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Chapter 128

24th April 1574

"Sir, just like you requested, we brough three big pots, along with a group of men willing to work. As for the food, just like we expected, our neighbours refused to sell any."

Forcibly pulled apart from my dear child just as it was about to shine in this world for the very first time, I couldn't help but feel quite annoyed by this rotten timing of those villagers. They had so much time to come earlier, and they could literally come even an hour later, and I would already see the greatest obstacle on the road to industrialisation shattering and falling apart with my own eyes!

But now, instead of enjoying the fruits of my hard labour and investment, I had to deal with some plebs since they refused to deal with anyone but me as if fearing that my men would dare to go against my orders!

"Good, how much did you pay for the pots?"

According to the deal we had, for every coin they spent, I would pay two. Even though I knew how bad that deal was, I never expected them to provide me with anything of any real value, so I couldn't be really bothered with their problems.

Additionally, now that I had most likely a working steam horse, creating a simple blast furnace was just as simple as it could get, meaning that with just a little bit more effort, rather than using cooking pots, I could simply cast a proper concrete mixer!

But it went without saying that I did offer them this deal and asked them to provide some pots for me, so instead of trying to save some silly coins right now, I simply pulled out my pouch from my belt and looked up waiting for the elder to give his price.

"Yyy… eight groshes!"

Clearly staggering as if he couldn't decide whether to risk asking for such an exorbitant price or hesitating whether not to try his luck even more by claiming to pay even more. But rather than getting angry at him, I simply sent him an annoyed look of someone who was pulled away from his business.

"For all three of them, I a.s.sume?"

On the market, a single iron pot could go for two, maybe three groshes, yet this man was clearly claiming to pay about three times as much, and asking for double the amount! While I could accept a small cheat on his side as I understood that everyone was simply trying to make a living, seeing how he tried to rob me out of almost an entire red-golden in d.a.m.ned daylight, I would lose my own self-respect if I were to just accept it!

"Sir… Didn't you promise…"

"Yeah, I did promise and I will deliver. I just want you to keep in mind that I also send one of my men to ask around for how much did those pots go. Do I need to explain what will happen if the number you gave me and the number my man will report me won't match?"

While at first, I wanted to keep this ploy a small secret to make use of it later on, with my annoyance now shooting through the roof, I couldn't be bothered to play this kind of games with such a simple man.

"S-sir…"

With a visible fear building on the face of the villager, I could finally see how he acted when instead of having a group of his brethren behind him, he was in front of a huge ma.s.s of people ready to do my bidding at any given moment.

"We p-paid… one grosh for each…"

From one extreme to another, for G.o.d's sake! Even on the city markets when the prices could be lower than in the villages due to the simple fact that those pots were made there, no one would ever sell one for one grosh! Just the iron required to make one was worth as much, meaning that the man in front of me was most likely trying to just get his money back and return to the safety of his village.

Not willing to pay him any more of my mind, I pulled out twelve silver coins from my pouch and tossed them towards the scheming villager.

"About the men willing to work, how many did you bring?"

With the payment for the pots done, the villagers quickly placed them aside. Just one look was enough for me to realise that instead of using spare ones, the three containers they brought still had some leftover food in them. Just to be safe, I pulled out three more coins and tossed them at the man, before looking at him in a way that made it obvious I wanted to get my answer as soon as possible.

"From my village, there were twenty-seven…"

"In total, man! I'm kinda busy right here, so stop giving me half-truths and just tell whats going on."

Instead of wasting even more of my time on this stupid villager, I wanted to get this matter over with as soon as possible to get back to my dear steam horse.

"S-sir. I brought sixty-three men in total!"

Realising that my annoyance must come from the fact that I was busy rather than from how he attempted to cheat me, the villager suddenly changed his composure and finally answered the question in the way that could satisfy me.

"Good. As promised, each will receive a grosh per day of work. Since you guys came late today, you will work for the food you will eat. Now, get out of my sight!"

Finally freed from this annoying task, I summoned the two stonemasons that irked me a bit before, ordering them to turn those stupid villagers into a proper workforce, capable of helping out with our tasks.

While I was quite harsh on those villagers, in fact, they would be of great help! Used to the hard work, as soon as the task wouldn't be too complicated for them, the vision of earning an entire silver for a day should be enough for them to work their bottoms off!

"Now, let's finally get back to the…"

"Sir! The miners have returned from the mines!"

"f.u.c.k!"

Read novel online » Road To The Crown » 128 Villagers Arriving

24th April 1574

While in itself this was a good message, I felt like if G.o.d decided that everything would now pile up on my head just for the sake of making me unable to go and see how would my d.a.m.ned creation work!

But this matter was too important to ignore, as depending on how big their haul was, I would have to adjust the size of the first blast furnace that we would build in order to smelt it all.

And to make matters even more surprising, before even a single man managed to come out of the mine, two barges reached the sh.o.r.e to the equal surprise of their crews and my men watching them with utmost curiosity.

Only when a few moments later, as if following some kind of divine clock, the first batch of dirty men started to come out of the entrance sheds did I realise why did those barges arrive in almost a perfectly synchronised manner to the miners coming out.

"That was a long week!"

Even before I managed to reach the mine's entrance to have a talk with its workers, I could hear their loud voices carried by the winds over the flatlands. Used to working at a great depths, they made a habit of shouting in order for the other party to heart them, with no one really caring if said habit would be annoying for the others, as for the most part, miners rather than merging with the local villagers, would create a community of their own.

"I see that you have finally come out. How was work?"

While I still wanted to hurry as much as I could to test the steam horse of mine, if I were to blatantly ask them for their haul and what they would like to have automated in their mine, I would be either taken for a crazy man that no one should pay any attention to, or simply killed on the spot if the miners even for a moment believed I could turn dangerous.

Even though killing a n.o.ble was one of the greatest offences one could commit in the current times, miners never really cared about the law that much. Just like the soldiers, even if of common birth, would toughen up and be willing to fight for what they considered as their own rights, with how taxing on the body the work in the mines were, the bottom line for this kind of people was really fragile.

"And who the heck are you?"

As soon as I spoke, the entire group that had the fortune to finish their work and come out of the mines first stopped in their tracks, gripping the pickaxes in their hands a bit stronger as they turned around to face me.

Sensing the potential danger, Al instantly jumped to my side, bringing quite a lot of the workers along with him, putting me in the uncomfortable stand-offish position with the miners.

"h.e.l.lo, I'm the new owner of this place. Both of those mines were gifted to me for a span of twenty years by the governor. As such, I wanted to know and will ask again. How. Was. The. Work."

Just like with unruly dogs, the people that dared to flaunt their own personal strength against the status of a n.o.ble had to be instantly reminded what kind of relationship connected them to me. Even if they didn't like the fact that the ownership over their mine switched hands, all they could do was to swallow this sour pill and hope for the best!

"Ugh… What do you want then, your n.o.bleship?"

While changing the way he spoke, the tone of the leader of the group changed from clearly hostile to just sarcastic. Even though this was already a nice improvement, I still wasn't satisfied with the way he treated the owner of the place he worked at!

"Since you don't want to waste time on the small talk, then I won't insist on it. How much ore did you get this time?"

Hearing the question, the man and his followers instantly returned to their previous, clearly hostile behaviour, prompting Al to place his hands on the handle of his sabre and pistol. Forced to act myself, I raised my hand and stopped him before his overreacting would make the situation take a turn for the worse.

"Don't worry, your n.o.ble sir… As soon as the merchants will get the haul, you will get your fair share."

Spitting his words from behind his closed teeth, the man clearly noticed my move to stop the thing from escalating and most likely took it for a sign that I wouldn't dare to start the fight right here and now.

And to be honest, he was actually right!

With how limited my manpower was if I were to just execute this small group in front of me, both in the short and in the long run, the amount of ore that this mine would provide me with would decrease. As such, rather than killing those unruly workers of mine for the sake of saving the pride of my status, I allowed this man's rude behaviour to vanish from my mind before refuting his words.

"This time, merchants won't get their hands on the ores at all. How much would they pay you for what you guys got then?"

Building a blast furnace with the amount of manpower I had on hand would take one, maybe two days at most. If I were to just sell the ore to the merchants, there would be no way for me to create the second generation of the steam engine before the governor would come to pay me a visit!

"Wha… Eh… Three and a half ducats. As for the tax, one and a half ducat would go to your hands, your lordship."

Seeing that he wouldn't force his way by being rude or aggressive, the man attempted a different approach, flaunting the money right in my eyes. And if thinking about it through the eyes of almost any other n.o.ble of the commonwealth, there would be no way I would insist of doing it my way if I could get ninety groshes worth of gold just like that!

But once again, I wasn't your normal n.o.ble, and this kind of silly monetary benefits didn't catch my attention at all, especially when compared to the potential benefits I would get from creating and putting a new model of steam engine to use!

"We will do it this way then. You will bring all your haul here, and you will receive four red goldens, albeit only when the governor will come to pay me a visit in about a week. I think its a fair trade."

Once again, instead of wasting my time on arguing with this kind of stubborn people, it was better to just throw some money in their faces, and just watch how they turn from wild boars into cute, little doggos!

"With all due respect, sir, but you can put this kind of promises right up the end of your a.s.s!"

To my surprise, proposing them double the amount that they would receive from trading the haul with the merchants that arrived along with the next shift on the barges, didn't change this guy's man, but instead turned him aggressive once again!

Read novel online » Road To The Crown » 129 Unexpected Behaviour

24th April 1574

"So you don't want to earn double and keep a positive relationship with the one person capable of driving you out of work just because?"

Rather than flaring up in anger, I decided to pry into the reasons of this miner. With how good those strange negotiations were going, for this man to suddenly do a one hundred eighty degrees turn with his att.i.tude, meant that I had to strike some nerve of his without even realising it.

"Just like I said, you can go and shove your nice speech down your a.s.s. We have families to feed, and we won't bet their starvation on some random n.o.ble word!"

So that was the reason!

While I could expect it, with how for most of the people their wage meant the means to get by before the next payment would arrive, as someone from the future when despite how bad the economy in my country was, if someone used his money smart, he could still create a comfortable buffer in case something happened, making him suddenly lose his income.

On the other hand, for those miners, to get the payment for their work or not get it meant whether or not they would be able to support their livelihood for the next short period of time! And I could only imagine how bad it would feel to work this kind of high-paying but a health-costly job only to lose a week worth of income to a sc.u.mmy n.o.ble!

"So that's your reason. I think I get it, but I can't convince you right away. Would you mind coming with me? It so happens that both your appearance and the arrival of the villagers that you might see in the distance forced me away from finishing a funny project of mine, that will greatly change your lives in the near future."

Rather than trying to convince the miner of my pure heart and golden intentions, it would be better to simply show him the machine that would soon turn his acceptable paycheck into something that half of the country would envy. Even though I was going to buy off the iron from the miners for a lower price than what it was now, with the insane increase of productivity provided by this miraculous machine of steam, the amount they could steal from the greedy hold of the earth would also increase at least severalfold!

"Eh… You won't give up… Just make it quick, we are tired after working for a d.a.m.ned week straight!"

Yeah, as if!

While it was true that they remained underground for about a week from what I heard and saw with my own eyes, I highly doubted they worked without any break for that long! According to my estimates, as soon as they hit the cap of what they had to produce to get just enough money to be satisfies, their work turned into a drinking festival, when only those who lost the penalty would have to work for a while before returning to the work!

But there was a simple way to put this kind of people in line. A way so devious it was used all the way from the moment of its invention to the times I lived in.

Work per diem.

While to some point, they could already claim to work in this system, with how hard this work was right now, they most likely knew that overexerting themselves in the mine would not only lead to the greater risk for their health but also the potential fall of the prices of their ware!

That's why instead of making them work for as much as they wanted, after implementing my inventions in their mine, I would guarantee them the price at which I would buy the ore they would extract from the ground!

Obviously, as more and more inventions would enter their life, that price would be lowered by all sorts of applicancies I would offer them, yet no matter what, their earnings could only keep on increasing as would the output!

With most of the hard work taken away from them by the track and carts powered by the steam engine, with the steam horse pumping the water away from the flooded parts of the mine or even with steam-powered tools that could be developed as soon as I would be capable of producing portable steam engines, every single invention of mine that would be implemented in their line of work, would drastically increase their output, while slightly lowering the price of the ore.

But if that trend continued, even with all the uses I had for the metal, sooner or later I would hit the cap when I simply couldn't afford any more of the ore dug out from this mine!

Yet I couldn't be bothered by such a silly problem!

By the time the ore would become so popular and inexpensive, rather than me using this place for my own benefit, the entire commonwealth would keep placing ma.s.sive orders on literally any product coming out of my factories, clogging the production queue for weeks if not months, and providing me with enough funds to keep expanding the mining area and rate!

Yet as my mind continued to want in the beautiful scenario that might soon be fulfilled, the reality, as usual, came knocking only to chase away all those useless thoughts, replacing them with the sight of my beautiful creation.

Even though it wasn't finished by any means, with some auxiliary mechanisms still requiring attention, as long as we would compromise on doing some stuff by hand instead of making the machine itself solve its problems.

"Now, just watch."

Keeping in mind that the miners followed me to this site, I couldn't be bothered to even spare them a single look, busy signalling to my men that it was finally the time to wake up this beast from its slumber and put its fires to work!

It was time for the first-ever steam engine, or rather, steam horse to flex its muscles in front of an audience!

Read novel online » Road To The Crown » 130 Strange Negotiations With Miners

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