The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Chapter 167 Where does the money come from?

After seeing Emily off, Pierre, with mixed feelings, wandered around the deep-water harbor with his two bewildered sons.

After completely siding with the gray and white-collar workers, the supervision of Pierre was relaxed a lot, since it was now unlikely that Pierre would want to rejoin Doug's ranks.

Pierre had also visited Deepwater Port before. After all, a tributary of the Deepwater River here leads directly to Whitefrost Castle. So the Laurent family once wanted to do business with the nobles of Deepwater Port, develop the port, and connect it with Deepwater Port for mutual support.

Despite possessing a port, the deep-water port's past condition can only be described as appalling, far from what a commercial city should look like.

Because the nobles here are different from the Champagne nobles in the west. Although the lords of the deep-water port also liked commercial activities, they did not do business themselves, but instead guarded the docks of the deep-water port and collected taxes like crazy.

The Lars family pays one-tenth of the taxes, but the lords of Deepwater Harbor pay eight-tenths, making a combined nine-tenths.

Of course, you can also pay less tax. Just offer your goods, women, and treasures to the lord of Deepwater Port and you can enjoy a very low tax rate. If you are a nobleman with a good relationship with the lord of Deepwater Port, you may even be exempt from taxation.

The extremely high tax rates are only used to exploit the lower classes, such as dockworkers, boatmen, and barge haulers.

Ordinary people certainly couldn't pay taxes, and in the end, they could only become slaves of the lord here. Almost everyone signed a contract of servitude with the lord.

Later on, only some noble merchants would pass through Deepwater Port, and because the infrastructure of Deepwater Port was so bad, even those noble merchants were not willing to stay there.

If it weren't for the deep-water port's excellent geographical location, this place would probably have become a ghost town long ago.

Pierre abandoned the cooperation with Deepwater Port for this very reason. The lord of Deepwater Port had no interest in doing business and only wanted the Laurent family to come and pay taxes and tribute.

Later, Pierre even abandoned his original plan to jointly defend with Deepwater Harbor. It was better to concentrate on defending Whitefrost Castle than to cooperate with such a lord.

As it turned out, Pierre's conjecture was correct. The lord of Deepwater Harbor was so inhuman that the Grey and White Collars chose to be selectively deaf when he called for surrender. They then proceeded to attack Deepwater Harbor, put the original lord to trial and execute him in the street, and then took over the city.

Even now, Pierre can still see the former lord's body hanging at the entrance of the former lord's mansion.

The sight of the corpse sent chills down Pierre's spine, not because of its gruesome appearance, but because it reminded him that when faced with abstract beings, white-collar workers would indeed choose to plow through them before taking over their rule.

No wonder the other side let White Frost Castle go. Compared to these things, Pierre really felt that the Laurent family was quite human-like.

The former lord's corpse clearly shocked the Laurent brothers even more than Pierre. After all, this was the first time the brothers had seen that even a nobleman could die, and that death could cause a stench, and that the former lord's once magnificent clothes were now stained with an unknown yellow liquid.

After shaking his head, Pierre left with his two brothers. Apart from the former lord, Pierre was most curious about the current state of the deepwater port's docks.

As Pierre walked along, he noticed many workers on the riverbank, and it seemed that another dock was under construction in addition to the original one.

In addition, businessmen in the gray and white-collar sectors, hearing the news, all began to take this route, and for a time, the deep-water port finally showed the prosperity that a hub city should have.

Pierre stopped a worker and, after questioning him carefully, discovered that the man was originally a garrison soldier from the deepwater port who had been captured to work on infrastructure projects. However, because the infrastructure projects in the deepwater port were quite large, the garrison soldiers alone were not enough, and many people from the surrounding villages and towns had also been called here to work.

At this point, the garrison soldier's face showed obvious displeasure, which puzzled Pierre. After asking carefully, he discovered that working here actually came with a salary.

Nobles considered it an honor for serfs or commoners to work for their lords or monarchs, so such work usually did not come with monetary compensation, or the compensation was very meager; being provided with food was already considered quite good.

Besides, these garrison soldiers were originally prisoners of war, and Pierre had never heard of paying prisoners of war wages.

It's no wonder that some of these garrison troops dislike outsiders; they're worried that these outsiders might come and take their jobs now or in the future.

These garrison troops no longer considered themselves as prisoners of war, but rather as "locals."

After asking all the questions, Pierre found a vacant spot next to the dock construction site and sat down.

Seeing his two restless sons, Pierre said, "Go play if you want, but remember the house rules: no fighting, no hurting anyone, understand?"

But the two sons seemed to be thinking of the former lord who had been hanged, shook their heads, and sat down next to Pierre.

The father and his two sons didn't look like nobles; they seemed more like wealthy merchants passing by. The knight Lars, who was protecting the three of them from a distance, didn't urge them on but instead looked towards the construction site at the port with them.

It must be said that the governor's method was very effective. With the help of his money-spraying skills, Deepwater Port quickly became bustling. But Pierre was also very puzzled as to where the gray-collar workers got so much money.

Pierre looked at the stone tablet at the entrance to the port construction site, which recorded the donations and amounts made by merchants and nobles to the port. But to be honest, this amount of money was far from enough to plan and manage a large port.

Pierre then turned his gaze to the shops being built along the harbor. Most of the merchants were from the gray-collar and white-collar groups. After inquiring, Pierre discovered that these people were basically wherever the gray-collar army went.

Because in the areas where gray and white-collar workers have established themselves, if conditions are right, they will carry out so-called work relief projects, building infrastructure while distributing money to the "locals." These businessmen follow behind the army, and in the areas where work relief is carried out, people have plenty of cash in their hands, so they don't have to worry about not having business.

After all, the post-war period was a time of shortage of supplies, and those who received wages would certainly try to exchange their money for supplies.

Finally, the officials in the gray and white collar sectors collect taxes from these merchants, thus achieving a positive cycle.

After figuring it out, Pierre sat down and pondered again. It still didn't make sense. Even with the help of the merchants, the port would definitely be unprofitable before it was completed. The governor's boldness was truly admirable.

But where did the governor get so much money? Could it be that there really is some unknown secret treasure of the Lars family?

At this moment, Doug, in the castle in the valley, was holding the battle report with trembling hands.

"It's alright, everything will be fine once Sir Jefferson's cannons arrive."

To expedite Jefferson's delivery of the artillery, Doug repeatedly resorted to offering extra money to secure the smuggling route.

"Your Excellency, Sir Jefferson, Sir Jefferson has indeed delivered the cannons."

"Really? Why didn't you tell me sooner? Quickly send these cannons to the next locations, no, I'll send them myself."

“Your Excellency, but...but Sir Jefferson only delivered the cannons, and he said the shells would cost more.”

Doug nearly fainted when he heard that he would have to pay more.

"Then let's keep adding money. As long as we get more shells, our alchemists will be able to make them themselves soon. No matter the cost, we must get the shells, understand?"

Doug has already incurred too many sunk costs and there's no turning back.