Iron Powder and Spellcaster

"Are you a little too partial to Mr. Mitchell?" Bud asked half-jokingly.

With the force of his upper and lower jaws, Bud's cheeks were swelling rhythmically.

It was clear that tonight's beef was very difficult to handle, but Bud chewed patiently.

"Is there any?" Winters gritted his teeth and poked at the pieces of beef on the plate, angrily: "I will definitely call Lannis over later and ask him properly - why did he spend so much money on the meal? How can it be made so unpalatable?"

Bud swallowed the beef that was barely chewed without changing his expression, glanced at the plate in front of Winters that looked like a slaughter scene, and reminded him in a good voice: "Don't mess with the food."

"Okay, okay, I'll give it to you." Winters raised his hands in surrender, and just like in the past, he put all the meat on his plate into Bud's plate: "It's all for you."

Bud happily accepted the order: "This is meat, how could it not be delicious?"

"Yes." Winters sighed: "I am also curious about this."

…

The baroque-style mahogany desk that the former resident officer cherished was used as a dining table. Winters and Bard declined the Artemis gentleman's banquet and simply started a meal in the resident office.

They also ate the same food as all Tiefeng County soldiers: beef, radishes, and thick bread.

The sun has actually set for a long time, and the capital of Wargne County outside the window has long since faded into night, but the two "Tiefeng County Tribunes" have not had time to solve the dinner problem until now.

To be precise, one of the tribunes was so busy that he had no time to eat. Another well-known tribune, although idle, insisted on waiting for his friends to start a gang together.

…

"Maybe beef is still the beef of the past." Staring at Bud who was happily enjoying his dinner, Winters reflected sadly: "It's just that my teeth and intestines, which were once as tough as steel, have been worn away by time."

"First of all, your intestines and stomach have never been 'tough as steel.'" Bud exposed his friend with a smile: "You were very picky about food when you were in Guitu City."

"That's just a comparison with you." Winters actively defended himself: "From the perspective of the college as a whole, I am definitely not a picky eater."

Bard lowered his hands to comfort his friend and continued: "If your intestines and stomach are really 'tough as steel', then Mr. Balian's responsibility for its wear and tear is not entirely his."

Winters thought for a moment and unconsciously raised the corners of his mouth. He nodded, pretending to be serious and agreed: "Yes, Ms. Navarre is also responsible."

Bud coughed slightly and pointed to the beef on the plate: "I mean, these are the meat of old cattle, which is difficult to stew. Now, the price of a two-year-old cow in Wargne County is at least more than last year. Double the price. Even if you pay a high price, you can only buy old and weak cattle that are destined to be slaughtered."

After saying that, Bud put away his smile and explained seriously: "Not only cattle, but the bidding prices of horses, mules and even donkeys on the market are higher than last year. This situation is not only seen in Wargne County, it is even more serious in Tiefeng County. I I think the other counties in the newly cultivated land should be the same."

Upon hearing these words, Winters immediately took away the dinner plate and took out a hard-cover book from the drawer.

After checking it carefully, he held his forehead and thought for a moment, then raised his head and asked doubtfully: "Is that so? But when I was drafted for the Great Wasteland War, I purchased a lot of large livestock, and the price of beef cattle reported by Lannis was about the same. It’s pretty big.”

"That's because the prices of gold and silver have also increased." Bud picked up the graphite strips and wrote a few lines of numbers on the paper: "Look, converted into grain prices, the increase in livestock prices is very intuitive. It has at least doubled. .”

Winters stared at the numbers Bud had written, lost in thought.

"According to common sense, war will lead to an increase in livestock prices, which is understandable. But why do the prices of gold and silver also rise sharply? And the price of grain falls instead?" Bud smiled bitterly: "To be honest, I can't think of a reasonable reason. Explanation—Is Mr. Leo in Maple Stone City?”

"No." Winters shook his head slightly: "Before Saner sent troops to Jinghu County, he left the New Reclamation Province."

"Then...can we contact him?"

Winters thought for a while: "You can send a message through Navarre Trading Company, but no one knows when Mr. Leo will get the letter, so don't hold out too much hope."

Bud nodded, not showing any disappointment or worry, just smiling gently: "Okay, let's solve the problem ourselves."

Somehow, when he met Bud's calm and tolerant gaze, Winters felt that there was no difficulty that he could not overcome.

"It's my fault that I have to kill cows and eat meat under the current circumstances." Winters tried his best not to show any annoyance or regret, but his fingertips unconsciously left four scratches on the table: "Soldiers Too tired and too hard, I want them to eat more good food..."

"No one blames you, and there is no shortage of livestock to the extent that 'the sky is falling.' But now that you know the scarcity of large livestock, you should not waste it." Bud returned the beef to Winters. Plate, jokingly said: "You always just use it. If you don't have enough, you reach out and ask for it. Of course you don't know how difficult it is for me and Senior Mason."

Winters stuffed the beef into his mouth and chewed it silently.

Bud put down the tableware and asked solemnly: "Do you still have contact with Akahebe's little lover?"

Winters was suddenly startled, and then coughed violently. He subconsciously beat his chest hard, and accidentally injured himself. He was speechless for a long time, and could only stare at Bud with wide eyes.

"Don't look at me like this. You have never told me about the Red River Department. Of course I can only ask others." Bud's expression was calm and composed: "They all said that you have a good background in the Red River Department. My lover, now Chihebu is willing to do business with us honestly, it’s also thanks to your lover.”

Winters wiped the food residue from the corner of his mouth and asked fiercely: "Who said that."

"Let me tell you, can you keep it a secret?" Bud asked with a smile.

Winters' anger was blocked in his throat. He grabbed the corners of the table angrily. In the blink of an eye, the two corners of Colonel Zipper's treasured desk turned into pieces of wood.

"Are you able to reach this level now?" Bud rarely showed surprise and disbelief, but he stopped Winters' madness with just one sentence: "This seems to be quite expensive."

Winters roared in pain, he put his head against his forehead, and after a moment of silence, he calmly told Bud: "First, I do know a lady in the Red River Department; second, that lady and I are not lovers. relationship; thirdly, you have also met that lady, she is one of the Hed people who helped us on Chiliu Island; finally, the Chihe tribe is willing to trade with each other, not because of the guarantee of the lady, but to each get what they need. "

Bud said "Yeah, yeah," and nodded, very nonchalantly.

Because His Excellency the Bishop is not most concerned about his good friend's romantic rumors: "Since you have a close relationship with the... lady from the Red River Department, can she make the decision to trade horses and cattle with us? Now the Red River Department sells to us Just wool and sheepskin.”

"Explain it to me clearly! What does a close relationship mean?" Winters was anxious.

Bud's expression became solemn: "That means it doesn't matter?"

Winters was speechless. After a while, he hesitated: "That can't be said..."

Bud directly ignored Winters' reaction and explained the current problem to Winters: "The situation in Tiefeng County is not bad. We can redistribute the temporarily unnecessary draft horses and eliminated war horses. But Wo The loss of livestock in Nie County is mainly due to the conquest of the new land reclamation army, and there is almost no possibility of returning. If we sit back and do nothing, it will inevitably hinder the autumn harvest and autumn sowing."

Bud sighed: "Without big livestock, we can't cultivate enough land. If we can't cultivate enough land, we can't harvest enough grain. The harm of the shortage of large livestock is not at present - we can't see it now. Nothing happens. But next year, famine will definitely come in force."

"Although we still don't know the situation in the other four counties, it won't be much better. The lack of livestock is already a common phenomenon. It is impossible to solve it through internal circulation. We can only find it from outside the newly cultivated land." Bud paused. After a while, he said with some sadness: "You know, this has always been a production area for large livestock. In just two years, it has become like this."

Winters' expression also became serious: "I understand, I'll go talk to Skylark."

Seeing Bud raising his eyebrows in confusion, he explained: "He is the agent of the White Lion."

Bud's brows widened: "All the squires of Wargne County, big and small, asked me in a roundabout way whether I could sell them some obsolete military horses. If we can make up for the shortage of draft livestock in Wargne County, not only can we prevent next year's A reduction in grain production can win some people's hearts."

"Don't have high hopes." Winters' brows were still furrowed: "I'm afraid the Akagawa tribe will not agree to trade cattle and horses with us."

"Don't worry, we have a lot of things to exchange with them." Bud comforted Winters: "Mr. Balian has filled up the warehouse of the iron factory, and it is worth even a little blood."

Winters understood that Bud had misunderstood, and he sighed: "What is the main thing we sell to White Lion now?"

"pig iron."

"No," Winters corrected softly: "It is low-quality pig iron that has not been desulfurized and contains a large amount of 'toxins'. It cannot be reprocessed into weapons because we do not want to provide war resources to the White Lion."

Bud already knew it, but he still listened patiently to what Winters said.

"For white lions, cattle and horses are also valuable war resources. If you exchange low-quality pig iron for wool and sheepskin, the white lion will gladly accept it. But if you want to exchange cattle and horses..."

Winters' expression was uncertain: "White Lion will definitely offer another price."

Bud thought for a long time and answered seriously: "I think it is worth it even if it is exchanged for weapons."

"You've never seen a white lion, a white lion..." Although Winters and Bud talked about everything, Winters still made a lot of determination before saying the next words: "It's too dangerous. "

Bard neither ridiculed Winters' "cowardice" nor asked with a smile, "How can a dignified blood wolf think that others are dangerous?"

After listening to Winters' words seriously, he asked: "How dangerous is it?"

"In my opinion." Winters replied slowly: "Groof Magnus of the Kings Castle and Arpad on the other side of the river are bundled together, and they are not worth a white lion."

"Then we will find another way." Bud answered bluntly. He believed in Winters' judgment without reservation: "The arms transaction with the Red River Department is no longer considered."

"No." Winters said shockingly: "I will go talk to Skylark."

"Why?" Bud was puzzled.

"I believe that in the eyes of the White Lion." Winters mused: "The three tribes of Hurd tied together are not as good as me."

…

…

…

"Eat." Bud put the plate back in front of Winters: "Wait a little longer and it will get cold."

"You don't believe it?" Winters was angry and funny.

"[Unparalleled self-confidence is the common denominator of leaders]." Bud talked about him and quoted an old saying from somewhere.

His cheeks turned red from suppressing it. After a while, the most generous student from the 21st batch of the Senas Alliance Army Academy finally couldn't help but laugh: "But when I was studying, I never thought that one day you would So good at blowing!"

[Happy National Day holiday to everyone! ]

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