Chapter 328
After nearly half a month of long journey, Wells finally arrived at the Northwest Bay with the convoy. To his surprise, this place was not the desolate and dilapidated place he had imagined at the beginning. Although the density is not as high as in the south, it does not give people the feeling of being deserted.
After entering a land called Emden, there were gradually more towns along the way, and the pedestrians I met on the road were not as good-looking as the pedestrians I met before.
“This is one of the richest territories in the Northwest Gulf. It used to belong to the Kent family. Not long ago, the Kent family failed in planning to seize the title of Duke of the Northwest, so this land now belongs to our Paul Gray. Managed by Earl Man. The people here used to not live as well as you see now. The former lord Maltz Kent was a cruel and cruel guy. Now my Earl has exempted them from a large number of exorbitant taxes, so they can support themselves. "
While resting along the way, Wells heard the leader proudly boasting about his lord, the earl whom he would serve for five years. So this lord was quite a good guy. , definitely much better than that guy who would imprison himself at the city gate for a trivial matter.
The further north you go, the road condition gets better and better, it is wide and flat, the carriage is not as bumpy as before, and you encounter more and more business travelers on the road.
Finally the convoy arrived at the end of the journey - the town in the center of the lake. It is said to be a town, but in fact its size can be called a small city. It can be seen that it was developed not long ago, because many of the buildings are very new.
This small city completely overturned Wells's inherent impression of the Northwest Bay as a place outside of society.
The streets are clean and tidy, paved with bluestone slabs, there is very little garbage on the road, and there is no smell. This is better than the capital Jingyao, which makes Wells very incredible.
Pedestrians are bustling with people, and their words, deeds, and looks are completely unlike those in the countryside. Here he heard all kinds of accents, even foreign languages. oh! There is even a Cape Bay dialect, and even Cape Bay businessmen from the "ends of the world" in Wells's eyes have come here to do business.
There were constantly carriages loaded with goods coming in and out. It seemed that the business here was developing well. What amazed Wells even more was that both pedestrians and carriages consciously drove on the right side of the road, so that people and cars walking in the opposite direction were separated. Walking aside greatly reduces the chance of road congestion.
“Perhaps staying here for five years is a good choice.” With this thought in mind, Wells followed the team to the city hall to report. The team traveling together was filled with people of all kinds, including blacksmiths, artificers, teachers, etc., but the alchemist was the only one. Weasel was in a very bad mood on the way and had little interaction with other people.
The town hall of Huxin Town is located in the center of the new city on the south bank of Lake Weiss. Previously, Huxin Town was directly managed by the Government Affairs Council, but since it took over the great territory of Emden, the Government Affairs Council has separated A special city hall was set up to manage the town in the center of the lake, and the office location was moved from the island in the center of the lake to the new city on the south bank.
The administrative officer of the city hall arranged temporary accommodation for them and also gave them a sum of money to cover their expenses for the past few days. After wandering around the city for a few days, Wells made many new discoveries. It turned out that many new things had become popular in the royal capital in the past six months - such as exquisite porcelain that attracted nobles, new types of paper that scholars couldn't put down, and various [Printed books] are all produced here.
“I didn’t expect there to be a place like this in the Northwest Bay.” Wells sighed again. It seems that the rumors are not credible. When he returned to his residence one day, the dormitory management gave him a letter from the city hall, which stated that he had been assigned a job and asked him to go to the city hall the next day. After he went there the next day, a political officer led him to a saltpeter workshop or factory and announced that he had been appointed as the factory's [Chemical Technology Instructor]. Wells didn't have any objections. He was an alchemist. Coming from an aristocratic family, he was no stranger to boiling salt, so he started his new job just like that.
His daily job is to monitor the work of the workers, ensure that no wrong operations occur, check the quality of the products, and train apprentices, which is also a pleasure.
Wells is very dedicated to his work. He is proud of his identity as an alchemist and has his own professional ethics. He used his knowledge to optimize the process of boiling salt, which won unanimous praise from everyone in the factory.
There are several other [Instructors] in the workshop, all of whom are alchemists gathered by Count Grayman from various places. In addition to exchanging experiences with colleagues (in fact, he was a bit contemptuous of the level of these colleagues), Wells also inquired about all aspects of this factory. According to other people, this salt-burning factory was owned by the Earl family. industry.
“Why does Count Grayman need so much saltpeter?”
"It is said to be to supply the Earl's ice rink. Oh, by the way, speaking of ice, the Earl also invented a delicious thing called [ice cream], which is made of ice shavings, cream and honey. You can buy it and try it. . Selling this kind of thing can make a lot of money for the Count in the summer."
Wells was a little confused, can the money from selling snacks offset the cost of cooking salt? If a lot of ice is needed, wouldn’t it be enough to collect it and store it in an ice cellar in winter? As much as you want. Is it worth using expensive saltpeter to make it now?
But Wells didn’t want to go into details. After all, the Earl was the boss, and it was his own business to use it as he wanted, as long as he could pay himself on time.
Speaking of salary, the earl treated him well. Considering that he was a "high-level talent" from the royal capital, he was given three silver coins every month, and food and accommodation were included in the salt-making factory—— I heard that employees in the various industries opened by the Count themselves are treated very well. Whenever they recruit workers, a large number of people squeeze their heads to get in.
If it were Wells who used to open a shop in Jingyaoli, a mere three silver coins would really not catch his eye. But the ancestral shop had been smashed and disappeared. Because of that humiliating public display, his reputation in the royal capital circle also disappeared.
And here is the Northwest Bay. Three silver coins per month are enough for him, a single person, to live a comfortable life.
Wells is not dissatisfied with his current life. His long-term plan is to slowly save a sum of money, and after the contract with the earl expires, he will open an alchemy shop at the lake. Xin Zhen, he is very optimistic about the prospects of this small town.
Back in time, the reason why Weasel was drinking in the shop angrily was because of another [insult] he just received in the lord's mansion...
( End of chapter)