Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 169 Territory Transactions and Final Investment
The dwarves said it would take three days to gather the army and complete mobilization preparations, and this was not an exaggeration.

With the prosperity and expansion of Hesse, the troops in the territory have been dispersed and stationed in various places. Except for an elite force in Hesse Castle, the rest of the troops are stationed in a circle in various defensive strongholds, outposts and farms.

For example, the dwarven army was deployed in large numbers at outposts, mine pits, and various water conservancy facilities around the Jinke Mine. Nearly one-tenth of the dwarven troops were stationed at the iron mine outpost alone.

There is no other way. In this dark age where demons are rampant, if humans hide in cities and castles, the farms and villages outside the cities will surely be destroyed by various looters.

As troops gathered everywhere in Hesseburg, a large number of fully armed soldiers left the barracks and marched towards Hesseburg in formation.

The people of the territory immediately felt the atmosphere of war. The equipment in the weapons store became more popular, and the monastery of the Goddess of the Fiery Sun was crowded with believers.

Besides becoming popular in the south, the goddess was also widely worshipped among women who had sons and husbands.

Before the battle, they would come to the monastery to pray to the goddess, asking the goddess to guide the officers to make wise choices and let their loved ones come back alive.

Just like they advertised, Redma takes you to war, but Violet takes you back.

The goddess's monastery is just to the northeast of the territory castle. Su Li can see from the castle wall that the road leading to the monastery is filled with believers from the territory.

Even for this scene, Su Li must ensure that this battle must be carefully prepared and win with an overwhelming advantage. As the commander of this battle, he must bring most of the soldiers back safely.

Officer Kurt came to the city wall, stood beside Su Li, and said: "Men regard war as glory, but women are praying that men can return safely."

Su Li nodded: "Yes. It's a pity that the dwarves can't understand this scene. I have ordered the knights to take the dwarves to the side of the Goddess Monastery to watch this scene."

"Is it effective?"

Su Li shook his head regretfully: "Dwarves are extremely stubborn and stubborn. They won't change their minds easily."

Chief Kurt shrugged and said, "Yes, they prefer those brainless tough guys from the Redmar Church who just roar and rush into battle."

"With all due respect, Lord, based on my conversations with them, you don't have a very good impression among these dwarves. They don't like you very much. Not many dwarves are willing to brave the dangers and travel thousands of miles to help you in battle."

Su Li smiled indifferently. Of course he knew all of this.

Although in his opinion, he was trying every possible way to help the dwarves reduce casualties.

But from another perspective, from the dwarves' point of view, he was a lord who was reluctant to send troops. Every time the dwarves found him and asked him to send troops, he would find ways to refuse.

They disapproved of Violet's tactics and philosophy, and so they viewed the Hessen lord as cowardly, refusing to engage in an open and honest battle. Crucially, he lacked the boldness and decisiveness of the Redmar Church's lord. He was constantly procrastinating and rambling. It was a tormenting wait, a long one, before the day of battle finally arrived.

In fact, Su Li also disliked these dwarves.

They are stubborn and rigid, unable to adapt, narrow-minded and bad-tempered. Every day they are in the territory, they cause disputes and conflicts.

Too many times, they lose their temper and get into disputes with others because of a disagreement.

Compared to humans, these dwarves are often bad-tempered even when they are in a good mood. They are just like a group of rude miners who are difficult to communicate with.

This makes it difficult for both parties to regard each other as close friends.

Just as Chief Kurt said, the proportion of dwarves willing to help in the future will probably not be very high.

But this does not mean that the two sides hate each other. Both sides understand the importance of each other. If they work together, both will benefit, but if they separate, both will suffer.

So both sides are trying hard to adapt to all this.

Su Li said calmly, "It's enough for us to have a clear conscience. Chief Kurt, is there something that you strongly request a meeting with?"

This meeting was strongly requested by Chief Kurt to Hildreth, so Hildreth temporarily added a meeting with him to the agenda.

Otherwise, Su Li should be inspecting the arsenal and armory right now.

Although they did not get along harmoniously with the dwarves, the dwarves worked tirelessly to produce weapons and equipment.

Especially after the moon crown tree bloomed last night, the dwarves are working hard to temper and produce weapons that are more harmful to demons.

For this purpose, the dwarves built another blacksmith shop yesterday. More than 600 people in their army are serving for forging, from transporting ore, to smelting steel, to forging and quenching, and sparks are flying from the hammers they swing.

Chief Kurt was pressed for time, so he didn't beat around the bush and replied directly, "We've come here to say goodbye, Lord. We've finished felling trees in the Blood Pine Forest, and our caravan has purchased a large amount of supplies in your territory. Our caravan has several hundred vehicles, and it's time to return to West Territory. We won't be back until around next summer."

Su Li raised his eyebrows and said, "After all, all good things must come to an end. I wish you prosperity and a safe journey. At the same time, the territory will always welcome you!"

Of course Su Li welcomed their arrival. Just as Chief Kurt said, the arrival of their Chamber of Commerce really brought a lot of wealth to the territory and also purchased a large number of territory specialties.

In addition to cutting down a large amount of blood pine wood in the blood pine forest, they also purchased more than 40,000 kilograms of rose water. They almost cleared out all the apples on the hundreds of fruit trees around the territory's holy land, the Starlight Pool.

These one hundred fruit trees alone brought the Hesse Territory a profit of 20 gold crowns!

One hundred fruit trees occupy a little more than one acre, but no one's orchard would have an area of ​​only one acre.

According to Su Li's plan, fruit trees will be planted on hundreds or thousands of acres of land around this holy land. At that time, five copper coins for one fruit can bring Su Li a huge profit of two thousand or even twenty thousand gold crowns!
When an industry reaches a revenue of 20,000 gold crowns, it will be fully established and will bring a surge of momentum to the territory's wealth.

Until now, no one has ever seen such a huge fortune of 20,000 gold crowns at one time.

However, this matter cannot be rushed. First of all, taking care of an orchard is very tiring. Three farmers would be so tired that they could not even straighten their backs after taking care of a ten-acre orchard.

What’s more important is that the seedlings of this fruit tree cannot be grown into full-grown in one year like grains.

If Su Li wanted to harvest 20,000 gold crowns from the orchard, he would probably have to wait four or five years.

What the West Chamber of Commerce purchased in Hesse were industrial products that were of real value.

Although the world has changed, the principle that there is no wealth without industry and no life without business still applies.

Industry, even the most basic handicraft industry, can bring the most direct and huge wealth to a territory.

The West Chamber of Commerce successfully purchased 200 sets of dwarf armor in Hesse!
This scale is enough to arm a small order of knights.

Even an ordinary barony might not be able to gather so much heavy plate armor.

Those are 200 sets of excellent dwarven heavy armor. Any lord who gets them can directly recruit 200 elite knights.

In a battle involving a thousand or even five thousand people, the outcome of the war can be directly determined.

A large herd of roaring beastmen is only two to three thousand strong. Two hundred gleaming heavy-armored knights charging on horseback can directly defeat his large number of beasts.

In the civil war of the human empire, the two baronies could only deploy about one to two thousand soldiers. If one side took out a loan to buy 200 sets of dwarven armor before the final battle, the battle would be unnecessary and the other side would almost certainly lose! How can you lose when a dragon hits your face?
The West Chamber of Commerce only spent 5400 gold crowns to purchase 200 sets of such important strategic materials. The average price was only 27 gold crowns per set.

This was the result of Laun's repeated negotiations with them. Previously, they had only offered 23 gold crowns. It was only after the halflings formed a caravan and put pressure on them that they were willing to raise the price.

Su Li also wanted to quickly recover his funds and used the gold crowns to buy the Star Iron Armor from the dwarves. Otherwise, he would have to raise the price of the armor to at least 30 gold crowns.

The arms business is really profitable. The cost of Su Li producing such a set of armor, including the dwarf's working hours, may not reach 2 gold crowns.

This means he has at least 1000% profit.

Of course, it is not a loss for the West Chamber of Commerce to act as this kind of middleman. I heard that there is an extreme shortage of military supplies in Maleburg.

The southeast and southwest directions of the empire were invaded by monsters at the same time. Smoke rose everywhere and the fighting was extremely fierce. Humanity did not collapse. Although there were heavy losses everywhere, humanity's courage and perseverance made the lords in various places very tough and indomitable. They prepared their armies and tried to launch a counterattack to clean up the situation.

At this time, the price of military supplies skyrocketed. I heard that the price of dwarven armor had reached a new high in Maleburg, reaching 69 gold crowns and 87 silver coins per set! It was just shy of breaking the 70 mark.

If the battles in both directions have not yet resulted in a decisive outcome, then the price of armor will continue to rise, and breaking through the 70 mark is inevitable.

This means that although the West Chamber of Commerce has a relatively low profit margin, its absolute profit value is far higher than Su Li's. These 200 sets of armor may earn them 6000 to 8000 gold crowns!

In addition to the dwarven industrial products, the territory also has other witchcraft products, divine potions, monastery outputs, and industrial outputs from various workshops.

It can be said that the arrival of this caravan has greatly revitalized the territory's economy, brought in more population, more investment, and more workshops. It has also provided a market for the territory's industrial products and made the service industry lucrative. Those alluring prostitutes, like succubi, have exploited most of the caravan's workers and guards.

These bloodthirsty men only have a suit of armor and a broken sword left, and are just waiting to travel to Maleburg to get a bonus to ease their current predicament.

The key point is that after this caravan did all this, they would leave a huge commercial tax to the territory before leaving, which greatly alleviated the emptiness of Su Li's treasury.

How could Su Li not like them and welcome them?

Seeing that Su Li was about to send him away, Chief Kurt quickly said, "My Lord, I have one last important investment to discuss with you."

Su Li raised his eyebrows and asked calmly, "What?"

When Chief Kurt saw Su Li's indifferent expression, he was shocked. This was not consistent with the state of a lord when he heard about investment.

Why does it seem like the other party had anticipated this and there was no surprise at all?
He even suspected that someone in his caravan had leaked the information!

But without any certainty, he could only continue calmly, "I plan to build an outpost for our territory west of the Blood Pine Forest, approximately ten empires away. This will serve as our Chamber of Commerce's future logging and mining camps, storing the daily necessities our workers need and accumulating the resources we collect."

He emphasized, "And considering the territory's support for us, we can also build several arrow towers and watchtowers next to this outpost to help the territory shoulder the task of surveillance. If you plan to station troops here, we can also build a camp for you to accommodate 30 soldiers on a low hill north of our outpost. We can help each other with mutual support."

As an excellent businessman, he fully understood how to deal with nobles and lords.

Before discussing business, making a small investment and free donation to the territory will greatly gain the favor of the lords.

In the subsequent negotiations, the lord will give up great interests for the sake of face and will not bargain excessively.

The investment in Hesse and the military camp built for the territory may be worth less than 20 gold crowns.

However, the benefits gained from the negotiations were as much as 200 gold crowns or even 2000 gold crowns!
He has used this method time and again in various territories and it has always worked.

This was why he started by speaking ill of the dwarves. Unlike the dwarves who were unpopular, he, a successful businessman, was very slick and had great favor with many lords.

Su Li didn't care about his small favor and said calmly, "Haha, thank you for the sponsorship of the West High Chamber of Commerce. But let me tell you in advance, if there are any negotiations involving the interests of the territory, don't expect me to give in."

Manager Kurt's eyes suddenly went dark. Wasn't this a typical case of losing more than gaining something?
20 gold crowns, that’s the annual salary of two official knights.

He now seriously suspected that the owner of Hesse Territory must have learned some news!
But before he could think about it, Su Li took the initiative to speak: "Boss Kurt, this isn't the investment you're talking about, is it? An investment of more than a dozen gold crowns is worth using your connections. Have you asked for favors from Hildreth?"

Chief Kurt quickly calmed himself and said, "Oh, Lord, you have a keen eye. This is just the beginning of our investment. We have discovered several rich mineral deposits on the Skage Plateau, southwest of the Bloodpine Forest. According to the information surveyed by our hired dwarf mining master, the proven ores include marble, iron, copper, and other resources. Therefore, we intend to purchase the mining rights to the Skage Plateau from you."

Su Li smiled faintly and glanced at him, then said meaningfully, "Will the dwarf master you hired deceive you? The mineral resources in the Skage Highlands are very rich. You must survey them carefully to make sure you don't miss any important metals, such as silver mines."

Chief Kurt's face flushed crimson. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a silk scarf and quickly lowered his head. "My Lord, you... your reminder is valid. We must conduct a more thorough survey after we return. We should organize several waves of dwarves to survey from different directions to ensure that no important resources are missed."

Su Li smiled and said, "Alright then. Since you're interested in this place, I'm naturally happy to see it happen. We're old friends with a deep friendship, so I'll just quote you a price. If you can accept the price, we'll sign the agreement right away. If not, let's just drop the matter and avoid haggling and hurting our relationship."

This is a notification, not a negotiation.

So without waiting for Kurt's reply, Su Li said directly: "3178 gold crowns."

Chief Kurt's vision darkened completely. How could the Lord of the Black Forest know the trump card of his highest authority?!
This cannot be explained by someone leaking the information.

Officer Kurt smiled wryly and said, "My Lord, I now believe that you truly are the all-knowing omniscient of all the information in Hesse Territory. There are no secrets in front of you."

Su Li smiled and extended his hand: "It's a pleasure to work with you. Kurt is in charge."

Manager Kurt reached deep into his hands and firmly grasped Su Li. He gathered his shaky thoughts, took a deep breath, and said, "My Lord, before I leave, I want to express my sincere feelings. My West Chamber of Commerce and I both believe that you will achieve great things in the end."

"Neither the red dragon nor the demon is strong enough to threaten your foundation."

"Perhaps the situation will not be smooth sailing, but I believe that you will eventually overcome difficulties and achieve great success. We at the West Chamber of Commerce are willing to work with you to overcome all difficulties and achieve glory."

"When we come back next year, I will definitely convince the Chamber of Commerce leaders to bring in larger investments and caravans."

Su Li smiled and said, "Thank you for your good wishes, my friend. We in the Hesse Territory will always value our friendship with your West High Chamber of Commerce. You know, what my territory lacks most is population and talent. I heard that the people of your West Territory are willing to take risks and can help me bring back more talents. If you have a way to help me obtain some outstanding talents, it would be a great help to me."

Manager Kurt smiled and said, "No problem. I do have connections in this area! I have some connections with the Royal Griffin Military Academy in Mordheim. When I pass through Mordheim, I will definitely go to the Royal Griffin Military Academy to promote you."

"If you can recruit one or two talented people from Griffin Academy, it will be of great help to your career!"

"But you must hurry up and upgrade your title. Even if you become a baron, it will attract many knights who want fiefs and noble honors to come to your territory."

Promotion of title?

This is no easy task.

Su Li felt it necessary to contact the nobles of Maleburg.

After all, they also have a lot of say in the assessment of the Pioneer Knights.

But there is no rush about this matter. The West Chamber of Commerce will not return until next year. His most important task now is to resolve the crisis of the demons!

(End of this chapter)