Lord Harland.

Chapter 110 Preparing for a Long Journey
Li Cha looks very young. The young man is full of talent and extraordinary talent, and his thoughts are shown on his face.

In fact, Li Cha's mental age is more than 50 years old after two generations, and he is usually happy and angry.

In recent years, he has been farming in the territory and has little contact with outsiders.

Outsiders don't understand his character at all.

Seeing that the price could not be lowered, Saville finally nodded and agreed to pay a sum of money in three days.

Jerram sent someone to Vickburg with the first down payment.

The first payment is 1 gold coins.

After the money was in place, Li Cha immediately distributed pensions to the casualties of the Sixth Squadron.

All the soldiers who participated in the battle were rewarded with a gold coin, and even the civilian husbands who followed received [-] kilograms of grain.

Grant kingdom gold coins, about fifty grams each, in addition to gold, some magic crystal powder was also mixed into the gold coins.

At normal market prices, the price of gold is half that of gold coins.

In the Kingdom of Grant, only the royal family has the right to mint gold coins.

No matter how big the nobles are, as long as they dare to privately mint gold coins, the royal family will definitely send troops to crusade.

It is clearly recorded in the Grant Kingdom Code that the coinage right is equal to the kingship.

Duke-level nobles can set up mints in their territories to mint silver and copper coins, but they cannot mint gold coins.

Earls and marquises can mint copper coins, but not silver or gold coins.

In terms of coinage rights, the nobles are clearly divided into ranks.

Unless the system can be broken, even the great nobles dare not go beyond and challenge the royal power.

Richard received the first ransom, allowing Savile to meet Howard.

Hearing that Jerram had redeemed him with [-] gold coins, Howard directly swore to be loyal to Jerram.

As for his real thoughts, who knows what?
Anyway, through observation, Li Cha found that this person's city is not shallow, and he probably figured out the cause and effect, so he was deliberately captured in the battle.

As long as Howard is captured, the Holland family must pay a ransom to rescue him, especially Jerram, which is closely related to his future.

If Howard had the will to die in that battle, Richard and the others might not be able to capture him alive.

Shortly after the first payment was delivered, the second payment of [-] gold coins arrived.

This time, Savile's butler told Richard that the final payment needed to be raised.

At least until after the autumn harvest, the Jeram Consul got a final payment before paying off.

"Jeram has monopolized the salt trade in Gerda Province, and the salt price is nine times higher than that of Duke Jonathan. The 120 million people in Gerda Province support this moth, so why can't they come up with [-] gold coins in cash?"

Seeing Li Cha's sarcasm, even swearing and insulting his master.Saville was still neither humble nor overbearing, and calmly explained: "Baron Richard, you don't think that my master Jerram alone can monopolize the salt trade in a province.

There are also many big names in the capital who share the profits from this business.Mr. Li Cha should weigh the weight carefully, and don't sell the salt to other territories. "

Li Cha knew in his heart that Jerram used the profiteering salt to monopolize income, and weaved an interest group for Prince Felix to support him.

This interest group is mainly composed of royal nobles, many of whom are branches of the royal family.

Although the political influence is not particularly large, the addition cannot be underestimated.

With a large number of people, the news of this interest group is quite well-informed.

The sudden salt profits in Gerda Province are a very important source of income for Prince Felix.

Li Cha's purchase of salt has actually touched this interest group.

It's just that Li Cha held Jerram's handle so that they didn't dare to act rashly.

Having a conflict of interest with Prince Felix behind Jerram is very detrimental to the Harland family politically.

Especially when it came to promoting titles and acquiring territory, if someone made trouble in the capital, it would be difficult to guarantee the interests of the Harland family.

If Richard continues to buy salt from Jonathan's territory, it will be sold in Gerda Province.

The conflict of interest between the two parties will also become more serious.

Although the Harland family is not weak, it may not be able to withstand the attack of this interest group.

Even Viscount Roman, the most powerful in Gerda Province, chose to give in to this interest group.

The strength of the Harland family is less than one-third of Viscount Roman, and of course Richard will not compete with this interest group.

Now that Jerram couldn't afford the money, Howard was imprisoned in a cell. Not only did he need to be looked after by professionals, but he also needed to be provided with exquisite food every day.Raising someone for nothing is of no use to the Harland family.

Li Cha was going to ask Jerram to write an IOU, and then let him go.

After getting the IOU, Richard immediately fulfilled the agreement and let Howard go.

Contracts were signed between nobles, and most of the time they could be enforced.

If you want to develop in a region for a long time, reputation is actually very important.

Although capricious nobles can obtain short-term benefits, in the long run, if they lose their credibility, they will actually lose their fundamentals.

Li Cha is not afraid of Jeram's repudiation at all now.

As long as Jeram repudiates his debts, Richard can take the opportunity to make this matter a big deal. Jeram managed to put this matter on Gerda Province. As long as he still has money, he is absolutely unwilling to let himself be involved in a scandal.

Besides, Li Cha was already very happy to get a windfall of [-] gold coins.

After getting the gold coins, hiding them in the cellar is of no use to the development of the territory.

Only by spending gold coins and exchanging various resources for the construction of the territory can the heritage of the Harland family be strengthened.

Now the biggest weakness of the three territories of the Harland family is the lack of people.

In recent years, by purchasing slaves, recruiting refugees, rescuing slaves captured by orcs, and distributing dead money, etc., the total population of the three territories is only 2.

In addition, there are more than 2000 orc slaves in the territory, which are not included in the household registration statistics.

By tomorrow spring, the first slaves will be freedmen.

Once the indentured slaves were transformed into free citizens, the oppression of the territory would be lessened.

The free people cultivated the farmland, and the tax was only [-]%.

Collect food from contracted slaves, as long as they leave rations for them.

But in the long run, only the free people have the consumption power, the free people have the market, and the market productivity can be improved.

Even if the short-term income is reduced, Richard will still implement the indentured slave law and slowly transform the serfs into freemen.

For the [-] gold coins, Li Cha intends to buy people.

Twenty thousand gold coins can buy about 4000 people in Grant Kingdom.

Such a large quantity can only be provided by Nolan's slave market.

Richard has just offended the interest group behind Jerram, and they have great influence in Nolan.

Going to Nolan at this time, you need to be on guard against these people all the time.

Being watched by many people in secret, he could get involved in trouble at any time.

In the three northern Xinjiang provinces controlled by the royal family, the slave market is located in Heihe Fort.

The scale of this slave market is small, and the total number of slaves in it is less than 1000.

Besides, there are many people involved behind the slave market, and as the governor of the province, Jerram must have a part in it.

If Jerram took the opportunity to arrange for spies to mix among the slaves, causing the advanced technology of Harland's territory to leak, the loss outweighed the gain.

So Richard did not plan to buy slaves in the Kingdom of Grant this time, but chose to go to the neighboring country, the Grand Duchy of Stanik, to avoid other people's eyes.

Before he was about to leave, Li Cha was a little worried about the territory, so he had a conversation with Hayden himself.

"Jeram paid the ransom, and we have let Howard go. I am going to use the money to buy people. King Capital and Heihe City are not suitable to go. I am afraid I will have to travel far this time. Others in the territory are fine, counter-espionage Work is the top priority.

Especially brick kilns, steel mills, breweries, brown sugar tree plantations, and Zitoufeng farms must be patrolled by soldiers, and the arranged garrisons cannot be easily transferred.

All strangers who appear in the above places must be arrested immediately and sent to the mine for mining.You manage the intelligence work yourself, and you must always be vigilant against such things, and you must not relax your mind. "

After explaining to Hayden, Richard talked with Sophia again and asked her to manage the spring plowing work on his behalf.

William, Bernie, and Ron are still in the army, Richard and Soros are preparing to go out, Powell is watching the construction of Sophia Castle, and the decisions in the territory can only be made by his wife.

(End of this chapter)