Chapter 361 Christmas Dinner
Now the fiscal revenue of Harland Territory is equivalent to 28% of the royal family's income, which exceeds that of Duke Jonathan, but not as much as that of Grand Duchy of Stannic.
Although the income is high, the expenditure is also increasing rapidly.
This year, the number of soldiers with citizenship in the regular army of Harland Territory has reached 41,000, and there are only 9,000 contract slaves left in the regular army. In addition to the subsidies and salaries of more than 30,000 second-line troops, the military salary expenditure has increased to 600,000 gold coins, an increase of 50% compared with last year. The military salary expenditure alone accounts for 38.9% of the fiscal revenue.
In addition, the pensions received by the families of the disabled and the dead also cost 34,000 gold coins.
The logistics expenditure is also an important expense. Harland Territory has a total of 50,000 regular troops and 30,000 second-line auxiliary troops. It costs 130,000 gold coins a year to maintain the army, plus the cost of replenishing equipment. In total, the military expenditure this year is as high as 810,000 gold coins, accounting for 52.4% of the fiscal revenue, a slight increase from last year.
This year, the Haland Territory recruited more than 800 civil servants. In addition to the newly established financial management department, they mainly filled the central systems. Including the new recruits this year, the Haland Territory has nearly 9,000 civil servants.
Among these 9,000 civil servants, more than 6,000 have attended elementary school, are proficient in writing official documents, and understand simple mathematical knowledge. Their quality is already at a relatively high level in the Dawn Plane.
Nine thousand civil servants, the annual salary is 80,000 gold coins, plus various subsidies and benefits issued by the government, consuming 96,000 gold coins.
Although Richard tried his best to suppress government spending, government spending always caught up with the level of fiscal revenue, roughly accounting for about 6% of fiscal revenue.
Although the income is already comparable to that of ordinary soldiers, in the environment of the Dawn Plane, the social status of civil servants is not as good as that of professional soldiers.
The social energy of both sides is also incomparable. When a conflict breaks out, both sides have their reasons, and Richard and other territory leaders will also favor military soldiers.
This year, the Haland Territory has built three new elementary schools and one middle school. At present, there are 16 primary schools and 4 middle schools in Harland Territory, with more than 24,000 students. This year, the funds used for education are about 20,000 gold coins.
The medical department has built three new hospitals, and a total of 30,000 gold coins have been invested, including maintenance costs. Education and medical care have spent 50,000 gold coins this year, which is still at a relatively low level.
The investment in scientific research is still expanding. This year, each research institute received 45,000 research funds, and the research funds of the Harland Mage Association have increased dramatically, reaching 52,000 gold coins.
The research funds plus the salaries of researchers have reached a huge amount of 105,000 gold coins, which is a few points higher than the research funds of some large organizations in the Markholm Magic Kingdom.
The proportion of research funds in fiscal revenue has also increased to 6.8%, which is already a very high level among the major noble territories.
In recent years, Richard has invested more than 300,000 gold coins in research institutes and the Mage Association.
All in all, this year's expenditure is as high as 1.065 million gold coins, with a surplus of 480,000 gold coins.
Although 600,000 gold coins were accumulated last year, more than 200,000 gold coins were spent on the auction, and more than 100,000 gold coins were spent on buying high-level materials to make the steel golem, leaving only 200,000 gold coins left from last year's accumulation.
At the end of the year, the treasury of Harland Territory counted out 690,000 gold coins. This money cannot be used rashly, it must be used as the war funds for next year, and used to reward merits when necessary.
This year, the transportation department built 60 new transport ships, and Richard also transformed 3,000 security troops into a navy.
This navy usually performs some commercial transportation tasks, and surveys the river channels and hydrology in the Black River Basin. Provide intelligence to the territory's staff and prepare to use troops in the Black River Basin.
The navy's combat target is not the orcs. The orcs are in the northern part of the Eagle Mountains, and they do not need the navy to fight against the orcs.
The reason why Richard built the navy was to guard against the Grant royal family and several other dukedoms.
With this navy, Richard can quickly mobilize 10,000 elite soldiers at a critical moment to attack important castles in the Black River Basin. If steam paddle wheels are added to these transport ships, the maneuverability of this navy will be greatly increased.
Of course, Richard will not openly establish a navy to disrupt the regional balance. This navy usually still operates in the name of a water transport company.
After the annual budget and final accounts are completed, the birthday of the goddess of dawn is approaching.
Every year on the birthday of the goddess of dawn, the Harland family will hold a banquet to invite relatives to reunite and keep in touch.
In the past, the banquet was held in Black River Castle, and William and Lady Ola were the hostess and hostess. Now William and Lady Offa have gone to the south to develop, and the venue of the banquet has moved to William Castle, and Sophia has become the hostess.
Since marrying Richard, Sophia has lived a very comfortable life. She has not lived with her mother-in-law for a day, and there is no struggle in Richard's court.
Originally, Sophia should have been the one to worry about holding a family banquet, but unlike Lady Ola, she does not like socializing, and is not good at managing such things. All the big and small things at the banquet were handed over to a palace maid. It was very simple to organize and did not cost much money.
After Richard took charge, the scale of the Christmas party was expanded, and people from in-laws' families such as Stob and Dark were invited.
Nowadays, there are hundreds of nobles who can attend the Christmas dinner. There are already many nobles who have inherited the title, including Morgan, Ron, Kent, George and others.
Especially since George inherited a territory in the south, he would start to travel in mid-November every year, come to the territory to participate in the Christmas dinner, stay for a while and get in touch with relatives. It would be late February when he returned to the southern territory.
The reason why George worked so hard was not because he had a deep relationship with Richard, nor did he miss his relatives. After all, they did not grow up together. Although there was some affection, it was not really that deep.
George was unwilling to cut off contact with the north, mainly because of practical needs. He actually had to rely on his brother Richard to support his operation of the territory in the south.
Without the powerful Duke of Harland, George, a small border lord, might not be able to sit firmly.
Richard's little resources would be a great help to George. For example, the 600 alchemical bombs provided by Richard helped George defend the territory and win several key wars.
In addition, George had conflicts with other neighboring nobles, conflicts with the governor of the same province, and offended the high-ranking officials of the local garrison. Richard could mediate these problems and conflicts for him. Going to the noble council to quarrel, the ability of a duke representative is far superior to that of the baron himself.
In addition, Bernie, Soros, Vito, Wendy and other first-generation military nobles attended the banquet. They have greater influence and are considered to be crucial people in the territory.
After more than ten years of expansion, the construction of William Castle has long been different from the initial plan.
Because the Harland territory is developing faster and faster, the territory area is getting larger and larger, and the old city has gradually lost its defensive function.
Today, the new city area is mainly developing to the south, occupying the five or six square kilometers of river valley alluvial plains, and the population living around William Castle has exceeded 100,000.
East City, Central City, and West City have completely become the residences of high-ranking nobles and various central departments.
A magician tower was also built in the west of the XC area. Magicians built beautiful houses and villas near the magician tower, scattered in the mountains of the XC area.
Richard's mansion has also been expanded several times. Although it was built with four floors, it still looks a bit shabby for a duke, and the space inside is not enough.
After all, a duke's court has hundreds of people serving up and down, and there must be close guards. A small area is not enough.
Three years ago, Richard had re-selected a site to build a seven-story duke's mansion. The site of the duke's mansion is located on the top of the mountain northwest of the city wall.
In the past three years, the construction workers of Harland Territory have sorted out a huge flat land on the top of the mountain. The magicians also used integrated technology to transform a large amount of soil into solid stone.
Then with the help of the magicians, the new duke's mansion was successfully built.
This year's Christmas dinner was held in the banquet hall of the new duke's mansion.
In the new duke's mansion, a large number of magic arrays are used. The core nodes of these magic arrays are all stored with magic crystals. If the enemy hits here, they can rely on the magic array to resist for a period of time, and then escape to the swamp basin magic tower through the short-distance teleportation array.
A hidden secret passage was also dug in the Duke's mansion, through which one can enter the South City, and when necessary, the secret passage can be used to escape.
This secret passage was dug by Richard, Sophia, Wendy and other core members of the Harland family in their spare time using the power of magic. Except for a few confidants, outsiders were not aware of it.
Steam pipes were used in the mansion for heating, so even in the cold winter, people still felt warm as spring.
The banquet hall of the Duke's mansion was brightly lit, and gas lamps were already on. The people of the Harland family were toasting here, and many people stood by the window to enjoy the snowy scenery on a winter night.
The long table in the middle of the hall was filled with sumptuous food, and the maids shuttled to take it, delivering cups of white wine and fruit wine to the guests in need.
There was also a band playing in the corner, which looked quite good, and there were also beautiful actresses from the opera troupe, who performed explicit dances hard to attract nobles. Even if they were lovers of nobles, they could also drive the family to achieve a leap in class.
Richard clapped his hands, attracting everyone's attention, and said directly: "Ladies and gentlemen, the most fundamental reason why we can enjoy delicious food and beautiful scenery here is that the Harland Territory has developed steadily. Because we are the ruling class of the Harland Territory and the masters of this land.
We enjoy everything we can enjoy, including power, money and beauty, so we should bravely take responsibility and have a sense of ownership.
So no matter who destroys the development of the territory, they are our enemies, even if they are our relatives.
To maintain the development of the territory, we must fight against external and internal enemies. It is very simple to identify external enemies, but it is difficult to find internal enemies.
So I want you to think about it, who are our friends and who are our enemies?
I hope you can give me an answer at the Christmas dinner next year."
Richard's speech was as simple as always. He was still the determined man, but after hearing his speech, many people felt mixed emotions, and some people were not very happy, thinking that Richard was too ungrateful.
But no matter what they think, as long as Richard is in charge, as long as the soldiers are willing to obey his orders, whether they are family members or in-laws, they must follow his baton. No matter who violates the rules and laws set by Richard, he will not show mercy.
To manage a country or a territory, the first thing to manage is the family. Only by managing the family well can you have the confidence to manage other senior officials. Only when the senior officials are well managed can the territory be fair. With a fair atmosphere, the cohesion of the territory can be improved. With improved cohesion, the fighting will of the soldiers can be guaranteed.
In recent years, the Harland family has not found anyone with outstanding talents. William had the best talent in the previous generation and has been promoted to a ninth-level warrior, but his potential has been exhausted and there is no possibility of promotion to the legendary realm.
Third uncle Bernie has good talent and was promoted to a seventh-level professional two years ago, but he is nearly fifty years old and has no hope of being promoted to the legendary realm.
Although the second uncle Powell has an extraordinary sense of smell, his talent for cultivation is very ordinary. After retiring from the army, his professional level has not been promoted and he has transformed into a civilian staff member of the Harland territory.
In Richard's generation, except for Richard and Wendy, the talents of others are also very ordinary. Most of those in their thirties are at the second or third level. Ron is in his forties and has just barely been promoted to the fourth level. Adrian is better than the others and was promoted to a third-ring magician a year ago.
On the contrary, Anne and Noel, the distant branches of the Harland family, have both been promoted to the middle level.
Anne has just turned thirty and is already a fourth-ring magician. Noel is in his forties and has a sixth-level warrior level. His advancement speed is almost comparable to William.
Although the members of the Harland family of this generation have average qualifications, there are some outstanding people among their marriages.
Richard's cousin-in-law Jennings has been promoted to a seventh-level warrior in his early thirties and has a good chance of breaking through the legendary realm.
The children of Uncle Soros are generally talented. Morgan is already a fifth-level knight, and cousin Audrey is more talented and has also reached the fifth level at a young age.
The young people of the Stob family are generally mediocre in talent. Roger and Otto are both civil servants, not even professionals. Sofia's other brothers and sisters all died in the war.
The talents of the members of the Stob family are generally better than those of Roger and Otto. Vito was promoted to hereditary baron, and his professional level reached the seventh level, but he was older than William, so he naturally could not help Margaret and Philip.
The mother family of the Stob family could only provide ordinary help to the children.
On the contrary, Richard's eldest daughter Margaret was extremely talented. At the age of twelve, she had already completed eight years of high school.
Margaret's magic level was also developing steadily. A few days before the goddess' birthday, she broke through the realm. She was a twelve-year-old first-ring magician, and her talent was higher than Sofia.
After becoming a professional, Margaret already had the right of inheritance.
But Richard did not want to announce this news to the public to avoid the child from being plotted against by opponents.
Margaret's talent can be called a legendary seed.
Before a genius grows up, he is actually very fragile.
Once Margaret is attacked by others because of exposing her talent and encounters an accident, it will bring regrets that Richard and Sofia will never be able to let go.
Even the Grant royal family and the Jonathan family, who have close ties with the Harland family, may not be willing to let Margaret grow up.
Therefore, protecting Margaret is already an important task for Richard and Sofia. After Margaret graduated, Sofia decided to let her daughter participate in her magic research and protect her safety under her nose.
This winter, Margaret has finished her high school studies. She also took advanced mathematics. Because the Harland territory has not established a university yet, Margaret has no school to go to now, and her main energy is developing in the field of magic.