I'm not a lord

Chapter 34 Troubled Times Are the Stage
Looking at the unremarkable piece of salt ore in his hand, Leon's expression was first excited, but then he showed fear.

After hesitating for a while, he finally managed to say, "Sir, I can pretend that I didn't see this stone."

Lin En glanced up and down at the greedy black marketeer and snorted coldly:

"Leon, at this point, do you think you can pretend you didn't see anything? Besides, how could a person like you be afraid of the gallows? The crimes you have committed so far are enough to be hanged ten thousand times!"

Smuggling contraband weapons, helping horse bandits sell stolen goods, and selling the whereabouts of nobles. Any one of them is a capital crime.

Leon shook his head gently: "That's true, but selling illegal salt is dancing on the king's nose. My Lord, you should know what the relationship is between the largest salt dealer in the North and the king. They are simply wearing the same pants!"

There are differences between gallows. Leon's network of connections in Trois-Rivières is enough to cover his black market business.

But if he participated in the illegal salt trafficking, even ten Sanhe Cities would not be able to protect him.

Due to climatic reasons, large-scale salt drying is not possible in the coastal areas of the Northern Kingdom, and no large salt mines have been found in the territory. Most of the salt needed has to be imported from the south.

In addition, due to the relatively closed terrain of the North, bulk commodities from outside can only be imported from the mouth of Jinghe River.

The king only needs to control the mouth of the Jing River to easily monopolize the salt industry in the entire Northern Kingdom.

Although the three dukes each had a powerful army, they could only get a share of the king's profits.

The largest and only salt dealer in the North today is the Selmont family from the South, also known as the 'Saltfield' family. This family originally made their fortune by drying and selling sea salt.

The Selmont family has close ties to the royal family, and the current King in the North has two mistresses from the family in his court.

So how profitable is the salt trade in the North?

Taking White Bear Territory as an example, the retail price of salt from Sanhe City in White Bear Territory is about one silver coin per two kilograms.

The purchase price of an adult goat or 38.5 kilograms of rye in White Bear Territory is also one silver coin (the silver content of a standard Northern silver coin is about 16 grams).

It takes nearly twenty kilograms of rye to exchange for one kilogram of salt.

According to the territory list in Lin En's hand, a family of five serfs would consume no less than ten kilograms of salt per year.

Half of the income from the serfs' hard work raising twenty sheep every year had to be spent on this damn salt.

The production cost of table salt is almost negligible, and there are many salt fields and mature large-scale salt mines in the southern region.

The total population of the Northern Kingdom is at least six or seven million. One can imagine how much profit went into the pockets of the king and the Selmont family.

In order to maintain this horrific profit, they will do anything.

Lin En scoffed at this. "Are you talking about the King of the North who is over seventy years old but has no legitimate male heir? Leon, with your personality, would you be afraid of a king who is about to be buried? When he dies, who knows how many people will trample on his crown!"

The North practices male inheritance, and the current King of the North has married four wives but has only two daughters.

After his death, the North will inevitably fall into a chaotic throne-eating chicken game. Who will have the energy to control salt smuggling then?
"But the Duke of Swampland has a very close relationship with the Selmont family. It's impossible for His Excellency the Duke to ignore the illegal salt that appeared in his territory."

Leon was obviously persuaded by Lynn, but he was still a little hesitant.

For more than a hundred years, the Selmont family has built a huge network of interests throughout the North.

From the king to the duke to the earl and then to the baron at the bottom, all are part of the salt interest network.

Every year, salt from the South is transported to every corner of the Northern Kingdom via the Jing River and its tributaries.

After obtaining the salt, the local distributors in Sanhe City will bring the salt to the White Bear Territory in the autumn, and the White Bear Territory Baron will then sell the salt to the serfs.

Through the salt trade, the former White Bear Barons could earn around ten Northern Gold Shields annually. While not much, it was stable, and it served as a means for the lords to exploit their serfs.

A small low-level baron can make money through the salt trade, let alone the Duke of Swamp.

The Duke didn't even need to participate in the salt sales. As long as he could crack down on the private salt dealers in the country, the Selmont family would regularly send boxes of gold coins to his court.

"What does the Duke of the Swamp have to fear? Once the king dies, how can the Duke care about smuggling salt? He has been frantically expanding his army in recent years. Is he worried that the gold coins in the warehouse will mold? He is bound to participate in this battle for the throne that is sweeping across the entire North."

Lynn doesn't care about the royal family anymore, so naturally he won't care about the Duke of Swamp.

He gave up his free and easy position as the leader of the horse bandits and chose to take over the White Bear Territory at this time, precisely because he calculated that the Northern Kingdom was about to fall into chaos.

Right now, countless ambitious people are eagerly awaiting the death of the King in the North.

This old king's days are indeed numbered.

As early as last autumn, word spread in the palace that he had lost his mind, was in a coma for most of the day, and was relying entirely on church clergy to keep him alive.

This forced extension of life is doomed to be short-lived, and the old and frail King of the North will definitely not survive this year.

The White Bear Territory is remote and has a closed terrain, which is perfect for a "small" ambitious person with no background like Lin En.

While everyone outside is fighting to the death, it is a good opportunity for him to concentrate on his development.

Once he has grown up, he can come out to clean up the mess and rebuild the country.

If the salt mine in the northwest can be successfully mined, it will undoubtedly greatly shorten his development time.

For Lin En, road construction and mining are actually the easiest.

The biggest challenge he faced was how to sell the salt and exchange it for valuable funds for the development of his territory.

The essence of business is transaction, and the core of transaction is channel.

He was just a bandit leader before, lacking channels for foreign trade and lacking brave businessmen who dared to smuggle salt.

Before discovering the salt mine, Lynn had only wanted to talk to Leon about the food and iron ingot trade in the territory.

However, he didn't expect that during the time when the third brother went to Sanhe City to deliver a letter, he actually discovered a salt mine with considerable reserves.

Then he might as well go with the flow and develop Leon into his black glove.

Through several business dealings and the intelligence gathered from certain noble ladies, Lynn saw through Leon's greed and ambition.

This black market businessman is not satisfied with his current status and is eager to move up.

Lynn will provide him with the ladder to climb up the social ladder, but will also put the rope around his neck.

This rope is Leon's precious sister.

There is no bond more powerful than the bond of blood.

But then again, Lynn didn't really covet Leon's sister. After all, he had never seen the girl in person.

He forcibly took the beautiful sixteen-year-old girl just to keep a hostage by his side.

(End of this chapter)