Chapter 467: The royal dilemma 7

Chapter 467 The Royal Family’s Dilemma 7
After a comprehensive overview of the so-called second estate, Irene began to solemnly advise her father and sister.

“In response to the first type of restriction which is technological, I suggest that the kingdom issue a decree to protect technology patents, after an advanced technology is invented, its inventor can apply for patent protection from the kingdom government, the technology can be used by others but a certain amount of usage fee should be paid to its patent owner, and this usage fee should be paid by the kingdom government based on the value of the technology A uniform standard should be set so that it is not so low as to jeopardize the interests of the patent owner, and not so high as to be intimidating to others and affect its promotion and use.”

At this point she paused and after a moment’s reflection said:
“With regard to this decree, I would suggest that it be directly appropriated or referenced to the patent protection laws currently in use in the Northwest Gulf Customs Union, which are already quite mature, and which would also facilitate the introduction of the relatively advanced production technologies currently available in the Northwest Gulf.”

“For the second type of restriction, that is, the restriction on production methods, I suggest that the kingdom build large-scale workshops, gather all those who are engaged in the same production activities in the workshops, manage the artisans like the army, and allow them to communicate with each other and learn from each other’s skills, and at the overall level, the centralization of production can greatly reduce the cost of storing and transporting the goods, and also avoid the raw materials being Waste. And for those more complex production activities, you can designate a group of people to be in charge of one part of the process, and when they finish this part of the process, hand over to another group of people to finish the next part of the process, so that the product will flow through different people’s hands like running water to take shape, and a person who is in charge of a small part for a long period of time will be able to make him more skillful in this part of the process faster – – and also make him become more dependent on the other craftsmen. -and also allows him to become more dependent on the group.”

“In addition, I also suggest establishing specialized schools for teaching artisan skills to [batch] train qualified artisans, and also awarding different rank titles to the artisans based on their skill level, just like how nobles’ knighthoods are also divided into ranks.”

After saying so much, Irene was getting a little thirsty.

The royal servants who were on standby in the council chamber duly brought honey water to quench the princess’s thirst.

Taking advantage of the moment when her sister took a short break, Catherine replayed Irene’s earlier words in her mind.

She caught a strange word – Customs Union.

“Erin, what do you mean by [Customs Union] in your earlier words? It sounds like an organization.”

Erin nodded at her sister, “It is an organization. And its establishment has a lot to do with the third type of restriction I mentioned – demand.”

“A few years ago, the Northwest Gulf gave the kingdom, like the rest of the territories, barriers, and then, at the suggestion of Earl Paul Greiman, the major lords abolished tariffs between each other to facilitate the flow of goods within, and that was the Customs Union.”

“Without the tariffs, the cost that merchants spent on selling their goods was greatly reduced, which greatly increased their desire to buy and sell goods, and the commerce of the Northwest Bay grew rapidly.”

Catherine interjected and asked, “After getting rid of the tariffs, wouldn’t there be a big chunk of revenue missing from the territory?”

Eileen explained for her: “It’s just that there is no tariff within the alliance, but there is still a tax on the circulation of goods outside the alliance, and the proceeds of the tax are distributed according to the population of each territory. In the early days of the alliance, even with some technological advantages, the manufacturing industry in the Northwest Gulf was still relatively weak compared to other regions, so they had to utilize the tariffs to protect the local industry.”

“Moreover, the accumulation of wealth is a dynamic process, take Count Greiman’s Alda Territory as an example, although the territory’s income dropped to a certain extent in the early days, without internal tariffs, the prices of goods in the territory were greatly reduced, which directly stimulated the people’s desire to consume, the market was active, and there was a shortage of supply and demand, so new workshops were constantly built , new stores continued to open, and Arda still retained the taxes against commerce, the tariffs were gone, but the commercial taxes began to multiply exponentially, and the overall income of the territory doubled several times within a few years.”

“Boosting the population’s demand and desire to buy can also be done in a way that, for the kingdom’s government, the harsh taxes can be reduced, and for the people, a cap can be placed on the rents that landowners can levy from their tenants, so that the peasants can save a little bit of money in their hands.”

“Of course, the increase in Alda’s income is also related to overseas trade, after our own industry develops, we can also follow the example of the Northwest Gulf and establish a huge oceanic trade fleet ……”

The king listened with interest to his youngest daughter’s description.

Finally, he laughed heartily and said “Irene, although I am chagrined that you ran away from home, I have to admit that you did gain a lot of insight on this trip to the Northwest.”

He turned to Catherine and said “Perhaps we could pick a few and try them out, like building a few workshops and skill schools or something, oh and patent protection, too.”

Erin beamed at that, “Father, why not do it all in one step, I’ve seen it, those measures work.”

The king shook his head and said, “The area and population of the kingdom’s territory is far more than the Northwest Bay, and the complexity of the various issues is far greater. At least at the moment, the kingdom cannot accept a decrease in revenue, even if it’s only for a few years. Moreover, even Count Gleiman didn’t come up with the so-called Customs Union with a slap of his head, right?”

“Uh…… that’s true.”

Irene remembered every time she attended a Council of State meeting back in the Northwest Bay, Paul always sighing about how his reforms met with so much resistance. Guess he’d run into quite a bit of it in the royal domains, too.

Thinking of this, she said to her father: ”In that case, let’s ask father to send someone to the Northwest Gulf to talk to Count Gleiman, there are many new technologies readily available there, if they can be introduced to the royal territory, they will definitely produce results very quickly. It can be led by the royal family and set up a joint stock enterprise with the southern nobles.”

“A joint-stock enterprise?”

“Yes, it’s actually a partnership to do business and share the dividends in proportion to the shares.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“The profits made can be distributed to those southern nobles, using money to smooth out their sense of falling out from losing their territories. Ah, right ……”

Erin eagerly requested, “Please father make sure to bring in the paper mill first, my schools …… king’s domain all need a lot of paper.”

The king agreed, “I understand what you mean.”

He picked up the minutes of the meeting that were laid out on the case, and his two fingers kept rubbing the paper used for recording.

“So this good paper came from the Northwest Gulf, how nice that it was the Aldoans who invented it. Well!”

He made a decision, “I’ll send ……”

“Father!” Erin suddenly voiced, “I can share your worries, I know the Northwest Bay well and have formed a friendship with Earl Greiman, and there’s a house in Lakewood that I bought.”

“Humph! You stay honestly in Jingyao.”

The king rejected Irene’s proposal without question.

“I’ll send your cousin to talk to Count Gleeman.”

“Your Majesty!”

Irene’s shout held resentment.

……

It seems that the starting point of a series of changes in the Northwest Gulf was this Earl Paul Greiman yet.

Catherine, aside, silently thought so.

What kind of person is he?
The Grand Princess suddenly became a little bit interested in this bannerman of the kingdom who was thousands of miles away.

There was even the idea of meeting him.

(End of chapter)