Chapter 22: Financial crisis

"My lord, this is the expenditure and taxation situation for this quarter." Ford, who is in charge of the government affairs of the territory, handed over a roll of parchment with both hands.

Paul unfolded it quickly, scanned it quickly and asked, "Is there any question?" He was not interested in things like reports.

"Uh... there is indeed a 'problem', and the situation is not optimistic." Manager Ford frowned slightly, and he looked at Butler Philip sitting opposite him, and gave him a wink.

Steward Philip was in charge of managing the treasury of the lord's mansion, and said, "My lord, if this continues, our financial situation will become beyond our means."

"Sh—does pirate activity affect tax revenue?"

"Yes, during the days after the old earl was called by the Lord, in addition to the pirates who landed, there were also some criminals who took the opportunity to fish in troubled waters. The activities of the Roadhog water bandits blocked the traffic of some villages and towns. The tax officials we sent Several have been humiliated and deported."

"Especially Port Fullland, although the pirates extort some property every year, it is still our largest source of tax revenue. Now the Shark Gang is occupying it and will not move." Manager Ford was at a loss when he thought of this.

"Is that making us more than we can make ends meet?"

Butler Philip explained: "The recent military expansion and training have cost a lot of money and food. In the past, it was enough for the soldiers to eat and drink, and let them go home after the battle. Now they have to pay them and order uniforms..."

"There is also the purchase of raw materials for making new weapons, the recruitment of artisans...the last meeting decided to build ships..."

Paul's head became dizzy the more he heard it, he unfolded the scroll again and read it carefully.

Certainly something needs to be done.

…

After the last military meeting, Huxin Town wanted to continue to "shrink" for a month. After completing the training of two complete infantry battalions, it would wipe out all the pirates in the territory. Unexpectedly, Cecil, the chief of intelligence, made a great contribution as soon as he took office, and found out an important news: the sharks annexed the remnants of Quick's fled back, and in order to avenge and stand up to the new brother, he sent 500 people to give Paul a little color. . It seems that killing an earl made the pirate leader a lot bigger.

The morale of the army was high after the victory, and there was no need for the sharks to go all the way to Lake Town. With the help of Cecil's information, the old knight Schroeder led the army and some courageous fishermen, and killed the gang on the way. The pirates were intercepted.

Schroeder lured the pirates ashore with a small group of troops, and gradually moved away from the ship they were on. Then he led the main force to quickly insert between the pirates and the river bank, cutting off their retreat.

The two sides set up a formation and fought in a scuffle. With the huge advantages brought by discipline and firearms, and the fact that the soldiers at this time had already been reborn after one victory, the Huxin Town army won another big victory.

The pirates lost more than 400 people including casualties and captives. Now the Shark Gang has become more honest, and they have also played the tactic of retreating, hiding in Port Fulan and can't come out.

The army of Huxin Town chased all the way to Fulan Port, and found that the city wall of Fulan Port was higher than before, and various fortifications had also increased a lot. They did not dare to attack rashly, but stationed nearby to keep an eye on the pirates to prevent them from attacking. Then run out to loot.

"It's all like this, and they didn't retreat to the sea?" Paul was surprised. It seemed that these pirates really wanted to occupy Fulan Port for a long time.

Forget it, sooner or later they will be the meat on their cutting board.

He issued instructions to the officers to use the two newly formed infantry companies as the main force, supplemented by the internal guards, to wipe out the road hog water bandits everywhere, and fight while training. The gangsters and hooligans are very easy to handle.

With the progress of the "crackdown", Huxin Town has gradually regained control over the entire territory of the Earldom except Port Fuland, but many villages and towns were looted by pirates and bandits, facing two tearful representatives After all, the Earl was not able to make up his mind to scrape another layer of oil from these poor people. He ordered some villages and towns to be exempted from taxes for two quarters.

With the gradual recovery of traffic in various places, the tax has been collected to some extent, temporarily alleviating the current financial crisis, and temporarily letting the high-level officials of Huxin Town breathe a sigh of relief.

However, this is only a temporary relief. If you want to truly solve the financial crisis, you must immediately start some projects that are easy to get money.

…

That afternoon, Paul summoned Ford's supervisor and others.

"Guys, how about this thing I made?"

Everyone was issued a "paper".

Manager Ford held a piece of hard stuff and asked suspiciously, "Is this 'paper'?"

"Cough... This is just a trial product, but it will definitely have a lot of potential when it is done."

This is the "paper" that Paul made according to his own understanding of papermaking. He made a pile of bark, wood, and bamboo, steamed them in a pot, pounded them into a slurry with a stone mortar, and finally spread the slurry under the sun. Sun, and finally got a... er... crunchy cardboard.

"Is this kind of thing useful?"

"Replace the parchment used today."

The material used for writing in the current world is basically parchment paper, and the production process is extremely complicated. The entire leather must be treated with lime, then dehaired, degreased and fleshed, stretched, scraped multiple times, polished with pumice, and finally dried. And the output is not high. A piece of parchment looks quite big, but the parchment obtained after processing is less than 1 square meter, which leads to the extremely high price of parchment. I can't even afford it~www.readwn.com~ But, this thing..." Manager Ford broke the paper with a little force, and the paper in his hand suddenly shattered, and he was speechless.

"Ahem..." Seeing that everyone was a little disdainful of his great invention, the Earl cleared his throat and said earnestly: "As long as time passes, I am confident that I can make them softer and thinner. They were all questioned when they were born, but no amount of doubt can stop the wheel of history.”

"Look at the current parchment, the price is so expensive that even some minor nobles dare not buy more, let alone commoners. Taking the church as an example, I asked Pastor Anderson, even if you don't consider all kinds of failures and accidents, They also need to slaughter more than 300 sheep to copy a copy of the Holy Book. My God, a book needs more than 300 sheep to exchange, and a series of copying processes are required in the middle.”

"As for the 'paper' in your hands, its raw materials are only humble things like bark and bamboo. As long as the craftsmanship is mature, a lot can be made in a few days. If we can turn it into Soft, thin, not so brittle, this is definitely an epoch-making, world-shattering thing.”

After an impassioned speech, everyone couldn't help being fascinated.

"If it can be improved to what the adults say, it will be a sharp weapon for making money." Ford, who was troubled by financial problems, was the first to think of this.

"Exactly!" Paul clapped his hands vigorously. "Although the early products may not be as durable as parchment paper, the raw materials are sufficient and the production is simple. When the time comes, we will focus on the feature of 'cheap', and we will definitely not worry about sales."

"And besides writing, it has another magical function." A mysterious smile appeared on the count's face.

"Oh? Dare to ask my lord..."

"Free your asses."