"Most importantly, the five-household mutual guarantee system ensures that any attempt to privately sell or produce monopolized goods will have nowhere to hide!"
"Once a household dares to brew wine privately, or smuggle salt from outside, what will their neighbors do? To avoid implication, they will rush to report it immediately! My Lord, this is more effective than sending a hundred tax Affairs Officer to patrol day and night!"
"Then we will chop off the hands of those thieves who steal money from you! Chop off their heads!"
Arthur finally unrolled the parchment. It was densely filled with records of population, land, output, and potential demand in various places, written in a crooked but clear script. He was somewhat amazed; no one understood these matters better than a merchant.
Arthur looked through the report: "Your idea is very good."
"So, what do you plan to do?"
Hubbard straightened his back. He knew the real performance was just beginning.
"My Lord, I suggest that a Lord's shop be established in every military town, as well as in the newly established Cross Town and Riverbend Town."
"This shop will be our only legal channel for selling all monopolized goods."
"Salt, ironware, wine, sugar, and the charcoal we are about to produce on a large scale. All commoners must purchase them here."
"At the same time, it will also be a collection point. Commoners' surplus grain, furs obtained from hunting, felled timber, and handicrafts, which they struggled to sell, can all be sold to your shop in exchange for copper coins and silver deer."
Hubbard smiled slyly. In his opinion, he and the Lord on the platform, who came up with the idea of Lordly monopolies, were the same kind of dark-hearted people. He would surely love his proposal.
"Or!"
"Exchange them for the credit certificates we issue!"
Arthur looked up at Hubbard below: "What do you mean…?"
"Yes, My Lord, a paper certificate that can be exchanged for goods of equal value in all our shops. This can reduce the loss of metal currency in circulation and keep wealth more firmly controlled within the territory."
"Keep them from leaving your grasp!"
Arthur stood up and walked down. Genius, this fat man had even thought of the embryonic form of finance. Sure enough, the more greedy a person is, the more crooked ideas he has…
As he walked down, he continued, feeling that the fat man had many more crooked ideas: "What else can the shops do?"
Hubbard smiled and answered without hesitation: "Intelligence, my dear Lord Arthur!"
He now looked at this Lord, feeling he was more beautiful than his own lover.
"The shop workers are your eyes and ears. Who has grievances, who has unusual movements, everything will flow like a stream through the shop channel and gather in your ears."
"Even, my dear Lord." Hubbard's ambition swelled, wishing he could kiss the Lord in front of him. "In the future,"
"We can even use this shop to issue loans to farmers who lack farm tools and livestock, or provide savings for those with surplus money."
"We are their money bags, their lifelines!"
"When all their money is in your hands, how can they dare to resist you?"
After he finished speaking, the entire hall fell silent again. Even Evelyn was shocked by the fat man's wild imagination. If all of Hubbard's ideas were realized, what a terrifying sight it would be…
Arthur listened, then slowly, a smile appeared on his face: "You are very good, my friend."
"That greedy mind of yours indeed turns faster than others."
"I agree."
Hubbard's fat face bloomed into a chrysanthemum of a smile.
Arthur held up two fingers: "However, I have two additions."
"First, shop workers must be rotated every two years. They are absolutely not allowed to stay in the same place for too long."
"Second, all accounts must be in duplicate, one recorded by the shop, and the other by the Household Chiefs in various places."
Hubbard's smile froze for a moment, then became even more respectful. He understood that the Lord was guarding against his greed, but this kind of checks and balances actually made him feel at ease. If the Lord had let go completely, he would have felt uneasy.
Arthur reached out and patted Hubbard's shoulder: "I give you two months."
"To get this done."
The two looked at each other and smiled, though to the other people in the hall, their smiles seemed a bit too eerie.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"