Chapter 43: Circle of Money
The old city was thus occupied bloodlessly, perhaps it was the occupation of the new city that gave them a revelation, so the people of the old city behaved very obediently. Probably the councillors had already done their propaganda work in advance, and the entry into the city went very smoothly, much to Alexander'www.biquge.info s satisfaction. The first thing he did after entering the city was to gather all the dignitaries and propertied classes of Tyre for discipline work. Naturally, the people were very cooperative, after all, the city formed by the merchants, it did not have much sense of belonging, as long as it was profitable, they did not care who ruled it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have gathered you here today to announce a few things. The first thing, I think it is already clear to everyone, is that from this day onwards Tyre is under my rule, you pay taxes, and I keep you safe. In addition, and the second thing, I will soon enact a code to regulate everyone's business behavior. At this point, the people below began to talk to each other, and many of them looked embarrassed, obviously worried about Alexander's words, because Macedonia was an absolute monarchy, and once the king gave any orders, the people below had to obey them, and the merchants did business according to their conventions, and there was no law to bind them, and the government was nothing more than a tax. Alexander's statement of promulgating laws was undoubtedly considered to be a shackle for them.
Alexander smiled in his heart, didn't care, and continued: "Everyone be quiet, and we will discuss it after I finish." I am in line with the principle of governing the country according to the law to regulate business behavior, not to extract your commercial results, but to make the shopping mall more fair, just and open, everyone must abide by it, and whoever violates the law will be punished, so as to avoid the phenomenon of default, forced buying and selling, and vicious competition that often occur in business. At this point, everyone's faces began to soften, and the following words surprised them.
"Everyone obeys the law, which means that no matter merchants, peasants, nobles, or commoners, they may have different statuses, but before the law, they are equal to each other, even me." It was like an explosion of the pot, and even Alexander's subordinates were very puzzled when they heard it, they never understood how the king could pull himself in, and the mood of these Tyrs was also very excited, although many people still couldn't believe that the king himself could not break the law, but they were still very much looking forward to such a law, because as soon as such a law came out, in any case, the interests of the merchants would be greatly protected, so they all showed joy.
"If everyone agrees, then elect representatives, and I will discuss with them and formulate a new law as soon as possible." As soon as this remark came out, everyone agreed, and even more people shouted long live.
"There is a third thing, that is, about the establishment of the Chamber of Commerce, this is my personal suggestion, the Chamber of Commerce can be the same as the commercial law, can better serve the businessmen, deal with some commercial disputes, and can gather forces to better develop some business routes, and the specific charter you have to formulate by yourself." Without waiting for everyone to talk, Alexander continued to speak.
"Finally, there is a fourth thing, as you must know, I am going to unite Eumenes and Antigonus in the East for a decisive battle, but I have spent a lot of money on building a fleet and hiring soldiers, and I will tell you that now the treasury is empty, and if it still does not come in, then I will not even be able to pay the salaries of the soldiers. Originally, I could have obtained a lot of money through some means, but I don't like that kind of behavior, so I hope that everyone can do what they can to contribute to the country, and donate a batch of money for military use first, which is not my personal expense, I will not divert it for my own use, and all of it will be used for military construction and some infrastructure construction of Tyre. I will not force everyone to donate much, even if you donate one drachman, it is your personal right, a financial support to the government. Alexander paused, looking at the expressions of the people, many of them had bitter gourd faces, and some of them looked embarrassed, but some people were full of joy, and Alexander tried to remember all the faces of those people. It's always embarrassing to ask people for money, but it's rare for someone like Alexander to ask for money without blushing, but he treats them so kindly that it makes sense to ask for money. But the reaction was mixed, but most people certainly didn't want to give money to others. So this result is hardly satisfactory to Alexander, he is not so easy to dismiss. However, he has a killer feature, and he is not afraid that others will not donate money. He thought for a moment and then said: "Of course, any individual or group that funds the government and cooperates with the government's work, depending on the number of them, will have priority in owning some mineral development and the right to operate some government projects, such as the mining of some copper and iron ore or the manufacture of weapons, as well as the purchase of war trophies, etc., anyway, there are many preferential treatments, and I can't finish talking about them." If you do well, you are more likely to become a royal merchant, and the future is limitless! ”…,
Alexander's words were very inflammatory, and they were fatal to the temptation of the mercenary merchants, who did not exchange words, but began to make small calculations, and at this time everyone understood that if he could be appreciated by the king, he would have a bright future. Of course, there are also people who secretly scold Alexander for being treacherous and cunning, and actually use this method to collect money, but he didn't cheat and didn't rob three or steal, you can not donate, no one forced you, but the benefits will not be taken away in the future, not to mention that if you don't donate, you may come to settle accounts after the autumn. No matter how high the auction is in the modern auction, only one person pays to buy it, and his secret mark is much more powerful than the clear bid, and it may not be possible to achieve a higher effect by picking out who donates how much, because some people feel that some other people are too rich and insignificant, so they simply don't donate, but if they don't sell openly, everyone will be enthusiastic, and everyone wants to get a piece of the pie. And the most important thing is that this donation is not about buying one or two items, it is to please the king and pave the way for future wealth. For Alexander, what he said about the remuneration is relatively vague, there is no amount of preferential regulations, so there is no responsibility, everything can be said later, this trick is really vicious.
Alexander saw that it was almost over, so he said: "Everyone, this is the end of today's meeting, let's go back first, give you three days to think and arrange, on the morning of the fourth day I will set up a booth at the entrance of the town hall, put a donation box and send someone to record the amount of your pledges, your contributions will be recorded, the country will not forget those who have contributed to the country, and I myself will give rich rewards to the friends who have helped me in the future." With that, Alexander walked away.
"Your Majesty, you can really do it, I see that their faces will be red and white for a while, but it is really funny, do you think your method really works?" Ares on the side asked with a grin.
"This is needless to ask, Your Majesty's actions have always been unpredictable, and what commercial law is said this time is even more ingenious. Originally, I thought it would be a pity not to rob such a rich city, but now it seems that I think there is really a show. Look at the way Your Majesty said that whoever donates more will benefit more, hehe! Cassandro was clearly observant.
"yes, I didn't pay that much attention, anyway, it's just a bunch of profit-only guys, and I don't know how much they can donate." Amintas was a little disgusted by the faces of these merchants.
"You'll know when the time comes." Alexander said mysteriously.
The results of the three days later made Alexander very happy, these rich people were really rich, and Alexander received a total of about 5,000 tarrants of silver, which was enough to pay the salaries of the entire army of more than 30,000 people for more than a year. One of them, a young weapons dealer named Philip, donated 500 tarrants of silver, and Alexander directly put him in charge of the production of all weapons and armor. This made everyone envious and jealous, but who told them not to donate more! Although it was unreasonable, Alexander, who loved money, acquiesced to these acts, and as long as he did not destroy him, he allowed the merchants to exchange money for some conveniences, and he could not control the bad habits that arose because of this, as long as they did not violate the laws he had made.
Thanks to everyone's efforts, the Commercial Code was promulgated half a month later, and the next thing Alexander had to do was to formulate the next action plan.