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Chapter 782 - 782 52 A Scene from History_2

782: Chapter 52, A Scene from History_2 782: Chapter 52, A Scene from History_2 Despite continuous exchanges, the Clergy inevitably ended up with more and more bonds due to the one-month buffer period.

At first, when looking at the continually reported bills from his subordinates, Shelter VII was impressed by their efficiency.

But gradually, he realized something was off.

Appointments for exchange posed a substantial risk to large holders of war bonds like them.

What if they don’t have enough time to cash in and the Alpha Kingdom’s cash flow runs out, declaring default ahead of time?

Then they would be left holding these worthless bonds.

“Send a command down not to continue buying.

First, exchange the bonds we have in hand, then buy the second batch!

Also, after the exchange is completed, send someone to monitor the Alpha Kingdom to see if they are really openly burning their bonds.”

After all, he was not experienced in finance, and his understanding of bond trading wasn’t deep.

His thought process was still stuck on ordinary commodity trading — buying low and selling high.

The most Shelter VII could think of was sending someone to supervise the destruction of bonds by the Alpha Kingdom.

After all, these bonds have magic marks, preserving traces of time, issuing time, and issuing quantity, all of which can be checked to prevent possible issuance after the fact.

“Your Majesty, Caesar IV is rallying the entire nation’s nobles to raise money.

It’s said that he has already garnered tens of millions of Gold Coins.

Our more than ten million in bonds might not be enough to destabilize their finances.

Now, the market sentiment has stabilized.

Aside from us, hardly anyone is asking them for an early exchange anymore.

If we give them time to raise money, then our early efforts will all go to waste.

Not to mention, the price of the bonds is slowly creeping up, so the more we buy, the higher our acquisition cost will be.”

Bishop Soren stepped forward to advise.

This massive financial operation had allowed all involved departments to fish from the waters.

Despite the Pope’s emphasis on strengthening supervision, the actual authority lies in the hands of the executors.

Based on the current market price, a purchase of one million war bonds to be cashed in by the Alpha Kingdom would mean a loss of approximately one hundred and fifty thousand.

No matter what, it was a loss-making deal.

Buy six to seven million worth of bonds for cash-in, can report a million towards the high end; Buy three to five million worth of bonds for cash-in, can still report a million.

Given the relationship between the Clergy and the Alpha Kingdom, it’s unlikely anyone could be sent to verify.

The actual figure of how many war bonds were purchased is a matter of one’s word.

The part where they suffered less loss was their pure profit.

Distribute the money evenly from top to bottom, and all relations are smoothed over.

On the books, the Clergy had purchased over ten million war bonds and completed the exchange for more than six million.

Theoretically, the Alpha Kingdom’s cash flow is very dangerous.

If there were this many war bonds, and they were suddenly dumped on the market, the financial stability of the Alpha Kingdom would be paralyzed, if not actively collapsing.

If they continued to purchase, and the Alpha Kingdom realized they were incapable of defending, it would be a tragedy if they just decided to drag them down with them.

Yet theory is just theory.

In Soren’s view, there was a lot of padding in the data.

An empty ship has three pounds of nails.

Against the background of the Alpha Kingdom’s desperate efforts to raise money, they won’t be killed by a few million Gold Coins.

“Your Majesty, Bishop Soren is right.

We have to deal with Alpha Kingdom hardliners in one fell swoop.

Based on the intelligence received from various regions, about twenty days after application, Alpha people will cash in.

In some small areas, it can be completed in seven or eight days after application.

The financial strength shown by the Alpha Kingdom is far more terrifying than we imagined.

It’s said that a significant portion of this cash came from borrowing from major guilds.

The outside world has more trust in the Alpha Kingdom than we estimated!”

Whether the outside world trusts the Alpha Kingdom or not is still up for debate, but he completely distrusts the bureaucratic governance of the clergy.

The judgement standard is very simple, just look at the Alpha Kingdom’s reaction.

How could it possibly be so calm in the face of an avalanche of bond redemptions?

Seeing all his subordinates were asking for more power, Shelter VII instantly realized that he was too idealistic to assume that the Clergy was upstanding and corruption-free.

“Since you all insist, let’s push harder!

Tell our people not to be too lax.

If they can’t produce results fast enough, hmph!

Ulysses, select a thousand people from the Ascetic Monk Camp and send them out to everywhere to supervise the execution,” said Shelter VII, indifferent.

He had long wanted to reform the church’s bureaucracy.

But the corruption was rooted so deep that everyone resisted the reform, leaving him no room to act.

It’s different this time.

Investing tens of millions of gold coins couldn’t bankrupt the finance of the Alpha Kingdom, which exposed the corruption of the clergy out in the open.

The matter has been exposed so blatantly that all the people at the scene, even if they wanted to speak for their subordinates, didn’t know what they could possibly say.

…

As commands were handed down, the church officials responsible for carrying out the tasks felt their scalps go numb.

“What have you all been doing?

You passed a hundred gold coins of war bonds, and they were cashed by the Alpha people in less than a week?

You should at least try to make your lies sound more plausible.

With such a large cash reserve, do you think this is the capital of Alpha Kingdom?

You think the Pope is too distant to know what you’re doing, so you pocket money at will and claim you’ve completed your task!

I’m telling you, the governor’s inspection team is coming down soon.

Cough up everything you’ve gulped down, go to the market right now to buy war bonds, and then cash them in the shortest time possible.

Don’t explain to me.

I don’t have time to listen to your explanations.

If you can’t keep the Alpha people from paying, you can’t say you’ve accomplished your job.

This time they’re all ascetics coming over, don’t expect any favors from them.

Failure means a direct trip to the Redemption Camp!

From now on, the war bonds that are collected will be taken by me personally to be cashed.

If the quantity doesn’t match the books, you won’t even have a chance to enter the Redemption Camp.”

Archbishop Montson sternly reprimanded.

The higher-ups pile pressure on the ones below.

Originally thinking they’ve got an easy money-making job, they didn’t expect the situation to deviate — the Alpha people’s exchange points didn’t collapse at the first blow.

In his heart, Archbishop Montson already hated those trading companies.

If it weren’t for their help, Alpha Kingdom wouldn’t have any cash reserves here!

Even if they immediately sent money over, it would soon be depleted.

It’s a pity that because of the intervention of the major trading companies, the Alpha Kingdom only needs to deposit funds anywhere on the continent to be able to withdraw them here.

Naturally, there are time differences in this withdrawal and it can’t be immediate.

The amount of funds to be transferred to various places also needs to be stated clearly and cannot be freely allocated.

This results in some places being rich in cash reserves and having quick exchange speed, whereas some places have insufficient cash reserves, resulting in longer exchange time.

As to how many interests are traded behind this, Archbishop Montson doesn’t know.

He just knows his dream of getting rich has been shattered, and the current situation is very troublesome, and he absolutely must carry out the task meticulously.

…

Bundle after bundle of bonds were sent in, and box after box of gold coins were carried out.

The exchange was over, but the job was not done yet.

The key task of public destruction has yet to commence.

Archbishop Montson, who is personally in charge, watched the Alpha people’s actions without blinking his eyes.

He wasn’t disappointed.

The pack of bonds which had been arranged in a box were taken to Lutesya Square for public destruction.

To assure there wouldn’t be any problems, Archbishop Montson himself inspected them before igniting the fire.

They were all just delivered, and each had the magic mark he personally left.

Watching the soaring flames, Archbishop Montson had a gleeful smile on his face, thinking there would be no problem this time.

The assistant beside him had already taken out the Flowing Shadow Stone and recorded this historic scene.