After a field visit to the North Slope Mine and two consecutive days of negotiations, Roland reached a new trade contract with Hogg and the Crescent Moon Bay Caravan.
Hogg's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he saw the high-speed operation of the ore transportation system. He even proposed to invest money to build a factory in Border Town, specializing in the construction of mine tracks and supporting equipment, and split the profits equally, but was rejected by Roland – attracting investment was something that could only be done when there were many people. What the town lacked now was people, not money.
After all, Hogg was only a mining businessman. Although he owned several mines and managed an open-air silver mine for Earl Kambala in Silver City, he could only provide miners, which was much worse than the strength of the Crescent Moon Bay Caravan, who owned an island. In the end, he signed a contract to order steam engines six months later, the same number of ten, and a complete mine transport system (including tracks and mine cars). Half of it would be delivered before the Months of the Demons, and the rest would be made up for next year.
The tone of the Crescent Moon Bay Caravan was much bigger, and Gammon directly signed a ten-year contract. When the caravan came next time, he would bring a team of 300 people, mainly composed of blacksmiths and carpenters. The remuneration of these people would be paid by the Crescent Moon Bay, and Roland only needed to provide accommodation and food. The steam engines they produced in the next ten years would be sold to the Crescent Moon Bay first, and after ten years, they would voluntarily decide whether to stay or leave – this point was negotiated repeatedly by Roland.
There was no doubt that there would be confidants of the caravan in this group of people, and even with this, the other side would inevitably choose as many people as possible who were loyal to the Crescent Moon Bay, and when the time came, it was unknown whether half of them would decide to stay. But for Roland, skilled workers were always not enough, and leaving 10% was a profit. He was never worried about technical advantages, but worried that no one would come to transform his technology into practical products.
In addition to the steam engine, the second big order came from the transformation of ships.
Together with the three hundred craftsmen, there were also two river sailboats. The Crescent Moon Bay Caravan hoped that Border Town could transform them into steam-powered paddle steamers. The transformation fee for a single boat was as high as 1,800 Golden Dragon coins. The two boats added together directly exceeded Margaery's steam engine order. In contrast, although the mug had received three orders, the total amount was less than 300 Golden Dragon — and that was when Roland raised the price ten times higher than the convenience store. He couldn't help but sigh at the difference in profits between industrial products and civilian products. If he couldn't mass-produce them, civilian products would just satisfy the needs of the town's residents.
To the prince's surprise, the iron breastplates and the iron farming tools were neglected. Later, it was during dinner that Margaery answered his doubts. "Although your breastplate is indeed cheaper, the production is too small. If you resell it, after deducting the transportation costs and taxes, you might only make five or six Golden Dragon's worth of profit. Also, your armor was forged by a hydraulic hammer, right? Or a steam engine... In any case, the price of this armor is very fixed. It's expensive because of the high-quality iron, not because of the labor. " She paused. "It's even less necessary to buy it for your own use. Sea merchants, whether guards or sailors, rarely wear heavy iron armor, which will make them sink quickly when they fall into the water. Most of the time, the armor is a shackle for them, not protection. "
"The same is true for farming tools. If you can't get a lot of cheap iron, even if it's cheap, it won't be much cheaper. Compared with the local similar goods, it's difficult to form an advantage. Unlike those colorful cups, the price is completely uncertain. If you meet a nobleman who likes it, you may be able to earn several times the price. "
"I see." Roland thought about it and found that it was true... For goods with stable prices like armor and farming tools, it was difficult to push down the price too much when the material cost was a large part — he was cheap because the steam engine forging was more efficient than the water hammer. Unfortunately, this price difference was not enough to attract the interest of big businessmen.
Moreover, the white plate armor with Soroya's piercing coating was also part of the First Army's change of equipment. Before the iron production increased, it was impossible to sell it in large quantities.
...
The day of the anticipated opening of the play soon arrived.
In the afternoon, the townspeople surrounded the central square — this was under the situation where Roland demolished the surrounding old buildings and doubled the area of the square.
In order to promote the play, Roland began to issue an announcement a week in advance to notify the people, and also specially ordered the Ministry of Agriculture to send people to the outer residential area of the town to mobilize the serfs to watch the play.
As the lord, Roland obviously had the best viewing position. In the direction of the performance stage, Carr set up a temporary wooden stage. The wooden stage had a total of three rows and could accommodate about 100 people. Roland sat in the middle of the third floor. On one side of him was the Witch Union, next to him was Anna, and on the other side was the merchant group, with Margaery being the closest.
The first and second floors were mostly officials and apprentices of the City hall.
In order to ensure safety, the people around the wooden stage were all soldiers of the First Army. While they watched the play, they separated the prince's position from the civilians.
At this time, it was about four o 'clock in the afternoon, the scorching sun had already faded. Coupled with Vendy's cold wind from time to time, all the people on the viewing platform enjoyed the VIP treatment.
Amidst the applause of the crowd, the actors stepped onto the stage one by one.
To be honest, Roland had no idea what the final result of this premiere would be. After handing over the script to Irene, he no longer cared about this matter. Whether it was recruiting actors or rehearsing, she and Filin were all busy. Now that he thought about it, a newcomer in the theater, who only appeared on the stage once, how much experience could she have? Moreover, the friends she found were probably all minor actors who couldn't get a chance to perform in the theater in Longsong Stronghold and went to Border Town.
In other words, this was a new play directed, choreographed, and implemented by a new team.
Fortunately, Roland didn't mind failure. This play was not for the ticket income, nor was it to promote how excellent the script was. This was an enlightenment performance, and it would be performed more than once. If they didn't perform well this time, they would improve next time.
"I know why you're so confident in this performance," Margaery suddenly exclaimed. "You actually invited Miss Mey!"
Roland was stunned. "Who?"
"Mey, don't tell me you don't know about this! God, before I came here, I saw her performance in King's City. "Margaery smacked her lips." She's the best in both the understanding of the role and the creation of emotions. 'A Prince's Search for Love' won countless tears. Even Kajen Fels was full of praise for her! "
"Who's Kajen Fels?" Roland rummaged through his memory and found that he had no impression of this name at all.
"Your Highness, are you really from King's City?" Margaery blinked. "If I may ask, who is the person you're most familiar with in King's City? Except for the people in the court. "
"'Magic Hand' Yorko," Roland blurted out. He immediately realized that something was wrong.
"Oh." Carina gave him a meaningful look. "The most famous playboy. I heard that women can't forget him with just his hands... I see."
"With just his hands?" Anna tilted her head. "Why?"
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