Chapter 82: My money!
The days are long and the nights are short, and at dawn the sky is just beginning to turn white.
At La Watson Manor, the housekeeper's room was still dark, but soon a candle was lit, illuminating the rustling sounds of an old couple washing and tidying up in the room.
The housekeeper and Graya gathered around the wash basin and water jar, one washing her face and rinsing her mouth, while the other was busy braiding her hair. As the sky grew brighter, they unconsciously quickened their movements.
In many previous years, they only had to get up so early on the busiest and most important days of the year.
But now, suddenly every day matters.
The butler wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. Seeing that Graya was wearing a very decent new dress, he knew that there would be guests coming to the manor again today.
He wasn't feeling particularly relaxed, as he still had half an hour to go before the dock to catch the first boat.
Before the arrival of this ship, he had just enough time to go to the kitchen to pick up something to eat, then return to his office and sit down to review the tasks he had assigned yesterday.
Afterwards, the important letters or items on today's ship will be delivered to him.
By the time he got the letter, the sun had risen. His wife got up almost at that time every day now.
If there are many guests to meet today, then only the half hour during breakfast can be used to report work.
The housekeeper was still cleaning up the house, while Graya had already finished washing up and went to the storage room of the manor.
She had her hair tied tightly, wore an indigo long dress, had a copper key hanging around her neck, and walked with steady steps.
Arriving at the storage room, Graya unlocked the door with the key around her neck and walked in.
The small room, the floor, the table, and the shelves were filled with all kinds of daily necessities, such as candles, parchment, sealing wax, tablecloths, and cutlery.
The three most conspicuous wooden boxes in the middle of the room contained six sets of men's robes that had just been made by the tailor.
These sets of clothes are all of ceremonial standards and are completely in line with the style of a baron.
Regarding formal robes worn outside, there is an unwritten custom in Alta. Commoner men cannot wear robes or cloaks with hems covering their thighs. No matter how rich they are, they can only wear short robes.
As a knight, the robe you wear outside cannot exceed the knees, and the same applies to the cloak you wear when wearing armor.
When promoted to baron, the robe must be longer than the knees, embroidered with family crests in gold thread, and medals must be worn at all times.
These robes, with family patterns embroidered in gold thread, were designed by my wife after I was awarded the medal.
To show loyalty to the earl, this pattern looks similar to the emblem of the Knights Templar.
The emblem of the Knights Templar is a knight on horseback holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, looking like he is about to attack.
The emblem designed by Olivia is an outline of a shield with a long sword slanted in the middle. The long sword has the initials of her surname written in cursive script, which is very exquisite.
In addition to these suits, the box was also filled with many daily necessities, from small items like a bristle brush to large items like shoes and hats.
Although the Baron always came back several times a month, he was mostly in the new city on official business.
The fortress has not been built yet, and the Baron is currently living in the barracks in the new city. The conditions there are limited, but the Baron's standards and demeanor are indispensable, and these things are indispensable.
Because there are too many financial account books and it is not possible to open a separate account book, all the needles and threads used by the baron personally are sent from the manor and recorded together with his wife.
Graya opened the boxes and counted them one by one. After the counting was completed, she asked the servants to send the boxes to the dock for loading. She then went to the kitchen to look at the menu and the prepared ingredients and wine.
She followed the instructions, selected the tablecloths, tableware, vases and candlesticks to be set up for today's guests, reserved the number of chairs, and checked the cleanliness of the living room and dining room.
Only after things were clarified did I go to eat peacefully.
The butler, who had never been able to eat at the same time as Graya, had already finished his meal and returned to his office.
It was already bright outside and a boat was docking at the pier. The most important letters were sent back by a special person and handed over to the housekeeper.
As soon as he sat down on the chair, he began to receive letters from several places.
First, the letter was sent back by the Baron, saying that the shipyard wanted to borrow trustworthy people from Dunfermline to work in the shipyard.
It also includes the situation of the two days of docks, iron mines, ports, farmland estates, pastures and trade.
The rest were a bunch of random letters, some from cooperating merchants, and some from other barons or ladies.
There were also some letters from people I had never met and didn't know, inviting my wife to a party or something like that.
Normally, letters from strangers can be burned directly.
If a stranger comes from a serious background and has something serious to say, he will ask someone he knows in the ladies' circle to help make an introduction.
Any knight's wife, merchant, even tailor or servant whom the lady has come into contact with, who helps to introduce her and says a few words, can be regarded as a kind of credit endorsement.
After the introduction, you can only communicate after knowing each other's names.
Anyone who sends a letter like this rashly is most likely trying to make a profit and climb up the social ladder, and has no legitimate background.
The housekeeper knew that there was once a baroness in the south who was bewitched by an alchemist who came from nowhere and used some messy beauty methods, and eventually died of poisoning.
There were also a large number of noble lords, ladies and wives who were cheated of their money and sex because they trusted strange merchants, poets and musicians.
Therefore, as a qualified steward, he would never allow any unscrupulous person to have the opportunity to contact his lord.
As for letters from other barons or ladies, if they are just routine inquiries, he can just reply on their behalf.
If it is a simple matter, he can take the initiative to reply without passing it on.
Only if it is important business should I show it to my wife.
Normally, the lady only cares about the letters from Xincheng, and leaves other matters to him, the butler.
If he can't make up his mind, let's talk about it.
The housekeeper went through them in advance, arranged them in order of importance, sorted them out, and clamped them on a wooden board.
Thinking it was about time, he went to the dining room.
As expected, there were already three plates and two bowls inside, all of which were first-class celadon, the color of which was like a pool of water. Even though one had seen it several times, it was still impossible to take one's eyes away.
Olivia started eating.
"Good morning."
She greeted the housekeeper and ate a bowl of cold yogurt with toasted oatmeal coated in honey and cocoa powder.
The butler nodded respectfully in response and said:
"Madam, the Baron sent a letter this morning."
Olivia asked him to read it once, and the butler began to read it one by one.
She finished a bowl of yogurt and just finished listening to the long letter. She raised her hand to wipe her mouth and replied without thinking:
"Well, let them do it, go to Dunfermline, and pick out some men who have families there.
The workers employed in the shipyard and the direct-controlled workshops must have a solid foundation and cannot be refugees."
This will also reduce the probability of triggering "events".
After all, outsiders are generally concerned about making money, and these places are most vulnerable to conspiracy attacks.
From April to now, there have been no fewer than two conspiracies, big and small.
The first thing Olivia does every morning when she wakes up is to go through the events and resolve those that can be resolved with divine protection.
Like those merchants, knights, or barons who were jealous of her workshops and wanted to steal their technology, or who wanted to bribe the workers to help cause trouble.
Generally, if it is resolved once, it will not happen again.
If someone does it a second time, she will condemn him so that he will never have the chance to do it again.
However, Olivia also discovered many unwritten rules of the game.
In most cases, the people who can advance 30% are the refugees who are bribed.
Moreover, they are all refugees who have never farmed since they started working in her workshop.
If you want to fix a bug, you can do so. You just need to force all the refugees you need to work as tenants for a few days, register them, and then allocate them out. That way, they won't be bribed.
After observing for so many days, she has already gained some experience in playing this system.
However, important projects still cannot have any risks.
The letter also reported that Letilen had received a large order, and the deposit of one thousand gold coins paid by the other party had been credited to his account.
Only after the other party pays the final payment for the goods that have been pre-collected can Letilen and the three people in charge of the construction get their commission.
Designer Slochi also sent a letter to tell her that the construction of the fortress was more than half completed and the floor slab of the first floor had been covered.
After completing this step, the layout and scale have a model, and the subsequent work will not be difficult.
A quarter has passed since the construction of the fortress began.
The entire fortress covers an area of about eight acres and is in the shape of a U.
The building area only occupies more than 2,000 square meters, the courtyard in the middle is more than four acres, and the small river outside the fortress also occupies one acre.
The main building is a simple U-shaped building, with each side being 70 meters wide on the outside and 10 meters deep. It has a total of three floors, and the roof is still a low wall corridor.
That is, an enlarged version of the manor villa.
Only such a structure can simultaneously meet the functions of saving money, facilitating construction, saving labor time, and providing defense.
The stones and wood used for the entire main body are very ordinary, dug from the territory, and only a little labor and food expenses are required.
Windows, doors, and metal accessories are also produced in our own workshop. You only need to buy the raw materials and pay a processing fee.
All in all, a house this big wouldn't cost more than two thousand five hundred gold coins, which is really a steal.
Olivia is in charge of the finances of the entire place, and everyone is asking her for money.
Last month, in order to supply the needs of workshops such as steel forging, and to meet the shipbuilding plan.
Just importing raw iron ore from other towns cost two thousand gold coins.
She ordered a full 90,000 pounds of iron ore.
Some of these raw materials came from Lavossen, some from Caron, and even from the newly built town of Odoni and the farther county of Desiso.
Of these ordered ores, about 20,000 pounds are delivered every month, and on average each mine provides her with several thousand pounds of raw ore every month.
Twenty thousand pounds of raw ore is also the average monthly processing capacity of several furnaces in the workshop area.
Although the iron content of these ores from different places varies, the smelting technology in her workshop is very advanced.
The amount of pig iron refined is always one-third more than that of workshops in other places.
For example, the high-quality iron ore produced in the Lavossen iron mine can extract up to 60% pig iron from one pound of raw ore.
The local workshop in Lavosen can only extract 40%.
However, just one large ship in the dock would require nearly 10,000 pounds of wrought iron.
These ten thousand pounds of wrought iron require at least thirteen thousand pounds of pig iron to process.
To produce so much pig iron, at least 20,000 pounds of raw ore are needed.
These ores are worth almost five hundred gold coins, not to mention the value of the fuel charcoal and coal, as well as the wood and the processing fees of the workshop.
Building the entire ship would cost her thousands of gold coins!
Compared to the several years of shortened construction period for the oak boat, it was actually all paid for little by little with real money.
You know, she asked her butler to go to the Lavosen Wharf to buy wooden ships with a carrying capacity of more than 100,000 pounds. Each ship cost only dozens of gold coins, although it was an old ship that had been passed down several times.
But compared with the cost of building this 500,000-pound ship, it is negligible.
In order to be able to sail far in the future, we have no choice but to grit our teeth and do it.
Therefore, when it comes to spending money on building a house, it is natural to save as much as possible.
Spending tens of thousands of gold coins to build a beautiful palace and a garden with carved beams and painted rafters, like the Earl's family, is something she dare not even think about at the moment.
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