Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 598 Comprador Government
"Bankruptcy?" Hermione exclaimed in confusion after Harry read the contents of Sirius's letter in verse, then looked incredulously at Tyella, who was calmly enjoying her breakfast nearby.

“Tierra, you, do you know?” Hermione asked.

“Of course I know.” Tierra wiped her mouth with a tissue and said elegantly, “How could I not know about the situation I created?”

"What, what, what's going on?" Hermione asked in confusion, her brilliant mind seemingly freezing for a moment.

“Just as Sirius Black described in his letter, I am breaking down the social systems of the other Ministries of Magic,” Tyella said.

"But why did you do that?" Hermione asked, puzzled and somewhat resentful.

"Defeating the Magic Alliance allowed me to dismantle their government functions, and the Trade Act allowed me to dismantle their social system," Tierra said with a smile. "Because of the Magic Alliance's crushing defeat, their government lost credibility and control over the magical community."

"Then I immediately proposed the Trade Act, through which I used this act and the sea of ​​Galleons I obtained from Gringotts to harvest the potions, magical items, and raw materials used to refine them that supported the entire magical society in their country."

“If their Ministry of Magic still retains its previous dominance and credibility, it will definitely restrict my purchasing and plundering activities. After all, whether it is Galleon, Silver Sickle, or Bronze Knut, although they have monetary attributes, their value is mainly reflected in their purchasing power. In other words, Galleon is valuable because we know that Galleon can purchase a large amount of the supplies we need.”

“But when resources are extremely scarce… just like Sirius said in his letter, those glittering Galleons are like pretty commemorative badges, utterly meaningless,” Tiera said.

“Then…if their Ministry of Magic doesn’t form a magical coalition to attack us, would the outcome be better?” Hermione analyzed. “After all, if they don’t fight you, their credibility and dominance will still be there, and they can still control the situation to some extent.”

“It’s no use. This war is inevitable.” Tiera smiled helplessly. “From the moment I got my hands on such a large amount of Galleons from Gringotts, this war was bound to happen. This war was unavoidable.”

“Or to put it another way… from the moment I obtained Gringotts’ Galleons, I controlled the economic lifeline of the entire wizarding world, and they were completely at a disadvantage,” Tiera explained. “If they choose not to fight this war, of course they can, and there’s no need to sign the Trade Treaty. Then this war becomes an economic war and a covert magical contest… If there’s no way to trade openly, then I’ll just smuggle. Anyway, I’m the one holding a large amount of Galleons. Can the Ministry of Magic, which controls everything, really control the greed of their people?”

“To put it bluntly, smuggling ultimately tests the magical abilities of both sides; it's a contest of magical power. Can they stop me from going to their side? Can I break through their barriers and find people to smuggle?” Tierra said. “As long as their magical abilities are inferior to mine, as long as they can't stop me, then with the massive amount of gold I possess, it will ultimately be a devastating blow to their wizarding society.” “What if they don't sell?” Hermione asked, then suddenly paused, even more puzzled, “Why would they sell?”

“Why don’t they sell?” Tierra asked rhetorically.

“I… I mean… how did someone on their side see through your plot…” Hermione asked.

“This isn’t a conspiracy…this is a perfectly legitimate, open scheme,” Tiera said. “I have money, I have plenty of money.”

"I'll offer you five Galleons for a bottle of Five Sike White Potion, will you sell it or not?" Tiera countered. "If you don't sell, then I'll offer ten Galleons, will you sell it or not? If you still don't sell, then I'll offer fifty."

“Fine, if you won’t sell it no matter what, then fine, I’ll find someone else. Would they sell it for fifty Galleons?” Tiera asked. “You should know that the wizarding world isn’t all rich wizards like Sirius Black. There are also many greedy people like Mundungus.”

"When you see others making a fortune selling resources, aren't you envious? Aren't you tempted?" Tiera retorted. "A rational person can only be rational for a short while; they will soon be swept up by the crowd caught in the frenzy."

"Because the wizarding world is too small, it hasn't developed a mature political, economic, and military system. Most of their so-called schemes and political struggles are too simplistic, exuding a self-righteous naiveté," Tiera said. "Gellert Grindelwald once built a decent political and military system, but unfortunately, he failed. Along with the relatively advanced system he brought, it was also condemned as heresy. Since then, the wizarding world has been running wildly down the path of self-degradation."

“So once I have such a huge sum of money in my hands, the outcome is already decided,” Tiera lectured. “Unless they are strong enough to defeat me and snatch that money from me, otherwise…”

"They fought, but they lost. They accepted my 'Trade Agreement,' meaning they had to accept my deal to exchange Galleons for magical resources. Without the local government's intervention, I could quickly plunder the magical resources from the local population. However, due to the unprecedented unity of the local government forces during that magical alliance war, the local Ministry of Magic still retains a certain amount of magical resources."

“If we don’t fight, they’ll be in even worse shape. They won’t be able to stop my smuggling. In this situation, it might be slower for me to plunder the magical resources from the pockets of the local wizards. But at the same time, because they haven’t experienced war, the Ministry of Magic is still a disorganized mess. Under the lure of huge Galleons, a few pure-blood families or oligarchs within the local Ministry of Magic will order the people to stop selling these resources. Then… they’ll take over this incredibly profitable business themselves. At that time, the Ministry of Magic will fight amongst themselves over the unequal distribution of the spoils. Meanwhile, as the magical resources gradually decrease, the lives of the local wizards will be affected, and discontent will gradually grow. The final outcome will either be that the Ministry of Magic becomes a comprador government, or the great discontent of the local wizards will be ignited, leading to unrest and the overthrow of the old Ministry of Magic.”

(End of this chapter)