Lady of the Lord From the East

In fact, there are more specialties in Sardinson than Wei Wei thought, and they are more attractive.

Before Wei Wei knew about it, a new grain store was opened in Dingle, the town closest to Fort Sardinson.

It is not surprising that there is one more store in the town, but it is a little strange that it is a grain store.

Dingle is a small town. There is a grain store in the town. The business of the grain store is not very good. The poor people farm their own fields. , they will only find someone with a surplus to exchange for the cheapest beans, instead of going to the grain store. After all, the same thing sold in the store is more expensive than going to the farmer to exchange it.

Only those who do not farm, but have a fixed income, frequent the grain store, but there are not many such people in Dingle Town.

Therefore, the main source of income for this store is not to sell such insignificant grains. They mainly rely on the purchase of farmers' fields at low prices, and then transport them to other prosperous places to sell them at high prices.

The benefits in the middle are still considerable.

The owner of the shop is a relative of the mayor, and he still has a certain status in Dingle Town, so the grain shop has been opened for so many years, and there are no other competitors in the town, so the business of the shop owner is not to say that the business is booming, but Also very stable.

After all, little-seen farmers do not know that the price of the wheat they sell can be several times higher in other places.

Maybe some people know, but they have nowhere else to get a lot of beans and barley other than accepting the purchase price from the grain store.

Sell ​​it to their lord? The former Count did not do such a troublesome business. He had a large amount of grain that he could sell to the outside world, and he could get more from the serfs, and these grains could already satisfy his external business—the one in the royal capital. The store originally sold food, and the business was not very good - naturally they would not be willing to take the effort to purchase the food scattered in the hands of the free people.

It is also because of this that Kurt, the owner of the grain store, had the opportunity to pick up the leaks from the old earl's palm, and the store has been open for nearly ten years.

But the situation is different now. The newly opened grain store will buy the grain from the free people like Kurt, and the price they give is higher than the price of Kurt. Naturally, other people are more willing to go to him to sell grain. .

This made Kurt very angry. He felt that the owner of the newly opened shop didn't understand the rules very well. Could he not be able to see him clearly when he started a price war with him?

The angry boss Kurt went to his cousin, the mayor, and threatened to make the other party look good, but he came back soon after, and raised the purchase price in his store to the same as the other party's, and he didn't dare to say anything else. .

Because that shop was opened by someone sent by the Earl! In Sardinson, who dares to go against the earl?

And that grain store, after purchasing a batch of wheat, began to recruit externally, not one or two, but how many they had. As long as they were diligent enough to work, they all needed them, and the salary was pretty good.

This time, the poorer people in the town have all signed up, and the shop has also accepted everyone, and the men have divided some of them to repair the mill and the cement space. The women divided into two batches, one went to the mill to grind flour and sieve the flour, and the other gathered together to make noodles.

Noodles are naturally the pasta taught by Wei Wei.

Although the pasta of later generations is made of a specific wheat-"Dulan wheat", it can be cooked for a long time, while the pasta made by Wei Wei is not so durable, but the taste of the two is not much different, especially For people of this era, firewood is not a waste, and they are more willing to cook for some time.

After Wei Wei opened a door called business for Felix, the smart young man thought that the things sold in Sardinson County were not just essential oils.

Wouldn't pasta be a better option?

It is made of flour, and the price is bound to be more expensive than flour. Only nobles and wealthy people can afford it, but it tastes better than bread and most staple foods. People who have eaten it rarely dislike it, and do Well-dried pasta can be stored for a long time, perfect for traveling and easy to transport, and Felix can sell them to every corner of the Prady Empire.

So after thinking about this, Felix wanted to go into the pasta business.

Of course, he didn't hide it from Wei Wei, and even wanted to invite her with her, but Wei Wei didn't dare to be interested in this business, so Felix arranged it himself from start to finish.

Instead of arranging a place in the manor and choosing servants and serfs to do these jobs, Felix chose to open a shop in Dingle and recruit townspeople to work.

Under the influence of Wei Wei, Felix finally has a sense of responsibility as a lord - he wants to make Sardinson County and his territorial people better than before, so that he can be better.

Moreover, Felix overheard Wei Wei privately tell the maid that it was a pity that there was no big city in Sardinson, otherwise she could go out shopping and buy things.

So, when Wei Wei wanted to develop Sardinson County, Felix had the same idea.

He wants to build a new city in Sardinson County, it must be big enough and clean enough, and it must be prosperous enough for Wei Wei to go shopping for a day!

Sometimes love isn't just blind, it's crazy.

Felix probably didn't think he would be a love-crazy person, but he liked it.

The first step of the high-spirited Earl is to turn pasta into a food that everyone knows and is willing to spend money on, bringing a steady stream of income to Sardinson County.

As long as the reputation of pasta spreads, it will naturally attract businessmen who were originally reluctant to come to Sardinson, bringing different vitality to Sardinson.

"Then you can repair the road." Wei Wei told him: "We have a saying, 'If you want to get rich, build the road first', backward traffic is an important factor hindering local development. A good road is not only convenient for transportation but also It can change the views of outsiders on Sardinson, repair the road, and ensure traffic safety. In the future, if we have any good things here, everyone will be willing to come."

Wei Wei has long been very dissatisfied with the road here, but she also knows that building a road is not a matter of one or two days. With the current human and material resources, it may not be possible to build a road for several years.

So after saying this, Wei Wei frowned again: "The population of Sardinson County is still too small. If the population can be more, the development can be faster."

Her words are not without purpose, and Sardinson is really lacking.

Such a large county has a total population of less than 100,000 people. Among them, the population of Felix's territory is about 40,000. Of the remaining 60,000 people, two-thirds are the citizens of other barons and knights. are free people.

Putting it in Huaxia, even in ancient China, a larger county has more than this number of people.

That's why people in the county live so scattered, and there are only three large towns, and the distance between them can be calculated in days.

And the land in the county has not been fully utilized. There are many wastelands, which are called pastures, but in fact, there may be no one grazing in these areas.

And because of the three-bed system, one third of the cultivated farmland is uncultivated and has no output every year. This was possible in the past, but after the farmland can be fertilized, there is no need to let fallow The soil strength has recovered, and the original farmers are already struggling to cultivate about ten acres of fields every year, and there is no way to cultivate these fields that used to be fallow, so it is really impossible not to increase the population.

Felix also saw this problem. The previously fallow land was sown with fire manure and manure, and experienced farmers could see that they had recovered to the point where they could be cultivated. When the autumn planting started recently, there were also many serfs. Tried to cultivate more land, but there was nothing they could do, so the restored land could only be planted with grass seeds collected from pastures by the children of serfs, supplemented with green manure and added some rations for the livestock in winter.

This is really a waste in everyone's opinion, because each family's livestock will not be raised until next spring, so they don't need so much pasture.

Felix is ​​also aware of the problems caused by underpopulation, but how to increase the population is a problem.

At present, the fastest way should be to buy people. The Prady Empire is adjacent to several countries. Although there will not be large-scale conflicts, there will still be small frictions. The losing party will become the prisoner of the winning party. Nobles and knights will be redeemed, but ordinary commoners are not so lucky, and captives will be auctioned as slaves, which is also the main source of nobles in various countries.

If you buy slaves, it is indeed the fastest way to replenish manpower, and it is different from the "non-our race must have a different heart" advocated by Huaxia. The chaotic situation in Europe has led to the establishment and demise of various countries. The concept of "country" is very vague, and they don't care about who is the subject, and even some people who can't survive will sell themselves, so even if the slaves bought are from other countries, there is no need to worry that they will cause trouble.

However, the price of slaves is not low. It is good to buy a small amount. If there are too many people, this transaction is not very cost-effective.

So, does he also try to send knights disguised as robbers to go to the territories of other nobles to grab some people back like other nobles?

The idea was a bit tempting, but Felix had to regret it in the end, because the nobles adjacent to Sardinson County and their families were more or less related, by his mother's family and his sister-in-law's. , The relationship between each other is not bad, he is not easy to start.

The plan to rob people was abandoned, and it was too expensive to buy people, so the only thing left was to attract liberals to move to settle in Sardinson County.

If the freedmen came to settle down on their own, it would not be him who robbed people.

"...Do you think I'll be able to attract enough free people to settle in Sardinson if I cut taxes a bit?"

Hearing that he suddenly jumped to this question, Wei Wei was surprised at first, then smiled: "Of course, there is something more attractive than low taxes."

"But rather than attracting others, maybe you should start by improving the treatment of your own subjects."

Felix nodded. In fact, he had recently experienced some of the benefits of improving the treatment of citizens.

For example, as long as one meal a day is provided, even if it is the cheapest beans, the serfs will work harder for him. I heard that many serfs have recently been inquiring about whether they have other projects like building a pool. It is hoped that after the autumn planting, they can serve the lord and obtain food to reduce the burden on the family.

The same is true for Dingle. The freedmen who have a job have a fixed income, and their life is much better than before. After hearing about it, people from other surrounding villages and towns also ran over to ask them if they still wanted to recruit people. , Now that he wants to recruit people, it is much more convenient than before.

If it was put in the past, to work for the lord, they would only hide faster than each other.

So Felix is ​​preparing to open a grain shop in two other towns recently, recruiting people to make pasta while collecting grain.

And once the prepared pasta is sold, the income obtained is much higher than if he simply sells food.

As for where to sell it, he has already thought about it.

Cough, let's go too far, let's first think about which part of the tax to cut is more appropriate.

When Felix wanted to reduce some of the taxes for the territorial residents in order to attract free people from other territories to settle down, the team from Sardinson County finally successfully delivered the essential oil to the capital.

The messenger who stayed in the capital and waited for the king to summon was not waiting idle. At that time, he also brought another order from Felix to change the Williams family's shop in the capital into a shop suitable for selling essential oils. The template is according to those jewelry stores.

Therefore, the original store that sold food has now been remodeled, and the store's staff has also been recruited, just waiting for the essential oil to be delivered before it can open.

And this kind of movement is not small. The ladies who have inquired about the essential oil from the palace have long since set their sights on the Earl of Williams in Sardinson County. Miss this shop belonging to Felix Williams.

Therefore, before the renovation was completed, many people came to inquire about the news, and the workers in the store were also told by the employer that if anyone came to inquire, they would tell them that they would sell essential oils in the future.

I don't know what essential oils are, but judging by the generosity of the employer's payment, they are happy to help.

So before the essential oil store opened, the nobles in the capital knew it existed.

The ladies even sent servants to guard the city gate. As long as there was a caravan from Sardinson County, they would go up to inquire about the situation. If it was confirmed that it was delivering essential oils, they would be notified immediately.

At first, the servants who were sent thought they were waiting for a caravan, but there are so many caravans entering and leaving the capital every day, who knows which ones are from Sardinson County, but they have to inquire about their goods like merchants, It also takes a lot of effort.

But after waiting for a few days, they found that there was no caravan from Sardinson, and even many of the merchants who were asked did not know that there was such a place in the Prady Empire.

The servants waited for a long time before finally seeing a team from Sardinson.

A team of knights and soldiers escorted goods with the coat of arms of the nobles.

This is not the same as the caravan they thought.

The servants didn't even dare to ask questions at first, and no one acted until they remembered their identity.

They soon learned that this team was indeed the one the hostess wanted them to find.

They went back immediately and informed their master.

So when the delivery team from Sardinson finally arrived at the remodeled store, they were followed by a bunch of servants from major aristocratic families waiting to buy essential oils, and there were even attendants from the palace.

This made Zachary, the store manager, happy and distressed.

Zachary was the store manager of this shop before. When the new earl took office, he was worried that his job would not be able to be kept. Later, although he kept it, he suddenly changed from selling grain to selling essential oils. He had no idea at all. But the Count insisted that he had no chance to say no.

So Zachary was also very worried during this time. If the effect of automatic essential oil didn't sound good, people would ask him about essential oils from time to time, and he might have quit his job by himself.

Now that the business has come to the door before the store has opened, Zachary is naturally happy, but while he is happy, he begins to worry about the problem of insufficient supply.

Now that Zachary continues to be the store manager, Felix will naturally have people tell him the role of various essential oils, the pricing and the quantity of the first batch when making arrangements.

And the amount of goods he knew was not enough no matter how he looked at them. The servants who opened their mouths were robbed by the servants of ten bottles and twenty bottles.

And he clearly said that a bottle of these essential oils and two gold coins are expensive, and no one has flinched.

This made Zachary, who had never done a woman's business, shocked a lot.

However, there is no reason to push it out if there is business coming to the door, not to mention that all the servants who come here are servants of major noble families, and none of them can be offended. Under the "siege" of everyone, Zakali did not persist for too long and agreed. The sale started right away.

But he also knew that he couldn't really sell according to the quantity that those people clamored for, otherwise it would be troublesome when the latter couldn't buy it.

In the end, he simply told everyone loudly that each house was limited to five bottles, and there was really no more.

The knights in charge of delivery did not stop him from doing so. They were only responsible for the delivery to ensure the safety of the goods. As for how to sell it, it was not their job.

However, seeing that it was easy to damage the essential oils that had not been unloaded due to the chaos at the scene, he still arranged for the soldiers under him to guard the goods, so as not to be caught in troubled waters.

In the end, this batch of essential oils was sold out at the door before it entered the store, and the store that was about to open naturally had to remain open.

But no one cares about this. The servants of each family have basically bought essential oils. Although the quantity is less than the original amount, they have nothing to be picky about when even the palace attendants can only buy five bottles. Happy to go back and return to the master.

And the store manager Zachary is also happy. The bottles of essential oil are all gold coins. After such a period of time, a whole car of 500 bottles of essential oils has been replaced by gold coins, which is a thousand gold coins. , He never thought that money was so easy to make.

Looking at the large bag of gold coins, Zachary approached the delivery knight and asked him happily, "Master Knight, did the Count say what to do with these gold coins? Did you bring them back? "

Zachary is not at ease with such a large sum of money in the store. Apart from leaving some taxes and ensuring the operation of the store (although it can only be postponed now), it would be better for them to take the rest directly.

The knights who delivered the goods did not expect that the items would be sold so quickly. Their original plan was to repair them in the capital for a few days and then go back.

However, the order they received did include the item to bring back the gold coins. The amount of this batch of gold coins was not too small. The knights immediately changed their minds and said that they would spend a day in the capital and set off back to Sardinson County early tomorrow.

"When I set off, the Count said that the next batch of goods will arrive in ten days, and the quantity will be larger than this time. Make arrangements during this time, and don't make it like this."

Zachary breathed a sigh of relief. In ten days, he should be able to handle it.

Zachary, who was able to cope, fell into dire straits the next day.

If he hadn't vowed again and again that there was really no stock, and he promised that it would arrive in ten days, the ladies who found themselves out of date at the banquet they attended last night would have come to buy things in person.

God knows that at the banquet they found that many people were talking about the magical effect of essential oils and complimenting each other on the fragrance of each other's body, but when they were still using incense, the contemptuous gaze cast by the other party made these arrogant ladies embarrassed. .

But there are still ten days before they can buy essential oils. Are they going to be the jokes of others in the intervening time?

So people who can't buy essential oils can only ask those who have them to cut their love. After paying a much higher price than the price of essential oils, they finally let themselves have a bottle of essential oils.

Of course, this kind of thing is only possible at the beginning. After a few days, when the effect of the essential oil starts to play, no one is willing to change the essential oil in their hands. After all, they don't have much in their hands.

Because in the past few days, the queen who used essential oils for the first time and improved her skin condition with it boldly did not apply powder when she met the lady, and she let them see that she was much whiter and her pores were lighter. After many beautiful faces, the news that essential oils can make people beautiful has completely spread throughout the aristocratic circle.

Especially those who didn't know how amazing the effect of essential oil was at first, but just liked its fragrance, so they didn't use it according to the accompanying instructions at all, but lavishly sprinkled the essential oil directly on their skirts for incense. I soon regretted that I had wasted the essential oils that made me more beautiful as ordinary incense, and the remaining amount might not have been sent by them with a new batch of essential oils, let alone transferred to others. people.

So in the case of short supply, the second batch of essential oils has once again become a popular product that everyone is competing for.