Lord Harland

In October, the temperature in northern Xinjiang began to cool down, and coal mining tasks in the territory intensified.

Because more than a dozen workers were added this year, the output of the coal mine continues to rise, and now 26,000 tons have been mined. According to coal mine estimates, coal mine output will reach 32,000 tons this year.

There are now more than 300 workers in the coal mine. If they all dig coal, the coal mine's annual output will exceed 200,000 tons.

It's a pity that the territory does not have such a big market, so there is no need to increase production capacity.

But for future development, Richard really needs to train a group of coal miners, especially skilled workers, and overstaffing is quite serious.

Currently, there are more than 300 coal miners working in the mines in shifts. There are more than 60 mining workers in each shift, and the rest are responsible for infrastructure construction outside the mine.

The coal mine's infrastructure will be completed this year, and there will be no need to add more workers next year. According to market demand, the coal mine's output will also surge, reaching 60,000 tons.

The territory's industrial coal needs more than 20,000 tons a year.

Coal has not completely replaced charcoal at various kiln entrances. If the replacement of charcoal by coal is completed, the production capacity of 60,000 tons of coal is estimated to be insufficient.

Starting next year, Richard will enact a law prohibiting the arbitrary cutting of trees.

Harland Territory is a mountainous territory. If the forest is severely damaged and causes soil erosion, it will become very difficult to manage.

This winter, 20,000 indentured slaves will be converted into freemen in the Haaland territory.

Counting the meritorious servicemen and the families of the fallen soldiers, when the population is counted at the end of the year, the number of freedmen will reach 50,000, although the new freedmen have not yet been divided into fields and do not need to pay taxes this year.

But the tax sources will expand a lot next year, and the field tax will increase to 12,500 gold coins by the end of the year. This amount of money is already a lot of money.

According to the military pay level of the Haaland territorial army, the income from land tax can support 800 officers and soldiers.

Next year, the revenue from land tax will be second only to official land cultivation, steel, and wool spinning, and its contribution to the territory's finances will also increase significantly.

Because Richard continued to transform serfs into free people. After nine years, Richard continued to fulfill his promises, and the serfs had a higher enthusiasm for production.

The indentured slaves seemed to have seen the dawn of promotion to free men, and they all worked enthusiastically. The sight of an overseer waving a whip to urge the serfs to work has disappeared in the Haaland territory.

Richard developed a subcontracting model for work tasks among indentured servants. Under this model, one only needs to check the progress of the work and does not need to supervise the work.

Of course there are overseers in the Harland territory, but the overseers are basically in the mines, supervising the work of the orc prisoners of war and the criminals in the territory.

In the Harland territory, as long as you become a free citizen and work a little harder, you can basically solve the problem of food and clothing by the third year. You can occasionally consume some slightly more expensive commodities such as brown sugar, white wine, and pork.

Richard does not think serfs are stupid people. Except for a few geniuses, the IQ of serfs is no different from that of nobles.

Although serfs were uneducated, it did not mean that they were devoid of ideas.

On the contrary, the vast majority of serfs are very realistic. As long as they see hope, they will burst out with very strong enthusiasm.

After building a magic alchemy furnace and producing a small amount of alloy, the efficiency of mining has also been improved.

After using alloy rolling bearings, the speed of the mine car is much faster, and the track of the mine tunnel has been replaced with a wooden track with a layer of manganese-ferroalloy nailed on the outside.

The conditions in the mines have improved a lot, and the casualties of the orcs have gradually decreased.

Orcs are an intelligent race, although orcs have serious racial rivalries with humans. Richard has no thoughts of committing genocide, and his character is not that extreme or cruel.

The treatment of the orc prisoners of war has been improved, and the intensity of resistance has also been reduced.

The current annual income of Harland Territory has exceeded 100,000 gold coins. However, some gold coins exist in the form of grain, woolen cloth, brown sugar, liquor, steel and other materials.

The income of 100,000 gold coins is already close to that of the counties in the south.

The annual income of the count family in the south is between 100,000 and 200,000 gold coins, which can support about 5,000 to 10,000 regular troops.

The annual income of the Marquis family in the east exceeds three hundred thousand.

The income of the duke families in the northwest varies. The income of the Dukedom of Jonathan exceeds 1.5 million, and the treatment of the soldiers is no less than that of the central regular army such as the Northern Army.

Including the income from slave hunting, the Duke of Guise's annual income from the territory is less than 600,000.

The gap between the duke families is very large, and the strength of the territories is not much comparable.

The annual income of the Grant royal family is as high as 6 million gold coins, but the royal family needs to support seven main legions of about 160,000 regular troops, in addition to six second-line legions, which add up to more than 100,000 people. Military expenditures exceed four million gold coins, and coupled with local expenditures, there is almost no financial balance.

King Roger, like Richard, still has to worry about military expenses every day.

After entering October, a large number of people poured into the territory. In order to settle these people and avoid too many people freezing to death and starving due to bureaucracy, Richard began a two-month inspection.

The places Richard chose to inspect were not fixed, and he would not notify local officials. He took a few soldiers and directly entered villages, construction sites, lumberyards, mines, and factories.

This approach of directly contacting the lowest level civilians gave the territorial bureaucrats a huge headache.

Although many bureaucrats used safety issues to persuade Richard, including Richard's uncle Rogge, Rogge himself turned red when faced with Richard's dazzling eyes. He himself didn't believe that someone could assassinate Richard.

This autumn, Richard was promoted to a fifth-level warrior, and his physical attributes were improved again, with his strength reaching 18 points. A person like him who has both magic and martial arts skills has very few shortcomings in battle. Even a ninth-level melee fighter is no match for Richard in a single fight.

A ninth-level magician is not absolutely sure of winning.

To threaten Richard's safety, legendary level assassins must be dispatched. Of course, such a high-end assassin would not choose to assassinate a small viscount.

Since Richard cannot be prevented from contacting the grassroots, it is difficult for the bureaucrats to use the method of deceiving superiors and concealing subordinates. In addition, Richard has absolute rights over the territory, and a single word can determine life or death.

As long as he is focused on something, bureaucrats don't dare to fool him easily.

During the founding period of the People's Republic of China, official administration was relatively clear and clear, because the founding king had a deterrent effect.

Extraordinary power exists in the Dawn Plane. The lord's authority relies partly on his own power and partly on gathering the crowd.

Facing a lord like Richard who is strong and has prestige in the territory, bureaucrats want to keep their positions and can only do their best to do what is assigned to them.

However, as the territory grew larger and larger, relying solely on Richard to manage, inspect, and intimidate the bureaucrats was gradually becoming insufficient.

The population of the territory has exceeded 200,000. Although there is no industry, the difficulty of management has been far more than that of a town.

The territory covers an area of ​​more than 18,000 square kilometers, which is somewhat larger than a prefecture-level city.

As more and more messy things happened, even though Richard chose many assistants to share a lot of work for himself, he still felt busier and busier, and gradually became overwhelmed.

By this autumn, because of too many government affairs, it even affected my own breathing practice.

For the nobles in the Dawn Plane, their own strength is the top priority. Only the lords with strong strength can have prestige in the army.

Only by mastering the military morale of violent organizations can we have the ability to overturn the table at any time, and only then can we have a deterrent effect on bureaucrats. For a noble, managing the territory is not a particularly important thing. You can recruit civil servants and replace them if you don't like them.

"We should let go of a large part of the government affairs next year. I will entrust a part of the government affairs to my uncle Rogge. I wonder if he is qualified?"

In recent years, Richard has branched off part of his government affairs. The agriculture aspect was handed over to Tang En, the hospital, sanitation, and epidemic prevention work was handed over to Adrian, the construction work was handed over to his second uncle Powell, and the intelligence work was handed over to Hayden.

Richard is mainly responsible for the military and overall financial planning, as well as resettlement of immigrants.

Even so, he still felt that the burden of government affairs was a bit heavy.

Richard walked on the streets of Fort William with a few followers, observing the flow of people on the streets.

Fort William was the earliest developed territory in Harland Territory, and almost all nearby villagers became freedmen. In addition, there are a large number of garrison troops in Fort William, and the families of the garrison basically live near Fort William.

According to statistics from government officials, there were already fifteen thousand freedmen near Fort William.

The 15,000 free people have formed a relatively small consumer market.

In particular, soldier families not only have high incomes, but are also particularly willing to spend money.

Thousands of soldiers live in Fort William, and the annual consumer market of Fort William has exceeded 20,000 gold coins. Various shops have been opened on both sides of the street, and walking on the street is no longer so deserted.

Richard looked at the time and found that it was already dinner time, so he led a few soldiers to a larger restaurant.

This restaurant was opened by Odaye. By this year, seven or eight restaurants had appeared on the streets of Fort William, but the largest one was the one jointly opened by Odaye and Sulla.

Sulla and Odaye raised sheep in the countryside, and the hotel had an ample supply of meat. If there were any events such as entertaining guests in the territory, they would basically be held in this hotel.

After entering the store, Richard found that there were relatively few people eating, and most of them were officers and soldiers from the territory.

Seeing Richard coming in, the officers and soldiers were a little surprised and stood up one after another, preparing to salute Richard.

Every year, Richard spends a lot of time in the military camp. Many soldiers know him. Many veterans have talked to Richard many times and can build a little friendship with him.

"Everyone, sit down and eat first. Are you all on vacation today?"

"Yes, sir."

"Don't be too formal, everyone. I don't know how to eat people." Richard joked a few times with the soldiers, and the atmosphere relaxed instantly.

Richard ordered half a roast lamb, and while waiting for the food to be served, he suddenly stopped Odaye and asked, "You look familiar. Could it be that you are also a veteran of the First Squadron? What is your name?"

After hearing what Richard said, Odaye was very excited. A little person like him never expected that Master Richard could remember him in his heart.

"Master Richard, my name is Odaye, and I am indeed a soldier of the First Squadron."

After becoming a magician, Richard's memory was very good. Even though he had not seen him for six or seven years, he still remembered this person.

"I remember that you and Sulla were from the same hometown, and you also saved Zhannings' life."

"Master Richard, this hotel was invested and opened by Sulla. If it weren't for Sulla and Zhannings' introduction, there wouldn't be so many people eating in the hotel."

"Is your business doing well this year? How many gold coins can you earn every year? How many years will it take to recover the cost?"

"This year's business is better than last year. We have earned twenty-three gold coins so far. The winter business is better than the summer. We should have a profit of thirty gold coins by the end of this year. Sura has invested more money and it will take four to five years. Only then can the cost be recovered.”

Hearing that Odaye's business was good, Richard said happily: "How much tax can you pay on the profit of thirty gold coins?"

"I have three shops here, and each shop has a tax of one gold coin per year."

"Although you have retired from the army, you are still a glorious soldier of the First Squadron. You must operate with integrity and pay taxes on time. With taxes, we can pay the soldiers and the territory can be stable. If someone bullies you, you must take the initiative to pay the lord Write a letter to the government, I am your old commander and I will make the decision for you."

After leaving the Odaye Hotel, Richard looked at the increasingly prosperous streets of Fort William and felt increasingly happy.

In the next period of time, Richard went to the coal mines and the villages and towns of Graveson.

The immigrants in recent years have basically been resettled in villages near Graveson.

Twenty-three larger villages and towns will be established near Graveson, housing approximately 40,000 people.

Since August, the Haaland territory has transported various construction materials on a large scale, mobilized tens of thousands of construction troops, and began to build roads, houses and other infrastructure.

By the time of the freezing weather in October, most of the villages had been built.

Because the newly built houses were extremely humid, in order to prevent people from freezing to death in winter, Richard drew a large amount of coal from the coal mine and distributed it to each household.

The serfs of the Cisse family heard Richard's promise and became freedmen five years later. They did not choose to cause trouble and smoothly integrated into the Harland territory.

After settling the immigrants, it was already November.

After this year's war, Richard began to expand his army again because of the increase in population.

The first to expand was the Scouts.

After this fall, Morgan advanced to become a third-level knight.

Morgan is four years older than Richard and has outstanding talent.

At the age of less than thirty years old, he has the fighting power of an intermediate professional, and his cultivation progress has caught up with people with outstanding talents such as Roland and William.

There are now two squadrons of scouts in Harland's territory, adding up to more than three hundred people.

But during the war with the orcs, Richard found that the number of scouts was far from enough. Every time there was a battle with the orcs, the information was almost unilaterally transparent to the orcs.

Because the orcs have aerial reconnaissance, even if they expand the reconnaissance squadron, it will still be difficult to defeat the harpies.