In early autumn, wheat, potatoes and various crops are finally ripe. It was a bumper harvest. I have to say that God made Rhodes suffer from forbearance, and finally tasted the joy of harvest. Unlike industrial production, agriculture is still basically dependent on the weather. If the climate and moisture are suitable, the grain can grow, on the contrary, if it encounters a natural disaster, no matter how much it is saved, the effect is minimal.

Fortunately, the farmers who were arranged to open up the wasteland in the suburbs at the beginning have basically ushered in a bumper harvest at this moment. Since it was agreed in advance that they would be free of rent for the first year and would not have to hand over any grain, a large number of farmers from Errengrad not only filled the barns with grain, but also sent the surplus to the bazaar to sell in exchange for household goods and silver coins.

In order to ensure market order and prevent large fluctuations in grain prices, Rhodes purchased a large amount of wheat and potatoes at normal market prices to maintain the balance between supply and demand in the entire market. This food was kept in the barn for a long time as a reserve for Blackhammer Castle. Whenever there is a famine year, it can be used to help the victims. Or when grain is scarce in the market, a part of the grain reserves can be sold in the market in exchange for profits and recoup the purchase costs. This is part of macroeconomic control. For seasonally ripened cereals, official regulation is still very necessary.

After the production and economic activities gradually increased, various underground industries also developed and developed. The most obvious is the lending industry, with a small deposit, it is human nature to think about doing some small business. And when you don't have enough money on hand and want to make a big deal, you need to use money. Offset immediate costs with future profits. As a result, the lending industry has been growing. There are always some people who are the first to get rich, and these people have more money in their hands than others, so they think about how to make money. At first, it may just be a loan relationship with relatives and friends in the surrounding area, but after a long time, you will not be satisfied with the status quo and want to expand your business. Thus, a specialized reception organization was created. Ruder Finn knew that it was time to regulate the capital industry and set up a bank!

It's just that there is one more thing to do before setting up a bank. Fight usury!

Human beings have been greedy since ancient times, and they have no capital, but they want to start a business and do business. This is a manifestation of greed. And having capital, but thinking about charging high interest is also a sign of greed. Normal borrowing is still allowed, relatives and friends have urgent use, borrowing money and misappropriating funds, which is understandable, and it is impossible to manage it. But if you charge a very high interest rate, you have to manage it. This is because it is very likely that the borrower will not be able to repay the loan, which will lead to a series of social problems such as violent debt collection. At the same time, the loan sharks are not good birds, and they occupy more funds than others, so they want to sit on the ground and make money. Essentially, this kind of thing should be killed at the source.

So, while preparing for the establishment of the bank, Rod asked Virgil and the castle guard to clean up the underground bank regularly. Since Blackhammer Fort is still in the early stages of development, this industry is not too developed, and it is relatively easy to deal with. There are only a few people in the entire Black Hammer Castle who run this thing. If you go down with a stick, you can barely get up. fate

After sweeping the underground black money bank, Rhodes also began the most critical link in the entire town construction system - the establishment of an official bank. Unlike ordinary lords who used private vaults to borrow money from the nobles in their realms, in Rhodes' case, the bank was more than just a vault, and it was as simple as lending money to collect interest. It will be the central hub of economic activity for the entire Black Hammer Castle.

First of all, the establishment of an official bank, due to its large size, the interest rate is lower than that of private lending, which can squeeze out almost all private lending, and if you need money to invest, you can borrow from the lord's bank. Through the total amount of funds lent, Rod can intuitively detect the investment development of the entire Black Hammer Castle, and secondly, because each money is registered, you can clearly grasp the flow of funds, and you can sit in the office to know the current development of various industries in the entire territory. If the development of some industries is overheated, it can also be controlled by adjusting interest rates, and similarly, if the development of some industries lags behind and needs support, investment can also be encouraged by lowering interest rates. After all, it is impossible for the lord himself to take care of all the projects in the territory alone. A small and medium-sized castle is still possible, if it develops into a large city. Then it is impossible to invest in all the projects by one person. Therefore, the early establishment of banks as a regulatory tool can be prepared for a rainy day.

Also, as a financial tool, banks can absorb private capital and let the lord do a lot of things. For example, if you need to start a war in the future, and you don't have that much money on hand, you can borrow money from the people in your territory, whether it is a commoner or a nobleman, and to put it mildly, issue bonds. Promise to divide the benefits equally among the population after the end of the war. It may seem outrageous to make everyone a creditor of a lord, but it is conducive to the formation of a national cohesion. Anyway, your money is in the lord's pocket, and if you win, you can get a share of the benefits, and if you lose, it's gone. In this way, anyone involved in it will enthusiastically support the lord's actions. Moreover, no one wants the lord to die...... The lord is dead, and without a creditor, there is no way to recover their money.

Of course, this is only a local bank, and it cannot do all the functions that a central bank should have, such as the control of hot money, the regulation of exchange rates, and so on. If the full function of the modern bank is to be achieved, it is necessary for the Czar Kislev to issue a law, establish a central bank, and act in unison throughout the country, and that is at the national level. Right now, Rhodes doesn't have time to think that far.

As with all previous actions, the idea was proposed by Rhodes, however, it was Alves who was actually carrying it out. As the head of Blackhammer Castle, he has a lot to do. Big and small things need to be handled by him. For example, in the establishment of the bank this time, he needed to do the preparation of manpower and the public's propaganda work. In order to make Alves' work easier, Rhodes directly handed him the key to the vault. The so-called employment is not suspicious, and the suspicious person is not used. After a whole year of cooperation and observation, it can basically be concluded that Alves is the one who can be used. Moreover, if you take 10,000 steps back, the guards of the vault are all veterans of Black Hammer Fort, which is definitely reassuring.

The most important thing for Ruder Finn to do is to audit and inspect the books. After all, how many commoners, how many nobles, how many fields, how many forests and mines are in the territory, these are all known by Rhodes, and the annual income and expenditure are also almost known, as long as there are not too many discrepancies in the books, there is no need to delve into it.