Chapter 467 The Royal Family’s Dilemma 7

After a comprehensive introduction to the so-called secondary industry, Irene began to make serious suggestions to her father and sister.

“As for the first type of restriction, that is, technical restriction, I suggest that the Kingdom enact a decree to protect technology patents. After an advanced technology is invented, its inventor can apply to the Royal Government for patent protection, and the technology can be used by others. , but a certain usage fee should be paid to the patent owner, and this usage fee should be set by the royal government to a unified standard based on the value of the technology, so that it is not too low to harm the interests of the patent owner, and not too high. So high that it discourages others and affects its promotion and use.”

At this time, she stopped, thought for a moment and said:

“Regarding this decree, I suggest that we directly appropriate or refer to the patent protection law currently used by the Northwest Gulf Customs Union. The laws there are quite mature, which also facilitates the introduction of various relatively advanced production technologies in the Northwest Gulf. "

"In view of the second type of restrictions, which are restrictions on production methods, I suggest that the kingdom build large-scale workshops, gather all people engaged in the same production activities in the workshops, manage the craftsmen like an army, and let them communicate with each other and compare their skills. At the overall level, the centralization of production can greatly reduce the cost of goods storage and transportation, and can also avoid the waste of raw materials. For those more complex production activities, a group of people can be designated to be responsible for one link. They will complete this part and hand it over to another group of people to complete the next link. The product will flow through the hands of different people like running water and finally take shape. And being responsible for a small part for a long period of time allows a person to become more proficient in that part of the craft more quickly—and makes him more dependent on the group.”

“In addition, I also suggest establishing a special school to teach craftsman skills, and train qualified craftsmen [in batches]. We can also grant different levels of titles to the craftsmen according to their skill level, just like the titles of nobles are also divided into levels. "

After saying so much, Erin felt a little thirsty.

The royal servants on standby in the meeting hall promptly brought honey water to the princess to quench her thirst.

Taking advantage of her sister's moment of rest, Catherine reviewed Irene's words in her mind.

She caught a strange word - customs union.

"Eileen, what do you mean by [Customs Union]? It sounds like an organization."

Erin nodded towards her sister, "This is an organization. And its establishment has a lot to do with what I call the third type of restriction - demand."

"A few years ago, the Northwest Bay, like other territories of the kingdom, was full of checkpoints. Later, at the suggestion of Count Paul Grayman, the major lords canceled tariffs between each other to promote the circulation of internal goods. This is Customs Union.”

"Without tariffs, the cost of merchants selling goods was greatly reduced, which greatly increased their desire to buy and sell goods, and commerce in the Northwest Gulf developed rapidly."

Catherine interjected and asked: "After the tariffs are cancelled, won't the income of the territory be reduced by a large amount?"

Eileen explained to her: "There are no tariffs within the alliance, but there are still taxes on the circulation of goods outside the alliance, and the income taxes are distributed according to the population of each territory. In the early days of the alliance, even though there were Due to some technical advantages, the manufacturing industry in the Northwest Gulf is still relatively weak compared to other regions, so they have to use tariffs to protect local industries.”

"Furthermore, the accumulation of wealth is a dynamic process. Take Earl Grayman's Arda Territory as an example. Although the income of the territory dropped to a certain extent in the early stage, without internal tariffs, the prices of goods in the territory have been greatly reduced. , which directly stimulates people’s consumption desire, and the market When it became active, supply exceeded demand, so new factories continued to be built and new shops opened. Alda also retained taxes on business. Although the tariffs were gone, commercial taxes began to increase exponentially. The territory’s overall revenue doubled several times in just a few years.”

“One way to increase people’s demand and purchasing desire is that for the royal government, it can reduce exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. For the private sector, it can set a cap on the rent that landlords collect from tenants, so that farmers can save some money. ”

"Of course, the increase in Arda's income is also related to overseas trade. After our own industry develops, we can also follow the example of the Northwest Gulf and build a huge ocean-going trade fleet..."

The king listened with interest to his youngest daughter's description.

Finally, he laughed and said, "Eileen, although I am upset about your behavior of running away from home, I have to admit that you have indeed gained a lot of knowledge during your trip to the northwest."

He turned to Catherine and said: "Maybe we can choose a few things to try, such as building a few workshops and technical schools, oh, and patent protection, we can also try it."

Eileen pouted after hearing this, "Father, why don't you just take it one step at a time? I've seen it before, and those measures are all effective."

The king shook his head and said: "The area and population of the royal territory are far larger than that of the Northwest Gulf, and the complexity of each problem is far greater than that of the Northwest Gulf. At least for now, the kingdom cannot accept a decrease in fiscal revenue, even if it is only for a few years. . Moreover, even Count Grayman didn’t just create the so-called customs union right away?”

"Uh...that's true."

Erin recalled the scenes of attending the Council of State Council meetings in the Northwest Bay. Paul always sighed and lamented why his reforms encountered so much resistance.

It is estimated that he will encounter a lot of resistance in the royal territory.

Thinking of this, she said to her father: "In this case, please send someone to the Northwest Bay to talk to Earl Graman. There are many ready-made new technologies there. If they can be introduced to the royal territory, they will definitely produce results soon. The royal family can take the lead and jointly establish a joint-stock enterprise with the southern nobles."

"Joint-stock enterprise?"

"Yes, it is actually a partnership to do business and distribute dividends according to the proportion of shares."

"Oh, that's right."

"The profits can be distributed to those southern nobles, and money can be used to smooth out their sense of loss of territory. Oh, right..."

Erin eagerly requested: "Please ask father to bring in the paper mill first. My school... the royal territory needs a lot of paper."

The king agreed: "I understand what you mean."

He picked up the minutes of the meeting on the table and kept stroking the paper used for recording with two fingers.

"So this kind of useful paper comes from Northwest Bay. That's great. It was the Aldo who invented this kind of paper. Okay!"

He made a decision, "I'll send..."

No mistakes, one sentence, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar!

"Father!" Irene suddenly said, "I can share your worries. I'm very familiar with Northwest Bay, and I've also made friends with Earl Graman. I also bought a house in Lake Heart Town."

"Hmph! You stay in Jingyao honestly."

The king rejected Irene's proposal without question.

"I'll send your cousin to talk to Earl Graman."

"Your Majesty!"

Irene's voice contained dissatisfaction.

...

It seems that the starting point of a series of changes in Northwest Bay is this Earl Paul Graman.

Catherine on the side thought silently.

What kind of person is he?

The eldest princess suddenly became a little interested in this vassal of the kingdom thousands of miles away.

She even had the idea of ​​meeting him.