Chapter 236 Annual Summary
With extra money in hand, Richard planned to take out a sum of gold coins to buy extra cattle from the nearby lord.
Throughout the winter, the caravan from the Harland Territory traveled throughout the three provinces of northern Xinjiang and even entered the Dukedom of Jonathan. In total, they bought only 4,000 cattle. Including the cost of transporting the cattle, it cost 26,000 gold coins.
Half of the four thousand cattle were farm cattle and the other half were bison. Bison cannot yet be used to plow fields and need to be domesticated for a period of time.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, one farm ox can help four households of free people clear up wasteland during spring plowing. If they choose to plow deeply, they can cultivate about 80 acres of farmland. On average, three to five acres can be cultivated every day.
If the cultivated land is cultivated, the plow is relatively shallow, and ten acres of land can be cultivated every day. For shallow plowing, mules can plow the land faster.
If you use a Warcraft horse, its plowing efficiency is ten times that of an ox due to its strong strength and endurance. However, Warcraft war horses are extremely powerful, have a violent temper, are relatively smart, and are not easy to control. Only professionals can control them.
Harland's territory only has more than a hundred iron horned horses. Even if they are all used for plowing, it will be a drop in the bucket.
The main force for spring plowing depends on mules, horses and oxen.
Four thousand cattle can cultivate 480,000 acres of farmland.
The Harland Territory originally had 3,600 cattle and more than 6,000 mules and horses. Now the territory cultivates only 1.1 million acres of farmland. Even if there is large-scale land reclamation in the past three or two years, the actual amount of land cultivated is basically less than 3,600. There will be a shortage of cattle.
This year marks the tenth year that the Harland family has become a peer.
After ten years of development, by the end of the year, the population of Harland Territory had reached 216,000.
Richard did not purchase slaves this year. Most of the 14,000 additional people were newborns, and only 2,000 slaves were privately purchased indentured servants.
All privately purchased slaves must be converted into indentured slaves after entering Harland Territory. After the contract expires, the territory will compensate the slave purchaser a sum of money.
After private slaves enter the territory, it is difficult to access the core secrets of the territory.
Generally speaking, when the industrial and mining companies in the territory recruit workers, most of them will choose slaves purchased by the Grand Duchy of Stanik, and the grassroots managers will only choose among free people.
The leakage of the brewing process has caused considerable losses to the Haaland territory. Any factory with technological advantages has very strict defenses against the outside world. Even sales staff who often have contact with the outside world are now not allowed to enter Fort William or Sophia. Business transactions are basically conducted through Vicksburg.
Because the sales staff leaked the secret, the territory summed up its experience and lessons, and Richard ordered the sales staff to be rotated every three months.
Although this will affect the business, it can only be done in order to prevent the sales staff from being bribed. After all, nothing is perfect in the world. Now for the sake of confidentiality and safety, we can only sacrifice efficiency.
Entering November, the efficiency of the charging array has increased to 6%. It takes twelve hours to fill a magic crystal with magic energy. Relying on the magic well of the Tower of Fire, Harland's territory has a monthly profit The profit has been six hundred gold coins.
Purchasing abandoned magic crystals only requires a small amount of money, and the monthly cost is only thirty-three gold coins. To operate the magic crystal charging formation, a magician and two magic apprentices are required to take care of it, which adds up to a monthly salary of seven gold coins.
The profit of a magic well of more than 560 gold coins per month is already very considerable for the Harland Territory.
Entering December, Richard summoned the officials in charge of finance in the territory. Report this year's fiscal revenue and prepare next year's fiscal budget.
Gibson was the first to speak. In the past year or two, Mrs. Olla has let go of business matters, leaving most of them to Gibson and Mrs. Kelly.
As the Harland family becomes more and more powerful and produces more and more various goods, Black River Fort's business is getting better and better.
The Harland family's property in Black River Fort is very complex. There are chain pubs, hotels, commercial stations, transportation companies, real estate properties, mills outside the city, grain stations in the city, and clothing stores, shoe stores, etc. .
This year's income has exceeded two thousand gold coins, which is definitely a huge amount of money for ordinary businessmen.
The Harland family is already one of the largest chambers of commerce in Black River Castle, and Mrs. Olla is also planning to build a theater and form a song and dance troupe next year.
In recent years, Richard has not borrowed money from Mrs. Ola. She has accumulated a huge sum of five thousand gold coins in her small treasury.
The next person to report was Leiden.
A few years ago, Richard promoted Rooney to the civil affairs officer of Fort Sophia, and Layton succeeded Rooney as the factory director.
In recent years, because there have been no large orders from the outside, the brick kiln factory's income has been very average. This year, a large number of free people have been added to the territory, real estate has begun to develop rapidly, the construction market is relatively active, and the profit has reached 1,300 gold coins.
Because the demand for real estate is relatively large, the output value of cement and glass has also increased, and a lot of money has been made.
By this year, the glass production technology in Harland Territory was getting better and better, and relying on copper molds, it began to mass-produce flat glass.
The windows of many houses have been replaced with transparent glass. Including the glass bottles needed for cans and drinks, and the glassware needed for hospitals, schools, and laboratories, the income of the glass kiln this year has exceeded 3,000 gold coins.
Glass, brick, wood, cement and other real estate chains have a combined income of 6,000 this year.
The steel industry is still very stable. The Harland Territory's steel output this year has reached 1,300 tons, and the sales price of steel has dropped a bit compared to last year.
Nowadays, the retail price of steel has dropped to 25 gold coins per ton, and a kilogram of good quality iron ingots costs only nine copper coins.
The steel production value of Harland territory has reached 32,500 gold coins. Thirteen hundred tons of steel were produced, only 800 tons were sold, and the remaining 500 tons were mainly used in the territory.
The 800 tons of steel sold brought about 20,000 gold coins in revenue. In addition to hundreds of workers' wages and the food consumed by the orc slaves in the mines, the net profit from the steel trade was about 16,000.
The profit from the woolen business has exceeded that of steel this year. The number of sheep in the Harland Territory has exceeded two million this year, and the net profit from the woolen business has reached 23,000.
Grain planting brought 40,000 gold coins, but the purchase of cattle consumed 26,000, leaving 14,000 gold coins.
This year, there are already 60,000 free people in Harland Territory. They need to pay land tax of 15,000 gold coins, plus commercial taxes, house rent and other miscellaneous income, which adds up to about 18,000 gold coins.
The output of the brown sugar plantation has doubled this year, reaching 260 tons. Because the output has increased so much, the wholesale price of brown sugar has dropped a bit. Now the market price of brown sugar in Harland territory has dropped to twelve copper coins per kilogram, and the wholesale price has dropped to ten copper coins per kilogram.
In the Haaland territory, brown sugar was no longer considered a luxury product, and freedmen’s families could often eat some.
But in the royal capital Nolan, the price of brown sugar remains high, and it is still a luxury product like honey. The next few years will see an explosion in brown sugar production. In three years, brown sugar production will exceed 1,000 tons, and in five years, it may exceed 2,000 tons.
Such a huge production capacity is absolutely not enough for the two to three hundred thousand people in Northern Xinjiang who have the purchasing power.
For the impact of the explosion in brown sugar production capacity, Richard made two preparations: first, selling at reduced prices to sink the market, and second, developing into the royal capital of Nolan.
The profit brought by the brown sugar plantation this year has already reached 5,500 gold coins.
Last summer, the Flame Spider Queen laid eggs and hatched new Flame Spiders. This year, they started spinning silk. The Flame Spider silk production increased by half, and the income increased to 1,500 gold coins.
The output value of the coal mine continues to rise. The coal mined this year reached 21,000 tons. The output value of the coal mine this year reached 7,000 gold coins, and the profit was also 5,000 gold coins.
In order to allow coal to enter the homes of freedmen and reduce deforestation, Richard lowered the sales price of coal.
The selling price of one ton of coal is only four silver coins. If it is increased to eight silver coins, the profit will exceed 10,000.
But when the price was high, many freedmen would not choose coal, but would cut down trees and burn wood for the winter.
With the increase of free people, the income from fruits and fruit preserves has also increased, especially canned fruits. After several years of preparation, the market has been completely opened. You can eat fresh fruits in winter. Although the price is relatively expensive, the nobles All like it very much.
Relying on the large wild orchards on both sides of the Harland Valley, the net income has exceeded 3,000.
In addition, rose perfume has also been successfully produced and sold to noble women through Mrs. Ola's channels. This is the first year, and the income is relatively small, only 800 gold coins.
The income from hemostatic ointment is very stable, with a fixed amount of three thousand gold coins every year.
Hunting Warcraft is now also an important income in Harland Territory.
Throughout last year, the Demon Hunting Team went deep into the Eagle Mountains more than a dozen times and successfully hunted Warcraft three times. The territory shared dividends with the Demon Hunting Team, earning a profit of 8,000 gold coins.
In addition, he made a four-wheeled carriage last year and received a profit of 1,400 gold coins. Harland Territory used four-wheeled carriages to form a transportation team, and the profit was two thousand.
The magic crystal charging technology developed by Harland Territory is very promising. In one year, he charged 260 abandoned magic crystals and earned more than 2,400 gold coins.
By next year, the magic well of the Tower of Flame will be able to bring a net income of 6,500 gold coins to the territory, which is a lot of money. In addition to the Tower of Fire, Harland's territory also has the Tower of Lightning.
The energy core of the Lightning Tower is the magic core of the legendary Warcraft, which can slowly absorb magic power from the natural environment. It can also install magic crystal charging arrays. The two mage towers charge the abandoned magic crystals, and the income brought to the territory will exceed Ten thousand.
Throughout this year, Harland's territory has a cash income of 160,000. Excluding the unexpected fortune of 40,000 gold coins obtained from the Venus family, the territory's income still amounted to 120,000.
The income of 120,000 gold coins is already equivalent to half of the Southern Earl.
This year's cash income of 160,000 gold coins, 26,000 gold coins were spent on buying cattle, about 40,000 gold coins were spent on soldiers' salaries, 10,000 gold coins were spent on army logistics, 6,000 gold coins were spent on territorial officials, and the total medical and education funds were 3,000 gold coins.
One year's expenses are approximately 75,000 gold coins.
By the end of the year, there were 85,000 gold coins saved in the treasury.
It was useless to keep so many gold coins in the treasury. Richard planned to leave a reserve of 15,000 gold coins, and the remaining 70,000 gold coins were going to the Grand Duchy of Stanik to buy slaves.
Seventy thousand gold coins can buy 14,000 slaves. With these 14,000 slaves, the population of the territory will exceed 230,000.
As autumn enters, the recruits have completed their training. Richard mixed the recruits of the eight squadrons with the veterans of the third and fourth brigades to form the fifth and sixth brigades.
Richard, the captain of the Fifth Brigade, appointed Roland. Although Roland was equipped with prosthetic limbs, it was still inconvenient to fight on horseback. This time there was a large-scale expansion of the territorial army, and Richard took advantage of the situation and transferred him to the infantry to do his old job.
Richard, the captain of the Sixth Brigade, appointed Jennings. Jennings' talent was very outstanding. He was promoted to the fourth level at the age of twenty-seven, two years faster than those with better talents such as William and Roland.
This year, forty-six soldiers were promoted to professionals, and all the new professionals were transferred to the fifth and sixth brigades by Richard.
Although these two brigades are newly formed, a large number of veteran officers have been recruited, and their combat effectiveness is not weak at all. Because they have received a large amount of enchanted equipment from the Venus family, their combat effectiveness can be as good as that of the main army.
As the number of troops under his command increased and the level of professionals became higher and higher, Richard knew that the Harland family must be promoted to earls as soon as possible.
Only when a noble is promoted to earl can he be canonized as a noble.
According to the nobility law of the Grant Kingdom, an earl can be granted the title of baron.
In the Grant Kingdom, the lowest hereditary title is baron.
The royal family will grant the title of Lord to the mid-level professionals of the Praetorian Guard and give them a portion of land and manor. However, the Lord does not have the status of a member of the Noble Parliament. If his descendants cannot be promoted to mid-level professionals, they cannot inherit this part of the land and manor.
Professionals strive all their lives for nothing more than a title and land that can be passed down to future generations, opening the door to the upper class and allowing their descendants to achieve a class jump.
If the development of the Haaland family stagnates, its attraction to outstanding talents will weaken a lot. Richard knew in his heart that title, territory, and honor were the cornerstones of loyalty in this era.
Even though Richard promoted many professional officers from slaves and changed their destiny, many people were grateful to Richard.
However, if the channel for professionals to rise to the nobility is blocked, I am afraid that if the development reaches a certain level, many people will still choose to leave the Harland Territory, join the main army or defect to other great nobles, and be promoted to hereditary barons.
This idea is determined by the social atmosphere of the Dawn Plane for thousands of years. As long as you live in this plane, you will be affected by the mainstream values, and it is difficult to force change.
Judging from the accumulated merits, Richard is not far away from being promoted to earl. He has two viscounty fiefdoms in his name, and he can be promoted to earl if he obtains another viscounty fiefdom. If he can seize the opportunity to make military exploits during the next orc invasion war, he should be able to become an earl.
(End of chapter)