Chapter 51
More than a thousand people had gathered in an open space even more remote than my territory, Bio Village.
Although the people here differed in gender and age, they had one thing in common.
They all had difficulty settling down with proper jobs in their hometowns.
And I came here to give these people new jobs.
"I am Fabio de Medici, who has become your lord."
Even though I, the lord, spoke, those below the platform murmured among themselves.
It's understandable that serfs who have never left their hometowns in their lives would whisper when they suddenly came to a strange place from where they used to live and met an unfamiliar lord.
It's common sense in our empire that moving to a new place means hardship, so it would be strange not to be nervous.
However, there are too many people gathered here to understand and comfort all their hearts.
I instructed the mercenary captain.
"Hit the ground with spears a few times to make them focus."
"Yes, understood."
Receiving the instruction, he immediately requested cooperation from the serfs.
"Where did you learn to chatter when the lord is speaking? Everyone be quiet!"
I should ask for more dignified language use in the future if possible.
If you mercenaries intimidate the serfs like that, the kids will cry.
"I'll say it once more. I am Fabio de Medici, the lord of this place. Moreover, since there's no particular name for this place and its surroundings, let's call it Bergello. Forget where you used to live or who you served before. You are all now serfs of Bergello."
No one can forget their hometown just because they're told to forget.
What I want isn't that, but rather that now that they're here, I want them all to think they're natives of this place and live here taking root with the thought that they'll become Bergello ghosts even after death.
I'll do my best to make them feel attached to the factory and living environment.
"Whose serfs are you?"
Although it was a bit late, the serfs who were watching the mercenaries soon gave me the answer I wanted.
"We are serfs of Bergello."
"Good. You will now live in Bergello for the rest of your lives."
Now that I've told these people where they're from.
It's time to let them know how much grace I've bestowed upon them and introduce what they'll be doing.
Honestly, although the serfs here haven't received education, they all know well what happens to men without cultivation rights and unmarried women...
They should feel grateful to me for feeding them well so far.
I need to take credit for this when I can to win their hearts.
'Even filial piety towards parents is something you have to learn to know.'
"I know well that it's not easy to leave your hometown and live in an unfamiliar place. Moreover, you'll have to do new work instead of farming."
Humans are reluctant and find it difficult to do things they haven't done before.
The reason we liked playing more than studying new things when we were students, and why we try to eat familiar things rather than new ones at home is the same.
For those who have never left their village in their entire lives, something new might be fear itself.
However, new things are generally difficult only for the first one or two times, but gradually become familiar as you do them.
"Some of you will weave cloth here, others will spin thread with spinning wheels, and others will have to pluck wool or grow cotton."
In my head are the basic principles of very excellent devices that can be called the driving force of the early Industrial Revolution, such as the steam engine, spinning machine, and loom.
By principles, I mean simple things like the 'Flying shuttle' called a shuttle should use springs to easily move the shuttle of the loom left and right.
Except for the steam engine, it was relatively easily solved by grinding unemployed craftsmen with related skills.
They won't have any complaints because I'll pay them a lot of money to prevent technology leakage, give them houses here, and even arrange marriages for them.
It might be a bit uncomfortable at first for craftsmen and serfs to live mixed together, but they'll soon become close due to the closed nature of the village for technology maintenance.
"It will be harder work than the farming you've done since you were young. But think about it, can you adults get cultivation rights to farm?"
The residents of Bio Village, who will soon become citizens from serfs, were about to starve to death while restoring farmland due to a bad harvest.
The people gathered here are those who couldn't even inherit the right to tenant farming to live as serfs, so men had no choice but to become thugs and women prostitutes.
Both thugs and prostitutes are bottom-of-the-barrel jobs where you have to lick even shoe soles while throwing away all your self-respect for a copper coin.
"But you were fortunate enough to be chosen by me. Thanks to that, none of you have gone hungry since coming here."
Although I try to erase the fact that I'm a 21st century Korean from my mind to some extent.
I really don't want to hear that my subordinates are starving.
'I don't like feeling like I've become an incompetent person.'
"If you just do the work I tell you properly, I'll make sure you eat three full meals a day. And once a month, I'll let you eat as much meat as you want. So work hard for just one month as if you were dead."
This is what I learned about management through the serfs in Bio Village.
That's how the serfs have lived so far.
Even if they work hard for a year, everything is taken away except the minimum food to eat.
So why bother making an effort? I just want to be comfortable right now even if I starve to death.
It's cruel to present too long a term and ask people who have lived such lives to make efforts.
'They'll feel like they can try once with gritted teeth for a month.'
"Since I came here today, I'll specially bestow meat."
Serfs rarely get to taste meat except on occasions like Thanksgiving or Christmas that happen once or twice a year.
To be precise, it's not that they can't eat it at all, but they can only eat small amounts.
"Eat as much as you want and from tomorrow, build your houses and factories according to the technicians' instructions. And prove your worth, that's all."
If the scale of the village people gathered here was around 300 like in Bio Village, I might have brought things like cotton gins or looms and demonstrated them myself.
But what kind of freezing demonstration in front of thousands of people?
"Mercenary captain."
"Yes, my lord."
"Let the serfs eat and drink as much meat and alcohol as they want, and only intervene when it looks like a fight might break out. Suppress verbal fights by beating them a few times, and if fists start flying, half pulverize them."
"Yes, understood."
And this gentleman kept avoiding my eyes and then meeting them repeatedly.
The mercenaries in our Tuscan Empire are famous for being greedy for money.
They joke that even in the middle of a war, they'd betray if the other side offers more money.
Isn't this being a bit too greedy?
'Still, they've maintained order here and governed in their own way while I was gone.'
"The alcohol and meat for you guys are in another carriage. Eat after feeding all the serfs. And I'll give 50 gold coins as a bonus."
I used quite a lot of people to manage these guys who are essentially poor and, from a medieval fantasy perspective, potential criminals even without prejudice.
I hired 500 people, so if you divide that all up, it would be about 1 silver coin per person.
If I had the status to hire regular soldiers, I could have given just half of that.
It's not like I'm in a position to be stingy with money, but it feels a bit wasteful to be extorted like this.
"It's an honor, young master."
And then I had a short conversation with the technicians here and met Chris.
She was having a serious conversation with Sebastian about future directions.
"Head butler, if we mass produce cloth here now, we should consider selling it to heretics too."
"I'm a bit reluctant about heretics..."
"Isn't the money they give still money? And if we sell cloth to heretics and exchange it for coffee, the profit for the young master increases by about 8%."
I understand why Chris's father allowed his daughter, a woman, to become a merchant.
Just a few days after being put to work, she's having serious business-related conversations and can talk on equal terms.
Chris saw me, greeted me, and asked.
"Young master, what are your thoughts on sales channels? I think it would be good to sell cloth to heretics too."
It's a good idea, but it's premature.
Because cotton cloth in this era is a miracle product that sells without price drops no matter how much is produced.
The early Industrial Revolution was also driven by the cotton textile business.
"It would be good to sell to the Alsini Trading Company, but for now, let's first open up sales channels to the Kingdom of Lyon through Mayor Guillaume, who's practically my subordinate. And we need to pioneer routes to buy as much wool and cotton as possible."
Sebastian and Chris tilted their heads at those words.
"No matter how much we introduce new machines and mobilize so many people, cotton textiles aren't made that easily, are they?"
It's awkward to explain this.
Because I haven't personally used spinning wheels or looms.
So I should say it like this.
"If it doesn't work out, I'll take full responsibility. And even if I bring more, this factory will probably be able to handle it all."
The current cotton textile manufacturing technology is medieval to early modern by Earth standards, while what I've introduced is early Industrial Revolution technology.
"The one who controls cotton textiles will eventually dominate the market. So let's move quickly."
These aren't just empty words.
One of the driving forces that allowed the British to dominate the world was that they made weapons and everything else with money from mass-producing clothes through the Industrial Revolution.