Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence

Oliver's talk of unrest in the territory was somewhat exaggerated. With his iron-fisted methods and cold heart, he would not hesitate to use the butcher's knife on a grand scale if anyone dared to cause trouble.

During Su Li's bedridden convalescence, it was he who made the decisions to mobilize the dwarves and suppress rioters and rebels.

At least several hundred rioters were executed and hanged under his orders.

Despite his short time in the territory, he quickly instilled a cold and stern atmosphere.

Su Li's societal man-child mentality from his previous life, politely called benevolence or harshly described as naivety and weakness, once allowed even slaves to mock him to his face, criticizing his hypocrisy, because he had rarely personally ordered killings since entering the territory.

But Oliver, in just over a month, instilled awe in everyone's hearts, genuinely unafraid to kill, earning him nicknames like 'Tiger of Hesen' and 'Iron-Blooded Prime Minister' in a matter of weeks.

However, many in the territory were indeed stirring with unease, gathering daily in front of the Purple Thorn Palace, inquiring about the distribution of spoils of war.

Many freemen joined the Freemen's Corps precisely for this post-war spoils-sharing aspect.

Unlike the opportunistic rioters, they had genuinely stepped forward, fought monsters to the death, and defended their homes, forming the backbone of the territory.

They could not be brutally suppressed.

So Su Li said to Oliver, 'Let's first discuss the spoils of war from our battle against the Green Dragon.'

Oliver, already prepared, immediately began to detail the spoils: 'From the battle with the Green Dragon, although we fought hard, we seized tens of thousands of pieces of equipment, armor, and items, piled high like mountains.'

'The number of weapons alone exceeds 42,000, many monsters possessing two or even three weapons each.'

Hearing this, Su Li's eyes lit up, and he said, 'The Bloodmist Hills area truly is rich in resources. Even in human armies, soldiers carrying three weapons are rare.'

A spear, a shield, a sword, or a bow – if all these were equipped, it would count as a fully armed attendant, qualified to be a soldier in a provincial legion.

Hearing this, Hilde proactively spoke, saying: 'Lord, it is necessary for me to introduce to you and the other ministers the resources of Bloodmist Hills and the area around Lake Eisonid.'

'The abundance of resources here is no less than the mining area at the foot of the Gray Mountains. The mining area we took over from the Forest Legion includes 1 giant iron mine, 1 fire crystal mine, 3 crystal mines, and 2 mithril mines.'

The output of crystal mines and mithril mines is relatively low, perhaps slightly higher than vibranium, but their value is incomparable to ordinary ores; they are essential materials for crafting high-level rune equipment.

This one mining area can almost meet all the ore needs for equipment forging in Hesen Territory.

As long as Hesen Territory has enough dwarven forging masters, it can easily realize the vision of equipping all territory members with excellent-grade equipment.

At that time, 2000 or even 3000 elite infantry and cavalry, clad in shining armor, could easily defeat two, three, or even five times their number, while suffering minimal losses themselves.

With this foundation, equipment is not the territory's most urgent need; rather, morale and public sentiment are paramount.

So Su Li pondered for a moment and said to Oliver, 'We were able to win this battle because of the Freemen's Corps' desperate fighting and the territory's unity. Therefore, I plan to take out 30% of the spoils as a reward for everyone.'

'Thirty percent?!' Oliver raised a stern eyebrow, saying, 'Lord, your generosity is astonishing! Any freeman who doesn't praise your virtues should be hanged!'

Thirty percent of the spoils of war! In weapons and equipment alone, that means the territory will distribute over 13,000 pieces to the soldiers and Freemen's Corps.

The Freemen's Corps, at its peak, only had 2,000 to 3,000 people, and the war's brutality caused heavy losses, with direct fatalities exceeding 600.

The wounded numbered two to three times that, with little effective treatment available, relying entirely on prayers to Shar's religious icons. Only a few had a chance to dispel their despair and pain, receiving limited healing.

This world is that hopeless and dark. Although the war is over, the suffering and despair from the trauma are far from alleviated, and the war's dire situation will continue to affect next year's first pioneering territory assessment.

The large population decrease, the collapse of towns and villages, and the destruction of farmland will make it difficult for the territory to be directly assessed as a barony, at most a kingdom knight's level.

Don't complain to the assessing officials about the monsters' rampage, the war's impact, and the tragic process. The Border Princes' fertile land can support a large number of pioneering territories while inevitably harboring countless monsters, bandits, and beastmen warbands.

Any pioneering lord of the Border Princes faces these challenges, which is why the Empire sends them.

Otherwise, if simply farming peacefully could grant the honor of an imperial noble, wouldn't every family's offspring be scrambling to run to the Border Princes? Would so many pioneering knights have to die in foreign lands?

This time, Su Li is giving out over thirteen thousand pieces of equipment to the soldiers. Depending on merit, some will receive as few as 5-6 pieces, while others may receive over a dozen, which will inevitably attract many freemen to Hesen Territory.

After all, Hesen Territory may have been brutal in war, but the lord is truly generous. As long as you survive, the wealth you gain is equivalent to a commoner's one or two years of hard work.

Provincial Prime Minister Oliver continued, saying: 'At the same time, these weapons and equipment can greatly alleviate our territory's equipment shortage. If all the remaining equipment is melted down, we can obtain at least 2,000 excellent-grade weapons and 400 sets of excellent-grade armor, initially meeting the need for the territory's high-ranking attendants and knights to be equipped with excellent-grade equipment.'

Su Li nodded, understanding the situation. In this battle, when the human knight legion launched a charge with a thousand men, the penetration rate of excellent-grade equipment was only about 60%, still lacking several hundred sets.

With these melted equipment, at least the territory's army will have some semblance of a regular army, with about a thousand well-equipped infantry and cavalry.

But this is still far from Su Li's vision!

He feels that the current scale is like a village fight between kingdom knights, with the elite scale being only several hundred to a thousand. When will he have three thousand elite infantry and cavalry before he can steadily secure the title of baron?

But at present, this goal is a considerable challenge for both Su Li and Hesen Territory.

Given the territory's current state, building three thousand elite infantry and cavalry, even with a year to prepare, is not an easy task.

Su Li said to Oliver, 'We need to speed up these matters. We don't have much time left this year. If we don't increase the scale as soon as possible, catching up next year will be a huge challenge.'

Oliver is well aware of this issue. It's definitely better to prepare early than to catch up later: 'Lord, but all of this is not easy. We have disbanded the dwarves' Thunder Gunner unit, allowing them to quickly repair the territory's equipment and infrastructure. In this battle, the territory's soldiers' swords and blades have been rolled, and a large number of armors are broken. Just repairing all of this will require a lot of manpower and resources.'

'Perhaps we can hire a batch of dwarves from the Gray Mountains at a high price? After we stabilize our relationship with the Redbeard Clan, our caravan can continue to advance deep into the Gray Mountains. Perhaps we can contact the dwarven kingdom in Dragonrock Forge and purchase a batch of star iron armor.'

Star iron armor?

Su Li is also somewhat tempted. This trip from the Green Dragon's lair should yield a considerable amount of dwarven oath gold. Whether this fund is used to buy star iron armor or cannons, it can greatly enhance the territory's strength.

Then Su Li asked, 'How much wealth and high-level equipment did we recover from the spoils?'

Oliver immediately replied, 'The wealth on the monsters is much lower than we expected. A monster may not even be richer than a farmer. Besides equipment, valuable things on them are worth less than a few silver coins. But fortunately, their numbers are huge, and the materials and fur are valuable. After cleaning up, we harvested about 6,000 gold coins, but the value of selling them is enough to double. Especially the corpses of those forest trolls and river trolls, which caused the dwarves to scramble.'

'In addition, we also found more than 500 exquisite-grade equipment, more than 80 perfect-grade equipment, and smelted 2,600 imperial pounds of vibranium from various equipment.'

'2,600 imperial pounds of vibranium!? How can there be so much?' Su Li's spirits immediately lifted. With this vibranium, the scale of rune armor can be increased again.

At this rate, it won't be long before the Hesen Territory's Vengeance Sun Gryphon Knight Corps and Hesen Guard Knights can all be equipped with vibranium rune armor.

The protective effect of this armor is extremely powerful. Even a direct hit from a dwarven cannon would require at least three shots to blast an elite knight wearing vibranium rune plate armor. Even the Green Dragon's dragon language magic cannot directly kill a knight wearing vibranium rune armor unless it uses a single-target magic spell on a knight at all costs.

And in this battle, the death rate of knights wearing vibranium rune armor is also extremely low.

Even when the final decisive battle stage was reached, Hilde still had more than 80 Hesen Guard Knights following her to launch a counterattack, and more than 40 knights survived in the end.

Among the 30 or so knights who died in battle, most of them did not have vibranium rune armor. Only 6 knights who had perfect-grade rune armor died, accounting for about one-fifth.

In other words, with such a vibranium rune armor, the probability of knights surviving is more than 80% higher than others!

Even for the gryphons, it's the same. The reason why Deathclaw was able to survive was largely because it was wearing vibranium armor, while the other half-gryphons suffered heavy casualties, with more than one-third dying in battle.

Oliver explained, 'This scale is very normal. If the Green Dragon hadn't been too greedy, we could have continued to increase the scale of vibranium we obtained. It has occupied the western Bloodpine Forest for many years, and there is also a giant iron mine near Lake Eisonid. Mining only a few hundred pounds of vibranium ore every year should have accumulated nearly ten thousand pounds. It's just a pity that they don't know how to make vibranium rune armor, so they have neglected all of this and haven't deliberately accumulated it.'

Hearing this, Su Li breathed a sigh of relief: 'Fortunately, they don't know how to make vibranium rune armor and can only use it as a big stick for the trolls, otherwise it would be even more difficult for us to win.'

After speaking, Su Li held his breath, adjusted his mentality, and said, 'Next, let's talk about our losses. Dietrich, Vandal, who of you will speak first?'

Dietrich knew very well how serious the situation on his side was, so he was afraid that the lord would faint directly after hearing the news. He decisively lowered his head slightly and took a step back, saying, 'Just in case, to avoid delaying the lord, Lord Vandal should report first. I'm afraid that if I finish reporting, the subsequent process will not be able to proceed.'

Su Li turned his head, looked at Vandal, and frowned slightly: 'My minister, I hope you can give me some good news. Our territory urgently needs some news to boost our morale and public sentiment.'

Vandal racked his brains for a moment, and replied with a bitter face: 'Lord, as you know, in this dark and desperate world, bad news is the norm, and good news is indeed rare.'

'But fortunately, we are also breeding some vitality in despair. By counting the spoils, we have obtained more than 6,000 Emerald Ears, which means that as long as we find another patch of Purple Spirit Fields, in the harvest season next year, extraordinary grains alone will be able to provide us with a revenue of 20,000+ gold crowns.'

'Of course, this is not easy. To ensure their vigorous growth, provide a suitable environment and the necessary natural order, we need the continuous application of the [Sunfall] divine art, but our territory does not yet have a second champion-level druid, so this farming business may have to be delayed until next summer or autumn.'

Hearing this, Su Li's mood improved.

In the end, farming is the thing that can best stimulate the genes in his bones and make him feel physically and mentally happy.

Thinking of the revenue of 20,000+ gold crowns, and more extraordinary spirit fields, and more and more powerful druids, he feels that the future is full of light and hope.

You know, in this dark world, light and hope are more precious than gems.

However, Su Li didn't feel happy for long before Vandal began to report the losses: 'Compared to extraordinary grains, our large-scale cultivated farmland has suffered heavy losses. Although a big fire broke out in the city, it looks extremely tragic, that's because the city's freemen have a greater say and can clamor and emphasize their suffering.'

'But in fact, the losses in the city are not great. The city's southern battlefield only ruined a few blocks, the city's north didn't even collapse the main buildings, and the city's east was completely preserved. This is the core area and rich area of our territory, and it accepted a large number of urban refugees during the war.'

"Therefore, during the cleanup, we discovered that the city-wide fire only burned down the entire west side and half of the south side. The losses weren't as catastrophic as the citizens have been claiming. However, in the rural villages that lost their voice, the impact was completely devastating. According to statistics, at least 5 villages and 7 farms were completely destroyed in this war. After the fire, only a ghost domain remained."

"In addition, more than 67,000 acres of farmland were burned down by the monsters, and more than 130 logging camps, hunting lodges, and pastures were destroyed."

"Furthermore, there is another extremely tragic matter, and I hope Your Lordship is prepared. Our territory's sacred site, Lake Reveleen, has been ravaged and polluted by monsters. More than 50 of the Lightscale Fish inside were eaten by monsters, and even the Storm Dragon Head, Mann, was torn to only one remaining. The loss of ordinary fish is more than 20,000."

Upon hearing this, Su Li felt his blood surge, his vision darkened, and he almost fainted!

These damned monsters should be drawn and quartered!

All of this was painstakingly cultivated by Su Li over nearly a year.

As a result, a single war almost burned down a third of it.

Ignoring her physical weakness, Hilde quickly dragged her right leg to Su Li's side, supported his arm, and continuously stroked his back, comforting him, "Lord, Lord, don't be angry. No matter how we calculate it, all of our losses are less than 20,000 gold crowns. It's just over half a year's worth of results, but we've gained at least hundreds of thousands in war reparations, which is the green dragon's accumulated wealth over many years. We're still profiting, and we've overcome this biggest difficulty. We'll have peace in the future and will soon be able to recover our strength with the war reparations."

"Your health is the most important thing. With your leadership, we can quickly recover our strength and rapidly surpass our former peak. Less than a year ago, you left Thornsburg with only 300 gold coins and 5 elite knights, arrived in this unfamiliar land, and quickly developed and strengthened the territory, even defeating two legions of God-Chosen demons and God-Chosen green dragons one after another."

"Now, you have the support of the people and the hope of the territory. There are 3 God-Chosen subjects, more than a dozen Champion-level knights, and thousands of elite knights. You have wealth exceeding 100,000 gold crowns. Why worry about not being able to grow rapidly?"

Under Hilde's gentle stroking of his back, Su Li finally felt relieved. Indeed, in terms of wealth loss alone, the value of the harvested grain and the lost extraordinary fish and ordinary fish is only several thousand gold crowns, which is insignificant compared to the war reparations.

All the bloodshed and sacrifice will eventually be compensated in victory.

Victory is the best motivation in this world!

With the addition of 100,000 gold crowns, any difficulties will be solved easily, and the territory will definitely recover and develop at a faster pace.

Su Li calmed down slightly and immediately arranged for Vandal, "We must restore production as soon as possible. I will order the dwarves to temporarily suspend the territory's military projects and let the dwarves and ogre construction teams fully help the people repair the villages and farms. We'll also take this opportunity to implement the territorial infrastructure construction matters you proposed earlier."

This can also be considered as breaking the old to build the new.

Previously, the progress of the territory's infrastructure construction was slow. An important reason was that the territory couldn't come up with that much finance. Whether it was building roads and bridges, or building temples and hospitals, it required golden gold coins to砸(zha, throw/smash) down.

Building a monastery costs at least 20 gold crowns, and building one in each village also costs hundreds of gold crowns.

Connecting the roads of the entire territory, even if it's just dirt roads, laying hundreds of miles, will cost nearly a thousand gold crowns. If we upgrade them to gravel paths and set up wooden walls and watchtowers in the villages, I'm afraid it will cost more than 2000 gold crowns.

Now, it's equivalent to the Dragon Princess paying for the infrastructure construction of Black Forest Territory.

Vandal immediately puffed out his chest with enthusiasm. Before the arrival of winter, connecting the roads to every village and building monasteries of the Church of the Morninglight in various rural strongholds is his greatest administrative vision.

Not only for compassion and salvation, but more importantly for evangelism!

The end of winter is the Rite of Spring, the most important ritual of the Church of the Morninglight. The more believers pray during this ritual, the more monasteries pray and chant at the same time, the more powerful the effect of the Father of Grain's Blood Sacrifice will be.

It can be said that whether the vision of the territory's border granary can be realized depends almost half on next year's Rite of Spring.

At least this year, the territory will not be able to realize the vision of the border granary. After a large amount of farmland is destroyed, the territory's grain must be given priority to the residents of Black Forest Territory, and there will not be much surplus grain for export.

So Vandal immediately said, "Lord, our religious planning and the nuns are ready. As long as the population is sufficient, we can start construction at any time."

"Sufficient population?" Su Li looked at Dietrich and asked, "Chief Healer, you can't avoid this link after all. What is the current population situation of the territory?"

Dietrich took a deep breath and then said solemnly, "Regarding war losses, I will also follow Lord Vandal's method and report good news to the Lord first."

"Although our territory's army suffered heavy casualties, the courage and glory of mankind have won the praise of the gods. This epic victory has been spread through religious monasteries and bards. And some knights of the church have also left our territory after the war and continue to travel in other directions. These people are enthusiastically promoting the brilliance and glory of this battle."

"This has attracted a large number of people to gather in our territory. Caravans, slave hunting groups, free people's groups, and northern nomads arrive in Black Forest Town every day to restore the size of our army."

"At the same time, a large number of people in the territory's army have also gained strength in this battle."