Emperor Yang of Sui the Second

Emperor Yang of Sui the Second

Sigg Town undoubtedly possessed this kind of stability.

It was isolated from the outside world. Though remote, it was therefore far from the vortex of war, and it also had convenient inland waterways for transport.

Merchant ships could travel up the Bro River through Silver Dragon Canyon to reach this basin amid towering mountains. They could then sail downstream, passing through the territories of many nobles, joining other tributaries, skirting across the northern lands, and finally flowing into the North Ice Sea.

Based on Morey's opinion of Romain, this young lord would certainly not keep the Salt Mine's output low.

Though this was a long-term trade and two hundred thousand jin of salt could not be sold off overnight, the sales would very likely continue into next year. For that, Morey would need to gather more hands, continually travel back and forth along this tributary of the Bro River, bring more goods here, and transport the salt away.

But merchants only feared having no money to make; they never feared hardship.

Not to mention the newly introduced malt sugar.

Minor nobles might occasionally buy some to try, but if it caught the eye of great nobles, they would certainly purchase sugar in bulk. There would be no need to worry about sales afterward.

After leaving those draft horses and oxen in Sigg Town, Morey paid twenty Gold Coins, then turned and left Sigg Town with twenty barrels of malt sugar.

There was no helping it. The salt had only just begun to be mined, and there was no visible output yet. They could only sell malt sugar so Morey would not return empty-handed.

The next time he came, he would bring more oxen and draft horses, until he had delivered fifty oxen and one hundred draft horses to make up the difference for those two hundred thousand jin of cheap salt—Romain had not calculated the fine details with him, only settled the broad account.

And the benefits of that broad account were obvious.

Once Morey distributed those two hundred thousand jin of salt throughout the land, its low cost would let him make a fortune.

That enormous preferential price was equivalent to directly paying him two hundred Gold Coins.

By rough estimates, the profits alone would exceed five hundred Gold Coins.

Even among nobles, that income would be considered quite good. Most nobles only had annual incomes in the triple digits, while Morey was merely one of a great merchant's children.

After Morey's caravan departed, Romain looked at the herd of oxen and draft horses, his mood equally splendid.

This was a huge fortune, crucial to Sigg Town's development.

Because of the journey, the livestock appeared somewhat listless.

He had to settle these large animals in properly and keep them comfortable.

Agricultural Officer Mol came running over, panting heavily, the fat on his chest bouncing with every step. When he reached Romain, he wiped his sweat before saying:

"Lord Romain, I've prepared what you ordered..."

As Mol spoke, his gaze drifted to the large number of oxen and draft horses behind Romain.

Sigg Town currently had only a little over eighty oxen in total. It was not that he could not afford more.

The main reason was his status.

Mol remembered his father, who had died of illness many years ago. Back then, he had been puzzled by all of his father's decisions. Only after taking this position himself did Mol understand his father's difficulties.

Should Sigg Town be developed?

Whether building bridges or paving roads, it required gathering a great deal of manpower.

Without permission, the Bass Family could not overstep their authority. Their role had always been stewards, not decision-makers.

Even if they developed Sigg Town and gained enormous profits, would the Armor-Splitting Family praise their actions?

Think of the pioneering lords from over a century ago.

They had reclaimed vast stretches of wilderness and turned them into fertile fields. Yet after the Conqueror Emperor's fleet was lost in the Nether Sea, the pioneering lords lacked sufficient power and died in all sorts of sudden accidents. The nobles took away everything they had achieved over more than a decade.

Joint development? Mutual benefit?

What status and strength did you have?

Would handing over all your property ensure your safety?

Idiot! If I beat you to death, it's all mine anyway!

If Sigg Town became too prosperous and word reached Grand Duke Armor-Splitting's ears...

In the end, Mol chose to lie flat and rot away in hesitation, burying his head in sleep.

Romain had no interest whatsoever in Sigg Town's past.

In his eyes, everyone in this era was an idiot, not worth caring about in the slightest.

This land certainly possessed abundant resources, astonishing potential, and all manner of enormous advantages.

But Romain believed that with his abilities, he could develop wherever he went.

Even if he were thrown into a barren desert or grassland, as long as he survived and regained the ability to act, he could lead a group of people to carve a path out like barbarians and seize a rich, fertile land.

Develop at light speed, sustain war through war—whoever came would die!

Romain had always believed that starting resources could only limit the time needed for growth, not his ultimate achievements.

Of course, the more starting resources he had, the better.

He left the docks with Mol.

These large animals had both advantages and disadvantages. Their benefit was that they could greatly improve work efficiency and plow more land deeply during summer and autumn.

Their drawback was that more hands were needed to care for the additional oxen and draft horses.

There had previously been more than forty farmers working in the Livestock Shed.

Their daily work was caring for the many large animals. On average, each person was responsible for two cattle. There was even a managerial post called an oxherd, whose duties mainly included grazing, cleaning manure, harvesting forage grass, caring for calves, and so on.

Their labor could not be spared. Even during deep plowing and sowing season, Romain had not called them out.

In fact, he now had to temporarily transfer thirty people from the road-building workforce to care for these animals—but not too many, or it would delay the work over there.

And as Morey continued delivering livestock in the future, there would only be more workers caring for animals.

That was why Sigg Town had just over a thousand laborers, yet he could only mobilize seven hundred in total.

Whether it was livestock, mills, or the various craftsmen, none of them could be called away.

Otherwise, Sigg Town would grind to a halt on a massive scale.

Romain was intensely dissatisfied with the old Livestock Shed. It was filthy and messy, damp and cold, precarious as though it could collapse at any moment. Rotten thatch lay buried in mud, bedbugs bred in great numbers, and it was an eyesore in every respect.

Once Romain's construction skill reached level two, he had entertained the idea of building a new Livestock Shed.

He had simply kept putting it off because he could not spare the time.

Now that the livestock Morey had brought had arrived in Sigg Town, Romain knew he could not delay the matter any longer.

He wanted to build a new livestock barn, one that was more scientific and more sanitary.

The future work of raising livestock also had to be centrally managed and uniformly planned.

During this period, he had been having Mol prepare large quantities of construction timber and stone.

The timber came from the vast amount of wood felled along the road-building route, while the stone came from the quarry.

Once again, Romain felt the shortage of manpower.

Of course, Romain knew where the problem lay.

There were simply too many things to do.

And with an urgent, no-time-to-waste attitude, he was forcibly whipping and dragging everyone in Sigg Town to keep accelerating forward.

If Romain suddenly dropped dead now, the descendants of Sigg Town would surely give him the title of Emperor Yang of Sui the Second.