You made a good and wise decision, Char......"

Sophie held a quill pen in her right hand, an account book in her left hand, a delicate face facing the sky, her head easily tied a knot at the back of her head, and she sat in the big tent of the office manager who originally belonged to Char in the barracks.

In fact, this big tent has already become Sophie's territory. Since this girl was appointed by Char as the "Chief of Staff", Char simply left this place to this young girl to deal with.

After he returned from the dwarven garrison just now, he immediately came here to talk to Sophie.

As for the deal with the dwarves, Char was a whim.

Originally, he just wanted to get the promise of the dwarven clan to sell the earth-walking beasts, but the more he came out of the dwarven station and walked all the way back, the more Char thought about it, the more he felt that this was really not a good idea!

At present, the biggest problem restricting the exhibition of this emerging force is financial revenue!

If there is no money, there is no need to talk about any kind of expansion exhibition.

In the past, the main source of fiscal revenue was agricultural income, and the grain produced here was purchased annually by the central government of the Empire, as well as by some local grain merchants.

I don't know if it's the gods' estimation, but the political situation of the Byzantine Empire over the years can be described as turbulent, with warlords in various places, * the central centralized power is extremely weak, and even fought several wars with Odin.

But the strange thing is that within the territory of the Byzantine Empire, the climate is smooth every year, there is no drought or flood, and the grain is harvested almost every year. Therefore, although it is very much, there is no natural disaster I have to say, this is a blessing of misfortune.

So, even in the midst of political turmoil, even in the midst of war, the overall food prices within the empire did not rise as sharply as in the real troubled times. Although the price of grain has risen, mainly because warlords in various places have begun to hoard food in preparation for war, and the impact of war on productivity, food prices have indeed risen somewhat, but they have not reached an excessive figure. Overall, it's pretty stable.

This situation is of course a good thing, but for Char, a warlord in a grain-producing area, he should not expect to make a windfall by selling grain.

At present, it seems that the war has taken a heavy toll on the region under his rule, and the fiscal revenue is almost depleted. Now a large amount of land has been given to the families of the military, and the soldiers who have been given the land have begun to call their relatives and families to migrate to the north to settle down...... It is foreseeable that in the coming period, Char's territory will be greatly restored, and the migrants will soon be productive again.

As long as there are no problems with the climate, this year's grain harvest can be expected in the north, a large grain-producing region in the north.

Char even got a promise from the Emperor Odin that he would not have to worry about the Odin people invading the south again for at least three years.

As for the other warlords............ Char really didn't pay attention to it. At present, Adric's arming war in the imperial capital has directly attracted the attention of most of the warlords, and Char, a new force in the north, no one wants to offend him for the time being.

Without the danger of war, Char can fully expect a bumper grain harvest this year.

But if the price of food is not high, he really doesn't make much money.

"Actually, the dwarves are very rich. Sophie put down the pen and ledger in her hand, looked at Char, and said slowly: "For a long time, almost everyone thought that dwarves were backward and conservative, and that these dwarves were poor...... Dwarves are richer than we think!"

Char nodded, and just after making a major decision, he really needs to have such a think tank under his command to give himself a good analysis of the prospects and pros and cons of things.

"The edicts of the Byzantine Empire have always forbade the trade of grain with the dwarves. Dwarves are hostile to humans, and humans are not hostile to dwarves? If you are not of our race, your heart will be different! This truth is recognized by almost every race. Therefore, the Byzantine Empire has always forbade the sale of grain to dwarves, because grain is a strategic reserve. It is even ridiculous that in some peaceful years, the Byzantine Empire preferred to export grain to the Odin Empire rather than sell it to the dwarves. The dwarves are also reluctant to sell their iron tools to humans on a large scale, for the same reason. It has to be said that there are historical causes for this phenomenon. But in fact, this situation has been somewhat loosened in recent years, especially the almost breathless * central government suppressed by the Tema Military Region, because after the warlords in various places were divided, the financial revenue has been reduced one after another, and at the same time, the scale of the * central army must be maintained to ensure the deterrence of the warlords. The reduction in fiscal revenue and the huge military expenditure have become an irreconcilable contradiction.

Our teacher, Cavishir, had actually asked a few years ago whether the Empire could consider lifting the embargo on food for the Dwarves in order to obtain more revenue.

This proposal is of great benefit to the Empire! Several large grain-producing counties in the north are close to the wildfire field, and it is very convenient from a geographical point of view to trade grain with the dwarves. However, it is a pity that this proposal of the teacher was resolutely opposed by almost everyone! Not only the warlord henchmen who controlled the military department, but even the royalist aristocratic power groups were unanimously opposed! The opposition was so strong that even Emperor Kantos could not ignore it, so he had to abandon this proposal of Teacher Cavihill......

"Why is that?" Char was puzzled: "Those warlord parties are against it, and I can understand that they are afraid that the central government's fiscal revenue will increase because of the grain trade. But why are those royalist aristocratic groups so opposed?*Don't they want to see the power of the central strengthened?"

Sophie smiled, and the girl smiled coldly: "Why? In short, because of one word: greed." ”

Char frowned.

Sophie looked at Char: "You really don't understand, General, please think about it carefully, Char looked at Sophie's meaningful eyes, and after a little groaning, she finally sighed.

"I see. A sneer appeared on his face: "Sure enough, it's because of greed, stupid greed!"

It's not too hard to guess.

You must know that although the empire has always adopted a grain embargo decree against the dwarves, the official decree is the same thing, but secretly, many chambers of commerce are secretly conducting illegal food smuggling business against the dwarves.

And it is precisely because of the embargo decree that the price of grain smuggling is getting higher and higher, and the profits are getting bigger and bigger!

Of those large chambers of commerce and business groups in the empire, which one of them did not have a strong background in the background of aristocratic and wealthy families? It can be said that almost all of the large merchant groups belong to the property of some wealthy and aristocratic families.

On the surface, it is forbidden to trade grain to the dwarves, but these chambers of commerce and business groups can rely on those protective umbrellas behind them to secretly carry out grain smuggling "big windfalls".

Didn't the rock just say it all himself?

Char's grain for the rock is sold at more than twice the price of grain in the Byzantine Empire at present! And the rock himself admits that when those black-hearted merchants and dwarves trade grain, the transaction price has to add a zero to Char's quotation number!

What a terrible profit this is!!

How many wealthy and aristocratic interests are tied to this secret smuggling grain business?

If the Empire suddenly lifts the decree of the food embargo, then ...... From then on, the dwarves could openly and openly import grain directly from within the Byzantine Empire...... Naturally, the dwarves will no longer buy high-priced food from those black-hearted chambers of commerce!

Those aristocratic and wealthy families naturally absolutely cannot tolerate this kind of life!

"Old emperor, there is nothing to be done about this situation? Those wealthy nobles can coerce the emperor into having to suffer this dumb loss?" Char frowned.

"In essence, the emperor is the biggest nobleman, and the stability of the imperial power needs the support of the aristocracy, and the coercion of the warlords, if the imperial power is to be maintained, the emperor needs the support of the aristocracy. So...*......"

Sophie also sighed when she said this: "To a certain extent, Teacher Cavihill, after this incident, completely gave up the original illusion of the emperor and the aristocracy.

In the past, he also hoped to improve and refresh the empire through a series of means, so that the empire could get back on a healthy track. But after this incident, the teacher often sighed: this empire has rotted from the roots, "mere improvement can no longer save the fate of this empire, and if you want to change, you can only carry out a complete huge grass change, a huge storm cleansing!"

What kind of huge grass change" storm sweeping, Fu Ya is not very interested, his current interest is only in the grain trade with the dwarves.

"Hopefully, the dwarven trade will bring us some revenue. ”

"As I said, General, these dwarves are richer than you think!" said Sophie, smugly.

"Rich?" Char was the first to disbelieve.

The guy on the rock was dressed in tatters, and he looked dirty, he really didn't look like a big financier.

"The dwarves have been engaged in mining for generations, and they are born with excellent keen detection ability for metal minerals, and their mining ability is even more first-class, and their smelting technology is far superior to that of us humans. When I say that dwarves are rich, I have a specific reference! You must know that when it comes to other aspects, in terms of food, clothing, and housing, even the king of the dwarves cannot catch up with an ordinary human noble! Because of the racial barrier, the dwarves cannot get a large number of human luxuries, they may be poorly dressed, poorly fed, live in caves, and may even store less food than an ordinary human farmer. But...... If you talk about the storage of metal minerals, I'm afraid it will be a number of days that you can't even dream of!"

Char's eyes widened immediately!

"The mountains of the wildfire are rich in all kinds of metal minerals, iron ore, copper ore, and even gold and silver mines! However, they are unable to trade with other races on a large scale, so even the metal minerals that are dug up can only be stored in their huge mountain caverns after refining. You can imagine how much wealth they have accumulated over the generations*......"

Char's eyes and nose began to redden.

"For the dwarves, food is much more valuable than metal. To the dwarves, metal is worthless. But I think for General Char, metal is something you need. To expand your power, you'll need plenty of iron, copper, gold, and silver*......"

"Alas, I think I made a huge mistake. Char bowed his head and sighed: "I should have talked to you first, and then I went to trade with the dwarves! Now that you say this, I now that the price I offer is too low, in this case, the profit is too small......"

"Thin water flows. Sophie said lightly: "If you want to make huge profits, then you will be like those black-hearted chambers of commerce, you will not be able to gain the trust of the dwarves, even if the transaction is profitable for a while, but in the long run, they will turn against you sooner or later." When the time comes, you won't have to buy what you need from the dwarves. Of course...... Your offer is indeed a little lower, although we are not as black-hearted as those chambers of commerce, but you can break the imperial embargo and openly sell food to the dwarves, but you also have to bear a lot of pressure, these sacrifices, always in exchange for some price. So, I have a way to increase your profits a bit. ”

"You have a way again?" Char's eyes lit up.

"It's very simple, the price you promised them doesn't need to be changed, but when it comes to trading, we can divide different price levels on various types of grain. Black beans, soybeans, green beans, the price is naturally different, the lowest black beans can be sold at the low price you said, but soybeans and green beans will naturally have to add some price codes, hehe...... And wheat, barley, wheat, rye, couscous, and refined wheat, all of which cannot be sold at one price. Hehe, I mean, I think you can get it. When the time comes, there will still be a lot of money*......"

After a pause, Sophie said in a very cold tone: "Don't forget, the dwarves are also divided into nobles and commoners. The dwarven commoners would be satisfied with ordinary black beans and coarse barley, but what about the dwarven nobles? The dwarven tribal nobility, and even their dwarven royalty, are not satisfied with inferior food, and you know, the nobles of any race are often a group of people who are willing to pay a lot of money for the enjoyment of UA. By the way, in the territory of the dwarves, I heard that a barrel of fine human wine can be exchanged for the same amount of gold! Of course, this kind of transaction can only be carried out with the dwarven nobles, so I don't need to teach you the details. ”

Char laughed, and the turtle was suddenly full of confidence!

Nothing else, this kind of thing, but our turtle's old business!