The Haaland Collar Commodity Fair has been held for six years, the first two years being held in early November.

Because of the cold climate in northern Xinjiang in November, it was advanced by Richard to October.

However, the autumn harvest in Haaland's territory began in mid-September, and after the autumn harvest began, the civil servants of the territory were very busy, not only collecting taxes and grain, but also sampling and counting agricultural production throughout the year.

Holding a commodity fair is not an easy task, and it requires a large number of public servants to communicate and dock with foreign caravans.

Especially in the last three years, during the commodity fair, hundreds of caravans will rush to the Harland territory, and more than tens of thousands of outsiders have integrated into the territory during this period.

To manage this foreign population, it is necessary to transfer personnel from the fields of commerce, public security, and taxation. In addition, the territory also needs to be responsible for the food, clothing, housing and transportation of foreign caravans, and the odds and pieces are particularly troublesome.

In October, a two-year trade fair was held, and there was some confusion in management because there were not enough civil servants to be appointed.

After thinking about it for a long time and weighing the pros and cons, Richard set it for November again from last year.

Haaland's territory has developed for more than ten years, and more than 10,000 students have graduated from territorial schools, and more than 20,000 students are currently enrolled, and a large number of these people have entered the territorial civil service.

Compared with other territories, after five years of education, these grassroots civil servants are able to write official documents and master elementary mathematics, and their quality is obviously higher.

Although there are relatively high civil servants in charge of various tasks, holding such a large-scale commodity fair is a test of Haaland's ability to organize and coordinate.

On the sixth day of November, the fourth day of the fair, the sky near Fort William was cloudy and heavy snow began to fall.

Despite the heavy snowfall, the streets of Fort William's South are still bustling with people and the sound of bargaining, and the interest of the merchants is still undiminished.

After years of operation, this street has become the largest wholesale market in Haaland's collar.

The vast majority of shops on both sides of the street are government-run businesses, and private chambers of commerce, although they are also developing, are still too short to accumulate and less funded.

As he walked down the street, Odaye grabbed a merchant and tried to sell him the flour he produced.

"Mr. Malan Nisolang, if you look at the selected flour we produce, the quality is really good, not only the color is beautiful, but also the impurities are very few, even if it is placed in the Nolan court, it is considered a first-class product. Our products are not only of high quality, but also very inexpensive, you can buy twenty bags for only three gold coins. I think it's a commodity that is in line with the aristocratic diet, and you should buy some. ”

Maran Nisoland was a member of a hereditary baronial family in the province of Sodamia.

The province of Sodamia is located in the southern part of the province of Gascoigne, about 360 kilometers from Fort William from the Nisollang family's territory.

In late September every year, the Nisolan family organizes caravans to trade with the nobles of the three northern provinces, and by the way, participates in the commodity fair in the Haaland territory.

Although the Nisolan family is of average strength, the Devilhorn Rabbit breeding industry has formed in the territory.

Although the strength of the Devil Horn Rabbit is very average, it is a very low-end magical beast, and breeding this kind of magical beast cannot help the battle at all. However, the horn of the Devil's Horned Rabbit is a variety of potion recipe materials, the fur can be used to make magic gloves, and the visceral blood can also be used to make Tenghui Elixir, as long as the scale is formed, the profits can be endless.

Although the Nisolan family does not seem to be inconspicuous, they can earn 5,000 gold coins every year by selling the materials of the Devilhorn Rabbit, far more than the barons of many lands.

Seeing that Odaye was trying to sell his flour, Maran Nisolan waved his hand and clearly refused: "There are not many rich people in our territory, and eating black bread is their habit. ”

"Monsieur Nisolan, the black bread is hard as a stone, and the taste is so hard to swallow. Eating something like that makes us look as pitiful as livestock. As a person from the civilized world, white bread should be on the table. Devour unpalatable black bread, which only orcs do.

For three gold coins, you can get a thousand Yani flour, which is just over twice as expensive as brown bread and doesn't cost much. As long as it is an upper-middle-income class, it can afford it. The white bread in my hand, you can let the entourage taste it. ”

Arni, Dart is the mass unit of the Grant Kingdom, one Arni is converted to about 0.46 kilograms, and one Dart is 240 Arni, which is about 110 kilograms.

It's just that in Haaland's territory, the Yani and Dart systems were abandoned, and kilograms and tons were adopted as mass units.

Haaland's territory was created by Richard with one hand and one foot, which is equivalent to making a picture scroll on a blank sheet of paper, and there is very little resistance to reform. Compared with the more complex Yani and Dart systems, the kilogram and ton are obviously more concise.

With the increasing influence of Haaland's territory, many territories in northern Xinjiang have begun to adopt kilograms and tons as weight units. Nisolang's territory is not very far from Fort William, and Nisoland certainly understands the conversion of kilograms to Yani.

Large-scale flour making is also a new industry in Haaland's territory.

Although many hydraulic mills were built in Haaland's territory in the past, the flour from the primitive stone mills was very coarse, and it was difficult to separate the flour from the bran. The flour ground by stone mills can only be made into black bread, which is difficult to swallow.

With the invention of the steam engine and the development of steel smelting technology, a wide variety of machinery began to appear. The successful steam flour mill manufactured last autumn uses the steam engine as the power and the fine iron wire as the screen, which greatly promotes the development of the flour manufacturing industry.

With Richard's support, Haaland led the establishment of the Graveson Flour Mill, which soon bankrupted all kinds of manual and water-powered mills.

Odaye, who had always been in the restaurant business and was a big customer of selected flour, quickly noticed this change, consulted with Jennings, Sulla and other comrades-in-arms, figured out the policy of the territory, and found that the city hall did not prohibit private capital from developing in this direction.

Then he quickly raised capital, borrowed a sum of money from a few old comrades-in-arms who were well mixed, and entered the flour production industry for the first time.

He customized a steam grinder from the mechanical research institute and hired some workers to set up the Salamander Flour Mill, which caught up with the state-owned Greyford Flour Mill.

The flour milled by the steam engine was not only good in color and quality, but also not particularly expensive, only twice as high as the black flour on the market, and soon occupied most of the flour market in Haaland's territory. The vast majority of freemen have enough coins in their hands, so they naturally want to eat better.

Whether it is the Harland Territory or the Northern Frontier Region, the living environment has been fierce for more than a hundred years, and there is a powerful threat of orcs, and there is no habit of hiding silver coins in cellars.

The desire to consume in the northern Xinjiang region is very strong, whether it is a soldier with strong spending power or an ordinary free man, most people do not like to save money very much. On the contrary, the population who migrated from the kingdom of Delong had the habit of saving money.

Because of the strong consumer demand, white flour in the Haaland territory has almost completely replaced the black flour industry, spreading to nearby areas after the autumn harvest.

In less than a year, the flour mill opened by Odaye recouped its investment and began to make money.

"According to the wholesale price of the trade fair, a hundred gold coins buy about fifteen and a half tons of flour, less than thirty-four darts, which is just enough to load a ship.

Head down the river from Fort William, head south along the Powell River into the Black River, then swim up the Starx River and disembark near Fort Victory. The 260-kilometre journey is aided by water transport, and the transportation cost is very low.

There is less than a hundred kilometers left from the Fort of Victory to the territory of the Nisollang family, and the Nisollang family can fully afford the transportation cost.

Even if the retail price is increased by 50%, the professional family can also spend a lot, and this business should be profitable? ”

After listening to Odaye's introduction, Ma Lan thought about it for a while and decided to buy a hundred gold coins of flour first to see if he could make money?

Although the barony of the Nisoland family is only about 600 square kilometers, it is very rich, the territory is all fertile plains, and the population exceeds 40,000.

Because of the Devil's Horned Rabbit breeding industry, the Nisolan family squeezed the population of the territory lightly, and supported a group of middle classes, with more than 15% of the population with spending power, adding up to about 6,000.

These consumer population, each person eats 2.5 kilograms of flour, and they can sell out this batch of goods.

After completing the transaction, Odaye took a few workers and loaded the flour onto a transport ship. After loading the ship, Odaye politely asked, "Mr. Nisolang, do you need insurance?" ”

The ship, which was also owned by the Haaland family, came from a shipping company, and it took about three days to run a trip, and the freight cost was nine gold coins, which was much cheaper than the carriage transportation.

Fifteen tons of grain were transported by road, requiring at least thirty wagons and a distance of 260 kilometers, which took about 12 days. Moreover, the road from Marte Castle to Black River Castle is very difficult to walk, and it is necessary to increase horses and personnel.

Malan has been to Haaland many times and knows what insurance is.

The insurance business is a new business promoted by Haaland Collar last year, and any merchant who hires Haaland Collar Freight can pay the equivalent of 12 percent of the cost of the goods to buy insurance.

If there is a problem and the goods are lost during transportation, as long as the insurance is purchased, the loss will be fully borne by Haaland Collar Transport Company.

Although the Kingdom of Grant was a unified country, the internal trade routes were not safe. In particular, some greedy hereditary nobles often make cameos as bandits and robbers.

When Richard first went to Nolan to buy slaves, he encountered this kind of thing, and if it wasn't for Richard to keep a hand and strengthen the guards, he might not be able to ensure safety.

In the mountainous areas near the capital, people have openly plundered, and this kind of thing is even more common in the northern Xinjiang region, where the people are barbaric.

After the launch of the insurance business, many caravans with insufficient strength will buy insurance from the Haaland Transport Company.

The transport company then spends money to hire city guards or mercenary groups to ensure the safety of the goods.

Although the city defense army led by Haaland is a second-line army, it has developed over the years and is very well equipped, and the quality of the soldiers can be comparable to that of ordinary barons' private army, surpassing the vast majority of mercenary groups.

The city defense army and the security army add up to more than 30,000, and they have to undertake garrison tasks in a state of war to fill the defense line.

The three provinces of northern Xinjiang rely on the tributaries of the Heihe River, the water transport is relatively developed, and it is rare to hear of strong water bandits, generally speaking, the class of barons and viscounts is difficult to have the financial resources to support the navy, and when it comes to the class of the duke of northern Xinjiang, they do not look down on the small money of looting goods at all, but attach importance to the reputation of the family, and it is basically impossible to participate in the robbery.

Moreover, the goods of Malan and others were entrusted to the ships of the Harland Territory for transportation, and the Duke of Harland flag was erected on the ship, even if there were scattered bandits, they did not dare to provoke the Duke of Haaland easily, and the water transportation passed through several big cities such as Heihe Fort and Fort Leyte, and there was an endless stream of cargo ships along the way, which was relatively safe.

The remaining stretch of the road was only a hundred kilometers away, and the caravan of Malan Nisoland was already well guarded, and was not willing to spend money in vain.

After the deal was concluded, it was already getting late, and Odaye invited Malan and the others to dinner, and then invited the management of the caravan to his house for a few days. As for the rest of the manpower, they can only live in bungalows.

During the commodity fair, in order to make room for the caravan to live, Haaland led a lot of ways to convert the indentured slave camp built in the early years into a simple hotel, because the conditions are not very good, the price of living is very low, three copper coins a day per person, hot water and two meals in the morning and evening.

Because of the increasing influence of the commodity fair, more and more people participated, although after a large-scale expansion, the simple hotel can accommodate tens of thousands of people, in the last three years the simple hotel is no longer enough to live, if you want to live in need of a reservation in advance, at least three days early.

In the past three years, during the trade fair, the city defense army has to vacate the barracks, and the two elementary schools near Fort William have also had to take a holiday for more than ten days to vacate the houses for outsiders.

This problem is almost impossible to solve in a short period of time, and within ten years, it can only be for a while. When the population in the vicinity of Fort William exceeded one million and a number of hotels were established, it was relatively easy to solve this problem.

Despite all the arrangements made by Haaland, many caravans who arrived late could not stay in simple inns at all, and had to pitch tents in the wilderness.

It was already very cold in November, and although Haaland was able to provide some coal, it was still inconvenient to live in the wilderness.

Malan Nisolang came to Haaland this time, in addition to buying a hundred gold coins of flour, he was also going to buy some scarce resources, such as enchanted armor and alchemy bombs. Even magic hot air balloons, he wants to buy some.

It's just that the competition for these scarce transcendent resources is very fierce, and basically they will only be sold to the hereditary nobles of the three provinces of Northern Xinjiang, and Ma Lan only grabbed five first-order snake scale armors and ten enchanted swords this time.

In the next few days, Maran Nisolang bought some liquor, brown sugar, soap, medicine and other Haaland specialties, and went all the way south to the City of Victory.

Since the rebellion of the Scarlet Horn Cultists, the population of Victory City has been reduced by half. Although more than a decade has passed, the vitality of the region has not recovered.

However, as Haaland grew and increased the market of more than one million people, business in northern Xinjiang became more prosperous.

The City of Victory is located at the southern entrance of the Dragon Canyon, which is considered a key place in the three provinces of Northern Xinjiang, and the Harland family still has some property in this castle.

In addition to the trading post in the castle, the Haaland family also purchased land outside the castle and built a dock and cargo station along the Starx River. There are more than 20 people left behind at this cargo station all year round.

The white flour that Malan Nisollang bought a few days ago is stored at this cargo station.

Loading fifteen and a half tons of white flour on a wagon, Malan and the others returned to the territory without incident, although he doubled the price to four copper coins and one yani.

Four copper coins and one Yani white noodles, the price is only a little lower than brown sugar. Even though the price of black flour has quadrupled, the middle and upper classes still want to try it.

The consumer market of 6,000 people in the territory of Nisolang, the supply of fifteen tons was pitiful, and it was soon sold cleanly.

The first time he wholesaled flour, Ma Lan made more than 90 gold coins very quickly.

More than ninety gold coins are not a small amount of money even for a barony, this money is enough to feed ten junior officers.

Realizing that the business was very profitable, Malan came to Haaland again with his personal entourage this time and began to place additional orders for Odaye. This time, he is going to hire Haaland to lead the transport and take out insurance.

As for the Nisollang family, they just need to lie down and make money.

(End of chapter)