Unknown Knight

A few days later, the expedition team led by James returned to Tangquan Fortress.

This expedition not only found the specific location of the iron ore, but also accidentally discovered an open-pit coal mine and a small gold mine.

The topography and hydrological conditions along the way were also basically investigated, and James also made a preliminary estimate of the available forestry and pastoral resources to facilitate the next step of territory development.

The entire expedition team can be said to have achieved a huge success. Aix immediately distributed bonuses to all team members and held a grand banquet for James and others in the banquet hall.

At the banquet, Aix immediately announced the establishment of the Black Stone Mountain Mine. At the same time, the development of coal mines near Sanhu Village would also be put on the agenda. Clean coal with a higher calorific value was a very good material for ironmaking, and corresponding preparations had to be made.

However, Atiman poured cold water on him inappropriately, saying that there was a serious shortage of manpower and the mining of the mine in Aix might have to be postponed.

Axe thought that Atiman was jealous of James's achievements and was trying to hold him back, but then he thought that Atiman was not that kind of person, so he asked him the specific reason.

Atiman seemed to have been prepared. He called over the young assistant who had been newly assigned to him and asked him to show Aix the progress chart of all the projects in the territory.

You won’t know until you see it. It’s shocking to find that there are nearly twenty engineering projects of various sizes underway in the territory.

Big ones include the construction of the new village of Hanen, the reinforcement and improvement of the defenses of Fort Lerag, the construction of the new village of Asloum, the expansion of the docks and water power workshops, etc.

Small projects include the construction of livestock fences outside Schulersburg, the expansion and renovation of public toilets in Tangquan Fortress, the expansion of the Biological Research Institute, the renovation of the road from the wharf to Tangquan Fortress, etc.

The reason why so many projects have been launched is due to Aix's lavish spending. With abundant funds, he now feels that the money in his hands is hot, and he will immediately approve any project that comes his way.

In addition, he usually doesn't care about the construction of the territory, and leaves it all to Atiman. This old servant of the territory has a strong ability to withstand pressure, and he is indebted to Aix, so when he encounters any problem, he usually doesn't bother Aix easily and solves it himself.

This made Aix feel even more uncertain. In addition, he had captured nearly 700 people from the lair of the snowfield bandits some time ago, which made him think that he had sufficient manpower, so he launched so many projects without any consideration.

For the projects that are already under construction, the labor shortage is more than one-third, and in some projects the shortage is even more than half.

He knew that the weather in the territory was seasonal. It was already early summer, and there would be less than five months of good weather. If all the projects could not be completed before the snow fell, they would have to wait until next year.

Aix had no choice but to let Atiman focus on the construction of livelihood projects first, to ensure that no people or animals would freeze to death in the winter due to negligence, making the already tight labor situation in the territory even more fragile.

At the same time, Aix also sought the opinions of the leaders present to see if they had any other ways to make up for the manpower shortage in the territory.

You know what, there is actually a solution to this question, which was proposed by Bandak, but this solution made Aix a little hesitant.

It turned out that last time Aix sent a team of people pretending to be bounty hunters to sneak into Kudan City, hoping to take the opportunity to rescue the captured people in the caravan and let Cress take the opportunity to sneak into the city.

Unexpectedly, the captured people were not rescued. Instead, the purchase price of slaves was raised, allowing them to buy more than 20 slaves. Bandak was responsible for reviewing and arranging these slaves, so he knew more about them.

It was just that Aix could not accept this kind of slave trade psychologically for the time being, although he himself had been a buyer of slaves and many members of the territory, such as Atiman's family and old John, were purchased by him.

However, he was well aware of economic laws and knew that there would be no harm without buying and selling. In the past, he had to buy slaves due to labor shortage, but the quantity was not large and would not have an impact on the entire slave market. He also bought slaves with the mentality of saving as many as possible.

There is a huge labor shortage in the territory now. If we want to buy slaves, we must need a large quantity, which will definitely drive up the entire slave market and increase the price of slaves.

This would only lead more people to engage in the slave trade, and might even cause bounty hunters to turn into privateering human traffickers for profit, causing more poor people to be implicated by his move. If this were the case, Aix would rather not buy slaves.

The leaders of the territory knew Aix's temper very well and did not discuss the matter any further. Bandak also thought of this and mentioned it briefly, but seeing that Aix was unhappy, he did not dare to express his opinion further.

But Bandak's remarks opened a window, and someone came up with a solution that Aix could accept. That person was Desevi, who had been a bandit. She knew that her master was sensitive about slaves, so after thinking for a while, she said:

"Sir, I have an idea that will not only not encourage the slave trade, but will also combat it. It can even improve the reputation of the territory and you on the continent, and by the way, it can also solve the shortage of labor in the territory."

When Aix heard about so many benefits, he immediately became interested and motioned Desevi to continue.

In order to express his words more clearly, Desevi stood up and said:

"My Lord, I think we should form a bounty hunter team belonging to the territory!"

Aix didn't understand for a moment, so he asked doubtfully:

"This bounty hunter has nothing to do with the slave trade and labor, right? Do you want the territory's army to smuggle people in the name of bounty hunters?"

Perhaps because Desevi had surpassed the omniscient and omnipotent adult in some way, or perhaps because she thought she had finally found a way to repay the adult's kindness, facing Aix's doubts, she said more confidently:

"My Lord, you and my brothers all know my origins. I am not afraid of being laughed at by the leaders who don't know. When I was young, I was a bandit for a period of time because of life's pressure. So I know the temperament of bandits very well, and I also know the source of most slaves.

In fact, there are three main sources of slaves: one is those taken by slave traders, one is those kidnapped and plundered by bandits from all over the country, and one is those who were sold because they could not pay taxes or owed debts.

The first two sources of slaves are illegal, prohibited by the laws of various countries, and will be cracked down by local lords.

As for the source of the first type of slaves, since slave traders had to do slave trading business in various places, they generally would not blatantly smuggle slaves, so the source of this type of slaves was actually very small, generally not many.

The third source of slaves is actually not that large in normal years. Lords generally do not oppress their subjects too harshly and will give them some respite, so not many people are sold as slaves because of this situation.

You may not know that, in fact, only the second situation is the main source of slaves. The robbers are outlaws and do not have to worry about any overt business being affected. Most of the slaves in the hands of slave traders are purchased from these people.