To Get Rich, First Dig a River

The summer sun beat down. Birds sang in the forest, insects danced happily by the river, rabbits remained alert while grazing, and Slimes lay in soft puddles under the trees, digesting their food.

Two sturdy draft horses were unhitched and leisurely ate grass by the river.

The drivers squatted by the river, washing the pheasants they had caught today with the clear water.

Several hunters were scattered around, keeping a watchful eye out for dangerous Magical Beasts.

Not far from the other side of the river, the pointed tower of a castle could be seen.

A young boy sat on the grass by the river, a writing board and parchment in one hand, a quill pen in the other. He dipped the pen into an ink bottle beside him from time to time, concentrating on his calculations.

Frederick von Weissen looked at the final number and said with a sigh, "This canal will be about 16 kilometers long, 20 meters wide at the bottom, and 4 meters deep. Including the slopes, that's about 1.53 million cubic meters of earth."

"For the 830,000 cubic meters within two meters, each person can dig 5 cubic meters per day. Below two meters, for the 700,000 cubic meters, each person can dig 3 cubic meters per day. That's roughly 400,000 man-days."

"If we want to finish within a year, considering rest and support staff, we'll need about 1,500 people."

"The cost of one laborer for a year is two Florins, so we'll need at least 3,000 gold coins!"

In the Rhine Alliance, currently 1 Florin gold coin is equal to 20 Kreuzer silver coins, which is equal to 2000 copper plates.

Currently, 1 Kreuzer can buy 50 kilograms of wheat. 3000 Florins is equivalent to 3000 tons of wheat.

Although the Wessen Territory has an area of about 1000 square kilometers, it was developed late and only has a little over three thousand hectares of cultivated land. Currently, the wheat yield is 700 kilograms per hectare. The entire territory's population of nearly 30,000 wouldn't have enough even if they didn't eat or drink.

A middle-aged steward standing beside Frederick said, "My lord, the king ordered us to pay the 5000 Florin fine within 5 years. That's equivalent to 17 and a half kilograms of pure gold. Melting down the gold beads and gold artifacts in the house will be enough."

Frederick shook his head and said angrily, "That old man William has ill intentions. First, he unfairly pushed the responsibility for the defeat onto my father who died in battle, then he abruptly reduced the Weissen Family's title from Count to Baron. Then he hypocritically told us to prepare 5000 Florins in 5 years, but he's just using that time to lick his own wounds and gain the strength to seize our Wessen Territory!"

"Ah Fu, believe it or not, our neighbors have already become the king's hounds. In a couple of years, when they've recovered, they'll attack us to weaken us, and they'll get a few bones to pick at."

The more he spoke, the angrier he became. His chest heaved constantly, and his face turned red.

Last year, the Rhine Alliance and the Kingdom of Gaul fought a war. During that time, the Kingdom of Gaul launched a surprise attack on the Rhine Alliance's supply camp. His father risked his life to protect the food and supplies in the camp, losing less than 5%.

However, they ultimately lost the war. The blame for the defeat was tossed around and finally landed on the late Count Weissen, who was accused of failing to protect the supplies. Along with this came the reduction in title and a huge fine.

Frederick's mother passed away in grief and anger this spring. He cried until he fainted at the funeral. When he fell, he hit his head on a stone, and all the memories from his previous life returned.

Frederick lay in his room for three days, digesting the memories in his mind, carefully studying the map, and finally came to the conclusion that he should just go for it.

This world was similar yet unfamiliar to his old home. Leaving aside magic and Magical Beasts, the local geography looked like Europe, but there was a large chunk of extra continent west of France and the two "teeth," and the Caucasus region between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea was a sea. Even more incredibly, the Sahara Desert across the Mediterranean Sea was a dense forest here.

As for the more distant East, Frederick really wanted to see it if he had the chance in the future.

The Rhine Alliance was a loose alliance. It was more about mutual exemption of tariffs between members. Politically, there were many internal lords, and annexations and divisions occurred frequently. They only temporarily united when facing external enemies.

To fight, he didn't need to defeat the king, nor could he. He just needed to devour a few of the king's dogs around him. At that point, the king would carefully consider his next move.

Troops move only after supplies are secured. War is about money.

To make money, Frederick took people to survey the land between two rivers in the territory.

The headwaters of the Swabian Rezat River, a tributary of the Main River, and the Altmühl River, a tributary of the Danube River, are both within the Wessen Territory. As long as these two rivers are connected by a canal, cargo ships going north can enter the Rhine River from the Main River and then reach the North Sea. Going south into the Danube River, they can travel downstream directly to the Black Sea.

Water transport is the lowest-cost transportation method. Once the canal is open, the north-south transportation distance in the eastern part of the continent will be greatly shortened, and costs will be significantly reduced. At the same time, this place will also become a hub for goods from the surrounding inland areas.

So Frederick planned to bet everything he had. In addition to digging the canal, he also wanted to build a small town by the river as a logistics center.

If he wanted to develop the territory, he had to have channels to purchase raw materials and energy, otherwise, nothing could be achieved.

Once the canal's function became apparent and merchant ships gathered, raw materials would follow.

At the same time, the new goods he planned to produce could be sold through this means, thereby generating huge profits.

In 5 years, if he won, he could develop like a snowball. If he lost, he would hide his identity, pack his bags, and run to Constantinople to become a scholar at a university.

Putting everything else aside, there would be no room for this world's Newton then. In the future, when students take math and physics exams, their eyes would be full of Weissen, and they would say things like, "Weissen's coffin lid can't hold him down anymore."

Ah Fu saw his lord staring blankly and sighed silently in his heart.

Frederick was only 8 years old this year. His tender shoulders bore the heavy burden of the entire family. The pressure he was under was unimaginable.

"Ah Fu," Frederick said, "I'll draw a few maps later. Tomorrow, take them to Nuremberg and discuss them with the Stonemasons' Guild. Keeping the total cost of the canal and the dock town within 4500 Florins will be a victory."

Ah Fu replied, "As you wish. I've recently heard that there have been many days of heavy rain in the south, and there's been flooding in the lower reaches of the Rhine River. There are many displaced people, and hiring them would be very cheap."

Frederick's hand paused from drawing. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Then add one more condition: those who come here to work can live in the new town after the project is finished or cultivate wasteland nearby."

"Hmm... Actually, it's not just that. We still have many places here that can be cultivated into farmland. Let's take this opportunity to recruit more displaced people to open up wasteland."

According to his calculations, 90% of the Wessen Territory could be cultivated into farmland. In a few years, the population could increase to 50,000.

If commerce also developed, the population was estimated to increase by another 10,000.

"Oh, right," Frederick remembered something, "We also need to go to the Blacksmiths' Guild and the Carpenters' Guild. We need to prepare that many tools in advance."