Picking up the black tea to moisten his throat, Horn continued:
"The key to obtaining wealth is to work and exchange efficiently. North County has two reasons for its poverty.
Firstly, the geographical climate is unfavorable; traditional efficient labor such as farming and mining has proven unsuccessful.
Secondly, the exchange conditions are inadequate, located in a harsh highland area with no established merchant culture.
But that doesn't mean it's completely hopeless. If the primary industry isn't successful, there's still the secondary and tertiary industries, and poor road conditions can be improved by road construction."
Thousand River Valley is said to be high in terrain, but according to calculation from the 'Imperial Geographic Atlas', Horn estimated that the elevation of the plains' four counties is merely around 200 meters, and for the mountainous five counties, it's only about 1000 meters.
