Chapter 61: 61 Throwing Thousands of Gold Coins Around

Before long, Jialun and Tangmu, having finished buying the wrought iron, arrived at the tavern as agreed to meet up.

According to their account, they had visited several iron ore shops, and after some comparison and bargaining, they purchased two thousand jin of wrought iron at a price of 40 copper coins per jin, spending a total of 80 gold coins.

The quality of this two thousand jin of wrought iron was mediocre at best, not exactly high-grade goods, but it was perfectly sufficient for forging tools used in production and daily life, such as plowshares.

Luoning looked at the pieces of wrought iron Tangmu had brought back; forgive him for his lack of expertise, he could not tell the difference in quality.

"Well done!"

Luoning took the remaining 20 gold coins from Jialun's hand and praised the two of them.

For the two of them, carrying and spending so much gold was a first in their lives; being able to handle this matter properly showed that they still had some capability.

Unlike some useless fellows who wouldn't dare to buy anything even with money in their hands.

Having accomplished so much in just one morning, Luoning was in a good mood.

He called for the waiter to start serving the meal and simultaneously had Jialun arrange lunch for the guards waiting by the carriage.

While dining, Luoning took the opportunity to introduce Ruidar, claiming he was a Wandering Knight he had met by chance, who had now joined Shanlin Town and pledged his loyalty to him.

Jialun didn't have a concrete understanding of an Advanced Peak Knight, but Tangmu was different.

As a Primary Knight, he knew full well the power of an Advanced Peak Knight.

That wasn't even the key point; previously, the Lord had relied on strategy to deceive the Knight Feilidun of the Sain Territory, making the other party afraid to act rashly.

But now, Lord Luoning had a genuine Advanced Peak Knight by his side, so he likely wouldn't need to worry so much about the Sain Territory in the future.

During this time, he had personally felt Luoning's uniqueness and increasingly felt he had followed the right master; perhaps in the future, he could truly get ahead and restore the glory of his ancestors!

After finishing lunch, Luoning led the Caravan to start circulating among various shops and stalls selling daily necessities.

He wanted to open an Ironwood Workshop and needed to buy axes, iron saws, and wood-chopping knives;

He needed to continue wasteland reclamation, so hoes and shovels were also essential; looking at the tools the Serfs used made of stone, he felt a dull ache in his gut.

Spending an entire afternoon, Luoning compared several shops and finally bought all the tools.

Among them were 20 axes, 20 iron saws, and 20 wood-chopping knives, as well as 400 hoes and 400 shovels; even after several rounds of bargaining, it still cost 172 gold, 7 silver, and 60 copper coins.

The axes, iron saws, and wood-chopping knives were prepared for the Ironwood Workshop; considering tool wear, 20 of each was not much;

He planned to distribute the total of 800 hoes and shovels evenly among the villages.

It was clear that these tools were far from enough for every Serf to have one, but for Luoning to invest so much money at once was already a great effort.

By now, he had already spent over 900 gold coins on this trip to Muma City!

That a Mountain Baron from a backwater could throw around thousands of gold coins—if this were to spread, no one would dare believe it.

Luoning now had only 281 gold coins left; after reserving a year's salary for everyone, he still had a surplus of several dozen gold coins.

He remembered when he first transmigrated, he was penniless and had nothing; wanting to reach Shanlin Town safely meant having to beg a little here and cheat a little there.

But it was different now; Luoning already had channels and plans to make money, just like a farmer with grain in the house, no longer panicked.

After purchasing various supplies, most of Luoning's plans for Muma City were complete, with only one last thing left to do: head to the Slave Agency to inquire about the slave trade.

The sale and trade of slaves were permitted in this world; basically, every city, and even some Knights' manors, had slave exchanges.

Here, as long as you were a Free Citizen and could afford the price, you could legally own slaves that belonged entirely to you and exercise all rights belonging to a master over them.

In a sense, slaves had an even lower status than the Serfs in the territory.

As a transmigrator, Luoning's understanding of slavery was limited to books; he had never seen the real lives and experiences of slaves with his own eyes, so he couldn't empathize.

Perhaps civilization told him that slavery was wrong, but as the saying went, he couldn't change anything right now.

Since he couldn't change it, he would follow the local customs and use this system to improve himself.

Currently, the total population of Shanlin Town had just passed two thousand, which was quite a bit less than an ordinary Baron Territory, which usually had a population of over ten thousand.

Relying on attracting Free Citizens to join or having the people in the territory reproduce to grow the population was a bit slow.

If he wanted the territory's population to grow quickly in a short time, he could only use money to buy them.

Moreover, for Luoning, if he could buy a thousand people at once, he could complete a population achievement and strengthen his own power.

This was a good deed that killed many birds with one stone.

Taking advantage of the fact that it wasn't dark yet, Luoning inquired about the location of the slave exchange and led his team there early the next morning.

To control and tame slaves, exchanges were mostly set up on the outskirts of the city, and some were even located inside a Knight's manor.

Luoning sat on his horse, looking at the Slave Agency before him, somewhat lost in thought.

He had originally thought the exchange would be a large courtyard with some cages to lock the slaves in.

But the exchange before him, looking like a small castle, clearly exceeded his expectations.

The high walls built of stone and mud were covered in spikes; although they were not as sturdy as the walls of a noble's castle, they were enough to keep the people inside from daring to climb over and escape.

Besides that, the four corners of the high walls were equipped with tall wooden watchtowers, each staffed with people specifically for surveillance; once a situation was discovered, these observers would report it immediately.

Furthermore, there was a team patrolling around the high walls, and the main gate of the exchange was guarded by four people to ensure nothing went wrong.

When the guards saw a team of people walking toward the exchange, they immediately became alert.

However, since they were approaching so openly, it was highly likely they were customers, so they didn't show any hostility.

Just as Luoning and his group arrived outside the exchange, a middle-aged man rushed out from the gate; he trotted up to Luoning's horse with a grinning face, offering his respects and greetings.

"Good day, my lords. I am the manager of the 'Duxie Exchange' here in Muma City; you may call me Andongni!"

Andongni only took one glance before he roughly knew that this group was led by the young man in front of him, and this young man had a signature head of silver hair; he immediately thought of one person.

As a manager who dealt with the outside world all year round, Andongni's eye for people was no less sharp than Huke's of the Silva Magic Energy Chamber of Commerce.

It was just that this was not the trading area, and the Slave Agency was not an ordinary Chamber of Commerce, so even if he guessed Luoning's identity, he wouldn't point it out unless the latter did so first.

"Hello, Andongni. I want to see the slaves you have here."

Luoning, sitting on his horse, stated the purpose of his visit, "If there are suitable ones, I will take a batch."

Andongni's ears twitched; he noticed that Luoning didn't say one, but a batch.

This was a big customer!

And so, every inch of skin on this manager's face revealed a fawning smile, "Rest assured, sir, no matter what kind of goods you require, our Viper Slave Exchange will provide them for you!"

Luoning flipped off his horse and handed the horse to Jialun to manage, "Let's go, take me to tour your Slave Agency."

Thanks to the two gentlemen, Gete Wan Unstoppable Warrior and Book Friend 20230811111042841, for their tips, and thanks to Youye Hongyu, Man Lulu, Tianshi Chun'ao, Laolong Jiu, and all the other gentlemen for their monthly tickets and recommendation votes~~~

(End of this chapter)