Lord: Stripped of My Inheritance from the Start - Chapter 253 - 252: Sell Looms or Open a Factory

Chapter 253: Chapter 252: Sell Looms or Open a Factory

The Wubei Territory’s Knight Squad was about to embark on their first expedition.

After informing Ridder, Ronin finalized the roster of Professional Knights and Mages who would be accompanying them.

Their target this time was neither a Wilderness Tribe nor the careless Knight Squad from Swamp Town, but the Polante Thief Gang, who had at least one Golden Knight.

Therefore, Ronin was bringing all three of them: Ridder, Macken, and Elron.

Three Advanced Level Professionals: Joffrey, Rogner, and the newly promoted Mage, Jenny.

Two Intermediate Knights: Krami and Babulin.

Four Basic Level Knights: once again, the most promising ones—David, Tom, Grado, and Tomasz.

The remaining Professional Knights, led by Horn, would command several dozen militiamen split into groups to handle the defense of the territory’s towns.

Wubei Territory was located in the rearmost part of Wushan Territory. Barring the outbreak of a major war, no enemy would attack here.

In the past, the greatest threat to the territory had been the Magical Beasts from the Demon Beast Mountain Range.

But with Carlos’s recent strolls through the area, any Magical Beast with a shred of sense wouldn’t dare come near.

Thus, the territory’s defense basically consisted of making sure the common folk didn’t cause trouble and overseeing the few hundred slaves Anthony sent over from time to time.

This was not a difficult task for Professional Knights like Horn.

The only thing Ronin regretted was that he probably wouldn’t be able to witness this year’s autumn harvest. He wondered if the technological innovations and fertilizer application would yield a surprisingly large crop.

The clatter of horse hooves echoed as Ronin arrived at Purple Fruit Village in Sanfang Town.

The main reason Ronin hadn’t taken Horn on the expedition was that he needed him to lead the sericulture efforts.

With the arrival of June, the temperature in Wubei Territory had risen and was getting hotter, making it suitable for raising silkworms.

Ten acres of Mulberry Fields held ten thousand Mulberry Trees, which were now a lush, green expanse. All these leaves would become food for the silkworms.

Following Ronin’s instructions, Purple Fruit Village had already cleared out several rooms, and the Carpenter’s apprentices had made plenty of wooden basins for the silkworms.

In truth, it would be best to make these things from bamboo strips, but Cyan Bamboo Village didn’t have any bamboo weavers yet. Ronin hadn’t had the time to look into it in detail, so they had to make do with wooden basins, which worked almost as well.

“Lord, the cocoons have mostly hatched. The silkworm eggs laid by the silk moths after mating are all here.”

Horn said, pointing to the silkworm eggs arranged on pieces of Linen in several wooden basins.

Standing beside him were Leia and the farmers specifically recruited for the sericulture work.

Ronin nodded and bent over, carefully examining the silkworm eggs.

They were currently as small as sesame seeds, but as they developed, the eggs had turned from their original black to translucent. He could even see the outlines inside; they would probably hatch into baby silkworms in another two or three days.

“After they hatch, remember to feed them the tender leaves from the top of the Mulberry Trees. When you do, make sure to wipe the leaves dry. Chop them into small pieces and sprinkle them evenly over the silkworms, but don’t make the layer too thick.”

Raising silkworms generally took about a month and a half. Ronin definitely wouldn’t have time to come back later, so he could only use this opportunity to give them plenty of instructions.

“Also, pay attention to when the silkworms enter their dormant state. They’ll usually raise their heads and won’t eat or move. Don’t disturb them then, and don’t feed them any mulberry leaves. Wait until they’re done molting, then you can feed them whole leaves and use the leaves to help spread them out into more basins.”

In fact, Ronin had already gone over this with Horn once before. He was now repeating it in front of more people so they would all remember it well.

It was especially important to remove any dead silkworms promptly to avoid posing a threat to the healthy ones around them.

This world had no disinfectants or medicines to prevent infection, and it was the first time Horn and the others were raising silkworms. The best method was to keep them somewhat spread out.

Besides the successful silkworm hatching, there was also good news from Master Dan, who had also moved to Purple Fruit Village.

Master Dan had incorporated Ronin’s previous suggestions and referenced the structure of the backstrap looms used by Leia and other tailors to meticulously modify the treadle loom.

After several months of continuous improvement, Wubei Territory’s first weaving loom had finally made a breakthrough.

Its mechanics and operation were already sound. It just needed the functions for threading the reed and heddles to be worked out, and then it could basically be handed over to Leia for use.

Although they would still encounter various problems during use that would require continuous optimization, it had now achieved a breakthrough from zero to one—a truly rare feat!

Ronin praised him generously and wished him success in his imminent breakthrough to becoming a Grand Artisan.

At the same time, he instructed him to continue refining the current loom while also using it as a template to create looms suitable for producing linen and wool fabrics.

After all, silk, flax, and wool were different materials. While the looms’ structures had commonalities, there were still differences in the details.

For example, flax fibers are relatively coarse and require greater tension and a stronger mechanical structure to process and weave.

Silk, on the other hand, is much softer and requires a more delicate mechanical structure and finer tension control.

Now that they had a silk loom, modifying it to create a flax loom should only be a matter of time, given Master Dan’s abilities.

Once the looms were in production, Ronin could consider either selling them or opening a weaving factory to generate revenue.

If he chose to sell the looms, it would inevitably lead to others copying them, and the market for them might not be very large in the long run.

It was just like with the Curved Plow back then; Ronin had chosen to sell it to Wushan Castle in a one-time deal.

After selling a few batches, Wushan Castle couldn’t move them anymore because the lords who hadn’t bought them had already obtained copies through their own channels. Although it still cost them some money, it was much cheaper than buying from Wushan Castle.

If Ronin were to sell the looms, he would likely face the same problem.

’What if I take advantage of the fact that Wubei Territory has looms while the outside world doesn’t? I could open a weaving factory here, buy up resources like flax and wool from the other nobles in Wushan Territory, process them quickly, and then sell the finished cloth at a price relatively lower than the market rate. Could that bring a huge improvement to Wubei Territory’s financial problems?’

Ronin kept pondering this matter after leaving Master Dan. When he met with Chahar, he handed the problem of the weaving factory over to his newly appointed Finance Officer.

“My Lord, this problem you’ve given me is truly a difficult one!” Chahar said with a long face.

Ever since becoming Wubei Territory’s Finance Officer, he had been both happy and worried.

Happy, because he was deeply trusted by the Lord, who had put him in charge of all financial matters.

Worried, because the territory had too many expenses. Sometimes, a single expenditure could cost over a hundred Gold Coins, and his hands would tremble whenever he handled the money.

There was another matter that worried him even more: the storage of the Gold Coins.

Even though Guards patrolled the castle, even though the Gold Coins were hidden in secret passages and concealed rooms, and even though an ordinary person could never find them…

…he still went to sleep every night on edge, terrified that he would wake up to find all the Gold Coins gone. How would he ever explain that to the Lord?

“It’s okay if you don’t understand. You can learn.”

Ronin said earnestly, “Didn’t I just give you a raise? You can go find a merchant to be your teacher and learn how to do business properly. If money is an issue, just tell me. I’ll sponsor your studies!”

At this point, his tone turned stern.

“You’re still young. If you shrink back every time you face a challenge, how will you ever improve in the future?”

“Look at Wilson. How did he advance step-by-step from a Civil Servant to the Civil Affairs Chief? He never once complained to me that things were too difficult!”

Chahar lowered his head, nodding repeatedly while thinking to himself, ’The Lord is right. What the Lord says makes sense.’

Ronin stepped forward and clapped him on the shoulder. “Keep up the good work, Chahar. Don’t let me down. I’ve always believed in you!”

Chahar’s eyes instantly welled up with tears. “Rest assured, my Lord! I will do my best!”

There were still many matters, big and small, in the territory, but aside from managing the overall direction, Ronin was learning to let go of the small things.

This was both to cultivate his subordinates’ abilities in preparation for the future and to create a better life for himself.

’I’ve already transmigrated. I can’t be working like a dog every single day, can I?’

Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was almost June 12th, the day of the Wushan Territory’s noble assembly.

A day early, Ronin mounted Carlos and landed on the mountain behind Wushan Castle under the cover of night.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com