Chapter 268

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I came to realize something while working on the town’s development. It might sound very obvious but a feudal lord really needed a good management skill.

For example, even constructing a town wall was a part of investment. The feudal lord needed to be conscious of whether the investment was worth the cost or not.

By putting the expected increase in the town’s population into consideration, investing in a stone wall instead of a cheap wooden fence would be worthwhile. Even if the cost of the wall might be a bit expensive, but the expected tax revenue would be able to cover it. Investing in stone walls would be beneficial, considering the safety value as well.

For that kind of decision, a more detailed analysis based on detailed data became necessary.

For example, I had to consider the defensive capability of a stone wall compared to wooden wall and then compared it to the number of soldiers required for each type of wall, comparing the total value of the soldiers’ annual salary, the durability of each type of wall, the level of danger in the area and the expected defensive capability considering the danger level.

Therefore, in order to be able to come to the conclusion that investing in a stone wall was more worthwhile, a management skill was crucial for a feudal lord. I needed to consider all of those variables to ensure I could be making the right decision for the town’s future.

Just simply choosing to build a high stone wall because it was safer wouldn’t be good. If, for instance, the location of the town happened to be relatively safe, the stone wall would become almost meaningless. A wooden wall would suffice and I could allocate the rest of the investment in another sector instead.

It was basically a simple business core. Choosing which options would lead for profit in the long-term, instead of thinking about the short-term investment.

Currently, based on the commercial guild card in my posession, the current balance of Baron Wolfszahn’s family was 187.620 gold coins.

In order to create the taxation system for the town, I had paid 17.000 gold coins to the commercial guild and 3.000 gold coins to Charlotte-san, who was in charge of the tax department. And I had added 3.032 gold coins from the revenue of my General Store.

As for the town’s overall budget, assuming the town’s population remained the same with a population of more or less 1000 people and the average annual income per person was 15 gold coins, the total yearly income would be 15.000 gold coins. The tax rate was roughly 50%, the yearly tax revenue would be around 7.500 gold coins. 

Divide it by 12 and we would get approximately 600 gold coins for monthly tax revenue. 

My personal business could give me about 3000 gold coins profit each month.

In other words, the town would have more or less 3.600 gold coins in revenue each month. Then, we subtract 100 gold coins for the monetary aid system. (1 silver coin for 1000 people and 10 silver coins equal to 1 gold coin)

Then, the monthly salary for the employees of the baron’s household was about 150 gold coins and the monthly material cost was about 50 gold coins. 

At the moment, the tax revenue alone could give us a surplus of 300 gold coins each month. Combined with the profits from my personal business, the town’s monthly surplus was about 3.300 gold coins. 

This excess funds would be allocated to develop the town’s public facilities such as bridges, roads, halls, places and other new projects.

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T/N: Happy new year everyone! I hope everyone will have a prosperous year! 

( • ̀ω•́ )✧