Chapter 563: Annual Development Plan Of Ten Million Gold Coins
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At a meeting room in the City Lord’s mansion, in the planetary fortress.
“Lady Deena, this is the annual report of the fortress city’s income. This year, the fortress city has 200,000 gold coins in taxes,” the finance officer said, sitting at the end of the meeting table in the meeting room with a smile.
Half an hour had passed since Watson announced that Deena was the new City Lord. Many officials followed Deena to the meeting room, ready to listen to her arrangements.
The planetary fortress was the original fortress city. It mainly dealt with border trades. All kinds of caravans would pass by there if they wanted to go to the south to make trades. The city would take a portion of the profits based on the value of the goods. Those caravans would occasionally seek help from the guards. It was a large sum of money. Compared to other cities near the planetary fortress, they earned a lot of money every year.
“Only 200,000 gold coins? It’s just average.”
Deena sat at the head of the long table in the conference room, her slender fingers lightly tapping on the table.
Her words wiped the smiles off the financial officer’s face. They had 200,000 gold coins’ worth of taxes. He thought that Deena would be satisfied and praise his ability. He did not expect Deena to have such high standards.
“That’s right. What’s there to brag about 200,000 gold coins’ worth of taxes? ”
Fawkes curled his lips and turned to give Deena a flattering smile, saying, “Previously, as the City Lord, I was very dissatisfied with the city’s annual profits. I have been working hard to increase the taxes. I wanted the fortress city to double its profits in five years and ten times in ten years! If it weren’t for these officials not being able to keep up with my goals, we would have achieved that long ago.”
As Fawkes spoke with assurance, the officials curled their lips and rolled their eyes.
They knew that Fawkes wanted to express his feelings in front of Deena, but his words were completely untrue. It would be more accurate to say that the biggest burden in the fortress city was him.
After Fawkes became the City Lord, he proposed a plan to increase the city’s profits. His plan was to dig hot springs in the city so that merchants or foreign travelers could rest in the city. The project was good. In the end, after spending up to 100,000 gold coins, there were no hot springs in the city. There were only a few pools with foul water.
After a group of officials in the city consulted the professionals, they found that the conditions for the formation of hot springs were very strict, and there were none in the fortress city.
After that, Fawkes proposed another plan: to build a circus in the city with magical beasts as its selling point and attract people through clowns and the funny performances of magical beasts in the circus. It was a popular form of entertainment in the Dwarven Kingdom. The dwarves had many world-renowned performances, such as the Beautiful Dwarf and the Beast, the Seven Dwarves and the Beast Princess, and so on. After the plan was implemented, the circus people were invited to join them. As a result, the magical beasts from the Dwarven Kingdom were not acclimated to the soil and water in the fortress city, and more than half of them died before the show even started.
The fortress city did not make any money on that project. Instead, it lost a lot of money. Fawkes had many similar activities. In terms of management, Fawkes was great, but unfortunately, he did not have the brains to make money. Thanks to the officials’ ability, they helped to cover the ground so that the city would progress.
After no one spoke up, Fawkes licked his dry lips and said, “Lady Deena, I believe you understand my strength after hearing so much from me. I wonder what plans you have for that planetary fortress in the future. I can give you some advice.”
“Is that so? Thank you very much, Lord Fawkes. I am new here, and there are many things that I don’t understand. I don’t know if I can do it without everyone’s help. My plan for the planetary fortress is very simple. I don’t know about the other planetary fortresses. At the very least, the first planetary fortress will have a net tax of ten million gold coins by next year.”
Deena raised her eyebrows slightly as she spoke, and her long eyelashes fluttered. The light in her eyes, coupled with her bright and beautiful expression, made all the men present breathe heavily. Fawkes hurriedly said, “Ten million gold coins?”
Fawkes was stunned.
Ten million gold coins? Really? Could he have heard wrong? The fortress city’s annual tax revenue of hundreds of thousands of gold coins was considered high, and Deena had increased that figure by a hundred times.
The other officials also had a change in expression.
“That’s right, ten million gold coins,” Deena said resolutely. “That is only our first goal. In the next few years, we will increase that figure again, to at least 100 million.”
Deena looked at their expressions as she spoke, and she felt a little emotional. Seeing those people in front of her was like seeing herself before Watson. If she had not followed Watson and seen the wealth in the Severed Fingers Gang, which was even more prosperous than the Holy Dragon Kingdom, she would not have been able to demand 100 million gold coins.
Even Veronica, who was in charge of the bank and the underground casino, was worth more than 100 million gold coins. The 100 million gold coins in taxes were just a tiny amount. Watson had asked her to become the planetary fortress’ first City Lord. That was a great courtesy, and she had to meet Watson’s expectations.
‘Just 100 million in taxes has shocked those guys. If they knew what Young Master Watson had in mind, their jaws would probably drop.’
Geniuses were different from ordinary people. In the past, she had also claimed to be a genius. It was Watson who had changed her mind. At that moment, seeing the officials’ reactions, she could not help but feel a sense of superiority. Many of the people there, even her father, had tried to curry favor with her. They were respectful of her. They were so enthralled by her every move that they could not find their way around.
The natural charm that had been useless in front of Watson was once again compelling there.
Deena calmed her mind and pulled everyone’s attention back. “If you have any opinions on my goal, please feel free to voice them.”
“Lady Deena, the goal of getting ten million gold coins a year is a little grand. We might as well take it slow and put our goal at one million gold coins first.” As Fawkes stole a glance at Deena, he continued to say, “Of course, if Lady Deena insists on achieving that goal, as the former City Lord, I can make a little immature suggestion.”
“Quick, hold Lord Fawkes.”
“Don’t let him speak.”
Seeing that Fawkes was about to speak and Deena did not react, the officials became anxious. Two of them rushed forward and covered Fawkes’s mouth. When the city taxes were only at 200,000 gold coins, Fawkes’s plan had already caused a lot of losses. Since Deena had set the target at ten million gold coins, they would lose even more if Fawkes had any bad ideas.
In the past, those officials had to restrain themselves because they were worried about Fawkes’s identity as the City Lord. Since he was no longer the City Lord, there was no need for them to hide it.
“Since none of you have any good ideas, let me make a plan for you! In the past, the fortress city’s main tax income was to collect tolls from the merchants. It’s just that the income is too little. There are no good fields or pastures here. It’s also impossible to develop agriculture and animal husbandry. However, we have an advantage. After Young Master Watson transformed the fortress city into a planetary fortress, we gained the ability to revolve around the Holy Dragon Kingdom. In a day, we can revolve around the Holy Dragon Kingdom once. That is faster than any caravan’s transportation speed.”
“In other words, we can know what is happening in the kingdom before anyone else. We can sell that precious information to the people who need it at a high price! Similarly, the special crops in other regions around the kingdom can’t be sent to other places because of shelf life. The congestion in the regions also contributes to the difference in prices. We can adjust the prices of the crops in different regions.. If we can do that, it is not impossible to increase the tax revenue to ten million a year. What do you think?”