NOVEL NEXT Chapter 87: Troubled Finances
Looking at the little girl's somewhat inelegant eating manner and her face that was gradually becoming rounder, Baiyi's eyes revealed a hint of doting affection.
This kind of straightforward care, which only aims to keep you alive, is indeed heartwarming.
Seeing Baiyi watching her, Luoning mumbled indistinctly: "Boss, let's eat together. I've never eaten anything this good before...."
"I've already eaten..."
Thud thud thud...
Baiyi had just responded when a knock on the door interrupted him. Turning around, a chubby, middle-aged human, somewhat apprehensive, said: "Um, Mr. Baiyi, my name is Stiss. I'm the Finance Officer of the City Lord's Mansion. Lord City Lord asked me to report the finances to you, saying that from now on, this will be your asset, and you need to understand Dongwu City's financial situation...."
Baiyi nodded: "Come in and speak."
Stiss walked in cautiously, not daring to look around. Although this person wasn't the City Lord yet, with a new boss comes new subordinates, so he was also worried about whether he might be replaced.
He lowered his head as he approached the front desk, carefully placing a silver ring on the table: "Mr. Baiyi, this is the city's account book. Daily income and expenditures are recorded inside, and our city only records for ten years, so every day, some information is destroyed. There's a timeline on it for you to check."
Baiyi picked up the ring and probed it with his Spiritual Power. This space ring was ten cubic in size, and inside there were only eleven bookshelves, each orderly arranged with three hundred and sixty-six books.
He casually took one out and flipped through it. It clearly recorded the directions of all the finances, showing that the Old City Lord was particularly strict about financial matters.
Directly flipping to the last page, it showed the total for that day.
[Dawn Calendar 1531, June 15: Total income: 36145.98.10 Gold Coins, expenditure: 3650 Gold Coins.]
Seeing so many account books, Baiyi didn't feel like flipping through them page by page. He directly asked, "Can you report the current funds of the City Lord's Mansion, and do you know about the status of the Treasure Vault?"
Stiss immediately replied: "The Treasure Vault is managed personally by the City Lord, and the key is on the eleventh shelf. Lord City Lord said to hand it over to you as well."
"The current funds of Dongwu City, including Gold Coins and Contribution Points, total a bit over five hundred million. Because there hasn't been a war in the last three years, the current income and expenditure have roughly balanced out.
The main expenses still go into officials' salaries, city construction, and school welfare, as well as the army side. People who enlist receive very good benefits, and just the army expenses alone amount to about 1.5 billion per month, with others fluctuating around eighty million.
As for Dongwu City's main sources of income, they include taxes, land leasing, minerals, entry fees, the Knowledge Hall, and the Adventurer's Guild, etc., with the city earning roughly three hundred million Gold Coins per month."
Stiss quickly finished his report and lowered his head to await a response.
Baiyi, listening to this data, was somewhat surprised: "Isn't the Adventurer's Guild and the Knowledge Hall owned jointly by the Federation? Are they all Dongwu City's now?"
Stiss let out a bitter laugh: "Mr. Baiyi might not know, but during wartime, the entertainment district in the Inner City District, excluding taverns and brothels, likely has little to no income from other entertainment shops.
Meanwhile, the Outer City District has always been in a state of loss, and relying on more than seventy thousand people in the Inner City, it's impossible to maintain a forty thousand strong army. So, in any border city, any revenue from official institutions belongs to the city itself."
Stiss explained resignedly: "Those ordinary people who join the army are fine, as their salaries are all Silver Coins.
But our soldiers have a high ratio of Transcendents. Among the forty thousand soldiers, fifteen thousand are Bronze Lower Tier, five thousand Middle Tier, and three thousand Upper Tier, all of whose salaries are Gold Coins.
Moreover, their pay is several times higher than ordinary Professionals of the same level, and high expenses fall mainly on these twenty-one thousand Professional soldiers."
Baiyi felt a bit of a headache. He initially thought his remaining over sixty million was a lot, but now it seemed like the economy might collapse at any time?
If all three brigades were mobilized, a war might lead to an economic collapse in Dongwu City.
This economy is unhealthy, very unhealthy!
His first thought was to reduce the number of soldiers, but no one knew when the Mutated Zone would strike, and since the City Lord had maintained such a large army, there must be a reason.
He still needed to understand the reason before deciding whether to reduce the numbers.
His second thought was to replace the current chubby finance officer. If a finance officer can't make money for the city, what use is he?
Lastly, the finance officer position was very suitable for Sabo. If he could earn 5% of the city's income, Baiyi was sure that Dongwu City's economy would always be on a flying track!
As for where he'd get the money.... that doesn't matter, as long as he doesn't harm his Dongwu City, everything else is fine.
With this in mind, Baiyi decisively said, "I understand, from now on, you'll be a Quartermaster."
Stiss trembled all over, and the huge stone in his heart finally couldn't come down again: "Mr.... Mr. Baiyi, um, we already have a Quartermaster."
"It's fine, you can go back. Someone will contact you to handle the handover shortly."
Baiyi waved his hand, not wanting to engage with this finance officer any longer.
Instead, he took out his phone and directly dialed Sabo's number. After two rings, the call was answered.
"Lord City Lord, what can I do for you?"
Sabo's voice, with a hint of teasing, sounded amidst some noise, seemingly engaged with the task Baiyi had just assigned him.
Baiyi glanced at the somewhat dejected, departing Stiss and directly said, "I just took a look at Dongwu City's economic situation, and it seems quite dire, Mr. Sabo."