Within the Culona Palace, Talleyrand sat below with his cane, panting heavily. Above him were the members of the Brittany High Command, consisting of marshals and dukes. Among them, Tsar and Katarín were specially allowed to listen, but Aurora and Teresa were nowhere to be found. When Laing asked, Olica only revealed a mysterious smile.
Talleyrand gave a brief account of the situation at Marineburg.
From the beginning of the topic, Talleyrand confirmed one piece of news. Many years ago, the hostility brought about by the Eight Peaks Mountain Expedition had never been completely resolved. The rich merchants of Marlinburg had always held a grudge against Laing for not letting them make a big profit. After that, under Schultz's iron fist and the revenge of the dwarves, the princes of Marlinburg suffered the dwarves' revenge. They were also frightened by Laing, so they became much more restrained and began to split up internally.
Some princes, such as Viscount Casanova, seemed to have learned something from Schultz and expressed their goodwill to become friends with Laing.
Some princes decided to write off their grudges with Laing and mind their own business.
However, there were still some princes who were planning to take revenge.
After a few years, these people saw that Laing's prestige was like the sun in the sky, and his army was incomparably powerful. The rich merchants of Marlinburg were so scared of Laing that their balls shrank. They did not dare to take revenge and could only bear with it.
On the other hand, Laing's side was too busy. War after war, crisis after crisis, he did not have time to care about the shadows in Marlinburg. Moreover, as the model of chivalry, Laing needed a reason to act. Marlinburg was also the territory of the Empire and a free port, so they lacked an excuse to act. For the time being, both sides were busy with their own matters.
However, this did not mean that both sides would always be at peace.
"What are the merchants of Marlinburg doing recently?" Laing asked Talleyrand.
"The princes of the business world are making a lot of money recently." Talleyrand smiled. "Hoarding, speculating on food, cloth, and coal. These tycoons have really made a lot of money by relying on the flames of war in the Old World, especially the leader of the Baher Chamber of Commerce, Clint … He even clamored, 'Your Majesty and everyone,' these are their original words. Don't be angry when I say it."
"What did they say?" Laing smiled.
"They said … … Brittany knights scored 100 points for military affairs, 80 points for political affairs, and 0 points for economy. They also said … … Marlin Castle is part of the Empire, and if Brittany knights were to visit as friends, they would be treated with fine wine, but if they wanted to be wolves, they would only be served with double-barreled shotguns." Talleyrand grinned, showing his teeth. "They also said that Marlinburg is the headquarters of the Church of Mannen, the God of the Sea. Does the Lady of the Lake want to start a war?"
"Hahahaha!" Laing laughed until tears came out of his eyes. "Everyone, the business princes of Marlin Castle seem to think that we knights and nobles can do nothing."
"Hahahaha!" The Supreme Command was full of joy.
However, the traditional nobles like Kalad and Berchemund were worried because they really did not know what to do.
"Mannen, the God of the Sea, is indeed a problem. But don't worry, I have asked the Lady of the Lake to negotiate with Mannen." Laing laughed for a while and then became serious. "As for what we should do, Kalad, Bertrand."
"Yes, sir!" The two marshals stood up.
"Gather the troops and wait for my order. Immediately cross the Brittany border and arrive at the outskirts of Marlin Castle!" Laing said first.
"But … … What's the reason?" Kalad hesitated for a moment before asking, "Wouldn't sending a large number of troops across the border without prior explanation have a negative impact?"
"Chasing after the remnants of the Chaos." Laing laughed. "Isn't that a simple excuse?"
"Ah! Yes! " Kalad suddenly understood. He immediately drew inferences. "And we have reason to suspect that there are a large number of believers of the Chaos in Marlin Castle. We must investigate strictly! We also need to enter the city and search carefully! "
"Yes, we must investigate strictly, but not by ourselves. We will give this glorious task to Grand Duke Schultz of Marlin Castle." Laing laughed so hard that his face was almost twisted. "We still believe in Marlin Castle's self-discipline and ability to correct mistakes. We believe that Grand Duke Schultz will give us a fair explanation and answer."
Kalade and Bertrand left with the order. Ryan then said to the dukes, "In addition to the army, I want another hand as well. Please give me the food in your vaults and granaries for the time being. I promise that I will not only return all of it in the end, but I will also increase the price!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Everyone had absolute confidence in Laing. He had done too many miracles.
Just like that, the liquidation of Marlin Castle began!
In the middle of February, the Brittany held a grand military parade. After the parade in Culona, more than 20,000 Brittany troops turned their offensive and headed straight for Marlin Castle. They crossed the border between the Knight King's Kingdom and the Empire without any scruples. Kalad used the excuse of "chasing after the remnants of the Chaos" and "investigating the believers of the Chaos" as an excuse to sweep all the troops along the way. In just ten days, they had reached the outskirts of Marlin Castle!
The actions of the Brittany caused great panic in both the upper and lower houses of Marlin Castle. What were the Brittany trying to do?!
Marlin Castle was the territory of the Empire. Were they trying to start a war?!
However, Kalad seemed to be a little afraid. Kalad's army and Bertrand's army only reached the outskirts of Marlin Castle. They did not enter the city rashly.
Now, the business princes were full of confidence again. After all, the Brittany did not dare to enter the city.
They began to think of a new idea.
Speculate on food, speculate on cloth, and hoard!
Year 2522 of the Empire calendar – Year 2524 of the Empire calendar. The Old World passed in torment. Estalia, the border princes' territories, and Tyrell had basically all fallen. The Empire was also barely holding on in the midst of the storm. Only Brittany was still relatively stable.
This incomparable chaos soon brought a terrifying business opportunity to the tycoons of Marlin Castle. Among them, the tycoons had their eyes on food and cloth the most. Food was a necessity for survival, and cloth was a necessity for making clothes. These two things were the needs of life in the Old World. With the large-scale food production in the Old World and the shortage of military supplies, the tycoons of Marlin Castle began to crazily inflate the price of food. From Year 2522 of the Empire calendar to Year 2524, the price of food skyrocketed by 450%, and the price of cloth skyrocketed by 230%.
With the Skaven War of 2523 and the recent Battle of Culona, Clint, the president of the Baher Chamber of Commerce, the largest grain merchant in the Old World, judged that the Old World would usher in a new wave of food shortages.
At the same time, due to the blockade of Marlin Castle by the Brittany army, the entire Old World was in a state of panic. As the largest commercial and trade center of the Old World, the prices of Marlin Castle greatly affected the prices of the Old World. Under the temptation of hoarding and speculating on goods, under the temptation of high profits, the tycoons united closely with Clint, the president of the Baher Chamber of Commerce, and began to gather funds to speculate on goods.
At the same time, in order not to give the Brittany an excuse, the tycoons of Marlin Castle were also very careful. They tried their best to make all their transactions and sales legal, not allowing the knights and nobles to intervene. At the same time, they constantly issued various opinions. On one hand, they urgently sent letters to the Empire's frontline to ask for help from the Empire. On the other hand, they constantly emphasized that if Marlin Castle was destroyed, the Old World would be doomed.
"Marlin Castle is the hub of the Old World. Anyone who attacks Marlin Castle at this time is harming the interests of the Old World and handing a knife to the foreign forces (referring to Chaos). They are ignoring the Old World's anti-chaos cause and are sinners in the mortal world!"
"The Brittany's ten-hour work day and eight-hour rest days are obviously not in line with the specific situation of Marlin Castle. A fifteen-hour work day is the most in line with Marlin Castle's characteristics!"
"Whoever wants to increase workers' wages, not work overtime, and give workers the right to collective bargaining is destroying the cheap labor advantage of Marlin Castle. They are going against the people of the Empire!"
As the tycoons expected, the Brittany seemed to be afraid. The Kara and Bertram troops stationed outside the city had no intention of entering the city.
The opportunity was here!
In March, as the spring plowing began one after another, the Old World's grain except for the Brittany faced another major reduction in production. The Bahl Merchant Group took the lead and directly bought all the grain on the market and then hoarded it. Compared to 2522, the price of grain in 2524 had skyrocketed to 670%. Many poor people could not even afford a piece of black bread after working all day.
At this time, the Brittany made a move.
Laing mobilized an astonishing amount of grain from all over the Knight King Kingdom and stored it in Culona. Under his instructions, the Estalia Merchant Group, Oliver Merchant Group, Hadrian Merchant Group, and Agnew Merchant Group began to sell grain on the market.
On March 1st, the Estalia Merchant Group announced that they would sell ten million kilograms of grain to the market. The tycoons of Marlin Castle led by the Bahl Merchant Group would buy it all in one go and sell it at double the price from private bakeries. With the huge profits, the Bahl Merchant Group led countless tycoons to buy grain with high interest rates, with daily interest rates as high as 50% to 100%. The price of grain continued to rise.
On March 5th, the Oliver Merchant Group announced that they would sell ten million kilograms of grain to the market. In just one day, the Bahl Merchant Group bought all the grain again, and the price of grain continued to rise steadily.
On March 9th, the Hadrian Merchant Group sold another ten million kilograms of grain to the market. More than 30% of the merchants in the two houses of Marlin Castle worked together to buy all the grain.
On March 10th, the Agnew Merchant Group followed Laing's orders and continued to sell ten million kilograms of grain to the market.
The tycoons' funds began to run out. At this time, the largest merchant group in Marlin Castle, the Shultz Merchant Group, and the second largest merchant group, the Gentlemen Alliance, took the initiative to borrow large amounts of money. With high interest rates, the Bahl Merchant Group once again bought all the grain on the market.
On March 15th, the price of grain reached its highest point in the history of the Old World. The price of refined barley flour that used to be 13 silver per kilogram was now 15 gold per kilogram. The price of rye also shot up from 6 silver per kilogram to 5 gold per kilogram. The market was in a frenzy. Oliver, Hadrian, Amansio and the others even lent large amounts of money to the tycoons of Marlin Castle to buy grain. The scale reached hundreds of thousands of crowns.
"Collect." Laing, who was in Kurona, lightly turned off the dwarven pocket watch when he received the news.
On March 16th, the Estalia Merchant Group, Oliver Merchant Group, Hadrian Merchant Group, and Agnew Merchant Group all sold another ten million kilograms of grain at the same time. A total of 40 million kilograms of grain, 120 tons of cloth, and 240 tons of livestock were all sold to the market in Marlin Castle!
The tycoons finally realized that something was wrong. When the market started, they were still scrambling to get their hands on the grain and cloth. But as wave after wave of selling crazily, the price of grain and cloth began to plummet. The price changed every hour, and within a day, the price of grain fell by half, while that of cloth fell by 60%. Many of the tycoons broke their capital chain and suffered heavy losses.
At the same time, the Brittany people were still selling their grain. There was no way they could buy all the goods on the market!
On the 16th, two more major events took place.
Under Laing's request, the Lake Fairy officially reached an agreement with the Sea God Mannen and the Impartial Goddess Valentina. Under the protection of the interests of the old world's gods, the gods agreed not to get involved in this smoke-free war.
At the same time, Schultz, as the Grand Duke of Marlinburg, suddenly announced together with the Sea Church and the High Elves Enclave that during the internal inspection, traces of the Cult of Chaos and the activities of the vampires were found in Marlinburg. All banks were to be temporarily closed for inspection. Schultz and Casanova began to work together to urge the collection of debts, tighten the monetary policy, and freeze loans.
At the same time, Laing, who was outside the city, also immediately announced that a new issue of Brittany war bonds would be issued. The interest rate was 9%, and the denomination was 2 million crowns. Laing also ordered Kalad and Bertrand to seal off Marlin Castle, allowing goods to enter but not leave!
The rich merchants led by the Bahl Chamber of Commerce could no longer withstand the pressure and began to sell their grain and cloth. Not only did they lose their capital, but they also had heavy debts!
Within three days, the price of grain was cut by half again. More than 40% of the rich merchants in Marlin Castle declared bankruptcy. Schultz sent troops to strictly guard the warehouses and banks, but still couldn't stop many rich merchants from trying to escape with their money. There was also the Cult of Chaos secretly sabotaging. When the city was close to chaos, Schultz pretended to be helpless. In response to the call of the citizens of Marlin Castle and with the approval of several major churches led by the Sea God Church, the Brittany army outside the city was allowed to enter the city to quell the rebellion and maintain order.
On the 20th of March, the Brittany Army officially entered Marlin Castle.
Marlin Castle was officially under military control. Before entering the city, Laing repeatedly emphasized discipline. The Brittany Army entered Marlin Castle without breaking any rules. They maintained the strictest military discipline, and there were no robberies or killings.
At the same time, among the baskets of criminal evidence and stacks of debt documents, the Bretons delivered these things to the hands of Grand Duke Schultz of Marienburg in a very fair, just and open manner. The Sun King, Leon, expressed his respect for the autonomous laws of Marienburg and the laws of the Empire. He invited Schultz to administer justice. Those who were related to Chaos and vampires would be executed, and those who were guilty would be put on trial and all their properties would be confiscated.
Schultz's hands were sore from stamping 'guilty' that day.
With Schultz's sentence in hand, the Brittany Knights began to go door to door to check warehouses, seal accounts, and collect loans. At the same time, the Old Guard and the Knights of the Holy Grail executed those who were related to Chaos one by one. They eliminated the hidden Chaos and vampire organizations. More than half of the thousands of wharf warehouses in Marlin Castle were sealed up to pay off debts.
The dockworkers, the workmen, the servants, the refugees, and the peasants, who had long suffered from the vampires of the rich merchants, were so excited that they led the way and told the knights the atrocities of the capitalists, and how they were sucking our blood and exploiting us!
No problem! The Knights and the Old Guard patted their chests and said, "We will make the decision for you!
Marlin Castle, your Grandpa Knight is here! "
On the 25th of March, the corpses of speculators and tycoons were hung under the street lights of Marlin Castle. The most famous of them was Clint, the former president of the Bahl Chamber of Commerce, the largest grain merchant in the old world. He tried to escape with hundreds of thousands of gold marks in debt and was convicted of treason.
Behind Clint, more than a hundred corpses of tycoons were hung under the street lights of Shield Coin Street and Amber Avenue.
The number of corpses was shocking. The once prosperous Marlin Castle began to fall into depression.
The corpses swayed back and forth under the street lights. Under the leadership of Laing and Schultz, a new order was established. The original fifteen-hour working day was proposed by Laing and passed by Schultz's House of Lords. It was abolished and changed to a twelve-hour working day. The minimum wage was raised from three copper coins a day to five copper coins a day. At the same time, Laing announced that every year, except for the Day of Mannen, the birthday of the Lake Nymph and the Day of the Holy Grail would be official holidays in Marlin Castle. The former would be given three days off, while the latter would be given two days off.
At the same time, the X + 1 industrial injury compensation system was officially established. If there was an industrial injury, the employer would have to compensate. The Marlinburg branch of the Fairy of the Lake Church announced that it would accept industrial injury arbitration. Anyone could ask the Prophet of the Lake to uphold justice, and the church would only charge 10% of the arbitration fee.
After 29 months, the price of food finally fell to 130% of what it was in 2522. The price of cloth fell on a large scale, and everyone could finally eat and wear warm clothes. Laing even took out one million kilograms of food to make sweet cakes and sweet wine, and directly distributed them on the streets for three days in the name of the Lake Fairy.
The whole city rejoiced, and people spontaneously took to the streets to express their gratitude to the knights through parades.
Brittany's chivalry culture began to become the mainstream culture of Marlin Castle.
On the 30th of March, an imperial edict with the Emperor's seal was sent to Laing's desk. After reading it, Laing ordered the 50,000 Brittany troops to withdraw from Marienburg in three batches within two weeks.
"After we leave, they will give you holidays and reduce your working hours. They will also increase your salary. It's not because they've found their conscience, nor because they've become good people. It's because we've been here. "
The Feudal Knights of Brittany
Before they left, the citizens of Marlin Castle were reluctant to part with the knights. Many of them wept bitterly, but even more of them thought that if Marlin Castle was ruled by the Brittany, would it usher in a fairer and more beautiful era?
The people in the upper and lower houses of Marlin Castle, on the other hand, watched the knights return with great humiliation and hatred. More than half of the seats in the upper and lower houses of Marlin Castle were empty.
I beg you demons, please don't come again!
Addendum:
On the 15th of April, when the last batch of Brittany troops withdrew from Marlin Castle, the Brittany seized and transported away from the warehouses and accounts of the merchants of Marlin Castle were as follows:
A total of more than 400,000 crowns, gold marks, some dwarven gold coins, and more than a million silver coins of various colors.
120 cannons of various colors and more than 1,000 carriages.
3200 muskets, 260,000 rounds of ammunition, and more than 1,400 barrels of gunpowder.
4800 sets of standard Empire equipment and 21000 sets of Empire uniforms (made by the various provinces and Marlin Castle).
37000 pairs of shoes and boots of varying quality.
38 million kilograms of grain and 200 tons of meat.
730 crates of luxury goods.
More than 50000 barrels of Imperial Beer and 1000 barrels of rum, and more than 500 crates of wine, mead, whisky, and vodka.
A rough estimate put the total value of the goods the Brittany took from Marlin Castle at more than four million crowns.
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