At three hundred and forty-three gold coins, Reggie's total assets were not even comparable to those of a middle-class businessman. Moreover, he still owed foreign debts of one thousand, six hundred gold coins. The economic situation of the lord of the city was really terrible.
Finance and tax officer Finans came to Reggie tremblingly. He was the only financial official in Shattering Snow City. He had a very close relationship with Sarn. Sarn's dangerous situation also made Finans feel the impending crisis.
Finans has a journal in his hand, which is the only account book in Shattered Snow City. Because "former Reggie" knew nothing about financial knowledge, he did not leave any memory related to the account book.
Under Finans' introduction, Reggie spent the whole morning understanding this journal, and at the same time he also understood the economic situation of Shattered Snow City.
Suixue City is a purely agricultural city, with 80% of its economic income coming from agriculture.
Reggie's territory is not only in Broken Snow City, but also includes the vast land outside the city. His territory extends to the Lost Mountain in the west and to the sea in the east.
Yes, his territory included a section of the coastline of the North Sea, and there was also a dock. During Suixue City's most glorious years, a large amount of food was sold overseas every year, earning Suixue City considerable wealth.
However, in recent years, the climate has become abnormal, winters have become longer and longer, food production has dropped sharply year after year, most of the food has been sold to surrounding cities, and the docks on the coast have been abandoned.
Even so, the vast farmland can still bring stable income to Suixue City. Last year, more than 4,000 gold coins were received, most of which came from the grain handed over by farmers. According to the rules of the Victor family, each farmer must
Turning over 40% of the harvest, the Victor family earned more than 3,000 gold coins just by selling grain.
In addition to food, there are also agricultural derivative industries, including livestock and a large amount of ale. The lords levy a 40% tax on each industry. So now the question is, where is all the money spent?
According to the records in the accounts, 40% of the income must be given to the king as an offering, and the remaining 30% should be used for the construction of Broken Snow City, including building roads, bridges, repairing city walls, etc. The remaining
Thirty percent of the lower portion is used as the lord's expenses, which includes not only the cost of daily living and food, but also the cost of guards, retinues, and hired officials.
All officials in Shattered Snow City are staff employed by the Victor family, including political officer Sarn, and the Victor family pays them salaries every year.
Every expenditure was detailed, and there seemed to be no problem with this account. Finans also gradually relaxed, at least in terms of his professional ability, he performed impeccably.
"Are you really out of money?" Reggie looked at the account book in despair.
"I'm sorry, Lord, it's the harvest season now," Finans explained. "Our income has been exhausted in the past year, and now we need to supplement it with the food harvested this year."
Earn once and spend a year, Suixue City maintains a balance of payments with zero savings. This economic system is too fragile.
It seems that the only option is to leave an IOU to the soldiers first, and then pay them back the money after selling the grain. Although it will affect the lord's credibility, these loyal soldiers should not mind waiting a few more days.
By lunchtime, Gusta brought back two pieces of news.
From Jiawen's point of view, these two pieces of news are one good and one bad.
From Reggie's point of view, both news were terrible.
The first news is that almost all the grain outside the city was destroyed by the Bayer Kingdom. All the mature grain was snatched away by them, and the immature grain was basically burned by them.
The second news is that because there is very little food left, the harvesting task will be completed before noon tomorrow. Then everyone can have a good celebration.
Celebrate? What to celebrate? Watch the angry soldiers brutally murder their lord?
There are still more than 2,000 civilians left in Suixue City. The remaining food is not enough to fill their stomachs. The remuneration of the soldiers is even more impossible. Not only will they not earn a single gold coin in the next year, Suixue City will also be very poor.
It might turn into a hell of starvation.
He had to find a way to change all this. Reggie immediately thought of Sarn. Since he had become a criminal, it was natural for him to confiscate his property.
But Baron Beech was much poorer than expected. All the property found in his family, including his house, was worth no more than forty gold coins.
What a strange man. He longs for power and status, but he doesn't seem to long for wealth.
Reggie thought about the Grand Maester again.
He is a smart man and a rich man.
Batchelor was not surprised by Reggie's arrival. He knew the survival rules of a nobleman, especially when the lord made a request, he must show due generosity.
"Twelve hundred gold coins, this is my life savings," Batchelor handed the gold cabinet and the key to Reggie. "In addition, I still have a few cows left. If you like milk, you can give it to me."
Take them away together."
Do you need to show sympathy to this poor old man?
Of course not, after all, this old guy is much richer than Reggie right now.
After expressing his sincere gratitude, Reggie said that he would return the money to the Grand Bachelor in a short time. The Grand Bachelor pointed to his ears and shook his head, meaning that he had bad ears and did not hear.
In fact, Reggie knew full well that this was the tolerance of the bachelor, he just didn't want to embarrass Reggie.
He has only saved 300 gold coins in a year, and still owes 1,600 gold coins in debt. What do you want him to give back to the Grand Bachelor?
These more than a thousand gold coins may be able to solve the urgent need. After discussing with the soldiers, the reward may be discounted.
But this cannot solve the fundamental problem, and the economic system of Broken Snow City has completely collapsed.
He needs a way, a way to solve the crisis.
"There is a proverb in the far east, which is that it is better to give someone a fishing net than to give someone a fresh fish." Reggie looked at Bachelo seriously. He had to show his sincerity in asking for advice, "Snow City relies on
The food for survival has been destroyed by the enemy, and my money bag has been emptied. Can you give me a fishing net? The fishing net that keeps Broken Snow City running."
"Fishing nets and fish? What an expressive metaphor. Sorry, my lord, I don't have the fishing net you are talking about," Bacello said with a smile. "There are bugs that eat gold in the money bag, but only the person who is in charge of the money bag.
Only then did I know where the insect was."
Reggie pondered for a moment and said, "You want me to go find Finans? He is an excellent financial and tax officer, and I really can't find any flaws in him."
"Yes, Finans is very good, and the administrative officer also likes to say so," Batchelor poured a glass of wine for Reggie. "The best thing about him is that he can explain all the accounts clearly, but there are no truly clean accounts."
It doesn’t require that much explanation.”
Reggie still couldn't find the answer: "What if I know there is something wrong with the accounts? I know the money bag is leaking, but I don't know where the gold leaked, let alone how to get the gold back."
"You don't have to look for it. Someone is willing to send it over." The bachelor took a sip of wine. His wine seemed to be mixed with some milk, and it tasted like a special milky smell. "I have a very smart servant.
, he has been following me for many years, and it was not until last month that I discovered that he often stole things from my pocket, sometimes it was a gold coin, sometimes it was just a copper. After so many years, no one knows how much he stole.
"
Reggie searched his memory and said, "According to the laws of the kingdom, servants who steal can be executed regardless of the amount."
"Yes, I originally wanted to execute him, but he wanted to buy his life back," the university scholar said. "He hid two hundred gold coins in a very secret place. He wanted to use these two hundred gold coins to buy
If I spare his life, he will tell me where these gold coins are hidden. Gold coins are such a good thing, but can they really buy their lives back?"
The Grand Maester looked at Reggie, waiting for Reggie to understand.
Reggie thought for a moment and replied: "Then let's see if the person who controls his life really needs gold coins."
Batchelor smiled. He liked smart people, especially smart lords. He decided to give the lord some more advice.
"Finans has a tongue that can talk, but a tongue can't hold a money bag. There is someone who has been a political officer in Shattering Snow City for ten years. Guess who holds the money bag?"
Reggie closed his eyes, pondered for a long time, and said, "I want to know how much money Sann Aufbich stole from me?"
"That's not important, my lord. What's important is how much you want." The grand maester added another glass of wine to Reggie. "I let the servant go, not out of pity, but because I really need those two.
One hundred gold coins."
"Thank you, Maester Thorne!" Reggie drank the milky wine and stood up to leave. The Grand Maester quickly gave Reggie the cash box.
"This is what I promised you..."
"Keep it," Reggie said. "Remember my words. If one day you commit an unforgivable mistake, with your words today and these gold coins, you can at least save your life with me."
Batchelor stood up, gave a respectful salute, and said: "Thank you for your tolerance, Lord."
"I should thank you, Grand Maester, for everything..." Reggie turned to leave, but suddenly stopped and turned around, "Have you ever heard of the rumors about wizards, elves and orcs?"
Batchelor was silent for a moment and said with a smile: "I have many books. The books record some weird creatures. Those creatures came to this world with original sin. If you are interested, you can read those books and see how ugly those creatures are.
You can also look at the crimes they have committed."
Reggie understood what Batchelor meant. In the Kingdom of Lane, including all surrounding kingdoms, all alien beings, including wizards, elves, trolls, demons and orcs, once discovered, will be executed with the most cruel punishment.
"No living being carries original sin," Reggie turned back and smiled at Barcello, "all living beings are just living beings."
…
Reggie came to the dungeon.
Sarn, who had only lived in the dungeon for one night, looked much haggard. The injury on his leg was very serious, and the doctor who treated him was very careless. He just simply wrapped some herbs on the wound. If this trend continues, he
It is possible to become disabled or even die from wound infection.
"Count Beech, you don't look too good." Reggie sat opposite Sarn, which made Erwin very nervous. He felt that the lord should not be close to a death row prisoner.
Sann smiled calmly: "How much happiness can you get from mocking a person who is about to die?"
"If you don't mind, can I see your wound?"
"So what if I mind?" Sarn raised his hands, with heavy shackles hanging on his wrists, "My lord, you can do whatever you want."
Reggie untied Sann's bandage. His wound stopped bleeding, but there was no sign of scab. The area around the wound turned dark red, and some yellow-white pus appeared in the center of the wound.
This is a sign of the onset of infection.
Reggie touched Sann's forehead and said, "Fortunately, you don't have a fever yet."
"Thank you for your concern, Lord Lord." Sann always kept smiling, but every word Reggie said was like a knife piercing his chest.
"You're lucky. The soldiers found some white fruit wine in the enemy's camp." Reggie picked up a wine bottle and said, "I used the distillation method to make a simple purification. It's almost sixty or seventy degrees."
Well, it will hurt a little, please bear with it."
Sann couldn't understand Reggie's words. He didn't know what purification was, let alone the concept of sixty or seventy degrees. When Reggie dipped cotton in wine and rubbed it on the wound, Sann gritted his teeth, but
Still couldn't help but moan.
"Lord, is this a punishment?"
"If you really want to use torture, I would consider using a soldering iron," Reggie said. "That way you will feel more pain and the sterilization effect will be better."
"What exactly do you want to do?"
Reggie said: "I want to help you, don't you want to keep this leg?"
Sann shook his head and said: "What's the use of saving this leg? Can I escape death? You will eventually throw me on the gravel and watch me dry slowly. Are you still afraid that I won't be able to go to hell?
The door?”
"I'm not worried about this. The door to hell is open to you at any time." After briefly treating Sarn's wound, Reggie wiped his hands with cotton cloth and continued, "I heard from the bachelor that you wanted to kill him more than once.
From my point of view, I should let you pay with blood, but now I have changed my mind, because I need money, the bachelor told me another story, the story of a man buying his life with money, Beech
Tell me, count, how much is your life worth?"
Sann frowned and stared at Reggie for a long time.
"Lord, I think you should know that I am a poor person."
Reggie shook his head and said, "Obviously, this answer is not sincere."
Sann was silent for a moment and said: "Why should I believe you? There is no way you can let me go."
Reggie smiled and said: "You can take a gamble. It doesn't matter if you lose. But if you don't accept the gamble, I will kill you, your wife and children, and all your wealth will be lost."
You have nothing to do with it."
Sann was silent for a long time and whispered: "What do you think of three thousand gold coins?"
Reggie shook his head and said, "I think the sincerity is still a bit lacking."
Sann said: "This is all my savings."
Reggie frowned, then smiled and said: "Count Beech, you are about to die, you'd better not test me again."