Chương 64: new year new expenses
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POV of Wilhelm
With the arrival of the new year, in addition to the peace that everyone expected, in the reach came the event that the Prussians were eagerly waiting for
The first harvest that was produced in the first month of each year, which as expected, was extremely abundant, the Prussian administration was working tirelessly to account for all the taxes that the small folks had to pay for the harvest and also to begin processing the almost endless amounts of grain that came in all directions from the Prussian territories to the mills that the locals had.
But as the Prussians foresaw the amount of grain produced each harvest to be less than the capacity of the mills of the ancient overlords, the Prussian engineers dusted off the designs of their greatest references, the Romans.
The Prussians managed to build a system of twenty water mills near the new Prussian capital, which were being used to convert the grains of barley, wheat and rye, one of the samples of the engineering that the Prussians had brought to the lands of the Westerosi, only with the power of the river the Prussians were processing enormous quantities of tons of grains every day and also the capacity of processing grains had been overwhelmed.
Which was well received by all the areas that had suffered a great deal in the war and many lords began to buy grain, to try to mitigate the effects that the famine was generating in their lands, which was filling the Prussian coffers.
''Oh this is very good, how much is our share'' I said excitedly.
''Well my king, if we deduct the taxes you must give to the crown, this harvest is almost six million golden dragons in profit, we got very good prices while negotiating with the merchants who didn't want to return to another port with an empty hold'' said a quartermaster officer reading the income report
''These are excellent numbers, considering that the farming techniques of the westerosis are basic, we can greatly increase the income in the next harvest if we can make them start using our farming techniques, but we certainly need to build more mills, we have fallen far behind with the ability to process the grains into flour'' said Friedrich von Roon after listening to the report
''With all due respect Herr Roon, but we believe that next harvest there will be a decrease in income, grain prices are very high due to shortages and as well no one can live without eating, necessity has led to food prices being at historic highs, but when the grain supply becomes regular again prices may go down and with the production improvements we will introduce we may maintain or have a reduction in our income'' said the quartermaster officer.
''Thank you for the correction,'' von Roon said.
''Likewise, we cannot increase grain production, without control... yes I know what I say is crazy, but the seven kingdoms are not overpopulated like our kingdom and therefore if we lower the grain prices too much it will affect our neighbors and nobody wants angry neighbors because the common way of earning money through crop taxes went to hell for us... that is why we must diversify our income and not depend so heavily on the basic agriculture of wheat and barley'' I said looking at all the nobles surrounding me
''Any business you want us to enter with force?'' asked von Roon very interested.
''Two precisely, for the moment we will gain a lot if we can get everyone to buy them, the sugar and the distilled spirits'' I said with a smile
''Sugar, sugar, sugar'' whispered von Roon while thinking
''We won't have competition with the sugar business, everything is imported, every time you see some noble eating sweets, cakes or anything with sugar they must know that they paid huge amounts of coins for the stuff to come to them from another side of the world or it could be honey which is only produced in very specific areas so it is rare anyway, but its mass production is difficult for now'' I said while showing a sugar beet
''But this grows here, the sugar beet, but it is animal food, the westerosis have had practically in their face the means to produce sugar, but they never realized it, we only have to process it, look for the means to mass produce it, already in its agricultural part planting it and the industrial part in its process to sugar and as it will be produced here the foreign merchants will lose their market and it will be all ours'' I said leaving the beet in the table
''Essos?'', asked a nobleman.
''Exactly, but to be precise Pentos and Myr, free cities that long stretches of fertile land that are dedicated to the production of cash crops, produce it from sugar cane, as did the Spanish in their American colonies, if we start planting the sugar beet in huge quantities we could turn that luxury item into a commonly used commodity which would give us huge income over time because competition would be very low, especially for the cost of transportation from essos the seven kingdoms''I said smiling
''We must come up with a plan, I doubt the westerosis will plant this voluntarily, as you said my king it is animal food and they might not be happy with having to sell their share'' Roon said
''Exactly I wish to establish a new rule, which will make it much easier to control it... we are going to abolish serfdom, or well only the part that the serfs can work the land where they settle that way we can offer other alternatives, plantations directed by the state, where we will give a salary to the farmers in exchange for planting the seeds that we indicate to them which will make it much easier for the westerosis to start applying our agricultural techniques''.
''Since the fear that all the farmers may have disappears when they see that they will receive a payment every month for doing what we say, it will even be a much better deal because after each harvest they will not have to be the ones to sell their harvest directly they will receive a payment which will make many people join us in our work'' I said while taking out a map.
''The report I asked you for about the census'' I said as I looked at the quartermaster officer.
''Yes my king... the average income of a peasant in the reach is from sixteen silver coins to twenty-six each month depending on the value of the grains, for example this harvest we believe they will be earning around twenty-three silver coins from the sale of their share of the crops on average'' said the quartermaster reading his papers
''If we offer them a stable pay, they will come to our fold, the human is a social animal that looks for security and stability, if we pay them, they will feel secure and they will obey, for the moment we will do it in certain places, where our influence is stronger, so we will use the lands around Highgarden as a test start'' I said while pointing around the castle that we did not use.
''It would be wise for us to force the peasants to move from their lands to that specific area, gathering all the people from the small towns that don't have a permanent administration, it will be easier to control them and we can make them live in our housing projects, increasing our income from the rent of the properties, besides in the future it will be easier to create a conscription system if we have organized cantons'' said Roon with his eyes fixed on the areas where we could establish the new city.
''It won't be popular with the small folks, no one likes to leave their home that they've probably had for generations'' said a nobleman
''We don't care what the westerosis think we care about the results and having them live in small communities of thirty to forty people is inefficient, since we must have administrators in those areas, we waste time in travel, besides it is already known that the rebels hide in those places because of the little presence we can exert in the areas, in the same way it is much better that we force them to move and we can control them, where our patrols could help to detect their attacks and not rely so much on our spy network to find the rebel cells''said Roon with a serious tone.
''It would be an interesting experiment, expensive, but interesting'' I said as I thought about the costs.
''Can we afford to build a few small cities near Highgarden? that will allow us to house huge numbers of workers'', Roon asked.
''We have the gold, it will only be the long-term costs, that's the problem, our current expenses amount to...''' I said looking at the quartermaster officer.
''close to fourteen million dragons annually, mainly due to the rewards that are being distributed to the soldiers for their years of service, my king, with the current expenditure, without considering this exceptional expense, we could last about five years in deficit, before we should adjust the budget'' said the quartermaster officer, quickly reviewing his papers
''This is an important investment because for example we earn every month twenty thousand golden dragons in rent payments, it will take time, but we will recover our investment, so let's do it, we will approve that, about one hundred thousand people we must move to populate this new city'' I said pointing at the map
''Well and the other idea was the distilleries to produce alcohol, they are already in production, I had in mind tumbleton is the most central area and close to the heart of the seven kingdoms and will allow us to supply grain through the river, produce alcohol, both for local consumption and for export because I guess nobody likes to drink the brews of the westerosis'' I said smiling
''Hop water'' said a nobleman.
''And what do you expect they drink it so they don't get sick with dysentery, they can't afford wine and they don't seem to know that vinegar in water produces the same effect of preventing the disease'' said another noble laughing a bit
''This business should be a little more difficult to expand, as it is something strange for them and as everything strange will seem dangerous in their eyes, so we will have to take diplomatic measures for the expansion of the product, the moment the first liquors are produced we will send some diplomats to all the neighboring lords with liquors as gifts, we will use barrels... how is the production of crystal in ashford going?'', I said and I stopped to ask something to the quartermaster officer
''Poorly... lack of experience, my king.... they still create a green or very opaque glass that has a milky color, not the transparent color you asked for... the operation supervisor asked for more time for the glassblowers to get used to the job'' said the quartermaster lowering his head.
''Hell... it would have been a nice gift if we sent them in a beautiful clear glass bottle, it would almost look like a gift of jewelry to them... just barrels, for the moment, so we will expand the idea of these liquor distillates and find more ways to fight the deficit we have generated'' I said while placing my hand on my chin.
What about the gold mine that was found in the torentine river, could it solve that deficit?'' said a nobleman.
''The facilities for washing the dirt are in process, it is not the conventional gold mine where the ore is chopped, the earth has a lot of gold content, in the process of building a fortress the soldiers started to wash the dirt they were taking out and in three days they had taken out enough gold for the month's pay, for the moment it was preferred to wash the dirt rather than general mining because for the moment we plan to establish furnaces in the area to process the gold and at the same time we are requesting coin patterns from the crown to start minting our own coins,'' said Roon reading a report from the governor of the area.
''When would the gold mine be operational at the present pace?,'' I asked Roon.
''Six months or next year, all the governor's resources are concentrated on defending the area by building forts where the torentine can be crossed on foot, the governor considers it foolish to concentrate on the mine first before the defenses considering the Dornish could launch a raid at any time when they discover that the area they have just abandoned has gold'' Roon replied
''Very wise of him..... good recommendation Roon, I would like to assign more men for the mine, but we are already collapsed with all the internal problems''I said as I relaxed in the chair.
''By the way what about our hunter?'', I asked Antti who was behind me.
''Trained their new beast, soon they will be out hunting again, and the rebels will feel the fear'' answered Antti
''Perfect, well, I'm ending this meeting, let's get to work'' he said pointing to the exit.
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