Rome must fall.

Chapter 372 Differences in Demand
"It's too expensive!" Calciopompus shook his head.

Themispros said nothing, looking at the almost empty jar of water, as if thinking about something.

"Roctius, what about the thing I mentioned to you last time?" Chalsipompus quickly changed the subject. He was afraid that if he talked about honey again, he would drool.

"Lord Pigris has reported your request to Chief Maximus, who convened a meeting of the Council of State for this purpose. However, he ultimately decided not to allow the exchange of banknotes to your Ardi tribe for the time being, mainly because..."

Roctius said with a serious face: "The production of paper money is time-consuming, and the current production is insufficient. If the people of the Aldei tribe are allowed to use paper money, the prices of goods in the market will soar due to the severe shortage of paper money...

But you don't have to worry. The leader has already issued an order to the coin workshop to speed up the production of paper money. I believe that in a few years, you will be able to use paper money. "

What Loctius said made sense, and Chalcipompus immediately said he understood.

But he actually didn't know that the papermaking workshop of the Nix tribe had already been able to provide a large amount of special paper for banknotes, and the coin workshop specializing in making banknotes had already been able to skillfully use woodblock printing technology. Moreover, after a long period of exploration, they had also formulated more suitable inks for printing banknotes, so making large quantities of banknotes was not a problem at all.

The only problem is that Maximus doesn't plan to let the banknotes flow out at this stage because he feels it's not the right time.

Themisprous coughed a few times and said, "Last year, Chief Aristakas attended your festival. When he came back, Chief Maximus presented him with a statue of the goddess Danu. The other elders of the tribe later saw the statue and thought it was very good. They also wanted to get one... uh, so that they could place it at home for worship. I mentioned this to you before. I wonder if Chief Maximus agreed?"

"Elder Themispros," Roctius said solemnly, "The chief is very grateful for your admiration for the goddess Danu, but the goddess Danu is the main god of our Nix tribe. Only the chief of the entire tribe has the right to carve a statue of the goddess! Only the chief, who is the son of God, can carve the face of the goddess Danu! But carving a statue will greatly consume the chief's energy and time, and the chief has to deal with many tribal affairs every day, so he has no more energy to carve for you--"

"We can buy it with money! In exchange for enough iron ore, flax, and wood that you need!" Themispros said loudly.

"Shut up! This is blasphemy! Blasphemy against the goddess Danu we revere!" Loctius' face changed suddenly and he shouted sternly.

The dignified elder of the Ardei tribe faced the rebuke of a small port manager of the Nix tribe. Under his angry glare, he did not dare to look him in the eye. Themispros stammered guiltily: "We don't mean anything else. We just think that this statue--"

"Money and property cannot buy the blessing of the goddess Danu. Only sincere faith can attract her attention!" Roctius put away his anger and said solemnly, "The leader said that he cannot carve a statue for each of you, but if you really want to worship the goddess Danu, he will help you build a temple in the territory of Aldei. The statue of the goddess Danu carved by him will be enshrined in the temple, so that the people of Aldei can also get the blessing of the goddess through worship!"

Themispros was stunned for a moment, then stammered in response: "This... building a temple is a big deal, we must... hold a tribal meeting to discuss it before deciding."

Karsipoppas looked at his somewhat embarrassed and nervous appearance and sneered in his heart.

He knew very well why the elders of the southern tribe wanted the statue of the goddess Danu. It was because after Maximus gave the statue to Aristakas, Aristakas treasured it very much. Every time he held a tribal meeting, he would put it on the wooden table in front of him to show off. The statue was indeed very well carved and always attracted everyone's attention...

Ultimately, it's because these guys are too greedy. They would rather use so many supplies to exchange for statues than use these supplies to benefit their fellow people.

However, since the construction of the Temple of Danu near Snowtia, the number of Ardei people who believe in the goddess Danu seems to be increasing in the past two years. It is said that every time many people come to Snowtia, they go to the temple to worship first, and then go to the market to buy and sell...

Just as Carlosipampas was daydreaming, the men of the dock manager, Roctius, came in and said, "Sir, the iron ore has been weighed. The total is 21 tons, 750 kilograms."

"Very good, four hundred pounds more than last time." Roctius said, looking at the two Aldei elders.

Chalcypumpas and Themispros looked at the two men who followed them into the room, and seeing them nod solemnly, they responded, "We agree, it's 21 tons, 750 kilograms!"

"Well, let's follow the old rules. Elder Chalcipompus received..." Roctius took the account sheet handed over by his men and read: "You received 15 tons and 225 kilograms of iron ore, and Elder Themisprous received 6 tons and 525 kilograms of iron ore. Do you two have any different opinions?"

Calcipompus did a quick mental calculation and responded, "No."

"Neither do I." Roctius asked again, "Elder Chalcipompus, are you still planning to use all the iron ore revenue to buy wheat as before?"

"Eighty percent will be used to buy wheat, and twenty percent will be used to buy linen." Karsipenpas had already thought about this before he set out. The land in the mountains is barren and food is insufficient. Exchanging iron ore for food is a common practice. At the same time, the harsh environment in the mountains also leads to great damage to clothing. In the past, most of the tribesmen in the mountains had no choice but to simply wrap the key parts with peeled animal skins. Now that the Nix tribe can supply a large amount of cheap cloth, they are also willing to improve their living conditions.

Roctius glanced at his subordinates who were calculating at the table, and said seriously: "The autumn harvest is coming soon, and many tribesmen are running out of grain reserves, so the price of wheat in the city is higher than before. However, our two families have an agreement to trade at the rate of one kilogram of wheat for fifteen kilograms of ore.

Elder Karsi Pampas used 80% of the ore to exchange for wheat this time, so the wheat you got this time is——"

"Eight hundred and twelve kilograms." The subordinate next to him responded promptly.

Karsipenpas counted carefully on his fingers, then nodded: "Yes, it is 812 kilograms."

"Because you arrived early, we haven't started purchasing grain yet. There are not many people selling grain in the market recently. We need to go to Westney and Todlido to purchase wheat to make up the amount. So you need to wait here for another day or two. I hope you can understand." Rocktius said apologetically.

Karsipoppas frowned, because the fleet had to wait for one or two more days, which meant that the fleet members could only stay in the hotel in Snowtia. Although they were old customers and had great discounts on food and accommodation, they still had to spend money, and this fee would be deducted from the next ore transaction.

Although Karsipenpas felt a little painful, he could only nod helplessly.

In fact, Snowtia has a special granary that stores a large amount of wheat. It is the land tax paid by the tribesmen every year and is managed by the Ministry of Finance.

The mineral trading at the port falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Commerce. The tribe receives a special allocation every year. If wheat is to be transferred from the granary, the procedures between the two departments are rather complicated. It would be more convenient to purchase grain directly from the market.

Most of the inhabitants of Slotia and Westney had more land and fields and were relatively wealthy, so they preferred to sell their excess food to Rocktius at this port rather than to the exchange office, because they could get more paper money to buy the items they wanted.

But Rocktius and his Ministry of Commerce did not suffer any loss. Although the price of wheat was relatively high at that time, it plummeted after the autumn harvest. Thanks to Rocktius's shrewd mind, the ore trading not only did not exceed the budget in a year, but also made a small profit.

Moreover, under the pretext of raising wheat, the Aldi fleet members were allowed to stay here for one or two more days. The hotel's food and accommodation and the consumption in the market were all under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Commerce, killing two birds with one stone.

"The rest..." Roctius glanced at the data calculated by his men, and then said to Chalcympas, "3,045 kilograms of iron ore. You want to exchange it for linen. What kind of linen do you want? There are four prices of cloth in the market now-"

"The cheapest one." Calsipopas responded without hesitation.

"Do you want one meter wide? Or two meters wide?"

"One meter wide."

"For linen, the price we agreed on before was 40 kilograms of iron ore for a piece of cloth that was one meter long and one meter wide. Therefore, 3,045 kilograms of iron ore can be exchanged for... a piece of cloth that is one meter wide and seventy-six meters long."

Calcipol calculated it again and nodded in agreement.

After dealing with Chalsipompas, Roctius looked at another person and said, "Elder Themisprous, here are 6,525 kilograms of iron ore. What do you want in exchange?"

"Five large pottery jars with exquisite vase paintings, three lounge chairs, four woolen blankets, two-meter-wide and twenty-meter-long embroidered fine cloth... Oh, and a pound of honey." Themispros mentioned all the high-end products sold in the market.

(End of this chapter)