How to Sing Conquest?

"What? You're not coming back?"

"Why not? We're all willing to buy your salt!"

In an instant, the townsfolk, who had just been beaming with joy, wore expressions of disappointment. Having bought such low-priced salt once, they naturally hoped for a second time.

Furthermore, they had realized that the salt they previously purchased from their own lord was heavily adulterated with sand, whereas the salt from the Storm Territory caravan was the real deal—not a single grain of sand to be found.

By that calculation, the salt they bought for seven copper coins wasn't just one bag, but more than one.

Seeing the disappointment on the townsfolk's faces, Thomas wore a smile. He shifted his tone and continued, "However, even though our caravan won't be coming back, you are more than welcome to travel to the Storm Territory to purchase it yourselves!"

Travel to the Storm Territory?

Setting aside the fact that the round trip would take two days, it was also the cursed Land of Misfortune. For the sake of a mere three copper coins, no one was willing to make the trek; it simply wasn't worth it.

Hearing this, the townsfolk didn't show much excitement.

Thomas, having anticipated their reaction, dropped a bombshell.

"Our Lord says that as long as you travel to the Storm Territory to buy salt, the price will be even lower—only five copper coins a bag!"

"What? Five copper coins a bag?" Now the townsfolk finally looked shocked; this was half the price.

"That's right, five copper coins a bag, and I guarantee there's no sand mixed in! Plus, our Storm Territory doesn't restrict the quantity of salt you can buy!" Thomas confirmed with a smile.

"Also, I can offer you a suggestion: those of you with the means can form small merchant groups to travel to the Storm Territory for goods. That way, you can buy a large amount of salt at once and bring it back to sell for seven copper coins!"

Having said his piece, Thomas didn't linger, and the caravan headed out of the town.

The townsfolk left behind watched the caravan depart, their eyes gleaming; they had taken Thomas's suggestion to heart.

Although a profit of only two copper coins seemed small, it was definitely a good business—after all, people could never live without salt.

In this world, trade was mostly the domain of nobles; a business like salt was something they hadn't even dared to dream of before.

"Three thousand three hundred ninety-seven, three thousand three hundred ninety-eight, three thousand three hundred ninety-nine... four thousand! Haha, we've earned forty silver coins on this trip alone!"

Thomas sat on the carriage, cradling a large ceramic jar as he placed the golden-orange copper coins into a wooden treasure chest. When the final coin was dropped in, Thomas laughed happily.

In Black Rock Town, they had sold over four hundred bags of salt and more than one hundred and twenty catties of dried fish. The total cost of the goods sold was less than three silver coins, yet they had brought in an income of forty silver coins.

One had to realize this was only a morning's income. If they could stay for the whole day, earning a gold coin wouldn't be a problem at all, especially since many more residents of Black Rock Territory were still arriving in a steady stream.

Thomas couldn't help but feel a heartfelt sense of worship for his learned and wise Lord. Such a lucrative business, and the Lord had managed to organize it in just over half a month.

"Steward Thomas!" At that moment, Captain Quick spoke up. "Why did the Lord lower the price of the salt and dried fish? Wouldn't we have earned more if we sold them at the original price? Especially the salt—we didn't even mix in any sand. Those serfs and commoners surely wouldn't have complained about the cost."

Quick was happy that the caravan was making money, but he felt a pang of pity for the Lord, seeing such high-quality salt sold so cheaply.

"Quick, that is the difference between us and Lord Nalant!" Thomas smiled faintly.

He then looked solemn, his gaze turning toward the direction of the Storm Territory. "Before we set out, I asked the Lord this very question. But the Lord told me that we will have countless amounts of salt and dried fish in the future. However, these goods only become money once they are sold. There are only so many nobles in the Principality; if we only sell to them, we will never sell it all, and we will only earn a pittance."

"But if we sell to the commoners and serfs, it's different. The number of serfs and commoners is the greatest—tens of thousands of times more than the nobles. Even if each person only bought one bag of salt, the pile of copper coins would likely fill the entire castle!"

"If the price is too high, the serfs certainly won't be able to afford it. Therefore, we must lower the price!"

"Besides, the Lord also said that the most important thing is... he wants to make Baron Quinte kneel and sing 'Conquer'?"

"Kneel and sing 'Conquer'? How is the word 'conquer' supposed to be sung?" Quick widened his eyes.

"I don't know how to sing it either, but I suppose the Lord will teach him when the time comes!" Thomas shook his head and withdrew his gaze.

Following this, Thomas and his men continued their journey, stopping for half a day in every noble territory they passed. The sales model was identical to the one in Black Rock Territory. Upon leaving, they told the townsfolk that they could travel to the Storm Territory to buy salt in the future, and that the Storm Territory did not restrict commoner merchant groups from visiting.

By the time they had passed through five noble territories, they had sold all three hundred-plus catties of sea salt and over two thousand catties of dried fish.

In total, they had earned four gold coins and twenty silver coins.

Once the goods were sold out, the caravan's speed increased significantly. As they neared the Berick Family territory, Quick sent a guard to deliver some salt and salted fish to the Berick estate, while the caravan continued toward Tulip City, which was only about a day's journey away.

As Thomas and his men were set to arrive in Tulip City in the coming days, the Storm Territory had also become busy.

First, the construction of the town's toilets had begun, and Nalant had ordered Vivian to recruit one hundred sturdy serfs to start work simultaneously.

"What do you think these toilets are for?"

"Such fine stone houses—maybe they're for the future civil administrator to live in!"

"But there's only one civil administrator, and they're building three toilets!"

"Could they be for selling beer? I saw stone houses selling beer in Baron Quinte's territory!"

"The places that sell beer are called taverns! And these are toilets!"

"Who cares what they are? The Lord told us to work and is paying us a wage of thirty copper coins, so we should just work hard!"

"True, Lord Nalant is the most generous, though the Lord doesn't know how to farm. He made us plant the wheat seedlings so densely that I fear much of the wheat will grow empty husks!"

"Shh, do you want to be hanged in the square? How dare you discuss the generous Lord like that? Besides, the Lord even lent us fifty catties of meat; that little bit of wasted wheat is nothing compared to that!"

"That's right! Tell me, were you ever able to eat meat every day before?"