Chapter 1966 - 534: And the King Is Plunging the Dagger into His Own Chest_4

For the nobles and the king, it is clearly a win-win situation. As for who will foot the bill for this banquet, the answer is not hard to guess.

Since ancient times, the audience has always paid for the performances on stage.

However, Baron Wickton is well aware that doing so is not without consequences; following the trial of the "Winter Fire," it's now time to test the Ryan people's tolerance for hunger.

As he anticipated, standing in front of the desk was Sir Hanock, his hands nervously twisted together, the excitement in his voice gradually fading away.

In its place was an unmistakable tension.

"Baron... although the most severe crisis has been resolved, I must remind you, we may have planted an even more serious hidden danger."

Wickton obviously guessed what he was going to say, without looking up, just flipping through the documents in his hand and diving straight to the point.

"How much is a loaf of bread?"

"Twenty copper coins..."

"I'm asking about black bread, not the piece you ate this morning."

"I'm talking about black bread, and the cheapest one at that, sir. I was worried my servants were fooling me, so I personally went to inquire at the market this morning. I can responsibly tell you that a one-kilogram loaf of black bread costs twenty copper coins! But maybe not just that by tomorrow, as other bread prices are rising, soon everyone but us will have to eat that stuff."

Wickton's finger, which was flipping pages, suddenly paused, and even his heart fiercely throbbed.

Twenty copper coins!

Even in famine years, this price is enough to make one's heart pound. You need to know that just three months ago, this thing wasn't even more than ten at its most expensive!

The farms of the Ryan Kingdom have not reduced their yield.

Yet a famine has occurred.

The farmers have not been lazy, the merchants have not hoarded goods, the cargo ships on the Rushing River have not decreased, yet the citizens cannot afford to buy...

Where on earth has something gone wrong?!

Even if copper coins have no copper, they're metal, aren't they?!

Baron Wickton took off his glasses from his nose, picked up the glasses cloth, and wiped it over and over, trying to calm himself down to think.

Obviously, Baron Wickton's moral standards are still too high. Although he is quite learned in controlling the kingdom's economic lifeline, he has not seen what the kingdom's copper coins look like for too long.

Copper coins don't necessarily have to have copper, naturally, they don't necessarily have to be made from metal, and don't necessarily have to be minted by the nobles.

And the unscrupulous merchants on the Rushing River aren't stupid; they can refuse to take them, bypass Roland City, or head straight for the more prosperous market downstream.

What is happening in Roland City is no longer simply an economic issue.

Although it's still midsummer now, Baron Wickton has already started to worry about the winter six months from now.

Looking at the silent baron, Sir Hanock worried that he hadn't realized the seriousness of the problem, hesitated for a long time, and finally decided to reveal everything he witnessed this morning.

"Sir, when I inquired about the price of bread, I also asked the baker a few more things, questioned him on how many loaves of bread he could bake in a month. He proudly told me, his brick oven can bake forty loaves at a time, once in the morning, once at noon, once in the evening... can bake over three thousand pieces in a month. Because of his extraordinary skills, almost all the bread he bakes sells out."

"Then I asked him how many of his own baked loaves he could buy with his monthly earnings, and gradually he couldn't smile anymore."

Sir Hanock swallowed hard, contemplated his words for a long time, then slowly spoke.

"Two hundred loaves, sir, only two hundred loaves! Can you imagine, our baker worked hard for a month, yet couldn't even buy back a tenth of his own production."

The office plunged into a deadly silence.

In Roland City, bakers are seen as a respectable profession. A baker has at least three apprentices, and their income is often three times that of ordinary people or even more.

If even the bakers endure such difficulty, his apprentices and the people standing at the counters would only have it worse.

And people cannot live only on bread.

Even if they don't eat meat or drink coffee, they need firewood, salt, oil to survive...

And this still overlooks those peasants who "can survive by eating bark."

"Now everyone on the street is holding a stomach full of anger, although they haven't realized where the problem lies, the pressure won't be able to be held back forever, and one day it will explode. I fear one day they will suddenly start saying... their bread was eaten by us."

"Enough, sir!"

Seeing Sir Hanock grow more and more agitated as he spoke, Baron Wickton couldn't help but interrupt him for the first time.

Watching the knight close his mouth shut tight, he once again removed the glasses from the bridge of his nose, rubbed his sore nose thoroughly.

Sir Hanock stared at this familiar minister, suddenly realizing that this face now seemed unfamiliar to him.

Not because of the word "enough."

But because of the fatigue etched into the wrinkles.

This noble scholar, once full of spirit, had unknowingly aged into such a state...

He didn't see when Baron Wickton put his glasses back on; all he heard was a sound that seemed like the breathing of a Corpse Ghost.

"I understand..."

"I will find a way."

...

[Effective immediately, the prices of all bread in Roland City must adhere to price guidance by the Royal Family, private price increases are strictly prohibited.