Chapter 74: Grain, Commerce, and the Cabinet

Looking at the smiling Allen, Yamila briefly fell into memories, but she immediately snapped back to reality.

Now was not the time to be distracted; Yamila quickly composed her thoughts, looked at Allen, and said, "The other issue is the grain. Over these years, our residents have increased, and the yields in the fields have also grown higher. These are all good things, and they have greatly increased the actual amount of grain we collect."

Yamila then rubbed her forehead in frustration and looked back at Allen, saying, "But as you know, our taxes on the residents were never very heavy. Although we have saved some grain over the years, a lot of it was consumed by this recent war. Now that we have to reduce tax rates and raise those children, according to our current reserves, I estimate we cannot hold out for long."

Having long considered this problem, Allen said to Yamila with extreme confidence, "I have already considered this issue; this is the second thing I prepared to talk about today."

Allen turned his head and said to the Dwarf Tier, "Tier, when will the statue at the cemetery be finished?"

The Dwarf Tier sat at the table for Humans, looking extremely awkward; even though Yamila had custom-made a wooden chair for him, he still kept shifting around on it to adjust his posture.

Upon hearing Allen's inquiry, Tier immediately replied, "Lord Allen, that statue is very simple. My companions and I can complete the rough shape within five days, and the whole thing within half a month. Of course, if you have other instructions, I can also step away from this work; my companions are enough."

"Good. Then in a day or two, I need you to accompany me to the Old Forest Road. I hope to reopen it and establish a stronghold between the Old Forest Road and the Running River. I need your help with this part of the project."

The Dwarf Tier nodded and agreed directly; he had heard of that road, which had been occupied by Elves long ago and had been abandoned for a long time now.

Subsequently, Allen revealed to Yamila his solution for the grain shortage.

"Yamila, don't worry about the grain. We can buy it. Use silver and gold to purchase the surplus grain in the hands of the residents; it will only rot if left in their hands. I heard that many villagers keep the new grain and eat the old grain instead; this is not a good habit."

Then, Allen tapped the table twice and continued, "As long as we open up the Old Forest Road and the High Pass, allowing merchants from Eriador and the eastern regions of Rhovanion to come to Wilderness Town, we can use our dazzling array of goods to consume the wealth in the residents' hands and improve their quality of life. Then there won't be any major problems."

"After that, we can also recover a portion of the funds through taxation. We can collect these taxes a bit more heavily. Besides,"

Allen said as he looked at Stephen, extending his arm to introduce him to everyone, "Let me introduce everyone to my newly hired Finance Consultant, Mr. Stephen."

Wearing a velvet hat and dressed quite gorgeously, Stephen stood up. He looked cheerful and, with an elegant posture, performed a hat-tipping salute to everyone at the table.

Sitting back down, Stephen knew that whether he could live happily under Allen depended on these people, who were likely colleagues he needed to be mindful of; for the time being, he couldn't afford to offend any of them.

As for the Finance Consultant, military personnel like Fatis, Desaiwei, and Alayen were not interested in this at all. They mostly acted on orders, and unless they had Allen's command, they would not have any interaction with this Finance Consultant.

Yamila, however, stared at Stephen for a while, guessing in her heart which duties this Finance Consultant would be responsible for, and which powers she would need to hand over to this fellow with the large red nose.

And Allen's words quickly dispelled Yamila's doubts.

"Yamila, regarding the commercial side of the work, I hope to have Stephen assist you. He was previously the Town Mayor of Long Lake Town. Of course, he is not as good as you, but he has a lot of experience in commerce. Now, he is your subordinate."

Allen suddenly looked at Stephen and said loudly, "Say a few words, my Finance Consultant."

Hearing Allen's summons, Stephen stood up in a bit of a panic, steadied his mind, and then quietly glanced at his future boss. At this moment, he was wondering what kind of relationship this young, beautiful blonde girl had with his lord.

"Lord Allen, rest assured, I will definitely cooperate well with Town Mayor Yamila and will absolutely not slack off."

"Mm, good."

Allen nodded, waved his hand to let Stephen sit down, and continued with his plan: "Besides relying on commercial taxes, I hope to build some inns in various parts of the town in my name to host the outsiders who may come in the future."

Then Allen tapped his head and said, "I remembered, we can actually launch some products. Cress!"

"Stop dozing off there. You invite Beorn over tomorrow. Oh, right, I forgot to ask, has Marian given birth?"

Cress, who was leaning on her chair and dozing off, stood up abruptly upon hearing her name. Perhaps she stood up too suddenly, as her body bumped directly into the conference table.

The young girl hissed, drew a sharp breath, and enduring the pain, said loudly, "My Lord, I understand. I will go invite him tomorrow morning. Marian has given birth; it's a little sister named Rebecca. James was the one who named her."

Allen looked at the grimacing Cress and laughed. He then looked at James, who was smiling at him, and knew that both mother and child were safe. It seemed he needed to prepare some gifts and find time to visit his new niece.

"Yamila, tomorrow you can discuss with Beorn the production of honey, cheese, and Honey Mead. We need to produce them in large quantities and then sell these things as commodities to the merchants who will come later. For specific matters, you can have Stephen assist you."

"Very well, my Lord."

Yamila nodded and made a note of it.

In fact, Allen did not expect to achieve a balanced budget through these things; losing a bit did not matter. Even if half were spent, Allen's gold was still plentiful—no, it was extremely plentiful.

Allen also had the Dwarf allies of the Lonely Mountain, so there would be no lack of skilled craftsmen in the future; this could also increase the variety of goods and take the prosperity of Wilderness Town's commerce to the next level.

Moreover, it was not as if Allen had no other income, especially his Long Lake Town, which connected the Running River, the King of the Woodland Realm, and the higher-up Lonely Mountain and Dale. One could imagine that the income there would be very high, which was why Allen had dispatched Fatis to manage it.

If the grain was still insufficient, Allen planned to buy it from the eastern part of Rhovanion, or attract more people from there to come and live in Wilderness Town.

Two months ago, when Allen was pursuing Bolg, he saw a large number of farms around the Running River. This was only the stretch from Long Lake Town to the Old Forest Road; the fertile plains further away should be inhabited by many Northern Men.

And continuing south along the Running River was Dorwinion, which was extremely close to the territory of the Easterlings. Allen did not want to provoke those dark believers living in the East for the time being, but he could conduct trade with Dorwinion via the Running River.

In this way, Wilderness Town would no longer be a lonely town. To the west, through the High Pass, it could connect to Eriador and establish ties with Rivendell, the Shire, the Blue Mountains, Lindon, and even parts of Gondor.

To the east, it could reach the Running River via the Old Forest Road, where it could conduct trade with Long Lake Town, Dale, the Kingdom of Erebor, the Woodland Realm, and even the Iron Hills.

With these conditions, Wilderness Town would sooner or later develop into a flourishing city.

Of course, the prerequisite was that Allen must be able to suppress the Orcish of the Misty Mountains and the dark forces of Dol Guldur.

Naturally, in the short term, Allen did not need to worry about this.

In this meeting, besides encouraging business and opening up trade routes, Allen also wanted to talk about other things.

Over the past four or five years, Allen himself knew that the management structure of Wilderness Town was very mixed, without any particularly clear titles.

But Allen did not feel it was chaotic, because each of his subordinates had been explicitly or implicitly granted a portion of power by Allen to handle a part of Wilderness Town's affairs.

Yamila, who was the Town Mayor in name, managed the food, clothing, housing, and transportation of the entire Wilderness Town. All material allocation and personnel arrangements had to be approved by Yamila; this was the power Allen had granted her from the very beginning.

Now, Yamila had many subordinates and a large number of personnel serving her to manage the nearly ten thousand people of Wilderness Town.

In Wilderness Town, in terms of the size of power, this young girl was the number one person under Allen, and at only twenty-three years old, Yamila was doing quite well.

The other person with power equivalent to Yamila was Fatis, who sat there without saying a word. This was a young man with excellent talent, and his friendship with Allen was very deep.

He was only about thirty years old this year. He was Allen's deputy, and out of his recognition of Allen, he served him dutifully.

When Allen was not stationed in Wilderness Town, Fatis was the highest military officer in name, with the power to conscript all soldiers.

Fatis also had many subordinates; the troops directly under him were the more than three hundred Cavalry that remained after the war, which was the most powerful force in Allen's hands.

Bandak, Allen's Housecarl, was a taciturn middle-aged man. After Allen helped him resolve all his troubles, he became Allen's Housecarl. During the war, he managed the Archer units of Wilderness Town, and in daily life, he was responsible for the security management of Wilderness Town.

And Allen's other Housecarl, Desaiwei, who hated bandits and longed for a stable life, was saved by Allen from the hands of bandits.

Not only that, Allen also led his own team to help Desaiwei complete her revenge.

Now she managed Allen's dozens of Horse Archers, responsible for daily reconnaissance work around Wilderness Town, while also guarding the trade route between Wilderness Town and the Woodland Realm.

As for Alayen, who had followed Allen out from home to struggle when he was not yet old, it was a different situation.

He was the eldest son of a noble, his mother died early, he received quite a lot of cold shoulders from his stepmother, and his straightforward personality was not liked by his father either.

Alayen knew that he no longer had much hope of inheriting the family business, so he had been looking for other opportunities.

By chance, he saw Allen helping his father in battle; that figure slaughtering enemies in the opposing army left Alayen in awe.

After much effort, he became Allen's Attendant, responsible for managing the infantry units of Wilderness Town during wartime and handling soldier training during peacetime.

At this time, Artimenner, who was far away in Lake-town, had previously been responsible for all construction work in Wilderness Town; whether it was the mill, the blacksmith shop, the waterwheel, roads, city walls, or houses, he had handled almost everything himself.

It was just that now the Dwarf Tier was competing with him for the title of First Engineer, and while Allen did not favor Artimenner, Artimenner was Allen's subordinate, whereas Tier was only someone Dain had lent to Allen.

Allen's good friend and full-time Physician James, who was kind and benevolent, was responsible for managing the only hospital in Wilderness Town and had numerous apprentices; he also served as the Principal of the school—who else but him was the idlest person?

No, the idlest was actually Cress; this young girl, not yet twenty, had a very high combat capability, yet she had almost no specific duties under Allen.

It was because Allen did not want her to take too many risks, so Cress usually just helped Yamila and built rapport with the Skin-changers and the Great Eagles; perhaps simple and kind people were more easily liked by them.

These people mentioned above, plus Karl, Duolisi, Tier, Fulei, Tuoju, and others—Allen's friends or the subordinates of his subordinates—were responsible for maintaining the normal operation of Wilderness Town.

In the past, Allen's mind was full of how to deal with Orcish harassment, how to draw closer to the Dwarves and Elves, and how to build connections with the big shots of Middle-earth while he was weak, so as to ensure his forces could survive in this dangerous place; he had not considered his administrative staff too much.

Now, having finished the Battle of the Five Armies, a relieved Allen finally thought of these matters; he decided to form his own Cabinet to give his friends, subordinates, and Housecarls a clear status and better treatment.

Allen first looked at his subordinates and stood up with a smile on his face; Yamila and the others felt it was strange and followed Allen in standing up, but Allen waved his hand, signaling them to sit back down.

"Everyone, besides encouraging population growth and opening up commerce, I actually have another piece of good news to announce: everyone, I am going to become a king."

Allen felt that this sentence was very awkward coming from his own mouth, but since most of those present were friends and subordinates he had known for seven or eight years, Allen felt that it was just as it was; let it be awkward.

And most of Allen's subordinates quickly reacted from their surprise; facing this news, each of them had their own thoughts.

But regarding the matter of Allen becoming king, they generally believed it was a matter of course.

After arriving in Middle-earth, there was no difference between Allen and a king, other than the size of the territory and the issue of a title.

Allen did not know what his subordinates were thinking; he was actually somewhat excited—a king, after all.

"After going out this time, Bard, the lord of Lake-town, became my Vassal. Later, I will rebuild a town near the original location of Long Lake Town. Once this town is completed, I will be enthroned in Wilderness Town and become the King of the Rhovanion City-State, directly administering Wilderness Town and Long Lake Town, and ruling over Lake-town. Therefore, for the convenience of future management, I intend to form a Cabinet."

Everyone present, except for Cress, understood what a Cabinet meant; it would certainly be the center of power for the Rhovanion City-State, and whether one had a seat in this Cabinet represented whether one had entered the core of the entire nation's power.

Even if it were not for power, there was the issue of face; for example, James—although he was kind and benevolent and a good friend of Allen, and not as eager for power as the average person—if all the friends who came together had it but he did not, what would that count as? Wouldn't he be laughed to death by Artimenner later?

Not to mention a merchant like Stephen who was keen on fame and fortune. For a moment, everyone's eyes turned to Allen, their gazes containing various emotions such as inquiry, longing, enthusiasm, and certainty.

Looking at the expressions of his subordinates, Allen calmly stated his plan: "The Cabinet has three different titles. One is Warrior, bestowed upon the Housecarls loyal to me; one is Scholar, bestowed upon the masters who have helped me greatly. Once these two titles are bestowed, they are held for life. The last type of title is the three Ministers, who are also the people with the most power in the Cabinet, but I will replace the personnel when necessary. Now, I will bestow different titles upon everyone present one by one."

Subsequently, Allen turned his head to look at Yamila and said, "Yamila, write down what I say."

Yamila took out a piece of parchment, produced a quill, dipped it fully in ink, and waited for Allen.

Seeing that Yamila was ready, Allen cleared his throat and said loudly:

"October 4th, 2941 of the Third Age, in the conference room of the lord's house in Wilderness Town.

The future King of Rhovanion, current Lord of Wilderness Town, friend of Elves and Dwarves, Dragon Slayer Allen hereby decrees:

I shall bestow the title of Warrior upon Desaiwei, Bandak, Alayen, Fatis, Kelis, Yamila, and Holimion, blessing them to be ever-victorious on the righteous battlefield, to be invincible, and to defeat evil enemies.

I shall bestow the title of Scholar upon James, Artimenner, the Dwarf Fulei, and the Dwarf Tier, blessing them to have flashes of inspiration in their future work, to have more exquisite skills, and to create more wonderful things.

I shall bestow the title of Military Minister upon Fatis.

I shall bestow the title of Hand of the King upon Yamila—no, I don't like that name, change it to: I shall bestow the title of Hand of the King upon Yamila.

The title of Finance Minister will remain vacant until a suitable candidate is found."

After finishing, Allen watched as Yamila wrote a new copy, then spoke again: "Give it to me."

Yamila gently blew on the paper, handed it to Allen, and then handed the ink and pen to Allen as well.

Allen began to add notes on the paper with his not-so-good handwriting.

Hand of the King: Chief Minister of the Cabinet. The person wearing this title shall have the power to command the kingdom's subjects, resources, and wealth. Any decision related to these three matters requires the consent of the Hand of the King. At the same time, the person wearing this title bears an unshirkable responsibility for the country's agriculture, construction, and subjects. With the King's consent, they may arrange corresponding administrative positions for their subordinates according to their own needs.

Military Minister: Cabinet Minister. The person wearing this title, as the King's deputy, has the power to command the kingdom's armies under the King's orders. With the King's consent, they may arrange corresponding administrative positions for their subordinates according to their own needs.

Finance Minister: Cabinet Minister. The person wearing this title is responsible for the kingdom's taxation and commercial activities. With the King's consent, they may arrange corresponding administrative positions for their subordinates according to their own needs.

Warrior: A warrior recognized by the King, assisting the King in completing various military tasks; once bestowed, it is held for life.

Scholar: A wise person recognized by the King, assisting the King in completing various related matters; once bestowed, it is held for life.

After writing, Allen looked it over carefully and added another sentence: The King has the final right of interpretation and modification regarding all the above content.

Subsequently, Allen signed his name and handed it to Yamila, "Go and promulgate it."

As for the benefits and salaries that should be issued for these titles, Allen did not write them down; no one knew what future prices would be, so it would suffice to issue them wealth enough to live a superior life according to their titles.

In addition, Allen also designed badges representing their status, which would be issued to them later, but that was a matter for another time.

After announcing the appointments, Allen arranged a task for each of Desaiwei and James, and then ended the meeting.