Chapter 549 - Hundred Thousand Slaves
After Zhao talked with Jesse about their cooperation, they ate a meal together then Zhao Hai returned to Wild Dragon Castle to rest. The next day, he went to Dark Soldier Fort and talked to Randolph about the partnership. Naturally, Randolph also agreed, since the Radiant Church has been suppressed, the Calci Family was also preparing to go all out.
After taking care of everything back at Dark Soldier Fort, Zhao Hai returned to his castle. Laura and the others didn't follow Zhao Hai, they were inside the Space and handling the matters of the Markey Family and the Buda Clan.
Zhao Hai had always been disinterested in dealing with those things, and his wives had enough strength to handle them, therefore Zhao Hai simply placed those things to be taken care of by them.
The second day after he returned from Dark Soldier Fort, Zhao Hai rode his carriage and headed towards the Imperial Palace. He needed to see the Emperor in order to fetch Lizzy and at the same time, discuss the matter of cooperation.
The Imperial clan also had their own businesses. If Zhao Hai was able to cooperate with them, he could achieve a lot of things in exchange for a low amount of effort. Zhao Hai now had a high place inside the Rosen Emperor's heart so when the palace guard saw that Zhao Hai had come, he didn't dare to neglect him. He immediately arranged a room for Zhao Hai to rest in before he went to report to the King.
The Emperor didn't make Zhao Hai wait for too long, he immediately invited Zhao Hai to his study room. When Zhao Hai sat down, the Emperor looked at him and said, "The Radiant Church had been dealt with this time thanks to you. But the Radiant Church has been repelled for a few days now, how come you've only come this time?"
Zhao Hai quickly responded, "I went back to the Purcell Duchy and established a network of shops there. This time, I came to pick up Lizzy. Another thing was to discuss a partnership with father-in-law."
The Emperor looked at Zhao Hai and said, "You mean a partnership with those products that you have?"
Zhao Hai nodded and said, "I currently have a lot of those in hand. In the past, because of the Radiant Church's suppression, nobody would buy these things. But now, I can definitely turn this into money."
The Emperor nodded and said, "Right, it's no use if those aren't made into profits. You don't need to discuss with me about this matter. You go to Charlie and discuss the particulars with him."
Zhao Hai stared, then his two eyes lit up as he lowered his head to nod. At this time, Lizzy also arrived at the study. Lizzy and the Emperor exchanged some few words for a while before Lizzy left.
When they were at the carriage heading to Wild Dragon Fort, Zhao Hai turned to Lizzy and said, "It looks like father-in-law is already planning to hand the throne over to Third Brother."
Lizzy stared, she didn't hear about Zhao Hai and the Emperor's exchange. Therefore, when she heard Zhao Hai, she became confused so she asked, "Why? Did father tell you that?"
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "He didn't explicitly tell me. But when I told him that I would like to cooperate with the Imperial Clan, father-in-law passed the responsibility over to Third Brother. If father-in-law didn't plan to hand the throne over to third brother, then why would he let him handle this business?"
Lizzy's eyes were shining as she replied, "If father really said so, then that can prove that he indeed wanted to give the throne over to Third Brother. Hehe. It seems like Third Brother needed to thank Brother Hai."
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "I really don't need him to thank me. As long as he sits on the throne, our Buda Clan can certainly obtain a lot of benefits. How about we go to Third Brother tomorrow and discuss this matter of cooperation with him. But let's not tell him about the matters related to the throne. Then the day after tomorrow, we'll go to the Slave Market to see Lin and ask him if he has our slaves already prepared."
Lizzy smiled and said, "We don't really need to state it clearly, if Third Brother hears that we'll have a partnership with him, he should already know what is going on. But Big Brother Hai, isn't it too soon for us to get the slaves? The Black Wasteland still isn't prepared."
Zhao Hai shook his head and said, "It's not too soon, planting season will come along with spring. Before that time arrives, we should already have the slaves prepared to cultivate the lands. If we miss this season, then it would be too late for planting.
Lizzy nodded and didn't say anything more. She was not very knowledgeable regarding the matters of farming. It was much different than managing stores, of which she understood much of. There was really no way for a Princess to touch the topics related to farming, therefore, Lizzy didn't have much to say.
The next day, Lizzy and Zhao Hai went to see Charlie. Charlie was still very low-key in doing his business, but ever since he cooperated with Zhao Hai, his income had already increased by a lot. It can be said that there aren't any other Prince that can compare to his income. It was precisely because of this that Charlie had placed great importance on Zhao Hai.
When Zhao Hai came to him to discuss the matter of cooperation, Charlie couldn't help but get excited. He already knew about Zhao Hai's intention of cooperating with the Crook Family, Calci Family, and the Imperial Clan. Charlie understood the implications of this partnership, so it couldn't be helped that he became elated. He even wanted to invite Zhao Hai for a drink. However, Zhao Hai had to decline. He still needed to visit the Shelley Hotel in the afternoon and talk about his partnership with the Shelley Family.
The last time Zhao Hai went to Marriott was to ask the Shelley Family for help. Spreading the news about the Iksa Family's demise was perfectly executed by the Hotel. Therefore, Zhao Hai wanted to further improve his cooperation with the Shelley Family.
In addition to the Haven products, fire fish and seafood, he also cooperated with the Shelley Hotel by providing Milk Wine. But this time, Zhao Hai was planning to have them sell Rice Wine and Beer as well.
Currently, the Black Wasteland can now make Rice Wine as well as Beer. However, ways of mass producing these items were still under development.
The Ark Continent was still very backwards in their winemaking. If one wanted to mass produce these two products for the continent, one doesn't only need 1,800 people to work on it, those people needed to be skilled as well.
However, Zhao Hai was planning to offer these two wines as samplers first, like what he did with the Milk Wine in the past. He'll put them in the Shelley Hotel for a trial run and when the people of the continent becomes used to the two liquors, then the factories would be built. Then the mass production would begin.
The cooperation with the Shelley Family came very smoothly. At this point, the Shelley Family almost has a blind faith in Zhao Hai. They think that as long as they cooperate with Zhao Hai, they can make a lot of money. This preconception was backed with their one year of experience. From the very first day that they partnered with Zhao Hai, they had been making more and more money.
This result satisfied Zhao Hai. After him and the Shelley Family had reached an agreement, he immediately returned to Wild Dragon Fort. Then he prepared for his trip to the Slave Market the next day.
After going to the Slave Market and bringing those slaves to the Black Wasteland, Zhao Hai would then head to the Beastman Prairie. It was already a month after the Beastmen had retreated, going to the Praire should be alright now.
The next day, Zhao Hai and Lizzy headed to the Slave Market and went to see Lin. Lin told Zhao Hai that the slaves were ready for quite some time. But because of the war that was going on, they decided to refrain sending them to Golden Island. If Zhao Hai wanted, he can take those slaves right now.
Zhao Hai immediately paid the price of those slaves, and then had them transported to Golden Island at the shortest time possible. Then, Zhao Hai left with Lizzy. After returning to Wild Dragon Fort, Zhao Hai immediately rode a Blood Hawk and then flew towards Golden Island.
The third day after Zhao Hai arrived at the island, dozens of huge slave transport ships arrived. Zhao Hai had them dock at the naval base and had the slaves kept there.
Golden Island naval base was very big. In addition to the fact that most of the Undead in the base were out patrolling around the island, it wouldn't be a problem having 100 thousand people there.
What made Zhao Hai happy was that Lin actually had those 100 thousand slaves be families. All in all, there were about 20 thousand households that were sent over. This completely fulfilled Zhao Hai's requests.
Zhao Hai immediately took advantage of the dark evening to send the slaves over to the Black Wasteland. It was now spring and the weather outside wasn't that cold. Although there weren't enough houses in the Wasteland, they can just construct it themselves, and the materials were already prepared by Zhao Hai.
After the slaves arrived at the Black Wasteland, Zhao Hai then had people give them some living necessities. He told the slaves that these living materials are their private property, so they must cherish it.
Many of these slaves were generational slaves, very similar to the original slaves of Iron Mountain Fort. Some of them might even be inferior than those slaves. So when they held their first pieces of property, all of them couldn't help but get very excited.
The next day, Zhao Hai organized some slaves who had become commoners and divided them into villages. In fact, these villages were already planned by Zhao Hai. The only thing that was needed to be done was built it.
The building materials were already prepared, and at the same time, Zhao Hai also released some Undead to help them build. He already mapped the location of each village and the overall layout of the structure. Therefore, building them shouldn't be very troublesome.
Zhao Hai wanted to build a village for every one thousand household. And no matter how many members ta household had, the lands would be divided accordingly to their structure. An old man would have 5 mu of land, mature men and women would both have 10 mu of land, and each child would merit 5 mu of land. Every family would be provided by either a bull or a scaled horse. Farm supplies and daily necessities were going to be provided as well.
As for the water supply of the villages, Zhao Hai had already prepared them long ago. The channels for water to flow through were made using Earth magic. What kind of plant to cultivate and where to cultivate it was already planned. There were lands made to specifically grow Bamboo Rice and there were also some lands to be used to grow wheat.
The remaining lands were left for the Beastmen slaves. Zhao Hai planned to have the Beastmen slaves herd here first and then train them to farm bit by bit.
The lands of these slaves weren't given by Zhao Hai. The slaves would cultivate this land and by the end of the year, Zhao Hai would collect 40% of their harvest as tax. The remaining 60% would be left to the hands of the slaves.
Although this tax was very high, it was already a heavenly provision for the slaves. They didn't expect that when they arrive at this place, they would be given land, their own property. One must know that this condition was only enjoyed by special commoners back in the continent.
But what made these slaves most excited was the fact that they have the opportunity to turn into a commoner in this place. They saw people who had similar slave imprints like them working in the fort and was eating meat everyday. At the same time, their children were given the opportunity to learn how to read as well as to play. This made the new slaves quite envious of them.
Zhao Hai didn't immediately enact his plan of universal education. He must regard this matter as a reward. He wanted to reward those who do good. And those good slaves would not only become commoners, their children would be able to go to school as well. It was even possible for them to become Nobles.
Those slaves thought that it was too good to be true. But when they saw the slaves who became civilians, they couldn't help but believe in Zhao Hai's words and become motivated.
Zhao Hai also distributed some seeds to them as well as some rations and farming tools. He only managed to do all of these in seven days because of the his Undead. Otherwise, it would be impossible for this matter to be completed in a short period of time.
After all of the things were distributed, Zhao Hai also told them that they could practice other crafts after their work. As long as they learn well, they can become civilians immediately. And if they have some special talents, they can just go to the fort and have it tested. If it was satisfactory, they would be turned into civilians as well.
It took half a month before all of these things had been taken care of. This speed was also because Green and the others already did a lot of work ahead of time. Each step in the process were carefully planned by them, otherwise it wouldn't have been this smooth.
Also, if Zhao Hai did this with commoners, it wouldn't have been completed this flawlessly. Slaves were already trained and were very obedient. Whatever you wanted them to do, they would do it without much fuss. So it only took half a month for these 100 thousand slaves to be settled. At this time, the slaves have already begun to cultivate the land.
Sustaining 100 thousand lives requires a lot of things. This made Zhao Hai's Space unable to be idle. Zhao Hai was even afraid of becoming poor in managing these people. However, he thought that as long as he provided these people with food and firewood right now, they would become self-sufficient come this fall harvest.
The Black Wasteland had been improved to become fertile lands. As long as these slaves word hard in cultivating the land, their future days would surely be good. The 40% tax that Zhao Hai enacted was fixed. If one got 100 jin of grain, Zhao Hai would take 40 jin. If you have 200 jin, then 80 jin would be taken away. The remaining 120 jin would be up to the slaves to use. After the slaves knew about this setup, they immediately became happy. And adding on to the fact that it was possible for them to become commoners, they immediately became hard working people.
Chapter 550 - Trivial Matters
With the addition of the 100 thousand slaves, the Black Wasteland had finally gained some human atmosphere. Although 20 villages were still too few for the Black Wasteland, it was still much more vigorous compared to before.
These villages weren't very far from Iron Mountain Fort. After all, the fort was the Buda Clan's administrative center. The villages that had been constructed cannot be too far from the fort.
After the slaves settled down, they immediately started to work. Because they now have farming tools as well as work animals, a family can easily plant in their respective fields.
The majority of these slaves had family backgrounds as farmers. Therefore, taking care of a farm wasn't very foreign to them, on the other hand, they were actually very adept in the practice.
But before, the farms that they worked on were owned by their masters. Even if they cannot slack off, it was impossible for them to give their all towards the job. But now was different, the land was now bestowed to them and the only thing that they needed to do was hand over 40% of their harvests, while the rest were their own. This way, the higher their harvest, the more food they have.
However, farming was a seasonal activity, one doesn't need to be busy in the field all year round. There are only two seasons where the farmers would get busy, it was the spring for sowing seeds and autumn for the harvest. Other than these two seasons, farmers didn't have much to do, so Zhao Hai instructed them to learn another craft.
At the same time, Zhao Hai also had Green prepare the wineries while the slaves were planting in their land. After the wineries are built, the slaves should be finished in their busy schedule at spring. Therefore, the slaves can go to the wineries and work. Naturally, their efforts would be reciprocated with pay.
Settling the slaves still wasn't completely finished, after all, the wineries would still take a lot of time.
However, Zhao Hai can just hand these matters over to Green, he doesn't need to monitor all of it himself. The stones that were needed for the wineries as well as other particulars can be found in Golden Island. If Iron Mountain Fort needs anything he can just get it there.
A lot of Great Nobles have businesses in Golden Island, and their goods and services have a huge range. They can provide anything that one wants in the continent. If Zhao Hai wanted something special, he can contact them in order to get it.
Zhao Hai didn't need to worry too much about building the structures. He has a 2 million undead army, building should be alright for them to do, the only thing they need is to have an artisan providing them guidance at the side.
While the factory was being built, Zhao Hao also gave his product orders to the Great Nobles who manufacture them. After that, he didn't think to much about it. He still has something else to do, and that was going to the Beastman Prairie.
It was now two months after the Beastmen had returned to the Prairie, so Zhao Hai wanted to see them and take a look at their situation. Two months was enough for them to divide their spoils of war. Now they should be needing something again.
Besides, he still needed to deliver new goods to Ah Tai. Zhao Hai plans to contact a lot of Beastmen when he goes to the Prairie this time. He also wanted to get in touch with the Beast King and try if he can have a business cooperation with him. As long as he has a business with the Beast King, the Buda Clan would certainly gain huge profits.
Zhao Hai wanted to gain several large clients in the Prairie and form a large network of business there. This was also part of his plan to expand the businesses of the Buda Clan.
After all, the Buda Clan's roots have been placed in the Black Wasteland. If all of the lands in the wasteland were to be developed and used for farming, how much food would they be able to produce? The amount would surely pose a huge threat to the food market of the Human Race,
At the same time, the Humans had already signed a fair price agreement with the Beastmen. And with this agreement, the Merchants would have to fork out the expense of transport. Merchants weren't like ZHao Hai, who can just carry his goods through the Space.
Therefore, the prices of food on the Prairie would still be high, but much lower compared to before. However, this would mean that Merchants wouldn't be able to earn as much, aside from the large Merchants. Those small Merchants wouldn't be able to do business in the Prairie anymore since the profits wouldn't be enough anymore.
But as the matter stands, the Beastmen cannot have another food shortage anymore. If it happens again, another war between the two races would surely happen. Therefore, what Zhao Hai meant to do was to sell the grain from the Black Wasteland to the Beastman Prairie. This way, not only would the Beastmen's food problem be solved, it would also stabilize the food market in the Prairie.
Zhao Hai also discovered that the Beastmen weren't like those ancient Prairie dwellers back on Earth. For generations, the people living on the Earth's Prairie has always been very eager to conquer the land of the Han people. They were bent on being the rulers of that land. Therefore, they were waiting for the Hans to grew weak, and then they would invade China.
On the other hand, these Beastmen had their own civilization. Moreover, their society wasn't any worse than the Humans. This stopped them from having thoughts of going to the Human domain. In this world that depends heavily on strength, the ones who advocates this rule the most were the Beastmen Race, this made them dislike the Humans. In their opinion, Humans were too starved, which explains their weak and thin appearance, so their lands shouldn't be that good. Because of this, the Beastmen didn't covet the Human lands. At the same time, the Beastman Prairie was already too big for the Beastman Race to thrive in.
Since the Beastmen didn't have much thoughts towards the Human lands, it wasn't common for them to wage war. The only reason for them to wage war was in the situation where their survival was threatened.
A Beastman's aggression was deeply connected to their straightforward temper. In their eyes, black is black, white is white. Not unlike other people where grey was in between black and white. The Beastmen simply didn't have this view.
It was because of these violent tendencies of the Beastmen that they would go into a fight over the smallest details. It gave people the impression that they were warfreaks. But in truth, the Beastmen disliked war as well.
Even if the Beastmen looked down on Humans, they actually depend on human grain to survive. At the same time, the Humans also need Beastmen beast skins, wool, and beast meat. Therefore, it was possible for both sides to depend on each other.
The Beastmen had a straightforward attitude, very much unlike the Human Merchants who were very greedy for benefit. There were several times where Humans and the Beastman went to war because of their greed. They priced their goods too high, negatively affecting the survival of the Beastman race. So in order to survive, the Beastmen would have no choice but to take up their weapons and pillage the Human lands.
Zhao Hai sending his grain to the Prairie would definitely solve this situation. If he becomes the top grain merchant in the Prairie, the Beastmen wouldn't be able to worry about grain anymore. In this case, it would be impossible for the Humans and Beastmen to wage war with each other anymore.
And if that happens one day, what benefits would the Buda Clan gain? It was even possible for them to be the ones who would have the most profits in the entire Human race.
To be honest, Zhao Hai had thought about the time when the Rosen Empire negotiated for him to have the Purcell Duchy. If he gains control of that territory, it would be equivalent to adding the Purcell Duchy to the Black Wasteland. When that happens, he wouldn't even need the Space to transport the food to the Prairie using the Space. He could just directly transport the food using normal means. However, it was a pity that it didn't succeed.
However, Zhao Hai didn't become anxious about this. As long as there is time, avenues of progress would be found. Later, he would slowly make his own grain route, this was because he didn't know for how long he'll live. If he dies, the Space would cease to exist. And when that happens, the Buda Clan would be able to use that route for their business.
Walk one step, look forward three steps, this was Zhao Hai's attitude. He knew that the Space wouldn't disappear with no reason, but he was afraid that it would be gone once he dies. Nobody was immortal, even 9th ranks were the same. Therefore, Zhao Hai considered the Buda Clan heavily in his decisions.
It was because of this that Zhao Hai invested his time on the Prairie. As long as he gains big clients in the Prairie, the Buda Clan's future development wouldn't be very difficult.
After handling the matters of the Black Wasteland, Zhao Hai went back to the Rosen Empire. Even if he had established his cooperation with the Calci Family and the others, the details would still be needed to discussed well. At the same time, the logistics of the business needed to be considered, otherwise their costs would increase by a lot.
It was important for a store to have a stable transport network so that it could sell and restock its items on time. Because of this, logistics was one of the most important aspects of a business.
There were only two forms of transporting goods in the Ark Continent. One was through the water, with the use of ships, while the other was through land, by having beast-pulled carriages.
Comparing these two, using the waters was much convenient. It was quicker, and it costs was much lower as well. Carriages might cost less in short distance transport, but ships were the most suited for long-distance shipment.
Even if it was good that Zhao Hai had established some good partners, the logistics wasn't a well oiled machine. Those families have their own transport networks. Zhao Hai's supplies cannot be just placed at one location, that would be very inconvenient.
In the end, Zhao Hai decided that with the current numbers of the Buda Clan, even with the addition of the Markey Family, it would be impossible for them to have a lot of shops. Therefore he settled for the second choice, establish some supply locations at some major cities. This would save a lot on transportation towards the nearest cities as he handed the goods over to the other families.
The Calci Family and the others naturally agreed to this. They were afraid that the Buda Clan would establish their own sales network since that would mean that they would have a new competitor. But even so, the Calci Family and the others didn't extend their hands too far. Ruyen was currently managing a Buda Clan business in Purcell Duchy. This was the sole place in the entire continent where the Buda Clan directly sells Haven products.