"One person's profit is always another person's loss." Willas Tyrell, Senator of the Senate and Imperial Minister of Commerce.
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"The city of Asshai is becoming a problem, Primarch Horus hasn't been able to invade the city in five years." Titus, who seemed even more imposing and powerful, reported with a solemn and cold tone.
Aenar frowned. Asshai really became a problem. If the city wasn't conquered, the legions couldn't advance towards Yi Ti without worrying about being stabbed in the back by the city's sorcerers.
At this moment, his legions were besieging Yi Ti, but they hadn't advanced, all because Asshai still hadn't surrendered and continued to resist. A dome of dark energy covered the entire city, making any attack impossible.
"Titus, order Sanguinius and Vulkan to head towards Asshai, I want the city destroyed and all inhabitants dead in a month." Aenar's logic was simple, if one wasn't enough, three was enough. Even if it wasn't, Aenar could avoid all six of his Primarchs, he wanted to see if this filthy city could withstand the siege of Six Primarchs.
"Yes, my Emperor." Titus replied with a determined tone, but as he was about to leave, he heard the Emperor's voice again.
"I heard you met a woman." Aenar asked with a smile. Unlike what everyone imagined, he didn't forbid the Primarchs from building their own families. After all, spending eternity alone without a woman was quite sad. And this wasn't about sex, but companionship between the couple.
"She's sweet, but for some reason, when she gets angry, I even want to avoid her." Titus said with a cold tone, but Aenar noticed the softening in his gaze when he mentioned the woman.
Showing an amused smile, Aenar said. "Be careful, that kind of woman will stab you if you make any serious mistakes."
Remembering his wife's dark face when she got angry, Titus nodded, deeply agreeing with the Emperor's words. Women had a strange power over men, even Titus was not immune.
Seeing the Primarch's expression, Aenar was even more amused. He wanted to meet the woman who could make the Fearless feel the true terror of his own enraged wife.
"Go, if you stay with me too long, your lovely wife might blame me." Aenar gave the eviction order in an instant. He looked at the Primarch's back and couldn't help but think that time really changes people.
Who would have imagined that the beggar he found in Volantis would become the great man of today. Destiny was interesting.
When Titus left Aenar's office, a small girl holding a pile of papers entered the office with an exhausted expression.
"Naerys, you can ask for help or levitate the pile of papers." Aenar said with a gentle tone, seeing the girl place a huge pile of papers on his desk.
"I'm fine, Imperial Father." Naerys wiped the sweat from her face with a handkerchief and spoke with a determined tone. "This can help me exercise and get physically stronger."
Aenar just smiled and changed the subject. "Sit on my lap and help your old father sign these damned expense reports."
Naerys smiled sweetly and climbed onto Aenar's lap with his help, as she was too short and couldn't even reach his knees.
A paper magically floated to her hand, Naerys looked at the letters on the paper and said with a solemn tone. "Twenty-four million imperial credits for the creation of more armor for the Legiones Astartes."
This was a surprising number in her eyes. This amount of money was enough to feed all of Westeros for a few months.
"Do you think it's expensive?" Aenar asked curiously, testing his daughter.
"Very expensive, investing this money in education is more beneficial in my eyes. Technological advances can greatly facilitate the lives of ordinary people." Naerys didn't hesitate to answer, she didn't speak blindly and had a basis for her words.
In these ten years, technological advances have been surprising. The leap of civilization in these ten years was more than the previous thousand years. More and more theories were born at every moment by the younger generation of imperial scholars.
"That's beautiful, but unfortunately, your beautiful castle is only possible with an unstoppable military force. The Legiones Astartes are big money eaters. Practically half of our annual budget goes to military expenses." Aenar said with a smile.
Naerys was not wrong, the money invested in military expenses was simply enormous. But, a military force was essential for civilization to prosper for a long time.
"Remember that only when the environment is peaceful, people can focus on other things. Without this money spent, our soldiers will not have food or armor to protect them on the battlefield." Aenar did not criticize or even speak with anger. He just advised and explained patiently. "In the end, when our armies are forced to retreat, do you think the war will disrupt the lives of people in the capital?"
Despite her maturity, Naerys, in the end, was a princess who had never left King's Landing. In her eyes, who had never been on a battlefield, military expenses did not bring as many benefits as education.
Naerys thought, reflected, and said with a sweet and delicate tone. "I didn't think of it that way, Imperial Father." She admitted that her thoughts were too simplistic. Her father was right, without a conducive environment, education and knowledge cannot be continued smoothly.
When people are hungry and sick, how could they care about education? Without the basic human right to water and food, no one will want to study for a better future. It was better to work to put food on the table than anything else.
"Only when we are militarily strong can we create a peaceful environment for these men and women to discover innovations for our civilization." Aenar caressed his daughter's hair and said with a gentle tone. Seeing his daughter admit that she was being too simplistic was gratifying.
Making mistakes was not a bad thing, what was bad was making mistakes and pretending that nothing happened, contenting oneself with one's own mistakes in pure arrogance and ego.
Naerys nodded, showing a determined expression not to make mistakes again, although in Aenar's eyes, her determination was somewhat funny, especially since she was seven years old.
"Stop thinking so much, just be a child and when you grow up, take on your responsibilities in your fief." Aenar said, gently tapping his daughter's forehead. He felt that Naerys thought too much.
Except for Alysanne, his sons and daughters had nothing to worry about until thousands of years later, when they took over their respective fiefs.
Naerys pouted, dissatisfied with her father's words, but remained silent, helping her father stamp the documents that needed the approval of the Emperor or the Queens. However, deep down, she was happy. It was the first time she had alone time with her father, a treatment that only Alysanne had.
(Note: Aenar meets all his sons and daughters at once.)
Aenar noticed her joy and smiled. Looking at the amount of Imperial Credits in the military expense papers, he narrowed his eyes. He would not use gold and silver for trade, it would be foolish to spend precious metals on such things.
So, Imperial Credits emerged. Fabric and paper notes almost impossible to replicate without official means. Of course, such a commercial revolution brought great resistance, especially from the Iron Bank.
However, after completely isolating the Iron Bank from Westeros and the conquered Free Cities and the creation of the Imperial Bank, the Iron Bank finally saw what it had done and tried to reconcile, but how could Aenar leave the economy of his Imperium in the hands of other people?
People accepted the new currency in a year, as Aenar made the currency gain confidence, loans could be given to people, who could use them to buy land. Which further boosted the currency, gaining popularity.
After all, in the eyes of ordinary people, if paper money had the power to buy land, it was a reliable currency.
So, Imperial Credits quickly became the most used currency by both continents. The Iron Bank suffered heavy losses and the monopoly that reigned for thousands of years disappeared in the blink of an eye.
But, the Iron Bank did not disappear, it transformed into a business guild, showing that there were intelligent people in the Iron Bank.
What followed in the next years was the enormous commercial increase between the two continents, the New Nobles gained enormous wealth from this and much influence came with the wealth, to the point that the New Nobles managed to fight head-on with the Old Nobles, who owned fiefs.
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Read my other books:
Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos (500,000 words written).
Percy Jackson: Godwyn the Golden.