Chapter 199: Large Expenditures

Luoning and Pi'er-sen chatted for quite some time; on one hand, to better understand the caravan's operations, and on the other, to finalize the remuneration and expenses for the caravan members.

Simply put, all the caravan's supplies were provided by Luoning, such as the Pack Horse used for transport, the vehicles, and the rations required for both people and livestock during the journey.

Pi'er-sen and his subordinates were responsible for visiting clients, promoting goods, and facilitating cooperation.

In this world, there was no such thing as bonuses or commissions, so Luoning offered all caravan members a fixed salary.

As the manager of the caravan, Pi'er-sen's daily wage reached twenty copper coins, while his nine deputies averaged five copper coins per day.

Compared to the time under Leisen, Luoning had given Pi'er-sen a raise of three copper coins and given each of his deputies a raise of one copper coin.

Such a salary level was already quite substantial; one must know that Wilson's daily wage while serving as Administrator was only ten copper coins.

However, there was a reason they could earn such high pay; after all, the caravan brought three to four hundred gold coins of income to the territory every year, and they had put in a lot of effort.

"This is truly a wonderful morning!"

Standing on the steps in front of the castle's drawbridge, Pi'er-sen swept away the anxiety and nervousness he had felt upon arrival, and his whole person returned to his usual spirit.

He had not expected to gain the new lord's trust so easily; not only was he allowed to continue managing the Swamp Town caravan, but he was also given a raise, making him look forward to the days ahead even more.

"Although the Lord is young and kind, he is not at all as unbearable as the rumors outside suggest."

Clearly, Pi'er-sen's perception of Luoning was still stuck in an earlier version, and he knew nothing of what this new lord had done recently.

He had simply made this judgment based on his own feelings.

Pi'er-sen could tell from the conversation just now that this young lord was not simple, and the other's kindness was merely to make one serve him more diligently and attentively.

If he and his caravan did anything out of line, they would certainly receive the punishment they deserved.

But Pi'er-sen had a clear understanding of himself.

He was merely a merchant attached to the lord's command; without the lord's support, he was nothing.

"Time to gather those brats and get to work!"

Pi'er-sen did not linger and strode toward the outside of the castle.

Next, he and his subordinates would complete the first task assigned by the Lord—not sales, but procurement.

First, to cope with the upcoming land reclamation work, Luoning prepared to purchase three thousand catties of wrought iron to forge plowshares and various labor tools;

Second, Swamp Town, Shanlin Town, and several villages had now reclaimed one hundred thousand mu of arable land, and they could not plant only barley and wheat; the diversity of food also had to be considered.

Therefore, Luoning also prepared to purchase crops like peas, lentils, and onions this time. They could not only enrich people's rations, but in the case of legumes, they could also serve as excellent feed for warhorses.

Finally, and most crucially, he needed to purchase grain.

The grain from last year's autumn harvest in Shanlin Town, while self-sufficient and barely enough to be distributed to the four villages in the north, was already unable to support the rations for the thousands of Slave who were about to arrive, let alone support Swamp Town.

According to Chahar's statistics from these past two days, before today's autumn harvest, Swamp Town had a grain deficit of at least three hundred thousand pounds.

Although the territory's residents needed to spend money or labor to purchase it from him, the money for purchasing it from outside had to come out of his own pocket.

Three hundred thousand catties of grain would consume at least nine hundred gold coins at once, and with the expenses for wrought iron and seeds, nearly one thousand two hundred gold coins would be gone just like that.

After such a calculation, Luoning actually admired Leisen a little; after all, it seemed it had taken quite a lot of effort for the other to support such a large Swamp Town.

If it weren't for Luoning's deep pockets, he really wouldn't know where to get the money to buy grain.

Of course, three hundred thousand catties of grain could not be bought just like that.

For one, it was not easy to store grain here, and for another, he was not bold enough to hand over a thousand gold coins to Pi'er-sen all at once.

He let Pi'er-sen buy the wrought iron and seeds while he was at it, but for the grain, the main thing this time was to establish the purchasing channels.

When the time actually came to buy the grain later, Luoning would arrange for a few Knight to take soldiers along, which would ensure both the safety of the money and the safety of the grain.

"With more people, the expenses are high!"

Luoning stood on the tower overlooking the town; although the expansion of the territory was heartening, making money had also become urgent.

"Although Wushan Territory has the Black Gold Brotherhood and the Bolante Bandit Group causing trouble, they are both small-time disturbances and have not plunged the territory into a wartime state, which is why the grain price in Wushan Territory has remained at a low level."

The average price of barley, wheat, and rye was less than four copper coins, which was indeed quite low.

But once a war truly broke out, it would not be this price; it could double, triple, or even more.

Wushan Territory had three major grain-producing bases: Wushan City, Lingchuan City, and Black Python City.

Even though Wushan City belonged to the Wushan Family, and the Liwei Family in charge of Lingchuan City also stood on Luoning's side at Wushan Castle to speak for him, when it truly came to a time of grain shortage, Luoning might not necessarily be able to buy that much.

Places like Swamp Town, which had a deficit of hundreds of thousands of catties of grain every year, easily suffered from famine and people starving to death.

Luoning was a kind lord; he did not want to see his people starve to death, as after all, for every one who died, there was one less laborer.

"Grain must be self-sufficient!"

"And there must be enough reserves!"

Taking advantage of the fact that Wushan Territory was still in a period of peace, Luoning had to actively push forward the progress of land reclamation.

While he was full of ambition, a group of people appeared from afar on the main road leading to Zhaozebao, attracting Luoning's gaze.

"It's Tangmu who has returned."

Last year, before heading to Wushan Castle, Luoning had passed through Muma City and purchased forty-four horses at an extremely favorable price at the Tieti Family's horse farm.

It was just that he had been in a hurry at the time, and Luoning had no manpower to bring these horses back to the territory, so he could only board them at the Tieti Family's horse farm first.

This time, after returning to Swamp Town, Luoning had Tangmu take some cavalry to Muma City to transport the horses back.

Speaking of which, one had to mention the number of horses Luoning currently had—it was very large.

Fine Warhorse: 10;

Ordinary Warhorse: 29;

Riding Horse: 93;

Pack Horse: 27.

The reason Luoning possessed so many horses was mainly due to the wealth confiscated from Zhaozebao—he had captured a full 65 horses from Leisen!

Now, even if Wubei Territory wanted to form a second Knight Squad, Luoning did not need to worry about not having enough horses.

This was a huge hidden fortune.

"Huh?"

Luoning examined the group, only to discover two familiar figures among them.

"Luogena and Kelami, how did they come over?"

Outside the castle gate, Tangmu and his party stopped on the road in front of the drawbridge.

"Baron Leisen probably never imagined that the Zhaozebao he spent so much energy building would fall into the hands of Viscount Luoning."

Kelami carefully examined the castle before her, her delicate brows slightly furrowed, "The castle is nice, it's just a pity that the air here doesn't smell very good."

Luogena smiled slightly, "You'll get used to it."

"Luogena is right; I wasn't used to it on my first day here either, but after a night's sleep, I felt the scent of mud in the air had faded."

Tangmu smiled and dismounted, "Wait here a moment, I will go in and report to his lordship now."

Luogena also dismounted and said with a smile, "Then I will trouble you."

He took a deep breath; today was finally the time for him to put his plans into action. (End of chapter)