Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1458: Night Shift Bureau's Domain

"So, what is the current land price here?" Shangluo really started to calculate.

Emperor Agathocles did intend to give him Rome, but this transfer was a transfer in the legal sense. After all, personal land is personal, and the empire's land is the empire's. Even the Roman Empire itself did not actually control the real estate in Rome, so he could not transfer something he did not own to Shangluo.

If Shangluo really wants to develop Rome, then he has to deal with the ownership of these properties in the city of Rome.

He also saw from the visit just now that the real estate in Rome has been highly commercialized and fragmented. To "redevelop" Rome, at least a large piece of intact land is needed, which requires Shangluo to open up from the Roman territory itself.

So, the question is - how to develop this land?
Theoretically, there are countless ways to do this. The most efficient one is to demolish Rome, move everything that needs to be moved away first, then use relativistic kinetic weapons to flatten the land, and then rebuild it.

This is not impossible - it is indeed possible. Because the Roman Empire is about to fall, it doesn't matter if this ruin, which has already been emptied, is blown up. It will save a lot of money to relocate it somewhere else.

However, although the use of cannons to remove Rome was efficient and could save money, he did not need to save money for the Romans, because all the money was for the operation.

"So that's what funding is. If you don't use the funding, how will the grantor know that you need the money? You have to spend it solidly and see a response, then you can ask for more money." He chatted privately with Apollonia, "So, help me check how much money it will cost first."

He needed to obtain intelligence from Apollonia and Titus to finally decide the budget for this operation. Shangluo decided to ask the Roman Empire for a sum of money to solve the land ownership issue once and for all. This was indeed inefficient and expensive, but it was not his money anyway. It was better not to waste the funds for this operation.

This attitude was not constructive, but Shangluo did not intend to bring any "constructiveness" to Rome. His sincerity was not enough for himself, let alone Rome.

On the Roman side, he just wanted to spend little money to achieve great things, put his own personal safety as the first priority, and then try to get things done within the budget given by the Romans, so that the Romans' money would be spent effectively, so that he could live up to Victoria's trust and the billions of people in Rome. His job would be worth it.

After all, the collapse of these Romans was not due to the tragic destruction of their country and their families. They felt that they did not live long enough and were worried that a huge disaster would befall them. That is why they took the initiative to achieve partial immortality within a generation, thus realizing a certain degree of "cyber ascension". In the final analysis, this path was chosen by themselves.

Whether it is flowers or thorns, glory or suffering on this road, it all comes from the choices made by the Romans themselves. Shangluo respects their choices very much and only does things within the budget.

He had done his best, because he spent his time to help, but he had no intention of making any profit from it, he just wanted to send Rome to the west in a decent way. His only bottom line was not to put any money into it.

You absolutely cannot put your life in there.

[Ah, this. I calculated it, this amount of money might be a bit outrageous. ]

"Your Majesty, the King of Rome." Titus also received the news from his own channels. He couldn't help but use the most formal address: "This situation may be a little difficult to handle."

"So, how much?"

"15% of Rome's GDP last year"

[My precise calculation is 17.2%.]

"Good fellow!" Shangluo covered his forehead. There was no need to calculate this, because it was an astronomical figure. Even if Rome was dissected, it would be impossible to come up with so much money at once. Because Rome's military expenditure only accounted for 4% of GDP, the price offered at once was 4 times the national military expenditure of Rome, which was simply impossible to come up with.

[Shangluo, until now you can only change rice to mulberry! Dig the Tiber River embankment and flood Rome! This way you can reform and revitalize at the same time, and solve the dilemma. ]

"Calm down. The Tiber River is not flowing enough to flood Rome."

[Then we can build a dam upstream and then blow it up with cannons! ]

"This is your own territory. You are still Roman, right?"

No, I am Greek.

"That was not what I meant."

[That’s what I mean. Roman cities can be bombed if they want. Anyway, all the glory of the empire is in Constantinople, the queen of cities.]

"Well, I think we should still follow the law." Shangluo never thought that he would become a conservative one day. "I say, do you have a problem with Rome?"

[Yes, I have a strong opinion. I, the 'Son of Greece', was originally the spiritual leader of the entire empire, but the Romans insisted on choosing the Orthodox Church to form the universal church - at first it was Mithraism, and later it was changed to the current one. In the final analysis, it was only because of one thing: the original universal church of Rome was the Roman Pantheon, and the Roman Pantheon was not interested in promoting immortality, or even festivals. This made the Pantheon's cost-effectiveness too low. ]

“Religion is consumption, isn’t it?”

【Yes. At that time, the era of Pax Romana had just arrived, and various religious groups lined up on the shelves like tomatoes in a supermarket. Different religious groups would offer different festivals, and as long as you spent money, you could get timely spiritual feedback from them, and the consumption experience was quite good. Many religions would put you in the position of "donor" in the parade, hang you up high, carve your name on the stone for future generations to admire, and professionals would come to handle weddings and funerals. Various religious groups even came up with upgrade systems and accumulated consumption, which made the game extremely interesting. And there were rebates for recharging, for example, recharging Mithraism could get beef at the bull-slaughtering festival - the Roman Pantheon could not play this game at all, and it was right that it would be destroyed.】

"Then why do you blame the Romans? The Pantheon was going to fail anyway. Was it just an accident that the current 'Orthodoxy' was chosen?"

【No, this is not accidental. From today's perspective, the Romans' final choice must have been to choose an "immortal religion". Because the final champion and runner-up both promised immortality after death. The runner-up Mithraism was even more focused on "immortality", but this kind of immortality was only widely spread within the Roman army, because the immortality of Mithraism was not without a price, and it required a certain level of cultivation to achieve it. In the final analysis, Mithraism was still too "secret", and made the same mistake as the Pantheon in its dissemination, so it lost to the current Orthodox Church.】

The current Orthodox Church is the Christianity of that time. After the Council of Nicaea, the Roman Empire chose to reorganize the universal church according to the rituals of Christianity, and the Orthodox Church was officially established.

"By the way, which one do you prefer? Mithraism?"

[If I must say, I still prefer the Isis faith, the Egyptian god of magic - but no matter which one you choose, it's better than the current choice. There are too few Greek elements in the current Roman Empire. I think more Greek elements should be injected. ]

"Hmm," Shangluo thought for a moment, "If you have any good ideas, I wouldn't mind injecting a little more Greece." [I said, change rice to mulberry. ]

"I'm serious."

[Oh, you misunderstood me.] Apollonia said, [I said I wanted to blow up the Tiber River, but I was just a kid and didn't know any better. I just blew it up for fun.]

"Well, keep talking. I'm listening."

[My idea is that we have to find a way to bring down the house prices in Rome and then buy at the bottom. This will make the whole plan feasible.]

"Then your plan will have to compete with the relocation plan."

Shangluo doesn't have to modify the existing Roman city, it can also be moved slightly. After all, Italy is not without vacant land, and there is plenty of land outside the city of Rome. Building a new large arena directly on Lake Nemi was originally within the scope of the plan. It's just that demolition itself has its own demolition problems, which may cause some magic power to not be transferred completely. But at least, this saves money.

In fact, Shangluo guessed that Agathocles's psychological price was the offer for this relocation plan.

After all, the things to be demolished are all imperial properties such as the Coliseum and the Pantheon, which are completely within his authority. He can authorize Shangluo to demolish the Pantheon and the Coliseum, which is fine. But it costs money to demolish these houses.

"So, your plan is indeed very good." Shangluo replied, "If we can purchase the city of Rome peacefully and efficiently, we can naturally build the entire city into the headquarters of the Night Shift Bureau."

Although she said that Rome had lost everything, even Apollonia knew that the matter in Rome was of great importance. This was the birthplace of the entire Roman Empire, and the foundation of the Roman Empire was built here. If Shangluo could obtain this city for the Night Shift Bureau, then they could quickly use the influence of Rome to start work throughout Europe -

"So, what is your specific method?"

[We can create a rumor to cause a "run" on residence permits in Cybernia. In this way, in panic, people who hold Roman real estate will sell their properties and accelerate the migration to Cybernia. After we obtain a certain amount of assets in Rome, we can adjust the original land use rights and use asset replacement to obtain a whole continuous area, and then build the headquarters of the Night Service in it. ]

"Oh, I see."

Apollonia's plan was that although it was unlikely to capture the entire city of Rome at once, it was actually not necessary to capture the entire city of Rome at once because the Night Shift Bureau could not occupy such a large area.

The key is to control the areas surrounding those ancient wonders, because that is where the Night Shift Bureau’s infrastructure needs to be built.

As long as those key plots are under complete control, then even if the other residential areas in the city are occupied by citizens, this is not a big problem. Many problems can be solved slowly during development.

If Apollonia's plan can be implemented, it will indeed be possible to accomplish great things with little money and solve the problem within the budget.

"Then here comes the question," Shangluo asked, "how do you plan to create a 'bank run'?"

[Hehehe, I am the Oracle, I can make up rumors - but they are not rumors. I am just investigating and researching existing reasonable speculations. I can explain the meaning of "broken silk thread".]

"for example?"

[For example, the meaning of "broken thread" may be: the thread connecting Cybernia and reality is about to break. If you miss the opportunity, you will never be able to go to Cybernia again.]

"Is this okay?"

[Oh, there's no need to explain it in detail. Just say that there is a possibility that the link between reality and Cybernia will collapse. And we can make some reasonable analysis and research on this "possibility", and then seriously ask people to publicize it through the media. We don't say when it will collapse, nor do we say whether it will collapse, we just say "it is possible".]

"Ah" Shangluo covered his forehead.

Doing so can indeed trigger a structural panic, and make all those who can afford to move to Cybernia think about whether they should go in immediately. Because it doesn't matter whether they go early or late, so many people going at once can just shrink the assets of the Roman elders when they enter Cybernia, making it easier to manage.

But as the Roman Empire, extorting its own citizens was unethical no matter how you looked at it. It was like stuffing a note into a fish's belly, burying a one-eyed stone man in a river, or blowing up a riverbank to make a change. This was not what a king should do.

But then again, Shangluo had no intention of becoming the king of the Romans. He came to solve problems, and as long as the problems could be solved within the budget, there was no need to worry about whether the wealth of the Roman elders would shrink.

As for those civilians who have not relocated, they will not be affected at all.

"It's not impossible." Shangluo thought for a moment, "This really becomes a matter of reform and revitalization."

Except that the river embankment was not actually blown up, this behavior of relying on man-made disasters to buy land at a low price is indeed no different from changing rice fields to mulberry trees.

【You see, I always say that true wisdom can only be learned from history. 】

"What kind of history is this? There is no such thing in history." Of course, it is not impossible for such a thing to happen. After all, the Yan Party is really a piece of shit.

"Okay." Shangluo nodded, "Then let's do some 'relief'. Oh, and don't use the name of the Night Shift Bureau to buy it, otherwise it will be like we are buying the real estate at a low price."

[Okay, I will pass on the blame. This time, the Romans are finally blessed.]

(End of this chapter)