Family Cultivation: My entire family are Villains

Chapter 405: Inventory Harvest_2

When the Hou Clan just qualified for the promotion to a second-rate family, with nearly a thousand sect members, Hou Yuxiao set two rules at that time.

The first rule concerned basic salary, a warrior of the Ten Layers of Body Opening could earn from 10 to 200 silver, the more advanced their cultivation, the more they would be paid.

The second rule was a cultivation subsidy; sect members with a cultivation of more than three layers could receive a Body Strengthening Pill worth 100 silver every month.

These two items were the family's largest expenses at the time, exceeding sixty thousand silver every month, while the family's businesses which comprised medicinal materials, iron mines, and taxes, could at most earn a little over twenty thousand a month.

When Hou Yuxiao set these two rules, Hou Yuduan, who was in charge of managing the finances, had quite a few reservations in his heart, and his concerns were not unfounded.

If it hadn't been for Ren Feng's small gold mine supporting them, the family's finances would have collapsed before the Qinglong Association and Zhaoyang Escort Agency could make any money.

From the end of last year to this September, in almost a year's time, the family's rapid development was inextricably linked to Hou Yuxiao's generous spending.

For this reason, right up to the eve of the turmoil in Tongling County, the Hou Clan's finances were actually still in a state of deficit, despite the fact that the Qinglong Association and Zhaoyang Escort Agency had started generating income, but it still couldn't keep up with the speed of expenditure.

Even the thriving Hou Clan was in such a state, let alone other weaker second-rate forces—their circumstances were even more dire. Only those who could maintain a balanced budget were second-rate forces in fairly good development situations; if they could save a bit, then they were in a period of rapid rise.

"The reason why the Great Luo Sect has so much current silver has already been explained by Third Sister in the ledger!"

Not only were the people puzzled, Hou Yujie was also somewhat perplexed, but as he flipped through the ledger, he quickly saw the reason written by Hou Yuling.

"According to Third Sister's investigation, Great Luo Sect's most basic industries consist of three items. The first is the tax revenue from the shops within its territory, which brings in seven hundred thousand a year;

The second is a mine with amazing reserves of yellow profound iron located in the northern suburbs of Tongling County. This yellow profound iron can be used to forge fine weapons and is priced around fifty liang per jin, with an annual output of twenty thousand jin, earning over one million taels a year.

Beyond these two, the Great Luo Sect also owns three mansions, seven rented shops, and one Daluo Inn in Xingnan Prefecture City. The annual revenue from all these combined also amounts to four hundred thousand taels.

The Great Luo Sect's fixed annual revenue is 2.1 million, but they support nearly twenty thousand sect members, with a total annual expenditure of around two million. It seems they could at most maintain a balanced budget, and the sect couldn't even think about having surplus money, let alone accelerating their development rate. Initially, their treasury should not have had so much current silver, but..."

Hou Yujie turned the page of the ledger, continuing, "Great Luo Sect had one more most lucrative business, that is, the Da Luo Pawn Shop!"

When Hou Yuxiao heard the words "Da Luo Pawn Shop" his eyes lit up. A pawn shop or silver shop in this world was equivalent to an official bank, a surefire profitable venture. If he remembered correctly, Tongling County had three, namely the Rakshasa Silver Shop, Great Jin Tongbao, and the Da Luo Pawn Shop.

"Pawn shops generally have three ways of making money: one is through buying and selling gold, the second is through lending money, and the third is by issuing silver notes.

In fact, among the three pawn shops in Tongling, the Da Luo Pawn Shop was the least profitable, but even so, the Great Luo Sect could rely on this pawn shop for a revenue of at least two million per year. The continuous development of the Great Luo Sect over the years could be wholly attributed to this pawn shop."

This cleared up everyone's confusion.

"With the fall of the Great Luo Sect, Third Sister has already taken over the original debts of the pawn shop. Before September 30, she had bought back all the silver notes issued within the county and reissued new notes bearing the Hou Clan's mark. All the business of the pawn shop will resume normal operations within this month, running on the same rules as the Great Luo Sect before, covering Wanyang County City and its three subordinate counties."

Hou Yuduan couldn't sit still and spoke up, "Not just that, the current range of our Hou Clan's influence is no longer limited to Tongling County. The three prefectures and twelve counties of Hexi can all establish branches!"

Upon hearing Hou Yuduan's words, the others were startled at first, and then quickly understood. Their eyes suddenly burst with excitement as they looked at the gold in the box, and their breathing grew heavier.

With an income of over two million silver a year for the Da Luo Pawn Shop limited to just one prefecture and three counties, if they were to encompass all three prefectures and twelve counties of Hexi, how much would the annual income be...

The Hou Clan, this time, truly struck it rich...

"Cough cough cough, aren't you just country bumpkins, it's only a bit of silver, what's there to make such a fuss about!" Hou Yuxiao waved his hand calmly, signaling everyone to remain composed.

Seeing Hou Yuxiao's composed expression, a sense of respect arose in everyone's hearts—even with such a large sum of money, he could remain so tranquil as the Family Head.

Little did they know that Hou Yuxiao's left hand, hidden behind his back, was shaking continuously.

"Fourth Elder, continue talking!"

Seeing Hou Yuxiao's composed expression, Hou Yujie couldn't help but feel too narrow-minded, getting excited over a bit of money. He decided he must try hard to learn from his elder brother and quickly calmed his emotions. He continued to flip through the ledger, reading as he went on.

"Apart from the current silver and these assets, the Great Luo Sect's treasury yielded a first-class martial arts tome 'Great Luo Buddha's Hand', three second-rate martial arts 'Sky Peak Sword Art', 'Flat Sky Palm', 'Wangchuan Swordsmanship', and a total of seventeen third-rate martial arts."