Business Reform

The next day.

Bran hurriedly entered the city hall, and at that moment, Wang Lun was fishing by the pond.

"My lord, this pond has long been empty of fish. Why do you insist on fishing?"

The puzzled Lucy who stood beside him asked.

Wang Lun sat on a small stool with a fishing rod in his hand, patiently waiting for a fish in the pool to take the bait.

"You don't understand. I'm not fishing; I'm imitating Jiang Taigong1.

"Jiang Taigong?" Lucy furrowed her brows.

Lucy thought she would have known who that person was since she was a member of a royal family and had access to countless books. However, she had never seen that name in any book.

Lucy asked again, "What does Jiang Taigong do that makes my lord interested in learning from him?"

Wang Lun said, "He fishes, but not entirely so either. All in all, he is just an incredible person."

It was at that moment that Bran arrived at the pond where Wang Lun was at.

"My lord!"

"What's the matter?"

Wang Lun didn't look back as he continued to focus on the movement in the water.

Bran approached and stood behind him. "My lord, what are you doing? There are no fish in the pond at all!"

"Got it," Wang Lun said. "Let's get down to business!"

It was only then that Bran recalled what he was here for. "Oh, I've finished counting the city population."

He retrieved a piece of parchment from his chest pocket.

Wang Lun unhurriedly put down his fishing rod, turned around, and took the parchment in his hands for a cursory glance.

"As previously stated, there will be a fixed monthly allowance for the young and old who do not have adults in the household."

The census was to understand the population of Yale City, and the other was to facilitate the implementation of his policy.

Bran politely took the parchment back from Wang Lun, rolled it up carefully, and tucked it back into his chest pocket.

"Here are the seeds. Distribute them and recruit a labor force to cultivate the wasteland and plant seeds in the fields."

Bran received the few packets of seeds that Wang Lun mentioned and took a good look at them.

"My lord, these are seeds?" Bran dubiously looked at Wang Lun.

"Yes!" Wang Lun answered with certainty.

"But I've never seen such seeds in all the years I've lived."

Wang Lun said, "Of course you haven't seen them before! I found them throughout my years of roaming about.

"But don't worry. Its yield is definitely much higher than all the ones you've grown before!"

Bran had nothing to say. He dubiously looked at Wang Lun.

"If there's nothing else, you can go ahead and implement this first."

Bran nodded and left the city hall with a look of befuddlement.

At the moment, the people in Yale City were each busy with their own affairs. It could also be said that they were doing the best they could.

No one was idle, and no one was in the mood to be idle either.

Most people were satisfied with the new city lord's policy. But if there were some who refused to follow Wang Lun's lead, they would be the merchants.

As Yale City got into the swing of things, Wang Lun announced that all merchants would be exempt from taxes.

However, misfortune didn't come singly, and good things didn't come in pairs.

"Any merchant who hires an employee must not pay a wage of less than 30 copper coins a month? Isn't that tyranny?"

Someone in one of the shops commented.

"Hey, don't say it out loud. If the new city lord were to hear of this, perhaps you couldn't even save yourself, not to mention your shop."

"Yeah. That man killed three people when he first arrived in Yale City, so let's watch ourselves."

"You may not be aware of this, but someone went to the city hall this morning to complain that this was very unfair to us merchants. And guess what the city lord said?"

"What did he say?"

"The city lord said to him that this is Yale City, and anyone who operates a business here has to obey his rules."

"I think it's better for us to just obey his orders and not create unnecessary trouble."

A man in the store stood up and added, "Don't worry, he won't be arrogant for long. When the time comes, he's gonna get it!"

A wicked smile appeared on the man's face as he strode out of the store.

The remaining merchants in the store looked at the departing man's back until he was out of sight.

They all knew who that man was. He was one of the leading businessmen here.

"How is it? What's been going on in the city these past few days?"

Wang Lun sat at the table with a teacup in his hand. He blew at the hot tea and lifted the teacup to his mouth.

"There still seems to be some objections from the merchants in the city," Bran answered.

"Okay, I'll talk about it after I watch this battle."

Wang Lun was now seated on a raised platform, with a ring set up some distance in front of him.

He was currently located at a venue dedicated to training soldiers, also known as a training ground.

Two strong, bare-chested men stood on top of the ring, signifying that a battle was about to begin.

This battle served as an exchange between the new and old guards to show the results of the training.

"Hallmark! How do you think this will end?"

Wang Lun shouted at Hallmark, who served as the referee in the ring.

Hallmark, on the other hand, shrugged and said, "My lord, even though I don't know what rules you've set, I'm pretty sure the soldier I've trained will win."

As Hallmark announced the start of the battle, the two fighters in the ring quickly got into action.

At the beginning, the situation was out of line with Wang Lun's expectations. Neither of the two fighters probed, but directly fought each other instead.

As soon as the battle started, they tried to take down each other in a single move.

"Look, the soldier trained by Hallmark is doing great. I trusted him from the beginning."

Wang Lun smiled and said to Bran beside him.

Bran laughed along with him, but responded with a forced smile. "The credit goes to your good taste in choosing a knight like Hallmark as your escort, my lord."

"You know, Hallmark is really strong," Wang Lun replied.

Bran didn't respond instantly.

This baron is too careless. Even at this point, he still doesn't know what kind of mentality the merchants in the city have, does he?

Moreover, this morning, he still gave the merchants a good scolding. Could it be that he isn't aware of the consequences to a city without the presence of those merchants?

Well, maybe he has his own ways of solving problems, just like what he did with the grains.

Despite these thoughts, what else could Bran say?

"What's wrong, Bran? Is the fight boring to you? Have you watched too many massacres between slaves that you aren't interested in such a contest?

Bran quickly bowed and said, "That's not true, my lord. I was just…"

"Yes!"

Wang Lun threw a hard punch in the air.

The winner had been determined. It was clear that the new recruit had won the honor.

"Oh, what did you say?"

Wang Lun followed up on Bran's unfinished words.

Bran continued, "I was just worried about what the merchants would do because they are clearly displeased!"