Chapter 446 We don’t just sell wood
Newspapers and magazines are nothing new now. Just in Weissenburg City, you can buy the "Wesson Daily News" of the Principality of Wesson and the "Wesson Daily News" of the Wesson State. The Wesson Evening News and the Wesson Times in the city of Weissenburg correspond to the principality, state and city levels respectively.
In addition, there are also publications such as the private "White Stork Times", the "Science" magazine run by the Wesson Science Society, and the "Listen" magazine run by Oak City Theological Seminary.
Major cities outside Weisen also had their own newspapers. At the same time, book publishing also developed, and various books began to spread among the people.
Frederick made a lot of money selling equipment, paper and ink, but at the same time he sold backward products. Weisen State could make high profits by relying on quality advantages.
Now everyone knows that wood is needed to make paper. The main thing in the forest ocean is that there are not many trees.
“If you can build the railway to my territory, I guarantee that the price of lumber can be 10% lower than the world price.”
The person who made the guarantee was Ivan von Carter. Baron Feder, she and her cousin Baron Yvonne von Caterfel competed for the inheritance of her grandfather's territory last year. The two sisters wanted to seduce Frederick to gain support, but Frederick refused to help anyone and let them get married and have a baby. Children inherit the territory through marriage.
Baron Carterfield is now married. It is said that the husband who came to visit him was once a knight of the Franconian Duchy. After the fall of the Franconian Duchy, he was attracted by him when he went to the forest and ocean area to make a living.
It’s just that Frederick heard too many words like this.
In recent days, he has come to join the nobles of the Elbe Convention one after another every day, four in the morning and four in the afternoon, each talking alone for an hour.
The nobles from the forest and ocean were greatly encouraged after seeing the news about the railway network in the newspaper, but they did not have many resources at home, so they sold wood one after another, and some of them could sell some minerals and game. There's even sausage.
The Carterfield Territory covers an area of about 400 square kilometers. Even if it is all used as a forest farm, a 500-ton sea-going ship requires about 0.16 square kilometers of woods. The wood that can be produced can build 2,500 ships. The material cost of the boat is about 100 florins.
Then it’s gone. There are no trees higher than knee high in the territory. I still want to build a boat and wait for the trees to grow in 100 years.
The prerequisite for an average annual income of 2,500 florins is that those trees are oak trees that can be used to build ships. In fact, most of the wood can only be used for ordinary furniture or even firewood. Two to three hundred florins is good. .
Moreover, Frederick is not interested in the wood there now, not because of environmental protection, but mainly because there are many forests in his territory. Many trees will be cut down to open up wasteland. It will take time to increase the production capacity of the wood processing plant. In the short term, local wood is basically enough.
Frederick said: "I have not needed to import wood in the last two or three years."
Baron Carterfield immediately said: "There is more than just wood in my territory."
< br>“My husband has studied the forest farm economy in Wesson and believes that the forests in the territory can be used as economic forests. Most of them are planted with poplar trees that take a short time to become useful, and a small part are planted with oak and beech trees that will become useful after decades.”
“In other places, the mountains are relatively gentle, and orchards can be developed to grow apples, cherries, currants and other fruits, and canneries can also be opened.”
"The remaining area can be used to grow medicinal materials under the forest, or to raise chickens and sheep under the forest."
Frederick was quite surprised. This was the first time in these days that someone had proposed a business plan, and it was reasonable. Presentable.
"You really found a good husband." He couldn't help but admire, "Invite him here for dinner, and we can have a good chat about how to run the territory."
Carterfield The baron's eyes suddenly lit up. The ownership of the grandfather's territory has not yet been decided. As long as Archduke Wesson gives a signal, there will be no suspense.
Now he wants to treat his family to dinner, which is a treatment that no other noble has received. If he doesn’t invite the other one next, grandpa’s territory will be stable.
Frederick didn't think so much, he just thought her husband's idea was good. If other nobles could experience the territory in this way, instead of just cutting down trees, the railway would be worth building.
Next, the two talked for a while about the relevant provisions of the Elbe River Convention, which were very favorable to small nobles like them.
Baron Carterfield said: "If you can build the railway to my territory, I agree to join the customs union and at the same time abolish the Landing Act and the Merchant Sale of Goods Act."
The "Law of Landing" stipulates that if goods are dropped on the ground by outsiders, including merchants, when passing through the territory, the goods will belong to the lord. The "Merchant Sales of Goods Law" stipulates that passing merchants must sell goods to the lord for one-tenth of the price of the goods when passing through the territory, or pay the same tax.
This kind of law is used by their small nobles in remote areas to grab money, and the passing tariffs are also a big income.
Now if we want people to cancel these methods of making money, they have to make up for it elsewhere, such as building a railway to sell wood.
Frederick had already thought of a countermeasure and said: "We build railways following the principle of main lines first and branch lines later."
"Currently we plan to build railways in the three states within the principality first. The main line is to build external main lines leading to Dahaiwan, Limestone City, Hanma City, Swan City, Bremen City and other places. The railways of the latter four will pass through the forest ocean area. ”
“ For quite some time, I will not be able to extend branch lines to every town.”
"However, I can pay to build a gravel road, which will not be muddy in the rainy season, making it easier for horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians to travel. Your Excellency will charge road use taxes for horse-drawn carriages to repay the construction costs."
They want the railway to mainly solve traffic problems. Problem, but there is nothing we can do for a while. It is indeed a good idea to retreat to the second option and build a gravel main road.
Nowadays, the roads are still dominated by horse-drawn carriages, and cement roads are very harmful to horses' hooves, so Frederick retreated and used gravel roads on the main roads.
The biggest problem with dirt roads is that accumulated water in the rainy season makes the road surface swampy. Gravel roads and drainage ditches on both sides can avoid water accumulation and at the same time do not cause so much damage to horses' hooves, making the horse-drawn carriage pass much more efficiently. .
Baron Cutfield knew this very well. The carriage got stuck in the mud several times on the way here, but it was smooth sailing after entering Wesson.
"No problem."
Baron Carterfield agreed. She heard her husband say that as long as the road is open, the things in the territory can be sold. From the current situation, if there is no railway, gravel roads will be used first. Not a problem either.
Frederick breathed a sigh of relief. This was the easiest conversation. The nobles before had difficulty convincing them.
In the evening of the same day, Baron Carterfield took his husband to Frederick's castle as a guest. Frederick and Maria greeted him in the foyer of the castle. At the dinner, Frederick invited Baron Carterfield and his wife to attend. Attend the capping ceremony of Germaine Cathedral on the Spring Equinox.
The unprecedented treatment shocked the nobles in the city. At the same time, Frederick arranged for people to spread the news to prevent others from gossiping.
Now everyone knows that Grand Duke Wesson doesn't like people with big butts, he likes people who can make money.
Baron Carterfield, who competed with Baron Carterfield for his grandfather's territory, is said to have fainted from tears.
After the dinner, Frederick was waiting in the study for Alfred to report on his work.
He was somewhat interested in Baron Carterfield's husband and asked Afu to inquire about the situation.
This man's name is Herbert, he is in his early twenties, chubby, and dare not raise his head in front of himself. What he said is just talk on paper. After a few words of conversation, you can tell that he has only read books, and even I have never studied systematically.
But it was enough to fool Baron Carterfield, a semi-literate man.
It doesn’t matter if the local owner doesn’t understand the details, as long as he has an idea in this regard, and leave the details to those who know the details.
Afu soon inquired about Herbert's situation, and Frederick's mouth twitched. Herbert's biological father was shot to death by himself.
But it doesn’t matter, that was something on the battlefield, and now his mother is living a good life because of her great achievements. His half-sister is the favorite of the second generation of knights. Although the mother and son are The relationship is usually that of mother and son, so let them get together as a family when they have time.
(End of this chapter)