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 is very grateful for this kind of kindness.
Moreover, he has been following Mrs. Ola for many years. He is an old man who followed the Harland family before they became prosperous. He is also very loyal to Richard.
So he had an opinion in his mind, but he still raised it 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 was shocked to find that the income of free farmers in the territory was higher than that of the citizens of Heihe Fort.
It is known that the income of urban freemen is higher than that of serfs.
The aristocratic lords exploited the serfs very seriously, and the agricultural tax collected 70% of the output. The vast majority of the serfs almost lived below the subsistence line, and their living conditions were very pitiful.
The situation of freedmen is better, especially in larger cities. Freedmen are basically small businessmen and handicraftsmen, and their living conditions exceed the subsistence line.
Bulk building materials like bricks are basically uncompetitive once they are transported over long distances.
Now Fort William and Fort Sophia have been completed, Iron Mountain Fort is half-finished, and the roads between the main castles have been built. The production tasks of Bobi Brick Kiln Factory will be reduced a lot next year, and it is expected to mainly transform to the civilian market in the future.
If workers' wages are set too high, the pressure on brick kiln factories will indeed increase.
After hearing Rooney's opinion, Richard nodded and said: "Rooney is right. The main occupation of the nearby villagers is agricultural production. It is indeed inappropriate to set the salary of casual workers too high. Just do it as you want." Rooney can seek truth from facts and does not blindly follow the rules
. What he meant by Richard made Richard think highly of him.
During this meeting, Rooney caught Richard's eye. If he does well in the future, Richard will promote him to the civil affairs officer of Fort Sophia.
Now Fort William and Fort Sophia are almost equivalent to military fortresses. 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 administrators will be needed.
Harland Territory is currently very short of qualified civil officials.
As a civil affairs official under a lord, you must not only understand politics and economics, but also law.
Those who can do this are basically members of the nobility.
Although the Harland family has developed well, it has not yet received the support of the nobles.
In addition to working for their own families, members of the nobility basically serve big nobles such as the royal family, dukes, and earls.
Even hereditary earls like Roger and Martins did not have many aristocratic bureaucrats to serve them.
After Sophia wrote to her two brothers, her third brother Rogge agreed to return to northern Xinjiang to serve her sister.
Rogge served as comptroller for the Province of Illinois and upon his return was appointed civil administrator of Vicksburg.
Uncle Roger came back and shared some of Sophia's work.
In the past, Fort Vick, like Fort William, used military law to rule the people. 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 very good profits this year. Although because we sell steel products on a large scale, the ex-factory price has dropped by 30%, with one ton of steel falling from 54.4 gold coins to 38 gold coins. However, because of the increase in production, our profits are higher. In
the past two months, the territory's steel production capacity has exceeded 30 tons, and the monthly output value exceeds one thousand gold coins.
Because there are a large number of kobolds mining, which is equivalent to free labor, the steel factory's income is very considerable. Except The net cash income from internal consumption in the territory exceeds 7,000 gold coins this year.",
Steel and liquor have been the financial backbone of the Harland Territory in the past two years. Without the generous gold coins brought by the steel and liquor industries, the Harland Territory would not have developed so fast. Not only did it support tens of thousands of people, it also continuously trained its army and even formed a Warcraft Cavalry Regiment.
"The steel factory is very profitable, how about the liquor?"
This spring, the manager responsible for selling liquor was involved in corruption, and Sophia discovered it. Richard sent soldiers to execute the embezzlers. And demoted his family as slaves to dig in the mines. As long as the Haaland family exists for one day, the descendants of the corrupt criminals will always be slaves and will not be pardoned at any time.
In fact, once you are demoted to a generational slave, you are basically destined to have no future.
Most of the Harland family are indentured slaves. Except for the orc slaves, indentured slaves usually sign five-year contracts.
You can turn over after five years, and a normal female slave will never marry someone who has been a slave for generations.
The embezzler's wife found Richard immediately after his accident, insisted on a divorce, and abandoned their two children.
It's just a pity that these two children, with such a father, are destined to have a miserable life.
There is extraordinary power in the Dawn Plane. Although the oppression of the nobles is harsh, the oppression of the bureaucrats is lighter.
Because of the existence of Power Word, once a bureaucrat is suspected and uses a Power Word, True Truth or other spells, it will be impossible to conceal the corruption.
The relationship between the nobility and the bureaucracy is not a cooperative relationship, but a strict superior-subordinate relationship.
If the lord is very averse to corruption, the bureaucrats in the territory must restrain themselves.
The risks brought by corruption are too great, but the benefits cannot achieve a class jump.
No matter how much money a person has in the Dawn Plane, without strong protection, the ending will often be very tragic.
The path to success in this plane is always to become a powerful professional, achieve military exploits, and obtain a knighthood.
Only after completing this step can one achieve a class jump.
After this incident, Uncle Powell took charge of the liquor trade and the management of the winery was also under his control.
"The liquor trade is very stable. With the entry into the two duchy 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 it is placed in the main army, it can support four squadrons of soldiers.
The salary of soldiers in Harland Territory is half that of the main army, while the salary of officers is not far different from that of the main army.
For example, the salary of the First Squadron costs two thousand gold coins a year.
Now Richard has organized ten infantry squadrons and one cavalry squadron. Although there are many new recruits who have never participated in the war and have made meritorious service, Richard does not need to pay him 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 his income has increased a lot this year, Richard has only accumulated five thousand gold coins in his treasury, which is not enough to store food.
The hospital has made a net investment this year, and we don’t know when it will make money.
Although the output value of agriculture is very high this year, there are 18,000 mouths in the territory. Not only could the food not be sold, but they had to pay to buy it.
After the Harland family was granted the title of Baron, Richard was always short of money for the past five years.
I feel like the richest time in my family was before I was knighted.
At that time, Mrs. Ola still had several thousand gold coins in her treasury, and the number of gold coins was increasing every month.
Unlike now, although there is a lot of gold coins in circulation, the treasury is empty.
(End of chapter)