Chapter 114

Chapter 114: Investment.

And of course, most of these nobles lost their lives.

The hatred of the residents towards the nobles had already exceeded the limit by far.

“Let’s kill all these nobles who are worse than worms!”

“How did you enjoy living by sucking our blood, you bastards!”

“Oh, no!”

Thwack!

“Ugh…”

Many nobles were instantly killed or disappeared as dew on the gallows.

The scene was reminiscent of the old days, when the Aztecs were destroyed.

The only difference was that the target had changed from the Aztecs to the nobles.

“Those kids are crazy!”

“This is not the time… We have no hope left. We have to run away quickly!”

The huge madness of the residents gave a great fear to the nobles who were still resisting this drastic change.

The fear that they might not survive even if they surrendered.

In the end, they started to run away desperately to survive.

As a result, many areas of the central continent were quickly occupied by the residents like dominoes.

“It’s our victory!”

Wow!

The residents enjoyed a strong sense of satisfaction as they drove out the corrupt nobles with their own hands.

***

“Huh! How much is this?”

“They said it was rotten, but they really made a lot of money.”

After the madness of the revolution had subsided a bit.

The residents came across the enormous wealth of the nobles.

They doubted their own eyes when they saw the wealth of the nobles who had monopolized the region’s wealth for a long time.

There were all kinds of luxury goods and money piled up in warehouses everywhere.

“If they had shared some of these things, this situation would not have happened…”

“That’s right.”

Even though many residents had already taken some of the nobles’ wealth during the occupation process, it was not noticeable at all.

And the residents who found out about the nobles’ wealth later demanded from the representatives of the suicide squad.

“We also have the right to get that money! So please share some with us!”

But the representatives rejected their opinions.

“I want to give these things to the residents who worked hard with us right away. But we have something to pay first. What was the biggest reason we could drive out the nobles? Isn’t it because of this weapon?”

The representative raised his gun high and shouted, and the man who had just raised his voice shut his mouth.

“The empire supplied us with an enormous amount of military supplies for us. We were able to complete this great task thanks to that. So now it’s time to pay them back.”

“Hmm…”

Many residents could not hide their nervousness at this.

Then he opened his mouth again to calm down the residents.

“Don’t worry too much. After paying for the military supplies that were supplied, we will distribute the rest fairly among our comrades who participated in this great task. Also, you will get money when you return your guns to the imperial government.”

The residents’ faces relaxed at his words.

After that.

As planned, the imperial army began marching into various areas of the central continent.

“It feels like we’re going through a renovation in our homeland.”

“Hahaha! That’s true.”

The commander-in-chief of the imperial army, Blue Earth, looked around with a faint smile.

There was a huge cheer and a fervent welcome wherever the imperial army walked.

The residents were captivated by the illusion that they would become wealthy and free imperial citizens and live abundantly from now on.

Thanks to that, the imperial army spread throughout the central continent without any obstacles.

And they began to stabilize various areas that were still in chaos.

With the money he received as a reward for the military supplies, and the support he got from the government, he bought more goodwill from the local residents, and paid a fair price for the guns they had in their hands.

Also, a large number of imperial officials were dispatched to various regions.

They arrived at their assigned areas and recruited a lot of local people as civil servants.

That’s how the Central Continent gradually became part of the Waktanga Empire, a huge fence.

***

“Huh… I didn’t expect the Central Continent people to join the empire so suddenly.”

“Haha! Well, isn’t that natural? His Majesty’s outstanding leadership is something to be admired! Their choice is nothing special, right?”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

From the perspective of the imperial citizens, the sudden incorporation of the Central Continent into the empire was too abrupt news.

But many people didn’t think much of it.

The Central Continent was quite far away from the mainland.

But those who were quick-witted sensed the huge wave that this event would bring.

And their expectations slowly revealed themselves.

“I’m an imperial citizen now! Hahaha!”

“I can go to the mainland freely!”

Until now, they couldn’t leave their place of residence because of the nobles, but this restriction was gone.

That is, they could go to the Northern Continent if they wanted to.

Thanks to this, many people who had longed for the empire, especially young people, began to move in large numbers.

“What, what is this all of a sudden?”

“Contact the headquarters right now and ask them to send more ships!”

Because of this massive migration of residents, a huge crowd gathered at the port of the Central Continent.

“What, I have to wait this long to get on a ship?”

“The mainland is sending more ships, but you have to wait at least two months…”

“…”

It was so bad that most people had to sleep on the streets because there was no place to stay near the port.

Not only that, but even if food was supplied endlessly, it ran out in an instant.

Despite this situation, the residents who wanted to go to the empire so badly endured all these inconveniences and waited for their turn.

And finally, when they arrived at the empire they had dreamed of and saw the big cities with their own eyes.

“Wow…”

They marveled at the sight of the bustling cities that were incomparable to the Central Continent.

The beautiful buildings and neat cityscapes, and even the splendid outfits of the imperial citizens.

It matched perfectly with the image of the empire they had imagined.

“I want to live in a place like this and become like that…”

Most of the immigrants had this thought.

And their existence caught the eyes of many merchants.

“This… If we hire them, we can save on labor costs, right?”

“And more workers will keep coming from the Central Continent, right?”

This idea was especially prominent in occupations that imperial citizens avoided.

As their quality of life improved, imperial citizens tended not to do dangerous, dirty, and hard work.

“What, you’re giving me this much money? Is that for real?”

“Haha. You’ll get more pay once you get more familiar with your work. So please take care of yourself and work hard.”

“Yes, I will!”

But immigrants were satisfied with these jobs.

Life in the Central Continent was much harder than these jobs anyway.

And besides, the money they received was incomparable to what they had before.

Thanks to this, many tasks that had been troublesome for imperial citizens because they avoided them began to run smoothly.

And even wages that had been sky-high began to drop slightly.

The change did not stop there.

“Isn’t labor still very cheap in the Central Continent? Then wouldn’t it be more profitable to produce there than on the mainland?”

“Of course. It’s not for nothing that factories have been built in the direct territories until now. But now, factories can be built even in the deep inland areas!”

The merchants acted quickly as they smelled money.

“We need to build factories in better areas!”

“If we’re late, we’ll surely regret it!”

From then on, countless merchants entered the central continent and started to build factories everywhere.

Of course, their targets were mainly industries that required a lot of labor.

“Hmm…”

Kim Kiwoo fell into deep thought after receiving reports on all these situations.

‘So this is how it naturally turns out.’

As the central continent suddenly came under the empire’s control, the labor shortage in the mainland was resolved by many immigrants.

And many industries moved to the central continent where wages were cheaper.

Of course, considering the transportation costs, not all industries in the empire were affected, but there was definitely some impact.

Eventually, if they lost in price competitiveness, the factories in the mainland had to close down.

That would increase the number of unemployed people and possibly lower wages.

Of course, wages were hard to lower once they had risen.

‘I’ll have to come up with a countermeasure.’

And he had already outlined some ideas for that.

***

A few days later.

He embellished it with some impressive words, but in simple terms, it was an advertisement for recruiting investors for everyone in the empire.

The peculiar thing was that Kim Kiwoo put his name on it and published it in the Imperial Newspaper.

This was naturally talked about endlessly among people.

“Do you have any plans to invest in the railroad project that His Majesty mentioned?”

“Of course I do! It’s a project that His Majesty himself mentioned. How could it be risky? Besides, I heard that this is a project that can’t fail.”

“Surely, even the giant merchants have jumped into it. Would they have rushed into it like this if it wasn’t profitable?”

The man’s words were true.

The first one to jump into the railroad project was none other than the Flame Merchant of the Yellow Footprints.

He accepted all the conditions that Kim Kiwoo offered and started building a railroad near the southern port.

And the railroad of the Black Sky continued to carry coal.

It was then that coal prices began to drop slightly.

The giant merchants who watched all this finally realized the infinite potential of the railroad.

After that, they went to the imperial government and expressed their desire to do railroad business as well, and Kim Kiwoo offered them the same conditions as the Yellow Footprints.

There were quite a few poison clauses at first glance, but the merchants eventually accepted them in order not to fall behind others.

“By the way, this must be a death sentence for small and medium-sized merchants who wanted to do railroad business.”

“That’s right. They also wanted to do railroad business and were looking for investors, right? But then His Majesty himself announced that he would recruit investors… Tsk tsk.”

He shook his head and clicked his tongue.

The ones who wanted to start a railroad business were not only giant merchants.

For small and medium-sized merchants, railroad business was an opportunity to leap forward.

But they lacked funds, so they went out to find investors.

The empire had a solid middle class, and railroad business was a very good item to get investment from them.

But now things had changed.

The imperial citizens began to invest in the government’s railroad project rather than risky small and medium-sized merchants.

Kim Kiwoo guaranteed it, so they believed that they would never lose money.

Also, investing was relatively easy.

“Do you want to invest this much from your account?”

“Yes. Please do that.”

“It’s done. Here’s your certificate.”

“Ha ha. Thank you for your hard work!”

All they had to do was go to a nearby financial office and say they wanted to invest their money.

As a result, the huge funds of the sleeping imperial citizens were poured into railroad construction.