Super Righteous Player
Chapter 879 - 416: But he gave way too much

Chapter 879: Chapter 416: But he gave way too much

There was nothing not to agree with the condition.

Annan was very clear about the purpose of the fourth radiant.

Banks, exchanges, markets, and the like were all considered sacred places for the Silver Baron; however, among these, banks were actually the most important.

Because they held the crucial powers of "storage" and "lending," which directly made them the center of trading behavior, an essential cornerstone. Just as the gods always needed to plant a crystal tower before they could build other structures.

When the Duchy of Winter began to implement the banking system and established banks in all cities... it meant that the church of the Silver Baron would definitely send people to the major cities of the Winter Duchy.

It looked like an expansionist behavior and indeed it was.

But it was not a bad thing.

— First of all, it should be noted that although Winter was a nation with the Grandmother as its guardian deity, the people of Winter did not recognize only the Grandmother.

They still used the standardized silver coins issued by the Silver Baron’s church, which meant they recognized the Silver Baron; they also held funerals for the deceased, which meant they recognized the Bone Mother; when they went on expeditions they blew horns, which also meant they recognized the Red Knight...

The domains of the twelve True Gods had essentially covered all the ordinary daily activities of a normal country.

Even opening a bank in Winter was only putting this "respect" out in the open, turning it into a reality—that is to say, selecting a portion of the Winter people to serve as priests for the Silver Baron, to undertake local construction.

This was also a tradition held by the church of the Silver Baron.

The act of "trading" had a significant degree of "locality."

Different places had different customs and different rules.

Thus, the church of the Silver Baron rarely assigned native priests of Noah to other places... but rather sent bishops who were skilled in management and knew people well to different dioceses to recruit local people as clergy.

This meant that in the Duchy of Winter, in addition to the priests of the Grandmother, there would also be priests of the Silver Baron.

Even if their responsibilities were only limited to managing the banks, this would reduce the "sole authority" represented by the church of the Grandmother significantly.

— However, this might not necessarily be a bad thing for the Duchy of Winter. It could open their eyes, prevent them from always sticking to "tradition" for their activities, and instead ignite the vitality of the young people.

And...

... he had offered too much.

Those ten million gold coins were excessive.

Annan now, as a grand duke, could dispatch, and instantly use, less than two hundred thousand gold coins—these belonged to the Winter "family" funds. Even if all the gold coins in the public treasury of the duchy were counted, they would not exceed one million... and accessing these funds was very troublesome.

Because the annual tax revenue of the Duchy of Winter was also less than one hundred eighty thousand gold coins—of which nearly one hundred thousand were used for the military and for building defensive facilities, more than half of the total tax revenue. Thus, in recent years, the Duchy of Winter had also begun to massively reduce their troops.

Even when the grand duke did not have personal luxury needs like building palaces, the annual tax revenue of the Duchy of Winter was still far from enough to cover their expenditures.

On average, the Duchy of Winter was losing forty to fifty thousand gold coins each year. This was also the major reason they could not afford wars, could not regain Frostwater Harbor... and why they did not repair roads or bridges, and almost didn’t build new constructions.

If Annan could secure these ten million, it meant he could immediately prepare a tax reduction policy for five to ten years, and even offer some subsidies to ensure businesses did not flee and provide sufficient job opportunities within the small barriers of the cities.

He could also buy some lands in the Underground City and relocate factories that occupied large areas and polluted the air within the small barrier to underground—thus, the economical situation of the entire Duchy of Winter would immediately improve.

They could even recruit a considerable number of senior technical personnel from the Holy Nation... generally, they were followers of the Father of Guns.

But the gift was really too large.

It was like a "one-dollar starting bid" kind of publicity stunt.

Annan instinctively suspected there must be a catch.

"I suppose you wouldn’t just send this ten million directly to me."

Annan joked, "Otherwise, I think I might need to organize a cargo train for a whole week to transport it."

"Of course, it will not be cash... the church does not have too much cash reserve, this batch of silver coins needs to be newly minted."

The fourth radiant nodded, "If needed, we can mint any amount of money. But that is meaningless, as it would only cause rapid depreciation of money... If we slow it down, the depreciation rate will be much lower. It’s good for both Your Majesty and us.

"Besides, you won’t be able to use up so much money all at once—having money piled up in Your Majesty’s hands will only increase the figures in the national treasury, but here it can continue to accrue value.

"This ten million gold coins, I plan to send over a period of five years. Between thirty to fifty percent can be exchanged for foreign trade goods produced here in Noah, and offset at seventy percent of the normal purchase price."

Annan raised his eyebrows.

He tasted something else in the old Pope’s words.

"Is the economic situation not so good in Noah recently?"

Annan asked back.

The fourth radiant looked at Annan in slight surprise.

He couldn’t help but express his admiration, "As expected of you, Your Majesty Annan. The Silver Baron once told me that if it were you, you would definitely see the problem in Noah at a glance. I was somewhat skeptical at the time, but it turns out to be true.

"The situation here in Noah is different from that in Winter. The main problem in Winter is the lack of labor—a massive drain of young labor force, leading to an increased proportion of the elderly and children who cannot work.

"Besides the lack of labor, there is also a lack of land. The doming barrier of Winter is unlike ours, its side effect generates ceaseless blizzards... These blizzards can prevent invasions from other countries, but at the same time, they limit the expansion of the industry and significantly reduce agricultural land."

Due to further reductions in arable land with the impending Winter years, this had led to the Duchy of Winter heavily depending on food imports.

The lack of young and healthy labor, factories constrained by land availability struggling to expand, and the blizzard barrier forcing reliance on subterranean rail transport all increased the costs for factories.

As for the problem of "excessive dependence on food imports," which would create troubles in the long run, they didn’t even need to manage it yet—because a more pressing issue was in front of them.

That was how to address the shortages in labor and materials.

But with aid, this was the easiest to solve.

"And here in Noah, the situation is somewhat different."

The fourth radiant sighed.

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