"A few days ago, when we were conducting a preliminary survey of the twenty-four outer-city districts, I made a point of reviewing the comprehensive tax revenue and public expenditure records for
Why is this? The answer is simple. Although the various merchant guilds now hold power within the Commercial Alliance, the implementation of the lordship system has inevitably pushed them down the same worn path as the territorial nobility. In its early days, the Commercial Alliance built itself on commerce, expanding its influence through trade. The gold Forde, serving as the standard currency, had become the most widely circulated currency on the Galentea Continent precisely because of its exquisite craftsmanship and uniform standard weight — it even displaced the old 'Old Man's Head' gold coins minted by the former Krisen Empire in the northern regions.
But after the Commercial Alliance adopted a policy of expansion through war, most of the trade routes and commercial transactions in the central-southern and southern parts of the continent were severed. This forced the Alliance to rely on plunder and the seizure of other nations' territories for revenue — the very same warring customs of the traditional kingdom nobility. At the same time, because of the existence of guild-controlled territories, the wealth plundered by each guild's armed forces was mostly shipped off to their respective guild territories for storage rather than turned over to the Commercial Alliance for economic development and production.
Our family forces were truly fortunate to seize four million gold Forde in the Inner City district. That sum was earmarked by the Commercial Alliance to maintain the Invincible Fleet, serve as a reserve fund for purchasing critical military supplies, and also function as bonus payments to boost morale. After interrogating several Inner City prisoners, we discovered something quite laughable.
Reportedly, when the senior guild officials and nobles in the Inner City were preparing to surrender the city, our family had pledged not to violate the prisoners' private property rights and allowed those captives to take away over thirty jin of personal belongings. So several senior guild officials hoped the Inner City prisoners would abandon their personal property, split the four million gold Forde into small portions, have the captives carry the gold coins out, and return them once they were safe. However, every single prisoner refused this proposal — they would rather carry out their own belongings than hold onto this wealth on behalf of the Commercial Alliance.
This tells us that Morant City is actually quite wealthy; it's just that most of the wealth is in private hands. Not only were there over a hundred thousand captives who surrendered in the Inner City, but among the over 1.3 million urban residents — nearly 300,000 households — across the twenty-four outer-city districts, I dare say each household has stashed at least forty to fifty gold Forde. Take El's brother Ledos and his organization, for example — in just these three years, they earned nearly a hundred thousand gold Forde by smuggling and selling overpriced meat products to the outer-city residents…
The reason the Commercial Alliance implemented the grain and daily necessities rationing system in Morant City stems primarily from the disruption of external trade, which caused Morant City's commercial activity to wither progressively. Add to that the monopoly of profits across every industry by the various guilds, and Morant City has been turned into a great quagmire. The pitiful 1.3 million urban residents of Morant City — always talking about independence, freedom, and equality — have in reality become slaves controlled by the various guilds."
After mocking the residents of Morant City for a bit, Fatty Shi said with a straight face, "Revitalizing Morant City's commercial economy is actually quite simple. We only need a bit of capital and some goods to reactivate the city's market environment. There's no need for the family to invest a huge sum. The four million gold Forde we seized and the family-produced goods and merchandise stockpiled on Hilovas Island alone are enough to restore Morant City to its former glory as the continent's number one commercial metropolis…"
But just now, upon hearing Baron Shrade say that all of Morant City's wealth is in the hands of its 1.3 million residents, someone shouted to go rob them all. Fierce Tiger Ross — you seem quite excited, don't you? Were you the one shouting the loudest? And Steward Sper, you don't seem to object to this proposal either. Shall I hand you a sword so you can personally go strip those million-plus Morant City residents of their belongings? Gentlemen, I want you to remember this clearly — our Norton Family is not a band of brigands. We are a noble house with over three hundred years of heritage. Understood?
If I find out that anyone hasn't grasped this, I won't hesitate to personally oversee their education."
After Lorist's outburst, the conference room fell deathly silent — not a soul dared even breathe heavily. Come to think of it, it was no wonder Lorist was furious. Morant City had over 1.3 million urban residents — not some small city of two or three hundred thousand people, but a commercial metropolis renowned across the Galentea Continent. Using military force to rob this city, even if successful, would send the Norton Family's reputation plummeting, branding them as a clan of bandits for all to condemn.
Moreover, Lorist had personally declared that the Norton Family came to stop this war, came to broker a peace agreement between the Commercial Alliance and the Andinak Kingdom, and pledged not to violate anyone's — including prisoners' — private property rights. He had painted himself as a noble and Sword Saint of great moral character and selfless integrity. Now, upon hearing that Morant City's residents had private savings, he would just turn around and become a bandit? Where would that leave the Norton Family's face…
"Money only has value when it circulates in the market — when it becomes active capital. Like a small snowball, it rolls and grows ever larger. Buried underground or locked away in storage, it's nothing but a dead heap. Forget it — talking to you lot about this is like casting pearls before swine." Lorist shook his head with a bitter smile. "I've already discussed Baron Shrade's proposal at length. However, considering whether the Commercial Alliance will respond to our peace overture immediately, we can't afford to be hasty for now. We must avoid provoking the Commercial Alliance and jeopardizing the peace negotiations between us.
But waiting for the Commercial Alliance's response doesn't mean we can sit around doing nothing. I've decided to implement the following measures in Morant City to address the livelihood of the over 1.3 million urban residents.
First, we'll sort through the surplus medium-sized fast warships captured by the North Sea Fleet and hand them over to the shipyards around Hidden Gold Bay. We'll recruit skilled craftsmen to convert these warships into fishing vessels and sell them openly, encouraging Morant City residents to buy fishing boats and organize their own fishing fleets to go out to sea. We'll also issue fishing permits allowing these vessels to operate in the Sunlit Sea, with the protection of the North Sea Fleet.
If no Morant City residents are willing to purchase fishing boats, then we'll recruit crew members and organize fishing fleets ourselves. Once they gain experience, I'm sure residents will be willing to take the risk and buy their own boats. Additionally, the raw hemp materials in the confiscated supply warehouses can be used to set up fishing net weaving workshops — this is also an excellent way to provide employment for a portion of Morant City's residents.
Second, we'll recruit competent personnel from among the surrendered Morant City soldier prisoners to form two city defense corps, and have them take charge of patrol and public security for the twenty-four outer-city districts. The formation and training of these two city defense corps will be handled by Bodenfeng and El. Their equipment will be selected from the gear of the Surrendered Firebird Corps from the Qigeda Kingdom. If these two city defense corps perform satisfactorily, we'll continue to form additional corps to replace our family forces in garrisoning the six fortress cities on the Mana Hill Plains.
Third, we'll restore farmland cultivation and build farmstead districts around the two fortress cities of Thomas and Gypsos. We'll recruit willing laborers from Morant City for construction, and once the farmsteads are complete, offer them all for sale to Morant City residents. We'll also establish an agricultural cooperative to collectively market farm produce after harvests, ensuring the interests of the farmstead owners.
All personnel recruited under the above measures will be compensated with half in cash and half in grain. The cash will come from the four million gold Forde seized by our family forces and the revenue generated from the over ten thousand Inner City captives in the prisoner-of-war camp. The capital we're investing in these plans is not free — once Morant City's market economy picks up, it will be recouped through taxation.
In addition, I've already ordered the North Sea Fleet to transport all the goods and merchandise stockpiled on Hilovas Island to Morant City. Last time, over three hundred private transport vessels from the southern continent brought grain to Hilovas Island, and while there, they purchased large quantities of goods produced in our family territories for the return voyage. They also complained that Hilovas Island was too remote, the waves in the northern seas too rough — sailing through those waters felt like an adventure…
So I've decided that Hilovas Island will serve as a transit hub. From now on, all goods and merchandise produced in our family territories will be shipped to Morant City for sale. Previously, we were constrained by the trade monopolies of the Peterson Guild and the Chikde Guild, unable to break open the sea route to the southern continent. Now that we've defeated the Invincible Fleet, the Golden Coast of the Sunlit Sea will be open waters for our family's fleet. This is the perfect opportunity to distribute our family's products across the southern continent.
Making Morant City the commercial trading hub achieves two goals at once: it revives Morant City's external commodity trade and energizes the market economy, while also facilitating purchasing for the private maritime traders from the southern continent. This breaks the trade control and commercial monopoly that the major guilds of the Commercial Alliance hold over the southern continent. The North Sea Fleet will also make regular patrols of the southern waters to prevent the vessels of private merchants we trade with from being attacked by the Chikde Guild or pirates.
Finally, I've entrusted Baron Shrade to negotiate on my behalf with Morant City's community organizations, as well as the Temple District and the Academy District, to help them establish a Morant City Autonomous Committee. This committee will serve as the supreme governing body for the Mana Hill Plains and Morant City, assuming responsibility for managing both in the future. Even though we may soon reach a ceasefire agreement with the Commercial Alliance and restore peace, I have no objection to causing the Alliance a bit of trouble…"
Seven days later, Lorist, disguised and accompanied by Reidi and Jenollio, made a secret inspection of the bustling and lively commercial district. This area, formerly occupied by the major guilds of the Commercial Alliance, had once again become the most vibrant part of Morant City after being cleared and renovated by the Norton Family's forces. Lorist had ordered grain and various family-produced daily goods brought here for sale, and the commercial district quickly regained its vitality.
Take flour as an example — flour sold at three times the Northland price was still considered a bargain by Morant City's residents, the price so low that the area was packed every single day during the sales period. Households throughout Morant City eagerly parted with their money to buy extra supplies for stockpiling. It wasn't until more and more flour arrived and it became clear there would be no food shortage that the residents finally stopped their panic buying. Lorist figured this was probably the result of the grain shortages on the Mana Hill Plains in previous years.
But the investigation report submitted by Tagel left Lorist torn between laughter and tears — it turned out he had made a massive blunder. The reason Morant City's residents were buying flour in such huge quantities wasn't because of food shortages. It was because the flour the Norton Family was selling was simply too cheap — the price per hundred-jin sack was about half of what the old Forde Trading Company had charged, and the quality was even better and the taste superior. No wonder savvy residents were snapping up bag after bag.
Back when the Commercial Alliance was suffering grain shortages, the Peterson Guild had actually purchased a shipment of grain from the Norton Family at fifty percent above market price — though that was the Andinak Kingdom's market price. But once they shipped it back to Morant City, they sold it at ten times the price, making a huge profit while being praised as benevolent by the city's residents. You can only imagine how vast the price difference between the two regions was. But back then, all those trade routes were controlled by the various guilds, and even if others spotted the business opportunity, they were powerless to act on it.
With the grain trade as a foundation, and with the Norton Family paying hired workers in genuine gold and silver without ever missing a payment, Morant City's commercial atmosphere finally began to heat up. However, most of the current customers were still housewives from Morant City, and the goods they purchased were mostly daily necessities and household items. But Lorist believed that once the private maritime traders from the southern continent returned to Morant City for another round of large-scale purchasing, Morant City's commercial market would truly be set on the right track.
A guard quietly approached Jenollio and whispered a few words. Jenollio nodded, moved closer to Lorist, and said softly, "Your Highness, Viscount Penelope has returned. But of the group that went, only he came back — the several nobles who accompanied him did not return. However, he's brought back an envoy from the Commercial Alliance. Apparently you know him — he's said to be a vice president of the Peterson Guild. They've arrived in the Inner City district."
……