What does the Pompeii family lack at the moment? Prestige!

The Pompeii family is a knighthood located in the forest. It is the bridgehead and outpost for the Patton family facing the endless threats from the forest.

Throughout history, Pompeii Castle was breached by monsters many times.

The last time Luther brought in freemen, purchased serfs, and became the peasants of the twenty strongholds of Pompeii, it took a lot of effort.

If the free people had not lost their land, they would not have been willing to come to Pompeii.

What did Pompeii use to attract those residents to live there?

Low housing prices? This is a means, but it cannot play a decisive role.

The only means is to establish the prestige of the Pompeii family, and there are endless benefits, such as fame throughout the province of Orange.

Look.

It turns out that there is also a family of Pompeii knights in Orange.

This is something that no amount of money can buy.

Besides, even if there are various unfavorable factors in destroying the bandit gang, for example, the bandit gangs generally don't have much money hoarded.

But it is not absolute.

There was once an incident where a lord made a fortune by destroying a bandit group. So destroying a bandit group is actually like opening a treasure chest.

If you are lucky, you can earn money.

Bad luck means loss.

It's just that this kind of good luck is very rare.

So Luther quickly decided to target the Autumn Wind Thieves Gang to help Pompey become famous and establish his prestige.

Now that the matter has been decided, there is only one question left.

To wipe out the Autumn Wind Bandits, they must hire mercenaries, which cost at least 100,000 gold coins. So where does this 100,000 gold coins come from? Luther plans to look at the income of Pompeii Wine during this period to see if he can get it together. But Luther thinks it will be difficult, because distilled wine is not the mainstream wine in this world after all.

Currently, the main focus is on new products, and only a small number of people are following them.

Moreover, the current channels are probably not open, so the income will not be too much. Besides, Pompeii now makes money quickly and spends it quickly, with various buildings and various things, so it is estimated that there is not much money on the books.

But it doesn’t matter, Luther has a backup plan.

So Luther said goodbye to Lelouch and left the city hall, and returned to Pompeii Castle. After returning to Pompeii Castle, Luther went to the living room by himself and asked the maid to invite Mrs. Sophie and Butler Ferran to come over.

Outside, Luther is the acting lord and the next generation of Pompeii Knight. But when facing Lelouch, Luther is more like a close partner.

Facing Madam Sophie and the old housekeeper in Pompeii Castle, Luther was still a junior. Of course, it was impossible to choose to summon the two.

Let's gather in the living room on the second floor and sort out the current family business.

"Luther, are you okay? Do you want something to eat? I'll ask the kitchen to prepare your favorite bass steak for you. If you want to eat monsters, I'll ask your father to hunt them in the forest."

Mrs. Sophie came first, and as soon as she came in, she asked Luther about his health. Luther was so caring that he couldn't stand it.

There is no way, mother's love is too heavy.

Sometimes Luther couldn't understand how there could be such a good stepmother in the world.

"Mom, I'm fine. Besides, I didn't come here to talk about food." Luther said helplessly.

"Nothing else matters. Eating is the most important thing. You haven't had a good meal for several days." Mrs. Sophie shook her head persistently.

Luther had been hiding in his room these past few days, being decadent and eating very little, and Mrs. Sophie felt really bad for him.

Fortunately, Butler Ferran came at this time. The old butler was meticulous. After coming in, he bowed to Mrs. Sophie and Luther and called out.

"lady."

"Butler Feren is here. Mom, let's not talk about food first, let's talk about business first." Luther saw his savior and said quickly.

Mrs. Sophie didn't know that Luther had also called Butler Ferran. She was not a woman who would make a fuss. When she saw this scene, she knew that Luther really wanted to say something, so she sat up straight.

"Mom, how has our family business been developing during this period?" Luther asked.

Madam Sophie thought for a moment, then said, "Currently, the main source of income for the family business is still Pompeii wine. The sales channels are no longer limited to Kaiyue City, but have also expanded to other towns. Currently, the family can earn 300 gold coins per month from the income from Pompeii wine. I plan to stabilize the pace first, and then expand the business to other noble territories next year."

Speaking of this, Mrs. Sophie was still very emotional.

Because the tax revenue from Pompeii's territory was probably less than a thousand gold coins a year. He had to support the knights of the Pompeii family and the Iron Horse family, maintain the operation of the territory, raise guards, and maintain the nobles' decent expenses.

It's been a really tight year.

Now Luther is just trying out his own tricks and making Pompeii wine. Pompeii's annual income is 3,600 gold coins. When the business expands to other territories next year, it is still unknown what the income will be.

Luther was disappointed when he heard this. It was only 3,600 gold coins a year. My plan this time is to raise 100,000 gold coins to hire a mercenary group to fight against the Autumn Wind Thieves Group.

It turns out that my family is unreliable, and I have to use the backup plan.

But since he had met the two heads of the family business, Luther decided to sort out the family business.

"Not bad." Luther said these three words against his will, and then asked, "What about the other business, Mom?"

"As for other businesses, they are still the ones you instructed. The ranch has expanded to a certain extent, and we bought a lot of calves and lambs, but it will take some time to raise them. So for now, the meat for the family knights is still mainly purchased from Kaiyue City."

"The oil press workshop has been built, and all the tools and facilities, as well as the workers, have been recruited. We can start production when the rapeseed in the territory is ripe. I estimate that there will be enough rapeseed by then, and the territory may not be able to consume it. We plan to purchase some at a suitable price and sell it abroad to generate some income."

"There are quite a few shops in the city, such as jewelry shops and clothing shops, but because there are no residents in the city, there are few customers for jewelry shops and clothing shops. Not only do they not make money, they even lose money. Grocery shops and cloth shops make a lot of money because they cater to farmers."

Madame Sophie knew all about the Pompeii family's business and spoke of it like the back of her hand.

After hearing this, Luther felt hopeful again and couldn't help asking, "Are grocery stores and cloth stores profitable? So how many gold coins are left in the family account?"

"There are probably still two hundred gold coins left, and the foreign debt is still six thousand gold coins." Mrs. Sophie said.

Luther grinned, but he was smart enough not to ask why this happened.

Money comes quickly and goes quickly.

The current financial structure of the Pompeii family is as follows: the city hall is one finance, and the family business is another finance, and the two financial systems are parallel.

This is the same as in ancient China, where the money in the national treasury belongs to the national treasury, and the emperor’s money belongs to the emperor.

The emperor had a special purse, which was taken care of by someone else, and he could use it at will.

If the money in the treasury was not enough, the emperor would use his own money to subsidize the treasury.

Currently, the Pompeii family is developing rapidly. Not only has the city hall not generated any tax revenue, but it has also spent a lot of gold coins.

Currently, the Pompeii family has a foreign debt of more than 6,000 gold coins, which is the money borrowed by Old Sol from the other five major knight families to subsidize the city hall to purchase serfs and build cities and houses.

The second expenditure was the salaries of knights, officials, and guards, which were also paid by the town hall.

But the city hall had no money, so the Pompey family had to provide subsidies again.

The monthly salary of knights, officials, and guards was about three hundred gold coins, so the money of Pompeii's family did not increase, and of course the finances did not continue to deteriorate.

On the contrary, I made a small profit. After all, business of grocery stores, cloth shops, etc. was getting better.

The city hall's financial difficulties will only improve after the wheat and rapeseed harvest this fall.

All in all, the Pompeii family was not rich.

(End of this chapter)