Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 28 - General Economic Projection.

When the wagon stopped in the clearing, the children were ecstatic as they were munching the end of stems that looked like bamboo which some were green while some were purple. It was a foot long and the children seemed to be enjoying it as they waved at me and offered one to me.

"Big brother, this is the cane sugar found by Granny Kayla. Doesn't it look like bamboo to you? Here let me shave the ends off and you can bite it. It's very sweet like candy...!" Harry offered it to me and I mimicked the way they ate and it definitely tasted sweet.

"Granny Kayla said this is natural sugar and the ones that we spot out could be fed to the pigs, even the whole cane sugar after stripping the bark could be given to the pigs. Sir Hope likes to eat these cane sugar too." Imelda squealed with delight as she held it in her teeth like a long flute.

I munched on the cane sugar and the fleshy pulps excrete the sugary content while I would spit out the exhausted pulps thereafter. It was a really messy affair while eating this.

"This is one of an ingredient to make ale, don't you know that, young master? We could replant these like the tapioca stalks but in an upright position. To extract this, we would need to put them through between two rollers to squeeze the sweet juice out and the pulp could be given to the pigs and goats to eat." Kayla explained as she too was munching the ends of cane sugar.

"We had just found a new fruit. Kayla said it was pineapple with prickly skin. The top could be broken off and replanted near the riverbanks. The children would be helping to plant these in between the banana younglings."

"There's a few bunches of bananas and a few more banana shoots. I guess that's it for the bananas then, there no more to be found until the next area for us to venture." Heather explained as she took one pineapple down from the wagon to let me examined it closely.

"It's pretty heavy. I'm really surprised that there are a lot of wonders waiting to be uncovered in these areas." I placed the pineapple at my side and watched the men helped to offload the bamboo popes that were handpicked by Gwen.

The round bamboo layered baskets were brought to the gathering area and the ladies were delighted at the fine job the men had done. These bamboo steamers were great for steaming purposes such as buns. Since we have an oven and steamer, the villagers would be able to have 2 kinds of bread and a wide variety of fillings that would substitute gruel at times.

The wild wheat was then brought down and were placed in the gathering place as the men helped to remove the grains. Gwen was preparing some game that she had encountered and were dicing the meat and adding some spices while Heather helped to diced some sweet potatoes with some onions and garlic stalks. With 2 pounds of flour, they mixed it with some gluten and water and slowly knead the flour into a dough.

While waiting for the process of the dough making, Crystal lit up the rocket stove and placed a large earthen shallow pot filled with water to boil.

The dough was then made into small balls where a considerable amount of the fillings were inserted in the middle and 16 of those dough balls were arranged in a single layer.

Since they had used a considerable amount of flour, both Gwen and Heather managed to produce almost 4 layers of dough balls to be turned into steam buns.

The wild wheat seeds were separated from its ears and placed in an empty sack and after they had done so, they were able to acc.u.mulate as much as 2 sacks of wild wheat grains. I went over and took a closer of the grains and discovered that this looked like the grains that we consume daily.

"Aren't these edible, Kayla? It looked like the grains that we eat, though." I pinched on one of the grain and remove its husk and the germ inside looked like rice. Kayla confessed to me that she knew these wild wheat is edible but she had a hard time to differentiate them.

There were emmer and einkorn as well as more than 5 other variants as they looked similar to it. Since its golden yellow in colour, she decided to call it golden wheat instead. She then explains to the rest of the group on how to cultivate this golden wheat as would one do with grass.

Kayla then explained the process that was rather unique. After the harvest, the stalks can be burned to the ground as fertilisers. Then corn could be grown afterwards and the process would repeat right until early winter. However, there's a variant of wheat that could be grown even in winter.

"This wheat could be exchanged pound for pound for grains or flour with Marcel, am I right? This wheat can only be meant for one purpose, which is for flour. At least we would be purchasing fewer grains but substitute them with flour. Wouldn't that be a better option?" Kayla suggested and everyone voiced their apprehension.

At least a steady flow of trade would still be able to conduct between the village and Marcel. Armful ears of corn were removed from its cob while leaving a sack full for our consumption. A 5-pound sack was being used and it was filled to the brim with these corn bits which would later be dried and cultivated.

While waiting for the buns to steam, that would take approximately 30 minutes, I informed Jack to announce about the events when they were away on their individual tasks.

As Jack progressed on, they began to visualise what clouds I had been forming in my head and they finally understood the vision I had for the village. New villagers, they represent artisans and new families that would be joining part of the population.

There would be artisans and employees, taxes, as well as salaries. I broke down the structure of salaries and they immediately agree on my idea as it was very feasible. Besides, almost everything was borne by me and paying taxes was just a means to stabilise the economy.

Take for example of a bamboo hunting bow. It was being bought for 1s and Gwen was able to produce a dozen of those within a span of 4 to 5 days. If she concentrates on making these bows, her production rate per month would be 65 to 72 bows.

The woven mats were sold at 3c per square foot. If a casual labourer were put to work to make a 2' by 5' within a day, he or she could generate 30 of those which means 900c or 9s per month.

A 5' by 5' woven mat could be produced in every 2 days and would be able to generate 15 mats for a total price of 1125c or equivalent to 11s 25c.

A 10' by 10' woven mat priced at 200c or 2s would be produced every 3 days for about a monthly output of 10 mats per month. These would generate an income of 2000c or 20s.

I scratched on the ground to note that 4 people would be able to generate 40s of gross income which was close to a gold coin. I suggested a monthly salary of 3s or 10c per day for the labourers.

"Then how about corn and wheat? It would be sold or for consumption?" Heather asked and I answered generally. Both corn and wheat would be for consumption. Upon harvesting season, the pioneers would assist in ensuring that these products would not be squandered away secret by the villagers."

"However, since the farmlands are planned and situation within their region, there might be a risk of them trying to squirrel away some due to greed. Once they are caught, they would be lashed in public, to serve as a lesson to others but will keep what they had taken."

"There's no double standard. A person caught would be meted with punishment, be publicly shamed, but will keep the goods that were squandered. The number of lashes would be determined by the general public. Repeated offenders would be turned away. We do not wish to have thieves or robbers within our midst." I concluded and I made a mental note for certain laws to be implemented as well as the set of punishment as well.

A ruler would be just in governing so that it would be in favour of the public's eye. If a ruler is too rigid, the public would run away in fear and if it is too flex, the ruler would be seen as a softie and weak.

To have a governing system, a hierarchical structure would be organised to let some ministers handle certain affairs such as agriculture minister, commerce minister, finance minister, health minister, education minister and justice minister.

At least, with these ministers, they would be able to exercise their duties under my watchful eyes. Who would be better to assist me if not for those pioneers?