Chapter 57: Still Gotta Fight for Turf

Lu Chuan's warnings would never remain mere empty words; he always followed through with concrete actions. Anyone who dared to violate Lu Chuan's rules would truly face the revocation of their distributorships, and Lu Chuan would show not the slightest hesitation in seizing their assets within Lu County as well.

With the sole exceptions of the Zhen family and the Mi family, these merchants had originally been nothing more than small-time traders. However, relying on the development of Lu County, they had secured massive opportunities and thus attained their current prominence and influence. It was no exaggeration to say that they owed their entire fortunes to Lu Chuan. Having received such immense benefits from him, anyone who still dared to go against Lu Chuan would be nothing more than an ungrateful wretch biting the hand that fed them. What use was there in keeping ungrateful wretches around? Were they just waiting to turn on their master?

It was precisely because of Lu Chuan's stern and imposing demeanor that everyone present understood precisely where Lu Chuan's bottom line lay.

Once all the contracts were signed, the product launch event concluded, and the attendees left in an orderly fashion. Lu Chuan then instructed Lu Shui to ensure the utmost confidentiality regarding the refined salt purification process, warning that the critical technology must absolute never be leaked. To guarantee this, Lu Chuan even had Lu Jin tighten surveillance over the salt purification workshop. Every single person inside the workshop involved in the process had to be kept under strict watch. This was truly not Lu Chuan making a mountain out of a molehill; rather, the technological barrier for purifying salt was simply too low. Once the technique leaked, countless people would undoubtedly imitate it, leaving Lu Chuan with no other choice.

Of course, as time passed, the technique for purifying salt would inevitably leak out. By that time, however, Lu Chuan would likely no longer care about the benefits brought by this particular technology.

Another thing worth mentioning was that shortly after the product launch, Lu Chuan noticed his remaining lifespan hovering above his head begin to flicker once more. Shifting from three hundred years, it finally stabilized at three hundred and fifty-six years.

His lifespan had increased by fifty-six years in a single bound!

With his vital energy and blood growing stronger once again, Lu Chuan's mental state reached a level of clarity and vigor he had never experienced before. Pondering the matter carefully, Lu Chuan concluded that gaining these fifty-six years of lifespan was directly related to his plan to establish a nationwide sales network for refined salt. If Lu Chuan could genuinely enable the entire population of the realm to consume refined salt and abandon the crude salt that was harmful to human health, it would undoubtedly enhance the overall physical fitness of the populace. An improvement in the people's physical condition would bring tremendous benefits to the development of the nation. The system must have foreseen this outcome, which was why it had doled out such a generous reward.

And this was merely the beginning. Lu Chuan believed that as refined salt became popularized nationwide, he would reap even greater lifespan rewards.

A lifespan of three hundred and fifty-six years could no longer satisfy Lu Chuan; he wanted more. If Lu Chuan possessed a lifespan spanning thousands of years, there were simply too many things he could accomplish. For instance, back when he captured Cao Cao, he would have dared to eliminate Cao Cao on the spot—why would he have needed to be so cautious? Take individuals like Lady Zhen Jiang, Lady Zhen Mi, and Miss Mi, for example; Lu Chuan would never have let them slip through his fingers!

It was a pity that Lu Chuan currently possessed a lifespan of only a little over three hundred years, meaning he still dared not take such risks. Therefore, he had to keep striving and accumulating lifespan. Only by possessing an ample amount of lifespan could Lu Chuan truly act as he pleased!

...

There was no need to wait until the following day. On the very afternoon the product launch concluded, people began delivering crude salt to the refined salt purification workshop. The terms Lu Chuan offered were to acquire the crude salt at market price; since they voluntarily delivered the salt themselves, it amounted to an immediate sale. The settlement method for purchasing the crude salt was also quite straightforward: they could choose to take cash directly, or they could wait until the refined salt was produced and take payment in the form of refined salt instead.

These merchants were extremely astute. None of them wanted cash, universally expressing their preference to take refined salt as payment. Since refined salt commanded a high price, the value of the crude salt they sold would certainly fall short, meaning they would have to prepare additional funds to cover the difference. Because of this, Lu Chuan's salt purification workshop could generate a steady, endless stream of profits without needing to spend a single coin to acquire crude salt.

Yet this arrangement brought a heavy burden to Lu Shui. There was simply too much crude salt and an overwhelmingly massive shortage of refined salt. Even with the purification workshop operating at full capacity, it was difficult to supply sufficient refined salt in a short period. Left with no alternative, Lu Shui had to petition Lu Chuan for permission to expand the workshop.

Lu Chuan quickly made a decision: since the original salt purification workshop was too small, they would build a larger one. Similarly, the scale of the brick-making workshop was also too small; a much larger facility was required to meet the demands of constructing the northern outer city. Moreover, Lu Chuan's plans did not stop at the northern outer city; outer cities in the other three directions were also part of his blueprint. Therefore, the brick-making workshop had to be massive, otherwise it could never satisfy the demands of the outer city construction.

However, when selecting sites for the expanded salt purification workshop and the brick-making workshop, Lu Chuan encountered another problem: there was simply not enough space.

Originally, there had been no Lu County here—only Lu Village. Lu County town had been built as Lu Chuan gradually developed and expanded Lu Village step by step. Consequently, all the territory belonging to Lu County town had been carved out from the surrounding county jurisdictions. Now that Lu County was expanding and developing once more, the construction of the northern outer city had already begun, covering an area far exceeding that of an ordinary county town. Furthermore, Lu Chuan intended to relocate heavily polluting facilities—such as the brick-making workshop and the salt purification workshop—outside the county town to avoid any negative impact on the residents within.

Since relocation was necessary, he might as well make a grand gesture of it and designate a specific area exclusively for industrial use. Furthermore, not only did he need a dedicated industrial zone, but Lu Chuan also needed to construct a garrison fortress around it. Otherwise, what would stop others from growing envious and leading an army to attack once he had all these workshops built? How would Lu Chuan defend against them? Only by establishing a garrison fortress, stationing troops inside, and relying on defensive walls could the safety of the workshops be guaranteed.

Consequently, what Lu Chuan required was no longer just various workshops, but vastly more materials, labor, wealth, and territory.

This was the very crux of Lu Chuan's headache. Lu County was only so large; where was he supposed to get all these things? He couldn't just seize them by force, could he?

Even though he told himself he couldn't simply conquer and seize territory, once the thought surfaced in his mind, Lu Chuan found it increasingly difficult to suppress. In this era, achieving remarkable development required two indispensable elements: land and population. As for population, Lu Chuan was not lacking for the time being, because Lu County's prosperity had already attracted a massive influx of residents. But land—land was truly in short supply.

It wasn't that Lu Chuan couldn't carve out a large tract of land and designate it as an industrial zone, but doing so would severely encroach upon agricultural farming. In an era characterized by low productivity, suffering a shortage of arable farmland carried dire consequences. He must avoid a situation where Lu County was successfully built and commerce developed rapidly, only for grain yields to plummet. Should that happen, anyone wishing to move against Lu Chuan would only need to control the food supply to easily bring him to his knees.

Therefore, it was better to make a preemptive move and seize some territory ahead of time. Even if it disrupted the course of history, it was still far better than being easily manipulated by others in the future.