[Foodstamp]

I am pretty sure I bid on them right. The game I was playing was a test bed for an upcoming MP game and I had just read your post so I decided to test it as well.

The nation that outbid me was a modded in nation from Master of Magic and the mercenaries were the archers in white. It's possible I did not bid on them properly, everyone can misclick, but I am pretty certain i bid 1 gold over because I usually check the merc screen before I end turn.