Chapter 330 Invitation Letter
Not long after the Goddess’s Birthday, Harland’s primary and secondary schools started to reopen in late January.
Every spring semester begins, the Mage Association tests the qualifications of newly admitted first-year students. At this time, the top leaders of the Mage Association are very busy, and sometimes Richard and Sophia even need to come forward in person.
Because Harland only has two magic crystal balls with testing qualifications, and now needs to test thousands of new students every year, the magicians are simply too busy, and they have to work continuously when they have time.
It is very difficult to make a magic qualification crystal ball. It requires special elemental affinity crystals, and it requires a high-level magic alchemist to personally refine it. This kind of crystal ball is not low-grade, it can be regarded as a seventh-grade magic item. Converted into gold coins, it would cost several thousand.
Grant Kingdom is a magical desert area. The level of magicians in the country is very average, and there is very little communication between magicians. There is only one high-level alchemist, who specializes in enchanted weapons. The success rate of refining magic to detect crystal balls is not high. .
Zooming into the surrounding countries, the level of development of magic civilization is also very low, and important magic props come from the west coast of the Dawn Continent.
Magic qualification testing crystal balls are not a precious resource in Markholm Magic Kingdom, but they are very scarce in Grant Kingdom.
Harland's first magic aptitude test crystal ball came from the Duke of Jonathan. Back then, Richard killed the flying dragon and used the dragon marrow liquid to exchange several relatively scarce magic resources with Duke Jonathan.
The second magic qualification detection crystal ball came from the Grant royal family, using three hundred magic crystals in exchange.
In fact, the Harland Leader Mage Association has the magic qualifications to detect the refining method of the crystal ball. This knowledge comes from the exchange with the Church of the Dawn. However, there were no high-level alchemists in the territory, and the materials for refining the crystal ball for qualification testing were also in short supply, so Richard did not try to refine it.
Within the Harland Mage Association, Sophia is already an intermediate pharmacist and has successfully refined a sixth-level potion. It is placed in the Markholm Magic Kingdom. Pharmacists of this level are considered the backbone.
In the entire Grant Kingdom, there were only two people who were better than Sophia in refining pharmaceuticals.
Over the years, there have been twelve pharmacists brought out by Sophia herself. Harland is responsible for a large part of the basic medicines and is able to be self-sufficient.
Only with sufficient resource support can professionals continue to emerge.
Throughout last year, Harland led a total of 126 professionals who successfully advanced. In addition to six magicians and five knights, the remaining more than 100 were warriors.
Behind these one hundred and twenty-six professionals, thousands of potions need to be provided.
With enough apothecaries, the Harland lords could wean themselves off dependence on the royal family for pharmaceuticals.
When magical civilization has developed to a certain extent, it can greatly promote the development of the territory.
Compared with the level of potion refining, Harland's alchemy level is relatively poor. Although Richard invented several enchanted armors and made pioneering contributions to the field of enchanted armors, the alchemy items he refined the most were actually There are only four levels.
There are only five alchemy students that Richard brought out from the Mage Association. They only know how to refine armor and weapons, and their basic skills are somewhat poor.
In recent years, Richard has seriously felt the shortage of magic qualification testing crystal balls. Richard has no time to go to Markholm Magic Kingdom, and there has been no place to exchange them.
With the school expansion this year, Harland Territory already has fourteen elementary schools. After more than ten years of subtle development, basically the freedmen class will enroll their children in school, and each primary school will enroll more than four classes. According to statistics from various schools, more than 4,000 new students have enrolled this year.
The total student population of fourteen primary schools and three middle schools has exceeded 20,000.
This year, the Harland Territory needs to test the qualifications of more than 4,000 new students. The two magic qualification testing crystal balls cannot be turned at all. The Mage Association has been busy for a month just testing the qualifications of the new students.
By late February, the qualification test for new students has been completed, and the Harland Mage Association will welcome forty-three new blood this year. Counting the preliminary members, the Mage Association has more than 300 members.
The scale of the magic organization of three hundred people is already very impressive.
After years of development, the Grant Kingdom Mage Association has a total of only four to five hundred members.
After February, Richard planned to organize a caravan to travel far away, and arranged for Sophia to lead the team to Markholm Magic Kingdom to have a look and buy some precious resources, especially the magic qualification testing crystal ball. The shortage has affected the development of the territory. Before he was ready, an invitation letter suddenly came from Nolan.
The invitation was sent by the Fanxing Chamber of Commerce, inviting Richard to attend a large auction in Nolan.
Generally speaking, for large chambers of commerce such as Fanxing and Cangqing, it takes five or six years for a round trip from Nolan to the Holy Glory Empire because of the business they do along the way.
Every five or six years, two large multinational chambers of commerce will jointly hold an auction to auction the precious specialties brought back from the Holy Glory Empire and the magical countries on the west coast. There are many precious resources in it.
Every time an auction is held, the multinational chamber of commerce will send invitations to the great nobles of the Grant Kingdom.
It has only been four and a half years since Richard was promoted to hereditary earl, and the last auction held by the Cangqing Chamber of Commerce was six years ago. Six years ago, the Harland family was only a hereditary viscount. Although it was not weak, it did not receive an invitation letter.
In fact, even if he received the invitation letter, Haaland had little money six years ago.
Richard didn't go to Nolan to attend the auction six years ago because he was short of money. He also heard about the auction six years ago and heard that many precious extraordinary resources were auctioned.
After receiving the invitation letter this time, Harland Territory also saved a huge sum of 600,000 gold coins, so Richard decided to go to the auction first.
If he won the magic qualification test crystal ball, he would not need to go to Markholm Magic Kingdom for the time being. After all, it takes two years to go to Markholm Magic Kingdom, even if he walks faster on the road.
Sophia is obsessed with magic career and wants to advance to legend. She is racing against time every day. Meditation, magic research, and magic experiments have occupied most of her time. She is not willing to delay for two years.
After receiving the invitation letter from the Transnational Chamber of Commerce, Richard notified the seven vassal barons in the territory.
Ron and his third uncle Bernie don't have much money. Although their situation is better than when Richard first started to run the territory, after all, there is no information gap in Richard's previous life, and they can't rely on monopolizing commodities and industry to make money. Economic accumulation can only rely on agriculture.
It is of course very slow to accumulate capital by relying on agriculture. Although Bernie and Ron have gone through the most difficult period, there are already 5,000 serfs in the territory and 500 soldiers have been recruited. Richard still needs to subsidize the soldiers' food and wages.
Barons Vida and Grumman are not as good as Ron and Bernie. These two are completely first-generation barons. Even if their personal combat effectiveness is very strong, Vida is a seventh-level knight and Grumman is an eighth-level warrior. The accumulation of the family is far from enough. Now there are less than 3,000 serfs in the territory, and the lord's guard has only 300 soldiers.
In order to operate the territory and purchase population, Vida and Grumman have owed thousands of gold coins. If they hadn't made a fortune in the Kingdom of Delong with Richard last year and were divided into thousands of people, the situation of these two barons would be even more pitiful.
Baron Sharp's situation is slightly better. After all, he has been a baron for more than ten years. Moreover, Sharp married Raphael and got a huge sum of money. He has accumulated tens of thousands of gold coins.
But Sharp is nearly sixty years old and it is difficult for him to break through.
Sharp's son's qualifications and abilities are very average, and he may not be able to keep the family business after he leaves.
Sharp already has two baronies under his name. Once he dies, the territory is in danger of being annexed by Raphael.
In order to be promoted to a hereditary noble earlier, Sharp took a shortcut and married Raphael, borrowing Raphael's merits. Now it has become very troublesome to divide it.
Now Sharp is focused on cutting off from Raphael and has no intention of participating in the auction.
The only ones interested in the auction are Soros and Baron Jose.
Although the Soros family has been promoted to baron for a short time, there are many talents in the family. Uncle Soros is a seventh-level warrior, and Harland is a heavyweight officer. The annual military pay and subsidies add up to more than 300 gold coins.
Cousin Morgan is very talented. He serves as the captain of the scout cavalry in Harland. He is already a fifth-level knight and has an annual military pay of 200 gold coins.
Cousin Audrey has the best talent. She was promoted to the fourth-level knight at the age of 28. She led the Lion-Duck Cavalry of Harland and received an annual salary of more than 160 gold coins.
In addition to some other industries, the Soros family's annual salary plus business profits, not counting the territory income, is close to 2,000 gold coins.
In recent years, following Richard's battles, the Soros Barony has ushered in very rapid development. The population has reached 7,000 and the gold coins praised have exceeded 6,000.
Soros has been promoted to the seventh level for many years. He is not yet 60 years old and still wants to improve his strength and continue to advance. At this auction, Soros plans to buy a precious advanced potion, and he has borrowed some money from Richard for this purpose.
The Jose family is an old noble family in the Grant Kingdom. Although the family's strength is not as good as that of the great nobles, the family members also include a viscount and five barons. If they can be integrated, the power will be considerable.
Baron Jose's mother's family and wife's family are hereditary nobles. His father is the previous Viscount Jose, who left a large estate. Although he is a first-generation hereditary noble, the territory allocated to Baron Jose is much better than that of Vida and Grumman. It is adjacent to the territory of Baron Bernie and is not on the front line. Borrowing some from relatives, Baron Jose can take out 20,000 gold coins and prepare to go to the auction to see the world.
Although the Dukedom of Harland has developed very well, it was established very recently. The main industries in the territory are controlled by the government, and the merchants have not made much money.
In addition to the hereditary vassals, the ones with the strongest economic strength are the high-ranking officers with the most assets.
High-ranking officers are determined to become hereditary nobles, especially hereditary nobles who have made more contributions, higher official positions, and have the hope of being knighted. Each of them is relatively frugal and is ready to save money to operate the territory. They have no conditions to spend money at the auction.
In the end, Richard took a squadron of Warcraft cavalry and rushed to Nolan with Soros and Jose.
Although Richard is the Duke of Grant Kingdom, he rarely goes to Nolan.
In recent years, Richard has been staying in the territory, running various industries, and farming in the northern border. His father William has always been responsible for communicating with the royal family and the upper level in Nolan.
The Harland family rarely focuses on Nolan. A famous duke actually has no property in Nolan.
In the end, King Roger couldn't stand it anymore and granted a palace earl's mansion that had fallen into disgrace, which became the Harland family's property in Nolan.
There are not many people living in the Harland family's mansion in Nolan all year round, and there are only more than ten slaves to clean and look after it. The manager in charge of the sales of goods in the territory sometimes comes to supervise the environmental sanitation and is responsible for the repair of the mansion.
Richard and his companions had just entered Nolan, and first sent people to buy a batch of supplies from the market.
After all, there were not many people in the Nolan mansion. Although there were more than 60 rooms that could accommodate Richard and his party, there was a shortage of food, bedding, and firewood.
As soon as the purchased supplies were distributed, representatives of the Starry and Cangqing Chambers of Commerce came together, ready to talk to Richard.
Transnational chambers of commerce are very powerful, and each has a legendary backer behind it.
The backgrounds of the Starry and Cangqing Chambers of Commerce, which are active in the Grant Kingdom, are not a secret among the great nobles.
The largest shareholder of the Starry Chamber of Commerce is the son of the legendary wizard Markholm. This large chamber of commerce has only been established for 20 years. As long as the legendary wizard Markholm is still there, even the Grant royal family dare not touch the industry of the Starry Chamber of Commerce.
The Cangqing Chamber of Commerce is the industry of a hereditary duke of the Stark Kingdom. The duke's territory borders the Holy Glorious Empire and mainly deals in the specialties of the Holy Glorious Empire.
The Cangqing Chamber of Commerce has been established for three hundred years. A few years ago, a new shareholder was added. This shareholder is a legendary warrior who controls a powerful mercenary group.
The representatives of the two chambers of commerce saluted Richard respectfully, exchanged polite greetings for a moment, and then went straight to the point: "The porcelain produced by His Excellency the Duke has seriously impacted the market and affected our interests. Today we come to visit the Duke and hope to talk to him.
We put forward two conditions. First, we will give the Duke a dividend of 30,000 gold coins every year, hoping that the Duke can give up the porcelain firing industry.
Second, we will give up the Grant Kingdom market, but His Excellency the Duke will also give up the markets of nearby countries, especially at the commodity fair, and prohibit the sale of porcelain to other countries.
If the Duke agrees to this request, we are willing to give low-level Sell a batch of extraordinary resources to the Duke.
The quota of this batch of extraordinary resources is 60,000 gold coins. The price left to the Duke is 20% cheaper than the market price. His Excellency the Duke can save 10,000 gold coins every year. "
"What extraordinary resources can you provide in large quantities?"
"Mainly Tenghui potion, blood enlightenment potion, blood purification potion, mental power promotion potion, and occasionally some advanced potion resources. In addition to potions, we will also sell three types of standard enchanted armor and customized enchanted weapons.
Please rest assured, Your Excellency the Duke, we have enough sources of goods."
The multinational chamber of commerce came to the door, and Richard was mentally prepared in advance.
Porcelain is a relatively important commodity of the two multinational chambers of commerce. In the Grant Kingdom alone, the annual sales are close to 30,000 gold coins. If it is magnified to the three or four nearby countries where the two multinational chambers of commerce, Fanxing and Cangqing, are active, the annual sales exceed 100,000 gold coins.
Bringing the porcelain produced in the capital area of the Holy Glorious Empire to the Grant Kingdom, in addition to the transportation costs along the way, the price of the porcelain itself is very low.
The profits from the porcelain monopoly are so huge that the Transnational Chamber of Commerce is absolutely unwilling to let go.
If the Harland family is just a small noble family and dares to attack the industry of the Transnational Chamber of Commerce, it will probably be easily destroyed.
Now the Transnational Chamber of Commerce has no way to deal with the Harland family, so it can only resort to bribery and come to Richard for negotiation.