Buy Grain

Chapter 43

Cooking Experience +1

Cooking Experience +1

Cooking Experience +1

Romain stood before the chopping board, hacking away at chunks of meat with loud thuds.

Sowing was a very tedious process because it relied entirely on manual labor.

Either too many seeds were scattered, or too little fertilizer was spread.

Either the furrows were dug too deep or too shallow.

It was difficult to improve efficiency, especially for uneducated farmers. It was skilled work.

Fortunately, learning the technique was not difficult. Once they became proficient, they would know how to do it.

Romain would rather go slower than see a field of wheat sprouts growing unevenly, thick in some places and sparse in others.

That was not intensive cultivation.

But during this time, he would provide them with an extra free dinner so they could meet the basic requirements for sowing.

Romain could also use the opportunity to grind Cooking skill experience.

Large chunks of bone and meat, large chunks of onion, and large chunks of turnip were all tossed into or around the wooden basin on the ground.

A little dirt never hurt anyone.

With two meals provided every day, the farmers no longer had to eat from their household grain stores each day. They only needed to come to the common fields to eat, and could even bring along the elderly and children.

And the food was plentiful. They could even drink salted meat soup.

But then a problem arose.

After last winter, Sigg Town was caught in the lean season, and there was not much grain left to begin with.

If they ate sparingly, they could certainly make it to July in the summer. By then, this round of wheat and other crops would have mostly ripened, just in time to replenish their rations. No one in Sigg Town would starve to death.

But ever since Romain had demanded free lunches, the amount of grain consumed during this period was, in Mol's eyes, astronomical.

More than a thousand jin was consumed every day!

Most of it was grains, coarse cereals, and vegetables, but the sheer quantity was there!

It would not have been an exaggeration to say they ate an ox every day!

Those were sturdy, well-fattened draft oxen. Each one weighed over six hundred jin and could replace five or six laborers!

They were Sigg Town's most precious assets!

Even as the Agricultural Officer, Mol's daily meat staples were mostly livestock such as sheep, pigs, and chickens.

Only one aged draft ox was slaughtered each year, so he could occasionally enjoy the taste of beef. Some would be distributed to his relatives and friends, and even the slaves he had purchased would get a few bites as a reward for the past year's work.

And now Romain was going to start providing dinner as well, directly doubling consumption.

Their already meager grain reserves were being stretched even thinner.

Therefore, Mol, who knew about the matter, had no choice but to come before Romain and explain the situation.

Romain stopped chopping vegetables. After hearing him out, he nodded and said, "You mean even the landlord has no surplus grain, right?"

Mol wiped away his sweat with a handkerchief. For some reason, every time he faced Romain's gaze, he felt drenched in sweat.

Mol lowered his head respectfully. "You put it perfectly, my lord."

He was very afraid that Romain would question him, refuse to believe his words, and have the guards seize all his property...

The grain really was almost gone, just as he had said. Only several tens of thousands of jin remained, so Mol was not overly afraid of that.

But he feared problems in other areas.

Over the years, he had embezzled quite a bit. If those assets were exposed...

It was a matter of survival or destruction.

Romain had not thought of that. He lowered his head in thought for a moment, then looked at Mol and said, "If there isn't enough grain, then go buy some from outside."

Buy grain?

Mol froze.

"Th-this... wouldn't that be inappropriate?"

Sigg Town sold large quantities of grain every year.

Mol had never even considered buying grain from outside.

He had assumed that after being told of this, Romain would abandon the free lunches and make the farmers bear the grain consumption instead—the farmers' stored grain combined was greater than Mol's own household reserves.

It would not be a problem to squeeze one or two hundred jin of grain from every household. It would not even truly hurt them.

Wouldn't that perfectly fill the grain shortage?

He had already prepared himself. As long as Romain brought it up, he would carry it out immediately.

If Romain did not think of it, Mol would drop a few hints and demonstrate his lord's earth-shattering wisdom!

But what was wrong with him?!

Letting him down at the crucial moment—was he even a noble lord anymore?!

Had the real Romain Armor-Splitting been intercepted on his way to take office?

The food had gone into their stomachs. There was nothing wrong with making them provide grain! He had not charged them a single coin. It was already generous enough not to levy a meal tax on them, so why was he buying grain to feed these farmers?

Romain glanced at Mol and said, "What is inappropriate about it?"

He brought the kitchen knife down onto the chopping block with a BANG!

The loud sound made Mol's little heart leap.

Romain said in an unquestionable tone, "Bring every merchant here to me!"

Romain had never considered seizing the farmers' household grain reserves. That was their lifeline and could easily provoke public resentment.

You could kill people. In this era, ten or so deaths were not even worth mentioning.

But you could not seize grain. What, was this noble lord trying to rebel?

Before long.

Five merchants arrived before Romain.

They were all small local merchants who had emerged in Sigg Town. They sold the town's products—such as mountain goods, furs, and agricultural products—to the outside world for meager profits.

But Romain had taken all the laborers, cutting off their sources of goods. They had had no business for days.

Now Romain had summoned them again, and they had no idea why.

"Do you know the price of grain?"

The group looked at one another, then all lowered their heads. "We do, my lord."

"How much grain does Sigg Town sell each year? At what price?"

These small merchants keenly noticed Mol's face turning deathly pale.

That made their hearts pound as well.

Would their next answer somehow affect Lord Mol's fate?

They did not want to answer the question, but faced with Romain's calm face and intensely focused gaze, their throats went dry. Finally, they said, "Every year, perhaps... perhaps twenty or thirty thousand jin is sold. More than 2,200 jin of grain can be exchanged for one Gold Coin."

He had given an extremely conservative estimate.

Romain paid no attention to Mol, who had collapsed to the ground, and continued questioning the merchants. "What is the current price of wheat?"

The small merchants looked at one another.

Finally, one merchant said, "It is the off-season now. One Gold Coin can only buy a little over 1,600 jin of wheat. During the peak season, it can buy around 2,000 jin."

After hearing this, Romain calculated for a moment.

Then he said, "Mm. I currently need 100,000 jin of food. I want coarse grains, vegetables, and cereals alike. You will go outside and purchase food to meet my needs. But I will not give you profits; I will pay you wages. For every 1,000 jin you transport, you will receive 5 copper coins. For every 10,000 jin, you will receive 5 Silver Coins. As for your purchasing capital, Mol will provide it..."