Chapter 13 Income
Soon, the day for the Chamber of Commerce to return arrived.
This year, the Chamber of Commerce developed rapidly. It not only sold goods to Vienna, but also sold goods to Crimea, Constantinople, Poland, Lithuania and other places by sea. This also forced Genoa and Venice to acquiesce in their status, because the things they sold made these two major maritime trading countries have no access to goods.
"Sir, excluding costs and taxes, the Chamber of Commerce has earned a total of 260,000 ducats this year."
The leader of the Chamber of Commerce, Luca, reported the results. According to Peter's regulations. They report every six months and exchange intelligence with the leaders of each region to decide on the most profitable goods to sell.
Generally speaking, the Chamber of Commerce backed by the lord develops the fastest. This Chamber of Commerce is no exception. Not only does it have the support of the Lord of Dobruja, but it also obtained a charter from Grand Duke Mircea, allowing them to go to Poland, Lithuania, and various principalities of Russia to trade.
The Chamber of Commerce actually does not export many types of goods, including grain, salt, honey, beeswax, and some other items. Imports include high-value goods such as iron, weapons, and luxury goods. Under Mircea's rule, the mineral resources of Wallachia began to be developed, and minerals such as sulfur and iron began to be mined. Many boyar nobles saw the huge benefits of this chamber of commerce and cooperated with them.
At this time, the Chamber of Commerce was the fastest-growing trade organization in the Balkans. He had 30 trading posts and more than 20 caravans in Wallachia, which traveled to Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and other countries, and the farthest reached Vienna. They took the grain and salt trade in Dobruja as a foothold and soon became an important economic force in Wallachia.
"Well, everyone has worked hard this year. Keep up the good work next year!"
As the boss behind the scenes, Peter also had to say a few inspiring words. And also issued the latest instructions, including lending, expanding trade, spying on intelligence and guiding people to Wallachia. It can be seen that the mission of this organization is heavy.
Under the operation of the Chamber of Commerce, the first lending institution was established in Constanta with a capital of 10,000 ducats.
This lending institution sent people to carry out propaganda, because lending is considered a sin in Christianity, so it cannot be done in a big way and can only be done quietly. But for the majority of farmers, they hope that this year's harvest will be better.
Part of the Chamber of Commerce's profits are paid to Grand Duke Mircea through taxes, and the rest are distributed through dividends. Because Peter is also a shareholder of this Chamber of Commerce, he is entitled to the largest share. Therefore, Peter can get nearly 220,000 gold coins in profit.
As for the output under Peter's name, it is varied, including grain, fruit, wine, and salt. Especially salt, because of its good quality, the product is even sold to Novgorod and the Teutonic Knights. The price is also rising. Many Polish and Lithuanian merchants came to Constanta just to get some refined salt. In Europe, most people use salt to pickle meat to extend the shelf life, and salt is a necessary condiment, so the amount used is very large. Peter also made a lot of profit on this project.
Next is the taxation of Dobruja. Because Peter announced that new immigrants would not be taxed for three years, the main taxes were industrial and commercial taxes and tariffs. These accounted for a very small proportion and were not worth mentioning.
Moreover, Dobruja had a more advanced situation than France: the nobles had to pay taxes, even Peter's property had to pay taxes.
Hahahahaha, how about it, didn't expect it! The nobles had to pay taxes, had to pay taxes.
In fact, for a long time after the Roman Empire was divided, the nobles had to pay taxes. The Eastern Roman Empire was stricter than the Western Roman Empire in this regard. It was not like the Western Empire where all noble lands could enjoy exemptions, but only reduced rents and taxes.
Speaking of tax exemption rights, we have to mention another European country, Britain. The financial privileges of the British nobles in the Middle Ages were mainly financial exemptions, private taxation rights, tax assessment and the right to approve taxation. In this regard, unlike the European continent, the British nobles did not enjoy tax exemption rights. However, because the tax system was not sound at the time, the nobles often used various means to avoid and evade taxes, but this also led to a long-term struggle between the nobles and the king on tax issues, and the right to approve taxes was the result of the king's compromise.
In Constanta, many people came here from Bulgaria and Lithuania. They either hid from the Ottomans or the nomadic tribes such as the Tatars. In addition, Wallachia announced measures to encourage reclamation and handicrafts, and the number of immigrants here increased.
After arriving in Constanta, immigrants would first go to the city hall to register their identities. Then he and his family became part of Constanta.
The new immigrants here became free people. They could engage in handicrafts and commerce, or they could reclaim land in other areas. However, in return, they not only had to pay taxes, but also had to engage in military training during the slack season. This became the main source of militia.
In this year, under the promotion of Peter, Dobruja reclaimed about 10,000 yugrams of land. If you add the previous ones, the total is 18,000 yugrams. (Yugram, the land area during the Roman Empire, 1 yugram = 25/12 acres = 13 acres)
Some of these were soldiers' fields, and some were reclaimed by new self-cultivating farmers. After the previous harvest, the serfs were no longer resistant to fertilizers. After all, everyone wanted to eat more and live a better life.
Not only that, when he was free, Peter also urged the serfs to go to the fields to pull out weeds by hand to avoid harming the growth of crops.
After half a month of hard work, the tax revenue of the entire Dobruja had been deposited. Just like last year, except for what they left behind. In the end, Peter obtained a total of about 3 million pounds of rye and wheat, as well as economic crops such as grapes, fruits, and honey.
In addition, the yield of oats has also come out. The yield of oats per acre is 120 pounds, which is 108 catties per acre. However, oat grass is also a good feed. Although the seeds are harvested at a low point, it is not unacceptable. Moreover, the yield of oat seeds in later generations is only three or four hundred catties, which is about the same as soybeans. The price of oats in Europe is very high, reaching 3 silver coins per pound, which is equivalent to the daily salary of a craftsman. And oats are also very useful, because horses need to eat frequently.
The same is true for the land of Peter's soldiers. The land of 5 yuger per person also produces an average of 15,000 pounds of rye.
After hearing the news, Peter had no expression. Director Alexander, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear.
"Okay, Director, you've been grinning since just now."
"My Lord, I've never seen so much grain. You're the richest man in the country."
Alexander was right. The grain price in Eastern Europe is about one silver ducat per pound. In other words, about 12 pounds of grain can be exchanged for one gold ducat. If all of this is sold, it will be hundreds of thousands of Wallachian ducats.
"It looks like we have to build a granary again." Peter said so.
But before building the granary, he still sold some of the grain. A total of millions of pounds of grain, if all of it is sold out, it will be a lot of money.
But this is also impossible. If you invest all of it, you can't afford the plummeting grain prices. So you can only sell part of it, and go to other places.
In this era, if you have more grain, you will also have more income. Especially after a certain time traveler adds. If these rye are shipped to Spain, the profit can be doubled. Having said that, Peter was also depressed. Because - he didn't have a ship for ocean voyages...
So, Peter still took the old path. Cooperating with those recruited smugglers, he sold grain to Iran and Syria. Because of the war, grain prices in these places skyrocketed. One pound of grain could be worth 7 silver coins, which shows how turbulent it was.
In order to increase income, Peter expanded the salt production field. The original amount of salt produced was doubled, so the annual salt income also doubled.