King
Chapter 106 - 106 94 Hedging against Inflation_1

106: Chapter 94, Hedging against Inflation_1 106: Chapter 94, Hedging against Inflation_1 Observing the Governor’s Mansion doling out “fine, fine, fine…”, Hudson gained a deeper understanding of Earl Piers.

Just as he had anticipated, no-one who can firmly retain the position of a local lord is simple.

Based on Earl Piers’s performance in suppressing the Skeleton Society’s rebellion, it was far from sufficient.

Since there are shortcomings in military affairs, there must be compensations in other aspects.

On the surface, it seems to be just taking advantage of the situation, but the actual implications are not that simple.

Merely imposing a fine, for the nobles, can only be considered a slap on the wrist.

But that’s only for the old lords with stable sources of wealth; they can withstand economic penalties.

But for the newly elevated lords, it’s a completely different story.

Almost all of the territories in Layton and Wharton Counties are in a state of deficit.

Over ninety percent of these territories now only manage expenses without any income.

In a state where they are already draining resources, everyone hates to split a gold coin in half, let alone encountering a hefty fine; it’s like it never rains but it pours.

Although all the lords are generations of nobles, this does mean that the clan’s resources will be endlessly poured onto them.

For a clan to perpetuate for a long time, the most important thing is order.

Outstanding descendants can indeed get more resources, but other clan descendants are not dead, they can also get a share.

Under the premise of ensuring that the clan’s strength is not affected, the support everyone can get is not unlimited.

Hudson can deeply relate to this; his father’s territory is considered decent, with tens of thousands of gold coins in annual revenue, and no large-scale military development, so by rights, life should have been prosperous.

However, the reality was quite the opposite.

Due to having too many brothers and sisters and scattered resources, life was rather average.

There’s no way around it, the expenses are clear, and with your fingers extended you can calculate it.

The total income is indeed substantial, and if there are no dreams, a glamorous life could be maintained for the family.

But once there are pursuits, expenses skyrocket.

The daily expenses of the territory account for sixty percent of the income, including production input, infrastructure investment, operation of the Baron’s Mansion, taxes, guards…

Of the remaining forty percent of income, nearly ten percent is spent on interpersonal exchanges and socializing.

The other thirty percent of income is truly disposable income.

Half of this money must be reserved for contingency measures against wars, famines and other incidents.

Including the assistance needed for the start-ups of descendants like Hudson, all the expenses come from these reserved funds.

Savings, were only when they and their siblings were young.

As they grew older, the places to spend money also increased significantly.

The eldest child inherits the family business, but it doesn’t mean that the younger siblings don’t need help.

At least when they first start out, they need to be funded, and when it comes to time to get married, a sum of expenses need to be borne.

If they rely solely on their own efforts, there will likely be lots of leftover men and women everywhere.

When a daughter gets married, a dowry also has to be given.

Starting from when the first child gets married, until the youngest child settles down, during this period, don’t expect to have any savings.

The reason the Northern aristocracy has high military strength is because they cut off most of their interpersonal expenses.

Weddings and funerals are kept as simple as possible.

Even the reserves, only the more affluent clans have it.

For small clans, achieving a balance between income and expenditure is considered a good year.

In order to make up for the deficit, in addition to actively participating in smuggling activities, they often have to participate in slave-catching operations, going deep into Orc Empire for looting.

Don’t look at the Northern aristocracy heading south, seemingly wealthy, in fact a large part of it is earned by themselves through their individual talents on the platform of their family.

Either by developing a smuggling business, or directly leading a team out for looting.

Making money is also an important criterion for the Northern nobility to evaluate the potential of the younger generation.

Those Northern nobles who can head south are all the best among them.

At the minimum, they have led slave-catching operations more than five times and returned safely each time.

Failure does not exist, because the failures are all dead.

People only remember the successful ones, no one cares about the life or death of the losers.

Even the official death rate statistics of the nobles only calculate the deaths that could be confirmed by bodies.

Those who went deep into the Orc Empire and never returned were all judged to be missing.

No one knows whether they cried out in pain or became slaves in the Orc Empire, in any case, the end result is miserable.

Facing the same fines, the native nobles are in a much better situation.

On one hand, the way they make money is different, on the other, because they lost the fight, most of their fines are symbolic.

Even Lord Hudson who was fined the most didn’t blink an eye and paid readily.

Other people’s fines in the tens or twenties didn’t require any sorrow.

The Northern nobility had different feelings.

Apart from the family support, much of it was the blood and sweat money they earned with their lives.

All the money is the same when it comes out, it’s definitely considered hard-earned money, at least that’s how they think of it in their hearts.

The pain of losing money is secondary; the key is that the development of the territory is greatly affected after their financial resources have been weakened.

In order to reduce fines and obtain the removal of the blockade by the native nobles, many nobles were forced to return the majority of the population they had stolen.

They were on the verge of going bankrupt, they really couldn’t afford to keep so many people, and they had to compromise.

After all the troubles, those with the energy to make trouble are penniless.

Without a few years of recuperation, these people will not have the capital to cause trouble.