As soon as Lynch opened his mouth, the emperor couldn't continue speaking.
The main reason for the lack of development in Amelia was that the nobles weren't willing to go there. On one hand, Amelia was a 'concession', and in this world, there was no such thing as a permanent concession after a hundred years.
No matter how long the concession was, it would have to be returned when the time was up.
In other words, if the nobles invested a large amount of money into developing the Amelia Province, then after 120 years, the area would have to be returned to its' original owner 'when the time came. The area might even surpass Gaffrabun Island in terms of economy.
So many years of time, effort, and wealth would all be given to someone else. Moreover, it would be an enemy of Gefra. This was simply helping the enemy.
Once the area was taken back by the original owner, would they give preferential treatment to the nobles and merchants of Gefra?
Impossible. They would be thankful if they didn't wantonly capture the nobles of Gefra. No matter what, they would at least drive the nobles out.
This also meant that the 120 years of hard work of the nobles would be wasted. The wealth that a noble family invested in would eventually belong to someone else. Why would they be interested in responding to the emperor's call to develop there?
Before this, there were some rumors that the emperor didn't intend to return the land. When the next war broke out, they would take over the entire country and use it as an outpost for Gefra's conquest of the world.
But the problem was that no one saw any hope. In order to conquer a continent, the invaders had to have a strong army.
Gefra's army … It was already good enough that they didn't invade. The nobles didn't think that the emperor's words would come true one day.
This wasn't pessimism, it was just a fact.
Secondly, once Amelia was developed, Gefra's position would become very awkward.
The nobles' assets were all on the island. They had large areas of land, beautiful villas, and well-guarded castles …
There were also all kinds of valuable real estate. The wealth accumulated over time was firmly tied to the island in various ways.
Once Amelia was developed better than the island, the wealth of the nobles would instantly shrink by half. Because of the shift in wealth and power, the island would gradually decline.
How could the nobles facilitate such a thing?
After 120 years of development, it was impossible for the nobles to give away all their wealth to the enemy country, and in the process, cut off their own heads to give blood to the Amelia Province.
Everyone knew that developing Amelia was the only way to get out of the 'island of poverty', but for the sake of profit, the people were unwilling to listen to the emperor's request and tried their best to develop in Amelia.
There were unshakable issues of principle and bottom line.
Even to this day, there were pitifully few nobles in Amelia. Apart from a few officials who had no choice but to go there, no other nobles were willing to go there.
Because of this, His Majesty was racking his brains. He was always thinking of ways to 'drive' the nobles away. He even proposed the idea of moving the palace to Amelia, but there was no progress.
Lin Qi's words gave him a glimmer of hope.
Everything was like this, from children learning to walk to apprentices picking up swords for the first time. No matter what it was, there would always be a first step from ignorance, a crucial first step.
His Majesty was silent for a moment. He looked at Lynch and weighed his options. Occasionally, he would lower his head or look elsewhere, not letting Lynch look into his eyes for too long and expose his thoughts.
Today, he would no longer treat Lynch as a young man.
He had just talked to the prime minister about taking down Lynch and the other 'opportunists' to appease the market, but he didn't expect Lynch to come up with another idea first.
This idea was very tempting.
To be honest.
Compared to satisfying the financial deficit of some financial investors, the development of the country was clearly more important. One was the happiness of the commoners, and the other was the inevitable path of the empire's rise. His Majesty was very clear about which to choose.
His hesitation now was just to create an illusion for Lynch — I really want to agree, but it's not easy. Even if I agree, it's very reluctant.
Lynch watched His Majesty's performance. He knew he had him under control. He just watched, watched … watched His Majesty become a little angry.
According to the script, Lynch should propose further conditions to move His Majesty. That was what he meant by increasing the price.
If one was not enough, he would give another one.
However, Lynch did not do anything. His Majesty told himself not to be angry. This was Lynch's strategy, but he couldn't help but feel a little angry.
He glared at Lin Qi, and the latter smiled and raised his eyebrows. "Your Majesty, we've discussed it before. Out of our investment, we'll give about 30% of the jobs to the islanders."
"The salary will be slightly higher than the average salary. Perhaps this will shut some people up. What do you think?"
His Majesty didn't understand what Lynch meant at first, but he soon understood. His expression was a little strange.
"You want those people to go to Amelia to work for you?"
His Majesty's tone was a little high. "Ha, that's funny, Lynch."
"I'm not criticizing you. It's just that you took their money and want them to work for you … Are all the people in the Federation as shameless and greedy as you?"
Faced with His Majesty's "criticism," Lynch's face did not show the slightest bit of dissatisfaction. Instead, he had a sincere smile. "Your Majesty, you may not know this, but words like shameless and greedy are more like praise for people like us.
"You may have heard of shameless and greedy businessmen, but you've never heard of kind and kind businessmen.
"We praise warriors with bravery, and we praise sages with wisdom. These are all praises exclusive to them. It's no different from shamelessness and greed."
Lynch's point of view was very strange. His Majesty thought about it seriously for a while and nodded subconsciously.
Indeed, if one were to use "bravery" to describe sages, it was definitely not a praise.
However, Lynch's attitude made His Majesty very emotional. He would not be affected by other people's opinions. He would not be happy, sad, or angry because of things that had nothing to do with him.
Even if he did not like Lynch, he had to admit that Lynch was very outstanding.
"Let's talk about other ideas …" His Majesty became serious. He picked up a pen and was ready to write and draw at any time.
Lynch knew that he had successfully moved His Majesty. He smiled and stood up. "It's my pleasure, Your Majesty.
In my plan, there will be a large number of factories, especially light and processing industries. These factories don't need to have high standards and can accommodate a large number of jobs. It will be very helpful in stabilizing the security of Amelia.
More importantly, if we can provide jobs that are not too biased to the locals, it will be very good to resolve the hatred between the Guevara People and the locals.
No matter how we try to cover it up, there are at least some problems that cannot be covered up, such as massacres … "
His Majesty frowned when he heard this. He interrupted Lynch's words. "That was not a massacre. It was just an orderly execution of some criminals."
Lynch smiled and did not argue. Everyone knew that it was not a massacre. Carriages of people were transported to the execution ground and then killed in batches. They were then sent outside the city to be buried or burned.
Until now, in some city centers, the soil between the cracks of the bricks was dark red or black. They were all soaked in blood. Even if it rained a few times or dozens of times, it still wouldn't change its color.
Lynch did not say this to provoke His Majesty, but to remind him of this.
He wanted to remind him that under the current stable rule, there was still hatred that could not be resolved. What the Guevara Empire needed to do was not to reignite the conflict, but to find a way to resolve it.
Giving people a stable life and improving their quality of life was obviously a very good way to do this.
According to Lynch's description, education, employment, and a relatively free environment were completely different from the Guevara Empire's policies.
Lynch and the other nobles' example would also be able to move some of the other nobles who were watching. Not all nobles had deep roots. There would always be some like the smaller nobles around Lynch whose families had only been born for a short period of time.
They were more willing to gamble than the traditional nobles and were more willing to try.
At the very least, the chances of them developing in the mainland were not high. The resources here were all occupied by the old nobles. If they wanted to develop, they could only go to Amelia.
Lynch's plan was not complicated at all, and there was nothing to pretend to be profound about. It was just that simple.
After listening to it, His Majesty thought back and forth for a while. He felt that Lynch's plan was still very feasible.
The most important thing was that he and his friends were willing to use all this money to develop and rebuild Amelia. This was very important.
By the end of the conversation, His Majesty had more or less understood Lynch's thoughts. There was also a lot of content written on the paper in front of him for discussion with the other ministers.
At the end of the conversation, His Majesty asked a question. "I'm very clear about what you've said. Do you have any requests?"
"For example, do you need some support from the government, tax exemption, or something like that?"
"If you do, say it. We'll discuss it later so that we don't drag it out too long."
Lynch nodded. "I do have a small request …"