Chapter 109: Plans Made Over the Dinner Table (33)

Half a month later, at noon.

Crescent Castle, inside.

Luosen and his family were enjoying lunch.

The main dish was a stewed sea turtle soup.

A sea turtle weighing over thirty catties was opened, the thickest, most tender meat taken out, mixed with ham, potatoes, vegetables, and various seasonings, then stewed into a pot of broth as thick as milk.

Of course, the rest of the turtle was not wasted; it was all given to the servants as a reward.

Anna took a small sip of the delicious thick soup and said, "I received a reply from my brother today; he said he contacted the earls of the northern county, and they all agreed to my proposal."

"It is estimated that over fifty thousand mountain people will be transported to the island in batches, with an average price ranging from ten to twenty-five ogres each."

Luosen made a rough estimate: "This is truly a huge expense, fortunately it can be paid with magical artifacts."

If paid in cash, even the total cash on the whole island would surely be far insufficient.

After a pause, he also felt fortunate: "It's also lucky that we reached a trade agreement with the deep-sea mermaids; otherwise there wouldn't be enough food on the island."

Trade with the deep-sea mermaids has just begun, but those mermaids are very enthusiastic about it.

They not only need Sun Warriors, but also more than just clay knives; they are very interested in everything on land.

In just ten days, they have already brought at least 200 tons of various sea products to the island.

But Luosen still felt this trade volume was too little.

If he were given control of this triangular sea area, he would immediately launch various marine aquaculture, which could not only guarantee food for the whole island but also allow large-scale exports.

Of course, this is merely his idea for now.

Anna then brought up the second piece of news.

"The letters I sent to the major magic academies and renowned mages have also started receiving replies."

"The response from the northern academy was especially positive; they all said they would add White Sturgeon Island as an option on the students' graduation recommendation sheets, and most would place it on the first page."

Luosen and Selena raised their glasses to celebrate, laughing, "This is really good."

Anna spread her hands: "Indeed it's good; it shows that White Sturgeon Island has already made a name for itself in the north."

She changed the tone: "But the response from the south has been scant; they are even unwilling to pay attention to me, and if they do, it's only a polite refusal."

"I summarized the causes and found they are multifaceted."

Luosen heard this and said, "Is it mainly political or economic reasons?"

"About half and half."

"The south are all mainlanders, and we have offended Aaron."

"The south is wealthy; after graduating, official mages have many career paths, high salaries, and they also look down on us northerners at heart."

"But frankly, even if southern mages were willing to come, we probably couldn't afford their salaries."

Luosen and Selena both nodded in agreement.

The southern county is much wealthier than the northern county; the salary level of official mages is more than double, like going from a small western town on Earth to working in Shanghai—the gap is enormous.

But Luosen is unwilling to miss any opportunity to expand his power.

"Perhaps some unofficial mages from the south will come over."

"The pay of unofficial mages is only one-fifth, or even one-tenth, that of official mages; this group is severely exploited."

"It's roughly comparable to a university student earning 3000."

Anna smiled faintly: "I certainly know what you're thinking, so I also had someone inquire about the situation of unofficial mages."

"The situation is, it's also difficult."

"Because most of them look down on White Sturgeon Island, thinking there's no future; most people, even if they strive desperately for a prospect in southern big cities, would absolutely not dare to come to White Sturgeon Island to take a risk."

Madame Saxon beside them spread her hands.

"Just like when I was young, I only wanted to spend my whole life in the prosperous Shialin City. When Ted brought me back to the island, I was still very reluctant."

In other words, even with the princess's halo, White Sturgeon Island's influence is still far insufficient; it cannot create a suction effect on ordinary mages in the south.

To change this impression, White Sturgeon Island must accomplish a great deed that can prove its strength.

Of course, it's still early; White Sturgeon Island is not yet ready.

But right now there are a few things that must be done.

Luosen swallowed a bite of tender turtle meat and said, "Recently the number of people entering the island has been increasing, not only those seeking opportunities but also those seeking to make money."

"Adding the nearly eighty thousand native islanders, the resident population is already approaching ninety thousand, and the island market has begun to take shape."

Because of Luosen's strong intervention, the island is rapidly shifting from a natural barter economy to a commodity economy.

The scale of the civilian free market is rapidly expanding.

As the market grows, ordinary people's attention to money increases day by day, because money can buy more and more things.

The good news is that a developed market speeds up commodity circulation, which can greatly stimulate the island's productivity development.

The bad news is that the island market is still too small.

Being small makes it fragile, with extremely poor risk resistance; large inflows or outflows of goods and money on the market would cause huge turmoil.

This would make the islanders' lives as stimulating as a roller coaster: today one kroner can buy five catties of flour, tomorrow maybe only one catty, and the day after ten catties.

This would be bad enough, but worse still if we encounter malicious outside merchants who secretly manipulate the market and slyly plunder the wealth in the islanders' pockets.

Then life would become impossible to live.

As lord, if we want to maintain our rule well, we must help the islanders keep their money bags tight and not let outsiders easily pick their pockets.

Selena asked, "So what are you planning to do?"

Luosen snapped his fingers: "Two things."

"First, establish an Island Price Stabilization Bureau."

Selena didn't quite understand: "Huh?"

Luosen began to explain in detail.

"Through this bureau, we will keep the prices of all daily necessities on the island, especially food, within a relatively stable range, preventing wild fluctuations."

"I will declare private hoarding of key supplies illegal; only the island's official warehouses may legally hoard."

The market cannot be completely free, especially for food; otherwise, an oligopoly will quickly form.

This would greatly weaken the lord's control over his territory.

Therefore, the only legal oligopoly must belong to the lord.

Luosen continued to introduce the operation of the balance bureau. "For example, with grain, when market grain prices rise rapidly, indicating a shortage, the granary will release grain to the market to ensure ordinary citizens can always buy cheap grain."

"Conversely, when grain prices are low, indicating a surplus, the granary will purchase grain at a slightly higher market price to protect grain suppliers, lest they go bankrupt."

Anna listened attentively for a moment, then said: "It can also prevent someone from maliciously interfering with market grain prices, causing chaos on the island."

"Exactly."

"For now the island is small, with few people, surrounded by sea on all sides, so there won't be rapid inflow or outflow of goods; thus this price stability bureau can function well with only a few people."

"But when the scale grows larger in the future, this balance bureau will become very important, even a key to sustaining the nation's lifeline."

The phrase "scale grows larger" is naturally understood by Selena and Anna.

Luosen continued: "Second, the island's citizen bank should also be formally established."

The price stability bureau regulates from the supply side of goods.

Establishing a bank is to control the quantity of money circulating in the market.

This point is also important.

If this is not handled well, not only ordinary subjects but even the lord will be picked clean.

Moreover, in the future Luosen will need a batch of professional banking talent to wage monetary war against enemy states.

Anna furrowed her brows and seriously reminded: "Luosen, a local lord cannot freely set up a bank; he must have the duke's approval."

The duke usually agrees, because when a locality opens a bank it must pay him a management fee.

But to prevent local lords from acting recklessly, auditors will also be dispatched from members of the Adrian clan to conduct strict supervision.

These auditors are collateral members of the Adrian family; aside from one person being outside, the whole family resides in Dawn City, making them extremely hard to bribe.

The bank matter can be big or small; small it's just about money, large it's about minting rights, which involves the duke's basis of rule.

If overstepped, the duke will surely declare it rebellion and send troops to suppress it.

Luosen had prepared early.

He gave a slight smile: "Other lords cannot, but we can, and even if the duke wants to control it, he cannot."

Saying this, he turned his head to look at Selena.

Selena startled, momentarily unable to react.

Luosen softly reminded: "My dear lady, as a direct member of the Adrian clan, have you forgotten the legitimate rights you should enjoy?"

Selena finally recalled: "Oh~~ I remember now, I indeed have the right to open a bank, and Lead cannot control me either."

"Huh?"

Anna still didn't understand.

Selena smiled faintly: "Article Seven of the Weilan Clan Edict, Adrian clan members have the right to establish private banks affiliated with Dawn Bank."

"If a direct member, as long as the bank's capital scale is kept under one million Ogres, it can operate independently without duke supervision."

"Simply put, this is for clan members to lend money and earn pocket change."

"The clan edict was formulated by the first female duke, Saint Weilan."

"Lead cannot find any reason to abolish this clause, because many clan members are already running private banks."

"Of course, because they are collateral, their capital scale cannot exceed two hundred thousand Ogres at most."

But even a direct member's capital scale of one million Ogres, placed in Dawn City, the Weilan capital, would be just a small bank; yet placed on the current White Sturgeon Island, it is more than sufficient.

Luosen laughed: "I propose we call this bank the Dawn Princess Bank; once people hear the name they'll know it's Princess Selena's, and its credit will be established immediately."

"Good, let's use that name."

Now that both the supply side and the monetary side have professional guardians, the island market should not encounter major problems.

As for the duke's minting tax, there's no need to worry too much.

Because credit currency has not yet become widespread, the money circulating in the market is basically full-value gold and silver coinage, so the minting tax is not large.

Moreover, even if the duke wanted to adulterate gold coins to collect more minting tax, he would still have to ask whether the various county marquises agree.

Thus, the two major matters were settled at the dining table.

Specific implementation will surely encounter many setbacks, but it doesn't matter; the island is small and has the sea as a natural barrier, so no major incidents will occur—just treat it as training the staff.

After lunch, Luosen's true self went to the underground Magic Method Laboratory to study spells.

Not long after, Anna also joined in.

She was very interested in the laboratory's lightning assembly line.

Coincidentally, Luosen also lacked an assistant for the magic factory, while Anna had been cooped up in the castle, feeling bored every day.

Thus, Luosen carefully imparted the relevant knowledge.

As for governmental affairs, there are puppets to hold the fort.

I thought there would be nothing major this afternoon, but soon his chief intelligence officer Stonard arrived.

"Lord, there is a 'Sun Warrior' named Frodo who brought back a demon wife from the sea."

"She voluntarily followed him ashore and refuses to return to the sea no matter what."

Luosen was very pleased: "Ah-ha~~ I didn't expect to have a defector this quickly."

"Now we shouldn't fail to get to the bottom of the deep-sea situation?"

"Then why isn't he worried about being sounded out by the other side instead?"

Because he could see at a glance that the island land had a high civilization advantage over the deep-sea mermaids, the other side, upon casually touching and figuring it out, would instead yearn for the island rather than the sea.

Of course, relying on just Frodo isn't enough; the Sun Warrior Project must continue to push forward, striving to lure as many mermaids ashore as possible.

After passing this order to Stonard, he asked again: 'Any other news?'

Stonard nodded.

Because the trade route was blocked, our smuggling trade with the Northern County ran into obstacles, smuggling efficiency dropped sharply compared to before, and some were even intercepted by the Shire County Earl.

Luosen knew that Count Robert's interception was just for show, done to be seen by the Shire County Administration.

After all, whether to intercept is a matter of attitude, while how much to intercept is a matter of ability; the former is far more serious than the latter.

But this also reminded him to quickly find a new route.

Fortunately, Luosen never puts all his eggs in one basket.

Starting from trading with smuggler Aji, and even earlier, he had been preparing for this.

Recently, these preparations should have begun to show results.

(End of chapter)