"The company..." Roland said in a low voice.
"What?" Victor was slightly startled. "If you have any doubts, I can explain it again..."
"No need." Roland waved his hand. "This is indeed an interesting plan. At least it seems to be fine. If you want to implement it, how long will it take for you to prepare the funds? "
Victor's eyes lit up with joy. "I knew you would understand it. Please forgive my rudeness, Your Majesty, if you were also a businessman, your achievements would definitely not be inferior to any big Chamber of Commerce!"
This metaphor seemed to lower the status of the king, but it was a way of expressing a high degree of recognition in aristocratic etiquette and could also be regarded as a kind of undisguised flattery.
At this moment, Roland had a completely different idea. Isn't this a large-scale industrial company in the future?
Settle down with technology, recruit workers, organize production and marketing, and control profits and losses... He did not expect to hear such a complete plan from a contemporary person. The biggest difference between this plan and the Chamber of Commerce was that this plan combined production and sales, which could be said to be the prototype of modern private enterprises.
This might be an excellent opportunity.
In the past four years, his territory had achieved rapid development, but it had gradually revealed its shortcomings. That was, the Administrative Office almost took care of everything. Every project needed to be controlled by the Administrative Office. From the establishment of staff to the allocation of budget, these complicated work regulations took up most of the time of the officials. As the scale of the project continued to expand, it was bound to become more and more bloated, and the administrative efficiency would accordingly decrease.
This could be regarded as a common problem of "state-owned enterprises". Once the profits and losses had nothing to do with the participants, stability was everything. It had the advantage of being determined by the will of the higher-ups regardless of the returns. It could quickly meet the needs in the early stage and could also be used to conquer those risky strategic projects in the later stage. But it did not mean that it was omnipotent.
This was also one of the reasons why Roland focused on developing heavy industry and agriculture in Neverwinter and paid little attention to light industry. In addition to the limited labor force, the Administrative Office could not provide so many officials to cope with the expansion of the types of industries.
After all, it was easy to issue an order, but to really implement it, even if it was to build a steam engine assembly plant, it would need the support of a whole team of people.
But now, he had a new choice.
Before he could use any means to attract investment, someone had already taken the initiative to send it to him. Naturally, Roland had no reason to refuse.
Although this "company" had the background of a foreign aristocratic family and would inevitably cause a certain amount of Golden Dragon to flow out after the profit, as long as its production department was in Graycastle, this was not a big deal.
After reaching a preliminary agreement, Roland personally sent Victor to the gate of the castle. "When you are ready, I think the new cotton seeds should be cultivated. But I have to make one thing clear. If there are other businessmen who want to follow your example, the Administrative Office will sell the seeds to them at the same price. The more abundant the goods on the market, the more affordable the price. You should know this better than me. "
"Of course, Your Majesty," Victor said confidently. "The merchants of the Kingdom of Dawn are never afraid of competition. My father always said that from the moment we were born, the competition began. "
When he was about to leave, Roland suddenly stopped him. "By the way, I want to ask you a question. My minister found out that six years ago, you paid taxes to Longsong Stronghold, why? At that time, if you wanted to save this amount of money, it should have been easy for you, right? "
Victor nodded. "But at that time, the lord promised that as long as the taxes were paid, he would provide some convenience and protection for the caravans traveling between the border and Longsong Stronghold. And he did so. At that time, this amount of money could at least prevent the threat of wild beasts and attacks from his peers. I always feel that it is good for businessmen to pay a little price for a stable and orderly rule. Unfortunately, many people would rather invest a large amount of money on worthless goods than regard the rule as one of the costs. "
"What an interesting person," Roland could not help thinking as he watched the merchant leave. With such a person as an example, the "private enterprises" of Graycastle should also usher in a period of rapid and vigorous development.
Just as he was about to return to his office, Nightingale's anxious voice suddenly rang in his ear. "Your Majesty, Lightning is back. She seems to be in trouble —"
"What's the situation?" Roland asked hurriedly.
"I'm not sure... I just received a message from Sylvie. After she was brought back by Maggie, she was directly sent to the hospital!"
Roland's heart suddenly sank. "She's injured? Take me to see her now! "
"Yes, Your Majesty." Nightingale reached out to grab him, and then the two of them disappeared into the Mist together.
...
After arriving at the hospital in the west of the city, Roland saw the little girl lying on the bed.
The moment he opened the door, his worries were greatly dispelled. Lightning looked unscathed, and there were no obvious wounds or bloodstains on her face. Her chest was still moving up and down, which meant that she was fine. Even if she had encountered danger during the investigation, she was now safe.
But he soon found that something was wrong.
Nana did not feel relieved at all after completing the treatment. Instead, she frowned and looked down at her hands with a puzzled look.
Maggie was nervously lying on the bed, wiping Lightning's forehead with her hand. When she saw Roland, she even shrank her neck into her clothes, as if she had done something wrong. At this moment, Roland noticed that Maggie's face was constantly sweating, and her slightly open lips were letting out shallow moans, as if she was immersed in a nightmare.
"What's the matter?" Roland looked at Nana. "Where is Lightning hurt?"
Nana raised her head and slowly pointed to her chest.
"Nightingale."
"Yes." Nightingale walked forward, carefully picked up Lightning, helped her take off the special windproof coat, and then slowly unbuttoned the lining. Just as she reached the collarbone, she could not help but stop. "Your Majesty, this is..."
Roland approached the bed and found that there was a thumb-sized wound two fingers below Lightning's neck. Compared with the surrounding snow-white skin, the wound was particularly eye-catching. But if you looked closely, you would find that it did not even hurt the muscle layer, but only the skin. It was a small wound that would heal itself if left unattended.
It was reasonable to say that healing such a wound would be a trivial matter for Nana in the blink of an eye.
But what she said next made Roland freeze in place.
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