Long River Express's business has been very good from the beginning.
After all, White Deer Fortress of Godric, and Brave Shield Fortress of Leofric, are the major shareholders of Wheat Fragrance International. Together with Charles and Ralph, these insiders have a lot of business to do.
White Deer Fortress wants to transport grain and ordnance, Brave Shield Fortress wants to transport horses and war preparation materials, Wheat Fragrance Territory wants to transport grain to the subordinate territories, and Kewen Village wants to transport back the grain collected by the noble manors...
These are obviously direct initial sample businesses.
It's just that passenger transportation has not been launched yet - the existing horse-drawn carriages are not suitable for transporting people. This will first require the carpenters and blacksmiths in the territory to work together to create a box-carriage.
"Teacher, why do you spend a lot of money to buy so many carriages? Is the transportation business so profitable? Why do I think I might lose money..."
Amy is the one who cares about the economy the most. She feels that the speed at which her teacher spends money is too scary - more than 100,000 dinars were thrown out in five days. This money can no longer be said to be like water, and the money is not flowing so fast...
Now almost all the Long River Town carriages have been marked with the gryphon mark, and all the cars on the road are Long River Express cars.
But to pay wages to more than 500 people and to maintain nearly 700 horses, the expenses are obviously huge--White Deer Fortress's expenses are not so large.
This method of operation seems to be quite uneconomical in this era - a large number of carriages and draft horses are just free money, and the people in those convoys are not the subjects of Wheat Fragrance Territory and have not sworn allegiance.
In the eyes of the Pande Continent nobles, this is the behavior of a prodigal.
Because the land is the foundation of a lord.
One hundred thousand dinars is enough to buy 10,000 acres of fertile land, and it can even come with a few large manors and mansions - if a fool is willing to sell it.
"Amy, losses and profits cannot be measured simply by money... What kind of business do you think can allow a lord to gain strong comprehensive strength in the shortest time?"
The Lord Lord had just finished enjoying the pleasure of spending a lot of money. He was sitting on his horse, twisting a silver coin and looking around, and asked casually.
"What does comprehensive strength mean?"
Amy have never heard of this word.
"It refers to the comprehensive and comprehensive assessment of strength in terms of money, food, population, technological level, and war potential.
For example, your father, for now, in a normal year, he can earn more than 20,000 dinars a year, and he can also receive about 400,000 pounds of grain tax every harvest season.
White Deer Fortress has more than fifty Knight's Territory jurisdictions, and all territories combined have nearly ten thousand civilians. Although the population is not large, most of the border counties are young and strong.
Therefore, he can now mobilize more than a thousand troops at any time, and the equipment level and combat effectiveness of the troops are quite good.
Even excluding his status as military chief, as a lord, his current comprehensive strength ranks among the top four in the entire Lionheart Kingdom. Apart from King Ulrich and Cliff Bay's Duke Brennus, only Lion Lake City Horton Family's strength should be stronger than him."
After Li Ang finished speaking, he calculated his wealth and shook his head. "As for my territory, the population is only a few hundred, and the army is only over a hundred. The food tax is not even enough to feed the people. Even if it is fully mobilized, it will not be able to raise an army of two hundred people. In terms of comprehensive strength, it is probably the lowest among the barons in the kingdom. Once I lose a battle, I will lose everything."
"Then you should open up more land and absorb more people. With your ability, you will definitely become one of the top nobles in ten or eight years!"
Amy still has confidence in the abilities of his teachers.
"The problem is that using the traditional method, I have to develop slowly for many years - the population base is small and the territory is also small. No matter how wealthy I am, I cannot develop strong war potential in a short period of time. But I have too many powerful enemies..."
There was some worry in Li Ang's words.
Amy can understand that my teacher has offended many people.
Horton Family will definitely deal with him after he calms down, and Three Prophets may also make a comeback. In addition, Bacchus Empire-the two governors, Agason and others may take revenge on him.
And Amy also knows that no matter what, he will definitely stand firmly on Li Ang's side - the teacher saved him twice...
In Amy's view, most of Li Ang's enemies are related to him saving himself, so his troubles are also his own troubles.
However, Amy also knows that only in fantasy stories, there will be situations where powerful enemies watch the protagonist slowly develop, but never kill the protagonist.
In the real world, who would give the enemy time to develop? In less than a year, after those enemies have solved the trouble caused by Li Ang, they will start to take revenge.
Li Ang had been trying his best to gain time and space for himself before. He offended so many people, but it was not for Amy, but for himself. His enemies were far more than what he said on the surface.
And he only has half a year to a year at most.
"Amy, I must make myself as powerful as the Duke within a year. So now, the criterion for measuring whether something is cost-effective is not whether it makes money, but whether it can achieve this goal."
Amy was stunned for a while before he was sure that the teacher was not talking nonsense and that he was serious.
However, she felt that her teacher might still be a little distracted - look, what are they talking about?
To rival the Duke within a year?
Is this goal too difficult?
Which duke has not developed through the continuous efforts of several generations and hundreds of years?
But thinking about her teacher's Wheat Fragrance Group, she felt that it was somewhat possible.
"So... you want to use this transportation business to achieve this goal? But this..."
Amy is a little confused. After all, she is only eighteen years old. No matter how talented she is, she cannot think of more aspects.
In fact, it is indeed possible for the transportation business to achieve such a goal quickly.
Although it is indeed possible to lose money in the early stage - but the lord doesn't care, he will continue to do it even if he spends all his money!
How could we deliberately expand this kind of business just for money...
With just such a business, you can get money, food, people, and troops all at once.
Reality is not a game. You can't lead a team around the map to make money, recruit people, and build troops. Then you can only let the transportation team roam around the map on your behalf...
The food problem is actually a transportation problem - of course, in the final analysis, we have to farm, but the results of farming are slow, and it can take several years, and we have to depend on the weather. However, if we improve transportation, the results will be very fast. As long as we have the ability to transport bulk commodities over long distances, we don't have to rely on land at all in the short term. When we have to rely on it, the land will have enough time to develop.
As for people - this refers not only to the population, but also to other special talents, such as technical personnel.
The place that Long River Express's footprints can cover is the place that Li Ang's hands can reach, that is, the place where people can be recruited.
You can recruit people all over the continent, which is much more reliable than squatting in a small Wheat Fragrance Territory to recruit tall people from among the people.
With a transportation company with footprints all over the mainland, Li Ang can bring back more technical personnel and more advanced experience.
Some things are impossible for someone who has never seen them to make directly, such as muskets. The lord doesn't know how to draw drawings - even if he could, he wouldn't be able to make them.
You know, in a poor place that doesn't even have a standard scale for rulers, even if you come up with precise longitudinal and cross-sectional structural drawings, you can't let an ordinary blacksmith who has never seen these things make things by hand.
It's not as simple as just doing what you want. It's an entire industrial line, and it has to start with a standard vernier caliper...
We need to have higher-precision measuring tools, qualified steel, and reliable drills, lathes, and boring tables, and finally they can be built by skilled blacksmiths.
This is a whole system, and even with the help of various professionals, it will take many years to build it.
In a place with neither industrial foundation nor industrial standards, and most of the people in the territory don't even know how to read, what should we do?
The only way is to ask the transportation team to go to coastal trading cities to buy them. Or to get samples from Barkley or other technologically developed areas, and then modify them accordingly. Only then can it be possible to develop technological strength in a short period of time.
In terms of military strength - Long River Express's armed security personnel are a ready-made army, all young and strong, and all have experience.
Moreover, this is an army that will not attract attention. They are not in the territory and are not easily tabooed by others.
King Ulrich Lord's thinking has been clearly understood - he will attack whoever has strong troops and power... If you want to have the strength of a duke, you will definitely be suppressed by the king.
After all, any king is eager to achieve centralization of power, and Ulrich is obviously paying attention to Li Ang - Aier River's appointment as county consul is a warning, telling him not to form gangs and join forces.
The king would worry that his lords were too powerful or formed an alliance, but if the lords were not strong enough, they would be bullied by others...
So Li Ang has grown up obscenely, and he maintains a force consistent with the status of a barony, so he won't be tabooed, right?
As for the company being bigger and having more employees - that is the legitimate property of the nobles and should be protected by the kingdom.
But the lord will not simply rely on a single business system, he has backup.
"The transportation company's business is just a premise. To achieve the goal, we need to control more rigid needs, such as grain sales. This requires your help."
The lord twirled the center of the silver coin with two fingers, blew on the silver coin in his hand, held it to his ear and listened.
The purity of the silver coins is quite high, and the buzzing sound is very pleasant.
"What can I do to help you?"
Hearing Li Ang say that he needed his help, Amy cheered up.
She really hoped she could help - she actually felt a little guilty for getting into trouble with her last curse word.
Although Li Ang controlled the final result fairly well, she had made a powerful enemy because of it, and she was actually more nervous than Li Ang and Godric.
"I need your help in negotiating some food procurement business. I want to ensure that we will never be short of food again in the future."
Li Ang threw the silver coin to Amy.
"This is exactly what we should do. Although we have enough food now, there is no guarantee that we will not be short in the future. We should stock up on more food."
Amy took the silver coin and nodded.
It was a Barkley Silver Dollar, a large silver coin weighing one ounce, and it was also a One Dinar, which was equivalent to the small gold coin Pande Continent.
(In the troy system, one ounce weighs about 31 grams, which is equivalent to one tael of silver in the Celestial Dynasty hexadecimal period.)
The front of the silver dollar is the portrait of Emperor Barkley, with a circle of wheat ears on the edge. There are no holes or bubbles. It seems that it was pressed and polished again after casting, and the craftsmanship level is quite high.
This wheat ear is probably used to prevent counterfeiting. The grains are very fine, making it difficult for ordinary small workshops to imitate on a large scale.
"It's not just for food storage, Amy... You may not understand it now, but you will know it soon."
In fact, Li Ang already has quite a lot of food, which will not be used up in a while. Even if the hundreds of elderly people Sir Roland is about to bring back, it will not be used up.
Most of Long River Express's employees travel frequently and do not need to take care of their meals.
And unless they swear allegiance to Li Ang, join Wheat Fragrance Territory, and become non-commissioned officers according to Wheat Fragrance Territory's requirements, there is no need to take care of the food.
But for future planning, the lord still plans to make 'Griffin Grain and Oil Company' bigger and stronger.
If a lord wants to enhance his strength, he can actually have many ideas.
There are many roads to your goal, but the one that suits you best is definitely different from the one that your predecessors have taken.
The one chosen by the lord is the most suitable for him. It is just right and matches Amy's business talent.
Duke Alma is good at maneuvering, so he controls the jurisdiction by seeking more territory and controlling power. This is the normal thinking of nobles.
Count Oden is good at fighting. He uses the army and knights to strengthen his strength and controls the place by controlling the army. This is also a way.
And Li Ang is good at making money, so he will naturally take the commercial route and use commercial monopoly to kidnap the entire region.
If Li Ang had money, grain, and soldiers, he also had the power to price grain in the eastern region, and had a monopoly on transportation...
So even if he is still a small village baron, who can do anything to him?
Unless he was assassinated, the king would not dare to touch him.
You don't have to have a lot of land and farmers to be called a powerful lord. You can still be a wealthy merchant lord.
After arranging the affairs of the transportation company, the lord and Amy took a convoy to Kewen Village - there were more than 200,000 pounds of grain waiting for him to receive.
That was the food that the nobles of Kewen gathered together to give to Li Ang as a token of their gratitude. It would not be appropriate to send others there. After all, it was free of charge and the lord had to come forward in person.
Of course, if you want to discuss long-term business, you must come in person.
He specially brought Amy here just to deal with the nobles of Kewen - he wanted to negotiate all the excess grain produced by Kewen Village in the future.
Grain is a strategic material, and it is controlled by the nobles. Li Ang already knew how troublesome it was to buy grain last time, so he would not think that he would become fat with one bite.
He could only take his time, first take Amy to negotiate deals with various villages and towns, and use contracts to receive all future grain output into his hands.
In addition, their own territory continues to open up a large amount of wasteland for planting to increase output.
Then, in the next season, which is the harvest day in autumn, see if you can become the largest grain merchant in the eastern region.
The lord wants to rely on his ability to transport bulk grains and try to control the grain trade in the area.
Not to control output, but to control transactions.
Kewen Village's business talks went very smoothly, and he had a certain relationship foundation. In addition, Amy's parents were respectable, so the nobles were very polite, and no one refused.
Since Li Ang said that the transportation team will come to take care of all the loading and transportation work, which will avoid causing trouble to the nobles, then there is no need to put the excess output in the noble manor to mold in the warehouse.
A few days later, the deal for 300,000 pounds of grain for the next quarter was settled, and the settlement was very simple, and even accounting could be done.
Amy's face is still good, and those nobles won't care too much about her. In fact, many of the small gifts given to her by the old nobles are worth a hundred and ten dinars - girls with noble status, beautiful and lively, such girls are always popular in front of the elderly.
Feeling that talking about acquisitions like this would work, the two of them had great confidence, so they let the convoy deliver food and return on their own. They planned to cross the river from the Kewen Village bridge to the north, and try to see if they could talk to other nobles in the north along the way.
Crossing the river is actually the northern part of the kingdom, but the area around the Tongtian River does not belong to the Horton Family's sphere of influence. After all, it is too far away from Lion Lake City.
Although the map does not indicate the location of any villages or towns, there are actually many noble manors in this area.
Tongtian River itself is indeed dangerous due to strong water and high waves, but the fields near the river are quite fertile, especially around the gentle lake behind Long River Town and across the lake from Long River Town. Many pioneering nobles settled there decades ago.
Nowadays, most of those places are the estates of small nobles. They usually use boats to fish or cross the lake to travel to Long River Town.
For Li Ang, the more grain transactions that can be negotiated in advance, the better. Pande Continent's contract spirit is very strong. The nobles will not publicly break the contract-because this is equivalent to breaking the oath, which is the nobles' greatest reputation.
Once the contract is broken even once, it means that the person's oaths and covenants are not trustworthy. The king, his subordinates and allies will abandon such a person.
As long as you have a transaction contract in hand, even if the other party is short of food next season, they will find a way to get enough food to complete the transaction.
If we can negotiate deals with more large manor owners, it will indeed be possible to quickly achieve the goal of becoming the largest grain merchant in Long River Town. After all, the lord's bid is very generous.
Li Ang's business philosophy has always been to monopolize if it can, and to gain a leading position if it cannot monopolize. Only a successful company can be considered a successful company if it can formulate its own industry rules.
The two of them discussed how to be a reliable profiteer, and gradually came to a large lakeside manor. There were at least several thousand acres of wheat fields around the manor that had been harvested.
"Whose manor is this? Amy Do you know?"
"I've never been here... wait..."
Amy's expression changed drastically after just one glance, and he even pulled out his sword. "Crimson Brotherhood?"
The lord looked at the manor in surprise.
There is a mark in front of the manor, but the lord doesn't know what it means.
It looked like a red cross, painted on the side of the stone arch at the entrance of the manor, as if it was daubed with blood.
A long black sword is drawn upright inside the cross.
"Teacher, this is the mark of Crimson Brotherhood... Is this manor their stronghold? But such a large manor cannot..."