With such a huge difference in physical fitness, you actually—Hey! Sister, don’t hit me with your Holy Book of the Church of Light! I hate the Church of Light!”
"I believe in light, not that traitorous God of Light! And don't tell dirty jokes in front of my man!"
"As His Majesty's woman, you can't control His Majesty? Could it be that you are also a witch of the night?"
"You said before that you don't touch married women—"
"In the past, the noble ladies of the Roman Empire were called wives? They openly flaunted their beauty in the palace. They were just prostitutes with the name of "wives". This did not violate my principles, did it?!"
"Where are your moral bottom line?!"
"This is called a flexible moral bottom line!"
The two people behind him seemed to be arguing, but Yang Hao had a better understanding of the social form of the elves.
Given the huge difference in physical fitness, the harsh training that is like "torture" for humans is just a child's entertainment game for elves.
In other words, the elves are not the kind of people who are all soldiers that humans know about...
Simply mobilizing all the people to fight is not enough to describe the current situation of the elves!
They are a race where everyone is a hero or an elite...
But it is such a race that did not choose the compulsory conscription system to expand its military strength, but instead continued to use the ancient method of "voluntary enlistment"
This... considering the upcoming war, this is something that must change.
Yang Hao was thoughtful and inadvertently stated his opinion: "Although the shooting accuracy seems perfect... But as expected, warriors without "discipline" are at most powerful mobs. This is true even if they are elves."
His words calmed down the two people who were quarreling behind him. Before Theresa could frown and question him, Arthur agreed first:
"Yes, Your Majesty. What the army needs is discipline and obedience to orders. Even though these elf seedlings are all sharpshooters, when they really go to the battlefield, delaying military orders due to their own impulse is still a small matter. The biggest worry is that they will lose their composure due to the death of their comrades, and then directly expose crucial ambushes or other strategies in their impulse..."
"So I've thought of the first step of the reform - starting with conscription and training... By the way, I heard before that the Church of Light seems to be planning to attack the Elven Kingdom and start a war..."
"You already know that?"
“I guess so.”
At the morning meeting with Fen today, Yang Hao had a general understanding of the overall crisis facing the Elf Kingdom.
The first to be hit is the invasion of the diocese at the end of the year, followed by the magical disaster that may occur within this decade, and in between them is Ishgard's colonial invasion of the continent of Elucia.
Not to mention the latter which can be used as temporary allies, the invasion of the diocese must be resolved in the first two cases.
Now that these elf soldiers have gone to the battlefield, Yang Hao does not trust their organization and combat effectiveness.
Therefore, it is very important to organize them for military training in the near future, let them understand the nature of being a soldier and a military officer, and let them obey orders and discipline...
In addition, there is also the mobilization of resources to support military reform, that is, "mobilization"...
In Yang Hao's mind, one point of the elf reform has been made clear. That is [the reform of the conscription system and the overall mobilization of the Elf Kingdom]. At least before withstanding the invasion of the parish, the mobilization status should not be lifted.
But what to do after that
Yang Hao immediately asked Arthur to take him to some useful places for investigation. Arthur shrugged his shoulders and was pushed in a wheelchair by Yang Hao, pointing the way.
This time they came to the "Bow Factory" about ten blocks away from Arthur's home, on the other side of the Friendship River.
Arthur said his wife was concentrating on her work inside, but it was okay to go over and disturb her now.
"Where are your children?"
"The children are being taken care of by my mother-in-law's great-grandfather and great-grandmother."
"Uh..." It was really hard to imagine a family with dozens of generations living together. Yang Hao and Sister Teresa looked at each other in silence, but they could see the envy in each other's eyes. They couldn't help but blush at the same time, and then quickly turned back to work.
They entered the bow factory, and before Arthur could excitedly hit his wheelchair to stand up, a cold elf with blond hair and blue eyes walked directly to Arthur with a stick.
The stick seemed to have been enchanted with something that was hard to come by in the Roman Empire. According to Yang Hao's limited knowledge, the three enchantments of "durability", "pain", and "non-lethal" were spread all over the stick.
If a wizard who could perform this kind of enchantment was placed in the capital of the Roman Empire, the nobles and landlords would probably spend all their wealth to hire him... And now, for the elves, they can enchant an ordinary wooden stick at will
Just to break the legs of her cheating husband
She looked expressionlessly at Arthur, who was sweating profusely, then looked at Yang Hao and Theresa, who were standing far behind Arthur and "not planning to intervene", and finally she turned her gaze back to Arthur -
But his wandering gaze kept wandering between Arthur's broken left leg, his intact right leg, and the third leg in the middle.
"Arthur, my husband."
The elf's cold voice made cold sweat pour out on Arthur's forehead like a waterfall.
"You remember the promises we made to each other when we got married. Now I found out that you were having an affair with Helivia in the bathroom in the office on the second floor above me last month when I was concentrating on my work. When I went to ask about your condition, you said you had a stomachache and it took you more than two hours to go to the bathroom
Now, which leg do you choose, the left leg, the right leg, or the third leg? Because I also need your third leg, so I will discount it four times, and then ask the mage to come and heal it every time - I will discount it four times in front of the aunt who slept with you seven times this year, so what do you plan to choose? "
"Then, that Weiya... Still, still, is it the left leg? If the right leg is broken, there will be no way to explain it to the children..."
"oh… "
The elf, whom Arthur called Weiya, nodded, then raised the exquisite wooden stick in her hand that looked like a work of art and hit Arthur's left leg hard.
Arthur was quite tough. Facing the heavy blow from his wife's magic stick, he didn't even groan. He just showed a painful expression as usual and quickly hugged his wife's thighs:
"Viya, my wife - now that my majesty is here, can you at least let me lead the way for him?"
“It’s natural.”
She shrugged, and after placing the intact stick on the ground, she placed her hand on Arthur's bleeding left leg.
Accompanied by a burst of green light, the bleeding from the wound stopped, but the leg was still broken and there was no sign of recovery.
This woman, why didn't she beat Arthur to death
Theresa felt that it was not enough to relieve her anger, and at this moment, Weiya turned Arthur's wheelchair around and pushed him in front of Yang Hao.
"Thank you for taking care of my useless husband before." She said, "And I have also heard about your deeds and the little queen's affairs... Please believe that it is not you who is wrong, but the barbarian of Roman."
"Thank you. Is Arthur okay?" Yang Hao pointed at Arthur who remained silent.
"It's okay. It's just a broken leg. I'll have that aunt come over in a month to chop off his leg and then regenerate the broken limb directly - but they might have to stay in bed for more than an hour to "treat", so I'll watch the whole process this time."
"Oh... Oh... You have a pretty happy family life."
"Thank you. That's what everyone says."
"Uh..." I had a thousand words to say but didn't know how to start.
Looking at the female managers around who did not forget to greet Arthur, Yang Hao and Theresa looked at each other and found that the fatigue in each other's eyes was even greater.
Since they have not divorced even at this point, Yang Hao and Theresa really have nothing to say except wishing Arthur a happy family in the future...
The one who took over Arthur's commentary this time was Miss Weiya, with countless green lights faintly emitted from her head.
Through what they had seen along the way, Yang Hao and Theresa had every reason to suspect that the female elf in the bow factory had done it with Arthur more times than Weiya, his legal wife...
But even so, Weiya still loves Arthur, and Arthur also loves Weiya from the bottom of his heart - perhaps this is the elf tradition of "valuing promises".
When I got married, I made it clear that I would definitely cheat on you. You said you would break my legs if I cheated on you. If you are still willing to get married and become a family under such circumstances, then this couple who breaks their legs from time to time is indeed a happy family...
All in all, I've gone off topic.
"This is a workshop that specializes in making longbows. As you can see, we are still doing the traditional elves' handcrafting."
Wei Ya explained, pointing to the craftsman who was concentrating on sculpting the bow not far away: "As for our longbow... Arthur should have explained it to you clearly. Our clan has been like this for thousands of years, and it is still the same even now."
"I see. So, are the arrows produced somewhere else?"
"I guess so - the place where the arrows are produced is in the oak forest north of Fingal, around the oak mine. After all, that's the only place where we have mineral supply."
"Is Oak Mine a place name?"
"It's not just the place name, but also because we commissioned the ancient tree in the Elf Forest to mine that mine."
"oh?"
This made Yang Hao's eyes widen again: This, allowing ancient trees to be mined
No way, could it be true that the rumor that the ancient elves' trees can stand up is true
He looked at Arthur, who finally nodded in the affirmative:
“There are tree people who can stand up, but most ancient trees are rooted in the ground and cannot move—but even so, the trees in the Elf Forest have reached a symbiotic relationship with the elves. Without destroying the environment, the ancient trees will mine minerals for the elves...
Well, Your Majesty, can you understand? Elves do not need miners to mine. As long as they are in the Elf Forest, minerals can be collected by ancient trees. Therefore, products such as arrows that require metal manufacturing will also settle around those concentrated mines... "
"I'm just surprised that the rumor is true."
"You didn't show this expression when you found out that my title of 'Emperor of the Night' was true?!"
The emotional Arthur was slapped on the head by Weiya, and then he lowered his head obediently and aggrievedly.
Chapter 17: The Elves' Fire of Change, the Landing of the Ishgard Fleet
In the Elf Kingdom, there is a symbiotic species called Tree People.
With the introduction of Ms. Weiya, who is already 300 years old - okay, actually still very young for elves, Yang Hao and Theresa had a general understanding of the ecological relationship between tree people and elves.
They are inseparable ecosystems. The magic of the elves can make the Elven Forest more habitable for trees, and the trees in turn give the elves a better gathering place.
The two sides interacted with each other back and forth, just like childhood sweethearts who gave each other gifts from time to time every day and finally got married for decades.
The two sides have long been inseparable - it can be said that if the elves perish, the Elf Forest will also disappear, but before disappearing, all the ancient trees will make the invaders pay the price.
On the other hand, if the Elf Forest is destroyed, the elves will launch a desperate attack on the invaders.
In this case, it is reasonable and even natural that the ancient trees would be willing to mine for the elves in a way of [coexistence and harmonious growth].
But the way the ancient trees "mine" is hard to describe.
To use an analogy that Yang Hao could understand, the ancient tree would dig its roots directly into the ground where the mineral veins were, and then suck out the underground minerals like sucking jelly with a straw.
Not only do they suck it out, they also process the minerals in specialized tree cavities - according to Weiya, this is the result of the joint efforts of the elves' magic and the ancient trees.
With the help of elven magic, the cavity of the ancient tree will have the high temperature to melt metal, but the tree body will not be burned by the high temperature.
Mining in this way can not only avoid damage to the natural environment, but also directly "spit out" finished products such as metal embryos or steel ingots in one step.
It looks perfect, but its efficiency... is really hard to describe.
The combined efficiency of the Roman Empire's slave mines and forges can produce the metal ingots necessary for making arrows more efficiently than the elves' oak mines.
Although the environment is polluted and the terrain is damaged greatly, and even a few people may die from time to time, the total number of iron ingots they produce is large, which is at least three to four times more efficient than the elves' production capacity that Yang Hao has heard of.
The Elf's Oak Mine trades efficiency for environmental protection and integrated product production.
Yang Hao was quite dissatisfied with the inefficient output, but when he thought about the symbiotic relationship between the Elf Forest and the elves, he felt relieved.
This is the unique forest industry base of the elves that must coexist with the forest of elves.
Not all places are suitable for early human factories that were extremely polluting. Since the elves have their own characteristics, it is enough to make suggestions based on their characteristics.
But then again...
At present, I have heard that ancient trees can mine and produce metal ingots, but the efficiency is extremely low—
Do ancient trees have the processing capacity and minimum efficiency required for primary industry? How long does it take for an oak tree to grow? This is another good question.
Yang Hao fell into deep thought, while Miss Weiya explained to them some unknown details of the bow factory on behalf of her dissolute husband.
For example, elf bow makers have "specializations".
Some people specialize in painting on bows, some specialize in writing poetry, some are good at miniature carving, and some are good at various external decorations.
They specialize in different "perfect technologies", which can be integrated into a perfect elven longbow - what? You ask why no one specializes in the most important "bow making" skill
Only after the elven bowmaker has perfected the crafting of the longbow can he proceed to refine its external decoration.
In other words, all bow makers are elites, and the "master" among bow makers is known for his omnipotence in bow making - he can do all the work mentioned above by himself, and is therefore highly respected by bow makers.
but-
Yang Hao only needs the "bow" itself and the consumable "arrows". Those decorations would be more valuable if they were melted down and made into paper... It would be better to remove them as much as possible.
Although it is a good thing for a country to have strong cultural strength, when the country is in crisis, culture must give way to war.
He knew even with his butt that as long as the elves didn't do decoration, they could obtain a production capacity five times higher than before... So, do you elves like to do so many insignificant details because you have nothing to do after eating
Yang Hao and Theresa were a little confused. Wei Ya seemed to notice their confusion and further explained:
"After all, we live so long that we naturally have some... preferences, don't we? Your Majesty, do you have any other questions?"
"Not yet. I may need to go to the mines in person. As for the arrows, I am a little curious. Compared to this, I heard that Arthur and you have three children?"
"Yes. One pair of twin girls and the other is a boy." Wei Ya said about her children, with a gentle smile on her cold face. "Although this man is useless, at least he knows to ejaculate outside when he has sex with other elves."