Jack was originally just a small seed merchant from the south, barely making a living by selling grain and fruit seeds.
Though his life wasn't wealthy, at least he had enough to eat and drink.
Until a few months ago, when he heard a fellow merchant boasting in a tavern:
After the "Northern Pioneering Decrees" were issued, many nobles rushed to the Northern Province to pioneer, creating an extremely high demand for seeds that couldn't be met!
This rumor made his heart race.
In the south, seed merchants were as common as horse dung by the roadside, with hundreds fighting over one piece of cake, making it nearly impossible to earn big money.
But the Northern Province was different. He'd heard it was barren and desolate, with seeds hard to come by. As long as goods arrived, there would be no shortage of buyers!
"This is a chance to get rich!"
Jack excitedly exchanged all his savings for seeds.
He filled his small cart and hurried toward the Northern Province without rest, dreaming of getting rich overnight.
However, when he stepped into Frost Halberd City, he was completely stunned.
"Isn't this the largest city in the Northern Province?"
The city was dilapidated, the streets muddy, pedestrians poorly dressed, everyone looking weary. Where was any sign of prosperous business opportunities?
Jack's heart sank, a sense of foreboding washing over him.
"Oh no, will I lose everything?"
But since he had come all this way, he couldn't return empty-handed.
So he gritted his teeth, found an open space on the east side of the market, and set up his small stall.
"Are you Jack, the seed seller?"
Before he could even display his goods, three knights rode up, still covered in dust from their journey, their armor spattered with mud, looking somewhat urgent.
Jack was stunned, his heart racing.
Why did they know his name?
Could it be that his reputation as the "Seed Prince" had already spread from the central provinces to the Northern Province?!
But customers were customers, so he quickly straightened his back, cleared his throat, and was about to introduce his merchandise properly.
"What would you gentlemen like? My shop has potatoes, rye, oats, wheat..."
The lead knight interrupted him directly: "We'll take everything."
"W-what?" Jack looked shocked, doubting he had heard correctly.
"We'll take everything. How much?"
Now Jack was truly stunned.
Were all Northern Province people this extravagant?!
Jack's brain spun rapidly, calculating how much he could sell this batch of goods for...
Finally, he pretended to hesitate for a moment, then held up five fingers: "Since you're taking everything, I'll give you a discount. Five gold coins."
Five gold coins!
In the south, selling seeds, a bag of potato seeds cost no more than two iron coins. The cost of his entire cart of seeds wasn't even one gold coin!
Jack was prepared to be bargained down, and even planned to lower the price a bit more if they weren't happy.
"Fine."
To his surprise, the lead knight didn't even hesitate, immediately taking out five gold coins from his purse and tossing them to him.
Then he and the other two knights quickly packed up all his seeds, taking everything, and left in a hurry.
Leaving Jack standing there, clutching five heavy gold coins, dumbfounded.
When the cold wind blew past, he finally realized that his stall had been completely cleared out.
He quickly looked down to check the gold coins, examining them one by one to confirm they were all real.
They were... they were all real!
The next second, overwhelming joy surged within him, and Jack almost jumped up.
"I'm rich!!!"
His seeds plus the travel expenses to the Northern Province had cost less than one gold coin, and now he had directly made four gold coins in profit!
And he had done almost nothing!
Was business in the Northern Province really this easy?!
Jack gripped the gold coins tightly, his mind already rapidly sketching the next steps.
This was just the beginning.
What if he went back and purchased several hundred more bags of seeds to sell? Wouldn't he earn hundreds of gold coins?!
Thinking of this, Jack's mouth curved upward at a ninety-degree angle.
The Northern Province was simply a gold mine!
He would go back, take out a loan, and become the Northern Province's number one seed merchant!
Of course, what he didn't know was that among the seeds he had just sold were Frost Blood Crimson Berry seeds worth over a thousand gold coins.
Otherwise, he would have regretted it bitterly.
As for the story of his later bankruptcy, that's a tale for another time.
...
While Lambert was hurriedly bringing the seeds back to the Crimson Tide Domain, Vaerik was riding his horse, inspecting the seed planting in the fields.
In the fields, farmers were busy sowing seeds, with the sound of hoes turning soil rising and falling.
Wherever Vaerik went, farmers stopped their work and respectfully bowed.
But unlike other noble territories, the farmers here didn't have a humble fear in their eyes, but rather a respect that came from the heart.
Especially those laborers who had been slaves, whose eyes when looking at Vaerik contained a burning light.
They longed for their efforts to be noticed by the lord, thereby gaining an opportunity for freedom!
Vaerik saw all this but didn't reveal too much emotion.
After all, from his perspective, there was no difference between slaves and free people; they were all beasts of burden for the Crimson Tide Domain.
And the current system made these people work harder; he wasn't in a hurry to change it.
When the time was right, perhaps more stable measures to free slaves could be considered, but now they had to prove their value.
At this moment, Mike approached, leaning on his hoe, his face showing undisguised joy.
"My lord!" Mike wiped the sweat from his forehead, smiling so much that his wrinkles all bunched together. "The effect of this fertilizer is amazing! We'll definitely have a good harvest this year!"
Vaerik glanced at the plowed fields and found that the soil was indeed moist and soft, dark in color, clearly having fully absorbed the nutrients.
He nodded slightly: "What's the first batch of crops?"
"Rye, turnips, potatoes," Mike immediately answered. "These crops are cold-resistant and mature quickly. As long as nothing goes wrong, we'll have our first harvest in three months!"
Vaerik nodded in agreement.
Rye could be ground into coarse grain, turnips could serve as both vegetables and livestock feed.
And potatoes were easy to plant and harvest, with a long storage time, making them the most suitable crop for emergency food.
Although parts of the Crimson Tide Domain had geothermal support, making them considerably better than other Northern Province lands, not all areas were suitable for precise agriculture.
To be safe, prioritizing these cold-resistant crops was the most reasonable choice.
But this was far from enough to satisfy Vaerik's ambition.
Once greenhouse cultivation technology was perfected, he wanted to plant more types of crops, thoroughly solving the Crimson Tide Domain's food problem.
Vaerik stood quietly on the field ridge, his gaze sweeping over the land before him.
The fertile black soil gleamed in the sunlight, the busy figures of farmers crisscrossed, sowing the hope for the Crimson Tide Domain's future.
This once barren frozen earth was gradually being given life under his planning.
Vaerik felt an indescribable sense of achievement in his heart.