Lord Harland.

Chapter 224 Selling Grain
August is the harvest season. Although there was a war this year, Harland's territory was not affected by the war, and neither the spring plowing nor the autumn harvest was affected.

This year is considered an average year, and the grain yield per mu has reached a normal level.

This year, the Harland Territory resumed the cultivation of cultivated land in the Dirham Barony, and also reclaimed a large amount of wasteland.

The combined amount of summer grain and autumn grain, plus the tax and grain paid by the free people, exceeded [-] tons.

Counting the veterans who participated in the war and the families of the wounded and killed soldiers in the territory, there are now about 3 free citizens in the territory of Harland.

A free citizen is divided into five mu of land, one mu of paddy field, and four mu of dry land. According to the tax rate of 270%, he needs to pay [-] catties of grain every year.

Converting to silver coins is about three silver coins of tax.

Thirty thousand free citizens, this year's land tax collected about 7500 gold coins.

However, many freedmen were short of money, so they could only choose to pay public grain, and the public grain collected was about [-] tons.

The 11 freedmen no longer needed Richard to support them, and there were about 6000 contracted slaves left.

Now the territory of Harland can already provide some meat and fruits, and the elderly and children among the contracted slaves will also dig wild vegetables during the slack season. On average, they are half full, and each person needs to consume [-] catties of food per year.

In the past few years, in order to buy more people, Li Cha left an average of 350 catties of food per person per year for the indentured slaves.

With an average of 350 catties of grain and relatively little meat, the indentured slaves could only be half-starved.

In autumn and summer, the elderly and children have to dig wild vegetables in the forest and collect mountain products such as fungus and mushrooms. When the male contract slaves have free time, they have to hunt with traps to make themselves full.

In the past two years, the situation has improved slightly. On average, each contracted slave supplies [-] catties of food, plus some fruits, wild vegetables, and a small amount of meat. Coal mines were discovered in the territory, and a large amount of woolen cloth was produced. The standard of living has increased a lot. Mix well.

About [-] tons of grain and rations are reserved for next year.In addition, there are [-] tons of unexpected food reserves in the territory.Because the liquor market has lost a lot, the scale of winemaking has been reduced a lot, and only [-] tons of grain are needed.

With [-] tons of grain, [-] tons can be sold this year.

Although there is a war this year, because there are no natural disasters, there are relatively few areas affected by the war and spring plowing. In addition, the Gascoigne province has been plundered by orcs for more than [-] people. The demand for food markets has also decreased, and the price of food has actually decreased. It was relatively stable, and it was still two gold coins per meal.

Harland's territory is about [-] kilometers away from Heihe Fort. If there is no river, it will be very difficult to transport [-] tons of grain to Heihe Fort, requiring a lot of manpower and material resources.There is also a need to build roads and set up food storage points along the way, which cannot be afforded by the transportation capacity of Harland's territory.

With water transportation, although there is a lot of 200 tons of grain, it is actually not difficult to transport, and there are more than [-] grain transport ships in total.

The grain transport ship went down the river from Fort William, and it took two days to arrive at Fort Heihe.The transport fleet in the Harland Territory is not small. There are more than 30 transport ships. Six or seven transports can transport grain to Black River Fort.

The grain transportation lasted for more than [-] days. Li Cha transported [-] tons of grain to Heihe Fort. This year, there were no major buyers in the Heihe Fort grain market. The [-] tons of grain could only be sold to the citizens of Heihe Fort.

More than half of the residents of Heihe Fort are the families of soldiers of the Northern Legion, and this part of the population is about [-].

The soldiers of the Northern Legion have a high salary, which allows their families to live a prosperous life. Most of the family members do not farm.The food consumed by this part of the population is about 2 tons per year.

In addition, there are a large number of craftsmen, merchants, and grassroots bureaucrats in Heihe Fort. The food digested by the local market exceeds [-] tons per year, and the market size is already considerable.

However, the land in Heihe County is fertile, relying on the irrigation of the Heihe River Basin, it is a relatively important grain-producing area in the three northern provinces, and its grain production is more than that of rich places like the Arab Basin and Wright County.

Every year, the surplus grain produced in Heihe County exceeds [-] tons, and the surplus grain in Luomen County and Wright County is also sold to Black River Fort.The grain market has always been in a situation of oversupply.

Every autumn harvest season, the Duke of Edward, the Duke of Fox, the Duke of Guise and other food-deficient areas will buy grain from Heihe County. Sometimes the Grand Duchy of Stanik will also come to Heihe County to buy grain through the channel of the Fortune Church .

This year, the Duke of Edward has a bumper harvest and has lost a big buyer, making the oversupply of the grain market even worse.It's just that those who sell grain are hereditary nobles. If they can bear it without bargaining, the grain will not fall.

Anyway, the big nobles all have well-conditioned granaries, which can store grain for several years.

The Harland family has a large number of shops in Fort Heihe, including two grain shops, a bakery, and a restaurant.

Normally, these businesses can digest more than 2000 tons of grain a year.This year, [-] tons of grain are unsalable, and it is very difficult to rely on these few stores to sell.

It takes a long time to buy and sell bulk grain, and the time to pay back is also relatively long.

But the market is like this. In the past two years, the Duke of Edward was hit by a disaster, which increased the price of food by [-]%, but it is a small probability.

Grain prices in Heihe County have been stable for decades.

During the disaster year last year, the grain merchants wanted to raise prices, and the noble council immediately came forward to negotiate with the nobles of Heihe County.

The nobles of Heihe County couldn't withstand the pressure of Duke Edward, and even in a disaster year, food prices didn't go up.

When Richard was worried about selling grain, in September, his father William helped him solve the problem.

William found Tarak, the logistics minister of the Northern Legion, and sold [-] tons of grain to the Northern Legion as military rations, and the pressure on food sales was greatly relieved.

Because of the large amount of training, soldiers in the army need to supply three catties of grain every day, and they need to consume [-] catties of grain in a year, which is equivalent to two mature men.

The [-] soldiers of the Northern Legion consume more than [-] tons of food a year.

William was able to win a purchase contract of [-] tons, and the Harland family owed a lot to Tarlac.

After winning the food contract from the Northern Legion, William found Zachary from the Redeemer Legion.

Although the Harland family turned against Zachary last year, the most important thing in the relationship between nobles is not face, but interests.No matter what, Zachary is considered William's old officer, and they can talk to each other.

Richard can send food to Iron Lion Castle and Platos Castle, which also saves a lot of money for the nobles behind the Redeemer Legion.

He became a food supplier for two armies, and sold [-] tons of food in exchange for [-] gold coins.The remaining [-] tons of grain can only be sold to ordinary citizens and slowly exchanged for money.

In order to sell more grain, Richard converted some of Mrs. Ola's stores into a grain station and expanded it into a chain of grain stores.

The price of food has also dropped slightly, and ordinary citizens are very sensitive to prices.Richard lowered the price by one-tenth, which immediately caused looting by the citizens. Before other grain merchants could react, the surplus grain of the Harland family was basically sold out.

After negotiating the sale of grain, Li Cha went directly to the Harland Mages Association.

Recently, the Harland Territory Mage Association is manufacturing a magic alchemy furnace.

Heath and Butler are both magicians from the tower of death, a large magic organization.

Although the Tower of Death is an evil necromancer organization, the knowledge of magic that the Tower of Death has mastered is very comprehensive.

Heath has seen magic alchemy furnaces many times, and has also specialized in alchemical runes for a while.

Butler is a low-level mage in charge of managing the alchemy furnace. He is very clear about the operation of the alchemy furnace, and he can even repair the magic alchemy furnace.

After driving away the necromancer and capturing the mage tower.

What Li Cha focused on was the research of the necromancer on the blood and the soul.

Since last year, the hospitals in Harland's territory have made considerable progress in their grasp of medical knowledge.

Although this year's magic research plan was interrupted by the orc invasion, Sophia still had new magical achievements. She improved and simplified the second-ring magic requiem, and created a new zero-ring spell to appease the soul.

Although the effect of soul appeasement is not as good as Requiem, the requirements for casting spells are much lower, and it is still a good spell for low-level magicians.

Especially in the Harland Mage Association, there are many magic apprentices who can learn this spell.

Soul appeasement is a magic to appease the soul, it can be regarded as a healing spell.

Because several magic apprentices learned this spell, Li Cha established a psychiatric department in the hospital, selected a few young doctors with good foundations, and started using magic to treat mental illnesses together with young magicians who learned to soothe the soul.

The Harland Territory now has a population of 10,000+. Because of the harsh environment in northern Xinjiang, there are about 2000 people with various mental illnesses.

These mental patients are all in serious condition. According to the conditions of Harland's territory, mild mental patients will not see a doctor.

Severe mental illness makes these people lose their ability to work.If these people can be cured, the territory can increase a lot of labor force, which is very good for development.

With the establishment of the psychiatric department of the hospital, these mental patients also have doctors to treat them. Although there are still few means of treating mental illness, the main thing is to comfort the soul.

The effect of soul pacification in treating mental illness is good. The power of magic in the treatment of mental illness far exceeds Richard's prediction.

After the invention of soul pacification and the establishment of the psychiatric department, the development of the territorial hospital has accelerated a small step.

After the war ended this year, Butler submitted an application, hoping to apply for a magic core and build an experimental magic alchemy furnace.

From the Tower of Death, the territory of Harland obtained some alchemy materials, which also involved the alchemy furnace.

The magic alchemy furnace uses the magic core as an energy source, mobilizes the power of mysterious magic runes, can provide higher temperatures, and melt metals with a melting point of more than [-] degrees.

To build a magic alchemy furnace, the materials used are also unusual. Graphite powder is needed to be mixed with mithril powder, and magic bricks are fired first.

On the magic bricks, special magic runes should be engraved.

If Butler hadn't provided the magic brick formula and refining technology, the magicians in Harland's territory would have no idea of ​​the doorway inside.

Even if you want to build a magic alchemy furnace, it will take a long time to refine magic bricks.

Because of the use of mithril powder, the manufacturing cost of magic bricks is very high.

Just installing a magic alchemy furnace, the magic bricks alone cost four thousand gold coins.

In addition to magic bricks, the alchemy furnace also consumes the energy of magic crystals.

The price of magic crystals is very high, and the cost of using an alchemy furnace is not low.

In September, under Butler's guidance, a magical alchemy furnace was successfully built in Harland's territory.

This magical alchemy furnace looks very bulky, about two meters high. There is an ore feeding port on the top of the alchemy furnace, and a discharge port at the bottom.

In the middle of the magic alchemy furnace, three rows of runes were engraved.

These runes need to be engraved on obsidian, and then the obsidian is carefully polished and inlaid on the furnace body.

Li Cha studied the newly built alchemy furnace and found that the three rows of runes are a fire element gathering circle. The energy provided by the magic crystal can stimulate the power of the fire element gathering circle and increase the temperature of the magic alchemy furnace.

The working principle of the alchemy furnace is actually very simple. The only difficulty is actually the manufacturing process of magic bricks.

The magic bricks added with mithril and engraved with magic runes are a kind of super refractory material. If it weren't for the extremely expensive price, Li Cha would have wanted to use these magic bricks in ordinary crafts.

After the magic alchemy furnace was successfully built, Li Cha tried to smelt a furnace of molten steel.

The melting point of blood steel is more than 100 degrees higher than that of ordinary steel. In the past, it was very difficult to smelt blood steel in the territory of Harland.

The output of alchemy bombs is very low, and the difficulty of smelting blood steel is also a factor.

Now using the magic alchemy furnace to smelt blood steel has immediately become much easier. Although the cost of using magic crystals as energy has increased a lot, it has greatly increased the speed of blood steel smelting.

If it is an emergency, you can use the magic alchemy furnace to speed up the production of alchemy bombs.

After successfully building the magic alchemy furnace, you can also explore and study the alloy process. If you can produce some high-quality alloys, it will be very beneficial to the progress of the process.

"Butler, according to your experience, how many times can this magic alchemy furnace be turned on every day?"

"Master Li Cha, the effect of the fire element gathering magic circle is very good. It takes one and a half hours to refine a furnace of metal, and each furnace can refine [-] kilograms of blood steel. However, after three hours of continuous use, it takes ten Cool down for an hour to cool down the magic runes engraved on the obsidian. Otherwise, if you use the alchemy furnace for a long time, the magic runes on the obsidian will burn. The fire element gathering circle engraved on the obsidian is the core of the magic alchemy furnace. Once it is damaged, you need to buy obsidian again and engrave magic runes to repair it."

Listening to Butler's narration, Li Cha thought to himself: "If you use the magic alchemy furnace to make steel, you can make about four furnaces a day, which is about [-] kilograms. The magic alchemy furnace will consume a first-order magic core in three days. About twenty gold coins or so.

Calculated in this way, the cost of refining steel in a magic alchemy furnace is about twelve copper coins per kilogram.In addition to the price of raw materials such as iron ore, the reason why the price of steel remains high is because of this reason. It is estimated that the nobles with magic inheritance will use magic alchemy furnaces to make steel. "

Now the cost of steel smelted in Harland's territory has been reduced a lot. Li Cha did the math this year, and the cost price of a catty of steel has been reduced to four copper coins.This also includes the wages of workers in steel mills, the cost of materials shared in the construction of steel plants, fuel costs for purchasing coal, transportation costs for coal, ore and steel, and other messy expenses.

It seems that using a magic alchemy furnace to make steel can't compete with a soil blast furnace.

(End of this chapter)