Chapter 149 Territory Development 2

Richard promoted Rooney from an ordinary clerk to the position of director of the brick kiln factory. In recent years, he even appointed him as the village chief to manage the villages near the brick kiln factory.

Rooney was very grateful for such a favor.

Moreover, he had followed Mrs. Ola for many years and was an old man who followed the Harland family before they became rich. He was also very loyal to Richard.

So he still raised his opinions at the meeting.

Rooney talked about the estimated income of the villagers near the brick kiln factory, and then compared it with the free people of Black River Fort.

Richard suddenly discovered that the income of the free farmers in the territory was higher than that of the citizens of Black River Fort.

It is well known that the income of urban free people exceeded that of serfs.

The noble lords exploited the serfs very severely. The agricultural tax could receive 70% of the output. Most of the serfs lived below the poverty line and their living conditions were very pitiful.

The situation of free people was better, especially in larger cities. Free people were basically small businessmen and handicraftsmen, and their living conditions exceeded the poverty line.

Bricks, a bulk building material, are basically uncompetitive once they are transported over long distances.

Now Fort William and Fort Sophia have been completed, and Fort Tieshan has been half built, and the roads between the main castles have been built. The production task of Bobby Brick Kiln Factory will be reduced a lot next year, and it is estimated that it will mainly transform to the civilian market in the future.

If the wages of workers are set too high, the pressure on the brick kiln factory will indeed be a little greater.

After listening to Rooney's opinion, Richard nodded and said, "Rooney is right. The main business of the nearby villagers is agricultural production. The wages of part-time workers should not be set too high. Just do as you say."

Rooney can seek truth from facts and did not blindly follow Richard's wishes, which made Richard look up to him.

This meeting Rooney caught Richard's eye. If he does a good job in the future, Richard plans to promote him to the civil affairs officer of Fort Sophia.

Now Fort William and Fort Sophia are almost equivalent to military forts, and most of the people stationed there are soldiers and their families, with only a small number of service personnel.

In the future, when new fiefdoms are obtained and the two castles become the rear, civil officials will be needed.

The Harland territory is now in great need of qualified civil officials.

As a civil official under a lord, one must not only understand politics and economics, but also the law.

Those who can do this are basically members of the nobility.

Although the Harland family has developed well, it still cannot get the support of the nobility.

In addition to working for their own families, the nobles basically serve the great nobles such as the royal family, dukes, and earls.

Even hereditary earls such as Roger and Martins do not have many noble bureaucrats serving them.

After Sophia wrote to her two brothers, her third brother Roger agreed to return to the northern border to serve his sister.

Roger served as an auditor in the province of Illinois, and was appointed as the civil official of Vickburg after returning.

The eldest brother-in-law Roger came back and shared part of Sophia's work.

In the past, Vickburg, like Williamburg, used military law to govern the people, and this kind of thing could not be done for a long time.

After Rooney finished speaking, it was the turn of Thomas Weber, the director of the steel plant.

"The steel project has made very good profits this year. Although the ex-factory price has dropped by 30% due to our large-scale sales of steel products, from 54.4 gold coins to 38 gold coins per ton, our profits have actually increased due to the increase in production.

In the past two months, the territory's steel production capacity has exceeded 30 tons, and the monthly output value exceeds 1,000 gold coins.

Because there are a large number of kobolds mining, which is equivalent to free labor, the steel plant's profits are very considerable. Excluding the consumption within the territory, the net cash income this year exceeds 7,000 gold coins.",

Steel and liquor have been the financial pillars of the Harland Territory in the past two years. Without the rich gold coins brought by the steel and liquor industries, the Harland Territory would not have developed so fast.

Not only did it feed tens of thousands of people, it also continuously trained the army and even formed a Warcraft Cavalry Regiment.

"The steel plant has a high profit, how about the liquor?"

This spring, the manager in charge of selling liquor embezzled and was discovered by Sofia. Richard sent soldiers to execute the embezzler. And his family was demoted to slaves to mine in the mines. As long as the Harland family exists, the descendants of the embezzler will be slaves forever and will never be pardoned.

In fact, once they are demoted to hereditary slaves, it is basically equivalent to no descendants.

Most of the Harland family are contract slaves. Except for the orc slaves, contract slaves generally sign a five-year contract.

They can turn over after five years. Normal female slaves will never marry people who have been slaves for generations.

The wife of this embezzler immediately found Richard after he got into trouble, and insisted on divorce and abandoned their two children.

It's just a pity for the two children. With such a father, their fate is destined to be miserable.

There are extraordinary powers in the Dawn Plane. Although the oppression of the nobles is cruel, the oppression of the bureaucrats is lighter.

Because of the existence of the truth word, once the bureaucrat is suspected, using a spell such as the truth word, the corruption cannot be concealed.

The nobles and the bureaucrats are not in a cooperative relationship, but a strict relationship between superiors and subordinates.

If the lord is very disgusted with the problem of corruption, the bureaucrats in the territory must restrain themselves.

The risks of corruption are too great, but the benefits are not enough to achieve class advancement.

No matter how much money a person has in the Dawn Plane, if he does not have a strong force to protect him, his ending will often be very tragic.

The path to success in this plane is always to become a powerful professional, make military achievements, and be awarded a title.

Only after completing this step can we achieve class transition.

After this incident, Uncle Powell was responsible for the liquor trade, and the management of the winery was also under his charge.

"The liquor trade is very stable. With the entry into the markets of Jonathan and Edward, the monthly net profit has increased to 800 gold coins. This year's cash income should be close to 10,000 gold coins."

The income of 10,000 gold coins, even if placed in the main legion, can support four squadrons of soldiers.

The salary of soldiers in the Harland Territory is half cheaper than that of the main legion, and the difference between officers and the main legion is not far.

For example, the salary of the first squadron costs 2,000 gold coins a year.

Now Richard has organized ten infantry squadrons and one cavalry squadron. Although many recruits have not participated in the war and have made contributions, Richard does not need to pay them for the time being.

Military expenditures are still huge, and the territory has also carried out major projects, all of which require money.

Even though the income has increased a lot this year, Richard's treasury has only accumulated 5,000 gold coins, which is not enough to reserve food.

The hospital is a net investment this year, and I don't know when it will make money.

Although the agricultural output value is very high this year, there are 18,000 mouths in the territory. Not only can the food not be sold, but it has to be purchased at a loss.

After the Harland family was conferred the title of baron, Richard has been in a state of lack of money for five years.

It feels that the richest time in the family was before the title was conferred.

At that time, there were still several thousand gold coins in Mrs. Ola's vault, and the number of gold coins was increasing every month.

Unlike now, although there is a lot of gold coins flowing, the vault is empty.