"I heard that the young bear lord of Fat Cow Castle was mistaken for a spy and captured?"

Holy Alliance Barracks.

Inside a dressing room in the Holy Seat Mansion, Horn stood in front of a mercury mirror, letting the tailor measure him with a tape.

"Hehe." Hilov grinned with a V-shaped smile, but Horn knew that this was actually Hilov's laughter.

Four years have passed, and the Wolf Woman has become more and more human-like.

It seems like breaking the mental barrier inside Hilov earlier allowed her to explore a wider range, even reaching the vicinity of the New Life Bridge.

According to her agreement with Horn, next summer, they will visit the old dragon Cynthia at Black Snake Bay.

"Yes, the first thing the young bear lord did after arriving at the Holy Alliance was to be beaten up by the Night Watcher, then locked in the dungeon for half a night."

Eight years have passed, and Hilov's speech has become much more normal and fluent.

Thinking about the ins and outs of Cheka's report, Horn couldn't help but chuckle: "Alright, let Godan properly appease him and offer an apology.

His enthusiasm for catching spies is good, but next time he should be more cautious and avoid such fishing-style spy captures."

Boned, who was taking notes beside them, looked up: "Won't that hurt his feelings too much?"

"Criticism should be given when due. We need to express our stance, but let's not put it in writing. Just pass a verbal message."

"Please raise your head," the effeminate Falan tailor gently reminded him.

Horn raised his hands, letting the soft tape measure pass under his armpits.

This was for the four-yearly custom-made gown for the Holy Alliance's assembly.

Looking at the Falan tailor making the gown for him, Horn couldn't help but think of Godan and his investigation report.

Martin Godan, forty-five years old, a Falan, graduated from New Bridge University's medical department, but decided to go into commerce after graduation.

After early successes, he went bankrupt due to meddling in the monopolistic industries of the nobles and was even left with a broken leg.

This was why he was so vigilant and hateful towards Falan spies.

Because back then, it was a Falan spy who stole his confidential techniques, leading to betrayal by his noble partners and eventual bankruptcy.

Five years ago, invited by an early partner André, he came to the Iron Fist Battle Group, taking up the role of Quartermaster.

After the war ended, he didn't follow André north to the Shattered Stone Plain but accepted Catherine's invitation to oversee the construction of Grace Market in Shangruifo County.

In his free time, he was also quite interested in academics related to commerce and industry (the empire didn't have the concept of economics yet).

Thus, about three days ago, a report from Godan was placed on Horn's desk.

Originally, it was for Qianqian, but she insisted that Horn take a look as well.

Rather than a report, it was more of a manuscript.

Because this report had a total of two hundred pages, including a large amount of data and situations he investigated. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

The main content of the report is concisely summarized as: due to the relaxed rural environment without guilds and workshops providing jobs, many citizens and artisans returned to the countryside.

Of course, these citizens didn't actually return to the countryside but settled in Priest Town nearby.

This resulted in the emergence of prosperous new towns across various regions, while the old towns will inevitably face decline.

The conclusion seems redundant, but the process is crucial.

The key lies in Godan's extensive interviews with artisans and workers who moved to the countryside, producing a wealth of data and information on this topic.

Whether Godan did this unintentionally or deliberately, it fitted Horn's intention perfectly.

"...In 1433, the dyeing guild of Hotam County stipulated that each dyer cannot own more than two dye vats..."

"...In 1440, the dye guild of Lower Reif County stipulated that raw materials must be purchased from designated stores..."

"...In 1428, the painter's guild of Langsande County prohibited painters from using color glue pigments, with a first-time fine of 1 Dinar, a second-time fine of 10 Dinars, and expulsion from the guild upon a third offense..."

"...Between 1425 and 1435, the working hours of assistants under the Pharmacist Guild of Hotam County were between 16 to 18 hours daily..."

"...Merchants and guild leaders reached agreements to ensure monopoly over procurement and sales within the guilds, the list is as follows: Dyeing Guild and Meigedi Commerce Association..."

What can those merchants and citizens who chant slogans for the guilds say now but "an exception".

Let this report ferment for a while, then promote it through "The Truth Magazine" for half a year, and guilds, those toxic entities, can be completely eradicated.

Aside from its political significance, the report itself is quite valuable.

With such talent, appointing him as the general manager of Grace Market in High Castle City is a bit of a waste.

Taking out his small notebook, Horn scribbled down "Commerce Department" and "Godan".

Walking to the elevated platform for easy measurement, Horn picked up Godan's report from the desk again, turning to the last page, and began to ponder.

"...However, can the prosperity and rapid construction brought by grain exports really be sustainable?"

Horn furrowed his brow.

Charles VIII's attack on the Windmill Lands and Leia-Norn's eighteen feudal alliances caused a significant chain reaction.

Initially, under the incitement of a group of land nobles and mercantile new nobles, Charles VIII implemented the "Continental Blockade Act."

Simply put, it involved using Falan's superior navy to impose an embargo on the Leia Kingdom and levying high tariffs on grain and raw materials from the Blood and Flesh Royal Court.

The reason was straightforward: the former was for warfare, the latter to punish the Blood and Flesh Royal Court for subversive actions against the empire.

This really distressed the Vampire Dukes.

Originally, it was a matter of watching dogs fight; unexpectedly, one of them swung a sweeping kick and knocked their own rice bowl away.

The Vampire Dukes felt thoroughly aggrieved.

They truly weren't colluding with the Leia people; the Blood Knight's actions were completely spontaneous by Ginijis.

What did the empire's civil war have to do with the Blood and Flesh Royal Court anyway?

With Falan's embargo, Vampire Dukes lacked silk, porcelain, woolen fabrics, wine, giltware... especially in the spice department, who would replenish it?

Vampires naturally had degenerative taste buds, each with a heavy palate, utterly relying on those spices for sustenance.

Either import from Norn through distant routes or purchase Falan's goods at high prices.

According to Horn's received information, it seemed that the dukes calculated the accounts and found out that no matter how this business was done, it wouldn't be profitable.

Thus, they finally decided to tighten their belts, fund and send troops to support the Leia people in warfare, swiftly reclaim Windmill Land, and restore trade.

The pretext was a "Holy War to reconcile the Southern and Northern divisions of Miseria teachings."

Yes, Believers of the Eternal Lord, to assist the Northern Pope in restoring orthodoxy, dispatched aid to the Leia Kingdom—in the form of border Ogre Warlords.

Once the Ogre Warlords arrived near Golden Horn Bay, they were informed that they're no longer enemies, but allies.

Horn often complains to Petier and Madlan, saying, "Whenever looking for amusement, just look at the Times report on the Windmill Land battle."

No matter how unsightly the battle itself was fought, regardless of the reason Falan had to blockade the continent, it resulted in one outcome.

First, due to the war, the empire's main grain-producing area—the Golden Plains—suffered production reduction or even halt because of the war.

Secondly, the lack of cheap grains and sugar from the Royal Court created a massive sugar and grain black hole in the empire's market.

Manifested as commodity grain prices within the empire reached as high as 20-30 Dinars for a bushel (60 pounds) of wheat.

Equivalent to 2 to 3 pounds of wheat per Dinar!

This exceeded normal grain prices (wholesale) by over ten times.

Such a good opportunity couldn't be missed by Horn.

The Holy Alliance immediately used its enormous grain export to fill up the sugar and grain black hole, causing a huge outflow of Gold Coins from the black hole.

As for grain trade alone:

In the first year, 120,000 tons of grain were exported, earning 220,000 gold pounds.

In the second year, 200,000 tons of grain were exported, earning 280,000 gold pounds.

If it weren't for Falan's interference halfway through, Horn could have earned more.

Why hadn't Horn required rural grain contributions for three years and could still pursue extensive construction?

Because he had no need for taxing such costless grain collection.

It was like low-cost purchasing of grain—in the face of giant profits from grain trade, this bit of cost was nearly negligible.

Why did Horn continue Jia Li's "Prohibition Order" (advising against drinking, prohibiting public drinking)?

It was precisely to prevent excessive surplus grain from being brewed into alcohol by farmers, causing grain price hikes.

If someone really had to drink, the Holy Alliance also opened Holy Wine Tavern with fruit wine produced from Black Snake Bay and pine nut wine from Mountain County.

It's just that the price was a bit higher.

With the introduction of the "Prohibition Order," combined with various policies, the extra grain had nowhere to go.

Either purchased livestock and seeders, and used them as feed for cattle and horses.

Or it could only be sold to the favor market, shipped to the battlefield in exchange for gold pounds.

Then the Holy Alliance took advantage of the wartime, using the earned gold pounds to bulk purchase craft secrets, artisans, production tools, scholars, mules, immigrants...

Otherwise, where would the money for repairing roads and townships come from? Where would the plowing cattle and horses come from? Where would the artisans for establishing small workshops come from?

Merely depending on the Holy Alliance's own domestic circulation, merely depending on its own artisans, could it have this current prosperity?

Horn, on one hand, was conducting grain control, Prohibition Order, combating speculative profiteering within the Holy Alliance.

Catherine, on the other hand, manipulated low buying and high selling, insider trading in the empire's grain market, drove rampant speculative profiteering.

Voraciously sucking the blood of Leia.

Several major grain markets within Leia were paralyzed by Falan merchants and Catherine's speculative profiteering.

The more paralyzed Leia's side was, the more prosperous the Holy Alliance's side became.

Yet, as Godan's report mentioned, this couldn't last long.