Chapter 124 Finance and Infrastructure

Roman arrived in Sige Town on the 310th day.

He inspected his loyal troops.

I can only say it is very good!

A well-trained army has taken shape!

Any army with strong combat effectiveness generally has one characteristic.

That is, the welfare benefits are extremely high!

Even the elite soldiers of the barbarians and the Arctic pirates, those barbaric, brutal and undisciplined guys, can improve their quality of life by plundering wealth.

This ensures their basic combat effectiveness.

Any elite soldiers and generals are made by money.

Roman naturally knows this truth.

In the first month after he arrived in Sige Town, he increased the income of the guards at the speed of light, making them more loyal.

In the subsequent large-scale recruitment, Roman readjusted the salary of the guards.

If you want to support the army, you can't just give money to the army, you have to give various in-kind subsidies.

The reason is simple, even the nobles can't afford to pay.

There is only some surplus food every year, so you have to use food to offset another part of the army's income.

Grains, cereals, vegetables, meat, fur, firewood, steel...

These physical objects can be used directly as wages to pay others.

And the King of Black Iron, the King of Sinnoh, the King of Iceland... these kings of the earth have to give a lot of salt to the soldiers every year to offset part of their wages, otherwise they really can't support them.

Roman used to do the same thing, using physical objects to offset.

Too poor!

Raising an army is a bottomless pit of expenditure.

600 soldiers, 2 copper coins per month, 144 gold coins a year.

Most low-level nobles have an annual income of no more than this.

He needs to not eat or drink, and have no expenses, to come up with this money.

Although Roman and Morey's business is getting bigger and bigger, each trade basically involves an amount of 100 gold coins.

But this is mainly converted through barter.

Roman can take out 500,000 kilograms of salt, but can't take out 1,000 gold coins.

So it is a good way to offset with physical objects.

But the disadvantage is that it becomes very troublesome when paying salaries! Super troublesome!

Not to mention that Roman pays monthly.

At the end of each month, it takes a whole day to pay their salaries - this can be regarded as a disguised rest.

But wasting time is wasting time.

Take a good rest on your rest day, instead of sweating and queuing to carry dozens of kilograms of food, salt and meat home.

With the economic development of Sger Town, Roman, who has more and more money on hand, cancelled the mode of physical deduction.

All soldiers can get 3 copper coins and 10 kilograms of salt every month.

In other words, a soldier's monthly salary is 5 copper coins.

A soldier's salary can buy a working ox in ten months, and a gold coin in twenty months.

And this is just the most basic salary.

Instructor level like Jet and Dick.

Attendant level like Kao and Neri.

War knight level like Aaron and Green.

Management level like Seth, Yaki and Ruto.

Chef Bob, maids and butlers.

Their salaries will also be increased step by step.

Roman needs to pay about 300 gold coins every year to support his team.

If all the craftsmen are hired.

Vicky, Lax, masons, clothiers, leather workers, blacksmiths, etc.

This number needs to be increased by an additional 100 gold coins.

The annual expenditure of up to 400 gold coins is enough to drag down all the low-level nobles.

But the higher the fiscal expenditure, the happier Roman is.

This means that the development speed of Sger Town is more terrifying.

…

This first snow fell for half a day, only covering the grassland and the ground with a thin layer of white frost, and did not significantly reduce the temperature. It can only be regarded as a prelude to winter.

After the intense autumn plowing,

the manpower that was originally insufficient suddenly became much more relaxed.

The salt mine, coal mine, and iron mine started to operate again, with a total of six or seven hundred people.

More than 200 people have been invested in the breeding farm. Now the piglets and lambs are still small and it is relatively easy to raise them. We will continue to increase manpower in the future.

There are more than 400 people in the livestock shed. The main reason is that it is too difficult to take care of the oxen and wild horses. At least more than ten tons of feces are cleaned out every day.

Not counting the number of people in the dining camp and the military camp.

There are about 300 laborers in Sige Town who are idle at present.

Of course, it is impossible to really be idle.

Because rapid development also has disadvantages.

Sige Town is like being tied to Roman's chariot and running all the way for an unknown distance. As a result, when you look back, you find that the furniture parts have fallen all over the ground and need to be repaired slowly.

For example, the miners and iron smelters live in temporary wooden houses, which are extremely simple and difficult. They can barely keep out the wind and rain.

It was okay in autumn, but it couldn't stand it in winter.

Roman didn't have the time and manpower to build houses for them before. The iron smelters at the beginning even had to sleep on the ground-including Roman himself.

They slept in the wilderness and ate dry food. Because the distance was too far, they could only transport long-lasting food such as bread slices and dried meat.

But this cannot happen in the future. It is okay to work hard for a few months. Just grit your teeth and get through it.

But no one can bear to work hard for several years. You have to bite your teeth to pieces.

If Roman wants to obtain stable steel production capacity, he must first ensure that his subjects have a stable living environment.

To do this, he had to relocate a group of people and build a new town next to the coal and iron processing plant.

That town also had to be built into brick houses once and for all.

After the construction, if the two towns wanted to have transportation, they would need a sturdy and durable road.

In the final analysis, infrastructure was needed!!

Paving roads and building houses were both big projects. No matter how many people were put in, it would only splash water.

It is worth mentioning that the previously paved salt road has begun to crack, with dense cracks, and some sections have even broken into several sections.

But even the worst lime road is better than the muddy dirt road.

If the road cracks, Roman can send people to fill it with clay and lime. It will not be a problem to patch it up for two or three years. It is still unobstructed, and the wheels are fast and stable.

But how to repair that kind of rugged dirt road?

The conditions in Sige Town are limited. It can't burn cement, so it can only burn lime. With coal, the output will be greatly increased.

Roman's demands on them were not high.

As long as the 150-kilometer lime road was paved before the end of winter and the prototype of a town was built at the coal and iron processing plant, it would be enough.

When he returned to the Origin Manor from the military camp, he heard the sound of reading aloud from the school when he passed by the classroom.

Now the paper production has increased significantly.

The children's learning tasks have increased sharply, mainly learning literacy and arithmetic; three hours of self-study are used to consolidate knowledge and copy words.

But the biggest pressure is not the students, but the teachers.

There are only a dozen teachers with teaching ability in Sige Town, most of whom are slaves from the sea fort.

For example, Nellie is born with ice and snow intelligence, and is hardworking and diligent. After becoming the maid of the Lord of the Sea Fort, she is required to master various management skills.

Roman doesn't know the ability of other maids, but Nellie is definitely able to stand on her own, more talented than Geman and Hans.

But the premise is to give her a suitable stage.