Lord Harland

However, if you want to develop the brown sugar plantation to that level, it will take at least ten years of operation. This is also a long-term task for the territory.

Nowadays, there are only 26 brown sugar trees and hundreds of saplings in the brown sugar plantation. The brown sugar squeezed out this year is only a few hundred kilograms.

The whole family of the Baron Mansion, large and small, consumes more than one hundred kilograms in total.

Most of the brown sugar left by Richard is going to be supplied to the army to improve the living conditions of the soldiers. The remaining bit of brown sugar was reserved for the civil officials of the territory.

The current situation in northern Xinjiang is that the treatment of low-level civilian bureaucrats is indeed not as good as that of soldiers who lick blood with their swords.

This point has been digested within the Brown Sugar Territory. It will not be able to exchange for a large amount of gold coins within a year or two. It is estimated that it will take more than ten years to make Brown Sugar an important source of revenue for the Territory.

Richard made Sophia a cup of brown sugar water and sat comfortably on the recliner.

The sun was very warm today. Sophia lay lazily in his arms, enjoying the peaceful time. Richard was unwilling to move for a long time.

After ten years in Dawn Continent, Richard finally brought some changes to Dawn Continent.

If the sugar industry can develop, Richard can proudly tell others that he is the father of the sugar industry in Chenxi Continent.

If he lived in a peaceful environment, Richard might be known as the Brown Sugar Baron.

Unfortunately, in the northern frontier of Grant Kingdom, even the upper-class nobles will face cruel competition.

Just near the Harland territory, the Stopa family was almost wiped out in the last orc war. Most of Sophia's relatives died at the hands of the orcs. All the people in the territory were snatched away by Baron Harden, and the territory that had been managed for decades was reduced to ruins.

In this time of the orc war, Baron Diram became the unlucky guy. The members of the Baron family were massacred by the orcs, and the territory was annexed by the Harland family.

The old baron had only been dead for two years. The successor he had chosen was not good enough, and problems immediately arose in the territory.

If no one in the Diram family is willing to take over the mess, they may be expelled and lose their status as nobility.

Through the grapevine, Richard heard that the Dirham family had selected an unlucky guy through a lottery and became the next Baron Dirham. Those who did not win the lottery took out a lot of gold coins to run the territory together and try to maintain their noble status.

Last year, the weather was basically smooth, the harvest in the territory was very good, and a large amount of grain was stored. In addition, Richard made a fortune from the war and obtained the food accumulated by the Diram family in three years, amounting to 3,000 tons.

Including the Stopa family territory, the food resources at Richard's disposal reached 6,000 tons.

Even if there is an influx of more than 10,000 people into the territory, food security can basically be guaranteed.

At the beginning of spring in Dawn Calendar 3256, Richard will arrange for two thousand people to move into the Stopa territory to grow food.

The Stopa territory has been in operation for decades and has cultivated a large amount of farmland. Although a lot of it has been abandoned in the past few days, it is not too difficult to re-cultivate it.

Among the three territories, Stopa Plain has the largest area, with more than 1,600 hectares of paddy fields cultivated. If the dry fields in the territory are cultivated, the area will reach more than 30,000 hectares.

By developing this territory and growing food, Stopa Territory can support 100,000 people.

Three thousand people entered Stopa's territory, and even the farmland they cultivated and the villages they lived in could not be restored.

To restore the food production of the territory that had not been destroyed by the orcs, another two thousand people would need to be added to resume farming.

The population controlled by Richard is approximately fifteen thousand.

Stopa's territory now has the largest population, with as many as 6,000 people, and most of its energy has recovered.

The territory is mainly agricultural, and the population is almost all farmers.

William led two reclamation camps and formed two larger villages. Camp No. 1 is the largest and was named Rhinoceros Village because of the discovery of Rhinoceros.

Six hundred hectares of paddy fields have been cultivated near Xijiao Village. The farthest farmland is three kilometers away from the village. There are 1,600 residents living in the village.

Counting the old and the weak, each person has an average of five acres of land.

A strong working family needs to cultivate about 30 acres of farmland, and the labor intensity is already relatively heavy.

This year is the fourth year of farming for the indentured servants. In the spring of the next year, they will become free people.

After regaining his freedom and planting thirty acres of land, Richard set a lighter tax than other lords, so there should be no problem for ordinary people to make ends meet.

The population of Reclamation Camp No. 2 is about 1,000, and 400 hectares of paddy fields have been cultivated.

In addition, there are hundreds of people living in the Bobi brick kiln, and several hundred people in other lime kilns and wood retort kilns combined.

On the contrary, it is Fort William, where soldiers and their relatives are stationed.

There are now less than 6,000 people living in William's territory.

Richard's territory is still deserted. Three thousand people are still building Fort Sophia, and the remaining few hundred people will start planting brown sugar trees in spring.

As Sophia Castle is slowly built, the scale of brown sugar cultivation will also increase, just enough to absorb this part of the population.

The remaining part can continue to be invested in land reclamation and planting.

In recent years, Haaland has become self-sufficient in most of his bulk supplies.

The only bulk supplies that need to be purchased every year are cloth, plus some small commodities.

Although it is still in a state of net investment, revenue and expenditure are gradually returning to balance.

If the rich food in Harland territory is sold, the income will be far greater than the expenditure, and three thousand gold coins can be harvested every year.

The income of three thousand gold coins is not enough to pay the soldiers according to the standards of the main army.

Fortunately, the soldiers in Harland Territory are all slave soldiers, and only those who have performed meritorious services can regain their status as free citizens.

After this battle, almost all the soldiers of the two main squadrons were freed. Although their military salary was only half of that of the main army for the time being, including the officers and the two squadrons combined, they still needed 2,400 gold coins per year.

If financial resources cannot be increased, the pressure on the territory will actually be heavy.

Sophia Territory is slightly better, with only one squadron of soldiers.

Soldiers from this squadron also participated in the war, and almost all of them became freedmen.

Raising an army requires spending 1,200 gold coins.

The income of Stopa Territory is also higher than that of William Territory. The surplus grain can be sold for four thousand gold coins. The honey production of Zitou Peak has also begun to increase, so the financial pressure is relatively light.

Now Richard is not planning to sell the surplus grain in the territory, so he can only continue to invest money.

Fortunately, during last year's war, Richard and Sophia made a fortune from the war, and received 12,000 gold coins in cash from Malte Castle alone.

After that, the two led troops to follow the main army, attacked the orc tribe and seized some gold coins. They both shared the profits from the orc slaves sold by the northern army.

In addition to the rewards given to soldiers and officers, the two of them still had 10,000 gold coins in their hands.

These ten thousand gold coins can support the army for three years without expanding the army.

However, with the newly added territory, it is imperative to expand the army.

The new squadron commanded by Soros was the first to complete its formation, and was designated the Third Squadron.

There are only a small number of free soldiers in this squadron, and most of them are slave soldiers. The pressure of raising an army is not great, and only four hundred gold coins per year are enough.

In addition, Richard also selected 150 strong slaves to form the fourth squadron.

This squadron is completely a slave army. The equipment is very poor for the time being. There is basically no armor. The weapons are mainly wooden spears. Apart from food, there is not much cost to maintain the army.

Now the Haaland family has organized and trained five squadrons of soldiers, with the number reaching 800.

The annual military salary for these eight hundred soldiers is four thousand gold coins. Plus the expenses on food, clothing, weapons and equipment, they require six thousand gold coins a year in resources.

According to the income of Haaland's territory, it can only be barely afforded. It is no longer possible to reduce expenditures, and it is imperative to open up resources.

After expanding his army, Richard is also planning to purchase a group of slaves to accelerate the development of his territory.

Richard does not intend to pay off the 4,000 gold coin debt owed by the Harland family for the time being.