"… Since last year, the goods produced by our Dominion have been selling well in the colonies on the West Coast. Due to the low prices and the convenience of shipping, merchants from the colonies on the West Coast have been ordering goods from our Dominion. As a result, the colonial administrators on the West Coast have been dissatisfied and have increased the tax on our goods …"
The one giving the report was General Skree. He was the one in charge of the economy and finances of the region. He was currently giving a year-end report on the region's finances for Year 597 of the Sacred Light Calendar.
Thanks to Claude ordering Thundercrash to plunder a large amount of machinery from the kingdom, the region gained close to a hundred large civilian factories. Basically, anything that could be produced in the kingdom could be produced in the region.
After taking over the entire region's market with their cheap and high quality products, they set their sights on the western colonies.
Generally speaking, the various Freian countries treated the colonies on Nubissia the same way. They treated them as an importer of mineral resources and a market for their own products in order to reap high profits.
However, due to the vast Silent Ocean separating them, the trade fleets organized by the various countries would only make two trips a year. As a result, the supply of their own products couldn't keep up with the demand. Even if the price tripled, they wouldn't have to worry about not being able to sell.
But now that the region had been established, most of the goods produced by the various countries on Freia could be produced on their own.
First, the western colonies' smugglers discovered this business opportunity and imported a large amount of goods from the region to sell to the western colonies.
In the end, the merchants who sold their own products collapsed. Be it in terms of price or delivery, they weren't a match for the region's products.
The western colonies' administrative offices couldn't do anything about it either, as no one was willing to buy low-quality goods at a high price just to show their patriotism.
The local officials could only raise the tax rate on the region's goods, but that didn't solve the root of the problem. Instead, it made the smugglers even more active and didn't hurt the region at all.
The reason was that the region wasn't responsible for the transportation of goods. The merchants of the western colonies would place their orders at the various factories in the region and pay a deposit. Once the goods were produced and inspected, they would pay the full amount and bring the goods back to the western colonies to be sold.
Therefore, when the colonial officials raised the tax rate on imported goods, it only affected the profits of these merchants. It did not affect the booming economy of the overseas dominion.
"… Currently, our overseas autonomous region's best-selling commodity is cigarettes, followed by leather clothing, leather goods, and gold and silver utensils.
In the machinery category, small and medium-sized fire engines and steam engines were the most popular.
Ever since the Dominion decided to implement the brand classification system last year, our products have made a name for themselves in the colonies on the west coast and Freia … "General Skri gave his report on the podium, and the council members below the podium cheered and applauded from time to time.
Claude didn't think that the cigarette market would be so popular. The cigarettes produced by his workshop couldn't be stored in the warehouse at all. Almost every carton of cigarettes he produced would be snatched away by a waiting dealer the moment it left the workshop.
Due to the jealousy of others, Claude had no choice but to cooperate with the other councilors to start a new tobacco factory. House Ferd had 15% of the shares, and only then did they manage to satisfy the demand for cigarettes.
That was the third large enterprise that the councilors of the region had invested in. The first two were Minsheng Bank and Railway Holdings.
Claude's family's tobacco factory only produced three brands of cigarettes: Moonshadow cigars, Qingyun ladies' menthol cigarettes, and Fire Dragon premium cigarettes.
The large tobacco factory that the councilors had invested in produced the most widely sold middle and low grade cigarettes. The former was called Pegasus and the latter was called Sailor.
Strictly speaking, Claude's current status had far exceeded the expectations of his father, Morssen, when he was still alive.
Back in Whitestag, Morssen only wanted to open up a new sea route and contribute to the kingdom. He wanted to become an honorary baron or something of that sort so that he could advance his career to the next level and become the mayor of the town before becoming a councilor in the future. House Ferd would then become the most prestigious family in Whitestag.
Now that Claude was in a high position and held the entire region's military power, his words were absolute in the region.
House Ferd had also become one of the most prestigious families in the region.
Lanu's Ferd Manor was filled with guests every day. They were either there to meet Claude, the madam, or the councilors' families to get on Kefnie's good side.
Claude's mother often sighed that it would be great if Morssen was still around.
"Our Railway Holdings has already completed the first railway in the northern states of Port Vebator, Cromwell, and Balingana. It's officially in operation and the revenue is quite impressive.
In the south of the Dominion, the railways in Robisto, Anfiston, Mormaly, Tyrrsim, and Arturas are about to be completed and put into operation. I believe that it won't be long before we recoup our investment.
"In the next three years, we'll be building a second railway to connect the entire region. This one will be built along the coast. The survey of the terrain has been completed and we'll be able to start construction soon.
This coastal railway will connect all the coastal cities and towns, making it easier for the dominion to increase the speed of goods and transportation … "
The speaker on the podium had been replaced by General Bolonik, who was talking about the future prospects and goals of the overseas railway company.
The region's plan was to build three railways in all the states in the future. At the very least, they wanted to build one along the coast to facilitate the transportation of seafood and the mobilization of troops.
In the year and a half from the second half of Year 596 to Year 597, the region's economic development was on a fast track.
Without the colonial war and the kingdom's oppression, the overseas autonomous region had enjoyed two years of peace and freedom. The autonomous region's states were changing at a rapid pace, and it was full of vitality.
The four states with more than a million people were Cromwell, Balingana, Anfiston, and Tyrrsim.
Of the other five, Loki Mountains had the least population growth. There was only a small town with a population of 70,000 that mainly traded with the nikancha.
Of the seventeen gold and silver mines in the entire state, only three were mined. The miners were all criminals who had committed crimes in the autonomous territory and had been sentenced to hard labor. There were also the special envoy of the kingdom and the officers and soldiers of the marine battalion who had been arrested the year before.
Other than that, Aduras grew by a hundred thousand people due to its tobacco production. The population of Port Vebator, Robisto, and Mormaly didn't change much. Although the total population of the autonomous region was close to seven million, it was still lacking in manpower.
Sometimes, when the executive council talked about the situation, they wished Claude could take Thundercrash and migrate another two to three million people from the kingdom.
Fortunately, there were more than 500,000 Shiksan captives. They became the main manpower for the infrastructure and railway construction of the region.
The region also kept to Claude and Beechlin's promise. As long as they worked hard and contributed to the region's construction, they wouldn't be mistreated in terms of food, clothing, and lodging.
Not only were the 500,000 Shiksan captives well fed and warmed up, they were even given meat for one meal a day. Those who completed their work quota were even given a large mug of ale and a monthly stipend. It was as if the region employed hundreds of thousands of cheap labourers.
The sick and injured were also treated by acolyte herbalist and given time off. Quite a number of Shiksan captives even considered staying in the region after their enlistment was over.
The end-of-year meeting lasted for two days. The first was to summarize the year's gains and losses and the second was to look into the year's future.
In the evening, the meeting was adjourned after a feast. After that, everyone went home to find their mothers and entered a 15-day annual leave. They would not officially start work until the 5th of January of the new year.
Of course, Claude still had to work at HQ and visit the garrison troops on the new year's eve.
The end-of-year meeting was held at Lanu's largest tavern, Lanu, just like the previous years.
The executive committee was wealthy enough to book the entire tavern for three days.
However, Bolonik wasn't too satisfied with the tavern. He was starting to get annoyed with the annual meeting.
So, he proposed to build a large building to serve as the parliament's main hall. The end-of-year meeting would be held there in order to keep it a secret and give the councilors a place to gather and discuss in private.
As a result, this proposal was unanimously passed at the meeting, and all the councilors responded enthusiastically. This should be the fastest proposal to be voted on by all the councilors this year, and there were zero votes against it. Even the allocated construction funds were doubled. There was even a wealthy councilor who publicly expressed that he could personally donate to make the headquarters more luxurious and imposing.
In honor of General Bolonik's proposal, the headquarters, which was still in conception, had been named the Bolonik Building.
Claude boarded a carriage and was escorted back to Ferde Manor. When he got home, he found Kefnie chatting with her equally pregnant sister, Angelina.
This was Kefnie's third pregnancy.
After so many years of marriage, Angelina and Myjack were finally pregnant. She returned to Ferde Manor to take care of the baby. She left her magic lab in the Black Stone Gun Workshop and her disciples to Madam Sonia to take care of.
Angelina only got pregnant now because she had finally reached the peak of her magic rank. She was now a fifth-ring rune magus, the peak.
The next step was to find a way to break through the barrier left behind by the ancient magic civilization. However, Angelina was more indifferent to this. She believed that her current magic level was sufficient for her to use, so she would not waste her time on the so-called so-called magic level breakthrough method in the legends …
Compared to Angelina, Claude was a lot more embarrassed. He had only barely reached the fourth-ring rune magus level. It would probably take him another year or two before he could officially become a fourth-ring magus.
That was mainly due to the fact that his magic cultivation had been intermittent. His high position and many other matters took up a lot of his energy, especially during the war. He didn't have the mood to cultivate at all.
Even his brother, Bloweyk, was almost catching up to him.
A few days ago, something troublesome happened at home. It was Bloweyk.
His mother had spent a lot of effort on Bloweyk's marriage.
In the end, Bloweyk wasn't interested in any of the so-called noblewomen introduced to him by his mother. Instead, he got Adele, the big sister of Anna's ranch, pregnant.
Adele was the daughter of the veteran Softer. Softer died protecting Bloweyk on the battlefield. Before he died, he asked Bloweyk to take care of his children in the kingdom, which Bloweyk agreed to.
After the war ended, Bloweyk returned to the kingdom to look for Softer's family. Then, he found Adele and her brother, who had become street children.
In order to make Adele follow him willingly, Bloweyk agreed to adopt more than 20 street children with the siblings. He even took in another 40 or so street children on his way back.
Adele, who had just been adopted, was only fourteen years old. Over the past few years, Adele had become the big sister of the homeless children on Anna's ranch, and an eighteen -year-old girl.
Anna had always admired Adele's strength and capability and left her in charge of all the affairs of the ranch.
Only the heavens knew how Bloweyk managed to get his hands on her. When Adele's belly grew big and the secret couldn't be hidden anymore, someone from the ranch told his mother about it.
His mother was furious. She had spent so much effort introducing so many beautiful girls to Bloweyk, but not only did he not care about them, he even got together with a shepherdess.
Even though the shepherdess's father had saved Bloweyk's life, House Ferd had already done enough by adopting the siblings.
She would never allow Bloweyk to marry that lowly shepherdess. Claude was speechless.
Claude didn't know what to say. People changed, and it was the same with his mother.
Perhaps it was due to Claude's rise in status that his mother became like that. After spending so much time with the families of the councilors and the so-called high society, she saw herself as a noble lady and valued the family's reputation more than anything else.
Bloweyk, on the other hand, was the head of House Ferd in name and she couldn't agree to his request. She felt that it would embarrass House Ferd in front of the high society of the region.
His mother fell ill from anger and Bloweyk was even more stubborn than his mother. He decided to stay at Anna's ranch to take care of the pregnant Adele and didn't even return to Ferd Manor.
Claude was filled with resentment. Who did he offend? He already had two pregnant women at home and now his mother and brother were in the middle. He really didn't know what to do.
"Why aren't you two asleep yet? It's already 11: 30," Claude asked as he took off his leather coat.
Fortunately, there was a heater in the living room and the room wasn't cold. He didn't have to worry about the two pregnant women catching a cold.
"We slept too long in the afternoon and only woke up at 5: 30. We can't fall asleep no matter what," Kefnie said, "Do you want something to eat?
I'll get the kitchen to prepare it for you. "
"It's fine. I'm full. I'll go take a hot bath first," Claude said with a wave of his hand. "By the way, is Mother feeling better?"
"She's still the same. Don't go see her," Angelina interrupted unhappily.
Angelina interrupted unhappily, "She's not sick at all. When you go to see her, she's lying on the bed sighing, as if she's about to die. In fact, she's in good health and can live for another 20 or 30 years.
When I went to bring her dinner, she actually lost her temper and scolded me. She said that I was setting a bad example for my brother by marrying Myjack. She really pissed me off.
She made it sound like House Ferd is so noble, but isn't Grandpa a farmer and a drunkard? "
"Ugh …" Claude could only shake his head with a bitter smile. "Don't piss her off. You're still pregnant, so don't make yourself angry. It's not good for your health.
Mother is getting on in years and has been flattered too much over the past few years. She's gotten a little carried away.
But we're her children, so we can only go along with her. If she doesn't do right, we just have to bear with it and not take it to heart.
In fact, I told Booke before that as long as you like it, you shouldn't care about what others say.
It's just like how only the wearer knows whether shoes fit. Others say shoes are beautiful and expensive, but if you can't wear them, then you can't wear them. No matter how beautiful or expensive they are, it's none of our business.
As long as we're strong, we don't have to care about what others say.
When Adele gives birth, perhaps Mother will change her mind. "
Claude let out a long sigh as he soaked in the tub.
At this moment, he saw a blue folder on the cabinet beside him. He knew that this must be the intelligence summary of the past two days sent by his adjutant, Major Mason Hughes.
He didn't interrupt his meeting and left it at home. It seemed that the world was peaceful and nothing major happened.
He picked up the folder lazily and opened it. It was the intelligence report from Whitestag about the royal capital.
Nasri had sent a few envoys to the royal capital, supposedly to discuss the debt between the two kingdoms with the new king, Fredri I.
The late Stellin XI had borrowed three high-interest loans from Nasri that would mature in June next year.
The three loans added up to a total of eight million crowns.