Chapter 251: Conversation Between Master and Servant

What Butler Kent said was of course correct. As a ruler of a country, the support of the people is the most important, and some troubles brought by high support are naturally not worth mentioning.

Moreover, Arthur was not interested in shopping. Instead of wasting time on shopping, he might as well pay attention to some national development issues, right?

No longer discussing this episode, Arthur continued to look at Butler Kent and asked with a smile: "Butler Kent, what is the current situation of the Royal Consortium?"

The Royal Consortium is the vast majority of Arthur's private property, and it is also the foundation for Arthur to maintain military power and reputation.

After all, nothing can be done without money. The role of the Royal Consortium is to bring Arthur a steady stream of income, and then use this income to transform into military power, reputation and other things.

"Your Majesty, in general, the development of the Royal Consortium is very smooth. First of all, the Royal Bank, the business of the Royal Bank has expanded to Europe and the United States, and a total of 47 branches have been opened worldwide." Butler Kent reported.

"At present, the Royal Bank has more than 6,334,200 customers, with a total deposit of 143,270,000 Australian dollars, and an average deposit of more than 15 Australian dollars per person. At present, our loan business has a total of 1,234,200 cases, and the amount of external loans is as high as 80 million Australian dollars."

The reason why the Royal Bank has so many customers is that most Australasians rely on the Royal Bank for their salary expenditures. In addition, the release of the Australian dollar is jointly carried out by the government's Monetary Authority and the Royal Bank. Therefore, the Royal Bank is the first choice for the Australasian people to conduct monetary business. Because of Arthur's guarantee and reputation, it is also the most popular and trusted bank.

Arthur didn't feel panicked when he heard that there were millions of loan businesses.

After all, the loan business of the Royal Bank must be reviewed and confirmed to have sufficient qualifications before making loans.

And in Australia, Arthur doesn't have to worry about the borrower absconding.

After all, before making a loan, the bank will determine whether the borrower has enough assets. If the person runs away, there will be houses and properties left behind, and the bank will not lose money.

Moreover, the currently developing Australasia is full of opportunities to make money, and there are already hundreds of foreign companies stationed in Australasia.

Smart people can see such opportunities, which is why many people take out loans.

Although Arthur founded the Royal Bank mainly to facilitate his own capital operation and control Australasia's finances.

But the current Royal Bank has also become a highly profitable industry, with annual revenues of millions of Australian dollars, and this is because the Royal Bank's business is mainly in Australasia.

"In addition to the Royal Bank, our military factories and shipyards are also developing very smoothly. The number of employees in the military factory has exceeded 8,000, making it the largest military factory in Australasia and the one that can manufacture the most weapons. The number of employees in the shipyard has also exceeded 6,000, and it is also the largest shipyard in Australasia. These two military industrial enterprises can bring at least 3 million Australian dollars in revenue to the Royal Consortium every year, and their role is far greater than the revenue they create." Seeing that Arthur had no intention of asking, Butler Kent continued to report.

Needless to say, the importance of the two military enterprises, the military factory and the shipyard, to Arthur and Australasia is of course beyond words.

At present, most of Australasia's weapons and warships come from these two military enterprises. This is an important means for Arthur to maintain military power, and it is also an important condition for Australasia's rise.

For Arthur, the scale of the military factory and the shipyard must not only be large, but also larger and larger, in order to meet Arthur's expectations for Australasia.

"At present, the Royal Consortium also owns shares in thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises, private workshops, and factories, and the shareholding ratio mostly ranges from 1% to 40%. The total value of these shares also exceeds two million Australian dollars. Although these enterprises cannot bring any income to the Royal Consortium at present, our purpose of investing in them is not to make a profit, but to provide impetus for the development of all walks of life in Australasia. At present, at least one-tenth of these thousands of enterprises will eventually be able to make some progress, and perhaps some of them will become giants in a certain industry in more than ten years." Butler Kent said with a smile.

This behavior of the Royal Consortium is more like a training plan, cultivating industry giants in Australasia from scratch.

Anyway, even if we invest in thousands of companies, it won't cost too much money. If some of these companies can become industry giants in the future, it will be profitable for Arthur.

As for the investment in other companies, it can also be regarded as incidental. Anyway, most of the investment in these small and medium-sized enterprises is just a small fight.

"Which of these companies are currently large-scale companies?" Arthur asked.

It has been several years since the establishment of the Royal Consortium, which also means that some of these companies have been invested for several years.

After several years of development, it seems not difficult to have a certain scale, at least Arthur thinks so.

"Your Majesty, most of the companies we own shares in are in the food industry and light industry, and a few are in other industries. At present, there are several food industries in Sydney and Victoria that have reached a certain scale. The largest scale has reached more than 900 people, and there should be at least hundreds of factories with a scale of 100 people." Butler Kent replied.

The Australasian government also provides a lot of subsidies to these enterprises. In addition, the economic development of Australasia has always been stable, and the industrial zones also have a large number of indigenous labor forces. Therefore, it is not difficult to expand the scale of these factories.

In particular, these food industries made a lot of money during the previous famine in East Asia, and their scale has naturally experienced substantial expansion.

"Part of the reason why the number and scale of factories can be greatly expanded depends on the reason why we are driven by leading companies such as Benz Automobile Plant." Kent Butler explained.

"Your Majesty, you also know that Benz Automobile Factory is currently the world's largest automobile production company, and the scale of our local factory is also very large. The manufacturing of automobiles includes a variety of equipment and parts, and these parts are also used downstream. The small factories provide a lot of living space. Currently, three companies we have invested in have reached cooperation with Benz Automobile Factory, specifically to provide qualified quality rubber tires to Benz Automobile Factory.”

No matter which industrial zone it is in, the scale of industry is often like a complete assembly line, with each factory getting what it needs.

Just like Sydney's current industrial zone, the leading companies are still Arthur's Arms Factory and Benz Automobile Factory.

Not to mention the military factory, the Benz Automobile Factory provided many conveniences for the development of the industrial zone.

The Benz Automobile Factory is not large enough to support the production of all car parts and equipment, and there is no need to do so.

This has also resulted in a large number of small factories and workshops that can rely on the parts market of the Benz Automobile Factory for survival.

In the Sydney Industrial Zone, at least dozens of companies have reached cooperation with Benz Automobile Factory, specifically providing Benz Automobile Factory with tires, steering wheels, automotive glass, seat belts, dashboards, seats and other parts.

You must know that the annual production volume of Benz Automobile Factory reaches hundreds of thousands. These orders can fully support a large number of small factories. This is why the Sydney Industrial Zone has so far housed hundreds of factories, large and small.

Benz Automobile Factory needs steel, parts, etc. produced by other factories in the industrial zone, and other small factories also need various parts orders from Benz Automobile Factory.

At present, the annual output value of Sydney Industrial Zone exceeds 30 million Australian dollars, and the Benz Automobile Factory contributes a lot.

Arthur nodded, not surprised by this situation.

This situation is very common in industry. After all, no factory can guarantee that it is omnipotent and can independently produce all the parts and materials needed for its own products.

After all, if you build a separate production line for some parts and materials that are not needed in large quantities, it will not only require a lot of time, energy and funds, but the cost will often be less than a fraction of the investment, and the gain will not be worth the loss.

This is when the role of these small factories comes into play. Because they are small factories, they can focus on producing certain parts and materials. The occasional orders from the Benz Automobile Factory are enough for their survival for a year, and can also provide enough raw materials and parts for the Benz Automobile Factory.

Even Arthur's military factory actually has many small factories with cooperative relationships.

But because the military industry involves national and royal interests, these small factories are generally controlled by the royal family, even if they are only factories that produce wooden gun stocks.

"In addition to these large and small factories, we also control 31 mines, four oil fields, three hospitals, two universities, and a technical school. Together with newspapers, Australia currently owns There are basically royal consortiums in all walks of life in West Asia," Butler Kent said proudly.

In addition to the large amount of capital invested by Arthur, the efforts of Butler Kent are also extremely important for the royal consortium to have its current scale.

As the former butler of old Duke Arthur, Butler Kent's financial ability and vision naturally go without saying, otherwise he would not be managing the private property of old Duke Arthur.

Coupled with the help of a large number of economic experts from Europe and Australasia hired by Arthur, the massive expansion of the royal consortium seems to have become normal.

Hearing Butler Kent's slightly proud words, Arthur couldn't help but smile and said very sincerely: "The royal consortium can achieve its current scale, and you owe a lot to it, Butler Kent. The royal family and I will remember you and Kent." Thanks to the minister’s contribution, the relationship between the Laurent family and the royal family will last forever!”

Steward Kent and his eldest son, Minister Kent, both came from the Laurent family. This name was given to the Kent housekeeper by the old Duke Arthur, so it is natural to see the relationship between the Loren family and the royal family.

In fact, the relationship between nobles and butlers in Europe has a long history. If nothing unexpected happens, the son of Kent's butler will become the butler of Arthur's descendants, and the same will be true for the next generation. This is the relationship between the master's family and the servant's family, which is inseparable. .

It is precisely because of this relationship that Butler Kent is Arthur's most trustworthy and loyal subordinate, and Minister Kent is also placed in an important position such as the Ministry of Defense by Arthur.

Most of Arthur's military power can be easily controlled by Minister Kent's position in the Ministry of Defense.

Arthur grew up under the watch of Butler Kent, and Butler Kent was almost completely loyal to Arthur.

After receiving such sincere words from Arthur, Butler Kent was almost in tears and said excitedly: "Your Majesty, please rest assured that the Lauren family and I will always stand firmly in front of His Majesty, and the Lauren family will always stand firm. A servant of the royal family!"

Yes, a servant, not a subordinate. Although he seems to be of a lower status, the intimacy of this relationship is definitely greater than that of a subordinate. For Arthur, Butler Kent is definitely one of the people he trusts the most.

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