On the 21st of September, Laurist received a message from a messenger eagle from the Island of Sirovas. Fatty Shi and Duke Fausta had reached a ransom agreement. The Fausta Family would pay a million gold fords to redeem Grand Duke Fausta and his family's armed Firebird Army, while the Norton Family would dispatch the North Sea Fleet to escort them back to the Chigda Kingdom.
The ransom for a soldier of the Firebird Legion was ten gold fords. Fifty thousand people would be worth almost five hundred thousand gold coins. Including Grand Duke Fausta, as well as those Gold Knights and Silver Knights, a total of a million gold fords should be considered a fair price. Fatty Shi didn't go easy on her, and the Duchess of Windsor didn't take much advantage of their previous relationship.
However, Grand Duke Fausta made a suggestion to Fatty Shi. After the Firebird Legion had surrendered, the Norton Family's armed forces had confiscated all of the Firebird Legion's weapons and equipment. Therefore, the soldiers who had been redeemed by the Fausta Family were all unarmed. Their weapons and equipment had been used by the Norton Family to equip the two newly formed city defense troops of Morent City. When Grand Duke Fausta was staying on Cilovas Island, he discovered that the standard equipment of a garrison troop stationed on the island was different from the others. After inquiring about it, he had an idea to purchase armaments from the Norton family to re-arm the Firebird Army.
If it was someone else who wanted to buy weapons and equipment, Fatty Shi would be overjoyed. This was a big business. A standard set of equipment worn by a soldier would cost at least sixty Gold Fords. In that case, the arms trade of the Firebird Army would be worth at least three million Gold Fords. Simply put, a set of standard equipment was worth more than a strong soldier. However, since it was Grand Duke Fausta who wanted to buy it, Fatty Shi didn't dare to make the decision without knowing who his friend was. He planned to bring Grand Duke Fausta and the Duchess of Windsor back to Morent City to meet with Lollister before discussing.
Apart from this, Fatty Shi also said that he had received news from his family's territory. Princess Sylvia, Fina, Jelly, and Daisy had boarded a ship from North Sea City and were heading towards Cirvas Island. They would arrive in two days. Therefore, Fatty Shi planned to stay on the island for two days and wait for the three madams to arrive before going back to Morent City together.
Why would Sylvia suddenly want to come over? Laurist rubbed his temples, feeling a slight headache. Could it be that Sylvia had heard some news that the Duchess of Windsor was her first love, and was jealous and had come to bid her farewell? That shouldn't be the case. He had refused to meet the Duchess of Windsor, and he had been well-behaved in Morant City. He had not done anything that Sylvia could use against him …
After thinking for a long time, Laurist still could not come up with any ideas. Forget it, the sky was going to rain, and his mother was going to get married. This was something that could not be stopped. He would just wait for Sylvia and the others to arrive. At worst, he would just accompany her and coax her. Who asked Sylvia to be ten years younger than him? Ever since she married him, they had been apart more than together, and he had always been out on the battlefield. Meanwhile, she was so attached to him and worried about him. Since they came to Morent City this time, he would accompany them and treat it as a vacation.
Two days later, Director Spear asked to see him. Director Spear, who had come to Morent City this time, was in charge of the management of the prison camp in the dock area. She had been racking her brains to earn money from the 100,000 residents in the inner city. Ever since Fatty Shi and Earl Cate of the Commercial Alliance reached an agreement on the ransom and transportation package for more than 100,000 residents in the inner city, the two months had almost been completed. More than 90,000 residents of the inner city had spent their last copper coin in the prison camp and obtained their freedom. They were then transported to Mawei Fulin Province in batches. The Norton Family received nearly seven million gold coins in cash, as well as countless jewels, high-grade furs, jades, and luxury goods …
But this time, Director Spear was here to protest. There were still more than 10,000 stubborn misers in the prison camp. They refused to waste money in the prison camp. Apart from the two free bowls of clear porridge, they spent as little as possible on a bit of bread to satisfy their hunger, even if Director Spear increased the price of the bread tenfold. Faced with Earl Cate's protests for more than a month, Laurist finally lost his patience and ordered the release of all the misers who still kept most of their personal belongings.
"Your Highness, please give me one more month. I will definitely squeeze out every gold coin from these misers. As long as we can delay for one more month, our family will get a million gold coins from these people … "Director Spear patted her chest and promised with red eyes.
"Let them all go. For us, one month's time is more precious than a million gold coins. We have more important things to do next, and there is no need to delay the follow-up plan for this small amount of money. You should also get out of the prison camp. You can't waste your time there anymore. "Laurist shook his head and rejected Director Spear's request.
There was a reason for Laurist to say this. Although Tagger had mobilized capable men to arrange for the Commerce Alliance to have the illusion that Morent City had fallen into a storm of blood, there were too many eyes. As time passed, there would always be some flaws that would cause people to be suspicious. For example, the request for the Trade Union to send more capable personnel to infiltrate Morent City to stir up more chaos. The Trade Union fell for it twice and sent two batches of nearly a hundred men over. After they were dealt with by Genolio and Redi, they seemed to sense that something was wrong. No matter how many times they begged, they would not send anyone over.
In the past two months, Moronte City's development was also on the right track. Various workshops and workshops were built, many small chambers of commerce were established, and the fishing fleet returned with a great harvest. Moronte City was full of vitality. Although there were still more new problems, the Moronte City Autonomy Committee had finally taken control of the whole city. Everything was developing in a better direction.
In addition, the owners of private ships from the southern sea would soon swarm to Hidden Gold Bay to purchase goods for trade. Moronte City would become lively again. Although Countess Kate and the released residents of the inner city were confined to the food storage base outside the east gate, the Norton Family's armed forces could not block out the sounds of singing, laughter, and toasts from the banquet outside the city. What kind of chaotic city would have bright lights and music at night? Anyone who saw it would suspect something was wrong.
Therefore, Laurist decided to send the inner city residents and Countess Kate out of the city as soon as possible. After all, sending them out of Moronte City now could confuse the Trade Union for a while longer. This would prevent them from discovering the truth and fighting the Norton Family's armed forces to the death. Laurist did not want the elite forces of the Norton Family's armed forces to be wasted on the Mana Hill Plain.
"The Moronte City Autonomy Committee has submitted a proposal to me. They will apply for a loan of ten million gold fords from our family to maintain the commercial development of Moronte City and build up the armed forces. I've agreed. After you take care of the captive camp, go and discuss the loan with the Moront City Self-Government Committee. The terms don't have to be too harsh, but they can't be too good either. Just follow the normal commercial loan, "Lollister said to Spear.
Realistically speaking, the so-called commercial loans were actually usurious loans, with a 90% interest rate and a 13% interest rate. For example, the Temple of Sekine, which believed in business and wealth, amassed wealth through exchange and usury. For example, the gold yuan certificates were issued by the Temple of Sekine. In the past, some of the trade unions in the Trade Union would store gold fords in the Temple of Sekine and pay a 1% storage fee and handling fee in exchange for gold yuan certificates of the same value. In the future, whoever brought the gold yuan certificate to the Temple of Sekine could exchange it for gold fords of the same value for free.
From a certain point of view, the Temple of Sekine was like a financial institution in Laurist's previous life that specialized in issuing, storing, and issuing high-interest loans. This time, all of the ransom money and expenses paid by the Trade Union were in gold yuan certificates. Perhaps the Trade Union thought that the Norton Family's armed forces would loot the entire Moronte City, and that even the temples would suffer. Thus, they used up the gold yuan certificates they had while they still had value. This was to prevent the Temple of Sekine from turning into scrap paper after it was looted by the Norton Family's armed forces.
When Fatty Shi and Spear took the gold yuan certificates to the Temple of Sekine to withdraw the gold fords, the high priest of the Temple of Sekine said with a pained expression that the exchange for the gold yuan certificates had almost wiped out all the gold fords in their treasury. Although Fatty Shi and Spear doubted whether the high priest was telling the truth, the ration system that the Trade Union had implemented in Moronte City over the past few years had indeed affected the Temple of Sekine greatly. The depression of the trade made it difficult for the Temple of Sekine to even issue loans to them.
Spear jumped up as if someone had stepped on her tail. "No, Your Highness, how could you make such a decision! Our family has already lent the seized four million gold fords to the Moronte Autonomy Committee as a working capital. How could they be so greedy as to borrow another ten million gold fords from our family! There's no way they can afford it. Doing this is like throwing gold coins into the water. There won't even be an echo! "
If it was a normal commercial loan, with a mortgage, they could borrow it for two or three years. Ten million could earn a high interest of four million. Spear wouldn't object to such a good thing. But the loan request from the Moronte Autonomy Committee was a little too much. They wanted the Norton Family to borrow ten million for five years, and the interest was one million per year. Most importantly, they couldn't take out anything that could be used as a mortgage. Moronte City and the Mana Hill Plain should be considered the Norton Family's spoils of war.
Spear thought that the loan request from the Moronte Autonomy Committee was a perfect example of getting something for nothing. If the Moronte Autonomy Committee suddenly collapsed, the Norton Family wouldn't even be able to find someone to ask for compensation. Yet, Lollister had agreed to such an unreliable loan request without hesitation.
"Your Highness, think about it. Our family's armed forces risked their lives to conquer the Mana Hill Plain and Moronte City. It wasn't easy for us to get such a small amount of money, but you want to spend it here. This is a waste of our family's wealth!" Spear was heartbroken and tried to persuade him.
"Oh, Spear Spear, then tell me how much money our family has gotten from Moronte City …" Laurist's voice started to turn cold.
This was a simple matter for Spear Spear. She immediately said, "After conquering Moronte City, our armed forces seized four million gold fords from the inner city, as well as two million gold fords worth of jewelry and other valuables. Most of the things we seized from the outer city are the most basic raw materials. Although they are worth nearly ten million gold fords, they aren't of much use to our family. For example, raw hemp takes up two-thirds of the total. If we want to transport these things back to our family's territory, not only will it take a lot of ships, but I suspect that the cost of transportation will also be more expensive than the raw materials themselves.
Apart from that, there is a pile of lumber from the seven shipbuilding workshops in Cangjin Bay, which is worth nearly a million gold fords. Apart from that, there are some high-grade materials, alcohol, armaments, weapons, and other valuables, which add up to two to three million gold fords.
After that, there is the 6.3 million gold fords ransom paid by the Commerce Union, the one million gold fords paid by the Fausta Family on Sirovas Island, and the 7.2 million gold fords earned from the inner city residents of the prison camp and nearly two million gold fords worth of valuables.
Your Highness, the total amount of cash we have is only about 18 million gold fords. You've already lent four million to the Moronte Autonomous Committee. In addition to that, we've spent about a million gold fords on purchasing meat and grains from the Christos Hills, as well as paying the residents of Moronte City to work for us. If we lend another ten million to the Moronte Autonomous Committee, our family will have less than three million gold fords left.
Your Highness, I remember you once said that war is all about logistics. Ever since our armed forces participated in this war, we've spent a lot of money. Not to mention other things, we've spent about 1.5 million gold fords on the salaries and benefits of the 140,000 people in the four field legions and the North Sea Fleet, plus the salary increases and rewards during the war, as well as the logistics costs. In particular, Your Highness, two months ago, you ordered us to allocate five million gold fords from the family's reserve to expand the North Sea Fleet, as well as to compensate the families of the soldiers who died in the war. The reward for the North Sea Fleet is as high as 500,000 gold fords … "
"That's enough …" Laurist waved his hand to stop Director Spear's nagging. "I understand what you mean, Director Spear. Are you saying that our family will suffer a loss if we lend the ten million gold fords to the Moronte Autonomous Committee? But what's the use of the ten million gold fords? Isn't it transported back to the family territory and stored in the treasury? Have you forgotten what I said? Gold coins can only be valued when they circulate in the market. Storing them in the treasury is just a pile of dead objects. It's just a number on paper.
What I want to remind you, Director Spear, is that you've forgotten about other sources of income? For example, the income from the sale of the food we transported to Moronte City, the income from the goods produced by the family territory on the Sirovas Island, and the booming business opportunities that appeared in Moronte City after we lent the Moronte Autonomous Committee four million gold fords. As far as I know, most of the raw linen that our armed forces seized from the warehouses of the Chamber of Commerce have been bought by the textile workshops. The total value is nearly three million gold fords, right?
I believe in your loyalty to the family and me, the head of the Norton family. But, Director Spear, I'm sorry that you've been staring at the gold coins in front of you and ignoring the more important family interests. You should know the plan that our family is going to implement in Moronte City, which is to help the Moronte Autonomous Committee establish the Freedom Alliance and separate from the Commercial Union.
The loan of ten million gold fords is more like a test from the Moronte Autonomous Committee to the Norton family. They're most worried about how much support we'll give them. They're also worried that we'll secretly negotiate with the Commercial Union and abandon them. The loan of ten million gold fords is the security deposit that our family has given them.
Director Spear, you don't have to question my decision. You just have to follow my orders. Five million of the ten million gold fords will be used to expand the new armed forces, so that the Freedom Alliance will have a reliable force that can resist the invasion of the Commercial Union's armed forces. This will allow the armed forces of the Norton family to leave the battlefield of the Mana Hill Plain. The remaining five million gold fords will be used to invest in the commercial sector of Moronte City, so that the Freedom Alliance can be self-sufficient as soon as possible and rely on the commercial tax revenue to continue its development.
To me, spending ten million gold coins to find a reliable transfer market for the goods and goods produced in my family's territory is the greatest blessing of all. Today, I spent ten million gold coins, but in two or three years, we will be able to earn back twenty million gold coins from here, or even more. Director Spear, what you need to do is not to oppose my decision, but to discuss with the Morent Autonomous Committee on how to supervise the loan and make sure that the money is invested in the right place instead of being embezzled or embezzled. Do you understand? "
"Okay, I understand." Director Spear sighed. "As you wish, Your Highness. I'll handle the loan according to your instructions."
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