"A few days ago, when I was investigating the twenty-four communities in the outer city, I went to check the financial records of Moronte City's taxes and public expenditures for the past three years. Then I found an unbelievable fact. That is, the total amount of coins minted by the Commercial Union in the past three years is only 7.6 million gold fords … "
Fatty Shi took out a sky-blue folder from a stack of folders on the table and opened it, "The evidence is all here. It's hard to believe. When we were studying in Moronte City, the total amount of coins minted by the Commercial Union was more than 30 million gold fords a year, even reaching a peak of 68 million gold fords. But in the past three years, the total amount of coins minted was less than a fraction of the peak.
Why is this so? The truth is very simple. Although the commercial union is currently controlled by the various merchant organizations, after the implementation of the lordship system, they inevitably followed the old path of the feudal nobles. Back then, the Commercial Union was founded on commerce and used commerce to expand its influence. As the standard currency, gold fords became the most widely used currency in Galinte Continent because of their exquisite and uniform weight. Even the old man's head coins minted by the former Crisen Empire had been eliminated in the north.
But after the Commercial Union adopted the policy of using war to expand its territory, most of the trade routes and commercial transactions in the southern and central parts of the continent were cut off. This forced the Commercial Union to plunder and occupy the territories of other countries to obtain profits, which was the traditional war custom of the nobles of the kingdom. At the same time, because of the existence of the merchant's territories, most of the wealth plundered by the armed forces of the merchant organizations was transported to the reserves of the merchant organizations' territories instead of being handed over to the Commercial Union for economic development and various production.
It can be said that our family's armed forces were very lucky to be able to seize four million gold fords in the inner city. This money was used by the Commercial Union to maintain the expenses of the Invincible Fleet and to purchase some key military supplies. At the same time, it was also used as a reward to raise morale. After interrogating a few captives in the inner city, we found out a very funny thing.
It's said that when the upper echelons of the Chamber of Commerce and nobles in the inner city were preparing to surrender, our family promised not to infringe upon the private property rights of the captives and allowed them to take away 15 jin worth of personal belongings. Therefore, the upper echelons of the Chamber of Commerce hoped that the captives in the inner city would give up their personal belongings, break up the 4 million gold coins, and allow the captives to take the gold coins and return them after they escape from danger. However, this suggestion was rejected by all the captives. They would rather bring more of their own belongings than to safeguard this wealth for the Trade Alliance.
From this, it could be seen that Morent City was actually very rich. It was just that most of the money was from private properties. It wasn't just the hundreds of thousands of captives who surrendered in the inner city. Even the twenty-four communities in the outer city had a population of nearly three hundred thousand households. I was certain that every household had at least forty to fifty Gold Ford coins. Using the society of Lord El's brother, Ledos, as an example, they had earned nearly a hundred thousand Gold Ford coins by smuggling and selling high-priced meat to the residents of the outer city in the past three years.
The reason why the Trade Alliance implemented a distribution system for food and daily necessities in Morent City was mainly due to the interruption of foreign trade. As a result, the business activities in Morent City have been shrinking. In addition, the various Chamber of Commerce monopolized the profits of all industries, causing Morent City to become a huge quagmire. Poor Morent City's millions of residents. They keep on talking about independence, freedom, and equality, but the reality is that they have become slaves controlled by the various Chamber of Commerce. "
After ridiculing the residents of Morent City, Fatty Shi sternly said, "Reviving Morent City's commercial economy is actually very simple. We only need a bit of capital and some goods to reactivate the market environment of this city. We don't need the family to invest a large sum of money for this. Just the four million Gold Ford coins we've seized and the goods produced by the family's territory on Silovas Island can make Morent City shine again as the top commercial city on the continent … "
Lebrist knocked on the table with his fist and stood up, silencing the noisy discussion in the conference room caused by Fatty Shi's words. "Plunder is the easiest way to obtain wealth from war, but at the same time, there will be hatred and criticism. We, the Norton family, once destroyed the Haneabada Kingdom, beheaded the 170,000 slaves of this kingdom, and piled them up into a human pyramid. We plundered the wealth that this evil kingdom had accumulated for nearly a hundred years, but this is what this kingdom deserved. It was the revenge of countless slaves who died unjustly for a hundred years through the hands of the Norton family. We have a clear conscience.
However, someone heard Baron Shredder say that the wealth of Morent City was in the hands of the millions of residents, so he shouted the slogan of robbing them all. Ferocious Tiger Ross, you seem very excited, don't you? Are you the one who shouted the loudest? Also, Director Spear, you don't seem to object to this proposal. Do you want me to give you a sword and let you rob the wealth of the millions of Morent City residents yourself? Gentlemen, I hope you remember this. Our Norton family is not a robber, but a noble family with more than 300 years of history. Do you understand?
I'm sorry. Baron Shredder has clearly provided you with the best plan on how to obtain wealth from the millions of citizens of Morant City, but you chose the most unskilled, most hateful, and simplest and crudest method. I'm really disappointed in you. Ferocious Tiger Ross, and the ones who shouted the loudest just now, I won't name you. When we go back, I want you to memorize and write down the noble etiquette. Genolio, you're in charge of this matter and tell me the results. If anyone can't do it, I don't mind supervising him myself. "
After Laurist vented his anger, the meeting room was dead silent. No one even breathed heavily. Thinking about it carefully, it was no wonder that Laurist was angry. Morent City had more than 1.3 million residents. It was not a small city with only 200,000 to 300,000 residents, but a famous commercial metropolis on the Galinthia Continent. Robbing this city by force, even if they succeeded, would cause the Norton family's reputation to plummet, and they would become a robber family that was condemned by everyone.
Moreover, Laurist had personally said that the Norton family was here to stop this war and to help the Commercial Union and the Andinac Kingdom reach a peace agreement. He promised not to violate the private property rights of everyone and the captives, and he had pretended to be a noble and a sword saint with great morals and morals. Now that he heard that the residents of Morent City had private money, he turned around and robbed them like a robber. How could Laurist and the Norton family hide their faces …
"Money only has value when it circulates in the market. It becomes living money, like a small snowball that will grow bigger and bigger. If it's buried deep underground or stored, it's nothing but a pile of dead things. Forget it, talking to a bunch of brainless people like you is like playing the lute to a cow. " Laurist smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I've already discussed Baron Shredder's plan with me, but because we have to consider whether the Commercial Union will reply to our proposal immediately, we can't be too hasty at the moment to avoid agitating the Commercial Union and affecting the peace negotiations between us.
However, waiting for the Commercial Union's reply doesn't mean that we can just sit around and do nothing. I've decided to take the following measures for the current Morent City to solve the livelihood problem of more than a million residents.
First, sort out the surplus medium-sized fast armed warships captured by the North Sea Fleet and hand them over to the shipyards around Cangjin Bay. Recruit skilled workers to modify these warships into fishing boats and sell them publicly. Encourage the residents of Morent City to buy fishing boats and form their own fishing fleets to go out to sea to fish. At the same time, issue fishing permits that allow these fishing boats to operate in the Sunshine Sea and receive the protection of the North Sea Fleet.
If no residents of Morent City are willing to buy fishing boats, then we will recruit crews to form fishing fleets. I believe that after this experience, there will be residents willing to take the risk to buy fishing boats. In addition, all the rough hemp raw materials in the warehouse that were confiscated can be used to form fishing net workshops. This is also a good way to solve the livelihood problem of a portion of the residents of Morent City.
Second, recruit capable personnel from the soldiers and captives of Morent City who have surrendered to form two city defense corps and let them be responsible for patrolling and security issues in the twenty-fourth district of the outer city. The formation and training of these two city defense corps will be handled by Bofinger and Ell. Their equipment will be selected from the equipment of the Firebird Army that had surrendered to the Chigda Kingdom. If the results of the formation of these two city defense corps are satisfactory, we will continue to form a few more corps to replace our family's armed forces in guarding the six fortress cities on the Mana Hill Plains.
Third, we will restore farmland around the two fortress cities, Thomas and Gipsies, and build farm areas. We will recruit workers from Morent City who are willing to work on the construction. After the construction of the farm areas is completed, we will sell all the farms to the residents of Morent City. At the same time, we will form a farmers' association to sell agricultural products to the outside world after the farms have a good harvest to protect the interests of the farm owners.
The salaries of all the recruited personnel will be paid with half cash and the other half with food. This cash comes from the four million gold coins seized by our family's armed forces, as well as the income from the hundred thousand or so captives in the prison camp in the inner city. The funds we are investing in these projects are not free, but will be reclaimed in the form of taxes after the market economy in Moronte City becomes active.
In addition, I have already ordered the North Sea Fleet to transport all the goods and merchandise piled up on Syrovas Island to Morent City. Last time, after the three hundred or so private transport ships from the southern part of the mainland transported all the food to Syrovas Island, they purchased a large amount of goods produced by our family's territory on the island and sailed back. At the same time, they complained that Syrovas Island was too far away and that the northern seas were too stormy. Their transport ships sailing in the northern seas were akin to taking a risk.
So, I have decided to use Syrovas Island as a transit point. In the future, all the goods produced by our family's territory will be transported to Morent City for sale. In the past, we were restricted by the trade monopoly of the Peterson Merchant Association and the Chick Merchant Association, so we were unable to open the sea passage to the southern part of the mainland. This time, after defeating the Invincible Fleet, the golden coastline of the Sunshine Sea will become a smooth path for our family's fleet. We can also use this opportunity to sell the goods produced by our family's territory to the southern part of the mainland.
Turning Morent City into a trade center will allow us to restore the trade of Morent City to the outside world and enliven the market economy. On the other hand, it will make it convenient for the private sea merchants to purchase goods from the southern part of the mainland. This will break the trade monopoly of the merchant associations in the southern part of the mainland. At the same time, the North Sea Fleet will have to patrol the southern seas frequently to prevent the ships of the private sea merchants who trade with us from being attacked by the Chick Merchant Association and pirates.
"Lastly, I have entrusted Baron Shredder to represent me in negotiating with the organizations in Morent City, as well as the Temple District and the Academy District. I will assist them in establishing an autonomous council in Morent City, making this council the highest authority in the Mana Hill Plains and Morent City. It will be in charge of managing Morent City and the Mana Hill Plains in the future. Even if we can quickly reach a truce with the Trade Alliance and restore peace, I do not object to causing trouble for the Trade Alliance … "
Seven days later, Laurist disguised himself and accompanied by Redi and Genolio as he secretly patrolled the bustling trade district. The trade district that was originally occupied by the various merchant associations in the Trade Alliance had become the most lively district in Morent City after the Norton Family's armed forces had cleaned up and renovated it. Laurist had ordered for food and all kinds of daily necessities and goods to be sold here, and the trade district quickly regained its vitality.
Using flour as an example, the people of Morent City thought that the price of flour sold at three times the price in the north was very cheap. The price was so low that it was packed with people every day during the sale period. Every household in Morent City was willing to fork out money to buy more for storage. Only when more and more flour was shipped and it was confirmed that there was no longer a shortage of food did the people of Morent City stop buying. Laurist guessed that this should be the result of the food shortage in the Mana Hill Plains a few years ago.
However, the investigation report submitted by Tagger made Laurist not know whether to laugh or cry. It turned out that he had made a huge mistake. The reason why the people of Morent City were buying large amounts of flour was not because there was a shortage of food, but because the price of the flour sold by the Norton Family was too low. The price of a bag of fifty kilograms of flour was about half the price of the flour sold by the Ford Merchant Association in the past. The quality was also better and the taste was better. No wonder the people who knew what was good bought many bags.
When the Trade Alliance had a food shortage, the Peterson Merchant Association had bought a batch of food from the Norton Family at a price 50% higher than the market price. Of course, that price was only the market price in the Andinac Kingdom. However, when it was shipped back to Morent City, it was sold at ten times the market price. It made a lot of money and was even praised by the people of Morent City for being benevolent and righteous. One could imagine how big the price difference between the two places was. However, at that time, these trade routes were controlled by the various merchant associations. Others could not do anything even if they saw such a business opportunity.
With the backing of the food trade, and the fact that the Norton Family paid the hired workers with real money and never defaulted, the business atmosphere in Morent City finally began to warm up. However, most of the main customers were the housewives of Morent City. Most of the goods they bought were living supplies and daily goods. However, Laurist believed that when the private sea merchants from the south of the continent sailed ships to Morent City again for a large purchase of goods, the commercial market of Morent City would truly be put on the right track.
A guard stealthily came to Genolio's side and whispered a few words. Genolio nodded and moved closer to Lollister, saying softly, "Your Highness, Viscount Penélope has returned, but he's the only one who came back. The nobles that went with him haven't returned. However, he brought back an envoy from the Trade Alliance. He seems to know you. It is said that he is a vice-president of the Peterson Merchant Association. They have now arrived in the inner city. "
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