Chapter 683 (2/2)

The Goddess of Wealth shook her head and said, “This is impossible. These workshops are supported by techniques that are the basis of survival for these workshop owners. Even if the lords agreed to be shareholders in name only and not participate in the operation of the workshops, there is no way the owners would give up their share of their workshops.

“In fact… to avoid the risk of technology leaks, most of the workshop owners who have relatively strong capital will not hire local workers. They would rather spend more money to hire foreign workers so as not to give the lords a reason to intervene.”

Sui Xiong froze for a moment. He could not help feeling a little surprised. After regaining from his surprise, he could not help feeling distressed.

The ruling power of the lords in this world was much stronger than that on Earth. And the merchants of this world were also much stronger than those on Earth. When the strong joined hands with the strong, naturally there would be a one-plus-one-is-greater-than-two effect. But now, the strong were colliding with the strong, and no one was willing to give in.

If their workers were hired elsewhere, it would hinder the territory’s production and be harmful to the lord’s interests. But the merchants, especially the prominent ones, were in voracious need for a large number of workers to carry out production. At the same time, they were unwilling to give up the profits from the workshops.

If they were on Earth, both sides could probably reach a compromise by combining their efforts in squeezing the life out of their workers. But in this world, the civilians had the backing of the good gods who would not poke their noses into matters under normal circumstances. But if the lords and merchants really did join hands to exploit these workers and committed perverse deeds of squeezing out every last bit of profit, it would not take more than a few days for the clergymen to come roaring and banging on their doors.

In such a situation, it was not surprising that the conflict between the lords of the aristocratic party and the merchants of the workshops would intensify.

“Can’t we get the merchants to step back a little?” Sui Xiong asked. After thinking for a while, he said, “There is no end to earning money, so earning a little less is nothing much.”

“All this time, the merchants have been the ones giving in,” said the Goddess of Wealth with a sigh.

Sui Xiong was rendered speechless.

It was apparent that the merchant party had been tolerating this for a long time. Now, they were really at the limit of their tolerance.

Just as how it was supposed that “depriving others of their means of making money made no difference from killing their parents,” and also what was meant by “so long as there was a profit of 300 percent, capitalists would hold no fear at all, not even the gallows.” The merchant party’s tolerance could only last up until the present day solely because of the Goddess of Wealth. Now, they finally could no longer hold back as they reached the verge of an outburst. Even the reputation of the Goddess of Wealth was not going to help.

Furthermore, once the merchants made up their minds to come to break their relationship with the aristocratic lords, the Goddess of Wealth should rightfully take their side.

In any case, the merchants were the core followers of the Goddess of Wealth.

Sui Xiong gave the matter some thought, then asked about it.

“I really… don’t know what to do,” said the Goddess of Wealth. She shook her head with a bitter smile and said, “No doubt, the merchant party makes up my core followers, but most of the aristocrats of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins have also been my followers for generations!

“Now my clergymen are also very worried. Some of them come from families of aristocrats, some of them come from families of merchants. The pressure from their families must be making them feel so terrible too… Now, as we speak, there are more than a hundred clergymen praying to me. They are praying for me to resolve the conflict between the two parties and restore peace to the Commonwealth of Gold Coins.”

Sui Xiong saw the bitter look on the Goddess of Wealth’s face and could not help but sigh.

Obviously, she could not do anything.

Just then, he thought of something and could not help asking, “Right, the flow process method. I remember that it should be my invention. I didn’t get anyone to expand that business to the Commonwealth of Gold, so how did this technique get passed here?”

An awkward expression suddenly appeared on the Goddess of Wealth’s face. It was a look of embarrassment when she was caught red-handed doing something bad.

So Sui Xiong understood.

Looking at the Goddess of Wealth, a famous saying came to mind.

Heaven might be forgiven for its iniquities, but the evils man brought on himself were the hardest to bear!