Kevin was dizzy and guarding his stall. It was already noon. He still hadn't eaten any water or rice. His stomach kept growling in protest to his brain.
But what can he do? He has been setting up a stall here since the sun first rose, but he has only made a handful of copper coins, which Kevin is not willing to use to buy food.
He sat on the ground, wrapping his legs with his arms, feeling helpless. There was a rag spread on the ground in front of him. This was the stall of Kevin. There were several bags of white stuff on it.
Table salt, this is what Kevin is selling.
The village where Kevin lives has always made a living by boiling salt. In the past, merchants would come to collect salt every month and pay them.
But gradually things changed. When the merchants came to collect salt, they began to push the price downwards, and they also showed an attitude that they would rather sell than sell.
Their village basically boils salt as a business and has no other livelihood, so they have to accept the price reduction from salt merchants.
But the prices offered by merchants became increasingly unbearable, and their visits to collect salt became less and less frequent.
Someone got the news from Franklin Harbor. Businessmen led by the big salt merchant Godwin established some kind of "salt farm" near Franklin Harbor. I don't know what method was used in it. I heard that it can produce tons of salt, which is much more efficient than the boiling method in their village.
When the salt farm was first put into operation, it could not meet all the needs, and the merchants had to rely on them, the salt residents. However, as the scale of the salt farm became larger and larger, the output became higher and higher, and the reliance on the salt residents became less and less.
The salt produced from the salt farm is no better than the salt cooked in the Kevin village, and is even slightly inferior in quality. But it has an unrivaled advantage - it's cheap.
That's really cheap. Kevin has learned that a subsistence family can buy enough salt to make pickled fish.
The income from cooking salt is getting less and less, and the family will soon be unable to make ends meet. If this continues, the already small savings will soon be exhausted.
As a last resort, Kevin and people from the same village went to nearby towns to sell their products on their own. In order to avoid competition, they each chose a place. The destination chosen by Kevin was Franklin Harbor.
He arrived at Franklin Harbor yesterday, but after setting up a stall for a day, he could only earn a measly amount of Copper Coin. He was starving until night, so he bought a piece of black bread to fill his stomach. He had not earned much money in the first place, and he had even less money left.
He lodged in the stables of an inn, intending to try his luck again the next day.
Kevin cheng tried to sell his salt in a salt shop, but the price given by the shop was extremely low. If he sold it to them like this, he would definitely lose a lot of money. He tried to bargain and was quickly kicked out by the store clerk.
Just when he was thinking about what to do, he saw a man walking over with an iron bucket and a brush from the corner of his eye.
Kevin guessed that City Hall was probably going to put up some kind of "slogan" again. Speaking of it, this was also a propaganda method invented by the young lord who only succeeded to the throne last year. He put the so-called "slogan" in eye-catching public areas so that people could understand his policies through concise words.
Things like "Everyone has a responsibility to protect the environment", "Littering anywhere will be punished" and so on. Even their small, remote village had a few slogans painted on them, although the number of literate people in their village could be counted on one hand.
Seeing the man carrying the bucket coming towards him, Kevin secretly complained about his bad luck, quickly packed up his things and moved the stall to another place, making room for the space next to the wall.
People from the City Hall came to the wall, dipped their brushes in paint, and applied it to the wall.
A bunch of people gathered to watch the fun.
Kevin also approached the crowd, patted a person who was looking intently at the wall and asked, "Sir, what is written on the wall?"
This man was so fascinated that he probably recognized the writing on the wall.
The man turned back to look at him and replied, "Don't you recognize it? It says 'Be vigilant and guard against spies'!"
"To protect against spies?"
Kevin is a little confused. He does know what a spy does, but why did he suddenly post such a slogan? "Yeah, don't you know the recent situation?"
"What's the situation?"
Just listen to the man saying mysteriously, "The war is about to begin! The lords are going to fight again!"
"War? Why is there a war anyway?"
Kevin frowned. He had heard his elders talk about the horror of war disasters since he was a child. When a fight broke out, the lords would lead troops to plunder each other's territory, and would also add War Tax to their own subjects and force the common people to serve as soldiers.
The closest thing he had ever experienced to war was the last pirate invasion, and the old man in the village said that a military disaster was more terrifying than a pirate plunder.
"I heard that this time we are going to war with Emden."
"Emden? I heard that it is a very powerful territory to the south of us."
"What are you afraid of? Have you forgotten how we Lord Greiman beat up those pirates and Bairdin's traitors?"
The person talking to Kevin was extremely excited. He was obviously very confident in Arda's military power. He danced when he talked about the young lord.
Kevin snorted inwardly, Franklin Harbor was protected by a city wall, but their village had no defensive measures.
He turned back to his stall and complained in a low voice, "War, war, we salt people are going to starve to death and we are still fighting..."
The person next to him overheard his words, and his eyes shone...
Kevin continued to guard the stall for a while, but finally couldn't hold on anymore. Now he didn't even have the energy to shout and sell to pedestrians passing by.
He weighed the few coins in his hand and decided with great pain that he would first buy a piece of bread to satisfy his hunger, and then go to the well to take a few sips of cold water.
Just after he got up and walked a few steps, a man stopped him.
"Is this your stall?"
Kevin immediately turned around and responded, "Yes. This is my stall. Do you want to buy salt?"
He could clearly see the person coming. He was neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin, and his face was plain.
"Excuse me, what is the price of salt here?"
Kevin thought about it awkwardly and directly quoted the lowest price he could accept.
The visitor said hesitantly, "It's much more expensive than the ones sold in the store!"
Kevin said anxiously, "Guest, the salt here is a bit expensive, but the texture is of high quality. It is cooked manually in our village, and has been carefully ground and screened. It is not much different from the refined salt eaten by noble men. Look at the salt in the store. Not to mention the coarse particles, there is still so much sand in it, and the taste is many times worse than the one at my stall."
The visitor touched his chin, seeming to be considering Kevin's words. He dipped his finger in some salt and tasted it in his mouth.
"Well, you are right. The taste is indeed much better than what is sold in the store."
Hearing what the other party said, Kevin's eyes showed hope.
"Then, guest..."
"Think about it, we really need to buy salt in the store. Since the quality of the salt here is good, I will buy it from you. Just this bag!"
He pointed to a bag of salt and said to Kevin.
"Okay, I'll tie it up for you right now!"
Kevin tied the bag quickly and handed it to the guest, who also readily gave the money.
The guest inquired, "I've never seen you before. Are you new here?"
"Well, I just came here yesterday to sell salt..."
"Will you continue to sell here in the future?"
"As long as you need it, Master, I will come and sell salt."
"Okay, if the food is good, I will continue to come here?"
He patted Kevin on the shoulder, turned around and left with a bag of salt.
Kevin carefully shook the small bag full of coins, and there was a crisp collision sound inside, which instantly filled his heart with happiness.
I can finally have a full meal today.
I have been sent to Jiangsu on a business trip these two days, so I apologize for the delay in updating. Alas, it's almost the New Year and I suddenly encountered this kind of thing.????