Chapter 467: Hollowing out of Industry

After getting Sophia's confirmation, Ethan basically confirmed the accuracy of the information.

Of course, he also agreed with the fact that the [Fraudster] was held hostage.

Now, as long as the purpose of the sage is confirmed, the corresponding offensive or defensive strategy can be formulated.

And to know the sage's purpose, the only way to start at present is from those murals.

According to the information provided by Afulian, there are several such murals, all of which record things about the Seven Sins Artifact.

As for what they represent specifically, she doesn't know.

Ethan plans to take Catherine to the places where the murals are located one by one.

Of course, this matter may have to be dealt with another day.

At present, he still has a lot of things to deal with.

For example, matters such as the establishment of a new bank, and even in the letter sent by Rand, in addition to the information about the sage, there are some requirements.

Rand hopes to provide a magician and a remote communication system to the Northern Territory to strengthen contact.

And by the way, he reported on the current development of the territory, and hoped that Ethan could guide the future development direction.

After reading this part, Sophia suddenly became furious.

The reason for this is that Rand openly said that he wanted Ethan to guide the development direction of the territory, but in fact he was implicitly pointing out the various chaos in the current development of the territory.

And many of them involve members of the Lawson family.

The most important one is corruption.

The corruption mentioned here does not refer to corruption in the traditional sense, but borrowing family resources for personal gain.

And the method they use is to take private jobs.

There are currently 37 large cargo ships running on the Lawson family's route to the North.

Since these ships are equipped with the [Windbreaker] system, it only takes about fifteen days to reach the port of the Northern Territory at full speed.

Therefore, cargo ships arrive at the port almost every day to ensure the supply of materials in the North.

In the past, due to the shortage of materials in the North, basically full ships went there and empty ships returned.

In recent years, the North has vigorously developed its economy and improved land transportation conditions. Many specialties in the North, such as beet sugar, precious herbs, etc., have been commercialized.

Therefore, there is a great demand for sea transportation for export.

But the Lawson family did not run these industries, so it was impossible to purchase these goods normally, and they still kept the habit of returning empty ships.

This made many people who ran these businesses see business opportunities.

They bribed the captains of the Lawson family to obtain sea transportation resources and continuously sent various goods to all parts of the world.

And those captains not only received bribes, but also received freight. Although the freight was a little lower, they would definitely agree because they were just transporting along the way and could make money, and therefore they made a lot of money.

However, for the Lawson family, because those captains helped others to transport smuggled goods, they often had to stop at multiple ports, which would inevitably lead to delays in normal shipping schedules.

If there are delays, there will be losses.

At the same time, the ships also have the problem of increased loss.

And all of this needs to be borne by the finances of the entire family, which obviously damages the interests of the entire family.

Therefore, Sophia looked so angry when she saw these contents.

"It seems that if I don't care about things, some people will start to do whatever they want. If they are not dealt with properly, the family will be emptied by them." Sophia said bitterly.

Seeing that Sophia seemed to blame him for not paying attention to family affairs, Ethan smiled bitterly and explained: "It's none of their business. I knew all this a long time ago, and I acquiesced to it."

Sophia's eyes widened when she heard it.

What she said just now was actually for Ethan to hear.

She hoped that Ethan could handle this matter properly, because this matter would affect the foundation of the entire family.

But she never expected that Ethan not only knew about this matter a long time ago, but also acquiesced to it.

"Ethan, do you know what you are doing?

If this kind of abuse of power for personal gain is left unchecked, the family may be doomed, and you actually condone it?"

Ethan smiled: "Sophia, don't get excited. I condone this matter, and there is a reason for my acquiescence."

"Oh?" Sophia laughed angrily: "Then I want to hear what your big reason is."

Ethan silently organized his words in his heart and said: "Sophia, I will tell you about the current situation of the family, and you will understand.

Now the family members are mainly distributed in two sections, one is banking and public affairs, and the other is shipping and related industries.

These two sections are very important to the family, but the income of both sides is extremely unbalanced.

For example, the annual salary of CFO Klotz is 250 00 Malaysian dollars, converted into the old Imperial gold coins, is about 7,000 gold coins. This is a terrifying number for any worker.

His annual salary is even higher than that of many magicians. There has never been an ordinary person with a similar salary in history.

His salary shows the superiority of banking work.

Of course, Financial Officer Kloz is the president. Although representative, it is not universal and does not necessarily prove the income gap between the two sides.

Then let me talk about the salary of an ordinary bank clerk.

As long as someone is engaged in banking work, even the lowest-ranking employee, his weekly salary is 22 Malaysian dollars, which is about 6 gold coins when converted into Imperial gold coins.

Then their annual income is about 312 gold.

As for a captain who runs a boat all year round, he can only earn 600 Malaysian dollars, which is only about 170 gold when converted into imperial coins.

In other words, as long as he joins a bank, even if he is only the lowest employee, he will earn almost twice as much as a captain in a year.

Yes, the lowest employee is twice as much as a captain.

If compared with other positions, the income gap is even greater.

Moreover, when I work in a bank, I dress decently every day, have nothing to do, and feel comfortable at work.

You said, if you were just an ordinary family member, what would you choose?

Normally, would you rush to the bank in droves?

Well let me tell you, that's the truth.

Now everyone in the family is working hard to get involved in banks and government affairs. Every day, either this person is looking for me or that person is looking for me.

I'm almost sick of them.

Forget it's annoying, if this matter continues to develop, there will only be one outcome. No one in our family will be willing to run a boat in the future.

But you should know that shipping is actually the foundation of our family and our final bottom line.

No matter what, you can't give up, let alone let it wither.

The only way to prevent it from withering is to make the income of the two sectors equal, or even more for the shipping sector. After all, shipping is more difficult.

But I can't do it.

Whichever industry makes money, people in that industry will earn more. This is the basic logic and I can't change it.

Comparing the two sections, the banking industry is like picking up gold nuggets on the road, while the characteristics of the financial industry determine that it is about making money.

If I force equal distribution, not only will it not be able to save shipping, but it may also cause trouble for the banks.

The booming development of the financial industry will inevitably lead to the hollowing out of the real industry. No one can change this, because people are lazy by nature. Who would be willing to do hard, tiring, dirty work when there are simple, easy, and decent ways to make money?

But I don’t want to see our foundation destroyed, and I can’t solve the income gap between the two parties, so I can only acquiesce in allowing those people to make private money.

Only when those captains have enough interests, will our shipping industry continue to develop, and there will always be members who take the initiative to join this industry. "

After hearing this, Sophia was completely silent...