"Your Highness, the inventory of all spoils seized from the Madras Duchy has been completed," Steward Spiel said, standing before
"How much?" Lorist asked.
"Your Highness, the gold Fordes we seized from the Grand Duke's treasury and confiscated from those noble households total only 1.74 million—not even reaching two million," Steward Spiel answered disappointedly.
One could understand—when they destroyed the Hanayabada Kingdom, the spoils alone amounted to 27 million gold Fordes, yet destroying the Madras Duchy yielded only 1.7 million. It was like robbing a tycoon and then mugging a beggar; the disparity in returns was simply too great.
But on reflection, it was easy to understand. The Hanayabada Kingdom had been isolated overseas, enjoyed nearly a century of peace, and grown rich on the flourishing slave trade—only for the
It was like throwing a punch with all one's might only to hit empty air and wrench one's back. The Madras Grand Duke's expenditures had been almost entirely wasted—whether on the castles and fortresses built, the newly formed legions, or the military procurements purchased at great expense, none of it saw any use against the Norton Family's armed assault. Lorist now held the account books seized from the Madras Duchy with considerable regret.
"In these four or five years, the Madras Grand Duke spent over six million gold Fordes on military preparations. I'd love to show this to that fellow Kemmis—his Snow Salt Chamber of Commerce sold our family's obsolete iron armor for 800,000 gold Fordes and he was smug about it, thinking he'd made a killing..." Lorist said with exasperation.
"Your Highness, of those six million-plus gold Fordes the Madras Grand Duke spent, half went to building seven castles and fortresses along the Xindesen Mountains border and forming four garrison legions; the rest went to purchasing equipment and weapons. Over one million of that was spent buying iron ingots from the Handra Duchy, transporting them back, and hiring craftsmen to forge them ourselves..." Steward Spiel said, looking at the account books.
Lorist tossed the account book in his hand onto the table. "So you're saying we seized little in the way of wealth, but there's a lot of military materiel?"
"Yes, Your Highness," Steward Spiel said, flipping through the folder in his hands again. "These past few years have seen favorable weather with no major disasters. The granaries in Dremik Province are full, with the accounts showing approximately 13 million pu'er. We estimate the family dominion won't need to worry about grain reserves for three years."
Thirteen million pu'er, with one pu'er equaling one hundred jin. The grain seized from the destruction of the Madras Duchy reached 1.3 billion jin—good news indeed. Although the Norton Family dominion had been heavily developed for nearly ten years, its grain production only just met the needs of the populace and the military. Should a natural disaster strike, a poor harvest would be no small trouble for the family. Who would have thought the Madras Duchy had such vast grain reserves? It solved a major problem for the family dominion, and Lorist's spirits lifted immediately.
"Your Highness, aside from the grain, the other major haul is the military materiel left behind after the Madras Duchy's forces surrendered. Weapons and armor make up the bulk—enough to equip nearly 300,000 men. After our selection and culling, there are about 300 suits of masterwork armor, nearly 70,000 suits of high-quality iron armor, over 100,000 suits of middling quality, and close to 270,000 pieces of various weapons. The inferior armor and substandard weapons have already been sent back to the furnace to be made into farm tools. What should we do with the remaining armor and weapons?" Steward Spiel asked.
That was a problem. The family now had its own Hidd steel armor—full sets of standardized equipment. Much of the gear seized from the Madras Duchy was actually outdated even for the family's own forces. Even the Northland's three allies looked down on this armor; their household forces were also equipped with standardized gear custom-ordered from the Norton Family. It seemed they'd have to find a way to engage in arms trading again.
"Keep the masterworks. Also hold back twenty or thirty thousand complete sets of the high-quality armor and weapons. Once the family enfeoffs those vassal lords, we can sell them on credit to outfit their dominion garrisons and household forces. That way they'll have proper protection when they march to war with us. As for the rest of the armor and weapons, ship some to Silowas Island and ask the Peterson Chamber of Commerce if they can sell them on our behalf. If they're not interested, wait for Count Kenmays to return—isn't he currently expanding trade routes into the Four Central Duchies? See if we can sell to them," Lorist said.
Steward Spiel stared. "Milord, aren't the Four Central Duchies our enemies too? Is it appropriate to sell them arms and armor?"
Lorist rolled his eyes. "If not them, then who? The Second Highness—he'd run up a tab and not pay a single copper. Sell to the Fisablen Family? Don't forget our arms deal with them this year still isn't finished. The Commercial Alliance side has the Peterson Chamber of Commerce handling it; last time we marketed our standardized equipment, only the Chikde Chamber of Commerce placed an order. The only ones left now are the Four Central Duchies."
"Steward Spiel, have some confidence. Even if the Four Central Duchies become enemies of our Norton Family, selling them these arms and armor just means the equipment takes a detour through their hands. Once they face our household forces on the battlefield, it'll all find its way back to us soon enough..."
What could be done—the Northland was simply too remote. The Galentea Continent was vast, yet its shape was extremely irregular. Human-inhabited areas occupied only two-thirds of the continent, shaped like a spoon. Just as the Northland didn't refer to the continent's northernmost tip—on the contrary, it lay at the very center of the map—but was called the Northland because it sat at the northernmost edge of human habitation. Beyond the Northland to the north lay the barbaric wildlands, untouched by human foot since the Magic Civilization era two thousand years ago.
Lorist was right—the Northland truly had no one to sell this equipment to besides the Four Central Duchies. That made him envy the Forde Commercial Alliance's territorial advantage. The Mana Hill Plains sat almost at the exact center of human-inhabited lands; traveling north or south was extremely convenient, and the surrounding duchies and kingdoms were the perfect markets for arms sales. Perhaps he could have Senbawood lead the Oceanic Legion to try opening a trade route to the southern Golden Coastline—it might bring the family a steady stream of new wealth...
Steward Spiel soon discovered that his new master, the Grand Duke of the Northlands, had spaced out again and wasn't listening to his report at all. He coughed twice in dissatisfaction before Lorist snapped back to attention.
"My apologies, Steward Spiel. I spaced out just now and didn't catch what you were saying. Please repeat it." Lorist honestly admitted his mistake.
"It's like this, Your Highness. Although we only harvested 1.74 million gold Forde in the Madras Duchy, we discovered three underground vaults filled with gold coins in the Grand Ducal palace in Alice City. However, they're all filled with Imperial old-head gold coins—each vault holds over 3 million, totaling over 10 million coins..."
Lorist perked up. "So our haul isn't small at all. Over 10 million Imperial old-head gold coins can be exchanged for roughly 3 million gold Forde. Looks like we made a huge profit."
Steward Spiel's expression was grave. "Your Highness, Grand Duke Madras never intended to exchange these Imperial old-head gold coins. According to the palace steward's confession, Grand Duke Madras planned to use these Imperial old-head gold coins to privately mint gold Forde."
"What? Grand Duke Madras wants to privately mint gold Forde?" Lorist was very curious.
"Yes, Your Highness. Currently, the exchange rate of gold Forde to Imperial old-head gold coins is 1:3. In reality, this is a discriminatory and retaliatory exchange rate. Simply put, when three Imperial old-head gold coins are exchanged for one gold Forde, one Imperial old-head gold coin is pocketed by the exchanger for free." Steward Spiel answered.
"You mean the actual exchange rate should be 1:2? Two Imperial old-head gold coins for one gold Forde?" Lorist asked.
Steward Spiel shook his head. "No. Purely by weight, the true exchange rate should be 1:1.7. This was the rate that circulated for nearly thirty years. When the Forde Commercial Alliance first issued the gold Forde, its exchange rate with the Imperial old-head gold coin was 1:1.2, then rose to 1:1.5, and finally reached parity by weight at 1:1.7. This exchange rate held for thirty years."
"Wait, shouldn't a gold coin's exchange rate be based on its gold content? Why compare by weight?" Lorist found it strange.
"Your Highness!" Steward Spiel also felt helpless. His Grand Duke always made mistakes on certain common knowledge, even if that knowledge was quite obscure: "All gold coins have the same gold content — 7.5 to 1.5 to 1, meaning seventy-five percent gold, fifteen percent bronze, and ten percent mithral. This ratio has been passed down from the magical civilization era, and only gold coins minted to this ratio can pass the gold-testing liquid's verification. The rest, even if minted from one hundred percent pure gold, would be considered counterfeit, and no one would be willing to use them in transactions..."
Lorist patted his forehead, remembering. Back when little Locke entered
The greatest characteristic of gold coins minted according to this formula was that they didn't easily discolor, were corrosion-resistant and wear-resistant. Even after long use, they could maintain a bright, glittering golden appearance, with clear imagery and intact weight. As for the gold-testing liquid, it was said to be a potion formula invented by magi, specifically used to verify gold coin purity. Any gold coin not minted according to this formula ratio would sink straight to the bottom when placed in it, while standard-minted coins would float upright in the gold-testing liquid.
This was a truly marvelous formula ratio. Lorist recalled his alchemy major classes at Dawn Academy, when the professor had mixed a large basin of gold-testing liquid right in class. The materials for this concoction were very ordinary and cheap, costing only about two small silvers — it was a practice assignment for junior alchemy students. He remembered Lorist had tossed in a few gold coins at the time and played with them to his heart's content, very curious why the gold coins would float upright in the liquid. The professor had said if he wanted to know that, he'd have to study materials science — perhaps solving this age-old mystery would fall to him...
Weren't these commemorative gold coins issued by the state? How could they rust? Only after sending them for professional testing did one understand these commemorative coins had very low gold content, and the so-called state issuing authority wasn't a real state organ at all — just like that National Dental Prevention Group, giving itself its own title...
Galentea was still better — all gold coin minting formula ratios were the same standard, so everyone could only manipulate things through weight. Who was it that said that? Right, some professor at Dawn Academy, he had proudly said that the volume of gold coin issuance represented the strength of a nation's power. The Commercial Alliance's gold Forde becoming the circulating currency for most of the Galentea Continent meant the Commercial Alliance's power had expanded to every place where the gold Forde circulated — this was something every Commercial Alliance citizen took pride in.
The stronger a nation's power, the higher the recognized value of its issued gold coins. In the past, when the Krisen Empire was at its peak, the exchange rate between Imperial old-head coins and gold Fordes was merely 1.7 to 1. But now the Empire was fragmented, and Imperial old-head gold coins actually required three coins to exchange for a single gold Forde. No wonder even Grand Duke Madras was preparing to secretly recast these hoarded Imperial old-head gold coins into gold Fordes to reduce losses.
Lorist recalled that the Family had also circulated Imperial old-head gold coins before, but they were all exchanged at three-for-one into gold Fordes for use. Thinking that just this exchange alone meant losing nearly a third of the value made his heart ache. Damn it, what a huge loss.
"Steward Spiel, didn't our Family also use those Imperial old-head gold coins before? Were they all exchanged into gold Fordes?"
"Your Highness, at the very beginning we all used Imperial old-head gold coins as one-third of a gold Forde. Later, Knight Shrade had us stop using Imperial old-head gold coins and stockpile them instead. Since the Family didn't lack gold Fordes, we only purchased and stored them, and didn't take them for exchange. After capturing nearly ten million Imperial old-head gold coins from the Madras Duchy, I specifically checked the account books and discovered our Family's stockpiled Imperial old-head gold coins also numbered over 8 million, most of which had been exchanged from the populace at a three-to-one ratio."
Lorist immediately got excited. Combined, that was 18 million Imperial old-head gold coins. If they followed the Madras Duke's example and minted these into gold Fordes at a two-to-one ratio, that would be 9 million — finally able to fill the hole in the Family funds he'd spent lavishly over these past two years.
"Can we also melt down these Imperial old-head gold coins and recast them into gold Fordes?" Lorist asked eagerly.
Steward Spiel shook his head. "Your Highness, I'm responsible for the storage management of funds and supplies. I don't know how to mint gold coins. You'll need to discuss this matter with Knight Shrade."
"Oh, I understand. Shiward, have Knight Shrade come to me as soon as possible."
"Yes, my lord."
... (To be continued.)