Town Hall, study.

Rembert stood in the doorway, a little embarrassed on his face.

After hesitating for a moment, he finally made up his mind and mustered up the courage to speak.

"Adult ......"

"Just in time, I have something for you to do."

Jiang Feng, who was drawing in the study, did not stop the pen in his hand.

With the establishment of the steel plant, the consumption of iron ore and wood in Boulder City has almost doubled, and at this rate, it will take less than a month to deplete the reserves in the warehouse.

Wood is okay, you can always buy it if you want to, iron ore is more difficult, although this thing is a specialty of Boulder City, but the production is not high enough to double the consumption can be easily withheld.

But fortunately, for Jiang Feng, the solution to the problem is not too difficult, if the supply of iron ore is insufficient, as long as the output is increased.

There are still many places in this world that can make a fuss, not only blast furnace steelmaking, but also a lot of room for upgrading ore mining technology. Some time ago, when he was inspecting the mineral resources of the Thorn Wasteland, he took a trip to the iron mine controlled by the Karel family. Mining there is quite inefficient, not only because of the mining tools, but also in large part because of the flaws in the design of the mine itself.

Combined with the analytical ability of Zhi Brain, he quickly devised an improvement plan.

What we need to do now is to draw those three-dimensional holographic images into two-dimensional flat drawings that can be understood by the world's indigenous craftsmen. Although this work was a bit tedious, it was not done back, and the shelter was not nearby, so he could only draw drawings one stroke at a time.

After the last stroke, Jiang Feng stood up the parchment, blew the grinding marks on it, and then stacked it with the stack of parchment paper on the corner of the table.

"I researched the iron ore mines in the northern part of the Lower Thorn Heath, where mining is very inefficient, so I made some small improvements to the structure of the mine. You take these drawings to the Craftsman and ask them to start working on improving the mine as soon as possible. Iron ore reserves in Boulder City have started to run low, and I hope to be able to improve the efficiency of iron ore mining before they run out. ”

It was the first time that Mayor Lembert had heard of a wizard who had such a deep understanding of iron ore mining.

However, the point is not this.

Compared to the shortage of iron ore, Boulder City is now facing a more serious problem.

Standing behind Jiang Feng with an embarrassed face, Mayor Rembert hesitated and said cautiously.

"Our financial ...... It's a little bit unoptimistic, do you think it's a little slow? ”

Slightly stunned, Jiang Feng frowned slightly.

"We copied the Cweftford family's property last time, did we run out so quickly?"

Mayor Rembert couldn't cry or laugh in his heart, but he didn't dare to show it on his face, the flesh on his face was squeezed together, and he looked as awkward as he wanted.

“…… Your Wizard's Tower alone cost two million UBS, as well as an alchemy workshop and a steel mill, and nearly a month of saltpeter, sulfur, and iron ore, all of which cost a lot of money. The Coviford family's roots are in Boulder, but they don't have as much liquidity as you might think. ”

Jiang Feng pondered for a moment and frowned, "How many silver coins are left in the vault of the city hall." ”

"There are only more than 300,000 UBS left," Mayor Rembert said with his head bowed, "although there are nearly 200,000 UBS receipts every month in trade tax and city gate tax, after deducting administrative expenses, there is only about 30,000 UBS left at most." In a few months, it will be winter, and the number of caravans across the Thorn Wastes will be much reduced. With our current financial reserves, it is absolutely insufficient. In previous years, it was necessary to retain at least 500,000 UBS to ensure that the treasury was at a relatively comfortable level. ”

When he said these words, Rembert was afraid that Jiang Feng would suddenly say something when he heard half of it, what was the use of so many administrative expenses, so he simply resigned all the officials of the city hall.

When Boulder City was once ruled by feudal lords, such a stupid thing happened. The aristocratic lord didn't know how to govern the city at all, thinking that this was just a large castle, and a butler could make a cup of tea to get everything in order.

The final result can be imagined, not only the tax revenue has been declining one after another, but the entire Boulder City has also been a mess. The Duke and his retinue and servants were driven out of the city by the angry citizens and fled from the Thorn Wasteland.

"That's right, I've been getting money from the city hall all the time." Jiang Feng nodded, "What do you have to do******* Burt breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that this wizard master is not so difficult to speak, at least willing to listen to the advice of a mortal himself.

After a pause, Rembert said.

"The refugee camp outside the city will cost us 100,000 UBS every month, accounting for the bulk of Boulder's administrative expenses this year. If the camps were to be closed, there would be significant savings. ”

"Is it going to cost so much money?" Jiang Feng frowned.

"Even according to the minimum supply standard, a person has to spend 10 UBS a month," said Rembert with a bitter face, "There are more than 10,000 registered refugees in the camp alone, and the reality may be more than two or three times, and our Disaster Relief Agency is already trying to break a silver coin in half to spend it." And as the war continued, more and more refugees fled here to command, waiting until autumn...... That's when the real headache comes in. ”

Driven by hunger, farmers who have lost their land will seek a way out of the nearby cities, and for the cities that host them, the burden of security, sanitation and food is tantamount to a locust plague.

After thinking about it for a while, Jiang Feng understood the truth.

The best thing to do, as Rembert suggests, is to close the camps and leave the displaced people to fend for themselves in the wasteland. However, this approach will eventually cure the symptoms rather than the root cause, and if the problem of money cannot be solved, no matter how much you tighten your belt, it is useless.

What's more, in Jiang Feng's opinion, population is also a resource, so it's a pity to give up like this.

Touching his chin, Jiang Feng thought for a moment before speaking.

"Convene the council."

"Convening...... Parliament? Humbert was slightly stunned and asked tentatively, "Do you have any topics you plan to discuss?" ”

"Boulder will issue UBS local bonds totaling 2 million to major chambers of commerce, and any chamber of commerce or family with fixed assets worth more than 50,000 UBS in Boulder City can subscribe. The repayment period is 5 months and the rate of return is ...... Just set it at 10%. ”

Five months is enough to fight this war.

In Jiang Feng's expectation, at the beginning of spring next year at most, the war will be decided.

When this war is over, with the combat effectiveness of the musketeers of Boulder City, there is no doubt that they will come out on top in the spoils sharing conference. And when the army he sent returned triumphantly with the spoils of war, not only would every penny he spent in the war be rewarded, but it would also be no problem to pay off the loans of those chambers of commerce and families.

However, his servants did not seem to have grasped his thoughts correctly.

"This ...... Bonds are something. Humbert Khan said.

It was the first time he had heard of this new word.

"You can understand that I plan to borrow money from the families in the city," facing the stunned Rembert, Jiang Feng threw the stack of drawings he had drawn earlier into his hand, "Now you can go and prepare for the meeting, and don't forget, send these drawings to the craftsmen of the city hall for me." ”