Chapter 331

Since the flying shuttle loom and spinning jenny were displayed at the press conference in October, many people in the textile industry have expressed their intention to buy them.

Under Paul's instructions, the machinery factory announced that there were still some technical problems with the spinning jenny that had not been solved, and the sales were temporarily suspended, which disappointed many factory owners.

However, the flying shuttle loom was launched as scheduled, and the Huxin Town Machinery Factory still received a large number of orders. Driven by demand, the machinery factory expanded and began to recruit new apprentices to prepare for mass production of flying shuttle looms.

In addition to flying shuttle looms, agricultural machinery such as cotton gins, threshers, hay cutters, root cutters, and mills were also popular, and these machines were also included in the production increase plan.

The sales of new machinery brought Paul a lot of wealth and income. Although Paul took the initiative to separate the public treasury from the private treasury, the Huxin Town Machinery Factory was the property of the Graman family rather than under the jurisdiction of the State Council, and all its income went into Paul's private treasury.

But the machinery factory also needs to pay taxes like other factories opened by factory owners, and these taxes are deposited into the treasury of the Administrative Council. Many people don't understand this point. In their understanding, the entire territory belongs to the Graman family. The function of the Administrative Council is to help the lord manage the affairs of the territory. They only obey Paul's orders. Paul has the final say over the treasury under the jurisdiction of the Administrative Council. So what is the difference between the Graman family's machinery factory paying taxes to the Administrative Council and a person handing money from the left hand to the right hand?

But even though more than one person raised doubts about this, Paul still insisted that there was such a procedure, and in terms of complying with other laws, all the Graman family industries, including the machinery factory, were no different from other folk factories and workshops.

Another thing that made Paul happy was the development of maritime trade. With the continuous construction of civilian sailing ships, the proportion of goods transported by sea in export goods increased, which meant that the goods sold to the south were exploited by a number of territory checkpoints on land for less and less money.

In order to further develop maritime trade, the State Council spent a lot of money to buy a shipyard under the name of Earl Price Parker. This shipyard also occupies a natural harbor. The Fulan Port Shipyard sent a large number of management and technical personnel to take over the shipyard and carry out the transformation of equipment and facilities, train the old craftsmen of the shipyard, and prepare to produce new ships that meet the needs of Alda.

Expanding the [domestic demand] of the vast area of ​​the Northwest Bay is also within the plan of Paul and the State Council. Since Paul proposed the "Customs Union" plan to Henry Ferdinand, who had just succeeded to the throne of the Duke, in Cent City, he has successively sold his plan to other lords. For several months, the major lords have been exchanging letters frequently, discussing the so-called "Customs Union" and secretly calculating the pros and cons of it to themselves.

Before the outsiders reached a unified opinion, the insiders started to quarrel. Abolishing tariffs is a big deal. According to ancient tradition, Paul and Mellon jointly summoned the celebrities and nobles in Alda, Bayerdin and Emden, which was recently under the jurisdiction of the Council of State, the lower nobles, the big estate owners, and the powerful merchants and factory owners to gather in Lake Heart Town. Paul asked them for their opinions on the plan to form a customs union, and explained that the significance of establishing a customs union is to reduce or even cancel tariffs between the territories of the Northwest Bay, remove trade barriers between each other, and thus form a close trade and economic area.

Originally, Paul thought that this was just a formality, and these people would unconditionally support the decision of the lord, but unexpectedly encountered strong resistance.

Merchants and factory owners welcomed this plan very much, because it would greatly reduce the cost of importing goods and raw materials from outside, and if other territories also implemented the same policy, the cost of selling goods to other territories would also be reduced.

The opposing opinions came from the manor owners or landlords. Their land produced the goods and raw materials needed by merchants and factory owners, such as grain for making food and brewing, cotton and wool for textiles, etc. Once the tariffs were reduced or even abolished, the skilled merchants and factory owners would have more choices, which would greatly reduce the competitiveness of their crops and seriously affect their income.

Cutting off someone's wealth is like killing their parents. In the past, Paul promoted crop rotation, integrated cultivated land, and even checked the real estate. Although the landlords complained about the lords' repeated tossing, they basically cooperated. After all, many measures were also beneficial to them in the long run. However, they showed strong opposition to the tariffs and were unprecedentedly united.

The lower nobles of Bayerdin and Emden, according to their respective territories or the industries they personally operated, occupied the majority, either expressing support or opposition.

Paul now understood that tariffs were not just a means for the lords to make money, but also a protection for the promises of supporters in the territory. In this era when agriculture dominated, the feudal nobles relied most on the landlords in their territories. The lords protected the interests of the landlords by issuing a series of policies including tariffs, and the landlords contributed money and effort to maintain the lords' power and majesty, and sent the best children in their families to join the lords' army to serve as attendants, officers and other important positions. The lords had no other choice. If they did not let the children of these big families take the positions, would they let illiterate peasants or children of serfs take the positions? They could not even communicate well.

Many of the landlords in Bayerdin and Emden were knights. They were an important part of the military force in the former territory. Although there were no real knights in Alda, the same was true. Most of the officers of the new army after the reform were from the sons of landlord families. After all, they knew how to read from the beginning.

Due to too much resistance, Paul had to announce that the matter would be discussed later. The opponents breathed a sigh of relief and left the lake town one after another after touring the new atmosphere of the lake town. Although they could see that the earl was a hundred times reluctant.

The first thing Paul did after the meeting was to discuss the rewards of the army with Chief of Staff Schroeder. In the war of usurpers, many officers commanded well and they needed to be promoted, and many soldiers fought bravely and they needed rewards.

"I have no objection to your plan."

Paul took a quill pen and put a big check mark on the plan Schroeder handed him, and signed his name.

"But in this way, there will be many positions for junior officers left vacant, right?"

"Yes, sir." Schroeder replied, "The plan is to recruit veterans with military merit and students of Graman Academy."

"Well, very good. But..." Paul stared at the old knight's eyes and said slowly: "Regarding the origin of new officers...you have to control this ratio."

Schroeder gave the lord a reassuring look, "Lord Graman, I will control it."

No mistake, one sentence, one content, one content, one book, one bar, one 6, one book, one bar!

The lord had discussed this issue with him a long time ago, and he also knew the lord's purpose in doing so. He originally wanted to spend several years to gradually reverse it, but the earl seemed a little impatient.

The earl's words echoed in the room.

"Schroeder, I need the staff...no, it's my own will, which can directly affect the company and platoon level."