By this year, the number of freedmen had far outnumbered indentured servants. Since this year, taxes have become the bulk of the territory's fiscal revenue.

More than 7 million freemen received 2.4 million gold coins a year from the land tax alone, plus customs duties, commercial taxes, real estate taxes, special commodity taxes, and so on, and the tax revenue alone collected more than 3.5 million yuan last year.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Finance, the tax revenue of Haaland's territory last year totaled 5.93 million gold coins, of which tax revenue accounted for 59 percent.

In the past two years, the three kingdoms of Delong, East Coast, and Ryan have all tried their best to suppress the economic development of Haaland's leadership and strengthened their efforts to crack down on smuggling.

Nowadays, daily commodities such as high-grade liquor, brown sugar, elf black tea, soap, soap, and glass products have been driven out of the markets of the three countries, and even the smuggling channels have been cracked down by the authorities, and the powerful people who cooperate with them are reluctant to do it anymore.

The external market has taken a big hit, with Haaland leading some reduction in commercial income.

The external market demand has weakened, and the Haaland territory is more dependent on the domestic market. As the number of freedmen skyrocketed, the domestic market was greatly expanded, and Haaland had a stronger tax source.

With the increase of the economy, the domestic demand market has slowly expanded, and the external market demand has taken a back seat.

In late January, Haaland led another class of freshmen to enroll, with more than 50,000 new students enrolled this year, and 500 students enrolled in the Academy of Magic.

With the addition of these five hundred newcomers, the Haaland Leader Mage Association will have two thousand one hundred people, and the scale of two thousand one hundred people is already close to the level of the Ryan Kingdom. However, the number of formal magicians in the Ryan Kingdom is more than that of Haaland.

As of January this year, there are 454 official magicians in the Harland Territory, plus the 300 magicians in the royal family's hands, and the small amount of magic power possessed by the great nobles, the number of mages in the Grant Kingdom has exceeded 900, which is roughly equivalent to half of the level of the United Kingdom on the East Coast.

Soon after the new students entered the school, the time suddenly came to March.

March is the season for spring planting, although in the Priland region, spring planting may have to wait until April.

After heading north into the Burton Forest, the grass and trees will not bud until early May, and spring planting will have to wait until May.

In the Boton Forest, it usually snows heavily in early October and the vegetation withers in late September, leaving a very short period of time for plants to grow.

In the vicinity of this area, winter can often reach six or seven months, spring and autumn are very short, only about 30 days, and the average temperature is above 20 degrees, and the weather is less than three months a year.

In this climate, wheat cannot be grown at all, and only some crops with shorter growth cycles, such as oats and potatoes, can only be grown, and the yield is lower than in the Priland region due to the lower temperature.

Moreover, because of the irregular snowfall time, snow disasters in this area are very frequent, food production is not stable, and the area north of the Bolton Forest, before the industry has not developed to a certain extent, and the grain production is not suitable for human survival and reproduction.

Fortunately, the population of the Harland Leader settled in the Boton Forest is small, only about 400 elves of the Dawnlight tribe.

Because there is a constant temperature formation protection in the maze lock, the elves are relatively comfortable living in the maze lock.

The area of the mystery is about a dozen square kilometers, the population of less than 500 is not crowded, and some bread trees can be planted in the open space in the middle.

Moreover, Richard, Wendini, and Sophia all have large-capacity space equipment, and they can bring hundreds of cubic meters of materials once a year, which can make more than 400 elves live very comfortably.

The elves don't need to worry about food and supplies, and their only task is to send troops to serve the Haaland Leader.

One day in mid-March, the weather outside the window was very dark, and a drizzle fell on the ground.

Richard had practiced breathing early in the morning, had just dealt with two hours of government affairs, and was just about to have lunch, when a special urgent message was sent to the Duke's Palace.

When he opened the letter, even Richard, who was deeper in the city, changed his face. It turned out that the envoy of the Divine Radiance Empire had already taken a magic ship and docked at the Morning Radiant Castle at the mouth of the Black River.

Although it is against the current, it cannot be powered by sails or a steam engine, and relying on the magic crystal to provide energy, the speed of the magic ship can travel two or three hundred kilometers a day. However, the large magic ship sails at full speed, and needs to burn 300 magic crystals every day, which can be exchanged for more than 3,000 gold coins, even if it is a magic ship of the Divine Radiance Empire, most of the time it relies on sails.

And Haaland led the magic ship, installed a steam boiler, and burned coal most of the time.

After seeing the Divine Radiant Empire's magic ship, the garrison of Dawnlight Castle immediately dispatched a lion to deliver the message. If you rely on the lion to deliver the letter, it is faster than 800 miles to expedit.

After receiving the news of the envoy of the Divine Radiance Empire, Richard secretly thought in his heart: "It is rumored that the spy network of the Divine Radiance Empire is all over the Dawn Plane, and even the elves of the Eastern Continent and the dwarves of the Western Continent have placed spies.

Although the Divine Radiance Empire cannot control everything, and it is difficult to project its tentacles into the Eagle Mountains and the northern steppes, the Divine Radiance Empire is still the most powerful force in the Dawn Plane, and this country will inevitably have a purpose in sending emissaries to a poor country like the Harland Territory, and it is likely to bring trouble to the Harland Empire. ”

After receiving the letter from the Divine Radiant Empire, Richard immediately dispatched a Wyvern to quickly inform Sylph and Sutton to negotiate with Fort William.

In addition to Sylph and Sutton, Richard also informed the commander of the Third Legion, Jannings, the commander of the Second Legion, Soros, the commander of the Fifth Legion, Grumand, the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, Vitas, the Minister of Intelligence, and the second uncle Powell.

The core of Haaland's collar is almost all gathered in the Duke's Palace. His father, William, his third uncle, Bernie, and Wilde, the commander of the Fourth Legion, were too far away to be informed, so they could only tell them the results.

In addition to the core members of the territory, Richard, Sophia, Wendini, Margaret, and Philip all participated in the secret meeting, and the second son, Rex, was too young to show up.

Seeing that the important people had arrived, Richard showed everyone the urgent information, and said straight to the point: "The envoy of the Holy Radiance Empire has entered the mouth of the Black River, and now about two days have passed, and according to the speed of the magic ship, the envoy is probably not far from the Black River Fort." ”

As soon as Richard finished speaking, the post man of Easter Castle rode fast horses and rushed to Fort William in succession to deliver a letter from Reynold, the warden of Eastshire.

Reynold, 35 or 6 years old, is one of the first batch of primary school graduates in Haaland's collar, and has been serving Haaland for 15 or 6 years after graduating from primary school.

In fifteen or sixteen years, from a grassroots civil servant to a county warden, Reynold's ability must be extraordinary.

There is not much energy behind this person, the reason why he can be promoted quickly is completely dependent on shrewdness and ability, this person is born with affinity, and is also very good at speaking and negotiating, very good at easing and compromising the contradictions of all parties, and is naturally proficient in and thin mud, every time he reconciles the contradictions between the two sides, he can satisfy both parties.

This kind of ability is most suitable for being an official.

Because of this ability, Reynolds quickly stood out among the grassroots civil servants and was appreciated by the top. In his twenties, he was valued by Rogge, promoted to Rogge's assistant, and served Rogge for three or four years.

Despite Reynold's relative youth, Rogge had already proposed to Richard that he be promoted to the position of consul of the newly created province of Prilland.

The provincial consul of Haaland is the highest position among the civil officials, and in recent years he has been more important than the cabinet ministers, and he is a real feudal official, with high power and exclusive power, and almost all the candidates who can serve as the provincial consul are Powell, Rogge, Hayden, Burlion, and Rooney.

Rednow's nomination is actually quite a big deal, and his future is already ahead of most cabinet ministers.

The reason why Rogge solemnly recommended Reynolds is probably to choose an heir for himself, and it seems that his perception of cabinet members and provincial officials should be very ordinary.

Most of the high-ranking civil officials in Haaland's collar are indeed successful people, and their abilities are not outstanding, but they have occupied their positions early, received sufficient experience, and kept up with the great development of the territory. Among these people, Rogge is better, and he has gained a firm foothold in Nolan on his own and served as a civil official.

Rednor is indeed very big-sighted, despite the great fame of the Divine Radiance Empire, Rednor still resisted the pressure, detained the Divine Radiance Empire's magic ship for a while, and then invited the Holy Radiant Empire envoy to visit Eastshire for a few days.

Rednor dragged the envoy back, and Richard and the others had time to negotiate in advance and make some plans, so as not to make the envoy suddenly come to Haaland and catch Richard off guard.

Although the Divine Radiance Empire is very far away from the Harland Territory, it will not be able to reach this side for the time being. But after all, it is the number one force in the Dawn Plane, and during this time period, compared to the Divine Radiance Empire, the Harland Territory is a strong ant, and the conflict between the two sides should be avoided as much as possible.

If Richard is given another twenty years, when Harland's territory develops, Richard and Sophia will be promoted to legends, swallow the territories of several nearby countries, eliminate the orcs in the steppe governorship, and master one or two different planes, Richard will have enough confidence to fight against the Divine Radiance Empire, just like the Magic Kingdom in the southwest region, and give the Divine Radiance Empire a look.

"Rednor dragged the envoy and bought us time, and didn't catch the Divine Radiance Empire off guard, let's talk about it and see what the Divine Radiance Empire has planned?"

Seeing that everyone was silent, it seemed that they were still considering the language, and Rogge was the first to express his opinion.

"The Divine Radiance Empire is very well-informed, and spies have been planted in almost all kingdoms, and our Harland Empire has developed so rapidly in the past twenty years, I am afraid that it will not be able to hide the eyes of the Divine Radiance Empire.

This time the envoy came, I am afraid that there is a reason for this, and the mission brought by it may suppress the development of Haaland's leadership.

As the largest force in the Dawn Plane, the Divine Radiance Empire has always been reluctant to accept challenges. In the past thousand years, the strength of the elves has been restored, the orcs are also constantly raiding northward, and the Southwest Magic Kingdom has already gotten rid of the restrictions of the Divine Radiance Empire relying on the God of Truth, and the eastern region of our Central Continent has always been the backyard of the Divine Radiance Empire.

The seventeen kingdoms and grand principalities in the eastern part of the Central Continent, plus six kingdoms in the north and four kingdoms in the south, a total of twenty-six kingdoms, the grand duchies, have been attacking each other for thousands of years, no matter which one develops and grows, it will definitely attract the intervention of the Divine Radiance Empire. In the last ten years, the Kingdom of Grant and our Harland Territory have looked too strong. ”

After listening to Rogge's analysis, Intelligence Minister Vitas nodded and said: "The Prime Minister is right, in addition to this reason, I think there may be factors such as magical civilization and industrial technology." Twenty years ago, I personally presided over the Viscount Cisse spy and stole the brewing technology of Haaland's distilled liquor.

Now Haaland Ling's goods are exported to several nearby countries, and the outside is still boiling to spread steam machinery, railway and train technology, and we can launch many wars in a row, never worry about the reserves of magic crystals, and over the years have continued to acquire discarded magic crystals, and the magic crystal charging technology has also been faintly leaked.

The Crystal Charge Technology is the core and most important technology of our territory's development, and once the Divine Radiance Empire makes a request for exchange, do we refuse or accept? ”

Both of them spoke well, and some of the doubts of the crowd were spoken, and after listening to what Rogge and Vitas said, Jennings also stood up and said: "There may be another reason, the Divine Radiance Empire may want to dismember and divide the Grant Kingdom and bring the crown to the head of the lord."

Once we break away from the Kingdom of Grant, even if we cooperate closely with each other, we will not be as inseparable as we are now. King Anton of the Delong Kingdom is very capable and very good at sowing discord and juggling right and wrong, and once there is a rift between us and the Grant royal family, the situation in the surrounding countries can be stabilized. ”

Jennings's words spoke to Soros's heart.

"Although the intelligence system of the Divine Radiance Empire is complex, it needs to monitor all aspects of the Dawn Plane, and they may not have many members in the Grant Kingdom?

Moreover, the territory is developing rapidly, in fact, it is only in the last five or six years, ten years ago, Richard has not been promoted to duke, and it is estimated that he will not be able to enter the attention list of the Holy Radiance Empire.

The intelligence department of Haaland's territory is very powerful, and we generally don't use key units to experience unknown personnel, even if the Holy Radiance Empire has planted spies in the territory, it is estimated that it is still in the indentured slave class, and cannot access any intelligence.

The Divine Radiance Empire is very far away from us, and it is estimated that it does not know anything about our situation at all. Moreover, the biggest enemy of the Divine Radiance Empire is the orcs, followed by the trouble of elves, and the magicians in the southwest region also disobey the management of the Divine Radiance Empire, and contain a lot of power in the Divine Radiance Empire. The Divine Radiance Empire also needs to draw troops to manage and suppress the Alien Plane.

Even if we offend this big empire, they won't be able to draw much strength. If the Divine Radiance Empire wants to suppress us, I have only one way, and that is to fight with them, and directly overthrow them. After overthrowing the Divine Radiant Empire, we will usher in a different situation. ”

Hearing these very uplifting words, Richard applauded vigorously and said, "Although my uncle is old, his courage is still stronger than that of a young man. The development of the territory has always been my priority, and we will never tie our hands and feet and restrict our development because of the interference of the Divine Radiance Empire.

But in some small things, we should not fall into the hands of others, try to hold the messenger as much as possible, and do not make trouble for the territory. ”

(End of chapter)