Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 215: Land Sales Finance and Freya's Principles

It's worth noting that further east from Mezzo Hearth Restaurant, beyond Carnival Square, lies the Wallflower District of the Territory. This is a wealthy residential area filled with knights' mansions and quiet streets. Due to the Empire's martial spirit, it also has a certain military character.

The reason why this wealthy community is mentioned specifically is because it is one of the important sources of financial income for the territory.

The buildings inside were built by dwarf engineers and ogre construction teams assigned by Su Li in the style of the capital of the Imperial Elector.

The minimum price for a luxury house in the Wallflower District is 500 gold crowns, which is a sky-high price that even knights cannot afford even if they sell themselves.

This was understandable. This luxurious residential complex wasn't originally intended for them. Even a champion knight would struggle to afford such a luxurious home. With a monthly salary of 20 gold crowns, they'd have to skip food and drink for 25 months to afford one. But that was simply impossible. After all, while they could live without food and drink in the barracks, their retainers, attendants, and servants couldn't.

This incident left Freya feeling somewhat resentful. While the Corona Knights were wealthy, funded by merchants and nobles, that wealth belonged to the Order, intended for expansion and strengthening, not for the enjoyment of the knights themselves.

As the deputy leader, Freya's salary is as high as 30 gold crowns, but it is not easy for her to buy such a house, so she can only live in the Corona Knights branch.

The living environment here is indeed no worse than that of the Wallflower District, but the privacy is much worse.

Her every move would be watched, and every time she entered Hesse Castle to satisfy Su Li's animal desires, she would be seen by other Corona Knights.

The ambiguous relationship and scandals between the deputy leader of the Corona Knights and the Lord of Hesse have become gossip that all knights and believers of the Church of the Fiery Sun Goddess love to hear.

Su Li was still unaware of Freya's troubles. This woman always appeared with a cold, beautiful face, and it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. Only when Su Li was deeply controlling her would her face and body flush, her expression changing slightly, and she would cry out in begging for mercy.

So Su Li liked to tease this cold and frosty beauty more and more. When she walked into the room, Su Li was the first to greet her.

The colder and more arrogant she was, the more Su Li liked to flirt with her intimately.

Maybe all men have this strange habit, to lure decent women into the sea and persuade prostitutes to become good people.

No! If it were a woman, she would probably enjoy the feeling of desecrating something noble and holy.

But no matter what, Su Li liked to see her act arrogant and indifferent to everyone, but with a look of helplessness and gentle indulgence in front of him.

So, walking up to her, Su Li hugged her directly, holding her slender waist with his right hand, and then kissed her cherry lips. Five minutes later, when Freya's legs felt weak, her body was burning, and her cheeks and neck were flushed, Su Li let her go and asked, "Is it okay for you to put down your work and go out for a walk with me?"

Freya's breathing became a little rapid, and her frosty face had melted away, like the shyness of a snow lotus. Her bright eyes were hazy as she looked at Su Li and said, "I am a knight of the church. In principle, it is not possible... But to you, it is difficult for me to say no."

Su Li hugged her tightly, as if he wanted to squeeze her completely into his chest, and said, "Why don't you just be my court lady? There won't be so many principles."

Freya's hazy eyes immediately became somewhat clearer. She shook her head firmly and said, "I don't want to become a woman who relies on men to survive. I joined the Church Knights to prove that women are not inferior to men."

"That's right, that's right." Su Li said decisively: "Women hold up half the sky."

Women hold up half the sky, only when women truly participate in labor! Just like the time when this sentence was put forward, gender equality was truly achieved, and factories treated everyone equally.

Instead of men being like slaves, women are saying that they like traveling, baking, gourmet food, flower gardening, tea art, fitness, and even clubbing.

The beauty of this world is that, regardless of gender, everyone must fight on the battlefield. The orcs' axes won't hold back just because you're a woman. The idea of ​​not hitting a woman is a pedantic Eastern notion. To truly respect a woman is to treat her as a worthy opponent and give her your all!
Even when it comes to being exploited, men and women are treated cruelly. Women are even worse off, as they not only have to work in the fields like men, but also have to satisfy the nobles' desires.

Regardless of whether or not there was a right of first night, these people were the property of the nobles. If the nobles wanted to have sex with them, they had no way to resist. The reason there weren't so many tragedies was entirely because the knights wanted to maintain their so-called pride and nobility. They disdained having sex with these lowly slaves, which would defile their bodies and tarnish their noble reputations.

Even though Su Li had a relationship with Phyllis, a daughter from a peasant family, he was still ridiculed behind his back by many merchants and knights in the territory.

In fact, when it comes to suitable female courtiers, Freya is one of the most suitable ones.

But unfortunately, Freya is determined. She can indulge Su Li's various intimate thoughts and meet his various needs when he needs it, but she is unwilling to become a female courtier of the nobles.

Su Li had no other choice but to say, "I don't understand why you're fighting so hard. Isn't it great for Hildreth to be my courtier? Who can say she's my vassal and can't live without me?"

Freya said calmly, "People can't be generalized. I didn't get to know you when you were still young, so I had to fight. If I didn't, I wouldn't even be able to buy a house in your territory."

Su Li's restless claws had already slid from her waist to her round and beautiful legs, caressing the cool, plump thighs under her skirt, and said, "What are you talking about? What's mine is yours, isn't it? I'll give you a set of Chenxi River and Lake Manor in a while."

This is a beautiful manor built next to the Brienne River in the south of the city. It was built by a halfling, but was confiscated by the territory because its owner was suspected of being involved in the vibranium smuggling case in the Border War.

The vibranium hidden by the armed servants obviously needed merchants and caravans to smuggle out. Naturally, the halfling was not spared from the list of crimes they confessed.

Freya shook her head calmly and said, "Wouldn't I still be a woman dependent on you for support? I appreciate your kindness, but if you really want to help me on an equal footing, give me a discount on the house in Wallflower District. I heard that other knights who come to you offer much more affordable prices than merchants."

This is indeed true. Su Li hopes to use this property and community to retain some elites who are truly useful to the Hesse Territory.

Elite knights come to buy properties, and there are discounts for both knights within the territory and elite knights from outside who plan to relocate to the territory.

Even the champion knight can directly obtain the right to use a property in the Wallflower District.

But Freya obviously did not have this treatment. She gave the champion knights real estate because these champion knights would directly join the secular knights of the Hesse Lords and accept the command and appointment of the Hesse Lords.

Freya was a church knight, and nominally she was not under Su Li's command. Therefore, it was inappropriate for the territory to directly give her a house.

Su Li could only say, "Okay, I'll give you a 20% discount. Do you have that many gold coins?"

Freya nodded and said, "I'll get rid of the spoils and some unused souvenirs. I think I can get enough for the down payment. I'll get a loan from a halfling bank for the rest. It should be paid back in two or three years."

The situation Freya described is also one of the important sources of equipment for the Hessen Territory.

A powerful elite knight or champion knight, in the process of traveling and fighting, can always kill a large number of monsters and obtain some precious items. Especially these members of the Flame Sun Knights who recently arrived in the Black Forest Territory, they all have rich experience.

The equipment they sold greatly enriched the personal props of the Hessian Territory and the army.

Of course, they would also purchase the dwarven superior heavy armor from the territory.

Su Li spent so much money and raised so many dwarves just for this moment.

These days, Su Li earned more than 2000 gold crowns just from the sale of dwarf equipment. This is wealth that he earned without leaving his home. He no longer needs to organize a caravan to send these things to Maleburg as before.

This Wallflower District has brought Su Li more than 3000 gold crowns in revenue, and the community is still expanding at a steady pace.

If the dwarves had not focused their main energy on fortifications, the revenue from selling this land would have allowed Su Li to earn thousands or even two thousand gold crowns every month.

With the development and expansion of the territory and the improvement of urbanization, the real estate industry will definitely be one of the industries with the greatest benefits.

It’s a pity that this industry lacks sustainability, and the funds from selling land are a one-time gain. It will probably take more than ten years or even decades before we can get this kind of funds again.

On the contrary, the booming banking industry has greatly promoted the territory.

The banking industry is also very rich. Their buildings are not in Carnival Square, but in the southwest of the territory.

Here, the cathedral of the Church of Dawn is connected to the surrounding ancillary buildings through bridges, alleys and tunnels. The marble buildings connect the entire area into a large building, which looks very magnificent.

The bank is located to the south of this building, facing the vault area on the north bank of the river.

This bank was jointly established by six halfling families in the territory, providing a large amount of financial support for the territory's artisans to expand into workshop owners. The interest rate they offered to artisans was much lower than the interest rate they offered to Su Li, after all, these artisans could not escape or default on their debts.

After Su Li finished talking with Freya, he rode a griffin from the castle area across the bridge over the river and arrived in the city.

In the center of the city is a large clock tower, built by art merchants, Hessian engineers and the Halfling Chamber of Commerce.

Su Li looked at the time and it was already past two in the afternoon.

He said decisively, "Let's go to the dock area and take a boat to Bjorn Bay and Lake Raveling."

The docks were located just below Hesse Castle, so the group arrived quickly. Here, numerous fishermen were gathering their nets and carrying their harvest. Numerous caravans also arrived, unloading their goods directly into the center of the city. A winding path on the south side connected to the streets of the South Bank, allowing goods to be delivered to various shops as quickly as possible.

Su Li even saw some slaves here peeling river clams and digging out the pearls inside. There were quite a lot of them, and it looked like there were hundreds of them.

Although ordinary pearls are not as valuable as magic pearls, generally between 20 and 30 silver coins, these pearls can also bring Su Li at least 30 gold crowns in revenue.

Don't let the mere fact that Su Li just received a 20000 gold crown loan dissuade you from understanding its purchasing power. This 20000 gold crowns represent a loan from a large number of merchants and the Chamber of Commerce. It's a reflection of the wealth and will of the entire territory. These large merchants and landowners aren't just seeking profit; they're also supporting Su Li in repelling the evil forces threatening the territory.

In fact, 30 gold crowns is already a huge fortune. You can even hire a powerful heavy cavalry regiment like the Fallen Wolf Mercenaries to serve you for about 10 days.

Such a long time is enough for a caravan to safely reach the trading town under the protection of this mercenary group.

If you were a farmer, this much wealth would be enough to hire 30 farmers to work for you for a whole year!
A farm with 30 farmers is considered a large farm in the empire, with an area of ​​thousands of acres and a production of hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain.

The territory's finances are supported by such farms and their income.

Looking at all this, Su Li was in a particularly happy mood. He and Death Claw also boarded the canal boat and headed towards Bjorn.

The reason why he did not choose to fly was that he wanted to experience the convenience of the canal for himself.

In this flat and fertile central plain, the canal is undoubtedly extremely smooth, and the canal boats can shuttle quickly.

Su Li even saw three grain ships coming from Bjorn Bay. The ships had a very deep draft and were loaded with heavy grain, which were soybeans harvested in autumn.

The autumn harvest time for soybeans is a little later than that for wheat, and they are ripe now.

The beans carried by these three ships alone amounted to more than 80,000 kilograms, enough to supply thousands of people in the entire territory for three or four days.

This made Su Li in a very good mood, but not everything was smooth on the road. When they arrived at the intersection of the Bjorn Canal and the Brienne River, an unexpected incident occurred.

As many as 12 Caohe transport ships staged a huge fight here, and the scale of the battle made Su Li shudder.

Under the command of the head of the Chamber of Commerce, hundreds of caravan guards on the armed merchant ships launched a very tactical boarding battle. The dwarves on board even used muskets, and the air was filled with smoke from the volleys of pistols and muskets.

If Su Li's griffin had not been flying in the air and scared them into stopping immediately, this armed fight would have resulted in more than a dozen or even dozens of casualties before it ended.

The reason why they fought made Su Li laugh and cry. It was just a matter of face for who entered the territory first.

Su Li personally reprimanded them and then drove them away. The city guards would handle the subsequent punishment.

After they got off the canal, Freya said, "We urgently need to appoint a Hessian naval commander to form a more powerful navy and river defense force."

Su Li nodded. The current river guards, aside from a small number of troops patrolling the water, relied heavily on cavalry patrolling the shore. After all, the Imperial Cavalry was the most powerful branch of the military. On the flat, fertile land of the Central Plains, the knights and their mounted squires were no less mobile than the river transports and merchant ships.

However, for now, this somewhat primitive and barbaric order can only be maintained.

The current situation in the territory simply does not allow for the construction of a river defense force.

The territory's military was already a significant portion of the economy, a staggering amount. Adding to this the construction costs, the monthly fixed expenditure reached over 7000 gold crowns. At this rate of expenditure, without a windfall, the territory wouldn't be able to accumulate much wealth. A three-month fiscal deficit would be enough to wipe out the meager treasury savings Su Li held.

This is why Su Li came to inspect the farming business in the territory as soon as possible. He urgently hoped that after the territory's finances could cover various expenses, there would be a fiscal surplus, and the treasury savings would increase every month instead of decreasing every month!

It's in his genes to pay attention to saving.

Fortunately, the results of farming were very gratifying. When Su Li arrived at Bjorn Bay, the beautiful pastoral scenery in front of him made him happy.

As his eyes looked out, he saw a fertile land between the vast foothills. Lake Rafflin was like the most shining turquoise gem inlaid on the earth. The lake water was crystal clear and shone with a beautiful turquoise light like an emerald.

It was the watering season. The huge water valve was opened, and the misty blue lake water poured out from the gate, watering the vast childhood below. The green wheat seedlings sparkled in the sunlight.

The woods between the farmlands are filled with fantastical colors. From time to time, strange and bizarre natural spirits appear, then disappear in a flash among the stones and moss.

Among the roads, swamp striders, standing over ten meters tall and with eight pillar-like legs, slowly carried large quantities of supplies towards Hesseburg. Although they moved slowly, their unparalleled transport capacity allowed them to carry more than dozens of carriages.

The people from the Church of Dawn were watching all this right next to the gate. They had to ensure that the lake water could irrigate all the farmland and canals below, and that some of the fantastical creatures in this holy land would not leave.

So Fandral released a [Sunfall] in the east direction of the lake, which greatly activated the creatures in the lake. Various rare fish and some fantastic creatures that Su Li had never seen scrambled to jump out of the water, enjoying the surging wind brought by the Sunfall magic.

Through this magic, the creatures in the lake are attracted to the east bank of the lake, and they will not swim out of the valve.

This scene also attracted a large number of residents and creatures in the territory to come and watch the beautiful scenery. Even the guardian otter Kappa brought the primitive girl and a group of river elves into the lake to appreciate the beautiful sight.

However, this divine spell consumed a lot of Fandral's physical strength. After releasing this divine spell, he sat down on the embankment panting, leaning against a willow tree and gasping for breath.

When Su Li approached, he was taking out the wine jug and pouring the wine into his mouth in big gulps.

Su Li couldn't help but smile and asked, "Lord Fandral is in a good mood. Let's enjoy the new wine while enjoying the beautiful scenery and the good years."

Fandral quickly stood up, holding onto the tree trunk. He breathed heavily and said, "My Lord, you misunderstood. This is not fine wine. Druids don't drink alcohol on a normal day. This is magical spring water soaked in laurel gems. It can help me restore my divine power."

Su Li's eyes lit up: "Are you going to use the laurel gemstone now?"

Fandral nodded and said, "That's right. There are only two laurel gems in our territory now. One is with me, and the other was supposed to be with Edmund, the steward of the pastoral garden, but it was taken away by the military commander today."

"This is no easy task. If it weren't for the support of the Provincial Council, the Herdsman would never have been willing to hand over such a precious gem to a rude knight. I heard that Edmund even hugs his gourd pot when he sleeps."

A gourd is a gourd-like object made from gourds. It is often used by the empire and druids to store olive oil, wine, and spring water.

Su Li didn't expect that Edmond could sleep with the gourd pot in his arms.

Su Li smiled and asked, "He doesn't have anything particularly important to do, why does he care so much about this?"

Fandral immediately said solemnly: "How could that be? With Edmund's help, the scale of vanilla cultivation in our hot spring village has increased to 43 acres!"

"This is all the result of his full efforts."

43 acres of vanilla, a precious spice, means that at least 50 kilograms can be produced next year.

A pound of vanilla pods is equal to a pound of gold.

However, don’t think that this scale and expansion comes easily. All development requires investment.

The potions, spring water, and divine spells Edmund drank to catalyze these herbs were a huge investment.

Don’t think that these things are worthless if you don’t spend money on them. They can be regarded as equivalent working hours.

A druid releases so many spells and divine arts, and investing in any direction can generate great value.

Su Li was more curious about something else and asked, "Did you use the Sun Drop on this vanilla plantation?"

Although the quota for using the magic of Sunfall is extremely limited, every place needs the blessing of this magic. After all, the series of effects it brings are too powerful. It can summon a scorching sun and let the golden morning light flow on the farmland and pastures like liquid gold.

Then, for the next month, this land will be protected by a series of divine blessings, including [Pure Area], [Identify Nature], [Immunity to Pests], [Abundant Grains], and [Natural Order].

Regardless, the vanilla plantation is worthy of such a divine blessing, as it can increase the yield of spices per acre and may even produce higher quality extraordinary vanilla pods.

(End of this chapter)