"You made a correct and wise decision, Char."
Sophie was holding a quill in her right hand and an account book in her left hand. She had a beautiful face facing the sky and her hair was tied in a knot behind her head. She sat in the barracks in the office that originally belonged to Xia Ya. 's head coach.
In fact, this large tent has already become Sufi's territory. Since the girl was appointed by Char Ya as the "chief chief of staff", Char Ya simply left this place to the young girl.
After he came back from the dwarf's station just now, he came here immediately to discuss with Sophie.
Regarding the deal with the dwarves, Char had a whim.
Originally, he just wanted to get the promise of the dwarves to sell the terrestrial beasts, but after coming out of the dwarves station and walking all the way back, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was really not a good idea!
At present, the biggest problem restricting the development of this emerging force is fiscal revenue!
money! If there is no money, then there is no need to say anything about growth and development.
More County and Syltan County are both grain-producing regions. In the past, the main source of financial income was agricultural income. The grain produced here is purchased by the central government of the Empire every year. There are also grain merchants from all over the country. will be acquired.
I don't know if it is God's blessing or not. In the past few years, the Byzantine Empire has been in a precarious political situation. Warlords from all over the world are divided, and the centralization is extremely weakened. It even fought a few wars with Odin.
But the strange thing is that within the territory of the Byzantine Empire, the climate is good year after year, there is no drought or flood, and the food is harvested almost every year. Therefore, although man-made disasters are serious, there are no natural disasters. It has to be said that this is a fortune among misfortunes.
Therefore, even if the political situation is turbulent, or even after the war, the overall food prices within the empire have not risen as much as in the real troubled times.
Although the price of food has risen—mainly because warlords in various places began to hoard food in preparation for the war, as well as the impact of the war on productivity and other factors, the price of food has indeed risen a little, but it has not reached an excessive number. Overall, it's fairly stable.
Such a situation is certainly a good thing, but for Xia Ya, a warlord in a grain-producing area, he should not expect to make a fortune by selling grain in his financial income.
At present, the war has caused great trauma to the region under his rule, and revenue has almost dried up. Now a large amount of land has been entrusted to the family members of the military, and the lieutenants and generals who have obtained the enfeoffed land have also begun to call their relatives and families to migrate to the north to settle down. It is foreseeable that in the future, the population in Char's territory will be greatly restored, and the people who have migrated will quickly regain their productivity.
In the grain-producing region in the north, as long as there is no problem with the climate, this year's grain harvest can be expected to be bumper.
Xia got the promise of the Emperor Odin, and he didn't have to worry that the Odins would invade the south again for at least three years.
As for the other warlords... Xia really doesn't care. At present, Adric is preparing for war in the imperial capital, which directly attracts the attention of most warlords. No one wants to offend him for the time being, as a new force in the north of Xia Ya.
Without the danger of war, Xiaya can fully expect a bumper grain harvest this year.
But if the price of food is not high, he really doesn't make much money.
"Actually, the dwarves are very rich." Sophie put down the pen and account book in her hand, looked at Xiaya, and said slowly: "Always, almost everyone thought that the dwarves were backward and conservative, and that these dwarves were poor. … In fact, everyone is wrong! Dwarves are richer than we even imagined!”
Xia Ya nodded. After he just made a major decision, he really needed such a think tank to give him a good analysis of the prospects and pros and cons of the matter.
"The decree of the Byzantine Empire has always prohibited food transactions with dwarves. Dwarves are hostile to humans, and humans are not hostile to dwarves? It is not my race, its heart must be different! This principle is recognized by almost every race. Therefore, the Byzantine Empire has always prohibited the sale of food to dwarves, because food is a strategic reserve material. It is even ridiculous that in some peaceful times, the Byzantine Empire would rather export food to the Odin Empire than sell food to dwarves. Dwarves are also reluctant to sell their iron tools to humans on a large scale, for the same reason.
It has to be said that this phenomenon has historical reasons.
But in fact, this situation has been loosened a bit in recent years, especially the central government, which has been suppressed by the Tema Military Region, which is almost out of breath. After the warlords in various regions separated, the fiscal revenue has been continuously reduced. At the same time, the scale of the Central Army has to be maintained to ensure A deterrent to warlords. The decrease in fiscal revenue and the huge military expenditure have become an irreconcilable contradiction.
In fact, our teacher, Caviehir, has proposed a few years ago, in order to obtain more financial revenue, whether the Empire can consider lifting the decree of the embargo on the dwarves.
This proposal is of great benefit to the Empire Central! Several major grain-producing counties in the north are all close to the Wildfire Field. It is very convenient to trade grain with the dwarves.
However, it is a pity that this proposal of the teacher has been firmly opposed by almost everyone!
Not only the opposition of the warlords who control the military, but even the royalist aristocratic power groups are unanimously opposed! The voice of opposition was so strong that even Emperor Cantos could not ignore it, so he could only give up this proposal from Teacher Caviehir. "
"Why is this?" Xia Ya was puzzled: "Those warlord parties are against it. I can understand that they are afraid that the central government's fiscal revenue will increase due to food transactions. But why are those royalist aristocratic groups so opposed? The power of the central government is strengthened, Don't they want to see it?"
Sophie smiled, and the girl smiled coldly: "Why? In short, because of one word: greed."
Xia frowned.
Sophie looked at Xia Ya: "You really don't understand? General, please think about it again... "
Xia Ya looked at Sophie Ruo's meaningful eyes, and after a little pondering, he finally sighed.
"I understand." A sneer appeared on his face: "It really is because of greed, stupid greed!"
It's actually not too hard to guess.
You must know that although the empire has always adopted the decree of food embargo on the dwarves, the official decree is one thing, but secretly, many business associations are secretly conducting illegal food smuggling business against the dwarves.
And it is precisely because of that decree embargoing grain that the price of grain smuggling is getting higher and higher, and the profits are getting bigger and bigger!
Which of the big chambers of commerce in the empire does not have a strong background in the background of aristocratic and wealthy families? It can be said that almost all large business groups belong to the industries of some wealthy and aristocratic families.
On the surface, it is forbidden to trade food with the dwarves, but these chambers of commerce can rely on the umbrellas behind them to secretly smuggle food and make a fortune.
Didn't the rock just say it himself
The price of grain sold by Xi Ya for the rock is more than double the current grain price in the Byzantine Empire! And Shi Yan himself admitted that when those black-hearted business groups and dwarves trade food, the price of the transaction must be followed by a zero after the price quoted by Char!
What a terrible profit! !
How many wealthy and aristocratic interests are tied up in this secretly smuggled grain business
If the empire suddenly lifts the grain embargo, then... from now on, the dwarves can directly import grain from the Byzantine Empire in an open and open form... The dwarves will naturally no longer buy high-priced grain from those black-hearted merchants!
Those aristocratic wealthy families will definitely not tolerate such a situation!
"Old emperor, there's nothing you can do about this situation? Those wealthy nobles can force the emperor to suffer this dumb loss?" Xia Ya frowned.
"Essentially, the emperor is the biggest noble, and the stability of the imperial power requires the support of the noble class, and even more coercion from the warlords. If the imperial power is to be maintained, the emperor needs the support of the noble class even more. In this case, the emperor I don’t want to offend so many giants to death because of this incident. So…”
When Sophie said this, she also sighed: "To a certain extent, Mr. Caviehir, after this incident, completely gave up his original fantasy about the emperor and the noble class. In the past, he also hoped to pass A series of means are used to improve and refresh, so that the empire can get back on a healthy track. But after this incident, the teacher often sighs: This empire has rotted from its roots, and only improvement can no longer save this empire. Destiny, if you want to change something, you can only make a complete and huge change, a huge storm to wash away!"
What kind of huge changes, such as storm cleansing, Xi Ya is not very interested, his current interest is only in the food transaction with the dwarves.
"I hope these dwarves' transactions can bring us some financial income."
"I said just now, Lord General, these dwarves are richer than you think!" Sophie said this with a smug tone.
"Rich?" Xiaya was the first to believe it.
The guy in the rock was dressed in tatters, and looked dirty. He really didn't look like a big money lord.
"The dwarves have been engaged in mining for generations. They are born with excellent and keen exploration capabilities for metal minerals, and their mining capabilities are even more first-class, and their smelting technology is far superior to our human beings. The dwarves I am talking about are rich, yes There is something special! You must know that when it comes to other aspects, such as food, clothing and housing, even the king of the dwarves can't keep up with an ordinary human noble! Because of the racial barriers, the dwarves cannot get a lot of the luxury of life made by humans. They may wear poor clothes, eat poorly, live in caves, and may even store less food than an ordinary human farmer. But... When it comes to the storage of metal minerals, I am afraid you will be the one you dream of. Unbelievable astronomical numbers!"
Xia Ya's eyes widened immediately!
"The mountains on the Wildfire Plain are rich in various metal minerals, iron ore, copper ore, and even gold and silver mines! The dwarves have been doing one thing for generations, that is, they are desperately digging out these things. But they can't trade with other races on a large scale, so even the excavated metal minerals can only be stored in their huge caves in the mountains after refining. You can imagine that they have accumulated for generations. How much wealth!"
Char's eyes started to turn red.
"For the dwarves, the value of food is much more expensive than metal. For dwarves, metal is worthless. But I think for you, General Char, metal is something you really need. To expand For your strength, you need a lot of iron, copper, and gold and silver!"
"Hey, I think I made a huge mistake." Char lowered his head and sighed, "I should have talked to you first, and then went to trade with the dwarves! Now that you say this, I find that the price I offered is too real. It's too low, and in this case, the profit is too small..."
"Small water flows." Sophie said lightly: "If you want to make huge profits, then like those black-hearted chambers of commerce, you can't gain the trust of the dwarves, and the transaction is a temporary profit, but in the long run, they will turn against you sooner or later. .At that time, you don't want to buy what you need from the dwarves. Of course... Your asking price is indeed lower, although we are not as blackhearted as those chambers of commerce, but you can break the embargo of the empire , Openly selling food to dwarves will also have to bear a lot of pressure, and these sacrifices will always be exchanged for some price. Therefore, I have a way to increase your profits. "
"Do you have any other way?" Xia Ya's eyes lit up.
"It's very simple, the price you promised them doesn't need to be changed, but when it comes to real transactions, we can distinguish different price grades for various types of grains. Black beans, soybeans, green beans, the prices are naturally different, the lowest and so on. Black beans can be sold at the low price you mentioned, but soy beans and green beans will naturally have to add some price, hehe... And wheat, barley, wheat, rye, and refined wheat, it's impossible to sell them all at the same price. I mean, you must be able to understand it. At that time, it will always be very profitable."
After a pause, Sophie said in a cold tone: "Don't forget, there are also nobles and commoners among the dwarves. The commoners of the dwarves can be satisfied with ordinary black beans and coarse wheat, but What about those dwarf nobles? The tribal nobles among the dwarves, and even their dwarven royals, will not be satisfied with inferior food, and you know that nobles of any race are often a group willing to enjoy Groups who spend a lot of money. By the way, in the dwarven territory, I heard that a barrel of fine wine brewed by a good human can be exchanged for the same amount of gold!! Of course, this kind of transaction is naturally with the dwarf nobles It can only be carried out, and I don’t need to teach you the details of it.”
Xia Ya laughed, and the turtle was suddenly full of confidence!
Others will not, such things as cheating, but our native turtles are in the business!