Time flies, and half a year has passed in a flash.

The time has come to show off the network resources, and the big forces in the Terran world that can be called famous have all sent representatives this time.

The founding ceremony of the Principality of Snow Moon did not have such a strong attraction, but there was an auction held in the Principality of Snow Moon.

In order to increase the momentum, Hudson deliberately placed the auction two days after the founding ceremony, but the deposit was set for the week before the founding ceremony.

The auction that caused a sensation on the mainland, in addition to the high-end magic potions prepared by Hudson, also attracted countless sellers to participate.

In the end, the starting price of each of the 100 selected products was 100,000 gold coins, and the bidding deposit also came to an astonishing 200,000 gold coins, directly setting a number of historical highs.

In order to ensure the safety of the auction items, Hudson deployed an army of 100,000 troops in the newly built Snow Moon City, and also arranged for the Fallen Angels to guard it.

The place where the auction items are stored is also the safest magic tower in the territory.

A large number of magic arrays were deployed inside, as well as territory magic guards, and the strongest people of the third order of the Holy Domain would not want to break in when they came.

February 2, Statehood Day.

The first rays of sunshine in the morning sprinkled on Snow Moon City, and the founding ceremony kicked off under the watchful eyes of everyone.

Compared to the previous imperial establishment ceremony held in Canglan City, the specifications this time are much lower. The decorations in many places are very rough in workmanship.

Seeing this, Hudson glared at Franz.

There is nothing wrong with being diligent and thrifty, but saving in these visible places is too childish.

In the face of his father's reproach, Franz was aggrieved.

It's really not him who picks the door, the opening ceremony of the Principality of Snow Moon must be two grades lower than the ceremony of the Alpha Empire, this is the rule!

The layout of the scene is made with reference to the imperial ceremony.

How could it be that the Alpha Empire is a poor, glamorous appearance of the Imperial Canon, but in fact it is all framed goods.

On the basis of the sample goods, further reduce the specifications and grades, and it will be like this.

If nothing else, most of the supplies on site were disposable. After using it today, it can only be scrapped.

It is impossible to preserve it as a cultural relic for future generations to admire.

After completing the process with the team's machinery and hurriedly completing the canonization of the heroes, Hudson immediately ordered the opening of the celebration banquet.

Can't put it off!

While everyone's attention is focused on the ceremony, and the attention has not yet shifted to the roughness of the on-site layout, it is the right way to end the event quickly.

In case it drags on for a long time, a certain nobleman with a bad brain will have to jump out and smash the field. It would be embarrassing to pierce the last window paper.

If this kind of thing spreads, in the aristocratic circle, he can be laughed at for a thousand years.

Fortunately, the worst didn't happen. The nobles who can come to watch the ceremony are all masters with status, and they know the truth of seeing through and not telling the truth.

Even if you want to see a joke, just go back and complain in private, and if you say it in public, you are pulling hatred.

In the absence of a conflict of interest, the nobles of the big family did not want to provoke a strong man like Hudson.

Everything has settled, and the Principality of Snow Moon, which has been in ruins, has been officially established.

Sitting on a vast territory, the Grand Duchy can catch up with some small kingdoms, but unfortunately more than 80% of the land is no man's land.

The next mainstream of the principality is to build a homeland. We should strive to make use of the limited resources at hand to develop the land in the country at an early date.

This time cycle is destined to be protracted.

"Franz, the Duchy of Snow Moon will be handed over to you.

If the governance is qualified, I will pass on the position to you in thirty years.

Don't be in a hurry to refuse, your task is not easy. In addition to governing the place, you also have to be prepared for war.

An economic crisis is brewing within the empire, and if it erupts, it will inevitably detonate a series of contradictions that have accumulated in the past.

There are two paths before the Empire.

Either we can initiate internal reforms, solve the long-standing backlog of problems, and ease the contradictions among all strata of the country.

Either start a war externally and use the war to divert the internal contradictions of the empire.

In the case of internal reform, you can just watch from the sidelines, and there is no need to get involved.

If a foreign war breaks out, then you have to take an active part in it.

Your three younger brothers still lack fiefdoms, which happened to be solved in the war! ”

Hudson said with a smile.

The storm maelstrom of the empire, he has jumped out, and he is not ready to fall into it again.

Unless he encounters a life-and-death crisis in the empire, it is better for him, a retired marshal, not to go out and be an eyesore.

With the background of the Alpha Empire, even the top of the empire is a loser, and it will not be defeated for a while.

The intensification of internal contradictions within the empire can be disastrous for individuals, but it is an opportunity for the state to scrape the bones and heal the poison.

The great nobles scattered throughout the empire have just come down from the battlefield and have not yet fallen into drunkenness.

The crisis that erupts in the hands of these smart people is the most likely to be resolved.

Even if you can't solve the problem, you can solve the person who created the problem.

For example, after the economic crisis broke out, a large number of merchants and craftsmen went bankrupt, and it was impossible to save their wealth.

But to help them find jobs again, it is still very simple, just pull people to the grassland to clear the wasteland.

We did a similar operation once ten years ago.

If the contradiction were to be sharper, it would be nothing more than the outbreak of a civil war among the aristocracy.

Whoever is strong, who can pull more allies, who wins on the battlefield, who says more reasonably.

If you are not convinced by one war, then fight again.

After hitting it a few times, no matter how angry it is, it will slowly calm down and passively accept the reality.

Aristocratic warfare with relatively limited destructive power.

When everyone was tired of tossing, the empire came out to mediate, and the problem was temporarily solved.

The biggest hidden danger of the military merit system can also be solved by foreign wars, and it will not collapse in a short time.

……

Of course, thinking that the crisis of the empire is controllable is only for an aristocrat like Hudson who jumps out of the chessboard and is deeply involved in it, he does not dare to think so.

Especially for those in power in the court, once the situation in the empire deteriorates, the political prestige they have achieved in front of them will all turn from positive to negative.

It's good to be able to solve the problem in time, but if the crisis can't be solved for a long time, they are the most suitable back-bearers.

After all, Caesar V was still a child, unable to make decisions for the time being, and did not need to be responsible for the empire.

The ruined set menu can only be enjoyed by the ministers of the DPRK and China.

"Father, how can you be sure that something will go wrong with the Empire?

You must know that these contradictions have always existed. There have been no problems in the past so many years, and the empire will not explode immediately after it is established! ”

Franz asked, puzzled.

The hidden dangers of the empire have never been a secret among the great nobles. It's just that Hudson is the only one who takes this as a thing.

The rest of the aristocracy was relatively optimistic. In any case, the current situation of the Alpha Empire is far stronger than when it was beaten every day.

"Because the external pressure is gone, everyone's hanging nerves are relaxed!

Because the Near East Development Bank's debt leverage has reached its limit, the indiscriminate issuance of gold bills has shown signs of depreciation, and in order to preserve the bank's credit, some of the gold bills must be recovered.

By the time you were preparing for the Principality, the bank had already sold a lot of assets to cash in. Including some small local branches, they were sold.

So far, the Development Bank of the Near East has recovered more than 18 million gold bills.

These golden tickets will not be circulated again in a short period of time. With so much money disappearing from the market, it is impossible for the imperial economy not to have problems!

The upcoming auction in the territory is actually specially prepared to deal with the bank money shortage crisis.

The situation of small and medium-sized banks is even worse, they dare to do anything for the sake of performance, do not make enough profits, and learn from the Development Bank of the Near East to pay dividends.

The aristocrats behind the scenes were too greedy, either paying high dividends or taking out large loans from banks, and most of the commercial banks were hollowed out by the shareholders behind the scenes.

Judging from the data collected, more than 98 percent of the banks on the mainland are now insolvent.

The banking industry, without rules, has been reduced to a harvesting machine for the powerful. Keep playing like this, do you think you can do it without problems? ”

After Hudson finished speaking, Franz instantly understood. No wonder his father knew that the crisis was about to erupt, so he had an ignition device in his own home.

It's normal to think about it, the continental war was fought so fiercely. None of the five-nation alliance with poor finances is financially bankrupt, and this is the charm of debt leverage.

"Father, the Development Bank of the Near East should be able to hold up, right?"

Franz asked, uncertain.

Guarding the golden rice bowl, it is impossible not to stretch out your hand. The rapid development of the Principality of Snow Moon in the past few years was also carried out by loans from the Development Bank of the Near East.

The total accumulated debt of the Principality of Snow Moon is directly as high as hundreds of millions of gold coins. The point is that these loans are not interest-paying.

Part of it is the arbitrage of fake accounts made in the front, and part of it is the golden ticket that has been printed.

Lacking effective supervision, Hudson, who was short of money, could not hold back at a critical moment in the development of the territory.

Now I am in a hurry to collect the gold bills, because the amount of gold bills actually in circulation in the market exceeds the amount printed on the bank books.

"You can rest assured, it is estimated that after the auction is over, the recovery of the golden ticket will be basically completed.

Fill in this pit, as long as you keep the value of the gold ticket and stabilize the bank's credit, all the problems are not a problem. ”

Hudson replied calmly.

But he only said half of it, the Development Bank of the Near East survived, and the other banks were miserable.

This auction was also a fuse that detonated the crisis. A large amount of money has poured into the Principality of Snow Moon, and it will definitely have an impact on other regions.

The question now is which country will explode first, and who will be the biggest loser. Lacking the means to deal with the financial crisis, the explosion was a credit collapse in the banking sector.

……

Time flies, and everything is as Hudson expected, and the largest financial crisis in the continent of Aslant starts with the Kingdom of Dante.

The reason was that the city of a great nobleman was sacked by the enemy, and the banks in the city were naturally murdered. After the enemy retreated, the residents rushed to withdraw the money first, and the run crisis broke out directly.

The panic spread, and soon spread to other banks, first the run on the Kingdom of Dante, then the unlucky Kingdom of Hesse, and soon the crisis spread to the entire Five Nations Alliance, and finally swept the entire Terran world.

When the crisis spread to the Alpha Empire, almost all of the country's banks went bankrupt, and the powerful Development Bank of the Near East suffered an unprecedented run.

In the wake of the run, the Development Bank of the Near East (NEB) cashed out a large number of risky loan bills under the pretext of repatriating funds.

Coupled with the capital injection of major shareholders, it barely survived the run crisis. The bank's credibility was preserved, but most of the bank's cash flow was depleted, and it had to undergo a strategic contraction.

As a result, a large number of gold bills returned to the warehouse, and the amount of money circulating in the market decreased dramatically.

The wave of bank bankruptcies was followed by a money shortage crisis. For a time, the empire withered, and the tide of bankruptcy swept the country.

First, a large number of freedmen went bankrupt, and then the capital chain of the minor nobles was broken, and the crisis developed to its peak, and many new nobles were also forced to declare bankruptcy.

Like the national governments, the Reich government did nothing effective in the crisis and allowed it to spread.

The freedmen were dislocated after bankruptcy, and many were forced to sell themselves to the nobility as serfs in order to survive.

The aristocracy with soldiers in their hands, after the financial bankruptcy, directly declared a debt default.

Not only did he not repay the debts he owed, but he was also unwilling to deliver the pledged territory to the creditors.

This move can anger the creditors, and those who have the ability to copy the IOUs in the crisis are the great nobles of the empire.

The bankruptcy of some nobles was due to their own business problems, and the bankruptcy of more nobles was due to the calculations of the nearby nobles.

These big aristocrats took the risk of taking advantage of the fire, not to earn some pitiful interest difference.

From the very beginning, it was decided that the debtor would default so that the land annexation could be carried out in the name of justice.

Hudson, who was the big creditor of the empire, left ahead of schedule, and the big nobles from all over the country who took over directly fought with the bankrupt nobles in order to protect their own interests.

For a time, the war spread to more than 30 provinces of the empire, and the sudden "debt collection war" stunned the top of the empire.

wanted to intervene, but was embarrassed to find that he was still the main force in the war.

Identity determines the position, and it is now popular to help relatives without helping.

Without the slightest hesitation, the imperial government openly stated its position: it is only right to repay debts!

There is no doubt that the bankrupt aristocracy, who is in financial difficulty, is certainly no match for the big aristocracy.

Even if they resisted very fiercely, they still could not escape the fate of defeat.

It took three years for the imperial annexation movement to reach its climax before the situation gradually stabilized.

The most direct consequence is that the control of the great nobles over the local area has become stronger and stronger, and the local noble councils have become reduced to a single hall.

The great nobles of many provinces occupied more than half of the local land.

The small and medium-sized nobles who survived were either hard-boned, or the background background was big enough, or they were their own people.

After the end of the "debt collection war", the conservative government, which was obviously tendentious, withdrew from the country amid the angry voice of the people.

But they don't lose, although they have borne countless infamy, but the family behind them has benefited.

Several bigwigs in the royal camp were tragic, and as soon as they walked to the front desk, they took a big black cauldron.

Regardless of whether the final decision is made by them or not, since the person is in the position, he can only follow and take responsibility.

Including the queen mother in the deep palace, the Grand Duke of Madeleine, who happened to be in retreat, was also scolded lightly.

In order to calm the pressure of public opinion, the top level of the government resigned one after another. But the land that has been swallowed up will never be spit out.

The defeated bankrupt nobles could only migrate to the steppe with the remnants of their strength, temporarily avoiding the enemy's edge, in order to seek a comeback.

The famous Principality of Snow Moon has become the first choice for the exile of the down-and-out nobles. Throughout the Empire's Civil War, the Duchy of Snow Moon received a population of nearly two million.

Hudson, who ate melons and watched the play, passively became the big winner in the civil war. Along with the winners, there are also a number of noble lords on the prairie.

The influx of foreign population has injected new impetus into the development of the prairie.

With the rapid development of the casual prairie, the down-and-out nobles who were unwilling to send people under the fence all the time, in order to regain their territory, became the most determined main battle faction in the empire.

The small and medium-sized nobles living in the rear provinces responded immediately.

With fewer and fewer neighbors around them, they realized that their homes were in danger, and they had to consider a different place to develop.

If you leave on your own initiative, you can also make deals with the big nobles nearby. If you wait for someone else to do it, you can only be passively displaced.

Each takes the choice he needs, and the great nobles of the provinces must support it.

In the sacred calendar year, the Alpha Empire, despite the opposition of the Terran Alliance, mobilized 700,000 troops to forcibly enter the Seven Grassland Countries under the pretext of arresting the cult.

The Principality of Xueyue, which is close to the water and gets the moon first, is naturally the main force in the war. At Hudson's behest, Franz personally led 80,000 Duchy troops to participate in the war.

The war against rookies is completely one-sided. The battle lasted only half a year, and the high-level leaders of the Seven Steppe Kingdoms once again opened the path of exile.

As the only victor, the Alpha Empire forcibly completed the occupation of the Seven Steppe Countries despite the opposition of the countries of the continent.

Although Hudson did not directly participate in this war, his existence was the confidence of the empire to dare to annex the Seven Kingdoms.

With Hudson, the number one general on the continent, even if countries want to send troops to intervene, they must first consider whether they can fight.

Coupled with the contribution of the principality's army in the war, it was natural to take a large piece of the cake, and the territory area directly increased by 50%.

Hudson's sons performed well during the war.

In accordance with the tradition of the Alpha Empire, the eldest son stayed behind to inherit the family business, while the remaining sons went out to develop the family business.

Hudson carved three provinces into the new lands as fiefs for the other three sons, and made them earls.

Eagles can't live in a greenhouse, and after sponsoring a resource, they are allowed to go out on their own.

Time flies, and in a flash, it has reached the agreed thirty years.

After Franz's hard work, plus Hudson's sidelines. The Duchy of Snow Moon has become more and more powerful, becoming the most powerful prince in the Alpha Empire.

Looking at the entire Terran world, it can also be ranked among the top ten, and its comprehensive strength is enough to rival the imperial royal family.

The rapid development naturally attracted the jealousy of the royal family.

It's just that in recent years, there have been many internal problems in the empire, and Caesar V, who was pro-government, spent a lot of energy just sorting out the court.

Franz inherited Hudson's cautious approach and focused on a solid one.

Although the royal family was afraid of the development of the Principality of Snow Moon, they could not find an opportunity to cut in.

After all, a principality is a freer existence than a local prince. Except for the vassal obligations to the emperor, all other aspects are relatively independent.

If you want to curb the development of the Principality of Snow Moon, you can't find a place to start.

deliberately found fault with him, and Caesar V was worried about causing big trouble, so he could only come out of sight and out of mind.

It's February 2 again, this special day.

At the age of forty-nine, Franz took over the crown from Hudson as he wished, becoming the new Grand Duke of Snow Moon.

"Franz, from today onwards, you are the king of the Duchy of Snow Moon.

The king is not only a glory, but also a heavy responsibility! ”

……