You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 308 We can afford to support 100,000 people! (Bonus chapter for the Alliance Leader, please vote with monthly tickets)
Five million catties of salt and 500,000 pieces of agricultural implements are just the beginning.

By next year, this number will double, triple, or even quintuple!
First, we need to bring down the price of salt.

In the Middle Ages, salt was used as a form of military pay.

Because it is expensive and scarce.

But noblemen certainly can afford salt.

Or rather, the nobility actually ate salt for free, because the salt tax was several times the price of salt itself.

Even nobles who did not produce salt still needed to buy salt to eat, but the salt tax they collected could offset the price of salt.

If you're ruthless enough, you can not only eat salt for free, but also make money—of course, such exorbitant taxes will attract the attention of the Iron King—the salt tax is set by the court, and although the tax varies from region to region, it is generally the same.

As a necessity, one pound of salt is equivalent to more than ten pounds of wheat or dozens of pounds of other grains. It's fine to keep the price at this moderate level.

The nobles who produced salt earned a profit from the export price.

The salt merchants made a profit.

Nobles who didn't produce salt earned a salt tax.

Everyone's making money, winning big, and having a bright future... Roman thinks this is an extremely stupid thing!

Driving down salt prices is just the beginning.

We're only at this stage.

He aims to completely popularize iron farm tools within ten years!

Assuming the population of the Black Iron Land is in the tens of millions, and each person has an average of two kilograms of iron, that would amount to twenty million kilograms of steel, or ten thousand tons of steel.

A small open-pit iron mine would be sufficient.

Refine!
Train hard!

Roman is now increasing the workforce in the coal and iron town.

……

And so, Morey became the caravan leader, and Daken became the caravan's second-in-command. They carried hundreds of thousands of kilograms of salt and tens of thousands of pieces of ironware to the northern front to open up sales channels.

That place is now pirate territory.

The appearance of the thorny iron ring banner immediately attracted the attention of the pirates.

However, although they are barbarians, they don't fight just anyone.

The King of the Valley is definitely not someone we can fight.

Because I'm not confident I can win.

Robbery is a business that requires a good balance of cost and performance.

No one would be foolish enough to lose 10,000 gold coins and end up only getting 8,000, or nothing at all.

A few pirates were tempted by the cargo on the ship, but when they saw the disciplined valley warriors on board, they hesitated for a moment, put down their axes, and put on hearty smiles.

Roman's first attempt to send a caravan to trade with pirates was a resounding success.

They returned two weeks after they set off, and all the salt and ironware had been sold out.

Salt was manageable, as the pirates had also taken control of several salt mines.

Alex is not poor now; he is quite wealthy and doesn't need to use salt taxes to plunder his wealth for the time being. His pirates are full of martial spirit and are not domesticated iron serfs. If he dares to impose salt taxes on them, they will dare to rebel.

We have no shortage of salt, but we lack ironware.

Just as Roman had predicted.

Now that the war in the north has temporarily subsided, the pirates have enough weapons and no longer need to exchange weapons with Roman.

This is also why they haven't come to find Roman yet.

However, farm tools remain a scarce commodity.

The farm tools that Roman brought immediately solved the pirates' urgent problem.

Especially iron pots, which are extremely difficult to forge; the mainstream kitchenware in this region has always been pottery.

As a result, in Origin City, one iron pot was exchanged for one slave.

Morey and Daken brought back more than 10,000 slaves for Roman, and more importantly, they also traded ironware for more than ten somewhat dilapidated Arctic warships—decommissioned warships that could still be used after some repairs.

The pirates weren't worried at all about the consequences of selling the warships, or rather, they hadn't even considered it.

But it's alright, the shipbuilding industry in the Black Iron Lands has been in a slump for a long time.

Compared to the shipbuilding skills of the Igor people, the Black Iron Lands are backward in every aspect.

Systemic backwardness cannot be imitated with a few samples. Gale captured quite a few Arctic warships, but he was still stuck in Ironflower County.

Roman ordered the caravan to set off again, loaded with goods, and to continue without stopping for a moment. He urged them to increase the speed of the horses and continue transporting farm implements to the northern front.

The land occupied by pirates had a population of at least one million.

Even after war, floods, and trafficking, the population would only decrease by a quarter at most—don't underestimate the human ability to survive. Unless there is a highly lethal disease or massacres, it is difficult for the human population to suffer mass casualties.

Once the pirates had established themselves, they would bring their families from the land of Igor to maintain their rule.

While the immigrant Igors and local serfs were vying for living space, they also needed farm tools.

Although Igor is a harsh and cold place, the Igor people also know how to farm. This is how the original Iceland was established, and it was a place where people of mixed Igor and inland descent were formed.

Roman was not content with trading with pirates; he also planned to send Morey and Daken to Iceland to buy wool and sheep.

Iceland is a major producer of wool, with excellent quality and quantity, second only to the highlands.

However, to do a large-scale wool business, one must negotiate with the King of Iceland.

We also need to send someone to Seaburg.

In addition to transporting farm implements, a batch of fine weapons will also be delivered. These will be provided to Neliel so she can quickly build a shipyard.

With these dilapidated ships, there's simply no way they can meet Roman's demand for shipping capacity.

After the trade route was suddenly opened, Roman found that the amount of work he had to handle had increased dramatically.

But these things have to be done step by step.

He first settled the newly added slaves in the city of Plenty.

Then he turned around and went to Origin City.

May is here.

The long-awaited summer harvest has arrived.

The wheat fields, totaling over 40,000 mu, have undergone soil improvement, and the wheat varieties have been adapted to the climate. This year, the wheat yield per mu is nearly 300 jin.

The experimental wheat fields that Gewier blessed last winter yielded as much as 400 jin per mu.

Keep in mind that she only blessed the spell once.

Using this batch of wheat as seed this year, I can hardly imagine the yield per acre next year!

Roman immediately abolished the rationing system.

This year, let alone 80,000 people! We could even support 100,000!
……

no doubt.

This is a carnival celebration.

One threshing floor after another was filled with laughter and joy as people danced and sang, celebrating with boundless delight.

In this era, the most simple and pure joy for people is the joy of a bountiful harvest.

Nothing could be better than this.

Eat as much as you want, eat to your heart's content.

The effects of this bountiful harvest even reached the city of Fertile in the outside world.

After the celebration, boatloads of wheat were transported out and stored in the granaries of the city of abundance.

The residents of this city, which is only a few dozen miles away from Origin City, were surprised to find that the quality of their daily meals had improved.

The porridge is no longer a simple stew of oatmeal, but a wheat porridge mixed with flour.

The bread is not the dark, hard multigrain bread, but a whole wheat bread with a rich wheat aroma.

The stew is no longer all vegetables; it's a mixture of vegetables, diced meat, meat chunks, and bones.

Every day, there was an extra delicacy called tofu. The tofu, stewed with soybean oil and scallions, was refreshing, smooth, and incredibly delicate. When you ate it, you almost wanted to swallow your tongue. It was simply a top-class delicacy specially prepared for noblemen.

I recommend a book to any interested gentlemen: *The Hero Who's Good at Slacking Off*.

Good news! I've been transported to another world and become a hero.

He was still the kind of fundamentalist hero who had a government job and benefits, could rummage through the homes of his fellow villagers, have affairs with widowed magic teachers, seduce elven maids, and marry the kingdom's princess.

The bad news is that the previous hero has already finished all the work.

Now, not only are people forbidden from rummaging through the homes of their fellow villagers, having affairs with widowed magic teachers, seducing elf maids, or marrying the kingdom's princess unless there are special circumstances, but they also have to go to university for further studies first.

How could there be such a brave man in the world!
Since things have come to this, let's just slack off for now.



(End of this chapter)