Mountain and Forest Kingdom

It rained lightly all night last night, and the weather in Oak City became much cooler.

On the sloping hillside road to the north of Oak City, there are large oak and pine trees, as well as some tall and upright trees and flowers.

Lush vegetation is scattered in an orderly manner, quietly distributed on both sides of a winding road.

People go up and down the winding roads to deliver various supplies and goods to designated people.

In the atrium of the Oak City Ring Building, Lawrence and Delen were watching the chaotic construction team in front of them.

There are more than 20 bags of cement piled up behind the big house, and workers are using hoes and shovels to dig holes in the ground to build the basement and dungeon of the new villa.

Following shacks, stone houses, wooden houses, caves, and wooden villas, Lawrence's sixth-generation houses are under intense construction.

This time we are building a castle, and we plan to use it for decades, so the planning is more detailed.

Delen looked at the workers who were constructing. The progress of these people was very slow. "Let me do it. It will be done soon."

Lawrence looked at Delen after hearing this. He originally wanted to say that her little magic power could only be used for a day and half a month's rest, and that one use of magic power could only harden or soften part of the soil.

There was a lot to say, but when it came to his mouth, it turned into something else, "You still have a baby in your belly. Just leave this to the construction team. I'm here to watch. It doesn't matter."

Delen's belly was only slightly bulging. If you didn't know she was pregnant in advance, you wouldn't know that she was pregnant.

Hearing Lawrence's concern, Delen said confidently: "I am stronger now than when I was not pregnant!"

Witches become much more powerful when they are pregnant. The body's pregnancy mechanism determines that there is more special energy during this period, which can make Delen's witchcraft that has not increased for more than ten years become a little more powerful.

"Yeah, I know." Lawrence still didn't want Delen to consume witchcraft casually, "You're saving your power for reinforcement, you don't need it yet."

Seeing Lawrence say this, Delen let it go and continued to look at the people working.

“If you let these people come and build houses, will there be enough wheat harvesters?”

Lawrence suddenly couldn't help but laugh, "You thought it was five years ago~"

Lawrence looked down at the carefully cultivated grassland under his feet, and then looked at the ring-shaped building in front of him that was also under construction and transformed into a part of the castle.

From now on, everything here will be part of the castle, which can accommodate 10,000 people to live and defend here.

"There are enough people to harvest wheat now. I did statistics yesterday when I went to the town to build a school with the children. Now there are 50,000 people in the Kingdom of Stars."

"This does not include people who came here for a short period of time to work, nor does it include people from the south who have just escaped from outside."

"Just in Sider, Wakili, Pumixiu Town, Feiyu Port, Manor, Downstream, and here, there are 50,000 people in total."

Delenn was just a little surprised by this number, like a child growing taller faster than expected.

"I remember there were only two or three thousand people not long ago." Delen thought about the memory in his mind and said a more impressive number.

Lawrence smiled and said: "I remember the events of each period. What I remember should be what happened shortly after the forest people were conquered. After that, we occupied the western land and obtained a large amount of compensation and territory, as well as the population of the land."

"The Kingdom of Waves, Valkyrie, and Sider are gradually being swallowed up by us, and there are also prisoners from Pig Trotter City."

"The most important thing is that the population in our territory, especially the downstream forest people, has been growing very fast in the past few years."

Delen nodded, "It's really fast. This is the fastest I've ever heard."

Lawrence felt that this speed was average. Although it was difficult for nomadic people to start in ancient times, the advantage of snowballing was particularly great. It was easy to develop from a small tribe to a king with millions of people in more than ten years.

"The speed at which we conquer territory cannot be said to be fast. It's not that we can't, it's just that it's not necessary."

Lawrence prefers to cultivate and enjoy peace of mind, and is not very ambitious.

Even if it occupies ten times the territory, it is still unable to rule stably, and there are constant internal and external troubles.

If you continue to expand your territory, you will need nobles to help you rule, and you will also spend a lot of time fighting in the north and south.

While chatting, Salil and Emma walked in from outside.

Sariel trotted up to Lawrence on her sheep, and underneath her was Nora, the Dom sheep who had seldom exercised recently.

Nora is already sixteen years old. The normal lifespan of a Dome sheep is between ten and twenty years old. Nora has been eating well, sleeping well, and doing little physical work in these years. Her lifespan is definitely longer than that of a farmer. The Dom sheep are taller.

Sariel smiled and sat on the back of the sheep and looked at Lawrence, "Lawrence, there is a witch in the church in Pumexiu Town who signed up for the Saint's Academy. Her witchcraft can control bee swarms!"

Salil was very happy and couldn't help but say: "She used to use this ability to fight and sting people with a lot of bees. What a waste!"

Lawrence felt that this ability could be used to take care of bees very well, but the witch might not be rare in this kind of work in the outside world.

In fact, witches' abilities are not omnipotent. It's not that outside countries don't pay attention to witchcraft. It's just that there are too few of them to be effective, but they occupy a lot of resources.

If the money spent on raising wizards is used to raise knights, it is more cost-effective than hiring wizards.

What's more important is that wizards are more dangerous and difficult to control.

Let the noble wizard work as a mason, plant the fields and harvest vegetables, and raise bees in the garden?

Except for Lawrence, it is unrealistic to do this anywhere else.

If you have breasts, you are a mother. There must be benefits first before people can work. Otherwise, why would these pleasure-loving wizards live a miserable life with you?

The Kingdom of Stars has benefits that cannot be given outside, plus it provides a safe place to stay, which is why it attracts... In fact, it doesn't attract many witches.

Lawrence knew very early on that the witch around him was either here from the beginning or had escaped.

The only ones who were really attracted were witches like Catherine who needed to give birth to offspring. The rest of the witches were not attracted at all, and most of them were seeking refuge.

Now that it has really developed, and there are basically no internal or external troubles, those nobles and witches started to really go here.

Lawrence could neither dislike nor like this kind of icing on the cake and follow the trend.

"Since she has such a talent, let her study here first and take care of the bees in the apiary while studying. We are short of honey now."

Lawrence made the arrangements simply, without even asking about the other party's age or appearance.

Salil took the initiative and said: "Okay, the witch's name is also Emma. She looks to be in her thirties. She is not beautiful, but she is not ugly either."

Lawrence felt the name was fake because it was so common.

But I’m too lazy to worry about it, everyone has their own past.

Lawrence rarely explores other people's pasts, whether it's Sophia or Khalan. Many things are just briefly discussed without going into too much detail.

Lawrence didn't care who Delenn's father was, who Kerhalan's husband and daughter were, or whether Sophia's family was still alive.

Living the present moment is the most important thing to do.

Seeing that Lawrence was not interested in the witch with the same name as her, Emma took the initiative to talk about what happened at the foot of the mountain.

"Master, the town has developed a new vodka recipe. This time the wine is more mellow and has a stronger taste. After drinking it, your throat will feel as spicy as burning."

Lawrence showed a satisfied smile, "This is good news. I will arrange for people to reward them. From now on, the breweries in the town will control the number. It is best to join forces and not be too scattered."

"Yes, Master." Emma meekly took note of the instructions.

Lawrence didn't want to continue talking about the development, and quickly led a few people into the room to sit down and chat.

It wasn't long before it was time to eat, and today the Lawrence family was still full of a table full of feasts.

A few days later, it was the autumn harvest time here in the territory, and a large number of serfs and hired workers began to go to the fields to harvest wheat.

The autumn harvest will last for several days, and the food during these days will be more abundant, such as fruits, pork, and eggs.

The northern border is not suitable for raising pigs, so the pig farms are set up in Sider Town, especially in rural areas close to Pig Trotters City.

The reason why Pig Trotter City is called Pig Trotter City is because it is very suitable for raising pigs. There are not only large wild boars used by the Wild Boar Legion, but also Luofen pigs with better meat quality.

Luofen pigs are not tolerant to severe cold, so they are not suitable for the ice land. Lawrence can only raise pigs on the farm near the south. At the same time, the task of raising pigs is given to the Sider people, requiring each village to turn in a certain amount of pigs every year. pig.

Because there is no need to pay taxes and only need to turn in some grain every year, the pressure on the Sidel people is much less than before. Lawrence urged them to fulfill their obligations as citizens, and these people obediently agreed, and it was not considered a trouble. thing.

Just treat it as a tax increase. The people of Sider don't believe in the idea of ​​no tax anyway. As long as the tax is not serious, they can readily accept it.

It has been more than a year since Lawrence took over the Sidel territory. During this year, everyone has become accustomed to Lawrence's rule. They have begun to join the Star Church, abide by the rules of the Star Church, and engage in intermarriage with outside villages.

The land of the Kingdom of Stars can accommodate four to five million people, but now there are only more than 50,000 people.

For most kingdoms and empires, more than 50,000 people are just the population of a small city, not much at all.

The autumn harvest lasts for up to two and a half months. In addition to harvesting wheat, we also need to harvest peas, pumpkins, potatoes, oranges, etc. It will be busy from autumn until midnight.

***

“It’s been another good year.”

"Praise be to the great, gracious Prophet!"

"cheers!"

In the Ice and Fire Tavern in Feiyu Port, a group of people were drinking and going crazy in Luofen language.

The climate here is much better than the icy land in the north. Not only is the land more fertile, the climate is more comfortable, and there are even more fish in the sea.

Because it mainly grew wheat, Feiyu Port quickly built several affiliated cities.

Wheat City, Barley City, Potato City, Carol City (the city south of the mountains), Crudda City (the city with deer), and Dam City.

Part of these places migrated there and were fixed in the local area in the form of production teams. At the same time, the members of the united production teams would marry and intermarry, roughly establishing the first batch of aborigines in the city.

At present, all cities are still small villages, which leads some people to come to Feiyu Port for an hour or two to drink and chat in their free time.

While the men were drinking and chatting, the women and children were making money selling things outside Feiyu Port. There were also some men selling supplies with their families.

Although a lot of copper coins and silver coins have been issued, most of them are concentrated in the hands of soldier and craftsman families in Pumixiu Town and Dumu Port. Farmers rarely receive copper coins.

Then there are the Western merchants and nobles, who rely on the country's resources in exchange for a lot of currency.

There is no land tax in the Kingdom of the Stars because most of the people here are slaves of Lawrence, a population purchased by Lawrence and captured through war.

They generally do not have an independent consciousness, and they are not Lawrence's supporters themselves. Instead, they are transferred to this place like commodities and belong to Lawrence.

Lawrence took only one-half of the harvest from the land given to his slaves, leaving the rest for their own distribution.

Lawrence will distribute seed grains, so these people only need to use the grains to eat and drink for their own family.

Lawrence doesn't care how to eat or use it.

Everyone has this ratio, and this ratio is enough for a family to eat and drink without worry. If anyone dies of hunger, it must be because he is lazy or cannot control his urge to drink and spend money. He deserves to die of hunger.

The more land you cultivate, the more you can save. For every family, cultivating more land can make life more and more comfortable.

This year is the third harvest season, and Feiyu Port is bustling and lively, making the elves who come to buy new food feel that this place is more prosperous than their royal capital.

Not only the elves of the Green Forest Kingdom, but also the adventurers and nobles of the Deco Kingdom, the Kojako Kingdom, and the Io Kingdom were also shocked by this prosperous scene.

In the farmer's market of Feiyu Port, the shouts are repeated one after another, and people from various villages and production teams are selling food here.

The main currency of the residents of Feiyu Port is not copper coins, shells and wine, but food, especially wheat.

Not only do they trade wheat for rice, bran, bran, steamed buns, fruits and medicinal materials on a daily basis, but they also trade eggs and straw baskets for cloth, and salt and jars.

Whenever the wheat is harvested and dried, there are shouts one after another of people exchanging the wheat for pots and pans, needles, thread, baskets and dustpans.

People from a production team even joined together, and each family contributed live chickens, furs, eggs, wheat, medicinal materials, etc. to pool their money to buy cars and cattle.

There were cattle lent by Lawrence in Pumexiu Town. Because Feiyu Port was not taken seriously, and there were too few people who had connections with Lawrence, we could only rely on the help of the Durila people from the production team to buy cattle to open up wasteland.

Land reclamation requires manpower and material resources, as well as collective strength.

While most of Lawrence's thoughts were on northern cities such as Oak City, Feiyu Port in the west had begun to strengthen itself.

It's not that farmers in this era don't know how to strengthen themselves. They are also human beings. It's just because of the suppression by the nobles that they have been forced to continue to be slaves.

Now these people are indeed slaves here in Lawrence, but Lawrence loosened the shackles of these people, allowed them to become stronger and develop on their own, and encouraged these people to open up wasteland and research technology.

As long as taxes are paid on the windfall, even if it comes from robbery at sea, as long as it is not robbing a few current allies and giving part of the harvest to Lawrence, then Lawrence will also provide protection.