Although it was a bit like coercion, the Fjords merchants finally accepted this choice. They all knew that if they quit now, others would only swallow their share together with them. In the face of a commodity with no substitute, this little concession was nothing.
Moreover, they had to admit that Roland's words made some sense. Although the samples brought back before had obvious differences in taste, they were not comparable to the fruit wine or other drinks on the market. The only difference was how much they earned. Moreover, everyone was responsible for sales in different regions, so the possibility of competition was not high, which further reduced the risk of choosing inferior products.
Seeing Gammon and others looking back and forth around the barrels, and even putting their noses on them to sniff, trying to find any residue of the drinks, Roland laughed in his heart. Although these barrels looked ordinary, there was a thin film drawn by Soroya inside, which completely isolated the air from the inside and outside. It was impossible to smell any difference with just the nose.
While everyone was choosing the Chaos Drinks, he quietly called Margaery aside and whispered, "The drinks in the barrels on both sides of No. 10 and No. 24 taste pretty good. At least I like them personally."
The latter showed a surprised look. "Your Majesty..."
"Take it as a thank-you gift." Roland chuckled. "If it weren't for the first group of merchants you brought, it might have taken two or three more years for the Western Region to become what it is today. Although your original purpose wasn't to do business with Border Town, but the town still benefited a lot from it, so this compensation is nothing. " He paused. "Of course, only this time — after all, if you draw good cards every time, others will be suspicious."
What he said was basically the truth. At that time, the steam prototype was cumbersome and difficult to operate. It could only be used for the simplest drainage and hauling work, so it did not have much of a market in the Western Region. If she had not introduced it to the mineral merchants of Silver City, thus opening up a profitable business route, the primitive accumulation in the early stage would have been much more difficult.
Moreover, the Margaery Chamber of Commerce was in charge of sales in the Graycastle continent. It was a good choice to first use the best varieties to occupy the local market.
"Then I'll accept your gift." The female merchant did not decline too much. When it came to dealing with people, she did have the shadow of Thunder. She was candid and generous, and at the same time, not bothering about trifles. After bowing to Roland with her hand on her chest, Margaery covered her mouth and smiled. "Since I've accepted your gift, I can't do nothing in return. Let me tell you a piece of good news."
"Oh?" Roland raised his eyebrows.
"The first group of merchants you mentioned, which is my old friend Hogg, also plans to visit the Western Region in the near future." She lowered her voice. "But judging from his letter, he's not the only one who came. The machines you sold have spread throughout the central region of the kingdom. Now almost all the mining merchants are asking him about the rail transportation system. Maybe in half a year, your factory will be busy all day. "
"Is that so …" Roland was a little startled, then he smiled and nodded. "It seems that it is indeed good news worth celebrating."
However, only he knew that when he heard this news, a heartfelt sense of accomplishment suddenly surged from the bottom of his heart.
The day had finally come.
In the past two years, he had sold nearly a hundred steam engines, of which only 30% were sold in the kingdom. When Graycastle Industries was first established, the monthly output was only a miserable two to three units. Even when the demand of the territory was not met, he still sold a part of them to Silver City. He had been looking forward to this day.
Such a small amount of source power was almost negligible for the industrial revolution, but it was a signal, a signal of the transformation from manpower to machinery, a signal that the production method was about to be reborn. When everyone noticed this new force and wanted to follow suit, the revolution began.
This kind of profit-oriented revolution was almost impossible to stop. Its effect was thousands of times better than shouting and promoting products everywhere, and the energy contained in it was enough to change the whole era.
Today's Neverwinter was also different from before. The output of the industrial park in a day was equivalent to that of a month in the past, and after three shifts, it could increase even more. Most importantly, a large number of apprentices who had received primary education were continuously being transformed into workers. They had never touched a hammer or forged a sword, but they had learned how to use machines to produce machines. As long as the time was right, Neverwinter would be able to break out the jaw-dropping productivity of this era.
From Margaery's news, Roland seemed to see that the time was not far from him.
…
Two days later, the merchant from the Fjords left Neverwinter with the Chaos Drinks he had selected. Barov could not wait to enter his office with a thick stack of books.
From the smile on the old director's face, which was so wide that his eyes could not be seen, Roland knew that he must have gained a lot this time.
However, after opening the statistics book, he did not stay too long on the entry amount, but focused on the new arrivals.
According to the agreement of the last meeting, Sunset Island and Shallow Water City would each provide 300 craftsmen in exchange for completing the transformation of the paddle steamer within five years; while the rich Crescent Moon Bay directly used 2,000 people and 50,000 Golden Dragon coins to buy a large steel ship without sails. Although the purpose of both parties was to obtain the shipbuilding technology, Roland did not care about it. Instead, he regarded it as a bargaining chip — as long as they were willing to keep the craftsmen, he could give them not only the manufacturing methods and craftsmanship, but also the design drawings.
Therefore, they also put in a lot of effort this time. According to Barov's statistics, the number of craftsmen brought by the Fjords this time was 10 to 20 percent more than the agreement, and most of them were old carpenters with many years of shipbuilding experience. Their intention was self-evident: since Neverwinter did not prohibit the transfer of technology, after the contract was completed, except for those who were regarded as part of the transaction, the rest of the people would bring all the knowledge back to the Fjords.
Unfortunately, they did not understand the term "technology of the new era."
Roland could not help but smile. Soon, the people of the Fjords would find that if they wanted to produce their own steamships, they had to buy raw materials, processing equipment, and key parts from Neverwinter... In the end, they would only become more dependent on Graycastle, just like those small countries without complete industrial capacity in the future.
He picked up the quill, drew a circle under the total number of craftsmen, and then handed the statistics book back to Barov.
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