I Want Them All

Romain's six hundred jin of maltose only sold for 20 gold coins.

Morey brought 18 draft cattle and 28 draft horses.

Among them, the draft horses were priced at 7.5 silver coins each. 28 draft horses alone were worth 21 gold coins.

This meant Romain's maltose couldn't even buy 28 draft horses.

The draft cattle were priced at 5.5 silver coins each, totaling 9.9 gold coins.

Draft horses were difficult to use for war, at most for transporting supplies or pulling carriages.

As Morey had said before, compared to draft cattle, draft horses had poorer stamina, weaker physical condition, and less efficient plowing capabilities.

A yoke worn on a draft horse for too long would make it difficult to breathe, and could even cause it to die suddenly.

For various reasons, draft horses were not expensive, far from the price of warhorses.

The total for this livestock was 30 gold coins. Even through bartering, Romain couldn't afford these draft cattle and draft horses with his maltose.

The boast he'd made earlier was immediately deflated.

But Romain didn't feel embarrassed.

He gestured with his hands and said to Morey, "When your merchant ship comes to Sigg Town next time, I can give you 200 barrels of maltose."

The production cost of this thing was astonishingly low, and it was convenient and fast. There was no reason for Romain not to continue production.

After all, there was plenty of wheat.

Morey stammered, "How much?! 200 barrels? Six thousand jin?!"

He suddenly realized that Romain Ironbreaker had mastered the technique of making sugar, and had named this sweet nectar maltose.

Was this sugar extracted from malt?

How many jin of wheat would it take to produce one jin of maltose?

If the cost was too high, how could it be mass-produced?

Morey's previously furrowed brow instantly relaxed. He first felt genuinely shocked, then fell into a state of mental confusion. Amidst the clash of countless thoughts, Morey instinctively opened his mouth and said, "If 200 barrels of maltose all flood the market, it will greatly devalue it."

Romain didn't care how low the price dropped; he was essentially picking up money.

But maltose was a new product, and he was a little worried that this approach would expose Sigg Town, attracting many covetous eyes.

This was not a good thing for Sigg Town at the moment.

"Then forget it," Romain easily gave up on the idea.

Then, Romain asked again, "You should know what I'm doing now, right?"

Morey had already communicated with the residents of Sigg Town before Romain arrived. This was a merchant's habit, allowing him to quickly learn what was happening in a region.

The news he received made it difficult for him to believe, and when he saw Romain, he appeared somewhat agitated.

"You're building a road..."

Romain nodded. "Yes, I've found a salt mine and plan to start extracting it."

Morey knew that this land contained immense wealth, so he was very confident and willing to invest without expecting any return.

He just hadn't expected Sigg Town to develop so quickly. Romain had found the salt mine in just one month and had almost finished the preliminary leveling of the 40-kilometer road.

This efficiency was astonishing.

Even Marcor Tidebreaker, whom Morey had met before, couldn't compare. Although the latter was also one of the sons of the Black Iron Kingdom's three Grand Dukes and his actions were considered excellent role models, he still couldn't be compared to the extraordinary existence before him.

Not everyone could find a way to get rich in such a short period with their bare hands.

He said urgently, "Can I go take a look?"

Romain could easily understand Morey's eagerness.

He found someone and had them take Morey to visit.

Although there had been heavy rain a few days prior, the leveled land was still muddy with messy wheel ruts, but it was generally fine.

Morey sped along the road, with ox carts and horse-drawn carriages coming and going. He soon saw hundreds of farmers enthusiastically leveling the road.

This wide road hadn't reached its end yet; there were still the last ten li to go, but a small path had already been completed. Although it couldn't accommodate large vehicles, it allowed people to walk directly to the salt mine.

Romain had sent dozens of farmers ahead to prepare the site.

They were going to build a salt processing facility, clear away the surface gravel, and excavate several meters or even tens of meters deep to reach a corner of this rock salt deposit.

Compared to sea salt, rock salt was purer, with very high purity and few impurities. Some rock salt could even be used as coarse salt; when grilling meat or cooking, one could simply rub it against a salt brick.

However, excessive consumption could lead to salt poisoning.

Therefore, processing steps like crushing, dissolving, filtering, and boiling were necessary. The refined salt produced after such treatment could be considered fine salt, and there were no safety concerns – rest assured, people of this era would surely die from other accidents before they died from poisoning.

Upon seeing the high-purity rock salt, the giant ice-like crystals, Morey became exceptionally excited.

He realized it was a high-quality salt mine, and it was easy to mine, meaning its future output would be very high.

Salt is a strategic resource, and no one underestimates its value.

To be precise, salt is only slightly less valuable than iron.

This special mineral can even affect the spells of certain witches.

Therefore, the Church also attaches great importance to salt, regarding it as a sacred item capable of expelling and purifying demons.

Influenced by this, even slightly wealthier families would purchase this salt to ward off demons and for protection.

The King and nobles also consider salt a special form of currency, using it, along with iron, wheat, furs, and meat, to pay a significant portion of military salaries.

So, when Morey returned from the Salt Mine, he was beaming, repeatedly saying, "Good, good, good."

Romain inquired, "Do you want salt or sugar?"

Morey took a deep breath and uttered the same words as Romain.

"I want it all!"

Romain was very satisfied with Morey's answer. "Alright, the price of those livestock will be settled with salt. When you come to Sigg Town next time, I'll still give you maltose, and the specific amount will depend on how much you buy. For the table salt, I'll sell it to you for 0.1 copper coins per jin for now, without collecting any tariffs. Once you transport 200,000 jin of table salt, I'll raise the price to 0.2 copper coins per jin and charge an additional 1 copper coin tariff per hundred jin. Do you understand?"

Morey certainly understood Romain's approach.

The purchase price is one thing, and export tariffs are another.

Even if one buys a large quantity of salt from its place of origin, they will be ordered by the local nobles to pay the corresponding tariff when leaving. Upon entering another region, import tariffs will also be collected.

Paying 1 copper coin per hundred jin of salt as a tariff is quite low.

After all, salt is a necessity, and tariffs have a significant impact on its price.

When the salt price is stable, merchants generally purchase it at 0.2 copper coins per jin. If society is more unstable, the price could very well increase to 0.25 copper coins or even higher.

For every hundred jin of table salt purchased, an additional 4 to 6 copper coins in import and export tariffs would be incurred, effectively increasing the acquisition cost.

Therefore, many merchants hope to find salt-producing regions with stable prices and low tariffs.

PS: Wheat is a high-grade grain; one jin of wheat is equivalent to three to four jin of coarse grains.

The export price of 1 salt equals 4 wheat, while the market price of 1 salt equals 20 wheat.

The price Romain offered Morey was 1 jin of salt for 2 jin of wheat – this would continue until Morey transported 200,000 jin of salt, after which the salt price would be raised to the standard price of 1 salt equaling 4 wheat.

Because the draft cattle and draft horses Morey brought were free, given to Romain as a gift, he received a low purchase price in return.

Don't think 200,000 jin of salt is a lot.

The Black Iron Kingdom has a population in the tens of millions. What is the demand for salt in a society of tens of millions?

If you think the annual societal demand is less than 5 million jin of salt, then there's nothing more to say.