naaapseattle #340 - Redemption of Jihad Bonds
#340 - Redemption of Jihad Bonds
When the news of the great victory at Monclus arrived, the entire Kush territory was plunged into an atmosphere of joy.
Truth Speaker Madrant specially arranged for several carriages to travel along the roads, posting announcements and lists of commendations in villages along the way.
Looking down from the sky, almost every hundred-household district had a literate person reading the list next to the announcement board.
With each name read, the family members of the soldiers proudly stood up, patted their chests to the surrounding villagers and relatives, and exclaimed, "That's my son/brother/grandson!"
For the news-isolated countryside, it was the first time they could receive information so quickly, which was a novel experience.
In contrast, in the Empire, some lords' people didn't know when the war came, nor did they know when the war ended.
They might even be killed by invading enemies without knowing why.
Compared to the after-dinner chattering in the countryside, the atmosphere in the cities was even more fervent.
In Jeanne d'Arc, people spontaneously bought colorful flags and hung them on the eaves. If a merchant arrived at this moment, they might think it was a festival.
Especially the workshop owners and bond purchasers who had made a fortune from this battle, when they saw the returning wounded soldiers, they wished they could kneel down and kowtow to them.
You know, after this battle, the value of the bonds they bought had increased three to five times, that's a profit of 300% to 500%!
When Horn cleared out non-performing assets, although he invited specialized merchants to evaluate them and sell them at market average prices.
But with bonds, you could spend 1 coin as 3 or even 5 coins, wasn't that like getting a 70% or even 80% discount?
Moreover, these so-called "non-performing assets" were not really non-performing, but assets and properties that the Salvation Army mismanaged.
As long as you replaced them with someone who knew what they were doing, the returns would immediately increase.
The Papal Palace could manage things like furniture workshops, houses, and dyehouses... Horn hired specialists to operate them.
However, compared to the past, the laborers in these workshops lived much better lives.
Under the restriction of the "Labor Law", their maximum wages were limited, and there was a labor shortage everywhere because the income of being a laborer was not even as good as paying taxes to farm.
However, after Horn came to power, he abolished the wage restrictions of the "Labor Law" and also abolished the "Fugitive Slave Law", which lifted the restrictions on labor.
Of course, because land was distributed, everyone still decided to farm, and the labor market was still relatively short, so laborers generally had their wages increased.
A bricklayer's daily wage was almost 1 denarius, nearly twice as much as before.
In addition, Horn was also promoting the "Labor Safety Law", forcing workshop owners to pay the family members of laborers who died on the job one year's wage as compensation.
You know, in the past, workshop owners with a conscience would give some funeral expenses and hush money, and those without a conscience would demand compensation for lost work from the deceased's family.
Currently, Horn has gathered many workshop owners and many canon law scholars from the County of Kasha to discuss this matter.
This matter is widely followed by the laboring masses, but the most concerned among the citizens and artisans is the auction of church property.
The auction takes the form of sealed bids, starting at nine in the morning and ending at twelve noon.
When the clock tower struck noon, Palak and Grossien brothers walked out of the auction with satisfaction.
At this auction, they not only won the fish pond, but also picked up two old horses and farm tools.
Walking out of the Holy See Bank, Palak looked at the passing crowd and waved triumphantly to everyone who walked out.
"Friends, I propose that we wish the Salvation Army victory here, what do you think?"
"Victory! Victory! Victory!" The passersby echoed.
Turning around, Palak looked at Grossien, who was carefully holding the box and walking along the edge of the street, and shook his head helplessly.
"Don't worry!" Palak walked up and patted the box, "The Papal State, the Salvation Army, and us each have a copy of the land deed. The names of the fish pond owners are both of us. What's the use of stealing the land deed?"
"Reissuing it is a lot of money," Grossien said with heartache.
Palak turned his head, just about to speak, but saw a familiar figure in the crowd.
Without time to pay attention to Grossien, Palak rushed out, bumped into many people, and suddenly grabbed the person's sleeve.
The face under the hood looked up in astonishment, it was Squire, who hadn't been seen for a long time.
At this time, Grossien, holding the box, squeezed through the crowd and arrived: "Palak, what are you running for, you... Squire?"
Palak looked at him with a fake smile: "Oh, it's a coincidence to meet you here. Are you going to play dice? I'm waiting for you to play a few rounds with me."
"Hahaha, yes, long time no see." Squire used his muscles to force out a hideous smile, "I don't play dice, I'm running errands to deliver letters."
Unlike Grossien, Palak was a vengeful person and would not easily let go of this villain who had repeatedly caused trouble.
Seeing that Squire had a tendency to run away, he grabbed Squire's wrist instead: "Don't go, I have good news to tell you."
"Wh, what news?"
"We just bought the monastery's fish pond for 1050 denarius! It was close, the second highest price was only 30 denarius lower than us, this fish pond almost fell into someone else's hands."
The method Horn adopted was the Vickrey auction, simply put, it is a sealed bid auction, and then sold at the second highest price.
For example, Grossien bid a price of 1100 denarius, which was the highest price in the audience, and won the fish pond.
The second highest price was 1050 denarius, so although Grossien bid 1100 denarius, he only needed to pay 1050 denarius.
Horn sold these real estates not only to cash out old bonds to facilitate the issuance of new bonds, but also to hope that these poorly managed assets could be properly operated.
Using the Vickrey auction method, from a game theory perspective, the optimal strategy is to bid according to one's true valuation, which can most reasonably allocate resources.
Unless someone privately contacted before the bidding, but if anyone dares to do so, then don't blame the military police for coming to the door.
Looking at the small box that Grossien was holding tightly in his arms, Squire's face was terribly ugly: "Holy Lord bless! You are so lucky."
"This is all thanks to you!" Palak patted Squire heavily on the shoulder, "If you hadn't helped us fill out the form, how could we have won this fish pond!"
Squire gritted his teeth, a blood of jealousy and anger rushed to his head, he only felt something stuck in his throat, making him unable to speak.
"Hey, I heard that you work as a scribe, living on only two or three denarius a week, running errands and copying books every day, why don't you come and work for me as a helper, how about it?"
He said so, but Palak would not really let him be a helper.
The two had a grudge, how could he rest assured, saying this was just mocking Squire.
Squire knew this in his heart, but his teeth were about to be crushed, but he could do nothing.
At this moment, he wished he could turn back time and slap himself twice.
If he had known, he shouldn't have tipped off the knight, if he had known, he shouldn't have filled out Grossien's application form randomly, if he had known...
Damn it, Holy Lord, why did you let your devout believer fall to the point of being bullied by untouchables!
The more Squire thought about it, the more sad and angry he became, and his whole body couldn't stop shaking.
"Gurgle—"
Palak heard a gurgling sound coming from Squire's throat, and then, Squire opened his mouth and shouted, "Eek!"
Then he closed his eyes tightly and fell to the ground with a pale face.
Palak was so frightened that he jumped three steps away. Seeing that Squire was silent, he picked up a branch and poked Squire's face.
Seeing Squire's breath blowing the leaves on the branch, Palak breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, people who had just come out of the Holy See Bank noticed that there was a commotion, and they all hooked their shoulders and tiptoed, looking in this direction.
Seeing the people around him gathering, Palak quickly explained: "Everyone saw it, I didn't touch him, he fell down by himself!"
After shouting twice and clearing his relationship, seeing a few black-clothed night watchmen running over, Palak was afraid of getting into trouble, and quickly dragged Grossien away from the scene.