What's wrong with building a steel torrent in a dungeon?

Open posture.

Fran calmly told them that her production capacity would be fully released in three months, and she would continue to sell firearms at that time. If they wanted, they could come to Aurora City in three months!

But in fact, Fran’s production capacity has already been fully released.

During this period of war, the craftsmen in the workshop were deeply involved in the smelting process and designed many steam engines to replace manpower, greatly reducing the time from raw ore to metal products.

At the same time, they modularized and divided the muskets into parts, and used the power of the steam engine to design a simple rolling forging process, which more than doubled the construction speed of a musket. Within a month, Fran's inventory could be sold on a large scale.

But despite this, she still put the tentacles off until three months later. She did this not because she wanted to make money, nor to give those who bought the firearms time to imitate them. She needed to use the influence of the firearms to promote her other thing - Orila Coin.

Looking at the whole of Orila, there is probably no one with more cash than Fran.

But money is just a pile of scrap metal if it is stored in a warehouse. It can only create value when it is in circulation.

To this end, Fran built a large-scale project in Orila City and spent money in Vienna City to gain fame and recruit manpower. But despite doing so, the magic crystal coins in her warehouse continued to grow.

If you want money to flow out, the easiest way is to open a bank!

Chapter 109: No One Can Touch My Fran!

Lend money through money houses to those who really need it. When they have overcome difficulties and gained profits and benefits, they will return the money. On the one hand, they will receive interest, and on the other hand, they can also revitalize the economy. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Of course, it is definitely not Fran’s turn to create such an organization. It has already existed in Vienna for a long time, and there are quite a few of them.

Most of these banks were opened by nobles. But their purpose was obviously not as noble as Fran's. They were just for usury. Therefore, if you wanted to borrow money from them, you would need a lot of collateral and the interest rate would be very high. If you couldn't pay back the money, you would either have to sell your land or be captured as a slave.

Exploit in different ways.

However, Fran's money shop is not for making small amounts of money such as interest. Her main purpose is to promote her own Olila Coin. Once the Olila Coin has enough credibility, she will promote paper money next.

Once you obtain the right to print money, you will have a real source of wealth and can even make financial gains from outside.

By the way, this kind of method was done by Fran when she was in the Demon Realm. At that time, she helped Beelzebub issue Demon King bonds, used Beelzebub's reputation to sell them, and claimed that a penny of investment would earn a two-cent profit. When she had accumulated enough money, she decisively ran away and took the initiative to cut off the relationship before Beelzebub found out.

Made a lot of money.

Of course, this time, Fran didn't plan to do that again. For her, the more prosperous the economy of Vienna and Aurora is, the more benefits she will get. She has to play the long game to catch the big fish.

Depending on the level you are at, things that are beneficial to you will change accordingly.

In this way, Orila Money House was established amid grand cheers.

When it was first established, Fran linked up with the diffusive million magic crystal coins and invited many popular shadow puppeteers to help, making the reputation of Orila Bank spread quickly.

Afterwards, Fran used various preferential policies (low interest, low mortgage) to deceive... no, to attract people to save money, borrow money, and promote Orila Coin by the way.

Of course, the credibility of OriLa Coin was not good at the beginning, but its lending business was very popular.

During this period of scarcity, many farmers had no money to buy seeds for the new year. In the past, they would either sell their land to nobles at a low price or take the risk of borrowing money from loan sharks, which would be a bad choice. If the harvest was poor for two years, a large number of farmers would go bankrupt and commit suicide.

So Fulan launched something called seedling loan. Any farmer who owns land can come to Orila City to borrow money to buy seeds. The interest rate is very low. After the harvest, you can use the money to repay or use the crops as collateral.

As soon as the Qingmiao Loan was launched, it immediately caused a sensation among farmers in towns around Vienna.

But the peasants were happy, but the nobles were not. After all, they were still hoping to exploit the peasants in years of disaster! Now that they had money to buy seeds, they naturally would not come to them for help with their usury.

Soon many nobles united and approached Fran, hoping that she would not break the rules.

Fran was not even afraid of Margaret, so how could she be afraid of these nobles who wanted power but had no power and no soldiers? Facing the aggressive nobles, Fran directly called out a group of fully armed soldiers and detained them on the grounds that they had trespassed. In the end, it was Margaret who intervened and Fran let them go.

After that, Fran also encouraged the civilians in Vienna to reclaim wasteland through various preferential low-interest or even interest-free loans. The grain production in Orila City has always been worrying. If Vienna can be turned into a large granary, then she will not have to worry about the food problem.

Fran's ruthless snatching of the nobles' money bags would naturally cause Margaret's disgust and warning. After all, for her, the support of these nobles is crucial to whether she can sit firmly on the throne of the emperor. Even though Fran is now her staunch ally, she must warn her a few times out of emotion and reason.

But apart from that time when she came to redeem Fran, Margaret turned a blind eye to Fran's affairs and could be said to have allowed Fran to mess around in the financial market in Vienna.

This is not because Margaret deliberately indulged Fran, but because she simply did not care about this matter. Because she was busy preparing for the next war, and she might need Fran's help!

Now the newly appointed Duke Harald, as well as the other two defeated Dukes of Vasa and Bieson, issued a proclamation to the nation that they would completely submit to Margaret. Margaret took back the tax collection rights of these three places and added their troops to her side.

This move caused Margaret's army to expand rapidly, and the number of soldiers reached as many as 100,000.

After this, a large number of officers from the Habsburg Principality came to Vienna and joined Margaret's army.

These officers were all Margaret's subordinates in her early years. When Margaret was still a count of the Habsburg Principality, many Habsburg military officers were proud to be a member of her army because of her reputation for being good at fighting.

Now that Margaret had defeated the coalition forces of the three duchies in one fell swoop and repelled so many famous mercenaries, these officers also left their homeland and came to Vienna.

Find the area of ​​the shadow in Archduke Habsburg’s heart at this time.

It is not known whether Archduke Habsburg took into consideration the brotherly love, but he did not make things difficult for these officers and let them leave.

Given Vienna's size, it is obviously impossible to support such a large army.

The only thing Margaret could do to relieve the pressure was to continue the war.

Fortunately, Margaret now lacks everything except enemies.

Although the three archdukes were defeated, the anti-Vienna alliance had not yet perished.

Taking advantage of the victory, Margaret took action against the grand dukes who proposed to oppose the Vienna Alliance, which made the grand dukes panic.

Margaret didn't bother to say any more words to them. She directly issued a declaration of war to the dukes under the emperor's order, demanding either surrender or death.

As the declaration of war was issued, Vienna's war machine began to move. Her Majesty the Queen obviously did not want to give them any time to think.

But wars cost money after all, and the richest person in Vienna is naturally Fran, not to mention that Fran also controls the unique strategic weapon of firearms. At least before other forces mass produce, Fran's position in Margaret's heart is still irreplaceable.

This is probably why she allowed Fran to do whatever she wanted.

Sure enough, within a few days, those nobles who had troubled Fran were severely punished, and some who refused to obey were even stripped of their titles and became commoners. The reason for this was that they were maliciously destroying the sacred Vienna Alliance and were suspected of colluding with foreign countries.

Now everyone understood that no one could secretly trip up Fran until the war was over.

The day after punishing the nobles, Margaret invited Fran and Christina to her bedroom again on the pretext of discussing the Vienna Alliance.

In this way, Fran naturally had no room to refuse.

When Fran arrived, the palace was once again filled with the fragrance of flowers and the luxurious atmosphere. Fran saw some new faces among the maids in the corner of the palace. One of them seemed to be the princess of the Principality of Bieson.

Fran couldn't help but sigh that Margaret's hands were really quick.

Is this also the reason why Duke Vasa sent Gustave to him?

"Lord City Lord! Lady Saint! Please take a seat." Margaret invited the two to sit down as if she was entertaining old friends.

In front of them, luxurious food was piled up like a mountain.

Christina's dish was some light vegetarian food, while Fran's was mainly desserts. It seemed that she was well aware of their preferences.

Fran did not touch the desserts, but picked up the inconspicuous papaya juice and started drinking it.

"I will get straight to the point." Margaret lazily leaned on the white thighs of a maid, and then said, "The next enemy of the Vienna Alliance has appeared. I want to take the initiative while they are not ready! But you two also know that the food and grass must be prepared before the troops move... So, what should we do next?

Please help me to continue to expand the sphere of influence of the Vienna Alliance. "

Chapter 110 Lease for Ninety-Nine Years

Hearing this, Christina frowned first.

She said, "Your Majesty! Haven't you been fighting too frequently recently? In order to raise funds for the army, our Shinra Church has mobilized military supplies for you three times. The mobilization order is not unlimited, and the money in the pockets of believers is limited. I suggest that you recuperate for a while and wait until you have completely absorbed the territories of the three principalities before making any decisions."

"I know!" Margaret said, "The Saint has worked very hard to raise supplies. But the opportunity is fleeting. If it is delayed for three to five years, when the Anti-Vienna Alliance unites again, I am afraid that the military expenditure we have to spend will be more than this."

Before coming to the palace, Fran and Christina had already known Margaret's intention, so they discussed the countermeasures in bed. Christina opposed it first, so that Fran could get more bargaining chips.

As expected, the two of them started to debate, while Fran lowered her head and ate papaya, milk, peanuts and other foods. For a moment, she just felt very satisfied in her chest.

After arguing for a long time, neither Christina nor Margaret could convince the other.

Seeing that it was hopeless to persuade Christina, Margaret turned to Fran and said, "I wonder what Mayor Fran thinks."

"I think both sides have their reasons." Fran said, "We have fought so many battles recently, and it is indeed time to recuperate. But if we really give the Anti-Vienna Alliance enough time, I am afraid there will be big trouble in the future. My suggestion is that if there is a good opportunity, then we should take action."

Well said, but it's all nonsense!

Margaret said helplessly: "This war is different from the last one. Last time, there were external forces like Genoa and Venice, which made our enemies increase several times out of thin air. But this time, there are only a few duchies. Both the scale and cost will be much smaller than before."

"That's what I said." Fulan said with some embarrassment: "You also know that the Jingxi Chamber of Commerce has expanded a lot of business recently. I wanted to take advantage of this hard-won peace to do business well. But if a war breaks out, my business will definitely be hindered. This loss..."

Margaret knew that Fran was raising the price for her, so she said, "You can still make more money, but opportunities don't wait. I know the city lord has been doing cloth business recently. But now the various principalities of the Holy Roel Empire have raised tariffs on each other and do not allow foreign goods to come in. If you don't get through this step, no matter how good your products are, you can't sell them in their territories."

After hearing this, Fran pretended to think about it, and some hesitation appeared in her eyes.

Margaret continued to strike while the iron was hot: "Nowadays, no one is competing with you for business near Vienna. It's not a big problem even if you let it develop, even if it expands slowly. But if our Vienna Alliance conquers more territory! Wouldn't you have a bigger market!"

"Your Majesty is right..." Fran said, "However, I have recently set my sights on a larger market. It would be great if we could expand there."

"Oh? Where is it?"

"The Volsas Plains." Fran said, "Your Majesty just conquered the port. I want to raise a fleet and sell the goods to the orcs, or even to the dwarves. Then I can buy food and furs there."

After hearing this, Margaret immediately understood what Fran meant.

"You want a port?"

"That's right. I'm not a robber. How could I rob your Majesty's port?" Fran said with a smile: "I just want to rent it..."

Although Margaret conquered the Duchy of Biesson, she also began to repair these old ports.

But unfortunately, although she had many capable and battle-hardened officers under her command, most of them knew nothing about engineering. In addition, the production capacity was limited and they had no experience in operating ports, so the port construction in the Principality of Bieson was very slow.

Fran has been waiting for these ports to open, but Margaret has not announced how these ports will be used, whether for military purposes or to collect berthing taxes like Venice and Genoa.

If we can own a port, we can sell our goods to every corner of the world. In comparison, the market of the Holy Roll Empire is really nothing.

But Fran was also very clear that these ports were Margaret's favorite. If she gave them up, the previous war would be a waste of money for Fran.

That's why she said she wanted to rent it.

"Lease? Tell me about it."

Fran said: "The ownership of these ports is still in your hands, Your Majesty. I will just rent them to me for ninety-nine years. During this period, I will repair and maintain the ports for you free of charge. As rent, I am willing to pay for your war expenses. I will also sell you firearms at the previous price. You also know how terrible the price of firearms is now.

"You really don't want ownership?" Margaret didn't expect such a good thing to happen.

"Yes, I really don't want it." Fran said, "Everything is leased! I can sign a document. Of course, if Your Majesty wants to take it back in advance, you will have to pay a high penalty."

Margaret was obviously impressed by the lease, and after a series of discussions, the two quickly signed an agreement.

In the end, Fran paid Margaret two million magic crystal coins as the rent for three ports within the borders of the Principality of Bieson for a period of ninety-nine years. Margaret promised that Fran's Jingxi Chamber of Commerce would still have the right to tax exemption in the places conquered by the war.

During this process, Christina said nothing and watched Fran and Margaret arguing silently.

When the meeting ended and the two of them left the palace, Christina immediately grabbed Fran and said helplessly, "You know, you just made a very unprofitable deal."

"Ah? Why is that?"

"Do you know that in the Holy Roel Empire, all property theoretically belongs to the lord?" Christina said, "As long as the lord does not give you the ownership, she can take it back in the name of the lord at any time without paying any price. Your one million magic crystal coins are completely wasted.

"Of course I know the rule." Fran said.

"If you knew, why did you agree to her?" Christina said, "If you want the port, you should ask Margaret to give you the title of Viscount, and then grant you the port as a territory. This way, she can't take it away without reason. Then we can discuss the issue of leasing it with legal guarantee."

"Sister, you are still too naive." Fran said, "Excuses are the easiest things to find in the world. If Margaret wants, she can find more than ten in a few minutes and then launch an attack on my fiefdom."

"But at least there is a legal guarantee."

"There is no legal guarantee in the Holy Roel Empire now." Fran said: "Margaret joined forces with me, Aurora, and launched an attack on the Duke without any claim rights. At this time, none of the legal officials in the empire dared to speak out. Do you think that when Margaret takes back my fiefdom, someone will come to help me?"

"But that doesn't mean Margaret will kill you at any time. Even if you get ninety-nine years, it will be meaningless."

"The legal principles of the nobility are one thing, and the reputation of business is another." Fran said: "She can ignore those corrupt nobles, but she can't ignore the Chamber of Commerce. Besides, the word "rent" sounds much better than "acquire". Otherwise, Margaret wouldn't give in so easily!"

"What if she tries to rob me?"

"At least not now." Fran said, "Now she needs to rely on my money bag. Her army is expanding too fast, and the Anti-Vienna Alliance can't satisfy her appetite at all. Her goal is the entire Holy Roll Empire, but what is gained through war must be maintained by a bigger war. In the short term, she must rely on me."

"But one day, when the enemies within the empire can no longer satisfy her, she will eventually point her gun at you and me."

"When that time comes, will I still care about one or two ports?" Fran said with a smile, "Sister, Margaret and I will have a battle sooner or later. No emperor would tolerate a monster's nest next to his capital. It's just that I am still useful to her now. Conversely, she is also useful to me."

Chapter 111 Production and Quality

When Fran and Christina left, Count Wallenstein and Count Tilly walked out from behind the curtain. The maids who were still dancing and serving all stood up and left, but their movements inadvertently revealed the close-fitting armor under their loose sleeves.

"Two million magic crystal coins. It seems that little Fran has made a lot of money recently." Margaret shook the red wine glass in front of her. The wine in it was spicy and sweet.

"Your Majesty, her ability to amass wealth is too strong." Wallenstein said worriedly, "In just half a year, she sold cloth to a quarter of the Holy Roel Empire and opened her own bank. She even had enough money to build a large-scale project in Orila City."

"What about the military?" Margaret asked, "Did she expand the army?"