If you have money, you can live in an American house, find a few more Japanese lovers, hire as many Chinese cooks, drive a German car, wear a Swiss watch, use a British butler, go to Korea for beauty treatments, wear French fashion, and South Africa.
diamond ring...
Or to put it simply, if you become a Russian official, you can do all this?
Lorraine was looking at the sky with tears in her eyes at 45 degrees, happily imagining her corrupt life after transforming into a successful salt merchant.
Catherine called him twice from the side, but saw that he still looked like an idiot. She raised her eyebrows in dissatisfaction, then opened her teeth unceremoniously and bit Lorraine's shoulder hard.
Lorraine screamed in pain, turned around, looked at Catherine angrily, and said, "What are you doing? You are a dog, and you bite people at every turn~!"
Catherine raised her eyebrows, glared at Lorraine and said, "Speak quickly and stop being so pretentious, otherwise you will fall asleep alone tonight."
After hearing this, Adele immediately knew there was an opportunity to take advantage of her. Her watery eyes turned and she gave Lorraine a flirtatious look.
That enchanting, charming look almost knocked away Lorraine's soul.
Just as the two of them were flirting with each other, Adele felt the anger spurting out of Catherine's beautiful eyes at the next moment.
Then I heard the blond girl squeeze out a voice from between her teeth, and said coldly: "Diel, you can't do that either. You can't spoil him like that all day long~!"
Adele immediately blushed and stuck out her cute little tongue towards Lorraine. Then, her pretty face became stern, she sat up straight and put on a pure look.
She blinked her beautiful eyes, and then while playing with her slender and beautiful hands, which were as beautiful as spring onions, she said softly: "Nicole, look at what I am doing. When did I...when did I spoil him?"
The speed with which she changes her face, her innocent tone of voice, and her innocent and lovely look are all worthy of her acting talent~!
Even though Catherine had suffered many similar losses at her hands before, she still almost thought it was true.
After she composed herself, she immediately woke up. Then she snorted heavily, turned to look at Lorraine, and said, "Say it~!"
Lorraine looked at her bright, clear, and menacing eyes, and couldn't help but feel her mouth dry.
He coughed lightly and then said: "The so-called boiling sea salt requires labor and fuel. This ancient method should have been thrown into the garbage heap of history long ago.
My method is to soak in the sea and use salt.
Just level out a large beach as a salt pan, surround it with sea water, and then expose it to the sun. After a while, you can harvest it."
Everyone heard what he said so easily, and they all didn't believe it. However, seeing that Lorraine was so confident, but also seemed a little shaken, they couldn't help but look at each other.
Leo scratched the back of his head, and then said in a loud voice: "Boss, is this okay? Why do I feel that it is not reliable? It's like those people who can only eat cabbage and do nothing all day long.
But the words of those short-sighted guys who still want to make a fortune and engage in pyramid schemes.”
Lorraine was immediately stunned.
He touched his nose and saw the expressions on everyone's faces. He immediately patted his chest and said with confidence: "I already told you that this is a technology-intensive industry. When have I ever lied to you?"
"Last time you played cards with me, you lied to me, and the last time you said you were treating me, but in the end it was me who paid. And the last time..." Leo blinked,
Immediately I stretched my fingers and counted them one by one.
Everyone suddenly had dark faces.
Firstly, I admired Lorraine for being so shameless and even deceiving children. Secondly, I admired Leo, a little gangster, for having such a good memory. If he had used this in class, he might have become a fan of love now.
Stan is second.
Catherine was also dumbfounded. In the end, she could only gnash her teeth and curse in a low voice: "What a bastard man taught a bastard apprentice~!"
After hearing this, Leo continued to talk one by one. His face turned dark and he interrupted him and said: "Stop, stop, just tell me whether you want to do it or not?"
Leo was stunned for a moment. Although he wanted to continue speaking, he saw Lorraine's unkind eyes and then put away his little finger angrily.
He held his fat and pink cheeks, thought for a moment, and then said: "Do it, why not do it? Even if you can't get rid of it, it would be good to get some subsidy funds from the government."
Seeing that Leo could now be so skillful in poaching the country's corners, and a lot of bad water came out just in the blink of an eye, Catherine couldn't help but roll her eyes.
She looked at Leo angrily, wanting to teach him a few words, but she saw Leo's little face raised, his dark eyes shining, with an expression of 'I'm so awesome, come and praise me',
Suddenly, she didn't even have the energy to be angry.
Catherine sighed softly, then pretended not to see it, stood up unsteadily, raised her hand and pointed to the beach in front of her, and said: "The beach is in front of you, Leo go and call your death squad, let's practice it now
.”
Leo agreed excitedly, turned around and was about to leave, but after thinking about it, he turned back and said, "That's not right. If it's as simple as what my boss said, it won't be easy for others to learn from it."
Have you gone? If they also open a salt farm to fight against us, then we will have to drink from the northwest wind."
Everyone was shocked and looked at Leo intently. Everyone was thinking about this in their hearts: Is this little gangster really a genius that only happens once in a hundred years?
Lorraine coughed lightly, and then said enigmatically: "Is this... The Governor has his own clever plan. If scientific inventions are copied casually, the world's civilization will not progress. It's time to enact an intellectual property bill.
.”
Leo was stunned and said: "You know... what kind of bill do you know? What is this for?"
Lorraine said: "Intellectual Property Bill."
Intellectual property rights are a tool to monopolize the market and attack dissidents. They are even used as an excuse to openly block other countries' palaces and curse in the streets.
The British Empire dared to claim that "the sun never sets" for the first time in history. It dominated the entire ocean for a hundred years and fanned the flames in Europe. It bullied Napoleon the Great and the Younger, and William the Great and the Younger. The Patent Protection Act was indispensable.
It was when the Patent Rights Act came into being that Watt realized that it was profitable, so he studied hard and improved the steam engine. Only then did mankind leap into the steam age.
Not to mention all kinds of strange inventions after that. Trains, explosives, guns, electric lights, telephones, cars, handguns, atomic bombs...
It was precisely because the rights of the inventors were guaranteed and they saw that it was profitable that they settled down and studied hard.
(Take online novels as an example. If there were no-ass plagiarism dealers everywhere and no money could be made, there would probably be far fewer people coding.)
Catherine glared at Lorraine and said angrily: "I know you are good. This is a good thing that benefits the country and the people. You make money and you make money. I don't care about anything else. You can do whatever you want. But don't screw it up for me.
, otherwise I will nationalize it~!"
Leo immediately exclaimed "Ah", then wilted like an eggplant beaten by frost, and said dejectedly: "Oh, I know, the worst thing is to make less money, and threaten to raise taxes and nationalize it at every turn. This
It makes people feel very insecure..."
He kept complaining in a low voice, but was completely ignored by Catherine.
At this time, Lorraine couldn't help but protest: "Nicole, you are interfering with commercial freedom and dampening the enthusiasm of patriotic businessmen like Leo, which will have a devastating impact on the empire's economy."
Catherine put her hands on her hips, pointed at Lorraine's nose and said, "What's wrong? Shouldn't we crack down on those black-hearted businessmen who are driving up the price of salt?"
She paused and said bitterly: "When I return to Ruman City, I will pass a law and all those who hoard and raise prices will have their homes confiscated."
Lorraine smiled bitterly and said, "Nicole, think about it for yourself, is this possible?"
Everyone knows that although those doing business in this world are businessmen, their bosses behind the scenes are all nobles. There may be independent businessmen in the world, but at least they are not on this continent.
Regardless of the industry, as long as there is a slight profit, those in power will pounce on it like evil wolves, using the power in their hands to swallow it cleanly.
What are aristocrats? Aristocrats are a group of parasites who rely on their power to steal wealth from ordinary people.
They are a group of fools who only know how to party and hunt, chasing after women's skirts or men's handsome faces. They don't seek the best, but only the most expensive ones.
The home must have Parthian carpets, Almohad silverware, elf maids, and dwarf gardeners...
And this all costs a lot of money.
Where does the money come from? Just from fiefdoms in the countryside?
Not to mention the hard work of digging in the soil, not many farmers would have endured all kinds of discrimination and went to work in the city.
After paying the tax every year, the remaining money is not enough to open two more windows (a disguised luxury tax, except for the nobles who have nothing to do to open four or five windows in their own small house of dozens of square meters).
What happened to Lorraine back then is obvious. Speaking of which, he, an earl, had a lot of fiefdoms, but his life was very difficult at that time. The first mule he caught was called Ferrari. That girl Vera went there, but she almost ate Lorraine.
Bankrupt.
If you don’t do business, don’t engage in collusion between government and businessmen, don’t hoard stuff from time to time and drive up prices, where does the money come from? How can we create a modern feudal society with peace of mind if we don’t have money?
Catherine also knew what she was saying was angry. She sighed and said helplessly: "It's impossible. But we can't let them be so rampant. The essence of their behavior is to gang up and blackmail the government. If this happens, there will be another one."
Once. You can handle it this time, but what will you do next time? If other wealthy families follow suit, what will happen to the royal family?"
"That's it!" Leo waved his little fist and shouted loudly: "They don't take the boss seriously, they don't take you seriously, sister, they don't take you seriously, sister.
If you don’t take the old man seriously, you don’t take the old man seriously, that is, you don’t take the imperial family seriously. Such a big crime is not enough for us to deal with them, confiscate their homes, seal off their family property..."
Catherine glanced at him coldly and said, "Then put all those things in your pocket?"
Leo was immediately speechless and just smiled dryly.
Lorraine waved his hand and said: "If we still have to rely on administrative means to deal with them now, wouldn't it mean that we are as incompetent as those pig heads?"
It’s no wonder that Lorraine’s family is so angry now. Lorraine has suffered a lot in the past two days. Even though Lorraine is living a happy life in the beach house, the truth is that the Governor of Lorraine is in trouble both internally and externally.
Since the price of salt has soared, Lorraine has mentioned this issue every time in the daily meetings of the Governor's Palace. The officials in Nai'an are helpless about the soaring price of salt. When Lorraine asked, he would only speak in the conference room.
Big eyes and small eyes stared in a daze.
Some officials are really helpless. Officials like Angus, who work in the Governor's Palace, are old bureaucrats and know more about the situation in the empire than others.
They were tied to the same boat as the governor. Lorraine had a hard time and they couldn't escape. Now these people could only say they were anxious.
They know what the problem is, but by using this method to blackmail the governor, these officials also know that there is no room for change here. As the governor, Lorraine will not bow to these slave owners at all. If that happens, even with the support of the eldest princess, he
This governorship has come to an end.
Most of the other officials are spectators, and they have connections with the local wealthy families. If Lorraine is weak, they will continue to act stupid. If Lorraine is strong, they will be the first to jump out and add insult to injury to the wealthy families.
The rest are those who profit from the slave trade, or are completely colluded with the local nobles. Lorraine has cut off their financial resources. These people are now waiting to see Lorraine's jokes.
Lorraine also once asked his officials to communicate with these salt merchants, but the reply they received was that the salt merchants kept complaining.
In their words, raising prices is unacceptable. The cost has increased more than ten times, so of course the selling price has to go up.
In the past, slaves were used in the salt works and they cost very little money. However, since Lorraine ordered the release of slaves, these people have become workers. They are no longer like before. Now they have to pay wages, although it is only the minimum wage in the province.
But that’s still a lot of money for the boss, isn’t it?
And if you dare to hide slaves in secret, Lorraine's guys who are called vicious dogs are not vegetarians, and they will ruin your fortune if they don't copy you.
Moreover, the salt merchants also said that slaves used to work twenty hours a day, but now they only work eighteen hours a day. They would rebel if they were allowed to work overtime. They actually asked for one day off per week. It was really lawless.
Costs continue to rise, production plummets, and those of us who produce salt can no longer afford salt.
Lorraine's envoys brought this answer back to Lorraine. They themselves were very angry, and some even suggested to the governor, let's get rid of those short-sighted people~!
Lorraine smiled and stopped the officials below and told them not to act recklessly.
While Catherine and Adele were drying salt on the beach, Lorraine used the resources of the Flying Eagle Chamber of Commerce to urgently import several shiploads of salt from neighboring provinces.
But for things like salt, if you want to purchase it on a large scale to supply half a province, there are not that many sources, and the freight is expensive. Coupled with the losses on the Shanghai road, the price has doubled.
Lorraine is busy with government affairs. Although there are two tigresses in the family, no one dares to lead the Governor to corruption. Lorraine can go home as soon as she gets off work, or must go home quickly, but there are too many things that the Governor needs to deal with, and Lorraine
Like Archduke Julius, he said, "I am actually very democratic," while promoting centralism in the conference room.
Naturally, Lorraine's working hours will not be less, and the time when she goes home is irregular every day, so she has no time to manage the salt sales.
Catherine and Adele devoted themselves to the experiment of sun-drying salt. Vera now looked at the sea and it was all golden, and she was even more enthusiastic than Catherine.
The action to stabilize salt prices could only be directed by Leo himself.
The salt purchased by Feiying Company was immediately handed over to the stores affiliated to Feiying Company for sale as soon as it arrived in Hong Kong.
What Leo didn't expect was that as soon as the salt arrived at the store, the first few salt buyers carried large bags of gold coins and tried to buy all the salt.
After Leo added another 50% to the price, he generously sold all the salt in the store, but at night Leo was sulking at the dining table.
Seeing Leo sweeping away the food on the plate without being picky at all, Catherine asked doubtfully: "Leo, is nothing wrong?"
Leo raised his head and said bitterly: "It's so annoying. Those guys bought salt from me and then resold it for three times the price. Three times! I only added 50%.
"
Catherine asked anxiously: "Did you sell all the salt you bought?"
Leo said dejectedly: "No more, only those in the store. Those people came in and were very angry and wanted to round them up, so I added some money to sell them. Of course I have to pay attention to such a big customer.
I asked the people below to follow them, but I didn't expect that they were also selling salt, and if they changed hands, they would get twice the profit.
If I had known this, I would have been engaged in investment instead of doing business."
Catherine was so angry that she took Leo and beat him several times, and ordered that starting tomorrow, each customer could only buy one pound.
But the devil is as high as the road. Early the next morning, civilians who heard that cheap salt was sold here blocked the door. In one morning, all the goods shipped overnight were sold out. Leo
But he was surprised to find that the person who bought the salt turned around and handed the salt in his hand to the person next to him, and after receiving the money, he came back to the queue.
In the afternoon, when there was no more salt to sell, the people gathered outside the shop were still unwilling to disperse. The restless crowd was stirred up, and they excitedly smashed open the door of the shop and rushed in to snatch it. The imperial guards around Leo
But regardless of whether they had extenuating circumstances or not, he picked up the guy and beat them all down.
But this behavior threw a fire into the frying pan. The anger of the civilians became even greater, and some people began to throw stones at government agencies in Nai'an.
Some civilians started to make a noise, "Why should those slaves be released? It will be difficult for everyone."
The freed slaves were unwilling to do so. The two sides fought several battles, and the city of Nai'an began to become a bit smoky.