I Became the illegitimate son of a duke

37 – Manufacture (1)

“mmm…”

“Why is that?”

Hearing my worries, Chloe tilts her head and asks questions.

The work of unifying currencies into imperial coins is also proceeding smoothly, and there are no more tasks to handle today, so Chloe wonders why I’m so worried.

“Chloe, the reason why you designated the coins of the Holy Empire as the representative coins was to make business easier in the Holy Empire, right?”

“Yes.”

“…But what should I sell?”

“Oh.”

Hearing that, Chloe opened her mouth slightly and agreed.

The empire is very large, and the population is very large befitting the large land mass.

That means that it has a huge market with good potential, but it also means that many kinds of products are already circulating on the market.

Crops are plentiful to rot, minerals are more abundant in the empire, and forest resources are incomparable. There are more artisans over there.

If the cultivation of sugar beet and the extraction of sugar from it goes smoothly, it may be possible to bring in sugar and sell it, but as I said before, the volume is small for security reasons.

No matter how expensive it is, it is not suitable as a major export item because the quantity is small and only the upper class will use it.

“Uh… Grapes, fruit or… Wine?”

Chloe, thinking about what things the people of the empire might buy in Burgon, thinks of grapes and fruits that she has long loved.

“That’s good too.”

Chloe didn’t like grape juice for nothing.

The fertile farmland of the Principality of Burgon was able to withstand the fruits that consume a lot of intellect even with undeveloped farming methods, followed by warm temperatures and appropriate amount of rainfall that made grapes and other fruits very tasty. Made it possible to cultivate

In fact, fruits from Burgon are popular with neighboring countries, so most of the foreign traders who come and go to Burgon buy fruits or their processed products.

“But it’s already selling a lot, so I have to think of something else.”

“Is that so…?”

It already sells enough fruit, but if you want to grow more fruit here, you have no choice but to plow the existing farmland. Farmlands that are still growing wheat and barley.

No matter how much fruit you can benefit from, you shouldn’t rush into such a thing.

The most important thing for humans, including the past and future, is food to sustain life. Not to mention, this is the Middle Ages, where there is no poor fertilizer.

Hmm… Shall we get some hints from the coastal and newly acquired bar regions instead of the inland?

Coastal regions… Coasts are seas… Anything you can get from the sea…

“Fish?”

Fish is an easily available commodity and is in high demand.

However, there is no refrigerator to move fish to the inland, so salting is essential, and the price of salt used for salting makes it impossible to get a big profit even if you sell the fish.

Even if you make bay salt and use it, the price cannot be cheaper. Unlike rock salt, which only needs to be dug up in a mine, bay salt needs to go through all sorts of processes.

It’s not like you can’t make a profit though, so you can make it a major export item, but…

“…As expected, the industry is not sufficiently developed, so there are limits to what can be sold.”

Making metal into weapons, wood into furniture, leather and wool into clothing, barley into beer, sand into glass, and milk into butter and cheese are all industries.

Even if you don’t have any special products, you can make up for it if the industry is developed.

First of all, the industry must be developed.

Because not only can you make things to sell, but you can also raise the national power of the country itself.

“I’m going to write a notice in the city.”

…………

“What?”

I was in the middle of looking for a job after being fired from my studio, but people gathered in a buzz.

Nine times out of 10 people gather, it’s a fight scene, but since there’s no noise, that’s probably not the case.

“What happened?”

“The duke is calling people who want to become a master craftsman.”

“Artisan? What artisan?”

How can people understand if you just say craftsman?

Where are the artisans who make pottery, furniture, clothes, and wine?

“Well? It doesn’t say what kind of artisan it is, it’s just written as a craftsman.”

“So…? What the hell are you looking for?”

“It’s probably faster to see than to ask, look at that.”

At the place where the man pointed with his finger, there was a notice made of white paper.

Thanks to the large font, the contents can be read very well even from such a distance.

[Those who want to become a master craftsman should come to Dijon Castle. Gender doesn’t matter as long as you’re a healthy adult. I will give you money and skills.]

…………

“…Too many gathered?”

“Isn’t it obvious, you didn’t name anyone exactly, and you put out a notice that seemed attractive to everyone.”

Leclerc, who was next to me, said as if he was dumbfounded at my words, slightly fed up with seeing the huge crowd.

Yeah, that’s true, but it didn’t work if the conditions were too tight.

People who meet that condition are more likely to be satisfied with their lives, so they won’t even look at announcements.

“Well, I can’t help it. Get ready.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Quiet everyone!!!!!!”

The soldier who received my order gave a short salute, then turned around and shouted loudly at the crowd.

People who were buzzing around looked around wondering what was going on, and soon after seeing me go up on the podium, one by one they started to become quiet.

“Keuheum, nice to meet you all. I am Claude of Burgon.”

Many people’s eyes are on me as I stand on the podium.

It’s a scene that can scare me whenever I see it, but I’m glad I got used to it.

“The reason I called you today is because I wanted someone to work in the factory.”

Although it is a factory, it is not a factory that emits acrid smoke.

I mean a handicraft factory, a manufacture.

Workers continue to make only one part, and then assemble the parts all at once to create a product.

“A factory is similar to a workshop, but it is different. A workshop aims to produce items of perfect quality one by one, but a factory focuses on producing as many items of appropriate quality as possible.”

In this world, the concept of a factory doesn’t seem familiar yet.

Most of the people who listened to me tilted their heads and did not understand what a factory was at all.

“Let’s take pottery making as an example, there you are.”

“Yes, yes!?”

“You used to work at a pottery workshop?”

“That, yes…”

Suddenly, the man who was pointed out by me trembled greatly and answered with a shudder.

Those who worked at the studio said that there are good things to report voluntarily, so I did so, but I didn’t know that the duke would suddenly talk to me.

“What did you do when you were working in the studio, making pottery?”

“That, that’s… So… Digging up red, red soil… Mixing it with water and making it into mud… Drying it in the sun… Roasting it a bit… And—”

“Okay, that’s enough.”

No matter how much you tremble, you tremble too much and you’re terribly frightened.

Umm… I’m a little sorry, so I’ll have to stop at this point.

“Not only pottery, but in most workshops, the craftsman does all the processes alone. Of course, you can have someone else do the work of obtaining materials, such as finding soil.”

The facial expressions of people who listened to my words can be summed up in one word: ‘What’s wrong with that?’

In a world dominated by domestic craftsmanship, it is natural for artisans to be involved from start to finish when making something, so there is nothing strange about their common sense.

“It wouldn’t be the case in my factory. If I were to set up a pottery factory, I would dig up some good soil, make it into clay, dry it in the sun, bake it a bit, shape the pottery, and finally fire it in a kiln. Until pottery is made, the entire process will be a division of labor, so the person who digs up the soil continues to dig up the soil, the person who shapes the pottery continues to shape it, and the person who bakes the pottery in the kiln continues to bake it. .”

“mmm…”

The reaction is not very good.

It would seem strange to do only one task over and over again after he said he would make it into someone comparable to a craftsman, and division of labor doesn’t look so good because of people’s instinct to hate unfamiliar things.

The unspoken question [Why do you have to do it so complicatedly and separately when a craftsman can do everything from start to finish?] Keeps ringing in my ears.

“Those who don’t want to do it can just go back.”

After my words, the people who came because they wanted to become artisans noticed little by little, then turned around and left.

If you hold on to such people, they won’t work properly, so it’s more beneficial to just let them go.

As people leave the densely packed crowd, the crowd becomes like a scalp affected by hair loss.

“…Okay, that’s quite a bit left. You’re welcome.”

The majority of those who remain are those whose livelihoods look very unstable at a cursory glance.

This wouldn’t be too bad either. An insecure livelihood means more reliance on the factories that give you money.

I’ll make sure you don’t regret staying here.