Chapter 63 The Trade of Salt and Iron

Roman turned to look at Seth.

He spoke quietly. "If they are displaced, then I will let them settle down; if there is no job, then I will give them a job; if there is no food, then I will give them food... but if you don't obey my orders, then go to hell! You Who do you think owns their own land in Sige Town now?”

Seth was speechless.

The answer is no one. He knows that all the land in Sige Town has been reclaimed by Roman.

He exercised the rights of the lord with extremely tough methods.

Of course he thought about the consequences.

But the worst expectations didn't happen.

No one wants to die as long as they can live.

Slaves were attached to their sellers, farmers to their lords.

The rulers invariably divided the people at the bottom into two classes.

There are slaves called freemen, and slaves called slaves.

The identity of freemen existed to stimulate the enthusiasm of slaves.

Because when the difference in force between farmers and knights is too large, farmers become like slaves.

Roman shattered the illusion.

A short period of harsh treatment is not a recipe for disaster.

But prolonged tyranny is sure to spark resistance.

What Roman did was enough to shake his position and allow the farmers who had lost their land to organize and overthrow his rule. Even if they died, they would be willing to cut themselves off to bring Roman down.

Why is Sige Town still stable?

Because of a free lunch.

Just a free lunch has tamed the souls of most people in Sige Town, weakened their will to resist, and allowed them to join an unfamiliar labor model.

Seth had to admit, the price was high.

Initially only one meal was provided, then two at planting time, but now three meals are provided.

Roman, you, this aristocratic gentleman, are becoming more and more treasonous.

Today they consumed about six thousand kilograms of various grains and vegetables, worth about two gold coins.

If the merchants in Sige Town had not contacted the grain merchants and could exchange salt for grain, Sige Town would have been unable to afford this huge consumption.

Now there are grain ships arriving at the dock every two days.

Roman snorted: "If someone wants to oppose me because of this, then give it a try. I want to see who will oppose whom and who will support whom."

Seth was tempted to say that this method of rule was monstrous.

In the world, only farmers support lords, and no lords ever support peasants - of course, lords will only publicize this matter in reverse.

The lords were plundering the food grown by the farmers, either selling it to get money, or using it for their own use and training warriors. Leave only part of the grain to the farmers and then claim that he has fed the farmers.

On the contrary, it belongs to Tiangang.

But Roman never plundered the farmers' food. Instead, he had to buy food to feed the farmers.

After rebelling against Tiangang, he rebelled against Tiangang again.

Other lords just talk casually when they say they want to feed the farmers. Are you serious?

Seth acknowledged the value of the salt mine, but that was no reason for Roman's wanton spending.

Mainly because it's too much money.

He is very busy every day now.

Sometimes I stay on the dock, recording the expenditure on salt and the deposit of miscellaneous grains.

That's not a small amount, but several thousand catties or ten thousand catties.

Sometimes I have to be responsible for supervising the progress of the project, calculating how much food is consumed every day, hiring a large number of craftsmen from Sige Town, and calculating the amounts of various expenses.

Seth felt the goods representing copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins flowing through his fingers like flowing water.

It can't be saved at all.

Every time he had a little spare time, Roman would spend it without restraint.

Seth was troubled by this.

Just after getting 70 gold coins from Morey, Roman bought all the livestock in Sige Town in a blink of an eye, just to reduce the impact of the livestock on their daily life and increase their working time.

This approach is not impossible.

But how can we accumulate wealth in the long run?

When will an army be built?

Seth comes from the Archduchy of Armor Splitter, and no one knows better than him the financial investment required to build an army.

That would be astronomical.

Look at the current daily expenditure on food - this wealth can almost buy a pack horse carrying a man.

He was so fucked up.

"You can't keep buying food," Seth advised.

Roman chuckled and said, "Seth, I think you are too busy. Go check out the fields. I just need to wait until the summer harvest."

Early the next morning.

Seth did not continue accounting.

Instead, he went to the two thousand acres of wheat land.

He hadn't been here for a long time, and Roman's orders always came in short bursts, leaving him busy and leaving no one with time to think. It was like being on a carriage that was speeding along the cliff but couldn't turn back.

Seth stood in front of the wheat field, completely stunned.

"O Gods!"

His pupils clearly reflected the green waves like the ocean.

It's as vast as a grassland.

As the breeze blew, the waves swayed, and there was a rustling sound.

…

Seth stopped admonishing Roman.

He just became more serious about his work, but he still corrected Roman's somewhat messy collar and cuffs.

Because Roman plunged into the blacksmith shed and didn't come back until late every day.

He opened his chest unkempt all day long and tinkled iron with the other blacksmith apprentices.

Unlike others, they strike iron because of their mission.

Roman's blacksmithing is purely for gaining experience, and whatever he wants to build depends on his hobbies.

So the tools he made were not shovels and sickles.

Instead, they were large iron pots, kitchen knives, spatulas, iron spoons and other items.

Roman knew that the town of Sige would experience a long period of big pot meals in the future.

And now the kitchen utensils cannot meet the needs of large kitchens.

In fact, those peasant women have always relied on pottery to cook.

Bang!

Roman's hammer fell.

He felt it necessary to reform the kitchen utensils!

[Forging Experience +1]

[Forging Experience +1]

[Forging Experience +1]

...

On the fifth day of Roman's forging, a group of merchant ships arrived in Sige Town.

The owner of the merchant ship claimed to be Morey's brother.

After leaving Sige Town, Morey conveyed Roman's willingness to cooperate to his brother.

Then his brother brought Roman 2,500 kilograms of iron ingots.

The price given was 1 gold coin for 25 kilograms.

In other words, Roman needed to pay 100 gold coins to get these iron ingots. And it was not the best quality iron ingot.

If you buy those relatively cheap iron ingots, these 100 gold coins can even buy 5,000 kilograms of iron.

But this requires connections, long-term communication, and sending people to negotiate.

And Roman is short of time, has no connections, and has no time to inquire about where iron is produced.

Let him be a sucker.

Of course, according to the business contract, Roman can use salt to barter.

But Roman did not show up.

When he heard the other party's offer in the blacksmith shop, he was too lazy to come out and negotiate with Morey's brother.

The whole transaction was hosted by Seth.

When Seth came to ask for his opinion, Roman did not raise the price, and directly exchanged with the other party at the price of 0.2 copper coins per kilogram of salt.

In this way, Morey's brother used 2,500 kilograms of iron to pull away 50,000 kilograms of salt.

Salt itself is an expensive consumable in this era.

Basically, as long as you control a salt-producing area, you control an important economic lifeline.

The development of Sige Town has just started, so Roman is not worried that he will be noticed immediately.

The merchants who do business with him will help him keep this secret for the time being.

Sometimes the hatred between colleagues is naked.

At most, they will exchange the development of the situation and gossip with each other, and they have always kept their mouths shut about the origin of their goods. They will never spread it, and even if they spread it, no one may believe it.

This is also one of the commercial drawbacks of the feudal era.

Of course, over time, a large amount of salt will impact the market and cause price fluctuations, which will definitely not be concealed.

In just a year or two, everyone will find that there is another salt-producing area that is easy to mine on this land.

But Roman doesn't care.

Humph, by then...