Chapter 1254, Hanging Street Lamps, Hanging Street Lamps!
The latest website: Inside the Royal Palace of Courona, Talleyrand sat below panting on crutches. On the top were the members of the Britannia Supreme Command, composed of marshals and dukes, including the female Tsar Kata Lin was specially allowed to listen in, but Aurora and Teresa didn't know where they were. When Ryan asked, Olika just showed a mysterious smile.
Talleyrand briefly described the situation in Marienburg.
From the very beginning of the topic, Talleyrand confirmed the news that many years ago, the hostile problems brought about by the Great Expedition of Bafeng Mountain had never been completely resolved. In the matter, I always hated Ryan for not letting them make a fortune. Later, after Schultz's iron-fisted management and the dwarf's revenge, the Marienburg business princes ate the dwarf's revenge and were frightened by Ryan again. It has indeed converged a lot, and the interior has also begun to differentiate.
Some business princes, such as Viscount Casanova, seemed to have learned something from Schultz, and expressed goodwill to make friends with Ryan.
Some business princes decided to write off Ryan and not to offend.
But there are also business princes who are always planning revenge.
Over the past few years, these people saw that Ryan's prestige was in full swing, and the army was extremely powerful and victorious. The big trench merchants in Marienburg were scared by Ryan and shrank their eggs. They did not dare to retaliate and could only bear it.
On Ryan's side, there are many affairs, one war after another, one crisis after another, and there is no time to pay attention to the shadow of Marienburg. Furthermore, as a model of chivalry, Ryan needs a lecturer to be famous, Marienburg It is the territory of the empire and the free trade port again. There is no excuse to do it.
But this does not mean that the two sides will always live in peace like this.
"What are the merchants in Marienburg doing recently?" Ryan asked Talleyrand.
"The princes of the business world are making a lot of money recently." Talleyrand smiled: "Hoarding and speculating on the three materials of food, cloth and coal, these big merchants are really making a lot of money relying on the flames of the old world. Boman, especially Klind, the leader of the Baher Chamber of Commerce... is still clamoring, His Majesty and you, these are their original words, I said it, don't be angry."
"What did they say?" Ryan laughed.
"They say...the Britannian knights have 100 military points, 80 political points, and 0 economical points. They also say...Marienburg is the territory of the empire. If the Britannian knights come as friends, they will be given wine and wine. If you want to be a jackal, you can only serve with a double-barreled shotgun." Talleyrand grinned and bared his teeth: "They also said that Marienburg is the headquarters of the Sea God Mannan Church,
Does the lady in the lake want to start a war of gods? "
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Ryan laughed until tears came out: "Everyone, the business princes of Marienburg seem to think that us knight nobles can't do anything."
"Hahahaha!" The Supreme Command was full of joy.
However, the traditional knight nobles such as Callard and Bohemond have hidden worries, because they really don't know what to do.
"There is indeed a problem with Sea God Mananen, but don't worry, I asked Madam to negotiate with Mananen." Ryan smiled for a while and began to become serious: "As for what we should do, Karard, Bertrand."
"Here!" The two marshals stood up.
"Assemble the army, wait for my order, and immediately cross the Britannian border and arrive at the outskirts of Marienburg!" Ryan said first.
"But... what's the reason?" Karad hesitated, but still asked, "Sending a large number of troops across the border without prior explanation, will this have a bad impact?"
"Chasing the remnants of chaos." Ryan scolded with a smile: "Isn't this an easy excuse?"
"Ah! Yes!" Karad suddenly realized, he understood, and immediately drew inferences: "And we have reason to suspect that there are a large number of Chaos believers haunting Marienburg, we must strictly investigate! We have to enter the city to search carefully!"
"Yes, it must be strictly investigated, but we are not here to investigate. We will hand over this glorious task to Grand Duke Schulz of Marienburg." Ryan laughed so hard that he almost twisted: "We still believe in Marienburg's self-discipline and As for the ability to correct errors, we believe that Archduke Schulz will give us a fair explanation and answer."
Callard and Bertrand took the order, and Ryan said to the dukes: "Besides the army, the other hand must be grasped and hardened. Please transfer the grain stored in your treasury and granary for the time being." I, I guarantee that not only will I return all of them in the end, but I will also have an extra amount!"
"Follow Your Majesty's orders!" Everyone has absolute confidence in Ryan, and he has accomplished too many miracles.
Just like that, the liquidation against Fort Marien began!
In mid-February, Brittania held a grand military parade. After the military parade was held in Courona, more than 20,000 Britannian troops immediately turned their offensive and headed towards Marienburg without any hesitation. Carelessly crossing the border between the Kingdom of Knights and the Empire, Callard used the pretext of "pursuing the remnants of chaos" and "searching out the believers of chaos" as an excuse to sweep all the way, approaching the outskirts of Marienburg in just 10 days!
The actions of the Bretanians caused great panic in the Upper and Lower Houses of Marienburg. What are the Bretanians trying to do? !
Our Marienburg is the territory of the empire, are you trying to start a war? !
However, Karard seemed a little apprehensive. Karard's army and Bertrand's army only arrived at the outskirts of Marienburg, and did not rush into the city.
Now the princes of the business world are full of confidence again. After all, the Bretons are still afraid to enter the city~
They started to come up with new ideas again.
Fried food, fried cloth, hoarding!
From 2522 to 2524 in the Imperial Calendar, the old world was in torment. Estalia, the Border Princes and Tyrell had basically fallen. Nia is fairly stable.
This incomparable chaos soon brought terrible business opportunities to the big trench merchants in Marienburg. Among them, the big trench merchants focused most closely on food and cloth. The necessities of clothes, these two things are the rigid needs of life in the old world. With the large-scale reduction of food production and the shortage of military supplies in the old world, the big trench merchants in Marienburg began to hype the price of food wildly, from 2522 to 2524 in the imperial calendar In 1999, the price of food soared by 450%, and the price of cloth by 230%.
With the Skaven War in 2523 and the Krona Defense War just now, the largest grain merchant in the Old World, Klind, the president of the Bahel Chamber of Commerce, judged that the Old World would usher in a new wave of food shortages.
At the same time, because the city of Marienburg was blocked by the Britannian army, panic appeared in the entire Old World. As the largest commercial center and trade center in the entire Old World, the prices of Marienburg largely affected the old world. Under the lure of hoarding roasted seeds and nuts and the lure of ultra-high profits, the world's prices, the big trench merchants closely united with the president of the Bacher Chamber of Commerce, Klind, and began to gather funds for roasting seeds and nuts.
At the same time, in order not to give excuses to the Bretanians, the merchants in Marienburg were also very careful. They tried their best to make all their transactions and sales legal, and prevented the knights and nobles from intervening. All kinds of remarks were made, while urgently sending letters to the front line of the empire to ask for help from the empire, and on the other hand, they kept emphasizing that if Fort Marien was over, the old world would be over.
"Marienburg is the hub of the old world. Anyone who takes action against Marienburg at this time will harm the interests of the old world and hand over the knife to foreign forces (referring to chaos). sinners of the world!"
"Brittania's 10-hour working system and working eight days off and two days off are obviously not in line with my specific situation in Marienburg. The 15-hour working system is the working system that best suits my Marienburg characteristics!"
"Whoever wants workers to raise wages and not work overtime, whoever wants workers to have the right to collective bargaining, is to destroy Marienburg's advantage of cheap labor, and is to make life difficult for the people of the empire!"
As expected by the big trench merchants, the Bretons seemed to be starting to get scared, and the Calade army and Bertrand army stationed outside the city had no intention of entering the city.
Here's your chance!
In March, as the spring plowing began one after another, the food in the old world faced another wave of major production cuts except for Brittania. In 2522 and 2524, the price of food has skyrocketed to 670%. Many poor people work all day and cannot even afford a piece of black bread.
And at this moment, Brittany made a move.
Ryan mobilized an astonishing amount of food from all over the Knight Kingdom and stored it in Kurona. Under his instruction, the Estalia Merchant Union, the Oliver Chamber of Commerce, the Hadrian Chamber of Commerce and the Agnew Chamber of Commerce A large chamber of commerce began to sell grain on the market.
On March 1, the Estalia Merchants Union announced the sale of 10 million kilograms of grain to the market. The Marimburg merchants headed by the Bahel Chamber of Commerce ate them all in one go, and they could double the sales from private bakeries. Out of huge profits, countless large-scale merchants headed by the Bahel Chamber of Commerce borrowed usury to speculate, with daily interest rates as high as 50%-100%. Food prices continue to rise.
On March 5, the Oliver Chamber of Commerce announced that it would sell 10 million kilograms of grain to the market. In just one day, the Baher Chamber of Commerce bought all the grain again, and the price of grain continued to rise steadily.
On March 9, the Hadrian Chamber of Commerce sold 10 million kilograms of grain to the market again, and more than 30% of the merchants in the Upper and Lower Houses of Marienburg continued to work together to eat all the grain.
On March 10, the Agnew Chamber of Commerce followed Ryan's order and continued to sell 10 million kilograms of grain to the market.
The funds of the big trench merchants began to be tight, and at this moment, the Schulz Chamber of Commerce, which is the largest chamber of commerce in Marienburg, and the Gentlemen's Union Chamber of Commerce, the second largest chamber of commerce, took the initiative to borrow large sums of money. With super high interest, Bach The Seoul Chamber of Commerce once again ate all the food on the market in one go.
On March 15th, the price of grain reached the highest point in the history of the Old World. The price of finely ground barley flour, which originally cost 13 silver coins per kilogram, had risen to 15 gold coins per kilogram, and the price of rye also skyrocketed from the original 6 silver coins per kilogram. At 5 gold coins per kilogram, the market has gone into a frenzy. Oliver, Hadrian, Amancio and others even made large-scale loans to the big merchants in Marienburg to let them speculate, with a scale of hundreds of thousands of gold crowns.
"Take it." Ryan, who was sitting in Korona, gently turned off the dwarf pocket watch after receiving the news, and spit out a word.
On March 16, the Estalia Merchant Union, Oliver Chamber of Commerce, Hadrian Chamber of Commerce, and Agnew Chamber of Commerce, each of the four major chambers of commerce sold 10 million kilograms of grain at the same time, a total of 40 million kilograms of grain and 120 tons Cloth and 240 tons of livestock were thrown to the Marienburg market in one go!
The big trench merchants finally realized that something was wrong. They were still scrambling to get food and cloth when they first went on the market, but with wave after wave of crazy selling, the price of grain and cloth began to plummet. One price per hour, within one day, the price of grain fell by half, the price of cloth fell by 60%, and many large-scale merchants broke their capital chains, and lost money and bleed.
At the same time, the Bretons are still selling food, and there is simply not enough goods on the market!
And on the 16th day, two more major events happened.
Under Ryan's request, the Fairy of the Lake formally agreed with the sea god Mananen and the goddess of justice, Valenna. Under the protection of the interests of the gods of the old world, the gods agreed not to participate in this war without gunpowder.
At the same time, Schultz, as the Grand Duke of Marienburg, announced together with the Church of the Sea and the High Elf Enclave that during internal inspections, Marienburg discovered traces of Chaos Sect and vampire activities, and must carry out "elimination of rebellion" , All banks were temporarily closed for inspection. Schultz and Casanova worked together to collect debts, tighten money, and freeze loans.
At the same time, Ryan outside the city also immediately announced the issuance of a new issue of the Britannia War National Bonds, with an interest rate of 9% and a face value of 2 million kronor, further tightening monetary conditions. Lang ordered the blockade of Fort Marien, and materials were allowed to enter but not to exit!
The big trench merchants headed by the Baher Chamber of Commerce could no longer bear the pressure and began to sell grain and cloth. While losing money, they also took on extremely heavy debts!
Within 3 days, food prices were cut in half again, more than 40% of the big trench merchants in the upper and lower houses of Marienburg declared bankruptcy, Schulz sent troops to strictly guard the warehouses and banks everywhere, but still could not stop many big trench merchants from trying to bring The escape of money and the sabotage of the Chaos sect. When the city was approaching chaos, Schultz pretended to be helpless, responding to the call of the citizens of Marienburg and under the nod of several major churches headed by the Church of Poseidon, Brittany outside the city The runner-up was allowed to enter the city to quell the rebellion and maintain order.
On March 20, the Britannia royal division officially entered Marienburg.
Marienburg officially entered military control. Before entering the city, Ryan repeatedly emphasized discipline. The Britannian royal division entered Marienburg without committing any crimes, maintaining the strictest military discipline, and there was no random robbery or killing.
At the same time, among the baskets of criminal evidence and piles of debt documents, the Bretons sent these things to the Grand Duke Schulz of Marienburg very fairly, justly and openly. The Sun King Ryan expressed his respect for Marienburg. The autonomous laws of Limburg, respecting the laws of the Reich, invite Schulz to justice, the execution of those associated with Chaos and vampires, the trial of the guilty and the confiscation of all property.
Schultz's hands were sore when he stamped "guilty" that day.
With Schultz's verdict, the Britannian knights began to go door-to-door to check warehouses, seal accounts, and collect loans. Chaos sect and vampire organization, more than half of Marienburg's thousands of dock warehouses were seized to pay off debts.
The porters, workers, servants, refugees, and farmers who have suffered from these vampires for a long time are very excited. These people spontaneously lead the way and tell the knights about the atrocities of these capitalists, how they suck blood and exploit us. our!
no problem! The knight master and the old guards clapped their chests, we will make the decision for you!
Marienburg, your grandpa knight is here!
On March 25th, the street lamps in Marienburg were covered with the corpses of speculators and big businessmen, the most famous of which was Klind, the former president of the Bahel Chamber of Commerce, the largest grain merchant in the old world. Liabilities of hundreds of thousands of gold marks tried to flee and were convicted of treason.
Behind Klinder, the corpses of more than a hundred trench merchants were hung under the streetlights in the Shield Block and Amber Avenue.
The number was shocking, and Marienburg, which was once extremely prosperous, began to fall into depression.
The corpses under the street lights swayed back and forth. Under the auspices of Lane and Schultz, a new order was established. The original 15-hour working system was abolished by Lane's proposal and passed by Schultz's House of Commons, and changed to a maximum of 12 hours a day. The working system, the minimum wage has risen from 3 copper coins per day to 5 copper coins per day. At the same time, Ryan announced that in addition to the Mannan Day, the birthday of the Fairy in the Lake and the Day of the Holy Grail are officially designated as legal holidays in Marienburg, and the former is on holiday. 3 days, the latter 2 days, any employment must abide by.
At the same time, X+1’s work-related compensation system was formally established. If a work-related injury occurs, the employer must compensate. The Marienburg branch of the Fairy Church in the Lake announced that it will accept labor arbitration for work-related injuries. Anyone can ask the Lake God Prophet to uphold justice here. 10% of the arbitration fee.
After a lapse of 29 months, the price of food finally fell back to 130% of the level in 2522. The price of cloth fell on a large scale. Everyone can finally eat and wear warm clothes. Even Ryan even took out 1 million kilograms of food to make cookies and liqueur , directly on the street in the name of the fairy in the lake and distributed for free for three days.
The whole city rejoiced, and people spontaneously took to the streets to express their gratitude to the knights through parades.
Britannia's chivalry culture began to become the mainstream culture of Marienburg.
On March 30, the decree stamped with the emperor's seal was sent to Ryan's case. After reading it, Ryan ordered the 50,000 Bretanian troops to withdraw from Marienburg in three batches within two weeks.
"After we're gone, they'll give you vacations and reduced hours, and they'll raise your wages. It's not because of their conscience, or because they've become good people, but because we've been here."
———Brittanian feudal knight
Before leaving, the citizens of Marienburg were reluctant to part with the knight lords, many of them wept bitterly, and more citizens were thinking about whether Marienburg would usher in a new era if it was ruled by Britannia. Fairer and better times?
And those who slipped through the upper and lower houses of Marienburg watched the knights return with great humiliation and hatred, and more than half of the seats in the upper and lower houses were vacant.
Please demons, please don't come again!
Attached:
On April 15, when the last batch of Bretanian troops withdrew from Fort Marien, the list of materials seized and transported by the Bretons from the warehouses and accounts of the merchants in Marienburg was as follows:
A total of more than 400,000 gold crowns and gold marks, a small number of dwarf gold coins and more than 1 million silver coins of various colors.
120 cannons of various colors and more than 1,000 carriages.
3,200 firecrackers, 260,000 rounds of ammunition, and more than 1,400 barrels of gunpowder.
4,800 sets of imperial standard equipment and 21,000 sets of imperial soldier uniforms (made by the major provinces and Marienburg).
Over 37,000 pairs of shoes and boots of varying quality.
More than 3,800 kilograms of grain and 200 tons of meat.
More than 730 boxes of luxury goods.
More than 50,000 barrels of imperial beer and 1,000 barrels of rum, more than 500 crates of wine, mead, whiskey and vodka.
A rough estimate puts the total value of the supplies looted by the Bretanians from Fort Marien at more than 4 million kronor.
Updated, ask for votes!