I became a witch, but I started the industrial revolution

Demetria's situation was even more difficult, because the joint company led by John used the colonies previously won by the Holy See as a prerequisite for various guarantees.

But now there is no sign of the new colonies, and the four colonies that were originally used as credit endorsements have long been reduced to ruins in this four-year war.

The idea of ​​using the land resources obtained after defeating the Roshek Dynasty as a pool for future stock appreciation has gradually become a lost possibility.

The people of the kingdom had completely lost their psychological expectation of victory in this long war that seemed to have no end in sight, and the share price of Wokingmeher United Company naturally began to fall slowly but unstoppably.

Most importantly, the annuity bond with an annualized return of 20% that John guaranteed to the nobles is about to reach the end of its five-year unfreezing period.

If the nobles are pessimistic about the future situation, withdrawal of investment is inevitable, and the withdrawal of investment by the nobles may cause a large-scale run on the bank by the people, and Wokingmehe will explode in an instant.

However, just when John was sweating profusely, the situation encountered by the peace envoys sent by the Demetria Church suddenly turned John's situation around.

The Tsarist Empire also withdrew its troops. From the initial defeat to the peace ending, it was a blessing in disguise for John.

The Roshek Dynasty, which did not treat serfs as human beings, used high-pressure tactics to send serfs to the front lines to die.

The regular army of the Tsarist Empire was basically composed of professional soldiers, but they would bring some serfs with them to the battlefield to act as suicide squads to charge into traps or block swords.

The weapons of the Seris Alliance allowed the serfs to be armed in large numbers. The cheaper cost allowed the Tsarist Empire to easily mobilize an army of millions, and the front line was almost entirely staffed by serf corps.

At first glance, this may seem like nothing, but the military structure of the Tsarist Empire had already undergone fundamental changes. After years of baptism of blood and fire, even the most rubbish-ridden army could be honed into an elite force in the flames of war after a long period of existence.

Yadov, who had risen to a middle-level officer in the 18th Army, found an opportunity and directly wiped out the army commander and a large number of aristocratic commanders. After a gunshot, the 18th Army turned into a rebel army.

Under his leadership, other serf corps either rebelled or split one after another, setting off a large-scale serf uprising within the Tsarist Empire.

As soon as the newly driven serfs received the weapons they were given, they turned around and shot the quartermaster dead and started a rebellion on the spot, causing the nobles to completely lose trust in the serf army.

This greatly undermined the mobilization capabilities of the Roshek Dynasty, causing all fronts to either become stalemate or be pushed back rapidly.

At the beginning, all the land that Roshek had fought back with the cooperation of heavy tanks and mecha soldiers was returned, and a large amount of territory was also lost.

At this time, the Tsar was also overwhelmed by the uprising in the country and had no intention of continuing the war. He was eager to sign an armistice agreement and shift his focus to suppressing the rebellion.

Now it was the turn of the Demetrian Church to start delaying. As long as they could delay the Tsar's main forces, the internal rebellion would be enough to cause the Tsar to suffer.

When the two sides sat down at the negotiation table, the representative of the Holy See started to ask for a crazy and sky-high price. The Grand Duke of the Tsardom, who was in charge of the negotiation, became furious and threw the teacup at the head of the representative of the Holy See:

"You don't deserve it! If you don't want to stop, then keep fighting!"

"Let's fight! Let's see who will be defeated first, your Tsar or us!"

"Fuck you..."

The envoys from both sides broke out in a fight in the conference room, and the first day's meeting ended in a bad mood.

While the two countries were still entangled with each other, big problems arose within the Britian Empire.

Before, Brittian had used every possible method to suppress the army of infected people, and the Alliance's airdropped weapons greatly alleviated Brittian's problem.

But these more than one million guns were actually airdropped to the hands of the Western Orcs. Now that the infected have been dealt with, the Empire wanted to send people to retake the major cities and territories but encountered strong resistance.

It was at this time that the emperor came to his senses and realized what a stupid thing he had done. What does more than a million guns mean? It is equivalent to an average of one weapon for every 6-7 orcs in the West!

Their combat capability was not much worse than that of the previous infected people, and most of them were serfs before. How could serfs with weapons in their hands be obedient?

Listen to Nima, who directly announced that the western region belonged to the western orcs, and set up a liberation organization himself.

Kill? Shock?

After the bloody suppression of two cities in succession, a few infected people were thrown in by the orcs when dealing with the corpses. Within two days, the number of infected people began to increase sharply again. This time, the orcs' efforts to clear them out were obviously not as resolute as before.

The Empire's orders had very poor effects when they were sent to the western region. The local residents reacted very subtly. They resumed their previous orc tribal gathering patterns, and a large number of small tribes sprang up all over the western land.

When the regular army arrives, they will run away with their families, leaving you to clear out the infected on your own. They don't care about the infected who don't invade their gathering places.

Anyway, they have weapons provided by the Alliance, and several years of frontline fights against the infected have allowed them to understand some of their weaknesses, so small-scale infected people can no longer affect them at all.

Millions of orcs are scattered across the western land in tribes of several thousand people. First of all, it is difficult to manage them, and there is no point in sending troops to attack them.

If you go too few, there won't be enough for them to kill. The orcs themselves also have a considerable number of powerful magicians. If you go too many, they won't be able to defeat you and will run away.

Moreover, the supply lines of the regular army were often cut off by guerrilla orcs, and from time to time they would be lured into areas where large numbers of infected people gathered and attacked from both inside and outside.

The saints were also at a loss when faced with this situation. There were 6 registered saints in the Brittian Empire. Even if all 6 were allowed to go on a killing spree in the western region, destroying one tribe at a time, how long would it take to finish off millions of people?

And it’s not just about killing once, it’s about killing twice!

The strong smell of blood caused by the massacre will quickly attract the infected to come for food. Even if they cannot increase their companions, they can strengthen themselves by foraging.

There is a subtle implication that the infected are used to threaten the empire.

Chapter 207 John Prepares to Run Away

Who won the Droga War? Everyone would say it was the Church of Demetria. So, what did they win?

The answer is unclear.

The Tsar did not accept the declaration of defeat and was only willing to negotiate. He was willing to cede the Losevgo Oblast and the Golotsk Oblast, give up the occupied port of Pemekh, and at the same time recognize the sovereignty of the Holy See over the four states that it had plundered.

The situation seemed to be very good because large tracts of land were indeed acquired.

But John knew very well that these were all illusions. Several states had long been destroyed into ruins during the years of war, and the battlefields of both sides were originally built here.

Moreover, the serfs and ordinary soldiers recruited by the Tsarist Empire in the early and middle periods were all drawn from the population of these states, which means that in addition to the ruins, the population potential was also exhausted.

The resources are indeed there, but the Holy See needs to artificially relocate the population, build infrastructure and various industrial equipment to restore production. However, as it is the front line of the war, which businessman would be so desperate as to invest there?

No, you can't think like that. Opportunities and dangers coexist, but correspondingly, there are also hidden opportunities in dangers. Since businessmen are not easy to deal with, just jump away from them~

Farhad took the lead in convening an internal shareholders meeting of Wokingmeh United Company in the royal capital of Itzamain. The participants were all nobles of all levels in the kingdom and some bishops of the Vatican.

While waiting for the arrival of the real owner John, everyone in the conference room had different expressions. The lesser nobles looked worried, while the greater nobles also looked uneasy.

It all comes down to the issue of the annuity bonds. The future of Wokingmeher and Associates is uncertain, and the stock exchange valuation has been falling for some time.

Almost all of the money they invested was used to buy the company's stocks, which cannot be cashed out until the end of the contract period. No one knows when the stock will fall.

The great nobles are not worried, because after all, they have the ability to overturn the table. If they are sure to lose money, they will always find a way to get back their share, but they will have to lose face for the old aristocratic families.

However, John, who arrived, was smiling and did not look worried at all.

The solution he thought of was actually very simple, which was to get the nobles on board again. This time, they would not have to pay a penny, but rather rights!

The fundamental reason for the current decline in Wokingmeher United's stock price is the domestic people's war-weariness and negative sentiment.

In addition, the nobles and the merchants who have close ties with the nobles have invested too much in the cost of colonial development, the cash return is too long, and whether the settlement of annuity bonds can get the return normally is superimposed on multiple problems.

John laid out every problematic factor on the table, while also admitting that if the current situation continued, the high rate of return promised previously would indeed not be achieved.

but!

Before the nobles became furious, John gave his own solution, which was to let the people raise funds to develop new colonies.

The investment is too large and the payback time is too long? This is not a problem. We don’t have to pay, we can just reap the benefits.

As long as the nobles who control the correctness of public opinion can jointly block the news through their own means.

Just talk about the great victory of the Holy See in the Dro War, how much land and resources were gained, reshape people's perception of colonies, portray them as virgin lands full of gold, and how much profit can be obtained after future development, then there will be no shortage of citizens to get on board.

Example

When everyone came together to create a lively atmosphere, Woking Major United Company announced the introduction of a stock dividend system and issued an additional 5 public shares.

One share of Wokingmacher United Company stock is 5 silver coins, and every 500 shares are 200 silver coins. After one year, a dividend of 40 silver coins will be received, which means a % dividend per year.

Under John's leadership, the share price of Wokingmacher United Company was pushed up, attracting private hot money to enter the market to expand the capital pool, and then all the worries of the nobles and businessmen would no longer exist.

The dividends of the five-year annuity bonds will be paid out as usual, and all the large, medium and small nobles will be allowed to secretly cash out their stocks under John's command.

The Wokingmacher United Company could also use the hot money raised from issuing stocks to invest in major colonies and reshape the local environment so that merchants could enter to buy and sell land and minerals.

Although the future of the colonies was still shrouded in the shadow of the border war, the people who bore the risks had shifted from nobles and merchants to the people of the kingdom, which was a different matter.

If something goes wrong, the risk will be borne by the people because they are the main investors. But if nothing goes wrong, it will be easy. The nobles with trade privileges can lay their own eggs in the nest created by the people.

This is why John talked about relying on the power of the nobility. He needed the nobles to have control over their respective territories to turn public opinion in favor of the Wokingmehe Consortium.

Stocks are ultimately an investment in the future. The expectations of the holders can largely determine whether a stock is extremely popular or worthless. Human hearts are the easiest to manipulate.

Would anyone reject John's proposal? No one rejected it. Everyone voted unanimously in favor of the proposal and quickly began to develop a detailed plan.

Using other people's money to do things has a completely different mentality from using your own money to do things. My money is my money, and what happens to you is none of my business.

Even many nobles completely changed their previous idea of ​​withdrawing. To put it bluntly, John's method was to provide them with a bottom line. As long as new people's money was invested, their interests as the top group were absolutely guaranteed.

The risk is transferred and shared, but I get a share of the profit. Of course I can do this.

The closed-door meeting lasted for two days before the interest structure and specific operational methods were finally allocated.

In fact, the nobles could just buy the shares of Wokingmacher United Company as an essential thing to do as a subject, which would easily allow them to amass a huge fortune, namely the stock tax.

A large amount of overt buying will naturally push up stock prices. Coupled with the prosperous domestic public opinion environment, this wave of rhythm can definitely be brought up.

However, after dealing with the incident, John, who was on his way home, sent an evacuation signal through a button hidden on the top of his luxurious carriage.

There is a signal amplifier assembled in the top layer of the entire carriage, which transmits signal waves into the sky at a specific frequency. When a satellite passes by, it will naturally intercept this signal frequency.

Why run? Why not run?

How could I not run away when all he said were specious fallacies?

It is right to shift and share the costs, it is right to pool funds, and it is also right to invest in building colonies so that merchants can regain their confidence and enter the market.

But there is a big problem with income returns. Whether it is the return rate of annuity bonds or the annual return settlement rate of stock issuance, they are as high as 40%. Where does he get the money?

There is only a one-year buffer period during this period. In the first year, the nobles will be able to spread the information channels throughout the kingdom. No one knows how high the stock price will rise.

But this also has the greatest hidden danger. If the first round of fundraising exceeds the limit, the second round cannot be started because the first round cannot be fulfilled.

It will take at least 5-10 years for the colony to be completed and generate revenue, not to mention how long it will take to recoup the investment costs.

Chapter 208 Running away is in progress

Besides, he didn't come to Demetria to help the Holy See develop its national strength. The Queen had said at the beginning that he came to help them make money. As long as he made enough money for the Holy See, he would have a clear conscience.

As for whether the money can be spent, that is none of his business.

The reality was basically consistent with what John had expected, and it was even smoother than he expected.

When the nobles and the church unanimously helped the Wokingmacher United Company to build momentum, the compensation treaty signed in the Dro War was also announced, which indirectly confirmed the rumors circulating in the community, and the whole country suddenly fell into a strange carnival atmosphere.

After the Droit and Romania formally signed the agreement to cede the two states and recognized the legitimate control of the Holy See over the original four colonies, the share price of Wokingmacher United Company rebounded from the bottom and began to soar.