The cost of open mining was very low, and it was much safer than the mines. If this mine appeared in the Kingdom of Florence, the surrounding nobles would definitely fight for it. Although it was only an iron mine, the investment was low, and the profits were higher than the average silver mine.
After confirming the location of the mine, Suhlen opened the strategic map and looked at it. He wanted to find the nearest route to the territory.
Soon, Suhlen found something on the map. There was a river about one kilometer away from the mine. Suhlen went to check it out. The river was between eight to thirteen meters wide and two to three meters deep. The flow was average, so it was just an ordinary river.
However, this small river was actually a tributary of the White Water River. If it continued for about three kilometers in the northeast direction, it would merge into the White Water River. Then, it would flow upstream along the White Water River and finally return to the territory's pier. With this river, the ore mined from the mine could be transported to the territory by water.
Water transportation had too many advantages over land transportation. Not only was the volume large, the speed was fast, and the cost was low.
The river was three meters deep and eight meters wide. Although it couldn't handle large ships, it was more than enough to transport iron ore. Slaves were also used to mine the ore, so the cost was also very low. In addition, Suhlen's territory had already used the hydraulic forging machine, so the labor cost was reduced again. As for the furnace and fuel to smelt the ore, the cost was also very low.
The cost of this part was also very low. There were trees everywhere in the wasteland, and they could also use slaves to cut them down. In this way, the cost of forging a piece of Tempered Iron was shockingly low.
For example, the equipment Suhlen made for his barbarian guards would cost at least 200 Kinnar in Calt. However, in Suhlen's territory, the cost of this set of equipment was only 30 Kinnar at most.
Excluding the labor cost and transportation cost, the most expensive forging cost was also replaced by the hydraulic forging machine. The new blast furnace in the territory increased the production and lowered the cost again. Therefore, the cost of this set of equipment was so low.
Even if Suhlen sold the equipment at 150 Kinnar per set, he could easily make a large profit. Moreover, such a low price could also attract merchants who were willing to take the risk to trade here.
Having made his decision, Suhlen didn't stay here any longer. He had the two barbarian warriors instruct the kobolds to build houses here, while Suhlen hurried back to his territory.
There were 1,500 goblins, kobolds, and gnolls in the territory. Among them, the goblins were the most numerous, with about 700 of them. The kobolds were second with about 500, and the gnolls and gnolls had about 200 of them.
Although the Kobolds weren't very strong, they were good at mining. Suhlen planned to send these 500 Kobolds to the mine to mine. In addition to the 200 Kobolds in the mine, there were close to 800 Kobold miners, which was more than enough. They also needed to form a team to protect the mine.
However, this meant that the territory, which had a sufficient population, became short of manpower again.
Suhlen already felt that his barbarian guards were lacking in manpower. There were very few freedmen in the territory, so he couldn't recruit human soldiers. As for the barbarian women and children, some of them could join the reserve force, and many of the barbarian youths would come of age next year.
Even so, distant water couldn't quench the immediate thirst.
This situation couldn't be changed in a short period of time. The recruitment order he used last time hadn't even recruited a single person. Suhlen had completely given up. He planned to mine some iron ore and bring it back to forge weapons.
After the weapons were forged, he would have Zeon transport the weapons to Calt to sell them. With the low cost here, even if the price was lowered, he could still make a lot of money. Once he had money, he would go to the slave market to buy serfs or other slaves.
These slaves would be used to fill the lack of population in the territory. Other than that, Suhlen also planned to advertise his territory in the surrounding cities to attract the commoners who wanted to obtain land to become freedmen.
Because there hadn't been any war in the surrounding areas of Calt for decades, the population had skyrocketed. Many people were born without land. In this world, property was inherited by the eldest son. The other sons would become independent once they reached adulthood.
This situation caused many people to have no farmland or money, so they could only work in the cities. Most of the mercenaries were like this. Those who owned land rarely migrated. Suhlen's territory held no attraction for them. Only those who had nothing would be willing to take the risk and cross hundreds of miles to live in Suhlen's territory.
Suhlen's target was these people. He wanted to recruit them to become his freedmen. Although most of these people had no assets, as long as they worked hard in the territory, Suhlen would pay them wages and let them set up a family business in the territory. Alternatively, he would sell the land to them in installments.
In fact, Suhlen was already considering restoring the freedom of his serfs. Of course, he wouldn't do that now.
He planned to let these slaves work for a few years and then revoke their status step by step, making them free. Although it seemed that Su Lun had suffered a great loss by releasing the slaves, in fact, this was not the case.
When they were slaves, they naturally wouldn't work as slaves. Even if they were forced to work, their efficiency would be high. Although it would save money, it wouldn't create much value. However, if Suhlen made an agreement with them, as long as they worked hard for him for a few years, their status as slaves would be pardoned and they would become free.
In that case, the motivation of these slaves would definitely increase by leaps and bounds. After a few years, when these slaves became free, they would naturally want a better life. Then, they would definitely work harder and contribute to Suhlen's taxes.
In this way, the value they would create would be much higher than the value of the slaves. Of course, Suhlen didn't do this right from the start. After all, the power of tradition in this world was still very strong.
At least, he was going to wait until he was stronger before doing this. If he was in the south, Suhlen would probably be worried about the influence of the surrounding territories. However, in the Northern Wasteland, where the mountains were high and the emperor was far away, basically no one would care.
PS: Thank you to Shi Ya Art for your 100 Qidian coins. Thank you to Dejected Death for your 100 Qidian coins.
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