The waters rise and fall, and ships rise and fall gently on the waves. On the coast, beneath the flowing clouds and blue sky, the city embraces the sea like a crescent moon, and sailboats are docked within, their long masts like a forest.
On the main road from the seaport to the city, there are endless carriages coming and going, transporting various goods and raw materials back and forth, just like the main blood vessels of the human body.
Hopeland, the commercial city, was more prosperous than ever. Freed from internal strife and freed from the control of the Yuberei, it gradually became the absolute center of New Vilga, handling goods from all over the inland of the Seven Kingdoms of Xuehua, then sending them to the Southern Islands or the East. In short, there were many choices, more freedom than before.
Now the most prosperous area in the city is also vaguely divided into three circles. One is the headquarters of the Carites Chamber of Commerce in the center of the city, one is the New Wilga Commercial Union in the east of the city, and the other is the old and famous Chamber of Commerce of the Helis family in the west of the city.
Going forward along the gray-white stone brick street in the center, a building complex surrounded by high white walls comes into view. The tiles and tops of the buildings and towers here are purple, and the walls are painted with clean white lime, which looks elegant and bright.
Beyond the slightly bustling front yard and building, there is a three-story building in the backyard of the Chamber of Commerce.
There is a long table in the large restaurant, but there is only one girl sitting at the table.
"Sister Chelsea, it doesn't have to be so rich, right?"
Lacey looked at the various delicacies spread out on the table covered in white cloth and felt that she would never be able to finish them all. Chelsea had never been so wasteful before.
"Miss, just choose what you like to eat. It's a rare occasion for you to come back, and you might leave again someday. How can I let you suffer the injustice of eating something you don't like?" Chelsea said seriously, standing next to the girl.
"Okay, but I really can't eat much. Let the maids cover the rest with lids. I won't touch them."
The girl picked out three of her favorites and asked the maid to take the rest away. Then, only the young lady and the maid were left in the huge restaurant.
"How are you lately, Sister Chelsea?" The girl raised her head and looked at the head maid beside her.
"Thank you for your concern, Miss. I'm doing fine now." Chelsea pushed her glasses, her posture dignified and straight, giving people a meticulous feeling.
Lacey looked at the head maid in front of her, but was thinking about something rather rude in her mind, which was how old this head maid was now.
She was probably of the same generation as Angus and Jelinek. It was said that they met in the bar that Angus often visited when he was young. At that time, she was still a waitress and should have been around 20 years old. More than a decade later, this meant that the head maid was around 40 years old.
But looking at her face, she seems to be in her early 30s. She probably takes good care of herself and has some extraordinary abilities.
Putting aside these irrelevant matters for the moment, after Lacey finished her lunch, Chelsea had the other maids clear the table and bring a teapot and cups to the young lady. Then, the two of them slowly began to discuss the recent developments of the Chamber of Commerce.
"Thanks to defeating and absorbing three major chambers of commerce, Carites' assets have nearly tripled."
"Of course, this is also closely related to the establishment of New Wilga. Since the Carlites Chamber of Commerce currently holds a dominant position in the alliance, many things will be handled with less resistance and more smoothly, allowing us to seize many opportunities."
Chelsea introduced the current prosperity and development process of the Chamber of Commerce.
The wine market of the Nisos family was once divided up by the Carites and Helis families, while the market position of the Anemye family in perfumes, flowers, jewelry, etc. was replaced by several new chambers of commerce. They belonged to different sub-sectors, and the competition was not fierce at present.
The Tisiphone family's arms industry is now managed by the Commercial Union and supervised by everyone. Its output and income will be used to maintain stability within the alliance and defend against foreign enemies.
"What are the main sources of income for us at Carites at the moment?" Lacey picked up the no longer scalding tea and took a small sip.
"At present, the shipbuilding industry is still the main industry, followed closely by businesses such as liquor and textiles, and then there is the supermarket that the eldest lady mentioned earlier."
"According to your previous instructions, we only provide the venue and storefront, and the goods and merchandise will be handled by other chambers of commerce. This way, the proportion of income is not large."
"Yes, that's the case at the moment, but our goal is to build a good platform, not a specific product." Lacey nodded.
"After that, we will continue to develop logistics and post stations in various regions, so that supermarkets in all branches can sell affordable, complete product categories, and a unified style."
"We want people to come to our store first when they want to buy something." The girl said her future goals.
Seeing Chelsea's puzzled look, the girl added, "Although this industry isn't very profitable right now, it's very stable, and its expanded transportation and logistics are the most important aspects."
"Once this system matures, we can bring in raw materials from anywhere and ship goods to various locations. This will also give us the leverage to negotiate prices with other suppliers."
"If other businesses see this, will they follow suit?" Chelsea asked. There are no patents in this era.
"It's very difficult to learn our language." Lacey said in a rare playful manner.
"First, there's the variety of goods. It's not easy to unite with so many other chambers of commerce, and we have countermeasures. Secondly, there's the huge initial cost. If the market was completely blank, it wouldn't be a problem, but with our precedent, other parties who want to seize the market from us will have to invest more. They'll also have to change people's consumption habits, ensure sufficient profits to recoup their investment, and be wary of continued competition from us."
Perhaps it's because the longer you suffer from an illness, the better you become. The more you study it, the deeper your understanding becomes. The girl couldn't help but think so.
Even if it weren't her, another young person from the new century would probably have come up with these ideas. It's simply because they've experienced so much. The history of life is the history of how giant companies make money.
Monopoly, control of platforms and channels, is always the most powerful and profitable way. This is not about good or evil, it is just the law of development.
The real difference between good and bad is whether you truly provide trustworthy and worthwhile products. At the same time, where will such a large amount of wealth be ultimately returned? This is the fundamental question.
In the early days of industrialization, the launch of each project was a huge money-making enterprise, and the girl had to plan ahead and accumulate more capital to cope with various storms.
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