Chapter 202: Act 135 – Romaine’s Second Plan (Part 2)
“Isn’t that an exchange?” Merchant Miss asked, watching the behavior of the young adventurers with interest.
“Rather than an exchange, it’s more like charity, Miss Romaine,” Sanford replied from the back.
Romaine pointed her finger at her chin: “But it’s clearly an exchange, right? Purchasing hope with food is a form of exchange, isn’t it?”
“Purchasing hope with food? What does that mean?” Antinna was taken aback. In fact, it wasn’t just her; everyone found that statement strange: Is that even considered an exchange?
Wait a minute!
Only Brendel realized this at that moment. He couldn’t help but look at Romaine with an incredulous gaze, wondering how her little head worked and how she always managed to think of things that ordinary people overlooked. He quickly organized his thoughts and asked, “Antinna, if this territory were entrusted to you, how long would it take for spontaneous commercial activity to arise here?”
Immediately realizing there was more to Brendel’s question, the noble lady glanced at him, pondering whether this young lord had certain ideas about this territory or if it was merely a test for her.
Regardless, she seriously contemplated the sight of those tattered citizens in the streets, who looked like refugees, and replied somewhat reluctantly, “At least a year, but it could take two. There is no wealth among the people, and the foundation for commercial activities is lacking. Even if we were to revise the taxation and redistribute land, it would require a considerable amount of time for wealth to accumulate… but in any case, I’m confident that I could restore commercial activity here within two years; it’s just that the roads are a bit troublesome, and reconstructing them would require a hefty investment…”
“So, if we distribute wealth downwards, won’t the people then have wealth?” Romaine interrupted her, speaking as if it was the most obvious thing.
Antinna paused, “Is that… meaningful?” She couldn’t help but ask, struggling a bit: “How is that any different from those gambling addicts lending their money to those who can’t afford to gamble, only to have them gamble with each other? In the end, what’s won is just their own money, and there’s even a risk of losing more…”
She looked at Romaine, almost as if she were looking at one of those gambling addicts. But here, it should be referred to as being obsessed with trade.
“Of course it’s meaningful. You see, Antinna said it’s ‘lending,’ didn’t she? Therefore, the charming gambler ends up winning even more money, except that it’s all just written down as IOUs,” Romaine explained.
“But those people are ultimately just broke. What good is an IOU when they don’t actually have a penny to show for it?” Antinna retorted.
Romaine lifted her chin and waved her finger, and this gesture made Brendel almost think he was seeing a clean-cut capitalist at work.
“Indeed, but not everyone wants to be broke, do they? Distributing wealth is also a form of exchange. What we are purchasing is the hope these people have for the future,” Romaine pointed at her eyes, “See? Everyone hopes for a better life. We are giving them the ability to realize that hope, or rather, it should be called ‘the capacity to participate in production,’ right?”
“And when they fulfill this desire, they naturally complete the meaning of the IOUs, and I also gain many partners joining in this game,” Merchant Miss continued to describe, “Unlike gambling, when you bury gold coins in the ground, you’ll harvest two gold coins the next year.”
Saying this, she playfully winked.
“Well… while that makes sense, realizing it could be difficult…” Although others still found it confusing, Antinna finally understood Romaine’s idea. However, she simply couldn’t accept such far-fetched logic.
“It really is difficult…” Brendel nodded, then couldn’t help but look at Little Romaine with admiration. In fact, Romaine’s idea wasn’t so much an exchange as it was a form of redistribution; it just so happened that the participants in the redistribution included not only production resources but also capital itself. When capital participates in reproduction, it rapidly appreciates. Romaine’s idea was based on the premise that all wealth in the territory belonged to the lord. While simple and straightforward, to be able to think of such a problem under these limited conditions was undeniably forward-thinking.
However, this does require an extremely grand plan and careful consideration at every step; it isn’t just a simple matter of handing things out. Brendel wasn’t good at that, but he had a simple example to draw from.
Infrastructure and external warfare.
“Rather than purchasing hope, it’s more about purchasing labor. Although labor is an added value for lords, they don’t understand that while all wealth within the territory belongs to the lord, the speed at which new wealth is created varies,” Brendel replied, “Of course, if we are to do this, figuring out how to distribute this wealth is crucial.”
“Antinna, do you have any thoughts?” the young man asked casually.
“Build roads.”
The noble lady’s thought coincided simply with that of her lord. Then she hesitated and finally lowered her voice to ask quietly, “My lord, do you have any thoughts about this place?”
In the past, Antinna would have never dared to imagine such a thing; she might even have encouraged her lord to attack another legitimate lord of the kingdom and seize that territory — that would have been outright rebellion. However, as time passed, the situation in this ancient kingdom became worse day by day, and news of turmoil from outside began to circulate. Moreover, having witnessed the actions of those cold-blooded and decaying nobles, her last shred of hope for the kingdom had begun to fade.
Brendel nodded, then shook his head.
Of course, he had ideas; Baron Grudin’s territory was nearly adjacent to his future lands, not to mention that this guy wasn’t a good character at all — naturally, he’d be the first to strike. But not now; he currently lacked the strength and the timing. In two months, when the November Coup (also known as the December Coup) unfolded and various regions declared independence, no one would care about a minor conflict between little lords in the southern border anymore.
However, he did have a headache because, at this time, Toniger’s territory was indeed one of the most barren in all of Erluin. He had initially feared Romaine might feel constrained in such a place, but unexpectedly, Merchant Miss’s instincts had become powerful enough to function anywhere.
Brendel now even began to suspect that if he threw Little Romaine into the ‘underworld’, she could still happily do business with those demons.
But in any case, having formulated a preliminary idea, the remaining task was how to refine this idea and the issue of funding. The funding issue wasn’t a major concern for Brendel at the moment; the money extorted from that little noble and the funds being escorted from Bruglas would serve as his startup capital, and the rest would come from the Southlands’ rich mineral resources.
As a basic rule for a traveler, if a transmigrator can’t leverage something related to minerals, Brendel would feel he wasted his life.
But at that moment, a loud whip crack interrupted his train of thought. Startled, Brendel and the others turned around to see a small squad of cavalry entering the city. Although these cavalrymen were equipped haphazardly, their banners were distinct. The young man noticed the emblem on their flag — a pelican on intersecting black and white checks, the background derived from Count Rendener’s family crest, indicating that this band of nobles had a direct connection to Count Rendener. Thus, Brendel quickly understood that these were Grudin’s private soldiers.
At that moment, the cavalrymen were raising their whips to drive the residents from both sides of the street away; those who didn’t retreat quickly enough would receive a harsh lash. The gaunt men and women were driven away like livestock, and this scene seemed extremely amusing to the riders, who couldn’t help but burst into laughter, even stumbling over themselves in their mirth.
Antinna frowned; she had seen such scenes before. The city guard cavalry in Bruglas acted similarly high-handed.
She then heard the red-haired girl next to her, Xi, coldly snort.
“They seem to be dragging something behind them,” Sanford suddenly pointed at the group of riders.
“It’s corpses,” Brendel replied. “Those noble private soldiers have gone out to hunt down bandits.” After saying this, he gently sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
Antinna was taken aback; wasn’t this a normal occurrence?
But Brendel shook his hand to signal her not to speak, then pointed for her to look. The noble lady focused her gaze and indeed saw several women suddenly kneeling on the ground upon seeing the corpses, covering their faces and weeping. She froze slightly, then asked, a bit confused, “What’s going on?”
“Calling them bandits is more appropriate than saying they were driven to starvation by the lord’s taxes. The robbers in the mountains are better described as tax-evading refugees; their lives are mostly no different from ordinary farmers, and there are not many who actually participate in looting. They are simply labeled as ‘inhumane’ because they are tax evaders.” A gray wolf mercenary responded, familiar with the situation. He gritted his teeth and added, “My father died that way, those despicable nobles…”
“Only men?” Antinna inhaled sharply and asked.
“Of course, life outside isn’t a paradise,” Brendel nodded.
As he spoke, the surroundings seemed to fall into an eerie silence. Aside from the shouts of the noble soldiers and the low sobs of the women, no one else spoke for a time.
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