industrial lord

Chapter 716 The situation is a bit serious
In Ujazdorf Castle, the latest administrative center of the Piast Kingdom, Frederick unexpectedly saw a newspaper called "Wessen News", which was a summary of newspapers in the Principality of Wessen within three days. The latest news came from yesterday's "Wessen Daily".

At a salon attended mainly by local merchants, Frederick gave a landscape painting with a village theme to his employer, the salt merchant Baron Boch.

The white-haired Baron Boch was so excited when he saw his hometown, which he had not visited for fifty years, that he burst into tears. He quickly called his children and grandchildren, pointed to the mill and said that he had played here before, and pointed to the river and said that he had fished here with his father and brother the day before he left home...

Many guests also gathered around and echoed the words.

Bell Burke was drinking tea silently in the corner, analyzing the guests in the salon today.

The protagonist of today's salon is undoubtedly Baron Boch. The two closest to him are middle-class businessmen in the city, and there are five or six small businessmen.

These merchants were mainly dependent on Baron Boch. If he had any work to do, he would assign it to two middle-level merchants. The parts that the middle-level merchants could not complete would be subcontracted to small merchants.

For Baron Boch, there should be more than one such small group, each dealing with affairs in different directions.

So when Baron Boch asked Frederick what extra compensation he needed, the others' ears pricked up, and any tasks other than money would fall on them.

Frederick said, "I want to read the latest month's edition of Wesson News to understand the latest trends."

Baron Boch nodded and said, "A businessman who doesn't read the Wesson News will definitely not be able to make a fortune."

"No problem. I'll have someone deliver it to your place before dinner."

He had no intention of keeping Frederick for dinner, and Frederick was happy to be free.

Casimir followed Frederick's example and established a university in Ujazdowski Castle, where he served as the president himself, which led to the creation of a large number of rental houses.

The grades of these rental houses vary. The children of great nobles rent a small building with a garden, the children of lesser nobles rent a small building on the street, and the commoner students who do not have much money rent a single room in a building.

Frederick originally planned to rent a single room, preferably one where the other tenants in the building were all female students, but she was despised by Belle Burke and rented a small building far away from the university.

"You don't want your paintings to be worth just a few coppers, do you?"

Bell Burke had good reasons.

Three girls who were working and studying were employed in the small building. The daughter of a down-and-out knight was responsible for taking care of the horses and carriages, the daughter of a restaurant owner was a cook, and the daughter of a bankrupt businessman was responsible for cleaning and other chores.

Frederick complained privately that Casimir was really not that good, his scholarships were very stingy, and all the student loans went into the pockets of the children of rich and powerful families. Most of the ordinary students worked for a year to raise enough tuition and then continued to study for another year.

I have to say, the cook’s skills are pretty good.

Tonight's soup is barley soup cooked with chicken, bay leaves, leeks, carrots, parsley roots, potatoes, barley grains, turmeric and dill. The main course is a stew with shredded sauerkraut, fresh cabbage, dried mushrooms, prunes, onions, peppers and beef. The staple food is meatballs scooped out of mashed potatoes with a spoon.

Bellberk opened a barrel of beer and filled everyone's glasses. The buckwheat honey beer had a slightly bitter taste and a mixed aroma of caramel and roasted wheat, which everyone liked.

Frederick chatted happily with everyone in the local dialect which was a little awkward and occasionally grammatically incorrect. Cheerful laughter was heard from time to time. It seemed that he was seriously learning a foreign language.

The next morning, after a breakfast of bread, chicken soup and beef dumplings, Frederick began to read the newspaper delivered yesterday in the garden.

He was now pretending to be a noble of the Kingdom of Gaul. It was not reasonable for him to work instead of having fun after sunset. He was not an old Wessen. There was no big news in the Principality of Wessen recently. It was a prosperous scene with peace and prosperity and people working happily.

Frederick noticed something was wrong in the military edition. In the past half month, there had only been news about the military-civilian integration work, without any numbers. Judging from the places where the events occurred, they were not the bases of the main forces, but rather the second-line troops at the local level.

He read the price information in all the newspapers again, and in the eyes of those in the know, the situation was even more serious.

The grain self-sufficiency rate of the Principality of Wessen is not high, and grain prices are greatly affected by foreign grain. Sometimes the harvest in grain-producing areas is poor, or grain transport fleets are late or have accidents, which will cause small fluctuations in grain prices on the market.

Now the grain price in the Duchy of Wessen has remained at a relatively high level for half a month without a change of a penny. To outsiders, this is a stable grain price, but Frederick sees it as the beginning of grain control, in order to reduce the amount of one-time purchases by ordinary residents and increase the amount of imports.

The maid bought today's newspaper, and there was another big news, which made Frederick very upset.

The magic crystal on Susan's motorcycle was stolen. After having a meal at a restaurant, she was about to drive away when she noticed that the car was motionless. She looked up and found that the magic crystal was gone.

The situation of magic crystals being stolen from motor vehicles has become increasingly serious recently. Now the Principality of Wessen has launched a public security rectification operation to increase police force and strengthen the management of foreign population.

The main force began to go silent, control food supplies, and strengthen public security management.

Frederick was sure that this was a serious matter and that major actions would be taken.

To this end, he began to look for relevant information about the railway from the Principality of Wessen to the city of Hammer. As a result, in the past half month, the only news on the railway was about passengers getting off the train to buy food and not being able to get back on time, brave passengers capturing thieves, and a train cleaner winning the best employee award of the previous year.

The news reports that had previously occasionally complained about the train punctuality have now disappeared without a trace, as if trains can suddenly depart and arrive on time.

From this, it can be inferred that the railway system should be in a state of panic now. It is probably not just the Principality of Wessen that is mobilizing its own troops. The armies of the Principality of Bavaria and the Principality of Mainz are also passing through the Principality of Wessen to the city of Hammer.

After reading the newspaper, Frederick began to think that something might be happening in Hammer City and that little Franz might have some bad premonitions, so he should make military preparations as soon as possible.

At this time, Belle Burke came over and said in authentic Gaulish: "I have two invitations for you."

Frederick asked curiously, "Any new business?"

Bell Burke handed him the first invitation letter and said, "The president of Ujazdowski University invites you to be a guest lecturer."

Frederick took the invitation letter and read it. It invited him to give lectures to students, mainly on popular painting schools and new techniques. One class would be three days for half a year, and the salary would not be low.

"That's good." The corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

The University of Weissenberg also has many guest lecturers and guest professors, all of whom are well-known and skilled in the society. Most of them are front-line practitioners who can bring the latest industry development trends to students.

Bell Burke handed over the second letter and said, "Baron Boch invites you to a salon. He needs a friend who is familiar with the Duchy of Wessen."

Frederick nodded thoughtfully. It seemed like there was big news.

(End of this chapter)