Chapter 71: The Glacier Frozen
The fireplace in the living room was lit, burning dry firewood that had been stored for a year. The whole house was filled with warm air, and the cat didn't run out, but slept on the chair.
At lunchtime, Olivia was preparing noodles in the small restaurant.
This afternoon, she asked the kitchen to make pulled noodles, grind the spices and nuts into powder, and make chili oil with chili powder.
I also fried some lamb whistles with onions, lamb and diced carrots.
A dish of bright red and oily sauce is mixed into the noodles, which is so fragrant that it makes people salivate. It is then garnished with some pickle sauce, egg sauce and a little fruit vinegar.
She specifically asked the kitchen to make more noodles, mixed them in a large bowl, scooped out a bowl, and gave the rest to the servants to share as a snack.
Ever since her uncle came to Lavosen to do business, her family and Renault Manor have never been short of mutton, and they can receive a bunch of mutton every few days.
In the kitchen, Fan Xi and a few kitchen helpers each had a small bowl of pulled noodles. After wiping their mouths and still savoring the taste of the mutton, they heard the doorman outside calling for someone else.
When I went out to take a look, I found that it was the grain merchant who had arrived.
None of these grain merchants came empty-handed. Every household brought at least half a cart full of gifts.
Only Letilen was left empty-handed.
Fan Xi thought for a moment, then went out and asked the grain merchants to wait in the large living room outside, and asked someone to pile the gifts on the table in the restaurant.
She brought Letilan into the living room dining room to greet Olivia.
Seeing that Olivia was still eating, Letilan felt that he had come at the wrong time.
However, it was already ten o'clock, and he didn't know whether his wife was having breakfast or lunch.
"Have you eaten yet? If not, have a bite?"
Letilen looked up and saw Olivia eating a simple bowl of mutton noodles with two or three side dishes.
Although they tasted delicious, they were not luxurious delicacies. There was no ox tongue, venison or goose.
It wasn't even as fancy as the breakfast Gordon's family treated him to.
The cutlery was not made of silver, but of glass.
This is not the simplicity that a person with a few thousand gold coins in his hand should have.
"No need, ma'am. I've been looking at the goods at the grain merchants' warehouses these past few days and have chosen a few good ones. We had dinner together at Mr. Gordon's house today, and that's why we came here together."
Olivia continued to eat calmly. While eating, she opened the ring and looked through the character cards of these merchants.
"Well, what are their food prices like? Sit down and tell me first."
Letilun nodded, sat down across the dining table, and took a cup of hot taro milk tea from the servant.
He took a sip and said:
“I selected five grain merchants in total.
The Gordon family has the largest inventory, with several warehouses and currently about 900,000 pounds of grain.
Of this, three hundred thousand were new wheat, one hundred thousand were old wheat, four hundred thousand were new oats, and one hundred thousand were old oats.”
A disaster last year and a rain in Lavosen this autumn raised the price of grain a lot. They had previously been ordered by the baron to open the warehouse to sell old grain and regulate the price, so the amount of old grain stored was less than in previous years.
New millet is about one surie more expensive than old millet, but as long as we can find food, it is already good enough.
The Gordon family can provide for more than a month, which makes them considered a wealthy family.
"I checked, and the millet is in good condition. It's all from last year, not three years old, and there's no adulteration with rye."
When the army was not leaving the camp, they could eat oatmeal porridge three times a day.
When you go to the front line to fight, you must prepare dry food and have the transport soldiers deliver it.
This dry food needs to be processed into powder in the mill and then sent to the kitchen to be baked. It needs to be prepared in advance, which is also Olivia's job.
There is no need to worry about the mill. You can rent a large mill in the town for a dozen gold coins every month.
A large mill can process 70,000 pounds of grain a month.
However, many knight ladies showed their favor to Olivia regarding this matter.
They said that the grain could be distributed to their estate mill for processing, and the price would be cheaper than in town.
Olivia also knew that this bargain was definitely not given for free, and there would be some loss to others.
She thought about it and realized that if the water is too clear, there will be no fish. She couldn't offend all the neighbors at once, so she agreed to take the grain to the mills of her neighbors' estates for processing.
Her two mills, plus those at the Reynolds and Baskin estates, worked day and night and could process nearly three hundred thousand pounds a month.
Every month, 400,000 pounds are distributed to other estates for processing, enough to be shared by six companies.
Letilen continued:
"Besides him, the remaining four grain merchants each have over half a million pounds of wheat and beans, a mix of old and new, for a total of three million pounds."
Except for Gordon, the other four grain merchants stored grain in the south or other towns this year.
As long as these merchants see that the harvest in the north is average this year and grain prices are rising, they will stockpile grain from the south and release it out bit by bit.
For Letilen, the future situation is still a mystery. He doesn't know how long the Earl wants to fight this war.
Therefore, even if three million pounds of food could be raised, it might not be enough for the army.
If that is not enough, he will have to go after even the smallest grain merchants.
"That's enough."
Olivia continued to slurp her noodles calmly, sweat forming on the tip of her nose from the spicy sensation.
"It won't last long. This war will last from early November to early March next year at most. The Earl has only prepared enough money to last four months."
Hearing this, Letilen was shocked, because none of the merchants in Lavosen knew this news yet.
Even Mr. Gordon, the Baron's distant relative, could not get so deep into the matter.
Olivia raised her eyes and knew what Letilen was thinking. She waved her hand:
"It's okay for us to know about this, don't tell anyone."
Baron Bergru was still confused by his aide-de-camp. He only knew the goal but not the amount of funding.
The Baron did not know how long the war would last, nor did he know that the Earl's financial budget was 600,000 silver coins.
If the barons knew about this, they would not know how to arrange the expenses and would ask the Earl Lion for a huge budget.
This specific information was revealed to Caesar by the aide-de-camp.
To the aide-de-camp, Caesar was not Baron Bergru's man, but merely a person with actual experience under him.
In the future, I will still return to the Earl and be considered one of his own.
Lai Tiren received news that no one outside knew about. He was silent for a moment and said:
"Then I understand."
After finishing the last bite of noodles, Olivia got a thumb-wide noodle and sprinkled it with chili powder and sour radish to clear her mouth and reduce the greasiness.
He wiped his mouth, asked the servants to clear away the dishes, rinsed his mouth, and drank some hot milk to suppress the spiciness.
When she had almost finished packing, she went to the living room outside and asked Letilen to bring the grain merchants in one by one. She only met one person at a time.
First came the five grain merchants, then the butter merchants, and finally the salt merchants.
These businessmen were not originally on the same page, and when they were separated to negotiate prices, each of them wanted a larger share.
Olivia fooled them again, saying that the war would continue until next summer, and by then they would need their help in searching for food across the country.
After hearing this, these people could only be led by the nose in defeat in the face of Olivia's repeated price negotiations.
However, Letilen watched as each businessman, after finishing his private conversation, walked out and faced other businessmen without revealing a single word of the truth.
He sent these people away one by one and brought the last salt merchant in.
Sarichi Butchi was a man with a big beard, wearing a felt robe, and accompanied by a tall and strong girl with a simple and honest appearance.
Olivia sat on a chair in the living room and asked the two to sit on the chair next to her.
She knew that the girl in front of her was Corinna Butch, her father's assistant who followed him wherever he went.
Corinna was a little reserved. It was her first time dealing with the Knights' family. She sat there, not daring to look around.
The same goes for Saric. In the past, when he was in the south, he either dealt with merchants or nobles.
The knight families of the South were no different from the large farmers.
Unlike the northern border, which has so much power.
Therefore, he was more cautious and responsible.
From the moment we entered the manor, Corinna and I have been observing silently.
Although no place in this manor is luxurious, both the village and the manor are very orderly.
Olivia only asked them after the servant brought them the linden flower tea.
"You're not from this town, are you? Where are you from?"
Saric gave a brief answer, and Olivia didn't ask any more questions. Anyway, she knew everything she should and shouldn't know.
Local people mostly consume rock salt. Salt merchants will simply screen the mineral and process it into large particles that are easy to transport.
At this level, it is not edible and needs to be sent to the refinery for further purification and screening, and then boiled again to make fine salt like sand.
In the past, the Butch family relied on their technology to invest in salt mines in the south, and it is still the same now, relying on their refining technology to cooperate with other salt mines.
Although their family had just settled in Lavosen, they had already built the largest refining workshop in Lavosen.
The amount of salt required by the military was not much compared to food, and four thousand pounds per month was enough.
“How is your current production?”
As she spoke, Letilan came back from sending the butter merchant outside and stood nearby to listen.
Corinna said that their family’s current workshop has just been built and many boilers are still being set up.
"We've already processed 2,000 pounds this month, and we estimate we can process 5,000 pounds next month. We'll definitely be able to deliver on our promise."
Olivia nodded and tilted her head to ask Letilan if he had seen the samples.
Letilan said, "Mr. Butch brought the samples."
As he said that, he asked Fanxi to go outside and get it.
Olivia waited for a while, and then Vansh and another servant brought in two familiar white-glazed pottery jars.
When you open the lid of the pottery jar, you can see that there is a jar of white fine salt and a jar of pink mineral salt grains.
Corinna pointed at the white salt and said, "This one is a sample from our workshop, and this one is a gift for my wife."
Olivia nodded, but this didn't stop her from bargaining.
However, the price of salt does not fluctuate like the price of grain, and the retail price is always 30 sori per pound of salt.
Her wholesale volume is large, which can be said to cover their production for several months, so the price can be discussed.
The final result was four thousand pounds of fine salt per month, costing one hundred gold coins.
The Butch family received such a large order shortly after settling in Lavosen. They did not seek to make money, but only to gain a firm foothold, establish good relations with the local tyrants in the north, build good roads, and take the initiative to give up profits.
The profit for every four thousand pounds of fine salt was only eighteen gold coins.
After sending them all away, Olivia began to make a list with a piece of paper, and worked out a general ledger and list with Letilen. She had to submit this account early the next morning, ask the aide-de-camp for funds, and pay the deposit to the merchant.
She agreed with several grain merchants on the amount of grain to be delivered each month.
Seven hundred thousand pounds of grain were delivered to the manor half a month in advance, and she was responsible for monitoring the transit, sending 70,000 pounds at a time to the mills of each manor.
Then gather them one by one and send them to the kitchen for processing.
Fortunately, the Baroness and the quartermaster have separated these matters. There are so many things to do just for food.
Olivia was not too relaxed about the lady who helped process the food.
She thought that the loss would not exceed two thousand pounds, so she just turned a blind eye to it. It was only worth a few gold coins anyway.
If the error is three or four thousand, then next month we can just secretly put three or four thousand less grain, so that the error will become nine or ten thousand or so, which will make it easier to cause trouble.
Everything went on smoothly. In late October, the Anko City army and the Earl's family packed up their luggage and set off along the official roads of various towns towards the northern border.
In the Baron's mansion, Madame Berggru has been very busy these days.
She first swept the house and did a thorough cleaning, then repaired it everywhere, arranged to decorate the houses of several nobles, and even gave up her bedroom and study to the baron.
Now the baron and his wife chose an inconspicuous place in the fortress as their living quarters.
Not only did he have to leave the good rooms for the Earl, his two sons, and his two grandsons, but he also had to prepare rooms for the Earl's three trusted attendants.
The earl has a total of thirty attendants around him. Although their positions are the same, their qualifications are different.
Among them, Arti, Ssona and Bilson are the three aides-de-camp who have followed the Earl the longest and are his companions who grew up together.
The three of them were not ordinary errand boys for the Earl.
Artie is in charge of military supplies and logistics, Ssona is a military adviser, and Bilson is the head of other aides-de-camp and is responsible for close security.
These people moved into the Baron's Mansion, and at the same time, the camp and roads were almost completed.
The army entered the camp from the official road, and the sound of horse hooves could be heard across the forest.
When they arrived at the camp, they first divided the area according to the military type, distributed tents, wood, hot water boilers and other supplies, and then began to set up camp.
Since the week before the troops entered the camp, two hundred thousand pounds of food had been processed, along with butter and salt, and a portion was sent to the kitchen at Baskin Manor for processing every day.
After the camp had been stationed for two days, she went to the Baron's mansion with other ladies to attend a dinner and saw the Earl's family.
Then she learned a little-known fact: the beautiful armor Caesar was wearing was won from his military advisor Ssonna.
This Ssona was a three-star military talent. Before Caesar appeared, he was invincible in the arena.
Until Caesar showed up, Ssonar never won again, whether it was a duel of swords, bare-handed combat, heavy cavalry duel, or group battles in which each of them commanded his soldiers.
At first, the old man was very hostile to Caesar, thinking that this kid wanted to replace him, and often used things as bets to compete with Caesar.
Later he discovered that Caesar was not at all attentive to the Count and had no interest in the position of advisor. He just thought that the armor that Sthona had used for the bet was good, so he was speechless.
Every time the Earl saw Ssona suffer a setback, even though his brand new set of refined plate armor worth tens or hundreds of gold coins had lost an inch of iron, he would be so happy that he could not breathe.
However, Caesar was of humble origin and too young. After much deliberation, these old men decided to send him back to the border to train for a year or two to see whether his steady character was real or not.
Caesar has lived in Anko City for so many years, and after returning to the border, he is still diligent and well-educated.
The old men saw this and as soon as they moved into the Baron's mansion, they transferred Caesar back to the attendant.
The day after the army entered La Voisin, it was still a few days before November.
The sky over Lavosen was gloomy, snowflakes were dancing in the forest, and the cold air was like a cutting knife.
After returning from the Baron's Mansion, Olivia was not busy just staring at the food outside.
Recently, Letilen moved into her house and was responsible for watching over the movement of the grain and checking the scales and accounts.
She took some time out from her busy schedule and asked her steward to purchase 400 yards of sheepskin cloth and 500 pounds of wool. She spent dozens of gold coins to make uniform fleece-lined winter clothes for the servants and soldiers in the manor.
We also gave some gifts to several workshop owners, and they continued to work as usual. The village was peaceful.
No matter how busy the mill was outside the manor, everything inside the house was always in order and everything was as it should be.
On the fourth day of the army's camp, Caesar began to pack up and prepare to move into the Baron's palace.
From that time on, he had to follow the count all day long, and like other aides-de-camp, he had to convey orders to a certain part of the army. Occasionally, when he passed by his house on his way to the camp, he could come back to drink some water.
Caesar's current task is to mobilize some archers.
As for the barons of the seven towns along the border, they also came to Lavosen with their knights and lived in the city, waiting for meetings every day to listen to the count's orders.
Together with the four or five thousand soldiers of the seven barons and the more than twelve thousand people in the camp, there were a total of seventeen thousand people, and each baron was responsible for a few hundred soldiers of his own.
As November approached, Olivia invited Theresa, Sansa, and Lainie from the monastery to live in her manor.
First, it is convenient to take care of, and second, when eating alone, one can never eat too many kinds of food.
As the family grew in number, she could arrange for the cook to prepare many different dishes every day, which became very lively.
The day Leni came back from the convent was early November and snow was falling from the sky.
Her luggage was slowly unloaded by the servants and moved into the manor.
Olivia, Theresa, and Sansa were knitting mittens in the living room to pass the time.
Every morning, the housekeepers of Letilen and Renault Manor would come here to report on the supply of food and charcoal. They didn't have to go out, and no one would come to look for them after morning.
Several people were staying in the living room. When they heard the noise outside, they knew that Leni had returned from the monastery.
Olivia put down the new scarf she had knitted for the cat and saw the servant coming in with Lainie.
After not seeing her for several months, Lainie seemed to have grown taller and become thinner. There must not be much good food in the monastery.
Several people left the living room again to help her put her luggage away, and asked her to try on the winter fur coat that had been prepared long ago.
However, she didn't stay idle for long.
In early November, ice crust gradually floated on the river water, the air became colder day by day, and after two heavy snowfalls, the river surface froze.
Olivia sent the housekeeper to the river bank every day to survey the thickness of the ice.
When the ice was thick enough for carriages to pass, it was time for the soldiers to leave the camp as planned.
…
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