15 - Chapter 13
Hao Rong was looking truly distressed now, as Sa Bina laid out his problems so succinctly, his face drained of colour. “How, just how can you know all of that my lady.” he asked in a whisper. “There is no way for you to get such a detailed report of the operations and issues within the ministry. Anyone who revealed such knowledge should have had their cultivation crippled for treason!”
“That is the problem with relying on heavenly oaths for information control minister.” replied Sa Bina. “You have no processes for actual information security. Calm down minister and rest assured, you don't have any traitors in your department.”
“Then how, just how could you have that level of detailed knowledge about the issues we are facing?” replied Hao Rong.
Hang Fo and Han Ji were looking at Sa Bina like she was some master spy. They both could not fathom how she was not just able to point out detailed issues, but keep so calm while doing it.
“I am employing logic, and applying it to human behaviour.” replied Sa Bina. “I have some understanding of human psychology, combined with an understanding of social science and social anthropology, it is easy to deduce that you would face these issue, and who the inciting figures would be.”
“You are saying you guessed, with that level of detail, that we would face these problems?” he asked, sounding incredulous.
“I understand that you don't have those subjects here,” replied Sa Bina, “at least not taught in your schools, so I can see how you would equate it to guessing. It's about as much guess work as it is when a blacksmith designs a new style of knife, yes it is new and based on what should work, but those estimations are based on a solid understanding of behaviour of the materials.”
“However you say it my lady, it still sounds like guess work.” responded Hao Rong, with Han Ji and Hang Fo nodding in support of the statement. “Moving on, yes those are the issues I am facing, how do you propose to solve all those problems for me. If you can help, I would be most grateful and willing to compensate you.”
“So, now that we understand the issues, let me first check my assumptions too,” continued Sa Bina, “I want to ensure that my solution is workable. So the issue is that the guilds have a monopoly in the kingdom. By either long custom, or more likely badly written laws, the guilds can maintain their monopoly, probably under the guise of industry self regulation? They never push hard enough beyond acceptable boundaries to force the royals to get involved, but act with impunity within that remit and zealous push back against any efforts to implement change?”
All three of the men nodded agreeing with Sa Bina;s characterisation of the guild's behaviour. It was an open secret with no immediate solution.
“Also, let me guess, there are still laws on the books, archaic laws to be sure, that allow guilds from another kingdom to operate within the kingdom,” continued Sa Bina, “but to pander to the guilds, the law was written allowing oversight of the foreign guilds. That oversight would require the foreign guilds to be subject to the combined authority of the ministries of commerce and diplomacy. Due to those provisions , the law has never been used. No local kingdoms would allow their guilds to become subject to other kingdoms' ministries.”
“How can you be aware of such details in our laws?” asked Hang Fo, the only one who was even aware such a law existed.”Even most people in our ministry are not aware of the law. Did you spend time learning all our laws before coming here?”
Sa Bina let out a laugh. “I can't believe I guessed right.” she chuckled. “No ministers, I didnt read any law books, I just guessed that you would have a law that would allow foreign guilds to operate within the kingdom, then I guessed what it would take to keep the local guilds from making a fuss about the law and what concessions they would ask for. The guilds probably asked for the foreign guilds to be subject to their own oversight, and the royals pushed back, with it landing with the ministeries as a compromise?”
Hang Fo, also looking more and more shocked at how this young girl was sitting here dissecting the history of the laws, answered “ Yes, that is my understanding of the wrangling around those laws. Are you still going to claim that you are guessing all of this?”
“Like I said, it's not a guess, once you understand human nature, and the nature of power, you can accurately predict the outcomes in most situations.” replied Sa Bina. “In that case there is a simple solution to your problems. Though it is only made possible due to my peculiar situation.”
“And what solution is that,” asked Hao Rong, “and what peculiar situation?”
“Do I have your oath, that what I am about to reveal will not leave this room?” asked a now very serious Sa Bina. “I need to keep this knowledge sealed, you will understand why once you learn it. I assure you that you will not be betraying any oaths or loyalties you currently hold, the oath only requires you not to discuss what you learn outside the people in this room right now.”
Han Ji just nodded, as he was already aware of how Sa Bina ended up here. The other two looked at each other before Hang Fo continued, “I know that you have the backing of the Green Mountain Sect.” he said, “They presumably know your secret and still back you. I am happy to trust you, and swear an oath not to reveal what you are about to tell us.”
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At this additional bit of information, Hao Rong also acquiesced and made the same oath.
“So I was found in a bandit camp, with a head injury by Han Ji and his platoon of soldiers” said Sa Bina, “I don't know which actual royal family I am from due to suffering from amnesia, but the kingdom of The Rising Dao, was setup up by the imperial bank using laws relating to royals not belonging to an existing kingdom.”
“So you are not a Duchess but a Queen?” asked Han Ji. Even he was not aware of the details discussed with the bank manager of the Imperial Bank.
“No, as I don't actually have any land that I rule.” replied Sa Bina, “The highest rank I can hold is Duchess. That's besides the point, it means the solution to your problem is straight forward. I, as the highest ranked royal within the kingdom of The Rising Dao, authorise the existence of guilds that only operate within this kingdom, yet are part of my kingdom. These secondary guilds can be subject to oversight by the two ministeries. The troublesome officers from the ministry of commerce will be transferred to the ministry of diplomacy, under a newly created subdivision. We can call it the sub ministry of diplomatic commerce or something similar.”
“That…that would give the ministry of commerce the right to oversee as an external body, as technically it would fall under the ministry of diplomacy, but in reality it would give us our own guilds with which to reduce the power of the local guilds.” mused Hao Rong out loud. “That would force them to behave so as not to lose all their members to the new guilds, and since its an existing law, they would not be able to challenge it.”
“I can see how that gives me an additional, and very busy sub division, but there are still problems.” said Hang Fo, “Foreign guilds and businesses would be exempt from tax, the reduction in tax revenue would force the nobles to act as it would give the businesses that move an unfair advantage.”
“Well I can agree to set the taxes at a similar level as they are set locally, maybe just 1% lower to encourage migration, that way no one gets a massive direct tax benefit.” said Sa Bina, “Further, if the ministry of commerce agrees to allow local businesses to move under the new guild, I can agree to allow a portion of the taxes to be paid locally. That would put even more pressure on the local guilds and not impact tax revenue massively. What would you ministers think is a reasonable split of the tax revenue?”
Hao Roag was quicker on the uptake than Hang Fo. “What does my lady think of a 93% to us and 7% to you?” he asked, “Also I would assume that any directly owned businesses would still maintain full tax exemption under your proposal?”
“Yes, any directly owned businesses would be tax exempt and any business that transfers to our kingdom would be taxed by us, the tax on those businesses would be split in the opposite percentages. Well I do feel you are not being generous enough, you will basically get to run the whole thing, I just get a few small benefits,” replied Sa Bina. “I propose a 85/15 split, with your new subdivision seconded to me on paper, to run everything. Of course the cost incurred in setting up and running the new guilds would fall to you.”
Hang Fo, finally catching up, replied. “I think a 88/12 split is the best we could do.”
“I am happy to agree to the lower split, in return I want access to all the businesses that have complained about the current setup and those that are looking to move over to us.” replied Sa Bina, “As I mentioned, I need some income, so I need a list of businesses that we may be interested in purchasing. Also we would retain the membership fees paid by the businesses to the guilds. Any other profits the guilds make will be split 50/50 between us.”
Sa Bina, only gave a half truth as the reason, she didn't want to tip her entire hand. She had come here to help her identify businesses that she could purchase, and ended up as an ⅛ partner in an official government enterprise that should generate significant tax revenue as well as generate membership fees.
After some more back and forth on the terms and on the practicalities, they all agreed to the contract.
The ministers went off to get the contracts prepared leaving Sa Bina and Han Ji alone in the room.
“How, how did you just pull that off.” asked Han Ji “we just came here to ask for help in identifying businesses that you wanted to buy, and we end up with our own guilds and a share of tax revenue.”
“You have been here for the entire meeting,” answered Sa Bina, “How did you think I did it? In business if you can give someone something they really want, at a price they are happy to pay. Also I think you missed the implied threat that I presented. I could have set up the guilds myself, just given them oversight, and kept all the revenue from taxes and services, making the kingdom lose out. Yes people would have complained, but could not really have done much about it. That would have made me too many enemies, and given me too much to deal with in a kingdom where I am not aware of the political undercurrents, so this gives me a way to get what I want and what I need, while paying them to deal with all the headaches that will come with the changes. I think 88% is reasonable price to pay for the peace of mind.”
Han Ji was left in awe at how well Sa Bina had manipulated the situation to her advantage.
The ministers came back with the drafted contracts. Sa Bina made sure that the terms were as agreed, with additional protections in place to allow her people to fully audit everything to ensure she couldn't be cheated. After everyone signed and sealed the contracts Sa Bina said “Make sure you contact all the businesses that have been complaining about the guilds and offer them to move with immediate effect, Also offer them roles on an advisory board of the new guilds. I think you should do that today, and then by the time the announcements go out, we will have local members and the guilds won't just be paper guilds.”
“I will send someone to get a list of all businesses that agree to move over tomorrow.” continued Sa Bina.
“Will that give us enough time to set up and create the paperwork for the new guilds?” asked Hao Rong.
“Why recreate the wheel? Just copy the existing setup, I am sure you have copies of all the documents of the current guilds, just change the names and use that.” replied Sa Bina. “That way we start out the same, and we can make changes based on the feedback from the businesses that join.”
With everything finalised, Sa Bina and Han Ji headed back to the estate, leaving the two ministers with a mountain of work.