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 the 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. 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 has been half-built, 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 estimated that it will mainly transform to the civilian market in the future.
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If workers' wages are set too high, the pressure on the brick kiln factory 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 true that the salary of casual workers should not be set too high. I will do it as you wish."
Rooney's ability to seek truth from facts and not blindly follow Richard's wishes made Richard think highly of him.
At 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 officer 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 Roger agreed to return to northern Xinjiang to serve her sister.
Roger served as comptroller in 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 cannot 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, but because of the increase in production, our profits are higher.
Some.
In the past two months, the territory's steel production capacity has exceeded thirty tons, and its monthly output value has exceeded 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. Excluding the consumption within the territory, the net cash income this year exceeds 7,000 gold coins.",
Steel and liquor have been the financial backbone of the Harland Territory in the past two years. Without the rich 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 has high profits, how about the liquor business?"
This spring, the manager responsible for selling liquor was corrupt, and Sophia discovered it. Richard sent soldiers to execute the corrupt criminals. He also demoted his family as slaves to dig in the mines. As long as the Harland family exists for one day, the corrupt criminals will
Future generations will be slaves forever and ever and will never be forgiven.
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 are destined to have a miserable life with such a father.
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, using a Power Word, True Truth or other spells will make it impossible to conceal 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 disgusted with 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 outcome 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 was put in 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 placed in the main army, 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 total 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 can't the food be sold, but the food has to be paid for at a discount.
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.