The brothel plan

After the meeting ended, Su Qin went into his study.

He currently had 3,600 gold.

He needed to plan carefully. How to spend this money was a problem! Of course, the ministers' salaries could only be paid in a lump sum at the end of April, after the new corn ripened.

That meant this 3,600 gold could serve a greater purpose!

He would see how much housing he could add with what remained!

Gulltown currently had around 2,800 households, and he believed even more residents would arrive each month in the coming year!

But there were currently only 300 five-household farms!

Another 1,300 households were crammed into other people's finished houses!

Friction had already begun to arise between residents who had houses and those who did not. He had to develop the territory as quickly as possible!

So the first thing he needed was a six-month financial plan!

Su Qin sat on the desk, took out a quill, and pulled out a sheet of paper.

Honestly, this paper was quite good quality!

He slowly began to plan.

[AC 276, first-half financial plan

Starting funds: 3,600 gold

Gold income: negligible

Food reserves: 65,000 units; after household allocations and sales, 15,000 units remaining

Military wages paid in advance (January-May): 300 Qilin Guard soldiers: 1,500 gold (1 gold/person), 10 mid-ranking Qilin Guard captains: 100 gold (3 gold/person), total: 1,600 gold

Political officials paid in advance (January-May): 30 civil administrators: 300 gold (2 gold/person)

Patrol Guard wages paid in advance (January-May): 250 Patrol Guards: 375 gold (3 silver/month), 50 Patrol Guard squad leaders: 125 gold (5 silver/person), total: 500 gold

Advance pay for ordinary castle and manor craftsmen: 500 gold (1 gold/person)

Advance expenditure for weapons and armor materials: 300 gold

Total: 3,200 gold

Remaining liquid funds: 400 gold]

Only 400 gold available to spend! Eighty five-household farms in five months! Was this a joke?!

He was too poor. Building 100 five-household farms each month would be more like it, but that would cost 500 gold a month! Where would he get that much money?!

He had to find a way!

A way to collect the money he paid out!

The residents and nobles currently had money and food. They would not go hungry!

With warmth and full bellies came lustful thoughts. He now had an idea for the first building in Lower Gulltown's central mixed-use district!

Build a brothel! An official brothel!

Gather all the unfortunate women working in that profession who had no venereal diseases, or women who were simply lazy, and spare them from being bullied by the nobles!

Some wealthy soldiers, officers, and the like would also have somewhere to entertain themselves!

Forget all that talk about chastity. In this era, chastity was a joke in the eyes of the nobles. Of course, some families did value it. That was one expression of a lawful spirit!

And provided they could ensure the children were of their own bloodline, there were even husbands and wives who each had their own fun!

Once the brothel was built, there was nothing wrong with it if both parties were willing!

People in this era had little entertainment at night!

They could hardly all stay up late reading like Su Qin, looking for clues about this world's gods!

Once he had made up his mind,

Su Qin soon began looking through the building types of this era. Over the past few months, he had bought quite a few books from merchants for reference and to supplement his knowledge.

And so Su Qin spent his free time in January holed up in his study, conceiving building designs. He only needed a rough concept; the craftsmen could handle the detailed drawings.

Some buildings could be left to the master craftsmen themselves to research, so the large smithy also served as a research institute. However, those functions would certainly have to be separated in the future.

Finer divisions would improve efficiency!

January 3, Gull Manor.

With two Golden Tailors who had returned from Casterly Rock in tow (their martial prowess was very high, but it was no longer needed now), Delia began inspecting the farmers' planting for the first season of the year. It was going fairly well. At this rate, the 2,800 farming households could more or less finish planting the planned 11,200 large mu of land within two weeks (1 large mu = 1,000 square meters).

Every day when Delia returned and asked Yira, she learned that after training his personal guards and exercising each morning, Su Qin actually hid in his study without coming out.

At night, Su Qin kept reading books on building structures too. She had no idea what he was doing.

Then one day,

After learning that Su Qin was in the second-floor study, Delia decided to take a look.

When she reached the door, Delia knocked.

Su Qin was continuing to leaf through some books. The brothel was already planned out, with a three-story main building roughly twenty-five meters tall.

But he still needed to think through the specific plans.

Suddenly, he heard a knock.

"Come in. The door's open."

When Delia saw the Chinese characters [Red Gull House] on the drawing, her head filled with question marks. What sort of building was this?

She sat down beside Su Qin.

"What sort of building is this?"

Su Qin glanced at Delia, leaned over, and kissed her cheek. Delia's face began to redden. He was so direct!

"A brothel!"

He lowered his head and continued drawing. As someone in civil engineering, drawing a building a few stories tall was no real problem.

Drawing buildings himself and then sending the plans down for construction counted as a recreational hobby too.

Delia was bewildered. "If I remember correctly, a brothel means a Zhiyin House. Why are you building this? Are you short of money?"

Su Qin smiled.

"I'm finding a way to get back the money I've paid out."

"Why get it back?"

"Because there aren't many places to spend money in Gull Territory. The nobles no longer need to maintain large private armed forces (they have no fiefs anymore), and commoners can privately sell the food I distribute to them to some merchants. That's unavoidable! This leaves them with a lot of spare money, and that spare money stays in their pockets. Money that doesn't circulate isn't worth a copper to me!"

Delia was somewhat shocked. She still could not understand this way of thinking. Why spend money instead of saving it?

"Why do you have to make them spend money?"

Su Qin lifted his head. Delia looked truly beautiful dressed as she was today. Twenty charisma was not low!

Her beauty was as fresh as the dawn, especially her captivating purple eyes, like jewels glittering in a starry sky, deep and mysterious.

"If the money stays in the nobles' and farmers' pockets, the economy will slowly become stagnant water. That's not what I want to see, and I don't want the nobles giving my money to merchants from other regions either."

"For now, I'm acting as this distribution hub so that the people have food to eat and work to do. That way, their loyalty to me will endure. So what I care about most is their sense of belonging and identification with me."

Delia nodded. "But the people are very loyal to you now. As long as you keep feeding them, won't they stay loyal?"

From the perspective of this world's commoners, that seemed correct!

Su Qin smiled, stood up, lifted Delia, and sat down with her cradled sideways in his arms.

"The people's desires change. That's also what makes ruling difficult. I have to find ways to offset those desires!"

"Through entertainment or other activities, I bring the people's spare money back into my own pockets. That way, I can keep them serving me!"

"Doesn't that conflict with your ideals?" Breathing in Su Qin's scent, Delia felt very secure.

"No!"

"What I want is loyalty and stability. What they want is survival and the satisfaction of their desires. As long as they feel their standard of living is decent, at least society won't fall into unrest. That's the greatest value commerce and entertainment have for me!"

Delia turned over and sat on Su Qin's lap, facing him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and raised her head. She was tempting him!

Su Qin gazed into those violet eyes. She was so womanly. Delia was too clever; she understood with just a hint from him!

"I think I understand, but don't you think personally designing a brothel is a little beneath you as a lord?"

Su Qin smiled and leaned in to kiss her.

"What's beneath me about that? Reproduction is human nature. As long as it's kept within bounds, it's perfectly reasonable. I don't care how the other nobles see me!"

"Then I can help you recruit women for the brothel. A lot of Scissors have come to me, and I've been worrying about where to put them. Some of them are very good at this!"

Su Qin nodded. Some of the Golden Tailors (the organization) recalled during this period would have to be sent back again, because Delia's safety was now assured!

After a moment's thought, Su Qin said, "Have the Scissors Sect first look for the fallen women working in secret in the four Gull towns. I plan to make their work official. It can't be comfortable always hiding in the gutters!"

Delia smiled.

"All right."

Su Qin placed Delia on the desk...

That day, the two unlocked a new position...

Yira stood guard outside the door, keeping every Qilin Guard away.