Year-end meeting

Throughout December, everyone had their own work to do.

Su Qin needed to help train the archers. In the future, the Qilin Guard would have to be elite soldiers who could shoot bows and wield blades on horseback, then dismount to wield spears and form ranks.

In his spare time, Su Qin had to shut himself in the library and pore over books on craftsmanship. After all, to get rich, first build roads. He still needed to work out a design for a brick kiln himself.

Whenever he thought of an idea, he would write and sketch it on paper first. Sometimes, he needed to ask Delia and the craftsmen for specific suggestions.

Delia continued leading the farmers in building five-household farms. In the end, Su Qin still chose to sell some grain.

He sold a total of 10,000 units of corn, which proved very popular with the merchants from Pentos.

Even though Su Qin told them it could only be grown on his land, those merchants still flocked to it! They just wanted to try! If it failed, they would deal with that later!

They even offered the high price of ten copper coins per jin! After all, corn was drought-resistant!

Meanwhile, Yaron continued waiting with the troops for the siege engines to be completed!

Ten thousand units of corn amounted to 300,000 jin!

It sold at the extremely high price of ten copper coins per jin! The merchants believed the farm owners of Pentos would definitely be interested in it! Even knowing it would not sprout, they would certainly give it a try!

Thus, Su Qin earned 3,000 gold!

The first thing he did was repay the 1,000 gold he owed his wife's family!

That money had been borrowed, and borrowed money had to be repaid!

His wife wanting to spend money on him because she loved him was another matter. Money explicitly borrowed had to be repaid, even if it came from his parents!

Whether his parents accepted it was their own business!

That was his bottom line!

But clearly, Delia did not accept it!

Su Qin's willingness to repay it was already enough to reassure her and make her feel that House Royce's investment had been a success.

More importantly, Su Qin promised to bestow the Dragon God's blessing on Runestone if he had the opportunity in the future! Of course, by then, its lord would have changed! Such things were not uncommon in this world!

Someone who had been a knight of a certain house one moment could gain the right to inherit a great territory the next! They could become a superior or an equal!

Together with his remaining funds, he had just 3,600 gold left!

The little money from the lord's private holdings was not included in the tally, because the brothers Red and Kend from Gull The Smith's Shop outside had long since become master craftsmen at the fourth and fifth large smithies! Su Qin had long since started using the logging camp outside as a public resource!

There was another problem. Su Qin had once promised to give each household one gold a year for daily living expenses, and there was also the money he owed for buying grain earlier.

But there were now 2,800 households! He simply could not afford it!

At present, Su Qin was using a semi-collective labor system!

When Su Qin guiltily told the people about this,

someone actually took the lead in saying that the farming tools distributed to them were already worth a great deal. Besides, Su Qin collected the grain centrally and redistributed it equally, allowing every household to have roughly the same amount of surplus grain.

They said being able to survive was already good enough!

More importantly, they had something to look forward to now!

They had stone-and-brick houses to live in, and their quality of life was much better than in other regions!

Of course, once Lower Gulltown was completed, the initial accumulation of capital would be more or less finished. Those who came later would have to work in the future industrial district in exchange for gold coins!

He would build houses himself and sell them to those people, along with title deeds to four mu of land per household, of course! The houses would not be expensive, naturally. This world's population needed vigorous growth!

On these grounds, the farmers refused their wages for the year!

Someone taking the lead in saying this greatly reassured Su Qin.

But what was owed still had to be paid. He would repay the money owed to the farmers next year. That was a promise!

The question was, how should he spend the 3,600 gold?

So Su Qin held a year-end meeting!

At the end of December, Seagull Castle was bustling.

The minor nobles had all brought their families, wives, and children to attend the banquet.

Delia was hosting the banquet, and everyone was strengthening their relationships.

The nobles had enjoyed a good year! Su Qin paid generous salaries!

But there were certainly people who felt jealous and regretful, because Su Qin had brought all the land under his direct control! And the corn yields were so high!

But when they learned corn could only grow on land blessed by the Dragon God, they stopped feeling jealous!

If the lord alone profited, that was all right! If some nobles' farms could grow corn, there would inevitably be a shadowy struggle behind the scenes!

Meanwhile, Su Qin was gathering all the nobles and major merchants in the territory for a year-end meeting in the large conference room on the ground floor!

Their families were attending the year-end banquet outside, while they themselves had to attend a formal meeting with their lord!

In the large conference room, minor nobles filled the seats on both sides.

The ministers seated at the table were the people who currently held real power in Gulltown.

Aila, commander of the Qilin Guard!

Nack, minister of logistics!

Telang, right Master of Coin!

Luke, minister of the Patrol Guard!

Gery, minister of manufacturing!

Leike, minister of military affairs!

Kelun, minister of intelligence!

Before he knew it, the table was almost full!

Su Qin looked at the ministers and nobles on either side and said, "All right, quiet down, everyone. The meeting is about to begin!"

His surroundings immediately fell silent. Kelun's youngest son, Kerry, was taking the minutes. He was already quite practiced at it, and his politics had actually increased by three points! Truly terrifying!

Su Qin drank a cup of wine from the table, rubbed the ball on the table, and said,

"First, thank you all for working diligently during my first year in office without making any major mistakes. I imagine you've also come to understand some of my rules!"

The ministers nodded, as did the merchants and minor nobles around them.

The rules were: no arbitrarily oppressing commoners! No challenging the lord's authority! No privately trading farmland!

Su Qin studied the ministers' expressions. He was very satisfied. Their loyalty was all above 85.

Except for the old nobles led by Telang! Theirs had fallen to 80!

Because Su Qin had stripped them of their land, and with corn yields so high, they felt he had set a trap for them!

But Su Qin's army and his authority among the people were too great! They could only trust in the subsequent compensation promised by the Baron of Gulltown!

Once the atmosphere was about right, Su Qin continued speaking. Of course, he swept his gaze over the surrounding nobles to put psychological pressure on them!

Looking at Telang, the right Master of Coin, Su Qin thought he seemed a little afraid.

Good, he should be afraid! It would be a problem if he weren't!

After looking over the nobles around him, Su Qin continued, "This year, we accomplished the great undertaking of reorganizing our subjects and shifting the entire population of the territory into agriculture!"

"We've gone from the original seven hundred households to 2,800 today!"

"I'm very satisfied with this result. More importantly, these commoners can all live better than before!"

The conference hall was utterly silent as everyone listened closely for the crucial information.

How exactly they would make money next year, and whether the lord would introduce new policies-those were what truly concerned them.

Su Qin knew the nobles did not care about commoners in their hearts, but he still had to say this first!

This was how the game worked. Making the other side understand the stance of those in power was crucial.

He looked around.

"The second matter is that bidding will now open for the trading district in central Lower Gulltown. Within the 640,000 square meters I've planned out in advance, I intend to establish a large trading plaza in the lower-right corner of Lower Gulltown's inner town, with some surrounding space reserved for shops!

"Construction on this commercial district should officially begin in AC 277!"

By then, he would definitely have some industrial foundations! The bricks and masonry materials should all have been fired!

Su Qin looked at the merchants around him, who were beginning to whisper among themselves. They were very interested!

"I'll need to inspect the things you sell to the people. You may only sell them with my permission. Also, the commercial tax I'll collect will be two in ten, or twenty percent. I imagine that's what concerns you!"

"Discuss this tax rate first. If you have any objections, raise them now. I'll come back once you've finished discussing it here!"

In fact, Su Qin intended to set not only commercial taxes but all other tax rates at around twenty percent in the future!

Although, in theory, all the commoners' property within his territory belonged to him, these commoners were not NPCs. They all had their own ideas. Economically, he needed to move toward the Renaissance!

In the future, he would certainly expand citizens' rights and put Gulltown ahead of the entire world in terms of its institutions!

With that, Su Qin picked up a glass of wine and walked out of the conference room.

The room grew noisy. With their lord present, they had not dared speak loudly!

In the banquet hall not far outside the conference room, the nobles' and merchants' families were chatting with Delia and the others. They were mainly the wives of Su Qin's ministers and the like. Socializing was one of the essential lessons for noblewomen!

At the banquet, some nobles noticed the lord of Gull Territory leaning in the doorway, watching the banquet.

Delia also spotted Su Qin and raised her glass to him. Su Qin raised his own in acknowledgment.

After waiting for roughly a quarter of an hour, Su Qin slowly returned to the conference room.

As soon as Su Qin sat down, the merchants' representative, Minister of Intelligence Kelun, said, "My lord, we're very satisfied with this tax rate, but we'd like to ask whether the docking tax will also be two in ten!"

A docking tax of two in ten was half the original rate! This would make many foreign merchants eager to visit Gulltown!

Su Qin smiled. "Foreign seaborne merchants will also pay two in ten when docking. As for cargo ships belonging to local Gulltown merchants..."

Su Qin looked at the merchants around him. They were watching him eagerly!

"When local merchants dock to sell goods elsewhere, I won't charge you a docking tax!"

The minor nobles and small merchants on either side nodded. They were very satisfied!

Su Qin signaled for Kelun to get up and ask the merchants! The merchants needed an opportunity to speak! None of them dared offer their opinions to him directly!

Kelun stood up again and made a round of inquiries before sitting down. "My lord, the merchants are very satisfied with the tax rate. They are also interested in purchasing corn or cornmeal at high prices. They believe this long-lost grain can fetch a good price!"

Curious, Su Qin asked, "There used to be corn on the continent?"

Kelun smiled. There was a town in the Westerlands called Cornfield. Hadn't the maesters shipped away a boatload a while ago? It was easy to guess that records of this crop existed, wasn't it? But he could not say that outright. After some thought, Kelun said, "My lord, ancient books from Asshai record that corn existed five thousand years ago!"

"Five thousand years ago?" Su Qin silently noted it down!

"We'll discuss officially selling corn outside the territory at the end of April this year!"

Grain could not be sold carelessly! Who it was sold to mattered greatly!

Once everything was settled, Su Qin looked to either side, then at Telang.

"The final major matter is that I will provide concrete compensation to the three houses of Augustus, Kiel, and Aite for taking your fiefs!"

Telang immediately raised his head. The other two heads of their houses behind him also looked toward Su Qin. What compensation could he offer? They were extremely curious!

Su Qin watched the three noble houses' reactions, took three contracts from inside his clothes, and had Aila beside him pass them over.

Telang accepted them, read for a while, and exclaimed excitedly,

"My lord, is this true?"

Su Qin smiled.

"This is your compensation. Personally deliver the contracts I've written to Maester Denwen and have the Citadel keep them! Of course, I also have rewards for my new ministers!"

Su Qin took out several more contracts.

After reading them, all the ministers looked surprised, and inwardly they were very satisfied!

[All ministers' loyalty is above 90. You have gained complete control of the territory and may comprehensively plan the territory and other directly governed regions that can receive protection!]

The system also issued a notification.

This was Su Qin's goal! Once the terms were settled, Su Qin left the conference room.

The seven ministers exchanged looks and tucked the contracts bearing the Yellow Dragon seal inside their clothes!

Su Qin had promised to pay each of the three former noble houses five hundred gold coins a year in land redemption payments for ten years!

Starting next year, the ministers' salaries would all rise to five hundred gold a year, paid in a single installment!

Of course, the salaries of those below them would also increase. After next year's harvest, Su Qin intended to bind his interests deeply and completely to theirs and secure Gull Territory, nobles and commoners alike!

And the best way was to share the money!

Of course, he would not pay it now. He would only pay once he was truly wealthy next year! By then, he would be able to afford those payments!

It was very important that the system recognized his ownership of the four territories!

It meant Su Qin could freely control the other regions and the extent of the land where corn could be grown!

This was currently his greatest support in maintaining his power!