Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 38 The Price of Slaves

The secrets of the city lord's wife, the charming wife, the young woman to be developed, and the beautiful Sister Bei were still too far away from Su Li, so Su Li only fantasized about it for a while and then turned his attention back to other aspects.

Since he had his own nominal territory [Hessen Foothills] for the first time, the density of intelligence information today was somewhat astonishing. Only one day's information update showed him a lot of information about the Hessen Foothills area.

The Blackwater and Brienne rivers both flow down from the Grey Mountains. Their confluence lies deep within the Territory Plains. Nearby, a three-headed river troll roams the land. Slaying them grants two Water Elemental Hearts, valuable items that can awaken a soldier's bloodline. Implanting one of these hearts in a soldier's body allows him to ascend to the rank of Apprentice Knight, even if he possesses no existing bloodline, and thus cultivate the Knight's Breathing Technique. Furthermore, if a soldier already possesses a Water Elemental Heart, their cultivation will be even more effective.

Furthermore, within the Gray Mountains to the north of the territory lies a mountaintop containing a massive iron mine, which a kobold tribe has secretly occupied. The kobolds aren't particularly strong, and Su Li, with his strength, could easily capture this massive mine. This massive iron mine is capable of producing vibranium, and the territory happens to have a dwarven forgemaster, Boros Dragonhammer, which means that each year the territory produces several more sets of rune-infused vibranium armor.

All of this is tempting Su Li to go to this fertile foothills!
Therefore, Su Li decided to head directly to this territory after purchasing slaves from the Dark Night Slave Hunters. He had to take a look first. If there was truly an irresistible danger, he could rely on the daily information system's warnings to escape early. A month of acclimatization was enough time for him to acquire local intelligence.

To be on the safe side, Su Li asked Boros Dragonhammer about the local situation after getting up, but this eccentric dwarf still had a great prejudice against humans and completely ignored Su Li's inquiries.

Su Li couldn't get any valuable information from him, so he left him in the camp temporarily, and then took more than 60 soldiers to the address shown on the note Oliver left for him.

This place is in a valley southeast of the city, and one has to cross a dense forest to reach it. Su Li got up late, and it was not until noon that he led his troops to the gate of the Dark Night Slave Catching Group's camp.

At this time, Oliver had been wandering anxiously at the camp gate for more than three hours. He regretted his caution yesterday. If he lost such a high-quality customer, he would regret it for several months.

Seeing Su Li arriving with a large group of people, he finally wiped away the gloom on his face and stepped forward to greet Su Li warmly with a smile on his face: "Respected Knight Su Li, you are finally here. You don't know that several bosses wanted to take away slaves to show them to other customers today. I had to work hard to convince the Chamber of Commerce directors to keep these precious goods."

Su Li raised his eyebrows and jumped off the wildebeest. It seemed that the Chamber of Commerce's investigation was quite fruitful. They even found out his name.

However, Su Li didn't believe a single word he said. If he believed the words of a dishonest businessman, he would be cheated out of everything.

He replied straight to the point: "Then let's go and see the quality of your goods. If I am satisfied, my pioneering territory will continue to cooperate with you when purchasing slaves in the future."

"No problem, no problem. It's our honor." Oliver smiled and immediately bowed to invite Su Li in: "Please follow me."

The Dark Night Slave Catching Group is still very powerful. Their slave-catching team showed Su Li three elite knights as soon as they came up.

"How about it, Lord Su Li?" Oliver raised his chin proudly and asked, "Three elite knights can significantly enhance the strength of your territory. Each one costs only 300 gold coins." 300 gold coins is about five years' salary for an elite knight.

The value of most slaves in this world can be calculated, which is basically 40 to 60 months' income from this profession.

For example, an armed servant has a monthly salary of 20 silver coins, and a total income of 3 gold coins a year including allowances and benefits. The price of buying an armed servant slave is 8 to 12 gold coins, which fluctuates according to regional demand, market conditions, public security, etc.

Based on this calculation, the average farmer's income is about 8 to 10 silver coins per month, so the income from buying a serf is 3 to 6 gold coins.

In both cases, even after a year of toiling away, after deducting household expenses, one wouldn't be able to save 20 silver coins. Purchasing a slave required a decade or two of frugal living and toiling away. A single natural disaster, man-made calamity, or even the effects of old age, sickness, or death would bankrupt one, forcing them to become a slave themselves, not just buy one.

Apprentice knights were significantly wealthier, earning 50 silver coins a month, roughly equivalent to 5000 yuan. If they owned their own land, it would be relatively easy for them to buy serfs to farm for them. If they were lucky enough to meet a generous and capable lord, they could make a small fortune and even have one or two knight squires to help them mow grass, feed horses, polish weapons, and maintain equipment.

Once a knight became a full-fledged member of the privileged class, they were considered the empire's own people. Their monthly salary was one gold coin! A full ten thousand copper coins, a veritable monthly salary exceeding ten thousand, a dream that every commoner in the empire yearned for since childhood. Every full-fledged knight possessed their own retainers, farms, and serfs. While lacking the privileges and honors of the nobility, they could in many ways be considered a smaller-scale knight of the kingdom.

Therefore, the people of the empire were born into a life of hard work, dreaming of becoming knights from a young age. In addition to greater strength, more importantly, they also had more wealth, benefits, and opportunities.

The more powerful elite knights received a monthly salary of 5 gold coins, something the common people could not even dream of. Their monthly income was enough to cover the average family's annual taxes and expenses, with a substantial surplus.

Of course, this also means buying an elite knight slave, which is really expensive, at least 200 gold coins.

Oliver sold it to him for 300 gold coins, which wasn't cheap, but it wasn't a rip-off either. It was within the normal price range. No one would immediately quote the lowest price; bargaining was required.

But Su Li was not interested in this deal. He already had a lot of elite knights under his command, and paying their salaries was a problem. Moreover, he had even more formal knights, and there were many opportunities for promotion.

It's not that he couldn't afford these elite knights, but if he paid for them, he wouldn't have the money to buy slaves to work the land for him. The knights in this world didn't farm. They spent their days doing only one thing: honing their fighting skills. Their only duty was to kill and prepare for the kill.

Since they were not engaged in production, Su Li would leave some money to buy serfs who were engaged in production.

(End of this chapter)