Starting Today I'll Work As A City Lord

"Hoo hoo hoo hoo..."

The howling wind raged outside, with snowflakes continuously falling from the sky. The land was blanketed in white, and the pure snowflakes floated down like willow catkins, like goose feathers, drifting gently from the heavens.

"It's been snowing heavily for three days straight." Lucas stood by the window in his study room, gazing out at the vast expanse of white. In such weather, everyone stayed indoors, warming themselves by the fire.

Of course, the workers in the workshops still continued their work, spinning yarn and weaving cloth as usual. The production of ceramics hadn't stopped either. The kiln where they fired pottery was warmer than any other place, and the steel furnaces were the same.

"Young master, all outdoor work has been halted. This year's snowstorm is quite severe." Nicole said, bringing Lucas a cup of hot tea.

"Let it be. We can't have them working in this snowstorm. In this weather, it would be pointless to work anyway; better to let them rest for a few days." Lucas replied indifferently.

"Young master is so kind-hearted." Nicole said softly.

"Hah... when did you start saying such things?" Lucas rolled his eyes. In weather like this, anyone working outside would be frozen stiff within half an hour, especially considering how poor the people of this era were at keeping warm.

"Hehe..." Nicole stuck out her tongue.

"Annie! How much cloth does the weaving workshop have now?" Lucas turned his head and looked at Annie, who was playing cards.

The three-day heavy snow had caused many things to be put on hold, and Annie had enjoyed a day or two of relaxation. Now, she was playing a game of "Landlord" (a popular card game) with Mina and Helen.

"Come on, Freya, you're the landlord," Annie immediately stood up, handed the deck of cards to Freya, and walked over to the desk to flip through her notebook.

"Me?" Freya was taken aback as she took the cards, then cautiously glanced at Mina and Helen. She was the landlord now.

"Young master, the inventory of cloth in the warehouse is 18,000 rolls. The daily production is over 200 rolls." Annie quickly read aloud.

"That's just enough for the first batch of shipments. It seems the Joe merchant caravan is on its way." Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. The first batch of shipments he needed was at least 10,000 rolls.

He also knew that due to the recent snow, some of the workers had been reassigned to the workshops to help out, which led to the daily output of over 200 rolls of cloth.

"It might take a bit longer. The heavy snow could delay things by a few days," Annie glanced at the date and said, "Luckily, the Whispering River hasn't frozen over. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to come."

Lucas nodded. That was indeed fortunate. The swift current of the Whispering River kept the water from freezing easily, while smaller tributary rivers had already frozen over.

"Then, how about the ceramic jars? How many do we have now?" Lucas asked, voicing his second concern.

"We've stored around 8,000 of them, and over 1,000 jars of fish canned food are already being produced. The large-scale production just started after the seasonings were delivered to the fish processing workshop these past few days." Annie reported.

"Good. Make sure they pay attention to the sealing process, and the ceramic jars must be rinsed with boiling water." Lucas instructed. These long-term stored foods must be handled with extreme care. Any mistake in the process could lead to spoilage and rot.

"Understood!" Annie noted.

"Here is a method for pickling vegetables. Have them try making some, especially pickled cucumbers and cabbage." Lucas said, handing a file to Annie. He figured that the capital probably didn't have fresh vegetables at the moment. If they brought some pickled vegetables to sell there, their price might even rival that of the canned fish.

"Alright!" Annie took the document, her understanding of Lucas's grand plan growing deeper the more she handled his affairs. The more she helped him manage, the more she realized just how vast his ambitions were.

"There's still too few people." Lucas sighed, turning to look out the window. "If only I had tens of thousands of people right now!"

With tens of thousands, he could expand his operations fully. The production of goods would increase several times over, and making a fortune every day wouldn't be a dream. More importantly, the surrounding cities would be influenced by him. Some would either affiliate with him and prosper on the fast track of development, while others would stagnate, becoming impoverished and isolated like backward landowners.

At that point, Lucas wouldn't need a single soldier. The cities around him would voluntarily see him as their master — this was the war of economics.

Thinking about it, some city lords might not sit idle for long. Lucas's city already had nearly 5,000 people, which, in this era, was considered a large population. The capital itself had only around 100,000 people.

"I know a place with a large population," Freya suddenly said after playing a pair of aces in the game. She turned to Lucas and added, "But they're all slaves. By now, many of them should have frozen to death."

A trace of sorrow flashed in Freya's eyes as she thought of the slaves struggling outside Blade City. With the heavy snowfall these past three days, many of them must have perished in the cold.

However, she knew this was an inevitable situation. No city would generously take in slaves. No, it wasn't that cities wouldn't, but no noble would be willing to take in large numbers of slaves in winter. For nobles, that meant providing a lot of food without any return.

If it were spring or summer, more slaves would actually be better. They would represent free labor, capable of doing a lot of work with just food in return — it would be the most cost-effective deal.

"Oh? Slaves? Do they have owners?" Lucas raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "What's the price like?"

If the price was cheap, he could buy some slaves, then establish a system of rewards and punishments. For example, after working for him for a few years, they could be granted their freedom.

"Well... they have masters, but it doesn't cost anything as long as you can take them with you." Freya said, her voice lowering. She threw down a big trump card and ended the game of poker.

"What do you mean?" Lucas frowned, his suspicion growing. It sounded like the slave owner didn't care whether the slaves lived or died.

"Blade City is a slave-based city. The worthless civilians, or beastkins slaves, are all driven outside the city to fend for themselves. At most, they get a little bit of food." Freya briefly explained the situation of Blade City.

"How many of them are there?" Lucas's dark eyes flickered.

"About a thousand or so. Probably a few more have died in the past few days." Freya said, her lips pressed tightly together.

"A thousand, huh?" Lucas nodded, frowning as he thought it over. A thousand people was not a small number. He began calculating how much wheat would be needed to sustain them.

Freya watched him, a bit dejected. Was it really true that no one would take in slaves without compensation? Didn't these nobles know that if they could just get through the winter, the slaves could help with the work?

But she couldn't voice any accusations, because the slave tragedy outside Blade City had been caused by someone of her own kind — Santner, the prince beastkin.

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