Laordisse was far more difficult than Zhao Bufan imagined, although he had a lot of ideas, but it was difficult for the clever woman to cook without rice, the lack of money and materials made him unable to do anything, a large number of citizens had nothing to do, and fought in groups, and the bad law and order problems made Zhao Bufan exhausted.

What is even more terrifying is the conflict of beliefs, not the internal conflict between the Illuminati and the Illuminati, but the sharp contradiction between the Illuminati and the True God Cultists, Zhao Bufan himself is in favor of freedom of belief, but at the moment he represents the Illuminati, nominally a crusader, and can only favor the Illuminati to a certain extent, but the brutal oppression of the True God Cultists is also unacceptable to him.

However, the history and culture of the Great Song Dynasty told Zhao Bufan that the core reason for the current situation is that the power of religion is too large, completely overriding the rights of the rulers, and the only way is to stabilize the situation and rely on strong military and cultural power to gradually weaken the control of religion over power.

But whether it is military power or cultural power, the premise is wealth.

In order to accumulate the initial development materials, Viscount Charles rushed to Byzantium several times in just a few months to seek the support of the Byzantine Emperor John II, but unfortunately John II never invested heavily in La Odise, believing that this was a place that could fall at any time, and that it would involve the Byzantine Empire in more battles and disputes, which was not in the interests of Byzantium.

Negotiations ultimately failed.

Eventually, Viscount Charles only had to return two ships of dilapidated production tools, such as worn-out looms, rusty hoes, and other miscellaneous items.

When Zhao Bufan and Rolf greeted him at the port, Rolf was very frustrated: "I think we are almost finished, this poor territory cannot support so many of us, and no one is willing to support us now, maybe we should leave and go to some great nobleman as originally thought, so as to gain wealth in the war." ”

Viscount Charlie nodded bitterly: "I completely agree with you, Rilo's decision is wrong, we have wasted months in vain, and we have spent the only savings we have." ”

The opinions of the two did not affect Zhao Bufan, he looked at those dilapidated production tools in a daze: "No! We can still fight, believe me, we can rely on ourselves, these dilapidated production tools are our biggest capital!"

Viscount Charles shook his head again and again, his blue eyes were full of doubt: "What's the use of a pair of broken copper and iron, it's not worth much gold coins if you sell them all, John II gave us these are clearly a shirk, he wants us to go to the battlefield and have a good performance, that is his original intention to help us in the first place, he wants us to fight the Seljuks and seize rich territory from the enemy, instead of picking up a useless harbor here." ”

Zhao Bufan stared deeply into his eyes and said firmly: "Charlie, believe me, with this batch of tools, give me another three months, you will see the results, we are brothers, we should trust each other, right?"

"But you should trust me, too, because of your decision, we are once again left with nothing!" said Viscount Charlie solemnly.

"Charlie, we are indeed facing many difficulties, but my decision is very correct, with our current strength to participate in the war, we will only become cannon fodder, will become a tool used by others, and then our situation will be even more difficult. ”

"But then at least I can see the opportunity, and now I can't see any hope. ”

Looking at the stubborn Viscount Charlie, Zhao Bufan really didn't know what to say, after looking at each other for a long time, he took a deep breath and said firmly: "Charlie, give me another three months, if it still doesn't improve, then do what you say." ”

There was a long silence......

Viscount Charlie finally showed a wry smile: "I always have the feeling that if I refuse, I am afraid that we will part ways from now on, and why am I afraid of losing you? Is it because you are my best brother?"

Zhao Bufan smiled: "You are a trustworthy friend!"

"I'm outraged that you've ignored my opinion, and I'm a member of the Council of Four!" Rolf, next to him, interjected dissatisfiedly.

Zhao Bufan looked over with a smile.

"And what do you think?"

Rolf laughed heartily, shook his long golden hair fiercely, and walked directly forward and hugged Viscount Charlie and Zhao Bufan's shoulders at the same time: "My opinion will always be the same as my two best friends, maybe I will starve to death here with the two of you, but that's my choice." ”

............

Zhao Bufan is grateful to Viscount Charlie and Rolf, whose support and trust make him full of strength.

Those tools were quickly divided into several categories, and then Zhao Bufan selected those tools that could be used, recruited many idle citizens, and began to build his first workshop, the paper mill.

The birthplace of papermaking is Huaxia, although it gradually spread to the West through the Silk Road, but Zhao Bufan obviously felt that the technology here was very backward, and the quality and output of paper could not be compared with the Great Song Dynasty, not to mention the high cost, the price was still very expensive.

He roughly calculated in his heart that according to the operation of the most advanced paper mill in the Great Song Dynasty, then it could be three to five times more profitable, and the quality of the paper was much better, and the entire Western world needed a lot of paper, so there was no need to worry about sales, as long as the output could keep up, I am afraid it would be more profitable than mining, after all, mining is much more difficult than papermaking.

Fortunately, Laorcede did not have much but idlers, and it took only half a month to build a paper mill when tools were available, and the Andoch Mountains to the east became a source of raw materials.

After calculating the cost, Zhao Bufan immediately issued a decree to encourage idlers in the territory to cut wood and then sell it to paper mills at a reasonable price.

A month later, the mill produced its first batch of high-quality white paper.

Viscount Charles immediately took the soldiers of the Holy Order to the Byzantine island of Cyprus, but it was sold out in just one day, the same price, several levels higher in quality, the blind can see the business opportunities, coupled with Viscount Charlie's eloquent mouth, those Byzantine merchants did not hesitate to buy them all.

The clever Viscount Charlie did not sell the paper to the same merchants, but to many large merchants, and told them that Laordisse could be supplied in an endless stream, but that they needed to buy it themselves.

In this way, the ships of these merchants would come to La Odisse, and then Viscount Charles discussed with Zhao Bufan that in the future, whenever those merchants came to Laorasse, even if they had stock, they would not be in a hurry to give it, but would drag it out for a few days, so that they would have to rest in La Odisse, so that they would need accommodation and consumption, and stimulate the prosperity of small commerce.

In order to ensure the most basic material needs, Zhao Bufan encouraged farmers throughout the region to bring agricultural products to La Odisei to sell, provide the most basic consumer goods, and formed a small caravan of the Holy Knights to purchase supplies to the island of Cyprus and the kingdom of Cilicia to the north.

In just three months, the decaying port of La Audise gradually came back to life, and Zhao Bufan also had a certain amount of gold coins in his hand, and more plans were breeding in his mind.

On this day, Zhao Bufan was drafting a new decree in the city hall, but Viscount Charlie walked in happily, still whistling in his mouth.

"Lilo, we just made another trade and made a lot of money. ”

Zhao Bufan sat behind a long desk, burying his head and quickly writing the decree with a quill pen, and said with a casual smile: "Good news." ”

Viscount Charlie looked a little puzzled when he saw that he was ignoring him.

"What are you writing about?"

"With the new decree, we also need a broader financial route, and it is obviously not enough to rely on paper mills alone. ”

Viscount Charlie sighed, "I think we should focus on one thing, maybe we should build a few more paper mills." ”

Zhao Bufan gently put down the quill, raised his head and said with a smile: "No! a paper mill is enough, we can expand production, but not too much, that will not be conducive to monitoring, the risk of technology leakage will be very large, we can't let the technology spread for the time being, and the most important thing is huge pollution, an orderly city should not have too many paper mills, this is our territory, we should take care of it, right?"

Viscount Charlie paused, but did not refute.

"And what better ideas do you have?"

"All the lands in this realm belong to our Holy Knights, right?"

Viscount Charlie smiled and nodded: "Of course, the inhabitants only have the right to farm, and keep the necessary living needs, and more output is owned by our Holy Knights, which is a legal clause, and it was only because it has not yet gained a firm foothold earlier, so it was not strictly enforced." ”

Zhao Bufan closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then took a deep breath and said: "I want to change this system, and rent the land to the people at a lower fixed proportion according to the degree of fertility, which can be understood as a tax, but their harvest will be able to distribute by themselves!"

Viscount Charlie's eyes widened instantly: "This is really a bad opinion, the land is owned by our Holy Knights, and we still have to provide protection for those people, wouldn't this be giving our own property to others, and then shedding blood for others, I firmly oppose it, and Rolf will never support it." ”

This was the idea of shaking the serfdom system, and Viscount Charlie's reaction was completely unexpected by Zhao Bufan, so he was not in a hurry, and looked at him with a smile: "I have a story, do you want to hear it?"

"You will, but I don't approve of your idea. Viscount Charles said firmly.

Zhao Bufan took a deep breath and slowly told him.

"There was a nobleman in the old East who owned a large number of territories, and he did not monopolize the harvested agricultural products, but only collected a small amount of taxes, and allowed his serfs to get a large harvest, which greatly increased the enthusiasm of the serfs to work, and they would work day and night without supervision, and even constantly explore ways to increase production, so that there were more and more agricultural products, and the longer the crops, the better.

At this time, they no longer worry about survival, and began to need more materials to enjoy, such as food that they did not grow, such as fancy clothes or jewelry, etc., so they would trade with surplus agricultural products, and the nobleman provided them with a market, and charged a small commercial tax in the market, which made the nobleman earn more.

Then the nobles used the money to open a lot of taverns and shops, and hired the wives of those serfs to work, and the serfs, in order to earn more money, preferred to take on more labor alone, so that their wives could come out and work and earn more money.

In the long run, their families gradually became wealthy, and naturally needed more enjoyment, which led to more frequent buying and selling, and even the opening of a large number of shops, resulting in the aristocratic having endless taxes and the business of his own shops getting better and better.

In this way, the people became richer and richer, and the wise nobles became richer, and he used this wealth to develop his army, gain more territory, and then the cycle continued, plus he could make everyone rich, and the people supported him, so his territory became strong and stable. ”

Viscount Charlie had broadened his horizons during his earlier ocean voyages and quickly understood the central meaning of the story.

"Okay, I'll take back what I said earlier, and everything will be done as you say, the God of Light must have given you a dream, and you always make me feel stupid!"

.。 m.