Chapter 146: 146 Horse Farm

The banquet did not end until very late.

Luoning could not remember how many dances he had danced, nor how many cups of wine he had drunk; in the end, he was truly too tired, so he could only feign drunkenness, let Maiken and Tangmu support him as he left the hall, and returned to his room to sleep.

The guest room at Tieti Castle was very comfortable, much more spacious and grand than the rooms in Shanlin Town; as soon as Luoning lay down on the soft bed, he quickly drifted into dreamland.

The next day.

After enjoying the breakfast carefully prepared by Tieti Castle, Luoning first greeted Viscount Mawen, and at the same time demonstrated the effectiveness of the Ironwood Lamellar Armor and other defensive gear and weapons to him.

Originally, Viscount Mawen had no interest in these things, but after seeing the effects with his own eyes, his opinion changed immediately.

Not to mention the power of weapons made from this kind of wood, but this set of lamellar armor, chest guard, and shield could at least meet the arming requirements for infantry, and even Primary Knights.

He believed that these items produced by the Ironwood Workshop in Shanlin Town must possess a significant market.

Viscount Mawen did not drive the price down either, purchasing these pieces of equipment directly at the price Wushan Castle had ordered them for.

As for how Tieti Castle would make a profit, it was nothing more than selling them at a markup. Luoning did not ask how much the other party intended to mark them up; that was not something he needed to consider.

Luoning left the equipment he had brought for Viscount Mawen to study and promote, while he himself, under the guidance of Luogena, went to one of the horse farms at Tieti Castle.

According to Luogena's introduction, this horse farm was not large, raising only about a hundred horses or so, though there were warhorses, riding horses, and pack horses.

Luoning sat atop his Tayunjv, looking out into the distance.

The terrain of the horse farm was relatively flat, though there were also rolling small hills; at the boundaries, besides planting tall trees, there were also man-made fences installed.

On the east side of the horse farm, stables and places for the horsemen to live were built, and at the other end, houses were also built; he did not know if they were used for storing fodder or for processing horse manure.

"Why don't I see any horses?" Luoning asked in surprise.

Luogena smiled, "Isn't it because you were coming over today? We had the manager here lock all the horses up in advance."

As they spoke, he led Luoning into the horse farm.

Once inside the horse farm—or more accurately, when Luoning approached the horse farm—he could smell a faint, pungent odor; this must have been the smell of horse manure and fodder mixed together, and it was not pleasant.

"Luogena, how does Tieti Castle handle horse manure?" Luoning thought of this question.

He was indeed very curious; with Muma City raising horses on such a large scale, a massive amount of horse manure must be produced every day. If not handled well, it would not only pollute the city's air but also bring about plagues and diseases.

"I don't know exactly how it's handled, but I have looked into it. To be precise, dealing with horse manure is indeed one of the difficult problems for Muma City."

Luogena said, "Generally speaking, the horse farm managers will collect the manure and then haul it to idle grasslands to spread it flat. Although no grass will grow on these grasslands that year, the grass will grow quite well the following year."

"However, handling it this way is truly too wasteful of manpower. Many horse farm owners would rather haul this manure to uninhabited mountains and forests to dump it, and some people, in order to save trouble and money, even choose to pile it up directly in the city."

He shrugged, "Tieti Castle is very opposed to this last type of behavior; every time it is discovered, a high fine is issued, which has barely kept it under control, but there are still people who do it secretly."

Luoning nodded slightly.

He did not know if it was an illusion, but he felt at this moment that the air in Muma City was a bit more unpleasant.

"If I am willing to purchase it, I wonder if these horse farm owners would be willing to sell?" he said, pondering.

"What?"

Luogena's eyes widened in astonishment, "Did I hear that right! You said you want to purchase this horse manure?"

Luoning nodded seriously, "What, is that not allowed?"

Hearing such a definitive statement, Luogena was even more shocked; his expression seemed to be saying, "Is this person crazy?"

"What are you going to do with this useless stuff if you purchase it?"

"And from Muma City to Shanlin Town, how much manpower, time, and money will you have to arrange?"

"Also, if you are really prepared to purchase it, how much money will you spend?"

Because it was too difficult to understand this idea of Luoning's, Luogena asked three questions in a row.

Luoning, however, had his own considerations.

The Manure Collection Squad in Shanlin Town had now basically finished collecting the manure from the town streets and was mixing it with dead branches, fallen leaves, and the like to ferment it together.

Although there were quite a few compost piles now, enough to satisfy Luoning's experimental fields and a small amount of land with organic fertilizer.

But in the long run, it was clearly not enough.

After all, Shanlin Town only had so many people; even if everyone were a master of defecation, they could not produce much manure in a day.

As for livestock and poultry like horses, cattle, and sheep, the scale was small, and the amount of manure was not much either.

And more importantly, the residents of the town had become clever.

Seeing that their lord not only collected manure but also built toilets, they had all gradually come to understand this thing called fertilizer, and one by one, they treated the poop they produced as treasure, not disposing of it casually.

Therefore, if Luoning wanted to obtain more fertilizer, buying it from outside might be a good choice.

And with so many horse farms in Muma City, the horse manure produced was also plentiful; it was a good choice.

"Since you are going to waste it anyway, you might as well sell it to me."

Luoning did not say how he intended to use the horse manure, but directly answered the third doubt of the other party.

"If you are willing to sell, I am willing to offer 1 copper coin per..."

He hesitated for a moment; this price was not easy to set.

He thought for a while before saying, "1 copper coin for 100 jin of horse manure, what do you think? Of course, I will be responsible for hauling the manure."

"Are you sure?"

Luogena was shocked again and immediately pulled over a horse farm manager to inquire about the situation; when he learned that an adult horse produced about 13 jin of manure per day, he looked at Luoning with a smile.

"Even if this horse farm only has one hundred horses, you would spend thirteen gold coins every year just to collect their manure. There are at least a hundred such horse farms in Muma City; are you going to spend hundreds of gold coins every year on purchasing horse manure?"

"And, you still have to provide the people and the effort to haul it away and process it. Oh, my god, I don't even know how to describe such an action of yours."

Luoning rubbed his nose to hide the slight upturn of his lips.

Spending less than five hundred gold coins a year to buy so much fertilizer—how much more grain and vegetables could he grow?

He reckoned that this should be a profitable endeavor, right?

"Luogena, if there is anyone willing to sell, please help me make contact; after I return from Wushan Castle this time, I can start handling this matter."

Luoning said with a smile, "Of course, please also help me drive the price down; if possible, 1 copper coin for 200 or 300 jin would be best!"

Luogena shook his head helplessly; it was not that he would not help Luoning with this favor, but rather that he could not quite understand the intention behind Luoning's approach—what benefit could be gained?

"Fine, I can help you make contact."

He said, "I am sure there will be quite a few horse farm owners lining up to have you help them deal with manure; by then, those filthy things will surely be enough to bury your Shanlin Castle."

"Hahaha, then many thanks!"

Since there would be a lot of manure to process, Luoning naturally would not set up the Fertilizer Base inside the town.

He would clear out an area in the mountains specifically to process these things; in any case, the forest to the north was so vast and uninhabited, where could he not set it up?

Once it was processed into fertilizer, it could then be used in Shanlin Town and the several villages below, and any surplus could be taken out to sell.

The horse manure bought back might not be worth much, but as for the fertilizer sold, as long as people realized the function of fertilizer, the price at which it was sold would not be the same.

He had not expected that coming over to buy horses today would lead to the discovery of a business opportunity.

(End of this chapter)