Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 398 Territory's Financial Revenue and Expenditure

Nielsen's Ministry of the Interior has temporarily passed the test.

Then, Lenos from the engineering team arrived in a hurry. He was also busy, but not too busy, because he had a very capable assistant, Zhao Qingshan, who was a general-level figure in engineering construction and was even on the verge of becoming the soul of the engineering team.

At the same time, he is currently the only four-star craftsman in the non-foreign player system in the territory, with unlimited potential. He is now one of the most important builders in the construction of the level four city wall, and can be ranked alongside Zhao Xuanxuan and Thomas.

In this situation, the original head of the engineering team, Lenos, was honored to step down to the second line and take charge of logistics, such as personnel scheduling and material supply. At this moment, he had time to answer Li Wei's questions.

"Reporting to the Lord, the engineering team is now the largest in our territory. As of now, we have 54 three-star craftsmen, all of whom had at least a university degree before the apocalypse. We also have a very strong front-line construction team, with an average of two-star craftsmen and a total of 300 people. This is a core team, and each of them can lead ten workers."

"The ongoing Level 4 city wall construction project involves concentrating elite troops and recruiting 500 laborers each from the riverside fortress and the Black Mountain Baron's territory, and 1,000 laborers from the main camp, bringing the total number of people involved in the construction to 2355. The goal is to complete the Level 4 city wall within two months."

"Currently, the project has entered the first phase of foundation excavation and material stockpiling. A total of 84 electric trucks, 20 electric buses, 15 small and 5 medium-sized concrete mixers, a small nuclear power plant, and 10 steam generators are already in operation, so electricity is not a problem. As for food supply, the chefs, fishing and hunting teams, and gathering teams are also guaranteed to provide it at full capacity."

"However, there are two things that require your approval, Lord. The first is what Lord Qin Yu instructed: building a level four city wall requires at least 4 cubic meters of level four stone. Currently, the only place that can produce level four stone is the Black Mountain Fortress on the south bank. However, if we mine extensively there, it may cause some damage to the main structure of the Black Mountain Fortress. Therefore, after our assessment, we have determined that we can only mine a maximum of 4 cubic meters from there. So we need to conduct new prospecting. But unfortunately, level four stone mines like the one at the Black Mountain Fortress are too rare."

"So what's your idea? Should we just upgrade the magic mine to level 3 stone block?"

Li Wei asked directly, which wasn't hard to guess.

"Yes, my lord. Of course, this matter is not urgent at the moment. These level 4 stone blocks may not be needed for about a month."

"Very good, I understand. So what's the second thing?"

"Reporting to the lord, it is like this: although there are currently as many as 2355 people involved in the construction of the level 4 city wall, it is still not enough. Therefore, I dare to request that at least 300 soldiers be transferred to participate in the construction, especially in some of the parts of the project that require heavy physical labor. In this way, we can shorten the construction period as much as possible."

Lenos's advice was cautious, but it was correct.

At this time, when even the Ice Duke has announced peace talks, it is very necessary to withdraw three hundred soldiers to invest in the construction of the level 4 city wall. After all, these soldiers are currently mostly three-star strength, and each one is comparable to a small excavator.

It may not meet technical standards, but it is crucial in these rough and tedious earthwork projects.

"Alright, what do you mean 300 people? All 400 soldiers you have now will come to help, but only for digging earth. After the earthwork is finished, only 200 soldiers will be left for you."

Li Wei made the final decision.

This is feasible. Currently, the Black Mountain Baron is under the command of the Red Witch Anna, and the Riverside Fortress is under the command of Li Yue.

The territory's main base has gathered three second-tier spellcasters. If this isn't safe, what is?

However, we cannot be careless about using magic to upgrade the stone ore.

I need to take a look first.

After seeing Lenos off, Li Wei took out his Prestige Card and was somewhat surprised after a brief examination.

Because of the previous terrifying flood, which was unprecedented in a thousand years, the territory's magic reserves not only did not deplete much, but actually increased slightly.

For example, the three-star magic mine in this territory consumed 30 units of magic to forge enchanted equipment for the cavalry, and also provided Hathaway with 20 units of magic to fight the flood. After all that, the magic mine still has 80 units of magic in reserve.

As for the three-star magic mine in the riverside fortress, it has reached 60 units.

Even Hathaway's one-star magic mine in the Black Mountain Baron's territory has been stockpiled to 40 units.

Good heavens, is this a flood? This is clearly a "Wishing you prosperity" greeting!

Duke of Ice is such a good person!
However, this matter can be handled by my second aunt.

In fact, Li Wei hadn't seen his second aunt since returning these past two days. She, Hathaway, and Qin Yu were busy at the magic mine in the south, each of them on high alert.

But at this point, he didn't need to bother them. He didn't understand anyway, and he couldn't help much. At most, he could just provide all the barbarian gold coins and then wait.

Next, Li Wei went downstairs. He was going to the Three Star Temple because he needed to solve the problem of training two more temple priests.

This is also one of the necessary conditions for upgrading to a level 5 territory.

The temple today is quite different from what it used to be.

Although the main building remains unchanged, the surrounding environment is quite beautiful, with ornamental trees specially transplanted from the mountains, neatly planted flower beds, lush and orderly lawns, and a cemetery.

Well, this last one was something Li Wei hadn't expected: Nelson and his group actually put the cemetery inside the city, and the city wall they were building would just fit it in.

He did not interfere with this; in short, the temple and cemetery together occupied 5,000 square meters.

"Good day, my lord!"

As Li Wei strolled along the road, two sanitation workers who were resting by the roadside greeted him from afar with a natural and respectful bow. However, whenever Li Wei stopped to speak with them, they would become very reserved and uneasy.

This happens seven or eight times out of ten.

So Li Wei also learned to smile, nod, and walk away.

Yes, this territory has changed quite a bit, both in terms of its overall appearance and the mentality of its people, even though Li Wei has only been away from here for five or six months.

There is no trace of the ruined town left.

The former Central Park has been completely transformed into a 50-acre vegetable garden.

Surrounding this green space, houses have sprung up one after another. Some have already completed simple decorations and families have moved in, while others have only completed the main construction.

In some of the better locations along the street, there were even some simple stalls.

Most of the stall owners were pregnant women who were entitled to not work and received a minimum wage of three silver coins per month, but this did not prevent them from doing small business to supplement their household income.

For example, they can sew small items that tailor workshops wouldn't make.

Such as scarves, face masks, armor linings, insoles, socks, gloves, etc.

They also make some snacks that need to be eaten on the same day.

Or some people might become barbers or laundry workers.

These are small corners that even Nelson and his Ministry of the Interior have no time to pay attention to, but now they can occupy a small ecological niche.

Oh, that's not all. Li Wei also saw stalls selling firewood and charcoal, as well as stalls selling wild berries and wild vegetables.

Although the territory is currently said to be a community with a shared destiny, it is not required that everything be done for the public good.

After completing their daily work tasks, everyone can work overtime if they want, or do their own side jobs if they don't want to work overtime. This is because each department and team is like a company that has taken on a project. To some extent, the department head needs to be responsible for their own profits and losses, but they cannot violate the constitution and must ensure that everyone enjoys the most basic humanistic care.

Therefore, with every family receiving free housing and not having to worry about starving, it was only natural for them to do extra side jobs and save up some extra money.

Moreover, this needs to create a positive feedback loop, meaning that the free citizens of the territory should have a very clear expectation of the future.

This year I can save up three gold coins, and next year I can save up five gold coins.

Overall, things are looking pretty good so far.

These past two days, whenever Li Wei has a spare moment, he uses his prestige card to check the backend data of each company, not even letting go of the single ones.

Check their salary income, consumption income and expenditure, etc.

Yeah, having fewer people means you can be this carefree.

The prestige card was his cheat code.

As of the end of the month, the total wages and other income of all free citizens in the territory have finally surpassed the 5000 gold coin mark.

Apart from the military salaries, which were personally distributed by Li Wei, the remaining salaries were distributed by various departmental groups.

Meanwhile, the territory's fiscal expenditure this month is eight thousand gold coins.

Meanwhile, the territory's fiscal revenue is very low because there are currently no territory taxes.

Therefore, the territory's fiscal revenue is actually Li Wei's income, and this month's income is only 3508 gold coins.

Judging from the data, it is somewhat unprofitable.

However, considering that the entire territory belongs to Li Wei, then it is not a problem.

The Northern Fortress, the Southern Fortress, the Black Mountain Fortress, and the River Bridge—these should also be counted as part of the revenue.

Therefore, every month, Li Wei would put a portion of gold coins into the territory's finances to bring the maximum to 10,000 gold coins. For example, if the finances only had 3508 gold coins at the end of the month, he would have to add 6492 gold coins at the beginning of the month.

The missing gold coins actually flowed into the pockets of the free people, who could save them or spend them—it was a good deal.

This will facilitate the formation of an internal market and gradually lead to the improvement of fiscal and tax policies.

Once the treasury is self-sufficient, or even just able to cover most of the expenses, Li Wei will then separate the current public treasury of the territory from his own private treasury. Only then can the matter be considered settled smoothly.

(End of this chapter)