Three days later, the day after the winter, Barov brought the news that the United Chamber of Commerce contract was successfully signed.
The final result of the negotiation was that Margery was responsible for the sales in the interior of Greycastle, Sunset Island and Shallow Water City supplied the island, Everwinter and Wolfheart respectively, and Crescent Moon Bay won the other islands in the fjord, plus the Kingdom of Dawn.
To Roland's surprise, he also saw an arithmetic equation on the contract. The general idea was to set several main dividing conditions as unknowns, and fill them in according to the specific situation to get the current year's income share.
"Who wrote this?" he asked curiously.
"My disciple," Barov smiled while stroking his beard, "when summarizing, he found that instead of making a complicated schedule, it was better to use this formula, and all three parties agreed that it was accurate. "
"I don't remember that being taught in general education."
"Didn't you set up an intermediate class? I bought a set of math textbooks for each of my students, and asked them to listen to Master Shujuan's lectures whenever they had time." He sighed, "As I get older, the speed at which I can learn things. I can't keep up with these young guys, so I have to give them a discount. If I were ten years younger, I would definitely take these things written by you, Your Majesty, to read with me every day."
This horse shot made Roland feel comfortable, and he realized that mathematics knowledge was helpful for financial and administrative management.
"What about Edith? How did she behave this time around?"
"Force," Barov coughed twice, "although she was fascinated by the merchants, she was obviously inexperienced when it came to specific business terms. I guess she seldom talks to sea Business dealings, after all, the commerce and trade in the Northland is not developed, unlike the old capital, the Minister of Finance has to summon visiting fjord merchants almost every day. I think back then”
"I see," Roland hurriedly interrupted when he saw that the other party was about to enter memory mode, "Since that's the case, you should teach her more."
The old manager's face stiffened, "Uh, this... Your Majesty, she actually..."
"It's settled," he said gloatingly, and from the frequency of Nightingale pinching his shoulders from behind, he knew that the credibility of these words was not high. It's just that he doesn't want to pay attention to this kind of small report-like competition, as long as he doesn't mess things up, "By the way, how much population has never been added to Neverwinter this year, and has it achieved the expected goal?"
Although there is still about a month left until the end of the year, with the arrival of winter, the immigrant delegations will return to Neverwinter one after another, and the number of migrants will inevitably decrease significantly. At this time, the number can basically determine whether the goal has been achieved.
As soon as he mentioned this, Barov's face burst into a smile, the wrinkles on his forehead were crowded into ravines, and the embarrassment just now disappeared, "Your Majesty, the City Hall has already counted, and the people who have moved from all over There are basically more than 80,000 residents, and 50% of them came voluntarily. Including the aborigines in the border area and Changge area, the total population of Neverwinter City has reached 110,000!”
"Oh?" Roland was overjoyed, "Half of the volunteers came here?"
"Most of them are from the central and eastern regions of the kingdom. It is not obvious in spring and summer. In autumn, this proportion starts to rise. If this continues, those rebels who support Tifeko will probably be unable to sit still next year. already."
It should be the effect of Thassa's spreading the news of the church's defeat to the East, but Roland still hopes that the nobles will hold on for a while longer, so that he has an excuse to eradicate them together and restore the stability of the people of the East. Orderly New Kingdom.
"Are you ready for winter?"
"The city hall was ready two months ago," Barov replied confidently. "The Ministry of Construction commissioned Miss Lian to build a new batch of cave dwellings between the Desperate Mountains and the Chishui River to replace those leaking caves. Shacks. We stock up on charcoal to make sure everyone gets a basket.”
After Roland's repeated edification, the city hall has finally become accustomed to taking "not freezing to death in winter and not starving to death" as an administrative goal and implementing it into various decrees and measures.
He nodded gratified, "Very good, tell the scroll for me, don't forget education in winter."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"In addition, I plan to launch a small-scale war without affecting the normal operation of Neverwinter City, targeting the extreme south. When Iron Axe makes a specific combat plan, you can cooperate with him to mobilize various materials." Looking at Barov who hesitated to speak, Roland walked up to him and patted his shoulder, "Don't worry, I have my own measure."
…
After the manager left, Nightingale showed her figure and asked inexplicably, "Is this okay? When he talked about Edith, it was obviously not in line with the actual situation. Even if he didn't use his abilities, he could tell from his expression."
"If I scold him for this, I'm afraid he won't dare to oppress Edith head-on," Roland spread his hands, "In order to maintain the balance of the city hall, someone has to restrain the Pearl of the North. At present, only Ba Rove can do that."
"But why restrict her? If she has enough power to run the town hall, it won't do you any harm."
"Because..." Roland opened his mouth, but suddenly realized he didn't know what to say.
Yes, why restrict Edith
Worried about her dominance
This possibility is very slim, as long as he is still the king, he can replace her with one sentence. What's more, the city hall must not interfere with the military, and even if it controls all administrative departments, it cannot pose a threat to the throne.
In fact, when city hall clerks are selected according to recruitment notices and paid by the state treasury, the impact of replacing a manager has been minimized.
Worried about her cheating and tampering with government orders
At least it was impossible in Neverwinter. The effect of any decree would reach Roland's ears, and because the city was so big, the news was transmitted almost in real time.
Before coming to this world, what he hated the most was the way of checks and balances, especially in the workplace, when his boss regarded it as a kingly way, he even scoffed at it. Unexpectedly, after becoming the ruler, he also thought of this subconsciously... If it wasn't for Nightingale's reminder, he might not have realized that he was gradually becoming the kind of person he hated.
Power does need checks and balances, but instead of playing the game of power by another person or a few people, it should be constrained by policies, institutions, and laws. Without violating these frameworks, it's the right thing to do by letting your minions use their talents to the fullest.
Roland let out a long sigh of relief. He pursed his lips and was about to say thank you to Nightingale, but found that her eyes were completely focused outside the window.
"Look, it's snowing," she said softly.
Roland turned around and found that countless white dots quietly appeared in the gray sky, like a light elves slowly falling.
The Demon Moon has come.