Chapter 403: Lord's Occupation
Building a territory costs money, and it’s a lot of money.
Just for the construction of broadcast relay stations and radio signal stations in Innadli Territory and Adler Territory, the lords of the two territories owed the Undead Chamber of Commerce a total of more than 40,000 gold coins...
Not to mention the railways and highways connecting the two places, as well as a series of factories that were urgently set up to support road projects and agricultural development plans... Those production lines pulled over from the Earth plane, all of them cost money!
Even if Yang Qiu counted carefully on his fingers, all the imports were outdated production lines eliminated by China's township enterprises, but the quantity could not be large enough!
And this is not the end yet.
After explaining the destination of the 460,000 gold coins borrowed from the Undead Chamber of Commerce, Zhao Zhenzhen took out a thick folder and explained to Coulson O'Neill, the newly appointed Earl, another batch of funds that Adler County would borrow from the Undead Archon, that is, Zhao Zhenzhen himself (the national team) this year - the cost of building a hydropower station.
The thermal power plant in Innadri was aided by the national team. This aid was not given for free but had to be repaid. In other words, the lords of Innadri, Charlie Rex, Tattle Joe, Patton, Miss China Darcy, as long as they benefited from the power plant, all owed money to the Undead Archon, that is, the national team.
Adler's coal resources are not as abundant as Innadri's, but its water resources are very abundant...
The Barcelo River is too wide, and building a large hydroelectric power station would require a huge investment. Adler's current level of technology, quality of industrial workers, and fiscal revenue are not enough to support the construction of a large hydroelectric power station. However, the two tributaries that flow into the Barcelo River have extremely wide basins, and the river sections located in less densely populated areas are just right for building small hydroelectric power stations.
The cost of this kind of small hydropower station is much lower. If three or four small hydropower stations with an annual power generation of one million kWh are built in the south, north and east of Adler, and a few more are built in the densely populated central part, electricity supply for the entire county can basically be guaranteed.
Taking into account that Adler Territory was indeed very backward, the national team was also very kind to help with the cost-saving. The hydroelectric generating sets were either second-hand or confiscated when illegal power stations within the Chinese territory were closed down. All in all, it only cost a little over 60 million RMB.
Adding in the various miscellaneous costs of labor, cables, wires, electric meters, etc., the Adler government only had to pay about 80,000 gold coins - this was truly extremely generous.
Coulson, who had already slid to the ground, fell directly to the ground.
"Don't worry, we won't ask Adler to pay all at once. Just pay back the interest and part of the principal annually." Zhao Zhenzhen said gently, "Besides, the hydropower station will be profitable after it is built. In Naderi's civilian electricity charge is 0.2 copper coins per kilowatt-hour, and commercial and industrial electricity is 0.4. Each hydropower station can make a net profit of several hundred gold coins from electricity sales each year, excluding maintenance and labor costs, which can alleviate some financial pressure."
Coulson, lying on the ground, did not move.
After all, he was born in a viscount's family, so he had . A dozen hydroelectric power stations would generate a few thousand gold coins a year, which would be enough to pay the interest...
The debt of more than 500,000 gold coins - Ms. Gold Coin, even if you tear it apart and sell it, you can't even get a fraction of the debt!
After spending half a day in the city hall and getting a rough understanding of the financial situation of Adler County, Coulson felt dizzy when he went home to see his mother in the evening.
In the O'Neill family's single-family residence on South Street in Midtown, Mrs. O'Neill, who had received a telegram the day before and learned that her son had been made an earl, had called all her relatives and friends to a gathering at her home, and was radiantly accepting the flattery from them.
As soon as Coulson entered the house, a room full of smiling faces, both familiar and unfamiliar, rushed to surround him, trying their best to flatter the newly-crowned earl.
Coulson, who had just come back to his senses instinctively straightened his chest and was surrounded by the crowd into the house with a smile on his face, enjoying the treatment of being the center of attention.
It was not until the lickers dispersed and Coulson had enjoyed enough of the dream scene that he told his mother the true treatment of his Lord Earl...
"How could something so outrageous happen?!"
Mrs. O'Neill, who was immersed in the fantasy of a noble lady's life and had even begun to plan to find a noble lady of equal status as a wife for her son, was instantly dragged back to reality by the huge debt figure. She was shocked and angry and said, "You haven't even seen this money, why should you pay it back?!"
"It's not just me who has to pay it back. All the people in Adler Territory have to pay it back together, using the financial revenue of Adler Territory." Coulson said dejectedly, "But because I'm Lord Adler, I'm the main debtor of these debts... I have to be personally responsible for the financial deficit of Adler Territory."
"You've been cheated, you've definitely been cheated!" Mrs. O'Neill, who had finally gotten through years of hardship after her husband's death, could not accept this overly cruel reality and said madly, "I've never heard of such an outrageous thing. Ezekiel's family didn't become earls like this before!"
Coulson was silent for a moment, then said quietly, "But Mr. Yang would not support a lord like the Ezekiel family."
"But lords all over the world are not like this!" Mrs. O'Neill screamed, "Even the Darcy family in the past did not say that they would go into debt for those country people in Kane Town!"
Coulson himself knew that his mother couldn't give him any more advice than venting her emotions, so he sighed and held his head in his hands.
He actually didn't have to bear the debt of more than 500,000 gold coins.
Let someone else be the lord of Adler County and give the title of earl to someone else.
Although he was kicked to the capital to wait for the title before he had the chance to benefit from the change of ownership of Adler County, at least the property that was taken away by his uncle was returned to his name... such as this house in the central city and the farm outside the city.
If Coulson is willing to give up being the earl, he can still step back and become a middle-class citizen who owns a property in Midtown and a farm outside the city.
The only key is... whether Coulson is willing to give up the position of Earl that has already fallen into his hands.
Coulson obviously couldn't do this.
If he was not the Lord of Adler supported by Mr. Yang, he would never have the chance to step into the palace in his life, let alone meet the old king who disliked him very much and pinched his nose, awkwardly awarded him the medal and tried his best to say some encouraging words to him in a friendly manner.
If he had not been promoted to the position of Earl by Mr. Yang, little Prince Andre would not have talked to him enthusiastically and treated him as a brother.
If he didn't have the aura of an earl, there wouldn't be so many people, familiar or unfamiliar, surrounding him and trying their best to curry favor with him and fawn on him.
To make him make up his mind to give up everything and go back to being an ordinary citizen who is unknown and ignored by everyone - Coulson can't do it!
Not only was he unable to do it, his mother, Mrs. O'Neill, would never consider this option.
Mrs. O'Neill collapsed and yelled to vent her emotions, but no matter how harshly she used her words, she never said a word like "this earl is no longer worthy of being one."
After crying bitterly, Mrs. O'Neill suddenly grabbed her son's sleeve and said in a low voice with hope: "Tell me, Coulson... you are at least the lord, right? Then Adler Territory... belongs to you after all, right?"
Coulson knew his mother too well and knew what she wanted to ask. He smiled bitterly and said, "Mom... In a place ruled by the undead, being a lord is just a job. I can get a salary, and if I do a good job, I can get a generous bonus, but that's all."
When Zhao Zhenzhen accused him of being in debt, the devastated Coulson also questioned whether the Innadri Lord Charlie Rex was in the same situation as him.
The undead lady told him firmly in a very gentle but unquestionable tone that the biggest personal income of Charlie Rex, who had been the Lord of Innadri for two years, was the year-end bonus issued by the Innadri City Hall last year, which was 500 gold coins he received as the winner of the "Outstanding Individual" award.
Without the bonus, Rex's usual income was only comparable to that of a senior civil servant... a basic annual salary of two hundred gold coins, plus full attendance bonus, field allowance, overtime allowance, field food and lodging allowance, etc., an annual income of about three to four hundred gold coins.
This income was not small, and it was still acceptable in the Rhine Kingdom, but it was far from what Coulson had expected...
Coulson told his mother the lord's annual salary that Zhao Zhenzhen had told her, and Mrs. O'Neill suddenly fell into a state of feeling that her life had found a stable place, yet she was extremely unwilling.
"Is that all? Nothing else?" Mrs. O'Neill said unwillingly, "After all, you are the Earl of Adler County. You should have a manor and horse farm like those barons. Otherwise, you will be embarrassed when you go out. What kind of earl can be so poor?"
Coulson was silent for a moment, then said quietly, "The manor horse farm that has not been converted into a farm is jointly supervised by the Secretary's Office and the Land Bureau under the Civil Affairs Department. Without a legitimate reason for application, it is impossible to obtain a permit for the use of the farm. Even if the application is approved, the use time is calculated on a daily basis, and rent must be paid."
After a pause, Coulson added, "The undead lady also warned me that the City Hall has a complete accountability system and a system for recovering and confiscating dirty money, bribes, and huge amounts of property from unknown sources... Any officials, clerks, and operators who are responsible for losses in their territory will be held accountable to the end, and the scope of accountability and recovery includes the person responsible, his family, and friends."
Mrs. O'Neill covered her chest with her hands, her eyes rolled up, and she almost fainted on the spot.
Make a fortune while you still have the power of a lord, and then pass the title of earl and the outrageous debt to someone else... This path is not feasible!
That night, the newly-minted noble mother and son could not sleep all night.
While Coulson and Mrs. O'Neill were worried and entangled in all kinds of troubles, in the lord's mansion not far from the O'Neill family , little Prince Andrew, who had no one to entertain him from noon to night, made dinner for himself in a wronged manner, found a guest room, cleaned it himself, changed the bed sheets himself, and moved in.
Little Prince Andre, who was being ignored, didn't know that the three spellcasters on the second floor didn't mean to ignore him, but they really had forgotten about him...
There is still one and a half hours left until midnight in the other world.
Yang Qiu was sitting in a high-back chair in the study, meditating. Kingsley was sitting on the sofa opposite him, meditating. The four crystal balls lined up on the coffee table in front of them were emitting a faint cold light.
The lich Enwei sat on the single sofa to the right of Kingsley, releasing his mental power from time to time to check the scenes of alien activities in the illusion map constructed in the crystal ball, and then silently looked at the master and disciple who were meditating repeatedly.
Yang has a very high talent for resisting mental pollution. Enwei knew this when he first met Yang more than a hundred years ago. The reason why this guy was able to be hunted down by the Church of the Fiery Sun for decades without failing is because of his ability to resist interference, meditate quickly to restore his mental strength, and absorb magic power.
As for Kingsley, Envy was sure that this pioneer of the dark arts did not have this talent.
From the moment he entered the Lord's Mansion, Enwei witnessed with his own eyes that the master and disciple treated the extremely unstable interference in their magic power as nothing, and they had been meditating repeatedly since noon until now.
This is enough to prove that by using the fictional fantasy map stored in the crystal ball as a child's play, designing a so-called "game" whose fun is hard to understand, and then constructing a mental matrix as a traction, it can attract aliens to participate enthusiastically... and these aliens who project their souls into the mental matrix can indeed serve as anchors to help the caster resist mental interference.
Enwei let out a breath barely noticeable.
By constructing a mental matrix, you can obtain a risk-free anchor point within a specific period of time... This outrageous idea is actually true!
Suppressing the surging emotions in his chest, Envy once again separated his mental thoughts and invested them in the illusion map constructed by Kingsley.
Many projections of aliens that look similar to humans on the Nabaron continent but have obvious differences in facial features and body shapes are still fighting each other tirelessly in the fantasy map, or being killed by Kingsley's fictional humanoid projections.
When a battle in a fantasy map ends, a new batch of projections of aliens will descend...
Enwei observed the alien in silence.
He could understand the rules of the "game" described by Yang, the operating rules of the mental matrix, and the anchoring effect produced when the soul projection of the alien entered the mental matrix. These were not too difficult a threshold for high-level spellcasters.
But Enwei just couldn't understand why the aliens were attracted to this kind of "game" that was not fun at all, and why they wasted their time in this illusion world made up entirely of the most basic projection illusions - don't these aliens have other more important things to do? !
