Chapter 245
The next afternoon, the weather was fine and sunny.
Cheng Yu and Mina came to a large jewelry store in Pis Harbor. The shelves were full of jewels and jewelry.
Last time, I got a lot of gold and silver jewelry from the sunken ship on the seabed. I came to the jewelry store to exchange those gold and silver jewelry for gold coins.
In fact, jewelry and artworks are not very valuable.
The selling price and the recycling price are two different things. For example, the selling price of gold jewelry is 500 per gram and the recycling price is 450 per gram; the selling price of diamonds is 20,000 per gram and the recycling price is 20 per gram.
The second is artworks. It is often heard that a certain auction house has sold an antique calligraphy and painting for hundreds of millions of yuan. The price of artworks does not depend on the level of art, but on how much money needs to be laundered.
In the final analysis, gold coins are the hard currency of Celsis Continent.
Several large boxes of gold and silver jewelry were placed in the lobby of the jewelry store.
The owner of the jewelry store sent a jewelry appraiser to appraise the value of jewelry one by one.
After some appraisal, these boxes of gold and silver jewelry were sold for 10,000 gold coins.
After receiving 10,000 gold coins, Cheng Yu and Mina walked out of the jewelry store and strolled along the bustling Pis Port Street.
Mina suddenly took Cheng Yu's arm affectionately, swaying her white wolf tail from side to side, and asked mysteriously, "Why did you stay in Xiaofu's room for so long last night?"
"Xiaofu said she had no inspiration and asked me to tell her a story."
"Just telling a story?"
"Of course, what else do you think I'm doing."
Cheng Yu looked at Mina with a gossipy expression on her face. His cute animal-eared girl's thoughts were not pure, and her little head was full of trembling.
"...Okay."
Mina let go of Cheng Yu, slightly disappointed.
I thought Cheng Yu had already taken Xiaofu down, and next time he could call Xiaofu to serve Cheng Yu together.
Forget it if he didn't take it down.
The two returned to Bailu Island Manor. As soon as they arrived outside the manor, they saw five men standing at the door of the manor, a young man, a middle-aged man, two magicians holding magic wands, and a guard wearing silver armor. They were dressed gorgeously and were probably upper-class nobles.
"Who are you?"
Cheng Yu walked over and asked a few people.
The middle-aged butler in black and gray cardigan, with two small mustaches at the corners of his mouth, asked politely, "You are Cheng Yu, the lord of Bailu Island, right?"
"Yes, it's me."
"Let me introduce you, this heroic young man is the mayor of Shien City, and also the sixth young master of the Weyland family, Beverly Weyland."
The middle-aged butler introduced the fat young man in white to Cheng Yu, emphasizing that the other party was from the Weyland family.
Not tall, with a round head, a round fat face, and a round body, Beverly Weyland gave Cheng Yu the impression of "round".
Hearing the words "Shien City", Cheng Yu remembered that Antoine fled to Pis Port from Shien City in the south, and most of the more than 6,000 refugees also came from Shien City.
Population is the wealth of the lord. The lord of Shien City came to the door, probably not a good thing.
"What do you want to see me for?"
Beverly's face was full of fat, and he looked like a squash. "The flood in the south has receded. I took my men to inquire along the way. I heard that the civilians of my Shien City were stranded in Pis Port, and then you brought them to this island. Thank you for taking care of them during this period. I hope to take them back and am willing to give you some money as compensation."
The purpose of Beverly's trip was very simple, which was to bring his subjects back. A flood almost made him, the lord of the city, become a commander without troops.
Humans are not like pigs and dogs. Pigs and dogs can grow to adults in one or two years, while humans need up to 18 years to grow from babies to adults, during which a lot of food and time costs are consumed.
More than 6,000 strong laborers are a huge fortune for the lord of Shien City.
Cheng Yu knew how the nobles treated the lower-class commoners, and he had no intention of using force on Beverly. He smiled politely, "I'm a very easy person to talk to. How about this, I'll take you to meet your subjects. If they are willing to go back with you, then go back with you."
"Okay."
This lord named Cheng Yu was quite friendly.
Beverly was very confident. With his prestige in Shien City in the past, and with the tax and rent reduction policy this time, he believed that everyone would go back with him.
"Follow me."
Cheng Yu took Beverly to meet his former subjects.
The group came to the construction site of the new town.
The construction site was in full swing, and the commoners were building their new homes.
A commoner recognized Beverly, "Isn't this Lord Beverly from Shien City?"
"Hello."
Although he never smiled at commoners, today, Beverly rarely smiled and greeted the commoner.
It was not because Beverly was more polite than before, but becauseBeverly knew that if he didn't do something, he would be left alone.
"Everyone come here, your former city lord Beverly Weiland is here to see you."
Cheng Yu waved to the civilians around him.
The civilians who were working stopped their work and gathered to see the former city lord of Shien City.
This city lord was so high and mighty that he usually lived in his city lord's mansion and could not be seen. He could only be seen during major festivals and celebrations.
As he walked along, more and more people gathered around him, about one or two thousand.
Beverly was very happy to see his former fellow citizens. He finally didn't have to be a commander without troops. He nudged the butler beside him with his elbow, "Keane, you tell me."
Ahem~
The middle-aged butler cleared his throat and said loudly, "The flood destroyed everyone's houses and took away everyone's relatives. Lord Beverly feels sad for everyone. However, the flood was ruthless, but people were kind. Lord Beverly hopes that everyone will return to Shien City to rebuild their homes. He will reduce the agricultural tax rate from 30% to 28%, and the rent per mu of land from 400 copper coins to 350 copper coins."
The large tracts of fertile land near Shien City belong to the city owner alone. If the civilians of Shien City want to farm, they need to rent from the city owner and pay rent to him.
In addition to the rent of the land, a 30% agricultural tax must be paid after the grain matures.
Beverly believes that under the preferential policies of rent and tax reduction, these people will definitely go back with him, and they may even be grateful to him.
The eyes of the people around were full of disdain. The agricultural tax rate was reduced from 30% to 28%, and the rent was reduced from 400 copper coins to 350 copper coins. Anyone could see that such preferential policies were not sincere. If they could not afford to reduce the rates, they should not reduce them.
They did not need to pay land rent for farming here with Cheng Yu. The agricultural tax was only 1%, and Cheng Yu also gave them free rations, seeds, farm tools, and livestock.
There is no harm without comparison.
Even dogs would not go to Shien City.
"Always be loyal to Lord Cheng Yu."
Someone in the crowd shouted.
With one call, others also shouted, "Always be loyal to Lord Cheng Yu."
"Always be loyal to Lord Cheng Yu."
...
Former subjects swore allegiance to other lords in front of Beverly.
This is fucking embarrassing!
Beverly's face was ashen, and he felt like he was cuckolded.