It's not that difficult to open a hospital in another world, right? Chapter 827: Your Majesty the Duke, you have to make the decision for us! (10,000 rewards plus 4 updates)
Chapter 827: Your Majesty the Duke, you have to make the decision for us! (10,000 rewards plus 4 updates)
The Duke of the Netherlands is suffering from a severe headache.
A national debt of nine million gold coins!
Even if he didn't buy them all, as the largest lord in the Netherlands, he took the lead and bought 200,000!
Not to mention, the earls, viscounts, small lords, knights, various business groups, wealthy businessmen, and small and medium-sized workshop owners in the entire Netherlands
They will buy these treasury bonds, a small part of which is to make money, and a large part of which is to pay dividends! Who will pay the dividends?
Half is apportioned by the lords, and half is apportioned by the Holy See.
"Your Excellency, the president of the Woolen Clothes Guild, Kabir Lussen, would like to see you."
"Your Excellency, the president of the Linen Trade Guild, Huonasang Yat, I would like to see you."
"Your Excellency, the President of the Carpet Guild,
"The president of the Soap Guild.
"President of the Sugar Industry Association
"Fisheries Association
"Shipbuilding Guild
The Duke of the Netherlands held his forehead. You can't pretend to be dead. If you pretend to be dead today, you will have to meet these people tomorrow. Moreover, if they are allowed to keep communicating and things continue to ferment, it will only get worse.
He stroked his raised mustache, pressed it, released it, pressed it, and released it again. Finally, he took a deep breath and stood up from behind the desk:
"Prepare the meeting room!"
On the second floor of the castle, the conference hall faces the lake. The windows are sparkling and the scenery is beautiful. It is not the most majestic, tallest and widest room in the castle, but it is the most intimately decorated and peaceful room.
There is only a clan emblem hanging on the wall, and even the heads of monsters, high-end armors and weapons, which show off the master's strength, are not displayed. It is obvious that he does not want to put pressure on ordinary people and make them unable to speak.
.
The Duke of the Netherlands always used this room when summoning these businessmen. Even the servants in the castle were very familiar with which president should sit in which position, whether he liked tea or coffee, and what kind of cigarette he liked to smoke.
There is no way, the Netherlands is low-lying, the land is barren, and salinization is extremely serious. In other places, if you sow 30 pounds of wheat on an acre of land, you can harvest 200 pounds of wheat. In the Netherlands?
hehe.
If you are lucky enough to grow, there will be a storm surge and the sea water will pour in. After a year of hard work, the harvest in the fields will be destroyed in an instant. So the Dutch started to save themselves very early. They drove small boats and went fishing in the wind and waves.
Fish, selling salted fish to the Kingdom of Rhine and Kingdom of Kent is one of them;
The second is to operate those small boats of 60 tons, 100 tons, and 200 tons, with a minimum of only one mast and a triangular sail, and transport goods everywhere;
Establishing factories and workshops to refine rough sugar into refined sugar, weaving wool into woolen wool, blankets, and various rough and fine fabrics, processing them into clothing and other imitations, building ships, weaving sails, and making soap from whale oil are the third
All in all, without workers, workshop owners, and merchants, the entire Netherlands would collapse immediately, and the income of the lords would plummet by at least 60%.
Therefore, the Duke of the Netherlands has always been kind to these guild leaders and business leaders. There is no way to help it. The businessmen are no more than lords, knights, or farmers working on the land. They are really anxious, so they start the boat and run away.
Moreover, some of the merchants were foreigners. Barbarians from the north transported large quantities of wood, amber and furs, and also sold weapons and armor produced by the dwarves;
Merchants from the Kingdom of Kent brought large quantities of wool, undyed and unbleached fabrics, and various strange creations by magicians.
Merchants from the Kingdom of Brolin transport wine, wheat and rye from the south, and even precious magical items from the territory directly under the Glory Church. As a lord, do you not protect the interests of these merchants?
The number of ships in the port will be reduced by 30% tomorrow. In one month, 89% of the ships will be gone. Without ships, where will the raw materials for the workshop come from? Who will sell the goods to?
Therefore, no matter how angry or depressed the Duke of the Netherlands was, he had to appease these people. He strode to the door of the conference room and looked through the open door. He saw President Luson of the Woolen Guild huddled in the corner.
Fill yourself up until your face turns red;
The president of the Fishery Guild, that hard-blooded man who gradually made a huge fortune relying on a small fishing boat in the wind and rain in his early years, did not touch his favorite liquor, and smoked cigarettes one after another, the smoke almost covering his face.
Keep an eye on your features;
The president of the Carpet Guild, the skinny middle-aged man who usually prides himself on being the most pious and artistically accomplished, "the best carpet every year will be enshrined in the cathedral", frowned at this moment and said, "Bah, bah!"
chewing tobacco residue
"Your Majesty the Duke has arrived_"
The ceremonial officer paused the scepter he was holding tightly and shouted loudly. With a roar, a large number of people in the conference room stood up and saluted the Duke in a chaotic manner. As soon as the Duke sat down, a group of people rushed to speak:
"Your Majesty, Duke, is the kingdom really going to refuse to pay its national debt? Can you help us fight for it? If this national debt is not paid when it expires, I will not be able to turn around the money on hand, and I will not be able to pay the wages of the workers!'
"Yes, yes! The fishing season is coming soon, so we have to wait for the money to renovate the ships and buy barrels before we can go to sea! If the national debt is not paid, half of the ships will go down!"
"If we don't have money, how can we buy goods! The new season's wool is coming out soon. If the national debt is not paid and there is no money to buy goods, my workshop will have to stop working! The wool currently stored can only last for one month.
The president of the Woolen Wool Guild had a sad face. The wool from the Kingdom of Kent is the best quality and most reputable variety around. Only wool from the Kingdom of Kent, with fine and long fibers, can weave the lightest, softest and warmest wool.
However, due to the war between the Kingdom of Kent and the country under the rule of the Glorious Holy See, exchanges and transfers were not accepted there, only gold coins were accepted. As soon as the king refused to pay, he immediately had difficulty with cash flow!
"You can still go to the Kingdom of Kent to purchase goods, what about me? The Carolingians have raised the wool tariff several times! If this continues, even if he is willing to pay the national debt, I will go bankrupt!"
The president of the carpet guild nearby was shouting with several other presidents who made low-end textiles. Most of the wool they used came from the hinterland of the Carolingian Kingdom. The quality was not that high, but the quantity was quite large.
In the past twenty years, the textile city of Flanders in the Netherlands has purchased goods from the Brolin Royal Capital Wool Exchange, which has gradually increased from 50% of the exchange's shipments to more than 80%.
In the cities near the Glorious Holy See, you can only get some scraps, and you have to wait until they have finished purchasing the goods before picking up the rest. The result is that the products they make are more expensive than theirs, and the quality is not as good as theirs.
"I know that those people are relying on the power of the Holy See to suppress us! They will be happy if they raise the tariff and we can't get the goods! Your Majesty, Duke, you have to make the decision for us!'
"Yes, Your Majesty Duke, you must make the decision for us!" The president of the Sugar Guild was almost in tears:
"We are forbidden to trade directly with merchants in the colonies. It will cost us our lives! We were the ones who dedicated the twelve sugar towers at the king's wedding. It didn't take long before we turned our backs on each other.
"Your Majesty the Duke!"
"Your Majesty the Duke
His Excellency the Duke was so irritated that he had to comfort these businessmen:
"Don't worry, everyone. Hold on for a while. I'll communicate with the archbishop and write a letter to the royal capital. If it doesn't work, I'll go and volunteer in person.
"Will the king listen? Does the Holy See care about us businessmen? The teachings of the Holy See have always said that it is harder for a rich person to go to heaven than it is for a camel to pass the eye of a needle. But every time he wants money, he comes to us in a different way.
scrape on body
"Well, the king doesn't care about our thoughts." The Duke tried his best to appease:
"We in the Netherlands bear more than half of the kingdom's tax revenue, which is three times higher than the annual income brought by the colonies. What good does it do to the king to drive industry and commerce to death? Are you counting on the income from farming?"
"Your Excellency, we are all relying on you! If you can really open the exchange to us, the income from the old fleet will be allocated to another ship in your name! Last year's new ship!"
Duke of the Netherlands: "It is not necessary to discuss this for the time being. Everyone has a good life, so we cannot discuss it.
Everyone is in trouble
He sent these businessmen away, organized his thoughts, and began to write letters. Letters to the Archbishop of the Netherlands, letters to the earls in the Netherlands;
A letter to several reclusive strong men who do not occupy large territories, but whose status cannot be ignored;
A letter to several close friends he had known for many years in the royal capital;
Letter to the leader of the financial business group
Before the letter was drafted, the valet came quickly to report. The Count and Lady of Ostend, the Count of Delft, the Count of Dordremet and others all came from their respective territories at the same time.
They adhered to the etiquette of nobles and did not come directly to visit, but handed over greeting cards in advance. Even so, with a thick stack of greeting cards placed in front of them, the Duke of the Netherlands sighed helplessly:
Tired.
These earls usually write letters or send envoys when they have something to do. To invite them to a gathering, they have to prepare at least two months in advance. The residence, banquet, and performance are all meticulous. Now, they have nothing, and they all came together.
-
It can be seen that he has been stimulated to the point of sitting still. So, as the largest lord in the Netherlands, what attitude should he adopt and what actions should he lead them to take?
That night, the Duke of the Netherlands tossed and turned and didn't sleep well all night. When he got up the next day, before he even dressed up and prepared to entertain guests, bad news came in one by one:
"The ten largest beer merchants in the Earldom of Delft were arrested in the name of [blasphemy], and their property was confiscated!"
"In the earldom of Orange, three shipyards were seized by the tribunal, saying that the situation of liaison with heretics must be investigated in detail! In Flanders City, all merchants from the Kingdom of Kent were arrested and imprisoned on the charge of [heretics]
!'
"Inquisition, Cardinal Gravela, who was appointed as the Grand Inquisitor of the Netherlands, has arrived in person with the Black Rider.
The dark air on the Duke's face rose one layer after another. He crushed the horn wine glass in his hand with a click, and said in a deep voice: "Please come here, all the earls, and let's discuss it carefully!'
****
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ps: Historically, during Antwerp's heyday, the tax revenue it contributed to the Spanish crown was seven times that of its American colonies. Not three times, but seven times.