Rose Empire

"I feel so embarrassed..." McKinney said sorry but he didn't put the conch down.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, sir," Giovanni said with a smile, "Although I like this conch, it is too rare to stay in a small place like Bataan. It should be in Fidi, where it can be seen by more noble people. You should take it away."

"Then..." McKinney was easily swayed, "I'll take it."

After admiring and playing with the flame snail for a while, McKinney carefully put it back into the box.

After putting it away, McKinney asked again, "Is there anything Elder Giovanni wants to talk to me about today?"

McKinney was not a fool. Giovanni came running to him early in the morning and gave him such a rare gift. How could he not know that Giovanni had something to ask of him?

Giovanni was frank. He rubbed his hands and smiled, "I do have a small matter that I would like to ask you for help with."

"What is it? Just tell me," McKinney assured, patting his chest. "Given our friendship, I will never refuse any help I can give."

"This is definitely a piece of cake for you..." Giovanni leaned close to McKinney's ear and whispered a few words.

McKinney's eyes widened immediately after hearing this, and he lowered his voice and said, "What? You actually want to take advantage of the new currency!"

"Yeah." Giovanni nodded.

"Do you know what my duty is?" McKinney pointed at his nose and asked, "I am the supervisor of the minting of new coins. Do you want me to steal from the company? Elder Giovanni, for the sake of our friendship, I will not hold you accountable. However, I advise you to put away your thoughts as soon as possible."

"Mr. McKinney, please don't be angry. Alas..." Giovanni slapped his thigh, sighed, and said, "I have no choice. The Draghi family sells wine, but you can see what the situation is like in Bataan. Business is really difficult. My family can't even afford to buy flour..."

McKinney had indeed seen the depression at the Bataan market. He had not felt it before when he lived in Feidi. But when he was ordered to go on a business trip, he truly realized how serious the money shortage was in these northern city-states. Except for food, almost everything was falling in price, but they still could not be sold.

However, McKinney sneered and said, "Then you want to take advantage of the new coins. Let me tell you, after the new coins are minted, they must all be handed over to Elder Agostino for final inspection. Not even one missing will do."

"Of course I know that one less is not good," Giovanni chuckled, "but you can cast a few more. Just like the small furnace you opened..."

"You..." McKinney stood up quickly and pointed at Giovanni, his fingertips trembling slightly.

While McKinney was supervising the minting of the new coins required by the Council of Elders, he and his teammate quietly started a small furnace to mint some dir. These dir were naturally one of the benefits of their trip. This was not McKinney's idea, but the idea proposed by the other four members of the team. Considering that they did not receive so many expensive gifts from him, McKinney acquiesced to this matter. Of course, the other four did not forget to leave some share for McKinney.

Giovanni crossed his legs, smiled and drank a sip of tea. He was just imitating Robin Mancini's posture in his living room. Sure enough, when others were frightened and panicked, posing like this really gave him an indescribable pleasure.

It took McKinney a long while to calm down. Giovanni was willing to take the initiative to clarify the matter in front of him instead of publicly exposing his abuse of power for personal gain. There must be room for negotiation here.

"How did you know that?" McKinney asked as he sat back in his seat and drank his milk.

"Mr. Allen told me while he was drinking," Giovanni said with a smile.

In fact, the idea of ​​starting a small furnace and minting coins privately was a "good idea" that Giovanni "inadvertently" gave to Allen and others during a drink and casual chat. However, Giovanni would certainly not admit it.

"Alan is a fool raised by a sow. His head is full of pig manure. I knew he would never be able to do anything good and would only cause trouble!" McKinney clenched his fists and cursed in a low voice.

"So, can Mr. McKinney help me?" Giovanni asked again.

McKinney said with a look of surprise: "Give me 50% of the dills made by Allen's small furnace, and you can take 30%."

"No, no, no," Giovanni shook his head, "Mr. McKinney, I will not take the money that belongs to you."

"So what do you want to do?" McKinney said stiffly.

"My friend and I have several workshops outside the city. You have the formula and mold for dir in your hand," Giovanni said, tapping the table with his fingers. "As long as you are willing to cooperate with me, our workshop can start casting dir today. Working day and night, it is entirely possible to cast 10 million dir within a month. Then we can split the profit 50-50. That's 5 million dir..."

Five million dirhams!

McKinney's breathing suddenly hitched, he had never seen so much money in his life.

When Giovanni saw that McKinney didn't say anything for a long time, he knew that this man had been persuaded. He was not in a hurry and waited silently for McKinney to answer.

"Who is your friend?" McKinney suddenly asked.

"You must know Reuben Sloan, he is also a Bataan elder." Giovanni relaxed and replied with a sincere smile.

Sokya Peninsula, Dorrucocha city-state.

"Well……"

Charlotte, who had just taken a short nap at her desk, stretched.

Renee stepped forward and rubbed Charlotte's shoulders. Seeing her young lady's tired look, she couldn't help but persuade her, "Miss, you haven't had a good rest for three consecutive days. You should go to the bedroom and get some sleep."

"It's okay." Charlotte smiled and kissed Renee's hand. She picked up a piece of unprocessed letter on the table and said, "After this busy period, your lady may become rich overnight. How can I sleep? Did this letter just come?"

"Yes, I received it just now when you were sleeping," Renee nodded, "It was a secret letter that the Grey Knights just sent from Bataan."

Charlotte read it quickly and couldn't help but sigh with a smile, "This Giovanni is quite hardworking. Not only did he carry out the task I gave him seriously, he also helped me win over some other Badan elders. It seems that I really need to give him the position of dictator of the city-state in the future?"

Renee smiled back but didn't answer Charlotte's question.

At this moment, someone knocked on the door of Charlotte's study.

Charlotte was slightly startled.

Renee reminded quietly: "Please ask Mr. Balotelli to come see you this afternoon."

"Oh..." Charlotte nodded, then said loudly, "Please come in."

The door of the study was pushed open, and the person who came in was indeed the former elder of the Dorucocha city-state, Balotelli.

Jonathan Hackman followed Charlotte's advice and adopted a relatively mild approach to the purge of Dorucocha. If it had been during the Ambrato period, elders like Balotelli would have been killed by Jonathan Hackman for various reasons.

"Greetings, Your Excellency the Viscount." Balotelli saluted Charlotte as he entered the door.

"Nice to see you again, Elder Balotelli." Charlotte said with a smile.

Balotelli quickly bent down even lower and said, "Sir, please don't say that. I am no longer an elder. I am just a commoner under your rule."

"Ah, I said something wrong." Charlotte quickly covered her mouth, as if she really said the wrong thing by accident. "I asked you to come here today because I want your help with something."

Balotelli did not dare to pursue whether Charlotte had spoken out of turn. He still bent over with his head down: "It is my honor to serve you. What is the matter?"

"I heard that you are very familiar with the elders of Badan, Carmela, Lemos, and Sasini?" Charlotte asked.

"I have dealt with most of them. After all, we are all elders of the Aiye Alliance City-State." Balotelli didn't know why Charlotte asked this, so he answered truthfully, "But if I'm familiar with them, I'm only familiar with a few of them."

"It's enough to have had dealings with you," Charlotte said. "I want you to be my representative and go on diplomatic missions to these city-states for me."

"On a diplomatic mission?" Balotelli was a little confused.

"Yes," Charlotte continued, "I want to use the food and the war reparations agreement of the four city-states including Bataan as collateral to borrow a large amount of dir from them."

PS: Thank you for your monthly tickets and blade recommendation tickets! Thank you very much! ! ! ]q裙①六⑧217妻1榴

Volume 157: Chapter 144 Chapter A War Without Gunfire (VI)

At first, Balotelli felt puzzled by Charlotte's order. Don't you know what your relationship is with the Aiye Alliance? Apart from other things, the Viscount of Lanwan and the two city-states of Badan and Carmela are definitely mortal enemies? Why would they lend you money?

But the situation is stronger than the person. I am now a surrendered minister. My lord has appointed me as an envoy, so I will be an envoy. After all, I am not going to any dangerous place.

With this mentality, Balotelli first went to Bataan. In the Bataan Council of Elders, Balotelli proposed Viscount Lanwan's request for a loan. As expected, the Bataan elders angrily cursed Charlotte with all kinds of dirty words. In the final voting stage, the proposal to borrow money was also decisively rejected by the Council of Elders.

It was indeed like this. How could it be possible to ask for help from an enemy that had just ended a war? Balotelli had already put a big cross on the mission in his mind.

However, what happened next gradually became unbelievable.

After the meeting, Balotelli went to stay temporarily at the home of his son-in-law Giovanni Draghi, preparing to rest for two days before going to the next stop, Camera.

That night, a Badan elder found Balotelli and said that he could lend some dire to Viscount Lanwan, as long as Charlotte gave a suitable interest rate. The next day, more elders came to mention this matter. On the third day, more people came...

In the end, a total of nine elders were willing to lend Dier to Charlotte.

There are currently only seventeen elders in the Bataan Elders' Council!

Since all nine of you are willing to lend the money, why don't you just vote in favor in the Council of Elders? Why are you going through all this roundabout way?

"Why is this happening?" Balotelli felt puzzled.

"This... may be because the elders are worried about angering Viscount Lanwan and being invaded again." Giovanni Draghi was not in a position to tell his father-in-law that swearing is work and borrowing money is life, so he had to explain it this way.

Balotelli spent five days negotiating with the nine people in turn, and finally signed IOUs with them respectively, borrowing a total of more than 2 million dirhams for two months with very favorable interest rates. Charlotte offered Balotelli a negotiating ceiling of 20% interest per month, and the interest rates on the IOUs Balotelli signed were basically above 10%. There was no other way, as the price of dirham was rising too fast, and if the interest rate was not higher, no one would be willing to lend.

Balotelli does not need to take the borrowed money back, the local gold exchange will come to receive it.

After bidding farewell to Bataan, Balotelli continued to visit Camera.

In the Camera Presbyterian Church, Balotelli was once again insulted, and the vote of the Presbyterian Church unsurprisingly rejected Charlotte's request to borrow money.

After walking out of the Elders' Council, Balotelli was still feeling somewhat uneasy. He was worried that Elder Camera would come to him again to discuss borrowing money before going to bed tonight, so he looked unhappy.

Elder Carmela lost a finger in the battle of Dorucocha and survived Charlotte's hands by pretending to be dead. When Alvaro saw Balotelli's attitude, he couldn't help but spit and said contemptuously: "Look at you now. Viscount Lanwan shamelessly occupied your motherland, and now you are willing to work for her. I really look down on you!"

"Then you'd better not come to me at night..." Balotelli muttered reflexively.

"I'll look for you at night. Why should I look for you at night?" Alvaro felt puzzled. Could it be that after this old man Balotelli defected to the enemy, he awakened some habit that was not allowed by the Church?

Because they despised Balotelli's act of treason, the people of Camera did not arrange accommodation for Balotelli, so Balotelli had to find a hotel to stay in by himself.

That night was very quiet, and none of the Carmela elders came to see Balotelli privately the next day.

Despite the severe snub, Balotelli felt a sense of relief.

That's right! That's how it should be. Given the relationship between Carmela and Viscount Lanwan, it's normal for me to be treated coldly. The world is finally normal! I am also normal, and the Batan people are abnormal!

Barlotte wrote a letter back to report his experience to Charlotte, but Charlotte replied asking him to stay in Carmela for a while and talk to the elders.

Balotelli was very confused. If Camera was unwilling to lend him money, would it be helpful if he just talked to him more?

It turns out that it does work.

Balotelli stayed temporarily in Carmela as ordered by Charlotte. Every day he tried to talk to the elders of Carmela who he was familiar with. After two or three days, some people were persuaded one after another.

In the end, Balotelli borrowed more than 2 million dier from Camera!

Looking at the IOU in his hand, Balotelli really began to doubt his outlook on life and the world.

"Uncle Balotelli, if there is nothing else, I will take my leave. I wish you a safe journey on your next mission." The young elder Camera, who had signed the IOU with Balotelli, was about to say goodbye.

Balotelli grabbed him and said, "Wait a minute, Bet."

The young elder was called Bet Ritchie. He was somewhat related to Balotelli, so he called Balotelli uncle. He just stood up and sat down again in confusion: "Anything else?"

"Bate, I want to know why you can come up with so much money?" Balotelli asked, staring into Bate Ridge's eyes.

The young elder rolled his eyes and was about to quibble, but Balotelli raised his hand to interrupt him, "Don't lie to me. I know how strictly the Rich family controls you. Your brother has already lent me a large sum of dirhams. Why do you still have money? If you don't tell the truth, I will have to go to your brother to explain this matter."

Bet Rich's brother Dan Rich is also an elder of the Carmela Elders' Council. The current person in charge of the Rich family is Dan Rich. Bet Rich was able to become an elder because she was sent in by the Rich family to "reserve a seat". Every time the Elders' Council makes a decision, Bet Rich just has to follow her brother and raise her hand. In this way, the Rich family has two votes.

Bet Richie was incompetent and lazy, so the Richie family never gave him any real power, whether it was political power or economic power. However, today Bet Richie came to negotiate with Balotelli alone with more than 300,000 dirhams, which made Balotelli feel strange.

Under Balotelli's coercion and inducement, Bet Ridge finally told the truth: "These dire coins I have are all newly minted..."

From Bet Ritchie, Balotelli heard an astonishing news: before the process of issuing additional dirs was completed, a large amount of newly minted dirs had already flowed out, and Bet Ritchie's money was part of it. Half of Bet Ritchie's 300,000 dirs came from Badan and half from Sasini on the other side. These new coins were not minted by the workshop designated by Bet Ritchie, but they were almost indistinguishable from the real ones.

More than 300,000 may not sound like a lot, but even a fool like Bet Richie could get more than 300,000 new dirhams. You can imagine how staggering the number of this batch of privately minted new coins is!

Could it be that the 6 million dirhams he borrowed were all privately minted new coins? Balotelli shuddered at the thought.

More than 20 days after Balotelli left Dorukocha, Charlotte received a letter from Balotelli sent back from Sasini.

In the letter, Balotelli stated that he had borrowed another 3 million dirs from Sasini, so that Balotelli had borrowed almost 8 million dirs.

Charlotte dared to assert that not all of the eight million dirhams were privately minted new coins, but they definitely accounted for a large portion of them.

"Sir, your judgment is correct. The value of the dire shows no signs of stopping growing." Bessel, the director of the gold exchange, Charlotte's "central bank governor", the beautiful castrato, reported to Charlotte happily.

The 1 million new dirs of Feidi have been minted and shipped to various city-states in the north of the Sokya Peninsula that are seriously short of currency. However, the 3 million additional issuances did not make a splash. Not only did the shortage of dirs not get alleviated, but the exchange rate of Fuso to dir even broke through :.

"What's the current exchange rate for the dirham?" Charlotte asked tiredly, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her temples.

"It's already reached 2.6," Bessel replied.

"It looks like it will rise to 1:2," Charlotte estimated.

"Yes." Bessel nodded.

Cecilia, who had rushed over from Viscount Lanwan, couldn't help but ask in confusion: "Logically speaking, 34 million dirhams shouldn't be a small amount. Why was so much money minted? It seems that the Sokya city-state is increasingly short of money?"

Hearing this, Bessel also looked at Charlotte curiously. He was actually a little confused, but he was not as brave as Cecilia to ask questions in front of Charlotte.

Charlotte chuckled and said, "It's not that when a furnace casts a new coin, there will be an extra coin on the market. Take Bataan as an example. Giovanni Draghi provided information that after part of the additional dir issued by Fife was allocated to Bataan, the Bataan Council of Elders subsidized these dir to the merchants in the city-state who suffered the most losses due to the market depression. However, 80 to 90 percent of the shops in the Bataan city-state belong to the elders themselves. Will those dir be circulated in the market after they are distributed? No, they will still be buried in the basement."

"Oh, now there is an extra withdrawal, and you can lend it to me at high interest rates." Charlotte added, "So, the currency circulating in the city-state has not increased at all."

Cecilia nodded and said thoughtfully, "So, the real cause of the current money shortage in the Sokya Peninsula is not the amount of coins minted, but the fact that the coins have been flowing into the hands of a few people. The key to solving this problem is to find a way to get the coins out of the hands of a few people."

"Yes, Cecilia is really smart," Charlotte clapped her hands sincerely to express her praise. Cecilia's growth during her time in the Viscount Lanwan's territory was visible to the naked eye, but she still gave a reminder, "If you can't easily find a way to get the coins out of the hands of a few people, you can also choose to kill these few people."

“Uh…” Cecilia felt that Charlotte wasn’t joking.

"How are food prices today?" After asking about the exchange rate, Charlotte asked about food prices. This has been Charlotte's daily habit for the past month.

"It's also rising. The price of barley in Bataan has increased to six to seven times that of last year," Cecilia was prepared. She took out a latest price list and handed it to Charlotte.