Luo De didn't expect such a surprise.
He almost couldn't believe it, leaving Gang Le behind, and took Durant and the guards personally to the valley.
Even before Luo De arrived, he received a notification that a salt mine had been discovered.
Luo De immediately quickened his pace and rushed into the desolate valley.
Under the guidance of the guard, Luo De soon saw a crack standing on the mountain, nearly four meters high and less than two meters wide.
Inside the crack, layers of white and yellow crystals interwoven, either protruding or recessed, constantly undulating.
Luo De bent down, picked up a piece of crystal from the ground, broke off a piece, and tasted it; the bitter salty taste made him grin.
Indeed, this is a salt mine!
Luo De was overjoyed.
The importance of salt is self-evident.
It is not only a seasoning for daily food but also an essential way to preserve food.
In this era, without refrigerators, game and fish caught in summer must be salted and dried for preservation, consuming a lot.
Black Pine Ridge is very far from Capital Coast, originally Luo De was thinking of finding time to procure it, but now there is no need to travel.
The fish of the Blue River are going to suffer.
Luo De picked some salt minerals and packed them into a bag, leaving satisfied.
In a better mood, Luo De ate two pounds of roasted meat that night; Baron Avril, who hadn't had a hot meal for a long time, also ate with her mouth full of oil.
After three exhausting days of wandering in the wilderness, Luo De and the others stayed an extra day in a cabin.
Leaving two guards to protect the children and pack up, Luo De took Durant, Gang Le, and Rein to circle around the area again.
Unfortunately, besides forests and stone mines, Luo De found nothing else.
On the morning of the next day, Luo De's team left the hunter's yard and headed back to Frost Leaf Town in another direction.
Due to the presence of the three children and the injured Avril, the team's speed was significantly slower.
Luo De took this opportunity to hunt in the desert with Rein, honing his archery skills.
Perhaps he had some talent; after just two days of training, Luo De could accurately hit a stationary rabbit within thirty meters.
The mountains on the southern side of Black Pine Territory receded, giving way to more desert basins, where Luo De encountered many natural lakes, each one carefully recorded by him.
Four days later.
The team finally returned to Frost Leaf Town.
Luo De's manor was almost finished; six wooden houses were already fenced, and the yard could no longer be seen from the town.
Lawrence asked Luo De to name the manor, and Luo De casually thought of "Winter Manor."
He arranged for Lawrence to clear out guest rooms for Avril and the three children to live in, while Durant went to publish the news of recruiting information about desert homesteaders.
After easily arranging all of this, Luo De personally went to the fields to check the planting results.
Otto didn't slack either; as soon as Luo De stepped into the field, he immediately brought three farmers to Luo De.
"Lord, these three violated your rules while working!"
Otto reported loudly: "They threw a pile of seeds into a single furrow to be lazy!"
The Northern Wasteland is not short of lazy people, especially after Luo De implemented collective farming; even with overseers, they still try to slack off.
Luo De was well aware of this, so he had everyone supervise each other.
"Let the person who reported them go to Lawrence to receive a reward later, ten pounds of rye for each."
"Yes, my lord. I thank you on their behalf for your generosity!" Otto bowed to Luo De.
"As for these three, deduct half of their work points from last month; each receives twenty lashes, and they'll be hung in the town center for a day as a public display."
Luo De said mercilessly: "If there's a next time, confiscate their property and degrade them to slaves!"
Haven't shown power for a few days, and they consider me a sick cat.
Luo De cannot let these people walk over him.
"I know I was wrong, please don't hit me!"
"We beg you to forgive us, subtract more work points but please don't hit us!"
The farmers wasting seeds knelt on the ground begging for mercy.
Luo De remained impassive, sneering inside.
These three are very afraid of pain but simply don't care about work points.
It seems they still don't take his words seriously.
Luo De understood that many people here thought this way.
So, he decided to give these people a lesson.
And give those who work hard a little sweetness.
Luo De calmly said: "Also, ask Lawrence how the calculation of work points is going; if there are no issues, open the work points exchange for materials in three days."
"Really?"
Otto immediately stood up straight, looking at Luo De in disbelief.
"Hmm?"
Luo De looked at Otto and countered: "Have I ever deceived you?"
"No, no, I'm sorry, my lord!"
Otto didn't mind being scolded, his face full of excitement,
"Thank you, my lord!"
"Thank you, my lord!"
Everyone around bowed in salute, filled with excitement.
Only the three punished lazy men sat on the ground, full of remorse and spiritless.
Originally, they thought labor points were just a gimmick, but they didn't expect them to actually be exchangeable for food!
Luo De scanned everyone present, the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
Exchanging resources was just a small benefit, to make them understand the importance of labor points.
The more crucial part is yet to come.
...
...
Five days later.
Frost Leaf Town opened up for labor point exchanges for the first time.
In front of the gates of Winter Manor, Lawrence sat behind a wooden table.
Behind Lawrence, inside the manor, were goods for exchange: rye, wheat, rabbit meat, salted fish, salt, and everyday items like linen and animal hides.
In front of Lawrence, a dense crowd of people gathered closely together.
There were over 350 people in Frost Leaf Town, with almost everyone here except for some women staying home with children.
"Form a line! One at a time!"
The guards stood at the manor entrance with whips in hand, their expressions cold, closely watching the crowded townspeople.
In front of them lay a black line drawn with wood ash; anyone daring to cross it immediately received a whip lash.
"No rush, no rush, line up."
Otto personally led a few slaves to organize the townspeople into lines.
From dawn until the sun was high, he had been busy all morning.
Finally, these people learned to queue orderly, starting the official exchange.
"How many labor points do you have, Luo Fei?"
In the long queue, a woman holding a child asked the man in front, Luo Fei.
"Three thousand labor points." Luo Fei showed a proud expression.
"My goodness, that's so much?"
The woman looked astonished, "You can exchange that for 150 pounds of rye!"
"Of course, that's from my hard work!"
Luo Fei excitedly sniffed, recollecting some unpleasant memories.
After climbing out of the dung pit that day, his wife despised him for a full two weeks!
Today, he wanted to exchange all his labor points for rye, and throw it in his wife's face to humiliate her!
"I'm really envious of you dung stirrers, although it's smelly, you can exchange for a lot of food, my points can only get me 80 pounds of rye."
The woman lamented helplessly.
Luo De's labor point system was designed based on the current monetary system, with 10 labor points roughly equating to one Copper Coin.
The lowest labor points earned were by the women cooking, averaging 1,200 labor points a month, just enough to exchange for 80 pounds of rye.
Equivalent to the market price of three Copper Coins for two pounds of rye.
Lawrence originally wanted to deduct the usage fee for farm tools, but Luo De refused.
Because Luo De set this price aligned with the minimum subsistence line, it couldn't be harsher.
Farmers earned more labor points, ranging from 2,000 to 3,000, and blacksmiths and carpenters could reach 5,000 to 8,000, while militia earned even more.
Of course, these were average earnings.
Most of the militia were farmers, and didn't earn that much every day.
Currently, the formal soldiers in town were only Luo De's guards, and Gang Le's mercenaries were still previously paid by Luo De's Gold Coins.
"Eighty pounds of rye is already quite a lot!"
Luo Fei sighed: "We must thank the Lord for keeping his word.
He said he'd give us dung stirrers more food and he really did, said we could exchange labor points, and we really could."
"Indeed, praise the Lord." The woman nodded in agreement.
"Next."
The guard's voice interrupted their conversation, and Luo Fei hurriedly ran forward,
"Honorable Lawrence, exchange for 150 pounds of rye."
"All of it?"
Lawrence frowned, somewhat annoyed.
"Yes, yes."
"Alright then."
Lawrence quickly wrote down the exchange of rye on the wooden board, then signed his name.
"Redeem later, expires otherwise."
"Alright, alright."
Luo Fei responded cheerfully, quickly running into the yard to exchange for rye, then excitedly headed home.
This continued until evening.
Lawrence, unable to endure it any longer, slammed the records onto Luo De's desk.
"Lord! We can't keep doing this!"
Lawrence shouted: "They exchanged 7,450 pounds of rye in a day!"
Luo De, studying a map, frowned, slowly lifting his head without a word, his gaze coldly fixed on Lawrence.
Lawrence shrank back in fear, forcing a smile on his face, stammering, "My Lord, what I mean is, you have to come up with something, you can't let them only exchange for food..."
Luo De put away the map and calmly said, "It's alright, I will handle it."