Lord Harland

After hunting the giant toothed tiger, Richard paid a reward to the members of the demon hunting team. Although the amount is not much, it is equivalent to one year's salary. The thirty-odd demon hunting team members received a total of five hundred gold coins.

After getting the reward, Sulla invited Jennings, Julian and other old friends to have dinner.

They are all the first batch of slaves, and this is already their seventh year joining the Harland Territory.

Of the 300 comrades who joined the army that year, more than one-third have been killed and more than one-third have been disabled. Including some who have retired from active service and are still working in the military, there are only a dozen people left.

These dozen people have different talents. Some have developed well and have been promoted to the third level. Some have average development and are still middle-level warrior students.

Sulla led everyone into a hotel. Jennings looked at the hotel's sign and asked strangely: "When did Fort William actually open a restaurant?"

In the past half year, Jennings has been leading troops outside. After returning to Fort William, he felt strange.

Some commercial activities actually appeared on the streets of Fort William.

You must know that before the orcs invaded last year, Fort William was still a military fortress, and it was under military management, with no business personnel at all.

"Jennings, you have stayed outside for too long. The territory is changing very quickly now."

Su La smiled, asked a few people to sit down, called the owner of the restaurant out, pointed to the owner and asked Zhannings: "Do you still remember him?"

The restaurant owner looks to be in his forties, very capable and has a military style. It made Jennings feel a little familiar, but he couldn't remember it for a while.

"Forget it, it's Odaye the big head."

"Odaye, you have changed so much. We haven't seen each other for four or five years, right? I'm very sorry that I didn't recognize you."

Odaye was once a comrade in the same squadron of Jennings and Sulla. He and Sulla were in the same squad, sleeping in the same tent and eating from the same pot.

It's a pity that his physical talent is very average and he cannot withstand the high-intensity training of the army.

Not only did the breathing method progress very slowly, but during one training session, I even vomited blood and injured my internal organs.

In the end, Odaye was deemed unfit for combat, received part of the subsidy, and retired from the No. 1 Squadron.

Odaye was injured during training, and although he did not make any military exploits, he was restored to his status as a free citizen in advance.

In recent years, I have been working in a tailor shop.

After several years of training, Odaye's body finally recovered a lot.

After the war, Odaye met his good friend Sulla in Fort William.

They haven't seen each other for several years, and their situations are completely different.

Today, Sulla is already a squadron leader, with a monthly salary of three gold coins, plus various rewards and allowances, and his annual income exceeds forty gold coins.

Not only did his income be high, but his status was also high. He achieved a class jump and entered the middle and upper classes of the territory.

Although Odaye became a free citizen a few years in advance and saved a little money, compared with Sulla, there was a very obvious difference in status.

Because of his hometown relationship, Odaye took good care of Sura.

In the slave market and in the army, he helped him like a big brother. At that time, their relationship was like that of family members.

After Odaye retired from the 1st Squadron, he couldn't accept the reality, so he didn't contact his former comrades. He did some work within his ability in the quilt factory while recuperating.

Seeing his old friend again, Odaye suddenly felt ashamed.

He was just about to pretend that he didn't know him, but was stopped by Su La.

Knowing Odaye's current situation, Sulla also lent him 100 gold coins to help him open a large hotel.

Sulla served in the army for seven years and was restored to freedom four years ago. He was not married, and his income greatly increased after becoming a professional officer. In a few years, he saved more than a hundred gold coins after several meritorious service and rewards.

Being able to lend 90% of his property to friends at one time, Sulla is undoubtedly a person who does not value money but values ​​feelings.

Odaye was not only a fellow comrade-in-arms with Sulla, but also had a special relationship with Jennings.

Back then, Zhan Nings suffered from the plague, and before he was treated by Richard, it was Odaye who delivered him meals.

At that time, Sulla was also suffering from the plague. In order to take care of this little fellow villager, Odaye took the initiative to send meals to the sick slaves.

Because he was responsible for delivering meals to slaves suffering from the plague, Odaye soon became infected.

They were bought together by Richard, and after surviving, they joined the Harland Territory.

Because of this relationship, Jennings felt particularly excited to see Odaye.

"I remember you don't know how to cook, so how can you open a restaurant?"

"Time can change everything. Seven years changed Jennings and also changed Odaye."

Seeing that Jennings was still willing to associate with a low-level person like himself, Odaye felt his true feelings. He tapped Jennings on the shoulder and joked.

"It was the respected lord, Viscount Richard, who changed everything for us."

Because Richard changed the fate of the Jennings family, he is very loyal to Richard, which can be shown in his daily chats.

If someone who is not familiar with Jennings meets him, they will definitely think that he is a person who is good at flattering people.

"We should really be grateful to Lord Richard. Without him, we wouldn't have the wonderful life we ​​have now. I am a restaurant owner. I don't need to pick up the kitchen knife to cook. Our restaurant employs three indentured servants, and there is a chef who is very good at his skills. ."

"Aren't the indentured servants in the territory always under direct official management?"

"The legal provisions have changed since last winter. Nowadays, indentured slaves are divided into official slaves and private slaves. Official slaves are slaves directly managed by the government, while private slaves are slaves purchased by free people from outside. Everyone knows that official slaves have signed a five-year contract. The contract is for a year, and the contract for a private slave can be signed for ten years."

After this year's Birthday of the Goddess, and entering the year 3259, there are already 14,000 free people in the Harland Territory.

Most of the freedmen in the territory were the families of soldiers who were killed, disabled, or had meritorious service. There were more than 8,000 people in this group.

As long as you join the army, the threshold for becoming a free citizen with your family is not high. As long as you fight a few battles and cut off the heads of orcs, you can basically achieve military exploits.

More than 90% of the territory's 1,600 veterans are meritorious personnel.

Except for the families of soldiers, most freedmen were slaves from the earliest two years. In addition, those who have contributed to the development of the territory and have been recognized and commended by Richard will also become free citizens in advance.

Fourteen thousand free people, because of the thin tax policy formulated by Richard, have now saved some money.

Many people with flexible minds have already started business activities.

Engaging in business activities is naturally inseparable from hiring people.

However, the indentured servants in the territory were all controlled by the government, and free people could not be hired at high prices.

The earliest merchants in the territory were all smart-minded people. They found Justice Otto and hoped to change the law and open a loophole to allow them to purchase slaves from the outside world.

Otto thought for a moment, agreed to the merchant's request, and decided to talk to Richard.

Opening up the door for private purchase of slaves, although it is easier to sneak into spies, it will also be of great benefit to the development of the territory.

Because he had too many troops, Richard could no longer afford the money to continue buying slaves.

If we want the population size to continue to increase, we need to rely on the power of the private sector.

Many private businessmen are family members of military officers and have accumulated a lot of money.

If this money is hidden in the cellar, it will only cause deflation and do no good to the territorial economy. If used to purchase slaves, it will increase the strength of the territory.

As the population increases, the market size will become larger and the economy will develop.

How much power a territory has does not depend on how much gold and silver the lord has in his hands? But how many materials, how many people, how many soldiers and armors, how much extraordinary power are there in the territory?