Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence

Souli's castle was situated on a high slope on the north bank of the river confluence. To circle the castle from the right, one would find a pier on the less turbulent eastern bank. A steep mountain path stretched down from the heights, connecting to this small pier.

As Souli descended from the castle, Hilde, together with the Lord Chancellor Laun, had already gathered all the fishermen and were waiting for him on the shore.

There were quite a few fishermen in the territory, a full sixteen. Souli had specifically bought ten fishermen and ten hunters from the Maléburg slave trader camp. The other six were surviving residents of the territory before. On that night of blood and fire when the previous lord was defeated, the fishermen who sailed away were the most numerous survivors.

Although fishing and hunting were not very stable means of production, a territory in its early stages still needed this bit of harvest to survive, which was better than having no income at all in the early stages of farming.

Under everyone's gaze, Souli walked to the pier and said in a very domineering tone, "For today's fishing and hunting, all actions are under my command. Anyone who casts their nets early or acts on their own initiative will be whipped twenty times!"

Looking at the knights, clad in bright armor, surrounding Souli, the fishermen dared not object in the slightest. Even if they doubted whether Souli understood fishing and hunting, they quickly replied, "We will certainly obey the orders of the lord."

After emphasizing the discipline of the operation, Souli turned to look at the Lord Chancellor Laun beside him and asked, "Do we only have these few boats in our territory?"

To call them boats was a bit of an exaggeration. They were clearly rafts made of a few logs tied together. Souli was worried that they would be washed away in the middle of the turbulent confluence. Only two of them looked like boats, but they were just small canoes that could only seat two people. They were not the slightly qualified fishing boats in Souli's memory, the longboats that could accommodate five or six professional fishermen for fishing and casting nets.

Laun introduced, "Yes, Lord. The territory's four rafts and two fisherman's canoes are all here. The previous lord didn't pay much attention to the fishing industry. I heard that in some shallow waters rich in fishing resources, you could just put stones in a basket and sink it into the water, and the basket would immediately be filled with cod. But unfortunately, we don't have such famous fishing grounds here. Or perhaps we haven't explored a wide enough area and haven't discovered the location of the Black Forest foothills fishing grounds."

There are such uniquely endowed fishing grounds?

Laun's words made Souli's heart flutter. The Black Forest foothills were very fertile and rich in resources, so it was very likely that there were such fishing grounds. If he could find such a resource-rich fishing ground, it might be possible to form a fish and rice village in another sense. Souli remembered that in his previous life, some Nordic countries were supported by the fishing industry.

But this matter couldn't be rushed. He waved his hand and said, "We'll look for the fishing grounds slowly in the future. Who says we can't catch fish without fishing grounds? Let the fishermen start preparing their nets now and wait for my command to fish together. I predict that a large group of carp and black carp are about to migrate and pass through here."

Laun's knowledge was very extensive, and he knew very well that this time of year was indeed the season for fish migration. If he could predict the time when the fish schools passed by, it would indeed be easy to have a good harvest.

He asked with some doubt, "Lord, are you really sure you can determine the time when the fish schools pass by? Does the Church of the Morning Light have this ability?"

Yesterday Souli only talked in detail with the religious advisor and Minister of Agriculture, Fandal. Laun only thought it was the ability of Fandal, this druid.

Souli waved his hand confidently and said, "My Lord Chancellor, just follow my orders and we will definitely get a rich catch. Your more important task now is to think about how to store so much fresh fish."

The lord's authority was irresistible to Laun. Even if Souli couldn't catch a single fish, Laun could only follow his current orders and provide suggestions and advice.

Laun could only continue along Souli's topic: "If there really are a lot of fresh fish, I suggest we start from two aspects. The first is to build several smoking houses, which can make smoked fish and smoked meat for us. I think we should rely on fishing and hunting for the transition period, and we should have no shortage of fish, venison, and wolf meat. Without several smoking houses, it would be difficult to preserve these fresh meats."

"The other aspect is to establish pastures and fish ponds as soon as possible, which can raise live fish and animals. Animal husbandry is always more stable than fishing and hunting. Especially since the land in the Black Forest foothills is so fertile and vast, it can build vast pastures and large fish ponds, which is a paradise for the development of animal husbandry and fisheries."

Souli nodded in satisfaction. This was the benefit of having a civil affairs officer to assist him.

Although he had thought about relying on fishing and hunting to support the development of the territory in the early stage, he had never thought about such trivial matters. With such a civil affairs officer to fill in the gaps, the development of the territory could be more stable.

He immediately said, "Then let's start preparing these two aspects now. Arrange for people to start both aspects at the same time. A group of people will go to the forest around the stronghold to start logging and building the camp, and a group of people will go to dig fish ponds and reservoirs. The excavation site will be selected two kilometers northeast of the river confluence."

Sure enough, in the development of any territory, you must first cut down trees if you want to get rich.

The craftsmanship of the smoking house is not difficult. Anyone who has watched the "Man vs. Wild" series should know something about it. It is a small room built with wood and branches. Using pine, fruit wood, and hardwood and other excellent wood, it will produce a faint fruity aroma after burning, and can also add a unique flavor to meat products.

This work was not difficult, and Laun immediately allocated ten serfs to start logging in the forests around the stronghold. The Black Forest foothills were sparsely populated and densely forested. Even around the villages, there would be a large number of trees. Although not as dense as the Blood Pine Forest, village forests composed of hundreds or thousands of trees could still be easily found. The serfs only needed to bring axes and saws to cut out a batch.

But digging a fish pond was not so easy!

Laun hesitated for a moment, then said to Souli, "Lord, we don't have enough serfs to go to dig the fish pond anymore. Farming and animal husbandry have already occupied hundreds of our people."

Souli thought for a moment and said, "It's not a big problem. We still have manpower, but they are just unwilling to go. Go and tell those armed retainers to let them go to dig the fish pond, and give them 10% of all the minerals dug out."

Laun was a little surprised and asked, "Will they go? These armed retainers are also very proud, how could they engage in this kind of hard labor for mud legs? Will this be considered an insult to them and affect their morale?"

Souli smiled calmly: "Don't worry, tell them my original words, and they will definitely flock to it."

Let them help the serfs do hard labor and build water conservancy projects, and they will definitely complain.

But let them go to pan for gold, and these people will definitely be enthusiastic. Sixty percent of the adventurers and gold diggers in this world are composed of these armed retainers and colonists.

They have followed Souli for so long, and when they hear that there are minerals, they will definitely rush over to dig with swords, axes, and chisels, which can save Souli a lot of tools.