Volume 6 Chapter 97 - Meaning Of The Empireâs Navy
The Candra Empire’s royal palace was located to the north of the capital Wimbledon City, standing taller than some of the hills on the plains.
This hill was the only tall spot in the nearby plains and the royal palace was so big that it covered the entire Wimbledon City. As long as the citizens looked up, they would be able to see the giant and magnificent royal palace in the distance.
The great emperor of the Candra Empire would hold court meetings in the most conspicuous building of the royal palace, which was also the core of the Candra Empire’s government, listening to the reports of the various ministers.
Normally speaking, this court meeting was only a formality and they would only make some short reports to the emperor. As for the rest, it would be discussed in a meeting after the court meeting.
So most of the time, the emperor just sat on the throne looking down at the various ministers, listening to them.
However, today, the emperor of the Candra Empire, Deboir Seventeenth stood up from his high throne and was angrily pointing at the middle aged man who was wearing the uniform of a Candra Empire general.
“The powerful empire’s navy can’t even take care of a single company’s fleet, instead they lost over 70% of their fleet just from being beaten by them! Duke Warner, this is the empire’s navy that you command? This is the navy that the empire spends tens of millions of gold coins on each year?”
The middle aged man had lowered his head and didn’t respond.
Seeing that he didn’t say a thing, Deboir Seventeenth was even more angry.
“Very good, since the empire is spending tens of millions of gold coins on a useless thing each year, what’s the use in keeping you? From this day forth, the empire’s navy will be abolished! I don’t want to spend money on you trash any longer!”
Hearing Deboir Seventeenth’s words, Duke Warner suddenly looked up with a trace of shock in his eyes.
Although the empire had debated whether there was a need for a navy and the army headquarters kept decreasing their budget each year, the emperor had never taken a stance, so there was nothing fatal about these.
But now that the emperor had flown into a rage about the former navy’s defeat by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s fleet and even said that he would abolish the navy, if someone seized this chance, it really would have devastating effects on the navy.
“Your majesty, you mustn’t!” The one who shouted out wasn’t Duke Warner, but rather the Candra Empire’s minister of finance, Marquis Hastri who was standing to his right.
Seeing him come forward, not only the other ministers, even Deboir Seventeenth was surprised.
Because the navy took up large amounts of funds and didn’t do anything to contribute, so the department of finance that suffered much of this burden each year should be the one with the most complaints about them.
Now that the emperor had angrily said that he wanted to abolish the navy, the one that should be the happiest should be the department of finance.
So why did Marquis Hastri have such a reaction?
Deboir Seventeenth looked at him with a confused look, “Marquis Hastri, why mustn’t I? If you can’t give me a convincing reason, don’t blame me for not being polite.”
Hearing the dark tone in Deboir Seventeenth’s voice, the ministers all felt a chill in their hearts.
It seemed like his majesty truly was angry this time.
If anyone made him unhappy during this time, it really was a disaster for them.
Marquis Hastri wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, it was clear that there was a lot of pressure on him.
But after calming himself down, he said in a forced calm voice, “Your majesty, I don’t know anything about war, so I can’t offer an evaluation in this aspect, but as the minister of finance, I do care about the financial significance of the royal navy.”
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
Financial significance of the royal fleet? Could it be that other than spending tens of millions of gold coins a year, they had some other meaning?
“Oh? Tell me about it.” Deboir Seventeenth was also hooked by his curiosity.
“Your majesty, it is true that the empire’s navy does take tens of millions of gold coins a year and in the past few years, at least during the years I have been in office, they haven’t made any contributions so there is no need for them to exist.”
Hearing this, all the surrounding ministers couldn’t help nodding.
This was what everyone had thought of the navy.
“But……” Marquis Hastri suddenly changed the topic and his voice became louder, “This situation has become better in the past two years. Although I can’t give a concrete number, the pirates in the southern seas have gone into hiding from the attacks of the navy, so it has greatly increased the marine transportation industry on the southern seas. Just with the three harbours protected by the navy in the south, the tax revenue from them just this year alone will be over seven million gold coins.”
“Seven million gold coins?”
All the surrounding ministers revealed shocked looks.
Although for the giant Candra Empire, seven million gold coins wasn’t considered much.
But before this, the department of finance had never made a report for the southern ports because there wasn’t anything to report.
But in this year, this number had gone from zero to seven million, so this really was surprising for people.
“Just the tax revenue from marine transport?” Deboir Seventeenth asked.
“Yes.” Marquis Hastri nodded, “This seven million comes all from the taxes of these three harbours. Moreover, the influence of this isn’t just this, but because of the development of marine transportation, the empire’s trade activity in the southern coast has also increased. The tax payments of the southern cities have all increased from this. Compared to last year, the city with the biggest increase had grown by 300%!”
“300%? Marquis Hastri, are you kidding?” A minister couldn’t help asking in a loud voice.
Deboir Seventeenth slightly knitted his brows, “Marquis Hastri, you can’t joke about this figure, are you certain?”
“Yes, your majesty. The department of finance has the detailed figures, you can review them at any time. I definitely would not dare joke about the kingdom’s finances.” Marquis Hastri said without any fear.
Deboir Seventeenth gave a nod.
Of course he believed that Marquis Hastri wouldn’t lie about this because there were no benefits to this and it could be easily seen through. He wouldn’t take such a risk to deceive the emperor in front of everyone.
“This means that…..because of the navy eliminating the pirates on the south seas, allowing marine transportation to develop, the financial situation of the southern coast has greatly improved. Marquis Hastri, is this what you mean?” Deboir Seventeenth asked.
“Yes, your majesty.” Marquis Hastri said with a serious look, “If it was said that the navy had no meaning before, I’m certain now that because of the existence of the navy, the marine transportation industry could greatly develop. If we could improve on this, I believe that it would greatly boost the kingdom’s finances.”
“Is that so?” Deboir Seventeenth looked at Duke Warner who had been silent the entire time and suddenly asked, “Then Duke Warner, tell me, why could the navy never eliminate the pirates before and could suddenly do it in the past two years?”
“Right……”
Everyone reacted to this and turned to look at Duke Warner.
However, everyone found that when his majesty asked this, Duke Warner had an awkward look on his face.
Everyone became curious.
Duke Warner had a very high position in the Candra Empire, so what was it that could make him feel awkward?
“Speak!” Deboir Seventeenth commanded in a low voice.
Duke Warner gave a bitter laugh before giving a bow to Deboir Seventeenth and saying with a slight sigh, “Your majesty, we were able to clear out the pirates in the southern seas in the two years mainly because of the help from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet……”
“Ah?” Hearing this response, all the surrounding ministers and Deboir Seventeenth were surprised.
Why was it related to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce again?
Deboir Seventeenth slightly knits his brows.
He found that because he didn’t care about the navy before because they had no meaning at all, he wasn’t too clear on what the navy was doing.
Based on Duke Warner’s answer, it seemed like the navy had built quite a strong relationship with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Duke Warner even said that the it was “mainly” because of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet that they could clear out the pirates.
Based on this, it could be seen that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet was far stronger than the empire’s navy. Otherwise, why would the navy be able to clear out the pirates only after they obtained the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet’s help?
Then with the report on the navy’s clash with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s fleet, that proved it even more.
Thinking of this, Deboir Seventeenth slowly sat down again and calmed himself before asking Duke Warner, “Duke Warner, come, introduce the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet. Why can a trivial company’s guard fleet be stronger than our empire’s navy?”
Duke Warner wanted to say something, but Marquis Hastri suddenly cut in first, “Your majesty, can I first introduce the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to you? I think that as long as you hear my introduction, you should know why the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet is so strong.”
Deboir Seventeenth slightly knitted his brows because he was a bit dissatisfied that Duke Hastri had suddenly taken this question away, but he ignored this because of his curiosity towards the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
“Alright, then you introduce this Frestech Chamber of Commerce. I want to see what is so special about this company that our empire’s two important ministers would want to talk about them.”
Marquis Hastri gave Deboir Seventeenth a bow before pausing for a second and then saying, “Your majesty, actually…...I’ve always wanted to find a chance to introduce the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to you because I feel that the emperor must place great importance on this company……”