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

Chapter 63 The Salt and Iron Trade
Roman turned to look at Seth.

His voice was calm. “If they are displaced, I will settle them down; if they have no jobs, I will give them jobs; if they have no food, I will give them food… but if they disobey my orders, they will die! Who in Sigge Town owns their own land now?”

Seth was speechless.

The answer was no one; he knew that all the land in Sig Town had been reclaimed by Roman.

He exercised his lordly rights with exceptionally harsh methods.

He had naturally considered the consequences.

The worst-case scenario didn't happen.

Nobody wants to die if they can live.

Slaves are dependent on their sellers, while farmers are dependent on their lords.

The rulers unanimously divided the lower classes into two classes.

There are two kinds of slaves: one is called a free citizen, and the other is called a slave.

The status of free citizens existed to incentivize slaves.

Because when the difference in strength between a farmer and a knight-errant is too great, the farmer is no different from a slave.

Roman shattered this illusion.

Short-term mistreatment will not breed disaster.

But prolonged tyranny will inevitably provoke resistance.

Roman's actions were enough to shake his position and inspire the landless peasants to organize and overthrow his rule, even at the cost of their lives, to bring him down.

Why is Sig Town still stable?

Because of a free lunch.

The free lunch alone tamed the souls of most people in Sigge Town, eroded their will to resist, and led them into an unfamiliar mode of labor.

Seth admitted that the cost was high.

At first, only one meal was provided, then two meals were provided during planting season, and now three meals are being provided.

Roman, you're becoming more and more outrageous as a nobleman.

Today they consumed approximately 6,000 jin of various grains and vegetables, worth about two gold coins.

If the merchants of Sigge Town hadn't contacted grain merchants and been able to exchange salt for grain, Sigge Town would have been unable to afford this enormous expense long ago.

Now, grain ships come to the dock every two days.

Roman scoffed, "If anyone wants to oppose me because of this, then let them try. I want to see who opposes whom and who supports whom."

Seth wanted to say that this method of rule was abnormal.

In this world, it is only peasants who support lords, never lords who support peasants—of course, lords would only propagate this idea from the opposite perspective.

The lord plundered the grain grown by the peasants, either to sell it for money, or for his own use or to train warriors. He left only a portion of the grain for the peasants and then claimed that he had fed them.

On the contrary, it belongs to Tiangang.

But Roman never plundered the farmers' grain; on the contrary, he bought grain to feed the farmers.

It is considered to have reversed the Heavenly Gang and then reversed the Heavenly Gang again.

Other lords might just casually say they want to support their peasants, but you're serious?
Seth acknowledged the value of the salt mine, but that was no excuse for Roman's reckless squandering.

The main problem is that they're spending too much money.

He is very busy every day now.

Sometimes I would stay at the dock, recording the expenditure on salt and the storage of miscellaneous grains.

That's not a small amount; it's thousands or tens of thousands of kilograms.

Sometimes, I was responsible for overseeing the progress of the project, calculating how much food was consumed each day, hiring a large number of artisans from Sigge Town, and outlining the various expenses.

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

It simply cannot be stored.

Whenever he had a little extra money, Roman would use it recklessly.

Seth was very distressed by this.

Having just received 70 gold coins from Morey, Roman immediately bought up all the livestock in Skye Town, just to reduce the impact of livestock on their daily lives and increase their working hours.

This approach is not impossible.

But how can we accumulate wealth in the long run?
When can we build an army?
Seth came from the Grand Duchy of Rift Armor, and no one knew better than him the financial investment required to build an army.

That would be an astronomical figure.

And look at the daily food expenditure now—this wealth is almost enough to buy a packhorse that can carry a man.

He's really worried sick.

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

Roman chuckled and said, "Seth, I think you're too busy to think straight. Go check on the fields. I just need to hold out until the summer harvest."

Early the next morning.

Sais did not continue keeping the books.

Instead, he went to the two thousand acres of wheat fields. He hadn't been there for a long time. Roman's orders always came quickly and briefly, keeping him busy and leaving no time for anyone to think, as if he were riding in a carriage speeding along a cliff, unable to turn back.

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

"Gods!"

His pupils clearly reflected the green waves, like the ocean.

It stretches as far as the eye can see, like a vast grassland.

As the gentle breeze blows, the waves sway and rustle.

……

Seth stopped advising Roman.

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

Because Roman had devoted himself to the blacksmith's workshop, he wouldn't come back until very late every day.

He spent his days unkempt, his chest exposed, hammering away alongside the other blacksmith apprentices.

Unlike others, they forge iron because of a mission.

Roman's blacksmithing is purely for gaining experience; what he forges is entirely up to his whim.

Therefore, the tools he crafted were not shovels or sabers.

Instead, it includes utensils such as large iron pots, kitchen knives, spatulas, and iron spoons.

Roman knew that the town of Sig would experience a long period of collective farming in the future.

However, current kitchen equipment is insufficient to meet the needs of large kitchens.

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

Boom!
Roman's hammer fell.

He felt it was necessary to reform the kitchenware!
[Forging Experience +1]

[Forging Experience +1]

[Forging Experience +1]

……

On the fifth day of Roman's forging, a fleet of merchant ships arrived in Sig.

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

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

Then his brother brought Roman 2500 catties of iron ingots.

The price offered is 25 jin (12.5 catties) for 1 gold coin.

In other words, Roman needs to pay 100 gold coins to obtain these iron ingots. And they are not even the highest quality iron ingots.

If you buy those relatively cheap iron ingots, these 100 gold coins can even buy 5000 catties of iron.

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

Roman was short of time, had no connections, and no opportunity to find out where iron was produced.

I guess I'll just have to accept being taken advantage of.

Of course, according to the commercial contract, Roman could use salt to barter for goods.

Roman, however, did not show up.

After hearing the price quoted at the blacksmith's shop, he couldn't be bothered to go out and negotiate with Morey's brother.

The entire transaction was overseen by Sais.

When Seth asked for his opinion, Roman did not raise the price, but directly exchanged it with the other party for 0.2 copper coins per pound of salt.

In this way, Morey's brothers used 2500 pounds of iron to haul away 50,000 pounds of salt.

Salt was an expensive consumable in this era.

Basically, whoever controls a salt-producing area controls a vital economic lifeline.

The development of Sig Town is just beginning, so Roman is not worried that he will be noticed soon.

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

Sometimes, rivalry can be blatant hatred.

At most, they would exchange information about the development of the situation and rumors, but they always kept the origin of their goods a secret and would never let it spread. Even if it did, no one would believe it.

This can be considered one of the drawbacks of commerce in the feudal era.

Of course, over time, the large amount of salt will flood the market and cause price fluctuations, which will inevitably come out of the dark.

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

But Roman didn't care.

Hmph, by then...

(End of this chapter)