As the greatest contributor to increased grain production, Yexiao's story had long been written into "Witch's Diary" in the form of comic strips. These pamphlets were sold in convenience markets, and it was not uncommon for foreign merchants to know of her existence.

However, he was the first to specifically request cooperation with a witch. Unlike the adventurous Fjords, the Kingdom of Evernight was more heavily influenced by the church, and its prejudice against witches was much deeper. Now that someone was willing to actively contact a witch, Roland became somewhat interested.

After reading the letter, he stroked his chin. "From Dawn… You should know his address, right?"

"Yes," Barov said, "He has a record at the Administrative Office. I also asked Ms. Roll to check the tax records and found that his records can be traced back six years. But at that time, his business was mainly buying jewelry raw stones, and occasionally he would bring some fur, which has nothing to do with cotton."

"Interesting." Roland was well aware of how rudimentary the tax system was in this era. It was entirely based on tax officials recording it bit by bit, and after a long time, even they could not figure it out, let alone verify it. In addition, it was easy to say for permanent property owners, after all, the land was there and could not run away, but for merchants with frequent mobility, there were many ways to avoid the local lord's "exploitation". Keeping tax records meant that the other party was honest and trustworthy, which was not a common quality in the merchant community.

"Call Victor to the castle," he put down the letter, "I want to talk to him alone."

"As you wish, Your Majesty."

...

Roland soon met the merchant in the reception room.

He did have the characteristics of a Dawnlander, like Andrea, with light golden hair; his facial features were at a level of moderate quality, and his skin was well maintained; his gestures were completely aristocratic, and his etiquette was just right, and he knew that his family was wealthy.

It was hard to imagine that such a person needed to travel between the two countries for a living. Even if it was a large-scale trade, it could be handed over to a reliable person, instead of choosing to do it himself. After all, even if he was rich in this era, long-distance travel was not an easy task.

The other party also made an appropriate explanation for this—family disputes.

In order to avoid the oppression of his elder brother and prove his ability, he had to say goodbye to his hometown and come to Graycastle to do business.

Although this part of the story was rather vague, Roland did not continue to ask. In any case, it was someone else's private matter, and he was not very interested. And Nightingale had no reaction, which meant that the merchant was not lying.

After listening to the introduction, Roland went straight to the point, "You want Yexiao to cultivate high-yield cotton seeds, but the ultimate goal is to create a brand-new clothing store and promote it to the entire kingdom with the advantage of high quality and low price?"

This was also one of the reasons why he decided to summon Victor—it was not that he was associating too much, but that the end of the letter was written like this. It was as if someone had submitted a business plan with a fundraising target of 1 billion, and now he was short of $500.

"Not just the Kingdom of Graycastle," the merchant nodded, "I have calculated the price, and the final finished product will still be competitive even if it is shipped to Dawn."

Low-price dumping is indeed a great trick to seize the market, but... this is not an easy thing to achieve. "How do you guarantee that it can achieve high quality and low price?"

"First of all, I need special cotton, Your Majesty." Victor said excitedly, "Since Yexiao Xiaojie can cultivate golden wheat with three times the yield, then I think she should also be able to triple the yield of cotton—if the raw material price can be reduced to one-third of the current price, then the clothes can also be much cheaper."

Roland couldn't help but laugh. This logic seemed impeccable, but if you think about it carefully, it would make people laugh. High-yield cotton is not difficult for Yexiao. With the support of the vast magic power of the Heart of the Forest, her cultivation time can be further shortened. But the problem is that the reason why the grain price is so low is because of the consideration of stabilizing the grain price, not because it cannot be sold at a high price.

People can't afford to eat, it will be a big problem, but cotton is not like this—there are hemp, coarse cloth and animal skins in front of it.

"Okay... let's say Yexiao can indeed triple the cotton yield, then why don't I sell it to other merchants for three times the money, instead of lowering the price to sell it to you?"

"Because I can save you a lot of initial investment and provide more than 2,000 jobs." Victor said without any pause, "In addition, you can also get a continuous stream of generous tax revenue, and the people can also benefit from it—all this does not require you to worry about the operation, just leave it to me."

It has to be said that this very modern style answer made Roland feel surprised again. It took him a while to open his mouth and say, "These words... did you see them in the newspaper?"

"And every publicity announcement in Neverwinter City, I have carefully read—although many words sounded a bit awkward at first, it did make me see the meaning of business from another aspect." Victor撫胸道, "If it were other lords, this proposal to reduce prices would only drive me out of the gate, but if it were you, I think it might not be realized."

This is a novel way of complimenting... If he drives him out now, wouldn't he be the "other lord" in his mouth? Roland raised the corners of his mouth slightly, "Then tell me about your plan."

Then Victor talked for nearly an hour, obviously having made sufficient preparations in advance.

His concept is not complicated, simply put, it is to build a commercial system that integrates planting, weaving, and sales—the Lothar family has a fairly long history of clothing manufacturing, and experience and technology are not a problem. As long as the project is officially launched, it will soon see results.

Of course, anyone can draw a big cake, and the reason why Roland kept listening was because of his consideration of many details—Neverwinter City is not suitable for planting cotton, so this part of the industry will be concentrated in the Southern Border along with textile production. There, the sunshine is abundant, the temperature is high throughout the year, and the influx of Sand people will also bring a large number of laborers, and the conditions in all aspects are very suitable. The sewing and clothing departments are located in Neverwinter City, where purchasing power is higher.

In the early stage, whether it is renting and purchasing land, recruiting planters, or investing in textile factories, equipment, etc., Victor will bear it, and Neverwinter City does not have to bear any risks. In addition to providing high-yield seeds, the entire process is in a positive income state.

In addition, because cotton has a single use, it is easy to estimate the output from the amount purchased, so taxation is also very convenient, which can reduce a lot of burden for both parties.

And these details, Roland valued two places more: one is the efficient spinning tool mentioned by the other party, which can very well deal with the cotton processing work under three times the output. The second is that the Lothar family has a group of experienced tailors who often design clothes for the nobles of Glowstone City, which can ensure that the finished products are widely loved by the people. Victor also admitted that it was after watching "Wolfheart's Love" that he discovered that the clothing of the Neverwinter people was still in a very simple stage, and it did not have the style that the capital should have, which gave him this idea.

These two points can be said to be the key to the entire plan. With them, this huge and ambitious system is no longer an empty building, but has considerable feasibility.