Under the bright moonlight, Colin left the Butter Tavern and returned to the Lion's Roar Castle.
Oliver and his brother followed closely behind and entered the castle's study.
The three of them took their seats, and the maid quietly served them drinks and desserts before leaving quietly.
Colin took a sip of his coffee and smiled at the two slightly reserved men: "Now do you know why I'm looking for you?"
Oliver quickly straightened his back, suppressed the excitement in his heart, and nodded: "Yes, Sir Count, I can roughly guess."
Colin looked into Oliver's eyes and said in a deep voice: "Originally, I wanted to force you to be the president of the Northern Frontier Merchants' Association, but later on, I came up with a better plan. Therefore, I'll leave that association to Oliver.
As for you, after the Northern Frontier Foreign Trade Company is officially established, His Lordship will appoint you as the company's general manager and be in charge of the company's daily operations. "
Although he had already guessed it in his heart, Oliver was so excited that he almost could not control himself after hearing Colin's confirmation. He patted his chest loudly and expressed his determination to Colin:
"Thank you, Sir Count, for your trust! I will definitely do my best to manage this company for you and the House of Saint Hilde! "
Colin nodded with satisfaction and continued: "I have already discussed with Count Oman. The Tulip Chamber of Commerce will be incorporated into the new company, and all the assets of the Chamber of Commerce will be converted into company shares. This way, you will also have a seat on the board of directors."
"Yes." Oliver nodded. He naturally had no objections to such an arrangement.
Although he was the president of the Tulip Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce was actually an asset of the Oman Family. Oliver was just a manager pushed to the front.
The Tulip Chamber of Commerce was about to become history, but the Northern Frontier Foreign Trade Company represented a glorious future waiting for him. Oliver naturally had no complaints.
"Sir Count, there is a question I don't know if I should ask." After the initial excitement, Oliver carefully asked.
Colin seemed to see through Oliver's doubts and asked: "Are you worried about the board of directors?"
"Yes." Oliver nodded. "Sir, Arnold has a lot of assets and a high reputation in the Northern Frontier. If he robs a large number of businessmen to invest in our new company, will the board of directors fall under his control?"
Colin glanced at Oliver and asked in a questioning tone, "If Arnold can rope in other merchants, can't you do the same?
Don't tell me that your prestige isn't as high as Arnold's. With my support, your influence in the Northern Frontier's business world is definitely not lower than Arnold's.
What's more, you also have the right to make suggestions for the management team of the new company. If you make good use of this, you will definitely be able to attract a large number of Northern Frontier businessmen.
If you can let Arnold control the board of directors like this, then you deserve to be held back by him in the future! "
When Oliver heard this, he hurriedly declared loudly, "Lord Count, please rest assured! I will definitely make good use of the new company's management team and rope in a group of powerful Northern Frontier businessmen. I will definitely not let the board of directors fall into Arnold's hands! "
Colin's expression softened slightly as he encouraged: "Don't worry and do it boldly. Don't let me down."
In fact, even if Oliver's funds were not as good as Arnold's, Colin still had a way to back him up.
The House of Saint Hilde, the Angele family, the Schulz family, and the half-elven royal Miller family could all provide financial support when Colin needed it.
Moreover, Colin still had two war reparations in his hands. One came from the Troll Empire, and the other came from the Menham family. This was a huge sum of more than ten million gold coins. No other company could take out so much liquid capital at once.
Right now, the Northern Frontier Foreign Trade Company was only in its embryonic form. Although many far-sighted businessmen could see its potential, they were definitely not as confident as Colin.
Therefore, the businessmen would definitely not invest too much. Colin was confident enough to control the board of directors.
He controlled the company's management team and the board of directors. This way, the Northern Frontier Foreign Trade Company would not be able to escape from Colin's hands.
With this as a starting point, Colin would be able to integrate and control the Northern Frontier business community. He could even use it as a special weapon for external expansion.
That's right, Colin was prepared to teach the people of this world a lesson. He wanted them to know that war was not only a form of military invasion, but also an economic invasion.
It was harder to detect, but its destructive power was definitely not inferior to a military invasion.
After explaining to Oliver, Colin turned to look at Olma, who was sitting at the side.
Olma saw Colin's gaze and hurriedly revealed a flattering smile.
Colin also had arrangements for Oliver's brother. He smiled and said, "Mr. Olma, I'm going to set up a charity foundation. I wonder if you're willing to help me manage it?"
Olma originally thought that he could take advantage of his younger brother and become an executive of the Northern Frontier Foreign Trade Company. However, he did not expect Colin to have other arrangements for him.
However, Olma was confused as to what this charity foundation was.
Although he did not understand, Olma definitely would not reject Colin's request. He immediately replied loudly, "Of course! Your Excellency, I'm willing to serve you with any requests! "
Colin nodded in satisfaction. He seemed to have thought of something, and his gaze became extremely deep.
"Very good. This charity foundation is not a profit-driven organization, but its importance is no less than that of the Northern Frontier Foreign Trade Company. "
Olma perked up and immediately asked, "Your Excellency, what is the main purpose of this charity foundation?"
"There have been many wars in the Northern Frontier in the past two years, creating a large number of people who need help. For example, farmers who have lost their fields, disabled veterans, elderly people who have no one to take care of them, homeless children, and so on. The Church of Glory's help alone is not enough for these people.
That's why I want to set up this charity foundation to help these poor civilians. "
"Your Excellency, your benevolence is more dazzling than the sun!" Olma praised loudly before carefully asking, "However, how should we settle the source of funds for the charity foundation?"
"The foundation accepts donations from anyone. Nobles, merchants, and even rich farmers can contribute to this. However, these donations alone are not enough. Therefore, the foundation needs to issue a welfare lottery!"
"Welfare lottery?" Olma repeated this new term and waited for Colin's explanation.
"That's right." Colin picked up a piece of paper from the desk and handed it to Olma. At the same time, he explained, "This is the template for the welfare lottery. It's made of special paper and cannot be counterfeited. There's a string of numbers written on it, and the price is ten copper coins …"
Colin gave a general explanation of the distribution method of the lottery. The two brothers, who had been in the business world for many years, immediately realized the business opportunity.
Olma's eyes lit up as he praised, "Your Excellency! This is really a genius idea! I'm sure that the welfare lottery will definitely be popular in the Northern Frontier and raise a lot of money for the charity foundation! "
Colin smiled faintly and accepted Olma's flattery.
However, he believed that the two brothers in front of him would not understand the true meaning behind his charity foundation.
His move was actually targeted at the Church of Glory.
Why did the Church have such great appeal among the people?
The quota to be baptized as a knight was too precious and had nothing to do with the civilians.
On the other hand, the promise of entering the Kingdom of Heaven after death was too illusory and intangible.
As for the protection of God … There had not been any miracles in this world for thousands of years.
The reason why the Church of Glory could have such great influence among the people, other than providing spiritual sustenance for the civilians, there was another very important reason — charity.
The 'tithes' collected by the Church, other than to maintain the normal operations of the organization, were mostly used to relieve the civilians at the bottom.
To the civilians, this was a real benefit and the most important reason why they believed in the God of Glory.
In Colin's view, this was actually a welfare system. However, this welfare system was actually controlled by the Church. It was no wonder that the Lords' prestige among the people at the bottom could not compete with the Church.
In order to support this welfare system, a large amount of money would definitely be needed.
With the current situation in the Northern Frontier, if he rashly increased taxes, the people would definitely be angry. Of course, Colin would not be so unwise.
Therefore, he thought of using the lottery to accumulate wealth.
Of course, the lottery was also a kind of tax — an IQ tax.
This time, when he set up the charity foundation, Colin started from the foundation of the Church and snatched the support of the people at the bottom.
If the royal family wanted to limit the power of the Church when it came to fighting against the Church, then Ajani and Mr. Kang were bent on destroying the source of the Church's faith from top to bottom by starting with "God is dead". Then, Colin was prepared to start with charity and gradually corrode the foundation of the Church.
In fact, Colin did not dislike the existence of the Church. He recognized the God of Glory's protection of the human race and felt that the people did indeed need a spiritual sustenance. However, he could not tolerate the clergy using the name of the God of Glory for personal gain, and he could not tolerate the Pope's idea of using Vera.
Since he would have to face the Church sooner or later, Colin wanted to prepare early.
Moreover, building a welfare system that he could control was actually part of Colin's plan to centralize power.
Yes, centralize power.
In Colin's opinion, the current feudal system in the Empire of Light was actually very inefficient and had a great risk of internal friction. It was far more convenient to rule than a centralized system.
Of course, there were still many things that needed to be done in order to establish a centralized ruling system. Colin was currently laying some foundation.
Colin would certainly not talk about these things with the two businessmen. Even Vera would not know that Colin had such a crazy idea in his mind.
"Well, you can go and prepare yourselves. Let me know if you need anything."
"Yes, Earl!"
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