Pioneering

Chapter 261 The Cloud of War

Winkrel Kingdom, Sea God Cathedral.

The cathedral stands majestically in the center of the city, rising from the ground and reaching into the sky.

The entire cathedral is built on a large green grassy square, surrounded by neatly arranged tall trees, with a fresh and holy atmosphere.

The main building is covered with gorgeous and luxurious stained glass, as if it is made of thousands of precious stones, and the golden light emitted seems to have the aroma of money.

Between the columns and the vaults, exquisite statues and reliefs can be clearly seen, depicting the great achievements of Poseidon.

The main entrance of the cathedral is high and wide, leading to a wide loggia bordered by feathered pinnacles surrounded by flowers and trees and a lace of carved gold and stone.

On its sides are many small towers, some square and some tapered.On clear skies, these small towers shimmer with light, making the cathedral even more dazzling.

The interior of the cathedral is extremely magnificent, with huge vaults, stained glass and elegant paintings forming a magnificent and mysterious space.

It can be said that this is a drool-worthy and magnificent building that is enough to make the monarchs of all human kingdoms in the whole continent envious. Compared with it, the royal palace in the distance looks like a stunted dwarf.

Seen from heaven, the two are like a father and a young son.Just like the relationship between Pope Will of the Sea God Church and King Pablo of Winkrell.

Inside the church, in a secluded room, Will, dressed in a luxurious blue-gold pope's crown, "interrogated" a rabbit-eared half-orc with a "serious" face.

Under Will's superb interrogation technique, the pitiful scream of the girl with rabbit ears was extremely rhythmic and dynamic.

bang bang~
"Enter." Will kept moving, but his face flushed even more excitedly.

The sensible Archbishop Derek in blue opened the door and came in without surprise, and looked directly at the fierce battle scene calmly: "Your Majesty, this year Winkrell's offering money (church tax) came out, would you like to have a look?"

"Come closer," Will yelled provocatively.

"Yes." Derek, who knew his pope's little hobby, approached a few steps generously, and also consciously stroked - Will.

If it weren't for being good at guessing what he wanted, and being able to have fun with His Majesty Will, it would be even more fun. Which of the (third-level) priests waiting to be promoted would not have more seniority than him, so why would Derek make up for the death of Thain? What's missing, become the archbishop in blue?
After a period of indescribable and indescribable activity, Will lay panting on the bed, listening to Derek read the data to him after adding to the fun.

Although Will loves to play and knows how to play, he has to be said to be a leader above the level. He will never ignore things related to personnel and financial rights because of his hobbies.

"This year Winkrell's total offering has increased by [-]%, of which commercial...agriculture..."

Will showed a happy face: "Not bad, not bad, it seems that Pablo is doing okay, and there is no rush to replace him."

Derek pretended not to hear the second part of Will's words, and continued to report with a clean and smooth paper: "Your Majesty, overall, Winkrell's business tax revenue has increased a lot, and agricultural tax revenue has dropped a lot."

Derek hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, I don't know whether to say something or not."

"Derek, what's the relationship between you and me, just say what you have to say." Will said with feigned displeasure.

Derek made a grateful expression and said:

"Your Majesty, although the tax is high, I don't think it may be a good thing."

"Oh? Say it carefully."

"Your Majesty, do you know that someone is smuggling and trading with Yasha?"

"Of course I know, but they are all dignified people, and they all pay taxes honestly, so I don't want to get into it." Will said with a slightly embarrassed expression.

You know, behind these dead businessmen, they are all "our own people", and there is even a faint shadow of Will intervening.

"Your Majesty, in the past few years, our tax revenue has been increasing year by year. The main growth comes from commerce. Ahem, cross-border smuggling has contributed a lot."

"It stands to reason that making some money is not a big deal. After all, everyone has to make a living. But take a look, Your Majesty, isn't there too much merchandise coming in from Yasha?"

Derek pouted at the sexy lingerie and stockings on the bunny-eared girl, and then pointed to the clothes on himself and Will.

"Look, even the clothes you and I are wearing, Your Majesty, are all made by Yasha."

"This..." Will said somewhat unnaturally, "The most important thing is to block the export of grain to Yasha. It's okay to let go of other details for the time being. Anyway, if we take Yasha, the money will be ours! "

Derek continued to persuade: "Your Majesty, although they didn't sell grain to Yasha, I think it might be worse than selling grain."

"Just think about it, all over the country in Winkrel went to raise sheep in enclosures, or turned farmland into cotton fields, and changed fruit trees into mulberry trees.

Growing grain for three years is not as profitable as growing cotton for one season.In order to make money, and to smuggle and sell wool, cotton, and silk to Yaxia, they didn't even plant land!

Three years ago, we were the largest grain exporter in the Northern Continent, and Magzek had to humbly beg us to sell grain, and Yasha was even more stuck by us.

Three years later, we're all reduced to importing food from Magzek!You have to import food from Yaxia in reverse!

Your Majesty, I don't think this is a good thing. "

Will: "If we make money, we can just buy it from other countries. Yaxia is short-sighted and sells a large number of grains. Why don't we just buy them directly?

Wouldn't it be more convenient for Yaxia to have less food and send troops to attack them a year later? "

"My lord," Derek said bitterly, "what are we selling to Asshai? Wool, cotton, silk, ore!
What are we buying?It's clothes, porcelain, ironware, sugar...!
Logically speaking, this kind of smuggling, this kind of transaction, even if we swallowed a lot of program fees, Yaxia has to make a lot of money, it shouldn't be us who earn money to buy food!

Don't you think it's so weird?

Every abnormality must have a succubus (meaning fatal temptation)! "

"We make money from taxation, nobles and priests make money from smuggling, look hello me hello everyone.

Only the Asshai people who buy raw materials at a higher price than finished products are fools, idiots who give money.

But is it true that the money of the rich is blown by the wind?Are brains made of troll poop? "

Ah Qiu~ Zhong Ming, who was thousands of miles away, sneezed inexplicably.

Will also sensed something was wrong, and his expression became serious: "Keep talking."

Derek said impassionedly:

"Nobles and priests are now making a lot of money, but large numbers of farmers have lost their land, wandering in the fields, wilderness, and urban slums.

Fertile fields were planted with inedible cotton, and more and more people became unemployed.

If things go on like this, don't talk about what to do if you can't buy food someday.

It is that a large number of unemployed farmers do not believe in my god, and even starve to death. The belief provided to my god is greatly reduced, and we are afraid that we will be blamed by my god. "

"There are also Winkrell's iron workshops, blacksmith shops, tailor shops, bakeries... all closed down one by one, and more and more homeless people.

Now it's like cooking oil over a blazing fire.

What is the use of making more money? "

"This is definitely Yasha's conspiracy, a proper conspiracy!"

That's right, this is the dumping of products from industrial countries to agricultural countries, especially when Zhong Ming pays for subsidies, deliberately raises the purchase price of raw materials, and strikes against productivity across the ages.

Generally, under such circumstances, agriculture and manufacturing in agricultural countries will suffer severe blows, resulting in stagnant or even retrograde economic growth, reduced employment opportunities, falling prices, and increased trade deficits, which will affect all aspects of the overall economy.

And Zhong Ming gave Winkrell profits in the form of subsidies, not because a benevolent person possessed him and turned him into a trade surplus to make money, but to attack Winkrell's agriculture in a way that hurt people and wiped out his family.

There is no way, if there is not enough interest, how can the nobles try their best to smuggle and trade with the Yaxia caravan at the risk of being hanged?
This situation caused a double wave of unemployment among urban citizens and peasants. Even if there was no force against the nobles and priests, the domestic stability would inevitably decline sharply, and the situation would be tense, with frequent conflicts and turmoil.

The belief Poseidon got from Winkrell must have fallen like a stock market crash.

And Winkrell, who is used to cheap food and industrial products in Yaxia, and whose manufacturing capacity has been severely cut by more than a dozen knives, will definitely decline in military strength.

Even, wandering in the streets and alleys, the refugees in the fields and wilderness, eroded by the impression of Asshai's abundance and wealth, yearned for the life and culture of Asshai, and they took the line one after another after they couldn't survive, and entered Magzek along the Winkrell border. Enter Asshai.

All the way can be described as traveling thousands of miles, with corpses everywhere, starvation all over the ground, and countless damages, but it still can't change its desire for a better life, and there are still many refugees pouring into Yaxia.

Zhong Ming did not refuse anyone who came, and set up many missionary sites for the relief of refugees at the border. While preaching to the refugees, he distributed food and clothing to them, and arranged work.

The newly relocated aristocrats from the frontier, as well as the newly enshrined upstarts, are in short supply, and they have learned to recruit refugees in a decent manner.

After three years of boiling frogs in warm water, the mighty Winkleur Kingdom, with more than 500 million square meters of fertile land, has quietly weakened a lot.

Including the Principality of Wized and the Principality of Dimen, they are all being weakened silently by Zhong Mingyou's "trade war" method.

Only the Principality of Magzek, due to the ambiguous relationship between Le Qi and Zhong Ming, was in an ambiguous state, and the eldest prince Magzek died in Estonia, and Le Qi became the first heir in line.

Zhong Ming felt that he could fight for it, so he was not in a hurry to use this trick against Majek.

Derek's sinister intentions were exposed today, and things seem to have developed differently...

The more Pope Will listened, the more dignified his expression became: "It's a bit alarmist, but it's not unreasonable.

Derek, is there any solution?Mandatory complete eradication of smuggling?Increase tariffs? "

Derek shook his head: "Difficult, very difficult."

"Great nobles, who have already invested a large amount of resources in the production of raw materials, and have already enjoyed the treatment of lying down to make money, how could they be willing to give up?

Even many people in our church are involved in it, if it is not handled properly, I am afraid..."

Pope Will understood in Derek's unfinished words that a pope who was opposed by his own class might not end well.

"The best way," Derek waved his right hand in the air, making a beheading motion, "it's war!"

"As long as Yasha is subdued and destroyed, no matter what conspiracy they have, it will disappear!"

Will pondered for a moment, and said:

"...Asha is not weak. To be honest, I am not optimistic that the coalition forces will completely wipe out Asha in a year.

As far as the coalition forces are at odds and each has their own plans, I don't expect to destroy Asshai and re-establish the Principality of Yige.

I only planned to let the coalition forces enter the territory of Yasha, to 'release nature', and interrupt the rising momentum of Yasha.

Capture Asshai's wealth and technology. "

Derek clenched his fist with his right hand and waved it excitedly, as if he had seized the power to hammer Yasha to death:

"Since your majesty is not rushing to destroy the country, then we might as well act quickly, why must we send troops according to the agreement?
It's too late to start, and the robbery can't keep up with the hot one.

Anyway, we just want to attack Yasha, so what if we grab it and run away?

As long as we act fast enough, we will only make money but not lose money! "

Will's hand was groping unconsciously on the smooth skin of the rabbit-eared girl. She knew that her master had fallen into a state of thinking, so she stopped her movements carefully and froze there motionless, waiting for Will to finish thinking.

"If you strike first, you will be hit hard by Asshai. I'm afraid you will lose... They are all devout followers of my god, I can't bear it." Will said.

Derek knew in his heart that his boss must not be the kind one, so he sighed and said:

"Then your majesty might as well increase the purchase of foreign grains recently, whether it is Magzhek, Yasha, Dimen, or Wized.

Be sure to buy a lot of food. Gold and silver are good things, but you can't eat them.

In addition, we can relax some conditions for land reclamation, so that unemployed people have a way out;

Increase the commission for Yaxia's smuggling caravans and the taxation of Yaxia's raw material sales;
Subsidize some money to farmers who are still farming, and reduce their taxes..."

Pope Will listened and said nothing. Among these suggestions, some are easy to do, such as the land reclamation order, and some are difficult to do, such as spending money to subsidize farmers. In the world, there is no one in the world that does not collect taxes but distributes money to believers. reason?
But it can be done in the end, and it won't be too intense to make his position unstable, and the feasibility is quite high.

That is, alas, originally he planned to spend a lot of money to buy a few elves... Unfortunately, such a shame, he had to save money for a while.

Will is still the leader on the horizontal line after all, after thinking a little, he said: "Derek, your suggestion is still good, let's go ahead and do it.

I believe you will give me a satisfactory answer.You never let me down, don't you. "

"I would like to die for His Majesty!"

"By the way, after storing enough food, we still need to communicate with other countries to remind Yasha of his abnormal methods.

We will send troops next year, and they are expected to contribute, you understand? "

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)