The Duke of the Netherlands was suffering from a severe headache.
A national debt of nine million gold coins!
Even if he didn't buy them all, as the largest lord in the Netherlands, he took the lead and bought 200,000!
Not to mention, the earls, viscounts, small lords, knights... various business groups, wealthy merchants, small and medium-sized workshop owners in the entire Netherlands
They will buy these treasury bonds, a small part of which is to make money, and a large part of which is to pay for distribution! Who will pay for distribution?
Half is apportioned by the lords, and half is apportioned by the Holy See.
"Your Excellency, the president of the Woolen Clothes Guild, Kabir, Lucen wants to see you."
"Your Excellency, the president of the Linen Trade Guild, Huonasang, Yate wants to see you."
"Your Excellency, the president of the Carpet Guild,
"President of the Soap Guild
"President of the Sugar Industry Association
"Fisheries Association
"Shipbuilding Guild
The Duke of the Netherlands held his forehead. You can't pretend to be dead. If you pretend to be dead today, you will have to meet these people tomorrow. Moreover, if they are allowed to continue to connect in series and things continue to ferment, it will only get worse:
He stroked his raised mustache, pressed it, released it, pressed it, and released it again. Finally, I took a deep breath and stood up from behind the desk:
"Prepare the meeting room!"
On the second floor of the castle, the conference hall faces the lake, with sparkling waves and beautiful scenery outside the window. It is not the most majestic, tallest and spacious room in the castle, but it is the most intimately decorated and peaceful room.
There is only a clan emblem hanging on the wall, and there is no display even on the heads of monsters, high-end armors and weapons, things that show off the master's strength. It's obvious that he doesn't want to put pressure on ordinary people and make them unable to speak out.
The Duke of the Netherlands always used this room when summoning these businessmen. Even the servants in the castle were very familiar with which chairman sat in which position, whether he liked tea or coffee, and what kind of cigarette he liked to smoke.
There is no way, the Netherlands is low-lying, the land is barren, and salinization is extremely serious. In other places, if you sow 30 pounds of wheat on an acre of land, you can harvest 200 pounds of wheat. In the Netherlands?
hehe.
If you are lucky enough to grow, there will be a storm surge for you, and the sea water will pour in. After a year of hard work, the harvest in the fields is over in an instant. So the Dutch began to save themselves very early. Driving a small boat to catch fish in the wind and waves and selling salted fish to the Kingdom of Rhine and the Kingdom of Kent is one of them;
The second is to operate those 60-ton, 100-ton, or 200-ton boats, the smallest of which only have one mast and a triangular sail, to traffic goods everywhere;
Establishing factories and workshops to refine rough sugar into refined sugar, weaving wool into woolen cloth, blankets, and various rough and fine fabrics, processing it into clothing and other imitations, building ships, weaving sails, and making soap from whale oil are the third
All in all, the entire Netherlands, without workers, workshop owners, and merchants, would collapse immediately. The income of the lords would plummet by at least 60%.
Therefore, the Duke of the Netherlands has always been kind to these guild leaders and business leaders. There was no other way. Businessmen were no better than lords, knights, or farmers. They were really anxious, so they took off their boats and ran away.
And some businessmen are foreigners themselves. The barbarians from the north brought large quantities of wood, amber and furs, and also trafficked weapons and armor produced by the dwarves;
Merchants from the Kingdom of Kent brought large quantities of wool, undyed and unbleached fabrics, and various strange creations by magicians.
Brolin Kingdom merchants brought wine, wheat and rye from the south, and even precious magical items from the territory directly under the Glory Holy See. As a lord, do you not protect the interests of these businessmen?
The number of ships in the port will be reduced by 30% tomorrow. After a month, 89% of the ships will be gone. Without the ship, where would the raw materials for the workshop come from? Who would the goods be sold to?
Therefore, no matter how angry or depressed the Duke of the Netherlands is, he must appease these people. He strode to the door of the conference room, looked through the open door, and saw President Lu Sen of the Woolen Wool Guild huddled in the corner, his face flushed with wine;
The president of the Fisheries Guild, that hard-blooded man who gradually made a huge fortune with a small fishing boat in his early years, never touched his favorite liquor and smoked cigarettes one after another, the smoke almost covering his eyes. Keep an eye on your features;
The president of the Carpet Guild, the skinny middle-aged man who usually prides himself on being the most pious and artistically accomplished, "The best carpet every year will definitely be enshrined in the cathedral", frowned at this moment and said, "Bah, bah." chewing tobacco residue
"Your Majesty the Duke has arrived_"
The ceremonial officer paused the scepter he was holding tightly and shouted loudly. With a roar, a large number of people stood up in the conference room and saluted the Duke in a chaotic manner. As soon as the Duke sat down, a group of people rushed to talk:
"Your Majesty, Duke, is the kingdom really going to refuse to pay its national debt? Can you help us fight for it? If this national debt is not paid when it expires, I will not be able to turn around the money on hand, and I will not be able to pay the wages of the workers!'
"Yes, yes! The fishing season is coming soon, so we have to wait for the money to renovate the ships and buy barrels before we can go to sea! If the national debt is not paid, half of the ships will go down!'
"If we don't have money, how can we buy goods! The new season's wool is coming out soon. If the national debt is not repaid and there is no money to buy goods, my workshop will have to stop working! The wool currently stored can only last for one month... ..
The president of the Woolen Wool Guild looked sad. The wool from the Kingdom of Kent is the best quality and most reputable variety around. Only wool from the Kingdom of Kent, with fine and long fibers, can weave the lightest, softest and warmest wool.
However, due to the war between the Kingdom of Kent and the countries under the Glorious Holy See, exchange and transfers were not accepted there, only gold coins were accepted. As soon as the king refused to pay, he immediately had difficulty in making money!
"You can still go to the Kingdom of Kent to purchase goods, and what about me? The Carolingians have raised the wool tariff several times! If this continues, even if he is willing to pay the national debt, I will go bankrupt!"
The president of the carpet guild next to him was shouting with several other presidents who made low-end textiles. Most of the wool they used came from the hinterland of the Carolingian Kingdom. The quality was not that high, but the quantity was quite large.
In the past twenty years, the textile city of Flanders in the Netherlands has purchased goods from the Brolin Capital Wool Exchange, which has gradually increased from 50% of the exchange's shipments to more than 80%.
In the cities near the Glorious Holy See, you can only get some scraps, and you have to wait until they finish purchasing the goods before you can pick up the rest. The result is that the products they make are more expensive than theirs and the quality is not as good as theirs.
"I know that those people are relying on the power of the Holy See to suppress us! They will be happy if they raise the tariff and we can't get the goods! Your Excellency, Duke, you have to make the decision for us!'
"Yes, Your Majesty Duke, you must make the decision for us!" The president of the Sugar Guild was almost in tears:
"We are forbidden to trade directly with the merchants in the colonies. It will cost us our lives! We were the ones who dedicated the twelve sugar towers at the king's wedding. It has only been a while since we turned our backs on each other.
"Your Majesty the Duke!"
"Your Majesty the Duke
The Duke is one head and two big. I was extremely irritated and had to comfort these businessmen:
"Don't worry, everyone. Hold on for a while. I'll communicate with the archbishop and write a letter to the royal capital. If it doesn't work, I'll go and volunteer in person.
"Will the king listen? Does the Holy See care about us businessmen? The teachings of the Holy See have always said that it is harder for a rich person to go to heaven than it is for a camel to pass the eye of a needle. But every time he wants money, he comes to us in a different way. scrape on body
"Well, the king doesn't care about our thoughts." The Duke tried his best to appease:
"We in the Netherlands bear more than half of the kingdom's tax revenue, which is three times higher than the annual income brought by the colonies. What good does it do to the king to drive industry and commerce to death? Are you counting on the income from farming?"
"Your Majesty, we are all relying on you! If you can really open the exchange to us, the profits from the old fleet will be allocated to another ship in your name! Last year's new ship!"
Duke of the Netherlands:
"This is not necessary for the time being... If we can talk about it, everyone will have a good life. If we can't talk about it,
Everyone is in trouble
He sent these businessmen away, sorted out his thoughts, and began to write letters. Letters to the Archbishop of the Netherlands, letters to the earls of the Netherlands;
A letter to several reclusive strong men who do not occupy large territories, but whose status cannot be ignored;
A letter to several close friends he had known for many years in the royal capital;
Letter to the leader of the financial business group
Before the letter was drafted, the valet came quickly to report it. The Count and Lady of Ostend, the Count of Delft, the Count of Dordremet and others all came from their respective territories at the same time.
They adhered to the etiquette of nobles and did not come directly to visit, but handed over greeting cards in advance. Even so, with a thick stack of invitations in front of him, the Duke of the Netherlands sighed helplessly:
Tired.
These earls usually write letters or send envoys when they have something to do. Inviting them to a gathering requires at least two months of preparation in advance. The accommodation, banquet, and performance are all carefully planned. Now, there is nothing, everyone is running over -
It can be seen that he has been so stimulated that he can't sit still. So, as the largest lord in the Netherlands, what attitude should he adopt and what actions should he lead them to take?
That night, the Duke of the Netherlands tossed and turned and couldn't sleep well all night. When I got up the next day, before I even got dressed and prepared to entertain guests, bad news came in one by one:
"The ten largest beer merchants in the Earldom of Delft were arrested in the name of [blasphemy] and their property was confiscated!"
"In the earldom of Orange, three shipyards were seized by the tribunal, saying that the situation of liaison with heretics must be investigated in detail!" "In Flanders City, all merchants from the Kingdom of Kent were arrested on charges of [heretics] jail!'
"Inquisition, Cardinal Gravela, who was appointed as the Grand Inquisitor of the Netherlands, has arrived in person with the Black Rider.
The darkness on the Duke's face rose one layer after another. He clicked, crushed the horn wine glass in his hand, and said solemnly: "Please come over, earls, and let's discuss it carefully!'
****
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ps: Historically, during Antwerp's heyday, the tax revenue it contributed to the Spanish crown was seven times that of its American colonies. Not three times, seven times.
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