Thousands of sparks

Chapter 9 Debt
"Okay, just come here today." Dusande took a step back calmly, bowed his body and said, "Let's continue the class at eight o'clock tomorrow morning-I will talk to Teacher Paulina and give it to You give courses that suit your situation."

Lorraine looked disappointed.However, she still stood up, lifted her skirt and bowed to Du Sande, "Thank you for your teaching."

Dusand deliberately averted his gaze, coughed lightly, and sent Lorraine out of the room.When walking beside Lorraine, he kept holding the coat in his hand, and then bent his arms intentionally or unintentionally, so that his coat could always cover his body.

It wasn't until Lorraine, with the help of the maids, got on the horse's side and walked away with the reins, that Dusande was slightly relieved.

He silently said "that's a minor" more than 200 times in his mind before turning and walking into the main building of the manor.Walking into his room with a horoscope, Du Sande began to change his clothes.

The black or purple velvet jacket and tight men's trousers he usually wears are very classic aristocratic costumes.Traveling to the Oberalben region in such attire is a very risky business.

After all, such a suit of clothes can easily sell for sixteen or seventeen shillings in the market.And to go to Albin in such a suit, and without a guard... It is like sending out an invitation to "come and rob me" to the local hooligans.

Dusande was going to Oberalbin with Polina to find a place to buy a machine tool.

Machine tools powered by steam boilers are very expensive industrial products. If you buy a brand new product, Dusand's investment will not even be enough.

I went with Polina in order to choose a good enough and easy-to-use machine tool from the second-hand goods.And Dusand followed along to ensure that the machine tool selected by this great technician can be sold at the most suitable price.

The coachman and two guards who followed the two to Upper Albin City were to prevent some daring hooligans from taking risks, or some blind "adventurers" trying to blackmail a beautiful big technician and a little boy. more gold pounds.

Don't cause trouble, but be prepared to deal with all kinds of trouble.Even if you are a nobleman, you must abide by such rules when you are active in the Upper Albin area.

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The unmarked steam horse dragged the carriage, and Dusand stared at the scenery outside with almost greedy eyes, never tired of watching it.Due to the "specificity" of the Upper Albin region, Dusand has never been allowed to go out alone to the city before.The few times I entered the Albin area before, it was to send my father back to his job.

He had never measured with his own feet this city of spiers and gray buildings and chimneys.

"Master, we are here." The two guards walked out of the carriage ahead of time.After confirming that the surrounding environment was safe, they nodded to Dusande and Polina, and gave way to get off the road.Dusande jumped out of the car, passed his hand to Polina behind him, and smiled at the guards, "Don't be too nervous, there shouldn't be any problems."

"Xun...Master, where are we going to shop?" Polina's hair was still messy, but her mind was clear.When the guards changed their minds, she'd better follow suit.

"Front." Dusand pointed to the hall in front, "The Upper Albin Bankruptcy Court temporarily detained the auction department."

The stone statue of the goddess of law and justice stands at the entrance of the four-storey court. On the opposite door, the metal handle is rubbed and shiny, while the brown wooden door has a very beautiful... patina.

The wooden doors of Upper Albyn Bankruptcy Court have not been replaced in the five years since Newsail was cleared in 170.These traces come from every worker, loser or...gold digger who opened the door in 170.

Accompanied by the guards, Dusande and Polina quickly walked into the four-story building.

"Today there will be two auctions, among which there will be six machine tools." Dusande explained to Paulina while walking, "What you need to do is to evaluate the status of these six machine tools as soon as possible, and then Give me an estimate--how much gold and time it will cost to bring them up to service."

"Do you really want to buy it?" Polina hesitated, "Actually, we can consider leasing a machine tool, or entrusting other factories to produce it."

"Of course I want to buy it." Du Sande nodded and said as a matter of course, "If the investment fails in the end, at least we still have fixed assets that can be exchanged for gold pounds. So, please choose a good treasure for me and bring it back. "

After sending Polina and a guard to the warehouse to look at the samples, Dusand took another guard to the auction preparation room on the second floor, preparing to pay a deposit to get the auction number.

Aristocratic status played a gratifying role here.After seeing the coat of arms ring shown by Dusand, the staff quickly found photos of Baroness Androni's family members and compared them with Dusand.After completing the comparison, Du Sande got an auction number - and did not need to pay a deposit in advance.

After declining the staff's invitation to have dinner with the director of the auction preparation room, Dusand walked out of the preparation room with the number.Just two steps away, a dirty boy who looked about his age squeezed over.

Then he was grabbed by the back of the neck by Dusand's guards.

"Master, master!" The boy, who looked about the same age as Dusande, sniffed his nose and struggled hard for a long time but still couldn't escape from the guard's grasp.He could only maintain this posture, and then asked Dusand with a flattering smile, "Master... are you interested in cheap machine tools? I have one in my hand, and the starting price is lower than the auction price of the court!" "

Looking at this boy who was about the same age as him, Du Sande suddenly had the feeling that when he was wandering around the computer city in his previous life, he was suddenly picked up by a black intermediary who didn't know where.

"Master, people like this are usually liars." The guard persuaded, "The machine tools are expensive...it's not something this kind of people can afford."

I look like a young master who is very easy to deceive?Oh, I am, that's all right.Du Sande made a joke about his appearance in his heart, and then prepared to let the guards let him go and drive him away.

"I'm not a liar!" The boy who had just given up struggling struggled again. This time, he almost tried his best to use his legs to attack the guards, and even opened his mouth, revealing some yellow and missing teeth to bite. .

After several attempts with no results, the young boy seemed to have a sudden breakdown.He wailed loudly, "I'm not...not a liar! I...the machine tool I want to sell belongs to my family!"

The guard was taken aback when he heard the words, and he subconsciously turned his head to look at Dusand.When encountering such a situation that seems to be beneficial to the master, the guard should not make arbitrarily determined decisions.

"Your family?" Du Sande raised his eyebrows, "Your family is also bankrupt?"

This is a small hole he buried, and it is also a verification scheme to identify whether the other party's answer is honest or not.

How about other places, Du Sande didn't know.However, the bankruptcy court in Newsale has always been famous for its "comprehensive and professional asset preservation".

In human terms—their level of raiding is very high.Even half pennies hidden in the ground can be dug up by this group of people.

The steam machine tool is a precision tool and is connected to the boiler, water tank and complete smoke extraction system and variable speed control system.It took more than a dozen steam carriages to move back and forth for half a day before all the dismantled parts could be removed.

For such a big guy, it is impossible for the other party to dismantle the lathe in advance and hide it when he finds out that his family is about to go bankrupt.

"We're not bankrupt yet..." The dirty boy gradually stopped struggling, as if speaking the truth had taken far more energy than he had struggled to resist.

Hanging in the air, with snot and tears smeared on his face, he said tremblingly, "We don't have money, so we can't file for bankruptcy."

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The benevolent imperial law stipulates that when citizens are unable to repay their loans, they can declare bankruptcy to lose most of their fixed assets and retain the assets necessary for life.

After passing the five-year review period supervised by the bankruptcy court to limit consumption, the previous debts of them and other institutions or individuals are considered to be written off-imperial law no longer supports creditors to claim debts from bankrupts who have passed the review period.

Although the regulations are good, in the actual implementation process... there are piles and piles of problems.

According to the law, the bankruptcy court needs to monitor the applicant's consumption level for five years after the applicant declares bankruptcy.And this supervision needs to be carried out by someone.

Bankruptcy courts have limited funds and therefore limited staff.There is a lot of work in the first place, so where can I assign people to supervise consumption?

So all the Newshall bankruptcy courts, including Upper Albyn, ruled that parties declaring bankruptcy had to pay up front enough to hire an outsourced supervisor for five years—that's about fifty gold pounds.

At the same time, before the bankruptcy court accepts the bankruptcy declaration, it needs to conduct a detailed analysis of the applicant's debts.When the applicant is a civilian, the bankruptcy application will not be approved once the creditors involve the imperial department or the nobles.

The situation faced by the family of this young man named "Rosen" fits exactly these two points.

As the family factory operator and the only great technician, his father suddenly died of a sudden illness. The large orders he had received before drained all the money in the family—there were countless metal ingots and used materials in their factory warehouses. The coal that drives the machine tool is much cleaner than Rosen's face.

With no other great technicians willing to help complete the order, Rosen, his sister and grandmother had no choice but to file for bankruptcy.

If the order cannot be completed on time, they will need to pay the customer a huge compensation of four hundred gold pounds, and this customer...is a lord.

Without the money to hire an outsourced overseer, even if there were, the bankruptcy court would not be able to declare a lord's debt extinguished.

There was no way for Rosen to file for bankruptcy. To keep his sister and grandmother alive, there was only one way he could think of—sell his father's steam machine tool, and dispose of all the metal ingots and coal in the warehouse.Exchange as much money as you can, and then take your sister and grandmother on the road to escape.

If they stayed in Newsale, the whole family would have no way of life.

If there is a choice, Rosen doesn't want to do this either.However, he heard some... rumours.These rumors came from other small factory owners who had money disputes with his lord.

It is said that the lord made his fortune by collecting debts from the very beginning.With the huge income obtained from debt collection, he bought the current noble title from the Duke, and began to buy up the debt rights of other factories and common people.

No one can't afford to pay back, and if they do, it must be because they haven't been pressured enough.With this "guiding ideology", Lord Lord's wealth is increasing rapidly.

And his method of "putting pressure" on debtors puts even the most ruthless slave traders on the side of the alliance ashamed.

(End of this chapter)