Dwarven-forged equipment can be said to be the main support of the Black Forest Territory's finances.
Su Li had to pay attention to the scale of forging throughout last year.
In this regard, the dwarves have accurate statistics. Borros Dragonhammer immediately replied, "We have forged and repaired more than 24,500 pieces of agricultural tools throughout the year."
"16,800 pieces of excellent-grade weapons, 2,750 sets of excellent-grade armor, and 120 sets of vibranium rune armor."
Hearing this, Su Li simply calculated that the fine gold and good iron consumed by the excellent-grade armor alone amounted to more than 330,000 pounds.
The most important feature of dwarven excellent-grade armor is its heavy armor and thick defense. As armor made by dwarves for elite knights, a set of plate armor weighs more than 120 imperial pounds, which is almost twice as heavy as the heavy plate armor worn by ordinary human soldiers. You must know that the heavy plate armor of ordinary people in the mortal world also weighs 50 to 70 pounds.
The muscle density and endurance of elite knights are much stronger than ordinary soldiers. If only considering the weight, heavy canned food can be heavier, and it is not impossible to break through 200 imperial pounds.
However, under the dwarves' exquisite metal processing art, the heavy plate armor is not only for protection, but also a manifestation of their craftsmanship. Therefore, many places are exquisitely crafted, achieving a higher level of protection with a lower weight.
To supply so much armor, nearly a million pounds of iron ore is needed.
But fortunately, the two iron mines in the Black Forest Territory are both giant rich mines, with an average iron ore content of up to 57%, and one even averages up to 63%!
That is to say, out of 10 pounds of iron ore, the smelted iron ingots are as high as 5 to 7 pounds.
This kind of extremely high-quality rich iron ore is really God chasing after feeding, it is an extremely rich resource, not to mention the considerable scale of vibranium in it.
Of course, the scale mentioned by the dwarves is not all newly built armor. Including the vibranium rune armor, many are maintenance and repairs after the end of the war.
After all, in so many wars in the Black Forest Territory, the knights wearing excellent plate armor had to withstand the monsters' knives and axes in every war.
At its peak, in a war of more than 5,000 people, the losses after each battle were an extremely large number.
But even so, excluding losses, the Black Forest Territory currently holds nearly 1,000 sets of excellent-grade armor. Most of the remaining were sold to large-scale knight orders, church believers, adventurers, and free corps.
For example, the Corona Knights, the Fallen Wolf Mercenary Group, and the Blue Heron Mercenary Group are the three major customers of the Black Forest Territory's armor.
Even the Corona Knights bought as many as 14 sets of vibranium rune armor from the Black Forest Territory.
Their purchases greatly alleviated the financial pressure of the Black Forest Territory.
Borros Dragonhammer reported in detail: "The average selling price of heavy plate armor we sold to the outside world this year is 45 gold crowns, which is an extremely high price. Benefiting from the war between the Suland Province in the southeast of the Empire and the Greenskins, and the war between the southwest province of the Empire and the Vampire Legion, the prices of weapons and armor in Maleburg have risen, and the price of armor once approached 67 gold crowns at its highest point, reaching an unprecedented level. So the profit is about 35,000 gold crowns."
Su Li had no concept of this number. He felt that 35,000 gold crowns was indeed a huge fortune. It even accounted for one-third of the Green Dragon's compensation.
At this time, Oliver, the Dean of the Provincial Affairs Council, stood up and began to summarize for everyone, saying: "This year's profit is relatively considerable because the price of excellent-grade equipment we sold to the outside world is 2 to 3 times that of previous years, and the profit margin of a piece of armor is even close to 400%. However, as the Empire begins to counterattack, the wars in the southwest and southeast are gradually calming down, and the price of armor will return to normal next year. If dwarven armor is lower than 30 gold crowns a piece, our wealth will be difficult to support the current scale of military forces and craftsman guilds in the territory."
"Calculated with 800 dwarven craftsmen, their annual salary alone is as high as 50,000 gold crowns, not including the miners who provide upstream and downstream raw material supplies and the merchants and caravan members who sell weapons, etc."
"Of course, most of the dwarves' equipment this year has been given priority to supplement our territory's army, which is also an important reason affecting their profits."
"Therefore, if we want to reverse the fiscal deficit, we must start from two directions next year. First, reduce the scale and intensity of the war. A battle mobilizing 3,000 people, calculated from the consumption of food and salaries, the cost of vehicles and horses, and the damage of equipment, etc., consumes at least 30,000 gold crowns in total. Therefore, reducing unnecessary military operations, optimizing strategic deployment, accumulating grain and training troops, rectifying military preparations, and improving combat power will be the key to saving expenses."
"Secondly, we must reduce costs and increase efficiency, further improve the dwarves' production efficiency, transport ore more conveniently, and let the dwarves produce more equipment, so as to create greater economic value for the territory."
After listening to Oliver's speech, the smiles on everyone's faces disappeared. Industry can indeed create wealth several times greater than agriculture.
But the problem is that the consumption of these professional workers who are out of agricultural production is also an important expenditure.
They not only consume a lot of food, but also have extremely large salary expenses.
According to conservative estimates, the Black Forest Territory has a total of 2,000 industrial and commercial people, most of whom are directly employed by the Zijinghua family, and the output directly belongs to the noble craftsmen of Su Li.
If you add the army, the monthly financial expenditure is an astronomical figure.
Under this huge pressure, the territory's finances can be said to be struggling, relying entirely on war compensation and attracting loans.
Once another large-scale war breaks out, the already overwhelmed financial pressure will directly lead to bankruptcy.
But fortunately, such a huge pressure also means surging power.
So much financial expenditure, except for the army part, the rest can be regarded as investment and production.
As long as it is peaceful and stable, without huge twists and turns, these investments will be transformed into a lot of wealth and income, slowly leveling the current thrilling fiscal deficit, and even gradually achieving a fiscal surplus next year.
Even if the Empire's assessment officials see this financial report, they will not be able to be harsh. The early stage of border development territories is this kind of financial situation. Without large-scale investment and construction, how can a remote and desolate thorny land become a fertile and prosperous territory?
Su Li asked with concern: "Then my minister, you can continue to talk about this year's financial expenditure."
"Tax revenue is the main source of income for our territory. We have harvested more than 20,000 gold crowns from various knights, farm owners, autonomous territories and large manor owners. This part includes our income from selling farmland and manors to them. For example, Bishop Uther of the Sun Goddess Church directly bought the Green Manor on the east side of Silver Spring Valley and owned the sovereignty and governance rights of this manor. This transaction alone amounted to 375 gold crowns!"
Su Li had an impression of the territory's tax revenue, and he even paid great attention to it himself.
Don't look at the small population of the territory, but even if each resident pays 1 gold crown in tax, there will be more than 7,000 gold crowns in tax revenue.
But in fact, this tax revenue is far more than this. Although the farmers are poor, the large manor owners, knights, and priests who immigrated are not poor at all.
For example, Bishop Uther is a high-ranking priest of the Sun Goddess Church and works in the Knights Church in Silver Spring Valley, responsible for preaching the doctrine of the Sun Goddess.
The manor he bought is located at the confluence of rivers in the southeast of Silver Spring Valley, backed by forests, and has natural defensive advantages.
Don't think that his manor is just a small farm. In fact, the manor in this world is not only a place to live, but also a symbol of imperial power, wealth and culture.
The layout includes a main castle and surrounding craftsman workshops, stables, warehouses, wineries, etc., all of which are distributed around the main castle.
Then there are farmland and pastures outside to ensure self-sufficiency. Further out are forests and lakes, which serve as natural barriers and sources of resources.
In order to protect such a manor, the manor owner will build walls with boulders, and then build towering spire towers for lookout and defense.
If conditions permit (enough slaves), they will also build a wide water area surrounding the main castle, and fill the bottom with sharp stalagmites, and connect the castle with the outer area with a drawbridge, and then distribute arrow towers in various places on the city wall for defense from a distance.
After such a complete set of facilities is built, even if a roaring beast swarm composed of one or two hundred beastmen suddenly attacks the manor at night, they will not be able to break through the moat and attack the castle.
As a territory of the border prince, the manor can even raise giant eagles, wolfhounds and other guardian creatures to ensure safety and contact the outside world.
And such a manor, the initial purchase cost alone requires a farmer to work for 375 years without eating or drinking to raise enough. In other words, a village of about 400 people can supply such a manor in the village's output.
In order to maintain the rule and authority of the nobles, many nobles and high-ranking priests will buy the village and the farm together.
Therefore, the economic development model of the Black Forest Territory can be described as ingenious. By selling land and supporting facilities to powerful manor owners, it not only obtained considerable economic returns, but also laid a solid foundation for the rapid expansion of the territory. Each manor owner is a key role in the Black Forest Territory's development process. They are both investors and builders.
These manor owners often have strong financial strength and a strong desire to make progress. They will fund the purchase of a large number of slave labor to develop a barren original land into a vibrant manor. From reclaiming farmland to building houses, from digging wells to leveling roads, the manor owners use their efforts to transform the desolate land into a prosperous stronghold. This development model not only accelerates the territorial expansion of the Black Forest Territory, but also brings a steady stream of tax revenue and labor resources to the territory.
If Su Li wanted to promote the development of Black Forest Town alone, it would be difficult, let alone establish new strongholds in remote rural areas and suburbs. The problems of capital shortage and lack of human resources will seriously restrict the expansion speed of the territory. Now, by introducing this group of enterprising manor owners, the Black Forest Territory has been able to establish new strongholds in more than a dozen wilderness areas in a short period of time. These strongholds not only have vast farmland, but also have complete infrastructure, becoming rising stars on the map of the Black Forest Territory.
The biggest advantage of this development model is that it realizes the optimal allocation of resources. The manor owners, with their own financial strength and management ability, took on the heavy responsibility of developing wasteland, while the Black Forest Territory government obtained stable financial income by collecting land transfer fees and supporting facility fees. Both sides get what they need and jointly promote the prosperity and development of the territory.
It can be said that it is precisely because of the active participation and investment of these manor owners that the Black Forest Territory can achieve leapfrog development in a short period of time, and the finances and taxes have grown rapidly, not weaker than many baronies within the Empire. This is also the greatest charm of the pioneer lord. He can attract a large number of people to develop and prosper together at a speed that cannot be compared within the Empire. The baronies within the Empire cannot take out so much land to distribute to others.
Then Su Li asked: "Then my minister, can you summarize and report on the territory's population and financial situation?"
"No problem, Lord. The total population of our territory is now about 7,650 people, and the war to defeat the Green Dragon has made us famous and greatly increased the speed of population inflow."
"Among them, the total number of troops is 2,300, including 2 God-chosen Knights, 17 Champion Knights, 810 Elite Knights, and nearly 1,400 knight officers and veteran soldiers (including some dwarven butchers and druids). The monthly military expenditure is 6,190 gold crowns. The military expenditure expenditure is a spindle-shaped structure, with relatively small expenditures at both ends, and the elite knights in the middle account for the absolute majority of the share. The 810 elite knights alone account for 4,200 gold crowns."
"In addition, we have 1,500 dwarven artisans and technical bureaucrats, whose monthly expenses account for roughly two-thirds of our military expenditure. Fortunately, the dwarves' output offsets their wages."
"So, as of this month, with all investment and construction halted, the territory's monthly financial expenditure is around 7,000 gold crowns. This includes the expenses of the Purple Thorn Palace, the maintenance of various manors, and the operation of hospitals and academies."
"If there are infrastructure projects, the territory's financial expenditure will soar to over 10,000 gold crowns. And after borrowing, the remaining wealth in our treasury is only 14,622 gold crowns."
10,000 gold crowns per month in financial expenditure—no wonder the green dragon's war reparations of over 50,000 were quickly exhausted.
At this rate of expenditure, unless Su Li can reverse the financial deficit, no amount of windfalls will be enough to cover it.
Fortunately, through today's meeting, Su Li is very confident in the territory's output.
In terms of the three agricultural specialties alone, the monthly income is about 3,000 gold crowns.
If things stabilize next year, the industrial output and mining revenue will also be more than 5,000 per month.
Oliver's various investments this year will gradually start to generate revenue next year.
This means that as long as the Black Forest Territory stabilizes, it will soon be able to turn a profit and even accumulate a small surplus to launch a few wars.
So Su Li concluded with invigorated spirits: "My loyal ministers, as you can see, although the territory currently faces some pressure, it also has a bright future full of vitality and vigorous growth. On this land, our farmland is growing robustly, our mines are continuously yielding wealth, and our workshops are forging excellent equipment day and night. All of this tells us—the Black Forest Territory's tomorrow will surely be even more glorious!"
"I firmly believe that every one of you present here is the most valuable asset of the Black Forest Territory! As long as we work together with one heart and strive forward, I am confident that next year! In the not-too-distant future, we will witness the Black Forest Territory transform into a true paradise! A prosperous and wealthy great territory!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire room erupted in deafening cheers. This was also the important significance of this meeting—to inspire people and make everyone more motivated.
Finally, Su Li waved his hand and said, "Everyone, cheer up and devote yourselves fully to the development of the territory. If there are no other matters, prepare to welcome the most important Spring Awakening Ceremony!"
Just as everyone was about to get up, Orshtein raised his arm and said, "Lord, I have another rather important matter here."
The military commander had indeed not spoken much during this meeting. As his strong voice rang out, everyone's attention was drawn to him.
Su Li also raised an eyebrow and asked, "My Marshal, is the territory facing the pressure of war again?"
Orshtein nodded and said, "Indeed, we may face war again, but rest assured!"
Before others could become heavy-hearted, he said with a smile, "This war is not cruel at all. On the contrary, it will be a huge opportunity for our territory, bringing a large population and wealth, and boosting our territory's prosperity."
