns formed with castles as the center can be regarded as a separate city-state. There are more than a dozen such large towns with more than a thousand people, or city-states.

In terms of the three major ethnic groups, they can be regarded as the Kiev ethnic group, the Novgorod ethnic group, and the Polotsk ethnic group.

Among them, the Novgorods were in the northernmost part. The earliest landing place of the Vikings, the ancestors of the Ross, can be regarded as the Russians of later generations. Later, the Ross migrated the capital to Kiev and merged with the local Eastern Slavs. The Kiev ethnic group can be regarded as a collection of southern Russians and Ukrainians.

The Polotsk tribe has a pure bloodline and belongs to an Eastern Slavic tribe that was not too integrated by other tribes, which was later Belarusians.

Of course, nowadays, Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians are not as clear as later generations. In fact, even from later generations, Russia and Belarus are only different in language and culture, and their differences are even smaller than those of the southern Russian ethnic groups and the northern Russian ethnic groups.

These three major ethnic groups, Vladimir I, who married Princess Anna of Byzantine and converted Kievan Rus into Orthodoxism, mainly ruled the Kievan ethnic group.

The Novgorod people, or the Northern Russians, have gradually become more and more accused of Kiev and even have the idea of ​​restoring the Nordic deliberation system, that is, the princes of Novgorod are only responsible for defense and are jointly ruled by the bishop and the elected mayor.

Nowadays, Prince Viseslav, the son of Kiev's Grand Duke Vladimir I and his earliest wife, has long been separated from his father.

The situation of the Polotsk people, or Belarusians, is even worse. The current prince Ijaslav is the son of the raped local Norman princess when Vladimir I of Kiev conquered Polotsk when he raped Polotsk. He may have seen his mother live through tears since he was a child, and he was full of hatred for his father.

In fact, it is not just these three major ethnic groups. Vladimir, the Grand Duke of Kiev, gave birth to many sons and daughters. Before marrying Princess Anna of Byzantine to convert to Dongzheng's monogamy, he claimed to have 800 wives and concubines.

Many of these children were enfeoffed to the gathering areas of large and small castles to be princes.

Historically, after Vladimir I's death, the sects immediately fell into a melee. Although one of them had killed several brothers and briefly unified the Principality of Ross, the tendency of the splitting of this city-state complex was almost inevitable. In the end, it split into more than a dozen small principalities, or in other words, into more than a dozen city-states.

It was not until the Mongols invaded and established the Golden Horde in Kiev that the focus of the development of the Ross gradually reached the Moscow area, forming the prototype of Russia in later generations.

Looking at the thick stack of secret reports in his hand, combined with the development trajectory of the Ross people in history, Lu Ning sometimes nodded and sometimes frowned, but gradually, a general idea of ​​the Ross people emerged.

Da da, the door was knocked, and Livni, wearing a black and white maid apron, walked in with a tea tray.

Lu Ning glanced at her and said, "Natalia refused to leave, right?"

Now, it is no longer a question of Natalia's willingness to leave. Natalia's family has been rewarded with a lot of money, and has long been grateful that she no longer pursued her daughter's existence, and she just pretended to be dead.

Livni nodded gently, and with a white and slender hand, carefully placed the sandalwood teapot, tea cup and refreshments in the tea tray on a corner of the desk.

Lu Ning smiled, "Natalia will do these things in the future. I have already told them that you will help me handle banking affairs as my personal assistant. In the future, you will cooperate well with Deputy General Manager Zhang Xun in the future."

Livni nodded again.

Lu Ning suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh, there will be an event in the Chamber of Commerce today, you and me."

Nowadays, in free cities and coastal areas, spontaneous organizations have gradually emerged in various industries, which is the prototype of the guild. Nowadays, it is mainly merchant guilds, with names such as "fraternity", "union", etc.

Before the Qi people came, Xikang Port was a city-state dominated by autonomous regions. The big merchants formed an alliance called the "Chelsson Brotherhood". They controlled the commercial trade of Xikang Port. If you want to trade in Xikang Port, you must obtain the permission of the Cheelsson Brotherhood. Even the location and price of the store opening or trading require the permission of the Brotherhood. Simply put, it is the commercial monopoly organization of Xikang Port.

After the Qi people arrived, they ordered such organizations to be registered and ascended the throne. When they registered, they were renamed "Xikang Port Chamber of Commerce". Originally, Old Moses was the president of the chamber of commerce.

Now that the Moses family has collapsed, the Chamber of Commerce is going to re-elect leaders, so it also invited the Royal Bank, which has inherited the Moses family's industry.

The convener of the Chamber of Commerce meeting was Genoese merchant Giuliano. This was not a small merchant in Venice, Genoa that Lu Ning had punished in Black Harbor. It is said that his family is one of the most powerful families in Genoa and the manager of the current Genoa autonomous city-state.

Although the Genoa city-state and Venetian city-state truly became stronger by the help of the opportunities brought by the Crusades, it cannot be underestimated today, especially the Venetian city-state and the navy of the Byzantine Empire, most of the Venetian fleets hired.

Although the Genoa city-state is not as good as Venice, it is more enterprising. Historically, after the Khasa rule over Crimea became nameless, it was the Genoese who came to the northern shore of the Black Sea and controlled all the ports in the southern part of the Crimean Peninsula. The arrival of the Qi people interrupted its normal process.

Therefore, this Giuliano, it can be said, represents the existence of Genoa city-state forces in the Crimean Peninsula.

After the Qi people arrived, they did not expel them. After all, the various rules such as politics, business and military here are completely different from the Central Plains. Everything that cannot be arbitrary is used to act according to the Central Plains rules, otherwise they will only create more and more enemies.

Giuliano convened the chamber of commerce, and Lu Ning was also preparing to see what he wanted to do.

Thinking and saying, "You and Giuliano are familiar with each other, how are you? Are you ambitious? What are your advantages and disadvantages?"

Livni's beautiful brown eyes flashed and said lightly: "He is very arrogant, and I don't have much contact with him."

Lu Ning nodded slightly.

...

Giuliano's manor near the sea is quiet and beautiful. Lu Ning has long discovered it from the royal palace castle that perfectly combines the reefs, waves and green wood flowerbeds. This Italian manor, which is perfectly combined with the seaside building complex, is the most beautiful place with a bird's eye view outside the Zhenxi Royal Palace.

Now in the big banquet living room of the manor, there are representatives of big merchants sitting on both sides of the long table. The long table is very long, and there are more than 20 big merchants. A few steps behind them, there are also people standing there, with more than a hundred people black, all of whom are members of the Chamber of Commerce. Almost all the small merchants in Xikang Port were there, crowded with people, and the whispering discussions made the living room of big banquets buzzing.

Of course, there are many handicraftsmen among them, but there are no handicraft guilds yet. Most of them sell their own handicrafts, and naturally they are classified as merchants.

On the main seat of the long table, a middle-aged man with gray hair and hook nose was naturally Giuliano, a Genoese.

Lu Ning sat in the first place in the left head, behind him, standing Livni.

The female official dressed in snow-white gauze dress, with long dark red hair tied up with a beautiful bun, and a small flower-adored top hat, which made her look even more gorgeous. She was wearing a pair of snow-white thin silk stockings under the white pants, and among the light-heeled crystal shoes, the tempting snow-footed feet of soft ankles and colorful toenail polish were revealed. This beautiful Jewish young woman was full of charm, and the whole banquet hall seemed to shine with her beauty.

She holds a notepad and a quill in a slender hand, and is completely a retro personal assistant. Nowadays, she is beautiful and avant-garde.

Lu Ning didn't expect that she would dress so beautifully and the clothes she chose were extremely decent.

She had originally prepared gorgeous puffed skirts, Royal Bank employee uniforms, etc., but she was not a later generation, but she seemed to know how to dress up her private secretary. The puffed skirts were like she was the hostess. The bank uniforms could not fully reflect her intimate relationship as a personal assistant and an employer. The snow-white clothes she chose were actually a kind of clothing for the female official in the inner court, but the finishing touch of the top hat made her different from the female official.

Of course, in today's world, the fabric, color, handicraft, etc. of the clothes worn by Livni are already exquisite and incomparable. The luxurious atmosphere is coming to her. From the servants, only the service staff of the Central Plains royal family can be so luxurious.

In the venue, it was obvious that the clothes worn by the merchants were definitely not as valuable as Livni's clothing, let alone the women in their family. It seemed that after the Moses family was investigated, Livni's quality of life had improved.

Most of the small merchants in the venue knew the reputation of the third generation young grandmother of the Moses family, but this was the first time I saw her. More than half of the buzzing sounds in the venue may be related to the young grandmother.

This young lady has many charms and luxurious atmosphere, which makes people dare not look at her. She can only talk randomly to calm the shock caused in her heart.

Livni looked as usual. Whether it was slander or praise in the venue, it seemed that it had nothing to do with her.

Giuliano coughed, and the buzzing sound in the venue immediately became smaller until it disappeared completely.

This Genoa merchant's status in the Sikon business world can be seen. He was the old Moses before and respected him very much.

Giuliano looked at Lu Ning with a smile: "Wen, I'm very happy that you can come. I think we all have the same expectations. Our Chamber of Commerce has always hoped that Qiren can join in. After all, now, your small businessmen have more and more shops in Celson. The Oriental products brought by the East China Sea Baixing, and the quota for Celson, we also hope to formulate some terms and rules with you..."

Lu Ning waved his hand and interrupted him, and said with a smile: "Without you, let's say that everyone here is all the people. Otherwise, they would not be able to join the Chamber of Commerce, and if they live here, the taxes paid will be different!"

Giuliano stumbled slightly and then smiled, "Yes, it was my mistake, but you should understand it. It takes a process for us to accept our new identity." He also looked around and smiled, "I will announce good news. I just received a letter from my cousin. In Genoa, the city cousin was recently established. My cousin, Mr. Spinora, was elected as the mayor of Genoa."

Lu Ning smiled in his heart, it turned out to be the Spinola family, no wonder.

As for what Giuliano said, it was actually his cousin who was elected as DUX. In Latin, it means leader and consul. In Lu Ning's view, it is the mayor of the Municipality of Genoa.

The city council appeared in this autonomous city-state several decades earlier than in history. Of course, the position of the city-state consul has always been elected by the nobles in the city. Now, it has only been more clearly institutionalized.

Everyone was already amazed, congratulations to Giuliano.

Giuliano looked at Lu Ning and smiled and said, "In the future, it will be more convenient if we need Genoa's fleet to protect our routes and fight against barbarians and pirates. My cousin also hopes to establish a closer relationship with the Black Sea Province."

The little merchants praised them again. Although they did not have merchant ships, the goods they sold had to be shipped by sea.

In fact, it is not just Xikang County. For coastal clusters along the Black Sea Province, if they cannot transport near the sea, it will be a disaster, because some of the clusters are good at agriculture, some focus on trade, and some are spice production areas. They have always needed to allocate various resources, including a large amount of grain transportation. If they lose shipping, it will be a devastating disaster.

Because the land passages between these cluster areas are very difficult to carry out, large-scale transportation requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and I don’t know how long it takes.

Giuliano is so arrogant, and the meaning of his words is naturally because the Qi people are in the Black Sea and it is difficult for them to organize real fleet power.

The Black Sea Fleet is difficult to reach in the short term, and it is no secret to well-informed people in Xikang County.

Lu Ning didn't keep it secret either. Otherwise, after a long time, the fleet that came here would be nowhere to be seen, and rumors would be spreading.

Looking at Giuliano, Lu Ning smiled: "Okay, I also look forward to cooperation with the Spinola family."

In fact, although the Black Sea Province is preparing to hire the Venetian fleet or the Genoa fleet as mercenaries to deter the barbarians and real pirates that may appear near the sea, it is definitely not the intention of Giuliano to rely on them today.

At Sinop, a land battle was deliberately carried out, which also made the Byzantines know that although the Qi people did not have a powerful navy in the Black Sea, if the war broke out, they would eventually go to land to engage in a real victory and loss duel. Therefore, the Qi people's power on this small peninsula would never allow anyone to be insulted.

"Okay, next, let's recommend the leader of the chamber of commerce." Giuliano suggested with a smile.

Everyone naturally agreed.

Without any surprises, Giuliano was elected as the new leader of the Xikang Chamber of Commerce.

Next, the charter of the Chamber of Commerce was discussed.

After Qi Ren arrived, the law enforcement power of the Chamber of Commerce was abolished, such as the Chamber of Commerce’s permission needed to set up stalls and buy shops.
To be continued...