Chapter 614: Early Winter Snow
Three days later, on the second day after winter began, Barov brought the news that the United Chamber of Commerce contract had been successfully signed. (Quality#……Net)
The final negotiation result was that the sales in the inland of Graycastle would be handled by Margaret, Sunset Island and Shallow Water Town would supply their own islands and Everwinter and Wolfheart respectively, and Crescent Moon Bay would take over the other islands in the Fjords, plus the Kingdom of Dawn.
To Roland's surprise, he also saw an arithmetic equation on the contract, which essentially set several main sharing conditions as unknowns, and the revenue share for that year could be obtained by filling in specific circumstances.
“Who wrote this?” he asked curiously.
“My disciple,” Barov stroked his beard and smiled, “During the compilation, he found that it would be more appropriate to express it with this formula than to list a complicated supplementary table, and all three parties agreed with its accuracy.”
“I don't remember these being taught in popular education.”
“Didn’t you open an intermediate class? I bought a set of mathematics textbooks for each of my disciples and asked them to listen to Lord Juan's lectures whenever they had time.” He sighed, “I’m getting old, and the speed at which I learn things can’t keep up with these young men, so I have to let them take advantage of it. If I were ten years younger, I would definitely carry the things you wrote, Your Majesty, with me and read them every day.”
Roland felt very comfortable with this flattery, and the Chief Steward's vision was not bad to realize that mathematical knowledge was helpful for financial and administrative management.
“What about Edith? How did she perform in this negotiation?”
“So-so,” Barov coughed twice, “Although she fascinated those merchants, she was obviously lacking in experience when it came to specific trade terms. I guess she rarely deals with maritime merchants. After all, commerce in the Northern Lands is not developed, unlike the old capital, where the Minister of Finance had to summon visiting merchants from the Fjords almost every day. Back then…”
“I know,” Roland quickly interrupted, seeing that the other party was about to enter reminiscence mode, “In that case, you should teach her more.”
The old Chief Steward's face stiffened, “Uh, this… Your Majesty, she actually also…”
“It’s settled then,” he said gleefully. He knew from the frequency with which Nightingale pinched his shoulder from behind that the credibility of these words was not high. However, he didn't want to pay attention to this kind of tattling competition, as long as things didn't go wrong, “By the way, how much has Winterless City's population increased this year? Has the expected target been achieved?”
Although there was still about a month before the end of the year, with the arrival of winter, the immigrant missions would return to Winterless City one after another, and the number of migrants would inevitably decrease significantly. At this time, the number could basically determine whether the target had been achieved.
Speaking of this, Barov's face immediately bloomed with a smile, and the wrinkles on his forehead were squeezed into ravines, and the previous embarrassment disappeared, “Your Majesty, the City Hall has already counted. The number of people who have moved from various places has basically exceeded 10,000, of which 50% came voluntarily. Including the natives of the Border District and Longsong District, the total population of Winterless City is already as high as 110,000!”
“Oh?” Roland was delighted, “Half of them came voluntarily?”
“Most of them come from the Central Region and Eastern Region of the kingdom. It was not obvious in spring and summer, but in autumn, this proportion began to rise continuously. If this continues, those rebels who support Tifeko will probably be unable to sit still next year.”
It should be the effect of Tasa spreading the news of the defeat of the church to the Eastern Region. However, Roland still hoped that those nobles would persist for a while, so that he would have an excuse to eradicate them all and return a stable and orderly new kingdom to the people of the Eastern Region.
“The preparations for winter have been made, right?”
“The City Hall had already prepared everything two months ago,” Barov replied with confidence, “The Construction Department commissioned Lian xiaojie to build a batch of cave dwellings between the Impassable Mountain Range and the Redwater River to replace those leaky shacks. We have stockpiled a large amount of charcoal to ensure that everyone can get a basket.”
After Roland's repeated indoctrination, the City Hall has finally become accustomed to taking "no one freezing to death or starving to death in winter" as an administrative goal and implementing it into various decrees and measures.
He nodded with relief, “Very good, please tell Juan that education should not be forgotten in winter.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“In addition, I plan to launch a small-scale war without affecting the normal operation of Winterless City, and the target is the Far South. When Iron Axe comes up with a specific combat plan, you will cooperate with him to mobilize various supplies.” Looking at Barov, who wanted to say something but hesitated, Roland walked to him and patted him on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”
……
After the Chief Steward left, Nightingale appeared and asked in confusion, “Is this okay? He was obviously inconsistent with the actual situation when he talked about Edith. You can tell from his expression even without using your abilities.”
“If I were to reprimand him for this, he probably wouldn’t dare to suppress Edith head-on anymore,” Roland spread his hands, “In order to maintain the balance of the City Hall, someone has to restrain the Pearl of the Northern Lands. From the current point of view, only Barov can do this.”
“But why restrain her? If she has enough ability to manage the City Hall, it wouldn't be bad for you, right?”
“Because…” Roland opened his mouth, but found that he didn’t know what to say for a moment.
Yeah, why restrain Edith?
Worried that she would dominate?
This possibility is extremely small. As long as he is still the king, he can replace her with a single sentence. What’s more, the City Hall cannot interfere with the military. Even if it controls all administrative departments, it cannot pose a threat to the throne.
In fact, when all the City Hall clerks are selected according to the recruitment announcement and paid by the national treasury, the impact of replacing a manager has been minimized.
Worried that she will deceive and conceal, and tamper with government orders?
At least it is impossible in Winterless City. The effect of any government order will reach Roland's ears, and the city is so big that the transmission of information is almost real-time.
Before coming to this world, what he hated most was the way of checks and balances, especially when his superiors regarded it as the way of kings in the workplace, he was even more disdainful of it. He didn't expect that after becoming the person in power, he would subconsciously think of this... If Nightingale hadn't reminded him, he might not have realized that he was gradually becoming the kind of person he hated.
Power does need to be checked and balanced, but not by another person or several people playing the game of power, but by policies, institutions, and laws. Allowing subordinates to give full play to their talents without violating these frameworks is the right approach.
Roland let out a long breath. He pursed his lips and was about to say thank you to Nightingale when he found that her gaze was completely focused on the window.
“Look, it’s snowing,” she said softly.
Roland turned around and found countless white spots quietly appearing in the gray sky, slowly falling like light elves.
The Month of the Demonic Abyss has arrived.