Su Qin soon took a seat in the room, sat beside the desk, and pulled a sheet of paper from a drawer. The paper was of fairly good quality.
He picked up a quill, dipped it in ink, and began writing on the paper.
[March budget advances: Capital: 50 gold coins (funded by Yaron) + 40 gold (income from the lord's assets) Military allocation: -(30+10) gold coins (100 recruits, 20 personal guards) Civil officials: -5 gold (10 people) Salaries for the Master of Coin and the captain of the personal guard: -2 gold Advance on rewards for reporting moles: -5 gold Daily castle expenses: -5 gold Card draws: -10 gold Item exchange (antibiotics): -10 gold Total: +13 gold]
He wrote the Chinese characters on the paper stroke by stroke, neat and square. Arabic numerals and Chinese characters were both excellent carriers of information.
After finishing, Su Qin sat at the desk and thought, System, bring up the personal assets of the lord of Gulltown.
The system immediately appeared before Su Qin's eyes. Of course, only he could see it.
[Income provided by the lord's personal assets: Agriculture Gull Manor: +3,600 units of grain/year Industry: Redwood forest: +20 gold/month Smithy: +20 gold/month
It seems the territory was very poor after the original owner took so much away?
Su Qin thought for a while longer about how to make money. Suddenly, he heard a knock at the door.
After hearing the knocking, Su Qin told whoever was at the door to come in. It turned out to be Yira.
Yira slowly walked in and said to Su Qin, "My lord, breakfast is ready. Will you eat in the dining room on the first floor or the second floor?"
Su Qin thought for a moment and said, "I'll eat on the first floor."
Only a few people were eating on the first floor that day. Su Qin greeted them, finished breakfast, and drank a glass of water.
After eating, he found the head maid and gave her a few instructions, transferring Yira to serve as his personal maid.
After all, there were some everyday matters Su Qin could not handle himself. For his own safety, he still needed to win some people over, divide others, and dismiss some.
After eating, Su Qin took two personal guards out through the castle gates, walked past the training camp, then passed the barracks and stables, and entered the storehouse.
Su Qin went inside and did not emerge until a long time later.
Afterward, he called over two more personal guards from the training ground, bringing the number accompanying him to four.
Meanwhile, the recruits on the training ground were making wooden spears under the guidance of the other personal guards.
Redwood was hard and moisture-resistant! It could actually be used against unarmored enemies!
Outside the manor gates, a broad road stretched east, west, and south. This was Gulltown's main street.
As a lord, he needed to inspect his territory. In the medieval West, the residents of a territory were theoretically the private property of the nobility.
Even if a lord pinned commoners down in their own homes and killed them, no one would intervene.
But he would lose the people's support, and it might even cost him his life.
Sometimes, the people's support was still very important.
Being trusted and liked by the people could reduce the cost of governing.
The people were naturally opposed to the nobility, so the most important thing for a lord was to balance the interests of the people and the nobles.
Of course, ordinary nobles naturally sided with the nobility.
Su Qin had no intention of building a utopia, a capitalist society, or a communist society. That was unrealistic.
The productive forces had not reached that level. Recklessly introducing any ideology would be a terrifying thing!
Still, Su Qin was willing to do some things in this world.
Su Qin and his party stood out on the street. With a greatsword at his right hip, Su Qin constantly scanned the passersby.
Some people tried to greet Su Qin.
They included peddlers, fishermen, and artisans.
The first person to cautiously try greeting Su Qin was a mother holding a child. She looked at him with gratitude.
Her family were farmers. Originally, they had to pay an agricultural tax to the lord every month at a rate of 70%, but Su Qin had waived their taxes for a year.
Even if taxes resumed a year later, it would give her family three years of breathing room.
The tax exemption was not something Su Qin had come up with on a whim. He had settled on it after much thought.
If Su Qin wanted to be truly accepted by the residents of Gulltown, he would have to pay a price.
For now, though, Su Qin needed to show some concern and greet the subject before him. The mother in a black headscarf held her child and greeted him with a smile. "Greetings, my lord!"
Hearing her words, Su Qin stopped.
The four personal guards spread out around him, holding their spears and keeping a careful watch.
Su Qin touched the gull brooch on the front of his robe and replied in a gentle tone, "Hello." Then he moved a little closer and looked at the child in her arms. Unable to tell the child's sex, he said slowly, "Ma'am, may I hold your child?"
The woman said cautiously, "My lord, it's a... it's a girl. Would you like to hold her?"
Hearing this, Su Qin smiled and said, "I like girls!" The woman was a little shorter than Su Qin, and her face was somewhat tanned. She carefully handed over the bundle holding the child.
Su Qin slowly raised both hands, not daring to use the slightest force. The girl in his arms had black hair and blue eyes, and was plump! She beamed at Su Qin, babbling away.
Su Qin felt happy and said, "She'll definitely be a beauty when she grows up!"
He carefully handed her back, waved, and said, "Goodbye, ma'am. I still have other places to inspect."
The woman took the child and carefully stepped out of the circle formed by the personal guards. Su Qin continued onward.
Behind Su Qin, the mother was surrounded by a group of women, all wanting to hold the little beauty. They kept looking at Su Qin's retreating figure and talking.
From then on, some men and women along the road began greeting Su Qin.
At first, Su Qin responded to each of them out of curiosity. Later, somewhat annoyed by the fuss, he merely gave slight nods in acknowledgment.
Su Qin had come out that morning with a purpose. He was going to the smithy, the one counted among the lord's assets.
The deed to the smithy was in his study. It was his private property. There was also some farmland around Gull Manor that belonged to the manor itself, and thus to him.
Before long, Su Qin reached his intended destination, Gull The Smith's Shop, beside South Main Street.
This was Gulltown's only large official smithy. It mainly forged weapons and shields for passing knights or lords. Farming tools were made by the other small smithies.
Of course, it made armor too, but Su Qin did not like running around in armor every day. It was somewhat cumbersome for everyday wear.
Su Qin soon reached his destination.
Standing at the smithy's entrance, Su Qin instructed the four personal guards, "Stand guard at the entrance. I'll go inside and take a look."
"Yes, my lord!" the personal guards replied earnestly, holding their spears. Then they took up positions on either side of the entrance.
Su Qin then slowly went through the entrance...