Mountain and Forest Kingdom

Lawrence, who was working, felt the stranger approaching, raised his head and found that it was the Pumi Xiu man who had broken his arm.

Mandekru was a little curious about what Lawrence was doing, and when he saw Lawrence raising his head, he showed a friendly smile.

"Mr. Lawrence."

Lawrence asked curiously: "What's the matter? Doug has something to say to me?"

Mandekru said quickly: "No, I came here by myself. I heard that you need help here."

Lawrence pointed to the stool next to him, "Sit down and talk, you want your slave to come over and work for me in exchange for some reward, right?"

Mandekru walked to the side and sat down, and said somewhat cautiously: "No."

"I didn't get a slave. This time Doug only gave me a bag of silver coins. I have to find Doug to exchange these for others."

Mandekru told his experience and said angrily: "Doug got a lot of candles and honey, as well as amber and magic cordyceps."

Lawrence asked curiously: "Magic Cordyceps? Is it the kind that looks like sheep's butt intestines? Just put an air-expelling stick in it and light the wood, and take a sip and it will make you feel particularly good?"

Mandekru affirmed: "Yes, it's that thing. I haven't smoked it, but Doug, Andrew, and Redbeard have all tried it."

Cordyceps is a grass-like insect that can be made into a special prop like an extended pipe. It is said that burning the leaves soaked in the juice of the Cordyceps can give you a very pleasant experience, while putting sawdust inside will only give you a shallow pleasure. .

This thing is very expensive. Lawrence has only seen it from some nobles from afar, but has never owned it.

"Oh, it looks like Doug made a lot more than we knew this time."

Lawrence was not jealous of Doug's gains, but felt that he could ask for more money when doing business with Doug in the future.

Mandekru continued: "I obviously killed three warriors this time, but Doug deliberately gave me the least amount of things during the distribution, just because I was missing one hand!"

Lawrence looked at Mandekru's severed hand, "It is true that having a broken hand will cause a lot of inconveniences, but I also understand that you lost this hand while fighting the big wild boar bravely."

Mandekru looked at Lawrence sincerely, "Mr. Lawrence, I hope to live in the mountains with my woman and children and join this manor."

Lawrence thought for a few seconds and then smiled quickly.

"Welcome, I think you have seen the development of my place these days. Although it is not as big as the town, many places are already very good."

Mandekru said happily: "It's very good here."

Lawrence knew very well that his place was not good, not only not as good as some good places, but also not as good as the noble manors in the Western Kingdom.

The reason why Mandekru took refuge was not only because he was excluded by Doug, but more importantly, his arms were really not suitable for fighting.

Disabled people have not lived in this area for a long time. Manderkru cannot believe Doug, and he is very unfamiliar with the outside world and cannot escape this dilemma.

Fortunately, he still had another choice. There was Lawrence who he knew on the mountain. After discovering that dozens of people had gathered here, Mandekru had the idea of ​​joining.

Lawrence understood the idea of ​​enjoying the shade under a big tree.

"Then you bring your family over here, and I will help you build a wooden house on the other side of the river."

Mandekru stood up and said, "Okay, then I'll go back and bring them over. I have a woman, three children, seven sheep, a pig, two dogs, and two Dom sheep."

Lawrence also stood up, looked at the river bank in the distance and said, "Okay, I will help you build the house as soon as possible, and you can come over tomorrow."

Mandekru quickly left on his sheep. Lawrence watched Mandekru leave and quickly thought about what work to arrange for him.

"Let him guard the gate. I don't want anyone to be able to enter my manor without saying anything in the future. Everything should be reported, otherwise..."

"Otherwise, the assassin will be in trouble next time."

Although Lawrence was anxious about taking a bath, he had more important things to do at the moment.

Build residential buildings and increase population.

There are still not enough houses in the manor. If it is built normally, a few more spare houses will be needed.

Especially now that the manor is developing, residential buildings are indispensable.

Previously, I felt that there was no room to increase the population for the time being, as there were not many people nearby.

The reality is that as the territory becomes larger and life becomes better, it will attract people who are not living well to join.

Wooden boxes for bathing, wooden water tanks for papermaking, and water-powered mills can all be made after the number of people increases.

The more people there are, the faster you can build a house, gather food and craft tools.

Lawrence did the math and found that there are currently... in the manor...

Lawrence, Saryl, Sophia.

Seravan, Shepherdess, Reglo, Itti.

Two male slaves, five Ug slaves, plus this time six prisoners.

Counting Kenny, there were twenty-one people in total.

If we add Mandekru's family of five, there are twenty-six people.

Although there are not as many people as the Baron Manor where I stayed before, it feels like it will be almost there in three or four years.

"Well, last year, only Sophia and I came here, but now there are more people and it's lively."

Lawrence stood there and looked at the forest and mountains in the distance, and couldn't help but smile.

Seravan was leading people to collect wood on the other side of the river, and Lawrence quickly went over to make arrangements for the cabin.

A Pumi Xiu house must be able to accommodate twelve people to be considered a qualified family residence.

This kind of house is easier to build. It is usually a spacious house that can include bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms, warehouses, etc.

It is also easy to build. Just clear out a flat area twenty meters long and five or six meters wide, and then build a wooden house.

It doesn’t need to be too big for a family of five, fifteen meters is enough.

There are many large trees on the other side of the river that are thirty to forty meters high. If you find a few thinner ones and cut them off, you can almost build a wooden house.

I definitely won’t be able to finish it today, I need to wait until tomorrow.

After the Mandekru family, the Ug slaves at the foot of the mountain, and the Reglo team also join, sufficient workers can increase the construction speed to the extreme.

Lawrence chose a good place for the first follower who took the initiative to join him, and together with Seravan, he selected trees suitable for building a house.

It was only after dark that Lawrence took the people back to eat and rest.

Seravan asked: "Master, won't Mandekru live in the manor?"

Lawrence said: "When there are few people, everyone lives in the wall. When there are many people, there is no need for it."

Saira didn't understand, but she didn't continue to care about it.

Lawrence felt that there was currently no external threat, and the manor really couldn't accommodate that many people, and it should be expanded outwards to evenly distribute the population around.

People are like walls. No matter whether they encounter wild beasts or invasion by foreign enemies, the people in the manor will have enough time to react.

Compared with the courtyard walls, the villages scattered outside are the early warning and protective facilities for most nobles.

Whether inside or outside the wall, it is Lawrence's manor area.

This mountain had no owner before, but now its owner is Lawrence!

Lawrence built his own territory on the land of the Kingdom of Luofen.

Lawrence returned to the cabin thinking about the matter.

The manor's armed strength needs to be improved, and those men need to have a certain degree of combat effectiveness so that they can protect the place when danger arises.

People with families like Mandekru are the best team members. Even if he can't fight, he can keep his children here to serve.

Only by having a group of people who are willing to help you look after you here can you give more slaves freedom and increase everyone's enthusiasm.

After the Pumixiu people became rich this time, the people nearby...

There are only Valkyries nearby, and other villages that could pose a threat have been wiped out. As long as the Valkyries don't come to rob, it's usually no problem.

Lawrence thought about the Valkyrie threat.

"The count also wants to target people like Doug. Now everyone knows that Doug has a lot of wealth. Baron Avari's target is also Doug."

"No one here will notice it for the time being, but if something happens to Doug, I still want to help."

Lawrence thought about it and entered the house. As soon as he entered the house, he found a woman wearing a nun's uniform standing on one side of the inner door.

"Master." Sister Colin greeted Lawrence as if she were entertaining a noble.

Lawrence looked at Colin, "Oh, you speak our language."

Sister Colin said politely: "Master, dinner is ready."

Lawrence walked to the kitchen, where Salil and Sophia were sitting at the dining table carving small wooden signs.

There were two other nuns standing near the dining table. It was obvious that these three nuns no longer wanted to be mute.

Seeing Lawrence come in, Sophia put down the wooden sign and ran over and said: "Master, these three slaves should be maids in the house. They were children of small noble families and learned how to be maids in the monastery."

Lawrence felt that the monastery did not teach people how to be a maid. These were gradually mastered in society and interpersonal relationships.

"Okay." Lawrence naturally agreed to Sophia's suggestion, then looked at the three maids and said, "I want to know about what's going on outside. Let's talk about it after you finish eating. There's no rush."

The three maids nodded quickly in agreement.

Sofia suggested: "Let Brielle come, she is the person who reads the most books here."

Lawrence saw that Sophia was already familiar with the affairs of the three nuns, so he handed the matter over to Sophia.

Salil asked curiously: "The outside world? Is it much warmer outside than here, with many days that are not cold?"

Colin took the initiative to answer: "It is indeed much warmer there than here. It is spring and autumn most of the time, and the mountains outside are full of flax."

Lawrence asked directly: "How many people are there in one of your cities?"

Colin replied: "The place where we live is a noble territory on the coast of Durila. There are two thousand people in total, and there are only ninety-one believers."

What Lawrence wanted to know was the city's population.

"What about the city? You are from Durela, right?"

Colin explained: "Duriela is the name of the kingdom. Our kingdom lost the war with the Eastern Kingdom. Thieves were rampant, the big city was destroyed, and the people in the city were scattered among the manors of various nobles."

The 300,000 people in Durila were not all concentrated in the royal capital, but scattered.

Lawrence realized that the upper-level power of the kingdom of Durila had collapsed. After the collapse, it was unable to organize a large-scale army. In this way, knights and fortresses from various places became the highest force in society.

The distance that knights and nobles can effectively control is limited by the running speed of their mounts. Naturally, the smaller the government, the stronger its control.

Lawrence asked: "How big is your manor or noble territory over there?"

Colin replied: "Most knightly territories are between two thousand and five thousand acres. The larger ones are baronies and earls, which will cover several villages and gathering areas."

Lawrence: "How many people are there in general?"

Colin thought about it for a moment, "My father is a knight. There are three manors in his territory. Only one of the three manors can sustain our expenses. It has about four hundred people."

"These people are all landless people who came from outside and gathered together to protect themselves from danger."

"The citizens of the knight's territory are all recruited by themselves, and the number generally varies. In the noble territory, there are many villagers who have lived in it for generations."

Lawrence had a generally complete impression.

It is a bit different from what Kenny said. Durila is only a small country in the Western Kingdom and does not represent the entire Western Kingdom.

The Eastern Kingdom that was fighting the Western Kingdom might be the Southern Kingdom that the Luofen Kingdom was fighting.

Directions are relative, and there may be subtle differences in the east, west, north, and south of different people's mouths.

If the Western Kingdom is in disarray, then it makes sense for Red Beard and others to plan to develop there.

Better land worth their while to occupy.

On the contrary, the land here in Luofen Kingdom is very bad.

The land is vast but the people are sparsely populated, and there are many people but little land.

There are indeed very few people in the Luofen Kingdom, and there is very little land suitable for farming. In addition, the planting technology is very backward, and there are few metal farming tools. Naturally, there are more people and less land.

Judging from the expansion of the Luofen Kingdom, the barbarians actually wanted to live in a better place and had no idea of ​​holding on to a broken place as a treasure.

Lawrence realized that all the savages were expanding outwards, and no savage would look at this ruined land in the mountains.

"Aren't there people in your country who can use mysterious powers? What have they done?"

Lawrence no longer worried about his own safety, but instead cared about the high-end combat power of the Western Kingdom.

Colin replied: "Someone sent someone to kill the king of the southern kingdom, a druid who believed in the god of nature."

Why do southerners do this?

Lawrence sat back and leaned against the back of his chair.

"What a bunch of barbarians. They only know how to assassinate others all day long, but don't they know how to improve themselves?"

Lawrence sighed, becoming more concerned about safety.

I have something to do tonight, I’ll make up for it on the weekend tomorrow