Blood tax

Chapter 400 Roland Bond of the Gods and Total War ([-])
"This is a big hotel. It used to be the private residence of some duke earlier. Earl Roland rented it here to sell his bonds, and I'm here to help!"

Tina introduced it to the knight.Under her guidance, Griffith found that there are many Yingyingyanyan girls in this place, all of whom come here to work part-time.Of course, there are also many young men.They were in charge of entertaining, and seized every opportunity to sell Roland's bonds, and then took a cut of them.

Griffith took a bond brochure and flipped through it.

"Do you have any acquaintances here?"

"Yes~ not only me, but many fellow countrymen have come~ Some of them left their hometowns to escape military service. After the war, although they were allowed to pay a small fine and return to work in their hometowns, there was nothing wrong with it. Good job for them."

Griffith was momentarily speechless.The vast territory in the east was conquered inch by inch by countless comrades like him, watered with blood, sweat and tears.Today, the residents there have left.

"The land and mines in my hometown were sold to the masters from Bayeran. They are rich. The local chambers of commerce and shops are not rivals at all. They also brought a steam engine, a very magical thing. When draining the swamp or transporting ore, there are tens or hundreds of people. In this way, everyone’s salary is also reduced.”

"Is there no chaos in the local area?"

"There are many people who are unhappy and organize to smash the machines. But who can fight with the Legion and the Gendarmerie? In the end, they can only try their luck in Bayerland or farm, but it is very hard to reclaim wasteland. , the grain produced is more expensive than the grain from the south brought all the way, and it cannot be sold at all, which is unbearable... Earl Roland has been recruiting immigrants to Verona, where there is a cooperative called , As long as those who go can get agricultural tools and good land, and harvest agricultural products at a good price, many people will be tempted.”

The banquet hall suddenly became noisy, and the majestic Roland appeared surrounded by a large group of people.He dressed gorgeously, shook hands with all kinds of people, and it seemed that there was no one in the world who was not his friend.

Roland's speech was short and confident.He briefly reviewed the history of Weifu bonds. Many years ago, when he had just obtained the fiefdom of Qiming County in Sebasto, he began to issue the first issue of Weifu bonds-local bonds endorsed by his personal credit.

This kind of local bond, which was still in small circulation at the time, spread to the whole world together with his great steam engines, muskets and artillery.Now, no one in the financial world does not know that the great Roland is synonymous with creation and the future, and the earliest underwriters of Weifu bonds all made a lot of money.

There were even elves among the guests. They appeared from a distance on the balcony on the second floor diagonally, away from the noisy humans, and watched the retired legendary brave man.

It is expected that the steam machine will replace the labor force to a certain extent; but the underwriting of agricultural products is a bit unexpected. After all, the food in the southern provinces is cropped three times a year, and indigo, cotton and sugar are more popular than other places. No, even if the land of Verona is playing well, it is impossible to be competitive.

Roland must be losing money to subsidize... Griffith stared at the brochure of Weifu Roll for a while, then raised his head and asked the girl beside him:

"Are you going?"

"Of course!" Tina rolled up the non-existent sleeves of the evening dress, and showed the knight her strong arms, "I will move there when I earn some more money. Although the Earl is in charge of farm tools, he has some savings. The first days will be easier, I want to raise a litter of rabbits and feed them vegetables every day!"

Griffith and Tina laughed together.As in the past, the hostess is always full of energy.

"I'm subscribing for some bonds." Griffith took out his wallet and asked while taking out the money, "500 silver lang?"

"The money is not for me," Tina pulled him to a registration room to fill out the documents, subscribed, and finally, she took a stack of bearer bonds and patted them in Griffith's hand, "From now on, you are You are a part of the revitalization of the glorious Verona! I thank you for Count Roland!"

Griffith put away the bond and was going to talk to Roland face to face later.Before leaving, he asked Tina: "Usually, what do you and your fellow countrymen do here?"

"Textile factories, iron factories, and various magic workshops, and there are many additional jobs that can serve workers who do manual work, such as taverns, bathrooms, and theaters. There are also many jobs that can be done in Waren City. , every time noble gentlemen come to a meeting, they can make a lot of money."

"That's daring."

"But," Tina seemed to start a chatterbox when she saw someone she knew acquaintances, and said in a brisk tone like a nightingale, "some strange news has been circulating in the past few days. The wages of the factory have also been reduced, saying that some people are willing to work, and those who are not willing to work can leave. Everyone is very angry and is planning to petition the king and the Senate."

"What about you?"

"What can I do~" Tina shook her head, "I can only hurry up and earn a little more. The nobles and wizards are very generous with their money, and they will even give me jewelry and clothes."

She shook the necklace at the neckline towards the knight, and pointed to the skirt: "softer than the clouds in the sky."

At this time, a waiter came to Griffith and said that the Earl invited him to the meeting room.Seeing that Griffith had arrangements, Tina stopped bothering and ran away with her brochure.

……

After Roland publicized his bonds in the main hall, he returned to the office, where he received special guests.

When Griffith came to the door, he was surprised to find that he was talking to those elves.An acquaintance, Harandir, the half-elf ranger captain from Canaan, was waiting outside the door.

"Good evening, knight." The ranger greeted Griffith from afar.

"Good evening, ranger," Griffith was impressed with the half-elf squadron that Haranduil commanded in the last war, and always wanted to chat with him more. "Is Roland busy in there?"

"Yes, I think in another 5 minutes, he will have time to talk to us," the half-elf said with a meaningful smile, "I just came here, and I knew that Roland had booked the entire Budapest Hotel for him." For my bond roadshow, the ham, wine and tobacco used in his dinner were all the best things he brought. This rich man invited the Canaanite financial officer to the dinner, and arranged the best room and band early."

"Have you known the Earl for a long time?" Hearing this, Griffith felt that if Haranduil was not Roland's old friend, he would be extremely rude.

"The time I've known him..." Haranduil paused, "It's too long to tell."

But you are not one of Roland's early adventure stories?Griffith was a little puzzled, but he didn't delve into it. There was a nervous noise coming from Roland's conference room.

"Your airs won't convince me!" a voice yelled from across the room.Considering that Roland's guests are all elves, this should be some exasperated Canaan treasurer shouting.

This is very embarrassing... Griffith and Haranduel, who were chatting, fell silent together, listening to the conversation in the conference room with their ears up.

"Of course you are rich! My God, Silver Moon, a large part of the money was given by us!" The elf continued, completely ignoring several voices asking him to keep his voice down, "But, what did I see? You put It should have been raised to pay off the principal of our maturing bonds and be used as a new issuance fund to spend on the living rooms, underwriters, maids, and food and drink of these vulgar fans."

"Not much, not much." The voice seemed to be Roland speaking.

"Shut up!" the elf interrupted Count Roland de Sissel angrily, "We also know that you used the previous bond in Qiming County, and you just got a little profit, and you put it all in Verona Go buy land and agricultural tools for those mortals and poor ghosts, and throw them into the bottomless pit without even a splash!"

"I promise, this is absolutely not the case. Please read my prospectus, and every question you have will be explained." Roland explained.His voice dropped so that people outside couldn't hear him clearly.

After a while, the participating elves rushed out aggressively.Each of their pretty faces was angry, or terribly disturbed.

A group of beautiful girls were waiting for them outside and invited them to a feast, but the treasurer of Canaan was not interested and left in a hurry.

"Hey~" Roland came to the door, watched the elves leave, and then looked at Griffith and Haranduel who stood silently aside.He seems a little embarrassed:

"I can only say that the knowledgeable family members of the gods have a biased understanding of the nature of finance."

"Oh? Then what is the essence of finance?" Haranduil asked with a lightning-fast interface.

Roland invited two friends to his reception room, closed the door, poured wine for them, then retracted himself into the sofa, and took a deep breath:

"It's imagination."

"How come?" Griffith asked.

"Well, my friend," said Roland, "the elves think my bonds are coming due, and they don't see that I have enough cash flow to arrange payment in the foreseeable time, which makes them Very nervous, not even interested in wine, tobacco and girls, they used to like it very much, and they have to take it home every time."

"If I were an investor, I would be very nervous," Harandir said, "If your Weifu coupons cannot be redeemed as scheduled, as far as I know, a large amount will expire in the third quarter of next year. How should the person in charge explain it to Canaan's superiors?"

"Impossible, I assure you!" Roland shook his fist, "Unless there is a full-scale war and the evil god descends, nothing can stop my Weifu coupon from being paid on schedule! It is written in black and white on the bond contract! I, Roland , Guaranteed with life and honor!"

This poisonous oath has been spoken, and Griffith and Haranduel have nothing to say for a while.After all, the legendary heroes who once saved the world risked their lives...

The half-elf ranger picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and nodded in agreement.

Griffith looked at the meeting room and found that Roland didn't mean to prepare dinner, so he couldn't help guessing that today's meeting should be relatively simple.He tore a piece of candy from the dinner plate on the table and put it in his mouth, chewing and asking, "So, Earl, what do you want us to do?"

"Well, speaking of this!" Roland regained his energy, moved out of the sofa, leaned forward, and approached the two guests, "I invite the two of you, my old friends, to discuss with you——

"In the upcoming all-out war and the coming of evil gods, how should we fight together."

"..."

The expressions of Griffith and Haranduil froze for an instant.

(End of this chapter)