Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest

Chapter 51 - 51 20 I Want It All

?51: Chapter 20: I Want It All 51: Chapter 20: I Want It All Roman’s 600 jin of maltose fetched a price of only 20 gold coins.

Morry brought 18 draft oxen and 28 draft horses.

Among them, the price of a draft horse was 7.5 silver coins.

28 draft horses were valued at 21 gold coins.

That is to say, the maltose Roman brought couldn’t even exchange for the 28 draft horses.

On the other hand, the price of draft oxen was 5.5 silver coins, totaling 9.9 gold coins in value.

Draft horses are difficult to use in warfare, mostly used to transport supplies or pull carriages.

As Morry had once said, compared to draft oxen, draft horses have less endurance, lower physical strength, and are less efficient in plowing fields.

Long-term yoking to the draft horses makes it difficult for them to breathe and may even lead them to die suddenly.

For these reasons, the price of draft horses is not high and is far different from war horses.

The total price of this livestock was 30 gold coins, and even by bartering, Roman couldn’t use the maltose to buy these draft oxen and horses.

The previous boasting suddenly fell flat.

Yet, Roman didn’t feel embarrassed.

He gestured with his hands and said to Morry, “The next time your merchant ship comes to Sige Town, I can give you 200 barrels of maltose.”

Given that the production cost of this item is surprisingly low and it’s convenient to make, there was no reason for Roman to not continue producing.

After all, there was plenty of wheat.

Morry, flustered, said, “How much?!

200 barrels?

6000 jin?!”

He immediately realized that Roman Riptide had mastered the art of making sugar and had named this syrup maltose.

Is this sugar extracted from malt?

How much wheat is needed to produce one jin of maltose?

If the cost were too high, how could it possibly be produced on a large scale?

Morry’s initially furrowed brows relaxed instantly, and he was at first genuinely taken aback, and then plunged into a whirlwind of thoughts.

Amid countless thoughts colliding, he instinctively blurted out, “If 200 barrels of maltose were to flood the market, its value would become very low.”

Roman didn’t care how low the price could drop since it was basically like picking up money.

But since maltose was a new product, he was somewhat worried that this approach would expose Sige Town, attracting many covetous glances.

This wouldn’t be good for Sige Town at the moment.

“Then forget about it,” Roman easily gave up the idea.

Then, Roman asked, “You should know what I am doing now, right?”

Morry had interacted with the residents of Sige Town before Roman’s arrival, a habit of traders, to quickly learn what might be happening in an area.

And the news he had learned here was somewhat hard for him to believe, hence his somewhat excited demeanor upon meeting Roman.

“You are building a road…”

Roman nodded, “Yes, I found a salt mine and I’m preparing to start mining.”

Morry knew that this land contained vast wealth and thus, he was willing to invest without expecting immediate returns.

However, he hadn’t expected the development speed of Sige Town to be so rapid; Roman had found a salt mine and almost finished a preliminary clearing of a 40-kilometer road within just a month.

This efficiency was extremely astounding.

Even Makor Fury, whom Morry had seen before and who was one of the sons of the three Grand Dukes of the Black Iron Kingdom and a model of excellence, couldn’t compare to the extraordinary figure before him.

Not everyone can find a way to get rich so quickly.

He hastily said, “Can I go and see it?”

Roman could well understand Morry’s eagerness.

He found a person to take Morry on a tour.

Although there had been a heavy rain recently, the flat land still retained mud and disordered cart tracks, but overall, it was manageable.

Morry sped along the way, witnessing carts and wagons bustling along the road, and soon, he saw hundreds of farmers fervently working on leveling the road.

This expansive road had yet to be completed, with the last ten miles remaining; however, a small path had been built in advance.

Although it couldn’t accommodate large vehicles, it allowed people to reach the Salt Mine on foot.

Roman had already sent dozens of farmers there to prepare.

They intended to set up a salt processing facility, clearing away the surface stones, and digging several meters or even tens of meters deep before reaching a corner of this rock salt deposit.

In comparison to sea salt, rock salt was purer; it had high purity and fewer impurities.

Some rock salts could even be used as crude salt directly, for barbecuing or cooking—a few rubs with a salt brick would suffice.

However, excessive consumption could lead to salt poisoning.

Therefore, it needed to be processed through smashing, dissolving, filtering, and boiling.

The fine salt produced this way could be considered refined salt, free from safety concerns—rest assured, humans of this era would likely die from other mishaps before suffering from poisoning.

Upon seeing the high-purity rock salt and the ice-like massive crystals, Morry was extraordinarily excited.

He realized it was a high-quality salt mine and easy to exploit, promising a very high future output.

Salt was a strategic resource, and its value was universally recognized.

More precisely, its importance was only slightly less than iron.

This special mineral could even affect certain Witch’s Magic.

Consequently, the Church held salt in high regard, viewing it as a sacred object capable of exorcising and purifying demons.

Influenced by this, even moderately wealthy families would purchase this salt to ward off demons and evil spirits.

The King and Nobles also treated salt as a special form of currency, using salt and iron, wheat, fur, and meat to offset most of the military pay.

Thus, when Morry returned from the Salt Mine, he was glowing and repeatedly exclaimed, “Good, good, good.”

Roman asked, “Do you want salt or sugar?”

Morry took a deep breath and gave an answer identical to Roman’s.

“I want them all!”

Roman was satisfied with Morry’s response, “Alright, we’ll offset the livestock prices with salt.

When you visit Sige Town next time, I’ll still provide you with Maltose, and how much precisely depends on how much you buy.

For now, I will sell you salt at a rate of 0.1 copper coin per jin without taxing you.

Once you’ve transported away 200,000 jin of salt, I will increase the rate to 0.2 copper coins per jin and charge an additional 1 copper coin tax per hundred jin—do you understand?”

Morry definitely understood Roman’s tactic.

The purchasing price was set, and the export tax was separate.

Even if someone bought a large amount of salt from a producing area, they would still be compelled by the local Nobles to pay the corresponding exit tax as they left.

At the same time, upon entering another region, they would also face import duties.

Paying 1 copper coin of duty per hundred jin of salt could be considered very low.

After all, salt was essential, and the duty significantly impacted its price.

During stable salt prices, the general purchase price from merchants was 0.2 copper coins per jin, but in socially unstable times, it could easily increase to 0.25 copper coins or even higher.

For every hundred jin of salt purchased, an additional 4 to 6 copper coins in import/export duties had to be paid, indirectly raising the purchase cost.

Thus, many merchants hoped to find a salt-producing area with stable prices and low taxes.

…

PS: Wheat is a high-grade grain; one jin of wheat equals three to four jin of coarse grains.

The export price of one jin of salt equals four wheat, and the market price is one salt for twenty wheat.

Roman gave Morry the price of 2 wheat per jin of salt—until Morry transported away 200,000 jin of salt, after which the price would be raised to the standard rate of one salt for four wheat.

Since the oxen and horses Morry brought were given for free to Roman, this exchanged for a low purchase price.

Don’t think that 200,000 jin of salt is a lot.

The Black Iron Kingdom had a population of tens of millions.

How much salt would a society of ten million need each year?

If anyone thought that the annual societal demand was less than 5 million jin of salt, then there’s not much to discuss.