Lin Yi's plan, codenamed Wildfire, meant to ignite the flames of war in the grasslands.
The success or failure of Operation Wildfire was related to the future policy orientation of Shanhai County towards the nomadic tribes, as well as the progress of the construction of the Shanhai County cavalry. Its importance was self-evident.
The military office would work with Lin Yi to come up with a more detailed plan to ensure that nothing went wrong.
Ouyang Shuo had just returned from Youyi County and was once again immersed in government affairs.
…
On the 20th of July, the Cavalry Battalion of Pool Water County was established. Liao Kai was appointed as the Battalion Commander of the Cavalry Battalion. The fee for the cavalry battalion's class change was naturally deducted from the first half of July's income.
Three days ago, Ouyang Shuo and the Dali's Cui Clan Merchant Group had completed their first transaction on the super trading platform.
The Northern Twilight Saltworks produced a total of 2.5 million units of salt in half a month. According to the market price of 20 copper coins per unit, the Cui Merchant Group had to pay 5,000 gold coins. After deducting 10% of the transaction tax, Ouyang Shuo actually received 4,500 gold coins. After deducting the operating costs of the Northern Twilight Saltworks, he was left with 4,100 gold coins.
System, after the transaction tax is halved, the North Twilight Salt Fields can save 1,000 Gold Coins in taxes every month.
As for the Wolf Mountain Mine, they would still hand over 4000 gold coins.
The mineral experts in the expert group had already entered the Wolf Mountain Mine and began to instruct the Wolf Mountain Mine on how to mine, process, and refine gold ores in a more scientific and reasonable manner. According to preliminary estimates, the output of the Wolf Mountain Mine in August would increase by at least 10%. The technical guidance of a mineral expert could increase the income of Shanhai County by at least one gold coin every month. This was the value of the team of experts. They could improve the territory in all aspects.
Of the 8100 gold coins from the first half of the month, after deducting the 750 gold coins from the Cavalry Battalion and the 4400 gold coins from the Bank of the Four Seas, he was left with 2,950 gold coins.
The cost of sending a player to the territory through the teleportation circle was extremely high and extravagant. On average, a Life Profession player would have to spend 5 Gold Coins in teleportation fees.
Ouyang Shuo had yet to calculate the cost of providing a normal courtyard for every player.
For example, when Di Chen and the others recruited players to settle in their territory, they basically chose new players and arranged for them to descend directly into the territory. Only these great forces had the strength to mobilize such a huge amount of manpower in the real world.
After the interstellar migration, they would not have such convenience. They could only obediently pay the teleportation fee like Ouyang Shuo. This was undoubtedly another heavy burden for Di Chen and the others.
According to what Feng Qiuhuang had revealed, before the migration, the various factions had gathered in their territories and placed a large number of new players in order to avoid the teleportation fees. As for the exact number, it was unknown.
The remaining 2,950 gold coins from the first half of the month weren't kept hot in Ouyang Shuo's hands, and he used these funds to purchase 2,950,000 units of grain through the Cui Clan Merchant Group.
In this way, Shanhai County would not have to worry about food in the second half of the year. The price Ouyang Shuo had to pay was that he had to spend 9,000 gold coins just to purchase food.
Ouyang Shuo didn't dare to imagine what kind of price the other territories would have to pay for food after the price of food increased. One had to know that the other territories did not have Shanhai County's 40,000 acres of fertile farmland, so they needed to purchase more food.
The only comforting thing was that the other territories did not have such a large population base like Shanhai County, nor did they have such a terrifying spawn rate of refugees.
If he had sufficient funds, Ouyang Shuo would even consider whether he should engage in a shady business of reselling food. While the price of food hasn't risen yet, I'll buy a batch and sell them after the price rises.
Ouyang Shuo had already informed the members of the Shanhai Alliance, including Song Wen, about his prediction of the grain market. As for whether or not they had the funds to stock up in advance, Ouyang Shuo could not help them.
No matter how big Shanhai County was, it did not have enough funds to support five or six territories at the same time.
Moreover, they were just allies, and Ouyang Shuo was not a philanthropist. No matter which territory it was, if they wanted to borrow money from Shanhai County, they would have to allow the Bank of the Four Seas to set up a branch in their territory.
As for Mulan Town, Ouyang Shuo was prepared to wait until the end of the month. After the profits of the second half of July were collected, he would add a reserve fund to the Bank of the Four Seas branch in Mulan Town.
As for the Resource Division's purchase of grain, it had already been settled. According to Ying You, she wanted to take out a portion of the funds she had deposited in the Bank of the Four Seas and use it to purchase surplus grain from the farmers.
The surplus grain in the farmers' hands did not need to be purchased in one go. They could purchase a portion every month, and after they were sold, they would purchase another batch, and the cycle would repeat. Otherwise, purchasing a batch of grain in one go would require tens of thousands of gold coins, which was simply a waste of funds.
On average, a farmer farmed 10 mu of land. Based on the yield of 350 units per mu, that was 3,500 units of grain. If they handed over 117 units of grain and kept half a year's worth of rations, they could sell 3,200 units of grain, making a profit of 3 gold coins and 20 silver coins. After deducting the business tax from selling the grain, the actual profit was 3 gold coins and 10 silver coins. With two seasons a year, the annual income was 6 gold coins and 20 silver coins. After deducting the cost, the final profit was about 5 gold coins.
If the farmers were more diligent and raised chickens, ducks, geese, and other poultry, or even a pig, they could make a profit of dozens of silver coins a year to subsidize their family.
Therefore, in reality, the farmers' income was not low. It was almost the annual salary of an ordinary rank 5 soldier. The only difference was that the soldiers' food and shelter were covered, and there was still room for improvement in the army's pay.
The reason for this was that the farmers had enough arable land, and it was calculated according to the fertile farmland. Secondly, the taxes set by Shanhai County were already the lowest in history. Thirdly, in the purchase of grain, Ouyang Shuo did not buy low and sell high to squeeze the farmers.
All these factors contributed to the high income of Shanhai County's farmers.
…
In the past month and a half, Mulan Town had developed rapidly with the support of the Bank of the Four Seas.
Using the loan from the Bank of the Four Seas, Mu Guiying successfully established the Mulan Town's City Defense Battalion. With the City Defense Battalion, Mu Guiying went around to exterminate the bandits.
Exterminating bandits not only trained the troops and eliminated the hidden dangers of the territory, but it also brought a steady stream of people, resources, and funds to Mulan Town, greatly improving the situation of the town.
In addition, Mulan Town had also built a stone wall, greatly increasing its defense. The privatization of the territory had also been completed, and it was no longer a half-finished product. The private economy of the territory had begun to sprout, slowly accumulating potential, waiting for the big explosion in the future.
Mulan Town's current development momentum was almost a replica of Shanhai Town's.
A week ago, Mulan Town had successfully been promoted to a rank 3 town. After the promotion, Mulan Town's miners unexpectedly discovered a large silver mine in the territory, which was another source of wealth. Although the silver mine could not compare to the gold mine, if they went all out to mine it, they could at least earn 200 gold coins every month.
Now, the biggest obstacle to Mulan Town's advancement was Mu Lanyue's Noble title.
In the battle of Zhuolu, Mu Lanyue had obtained 2,500 merit points, raising her Noble title from a third-rank viscount to a first-rank viscount. In addition to the bandits she had exterminated during this period, Mu Lanyue's merit points had reached 5,000. However, she was still 1,400 merit points short of becoming a third-rank viscount.
Thankfully, Mulan Town had just been promoted to a rank 3 town, so it would still take some time for it to reach its maximum population of 1,000. Perhaps in the future battle of Southern Town Pass, Mu Lanyue would have enough merit points.
Taking 10,000 steps back, if another battle was triggered during this period, all problems would be solved.
Mulan Town's rapid development made the Siege Lion very envious. In the Mountain-Sea Alliance, only his Black Lion Town was still a rank 2 town. Due to the lack of funds, the Siege Lion did not dare to recruit too many players to settle in the territory. This was because they could not afford the high teleportation fees.
Helpless, the Siege Lion finally relented and invited Ouyang Shuo to open a branch of the Bank of the Four Seas in Black Lion Town.
Ouyang Shuo naturally had no reason to refuse. Recently, the territory's financial situation had been improving. Just the Wolf Mountain Mine and the Northtwilight Saltworks had increased their income by nearly 2,000 gold coins every month. With this additional income, it was enough for him to open a branch of the Bank of the Four Seas in Black Lion Town.
Ouyang Shuo replied to the Siege Lion that at the end of this month, as long as Shanhai County's funds were in place, he would send someone to Black Lion Town to open a branch of the Bank of the Four Seas.
Ouyang Shuo's ambition was to open the Bank of the Four Seas in the various territories. Even if it could not become the only bank in the other territories, it would control their economic lifelines. It would become one of the main banks in the other territories.
To realize this ambition, the first step was to open branches of the Bank of the Four Seas in the territories of every ally. Now that they had conquered Mulan Town and Black Lion Town, it was only a matter of time before they could conquer Dragon Search Town.
As for Lingxi County and Luofeng County, they needed a specific opportunity to succeed. This was especially so for Luofeng County. Even if Feng Qiuhuang agreed, her family would not.
The reason why Lingxi County was still able to survive was because of the Cool Breeze Pavilion of the Supreme Court. The Cool Breeze Pavilion's gold farming team had been silently supporting the development of Lingxi County.
Lingxi County and the Cool Breeze Pavilion gradually formed a symbiotic relationship. It was similar to the cooperation agreement between Shanhai County and the Snow Mourning Rose Group.
The only difference was that Lingxi County did not have a military industry as developed as Shanhai County.
It was not that Ouyang Shuo was despicable and wanted to take advantage of his allies. After all, this was a win-win situation. It was also beneficial to the unity of the Shanhai Alliance.
What alliance could be more stable than an alliance of economic integration? (To be continued.)
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