Devil's Law Pit Filling Project

Chapter 30 Soft Knives

Karina naturally recognized this big horse monkey.This guy's baronship was bestowed by himself.But such a big horse monkey, oh, forgive Karina for being rude, even the queen of the empire thinks that little Zach is too much like a big horse monkey.Can such a big horse monkey really achieve what he wants to do but can't?

Du Wei said with a smile: "You must know the status of Little Zac in the Tulip family. And he is an indispensable genius in our plan."

After the little Zach gave Karina the royal courtesies, he stood quietly aside.He was summoned to the palace in the middle of the night, but he didn't know what his master asked him to do, he just told him to wait in the study.

Du Wei continued: "Your Majesty, no matter what we do about this matter, it will be difficult to achieve our expected goal, and it will be a bit difficult to get off. Fighting crimes is a big civil matter. If we reject the prairie people's request for an alliance, we will The moral side has fallen into a disadvantage, giving people a reason to talk, and it may even develop into a hidden danger of conflicts between the empire and the grassland in the future. But if we agree, it will be a dilemma. Whether we go to the grassland to help fight crime It is not advisable for civilians or criminals to come to the front line of the empire to help us contain the wolf cavalry. But if we do nothing, we will be reviled. Therefore, my suggestion is to form an alliance, but not use force."

Du Wei took out a document written at an unknown time from his storage bag, flattened it and placed it on Karina's desk.

"Look, Your Majesty, this is the record of the trade between our Tulip family and the grassland people, and this is the record of the trade between the main wealthy families in the empire and the grassland. Because my Desa province borders the grassland and controls the gateway to and from the grassland A control policy was implemented a long time ago, and every trade was recorded in detail. In the trade between the empire and the grassland, the Tulip family has a geographical advantage, so it accounts for about [-]% of the trade with the grassland. Trade, the trade of imported war horses, and the trade of high-quality weapons from the Saladin forces that I secretly support."

Du Wei pointed to the data on that document and explained.Karina didn't quite understand the document.Because the empire’s finances have long been only responsible for taxation, but this kind of specific data is generally kept at the local level and will never be submitted to the upper level. Therefore, this novel management method makes Karina not very capable for a while. understand.

This data shows that the annual trade volume between the empire and the grassland is about 120 million gold coins, of which the Tulip family accounts for more than 80.But in Du Wei's view, this data is far smaller than his expectations.

The entire Roland Empire, dozens of provinces, the commercially developed south, the northern part of the imperial capital where the aristocrats and rich families gather and spend a lot of luxury goods, the sparsely populated northwest, and the Luolin Plain in the southwest, and the artificial canals in the northeast have also gathered some cities. , such a large empire has about 800 million people.The grassland is about the size of two or three empire provinces, with a population of about 200 million, but such a huge political system doesn't even have one-thirtieth of the empire's fiscal revenue every year!

It is true that the nomadic life of the grassland people has led to their relatively low ability to create wealth, but in Du Wei's view, the root cause of this situation is that their military-civilian ratio is too high!The empire has a population of nearly 2000 million, and it takes a lot of time, manpower, and material resources to form a 20-strong army.And the entire empire has only about 80 main battle corps, about 30 noble private troops and more than 100 million local garrison troops.It's a nine to one ratio.But on the grassland, as long as he is a man, he can become a soldier!A medium-sized tribe with a population of less than 60.00 can actually have more than 200 cavalry!Excluding half of the women is equivalent to [-]% of the men, and the strongest labor force is forced to become soldiers.And after a young laborer becomes a soldier, he changes from a producer to a consumer, which is equivalent to losing two laborers in disguise!A large number of women, and some men whose physical fitness is not enough for the army to work hard on grazing, planting, and hunting to maintain the huge army consumption. "A very unbalanced social system." This is the conclusion Philip and Du Wei reached after reading the information sent from the grassland.But the consequences of doing so are also obvious: a society with a deformed military can bring terrible deterrence.With a population of [-] million, the prairie people have kept the empire on its side for decades.

"Since Saladin wants to use our strength to fight, then we will give him this strength! However, it is a soft knife! They want to form an alliance? Yes, the empire will not export any troops, let alone accept any military help from the grassland people , but open our trade doors! The restrictions on heavy metal resources can be slightly relaxed, but not too loose, especially ironware! As for luxury goods transactions, raw material purchases, daily necessities sales, etc., encourage imperial merchants to do it business. We can even use subsidies to stimulate transactions.”

"But...if after a large amount of trade is carried out, the prairie people gather more and more wealth, will they become stronger? What if it deviates from our expectations?"

Karina found it difficult to understand Du Wei's thinking.Although she deeply trusts Du Wei's wisdom and Du Wei's loyalty, this series of dazzling and confusing policies still confuses her.

"Your worries... will not arise. With the financial strength and size of the empire, there will be no losses in this kind of trade! In other words, even if we use gold coins, we can kill the grassland people! We It is the output of finished products, such as luxury goods, daily necessities, etc. And the purchases from them are all raw materials. If you can think a little bit, it is easy to come to the conclusion that we will not suffer. Moreover, with If the trade of the prairie people has begun to show results, try to think about it, Your Majesty! Every prairie herdsman is using the best bronze mirror produced by the empire to dress up every day, eating caviar from the empire every day, and wearing the best clothes from the empire. Beautiful light armor, and even some basic necessities such as spices, cloth, and tea are all provided by the empire, if one day we cut off all of these!

"We will hardly suffer losses. Because the empire is too large, enough to digest these unsellable things! But the prairie people will lose their source. They will be in chaos. If we take a step back, even if we can't make all the prairie people All use the products of the God Empire, but this kind of commercial trade will eventually make the country richer than the people. The tax system of the grassland people is very backward, and almost all are calculated by cattle, sheep and horses! Due to the scarcity of metals, there is no clear currency system. If We exchange better things with these herdsmen, and buy their livestock and even war horses in large quantities. What is the result? Yes, the wealth will gradually accumulate in the hands of the herdsmen, and the army in power will gradually become impoverished. Because the herdsmen have no More cattle and sheep can be used to pay taxes! The cattle and sheep are turned into an imperial clock, or a decorative giant sword inlaid with magic crystals, or even a South Sea pearl! The army has no way to use these They can’t get more cattle and sheep, and those tribes can’t afford to support so many troops, which will reduce the treatment of the troops. At this time, the income of a businessman is already higher than that of joining the army, and the ensuing , is a large-scale 'retirement'! Their social form will gradually change. Because all soldiers feel that it would be better to be an ordinary herdsman! If the ruling class of the grassland prevents this trend, it will inevitably arouse the class Contradictions. As time goes by, the morale, morale, and control of the army will gradually decline. By then, when the problem of the criminals is resolved, the grassland people may no longer be able to gather any power that can cause headaches for the empire."

After saying this, not only Karina, but even the little Zach who was listening on the sidelines were dumbfounded!This... is this still a plot?The empire has been passed down for thousands of years, has anyone used this method to defeat the enemy! ?Leaving aside the many novel and unfamiliar words in what Du Wei just said, such as social structure, currency system, etc., but if you just think about it this way, it seems to be such a truth!The empire can really fight without bloodshed, even make money without spending a penny, and then disintegrate the grassland! ?It sounds like a fantasy, but it was really planned by Du Wei in such an orderly manner!

For Du Wei, these things are very simple truths.Just like the relationship between the United States and North Korea in his original world.Although North Korea is poor, it can muster a very large military force.Make South Korea, a country that is much richer than it, always on guard.But once the free market economy enters North Korea, the people lose their centripetal force, and the army loses its loyalty to the leader, then this deformed society where all the people are militarized will soon collapse.How similar is it to the current situation of the prairie people?

Karina obviously had difficulty accepting so many theoretical frameworks for a while.She needs to think hard and make a choice that is in the best interests of the royal family.Du Wei was also smart enough not to interrupt the Queen's meditation.Instead, he coughed lightly and winked at little Zach.

Little Zach has been in the imperial capital for nearly ten years, and he is also known for his cleverness. He immediately filtered through what he had just heard from Du Wei, and then found out where he could participate.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for interjecting a word. I just thought about it, and I think this plan of my lord duke is very feasible. You usually have a lot of affairs in your daily life, and you may not be very familiar with financial details, but I have done a dozen A businessman who has been in business for a year must have a say in this matter, right?"

"Yes, Baron Zach, I think there is probably no one in the imperial capital who has more say than you. You can say it." Karina's eyes lit up, and she listened carefully to Zach's opinion.

"I'm really flattered that you said that. I think Lord Munes, Delan Mountain Warcraft, and Count Villa can all think of these people." Zach pondered for a while, "Look , when I started to take over my family's business in the imperial capital, I noticed many small details. For example, the snowstorm in the south that year, the purchase of various daily necessities was very huge, and many places were out of stock. As a result, I bought seeds in the northeast of the empire. The price of clothing has increased by [-]%, and the price of clothing has almost doubled. Sometimes it is even impossible to buy. Because of the loss of this kind of material that is related to people's livelihood, in the second year of the snow disaster in the south, the major provinces in the south have a bumper harvest. , but in the Northeast, where the harvest was good in previous years, the tax revenue was greatly reduced in the second year! The imperial capital did not pay much attention to this matter, because the surplus in the south fully made up for the loss in the northeast. But I carefully read the events there. There The lack of harvest is not due to natural disasters at all, but because everyone has no intention of producing.

"I even checked the public security records in the Northeast that year for the sake of my lord. It was unprecedented chaos. So! I think that economic stability is extremely important to the empire. It even exceeds the public security offices and local governments. The importance of the garrison! The empire has long ruled the region by military means. Once the slightest foreign force rises, it will immediately do its best to wipe it out, and it is rarely linked to some seemingly insignificant factors. Your Majesty, the people want more than just It’s enough to fill your stomach.”