With the victory on the front line, in the southern district of Maple City behind, there was one banquet after another, celebrating the great victories on the front line.

In fact, when the front line was defeated, a banquet was held as usual. That's what nobles do anyway.

However, the great victory on the front line still made the men of the Chicken Kingdom a lot stronger. Whenever this season comes, the sales volume of magic potion will increase sharply.

And truckloads of food and drinks are constantly being transported into the southern district of Maple City.

During this period, whenever they encountered a vehicle transporting alcohol, there were always numb homeless people and beggars on both sides of the road waiting for alms. When they encountered a generous owner, they would order their men to push a barrel of red wine directly off the vehicle.

Then the red wine barrel fell to the ground, broke, and the red wine flowed out like a blood donation, and was eaten by the homeless and beggars lying on the ground.

After Zhang Cheng saw it once, he felt that this scene seemed familiar, but he didn't know where this sense of familiarity came from.

Forget it, don’t think about it anymore, today I’m going to attend a banquet at Prime Minister Franco’s residence.

Since there was no valet, Ariel wore a men's tuxedo and a single ponytail, dressing up as a valet, which gave her a unique charm.

In fact, beautiful women will look good no matter what they wear. You can refer to Brigitte Lin in Dao Ma Dan.

This time to celebrate the victory on the front line, the noble banquets were divided into several levels. The highest level was the banquet of Marquis Franco. The next level was the banquet of nobles such as the King and Duke Einjarut - well,

In fact, the king is far less important than the prime minister in the hearts of nobles and businessmen. Who told this guy to ignore business and owe a lot of debts that he can't even repay.

However, it is said that the spoils obtained on this front line were great, and the king's creditors finally saw the light of day.

As one of the military subcontractors responsible for the victory in this two-front war, Zhang Cheng also received an invitation to attend a banquet at the Prime Minister's Office.

In the front yard of the Prime Minister's Office, there was really a lot of traffic. After Ariel got off the car first, she opened the door and said, "Master, get off the car."

This time, Zhang Cheng appeared wearing a top hat and a dark dress, but in his hand was not an ordinary cane, but a cane that was one section longer than the ordinary cane. The overall length was about one meter and three meters, with an adult man's fist-sized inlaid on the top.

, polished and crystal clear rubies, the cane is made of solid gold, with thirty-five rubies as big as the thumbnail of the little finger inlaid on it.

We, the nouveau riche, want to use the wealth of the nouveau riche to suppress these old-fashioned aristocrats.

Although the golden scepter is vulgar, the fist-sized ruby ​​​​on it is top-notch in terms of size and transparency, and can be said to be priceless.

Even though He's Bi can be exchanged for several cities, this ruby ​​is no less precious than He's Bi.

The servants in the Prime Minister's Office were stunned for a moment when they saw the ruby ​​​​gold scepter, but they quickly introduced Zhang Cheng to the guest area. Each person could only bring one servant, and the other servants had to go to the servant area, where drinks were also served.

Of course, it was just servant-grade drinks. Ariel disguised herself as a valet and followed Zhang Cheng.

The ruby ​​​​gold scepter indeed attracted a lot of attention, but most of them just cursed the nouveau riche in their hearts, and then became envious, jealous, and resentful.

The place where Zhang Cheng was led was a business district. Unexpectedly, the banquet was also divided into classes. Forget it, he was a businessman himself.

Gathered here are contractors for various armaments of the Chicken Kingdom. From food and cloth to wine, meat and weapons, all kinds of merchants have it all.

But in these non-technological monopoly businesses, those who can achieve this level are the top businessmen in the country.

Most of these people are in their thirties or forties, and they all come with their wives and children. It’s not that they come here to expand their contacts, but it’s a gathering of this level. They are originally meant to come here once, and then go back and have something to do.

Blow.

Really big events and big businesses often complete various transactions in private. Every big businessman here has his own nobles who support him. Otherwise, the Prime Minister, who is busy with everything every day, would not notice who bought a certain item from?

Li Wanji:……

And for the Prime Minister, there is no difference between buying the final military supplies from A and buying them from B.

When Zhang Cheng arrived here, there was no need to be polite. He was here to eat and drink. He took a glass of wine from the buffet banquet table and smelled it. It was not poisonous. It failed.

Of course, Zhang Cheng was referring to the great failures of spies in other countries. If the poisoning could be successful once on this occasion, that spy would probably be remembered in history.

Zhang Cheng took a sip of wine to quench his thirst. A middle-aged businessman in his forties came over with his wife on his arm: "Brother, this gold and gemstone scepter of yours is very cool. My daughter and my wife keep asking me to come here."

Ask about the price. Of course, I know this is impolite. Introduce yourself, Patrice Roland, the baker."

"The Roland family, the family of Duke Reinhardt?"

"Yes, a long time ago, we were a family. Now, I am just a member of the Roland family."

"That's it, Pan Yao, gem merchant."

"Ah, I heard that in the past few months, more than half of the rubies have come from your hands."

Patrice is a typical noble family, but he does not have the kind of nobles who can inherit a noble title. In the end, he had to go into business. This is because the Roland family has a deep heritage. In general, it is to arrange a civil servant position in the government such as a clerk.

——After all, these people from aristocratic families have been educated since childhood, so it is easy for the entire illiterate society to find employment.

However, after three or five generations, if the education of the descendants does not keep up, they will be lost to everyone.

Judging from the wealth of Patrice, at least within a few generations, the direct descendants will not have such worries.

The two men talked about the great victory on the front line and the weather problems, etc. In fact, they just killed time. Mrs. Patrice and her daughter were trying to identify the authenticity of rubies at a distance of more than a foot.

Zhang Cheng was very happy to see that the Roland family members looked like they had never seen the world.

The two talked for about a quarter of an hour, and after there was nothing to talk about in the end, Patrice left with his wife and daughter.

Zhang Cheng observed here for a while, ate some sausages and found that the guests were all from one family, making it look like a New Year group visit.

All the aristocratic gatherings they promised turned into hazing parties! They were all held by families, and no one left the garden. How could they do this?

I should really ask again next time.

Half an hour after all the guests arrived, Marquis Franco appeared from the second floor with his wife and children on the platform between the first and second floors of the hall. At this time, the conversation in the hall became quieter until it became completely quiet.

Marquis Franco and his family held wine glasses and shouted passionately: "Wan Sheng!"

"Ten thousand victories, ten thousand victories, ten thousand victories!" All the guests below echoed.

After drinking a glass of red wine, Marquis Franco said: "Here, on behalf of the country, I would like to thank you for your efforts. Although you are not fighting on the front line, without your efforts at the rear, the soldiers on the front line would never be able to win."

."

Then Marquis Franco and his family also participated in the nobility's group visit. They were not next to the businessmen.

However, Marquis Franco's butler ordered all the businessmen present to be gathered into a room. This time, not even the servants followed.

After the housekeeper came in, he said: "I invite you all to come this time because although there have been several great victories and captures on the front line, the two fronts have entered a stalemate recently. Although our side has the upper hand in fighting on both the east and west fronts. But military expenditures, the national treasury

But they can't keep up. This time the war will not be as simple as ending after the beginning of spring. The Prime Minister and His Majesty the King are determined to defeat the two countries, the Ox and the Eagle, at once, even if it takes a year or two.

Due to tight military spending, the Prime Minister decided to issue a batch of transferable war bonds with the National Bank as guarantee. The total amount is 50 million gold coins, with a three-year term and one cent interest. This will also give buyers enough room to make profits. Everyone

You can subscribe in advance.”

As for what to do if I didn’t bring so much money on the spot? No one would take tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of gold coins with them when they go out, so they would have to be pulled by a horse-drawn carriage.

Of course, when the Prime Minister's servant delivered the bonds to each house, he also took the gold coins.

When Zhang Cheng thought about it, there really was no good banquet. Although it was not the level of the Hongmen Banquet, it could still be regarded as a chicken-killing banquet.

These two glasses of red wine and one sausage are really not for nothing.

At this time, if you don’t subscribe, you will most likely be treated as a foreign spy. You are not from the Chicken Country in the first place.

However, I have only heard of bond speculation before, but today is the first time.

After counting the hundreds of pieces of ruby ​​jewelry that had been sold, as well as the total sales volume of more than 300 artillery pieces, Zhang Cheng also felt confident.

Others may not have confidence in the repeated battles on the front line, but Zhang Cheng's family knows their own products. Even if other countries develop gunpowder artillery, without the emergence of Golden Finger, its quality will not exceed Zhang Cheng's in the past few years.

The products of that workshop.

Even if the Chicken Country is going to be unlucky, it is still in the future. It just lacks siege weapons for the time being. If the field battle can be won steadily, the victory will be more than half won.

It is a very rare event that a fortress battle can be overturned by relying on street fighting.

I think that as long as the country and the national bank do not collapse, the safety of this bond is still guaranteed.

Currently, countries do not have a complete bond market. They only issue bonds using a certain income as collateral to temporarily tide over the difficulties during times of financial stress.

At this time, banks had to pay custody fees for depositing money, and there was no interest at all. Even changing money had to pay handling fees. Some businessmen also like to invest in some bonds to diversify risks.

Zhang Cheng thinks that this kind of transferable bond may be the prototype of future banknotes.

After the butler finished speaking, he asked the servant to bring over several bonds. The face value of the bonds was five hundred gold coins, with an annual interest rate of one penny, redeemable and transferable in three years. By the way, the bonds were stamped with the seals of the National Bank and the Prime Minister.

No wonder they have to find big businessmen to sell national bonds. These five hundred gold coins are the entire net worth or working capital of many small and medium-sized businessmen.

The Prime Minister is probably also selling war bonds to the nobles. Anyway, the Prime Minister made a profit from this meal.

For this kind of thing, at least you have to subscribe for tens of thousands of gold coins in war bonds, but who can eat and drink the money back without caring about face at first? Impossible.

"Lennon, three hundred thousand."

The first person to subscribe has appeared. In fact, everyone is also waiting for the first subscriber.

The subscription quantity of the first buyer can be regarded as market confidence.

"Lviv, two hundred thousand."

"Patrice, two hundred thousand."

"Pan Yao, five hundred thousand."

Zhang Cheng has about 600,000 gold coins in his hand. It is useless to pile them up in the storage bag all day long. It is better to use them to test the waters. Anyway, if they are all lost, these gold coins are not worth a spiritual stone when they go home. And they are large.

There is a probability that you can still get the principal and interest.

With such confidence, he is naturally more confident than ordinary big businessmen.
To be continued...