The Natural Empire of the Oceanic Dragon

The fishmen were already skilled at producing linen. Atilan felt that he might have neglected the development of his territory this past month due to his magic training.

Besides linen, there might be many other surprises waiting for him.

"Tell me in detail about the recent changes in the territory. I want to see if there's anything that needs adjusting."

The half-goat lazily sat on the chair, swaying back and forth.

"Everything is progressing according to the development plan you laid out. Of the ten thousand-plus square kilometers enclosed by Water Cell Town, Greenscale Town, the Rainforest Outpost, and Earth Fort Town, only the soil east of the Southwest River, near the rainforest, is directly usable for farmland."

As he spoke, the half-goat couldn't help but wave his arms and exclaim:

"I've looked closely, and the soil there is even more fertile than the soil you've been fertilizing with riverbed silt, wood ash, and bone meal. You could directly plant wheat and get a yield of a thousand mu."

"So I had them speed up the process and work hard to open up more farmland south between the Southwest River and the Rainforest Outpost. I've put your plan to open up farmland in Water Cell Town on hold."

"That place is just sparsely covered with weeds, and the soil is several times more barren than the wasteland. It's not suitable to waste time opening it up now. With that time, you could open up rainforest soil, and the grain yield would be at least five times higher."

"I know what you're trying to do, but the manpower and resources spent on improving the saline-alkali land, used instead to open up rainforest soil and transport grain to Water Cell Town, I've calculated, would save a lot of resources compared to directly opening up the saline-alkali land."

Instead of Atilan's suggestion of planting plants to improve the saline-alkali land, the half-goat thought it would be better to find a patch of acidic soil, dig up some soil, and mix it with the saline-alkali land. Wouldn't that make for high-quality grain-producing land?

Atilan had taught the half-goat the concept of acidic and alkaline soil, as well as the three aspects of high-quality soil: organic matter, microorganisms, and minerals. Rainforest soil completely crushed wasteland soil in all aspects.

"The technology needed to grow grain is too complex. Precisely because the soil in the rainforest is more fertile, the amount of naturally growing food is not small, which allows them to focus on fighting."

"Moreover, mindset is very important. They all believe that plundering can feed their clansmen and squeeze the enemy's living space. The accumulated hatred over the years has made it impossible for them to live a peaceful farming life."

"Look at the dwarves. How many times stronger is their combat power than the halflings? Why don't they use force to rob the halflings of their food, but instead trade ironware with the halflings?"

"Therefore, the dwarves have civilization. They know that trading, a peaceful means of exchanging grain from the halflings, yields greater benefits than plundering."

The halfling suddenly understood.

"I was wondering why you didn't rob the halflings after you subdued a group of minotaurs and centaurs. It turns out that trading can earn more! It seems that the old centaurs exchanged forest nuts, fruits, and game for grain with the halflings."

Those fruits just grew there, not requiring much maintenance from the centaurs. They only needed to pick them when they were ripe. On the other hand, the game required the centaurs to hunt with bows and spears.

"By the way, this time I went to the halfling town and found that many halfling families have started to open up wasteland, planning to exchange it for your spice-smoked mutton jerky, lizard jerky, fish jerky, and wild boar ham."

Fresh meat is not easy to sell, and live livestock is not easy to transport. It's better to make it into jerky to extend its shelf life and make it easier to transport.

It's just that the consumption of salt is relatively large.

Atilan slapped his claws. That's right, he had misunderstood the positioning of Water Cell Town!

This is saline-alkali land, and he should find a way to utilize the salt and alkali in the saline-alkali land!

Salt can be used for eating and pickling various foods, and alkali can be used to treat the grease in wool to better turn the wool into yarn.

Water Cell Town will no longer consider farming in the future, but will specialize in raising livestock, processing wool, and processing various kinds of jerky. It's enough if the soil can grow the pasture needed for breeding.

"Alright then, let's vigorously develop the land south of the Rainforest Outpost according to your idea, but let's not touch the rainforest. Let's develop towards the south, in the direction without forests."

"Until we touch the habitat of intelligent life. Build a stronghold a hundred miles away from their village to declare sovereignty. How much land do you think we can encompass?"

The half-goat knew what Atilan meant by intelligent life, referring to large forces like the dwarves, whose legion combat power was well-established and whom they couldn't afford to provoke for the time being.

He stroked his chin and said:

"I had a centaur squad explore south a few times, and they actually found an elf village. They probably ran out to a linear distance of more than five hundred kilometers."

"They had simple communication with the elves in the village. To the east, west, and south of this village is the sphere of influence of the Elven Kingdom, covering a semi-circular territory of the Elven Kingdom with three rivers extending out of the rainforest."

"They should be water elves who are close to the ocean, and the number of elf citizens is limited, so the kingdom's sphere of influence is only three to four hundred kilometers in radius."

"From that village straight south, it's estimated that you can reach the coastline in another three hundred kilometers. The capital of the Water Elf Kingdom, Elf Harbor, is on the streamline of the middle of the three rivers further east."

"The centaurs arrived at that elf village along the westernmost of the three rainforest rivers."

Originally, Atilan was thinking of lying low in the wasteland, using the barren soil of the wasteland to hone his druid skills. Who knew that the half-goat, who couldn't wait to reunite with his lover,

had directly opened up the map to the extent that it bordered the Water Elf Kingdom.

"Where are these centaurs? I want to meet them and ask about the situation."

"They are now north of the elf village, a hundred miles away, establishing a forward base belonging to our Atilan Kingdom on the west bank of the West Rainforest River. After the black beans planted in the farmland they have opened up are ripe, I will send more fishmen and snake people to fill this base."

"By the way, give me a hundred earth dogs, two hundred fishmen, one hundred snake people, and one hundred centaurs who are good at the rammed earth wall technology you used to build Earth Fort Town."

"With the cooperation of the five-meter-high rammed earth wall, they should be able to defend this base."

First of all, naming the kingdom directly after his name gave Atilan a sense of shame.

Secondly, there was no way that rammed earth walls could block the attack of water elves with a magical fleet.

"Are you being too presumptuous? It's difficult for earthen walls to withstand the impact of a minotaur chieftain like Lista, let alone elves who are good at using magic!"

The half-goat said as a matter of course:

"Who said we were going to block the elves? What we have to block are the centaurs, lizardmen, frogmen, minotaurs, fishmen, snake people, and other races that are active on this land."

"They rely on the resources brought by the abundant rain to fight endlessly on this land. You can use food to recruit minotaurs and centaurs from the desert, but you can't directly recruit them."

"But relying on force can make them surrender. It just so happens that you have these races under your command, so the difficulty of making them surrender will not be too high."

Atilan widened his eyes and asked:

"Your goal is to use the loophole that these tribal forces' spheres of influence do not border each other, to send a portion of manpower to the south to occupy the border, and then attack from both the north and the south?"

"How do we deal with the Jackal Kingdom? Do we attack the Jackal Kingdom first, or the loose tribal forces first?"

The half-goat took out a parchment map and pointed to the Jackal Kingdom on it as a matter of course:

"Of course, we attack the Jackal Kingdom first. Those cattle, horses, insects, and fish are not as difficult to deal with as the jackals. After defeating the Jackal Kingdom, wouldn't the elite soldiers trained be able to easily deal with them?"

"Looking at the same race under your command, but the other side is so elite, do you think they will envy it? Will they submit?"

Atilan looked at the half-goat appreciatively.

"What the military advisor said is very true, but I am very curious. You just went to a halfling town, how did you suddenly have such a big change?"

"Actually, it was a mysterious person. He overheard me and the dwarves discussing the purchase of weapons. He later invited me for a drink, and somehow I told him everything about the kingdom."

Hearing this, Atilan's smile froze completely.

"Then he suggested that I should focus on development in the east. The soil of the Southwest River is so much more fertile than the depths of the wasteland and the desert, so what about the soil of the rainforest?"

"If we can integrate this narrow triangular area between the Southwest River and the West Rainforest River, which covers an area of up to 30,000 square kilometers, the farmland opened up will not be less than 500,000 mu!"

"Ten mu of land can feed one person. How many people do you think your Atilan Kingdom can feed?"

Ten mu of land refers to soil that has not been maintained and is directly planted with crops after being opened up. If it is carefully cared for, cultivating wheat, black beans, and other crops will increase the yield per mu.

Five mu of land can feed a gluttonous minotaur or centaur, while snake people and fishmen can feed two, and earth dogs can feed one per mu.

Atilan looked at the half-goat seriously:

"Tell me exactly, how much farmland have you directed the fishmen to open up in the northern part of this land? And how many fishmen have you had the old fishman recruit?"

"Less than three hundred, and more than one hundred snake people. They are all opening up farmland south of the outpost. The farmland they now have has just broken 10,000 mu, and black beans were planted on it as soon as it was opened up."

"There is no need for too much watering here. Planting it is about the same as the yield on the west bank of the Southwest River, but after opening up another 10,000 mu to the south, we will encounter the first tribal force."

"At that time, we will have to let them see the iron fist of the Atilan Kingdom!"

Atilan said with a dark face:

"Don't call it that name!"

But it's not okay for the kingdom to have no name.

"Atlantis Kingdom, from today onwards, it is officially established!"