Chapter 1832 The Importance of the Calm Belt (4)

Saint Nasshoulang was clearly dissatisfied with Saint Maz's explanation. He stared at him angrily and retorted, "But what about the other kingdoms? Why don't they pay on time either? This can't be blamed on the chaos in the South China Sea!"

Saint Maz, undeterred, responded pointedly, "Don't you understand the principle of 'draining the pond to catch all the fish'? The global situation is turbulent right now, with pirates and rebels springing up everywhere in staggering numbers. Many kingdoms are deeply troubled and suffering. Under such circumstances, we should give them more time to breathe and recover."

Nasu Shoulangsheng's rage grew stronger. He raised his voice and sternly said, "Give them time? Then who will give us, the World Government, time? You know, this year, due to the rebellion in the South China Sea, and to maintain the unobstructed access to the first half of the Grand Route, as well as the plan to explore the Calm Belt, we need to spend a huge amount of money! Who will cover these additional expenses?"

Having said that, Saint Nasshoulang was furious and stared at Saint Maz with his eyes spitting fire.

"What's the point of you getting so angry at me? Can I actually conjure up money for you?"

Saint Maz stood up with an angry face, pointed his finger at Saint Nasshoulang, and shouted in a high-pitched voice.

His body was trembling slightly, and he was obviously extremely enraged by Nasu Shoulangsheng's anger.

Seeing this, Nasshoulangsheng felt a little guilty in his heart, but he still put on a tough attitude on his face.

He snorted coldly, turned his head away abruptly, and no longer looked at Mazsheng, as if he didn't care about his accusations at all.

Seeing the two of them confronting each other so fiercely and the atmosphere becoming extremely tense, the other three Five Elders quickly came out to smooth things over and tried to change the subject.

Peter Saint coughed and said, "This year's additional expenses are very large, and the amount of Heavenly Gold is nearly one-third less than last year. The World Government's financial hole is very large, and this really needs to be addressed. The only solution is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure!"

After hearing what Peter said, Mazisheng calmed down a little. He looked at Peter and asked, "How can we open source it?"

This question silenced everyone present.

After all, if there were a good open source solution, they wouldn't have to struggle here.

The cost of world government is beyond imagination.

The huge expenditure of hundreds of billions of berries has increased the financial pressure day by day.

Take a warship for example, its construction cost is often as high as hundreds of millions or even billions of berries.

Such high costs mean that every plan of the world government requires a huge amount of money.

For example, the plan to explore the doldrums requires no less than 100 billion berries in initial investment alone.

This does not include any subsequent expenses that may arise.

Faced with such a huge fiscal deficit, increasing revenue and reducing expenditure seems to be the only way out, but how to implement it specifically is a difficult problem that causes headaches.

Coupled with the long-standing tradition of the World Government, this undoubtedly makes the situation worse.

Once the funds are allocated, they will be constantly deducted and cut as they are passed down layer by layer, like peeling off silk threads from an onion.

As a result, it is unlikely that even half of the hundreds of billions of funds will actually be put into practice and play a role.

And to thoroughly investigate the corruption within the world government is extremely difficult.

After all, the World Government has been established for more than eight hundred years, and the relationships between its internal officials are complicated and intertwined, and they have more or less maintained some contact with the Celestial Dragons.

It is precisely because of the existence of this relationship that even if high-level officials like the Five Elders want to take action against these officials, they must take into account the attitudes and opinions of the Celestial Dragon families behind them.

As the core force of the World Government, the Celestial Dragons have been passed down for eight hundred years and their number has long exceeded one thousand.

Each family has its own elites and strong people, who have great influence within the Tianlong people.

These Celestial Dragons not only have close ties with Lord Im, but also occupy an important position in the power system of the World Government.

If they are really angered, causing public outrage, and the matter is reported to Lord Yim, then the Five Elders will probably not end well.

After all, the position of the Five Elders is not static.

If Lord Im feels that the five of them are incompetent or unable to perform for the position, then Lord Im can select new Five Elders from other Celestial Dragon families to replace them.

Moreover, the family forces represented by these Five Elders are complex and intertwined, and there are intricate ties between their family descendants and some officials of the World Government.

This network of relationships is complex and intricate, and any slight mistake can trigger a chain reaction.

Therefore, for such matters, the Five Elders would usually choose to turn a blind eye. Unless it was a real moment of crisis, it would be difficult for them to make up their minds to touch those officials who were related to their family.

At this moment, Peter Saint suddenly said, "Since we can't increase revenue, let's cut costs!"

His words were like a stone that caused a thousand ripples, and the other four people immediately understood what he meant.

The so-called cost-cutting naturally starts with the Celestial Dragons.

After all, as the actual controllers of the world government, the Celestial Dragons possess enormous wealth.

Transferring part of the money belonging to the Celestial Dragons to the World Government's expenditures would not only solve this year's budget problems, but might even create a surplus.

Everyone present knew that the Celestial Dragons had been in power for many years and their accumulated wealth was unfathomable.

In addition, they themselves are Celestial Dragons, so they are naturally very clear about how much wealth the Celestial Dragons on Mary Geoise have.

Even though Charlotte led his fleet to launch a fierce attack on Mary Geoise last time and successfully seized a large amount of treasure and goods, to those Celestial Dragons who were as wealthy as a country, these riches were nothing but a drop in the bucket and not worth mentioning at all.

What really makes the Celestial Dragons feel resentful and heartbroken are the rare treasures taken away by the Rockefeller family - the precious devil fruits.

You know, the devil fruit is not only a powerful symbol of strength for the Celestial Dragons, but also an important tool for them to rule the world.

Each devil fruit contains endless potential and possibilities. Once mastered by others, it may pose a serious threat to the dominance of the Celestial Dragons.

In comparison, money is simply the most insignificant thing to the Celestial Dragons.

They have the whole world to back them up, wealth flows into their pockets continuously, and they will never be short of money.