rise of empire total war

Chapter 228 Harsh Financial Realities

After traveling for four days, Richard finally returned to Nord City and his warm and comfortable Ippolito Palace. The first thing he did after returning to the court was to go to the study to write a book about the establishment of the so-called state-owned enterprise. plan of.After thinking about it, he gave up his plan to start from scratch, and instead bought a ready-made business or invested in a business like the nobles of this era.

To be on the safe side, he discussed it with the chief financial officer, Walcomer. The latter did not approve of directly investing in the purchase of a firm. As the chief financial officer, he knew that the current state finances were not enough to support Richard's nonsense. He said directly to Richard: "Your Majesty, I have to regret to remind you that our finances are not well-off. A total of more than 3 silver coins have been spent on the construction of the cathedral alone. You also ordered It also costs money to lead a new silver mine. The currency reform you want to implement will cost a lot of silver coins, and a lot of expenditure will bottom out our treasury."

"It costs so much money to build a cathedral?" Richard was a little surprised. This is just the beginning of construction, which is too exaggerated.

Volkoma explained with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, building the cathedral requires the use of fine stone and wood, which must be transported from other places, including the collection and transportation costs of raw materials and the remuneration of labor. Then, After being transported, craftsmen have to polish and cut it before it can be used for construction, which also requires funds..."

At this point, he stopped talking, because there was another step that required more money, and that was the interior decoration of the church after it was completed, whether it was the stained glass that the church must have or the utensils and crosses used in religious ceremonies. , these need to be specially made and cost more money.Therefore, it is not easy to build a church. When it only cost a small amount of money and there was a system to help build it, it was hard to feel it. Now without the assistance of the system, everything seems so difficult.

Richard had obviously only realized this now. He hesitated for a while, and finally asked: "Volkoma, tell me honestly, how much will we need to spend if we insist on mining the silver mines in Uref Territory?" ?”

"This..." Volkoma hesitated. He calculated in his mind for a while before replying: "Your Majesty, including the construction of the mine, we spent less than [-] silver coins, but the rewards we received were far greater. Much higher than that."

At the end, before Richard was happy with this answer, he reminded again: "Of course, if you postpone the currency reform, we can gain more benefits."

"..."

Richard was silent. Volkoma's intention was obvious, which was to make him give up the idea of ​​currency reform. The silver content of Richard's so-called new currency mark was even higher than the current currency in circulation in the Kingdom of Winster, the silver tala itself. Seriously, this is a waste of silver in the eyes of the treasurer.It would be fine if the country didn't lack money and silver, but there was only one silver mine being mined and one newly discovered silver mine in the kingdom, which couldn't stand Richard's waste at all.

After a long time, Richard sighed, and said quietly: "In this case, let's postpone the currency reform indefinitely first, and let's stabilize the current financial situation first."

"I'm glad you made a wise decision, Your Majesty." Volkoma said in a cheerful tone, and he even bent down and bowed. Looking at him like this, Richard suddenly felt a little relieved, At least he is for this country.

Walcoma left soon. After he left, Richard leaned on the table, but reflected on the many decisions he had made in the past few months. Today he realized how much he had been taking for granted. Well, reform is not something that can be changed just by changing it. It will cost a lot, it may be a lot of money, or it may cost a lot of lives.

"It seems that I'm still immature." Richard thought depressingly. He could win the world immediately by relying on the system, but he couldn't rule the world by himself. Your version.

Sighing deeply again, Richard got up slowly and walked out of the study with a heavy heart. The guards guarding both sides of the gate followed quickly. Boldly, he asked aloud: "Your Majesty Caesar, what's wrong with you?"

Suddenly someone asked a question, and Richard subconsciously turned his head to look at the questioner. Seeing that it was the guard behind him, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he forced a smile, saying, "I'm fine, Simmons."

But he didn't know that the smile he squeezed out was uglier than crying in the eyes of the two guards.

"Your Majesty Caesar, I don't know why you are troubled." The guard named Simons did not listen to Richard's words. He continued: "But we still want to tell you that it was you who led us from a small Kuban Island. You fought back to the mainland and created today's foundation. In the eyes of all our soldiers, no matter what, you have always been the greatest monarch."

Listening to Simmons' sincere words, Richard was stunned. Yes, he led these soldiers step by step from the small Cuban Island to the recovery of the Winster Kingdom, and annexed an old enemy. Although it relies on the power of the system, his role is still obvious. He has survived so many difficulties, why should he be troubled by such a small setback?

Thinking of this, the cloud in Richard's heart suddenly dissipated. He patted the shoulders of Simmons and another guard heavily, and said gratefully, "Thank you, Simmons!"

"This is my duty, Your Majesty Caesar." Simmons was keenly aware of Richard's changes, and he said happily, and then he looked at each other with his comrades beside him, and they both saw joy in each other's eyes.

"Let's go, go back to my bedroom, I haven't been lying on my big warm and comfortable bed for a long time!"

……

Half a month later, construction began on the silver mine in Ulifland. Soldiers from the First Legion escorted a large amount of supplies, tools, and labor to the depths of the dense forest. In order to be able to complete the road construction before the official mining, Richard ordered the members of this team to also lay the road on the way. Of course, this is not voluntary labor. In order to motivate them, Richard promised Give each one a reward of five silver tyra.

With the incentive of rewards, the paving speed of the road was unprecedentedly fast. In just a dozen days, the road was completed in this dense forest. Immediately afterwards, the digging and construction of the silver mine was officially put on the agenda.

(End of this chapter)