The Candela Imperial Palace is located in the center of the north of the capital city of Wimbledon, just standing on a hill far higher than the surrounding plains.
This hill was originally the only high ground in a large flat area nearby, and the palace was built so tall that all the people in Wimbledon could see the palace in the distance, high above the ground, with its brilliant gold coins.
His Majesty, the great Emperor of the Candela Empire, will hold a court meeting every morning in the most conspicuous building of the palace, which is also the core of the government affairs of the entire Candela Empire, to listen to the reports from the ministers of the empire.
Generally speaking, this court meeting is just a formality, and some major matters will be done and some brief reports will be made to His Majesty the Emperor. As for the specific implementation, it will be dealt with in detail after the court meeting.
So most of the time, His Majesty the Emperor would just sit on a tall chair, look down at the ministers below, and listen attentively.
However, today, the distinguished Emperor of the Candela Empire, His Majesty DeBoer XVII, stood up from the tall chair very rarely, and stared angrily at the man standing in the middle wearing the uniform of a general of the Candela Empire. year man.
"The mighty Imperial Navy was actually unable to be defeated by even a fleet of a mere merchant guild. Instead, it was beaten to pieces by the opponent, with more than 70% of its own warships lost! Duke Warner, is this the Imperial Navy you command? This is what the Empire does every year. The Imperial Navy wants to spend tens of millions of gold coins on it?”
The middle-aged man lowered his head even lower, but did not respond.
Seeing that he was speechless, De Boer XVII became even more angry.
"Very good. Since the empire spends tens of millions of gold coins every year just to raise a bunch of things that are worse than trash. Then what else do you want? Starting today, the entire imperial navy will be withdrawn! I don't want to spend any more money on you trash. On your body!”
Upon hearing the words of DeBoer XVII, Duke Warner suddenly raised his head, with a trace of surprise in his eyes.
Although there have been doubts and debates within the empire about whether the navy needs to continue to exist, and even the military budget for the imperial navy has been reduced year by year, His Majesty the Emperor has never made a statement, so the impact is not fatal.
But now His Majesty the Emperor is angry because of the disastrous defeat the Imperial Navy suffered when facing the New Flying Chamber of Commerce fleet in the southern seas, and even said the words to abolish the Imperial Navy. If someone takes the opportunity to make some fuss. It is very likely to have a truly fatal impact on the Imperial Navy.
"Your Majesty, you must not!" The person who shouted these words was not Duke Warner, but Marquis Hastery, Minister of Finance of the Candela Empire, who was standing on Duke Warner's right.
Seeing that it was him who jumped out, not only the other ministers, but also King DeBoer XVII were surprised.
Because the Imperial Navy has always consumed a large amount of the financial budget, but has made little contribution, the Imperial Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for the imperial financial budget, has always had great opinions on the Imperial Navy.
Now that the Emperor is angry and declares that he wants to dismantle the Imperial Navy, the one who should be happiest should be the Imperial Treasury.
Why did Marquis Hastrey jump out to oppose it
De Boer XVII glanced at him inexplicably: "Marquis Hastri, why is it absolutely impossible? If you can't tell me a convincing reason today, don't blame me for being rude."
Listening to the sinister tone of King DeBoer XVII. All the ministers below were shocked.
It seems that His Majesty the Emperor is really angry this time.
If he still gets into trouble at this time. That might be really bad luck.
Marquis Hastrey wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, obviously feeling extremely stressed.
However, after calming down, he still managed to maintain his calmness and said: "Your Majesty, I don't know much about war, so I won't comment too much on this aspect. But as the Minister of Finance, I hope to speak from the perspective of my concern. Prove the significance of the existence of the Imperial Navy."
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
What is the financial significance of the Imperial Navy? Isn't it meaningless except for the huge budget that consumes tens of millions of gold coins from the imperial treasury every year
"Oh? Tell me." De Boer XVII was also aroused curiosity.
"Your Majesty, it is true that the Imperial Navy consumes tens of millions of gold coins from the Imperial budget every year. In the past few years, at least during the years when I was in office, it basically had no output or actual contribution. Indeed, It has no meaning whatsoever.”
Hearing this, all the ministers around could not help but nod in unison.
This is in line with everyone's impression and evaluation of the Imperial Navy.
"But..." Marquis Hastrey suddenly changed the subject and his tone slightly increased. "This situation has improved significantly in the past two years. Although I cannot give specific statistics, in the past two years, the pirates in the southern seas of the Empire have almost disappeared due to the attack of the Imperial Navy, which has reduced the shipping volume in the southern seas of the Empire. The industry has greatly improved. Just the three seaports in the southern part of the empire under the protection of the imperial navy have paid more than seven million gold coins so far this year.”
"Seven million gold coins?"
All the surrounding ministers looked surprised.
Although for the huge Candela Empire, the tax of seven million gold coins is nothing at all.
But before that, the Imperial Treasury had never made any report on the tax revenue from the southern seaports, which was equivalent to nothing.
But now this year is only one year, and this close to zero data suddenly jumped to 7 million gold coins. This is really surprising.
"Is it just the tax revenue from shipping?" asked De Boer XVII.
"Yes." Marquis Hastrey nodded. "The tax revenue of these seven million gold coins comes entirely from the tax revenue of the three shipping ports. And the impact is far more than just that. Because of the development of shipping, commercial activities along the southern coast of the empire have obviously been greatly improved. Therefore, This year, the taxes paid by cities along the southern coast of the empire have also increased significantly compared to last year, with the largest increase even exceeding 300%!"
"Three hundred percent? Marquis Hastrey. Are you kidding?" A minister couldn't help but asked loudly.
DeBoer XVII also frowned slightly: "Marquis Hastri. This data is no joke. Are you sure?"
"Yes. Your Majesty, there are detailed statistical data in the Ministry of Finance now, and you can review them at any time. Regarding the empire's finances, I will never dare to make any jokes." Marquis Hastrey said proudly.
De Boer XVII nodded slightly.
Of course he believed that Marquis Hastrey would lie about this kind of thing, because it would not do any good, and it was very easy to be exposed. There was no way he would take such a big risk to deceive His Majesty the Emperor in public.
"That is to say... because of the existence of the navy, pirates in the southern seas of the empire were eliminated. Maritime transportation flourished, which led to a significant improvement in the financial situation along the southern coast of the empire, and the extent of this improvement was exaggerated. Marquis Hastrey, That's what you mean, right?" asked DeBoer XVII.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Marquis Hastrey said seriously. "If the existence of the Imperial Navy did not show any specific significance before, then I am certain now that the existence of the Imperial Navy has ensured the vigorous development of the maritime industry. If investment in this area can be strengthened, I believe it will It will be a very big boost to the growth of the empire’s finances.”
"Really?" De Boer XVII glanced at the silent Duke Warner, and suddenly asked: "Then Duke Warner. Tell me, why has the Imperial Navy been unable to eliminate the rampant pirates in the southern seas for so many years? Pirates. Suddenly they can do it in the past two years?”
"yes… "
Everyone reacted quickly and looked at Duke Warner.
However, everyone noticed that after His Majesty asked this question, the expression on Duke Warner's face turned out to be a little embarrassing.
Everyone was immediately surprised.
Duke Warner's reputation and status in the Candela Empire are extremely high, what else could embarrass him
"Speak!" De Boer XVII urged in a deep voice.
Duke Warner gave a wry smile, bowed to King DeBoer XVII, and sighed slightly: "Your Majesty, in fact, the navy was able to clean up all pirates in the southern seas of the empire and even the surrounding seas in the past two years, mainly because With the help of the New Flying Chamber of Commerce’s escort fleet…”
"Huh?" Upon hearing this answer, the surrounding ministers and King DeBoer were all dumbfounded.
Why is it related to this New Flying Chamber of Commerce
DeBoer XVII frowned slightly.
He suddenly discovered that because he had always believed that the existence of the Imperial Navy was of too little significance, he did not care much about it at all, so that he was not clear about what the Imperial Navy did.
Judging from the answer given by Duke Warner now, the changes that have taken place in the Imperial Navy in the past two years are closely related to the New Aviation Chamber of Commerce. Duke Warner even said that it was "mainly" because of the help of the New Aviation Chamber of Commerce's escort fleet. Only the Imperial Navy can eliminate pirates in the southern seas.
Judging from this point, we can know that the capability of the New Flying Chamber of Commerce escort fleet is obviously far beyond that of the Imperial Navy. Otherwise, why has the Imperial Navy been unable to deal with those pirates for so many years? With the help of the New Flying Chamber of Commerce escort fleet, it can be done arrive.
This inference is further proven by the battle report received previously about the Imperial Navy being defeated by the fleet belonging to the New Flying Chamber of Commerce.
Thinking of this, King DeBoer slowly sat back on his chair, regained his composure, and said to Duke Warner: "Duke Warner, come and introduce this new flying chamber of commerce escort fleet. Why is this mere chamber of commerce fleet actually so powerful? Will it be more powerful than our mighty Candela Imperial Navy?"
Just as Duke Warner was about to speak, Marquis Hastrey on the side suddenly interjected: "Your Majesty, can you let me introduce this new flying chamber of commerce to you first? I think as long as you listen to my introduction, you should understand this Why is the escort fleet under the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce so powerful?"
King DeBoer frowned slightly, feeling a little unhappy because his question was snatched away by Marquis Hastri, but the curiosity in his heart about the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce made him ignore this unhappiness.
"Okay, then you will introduce this New Flying Chamber of Commerce. I want to see what is so special about this chamber of commerce that it can actually make the two most important ministers in our empire talk about it. "
Marquis Hastrey bowed respectfully to King DeBoer XVII, pondered for a moment, and said: "Your Majesty, actually... I have been looking for a good time to introduce you to the New Flying Chamber of Commerce, because I feel that the Empire We must pay enough attention to this chamber of commerce..." (To be continued...)