After seeing off the three flushed-faced barons, Zhou Ming, who had finally gotten some rest after four busy months, took stock of what he had gained during that time.
Aside from the precious furs and timber still filling half the castle warehouse, as well as the rare metal ores crammed into several rooms and weighing over a hundred tons in total, Zhou Ming had made a net profit of roughly 80,000 gold coins over those four months.
Of those 80,000 gold coins, 40,000 had been earned after he personally made a trip to the Iron Fortress Kingdom.
Yet just now, he had taken out 75,000 of them to reward the three barons. Only the final 5,000 gold coins went into his own pocket.
Some might ask whether Zhou Ming was stupid. He had an entire 80,000 gold coins, yet instead of keeping them for himself, he insisted on playing philanthropist and handing ninety percent of the profits over to others. Was there something wrong with his head for doing something so foolish?
In truth, Zhou Ming was not really foolish. He had done it deliberately.
After all, just the vast quantity of furs, timber, and ore still piled up in the castle had already brought him profits hundreds of times over. He simply did not care about an extra few thousand or tens of thousands of gold coins.
Besides, there had never been love or hatred without cause in this world! If he did not spend heavily to win over talent, if he did not buy people's loyalty, how could he expect others to follow him without complaint and devote themselves to him wholeheartedly? He could forget about such a good thing!
Zhou Ming could say with certainty that the three barons who had tasted a delicious piece of crab