There are only a handful of people in the huge Perth Palace conference room today.

To the left of Queen Margaret sat Chancellor of the Exchequer Regina, the old man's face was bitter and his hair seemed to be graying, and his tax reform was going very hard.

Originally, tax reform was a very difficult task, and Reginer was going to build a top-down vertical collection agency based on Solomon's previous establishment, but this itself required a lot of manpower and meant a lot of expenses, but Queen Margaret forced it beyond what the cabinet officials had agreed to and turned a hunt of limited revenge into a formal declaration of war.

Reginer's plans to establish a vertical levy agency were immediately thwarted, and there was not enough money and manpower to carry it out, and Margaret asked him to push the parliament to agree to the collection of a special war tax.

"Your Majesty, there are indeed immediate difficulties in the collection of the special war tax, and the Upper Council has once again rejected this proposal, and it is now impossible for me and Mansfield to bring it up again. "And, the parliament wants His Majesty to consider stopping the war." ”

"Stop, I'm avenging William. Magritte slammed her fist on the table, "Ulf isn't dead yet. ”

"Your Majesty, Ulf is a legendary priest, and it is definitely not an easy task to kill him. Freyas said in a deep voice.

"That's why I'm going to drive the Sreks out of the beast plain once and for all, and if the Auroras dare to stand up for them, they must be in league with them. "I will not stop this war, I will keep fighting." ”

She sneered, "Won't you all avenge William? ”

Regina glanced at the first person on the right, and the kind Archbishop Cameron smiled. With the return of the Church of Light, he was also made a State Counselor by Queen Margaret, and could attend important meetings in informal settings as Margaret's personal counselor.

"陛xià. It's not that we don't want to support it, but the use of the national treasury is too great to continue to bear it. Regina tactfully said that Asturias has developed rapidly in the past ten years, and the income of the original treasury has increased, but the expenditure has also increased enormously.

Edward took back the military power of the kingdom, but it also meant that the huge amount of money that the dukes would pay to the legions in the past was gone. The whole treasury was responsible, and the extraterritorial trade was carried out, and with the development of industry and commerce, the income did increase. However, the war, garrison, and defense of the alien plane are also huge expenses, and it will take a certain amount of time to recover.

Asturias had been through a series of wars, while Regina's tax reform had not yet succeeded, and there was no money to support Margaret in a long national war. To know. This national war is a war between the countries of Keos, even if Aurora is not as good as Asturias, but with the Eastern Beast Alliance, it is almost the same, and even wins.

The reason why the upper council opposed it was also to take into account the risk of this war, and if Asturias was defeated, it would be through the Saxon kingdom and if the attitude of the central Saxon kingdom changed. That would be a disaster, even endangering the safety of the homeland.

"You are my Chancellor of the Exchequer. Margaret knocked on the table. "So you're going to have a way. ”

Regina opened his mouth, but finally didn't say anything, only a little more bitter on his face.

"Well, old Sir Reginal, I'll help you figure it out. It was not Solomon who said this, he had not said a word so far, it was Queen Margaret who spoke again, "If you need to wait for the approval of the parliament for taxes, then you can borrow money first." I remember my father had done this before, right, Marquis Solomon, why didn't you speak? I remember my father complimenting you on this, mentioning that you had solved similar problems for him. ”

"Ahem, it's such an experience. "At that time, it was borrowed from the Central Bank of Asturias, which was a union of hundreds of merchants, but it was mortgaged, and His Majesty obtained the loan as collateral for some of his assets and fixed tax rights. ”

"I can do the same. Margaret immediately said, "I can pledge the rights and interests of the kingdom in the two territories that the kingdom will occupy in the East Beast Plains and the Aurora Kingdom in the future. ”

"This, Majesty. Solomon had to interrupt Magritte, "With all due respect, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the bank to accept this kind of mortgage. ”

"Why?" said Margaret.

"Because the risk is too great, Your Majesty. Regina had to interject and state the real reason, "The borrowing of merchants depends on the credit and collateral of the borrower. ”

Margaret's face was terriblely gloomy, she understood Reginal's subtext, although she was a king, she was definitely not as trustworthy as her father when it came to borrowing, and even her own father Edward had almost gotten away with it back then.

As for the collateral, the bank is not a fool, can the kingdom be defeated by the way? Even if it can be defeated, as long as Srek does not destroy the clan, it is impossible for them and Aurora to give up the counterattack, and even if Asturias gets rid of the restrictions of the path of friendship and establishes a teleportation channel on the native plane there (which the Saxons will not allow now), it will become a wound of continuous blood loss in the future.

The war was fought against not the natives of the Silver or Bronze Planes, but the native nations and tribes of the Kaos.

In a region where strife erupts at any time like a volcanic crater in the future, even fools will consider the risks, unless Asturias can fully demonstrate its strength to occupy it.

"Solomon, I remember that your new legion should have been reorganized, right?" Seeing that the loan was not easy to continue, Margaret changed her direction and said, "If this legion can quickly go to the battlefield and give full play to the combat power you boasted at the beginning, it must be able to quickly defeat the enemy." ”

"It is true that the number of the new legion is almost complete, but the armament and training have been suspended by Sir Regina and the Secretary of State for Defense because His Majesty started this war, and if His Majesty can restart it, this new legion will definitely be able to meet His Majesty's high hopes. Now I can also promise Your Majesty that I can send a regiment that has now been assembled into battle at any time. Solomon smiled.

"A regiment? How many people is that?" Margaret didn't know much about the new military system that Solomon was establishing.

"It's about the equivalent of a brigade of a traditional legion. Solomon said casually.

"How is that enough!" Margaret screamed.

"陛xià. Other legions also used muskets to equip some of their soldiers, and then formed the Asturian phalanx, and they were quite good on the battlefield. The soldiers of the kingdom fighting on the borders of the iron triangle of Saxon, Aurora, and Beastland are currently gaining the upper hand, and it is because of the role of the musketeers in it, so if Solomon's all-firearms army can be truly assembled, it will definitely be of great help to the war. Regina affirmed, "But the cost of the full assembly is also quite staggering, and the kingdom cannot complete it for the time being." ”

"Then it's back to money. Margaret frowned.

"Hehe, Your Majesty. I'm sure Marquis Solomon will have a way, right?" said Archbishop Cameron, who had not spoken all this time.

Solomon looked at him and said, "I can do think of something more." But I can't borrow money out of thin air. ”

"What do you need? or shall I pledge the interests of Farucion or Yugudral?" said Margaret.

Regina hurriedly stopped her, "Your Majesty, this can't be done, the franchise rights and interests in these two places have long belonged to the merchants. This is why the kingdom can receive income in advance. Supporting the previous wars, now if it is re-mortgaged to the bank, once it is discovered, it will be discredited. ”

"And what else can I give to Solomon to mortgage the land to the merchants? I have so much territory. Margaret blinked.

"Valuable territory can indeed be used as suitable collateral, but even if His Majesty is willing to give it up, it will be difficult to mortgage it in the short term. Solomon said.

"Why is this happening?"

"Because Yougudalar is now rampant with monsters, the trade route is cut off, and the investment of merchants from various countries in Yugular in the early stage has been damaged. At the same time, the banks in the kingdom were implicated. Solomon explained.

Asturias's development of Ugudral was an early adopter, and the largest number of merchants went there to invest. But now, because the trade routes of the monsters left behind in purgatory have been cut off, except for Falkland City, which is defended by a large magic circle like St. Quentin, the rest of the place is not very safe, and the workshop owners and merchants can only temporarily give up and retract back to Falkland City unless they can hire powerful mercenaries to help defend it. Many of these failed merchants borrowed money from banks, and their troubles were even more problematic for the small banks that once stood in Asturias.

From Edward's death to Margaret's accession to the throne, it was also a year of frequent failures of small banks, but the political situation attracted everyone's attention more, and no one paid attention to such changes, but Margaret had to borrow money in this environment, and it was more difficult, not to mention that everyone had become frightened birds, even if there was suitable collateral, many banks were now in a state of powerlessness.

Of course, it is not true that there are no banks that can meet Magritte's request, but the premise is to ignore the risks, and three may be able to do it, one is the former Central Bank of Asturias, in this bank, Solomon also has 20% of the shares, the predecessor was to raise funds for Edward, founded by Solomon to encourage merchants, and at that time with a certain monopoly tax as collateral, allowing banks to issue a certain amount of bank notes that can be deductible, and later this bank did not develop into traditional business, but did not take a different path, specializing in clearing and carrying forward business between other banks; , but what is rare is stability, at a time when everyone is crazy to borrow from the business practices of the heterogeneous plane, this bank has always focused on serving the western part of the kingdom, Modo's dealings with the orcs, to put it mildly, they are very worthy of the trust of the orcs, the transactions between the orcs and the kingdom are basically through the bank agent, and the funds are also deposited in this bank, plus they have not participated too much in the business of Yugudral, now they should be able to come up with the money to meet Margaret's war loans, and the second is the Rose Bank, which is a mysterious multinational bank, but Solomon is very aware of their details, and the Hidden Alliance can definitely satisfy Margaret.

Finally, there was the Central Bank of Asturias, a bank in which Solomon also had a 20 percent stake, which was founded by Solomon at the instigation of merchants to raise funds for Edward, and at that time allowed the bank to issue a certain amount of deductible bank notes against a certain amount of exclusive taxation as collateral. On the surface, the bank does not seem to have this strength, but in reality it is not, because the founders are the most dynamic group of merchants in Santa Quentin and even Asturias, even if many of them have been weakened by the change of Yugudral, but some of the shareholders are still strong, as long as Solomon is willing to release favors, there are people who are willing to inject funds into the change of shares in the bank, and the bank is now focused on liquidating, converting, Borrowing money, having a wide range of contacts, is easy to get support from other banks, and if you want to raise funds, it is relatively easy.

"Your Majesty, if you are willing to allow Asturias to issue some bank notes that can be used to pay taxes in the future, as Edward did in the past, then I can raise some money for Your Majesty. Solomon reported a number.

Margaret looked at her Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Regina smiled bitterly, "If Your Majesty is sure that the Sreks will be exterminated within three months, or that they will be completely driven out of the Beast Plains and end this war, then this money will be enough." ”

"That's not enough. Margaret looked at Solomon again with a huff, "If you can still borrow some, why don't you borrow more?" ”

"No, Your Majesty, this kind of bank bill, which the kingdom must acknowledge that can be taxed in the future, is in fact equivalent to money, and is a concession, but it is not suitable for a wide grant, and must be finalized within a certain limit. Regina hurriedly stopped.

"Then, Sir Reginal, you must think of the remaining shortfall!" said Margaret, patting the handrail.

Regina could only smile bitterly and agree first. (To be continued......)