[ekimekim]

What I love about this is that it's a textbook example of a reflection DoS attack (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack#Refle...) - you send a message with a spoofed reply-to address, such that the message you sent (in this case, a letter) is much cheaper than the response eventually sent to the victim (in this case, tradespeople / goods / dignitaries).