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Chapter 1304 - 1304 235 Bank Run Wave

1304: Chapter 235: Bank Run Wave 1304: Chapter 235: Bank Run Wave As he inspected the disaster areas, the young child never laughed.

This natural disaster had brought severe losses to Hudson, and the losses suffered by Belsden were not small either.

Due to the territories mainly being in the lower reaches, the rolling flood came sweeping through, turning both Bear Ranch and Bear Farm completely into marshlands.

From above in the sky, one could still see busy crowds rushing to harvest wheat soaked by water in the pouring rain.

In the Farming Era, it didn’t matter how severe the reduction in output was, as long as the crops had ripened, there was no reason not to harvest them.

The situation at the ranch wasn’t much better either.

Although livestock had been rescued, the ongoing impact of the torrential rains meant that the stored fodder was running out, leaving no choice but to slaughter the animals.

Watching his source of milk being slaughtered and turned into dried meat, Belsden’s mood could not lift.

On the other hand, Maxim, was in quite a good mood at the moment, shamelessly watching the misfortunes of Hudson and Belsden.

Investing has risks, and entering the market requires caution.

Agriculture has never been an industry for quick profits; beneath natural disasters, not only is there a reduction in crops, but many water conservation projects also need rebuilding.

Just the losses from this wave of disaster alone will keep Hudson and Belsden busy for several years before they can recover the losses.

In contrast, Maxim’s business is far more profitable and risk-free.

Blundering through the mating season, within a short time, he’d have millions of Gold Coins credited to his account.

Purely counting on farming profits, even under perfect weather conditions, the Mountain Domain would take several years to recover.

Earning money off the loins is something only Maxim was capable of; others could only envy that ability.

Looking at the continuously tallied losses, Hudson’s heart was bleeding.

According to the Agricultural Department’s estimate, Mountain Domain could at most preserve forty percent of this year’s autumn grain.

Hudson could accept a simple reduction in one season’s grain.

After all, his own territory was reclaimed from swamps and had always been a land rich in rainfall.

Under flood disasters, it was normal to suffer greater losses.

The troublesome part was the post-disaster reconstruction work.

Across the entire Mountain Domain, tens of thousands of houses needed to be rebuilt, several water conservation projects required major repairs, and more than a dozen projects suffered catastrophic damage.

The roads and bridges also suffered numerous losses.

Beyond that, issues of soil erosion in the mining area had also surfaced.

All of this required money.

How much the losses actually amounted to could only be known after the rains ended.

The only consolation was that Hudson wasn’t the only unlucky one; most regions of Aslante had also suffered natural disasters, albeit in different forms.

…

In the Jade Palace, Caesar IV was currently busy with personnel adjustments.

Learning from the tragedy that befell the Falcon Royal Family, he decided to change the entire Palace Guard and City Guard to “his own people”.

The strongest fortress is always breached from within.

The Falcon Kingdom is a prime example, the Rebel Army was able to quickly take over the Capital because some of the City Guards also joined the rebellion.

The rapid fall of the Royal Palace was also due to new emerging nobility within the Palace Guard collaborating from the inside and opening the palace gates to the enemy.

The most prominent feature of noble infighting is recognizing the change in times; seeing the overall situation turning bad, the remaining City Guards and Palace Guard gave up resistance.

The few truly loyal to The Royal Family continued to fight until the last moment.

By the time Henry V realized the issue, it was too late, and he could only let the Royal Family’s experts escort him away.

But unfortunately, he was not lucky; the Royal Family’s experts were held up by the Rebel Army right as they moved.

Henry V had not yet left the Royal Palace before he met his demise.

With this as a lesson learned, Caesar IV had become more cautious in his appointments.

The situation with the Palace Guard was better.

During Caesar III Era, they only recruited the Royal Family’s confidants; ordinary local nobility had no chance of entering.

The situation with the City Guard was more complex, always being a gilt-edged placement for Noble Children, with complicated interpersonal relationships inside.

Even being the King, Caesar IV couldn’t do much about the City Guard for the time being; he could only continuously carry out replacements.

“These are the disaster reports from various regions, as of now, thirteen provinces have requested tax relief and allocation of disaster relief funds!”

The words of Chancellor Duke Newfoundland pulled Caesar IV from internal power struggles.

Changing personnel could be done anytime, and no nobility was likely to rebel in the short term, but the disaster situation was urgent.

Taking the report, the few thin pages felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

Though only thirteen were requesting tax relief and disaster relief funds, the number of provinces that needed to pay taxes in full was only about twenty in total.

The rest were either completely tax-free or paid just symbolically.

What’s worse, most of these thirteen provinces were located in the central and southern parts of the Kingdom, important areas for the fiscal revenues of Alpha Kingdom.

If they really provided tax relief for these provinces, the Kingdom’s days ahead would be tough.

In the Farming Era, the dependency of government revenues on taxes was extraordinarily high.

With a financial shortfall of millions of Gold Coins, what could be used to fill this gap?

Examining the report carefully, Caesar IV was surprised to find that many Royal territories were also in disaster zones.

He vaguely recalled the document the Palace Minister had brought him several days ago; due to being busy with personnel adjustments, he hadn’t dealt with it in time.

To outright refuse would seem too callous.

In a year of great disaster, it wouldn’t be acceptable for the Kingdom Government to not show any consideration.