Imperial Crown.

Chapter 219: Angel's Gift, Angel's Glory
Doug was imprisoned in the dungeon, of course with Raven's consent.

However, this small fry couldn't extract any useful information, and Raven kept him around just because he didn't want to make things too awkward with the Death Hand Cult.

When the Hand of Death comes knocking on your door, you can also use Doug as an extra channel of communication.

The next day, Raven took Fiona and left Eagle Castle under the escort of Volaf and rushed to Snow Maple Territory.

Just as he took a short rest in Xuefeng Castle, the political officer of Xuefeng Town, Kuman, came to ask for a meeting.

"Baron, you are truly far-sighted and far-sighted!" As soon as they met, Kuman began to flatter him: "With just a few words of advice, you have created a huge source of income for our Xuefeng Territory!"

"Ah?" Raven was stunned for a moment: "What did you say?"

"Look at me, I'm so happy." Kuman slapped his forehead and said, "It's the pickled brown dace you mentioned before!"

Raven thought for a while before he realized that he had mentioned this casually a few months ago. He couldn't help but ask, "Was the pickling successful?"

"It's such a success!" Kuman couldn't suppress the smile on his face. "It's simply the best delicacy in the entire province and the entire continent!"

Lei Wen was a little hungry after rushing all the way here. After hearing Kuman's boasting, he immediately became interested: "Then bring it up and let me see it!"

This was exactly what Kuman was waiting for, and he immediately asked someone to bring up a jar.

The moment he saw the jar, Raven felt something was wrong, because from the moment it appeared at the door, the room was filled with a lingering smell of stinky socks!
With a thud, the large ceramic jar landed on Raven's desk. Kuman rubbed his hands and said flatteringly, "My Lord Baron, this is the best quality jar of pickled brown dace. Please open the lid with your own hands!"

Since Kuman had said so, Raven certainly couldn't refuse his subordinate's kindness. He grabbed the lid of the jar and opened it violently.

In a trance, Raven saw his grandmother.

In her previous life, his grandmother liked to make soybean paste herself. Sometimes her skills were not so good and she didn’t keep an eye on it, so flies would lay eggs in it, and white maggots would wriggle in it, and the stench was overwhelming!
The taste back then was not even one tenth as good as this one.

Are you trying to trick me on purpose?

Raven's forehead was throbbing with veins, and he stared at Kuman. However, Kuman was like nothing had happened, with a smile still on his face: "Baron, how is it? Doesn't it smell good?"

Fiona, who was standing next to Raven, took a deep sniff and said, "It smells really good!"

fragrant?
Raven was a little confused.

It is true that fragrance and stench are essentially the same thing, but even ambergris made from whale feces needs to be soaked.

Is there something wrong with my nose?

Looking inside the jar, there were brown dace placed together, the soup was dark brown, and there was a layer of dried salt grains on the inner wall of the jar.

Taking the knife and fork from the servant beside him, Kuman picked up a piece of food from the plate and handed it to Raven: "Baron, please taste it yourself!"

Raven's mouth twitched, but he still couldn't bring himself to say it: "Fiona, you go first."

"Thank you, Baron!" Fiona nodded, picked up a piece of fish with a fork and put it into her mouth. Then she closed her eyes and hummed with satisfaction: "It's delicious!"

This made Raven feel suspicious.

Fiona has always been very picky about food, but she said she liked it, so maybe this pickled brown dace would actually taste good.

Like stinky tofu, it smells bad but tastes good?
With this in mind, Raven picked up the fork, picked off the sticky fish skin, and forked a small piece of fish meat into his mouth.

Then his eyes immediately became bloodshot, and he used all his willpower to not vomit.

How to describe it?
Original flavor of nine-turn large intestine.

After swallowing it with difficulty, Raven felt that his taste buds had failed. He said to Kuman viciously, "Try it too."

As a result, when Kuman put the food in his mouth, his expression was one of enjoyment, without any falseness at all.

Raven was shaken. Could this thing really be delicious?

But he would never try it again, so he called his attendants, maids and even his own soldiers to taste it, and without exception, they all liked it very much!

"How many of these pickled brown dace are left?" Raven asked.

"That's too much!" Kuman responded immediately. "The migratory brown dace died after laying eggs. I mobilized thousands of people to catch and pickle them. A total of 11 pounds!"

11 pounds, or about 50 kilograms, or about 500 tons, is indeed not a small number.

Raven said, "Well, you can distribute some of these brown dace to the people in the territory and see how they accept it and whether they like to eat it."

Although Fiona would never lie to me, the other maids and guards might deliberately say that the food was delicious just to please me.

Raven wanted to test whether there was really a market for this kind of thing.

Kuman immediately carried out Raven's order, and within two days, carts of pickled brown dace covered every corner of Raven's territory.

On this day, Zhu Nasheng returned to his home.

After guiding Raven to obtain the inheritance of his former master, the Medini family, Zhunasheng returned to his old job and became a clerk in Eagle Castle, taking his son and grandson with him.

Seeing that he had no extra money, old Gordon advanced him a year's salary so that he could buy a house of his own outside Eagle Castle.

To be honest, this house is very much to Zhu Nasheng's liking. It is two-story high, made of stone, warm in winter and cool in summer, spacious, and very close to Eagle Castle.

But there are still many things he can't stand.

Take Raven for example. He is a baron, and it’s ok that he is obsessed with magic all day long. He also goes to the factory all the time and hardly holds a cocktail party throughout the year. How does he act like a lord?

Old Gordon didn’t even bother to give some advice!
Yes, and there is old Gordon. This guy is two years younger than me. Not only does he become my boss because of his seniority, he has also been knighted.

Knight! Why should a butler do that?

I'm not even a knight yet.

Looking at the red and white knots on his body, it was really enviable. Why didn't I ask the Baron for a knighthood at that time?

He pushed open the door with a lot of complaints, and was immediately attracted by a fragrance. He raised his nose, frowned and shouted: "Pip! What are you doing?!"

Pip is Junassen's son. When he heard his father calling him, Pip, wearing an apron, came out of the kitchen and said, "Dad, I'm making dinner! I promise to give you a surprise!"

"What's the surprise? I think it's a shock." Zhu Nasheng scolded, "I told you, our family is a new outsider, so we have to be low-key in everything we do and in our lives."

"It's neither a birthday nor a holiday, so what kind of meat are you making? Are you afraid that others won't know that our family is rich?"

"Money should be saved and spent wisely! What is the most important thing to the Baron? The army! You don't know if you are not in the castle. Now, apart from the new castle, the army is the only thing that consumes money."

"I am old, and you have not been trained, but your son still has time. Let's save money to buy him equipment and train him in martial arts. That is the way forward for the future!"

Pip was helpless after hearing what Junason said. Seeing that the old man was about to nag endlessly, he took the opportunity when he was taking a breath to say, "I didn't buy it with my own money. It was distributed by the Baron. Every household has one!"

"Really?" Zhu Nasheng asked suspiciously.

"Of course it's true. Every family has three!" Pip said with a smile, "Just wait a moment, it will be ready soon!"

Zhu Nasheng knew that he had wronged his son, but was too embarrassed to apologize. He took off his coat, sat at the dining table, and began to think about the future of his family.

He is old, his son is mature, but his grandson is still young.

At this stage, he can still teach his children to read. Next year, the school near the new castle will open, and he can then send his children there to learn to read and write, and make some friends.

As for the future, it is better to practice martial arts.

After experiencing the turmoil of the Death Hand Cult, he finally understood that no matter how good a pen is, it is useless if he cannot pick up a sword at a critical moment and cannot even protect his family. His wife and daughter-in-law are...

"Okay!" Pip walked out of the kitchen and put a plate of fried fish on the table.

They were three brown dace, their skin fried until golden brown, revealing the pudding-tender fish meat. They trembled when they were placed on the table, and they were extremely mouth-watering.

When I smelled it up close, the fragrance went straight into my nostrils. My saliva was already flowing before I even started eating!
"It's time for dinner!" Pip opened the door and shouted into the street.

Soon, Junassen's grandson ran back to the house, washed his hands and sat at the table, while Pip cut the bread and served each of them a bowl of thick soup.

"This is a thick soup made from the broth of pickled brown dace. Father, would you like to try it?"

Zhu Nasheng nodded, took a spoonful of the thick sauce-colored soup and put it into his mouth. His eyebrows trembled immediately. The salty and fresh taste exploded in his mouth, as if there was really a fish jumping around in his mouth.

Pip put the largest fish on Junason's plate, the medium one in his son's bowl, and kept the smallest one for himself.

After chewing a mouthful of bread, Junason picked up the spoon again.

The marinated fish meat is loose in nature, and becomes even more tender after frying. You can scoop out a piece with a spoon.

When he put it into his mouth and took a sip, the fish meat melted completely, and the unique flavor after being pickled suddenly burst out, making Zhu Nasheng's legs tremble uncontrollably.

too delicious!

But after one bite, he stopped and pushed the plate in front of his grandson.

"Grandpa, why don't you eat?" the grandson asked with blinking eyes.

"Grandpa doesn't like eating fish." Zhu Nasheng said with a smile.

The grandson ate the fish happily, and Zhu Nasheng narrowed his eyes even more: "Eat slowly, no one is going to snatch it from you."

After finishing his meal, Zhu Nasheng returned to his room, put away his glasses, sat on the bed, and could still smell the fishy smell on his body.

Giving fish to his subjects, Baron Raven is really... extravagant!
But this time he did not feel dissatisfied, but said with emotion: "No wonder Baron Raven can manage the territory like this..."

"Being able to come to the Eagle Territory is a blessing from our ancestors!"

The next morning, after having breakfast, Raven sat in the study of Snow Maple Castle, reading the news sent back from various people.

The most important thing is the news sent by old Gordon and Simon.

Old Gordon knew the importance of the matter and would not lie to him; but Simon could not learn to lie.

The good news is that pickled brown dace has indeed been a huge success, and at least 85% of people can accept this strange taste.

Well, I don’t really understand your Western tastes.

At this moment, Fiona pushed the door open and walked in: "My Lord Baron, the factory sent a message saying that the product you wanted is ready. Please go over and check it out!"

Raven stood up and said, "Send the order to Kuman to deliver all the pickled brown dace to the factory."

"Come with me to the factory to see the new products. I'll also let you know that Baron, I never lie to anyone!"

Fiona followed Raven all the way to the factory, and soon after entering the gate, she couldn't take her eyes off.

So much glass!
Moreover, unlike most of the glass on the market that has impurities, the ones here are all crystal clear and indistinguishable from natural crystals. There are also many glass jars that have already been packed.

Each jar was filled with clear liquid, with two cut emerald green fruits suspended in it, dyeing the liquid green.

Workers kept coming out of the factory building next door, carrying out truckloads of such glass jars, and others were packing them into boxes.

"My Lord Baron...what is this?"

"Canned pecans. I call it 'Angel's Gift'. It's one of the new products." Raven said.

Not only pecans, but also pickled brown dace was sent over because Raven wanted to can it as well.

This makes it easier to transport, store and sell!
"But that's not what I want to show you today. Come with me."

Hearing Raven's words, Fiona hurriedly followed.

When we arrived at the innermost factory building, all the workers had already left. There were a lot of broken glass plates piled in the corner, and there were some silver lights flashing among them.

In the center stood an object as tall as a door panel, covered with a layer of white cloth.

Raven said to Fiona, "Uncover it and see."

This made Fiona a little nervous, because such a grand thing must be an extremely valuable treasure. What if it was damaged?
But the Baron had to listen, so he bit his lip, slowly moved forward, grabbed the curtain, and pulled it hard!
There was a friction sound, and the white cloth fell to the ground. Fiona only felt a flash before her eyes, and she was in a trance!

“Is this…?!”

There is another self in front of me!
Fiona took a step closer and looked carefully, her eyes moving up and down, and the person opposite her did the same thing.

This is a mirror.

But mirrors aren't supposed to be like this!
Even the best bronze mirror, which has three parts of tin mixed in and has been polished to its smoothest, will always have some distortion, and within a few days, the reflection will become increasingly hazy and dark.

But the mirror in front of me actually reflected all the details.

Her silver hair, pupils that contracted due to surprise, eyelashes, and tiny bloodshot eyes were all clearly visible.

She thought her makeup was neat enough, but now it seems there are still many flaws.

Fiona couldn't imagine how crazy those noble women would be when they saw this mirror.

Treasure, it is really a treasure!!
Priceless treasure!!!
Seeing Fiona's expression, Raven smiled with satisfaction: "What do you think of it?"

"Priceless." Fiona got goosebumps all over her body.

"But what if I tell you that it only costs 37 silver coins?"

Fiona was stunned, and she suddenly remembered what Raven said to her when they first met.

Use extremely cheap raw materials to produce products that are enough to shock the entire continent!
"My Lord Baron, is this what you were talking about?"

"Yes, you can call it 'Angel's Glory'." Raven said lightly.

There are three technical difficulties in producing glass mirrors - transparency, bubbles, and mercury plating.

The glass of this era had relatively poor transparency, but Raven happened to know an unethical but practical way, which was to add arsenic pentoxide, also known as arsenic trioxide, during the production process.

When manufacturing large pieces of glass, bubbles are inevitable. Raven has no choice but to let the factory continue to experiment and improve the process.

The final mercury plating is the key to the reflection of the glass mirror. The most important step is to add sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda, which can be mass-produced in the Riverside Workshop.

"You need a press conference!" Fiona said excitedly, "A press conference, an auction, I believe it will be sold at a sky-high price!"

“Oh, don’t get so excited.” Raven spread his hands and said, “There will be an auction and a press conference, but before that, there is a crucial step.”

"What is it?"

“Make it famous!”

……

(End of this chapter)