Genolio placed a stack of documents on the table: "Your Highness, you can take a look at these accounts. These are the accounts of the Trade Union's expenditures in Morent City for the past three years. Based on the results alone, the Trade Unions of the Trade Union had suffered a total loss of nearly 10 million gold fords in the past three years. However, the Trade Unions had made up for this loss through the distribution of food and daily necessities, as well as the labor of millions of residents in Moronte City. The real profit deficit had shrunk to slightly more than 1 million gold fords.
Through these accounts, we can draw an interesting conclusion. The trade union had constructed a self-sufficient economic system in Moronte City. They didn't need to trade with the outside world. The millions of residents of Moronte City were both consumers and producers. The Chambers of Commerce of the Trade Union provide them with the basic necessities of life, while the residents receive food and daily necessities from the Chambers of Commerce through various labor services. During this process, they don't need gold fords to trade with each other.
We found a few letters from the Vice President of a Chamber of Commerce and his friend in the inner city. In the letters, the Vice President and his friend were debating whether it was worth it to support a city of millions of people that didn't engage in agricultural production. This was an interesting point of view. The Vice President's friend believed that the size of Morent City should be reduced. At least half of the millions of residents should be sent to the Chambers of Commerce and the territories of the nobles to reduce the burden the Chambers of Commerce had on Morent City.
The Vice President's view was the opposite of his friend's. He believed that the quality of the millions of residents in Morent City was far higher than the submissive citizens of the Chambers of Commerce and the territories of the nobles. The development of the Trade Union was closely related to the countless talents provided by Morent City. At the same time, the Vice President gave an example. The Chamber of Commerce he was in had also moved its production workshop back to the territory of the Chamber of Commerce. However, they soon discovered that the quality and efficiency of the goods produced in the territory of the Chamber of Commerce were far inferior to those produced in Morent City.
According to the documents we found in the residences of the Chambers of Commerce in the inner city, the Trade Union has been arguing about the future development of Morent City. Although Morent City is not as good as it used to be, losing its position as the central commercial city of Galinthea, the millions of free Morent City residents have become a burden to the Trade Union. Even though the production and expenditure of millions of residents had reached a delicate balance, in the eyes of some executives of chambers of commerce who lacked foresight, they regarded millions of residents of Morrent City as burdens instead of wealth.
We found a proposal in the archives of the Confederation Parliament. It seems to be a joint proposal of a dozen Merchant Associations. They request for half of the residents of Moront City to be forcefully dispersed to the territories of the various Merchant Associations. Then, the dozen or so communities in the outer city will be redesigned for large-scale real estate development. This will turn Moront City into the capital of the Confederation, a noble city of the Confederation...
However, this proposal was rejected by the seven leaders of the Commerce Alliance. The chairman of the Twin-Headed Dragon Chamber of Commerce, Duke Cambert, even made a speech at the Alliance Parliament. This was the transcript of his speech. President Cambert said that the difficulties were only temporary. As long as they defeated the Andinac Kingdom, the Trade Union would welcome long-term peace. By then, all the difficulties of the Trade Union would be solved, and everyone present would reap rich returns on their investments in Moronte City.
The investment now meant the harvest in the future. Duke Cambert said that after the war ended and peace arrived, Moront City would return to its former glory. A great city not only needed noble nobles, but it also needed a large number of people to serve it. Therefore, even though the millions of residents of Moront City were everyone's burden now, they would become everyone's source of wealth in the future. As long as they persevered through this difficult period, a bright future would not be far ahead.
At the same time, Duke Cambert also announced that after the victory over the Andinac Kingdom, the Trade Union would redesign and expand Moront City. The current 24 communities in the outer city would be relocated and relocated to new areas. The original locations would be connected to the inner city, and a beautiful new area for nobles would be built. There would also be a singing and dancing theater, an equestrian arena, a swordsmanship hall, and a series of other entertainment venues. This reconstruction plan will be shared by all the Merchant Associations who united and supported the Confederation's resolution in this war … "
While listening to Genolio's report, Laurist gently tapped the table with his right index finger. He could not help but sigh in his heart. President Cambert of the Twin-Headed Dragon Merchant Association was indeed a talent who had been in charge of the Trade Union's decision-making power for many years. He was much more far-sighted than those merchants who only cared about gold. It was not the millions of residents' fault that Moront City had fallen to this state. It was a problem with the Trade Union's national policy.
If the Trade Union did not implement the nobility system, Moront City would still be the number one commercial city in the Galinthia Continent. It was just that the merchants did not want to be looked down upon after interacting with the nobles for a long time, so they had to implement the nobility system to squeeze into the circle of the nobles. Perhaps this had something to do with the traditional custom of dividing land and conferring nobility. After all, no matter how rich the merchants were, their status was not as high as the nobles. How could the merchants of the Trade Union, who were at the peak of their power, tolerate the feeling of being below others …
However, the decision makers of the Trade Union had forgotten that humans were selfish, and merchants were even more egoistic. The glory of Moront City in the past was built on the foundation of the fiery trade. With the implementation of the nobility system, each merchant association had their own territory. Naturally, they would move their production workshops to their own territory to reduce production costs. Just moving a material warehouse to the merchant association's territory would cause Moront City to lose a portion of its tax revenue. Under such circumstances, how could Moront City not be depressed?
Without economic trade, the millions of residents of Moront City had no choice but to become the slaves and experimental subjects of the various merchant associations. Although they talked about freedom and equality, in reality, they did not have control over their own destiny. This was because even the distribution of coarse grains and daily necessities were in the hands of the various merchant associations. The pitiful millions of residents of Moront City …
Fortunately, the highest officials of the Trade Union were still sensible. They knew that after the war, the Trade Union only needed to reach peace with the surrounding countries and open up trade routes. Then, Moront City would be able to shine again. That was why the various merchant associations of the Trade Union were willing to sustain the millions of residents of Moront City at a loss. This could be considered a long-term investment. These merchant associations were betting on the future of Moront City.
"Is that all? Genolio, you did well this time. The information you gathered about Moront City is very complete, "Laurist praised with satisfaction.
Genolio smiled bitterly. "Your Highness, I have some very bad news …"
"What bad news? Tell me, the situation can't be that bad, "Laurist said disapprovingly.
"Your Highness, because we, the Norton Family, occupied Moront City, we broke the fragile economic circle formed by the Trade Union. Now, our Norton Family has to feed more than 1.5 million people who have nothing to do in Morrent City … "
"What did you say?" Laurist felt like he was listening to a fantasy story. Is this possible? I am the victor, the conqueror of this great city. The Norton Family has conquered this city, so shouldn't we take all the riches and make all the citizens kneel at my feet, hoping that I will be merciful and let them go? Then, I will proudly return to my family territory with all the treasures and beauties. How did it become me leading the armed forces to occupy this city, and I have to feed more than 1.5 million residents?
As if he knew what Laurist was thinking, Genolio spread his hands innocently. "What I said is true, Your Highness. Unless you give another order to kill all the millions of citizens in this city, then you can pack up and return to the Northern Lands. But then, the Norton Family will become the target of the world's scolding. As for our family's reputation, uh, would we still have a family reputation then?
Uh, of course, I'm just giving an example. I know that Your Highness would not give such an order. It's just that after our armed forces occupied Moront City, not only did the Christopher Hills, which used to provide the city with potatoes, oats, and other coarse grains, lose their food supply, but the livelihood of the millions of residents of Moront City was also gone. So, Your Highness, now the 1.5 million people of Moront City need our family to feed … "
I seemed to have dug a hole for the Trade Alliance to fall into, but I ended up being the one to fall into it … Laurist stood up gloomily and gave Genolio's head a few slaps. "You've got guts. How dare you talk to your teacher like that!"
Then, Laurist started to wander around the room again. He seemed to have thought of something just now. That's right, it was Genolio who mentioned food, and I have to feed the millions of residents of Moront City … Hmm, could it be that the Trade Alliance's armed forces gave up on reclaiming Moront City because they wanted the Norton Family to bear this burden? That can't be right, we seized so much food from the transport fleet. It's enough to feed the millions of residents of Moront City for two to three months, and we can even transport more food from our family's territory …
Laurist suddenly realized something. Food, the key was food. How could he have forgotten? His family's North Sea Fleet had defeated the Invincible Fleet, and the transport fleet had fallen into his hands. Without this batch of food, even if the Trade Alliance reclaimed Moront City, they would not be able to provide enough food to feed the residents of Moront City.
Furthermore, the potatoes that the Christophe Hills could provide would need two to three months to grow. It wasn't that the farmers in the Christophe Hills had cut off the supply of coarse grains to Morrent City, but they were only left with rations. The potatoes in the fields had just been sown, and it would take more than two months for them to be harvested.
Therefore, this batch of food from the transport fleet was very important to the Trade Alliance. With this batch of food, they would be able to survive these two to three months. Following this, the potato harvest season would arrive in the Christophe Hills, and after a month or so, it would also be the harvest season for the southern provinces of the mainland. Then, the Trade Alliance would be able to survive this difficult period of food shortage.
Now that the Norton Family had intervened and taken over Moront City, it was obvious that the food from the transport fleet would not fall into the hands of the Trade Alliance. Even if they could reclaim Moront City, as long as the Norton Family took away the food or burned it down, only tragedy would await the Trade Alliance. Because of this, the upper echelons of the Trade Alliance gave up on Moront City and brought the remaining elite troops back to Mawei Fulin Province.
As expected, merchants did not have any sense of honor. Even though Moront City was the capital of the Trade Alliance, the merchants still gave it up without any hesitation. If the capital or capital of other nobles or kingdoms was taken over, it was guaranteed that those nobles would be furious. They would bring people with them to reclaim their lost land first.
No, the Trade Alliance's considerations were not that simple. They should know that food alone would not be a problem for the Norton Family. The problem was that there were more than a million idle citizens in Moront City. Without a livelihood, even if the Norton Family distributed food to them for free, they would still become the biggest threat to Moront City.
"Genolio, before we took over Moront City, how did the millions of citizens earn their livelihood to obtain food and daily necessities from the Trade Alliance?" Laurist asked.
Genolio replied, "Your Highness, Sir Tagger has already sent people to investigate this thoroughly. The documents are in the folder in his hand."
"Tell me, Tagger."
"Yes, Your Highness." Tagger flipped open the folder in his hand and began to report, "Before the war broke out, there were about 800,000 citizens in Moront City. The slums and slums had about 100,000 people. However, because the war had taken place in the Mana Hill Plains, more than 500,000 refugees from the Mana Hill Plains had flooded into Moronte City to seek refuge. Some of them had sought refuge with their relatives and friends, while others had the money to purchase houses in Moronte City.
The Trade Alliance recruited 100,000 new soldiers from Moront City, and then recruited another 40,000 people to fill the frontlines. The relatives of these 150,000 people had two places to automatically receive food and daily necessities. This was the Trade Alliance's preferential treatment for these new soldiers. At the same time, they were much luckier than the new soldiers from the southern provinces. They were not used as cannon fodder in the attack. They were basically responsible for the defense of the rear and the logistics of food and supplies.
However, after three years of war, there were only about 120,000 people left. Now, they have all become captives of our family's armed forces. Their relatives have also lost their food and daily necessities distribution. In total, there are about 400,000 people.
There are also those who carry out the initial processing of various production materials for the Trade Alliance's various chambers of commerce. For example, textiles is one of the largest industries. There are about 300,000 people in Moront City who are related to this textile industry. They spin the coarse hemp raw materials distributed to them by the chambers of commerce into the most basic hemp yarn and hemp thread. The chambers of commerce then take them back and transport them to the production workshops in their respective territories for further processing and weaving into various types of hemp cloth.
Just like the materials we seized from the warehouses of Moront City's chambers of commerce, which are worth nearly 10 million gold fords. Most of them are the most basic raw materials. Although the quantity is huge, it is not of much value to our family. Even if we transport them back to our family territory, who would be willing to wear these hemp clothes? They are neither warm nor durable.
Apart from the textile industry, there are also food processing, weaving straw shoes for the frontline soldiers, cutting firewood to make charcoal, fishing in the Hidden Gold Bay, working as servants for the various chambers of commerce, serving as maids for the nobles, and so on. Basically, as long as one is willing to work, they can find a job and receive food and daily necessities distribution from the various chambers of commerce.
Now that our family's armed forces have occupied Moront City, all the work related to the various chambers of commerce in the Trade Alliance has been canceled. Only a few jobs related to the livelihood of the people are still continuing. However, the problem is that we don't know who to look for and how to distribute the necessities, such as cutting firewood, burning charcoal, fishing, and how to distribute the necessities. Because of this, there are some disturbances in the 24 communities of the outer city. Everyone is in a state of panic. "
Well, Loriste smiled bitterly. Not only did he have to feed the millions of people in Moront City, he also had to arrange jobs for them. He had really fallen into the pit he had dug himself.
… …
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