Volume 1: The Rise of Elanhill Chapter 0053 Inventory of Assets
"Is this the best hotel here? Ha! Are you kidding? Our cowshed looks more upscale and luxurious than this one!" Looking at the place where he was going to live with disdain, Long Tate White poked the mottled wall with his hand and complained to the followers around him with dissatisfaction.
He was ordered to capture Des, the stain on the family, and the guards he brought were all the elite of the family. What's more, the Longtate family hasn't had an "expelled person" for about a hundred years. Under normal circumstances, people like White who just eat and wait for death would not be expelled from the family.
Who would have thought that Des, the rookie who had always been favored by several elders in the family, seemed to have been bewitched by someone and wasted almost two million gold coins of the family, but still did not bring his family a single penny in return.
In the family alone, there were countless people who had borrowed money from Des, so everyone hoped that the family could give everyone an explanation - with many young people adding fuel to the fire, the explanation was that "Des was expelled."
The trigger of the whole thing was that Desel began to replace the Longtate family business in the Prairie Empire and the Higgs Kingdom in the name of the family. This was not a small matter of a few million gold coins, but represented a commercial change in a huge region.
Desel's goal was to reorganize the business and eventually deliver the industrial products of Elan Hill to these areas. However, in the eyes of the senior members of the Longtite family, he was so greedy that he was ready to destroy the foundation of the family.
Everyone was not blind. Ailan Hill's products were spreading everywhere and had even reached the Holy Demon Empire. How could the Mortal Empire not know about it? Everyone was using Ailan Hill's cloth, matches, furniture, porcelain and glassware, so naturally they were thinking about Des.
There are so many money-making projects, and you, Desel, have invested millions or even tens of millions of gold coins. Where did the money go? There was no return at all, and you pocketed it all for yourself. Of course, this is very unpleasant.
Because of this, the family finally made the decision to remove Des from the family and send people to take over Ireland Hill's huge industry and redistribute the enviable income and benefits.
"Lord White, I heard that this place was originally extremely poor. Because it is located on the border, it can't even collect taxes in a year." An attendant who had studied Seris City to some extent introduced it: " Of course , it can't be compared with those royal cities."
Because everything had to be put to good use, there weren't many changes to the infrastructure in the Principality of Ailan Hill. After all, cement was used in factories, barracks, and roads, which were in urgent need.
The rest of the construction still continues the ancient architectural style of wood and stone, so it is no wonder that a rich young man like White looks down on it.
However, when he saw some of the furnishings, displays, and furniture, he felt that Ailan Hill was different: the furniture here was exquisite and looked like expensive luxury goods; the glass and ceramic utensils were everywhere, as if they were free...
The soft and comfortable quilts were made of the finest fabrics, and you could tell they were worth a lot just by touching them. Even White knew that if the layout here was moved intact to the Dotson Empire, it would probably become a new model of trendy, fashionable and expensive home furnishings.
"Have you sent someone to see Grand Duke Ailanhill? We want to get our things back, but without his support, it won't work." Although White was a bit arrogant, he was the son of the Longtate family after all, and he did have some knowledge.
Before coming, he had already decided to leave about one-tenth of his property to Grand Duke Ailanhill, so that Grand Duke Chris, whom he had never met, would stand on his side and help the Longtate family get back their wealth.
After all, even the most powerful kings and emperors had to give some respect to the Longtate family. It didn't mean that if Des was willing to give Chris more benefits, Chris would definitely dare to take them - sometimes, the will of the Longtate family was stronger than benefits.
"My Lord, my Lord!" Just as he asked this question, an attendant ran in in a panic and nervously reported to Longtate White: "The Grand Duke of Ireland Hill, His Majesty Ireland Hill Chris, has arrived. He came to see you in person and wants to hear what the Longtate family thinks of Desel and Ireland Hill's industry."
The other party was willing to come and pay a visit in person, which made Long Tate White feel more comfortable. Since the other party gave him so much face, White didn't mind giving the Grand Duke some more benefits when dividing the assets.
People are always attracted by money. As long as they can see real gold and silver, I believe that the Grand Duke of Ireland Hill will be willing to live in harmony with the Longtate family and prosper together, just like the monarchs of other regions.
Before he could expand his thinking, Chris walked into the room with an old man, a middle-aged man with long hair, and a burly general. These four people really have their own strengths, just like a singing group with distinct personalities.
The officer in the handsome grey uniform had a long sword on his waist. He might be the only one in the group who was armed. Seeing this, White even felt that the Grand Duke did not take his life seriously.
You know, inside and outside the house, he has at least 20 nimble private guards around him. As long as he gives an order, these four guys who seem to have no fighting power will definitely surrender.
Chris , who didn't know someone was planning to kill him, found a sofa and sat down, his right hand habitually pressed on the pistol on his waist. Wagron, who was standing behind him, also pressed his pistol, raised his chin and observed several White's personal guards not far away.
Although there were only 12 bullets in their pistols, it was not a big problem for Wagron to deal with the remaining eight by himself. And... standing on the other side of Chris was a great magician named Frunzberg who looked harmless but was actually even more difficult to deal with.
As soon as the gunshots rang out in the house, dozens of gunmen from the Grand Duke's Guards on standby downstairs would rush up - no one could stop their attack, there were dozens of pistols. Frundsberg had seen it before, and he felt that he didn't have the courage to try again.
Soon, Deans, the least combative member of the group, spoke first. Holding a thick account book, he coughed and asked, "I heard that the Longtate family plans to recalculate the assets in Ailan Hill... I happen to be in charge of this area, so I will briefly introduce it to you."
As he spoke, he put on a pair of fine-looking glasses, then expertly turned to the first page of the account book and said, "Desir owns 35% of the shares of the Liming Wood Group. If we calculate the value of the factory machinery, worker training, management personnel and other hidden assets... it is roughly equivalent to 1.73 million gold coins."
When they heard this number, the faces of several accountants and managers brought by White immediately became interesting. They knew that Des's investment could not be just one wood group. But just one wood group in front of them was worth more than 1 million gold coins.
If the Grand Duke in front of him was not crazy and willing to pay a sky-high price of gold coins to buy this damn wood group, then this wood group is really worth so much money - if just a wood group is so valuable, what about other industries?
Before they could think too much, Deans continued, "The Maine Porcelain Factory in the Maine area, plus seven branches in various places... is worth 2.9 million gold coins. Desair owns about 10% of the shares of the salt field in Ferry City, and the market value is estimated to be around 2 million gold coins."
"We have already started construction of the railway from Ferry City to Seris and then to Earth Fort. Desel invested 150,000 gold coins and will have a 17% share of the annual income for a total of three years... This income is difficult to calculate, so we can only explain it in terms of expected returns. There will be about 100,000 gold coins in annual road income." He talked incessantly, as if he was talking about a bunch of useless things.
But White and his men could hear that the other party was indeed talking about gold coins, gold coins worth tens of millions or even hundreds of millions... But now, the amount of gold coins that used to bring them immense happiness made them feel the chill of the cold wind.
"The estimated value of the Shuguang Equipment Factory is about 17 million gold coins. If we take into account the possible appreciation in the future, there is no problem in calculating it to 30 million gold coins." After talking for nearly half an hour, Deans finally got to the truly shocking part.
"The total value of the Empire Industrial Group has exceeded 1.3 billion. It has a series of divisions including metallurgy, foundry, steam engine manufacturing, diesel engine research and development, etc...." He turned the page and raised his head and said, "The other part is confidential, the part about the military industry of the Ailan Hill Group... I won't go into details, but it's probably worth about 1 billion."
After he finished speaking, he took off his glasses, with a smile on his face, and asked calmly: "So, everyone, where do you want to start recycling?"
After he asked, the room immediately fell into a dead silence. No one dared to speak, and even breathing became cautious. The atmosphere suddenly became extremely strange, and White's guards were trembling in their calves.
"Hahahaha!" Chris couldn't help himself and burst into laughter, breaking the silence in the room. He stood up while laughing, "Is that all you have? It seems like there's nothing to lose if we don't have these relatives of Des."
