Chapter 250
Eventually, Archmaester Walgrave was escorted out of the Conference Hall by Pate, an old man in this state completely unable to communicate.
Dany also sighed in relief, old fogey shouting to see Princess Rhaelle for a while, and pulling "Cressen" to Queen Rhaella for a while.
She had thought about mother-daughter resemblance before, but Barristan made it clear to her that Queen Rhaella was not similar to her, especially her temperament, and he couldn't see any trace of the queen in her.
As White Cloak said, before meeting Archmaester Walgrave, no one ever doubted her identity.
"Sorry, Archmaester Walgrave is old and his memory is messed up, you see, he can't even remember the assistant who served oneself for three years." Archmaester Perestan apologized awkwardly.
"It's okay." Dany waved and sat down beside the old Archmaester right hand.
Wait for everyone to sit down, Perestan announced the start of the meeting, and first handed Dany a parchment, which showed the income and expenses of maritime trade in the past 50 years.
"After returning to Citadel last night, twenty-five Economics Maesters and I compiled the trade data of the six major trading seaports of Lannisport, Oldtown, Sunspear, King's Landing, Gulltown and White Harbor, and finally counted the last four trade ports of Westeros. Ten years of trade deficit."
Dany took a closer look and saw that during the "Mad King" Aerys period, there were both surpluses and deficits, and the years of trade deficit were raised separately, almost as a horizontal line, about every year 200,000 Golden Dragon.
Well, there may even be a small surplus for a few years in the mid-summer, but a large deficit will appear after the winter.
But everything changed after Robert came to power. Not only was there a deficit every year, but the deficit was still rising wildly, from the 800,000 Golden Dragon in the second year of Robert's succession to the year before his death. 2 million Golden Dragon.
Well, the data after War of Four Kings has dropped, and the deficit has hovered around 500,000 Golden Dragons in the last two years.
You have to know that Robert has been in power for 14 years and has been Summer for 10 years!
"This is crazy, Westeros lost 16 million Golden Dragons in the sixteen years after the Usurper battle?!" Dany said in disbelief.
Perestan rubbed the dark circles and said with a bitter smile: "We didn't expect it to be so terrifying, it scared me all night."
"We have to put King The stonework of Aerys is back on its feet, and compared to Robert I, he has done well in his tenure." An Archmaester teased by the name Mollos.
"Mainly due to Duke Tywin," next to Archmaester Nymos, shaking his head.
"Actually, apart from being addicted to Wildfire and tossing the nobles to sleep and sleep, Aerys has almost no major evils, at least he is not only not extravagant, but also very frugal, Robert inherited at least four from him. Millions of Golden Dragons." Archmaester Harodon said.
"Ai, why is it so hard to want a good King? A frugal King is crazy, a hero with heroism reaching to the clouds is extravagant." Archmaester Nymos lamented, holding his head.
Dany's eyes flashed, and he tried to suggest: "It is indeed time for Westeros to reform. Citadel can initiate a 'Great Council', learn the advanced experience of Free Cities, and limit King's power."
"Don't even think about it, Citadel is just a service organization, not qualified to initiate the Great Council, nor to participate in the Game of Thrones." All the Archmaester shook their heads in unison.
What's going on here?
There is no need to lie at this time, and it doesn't seem like they are perfunctory oneself by looking at their expressions. So why does Citadel, who is not involved in Game of Thrones, target oneself?
Dany's mind was full of doubts.
"cough cough, back to the point," Archmaester Perestan reminded everyone with a light cough, "the most pressing issue now is how to reduce the trade deficit."
Dany frowned: "Yes To solve this problem, we have to figure out where Westeros spends his money."
"We have statistics," Perestan said, handing over another parchment, "Citadel during the King Aerys era. The Sorcerer's Lens test accounted for one-tenth of the country's external financial expenditure, Myr lace, brocade, Qohor iron essence, Yi Ti spices, ivory and other luxury goods accounted for 80%, and another 10% was food, linen, salt, whale oil, Sugar and other necessities.
But we also export wood, furs, wine, and especially Arbor wine to Free Cities, making Oldtown a great port second only to King's Landing.”
Dany Looking down at the parchment scroll, he asked casually, "How far has your Sorcerer's Lens been researched?"
"Miss Rhaella also knows about Sorcerer's Lens?"
"Well, in the book I've seen it."
"Ai, Sorcerer's Lens requires witchcraft, but after years of research, we've proven that Magic is a deceitful thing, wasting more than 1.5 million Golden Dragons in vain." Archmaester Perestan shook his head.
"Magic?" Dany paused when he flipped through the parchment, looked up towards the old Archmaester, "Are you sure you want to use Magic?"
"Of course, we have made Sorcerer's All the information of Lens," he said, and he also pulled oneself's chain, revealing a dark iron chain link, "see? Valyria steel, I have studied Magic for 20 years, and I am still a Magic Grandmaster!"
Dany stared at his brown eyes for a long time, in addition to firmness and pride, there were two yellow and white mucus at the corners of his eyes, and he didn't find half a meditation glyph.
Just a muggle!
"Archmaester, how did you study Magic?" Dany asked tentatively.
"Memorize the basic glyph table, study the composition of the incantation glyph, first disassemble it into hundreds of single glyphs, then through the specific functions of witchcraft, compare the common points and differences of the glyphs, and analyze the various types of single glyphs. The meaning of the combination."
Dany's eyes widened, and he said incredulously: "The Seven is above, your learning process of Magic is very formal and very systematic."
Yes, it is normal, It's like studying a subject in college.
This was completely beyond Dany's expectations. Citadel Maester's learning of Magic was very professional. If she didn't know that the other party was a muggle, she would have thought that the old Archmaester graduated from Sorcerer Academy.
"Fake." The old man shook his head with disapproval.
"Really," Dany said resolutely, "there's nothing wrong with the way you learn Magic, but two preconditions are ignored."
"Miss Rhaella knows even mysticism ?" Archmaester Nymos next to him said curiously.
"I don't know too much, I only know some basic common sense. To learn Magic, there are two prerequisites: first, the learner has the innate talent to become a transcendent; second, there is Magic Tide, that is There are dragons on the world, or in a place where Spiritual God divine power radiates."
After finishing speaking, Dany was also puzzled, "You all know the orthodox Magic cultivation way, there is no reason not to know these basic knowledge. Don't say anything else, just go to the pier and find a Firemage, or the Red God priests can find out the news."
"This..." The faces of the Archmaester fluctuates between clear and dark .
"Miss Rhaella, Firemage are liars," Archmaester Perestan said in a sentence-like tone.
"You are all wise men who grasp the truth, just think about it, Sorcerer's Lens was invented by Valyrian, and Valyrian Magic is famous all over the world, it is absolutely true.
How can you create Sorcerer's Lens without a real Magic?
Actually, the reason why you can't imitate Sorcerer's Lens is mainly because the dragon has died in the past more than a century, and the world has entered an era without Magic.
You can't learn Magic anyway, and the glyphs without magic power are the same as the patterns on the armor, and have no practical effect."
"Is that so?" Archmaester said. Sudden, but most Archmaesters didn't take it seriously, and even looked disgusted at the topic.
Dany changed the subject immediately, saying, "I see, King Robert is extravagant, and other nobles follow suit. The extravagance spreads all around with King's Landing as the center, Seven Kingdoms is right. If the consumption of luxury goods is too large, the deficit will naturally increase.
As long as the next King is diligent and thrifty, and appropriately increases the tariffs on imported goods, the deficit can be easily solved.”
“ This, Miss Rhaella, your suggestion is very good, but difficult to implement," Perestan paused, explaining with a wry smile, "King has two taxes on the lords of the Seven Kingdoms, land tax and business tax.
The land tax is related to the population and land under the lord, and it is generally difficult to increase it.
Commercial tax is different. If Oldtown's business is developed, the tax allocated to King Your Majesty will naturally increase accordingly.
In other words, the more luxury goods the nobles buy, the higher the consumption, and the higher the income of Iron Throne. The tariffs set by Littlefinger when Master of Coin can almost maximize business prosperity, And make the most money for King.
The tariff is also related to the purchasing power of the nobles, the tariff is high, and the price rises. It is conceivable that they are used to spices and Chinese clothing.
Increase tariffs Almost simultaneously offending King and nobles, but there is no obvious benefit."
"Since it is unbearable to suffer in poverty, there are only two ways left." Dany thought for a while and said.
"There are still two ways?" The Archmaesters were amazed.
"Well, the first one I mentioned before, cheating Iron Bank's money."
Perestan frowned, "Reputable—"
Dany swayed He waved his hand and interrupted him: "No credit, Westeros completely gives up international credit."
"Uh, what do you mean?" Seventeen pairs of blank eyes looked over together.
"Obviously, Iron Bank can only cheat once, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"After cheating, the Westeros will be completely lost Reputation, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then let's just be a rogue country." Dany waved his hand and said proudly: " As I said before, Seven Kingdoms warriors, Unparalleled Beneath The Heavens. Let's build hundreds of pirate ships, learn from the Ironmen to walk the 'Old Way', block the Narrow Sea, and collect money for passing."
"... ..."
This suggestion is so crazy that Archmaester's eyes are about to fall off the table.
After a long pause, Archmaester Perestan shook his head regretfully, "It is feasible, but it does not conform to the teachings of The Seven and the tradition of the Seven Kingdoms!"
"This is simple, take off Get off the Knight armor, pretend that oneself is a foreigner, and the foreigners form a group to occupy the Narrow Sea, doing that business without money."
"What's the difference?" Perestan looked blank.
"I feel better! You don't even believe in Magic, do you still think The Seven is real? Since even The Seven is fake, why can't you be a fake foreigner?"
The Archmaesters opened their mouths and closed their mouths, confused, but didn't know how to respond.
"Besides, Seven Kingdoms is now rites and music destroyed, murder kin, slaying kings, violating guest right, violating sacred oath, one after another. Country!" Dany waved, saying heroism reaching to the clouds.
hearing this, Perestan and other Archmaesters almost collapsed.
"Maybe King can sort things out, let's talk about the second method," grumbled the old Archmaester.