Charles spent his first night in this world with alternating nightmares and sweet dreams.
He was already a light sleeper, and now not only had his surroundings changed drastically, but he had also swapped bodies, so Charles was naturally very unaccustomed to it.
This body was only barely satisfactory; in his previous life, he was over 6 feet tall, and this life felt about the same, but the noticeable abs, deltoids, and biceps he had painstakingly developed in the gym were all gone, and his body didn't feel any stronger.
There was one more thing he wasn't used to: his private parts were a size larger, but this was a rather satisfying matter, almost making Charles restlessly want to find someone to test its function and incidentally vent his fear of a new life. However, thinking of the black maid he saw last night, he decisively chose to continue sleeping, he wasn't that much of scoundrel.
When he woke up the next day, he used that precious mirror to check his hair and found faint dark circles under his eyes.
Unlike yesterday's dinner, which was hosted by Jonathan and served by black male and female servants in sequence, breakfast was brought by only a black maid and was very simple, consisting only of dark bread, biscuits, and a bowl of strange-tasting soup.
Upon asking, he learned it was stewed bean soup. Charles had initially wanted to ask why there was dark bread, which had very good nutritional value, in the morning, but then he suddenly realized that at this time, people probably hadn't discovered the value of dark bread yet, so he immediately closed his mouth.
This dark bread was dark bread in the modern sense, only darker in color, not truly black. In the eighteenth century, it was still difficult to produce finely refined wheat flour; the flour processed by ordinary mills contained more bran, and the bread baked from it was naturally darker.
In fact, the dark bread before this was truly black bread. This dark bread was instead called white bread. In medieval Europe, common people ate coarse black bread. Initially, dark white bread was only used for church ceremonies, and only monasteries and temples had ovens.
Later, lord's mansions also acquired such equipment, and the wealthy began to use ovens to make dark white bread for their own consumption. Therefore, white bread became the food of the privileged class; the higher a person's status, the whiter the bread they ate.
In the twenty-first century, the situation was reversed; white bread was generally considered ordinary bread, while dark "variety" bread was much more expensive. The Godfrey family clearly had an oven, but pure white flour was relatively precious and could only be used when entertaining guests, using the whitest flour. During normal times, dark bread was still the staple.
After breakfast, Charles prepared to go to the study to write a detailed future development plan, but thinking that he didn't even know who was in the household, he made an excuse that he needed to announce something and asked Jonathan, who had just entered, to invite the main household members to meet.
To his slight surprise, the so-called main personnel standing before him, besides Jonathan, were all black faces. He couldn't help but turn his head to Jonathan with a question.
"Greenspan, who used to manage horses and carriages, is currently selling black slaves in Pittsburgh, so he hasn't come," Jonathan thought Charles was wondering about the missing person.
"Greenspan? Who is he?"
"He himself was once an indentured servant who came to North America with the old lord. His term has now expired, and he has become a free man, but his young daughter was born to him and a black slave while he was an indentured servant for the old lord. He did not release her from her slave status, intending to decide after she grows up and serves the Godfrey Family for ten years."
"I understand!" Charles nodded.
Fortunately, Jonathan cleverly offered an explanation.
He had seen indentured servants, commonly known as "white slaves," in history books before. They were mostly working-class people from England and Europe who, due to poverty or political and religious reasons, had to go to the New World to seek better opportunities.
However, because they couldn't afford the passage, they entered into contracts with ship owners or employers, repaying the fare with three to seven years of unpaid labor. During the production process, they had to completely obey the master's command, received no wages during their service, and were only provided with food and lodging by the master to sustain their lives.
After their term of service expired, they gained personal freedom and received a small plot of land or some form of release fee according to local custom.
The plight of indentured servants was extremely tragic; during their service, they had no personal freedom whatsoever and could be arbitrarily bought, sold, transferred, mortgaged, or rented by their masters, becoming a commodity or part of the master's means of production.
"I have something to announce: I have lost my memory due to certain reasons!"
He paused, satisfied to see all the servants bowing their heads and remaining silent, before continuing:
"So, if I don't remember something in the future, you don't have to find it strange, and you must remember to remind me. Now I want to hear you introduce yourselves. Hmm, you first!" Charles pointed to a black man, trying to make his tone sound like a true southern slave owner.
The servants' reaction to his words made Charles very satisfied; they did not raise any questions or criticisms, which saved a lot of trouble. And from Jonathan's meaning, there should be no other relatives of Godfrey in the household. As long as there were no people of equal status to disrupt things, Charles believed he had established himself in this household.
"Yes, Master! My name is Tom, and I am your manservant, responsible for..." The black man obediently spoke as soon as he opened his mouth.
Charles witnessed the docility of black servants at this time. Upon hearing Charles' command, they immediately and obediently introduced themselves one by one.
Actually, there weren't many people present. Tom, this tall and strong adult manservant, was responsible for duties such as doorman, manservant, and coachman; a black woman named Maria was both a cook and a maid, but she also managed several people specifically for cooking for the slaves, though the slaves did not live in the residence; there was also a young black maid named Cassia, who was mainly responsible for washing clothes and cleaning; and there were two other black individuals who weren't very strong but looked quite clever, who were actually overseers, responsible for supervising the laborers.
Perhaps the family was in decline, and there were no personal manservants or maids, which Charles had imagined all nobles should have. Of course, there were no attendants or guards either. Even fewer than ten people lived in the main residence, making the entire house quite desolate.
What Charles found a little difficult to understand was that these black individuals were actually all free people, not slaves. However, because they were formerly the old lord's slaves, even after being promoted to free citizens, it was impossible for them to start their own families and businesses independently; they had to continue to depend on the Scarlet Manor and continue to serve the Godfrey Family.
After they all finished introducing themselves, Charles secretly congratulated himself, fortunate that he had arranged this meeting. Otherwise, if he treated these people as slaves in the future, he didn't know how big of a misunderstanding it would cause.
What he found a little regrettable was that these black male and female servants were too ordinary. Except for Tom, who had learned a bit of mathematics and etiquette and was good with a gun, the others basically had no knowledge.
Charles had originally wanted to make some simple inventions and creations and have his subordinates help. If he had to do everything himself, he wouldn't want to, and it would be too time-consuming. Now, after hearing their introductions, he knew it was unlikely there would be any talent among them to assist him.
Fortunately, at the last moment, Jonathan suddenly offered to report on behalf of those who hadn't arrived, letting Charles know that there were actually other people in the family, and these were the real talents.
Jonathan himself, needless to say, came from five generations of butler training and had received basic schooling in England, making him the second most educated person in the household. He also had a nineteen-year-old son named James, who was studying in Philadelphia at the family's expense.
Because their family had signed a lifelong employment contract with the family from birth, James would definitely work for Charles in the future. He also had a separate home in the Scarlet Manor, where he lived with his wife and daughter.
"Hmm, very good. Everyone, continue to be responsible for your original duties. In a few days, some people might be moving into the Scarlet Manor to live. Please make some preparations, and I will also arrange some new people to help you."
"Yes, sir," the servants replied in unison.
"Jonathan, send someone to Pittsburgh to tell Greenspan that I might go over this afternoon." Since he had decided to live here, he naturally wanted to visit Pittsburgh, which was the closest place.
"Alright, sir."
Jonathan and the others went out to busy themselves. Charles had originally wanted to ask about the Scarlet Manor, but fearing that too many questions would expose him, he simply walked through each room to inspect it himself.
Scarlet Manor was not as luxurious as Charles had imagined; the room he woke up in was his own bedroom, which was considered the most opulent place in the entire manor.
Looking at the rooms he inspected, one by one, he noticed that most of them even lacked simple paint, featuring only rough wooden plank walls.
The furniture in the rooms was made of good wood, but it was basically just coated with some unknown lacquer.
There were no complex carvings, no gold or silver inlays, and the craftsmanship was rather crude.
However, the usable area of the manor was very large; the main structure was a two-story H-shaped building with a total of twenty-three rooms.
Not far behind and on both sides, there were single-story tall bungalows, each several times the size of the residential building.
Charles guessed they were either slave quarters or granaries, but after asking a servant, he learned that they served as slave housing, warehouses, and stables simultaneously.
In the main building, besides the living room and Charles' bedroom, there was one other well-decorated area: the study Charles was currently using.
Charles, who had originally planned to write a proposal, unexpectedly discovered several hardcover notebooks and some other documents and files belonging to the manor's former owner here.
Of course, there were also a few books and art albums.
The books were basically poetry and, with a small number of religious texts and aristocratic etiquette classics.
The documents were quite complex, including property deeds, other legal letters, agreements, and certification documents.
Charles couldn't sort them out immediately, so he only glanced at them to get a rough idea of their contents.
First, he looked for bank accounts and cash balances.
None.
Let alone bank accounts, he didn't find anything related to cash.
The only thing related to a bank was that large loan contract.
Fortunately, although it was indeed nearing its due date, it wasn't immediately payable.
Since no cash could be found, he could only look for other valuable items.
After this search, Charles gained a general understanding of the Li Family's real estate and some unliquidated assets.
However, perhaps they had already been sold for money to buy land, as aside from the house and land, there were basically no other valuable items worth documenting.
In fact, it should have been this way; if there were any valuable items to be found in this room, the old lord would have probably taken them long ago, leaving nothing for him.
With a final glimmer of hope, Charles turned his attention to those basic notebooks.
What had initially caught his attention were those notebooks.
However, he had saved them for last, believing that the most important things should be examined last, which is why he hadn't immediately opened them.
These notebooks were exquisitely crafted, all with genuine leather covers adorned with golden rose and thorn patterns, and fastened in the middle with a buckled leather strap.
Charles noticed obvious signs of use on the covers and eagerly unbuckled them.
The first one was densely filled with artistic english letters.
After a quick read of a few sentences, Charles determined that it was Jonathan's diary, and this particular notebook in his hand recorded his experiences while studying in France.
With these diaries, playing the role of Jonathan in the future would be much smoother.
Charles eagerly opened the other notebooks and began to read them carefully, one by one.
Not all the notebooks were Jonathan's diaries; one was the old lord's ledger, and another was Jonathan's study notes, all of which were very useful.
Although reading those artistic english letters was very difficult, Charles still diligently began to read.
At the very front of the ledger were the old lord's accounts.
Charles quickly skimmed over the miscellaneous expenses but scrutinized the records of land purchases and loans.
The information within, combined with those agreements and certification documents, convinced Charles that his time was not wasted.
When the old lord purchased the land, although the money was given to the governor, the contract agreement not only bore the governor's signature but also the seal of the Pennsylvania State Legislature.
At that time, the First Continental Congress had already convened but had not yet decided to form a confederation.
The Pennsylvania State Legislature was still the legal government representing the Pennsylvania Colonies, meaning that the contract was legally binding, whether held by the British king or the Continental Congress.
In fact, the ledger recorded many things Jonathan did not know, such as the old lord having given the governor two purebred horses and several hundred Spanish gold coins to the then-Speaker of the Pennsylvania State Legislature.
There were also various other bribes, totaling more than a dozen entries, indicating that the actual funds spent on buying the land were far more than Jonathan had mentioned.
With so much extra money spent, these lands and contracts had no legal issues; the key was whether the owner could hold onto the land.
The previous the old lord and Jonathan were not adept at management and could not solve the problem of the old militiamen.
Now that Charles had arrived, he already had an idea; in fact, as long as the old militiamen were compensated and resettled, this land would legally belong entirely to him.
When the old lord purchased the land, the ninety thousand acres were already in dispute, and it was for this reason that the governor was willing to sell them at a low price.
At that time, land prices in North America were very unstable, with no unified standard.
The price of cultivated land ranged from as little as one pound per acre to as much as five or six pounds.
The price difference for undeveloped land was even greater, varying by location and development status.
Because of the property dispute, these ninety thousand acres of land transformed from normal land into the least desirable wilderness, and the price was naturally very low, allowing the old lord to buy all of it for tens of thousands of pounds.
If it were during normal times, the land price could easily double or triple.
Coupled with the now-discovered large coal deposits beneath Pittsburgh, the price of this land was no longer its original value.
If a canal leading to the outside were built in the future, allowing coal to be transported and sold, the land price would continue to rise.
Charles didn't need to worry about money; even if he only profited from the price difference of the undisputed portion of the land, it would make him one of the wealthiest people in North America.
Thinking of this, Charles secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as he resolved the issue with the old militiamen, he would have undisputed ownership of this land.
The next section contained Jonathan's accounts, primarily concerning the purchase of three manors and black slaves, as well as agricultural output.
Of the three manors, one was located in the center of Pittsburgh, previously a trading hub for slaves, grain, and other bulk goods.
Now that Charles had bought it, it still sold slaves and grain.
Another manor was on the Ohio River, very close to Pittsburgh, and was actually a water-powered mill, also the place where Scarlet Manor recently received the most cash income.
The last manor was a glass and cast-iron workshop, which had previously failed to compete with two other specialized workshops, ceased production for a year, and then declared bankruptcy.
Jonathan bought the workshop and also took on its debt of over eighty pounds.
As for the slaves in the workshop, except for a few dozen left at the trading center for sale, the rest were now brought to Scarlet Manor to train land.
The ledger clearly showed a balance of two pounds, eleven shillings, and six pence.
After deducting the two pounds Jonathan had previously taken, it perfectly matched the amount Jonathan reported.
This made Charles sigh at the colonists' accounting skills.
Although the book balance was terrifying, Charles was no longer worried.
Because to Jonathan and his people, he had no money and only a pile of bad assets, but to him, he had already obtained a golden rice bowl, full of good assets.
As long as there was enough time and the assets were managed effectively, there was no need to worry about money.
Combining the ledger and the various property documents, Charles gained a general understanding of his assets.
One hundred thousand acres of land, four manors including Scarlet Manor, various tools and items inside valued at probably no more than a few thousand pounds, several small fishing boats, several thousand pounds worth of grain, tobacco, and cotton, and about thirty horses and over five hundred slaves.
Cash was the least, with less than one pound remaining.
There was no need to further detail the land resources; as long as he could revitalize the assets, his cash assets could multiply countless times.
The key was the slaves.
Charles learned from the records that besides many black slaves trafficked from the continent of Africa, he also had many white indentured servants and quite a few second and third-generation black slaves born and raised in North America.
Charles believed that among these latter slaves, there were definitely many intellectual talents.
He was already short-handed, and he clearly understood the importance of talent, so he had made up his mind to quickly unearth these talents while they were still valued as mere slaves, to serve his purposes.