After listening to Bashir's report, Duke nodded and said: "I understand, spring plowing must be guaranteed, since the number of displaced people has decreased, let's temporarily reduce the scale of Storm New City, what can the city wall be slowed down, and ensure that the remaining displaced people live before the next winter comes." ”

"The scale of the city construction has been reduced, so the number of mining personnel and the previous city builders have been transferred to spring ploughing, and the self-sufficiency of food in Storm Castle must be ensured, this is an absolute red line!"

Everything else in Stormcastle is okay, but the big deal is that the development is a little slower, but if there is a problem with the food, it will kill people. Moreover, this lifeline has always been in the hands of Alpine City, and now that both sides are about to become mortal enemies, Duke can't rest assured.

"Yes, my lord, I will make sure of this!"

Hearing that Bashir understood, Duke waved his hand and said, "Go down and make arrangements." ”

However, Bashir did not go down, but looked at Duke, looking like he wanted to say something.

"Is there anything else you haven't said?" Duke asked in confusion.

"My lord, in addition to the construction of Storm Castle, there are also financial matters. This time, for the war reparations of the Holy See, double tithes are nothing, and according to the scale of the previous tax revenue of Storm Castle, it will not exceed three thousand gold coins. However, the 50,000 Teutonic knights war indemnity is very stressful for the current Storm Castle, and the entire Storm Castle treasury is only 150,000 gold coins, which may affect the development of other aspects. ”

"What, just 150,000 gold coins?"

Duke asked in surprise, he only had an approximate number of finances, after all, as a lord, he couldn't be like an accountant, paying attention to the changes in finances every day, and he didn't have so much time.

If Duke is not mistaken, Storm Castle probably had more than 300,000 gold coins in stock a month ago, because fifteen gold coins are a porcelain plate, Storm Castle can fire one or two thousand a day, and after deducting all the costs, the net income of porcelain per day is at least 10,000 gold coins. It stands to reason that another month has passed, and Stormcastle's trade has been in a state of surplus, so there should be four or five hundred thousand gold coins.

That's why, during this period of time, Duke was engaged in construction and spent lavishly. And the war reparations of 50,000 yuan were not taken to heart, although this amount of money was huge, but for Storm Castle, it was far from the stage of breaking the bones.

But now that I heard it, there were only 150,000 gold coins left in Storm Castle's inventory, and after deducting the war reparations, there were only 100,000 gold coins left. You must know that this is more than 70,000 people's clothing, food, housing and military expenses, as well as a large amount of pensions for casualties in the future, as well as war expenses such as restarting weapons and armor, it can be said that the inventory of Storm Castle is empty!

"My lord, a month ago, there was no way to sustain the sales of one or two thousand porcelain per day, because the entire kingdom of Andorra began to become saturated. Moreover, Takayama City also intentionally or unintentionally stumbled, causing the sales of porcelain to decline. ”

"The influx of tens of thousands of displaced people, coupled with the expansion of Storm New Town and the hydroelectric plant, is a huge expense. At the same time, the state of war in the French Empire has also increased prices by two to three times compared to before, and the finances of Stormcastle have been in a state of making ends meet recently. ”

After listening to Bashir's story, Duke was in a state of confusion, to be honest, due to the opening of porcelain sales after the attack on Alpine City, Duke had already delegated the matter of porcelain sales to the city hall. Recently, I have been fully preparing for the conquest of the Holy See army, but I didn't expect the situation to be so serious.

However, the Holy See's account Duke can't afford to delay, and it can be said that 50,000 gold coins is already very face-saving for Leonard. If it weren't for special reasons, if any lord on the continent dared to fight against the Holy See army, he would definitely not be able to escape the end of annihilation.

"In addition to the fact that there can be no shortage of pensions for the casualties, there are other aspects for the town hall to find a way to save a little. In addition, we should expand the sale of porcelain as soon as possible, and in the future, our selling price can be reduced to ten gold coins, but we must ensure that the number of porcelain plates sold every day is 1,500!"

Before the sea route was opened, Alpine City remained the only fast source of Stormcastle's economy. Although the cavalry of Gaoshan City was disabled this time, the Gaoshan Army did not suffer any losses, but the Storm Army itself was also disabled. Therefore, the way to pressure Takayama City to maintain high profits as before is definitely not possible, and the only way to keep a part of the profits is to maintain small profits and quick turnover.

"Yes, my lord. ”

Bashir received the order to prepare to go down, but when he saw Duke's sad face, he understood that the pressure on the lord was too great for a while, so he persuaded him to the good side: "Lord Lord, although the current economic pressure is very great, but this time there are 20,000 displaced people, and the progress of urban construction has slowed down, the financial pressure is also greatly reduced, as long as there is no problem in Alpine City, this financial crisis should be passed soon." ”

"Well, you go down first. ”

Duke didn't say much, but he knew in his heart that this premise was that it was built under the condition that Alpine City was fine. But after this battle, will Takayama Castle still be as honest as before?

For this answer, Duke has no bottom in his heart, Alpine City is not a good stubble in the first place, the storm army was strong before, or suppressed, but now that the strength of Storm Castle is not enough, it is very likely that Count Filip will make trouble.

Thinking of this, Duke sighed, he now finally understood what it means to sound a cannon, and the gold is ten thousand taels. In fact, the war is fought to the end, and the fight is economic strength, and the side without money will be completely dragged down.

At the same time, it was also revealed that the foundation of Storm Castle was still weak, and this was just a counterattack battle at home, and if the expedition encountered a slightly stronger opponent, it was estimated that the entire army would be annihilated.

Another point is that Storm Castle's dependence on Alpine City for material supplies is too serious, and Alpine City can be regarded as an enemy in a sense. Duke didn't notice this, but there was no good solution, if he went to Andorra City to buy supplies on his own, both the size of the caravan and the mode of transportation were far inferior to Alpine City, and the cost was even higher than that of buying directly from Alpine City.

There are two ways to solve this problem, one is to open the route of the Sea of Death and create the Age of Exploration that belongs to Stormcastle. But this is a long road, and the routes are currently not open, let alone the transport fleet.

The other is to create more efficient modes of transportation, such as building roads, improving horse-drawn carriages, etc. Before Duke, he was also a Great Leap Forward and wanted to enter the sea in one step, but now all kinds of setbacks have made Duke understand that it is impossible to reach the sky in one step with this family background, and he still has to come step by step with his feet on the ground!