After Charles had dried his tears,
Russell finally got down to business. "Besides the baron title, Red Castle will also reward me. The reward will most likely be a batch of serfs, at least tens of thousands of them. You need to prepare to receive them in advance."
"Ah!" Charles cried out again. "A reward of tens of thousands of people?"
The entire Guangguang River Valley only had tens of thousands of people, which showed just how precious population was in the Shadowflame Grand Duchy.
Other than the lords of Volcanic Oasis, who did not need to worry about population and even sold people for profit, nearly every lord in Warm Enclave lacked people, even the long-established enclaves such as Sancha River Mouth and Gravel Territory.
Charles's shock was soon replaced by wild delight. "My lord, once we have tens of thousands of people, we can immediately begin large-scale development of Blackfire Land and Thunder Marsh!"
"Of course."
"But with so many people, the pressure on our food supply will increase greatly. Still, with the Fluorite Mushroom Family behind you, my lord, we can absolutely endure the most difficult first few years." Charles said, "We'll have to trouble Fluorite Castle's trade caravans to transport another batch of grain."
"It won't be too much trouble. The family can free up the caravans that transport coal and use them for grain trading instead."
"My lord, you mean..." Charles immediately understood.
"Exactly what you're thinking. Rosai has already sensed it: beneath Blackfire Land, a black oil vein is forming. Once the warm season arrives, we can begin mining it." Russell smiled proudly. "With black oil, we can save on coal!"
"Praise the dragons!" Charles beamed.
Why were High Nobles wealthy? It was not because they were particularly skilled at business. Trade always came