Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 77 The Chamber of Commerce's Huge Investment

When Kurt heard Su Li say that there was a small problem that needed his help to solve, he was very happy. Isn't this what friendship is? You help me, I help you, and in the end, the favor is difficult to sort out, so we become close partners.

He immediately bowed slightly and said, "I am happy to serve you, powerful Lord Su Li."

Su Li said, "If you want to go to Maleburg, you can help me contact a few slave-catching groups and tell them that there is a deal worth two thousand gold crowns in Hessen Territory. They are welcome to bring enough slaves here."

Slave-hunting groups generally have their own network of relationships. They capture slaves everywhere and take them to various towns. If they are willing to come to Hesse Territory, it will be much more convenient than Su Li going to Maleburg to buy them.

After all, if he personally bought a bottle of slaves and set off from Maleburg, he would easily be attacked by the pioneering lords along the way.

To guard against these raiders, he would have to bring a large army, which was a waste of wealth and time. Su Li was not afraid of fighting, but to march thousands of miles with a large number of slaves and troops was indeed a heavy burden for a small pioneering territory.

Without sufficient financial resources, it would be impossible to support a thousand-man army marching thousands of miles. Therefore, the best way was for these slave-hunting groups to arrive at the territories one by one to trade, with each group sending dozens or even hundreds of people. After all, these slave-hunting groups were naturally mobile between territories.

When Chief Kurt heard the number of two thousand gold coins, his eyes lit up and he secretly raised his evaluation of this emerging territory a few points.

He said with some surprise, "The eagle flag of the Bauhinia family will be even more glorious with your presence, Lord Su Li. 2000 gold coins is a considerable sum. As far as I know, most baronies can't afford such wealth. Our West High Chamber of Commerce will participate in this feast and share a piece of the pie. After arriving in Maleburg, I will contact the slave-hunting group in the Chamber of Commerce Alliance and have them come to Hesse County as well."

This wasn't just Kurt's exaggeration. 2000 gold coins could buy ten elite knights, even if they were just slaves. Many baronies simply couldn't afford to save that much. Su Li's thousand-plus gold coins were largely earned by robbing a wealthy halfling family.

Su Li smiled calmly and said, "We naturally welcome the arrival of the West Gao Chamber of Commerce. If you are willing to operate in our territory, I will give you special preferential treatment and provide tax rebates and subsidies."

To attract investment, we must offer them some tax incentives. Of course, the incentives won't be too high, perhaps 20% to 30% at most. We can lower the 19th tax rate a bit.

Manager Kurt instantly became interested. Without waiting for Su Li to mumble, he pressed on, "I wonder how much tax incentives the Lord has given us? This determines the scale of our operations here."

Su Li originally wanted to let Lao En talk to him, but since he had come to this point, Su Li gave a direct reply and said, "I have decided to refund you 40% of the tax, 10% tax and 5% tax."

Six or seven percent of the tax rate is the usual tax rate for the imperial nobility. Even in many other forces, this is also very common. Sixty to seventy percent of the selling price of a luxury item of 100 is tax. Especially for imported items, it is not uncommon to impose a tax of 75%.

Su Li needed to develop the territory. Since he had personally promised to give him additional tax incentives to attract them to invest in the territory, he might as well reduce it by another 10% to show his sincerity.

Anyway, even if it's 10% tax and 5% tax, it's still an increase in tax revenue. If they don't come to invest, Su Li won't be able to collect a single copper coin in tax revenue.

Su Li's investment promotion offer immediately caught the attention of Kurt. He thought for a moment and then solemnly promised, "I need to discuss with the Chamber of Commerce's senior management which specific projects we will invest in. But I can guarantee that within my authority, the first investment will be no less than 50 gold crowns. We will build a grocery store, a carpentry workshop, a furniture store, an herbal medicine store, and two mills."

This achievement was truly remarkable. Clearly, Chief Kurt had considered the supply needs for future logging operations in the Blood Pine Forest. A Chamber of Commerce business in a nearby territory would be a significant aid to their future logging efforts.

As the lord, Su Li naturally welcomed the Chamber of Commerce's investment and construction in his territory. He smiled and stood up, shook Chief Kurt's right hand, and said, "As the lord of Hessen Territory, I welcome you and promise that you will be treated fairly if you operate here."

"We are a newly established territory, and we are interested in everything in your caravan. For example, the bottles you use to make potions, and the precious seeds you found in the forest."

Manager Kurt pondered for a moment, then took out a cloth bag from the leather sack at his waist and handed it to Su Li, saying, "Bottles for making potions are not scarce. After we build a grocery store, we will sell them to your territory. As for precious seeds, we haven't found anything this trip. These are the clover seeds I collected in Lawrence Forest when I left West Territory."

"People in my hometown are quite superstitious. Legend has it that when a goddess of luck bestows her grace upon the mortal world, a mutant four-leaf clover seed will briefly appear in a pile of three-leaf clover. Whoever collects this four-leaf clover will be blessed with good fortune. I am giving this bag of seeds to you, Lord Su Li, as a token of our friendship."

The eyes of the servants and officials following Su Li all lit up. It was a well-known fact in the territory that the goddess of luck was extremely favorable to their lord. It was not just about lifting up the hem of her skirt, it seemed as if she wanted to give the underwear under her skirt to the lord!
Su Li was also very happy. If a four-leaf clover was born, he would definitely not miss it because he had the ability to obtain daily intelligence.

So Su Li thought for a moment, took out a dragon blood stone from his waist, gave it to Chief Kurt, and said, "Our place is quite remote, and there are not many precious things here. I'm giving you this little special mineral as a token of our friendship."

"Dragon Blood Stone?!" Kurt's eyes widened instantly. This was too expensive. He wanted to refuse, but he couldn't let go.

This is dragon blood stone, which man doesn’t like it?

Eastern nobles wore jade on their waists. Imperial nobles, on the other hand, wore dragon blood stones on their waists! This was a symbol of wealth and status.

Su Li has also experienced the powerful effect of the dragon blood stone during this period. He feels that he and his younger brother have grown about one or two centimeters taller.

Every time the knight practiced, he would look down at Hilde and Avril kissing and serving him on his left and right, and that heroic and high-spirited posture and powerful sense of conquest would burst forth.

He knew too well how tempting this dragon blood stone was to men.

It can be said that giving a piece of dragon blood stone to good friends is no less than the kindness of a foster father!
Chief Kurt's face flushed with excitement. He looked at the dragon blood stone greedily for a long time, but he couldn't resist the temptation and put it into his saddlebag. Then he turned to Su Li and said, "Master Su Li, I came here in a hurry this time. The next time I visit your territory, I will definitely bring you a precious specialty to thank you for your generous gift."

Su Li waved his hand calmly. He had hundreds of these things in his hands. If it weren't for the need to ensure scarcity, he could take out dozens of them at a time for trading.

"I'm very happy that Master Kurt can come to our territory again. Gifts and such are not important."

Although he said so, Manager Kurt knew that he had to show something. He was already thinking about how to convince the top leaders of the Chamber of Commerce to make a larger investment in this territory.

A territory that can casually give away dragon blood stones must possess extraordinary power, and its development prospects are immeasurable.

While the two were talking, hurried footsteps were heard outside the castle. The sound came before Avril entered the castle hall. This was the first time Avril behaved in such an unladylike manner.

"My Lord, my Lord, we have retrieved the hail crystals, but they are wrapped in cotton cloth in an iron box. The insulation effect is not very good and they have begun to melt. We need to bury them in the ground as soon as possible."

As the voice fell, Avril walked into the hall anxiously.

Su Li has already chosen the location to bury the hail crystals, which is in the square north of the castle. He plans to plant more precious spiritual plants directly in the castle garden. At that time, the castle will be decorated with colorful and exotic plants, which will look very fantastic and advanced at first glance.

On the other hand, it can also effectively protect these precious plants.

Castles have a very good defensive effect. When raiders, beastmen, and other groups plunder territories, they generally do not attack heavily guarded castles.

If Su Li loses a battle with other forces in the future, the enemy can plunder the residential area on the south bank of the river intersection and fail to attack the castle, so he can still recover his strength.

Seeing Avril alone, Su Li immediately asked, "Where's Hail Crystal? Why are you the only one back?"

Avril quickly replied, "The servants are behind with the boxes. I'll come back to let you know. If we pick a good address, we can save the time of going back and forth to move the boxes."

Su Li nodded in satisfaction and praised: "You are very thoughtful. Come with me."

Kurt, the boss standing by, was also full of curiosity. He followed Su Li to a piece of cultivated land to the north of the castle.

He had done business in many territories and was quite knowledgeable, but he had never seen anything like hail crystals, and he had never even heard of them.

This seemingly inconspicuous territory actually hides a lot of strange items.

Under Su Li's command, armed servants soon drove a four-wheeled carriage, carrying two heavy iron boxes of hail crystals, to the square that had been selected in advance in the territory.

Both iron boxes were wrapped thickly with white cotton cloth. The principle was the same as that used by street vendors selling ice cream when conditions were difficult.

This only provided a basic seal and insulation, keeping the ice cool. However, it certainly couldn't completely insulate the ice, so the servants sped up their efforts, trying to bury it in the ground as quickly as possible.

(End of this chapter)