Lord Harland

The conditions proposed by Richard were too high and almost exceeded Parson's authority.

As a messenger, although Parson is eloquent and personable, he has no decision-making power in real major matters.

Seeing that Richard was bitten to death, he refused to let go. He had to get a large amount of extraordinary resources from the Sith Kingdom before he was willing to release the prisoners of war and the magic ship.

Facing Parson's implicit threat, Richard showed no concern, his joking eyes as if he were watching a joke.

The Dukedom of Harland is far away from the Sith Kingdom, and the Sith Kingdom poses almost no threat to the Dukedom of Harland in a short period of time. Since it cannot actually threaten its opponents and want to redeem the magic ship, the Sith Kingdom can only spend real money.

But Harland's receipt of this extraordinary resource is tantamount to offending a human kingdom in the long run.

In the past few years since the rise of the Harland family, they have offended the Kingdom of Delon, the United Kingdom of the East Coast, the Kingdom of Lane, and the Kingdom of Stark. This time they have offended the Kingdom of Sith. It can be said that there are enemies everywhere, and the surrounding situation is very bad. Without a good relationship with the neighboring country, it will be particularly difficult for Haaland's products to expand their markets to surrounding countries.

Richard also wants to maintain the external situation, but as long as the Harland Territory continues to develop rapidly, it will threaten neighboring countries, and conflicts between the two sides will inevitably break out due to various interests. Unless it can develop and grow and become a major force like the Holy Glory Empire and the Southwest Magical Nations, the external situation will only get better.

After Parson returned to the hotel, after careful consideration, he decided to write a letter to King Antony. In his heart, he was inclined to agree to Duke Harland's conditions.

"Based on the captured officers and soldiers, plus the redeemed large magic ships, combat effectiveness can be quickly formed. I will write to King Anthony to persuade him to agree to Duke Harland's conditions. Exchanges between countries should be based on interests Priority should not be mixed with personal grudges. As long as our Sith Kingdom can continue to prosper, we can always wait for the day of revenge."

Although Richard's asking price is very high, it is roughly the same as that of a new large magic ship. However, a new magic ship needs to be lined up in the Holy Halo Empire, and the Sith Kingdom needs to clear up relationships and get favors. Moreover, Richard also agreed to Parson's request. As long as he paid the money, he would release the captured soldiers of the Yunhai Slave Catching Regiment.

In the battle a few months ago, Richard led Harland and led the soldiers in two battles and captured more than 400 people from the Sith Kingdom, including two high-level professionals, fifty mid-level professionals, and elementary professional There are more than three hundred people. If these people pay the ransom according to the rules, they will have to pay about two hundred thousand gold coins. But if you want to cultivate an army of four hundred professionals, the investment in personnel alone will require at least half a million gold coins.

The extraordinary resources equivalent to the Sith Kingdom paying half a million gold coins were used to redeem the magic ship and captured officers and soldiers worth one million gold coins.

Parson's letter was delivered to the Sith Kingdom of Beled City via the Lion Knights at a speed of 500 kilometers per day, taking three and a half days. After discussing with the palace ministers, King Anthony finally decided to agree to Richard's request and replace him with extraordinary resources worth half a million gold coins.

Due to the high degree of centralization in the Sith Kingdom, in late November, a small magic ship loaded with super magic metal sailed near the mouth of the Black River.

In late November, the temperature in the northern Xinjiang region was already very cold. At night, the temperature was often as low as ten degrees below zero. The middle and lower reaches of the Heihe River began to freeze. This batch of extraordinary resources could only be transported to the Harland Territory by manpower.

It was already early December when the two parties completed the transaction.

Haaland leads the way into December, the busiest time of the year. Not only is the goddess's birthday celebrated at the end of the month, but the civil servants in the territory also have to make annual accounts and submit statistical reports to it.

This tradition has been established in the Harland Territory for more than 20 years. Although the territory has become very large now, and various statistics are difficult to be precise, with a general data, Richard can also have a general understanding of the development of the territory. learn.

In late December, various statistical reports were sent to Richard. From this thick stack of statistical reports, Richard learned that there were 2.4 million free people in Harland Territory and 480 indentured servants. Fifteen thousand people. The total population directly controlled by the territory increased by 450,000 this year and now stands at 7.25 million. There are more than forty vassals under his command, with a total of 620,000 people.

There were 2.4 million free people, and 15 million acres of cultivated land were allocated. It accounts for about a quarter of the territory. Although many places suffered floods this year, Richard reduced part of the agricultural tax and still collected a field tax of 480,000 gold coins, plus commercial tax, customs duties, real estate tax, etc. Income, Harland received a total of 790,000 gold coins in taxes this year.

The tax revenue of 790,000 gold coins is roughly equivalent to about 80% of the income level of a duchy. If the Harland Territory converts all serfs into free citizens, Richard estimates that the land tax plus other taxes, even if it is maintained The current light tax policy can also collect taxes of three million gold coins a year. If there is no large-scale military expansion, three million will be enough to maintain the territory's financial balance.

Moreover, since the Harland Territory has developed to this day, taxation is not the largest financial revenue. The development and maintenance of the Territory mainly depends on the profits turned over by state-owned enterprises.

There are now 2.4 million freedmen in the territory, and the market size has reached a considerable level. Coupled with the strong demand for railway construction, Harland's steel production has been increasing sharply in the past two years. According to statistics from the three steelmaking plants this year , Harland's steel production has increased to 125,000 tons, and pig iron production has also reached 60,000 tons.

The total steel production exceeds 185,000 tons. As long as the railway is still under construction, steel production will continue to increase.

There are 185,000 tons of steel, and about 25,000 tons are exported. Nowadays, almost all the nobles of the Grant Kingdom buy steel ingots from Harland. Harland's large-scale production of steel directly defeated the Grant Kingdom's hand-made iron-making army. Even if it was transported hundreds of kilometers, the price of Harland's steel products was lower and the quality was better. No matter who the nearby lord was, as long as it was transported Every company that produces steel will lose money.

Now the price of Harland's steel products has dropped to one copper coin per kilogram. An average working-age worker can purchase four kilograms of steel products in one day's work.

Compared with 20 years ago, the price of steel has dropped by 30 times, and the quality has been greatly improved. The types of steel products have also increased a lot, and iron pots and basins have become daily consumer goods in Harland.

Because of the popularity of iron pots, even the cooking methods of food have changed. Iron plate barbecue and iron pot stir-fry have appeared in Harland restaurants.

The substantial price reduction of basic materials such as steel has undoubtedly greatly reduced the cost of living and improved the living standards of ordinary people. The quality of life of the free people in Harland has far exceeded that of the citizens of Norland.

Although iron prices continue to fall, because production capacity is increasing, the steel department still handed over a profit of 400,000 gold coins this year.

Nowadays, the price of steel has dropped a lot. If it were not for the large number of indentured workers and not much labor cost, the overall profit of the steel department would only be 50%, not counting the cost of the iron ore land. Richard communicated with the managers of the steel, economic planning, commerce and other departments many times and decided not to continue dumping steel products at lower prices.

Although the scale of the agricultural sector is larger, it does not have much surplus this year due to widespread floods in summer and autumn. The surplus grain in the food system's treasury is less than 2 million tons.

Although two million tons of grain is a lot of food, Harland needs to feed five million indentured servants, which consumes at least one million tons a year. In addition, 300,000 tons of grain must be used for planting grain, plus the grain needed for winemaking and food processing, and the surplus of grain this year will only be 300,000 to 400,000 tons.

Although three to four hundred thousand tons of grain is a lot, it can only last for one and a half months at most if Harland leads a population of nearly eight million people. This amount of grain cannot be used easily at all.

This year is considered the first year of territorial merging, and part of the farmland has suffered a major disaster. The food system is still accumulating and has not played a role in improving the territory's finances.

The animal husbandry industry has developed rapidly. Due to the increase in the number of free people, the scale of the domestic demand market has greatly increased. Today, the number of sheep on government-run ranches has exceeded 4 million, and the slaughter volume this year has reached 3.8 million. Because the ranch run by the Harland leader used a large number of satyr prisoners of war, the manpower cost was very low.

In addition to supplying the army, a profit of 300,000 gold coins was actually handed over this year.

The income of Snow Crystal Lake is still very stable. Including the hunting of monsters, a total of 25,000 bottles of Tenghui potions were refined last year, 20,000 bottles and 1,000 bottles were digested internally, and the number of professionals increased by 1,400.

At the current development rate of Harland's leadership, if an all-professional army is formed, it can increase by a thousand people a year.

Now the First Infantry Brigade has become a full-time professional army, with a total of 1,500 soldiers. The soldiers of the special squadron have been expanded to 100, plus 100 lion knights, 50 bipedal dragon knights, and 5 With one hundred demon hunters, three hundred elf archers, and one hundred and fifty magicians, Harland led an army of nearly three thousand professionals.

Although the Warcraft Cavalry is not a full-time professional army, its combat effectiveness is still very powerful because of the Warcraft horses. The Harland leader now has 3,300 Warcraft Cavalry, and the most elite extraordinary troops already have 6,000 people.

Coupled with the nine squadrons of artillery units, magic airships, and magic hot air balloon units, which can also play a decisive role in the battle, the essence of Harland's army is actually more than 10,000 people.

Due to the financial shortage of the territory this year, four thousand bottles of Tenghui potion were exchanged for one hundred thousand gold coins in cash and twenty thousand gold coins in food, cotton and other commodities.

Twenty-five bottles of Styx Potion were auctioned this year. One of the high-grade Styx Potions was exchanged for four bottles of Life Evolution Potion. Twenty-four bottles of Styx Potion made a profit of 120,000 gold coins.

Due to the increase in the number of free citizens, the scale of the domestic demand market has expanded rapidly, and the flour processing industry is still developing at a high speed. Although private capital continues to enter the industry, the state-owned flour processing factory still handed over 250,000 gold coins in profit to the territory this year.

The production capacity of brown sugar is still increasing with the increase of domestic demand market. Because of Haaland's policy of emancipating indentured slaves, this industry still has great development prospects.

After twenty years of development, some nobles have stolen the brown sugar tree seeds. But now that Harland has grown to such a large scale and is so powerful, the small and medium-sized nobles who have stolen the brown sugar tree seeds simply do not dare to plant them in large quantities, which offends Harland. receive economic benefits.

Whether it is the Dawn Plane or the Grant Kingdom, they are not unreasonable places. The law of the jungle is the basic rule of the world. Small nobles do not dare to touch the interests of large nobles, nor do they dare to easily enter the industries controlled by large nobles.

If you want to challenge the great nobles, you must have enough power to check and balance.

Nowadays, the Grant Kingdom's brown sugar market has been monopolized by Lord Harland. The honey industry of the southern nobles has been completely defeated by brown sugar. A large number of free beekeepers have gone bankrupt, and the southern earls have given up on this industry. The earls couldn't stand it in their own territories, let alone the viscounts and barons.

Whoever dares to enter this industry may face not only commercial competition, but also military and political competition.

Moreover, the Harland Territory has been involved in the brown sugar industry for twenty years, and its scale is so astonishing that other nobles of the Grant Kingdom simply cannot compete with the Harland Territory.

Due to the expansion of a large amount of territory, the overall population of 16 million was swallowed up, and more than one million free people were added. Both the export market and the domestic demand market have expanded a lot. The brown sugar department actually turned in a profit of 280,000 gold coins this year.

The population has increased significantly, and the number of free citizens has increased by 900,000 in just two years. The real estate industry in Harland Territory is of course developing rapidly. From the sale of houses this year, the territory made a profit of 200,000 gold coins. The rental payment received by the territory this year also amounted to 120,000 gold coins. The real estate business brought a profit of 320,000 gold coins to the Haaland territory this year.

The income from the arms trade was very high this year, bringing profits of more than one million gold coins to the territory. Just the sale of 400 sets of magic hot air balloons generated a profit of 1.2 million gold coins. However, most of the profits from the arms sales were converted into population. Harland Territory has added nearly 200,000 people through arms sales this year, and the cash income is not much. The total amount of the mess is only 200,000 gold coins in cash.

The coinage department has been very profitable this year because of the rapid economic development. Last year, Harland led the mint of nearly 190,000 gold coins and printed 200,000 vouchers.

After years of accumulation, vouchers have been circulated in Harland Territory, and the total amount has exceeded 400,000 gold coins. Richard's idea of ​​printing vouchers in exchange for supplies has been partially realized.

The mint department brought Harland a profit of 350,000 gold coins this year.

Harland's Duke Bank has also developed well in the past two years. This year it turned in a profit of 100,000 gold coins.

The cotton spinning industry is also developing well. Although there are small nobles and free people participating in the competition in this industry, due to the increase in population and the expansion of the domestic demand market, Harland led the government-run textile factory and still turned in a profit of 140,000 gold coins this year.

The soap and soap department performed very well this year, turning in a profit of 150,000 gold coins.

The pharmaceutical department is also developing very well. Now Harland Leader has cultivated six purple-headed peak nests, and the production of hemostatic ointments has been greatly improved. Not only can it supply Harland's army for free, but it can also supply part of the royal family at a low price. If part of it is sold on the market, it can provide Harland with a profit of 80,000 gold coins.

Coupled with the two blockbusters of analgesic pills and anthelmintics, these three top products can bring Harland a profit of 190,000 gold coins. Plus more than 20 other drugs, this year he handed over 260,000 gold coins. Gold coin profit.

With the successful development of the Burren Coal Mine, the output of the Harland Coal Mine exceeded 900,000 tons this year. Although the coal mining department invested very heavily, it still turned in a profit of 200,000 gold coins this year.

The income from the wine industry is also very good. Although there are many competing products in the market due to the proliferation of craftsmanship, white wine, red wine and fruit wine, this year a total of 160,000 gold coins were handed over in profit.

The rest are basically small-scale industries, such as brick kilns, lime kilns, glass kilns, wooden processing plants, lumber mills, fresh fruit industries, and papermaking industries. These industries, large and small, add up to the territory. Profit of 450,000 gold coins.

After defeating the ogre tribe, about 300,000 gold coins in cash were seized. One-third of these gold coins were distributed by Richard as rewards to the soldiers, and the remaining one-third was deposited in the treasury.

Taken together, including the material income, Harland's fiscal revenue this year has exceeded 7 million, and the cash income has reached 4.77 million gold coins, which is almost equivalent to 90% of the royal family's income.

Swallowing hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land, adding millions of indentured servants and 900,000 free people, Harland's fiscal revenue once again increased by 60%. By next year, as long as there is no major disaster, , will inevitably be close to the level of the Grant royal family.