Chapter 259 Year-End Summary
December is the time for territorial accounting and statistics.
This year, through the sale of excess grain, the Harland Territory received 30,000 gold coins and 6,000 slaves.
Among them, 20,000 gold coins are taxes, and the remaining 10,000 gold coins and 6,000 slaves are the balance of official rations.
Nowadays, the biggest benefit in Harland territory is actually the cultivation of official land.
After all, there were hundreds of thousands of indentured slaves cultivating official fields, exploiting the labor force of hundreds of thousands of indentured slaves, which was of course very profitable. Through this income, the Harland Territory not only supports a large and growing population, but also earns tens of thousands of gold coins in net income every year.
However, most of the gold coins from this income were exchanged by Richard for slaves. The territory's population is increasing so rapidly, and the revenue from official grain is the most critical.
This year was a little better, accumulating 10,000 gold coins in cash. In the past few days, Harland Territory invested a large amount of gold coins every year to purchase slaves.
Even if the lords of the Dawn Plane have money, they basically spend it on luxurious enjoyment. Almost no lord can do this.
Operating territory in northern Xinjiang is very risky. Once the castle is breached by the orcs, decades of accumulation will be destroyed in one fell swoop.
Normal nobles would choose to diversify their investments, and when they made money, they would often buy farms and properties near Nolan. For example, Richard's father-in-law, Baron Stopa, arranged for his sons to go to the south and purchased a large number of properties for them.
Baron Stopa is just a weak border baron. Almost all nobles above Viscount want to trade with the royal family, marry with southern nobles, and develop to the south through various means.
There are also some misers who, even if they have money, hide it in the cellar and will not use it to buy slaves to open up wasteland.
The second income of the territory is the steel trade. This year's war with the orcs caused a great loss of equipment in the northern Xinjiang region, and the demand for steel is very strong.
Whether it is the Grizzly Bear Legion or the noble private army, they have suffered heavy losses, and a large amount of steel is needed to replenish weapons and armor.
Compared with several nearby lords who produce steel, the iron products in the Harland territory are of high quality and low price. They have won a large order from the Grizzly Legion to replenish their armaments. Together with the weapons orders from other nearby lords, they have produced tens of thousands of iron products at a time. A piece of armor, tens of thousands of spearheads and swords.
Excluding orders for civilian iron products, orders for military equipment alone this year will require thousands of tons of steel.
Although the territory's steel production this year reached 2,400 tons, supply still exceeds demand, and the price of steel has also risen.
The net profit from the steel trade actually reached 36,000 gold coins, reaching a historical peak.
If there is no war next year, steel production capacity will exceed demand and profits will fall. According to estimates from the steel department, they will fall below 30,000.
The textile business market is still growing. This year's profit is second only to steel, with a net profit of 33,000 gold coins.
The textile industry market has not yet reached saturation, and will continue to increase steadily next year, possibly exceeding steel revenue.
This year the scale of sheep breeding continues to expand. The Sheepman tribe directly controlled by the territory has 1.6 million sheep on stock and 500,000 sheep for slaughter.
Because of the serious oversupply in the Harland Territory market, Richard could only drive the sheep to Heihe Fort to sell them.
In order to sell mutton, Richard also built a sheep trading market outside Heihe Fort, stored a large amount of fodder, purchased more than 3,000 acres of land, and invested about 16,000 gold coins.
Richard supplied the army and distributed welfare, which consumed 100,000 sheep. This year, through this trading market, Harland Territory sold as many as 400,000 sheep, bringing in an income of 50,000 gold coins.
The consumer population near Heihe Fort mainly relies on the families of Northern Legion soldiers, which adds up to about 100,000 people.
In a year, the maximum consumption is 400,000 sheep.
Serfs, who made up the majority of the population, would not be able to consume mutton even if Richard lowered the price three times. Because serfs had no savings, everything they owned belonged to the lord.
Starting next year, Harland Territory will not expand its sheep population, and by then more than three million sheep will be slaughtered each year.
The Black River Fort consumer market plus the Harland Territory consumer market can only digest 800,000 heads.
Richard still needs to find a way to sell the remaining two million sheep.
In addition to grain, steel, wool and mutton are now the top products of Harland's territory and the three most profitable industries.
There are now more than 90,000 free people in the Harland territory. The income from land tax is 23,000 gold coins. Adding the income from property tax, house installment payment, and commercial tax, the total is 29,600 gold coins. The tax revenue is already An important source of income for the territory.
The production of brown sugar has reached 850 tons this year. Due to the invasion of orcs, many main legionnaires died. The main legionnaires are the most important consumer groups in Northern Xinjiang. The sales of brown sugar in Northern Xinjiang have also dropped a lot. For the first time in history, there is an oversupply situation.
The sales of brown sugar in Black River Fort, Flame Fort, and Grizzly Bear Fort have dropped a lot, especially in Grizzly Bear Fort, where the sales volume has dropped by more than half.
Fortunately, Richard opened up a new channel and was able to sell 300 tons of brown sugar through the Church of the Goddess of Wealth. In addition, after the fall, Richard became an earl and sold more than 100 tons of brown sugar to Nolan, so he could sell all the brown sugar before December. Brown sugar is sold out.
Due to the rapid increase in production, the selling price of brown sugar continues to fall. The retail price in Harland Territory has dropped to eight copper coins per kilogram, and the wholesale price to Fortune Church has dropped to seven copper coins per kilogram.
Even if it is sold to Nolan, the retail price of brown sugar is only fifteen copper coins per kilogram, which is about one-third cheaper than the honey transported to Nolan from the south.
The price of honey in Nolan is about twenty-two copper coins per kilogram. In order to compete with the brown sugar produced in the Haaland territory, the retail price of honey in Nolan has been reduced by 13%. Now the selling price has been reduced to about nineteen copper coins per kilogram. Kilogram, still cannot regain the market.
Nolan's main consumer groups, in addition to free folk traders, are the families of the Guards soldiers. These low-end consumers are very price-sensitive.
The cost of raising bees is not cheap, and it is difficult to compete with the brown sugar produced in Haaland territory. By next year, Nolan's honey market will be largely taken away by brown sugar.
Now that Richard is selling brown sugar to Nolan, after excluding freight and taxes, there is still room for a price reduction of four copper coins.
When brown sugar production continues to rise, prices can continue to be lowered to sink the market. Breeding bees is very labor-intensive, and it is particularly troublesome to catch up with the flowering period. There is not much room for price reduction at all.
Because of the large influx of brown sugar into the Nolan market, it is foreseeable that beekeepers will face a wave of unemployment in the future, and there may be some chaos in the areas where bees are raised.
Although the price of brown sugar has dropped a bit this year, the net income from brown sugar trade has increased a lot, climbing to eighteen thousand gold coins.
Next year, the brown sugar production in the Harland territory will reach 1,400 tons. The selling price will still be slightly lower, and the profit will exceed 30,000 gold coins. After more than ten years of expanding operations and cultivating the market, the brown sugar industry has finally developed into Harland. An important source of income for the German territory.
This year was affected by the orc invasion war, and there was almost no profit from hunting Warcraft.
In autumn and winter, after repelling the orc army, the territorial demon hunting team entered the Eagle Mountains several times, and only once successfully hunted three wind wolves. In addition to the bounty given to the demon hunting team members, the income from the territory is only 6,000.
Last year, because he successfully captured a group of griffons and the Iron Horned Horse King, the cash income from hunting Warcraft exceeded 70,000, and the additional income exceeded 300,000. This year's income is only 6,000.
Hunting World of Warcraft is not only risky, but the stability of returns is also relatively poor. It relies on luck, which has never been the focus of Richard's business.
Magic crystal charging income was also affected by the war and dropped slightly, only about 10,000.
Limited by the number of magic wells, if the charging efficiency cannot continue to improve, this benefit will not increase.
The profit from the wine business has actually increased a lot. Due to various factors such as the expansion of the territory's own market, the new channels of the Goddess of Wealth Church, and its entry into the Nolan market, the revenue from the wine business has increased dramatically, reaching 14,000. This income has almost reached the high point of the wine business.
In the Grant Kingdom, the distilled grain wine from the northern frontier has now completely defeated the wine from the south. Nowadays, the production of wine has dropped sharply, but the price has increased a lot. It is only for the high-end market and serves the aristocratic class.
In fact, for any product, the most profitable ones are always mass products. Luxury brands actually don’t make much money.
In recent years, white wine and brown sugar have eaten up a lot of profits from red wine and honey in the south, and the Southern Earl's income has dropped a lot.
If it weren't for the powerful Harland family, whose territory is located on the front line of northern Xinjiang and has a very important strategic location, and the southern earls have just been involved in the rebellion, and their strength has declined to varying degrees, I am afraid that the southern earls will cause a lot of trouble for the Harland family. Due to commercial competition, the two sides might start a brutal civil war.
Now, due to various coincidences, there is no breakup.
However, as liquor and brown sugar enter the Nolan market, the Harland territory continues to infringe on the interests of the southern earls. It is expected that conflicts will soon break out, triggering civil strife.
As the little queen bee grew up, the income from the hemostatic ointment doubled to 10,000 gold coins.
Hemostatic ointment is a strategic resource in Northern Xinjiang and is still in short supply. The revenue from burn ointment is also very good, exceeding two thousand gold coins.
Through the fame created by the hemostatic ointment, a lot of other medicines in the Haaland territory have also been sold. This year, the territory has made a total of thirteen thousand gold coins in profit from the sale of medicines.
This year, the territory's four-wheeled carriage manufacturing industry has also experienced rapid development. This year, through the relationship between William and Bernie, the Harland Territory has received some military supplies transportation orders.
Through the war test, the four-wheeled carriage transportation efficiency in Harland Territory is very high.
This performance was seen by many people, and many new orders were received after the war.
The four-wheeled carriages sold well, and many nobles imitated the four-wheeled carriages. However, because the key materials, such as rolling bearings and wheel hub brackets, were not up to standard, the quality was far inferior to the original products produced in the Harland territory.
Although the counterfeit goods affected some sales, the quality of the counterfeit goods was not up to par. The territory's profit reached 10,000 yuan from the sales of four-wheeled carriages and rolling bearings.
Nowadays, there are even counterfeit products on the market that are counterfeiting the Haaland Territory Four-Wheeled Carriage, which has seriously affected the brand value of the Harland Territory Four-Wheeled Carriage and made Gavin particularly upset.
Gavin is Richard's cousin, responsible for the carriage business and overseeing the territory's transportation industry. Gavin is going to send people to secretly investigate and find the four-wheeled carriage factory that manufactures counterfeit and shoddy goods, and then mobilize troops to kill them all, demanding that the nobles who provide protection pay high fines. Otherwise, Earl Harland will send men to cause trouble for them.
However, there are countless copycat manufacturers producing fake and shoddy goods, and some even have big nobles as backers. Faced with the serious local protectionism in the Dawn Plane, it is very difficult to crack down on fake and shoddy goods. Even if Richard became an earl, he still couldn't change this.
Although there are many knock-off products, profits from the sales of horse-drawn carriages have still surged this year.
The profit from the transportation business also exceeded 8,000. The business that Gavin is responsible for has a profit of up to 18,000 gold coins this year, which is already very impressive.
This year, the territory's coal production exceeded 40,000 tons, sales reached 34,000 tons, and net profit was close to 10,000 gold coins.
Miscellaneous income from masonry, cement, glass, fruit, etc. was higher than last year, totaling eleven thousand gold coins.
The fastest growing business is the rose perfume business. Even though the price is higher, because it has entered new markets such as Wright Castle, Flame Castle, Grizzly Bear Castle, Jonathan Dukedom, Edward Dukedom, etc., it has increased almost five times compared with last year. The profit is actually More than five thousand gold coins.
Nowadays, most noble ladies and ladies in northern Xinjiang like to use rose perfume. This industry has no competitors for the time being and is quite profitable.
Next year, Richard can sell it to Nolan, the royal capital, and to the Grand Duchy of Stanik through the channels of the Goddess of Wealth Church. The profit from the perfume business will reach 10,000.
In terms of cash income, the territory this year has 264,000 gold coins. Compared with last year, there were three thousand gold coins less.
Excluding the income from monster hunting, the territory's various incomes increased by 60,000 gold coins compared to last year. Richard did not pay special attention to the income from monster hunting. Through this year's income, Richard knew that compared with last year, the foundation of the territory was more solid this year. Both industry and agriculture have increased by more than 10% and are still developing rapidly.
Especially in the animal husbandry industry, after seven or eight years of accumulation, the number of sheep raised in the Harland territory increased from one hundred thousand to three million. The number of sheep directly controlled by the territory reached 1.8 million by the end of the year. Including the sheep raised by freemen's families, the territory's sheep population has exceeded two million, which is close to the territory's carrying capacity.
Now that the livestock industry has passed the accumulation stage, if there is no way to export, more than two million sheep will be slaughtered in the Harland Territory next year, and the terrible situation will arise where mutton is cheaper than grain.
Although there was a cash income of 264,000 gold coins this year, the territory also increased a lot of expenditures.
The annual military pay for more than 6,000 veterans is 60,000 gold coins. The food, cloth, meat and other miscellaneous materials consumed by more than 10,000 soldiers each year are about 30,000 gold coins.
In addition, the armor, weapons, vehicles, and beasts of burden required to expand the army to four thousand are also a large expense, about thirty-two thousand gold coins. The pension for soldiers killed or disabled in battle costs more than 8,000 gold coins a year.
The salary of territorial bureaucrats requires an expenditure of 15,000 gold coins, and the investment in education and medical care totals about 5,000 gold coins.
In terms of magic research, the territory has invested more than 20,000 gold coins this year.
Including some small miscellaneous expenses, the total expenses this year totaled about 170,000 gold coins.
There is a financial surplus of 94,000 gold coins. Of course, Richard will not store it in the treasury.
There is already a reserve of 20,000 gold coins in the treasury of Harland's territory. Richard is planning to use the more than 90,000 gold coins remaining this year to expand the army.
He first purchased 120 iron horned horses from Duke Edward and expanded the number of Warcraft cavalry to 300.
Then he purchased 1,600 bottles of Tenghui potion from Duke Jonathan and the Grant royal family. With the remaining gold coins, Richard planned to purchase some precious super-magic metals, make some magic equipment, mid-to-high-level enchanted weapons, strengthen the power of magicians, and provide protection for high-level officers in the territory.
After becoming an earl, Richard also began to recruit talents. Some neglected aristocratic branches, weak wild magicians, and some rushed to the Harland territory, swore allegiance to Richard, and began to serve the Harland family.
It's just that Richard cannot fully trust these outside professionals and will not put them in an important position.
Especially for places involving secrets, strict review is required before access is granted.
If you want to recruit professional talents, you must first become a great noble, have a certain degree of popularity, and be able to provide people with a step across the class. Only then will some talents join.
In the Dawn Plane, after learning martial arts, goods and the imperial family are still the eternal principles. The first choice for outstanding talents is always to take the civil service examination and serve the government.
Now that Richard has become an earl, he finally has a platform. The big nobles are far more attractive to talents than the small nobles.
Less than half a year after Richard was promoted to earl, more than sixty professionals came to join him, including two first-level magicians, a second-level magician, and a third-level magician. More than a hundred descendants of nobles who are proficient in writing and grammar have taken refuge.
When Richard hired several primary school teachers, he had to pay high prices in favors. Now that you have a reputation, it is finally not that difficult to recruit talents.
With these talents joining him, Richard decided to increase investment in education and medical care starting from next year. After the spring, he plans to open a third elementary school. The annual tuition fee for students will be reduced to two silver coins, further benefiting lower-class families. In addition, Richard is also planning to open a middle school in Fort William to cultivate higher-quality talents.
In addition to investing in education, Richard is also preparing to build a second hospital in Vicksburg.
The area near Vicksburg has been successfully developed, and the two baronies of Stopa and Dirham have a population of more than 100,000. In terms of dense population alone, this area is somewhat larger than the vicinity of Fort William. However, the number of free people in these two territories is still relatively small. The main industry is agriculture, and their economic contribution to the territories is not very great. In terms of policy, it is not as important as the Marsh Basin, let alone Fort William.
After years of development, Fort William Hospital has trained enough medical staff. This time Richard decided to build a second hospital in the southern region in order to balance the policy.
(End of chapter)