King
Chapter 795 - 795 57 Development Shift_2

795: Chapter 57: Development Shift_2 795: Chapter 57: Development Shift_2 But a twenty-year-old Great Magician was exceptionally rare across the entire Continent.

Even with outstanding talent and abundant resources, success still depended on luck.

As for rare professions like Arcanists and Wizards, it goes without saying.

There were already few who practiced these arts, and the probability of encountering a genius was even lower.

Even when the Arcane Academy opened, influenced by prevailing attitudes, Noble Children still preferred to become Magicians or Knights.

…

In the Mountain Domain, Hudson had already begun busy arranging for the autumn harvest.

Compared to previous years, the biggest difference this autumn was that there was no need to purchase grain from outside.

The slaves had been sent to the construction sites, and Hudson no longer needed to export grain, which instantly reduced the number of mouths to feed by tens of thousands, and for the first time, the Mountain Domain achieved self-sufficiency in food.

For the domain officials who had long been troubled by fiscal deficits, this was the best medicine to heal their inner wounds.

With the cost of purchasing food saved, the expenditure on buying salt greatly reduced, and the barely surviving steel industry resumed production, the domain’s fiscal deficit was rapidly eliminated.

According to the estimates of the finance department, this year, the domain’s fiscal deficit was expected to be controlled within fifty thousand Gold Coins.

Compared to previous years, where deficits often reached several hundred thousand Gold Coins, this was undoubtedly a huge progress.

As long as they continued to develop steadily, there was hope to achieve a balanced budget next year.

A balanced budget is an important indication of a domain’s maturity, and passing this hurdle means truly standing firm.

Looking at the rough yellow paper in his hand, Hudson highly doubted whether it could be used for writing.

However, as the first batch of paper produced without using sheepskin, having some defects was understandable.

“Have the people below continue to try to improve the process, and strive to produce qualified paper in the shortest time,

Cain, take charge of this matter.

Tell the people not to fear failure and to boldly experiment.”

Not clear about the specific paper-making process, and relying only on fragmentary memories, the development of the paper industry in the Mountain Domain was not smooth.

After the initial expectations, Hudson’s expectations declined again and again.

When he was prepared for a protracted battle, the first piece of paper was finally born.

Regardless of the quality, having achieved a breakthrough from zero to one, the next phase from one to one hundred only required continuously investing resources.

As a feudal Lord, both raw materials and labor cost nothing, so the costs Hudson needed to pay were not high.

“Yes, Count!”

Cain agreed promptly.

If the paper hadn’t been created, he might have suspected this was just a wild idea of the Lord, but since the first paper had already been made, the difficulty of improving the process had significantly decreased.

In the depths of his heart, his awe of Hudson deepened once more.

“Count, the first batch of fisherman training has ended, and they have already started fishing, with results better than expected.

The fishery resources in this sea area are indeed abundant.

Almost any net cast would yield a catch.

On average, the daily fish yield is a massive thirty-eight thousand pounds.

The second batch of fishermen has also started training.

Once trained, the domain’s daily fish yield is expected to exceed one hundred thousand pounds.”

Jacob said with mixed feelings.

The narrow market determined that the sales of fish were limited.

If a large amount of fresh fish couldn’t be sold, they could only be processed into dried fish.

Unfortunately, the market for dried fish was even smaller.

The Major Nobles hardly looked at it, and it was the meager number of free citizens who were the buyers of dried fish.

The Dalton Family hadn’t managed to make this business profitable, and in the Mountain Domain, they encountered the same problem.

“Since they can’t be sold, just use them ourselves.

Send orders down, to increase the domain people’s monthly ration by three pounds of dried fish.

Store the rest of the dried fish!

As long as it’s well-preserved, it won’t go bad for some time, and maybe it could be useful in the future.”

Hudson said calmly.

He had long wanted to increase the meat supply for the domain people, but due to the low production of pork, beef, and lamb, after prioritizing the needs of the craftsmen, ordinary domain people could only get a quota of one pound per month.

Now with the addition of fish, Hudson also became more generous.

As for the taste, in an era where filling the stomach was happiness, there was no need to worry too much about that.

In fact, Hudson had also made efforts for the nutrition of the domain people.

In addition to meat supply, he had also specified the supply of vegetables.

Many wild vegetables that tasted quite good were widely cultivated in the Mountain Domain.

The vegetable oil intended initially for the production of soap entered everyone’s stomach instead, and now ordinary domain people could get a half pound of vegetable oil quota each month.

Of course, there was another practical factor behind this—the soap was not selling.

Eventually, in a Magic World, there were better alternatives than soap.

The Major Nobles considered it something for the lower classes, directly branding soap as a low-end product.

For face, the Minor Nobiles were too embarrassed to buy it.

The initially somewhat popular soap, before it could become widespread, had turned into a product for the poor.

Restricted by the primitive traditional production techniques and high raw material prices, the production cost of soap remained high, and price reduction for volume was a blood loss; they had no choice but to stop production.