Chapter 327: Raising Funds

After inspecting around Tongshan Town for two days, Richard returned to Fort William on the first day of November.

Every year in early November, Harland Territory holds a commodity fair. This year is the fifth commodity fair. After five years of promotion, Harland Territory Commodity Fair has become famous in Grant Kingdom.

Especially since the third fair, after the sale of alchemical bombs, it has been very popular with nobles.

This year's commodity fair not only has caravans from Grant Kingdom, but also nobles from Stannic, Delong Kingdom, East Coast United Kingdom, and even Ryan Kingdom.

Richard had just returned to Fort William and was about to discuss the preparation of the commodity fair with Roger, when an acquaintance came to the door. This person was Vera Watson of the Church of the Goddess of Wealth.

Last time there was civil unrest in the Grand Duchy of Stannic, the Watson family took the right political stance and joined Duke Jonathan in advance. After the war, not only did they not suffer any losses, but they also expanded a viscount territory. The family's strength also rose to the first place among the four dukes of Stannic.

After the war, Duke Watson divided the new viscount territory among his three children. Vera was at the top of the succession list and also inherited a baron territory, becoming a hereditary noble class.

According to the general situation in the Kingdom of Grant, a duke often has more than a dozen or even dozens of children, and most of them cannot become hereditary nobles. After all, a qualified territorial noble cannot issue a decree of enfeoffment and divide the territory into dozens of pieces. If he does so, the surrounding nobles and even the Grant royal family will wake up with laughter. If the duke has no power, he will only be sidelined by the vassal.

On the contrary, in order to hedge risks and diversify investments, many viscounts divide the territory among different sons.

If the parents of the duke's children are still alive, they are also more favored, and their social status will generally exceed that of the barons and viscounts. After all, they can use part of the duke's power to scare many people. But once the parents are gone, the heirs to the title become brothers and sisters, and their social status will fall rapidly, and they are not as good as the hereditary noble class at all.

Hereditary nobles are people who can control their own power, while the Duke's children can only rely on their father. Although Vera inherited a small barony, her actual status has risen.

Vera is an important partner in the business field of Harland. She is not only an important member of the Watson family, but also a senior member of the Church of the Goddess of Wealth. Since she came to visit, Richard had to stop the meeting with Rogge and give priority to meeting this person.

"Miss Vera, I see you again, still jeweled and beautiful."

"Your Excellency the Duke is too polite."

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Richard asked straight to the point: "Miss Vera came to see me overnight, what's the matter?"

"I want to buy some alchemical bombs, and I hope to get the Duke's approval.

Although the alchemical bombs are placed on the booth of the commodity fair, almost all those who can buy alchemical bombs are nobles in the northern border. This unspoken rule can't be hidden from smart people like Vera.

The Grand Duchy of Stannic has the ability to produce alchemical bombs, but Richard has signed a strict contract with the Jonathan family. The alchemical bombs produced by the Jonathan family cannot be sold to foreign countries. people.

Moreover, the four dukes have a certain competitive relationship with the Jonathan family. The Jonathan family has just started to produce alchemical bombs, and the output is not high. It is not enough for itself, let alone breaching the contract and selling alchemical bombs to others. After all, the cost of breach of contract is very high. More than 20 guarantors will be attacked by the royal seal. These guarantors are all middle and high-level members of the Jonathan family.

The attack of the royal seal involves the power of the gods and directly acts on the soul. Even if Duke Jonathan is a legend and his soul has undergone a transformation, he is not afraid of being attacked by the royal seal, and he cannot protect these people.

"Can I ask a question, who did Miss Vera buy the alchemical bomb for, the Watson family or the Goddess of Fortune Church?"

Vera's background is very complicated, so Richard asked this question.

After listening to Richard's words, Vera smiled and asked back: "What's the difference between a transaction that you and I are willing to buy?"

"I am a believer of the Goddess of Dawn. If Miss Vera buys it on behalf of the Church of Fortune, I need to ask Pastor Sanders. If the Goddess of Wealth Church bought alchemical bombs to fight religious wars and killed people from the Dawn Church, I would regret it. Only if the Dawn Church priests agree, I can do this deal. "

The reason why Harland Territory can develop to this point is that it has the protection of the Dawn Church.

Roger Kingdom felt this relationship very early, so he would not set obstacles to the development of Harland Territory. Richard is a smart man and of course knows the inside story. Richard will communicate with Pastor Sanders on all matters related to the church.

"Please rest assured, Your Excellency the Duke, I bought alchemical bombs on behalf of the Watson family, mainly to deal with orcs."

Hearing Vera's answer, Richard was very happy and said: "Originally, based on our relationship, I should give Miss Vera absolute trust. But when it comes to alchemical bombs, I need Miss Vera to sign a contract and have an agreement on the use of alchemical bombs. If Miss Vera is willing, I agree to sell two thousand alchemical bombs to Miss Vera."

"Your Excellency the Duke is too cautious."

"Miss Vera, the situation in your Grand Duchy of Stannic cannot be ignored. The four major churches are in serious conflict, and a religious war could easily break out. I don’t want to sell weapons and disrupt the balance of church power.”

Regarding Richard's worries, Vera said indifferently: "Don't worry, Duke, as long as there are orcs as a foreign enemy, there will always be cooperation rather than confrontation between the churches. The nobles in the country are not fools, let alone fanatics, and will not support it. Fight a religious war. I will sign the agreement, please rest assured, Your Excellency."

Vera was willing to sign the contract, and the two parties quickly reached an agreement. Richard took out two thousand alchemy bombs from the treasury in exchange for Vera's funds.

Although a war broke out this year, the battle was not fierce. The alchemical bombs were not consumed too much. There was enough inventory in the Haaland Territory Treasury.

After seeing off Vera, the commodity expo was held as scheduled.

At the commodity expo, Harland learned about the low-price wholesale of territorial specialty products, ranging from daily consumer goods such as brown sugar, woolen cloth, liquor, fruit wine, soap, to steel products, weapons and armor, and even military supplies such as alchemy bombs. There are all kinds of products, and this year's commodity expo has added several new products.

The first type is exquisite porcelain. After Richard took over the territory, Harland Territory has begun to experiment with paper-burning porcelain. In the first few years, it was necessary to accumulate experience, and porcelain firing has not been very successful. As the craftsmen in the territory continued to accumulate skills, this year they finally mastered the formula of earthenware for firing porcelain, the temperature for firing porcelain, and began to sell this new product on a large scale.

The appearance of porcelain immediately caused a sensation at the commodity fair.

The history of firing porcelain in the Dawn Plane has been more than a thousand years, and the porcelain firing technology is in the hands of the great nobles in the capital area of ​​the Holy Glory Empire. Up to now, porcelain has become very popular in San Siro, the capital of the Holy Glory Empire. Ordinary people with a little extra money can buy a few pieces, and it has gradually become a bulk commodity in circulation.

But in a relatively remote area like the Grant Kingdom, the price of porcelain was very expensive. Only the relatively wealthy nobles had the financial resources to buy a few pieces and display them in a conspicuous living room to show off.

After all, the Kingdom of Grant is tens of thousands of kilometers away from the San Siro Castle, the capital of the Holy Glory Empire. It passes through many kingdoms, and the road is not peaceful. Porcelain is an easily broken commodity. It has been transported thousands of miles, and the price has almost increased hundreds of times. An ordinary porcelain vase can cost as much as dozens of gold coins, which is equivalent to the annual expenses of a dozen ordinary households.

Although the porcelain produced by Harland is not as exquisite as the imported products, it is still authentic porcelain and is a hot commodity in surrounding countries. Moreover, the price of Harland collar porcelain is much lower than that of imported goods. The wholesale price of a 40-centimeter-high porcelain vase is only eight silver coins. Such prices have already benefited professional families.

The 30,000 pieces of porcelain that Rogge prepared for the commodity expo were quickly swept away. This batch of porcelain sold for a profit of 23,000 gold coins. The most expensive part of firing porcelain is labor, and the material consumption is relatively low. Most of the gold coins sold are net profits.

Porcelain firing is not a very high threshold technology. As long as you have seen it a few times, you can't hide it from really smart people. In order to protect the secret of porcelain firing, Richard placed the porcelain firing factory in the Losa Basin.

The Losa Basin is close to the front line and there are almost no outsiders. It is very suitable for keeping secrets. A squadron of soldiers is also placed near the factory to guard it to prevent irrelevant people from approaching. In addition, each of the batchers, kiln-burners and other skilled workers in the porcelain factory is strictly registered and is on the watch list of the intelligence agency, and is under the covert protection of the territory.

A monopolized technology and a monopolized product can bring extremely high profits to Harland's tie.

According to this year's situation, the annual profits from the sale of porcelain can allow the territory to raise 2,000 soldiers. With two thousand more soldiers, it is possible to win a war.

Every monopolized product is the lifeblood of the territory. The lessons learned from the leakage of liquor craftsmanship back then are something that Richard still keeps in mind.

The second type is new medicines. Harland's medicines are well-known in the Grant Kingdom. Hemostatic ointments and burn ointments are in short supply in the Grant Kingdom. However, due to limited production, it cannot serve ordinary people and can only be reserved for nobles and main legionnaires.

This year, Harland led the hatching of the third Purple-Headed Peak King, and the production of hemostatic ointment increased significantly. Richard planned to sell 3,000 copies at the Commodity Expo to continue to expand the reputation of the Commodity Expo.

Purple Head Peak royal jelly can be used to refine healing potions. After continuous research by the Mage Association in recent years, the new potion formula has finally been completed. Now there are four pharmacists in the Harland Leader Mage Association: Sophia, Anne, Caperson, and Connie. They all worked together to refine three hundred copies of the new potion.

This potion can be used to increase vitality and treat internal injuries. Its effect on internal injuries is equivalent to a fourth-level spell to treat serious injuries. It is considered a third-level healing potion.

The internal injury treatment potion requires not only the royal jelly from Zitou Peak, but also a second-level magic plant and four ordinary herbs. Refining a potion costs twenty-four gold coins.

Due to the limitation of materials, even if it is led by Harland, this medicine cannot be reserved for ordinary soldiers. It can only be used to treat professional officers. Just like the healing skills left by magicians, it cannot treat ordinary people. It should only be reserved for officers.

The annual output of internal injury treatment potions is only 300 copies. The number of magicians in Harland has exceeded that of other duchies. The strength of the hospital is also very good, and there is no shortage of treatment power. Richard planned to sell a hundred internal injury treatment potions at the commodity expo every year in exchange for funds.

After all, the territory has expanded its army by 14,000 this year, and the economic pressure is very heavy. Gold coins are needed everywhere, and Richard also has to find a way to raise gold coins to reduce the deficit.

The price of internal injury potion is very expensive, one hundred gold coins per portion, but despite this, one hundred internal injury potions were quickly swept away by several Stanik nobles. The nobles have always attached great importance to things that save their lives.

In fact, the Stanik nobles who bought the potion are all from the northern border. They are all vassals of Duke Jonathan. Now they have a business channel from the northern border to Stanik. Every year during the commodity fair, they trade various goods with Harland Territory.

In addition to internal injury potions, Harland Territory Hospital has also launched a new drug painkiller pill. Through human trials in the hospital, this drug has a good effect and can be used to relieve pain.

In fact, the people who have physical pain are mainly serfs and ordinary free people. They bear heavy labor and suffer the most serious physical pain. Unfortunately, these people are penniless and cannot afford to consume medicine. The nobles will not pity their pain and buy medicine for the serfs.

The main customers of this new medicine are retired soldiers. After soldiers are injured and retired, they often have serious sequelae in their bodies, and they will experience severe pain on cloudy and rainy days.

The nobles can all get spell treatment, and can use the power of spells such as pain relief to treat pain. The effect is better than painkillers, and they do not necessarily need this medicine. The main buyers of this new medicine are various caravans, and their customers are ordinary people.

With the holding of the commodity fair, the medicine of Harland Territory has become famous and widely appeared in the Grant Kingdom. Although painkillers are new drugs, various caravans are very confident in this new drug.

During the commodity fair, more than 100,000 bottles of this new drug were sold in more than ten days.

The price of painkillers is very affordable, with a wholesale price of only one silver coin per bottle. One bottle contains 60 pills, which is enough for a month. Such a price has already sunk the market to ordinary people.

In fact, this new drug has been widely sold in Harland Territory. It has been launched for only three months, and 60,000 bottles have been sold. Many of the buyers are older freemen.

These people have been serfs for most of their lives, and their living conditions are very poor. Although they have enjoyed a good life in Harland in their later years, they have developed serious physical pain and can only use painkillers to relieve pain.

As sales increase and economic conditions improve, Richard plans to reduce the price of painkillers in a few years to reduce the pressure on ordinary people. After all, one silver coin is equivalent to a week's salary. For middle-aged and elderly people who have lost part of their ability to work, the burden is still very heavy.

At this year's commodity fair, Harland will also display enchanted armor and force field shields in the display cabinet. Enchanted armor and force field shields are high-tech and high-threshold products. Richard has designed a strict anti-counterfeiting technology. Even if a magician wants to imitate them, it is extremely difficult. Violent disassembly will only destroy the magic runes engraved inside.

Moreover, when this kind of enchanted equipment is sold, it will also select the right people. It will only be sold to the nobles of the northern border, the vassal of the territory, and the foreign nobles who want to buy it are out of stock now. Enchanted armor, field shields and other things are placed on the booth mainly for advertising and creating gimmicks to attract people.

This year's commodity fair was very successful.

During the fair, Harland sold more than 300,000 gold coins worth of goods, which greatly promoted economic development and earned huge profits.