Lord Harland

Chapter 360 Vouchers and Banking Industry

Although there is no large-scale war this year, the steel production in the Harland Territory is still very rapid. According to economic statistics at the end of the year, the territory has built more than 20 small blast furnaces, with steel production exceeding 18,000 tons and iron production exceeding 3 Thousands of tons.

Although the price of iron is still falling, it has dropped to four copper coins per kilogram on the market. An ordinary worker can buy one kilogram of crude steel in one day's work.

Because of the development of the Harland territory for more than ten years, the price of steel has dropped to one-ninth the level of other kingdoms.

The cost of steel products continues to decrease, which has greatly impacted the original market in northern Xinjiang.

For example, Baron Franklin, Harland Territory's early competitor for iron and steel products, has given up on mining iron ore.

Because at the current market price, Baron Franklin will lose money for every kilogram of steel produced.

Even the iron ore of the Edward, Jonathan, and Fox families are reducing production capacity every year. Because of production costs, their steel products simply cannot compete with Harland.

The price of steel products in the southern part of the Grant Kingdom has also been reduced to twelve copper coins per kilogram.

It can be said that the surge in steel production capacity in the Harland territory has greatly intensified commodity competition and improved the living standards of the country's free citizens.

The increasingly large steel market has brought Richard a profit of 200,000 gold coins. Although the price of steel has dropped by a quarter this year, the profit has increased slightly compared to last year due to the expansion of production capacity.

The scale of the brown sugar sales market is still expanding. This year, the brown sugar production in the Harland Territory has increased to 7,600 tons, and the territory's domestic demand market alone has consumed 3,500 tons.

In addition, about 600 tons of brown sugar were required for military use, and about 400 tons were sold in the markets of the three provinces of northern Xinjiang.

The Dukes of Jonathan, Fox, and Edward sold 600 tons, Nolan Market sold 500 tons, and Stanik Market expanded very quickly this year, with a wholesale volume of 1,300 tons a year.

The remaining 700 tons of production capacity were basically wholesaled to the Delong Kingdom through smuggling channels.

After the Grizzly Legion went south, the Haaland family expanded their connections to the southern provinces. The smuggling channel to the Kingdom of Delon was opened this year. Relying on this channel, the Duchy of Haaland dumped many overcapacity goods at low prices.

Although the production of brown sugar has increased by 52% this year, the selling price has rarely been reduced, and the profit has also increased to 90,000 gold coins.

In addition to agriculture and animal husbandry, flour industry, steel industry, and brown sugar industry, the territory's major income this year also includes income from real estate business, hunting of monsters, military industry, trade, and coin casting.

This year, the real estate industry has ushered in a new explosive point.

Nearly 260,000 new freedmen were added, and the demand for building houses was extremely strong. Apart from the flour manufacturing industry, the real estate industry developed at the most alarming rate.

Not only are state-owned construction companies expanding their scale, but many private construction companies have also been established. Many new brick and tile kilns and lime kilns have been built. Timber processing plants have also increased their felling quotas and begun to increase their production capacity.

According to sampling statistics from government departments, more than 20,000 brick houses and more than 40,000 wooden houses were built in the Harland territory last year. In addition, the government also built many large projects.

The real estate and construction industry department contributed 100,000 gold coins in profits to the Harland Territory Government.

The profit of 100,000 gold coins has ranked among the top financial contributions to the territory, and the real estate industry's influence on the economy of Harland Territory has become more and more important.

Hunting World of Warcraft brought resources worth millions of gold coins to the territory this year. However, these resources were invested in military construction and did not increase cash income. Instead, more than 200,000 gold coins were paid for purchasing materials, but Harlan strengthened The combat effectiveness and background of the German territorial army.

For elite soldiers wearing Yaronhide armor, the casualty rate will be greatly reduced.

In the battle with the undead a few days ago, no one from the First Squadron was killed, and only six people were lightly or seriously wounded. Excellent enchanted armor is the most important reason for smaller casualties.

The arms trade has increased very quickly this year, because more and more alchemists have been trained, and Harland has led the increase in military industry production capacity. This year, 6,000 alchemy bombs, 800 scorching ray guns, and 3,000 pieces of iron armor were sold. For some orders that are not very profitable, the profits brought by military trade to the territory this year have already reached 90,000 gold coins.

The income from coin casting is still very stable. The casting of copper coins and silver coins, plus the mining of magic crystal mines, brought a total profit of 130,000 gold coins to the Harland territory.

Because of the rapid economic development in Harland Territory, new products are put into production every few years, and the currency shortage problem is very serious. Even if 90,000 gold coins of metal currency are minted every year, there is still not enough for the market.

According to Richard's observation, the Haaland territory has been experiencing slow deflation.

In some poor villages, barter markets have even appeared. Based on the actual situation in the Haaland territory, paper currency should already be implemented.

There are still some technical difficulties in promoting paper currency. At the very least, the issue of anti-counterfeiting is imminent. The problem of currency anti-counterfeiting has been solved, as well as some institutional problems.

After all, the Harland territory belongs to the Grant Kingdom and does not have complete minting rights. It is not an easy task to issue paper currency and persuade the Grant royal family.

Unable to issue banknotes, Richard could only find ways to print some vouchers and distribute them to soldiers and civil servants as salaries to alleviate the shortage of metal currency.

These vouchers can be used to purchase supplies at the territory’s official general store and can also be used to offset taxes.

Throughout this year, under Richard's personal planning, Harland Territory printed 120,000 gold coin vouchers three times and distributed them to military officers, soldiers and civil servants.

Because it was the first year, everyone had no confidence in this metal currency substitute. After getting the vouchers, they immediately went to the store to buy various goods.

The vouchers issued this year are basically not in circulation, which is equivalent to Richard using physical commodities instead of metal currency to pay salaries to officers and soldiers. Even if the soldiers bought some goods that were not urgently needed, they did not complain much. After all, it is indeed difficult for soldiers with low educational levels to understand the methods of financial harvesting.

As long as the Harland Territory persists, the vouchers can also form a special government credit currency, and the scope of use will gradually expand from the Harland Territory to the northern Xinjiang region.

At that time, just by printing a few notes, you can exchange for various resources and commodities from the northern Xinjiang region.

To achieve this goal, we must cherish government credit, and the amount of printed vouchers must be carefully calculated to coordinate with the development and improvement of productivity.

Once currency is issued indiscriminately and the government's credibility is severely damaged, paper currency will soon become worthless and the market will lose confidence.

In order to promote vouchers and establish a financial sector, in March this year, a bank was established in the Harland Territory, named Duke Bank, and opened more than a dozen branches.

This bank is a residents' savings bank. Although the savings interest is very low, the one-year interest rate for time deposits is only 0.7%, and the current deposits have no interest at all. But many residents still deposit large amounts of coins into bank vaults.

Especially urban residents are quite enthusiastic about saving money.

The main reason why urban residents are willing to deposit coins in banks is for the safety of their funds.

After all, if you hide gold coins at home, you need to be careful to guard against thieves, rats, naughty children, etc. After depositing them in the bank, you can withdraw the money with your household registration certificate and passbook.

If you lose your passbook, you can still get a replacement with your household registration information.

Secondly, the common people have strong confidence in the Harland territory. In other territories, the citizens do not trust the lords and nobles, and the government has no credibility, so naturally they will not deposit coins into the nobles' treasury.

In just one year since its opening, the Duke's Bank has attracted deposits of nearly 1.6 million gold coins. These deposits are mainly contributions from the citizen class, and farmers in the countryside prefer to store coins in cellars.

Depositing in the bank today means that money begins to flow. Money flows in the territory and passes through the hands of different people, bringing profits to all aspects, which means that the economy is running well.

After more than ten years of development, clear urban-rural differences have emerged in the Harland territory.

In the beginning, the territory was established in the wilderness, and there was almost no difference between urban and rural areas.

The urban population, like the rural population, mainly makes a living by farming.

With the development of the territorial economy, industry and service industries gradually emerged. Some smart people contracted out farmland and invested it in more profitable industries. Then they bought houses in the city and settled in the city.

More than ten years have passed, and now urban residents in Haaland Territory are generally wealthier than farmers and have a higher standard of living.

More than 85% of the deposits of 1.6 million gold coins were contributed by city residents, and there were more than 20 castles in the Harland territory, with a total of less than 300,000 residents.

Deposits in the Duke's bank also prospered, but loan business developed very slowly.

The loan interest rate is much higher than the deposit interest rate. You need to pay 8% loan interest per year. The vast majority of urban residents will basically not choose to take out a loan as long as they can survive.

And some street hustlers who eat, drink, whore and gamble don't dare to go to the official Yamen to get loans and extort money. After all, if you can't repay the loan, you will go to jail. The treatment of reform-through-labor prisoners is much worse than that of indentured servants, and the work they need to undertake is also more dangerous.

These little gangsters in the market don’t dare to provoke government departments.

The main people who borrowed money from the Duke's Bank were wealthy people like Odaye, the first generation of capitalists. They have rich assets, are very courageous, and have a relatively high reputation in banks. They are willing to pay a certain interest cost for loans to expand production and earn more profits.

Because of the opening of banks, money flows faster, reducing private loan financing costs, the market becomes more active, and flour processing capacity explodes extremely violently.

With the increase in production capacity, the cost of flour processing has also been reduced.

With the large increase in free citizens, cloth textile production capacity has increased relatively quickly this year. Although woolen cloth production capacity is limited by the supply of raw materials, production capacity has increased by 12%, while cotton cloth production capacity has almost doubled.

This year, the farmland planted with cotton has exceeded 500,000 acres. The caravans in the Harland territory have also imported a large amount of cotton from the outside world. The total profit handed over by the textile department this year is 60,000 gold coins.

In addition, there is also the magic crystal charging business, which brought a profit of 30,000 to the territory this year. It's just that this part of the profit is reflected in the magic crystals. It is impossible for the Harland Territory to sell magic crystals and can only increase the territory's heritage.

With the successful research on the magic steam engine, the industrial projects in Harland Territory consume more than a thousand magic crystals every year. The magic crystal mine in the Losa Basin produces only more than a thousand magic crystals a year, which is just enough for consumption and there is almost no surplus.

The three thousand magic crystals charged every year are also used for military supplies.

In the event of a war, the consumption of various materials would be astronomical. Although Harland's territory has 10,000 magic crystals in reserve, it may not be enough to fight several large-scale battles.

Because of the contract signed with the multinational chamber of commerce, the porcelain market has shrunk slightly this year, with a net profit of only 24,000.

Due to the increase in production capacity of soap and toilet soap, the profit has reached close to 50,000 yuan.

The climate in northern Xinjiang is cold, and high-quality liquor is a necessity for outdoor life. With the increase in the consumer population, the wine business has also experienced great development. This year's profit alone is 45,000.

Income from pharmaceuticals has also been steadily increasing. The flagship product is still hemostatic ointment. Three purple-headed kings have been cultivated in the Haaland territory, forming three sizable bee colonies.

In order to prevent bees from competing for territory, three purple-headed bee hives were placed in different cities. These three purple-headed bee hives can bring a profit of 35,000 gold coins to Harland's territory.

In addition to hemostatic ointments, Haaland territory can also produce many new medicines, such as burn ointments, internal injury treatment medicines, painkillers, marching powder, anesthetics, antidiarrheal medicines, etc.

Especially the Analgesic Pills are another blockbuster. Last year, 220,000 bottles were sold, and this year, 400,000 bottles were sold, bringing a profit of 16,000 gold coins to the territory.

All kinds of miscellaneous income were added up, and the sales of medicines brought a profit of 74,000 gold coins to the Haaland territory.

Coal production in the Harland Territory is also steadily increasing, especially the coal mines in the eastern Losa Basin. The second mine was put into operation this year, using a steam conveyor belt and a steel drum shearer, and the production capacity was increased to 50,000 tons.

After the production capacity of the coal mine near Fort William was increased to 200,000 tons, it has been relatively stable in the past two years. Due to the limitations of the mineral seam, it has been difficult to increase it with the existing mining technology.

This year's total coal output is 250,000 tons, with just over a hundred coal miners added. The coal department has brought a net profit of 60,000 gold coins to the Harland Territory this year.

The transportation industry is relatively stable. Lord Harland will develop river transportation this year. Because of the investment in new ships, there will be very little cash income, and the profits will be invested in expansion.

The rest are small industries, such as dyeing cloth. Because he has to compete with the royal family, Richard is unwilling to offend the royal family. The market expansion is not large, and he does not cut prices to engage in vicious competition. Despite the promising prospects of this market, Haaland Territory suppressed its appetite for the time being and did not make much profit.

The dyeing cloth business has increased profits this year compared with last year, mainly relying on tapping the internal market, earning a total of 15,000 gold coins in profit.

The income of the perfume industry is very stable. This kind of luxury product only serves a specific group of people. Once someone has a strong style and occupies the market, the income can often last for many years and is very stable. This year, he also made a profit of 10,000 gold coins.

This industry has also driven the economic development of the City of Flowers and greatly improved the living standards of thousands of free people.

Because the literacy rate is getting higher and higher, there are more and more schools, with more than 20,000 students enrolled, and the scale of the papermaking business is also increasing rapidly. This year's profit exceeded 10,000 for the first time.

This industry will also have extremely high development prospects, and profits will exceed one hundred thousand gold coins in another twenty years.

The flame spiders have also expanded their population. Anne has contracted with the flame spider queen for eleven years and trained the flame spider queen into a third-level magical creature. However, the Flame Spider Queen's potential has been exhausted, and only extremely precious magic resources can be used to break the shackles of her bloodline.

In eleven years, the Flame Spider population has expanded to more than one hundred individuals. It can produce more than sixty kilograms of spider silk every year, which can be woven into twenty mage robes and can generate an income of six thousand gold coins for the territory.

The fruit industry, fresh fish business and other miscellaneous income can add up to bring an income of 10,000 gold coins to the Haaland territory.

In total, the Harland Territory received a total of 1,545,000 gold coins in cash this year, an increase of 382,000 gold coins compared to last year.

Not counting the income from monster hunting, the fiscal revenue of Harland Territory increased by 32% this year, and it is still rising sharply.

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