In April of the Earth Season, the weather is getting hotter and hotter. In this season of luxuriant vegetation and blooming mountain flowers, the Centaurs and Horses hills become lush and full of life. The rolling hills are covered with clumps of shrubs, and colorful wildflowers are quietly blooming.

, at a glance, it looks like a charming and colorful tapestry draped over the hills.

The low valleys of the hills are covered with dense alfalfa. The green alfalfa is growing vigorously and is dotted with small blue-purple flowers. Groups of cattle and sheep are lowering their heads to forage. Some bold wild deer cannot resist the temptation of pasture and quietly steal the grass.

Quietly wandering out of the woods, blending in with the sheep to enjoy the fresh alfalfa. The dedicated sheepdogs bared their teeth at these uninvited guests, trying to defend the territory of the sheep, but what greeted them was the antlers of the male deer.

The shepherds were sitting on the grass, leisurely watching the shepherd dogs chasing and playing with the wild deer, with no intention of helping each other.

It's not the hunting season yet. If the deer want to eat alfalfa, then give it to them. The fatter it is, the better...

Of course, the scenery of hills is not static. With the intensification of human activities, especially the rise of the brick-making industry, many hills have become bare mountains. The bushes on the mountains have been cut down, dried into firewood, and sent to giant brick kilns.

It turned into billowing smoke and disappeared under the sky.

Five hills near the village of Morin in Randall's territory have turned into mounds without any vegetation. The brown soil is directly exposed in the air, forming a strong contrast with the dense woods and green grassy valleys, making it look particularly ugly. Every rainy season

Sometimes, these mounds are even in danger of collapsing.

However, it is different now.

The terraces that develop upwards in circles from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain are stacked on top of each other. The neatly arranged thorn trees in the terraces transform the mountain into a layered green tower. The peasant women are wearing headscarves and carrying

The basket is made of wild vines. The plump pods are picked from the thorn tree continuously, and the whole basket can be filled in a short time.

"It would be great if so many spiny kidney beans could be used to feed pigs..." Village Chief Mo Lin said with emotion, a look of regret on his face.

"If Old Man Miller hears this, do you believe he will jump up and slap you hard?" Victor joked with a smile.

Victor had long planned to open terraced fields. He originally planned to plant some fruit trees, oilwood, sisal and other cash crops on the mounds, but in the end he chose high-yield spiny kidney beans. According to Victor and Wellington

According to the Duke's agreement, Randall requested to withdraw from the kingdom within two years.

In the south, 1.3 million spiny kidney trees were transplanted, totaling 50,000 acres of spiny kidney bean fields. In last year’s wind season, Randall took the lead and planted more than 18,000 acres of spiny kidney beans. In March of the land season, these spiny kidney beans were planted for the first time.

Harvest, the monthly output is as high as more than 15 million pounds.

Although the taste of spiny kidney beans is average and the water content is relatively high, it is no problem to fill the stomach. However, the yield of spiny kidney beans is high, and the population of Randall's territory is also large.

Randall Territory currently absorbs more than 18,000 refugees. The York family has gradually mobilized 13,000 more refugee workers into the Barony of Phoenix to build the southern city wall and fortress. In addition to the original more than 12,000 hired workers, Victor

It manages a population of more than 43,000 people.

The Randall Territory grows spiny kidney beans precisely to reduce the logistical pressure caused by the huge population. Although the York family should be responsible for the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the homeless workers, the giant fortress blocking the entrance to the Everglades is related to the security of the Randall Territory, and the two sides are on the same side.

Grasshoppers online don’t need to worry so much.

Baskets upon baskets of kidney beans were delivered to the construction site and distributed to the employees for free in the name of the church. Father Miller was so happy that he couldn't smile from ear to ear, but the villagers in each village couldn't be happier.

A bumper harvest is certainly a joy, but if you give away the hard-grown kidney beans to others for free, that's a different story. In the eyes of the villagers, the uneaten kidney beans should be used to feed pigs!

Thinking of Father Miller being furious and spitting on his own face, the village chief of Molin immediately gave up. He said sarcastically: "Sir, the five hills under the jurisdiction of our village of Molin are already planted with spiny kidney beans. The spiny kidney beans behind are not

Is it our turn to plant?"

Victor smiled and said nothing. Mayor Molin's reaction was exactly what he needed.

The property in the territory is nominally owned by the lord, but how much can the lord take? A village can have up to 2,000 villagers and govern a territory of 300 to 400 square kilometers. Even if the villagers do not farm, they can still meet their needs by collecting wild resources.

ask

Question. If the lords collect less offerings, they can still live a prosperous life. Therefore, the villagers keep an eye on the village commons very closely, and the products of each hill are closely related to their pockets. Who is willing to plant all kinds of things that are not worth it?

Where are the valuable kidney beans?

In fact, the biggest resistance to the church's promotion of kidney beans came from the people, not the lords. It was the same no matter where the kidney beans were planted.

If the church wants to expand the kidney bean planting area in Randall Territory, it must first ask the villagers if they agree.

The will of the lord is actually a concentrated expression of the will of the people. For example, Maureen petitioned Victor for the benefit of the villagers. He was one of Victor's first followers and made great contributions to the Randall family.

He can be called loyal. Victor will always show some mercy to veterans like Mo Lin. This is bottom-up influence.

People are distant and distant, and even the Lord of Radiance only bestows magical powers on the most pious priests, let alone a mortal lord? A fool who does not protect his own people and pursues equal treatment will only end up betraying his relatives.

The higher you stand, the further you can see. Of course, the village chief's vision cannot be compared with that of the lord. Faced with Molin's request, Victor felt it was necessary to give him a heads up.

"You can't just think about your own village. I hope that all of you village chiefs will be able to take on the important responsibilities of town mayors in the future."

Victor told Molin: "By the end of this year, the main canal will be able to connect five stream reservoirs. In the next five years, we will build a circular canal on the east side of the Jinshui River and build more small artificial lakes upstream of the stream reservoirs.

, Randall’s cultivated land area will increase to 3 million acres, and the pasture area will exceed 4 million acres. I plan to implement a three-year farming rotation system.

Plant wheat every year, plant potatoes one year, and leave it fallow for another year. Even so, the annual agricultural work of 2 million acres of cultivated land requires 100,000 young and strong hired workers. Their families can grow vegetables, raise pigs, herd cattle and sheep, plus

Brick kiln workers, iron ore miners, craftsmen and craftsmen, as well as residents of Pinghu Town, the total population of Randall Territory will not be less than 400,000."

Mo Lin was stunned and said: "So many people? It seems that the total population of the kingdom is only more than 900,000!"

"That's the registered population, which refers to the people of the kingdom." Victor said as he walked, and Molin and Swift Bird followed closely behind the owner. "There are more than 900,000 refugees in the central and northern parts of the kingdom, and there are more refugees in other territories.

Get up too

There are more than 1 million people. I estimate that the total population of Gombis is at least more than 3 million. Of course, Randall Territory cannot just recruit refugees. We also need to encourage childbirth... Well, Randall Territory can absorb 120,000 refugees.

Already."

"The territory of 10,000 square kilometers accommodates hundreds of thousands of people, which is a difficult challenge for us. In the future, Randall will build two cities, seven towns and 21 administrative villages. Pinghu Town will be the main city of the Randall family.

Change its name to Hucheng, transform your Molin village into a village and build a town, build a castle, and govern three administrative villages, with farms and pastures under each administrative village. You must manage at least 1,000 square kilometers of territory and a population of 20,000 for me."

"Honored... distinguished master, I... do you want me to be the mayor?" Molin asked stammering.

"What? You don't want to be the mayor?" Victor asked deliberately.

"Yes, yes, oh no, no, no." Village Chief Molin was extremely surprised and said incoherently: "I mean, I will never betray your trust!"

"Being the mayor is not that easy. You have to spend more time studying and try to improve your abilities." Victor stopped and said, "Kidney beans can help us survive the most difficult period. You

Do you want to plant it?"

"You have to plant... but you can't plant too many." Molin hesitated for a moment and said truthfully: "Sir, kidney beans grow quickly and rot quickly. Good seeds are difficult to cut. The church attendants in Pinghu Town every month

We have to come here once. They carefully inspected the thorny kidney bean trees in the terraced fields for fear that we would kill them on purpose. If this continues, the hills will be covered with thorny kidney bean trees, and the villagers will have no wild vegetables and herbs to collect. I am afraid that the wild deer and yellow sheep will

I can’t see it either.”

Victor smiled slightly and said: "The church will not give up improving the spiny kidney beans. They are checking the mutant plants."

"Mutated plant?"

"Yes." Victor nodded and said, "The church is very experienced in cultivating crops. The techniques of pruning and grafting fruit trees were invented by monks in the monastery. Spelled wheat was originally just foxtail grass in the south. It has been improved by the monastery for more than 400 years.

It turned into the current crop. The church believes that the thorn rue

Beans can also become an easy-to-storage crop, but it is necessary to expand the scale of planting and select mutant plants for cultivation. However, it takes too long to improve kidney beans, which will take at least 40 to 500 years. We will not serve as a test field for the church, Rand

Erling can plant up to 100,000 acres of spiny kidney beans.”

"Whether the spiny kidney beans will be used to raise pigs or be used by the church to help the homeless, it depends on your ability."

At this point, Mo Linna could not understand what his master meant. He said with a grimace: "It is my duty to encourage the villagers to boycott kidney beans. This... offends the priest... Sir, for the sake of my loyalty

Come on, you have to protect me."

"Haha." Victor patted Molin on the shoulder and comforted: "You can do it with confidence! In fact, with the new agriculture, animal husbandry and water conservancy projects, the church no longer cares too much about kidney beans."

"Sir, I will never let you down." Molin promised, patting her chest.

Just as they were talking, several farmers drove a group of strange beasts of burden down the terraces. These beasts of burden were about the same size as a short-tailed deer, with shiny black fur, white stripes on their abdomens, thick limbs, well-muscled muscles, and shoulders and backs.

The muscles are bulging as high as

The hump, the head resembles a wildebeest, long ears without horns, and a pair of big eyes that look cute and cute. Each beast of burden is carrying four large baskets filled with newly picked spiny kidney beans. They are lined up in a row.

, following the farmer, looking very obedient.

"Sir, the short-footed antelope is really useful. It's not troublesome at all to go up and down the mountain. Having these guys help transport the kidney beans can save us a lot of money." Mo Lin said cheerfully.

The camel antelope is a herbivore unique to the Boulder Mountains. They have strong muscles and strong physical strength. They have water bladders in their stomachs and can go without water for several days. Their separate toes are adapted to walking on mountains and have strong load-bearing off-road capabilities. The camel antelope

Its meat is rough and difficult to swallow, but its temperament is docile and smart. It usually feeds on mountain thorns. The Na'vi people tamed it and raised it in captivity and used it as a draft tool in the mountains and forests.

The domesticated camel and antelope can carry 600 pounds of weight on their backs, trek nearly 30 kilometers of mountain roads in four hours, and are resistant to rough feeding. Even if they only eat straw, they will not lose weight like cattle and sheep, making them very suitable for mountain transportation.

These camel antelopes were brought back by the Warhammer Mercenary Group from the town of Gaxi in Nahuel.

During the Season of Fire last year, Victor divided the Warhammer mercenary group into three, led by Hammer, Fermi and Kidd respectively. Fermi led the Kestrel mercenary group all the way north, into the Kingdom of Dodo, and opened up

Smuggling trade route. Kidd leads the Lynx mercenary group

, responsible for conquering the mountain villages in Gambis. Iron Hammer took the businessman Wedge and the Warhammer mercenary group to the town of Gaxi in the Kingdom of Nahuel to discuss the matter of snow sugar preserves with Baron Garrot, and also purchased fire element crystals.

and mountain camels.

A month ago, the Warhammer Mercenary Group returned with a full load. There were only 45 people when they went, and 106 people came back. The mountain people strongholds along the way were very enthusiastic about the Warhammer Mercenary Group, and many young mountain people actively requested to join the mercenary group. In addition,

The hammer also brought back 120 fire element crystals, 400 camel antelopes, and a profit of 2,000 gold soles.

Things were progressing very smoothly, but Iron Hammer was uneasy. He gave Victor a personal letter from the lord of Garxi Town.

It turned out that Baron Garrott of the Kingdom of Naville had seen through the details of the Warhammer Mercenary Group. He hoped that Victor could continue to maintain this secret trade route and sell coarse sugar and some daily necessities to the town of Garxi. To this end, he was willing to sell iron.

Gemstones, medicinal materials and elemental crystals. These 400 camel antelopes are a gift from Baron Garrott to Victor, or Baron Garrott’s investment in the secret trade route. With these beasts of burden, the trade between the two parties will naturally increase.
To be continued...