Throne of the North.

Chapter 475: Helping Norton, the First Experience of Lane Bank
After leaving Longshan City, Ryan followed Norton to the other party's territory, a not small village, but it was overcrowded because there were not enough houses. Many people lived in simple shacks and came and went every day. It was no wonder that Norton was overwhelmed by the management of the territory.

"You just let them live in these places?"

Norton no longer looks like a rookie at this moment, and he is showing the demeanor of a noble in his own territory.

"These slaves can't create wealth for me at all. They can't even afford to buy wooden boards. I lent them these shacks and I have to pay them back every month."

Norton became very angry when he said this, as he had not received the full rent from the slaves for a whole winter.

"How can they get the wealth to pay you when they can't work in the winter?"

Ryan was speechless. It was a simple truth, but it was difficult for the nobles to understand.

Not long after, Ryan met Norton's butler, who was also a servant brought from the Earl of Clayton. He was not young, just like old Beard.

"Master, you are back."

Norton nodded, and Ryan asked:
"He is your steward, responsible for all matters in your territory?"

Ryan looked at the butler again and asked:
"What do you think about the buildings of a village with a population of 2,000 in the territory? Just piled up around the lord's mansion in such a mess?"

"As for those houses, I see there is a forest and two mountain forests around them. There should be a lot of dead branches in a winter. As for firewood for heating, who do you use to supply firewood for the lord's mansion?"

"Where are the dead buried? Are the sick still in the sewers? Not to mention that there are no sick people in this territory, it is impossible for them not to get sick living in those shacks."

"Most importantly, how is food distributed?"

"Lord Norton should own part of the mine, which is almost the source of all his wealth. Why did all his money disappear after one winter?"

Ryan asked a series of questions, and each question caught the butler off guard, causing Norton's eyes to become fierce when he looked at the butler.

The butler was in a panic, not because he was embezzling or anything like that. The nobles' butlers were their most loyal servants. The reason he was in a panic was that he failed to understand Ryan's words quickly and thus appeared panicked.

"Master, I, I..."

"Don't worry, answer them one by one."

"Two thousand people. That's about the population of a town."

The housekeeper finally calmed down, but still didn't know what to say.

"Those damn peasants are lazy and can't bring wealth to the master. They don't deserve to own a house."

Ryan turned his head, looked at Norton and said with a smile:

“You see, this is unprofessional behavior.”

"How could those slaves be motivated when they had nothing? How could they be afraid of losing more?"

"The only thing they fear is that you'll hang them and kill them. That's the only fear they have left."

Ryan looked at the butler again and asked him to answer the next question.

"The firewood, the firewood from the mountains and the forests, is all the master's wealth. Even if those peasants freeze to death, they don't have the guts to steal the master's wealth."

There is nothing wrong with the fact that firewood is a precious treasure, but the only use of firewood is to make fire.

"I remember when Norton asked me for help to get people, people were very precious to you. But now, with so many slaves in your hands, you are not taking advantage of them."

Norton lowered his head. He just thought that with population, the territory could develop, but he didn't expect that having population was only the first step in the development of the territory.

As for the second step, he himself didn't know what to do.

"If nothing unexpected happens, the dead are buried carelessly, and the sick are not counted. Allowing them to live in shacks will only infect more people."

"If you don't stop it, another large number of people in your territory will die this summer."

"They will continue to die until the population drops to a level that you, my Lord, can control."

"You've eaten too much, and you don't have the ability to swallow the benefits."

Ryan looked at Norton, whose face flushed. He did not contribute much in the war, and so many population and resource benefits were gained with Ryan's help. At this moment, Norton was instinctively dissatisfied when he heard such words.

"You are just as greedy as before, but your ability has not increased in the slightest."

"As a lord, you have failed much more than I have."

Ryan laughed, and Norton clenched his fists and was not in a good mood towards Ryan.

"Tell me what we can do!"

"It's very simple. You need a group of people, professional people, to help you distribute food to these slaves, to keep them full and alive, but only to keep them alive."

"You also need someone to help you arrange the construction of the house. At least it should look good, so that other nobles will be willing to trade with you. Most importantly, you need to lend your wood to these slaves so that they can have a house and stay in the house, at least they are not prone to getting sick."

"You also need someone to help you deal with the dead and manage the living."

Ryan spoke one sentence at a time, but the butler next to him became anxious.

"Master, those are all my master's wealth. How can we let those peasants cut down my master's trees and build houses for them? This is too good for slaves."

Norton also nodded. These damn slaves were not good people. They were greedy.

"So we need to find someone to watch over it, and there must be a regulation on how many trees each person can have. And who says these are given to them?"

"Giving them houses is in the form of loans. One house is equivalent to owing you ten gold coins. Is that enough?"

Ryan added:
"And there's the mine. There are too many iron mines in the Northern Wind Province. If you want to sell the mines, you can't just sell the mines. You have to organize people to process them."

"There are more than 2,000 people. You support so many people and use them all for farming? Where can you get so much farmland for you to farm?"

"Organize people to open up wasteland and cultivate more farmland. Anyway, you can't control so many people right now. It doesn't matter if a group of them die in the process of opening up wasteland. Besides, isn't it popular to capture orc slaves and sell them recently?"

"Most importantly, you need money."

"You have no money, but you still need money. Then use the money to generate trade and production, so that the money can become more money, instead of relying on the gold coins grown on this land to fill your purse. In that case, you will be poor in ten years."

"With a population of more than 2,000, you have enough cheap labor to complete your initial accumulation."

Norton opened his eyes wide and asked a lame question after a long time.

"But, but they are all slaves. The wealth they created belongs to me. Will they use my money to pay me back?"

"Are you so stupid?"

Ryan looked at Norton and said unhappily:
"How many hours a day do your slaves work?"

"From morning till night."

"So, they still have some extra time, right?"

"From morning to night, from sunrise to sunset, the wealth created by the slaves belongs to you, but in the extra time, they can create their own wealth."

"But...even if it's at night, their wealth should belong to me."

Norton said unwillingly.

"Foolish! Even if the slaves create their own wealth, won't it still fall into your hands in the end?"

"You give them a little bit of wealth so that they can create more wealth for you." "Even if you are fishing, you have to put bait, right? When the slaves gain wealth, they will be happier, and then they will work hard to create more wealth. Only in this way will you be happy."

Norton opened his eyes wide. I give wealth to slaves, and then I will be happy?
Is that so?
He didn't understand, but he couldn't move under Ryan's power and didn't dare to resist.

Although Ryan was not familiar with history, he had seen a lot about the exploitation of the ruled by rulers.

But you have to know that even the means of exploitation he knew were heaven compared to these slaves. Look at the lives of the slaves in Norton's territory. They ate weeds and tree bark every day, and occasionally had a little food supply. They lived in sewage tents caused by the melting snow in spring. They were unkempt and dirty every day, and the air was smoky. Not to mention that they were exploited, the pigsties in the nobles' mansions were a hundred times better than their environment.

They don't worry about being exploited at all, but numbly accept all these inhuman things.

Even though Ryan said it so directly, if all of it were really realized, the happiness of the people in Norton's territory would definitely rank among the top ten in the North Wind Province!

The slaves would be grateful to Norton.

"But, but..."

"I don't have any money anymore."

Norton lowered his head, he had no money. Ryan looked around, the magnificent lord's manor house, and even a few beautiful maids standing timidly with their heads lowered, holding exquisite snacks in their hands.

The nobles cannot change their appearance and their inner qualities. Ryan does not care about Norton's extravagance in this regard. All nobles are like this. If you are not of a high enough standard, you will be ridiculed by the nobles and excluded from the circle.

The marriage partners would not be those nobles who were living in financial difficulty.

"You have no money, but I have money."

Ryan laughed, revealing his devilish fangs.

"Not only can I lend you money, but I can also find you some qualified stewards who can help you manage your territory. In a year at most, your territory will be completely renovated."

Norton exclaimed, and the butler next to him widened his eyes, as if there was something targeting him here.

"Master, this won't do. I am your butler. I have been taking care of your life since I came to the Earldom of Clayton."

Norton was also hesitant. Indeed, the old butler was loyal and nobles also had feelings, especially for servants like the butler.

"I didn't say I'd replace you. Why are you worried? I'm looking for some men for you. Look at you. My previous butler, Beard, was much stronger than you."

Ryan said speechlessly, then spoke to Norton.

"You can have several butlers, or in other words, stewards who are below the butler and above the servants, just like the stewards in the Chamber of Commerce. They can help your butler and help you do things that one person cannot manage."

"It's not going to be a good thing for your territory to be under the management of this old guy."

Ryan patted Norton's shoulder.

"Think about it carefully. You know, besides my brother, who else would be willing to lend golden coins to others?"

"If your territory continues like this, I'm afraid it won't be many years before your father forgets about you. You know, our father has many children."

"That dragon heart should be his final gift to us."

"It would be fine if you came out, but you are still a lord, the lord of the Earl of Clayton's family. During the holidays, you have to return to the Earl of Clayton's territory."

Ryan's expression was meaningful. Norton was not a separate family now, he was still a retainer of Earl Clayton.

Some of Earl Clayton's brothers and sisters did not keep up with the upbringing of Earl Clayton after he became powerful. Ryan's experience in the imperial capital has already shown that it is not uncommon for people to be bullied in the homes of great nobles.

In the circle of great nobles, the weaker the peers, the more they will be bullied.

"I am your brother, how could I harm you? Mother asked me to take care of you, worried that you would not have enough food and clothing in the North."

Ryan spoke patiently and persuadingly, and Norton finally made up his mind.

Borrowed 10,000 gold coins from Master Ryan.

"As my younger brother, you will of course be treated preferentially. All you need to do is pay me back 12,000 gold coins within the ten-year period."

"If you calculate it this way, you only need to create... 1,500 gold coins every year. That's 120 gold coins a month. For you, who has a barony that's not inferior to the baron, that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Aren't they one thousand two hundred?"

"Don't count my brother like that. The extra three hundred coins are not for me, but for your territory. Doesn't that mean you don't need to spend money?"

Ryan pointed to the fine furniture nearby.

"In a year or two, the mountain forest world will disappear, and the price of meat will rise. Also, you may need to add a batch of maids in a few years. After all, as the descendant of the earl of Clayton blood and the dragon-eater, you should understand."

"You also need to entertain nobles, travel to attend gatherings in the Northern Wind Province, and even when you return to the South, you must bring some gifts back for mother, right?"

Ryan looked at Norton, whose eyes were glazed over. He counted, then looked at the maids on the other side and swallowed.

"Will three hundred gold coins be enough?"

"Then you will have to work harder, but I don't think that's a problem. At worst, I can ask a magician to arrange a piece of land for you to grow magical crops. I won't let you go bankrupt anyway."

"By the way, you have been courting Baron Mellikin's daughter recently, so you must not let the Baron see that you are in financial difficulty."

"As your brother, how about I personally give you another 500 gold coins? As funds to invite some noble friends to the banquet, Baron Melikin will naturally see your ability."

Norton was so moved that his eyes turned red, and he looked like he was about to cry when he saw Ryan.

After all, this guy is a few years younger than Ryan.

Ryan said comfortingly:
"If a lord asks about it, you can ask him to come to me. After all, we all came to the North from the South, right? Back then, when I was still in the Imperial City, maybe I knew them."

“I never thought that in a few years we would have to live as neighbors for the rest of our lives in the far north.”

He wanted to know that Ryan had only realized when he was in Longshan City that he was not alone here and he also had his own circle.

To be precise, it was the circle of his predecessor. He had always ignored the previous sixteen years of Ryan Clayton's life.

It could be ignored before because it was of no use, but it is no longer necessary now, because they are all nobles who came to the north alone from the south of the empire. Their experiences are the same, and they are born to be in the same circle.

Just like Marquis Sauron's decision, it will greatly affect the indigenous nobles in the North Wind Province. Ryan, Norton, and the children of those great nobles have now become lords of the North Wind Province. They have a gap in origin with other nobles.

They don't have any of their own, and Ryan could definitely take advantage of that.

Because the lords were dependent on the fifth-class nobles, Ryan was unable to completely win over these lords and nobles to stand with him politically. However, in the North Wind Province, there was no such concern, and at the same time, they would gather around Ryan in the same way as Norton.

Norton is a natural ally, so he only needs to pay back a little bit every year. But for other lords, if you borrow 10,000, you have to pay back 15,000 at least, right?
Then after all this time, was there only one contract during these long ten years?

Having tasted the sweetness, the nobles would surely ask Lord Ryan to lend them more money, right?
Loan sharks? Ryan blinked. Banks!

"No, it should be called a pawn shop. Banks are still too advanced."

But what do these people take?

Ryan was not worried at all. The nobles had a very peculiar quality. When it came to interests, they were cunning and greedy. When it came to dignity and honor, they would fight to the death.

The public opinion effect brought about by not repaying debts on time would probably be more painful than killing them, and this price would accompany that family name for countless years.

It’s not like Master Ryan is incapable of dealing with a deadbeat.

(End of this chapter)