The Glorious Festival was about to begin on the 15th of the month of celebration.
This festival was the grandest festival in Alinx, no, in Prandal. It was also the grandest festival since the beginning of autumn. Not only Alinx, but almost all Prandal countries and cities would hold celebrations. Among them, Alinx, where the Radiant Church was located, was the grandest.
Even though the Irus Empire had declined, and even though Alinx was no longer the center of the world, in the eyes of the Radiant Church, it was still a sacred city. The Glorious Festival was held to commemorate the arrival of the God of Light, Yebiarni, and was naturally the most important festival in Alinx.
Therefore, many Chambers of Commerce had already begun their preparations. The headquarters in Alinx was especially busy. During the seven days of the festival, the streets and alleys of Alinx would be filled with the atmosphere of celebration. If the event was done well, the income of these seven days alone would exceed that of a normal month.
Therefore, the merchants had a love-hate relationship with the Glorious Festival.
Of course, Tang En was no exception. Ever since he knew about this festival, which was comparable to the National Day, he had already set his heart on it and began to plan promotional activities.
Before this, the Datang Chamber of Commerce's fame was limited to the aristocrats of Alinx. Very few commoners knew about it. That was because the Datang Chamber of Commerce's main products were basically for the aristocrats. Although daily necessities such as soap and extract were extremely good at promoting the brand, they didn't have much branding power. The products that symbolized the brand were too expensive, and commoners couldn't afford them at all. This created a gap.
But now, the situation was different.
The emergence of bicycles could perfectly make up for this gap and create a complete ecological network of customers, maximizing the value of the brand.
Because the bicycles were simple, low cost, and quite a bit of profit, only being sold for ten gold coins, it was very suitable for the middle and low class commoners. The practicality of the bicycles made them very happy to buy one and keep it at home.
Not only this, with the addition of the elven designer, there were many different designs for the bicycles. There were baby carriages, baby walkers, children's entertainment models, youth models, young models, young models, young models, young models, young models, sports models, steady models, housewife models, and etc. Tang En had simply learned the skills of the cold rice king. Of course, in Prandal, this wasn't called cooking cold rice, this was called bold innovation.
Tang En was certain that after the Glorious Festival, the bicycles would be popular all over the country.
After a while, when people were used to the bicycles, he could release the upgraded Magic Bicycle. As long as he could attract enough people to buy the Magic Bicycle, the market for Magic Crystals would expand and the price would continue to rise.
Of course, the most important step was still the Magic Car, which would consume most of the Magic Crystals. But the influence of the Magic Car was very large, so Tang En decided to put it after the Magic Bicycle. After Ellington promoted it, he would release it in other places.
Unlike other things, the influence of the magic-powered cars would be unprecedented. It would completely change the way people travel and transport. It was foreseeable that the carriage companies would be the first to be affected. Many merchants that relied on the magic-powered cars to make a living would face a wave of bankruptcy.
But this wasn't something that Tang En cared about. If he was smart enough, he would definitely be able to smell a business opportunity. Tang En wasn't interested in running a taxi or logistics business, it was too wasteful. When the time came, he would give this bit of profit to other people.
After dealing with Tang En for this long, Fiona had a rough idea of what he was thinking. Therefore, after returning to the Lord's Manor and hearing that he wanted to do a promotion, Fiona immediately saw a sea of gold coins coming at her …..
Her eyes lit up, "How much can we earn this time?"
"… … Little money grubber."
Tang En couldn't help smiling. He softly tapped her nose before saying, "How much we earn will depend on how we operate this time. After all, the main character of the Glorious Festival is the Radiant Church and we haven't dealt with the Radiant Church before, so we can't give them any preferential treatment."
"The fact that we're so close to the Radiant Church is an advantage in itself."
Fiona said coquettishly, rubbing her nose. "I believe that with your ability, My Lord, you'll definitely earn a lot."
"I hope so too."
Tang En shrugged. Thanks to the elemental creatures led by Dicarios, Ellington's development had sped up. With the addition of bicycles, the speed at which people could transmit information and the range of their activities had increased considerably. Therefore, the area of the town's construction had expanded a few times, and was still being built according to the blueprint.
Most importantly, the roads had been leveled. Most of the main roads had been paved with asphalt, making it very convenient to go anywhere.
In fact, due to the invention and sale of the magical drilling rig, the efficiency of asphalt mining in the Dwarven Kingdom had increased by dozens of times. If not for the lack of manpower and economic conditions, Tang En would have started to pave asphalt roads to other towns and villages within Ellington.
If he could earn a lot from the Radiant Festival and increase the working benefits of Ellington, he would definitely attract a large number of talents to Ellington. When the time came, the situation would be even better.
"Speaking of which, My Lord."
Fiona pondered for a moment. "You think that our development speed has always been limited by population. Then why didn't you agree to my request to buy slaves?"
Tang En frowned. "Didn't I say not to mention this before?"
"But you have to know that buying a thousand slaves will only cost you a hundred thousand gold coins. However, these slaves don't need to be paid a salary at all. They can be used as they wish."
Tang En said seriously, "Fiona, you have to know something."
Fiona was stunned. "What is it?"
"No trade, no harm."
Tang En asked. "There are no large-scale wars in Prandal now. Then, where do the slaves come from?"
"The main ones are those who inherited their fathers' identities and were born as slaves. Then, there are the losers in the factional wars, the refugees who sold their freedom because they couldn't survive, and the mixed races who were captured and so on."
"That's right."
Tang En smiled and pointed at the stool beside him. After Fiona sat down, he continued, "But haven't you noticed that this society is changing?"
"Change?"
"Yes, slaves. They are a special product of the primitive era. In that era, human productivity was insufficient, so they needed to rob others to satisfy their own needs. In that era, slaves were equivalent to wealth. Hence, the slave trade was very developed."
"However, with the progress of productivity, human rights were gradually valued. Hence, in Prandal, slave traders are despised by the people. Because no one likes to be a slave, and no one wants to be a slave once they fail."
Fiona thought about it carefully and found that it was true. In Alinx, none of the big slave traders had a relatively glorious identity. Whether in the circle of nobles or the circle of merchants, they were not valued very much. It was as if they were surviving in the cracks.
In fact, Tang En had discovered this when he was in Alinx. His feelings were very subtle.
Yes, this world with true gods, Prandal, was in a wonderful state of superimposition of a slave society, a feudal society, and a capitalist society. There were still slaves here, and the feudal monarchy occupied the sovereignty of the country. However, at the same time, the merchants had begun to unite against the monarchy, intending to seek more benefits and the right to speak. This was clearly the budding of a capitalist society.
"Slaves are also people, especially those who were born to be slaves. Their yearning for freedom and power is extremely strong. They are like a volcano that has been accumulating for a long time, and may erupt at any time."
Tang En sipped his tea. "What I can tell you is that in this era, using slaves is actually a very dangerous act."
Yes, the reason why Tang En did not use slaves was because he was worried about this matter.
The social form of Prandal was changing, and what he was doing now was to accelerate the process of this change. If he used a large number of slaves at this time, on the one hand, it would stimulate the declining slave trade market, causing more innocent people to become slaves. On the other hand, it would also have a negative effect on his propaganda.
The most important thing was that slaves yearned for freedom, and they were very easy to be bought and used because they were uneducated.
Of course, Tang En could buy a large number of slaves and give them the freedom and respect they longed for. However, after obtaining freedom, once they were used after being oppressed for a long time, they would definitely not hesitate to turn against Tang En. There was no doubt about this. Don't forget that Tang En now represented the privileged class of the aristocracy, which was opposed to the slaves.
From another point of view, slaves needed to fight for freedom. If Tang En was the slave owner at that time, he would be at a disadvantage in the tide of the times. Then, what excuse would he use to save the world?
Fiona did not understand these principles at first, but after Tang En briefly reminded her, she quickly figured it out.
"In other words, Ellington neither opposes nor supports the slave trade?"
Tang En raised the corner of his mouth. "Although we did not state our position, didn't we already state our attitude in our propaganda policy?"
Fiona was stunned and suddenly remembered the slogan Tang En wrote before.
"Ellington welcomes any law-abiding citizen to settle here. As long as you are willing to work and abide by our laws, come to Ellington!"
"Here, you will get all the rights you deserve!"
All the rights naturally included the right to personal freedom!
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