Wracking his brain for realistic, immediate money-making schemes, Charles suddenly recalled a very ordinary story he learned in middle school: the invention of penicillin. Wasn't it just a culture medium accidentally growing mold, which then killed bacteria? Anyone can grow mold! He would tell Jonathan to prepare grains to mold later.
Oh, right, there seemed to be one very important point: ordinary mold still had a certain toxicity. How could the penicillin not be toxic? Heh heh! He would cook the grains first before letting them mold; he might as well just make corn paste.
Charles grinned.
He could foresee that the process of inventing penicillin would not be an overnight success. Without at least a dozen or twenty clinical trials, it would be impossible to produce a truly safe and reliable medicine. However, it was at least a shortcut to wealth.
There were so many wounded soldiers on the battlefield now, and plenty of people with inflammation and infections would be willing to participate in trials. He believed that in one or two years at most, he could produce safe penicillin.
By then, once that source of wealth opened up, the debt of tens of thousands of pounds would be a minor issue. As long as he got through the first one or two years, he would be too busy counting money while sitting at home later.
Once the money problem was solved, he could then develop things. Looking at the vast, empty, fertile land of Scarlet Manor, in the 20th century, it would definitely sell for hundreds of millions of dollars.
Charles had read countless times about the famous "Steel City" of Pittsburgh in his middle school textbooks, and now he actually owned one hundred thousand acres of land in the Steel City... Thinking of this, Charles could no longer sit still. He put down his wine glass and shouted loudly:
"Jonathan! Jonathan! Quickly prepare the carriage for me. I want to inspect my territory."
"As you wish, My lord!" Jonathan's gentle voice came. "However, it should be called land, not territory. It is land you bought, not granted by His Majesty the king of England. Furthermore, you have not yet received a formal title from the king, and thus cannot have territory."
"Alright, alright! Just take me to see those lands."
"Damn old stubborn man!" Charles cursed under his breath.
While his subordinates went to prepare the carriage, he also instructed Jonathan to prepare cooked corn paste for training penicillin. Because he anticipated that the first trial was unlikely to succeed, he prepared relatively little.
Charles only set up a few boiled small wooden boxes near the living room fireplace. Inside, they were divided into several compartments, each coated with a thick layer of corn paste, using the warmth of the fireplace to make them quickly spoil and mold.
Jonathan saw Charles' haphazard tinkering but said nothing. Compared to the former actions of past Charles, Charles was merely wasting a little food now, which was relatively more economical.
However, Charles ultimately did not inspect by carriage. After the luxurious four-wheeled carriage had only driven a few hundred meters from Scarlet Manor, he realized that his "territory" only had one road leading to the outside world, the main road from the manor and surrounding homes to the center of Pittsburgh. The one hundred thousand acres of land was essentially in the opposite direction of the road, and there was no "territory-circling road" at all.
Fortunately, American families at this time, at least property-owning families, each had horses and guns. past Charles' family was originally nobility, and the father and son's love for horses was naturally self-evident. In addition to the two teams of eight magnificent horses that pulled the luxurious carriage, there were also ten packhorses for various carts, and about ten good breed horses for riding, making an entire small stable. Finally, Charles chose a tall German-bred horse that past Charles often rode and carefully mounted it.
His car driving skills were good, and as for horsemanship, he had only ridden a few laps at a trot during some inspection trips. If the horse hadn't been accustomed to being ridden by the original past Charles, he probably wouldn't have dared to let go of the reins and gallop.
"Jonathan! How many acres of land have we effectively utilized now?" Charles asked the butler behind him, frowning.
After riding for less than ten minutes, the cultivated land was completely out of sight, leaving only large areas of forest, bushes, and withered yellow grass.
"Due to insufficient manpower, we have mainly developed eight hundred acres of good farmland near the manor."
"Only eight hundred acres?" Charles felt that this was incomparable to the total of one hundred thousand acres. "How can I ever pay off my debts with such a small amount of land? What is the total output of the land?"
"The manor's output comes partly from the grain, tobacco, and cotton from those eight hundred acres, and also from horses. When the old lord first came to North America, most of his assets were used to buy horses. Later, to raise money for land, he successively sold and gave away many.
The grassland we just passed, the old lord once wanted to fence it off to raise horses, but because there weren't enough good breed horses, and due to land disputes, it was never completed.
There is a small lumber mill in this forest, and you often came here to hunt. If you cross the small slope ahead, you can see a makeshift dock, where there are a few fishing boats used by the slaves." Jonathan's answer was very simple; he naturally assumed that our lord was asking out of knowing.
"Is it really only this small area? Not even one percent?" Charles could hardly believe his ears.
Although Jonathan had mentioned that the development of these lands was hindered, Charles had imagined that out of one hundred thousand acres, at least ten thousand acres of good farmland would have been cultivated.
But what was this now? It was essentially one hundred thousand acres of wasteland! As for the lumber mill and dock Jonathan mentioned, those were within Charles' expectations. Many large plantation owners in the southern United States at the time even owned their own loading and unloading docks on the coast, allowing them to conduct direct business with England. Even if the manor also had an ironworks, a winery, or even a cigarette factory, Charles would not have been surprised in the slightest.
The United States and its thirteen former North American colonies were located between 34° and 45° north latitude, with a mild climate, fertile land, and convenient river transportation. Moreover, tobacco was widely grown, with considerable profits; an immigrant's daily income was equivalent to a British counterpart's weekly earnings.
The old lord Godfrey came precisely for such substantial profits, but unfortunately, neither he nor his son, past Charles, were very farsighted individuals. Pittsburgh was developed relatively late, with vast land and sparse population, largely retaining its original natural landscape. It was impossible to develop it and immediately pay off debts.
He could only give orders:
"It seems the manor's economic income still primarily relies on selling horses. Now that there's an issue with horse breeds, let's first select some inferior horses for separate breeding. Pittsburgh needs development, and horses will certainly be indispensable here. Regardless of the horse breed, it's better than having none. Additionally, let's raise more cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry to supplement the family's meat supply. After all, such a large area cannot be wasted."
As they spoke, their horses had already crossed the small slope ahead, and before them lay an boundless expanse of shimmering water. On the sparkling surface, a small boat drifted, and the fisherman on board sang a song unique to black people while casting a small fishing net into the water.
The beautiful singing and the expansive view made Charles and Jonathan involuntarily tug lightly on their reins, stopping to admire the scene. Charles almost thought he had returned to modern Africa.
As the two were reining in their horses, watching the picturesque scenery, a very discordant sound of hooves came from afar.
Could someone else have ridden a horse from his stables? Charles frowned, looking at Jonathan.
Jonathan immediately understood and replied, "It must be those squatters again, mostly militiamen from the Anglo-French war. They completely disregard the king's order to reclaim the land and continue to cling to the land previously allocated to them. Now that supplies are tight in Pittsburgh, they often come here to fish. Fortunately, many have gone to join the Continental army, so there are not many left now."
Charles nodded.
However, he inwardly believed that it was worse for those people to join the Continental army. If they didn't join the Continental army, reclaiming the land from them could be done with firearms. But if they joined the Continental army, as long as those people survived, the new American Government would protect them, and by then, he would have to use gold to negotiate.
In times of peace, money might more easily buy power, but in turbulent war times, there was no doubt that power was the easier means to acquire money. It seemed he might have to go to Philadelphia to gain a certain status.
The war of Independence had just begun, and it was quite simple to obtain a good position. At the very least, as long as one signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th of this year, they could walk with their head held high in the future United States.
As he was pondering, the sound of hooves had already reached nearby.
A total of five people approached, all white knights in civilian clothes. Except for one young man, the others were all around forty or fifty years old, presumably not having joined the army because of their age.
They had also noticed Charles on the small hillside from afar. Originally planning to go directly to the dock, they now slowed their horses and rode towards him.
From a distance, they took off their hats and saluted Charles:
"Good afternoon, sir."
"Good afternoon, soldiers."
Charles in true Holywood fashion returned their salute with a smile.
He noticed that these soldiers all carried at least one flintlock musket. One of them, who had a pistol at his waist, was stroking the gun butt with a smile on his face, but his eyes faintly held a hint of murderous intent. Looking back at himself and the butler, he found that only Jonathan carried a standard flintlock pistol.
Charles was not yet accustomed to the social environment of America in this era. Seeing the guns on the backs of these militiamen, he couldn't help but feel a bit timid. He was very worried that they would bring up land disputes, and if he couldn't reason with these people, they might just pull out their firearms and kill. With only an old butler to fire a gun, his life would be in danger.
"Respected sir, may we borrow your dock and boat to catch some fish? We will leave a portion of the fish as a reward."
Fortunately, these militiamen did not mention anything about land. They were indeed, as Jonathan had predicted, merely looking for food.
"Of course. But I prefer eating rabbit," Charles said with a smile, ignoring Jonathan's befuddled expression, pointing to the saddle of the pistol-wielding soldier, where a dead rabbit, still dripping with blood, hung.
"Ha ha," the soldiers exchanged a look and immediately tossed the rabbit over. "Done!"
Charles smiled as he caught it, then tossed it to his loyal butler behind him.
He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
It seemed these people weren't entirely uncivilized. He had thought that even if they didn't bring up the land issue, they would rudely force their way to hunt and fish. They could be persuaded through language and reason, and resolving the land issue shouldn't be difficult.
Charles, being a professional tour guide specializing in fleecing customers, had already started calculating how to fleece these people the moment he saw they were amenable to discussion.
If those militiamen knew that such a polite gesture would lead to Charles' schemes and exploitation, who knows what they would think.
"Damn thieves! Robbers! They've gone poaching in our forest again," Jonathan muttered curses under his breath, while fumbling to put away the bloody wild rabbit. "America truly is an uncivilized place!"
The main economic form in America at this time was the plantation owners economy. With unique natural conditions and cheap slave labor, the plantation owners economy flourished. Agriculture dominated the economy, and plantation owners were the masters of this region.
Revolutionaries of the Independence Party, such as Washington and Jefferson, were all famous large plantation owners. Most of their ancestors were former nobles who, unable to live in England, came to North America to make their fortunes. True nobles like past Charles' father, who directly brought large amounts of property to North America, were very rare.
Those immigrants who came here relied on personal struggle and entrepreneurship. The New World did not have the deeply rooted traditional old concepts of England; as long as one had money, they could enter the upper class.
This variability and marketability of social status made people value money more than ancient noble bloodlines. Therefore, they were practical, daring, good at business, and pursued land, black slaves, and tobacco. When those militiamen saw Charles, a noble's son, they didn't even consider his noble status; their salute to him was simply treating him as an ordinary landowner.
"If this were England, they would surely be hanged for speaking to a noble lord like that," Jonathan felt that it was a very undignified thing for a cultured butler like himself to handle a bloody wild rabbit. Even after the soldiers had boarded the boat and started fishing, he was still muttering curses.
"Alright, Jonathan! This lake... well, or rather, where does this river lead? Is it the Mississippi River?" Charles had been standing on the small slope for a while. Ideas about developing this virgin land came one after another, but in the end, he realized he had no idea how this land connected to the outside world.
He didn't even know where he was on the 1776 map of America, rendering all his plans useless. To formulate a concrete land development plan, he first needed to truly understand his location.
"This is a relatively shallow but very large lake. However, on the other side of the lake, there is an excellent river channel that passes through the lake and merges near the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River. Their confluence is the Ohio River. The Ohio River eventually flows into the Mississippi River, so they are certainly connected." As soon as Jonathan heard Charles' question, he immediately regained the demeanor of a professional butler.
Good! Nice! Charles praised several times in his heart.
So, if he just built a road from the Scarlet Manor directly to this dock, he could take a boat directly to Pittsburgh, and even enter the Mississippi River, reaching the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Hmm, if there were steamships, it would probably be no problem to transport goods from the sea directly to Scarlet Manor.
"Jonathan, make a note: when we go back, have people expand this dock. Also, find a few slaves who know how to build boats, set up a shipyard, and build as many boats as possible. Just build those flat-bottomed boats for inland river navigation; the key is that the transport capacity must be large. Additionally, build a road between the dock and Scarlet Manor, a road that can accommodate carriages. In the future, this dock will be our main platform for communication with the outside world, so the road and the dock must be built well."
"Yes, sir! Those fishing boats were built by slaves. If it's just building small transport boats, they should be able to do it. It's just that road construction is more troublesome. With too few hands, the speed will be too slow; with too many hands, it might affect the development of the fields," Jonathan said, thinking carefully for Charles.
"Hmm, then let those slaves focus their wasteland development in this direction, clearing land while building the road. I think this shouldn't have too much of an impact, right?"
"That should allow us to complete a rough road this year," Jonathan estimated.
"Good, that settles this matter," Charles nodded.
Historically, Pittsburgh developed mainly through canals and lakes. Speaking of lakes, he recalled Lake Erie, Pittsburgh's main transportation route.
"Jonathan, do you know Lake Erie? How far is it from Scarlet Manor?" Charles had never been to Pittsburgh in his original timeline. He only remembered that it itself seemed to have high-quality large coal fields, and cheaply transported iron ore from Superior via the Great Lakes and inland rivers.
Situated advantageously between the Great Lakes region and the central Atlantic coastal manufacturing belts, it had excellent conditions for developing the steel industry. From the mid-19th to mid-20th century, it maintained a leading position in the supply of American steel products, earning the title "Steel City." Currently, the Great Lakes region doesn't have cities like "Auto City" or "Coal City," but for Pittsburgh to develop, and for Charles to carry out steel and iron smelting, Lake Erie is indispensable.
"Not far. If you ride a fast horse, a day is enough to reach the lakeside!"
Jonathan's answer strengthened Charles' confidence.
Considering there probably wasn't a suitable road from Scarlet Manor to Lake Erie yet, the actual distance between them should be even shorter.
"From Scarlet Manor to Pittsburgh, are there any other major cities?"
"Pittsburgh is a bit closer; you can ride there, buy things, and return within a day. As for other major cities, I only know the travel time from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. The last time the old lord and I came, it took twenty days by carriage and packhorse. To other major cities, there are no fixed roads, so it's impossible to estimate."
"Oh! If it were by fast horse, it would take at most six or seven days to Philadelphia, then. Haha, but is it that close to Pittsburgh?" Charles remembered his girlfriend, who used to take half a day just to go shopping. "What kind of things can be bought there?"
"Pittsburgh is just a small town. Excluding slaves, there are only about three hundred people there in total. Apart from some grain, ironware, and coal, there are only a few miscellaneous goods left. If you're lucky, you might be able to drink a glass of freshly brewed whiskey at the tavern, but other things are scarce.
Especially since the surrounding plantations and farms haven't developed yet, the supply of goods is insufficient, and the town is very short of milk and fresh meat. These are not even as abundant as what we have at our manor, after all, Scarlet Manor was the earliest large farm to be built in Pittsburgh," Jonathan said calmly. "Well, but now there's an additional commodity: people can buy the slaves we intend to sell there."
"Ah?" Charles was startled. Hadn't Pittsburgh been established for over a decade? How could there only be so few people? But he immediately noticed something Jonathan mentioned. "Coal? You mean Pittsburgh already has coal for sale?"
Damn it, his original plan to get rich was to dig coal and sell it for money. Relying on his foresight, as long as he quietly explored Pittsburgh, found the coal seams, and then bought or exchanged for the land, he could dig coal and sell it for money.
He hadn't expected that Pittsburgh's population was smaller than anticipated, but coal mines had already been discovered. While this wouldn't prevent him from selling coal, having competition would make the business a bit more difficult.
"Yes. When Pittsburgh was first captured by the British, coal had already been discovered, and they started digging coal on the mountains on both sides of the river. Although Pittsburgh has been established for over a decade, it was originally just a French army fortress.
Later, the civilians who moved there mostly lived in the fortress, primarily serving the garrison. Only our Scarlet Manor was a true farm. It wasn't until the war ended and the militiamen were allocated some land that a group of people gradually gathered to develop Pittsburgh.
In recent years, several farms have also been established around it to serve the residents of the fortress. Now, some of the fires for forging ironware in Pittsburgh already use coal, which is much better than those Colonies in the east.
However, farmers are just farmers; they don't even understand that coke is needed for iron smelting. They still mainly use charcoal. Hmph, our domestic ironworks... er, I've strayed. There's a lot of coal here, but unfortunately, there are no good roads or connecting waterways.
After so much coal is dug out, the local area simply can't consume it all, and there's no way to transport it to the east to sell. Otherwise, just selling coal could make the people of Pittsburgh rich."
Charles nodded.
His plan still had to wait. Pittsburgh's future development prospects were certainly good. The limiting factor now was transportation. To get rich, build roads first , it seems this saying is universally applicable.
The Thirteen Colonies in North America had not yet discovered large-scale coal mines at that time. So many eastern cities could only get some coal from a British company's mine in Virginia. This mine was established in 1750, even earlier than Pittsburgh's first coal mine, but its output was limited, and the price was relatively high. They also imported coal from Nova Scotia, and even Britain, because transporting coal across the Atlantic Ocean was much easier than dragging it over the Allegheny River.
Before finding cheaper coal sources, people on the East Coast had to use coal sparingly, and using steam engines was impossible.
Apart from some water-powered textile mills, Americans were unwilling to invest in the large-scale industrial production that was already common in Britain at the time. Instead, remote Pittsburgh, due to its abundant coal, was the first to extensively use steam engines.
Before being known as the Steel City, Pittsburgh's nickname was the Steam City. Apart from this area, the Industrial Revolution in America developed very slowly, and the main economic form was still plantation agriculture.
It wasn't until 1790, when a hunter named Nicholas Charles camped on an exposed anthracite seam in a protected rock formation in eastern Pennsylvania, that anthracite was discovered. Anthracite is a hard, shiny coal that can be used directly for steelmaking without coking, and is also known as "hard coal." The steam revolution in the east then began.
"Jonathan, do you know how to make coke? Also, steam engines, do you know about steam engines? Where can they be bought, or rather, who can build steam engines?" Because the coal selling plan was shelved, Charles suddenly had many more questions.
"This... sir, I am neither a blacksmith nor a member of the royal Society, how would I know how to make coke? As for steam engines, I have heard of them. There's a blacksmith named Newcomen in our country who seems to be able to build them. In North America, I don't know," Jonathan said with a hint of displeasure and embarrassment. These questions were too difficult for him.
"Oh, in Britain," Charles said with a bitter smile, shaking his head.
(The first practical and commercially successful steam engine was the Savery Engine (1698), a steam-powered pump designed by Thomas Savery.)
At this time, he didn't know what Watt was doing, or if he had improved the steam engine. But even if it had been improved, it seemed it would be a long time before it was widely used in America.
However, without steam engines, it would be impossible to build large factories, and the efficiency of workers would drop significantly. And a very important point: without cheap steamships to transport the manufactured goods, relying solely on horse-drawn carriages wouldn't earn much money.
He certainly couldn't build steam engines himself, but if there were existing machinery and technical personnel, he could offer suggestions to improve the machines, which wouldn't be a problem. It seemed he would have to find a way to visit the large cities in the east to find technical personnel from Britain, or directly send people to Britain to hire them.
But doing these things also involved money, and to have money, he first had to develop the land he held. To develop the land, he first had to resolve land disputes. The necessary path to resolving land disputes, of course, was through the organs of power. In such a turbulent place, in an era that only valued money and power, a certain amount of power and money were essential if he wanted to live well, to live a better life.
Thinking of the land disputes, Charles couldn't help but show a hint of dissatisfaction in his eyes as he looked at those old militiamen.
Just then, the black slave who fished for his family came over with a few large fat fish, taking off his hat from afar and bowing to Charles and the butler.
"Master sir! Master butler! Today's catch is very good. Ted caught three large fish and a dozen slightly smaller ones."
"Good! Well done, Ted!" Jonathan nodded with a stern face. "Still the old rule: the large fish go to the manor's main kitchen, and the small fish are distributed to the slaves for an extra meal."
"Yes! Master butler!" Ted, the black slave, responded very submissively and immediately prepared to run to the manor on foot.
"Wait!" Charles suddenly spoke, stopping him.
"Ted obeys your command, master!" Ted, the black slave, immediately stopped, turned, and bowed to Charles.
"Uh... Ted! The fish yield from this lake is pretty good, isn't it! Your fishing skills are also excellent!" Charles was a little unaccustomed to Ted's excessive deference.
Charles understood the brutal reality of the era he was in: slavery was woven into the fabric of society. He could see how it worked, how it functioned, how people justified it. But he had no power to change it, not for now. One man against an entire civilization's institution was futile.
Still, coming from a modern society that had abolished such practices, he found himself deeply unsettled. He had never witnessed such dehumanization, never seen people treated as property. It clashed violently with everything he'd been taught, everything he believed.
He pushed the discomfort down. He had to survive first. Changing the world could come later—if he ever gained enough power to attempt it.
"At first, there were many fish in this lake. Even people who couldn't fish could catch several with one net. But after several years of continuous fishing, plus those people... now there aren't many fish left in this lake, and we ourselves can only fish once every few days," Ted didn't know how to answer, and even blatantly glanced at the old militiamen who were fishing.
"Oh! Are there not many fish left?" Charles was a little embarrassed.
He had originally wanted to have some fish caught and sold because the old butler said Pittsburgh lacked fresh meat.
It seemed there was indeed a reason why the old butler had tried to stop him from letting the old militiamen fish. He had thought there must be many fish in the lake because he saw Ted catch fish with one net.
These damned American militiamen, even though they had land disputes with him, still dared to come here to fish and steal his wealth. Could it be a food shortage?
That's right, he had so many slaves, and the manor had been developed for several years, so the grain production was very abundant. According to Jonathan, there were over a hundred barrels of refined flour alone.
Last year, he used the purchased black slaves to hastily plant a crop of corn on undeveloped land, and the harvest was very good. Now, the two official granaries plus three temporary granaries were all full of corn. But these old militiamen, at a glance, were not people who were good at working themselves, and they might not even have slaves at home.
Production was definitely insufficient, leading to a shortage of grain to meet the needs of their families. However, since even their families, who had primary laborers, were short of grain, then those families whose men had all joined the Continental army would certainly be even more short of grain.
Hehehe! Charles let out a sinister, cold laugh inwardly.
He might just be able to make them submit by using grain or their families as leverage. However, bringing it up directly might provoke them, so he had to find a subtle way.
A smile of an impending successful conspiracy couldn't help but appear on Charles' face.
Waving his hand to tell Ted to quickly send the fish to the manor and inform the kitchen to prepare a small dinner, Charles turned his gaze to the old militiamen who were fishing.
Hmph! The level of extortion by a 21st-century PhD safari tour guide was not something ordinary 18th-century people could endure. Ea-nāṣir would be proud!