Chapter 147 What Da Heck is He Doing Here!? - Part 2 (1/2)
Chapter 147 – What Da Heck is He Doing Here!? - Part 2
Tong tilted his head to the side in puzzlement as it was rare for a minor official to question his credibility in the public. He knew that most officials here were the members of Zhang Jiao's secret cult who believed in supernatural phenomena, so they should have gotten used to his power. Moreover, he had never seen this person before.
Tong looked at Jia Xu's face and checked his name in his radar map to make sure that he was not a random spy of Yuan Shao or someone else.
Then he read his name.
'JIA MOTHERFUDGING XU!! WHAT THE HECK IS HE DOING HERE!?'
'Wait! He's my minor official!? Since when!?'
A shocked face of Tong turned into a smile. His luck was good lately that he felt like he had cheated his LUC stats.
”I haven't seen you before. Are you new?” Tong asked.
”Yes, I am new. But please answer my question, how do you know? What's the sign of the drought? Why will it happen next year? What will you do for the city if it's true? How will you procure provisions for the citizens? Will the lack of provision affect the city's tax income?”
Jia Xu fired consecutive questions as his curiosity was piqued. After he mentioned the tax income, Jia Xu came back to his sense.
'Holy shit damn! I forgot that I was supposed to hide myself!'
'Goddammit, brain! Shut your traps!'
It was too late to retract his words. Everybody had the attention on him now.
Tong coughed and answered Jia Xu's questions, one by one.
”For your first question, how did I know? I went to Ganling District and I found several issues on the northern plains. First, the land reclamation by the peasants and the nobles took down the majority of the rain forest. Because of the excess deforestation, it affects the moisture of the atmosphere and it ruins the nature. Without enough moisture, it won't rain in certain areas, so some parts of the plains do not get enough rainwater to sustain the groundwater level. The land dries and the crops will wither because of the lack of water. I simplified it a bit, I hope you can understand my point.”
Jia Xu blinked in confusion. He had never learned about the science, thus, he had no idea what Tong was talking about.
”Meh, forget it. Let's say, I scouted the landscape of the northern plains, and there isn't much water left. We can't expect that the harvest this year will go well. Once drought happens for a year, there is a high chance that it will happen again in the next year. Do you understand me if I explain it like this?”
Jia Xu nodded, but he still doubted Tong. 'Dafuq is all that logic?'
”For the second question, we have already explained it in the meeting, in the case you haven't listened.”
Everyone in the hall laughed at Jia Xu because Tong had explained it to them earlier already.
”But I don't mind repeating it again. Currently, in our granaries and warehouses, we have stored over eight hundred thousand tons of provision, and we have extras in our secret warehouses. They are enough for the townspeople for 2-3 years, so the food problem is never our city's issue.”
The crowd laughed again. After the introduction of spice and the government shops, Julu had become known as ”The City of Gourmet” because of the varieties of unique food, spice, and recipes. Food stalls and taverns in this city were numerous and prosperous from the benefits of the local products.
”As for the sources of our food, I can't tell you that since it's our city's top secret and also our secret distributor is a very handsome shy young man who is afraid of getting prosecuted as a heretic if he reveals himself to the public or shows off his true talents.”
Zhang Jiao chuckled and the crowd who knew about Tong's [Create Food] ability covered their mouth to hold back their laughter.
”For your last question, I don't have to answer that, to be honest. But … how much gold upkeep do we have to pay each year, father?”
Zhang Jiao touched his beard and calculated within his mind. ”720,000 gold a year or 60,000 gold a month, combined with all the worker salaries and military maintenance.”
Jia Xu opened his eyes wide in shock. The expense of this city was too extravagant. Ordinary city annual taxes were roughly 20,000 gold to 30,000 gold. How could Julu afford to spend so much?
”And what's our income last month?” Tong asked his father.
”Without including taxes, our shop profits 125,000 gold from the food trade. But our average was 60,000 to 70,000 before the drought happens. We have an influx of provision merchants coming from other cities recently because of the drought. The merchant alliance that holds the current concession in our city also bought a lot of goods from us.”
Jia Xu gulped down his saliva.
'Such high income! What kind of city is this? Is this the Capital City Luo Yang!?'
Suddenly, he recalled a fracture of his memories of this city. He remembered that everyone always went to work during the day and came home before dusk. He also remembered that the government hired many citizens and put them in various jobs. Even women and children could work for the government!
'The government pays to employees, but the government has the absolute control of the food supplies…'
'Then those shops! It's the gold circulation in the city!'
'Nobles and peasants get the wage, but they have to pay it back to the city for food!'
Jia Xu caught up Tong's secret of his gold management of this city. He threw out high salaries to his subordinates and his people, but he took control of the lifeline of every life, the food supplies.
It was as if Tong was holding everyone in the city hostages. They had to work for him or they would starve. This was a nasty dictatorship system!
But the problem with the food supplier could not be answered. Who and how could someone or an organization provide this city so much food to the point that Julu could turn it into a money-making-machine?
Seeing the grinning face of Tong and the unusual depth within his eyes, Jia Xu had a bad feeling swelling in his heart.