That's it, with a paper pact with the big companies of Briton, and secret pacties with various small and medium-sized companies in the Old World. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info William ended his trip to Polotsk. In early summer, he went south and returned to the Duchy of Mystia, as it should have been.

Yes, it was supposed to be like this. After returning to Mystia, William formed a mercenary group. Then he consulted with Duke Otto about the attack on Holmgard and Novgorod.

However, in Polotsk, William saw a new opportunity. An opportunity to complete the task of "forming a mercenary group" without returning to Mystia.

Because there are too many, too many, too many here, living in despair, with no hope at all, and young adults who are strong and strong, and have only one life left.

During the economic crisis of more than half a year, the Republic of Polotsk has stabilized - not that Polotsk has returned to normal. Rather, it is said that the people of Polotsk have begun to accept the facts. Their mood stabilized.

They accepted their unemployment, they accepted their bankruptcy. The country that accepted them in a short period of time was reduced from a first-rate, successful commercial city-state republic to a ragtag state full of bankrupt merchants and broken settlements.

After more than half a year of sales, more than half of what Polotsk can sell has been sold. The merchant groups and factories that could be saved were barely saved. If you can't save it, you can't save it. At the same time, most of the industrial workers in Polotsk were dispersed. Some of these people became refugees. Ran to Mystia and became a serf. Some of them were recruited by the owners of factories in Mystia, or in Briton, or elsewhere, and were recruited to factories in Polotsk or elsewhere.

In this way, all these industrial workers survived. In front of the inability to live, there is no death for the time being.

Polotsk is a coastal country. The fishing industry is well developed. And the state welfare of Polotsk is poor. But the aristocratic and wealthy businessmen were still able to reluctantly come up with a little money to engage in relief.

That's it, these unemployed workers, bankrupt businessmen, are all in a mess, drunk and dreaming to death. A day is a day. For a while, the streets of Polotsk were filled with people who looked like they had lost hope for the future.

After that, there was a huge increase in the crime rate. The streets and alleys are filled with a large number of thieves, robbers, gangsters, and underground black market transactions...... At the same time, in the dark corners of the streets and alleys, there are also a large number of street girls, greased and powdered, and forced to smile. From the age of eight to eighty...... It's a sad story.

And William believed that the scene would not go away for a long time.

On the other hand, there were factories that had been bought by William and other foreigners. Production activities are in full swing there. Thousands of industrial workers, like a drugged drug, are desperately trying to produce whatever the factory owners want to produce.

Their wages were so low that they barely enough to live on their family. At the same time, their work was very heavy - the overseers behind the workers were waving their whips in the air and shouting at them with their toes in high spirits: "

Hurry up, slacker! Thank the Lord of Light and your boss for giving you such an opportunity! Know how hard it is to find a job these days****** Don't let me catch anyone who makes a mistake! You know, there are poor ghosts outside the factory who want to come in and work! They can take your place at any time!"

That's pretty much it. In the context of the economic crisis, but also under the supervision of a large number of overseers. In the case of the presence of a large number of unemployed workers in Polotsk. The workers in the factories had to endure fourteen hours of intense physical labor, meager wages, harsh working conditions, harsh harshness from the overseers, and countless other hardships......

Some workers even expressed the feeling that "it is better to have a job than not to have a job...... But of course, they're just talking. In the six months since the economic collapse, no worker has really taken the initiative to resign or quit his job.

Even if they don't want this life anymore. They also don't want their families to suffer. I don't want my wife and daughter. Even the mother went out to sell.

That's basically it...... Even William's factory is only slightly "better" than the others.

Yes, the eight-hour workday, the minimum wage, the pension, the welfare system. These things are really good. The problem is that William is currently in the middle of the business. The same is true of the capitalist system. In this day and age, these "really good" things seem very anachronistic.

According to William's theory, the most important thing now is to develop the productive forces. Development of productive forces. Nothing is more important than the development of productivity. In addition to "appropriating the productive forces of these developments for one's own use".

William's factory was based on a piece-rate wage system. There is also a slight reward system. Moreover, William did not recruit some hooligans and gangsters as overseers, as most factory owners of this era did. Instead, they chose to hire older skilled workers as quality inspectors. To test the quality of goods, according to the pass rate, to reduce the salary as a punitive measure.

In addition to this, William's factory also has a certain level of safety measures, safety regulations...... What's more, William's wages to the workers were often paid in kind - such as bread - which saved the workers from the possibility of going to the black market and being exploited by the black market merchants for a second time.

Under this series of measures, policies. Wilhelm's series of factories became the hottest and most interesting places in the Polotsk region. All the Polotsk workers wanted to work in Wilhelm's factory. At the same time, Wilhelm's plant is also the most efficient and effective in the Polotsk region.

In addition, this series of measures was relatively lenient, and it also earned William a good name. This is what William wanted more - the huge amount of food resources and relief policies that William sent from Mystia seemed so rare compared to the government offices of the United Provinces and Republics, which did nothing.

This will help in the future, William's strategy of annexing Polotsk.

At the same time, in the short term, what William wants to do helps-

Yes, William wanted to recruit a force from Polotsk. to form his mercenary group - it's very easy. In fact, before that, many young people in Polotsk went to other places to "earn a living" -- but this was "to other places" and not to be local.

Affected by the economic crisis. The local mercenaries in Polotsk are not doing much business - very simple. The merchants didn't have much to transport. Naturally, there is no need to hire mercenaries to escort these goods. At the same time, the activities of those who wanted to expand their business in other places also stopped.

During this time, the mercenary group in Polotsk evacuated quite a few people. Most of them traveled to the interior of the Empire, where they joined the battle for the throne that was now coming to an end. Some remained in Polotsk and survived...... These remaining mercenaries now regret it. Because in the previous wave of various forces intervening in Polotsk, the mercenary industry was the only one that did not benefit from anything.

Whether it was the Great Briton Company, William's Duchy of Mystia, or other companies and business groups from the continents, they all had their own escorts. They did not trust the local mercenaries in Polotsk.

And after they ate these factories, businesses, and trade routes, the mercenaries they brought with them also took on this series of escort and protection tasks as a matter of course. As a result, the local mercenaries in Polotsk still can't get any oil and water.

A large number of mercenary backbones, a large number of unemployed vagrants. At the same time, there was a huge amount of artillery and muskets produced by Polotsk itself...... William felt that if there had been Nazism in this era, then Polotsk could now clearly explode a large army. To transfer internal contradictions to foreign wars......

It's just a pity. The choice of the Polotsks of this era is very large. Even if they don't fight foreign wars. They can also go on an adventure in the New World, or go to Indy, Indiasia to "go on an adventure". Or as an immigrant, go south to Mystia and become a happy serf.

Therefore, before the food in Polotsk was eaten, the people of Polotsk were just complaining and drunken to death. It's like Germany in a state of hyperinflation after the defeat of World War I. People are having a very bad time. Very difficult. Very much want to change.

But they are ignorant, they are confused. They can't help it. They also don't have the capital. Their simple brains can't come up with a system. There is a logical, organized, and effective system to serve them.

Luckily, or unfortunately, William had it.

William understood all this.

And William wanted to act very badly.

A desire to speak made William eager to try. And William knows it too. What kind of way to get a large enough audience?

While arranging for the workers to set up a stage in Riga's central square, William also spread the word throughout the city that everyone who came here to listen to William's speech would receive a piece of bread.

Yes, a loaf of bread. In this day and age. A loaf of bread represents everything.

So, on the Fourth of July, Riga's central square was crowded with people. Under the watchful eyes of the confused, nervous, overwhelmed and impatient people of Polotsk, William appeared.