Chapter 81
After getting married in a new territory, the two of them had no time for their honeymoon and were busy every day.
Sophia needs to resume the construction of the territory and supervise and manage the final autumn harvest.
Richard needs to worry about the construction of the new territory, which is very close to Platos Castle.
Three kilometers east of the Platos Castle complex, it entered the territory of Richard.
Although the territory is large, there is not much flat land. Only the upper reaches of the Burnie River can cultivate some farmland.
Pure agricultural conditions are not as good as the William Territory, let alone the Sophia Territory.
After Richard and Sophia got married, the name of the territory was re-registered in order to distinguish it from the territory granted by their father William.
Harland's Territory was renamed William's Territory, and Richard's newly entrusted territory was renamed Richard's Territory.
The entire area of Richard's territory is more than 30 kilometers from east to west and 60 kilometers from north to south, almost reaching the depths of the Eagle Mountains. By organizing personnel to explore the terrain, Richard found that less than a thousand hectares of farmland could be cultivated. There are only 600 hectares of paddy fields with higher yields. Even if they are developed, the yield will not exceed 2,000 tons.
Two thousand tons of grain, if people are fed, can only feed six to seven thousand people.
Although it is not suitable for growing food, Richard's products are quite abundant.
There is a large forest in the territory, and a large number of wild animals live there. Every year, hunting teams are organized, and a lot of money can be obtained by capturing prey and selling their skins.
After the territory was demarcated, Richard took his new wife Sophia to carefully survey the new territory.
It was found that Richard Ling was suitable for logging, hunting, and breeding, but not very suitable for farming.
Through the orc war, Richard already had relatively abundant human resources in his hands.
More than 9,000 people poured into Harland's territory, as well as hundreds of orc captives. Naturally, Richard would not let these people eat for free.
For more than a year, the production efficiency of Bobi Brick Kiln Factory continued to increase.
The population of the brick kiln factory has been designated as workers by Richard.
After the slaves in the brick kilns regained their freedom, the costs of producing materials would increase.
In order to squeeze out the fruits of slave labor before costs increased, Richard decided to build a castle in the new territory.
The castle is located in the upper reaches of the Burnie River, 30 kilometers northwest of the Bobi Brick Kiln. It is called Sophia Castle to commemorate the love between Richard and Sophia.
Fort Sophia is relatively close to the Platos Fortress complex, less than fifteen kilometers away.
Although the castle is located in the forest, the transportation to Fort Sophia is quite convenient.
The Boni River has relatively abundant water and can pass ships with a shallow draft. There is a Bobi Brick Kiln along the way, and the No. 2 Reclamation Base is supplemented. Various materials can be easily transported to the vicinity of Sophia Castle.
Especially for bulk materials such as food and building materials, Harland Territory can be self-sufficient. The remaining small commodities can be transported by packhorse, which is only a day or two away on dozens of kilometers of mountain roads.
It is now late August, and the climate in the north is already a bit cold.
Richard organized a labor army of up to 3,000 people and began to dig the foundation of Fort Sophia.
These more than 3,000 people are all subjects of the Barony of Dirham. Some of them were serfs and some were free people. After these free folk were captured by orcs, they lost their status as free folk.
If they want to survive, they must sign a contract with Richard to repay Richard for rescuing them from the clutches of the orcs.
These new people who join the territory need to sign a contract and serve the Harland family for five years before they can regain their status as free citizens.
For a territory to develop, the most important thing is to have a large number of free people who can be consumed.
Only when there are a large number of consumers in the territory will a consumer market be formed. Only with a consumer market can the goods produced in the territory be sold and productivity will be improved.
If all free people were demoted to serf status, this territory would be a stagnant water with no vitality at all.
Even the feudal system was more advanced than the serf system. Richard was still a benevolent lord, and the people who were assigned to Baron Rice and others were directly reduced to slaves, basically unable to stand up.
After the contract expires, whether these people choose to settle in Richard's territory or return to the Dirham Barony, Richard will not interfere.
As people from Northern Xinjiang, they should understand how important it is to surrender to a lord who can protect themselves.
Richard led three thousand people to build the castle, and the steward Bernard led some indentured servants to start building the camp.
Bodnar was once captured by the orcs, lived in the orc empire for many years, and was proficient in multiple orc languages.
During this orc invasion war, Richard captured more than 500 orc slaves, most of whom were kobolds and sheep-headed men.
Kobolds live by herding in the orc empire, and are also good at mining ore. They have some iron-making skills, but they are not too clever.
In addition to herding, kobolds can also gather, hunt, and fish. Living habits are similar to those of primitive humans.
Sheepheads are vegetarians, a creature with a very special stomach that allows them to survive like herbivores.
In winter, the sheep-headed people will collect dry grass and wild fruits, make fires to resist the severe cold, and live together in caves.
The southern foothills of the Eagle Mountains are the Sheephead people's favorite living environment.
Richard purchased a lot of cattle, sheep, horses, and deer, and gave them to the sheep-headed people to graze. He also arranged for the kobolds to build orchards, prepare to plant a large number of fruit trees, and rely on cash crops to increase the funds of the territory.
After the fruit tree planting industry develops, it can rely on river transportation to be sold near the Black River Castle.
Even if Black River Fort cannot digest so much fruit, it can still build jam factories and canned fruits. Fruit preserves create new consumer demand and accumulate more funds.
The entertainment conditions in Dawn Continent are very scarce. Although Richard has become a hereditary baron, his life is actually very boring.
Food cooking is very simple, and the only three common methods are roasting, boiling, and frying.
Fire frying is still very rare and is only popular among nobles.
Ironware is still relatively expensive in Dawn Continent, and ordinary people are not yet luxurious enough to use iron plates for cooking.
There were only a few types of cooking spices, and pepper was so expensive that even hereditary nobles were reluctant to use it for every meal.
Salt is also not cheap. Richard has never seen white sugar. Nobles like to use honey instead of white sugar.
Rich nobles also like to use Warcraft honey. In the past, the important income of the Stopa territory was from cultivating purple-headed peaks.
When the orcs captured Vicksburg three years ago, Richard picked up part of the hive and later gave it to Sophia.
Sophia has re-hatched the Purple Head Peak by studying the craftsmanship recorded by the Stopa family and combining it with the power of magic.
However, the size of the bee colony is still very small, and only a small amount of Zitoufeng honey will be produced in the next year.
It will take at least three years to restore the Stopa Territory to its previous size.
After the orchard is completed and the jam is put on the market, Richard is also planning to study the plants in northern Xinjiang to see if he can find plants with higher sugar content, domesticate them and grow them, and produce brown sugar on a large scale.
As long as these industries are successful, they can bring a large amount of gold coins to the Harland family.
With gold coins, you can purchase population, expand your army, and achieve success in the orc war.
If the positive cycle continues, Harland's territory will become more and more prosperous.
Richard has great confidence in this.
Although he was ordinary for more than thirty years in his previous life, and a large part of the knowledge he learned was useless, the advanced social environment and good education in his previous life gave Richard a broader vision, allowing him to go far beyond all living beings in the Dawn Continent.
Guys, please give me a monthly ticket, I’m about to fall off the list, give Xiaolin a thumbs up
(end of chapter)