As one of the forty-two richest families in Ascaltra, Bernard’s marriage has been the focus of all parties’ attention since he successfully came to power.
Not to mention other nobles and wealthy businessmen.
Even the church of Shuna, the god of love and beauty, has sent invitations more than once, hoping that he can attend a blind date banquet hosted by them and find a suitable marriage partner at the banquet.
After all, all women who are willing to attend Shuna Church activities are basically, without exception, believers of the God of Love.
In this way, the god and his church can not only expand their own influence, but can even form a huge social platform through female believers to attract more powerful people to join various religious activities.
In fact, the Church of the God of Love and Beauty may have a huge influence in Amn, second only to the Goddess of Wealth, Woking.
The reason is simple!
Those priests who dress up all day long and dress sexyly hold some overt and covert banquets every now and then, bringing together groups of men and women eager to seek excitement and new love.
And he often goes out in person to satisfy the various needs and fantasies of believers.
The most important thing is that more than 50% of these banquets are completely naked and candid.
As for the specific process, anyone who is not a fool can imagine it.
What's even more outrageous is that the banquet participants are not limited to one-on-one, but also enjoy multi-person sports, so it is deeply loved by young nobles and businessmen.
Some elderly ladies who cannot find satisfaction from their husbands are also very happy to participate in it, looking for energetic young men and teenagers and getting pleasure from them.
After all, the priesthood of Suna, the goddess of love and beauty, covers almost all definitions of "love".
This includes "loyal love", "free love", "forbidden love", "unbridled love", etc.
In other words, as long as both parties are willing to do so, it doesn't matter even if they are "human beasts".
Some weird mages, under the encouragement (bewitchment) of Pastor Shuna, had some indescribable things happen between them and the demons they created.
But it's a pity that the senior pastors of the Church of God of Love and Beauty obviously don't know what happened in Bernard's family.
Little did he know that it was precisely because his mother frequently attended the banquets he held that it triggered intense family conflicts, which eventually led to the tragedy of nearly annihilating the family.
Therefore, Bernard's personal opinion of Shuna Church was completely negative, and in his heart he wished he could kill the pastor who abducted his mother to join.
Now, as he has entered into a marriage contract with the Nasiva family, the forces that were ready to move in the dark have finally calmed down.
After all, if something really happened, it would be tantamount to offending two of the forty-two richest families in Ascaltra.
In this way, while Zuo Si was tasting the new dishes recently invented by Chef Welby, he chatted with Bernard about various things that had happened recently in Amn.
The half-orcs Rhett, Alena and Korgan just ate with their heads down, as if they were not finished until they stretched themselves to death.
Fortunately!
Every time a new dish is served, Zuo Si will put some on his plate first, otherwise if these three guys grab it, he will be completely unable to eat it.
After he was full of wine and food, he proposed to Welby the idea of ​​​​finding a trustworthy apprentice to work as a chef at the Sea's Gift Tavern.
After some thought, the halfling quickly recommended a distant relative who was currently helping in the kitchen.
After examining the latter's cooking skills, the candidate was initially finalized.
Just as Zuo Si was about to get up and return to the Mage Tower, Bernard suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said: "Your Excellency! Wait!"
"Huh? What's wrong?"
Zuo Si stopped subconsciously, turned around and asked in a slightly doubtful tone.
"That's it. A few days ago, a guy who called himself Cordell came to the Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the Golden Mercenary Group, hoping that I could fund their expedition. They planned to require at least three ships and a large amount of supplies.
, and at least eighty skilled sailors, starting from the port of Shadowmoon Island and heading west to explore the Traceless Sea."
Bernard told the story exactly as it happened.
Because Zuo Si is currently the largest shareholder of the Chamber of Commerce and is also the backend he relies on, similar venture capital investments must be made clear.
"Start from Shadowmoon Island and head west to explore the Traceless Sea?!"
Zuo Si was stunned for a moment and immediately realized that these mercenaries were probably the same people who discovered the Maztec continent for Amn.
Calculating the time, if we sail now, we will be able to come back around next year, that is, around October DR1361.
After figuring this out, he immediately asked: "If we fund the expedition and ultimately succeed, what benefits can we get from it?"
Bernard answered without thinking: "According to the provisions of Amn's maritime law and development law, the first is territorial ownership.
If new unclaimed land or islands are discovered, the Amn government will recognize us as the undisputed lord and obtain an additional duke or governor title.
As long as you have the ability, you can occupy as much space as you want.
Even if the six-person council wants to build a port stronghold, it must pay for the redemption.
In addition, we can enjoy at least five years of trade monopoly, twenty years of exclusive operation rights of more than eight special products, up to fifty years of taxation rights, as well as the ability to establish local cities, promulgate laws, and recruit armies.
rights.
To put it simply, it is equivalent to a vassal city-state in the name of the country of Amn.
On the surface, it is protected by the Amn government and army, but in fact, it basically has to rely on itself for everything.
Of course, if the land discovered is large enough, such as a continent or a giant island with a large number of special products, the six-person council may provide some additional help.
This is how the Snowfall Harbor in the Shadowmoon Islands and the Nanzalu Harbor Colony in the Chult Jungle to the south were established.
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They are still in the hands of the family that founded them.
After all, the major chambers of commerce in Ascatra are not very keen on colonization, and are usually just important supply points that control maritime traffic.
Because whether it is reclaiming wasteland or relocating people, a lot of costs need to be invested first, and it is easy for unexpected circumstances to cause the money invested to be wasted.
They just want to obtain raw materials and goods through trade, and then sell them to other parts of the world to make profits."
"It sounds like the Amn government is encouraging overseas development and colonization?"
Zuo Si touched his chin with a thoughtful expression.
In his view, what these laws provide is no longer "preferential policies" or "protecting the interests of pioneers."
Instead, they are openly and unabashedly encouraging those powerful families and chambers of commerce to use all means to seize overseas territories, and use this as a center to radiate to the surrounding areas, expanding Amn's influence in commerce and trade.
Because the overall concept of country and nation in Faerûn is relatively weak.
Except for the feudal rule like that of the Kingdom of Cormyr, which has maintained for thousands of years, there has never been a break or large-scale turmoil in the middle, so the people have a certain sense of identity with the royal family and noble lords.
Residents in most other areas are basically just outsiders. They may have regional and ethnic identities, but they rarely have national or ethnic identities.
This also means that if a certain family or chamber of commerce in Ascaltra takes control of a place, as long as it is not too violent, the civilians will basically not resist.
Anyway, it’s not who you pay taxes to.
As long as their own interests are not harmed, ordinary people don't care who becomes the lord.
The Amn government and the Council of Six do not even need to do anything. They can let the gold coins they mint be recognized and circulated in the region and surrounding villages and towns, and they can immediately collect invisible seigniorage.
You must know that in the continent of Faerûn, the proportion of gold and silver coins minted in most cities contains precious metals is about 60%.
The remaining 40% of other cheap metals are the implicit "seigniorage" obtained by deducting the cost of issuing currency by the city and country.
The reason why Amn's gold and silver currency is widely accepted and used is that its commerce and trade are extremely prosperous and developed. You can buy almost everything you want with these gold coins.
On the other hand, the casting process is superb, making it more refined, durable, and less likely to wear and rust than other currencies of the same type.
But not many people know that the gold and silver currency of Amn actually only contains an insane 40% of the gold content.
In other words, for every gold coin minted and put into circulation, Amn officials can obtain a net profit of more than half a gold coin.
So while other city-states and countries were still playing with the real economy, Ascaltra's six-member council pioneered a series of financial policies.
Bernard obviously didn't know that Zuo Si had guessed the real intention behind this series of laws and policies, and responded with a smile: "I guess so.
Anyway, after a few successful examples, many families and chambers of commerce became keen to fund expeditions.
But more than 90% of the expedition team ultimately failed to come back alive.
After all, the depths of the Traceless Sea are so dangerous.
If you don’t know the route and stray into the territory of sea monsters and shark-turned-murlocs, the result will basically be a shipwreck and death.”
"What about how the benefits are distributed between the expedition team and the sponsors?" Zuo Si continued to ask with interest.
Because of Amn's pattern, he suddenly felt like he was in the Age of Discovery in the 16th and 17th centuries on Earth.
To be continued...