The lord of Blackwater City, Doc, is not a lord who is good at thinking, but the fact that he can always rule Blackwater City, which also has two coal and iron mines, just shows that his force is very strong.
Lord Dok realized belatedly that when the railway reached the entrance of Blackwater City, he realized that behind the railway was the guy selling iron everywhere.
Because the railway station did not go directly into the city and was more than ten miles away from the city wall, Doc just asked the butler to find some excuse to collect taxes.
The other party paid taxes honestly, which put Dok in a difficult position.
After all, this is a method of contact that has never been used in the penal colony. Doc relies on his personal strength and has no sense of crisis at all.
Let’s take a look first. Having another tax source is not a bad thing.
To everyone's expectation, the foreign railway brought prosperity rather than crisis to Blackwater City.
The railways have increased the purchase of coal and iron ore by an order of magnitude, from less than 2,000 tons per month to more than 10,000 tons, and are still increasing steadily.
Not all of this money fell into the hands of the mine owners, because the slaves' mining capabilities could not keep up with the purchase volume, and they had to hire a large number of local laborers at high prices, which promoted the increase in citizens' purchasing power.
In addition to iron ore, the guy at the other end of the railway also purchases many things, including but not limited to meat/dried fish, spices, cloth, and silverware that can be purchased in bulk.
Shengsheng doubled the purchasing level of Blackwater City's original 100,000 people, and the city's commercial scale exploded, becoming a commodity distribution center for east-west and south directions.
But there is one thing that is not good. The merchants from the south only accept Phoenix Coin trading and iron ingot barter.
Phoenix coins are a kind of wooden money, and most businessmen just laugh at it, but iron is indeed hard currency.
However, this trading method has squeezed the local iron smelting industry that has formed a certain scale in Heishui City.
Ever since he discovered that someone was selling a lot of iron and decided to build his own iron smelting center, the level of iron smelting in Blackwater City has gradually improved. Calculated based on 1,000 employees, the average daily iron production per capita has now reached 50 kilograms.
This is already a very powerful level, fifty kilograms. In the past, it would be difficult for a family of five blacksmiths to make so much in a day.
The problem is that productivity is here, who will consume so much iron?
The daily average is fifty tons, which is difficult for the surrounding area to absorb. The railway also exports about ten tons every day, causing iron prices to fall repeatedly.
Two months ago, Doc acted like a gangster and ordered the railway not to transport iron ingots to Blackwater City.
As a result, others were indeed unlucky, but the iron price did not recover.
I asked the housekeeper to check, but he couldn't find out why.
...Actually, the housekeeper found out something, but he didn't dare to say anything.
It's not that the housekeeper doesn't care about the ownership of Blackwater City, but it's just that talking about some things won't help.
For example, the reason why iron prices have not recovered is because merchants switched to using iron in Blackwater City.
There is only one word difference between ironware and iron ingot, but the meanings behind them are different. Blackwater City can increase the per capita amount of iron smelting to 50 kilograms. Can they increase the amount of iron production to the same level? To achieve this, at least ten times the manpower must be invested.
Reporting the matter of iron weapons to Lord Dok would only result in a further ban on the transportation of iron weapons.
The housekeeper is very sensitive to money. After realizing that he has the ability to mass-produce ironware, he can definitely lower the selling price to an extremely low level. If they are not allowed to transport it, he will lower the price and sell it to the northern site, and the merchants will rush there. Don’t even come to Blackwater City for transactions.
"Becoming an Immortal in One Step"
If we continue to persecute people to this extent, iron tools will be used to arm the army!
So once this matter is spoken out, the final result will definitely lead to war.
Lord Dok is so strong that he can even ignore the shield of the five-ring mage and kill him. The problem is that the railway is said to be nearly two hundred kilometers long, with several cities on the way. How can he push it by himself? Do you still want the old nest?
It is better to do less than to do more, so be it. Although the price of iron has dropped, Blackwater City's mass production capacity can still maintain a certain profit, but the part belonging to the lord has been compressed, and it has nothing to do with his housekeeper.
It stands to reason that the problems brought by the railway should end here. Everyone should ignore each other and live their own good lives.
But someone thought otherwise and approached the housekeeper.
"Destroy the value of the Phoenix Coin? What can I get from it?"
"Money, of course, is a lot of money. And after the Phoenix Coin goes bankrupt, will the so-called Phoenix King still have time to care about the railway? By then, you will not have the final say on the railway in Blackwater City." The person who came up with the idea is quite tall. Zhou Zheng is extremely evil-minded.
The butler, who saw that the railway could produce golden eggs, saw it and was a little moved on the spot.
"Tell me in detail what you plan to do."
"How can a little person like me do such a big thing? Naturally, it will be led by you, the great manager Estelle."
This is trying to drag me to death.
The butler's eyes became sharp, and the visitor did not dare to ramble any more, and quickly got down to business: "Since ancient times, money has been mainly made of silver and copper. Later, the scarcity of gold was discovered, and it was minted into money with larger denominations. Even if the money is fake, it must be If you invest a lot of gold, silver, and copper, the ratio will be slightly lower at best. But Phoenix coins are wooden coins. If you find a way to fake them, you don't have to invest a single penny of precious metals..."
The butler raised his hand to interrupt the other party: "That is not ordinary wood. I'm afraid you haven't looked carefully. If I can come up with the same wood, I will charge it as pure silver, as much as you want."
There is a Hongxinzi Bank established by people from the north in Blackwater City. The housekeeper came into contact with Phoenix coins more than half a year before the railway was opened. At first, he thought they were just dyed wood and thought they were pretty. He kept a few coins in his hand to play with.
Something happened while playing with it that made him realize that something was wrong with the wood.
The Phoenix Coin burns very slowly, and once it is ignited, it will automatically extinguish once it is removed from the fire source, leaving only a tiny bit of charcoal fire. If there is no wind to help, the charcoal fire will also be extinguished.
Also, if you use a strong light to shine on the Phoenix coin, you will find that the luminous patterns from both sides are different. The light is not the dark red of ordinary light passing through the thin wooden board, but a color that is closer to the color of its pattern.
The housekeeper also asked someone from Hongxinzi Bank, who said that strong light is the way to verify authenticity, but the light intensity requirement is slightly higher, and the low-light technique is not enough. It requires at least the level of second-ring lighting technique, so it is not easy to go. Private promotion.
The energy production of the Phoenix Coin shows that the graphics can be controlled, and the wood is a very suitable thing for making palace lampshades. It is of great value in itself, and its logs are especially attractive to collectors of rare treasures.
The housekeeper dared to ask for as much as he wanted, because no one else except the Phoenix King could produce this thing. Even if there was some way to produce tens or hundreds of tons, there would be no way to sell the stuff that cannot be digested to the orcs nearby. It will be a loss, and it will be a waste of energy to make counterfeit coins.
This situation was beyond the visitor's expectation, but he did not give up: "The inability to obtain exactly the same wood does not prevent us from making fakes. As long as the appearance is exactly the same, a few civilians can tell the difference in wood."
The housekeeper was a little tempted, but he was not a fool who allowed others to fool him.
"You talk too much. Come and talk to me after you make counterfeit money. Come and see the guests off."
