The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Jefferson was attending a dance party at the time.

The castle's hall was spacious and magnificent, with huge tapestries hanging on the massive stone walls and magical crystal chandeliers swaying in the light from the ceiling, adding a mesmerizing atmosphere to the ballroom.

The floor was covered with a thick carpet, which was not only incredibly comfortable to walk on, but also completely silent.

The nobles, dressed in clothes sewn with gold and silver threads or velvet robes, danced gracefully on the dance floor to the music.

Occasionally, professionals use fireworks and light magic to enhance the atmosphere.

Jefferson hadn't felt this kind of atmosphere in a long time, and for a moment he even felt a little out of place.

"What's wrong, Mr. Jefferson? Do you not like our welcoming ceremony?"

A refined middle-aged nobleman came up, clinked glasses with Jefferson, and then drank the pale golden wine in his hand in one gulp.

"Mr. Doug, aren't we talking business?"

"No, we won't discuss business tonight."

With that, Doug threw down his glass and shouted, "Ladies and gentlemen, let us welcome Viscount Jefferson from the Grey-Collar!"

The nobles erupted in enthusiastic applause, leaving Jefferson momentarily bewildered and even somewhat embarrassed.

"Viscount Jefferson, welcome to your embrace of freedom."

Jefferson initially refused the assignment.

Jefferson now only wants to focus on his sugar and medicine business and has no desire to get involved in the power struggles among the nobility anymore.

Anyway, the scale of the industries Jefferson is now in charge of has long exceeded the total of all the Champagne nobles back then, and all that's left to do is lie low.

Although Jefferson was only in charge of acting as an agent for the sugar and potions, and all he had to do was find a way to sell these things in Doug's territory, he still had to hand over the lion's share of the profits.

Even though Jefferson handed over all the money that the dealers bribed him with, the wealth he accumulated was still quite astonishing.

Jefferson was like a kitten seeing cat food being poured out. At first, when only a little bit was poured out, Jefferson would normally go and eat a couple of bites. But as more and more cat food poured out like a waterfall, Jefferson started to get scared and didn't dare to eat any more.

Jefferson's greatest wish was to be able to retire peacefully.

But Linde, with his "use it to the fullest" spirit, found Jefferson.

Good news! Jefferson was finally free from overseeing the sugar and medicine trade. This was a huge relief for him, as he no longer had to manage this highly profitable industry that could lead to his downfall if he wasn't careful.

Bad news: Jefferson is going to start helping sell arms, and to the enemy camp no less. At this point, he'll be lucky to even have a decent corpse.

Amid the chaotic ball, Jefferson's thoughts drifted back to the afternoon he had been summoned.

"Are you sure?"

Jefferson checked the plan again and again.

"Is there anything wrong?"

Lynd's appearance hadn't changed much since Jefferson first met him, but Jefferson could clearly sense that the governor had gained something after the assassination attempt.

Something called ambition.

Everyone has such things, but after that unsuccessful assassination attempt, the governor's ambition became completely undisguised.

"No matter what, selling weapons to the enemy is simply..."

Jefferson was sweating profusely after reading the plan several times. No matter how he looked at it, it was a death sentence. In Jefferson's mind, if the war was lost, his act of supplying weapons to the enemy would definitely be brought to light and he would be held accountable.

Rather, sending weapons to the enemy was an act that these traditional nobles found completely incomprehensible.

Or has he offended the governor in some way recently? He hasn't taken a single penny from the sugar and medicine trade.

"It's just replacing sugar and potions with weapons."

Linde had not expected Jefferson to be so resistant, so he did a lot of persuasion work that day. In fact, the total amount of sugar and medicine sold to Doug's territory was decreasing, and the main supply was shifting to the army.

But the railway still had to be built; it was a huge project. Of course, the merchants were very interested in it, and many donated money without expecting anything in return, hoping that the railway would pass through their hometowns when it opened.

However, the construction of the railway required strong central support, and the donations from these merchants were just a drop in the bucket. The real bulk of the funding had to come from Linde's own pocket.

Not to mention that although the trains in this world do not burn coal, they need to build obelisks at intervals to replenish their magic power, which requires the government to have strong execution capabilities and a sound economic situation.

Of course, Lind had his own unorthodox methods; if he wanted, he could get a railway for free. But the railway was the lifeblood of a country, and Lind had to hold onto it tightly and never let others take it over.

Moreover, in Lind's view, the harm of providing Doug's army with inferior weapons was far less than that of providing sugar and medicine.

A bunch of obsolete muskets, not even able to penetrate the armor of the standard-issue equipment of the gray-collar workers. Moreover, given the management level and overall quality of the Doug Army, these muskets were not sold to the Doug Army, but to the still unliberated people of the North, and Doug paid for them himself.

In any case, standardized weaponry is much easier to deal with than Doug's jumble of muskets with no discernible purpose; at least you have a clear understanding of the capabilities of the enemy's weapons.

Even if Linde doesn't sell, the alchemists of this world will eventually be able to replicate the exact same musket. The method of making muskets in the capital will probably be common knowledge by now, and Doug will eventually figure out how to mass-produce them. It's better to make a killing off him before that happens.

In the end, the money Doug uses to buy old weapons will be used by Lind to build railroads and develop new weapons, creating a virtuous cycle.

In short, after explaining the situation to Jefferson, Jefferson finally took on the task.

Based on his previous experience in buying and selling sugar and medicine, Jefferson quickly made contact with the merchants in Doug Territory and, through this connection, reached the Doug authorities.

But to everyone's surprise, Doug took this deal very seriously and personally invited and met with Jefferson.

Perhaps due to his exposure to the intelligence system among the gray and white-collar workers, Jefferson paid special attention to the living conditions of ordinary people in Doug Territory and information such as prices along the way.

Jefferson could already assert that Doug's economy was about to collapse.

Moreover, even though it was already spring, there weren't many people preparing for spring planting on Doug's territory. Most of them were old women turning over the soil in the fields. There wasn't a single young or strong person to be seen, not even an old man.

Jefferson thought to himself that if the governor saw this, he would be heartbroken that so much good land was being left uncultivated.

Coming to his senses, Jefferson looked at the nobles at the ball. These nobles were beyond just being extravagant; some even had servants to catch their spitting, ostensibly to maintain aristocratic decorum and prevent them from spitting on the "ground" and soiling Doug's luxurious carpet.

After all, people are much cheaper than carpets.

Seeing this scene made Jefferson think deeply. The governor was right. What use would it be to sell weapons to people like this? They would probably only use them for hunting and setting off fireworks. It would be better to squeeze these people out of a lot of money, so that they could make a contribution to the North.

Jefferson's eyes regained their luster, and he gently raised his glass to Doug, saying, "To the North, I toast to you, and to everyone here."