"Christmas is a few days away, Joseph, how are you going to spend it?"

While Duke Hollis and his party were talking about Joseph, Joseph was chatting with Kate and her good friend, the daughter of a duke, who was only seventeen or eighteen years old, and who mingled with Joseph in a few words, although it was a little strange why the nine-year-old Joseph knew so much.

"I don't know, but it's certain to go back to Nord, and there are still a lot of things waiting for me to deal with in the past few days."

Joseph was telling the truth, but it was a joke to Kate and the little girl, who did not think that a child could do anything.

The banquet was like this, and Joseph also knew some outstanding young people from the United States and England, of course, they only got to know each other, after all, they did not have the patience of a little girl and the eyes of Duke Hollis, in their eyes Joseph was just a child of noble status, nothing more.

At the end of the banquet, Joseph also sat with Duke Hollith and a few people to talk about the subway project, there were not many surprises, but they wanted to put a billion dollars of financing in the United Kingdom, which made Joseph a little surprised, but after hesitation, he finally agreed to the request of several people.

"It's a good start, Joseph, and I can expect Nord's money to flow into England in a few years' time, when we will be our staunchest allies."

These are the words of Duke Hollis at the time of parting, Joseph nodded undeniably, he clearly knew that the formation of the European Union and the economic rise of Nord would make this day come.

The capitalist society is talking about wealth, and it is not wrong that Nord is a small country, but if the Principality of Nord has the absolute right to speak in the capital markets of various countries, then he is not the royal family of Nord, but the emperor of the world economic system.

Rejecting Kate's invitation and the Earl's invitation to race horses, Joseph returned to the Duchy of Nord with a financing order for the Subway project and several items won from the auction. It was mid-December 1981, and the new year was coming.

Nord Palace

"Your Highness, this is a proposal for the development of oil wells, this is the annual financial report for 1981, this is Audi's plan for next year, and you are a shareholder of Royal Heavy Industries, there is a shareholders' meeting that you need to attend, as well as an invitation to the school, a tour of the Janissaries, ......"

As soon as he returned, James piled up a large number of papers in front of Joseph, although the cabinet deals with government affairs, and Joseph does not need to do anything under normal circumstances, but some annual reports still need to be checked.

"Your Highness, the number of the Duchy of Nord has increased to eighteen thousand this year, most of the laborers have moved out of the city, the new city has been built almost completely, and some citizens have already lived in it."

It is not discrimination, but the main object of labor is the large group of heavy industry and light industry, and their work units are in the suburbs or industrial areas, and the relocation out of the urban area is closer to the place where they work.

The future urban area is only a place where citizens and tourists live, and unless the laborers successfully immigrate to Nord, they will not be able to live in the urban area for a long time, and of course no one will stop them if they are willing to spend money to stay in a hotel.

"Nord's GDP this year is $23.5 billion, most of which is export trade (Audi), which is more than our budget, but the treasury does not have much surplus, and the industrial and market plans are huge."

It's a pity that Audi's raw material base is still in Germany, otherwise this data will grow a lot, but next year is the year of Audi's outbreak, and it is not difficult to double.

In fact, at this time, the economy of the Principality of Nord was somewhat deformed, and it was hard to imagine that such a small country as the Principality of Nord could have a large heavy industry group worth tens of billions of dollars like Audi. Generally speaking, for example, such a small country's ** industry, tourism, and financial industry are their main choice objects.

"What progress has been made in education?"

"A total of 300 crash course students graduated this year, a small number of whom were hired by the government, most of them joined large groups such as Audi and shipping companies, and some chose to stay in universities and scientific research institutions."

"What's the current status of the large LAN and PC projects?"

If Audi AG is the core of the current Nord Principality, the group that Josef attaches the most importance to, then the large-scale LAN project is the future of the Nord Principality, and the Internet has not yet appeared, and mastering it is equivalent to mastering the entire future.

Joseph never thought of monopolizing it, because it was not something that the Duchy of Nord could swallow, he only thought that the Duchy of Nord would occupy a rather important place in the future Joint Network Committee.

The United States is the world's leader, and if it uses this thing as a bargaining chip, I believe it can also exchange for a lot of good things, such as tariff concessions in other industries and fairness and justice in policies. Yes, it is fair and just, he does not ask for policy support, and it is impossible to have such support, and a just environment is already very satisfied.

Joseph's thoughts James naturally didn't know, shook his head and said just as Joseph's heart began to sink: "The progress is very good, IBM's personal computers are not as dexterous and easy to use as ours, but its future is ......."

Obviously, James still doesn't think that there will be any good use for personal computers in the future, and he doesn't even think about large LANs, thinking that they are useless at all. All right! The rotten old butler was hopeless, and Joseph didn't bother to explain it at all.

"Let the project leader come and meet me! Other than that...... Let it come over with the finished product. ”

"I'm ...... here"

"Let's put the rest of the matter aside! After this matter is settled, we will talk about other things. ”

Joseph waved his hand to interrupt Prime Minister James before he could finish speaking, and while letting him go down, he had already begun to look down at the annual schedule, and James saw that there was nothing to do, so he could only leave for the time being.

Before the person in charge of the large LAN and the PC arrived, Joseph began to check the bill of exchange on the table, and Soma quietly left with a cup of green tea.

"A letter to His Excellency the Grand Duke? Interesting, or was it submitted by a Chinese? ”

Looking at a letter sandwiched between a pile of annual bills, the corners of Joseph's mouth couldn't help but rise slightly, and he began to speculate whether he was preparing to denounce or some dissatisfaction with the policy and was ready to seek his own support.

Your Excellency, I am an ordinary Chinese citizen of Nordic descent, and several of my classmates and I feel that your current national policy is somewhat inconsistent with the civilized tradition of Europe, and the strict laws and the large number of death sentences make the citizens of Nord have no freedom at all, and as your subjects, I feel that there is a reason and it is necessary to remind you of the liberal laws for the exemption and release of the death penalty, so that citizens can live more freely.

This may make Nord's law and order decline, but the strict laws cannot be maintained permanently, and education is the fundamental way to improve the security of a country.

……

Joseph did not feel much about the thousands of words scattered above, and he admitted that some of the suggestions in the letter were correct, but unfortunately it was not yet the time for the lenient law, the foundation and habits had not yet been formed, and the educational coverage could not be completed overnight, and in this process, strict laws were the guarantee.

However, he admires this recent Nord college student, who has courage, vision, and seems to be more capable, and his words are mostly honorifics, and there must be no problem with respect for the royal family, so why not promote such a person?

Asked the guards to inquire about the details of the Chinese, Joseph began to look at other bills of exchange, this is the first year of Audi's listing, so dividends are a must be done, because only in this way can shareholders believe in Audi's profitability more.

Thirty percent of the shares brought Joseph $80 million, of course, it could have been more, but in the absence of Joseph at the shareholders' meeting, several shareholders, large and small, agreed that the 250 million dividends were enough, and the rest was set aside for next year's working projects, after all, 1982 was a very important year for Audi.

Needless to say, oil wells, urban construction, and agriculture are all developing steadily, and it is worth mentioning that a large church has been built in the center of Nord, and the Vatican will arrange for a bishop to go as soon as possible.

In fact, the bishop Joseph was not very welcome, even though the bishop had a fairly close relationship with the Ragnar family of the Nord royal family.