Pioneer Lord: A Leisurely Imperial Life

Chapter 233 Famous Throughout the Northern Territory

Besides general merchandise and gold coins, the warehouse was mostly filled with alcoholic beverages.

Dozens of oak barrels were piled up in the corner, with faded labels on them.

The box was also filled with all sorts of glass bottles and earthenware jars, covered in dust, but through the dim light, the liquid inside could be seen to have an amber or deep red luster.

This is what Richard was most looking forward to.

In an era of scarcity of resources and limited entertainment, wine was not merely a beverage for the nobility, but also a symbol of status and taste, and a luxury item.

—Without exception.

Almost every lord would build a large wine cellar in his castle, specifically to store various fine wines.

Chiffon must also be stockpiling wine; Richard plans to convert certain floors in the mine into wine cellars.

Currently, chiffon cakes can produce three types of alcoholic beverages: blueberry wine, mead, and ale.

Forget about ale.

He has already stockpiled several thousand bottles of blueberry wine and mead, and plans to stop once he has accumulated a million bottles.

Wine, if stored properly, becomes more fragrant and valuable with age.

When autumn comes and it's time to plant grapes, I'll try to stock up on a billion bottles, otherwise this autumn will have been wasted!

Regardless of whether you can finish it or not, ten or twenty years later, these wines will become a unique kind of wealth and heritage.

Chiffon cake is a newly emerging family of products.

With the support of the system, high-quality alcoholic beverages can be produced on a large scale without worrying about shelf life.

However, these wines are all newly brewed, and in terms of time and heritage, they are far inferior to those from established families that have been passed down for hundreds of years.

A glance at the wine cellar of Ironwater Castle reveals just how deep the heritage of this long-established family truly is.

Richard walked up to the box, picked up a bottle of wine, wiped the dust off the bottle. The label was blurred, but the vintage could still be vaguely discerned.

— Brewed in the 1030th year of the Star Calendar.

Thirty years ago.

The cork is a specially made magical cork. When you pull it open and bring it close to the bottle opening to smell it, a rich and mellow fruity aroma mixed with oak notes comes out, along with a hint of the tartness unique to aged wine.

"This wine is good."

Richard couldn't wait for the wine to sober up. He shook the bottle slightly, took a small sip, and couldn't help but praise Lucy.

Thirty-year-old wines have reached their peak drinking period, with a full-bodied taste and a long finish. Continuing to store them further will actually cause their taste and flavor to decline.

Only products made from living crops can be stored for a longer period of time.

Lucy also picked up a bottle and looked at it.

"Although Tieshuiling is poor, they have a good stockpile of wine. If this batch of wine were sold, it could be worth quite a bit of money."

...

The inventory was quickly taken stock:

There are over two thousand bottles of wine aged five to thirty years, including over twenty bottles of five-year-old Elf Moonlight Wine and over five hundred bottles of ten-year-old Sweet Plum Wine.

Interestingly, we couldn't find Dwarven Bladethroat Wine, which is a fine wine on par with Elven Moonbeam.

Besides the regular quality wines, there are also a dozen or so bottles of ten-year vintage Silver Star wines, which are the real gems.

However, among this batch of liquor, there was a bottle of extremely rare Mermaid Tears!

This is wine brewed in the deep sea by the mermaid clan of the Aegean Sea. I heard that only one hundred bottles are produced each year, and Richard has never even tasted it.

That's rare!

...

Besides these, Richard also found several bottles of newer spirits.

It wasn't the usual grain-based liquor; there was no label on the bottle. When he uncorked it and took a sniff, the pungent smell of alcohol almost choked him.

Richard squinted.

"This alcohol content is probably over 40 degrees; it must have been distilled."

"Distilled?" Lucy leaned in curiously to smell it, then immediately frowned and pulled away. "It smells so strong!"

Richard smiled.

It seems that brewing techniques are changing, and perhaps soon we will be able to drink distilled spirits such as brandy and whiskey.

He had brewed wine on Earth before, but he only knew how to brew rice wine. Now that there is no rice and no yeast in the Huanxing Continent, he simply cannot make it.

We can only wait until we have time to go to the capital and try our luck to see if we can get some from the foreign merchants of the Green Bamboo Continent.

...

...

As night fell completely, the inventory work was finally completed.

The guards moved all the boxes they wanted to take to the square. Ironwater also had a batch of packhorses and oxcarts, which were just enough to accommodate the elderly, women, children, and supplies.

The more than 10,000 newly joined citizens have assembled and are being escorted by a team of Chiffon guards to Chiffon territory overnight.

Richard gave the guards in charge several letters and asked them to deliver them to Lina, instructing them to make proper arrangements for the resettlement of these people.

Fortunately, I had accumulated a lot of cow and sheep hides some time ago, and with a little sewing, I could make a simple tent.

In addition, he specifically instructed that each new resident should be given 100 kilograms of food and two sets of new clothes, as a welcome bonus for Chiffon.

He actually wanted to distribute basic living supplies packages, but there were too many people and he couldn't come up with many small items like needles, thread, pots, and pans all at once, so he used food as a temporary measure.

Of the 100 kilograms of food, 30 kilograms were meat and dairy products. However, for convenience, food coupons were issued first, and people could collect them from the city hall whenever they wanted to eat.

With food and tents, they could settle down immediately upon arriving in Chiffon. He could take care of the remaining trivial matters when he returned.

After dealing with the matters of Ironwater City, he watched as a squad of Chiffon Guards escorted the people away into the night.

Richard set the city of Ironwater and the more than 40,000 corpses of free men lying inside on fire, burning them to ashes.

Under the towering flames, he led his troops toward other territories that very night.

...

...

For the next two weeks, Richard traveled almost the entire southern part of the North.

From a small village with a population of only a few thousand to a viscountry with hundreds of thousands, the Black Serpent Plague was completely eradicated. *The Pioneer Lord: A Leisurely Imperial Life* - Stunning writing and a gripping plot!

Through this trip to the North, he roughly estimated the population of the entire North to be about six million free people.

Before the plague, there were more than seven million people, meaning that more than one million of them died instantly, just from those with weak constitutions.

Without the Life Apostles, the number of personnel could drop to over three million within a month, and it would take decades to recover.

Just as the priests of light had withdrawn, the nobles of the North were thrown into a panic by the sudden and terrifying natural disaster.

The lords' hearts were bleeding as serfs and subjects died one after another.

Like the Thorn Baron, they were all jumping up and down in the castle in a panic, cursing the Papacy as despicable, shameless, and vile.

In a while, the farmland will be ready for the autumn harvest. If there are not enough people, they will have to hire free people to help with the harvest.

Moreover, a new batch of serfs would need to be purchased from elsewhere to replenish the ranks.

This is all money!

The most critical issue is that most territories do not sell young and strong serfs.

Those silver coins that are almost obsolete are not productive and their fertility is nearly exhausted.

In addition, there is a huge shortage of serfs throughout the North, so even if you are willing to spend more money, you may not be able to buy them.

Faced with this situation, no one really had a solution.

The only solution I can think of is to hire air or water-based war mages from the capital or other three realms at high prices, along with enough magical materials—that would cost a fortune!

Just when they thought they were about to suffer a huge financial loss, a team named Chiffon appeared in everyone's sight...

All the lords were shocked!

Free citizens are charged ten copper coins for treatment, while serfs receive free treatment—what a bargain!?

As a result, all the lords abandoned other plans and sent men to wait on the road, hoping that Richard would arrive as soon as possible.

In response, many lords prepared generous gifts, all of which were wines or foods made from living crops, to entertain the guests.

...

However, there are two exceptions: the Wolves and the Frostfolk.

The Wolf has Darkmoon allies, and at the beginning of the plague outbreak, there happened to be an Elven Moon Servant in their territory.

She possessed a wide-ranging healing magic similar to the protection of the Holy Spirit, but she collapsed from exhaustion after healing hundreds of thousands of Wolf Clan members.

I heard that this magic doesn't require magical materials, but it requires sacrificing one's life force—it's purely about risking one's own life to save others.

Shuangmo also used special methods.

Rumors suggest it's related to magicians from the Demon Spirit Empire, but the official explanation is that it's the work of air-type war mages.

Since they could handle it themselves, Richard didn't interfere and skipped over the rest, focusing his energy on other territories that needed help.

Although the journey was tough, the rewards were substantial.

The treatment fees alone amounted to more than 5,000 gold coins, and with the loot from Ironwater Fortress, the total came to nearly 7,000.

Of course, these two weeks weren't all about treating patients. Richard also managed to meet most of the lords in the southern part of the North and become familiar with them.

They almost always granted his requests for business cooperation, since the business could collect taxes by setting up shop there, so why not?

"If Chiffon Trading Company ever opens a branch in your territory, I hope you will take good care of it." Richard always said this, in a humble tone, and the other party naturally agreed readily.

And so, Richard's name and Chiffon's reputation resounded throughout the North.

It even shows a faint trend of spreading to the entire Star Empire!

In the noble circles of the North, almost everyone was talking about this suddenly rising young lord.

It was only then that everyone realized that this guy who was constantly putting out fires and making money, and turning the tide, was the founder of the new farming technology.

Now, they have also improved their war magic and recruited dozens of war mages. In the field of magical power, Chiffon Territory is already considered to be in the top tier in the North!

This left all the nobles in the North both puzzled and shocked.

Despite the substantial financial support from the Darkmoon Allies, it took Earl of Wolves over thirty years to develop a dilapidated territory into one that rivaled the Grand Duchy of Frostfoil.

This had already earned the attention and awe of the Northern nobles, and Richard, this wolf cub, had surpassed them all.

It's easy to imagine how many war mages would be attracted to learn and join them simply because of that new technology that allows the casting of war magic without the need for magical materials.

It's easy to imagine how many war mages would be attracted to learn and join them simply because of that new technology that allows the casting of war magic without the need for magical materials.

And his new farming techniques, I heard he's still constantly improving them.

Good heavens!

A newly emerging family has attracted so much attention as soon as it appeared in people's sight!

The last person to have performed like this was the first ancestor of the Iron-Blooded Family of the Western Frontier three hundred years ago!

Some people are envious.

Someone is jealous.

Some people are wary of it.

But no matter what everyone thinks, they have to admit that chiffon cake is like a tender sprout that has just emerged. Before you know it, it has grown into a giant tree!

...

Richard took a rather easygoing view of his soaring fame. In fact, influenced by his aristocratic mindset, he didn't particularly like the moderate and low-key approach on Earth.

He takes pride in chiffon cake and considers it a part of his life, so naturally he doesn't want it to remain unknown.

Now that the opportunity and conditions are right, he no longer wants to hide it.

Yes.

The conditions are ripe.

A thousand unicorns, even faster than he expected, have successively entered the advanced transcendent realm!

After fusing with the Chiffon Guardian, it can completely crush the Starshine Extraordinary!

and...

The [Magnificent Building] has also finished loading.

In addition to various massive decorative buildings, there is another type of defensive building.

That kind of amazing stuff can not only boost a person's confidence, but also cause the ground to explode!

...

...

--Space-based Dragon-Slaying Cannon!

Anyone who dares to add cilantro to my beef noodles, I'll blast them to pieces!