In fact, Sardinson County had more specialties and attractions than Wei Wei had imagined.
Without Wei Wei's knowledge, a new grain store had opened in Dingle, the town closest to Sardinson Castle.
It wasn't unusual for a new shop to open in the town, but a grain store was somewhat surprising.
Dingle was a small town with an existing grain store that didn't do much business. The poor grew their crops, and if they didn't have enough to eat, they couldn't afford to buy flour or wheat. Even if they were short on food, they would only exchange for the cheapest beans from those who had a surplus, rather than going to the grain store, as the same items were more expensive there than if they bartered directly with farmers.
Only those households that didn't farm but had a steady income would frequent the grain store, and such households were few in Dingle.
Thus, the store's main income wasn't from selling a trivial amount of grain; they primarily bought the farmers' produce at low prices and sold it at higher prices in more prosperous areas to those who could afford it.
The profits in between were quite substantial.
The store's owner was a relative of the town mayor and held some status in Dingle, so for many years, there were no competitors, and the store's business, while not booming, was very stable.
After all, the less knowledgeable farmers didn't realize that the wheat they sold could fetch several times the price elsewhere.
Perhaps some knew, but apart from accepting the grain store's offered price, they had no other place to exchange for large quantities of beans and barley.
Sell to their lord? The previous earl didn't bother with such troublesome business; he had plenty of grain to sell and could get more from his serfs, which satisfied his external business—the store in the capital originally sold grain and didn't do well—so naturally, he wasn't willing to spend effort buying grain scattered among the free peasants.
That's why the grain store owner, Cort, had the opportunity to pick up the slack from the old Earl's fingers and keep his store running well for nearly ten years.
But now things were different. The new grain store, like Cort, would buy grain from the free peasants, and they offered higher prices, so naturally, others were more willing to sell to them.
This infuriated Cort, who thought the new store owner was very disrespectful, starting a price war right off the bat.
Angry, Cort went to his mayor uncle, threatening to teach the newcomer a lesson, but soon returned with his tail between his legs, raising his store's purchase price to match the new store's, not daring to say anything more.
Because that store was opened by the earl! In Sardinson County, who dared to oppose the earl?
After buying a batch of wheat, the new grain store started recruiting workers, not just one or two, but as many as they could get, as long as they were hardworking, and the wages were quite good.
Now, the poorer townsfolk went to sign up, and the store took them all. The men were split, some to build mills and cement open spaces, and the women divided into two groups, one to grind and sift flour at the mill, and the other to make pasta together.
The pasta was naturally the spaghetti taught by Wei Wei.
Although the spaghetti of later times was made from a specific type of wheat—"Durum wheat"—which could withstand long cooking without falling apart, and Wei Wei's spaghetti wasn't as durable, the taste wasn't much different, especially for people of this era who couldn't waste firewood, so they preferred something that cooked faster.
After Wei Wei opened the door of business for Felix, the clever young man extrapolated that Sardinson County had more to sell than just essential oils.
Wasn't pasta a better option?
It was made from flour, so it must be more expensive than flour, something only nobles and the wealthy could afford, but its taste was better than bread and most staple foods, and few who tried it didn't like it. Moreover, dried pasta could be stored for a long time, making it very suitable for travel, and it was easy to transport. Felix could sell it to every corner of the Pradi Empire.
So, realizing this, Felix wanted to get into the pasta business.
Of course, he didn't hide this from Wei Wei and even wanted to invite her to join, but Wei Wei wasn't very interested in this business, so the whole thing was arranged by Felix himself.
Instead of setting up a place in the estate or choosing servants and serfs to do the work, Felix chose to open a store in Dingle and recruit townsfolk to work.
Under Wei Wei's subtle influence, Felix finally felt a sense of responsibility as a lord—he wanted to make Sardinson County and his people better than before, so that he himself could be better.
Moreover, Felix had overheard Wei Wei privately telling a maid that it was a pity Sardinson County didn't have a big city, or else she could go out shopping.
So, while Wei Wei wanted to develop Sardinson County, Felix had the same idea.
He wanted to build a new city within Sardinson County, large enough, clean enough, and prosperous enough for Wei Wei to spend a whole day shopping without finishing!
Sometimes, love not only blinds but also drives one to madness.
Felix probably never thought he'd be someone driven mad by love, but he was willing to indulge in it.
The first step the highly motivated earl took was to make pasta known to everyone and willing to spend money on it, bringing a steady stream of income to Sardinson County.
Once the reputation of pasta spread, it would naturally attract merchants who were previously unwilling to come to Sardinson County, bringing a different kind of vitality to the county.
"Then you can fix the roads," Wei Wei told him. "We have a saying, 'To get rich, build roads first.' Poor transportation is a major obstacle to local development. A good road not only facilitates transportation but also changes outsiders' perceptions of Sardinson. Fix the roads, ensure traffic safety, and in the future, whenever we have something good, people will be willing to come."
Wei Wei had long been dissatisfied with the roads here, but she also knew that road construction wasn't a one- or two-day affair. With the current manpower and resources, it might take several years to build a single road.
So after giving this advice, Wei Wei frowned and added, "Sardinson County's population is still too small. If there were more people, development could be faster."
She wasn't speaking without basis; Sardinson was truly short on people.
Such a large county with a total population of less than 100,000, about 40,000 of whom were in Felix's territory, the remaining 60,000 with two-thirds being subjects of other barons and knights, and only one-third being free peasants.
In China, even in ancient times, a larger county town would have more people than that.
That's why the people in the county lived so scattered, with only three larger towns, the distances between them measurable in days.
And the land within the county wasn't fully utilized, with many wastelands, ostensibly as pastures, but in reality, these areas might not have anyone grazing.
And because of the three-field system, a third of the cultivated farmland was left fallow each year, which was acceptable in the past, but now that they could fertilize the fields, there was no need to leave them fallow to restore fertility. The farmers, who were already struggling to cultivate about ten acres a year, couldn't handle the additional land that used to be left fallow, so increasing the population was indeed necessary.
Felix also saw this problem. The fallow land, after being treated with fire manure and compost, was visibly restored to a cultivable state, as experienced farmers could tell. During the recent autumn sowing, many serfs tried to cultivate more land, but they were truly unable to do more, so the restored land had to be sown with grass seeds collected by the serfs' children from the pastures, adding green manure while providing winter fodder for the livestock.
This was seen as a great waste by everyone, as most livestock wouldn't be kept until the next spring, so they didn't need that much fodder.
Felix also noticed the various problems caused by the lack of population, but how to increase the population was an issue.
The quickest method at the moment should be to buy people. The Pradi Empire bordered several countries, and while there wouldn't be large-scale conflicts, there were small frictions. The losing side would become captives of the winning side, with nobles and knights being ransomed, but ordinary civilians weren't so lucky; captives would be sold as slaves at auctions, which was also the main source of nobles in various countries.
If they were to buy slaves, it would indeed be the quickest way to supplement manpower, and unlike China's belief that "those not of our race must have different hearts," Europe's chaotic situation led to the rapid rise and fall of nations, and civilians had a very vague concept of "country," not caring whose subjects they were. Some who couldn't make ends meet would even sell themselves, so buying slaves from other countries didn't pose a risk of rebellion.
But the price of slaves wasn't low. Buying a few was manageable, but buying too many made the deal less cost-effective.
So, should he also try, like other nobles, to send knights disguised as bandits to raid other nobles' territories for people?
This idea was tempting, but Felix had to regretfully give it up because the nobles adjacent to Sardinson County were more or less related to his family, either through his mother's family or his sister-in-law's, and their relationships were maintained quite well, so he couldn't make a move.
With the plan to raid for people dismissed and buying people being too expensive, the only option left was to attract free peasants to settle in Sardinson County voluntarily.
If free peasants came to settle on their own, then it wasn't him raiding for people.
"...Do you think reducing some taxes could attract enough free peasants to settle in Sardinson County?"
Wei Wei was surprised by his sudden jump to this question, then smiled, "Of course, there's nothing more attractive than low taxes."
"But compared to attracting others, perhaps you should start by improving the treatment of your subjects."
Felix nodded. He had recently experienced some benefits from improving the treatment of his subjects.
For example, by providing just one meal a day, even if it was the cheapest beans, the serfs worked harder for him. He heard that recently many serfs were inquiring if there were any projects like building reservoirs, hoping to serve the lord after the autumn sowing to obtain food and reduce their family's burden.
The same was true in Dingle. With jobs, the free peasants had a steady income, and their lives were much better than before. People from surrounding villages and towns, hearing this, came to ask if they were still hiring, making it much easier to recruit manpower now than before.
If it were in the past, when asked to work for the lord, they would have dodged faster than anyone.
So Felix was recently planning to open a grain store in the other two towns, buying grain and hiring people to make pasta.
And once the pasta was sold, the profits would be much higher than simply selling grain.
As for where to sell, he had already thought of that.
Ahem, getting off track, let's first think about which taxes to reduce.
While Felix was thinking about reducing some taxes to attract free peasants from other territories to settle in Sardinson County, the team from Sardinson County finally successfully delivered the essential oils to the capital.
The envoy who had stayed in the capital waiting for the king's summons wasn't idle; he had another order from Felix to convert the Williams family's grain store in the capital into a store suitable for selling essential oils, modeled after jewelry stores.
So the former grain store had been completely transformed, the staff recruited, and it was ready to open as soon as the essential oils arrived.
Such a change wasn't small, and the noblewomen who had learned about the essential oils from the palace had long turned their attention to Felix Williams, the Earl of Sardinson. While writing to request essential oils, they naturally didn't miss the store belonging to Felix Williams.
Thus, even before the renovation was complete, many came to inquire, and the store's workers were told by their employer to inform anyone asking that the store would soon sell essential oils.
Although they didn't know what essential oils were, given the employer's generosity, they were happy to help.
So before the essential oil store even opened, the nobles of the capital knew of its existence.
The ladies and misses even sent servants to guard the city gates, asking any caravan from Sardinson County about the situation, and if it was confirmed to be transporting essential oils, they would immediately notify them.
At first, the servants thought they were waiting for a caravan, but with so many caravans entering and leaving the capital daily, who knew which were from Sardinson County? Asking merchants about their goods required considerable effort.
But after waiting for a few days, they found that not a single caravan from Sardinson had arrived, and many merchants didn't even know there was such a place in the Pradi Empire.
The servants waited bitterly for a long time before finally seeing a team from Sardinson County.
A team bearing a noble family crest, escorted by knights and soldiers.
This wasn't quite what they had imagined as a caravan.
At first, the servants didn't dare to approach, but remembering their status, someone finally took action.
Soon they confirmed that this team was indeed the one their mistresses had sent them to find.
They immediately went back to inform their masters.
Thus, when the delivery team from Sardinson County finally arrived at the transformed store, they were followed by a crowd of servants from various noble families waiting to buy essential oils, including even a servant from the palace.
This made the store manager, Zachary, both happy and troubled.
Zachary had been the store manager before, and when the new earl took over, he worried he might lose his job. Although he kept it, the sudden shift from selling grain to essential oils left him with no confidence, but with the earl's insistence, he had no say.
So Zachary had been worried all this time, and if it weren't for the constant inquiries about essential oils, he might have resigned already.
Now, seeing business come knocking before the store even opened, Zachary was naturally happy, but he also worried about the insufficient supply.
Since Zachary was kept as the store manager, Felix naturally informed him about the various essential oils' uses, pricing, and the quantity of the first batch when arranging things.
And the amount he knew about was not enough for the servants shouting for ten or twenty bottles each.
Moreover, even after he mentioned that each bottle of essential oil cost two gold coins, a hefty price, no one backed down.
This was quite a shock for Zachary, who had never dealt with women's goods before.
But with business at the door, there was no reason to turn it away, especially since the servants were from major noble families, none of whom he could afford to offend. Under the "siege" of the crowd, Zachary didn't hold out long before agreeing to start selling on the spot.
But he knew he couldn't really sell according to the quantities demanded, or else those who came later wouldn't get any, and that would be trouble.
Finally, he loudly told everyone that each family was limited to five bottles, as there weren't more.
The knight in charge of delivery didn't stop him; they were only responsible for delivering the goods and ensuring their safety, not for how they were sold.
But seeing the chaos at the scene and the risk of damaging the yet-to-be-unloaded essential oils, he arranged for his soldiers to guard the goods to prevent any mishaps.
In the end, this batch of essential oils was sold out right at the doorstep before even entering the store, and the store, ready to open, naturally had to remain closed for the time being.
But no one minded. The servants from each household had mostly bought their essential oils, and although it was less than the intended amount, with even the palace servant only getting five bottles, they had nothing to complain about and happily went back to report to their masters.
Store manager Zachary was also happy; each bottle of essential oil was exchanged for gold coins, and in just a short while, a whole cart of five hundred bottles was exchanged for over a thousand gold coins. He had never imagined money could be made so easily.
Looking at the large bag of gold coins, Zachary approached the delivery knight and asked with unconcealed joy, "Sir Knight, did the earl say how these gold coins should be handled? Will you take them back?"
He wasn't comfortable keeping such a large sum in the store, and apart from setting aside some for taxes and ensuring the store's operation (though the opening had to be postponed), it would be better if they could take the rest back directly.
The delivery knight hadn't expected the goods to sell so quickly; they had originally planned to rest in the capital for a few days before returning.
But their orders did include taking the gold coins back, and the amount wasn't small, so the knight immediately changed plans, saying they would rest in the capital for a day and set off back to Sardinson County the next morning.
"When I left, the earl said the next batch would arrive in ten days, with more quantity than this time. Make arrangements during this period and don't let it end up like this again."
Zachary breathed a sigh of relief; ten days should be enough time to manage.
But the very next day, Zachary was plunged into the deep waters of visits from various households.
If he hadn't repeatedly sworn that there was no stock and guaranteed that there would be a new batch in ten days, the noblewomen, who had found themselves outdated at last night's banquet, would have surely come in person to buy.
Heaven knows how humiliated these proud ladies and misses felt when they discovered at the banquet that many were discussing the wonders of essential oils and complimenting each other on their scents, while they were still using incense, and the disdainful looks they received made them feel so ashamed.
But with ten days to wait before they could buy essential oils, would they have to endure being the subject of ridicule in the meantime?
So those who couldn't buy essential oils had to beg those who had come to part with them, and after paying much more than the price of the essential oils, they finally managed to get a bottle.
Of course, this was only possible at the very beginning. After a few days, when the effects of the essential oils started to show, no one was willing to part with their bottles anymore, as they didn't have many to begin with.
In those few days, the queen, who was the first to use essential oils and had improved her skin condition, boldly received noblewomen without powder, showing them her much fairer face with reduced pores, and the news that essential oils could make one beautiful spread throughout the noble circle.
Especially those who initially didn't know how miraculous the effects of essential oils were and only liked their fragrance, so they didn't follow the instructions and instead extravagantly sprinkled the oils on their dresses for scent, soon regretted wasting the essential oils that could make them more beautiful as ordinary incense, and the remaining amount might not even be enough for them to use until the new batch arrived, let alone pass on to others.
Thus, with demand outstripping supply, the second batch of essential oils became a hot commodity for everyone to fight over.
...
Original Author's note: Essential oils made by hand aren't that miraculous; it's all exaggerated here for fun, so don't take it seriously.