Lorist put down the pen in his hand and looked at the crystal hourglass on the table. It was past five o'clock in the morning, but the sky outside the window was still dark, and it could be seen dimly through the unclear green glass. Goose-feather-like snowflakes were flying all over the sky. It snowed heavily for three consecutive days, and the snow outside was more than a foot thick.
On the table was a thick pile of animal skin paper full of words, which was the result of Lorist's whole night of staying up. The conversation with Fatty Shi some time ago made Lorist suddenly realize that he didn't have a complete territory development plan. My own family territory is too remote. Although the family territory of the Rock Castle can be self-contained and not affected by the flames of war outside, the price is isolation and being forgotten. The root of everything lies in the inability to establish good traffic information with the outside world. contacts.
The northern plateau is vast and sparsely populated, with an area as large as three or four provinces of Dremke, but its population is less than one million. Just like the most prosperous southern part of the Northland ruled by Grand Duke Lukins, it is known as the elite area, and its population is only about 300,000 to 400,000. There are two reasons for the bottleneck restricting the development of the Northland Plateau. One is the inconvenient external transportation, and the other is the lack of manpower.
From the map, the so-called Northland Plateau is not the northern end of the Galintia continent, but in the middle of the continent. Because the Demon Dragon Mountains on all the maps of the Galintia continent are recognized as the center of the continent and the birthplace of the three major water veins of Galintia.
The reason why it is called the Northland just means that this is the northernmost tip of the human development territory. If you go further north, you have to cross the Demon Dragon Mountain Range and enter a wild wasteland marked on the map, which has not been set foot by human beings for nearly a thousand years place.
Different from the plateau in Lorist's previous life, although the Northland is also called a plateau, the terrain is only about a hundred meters higher than the plain outside, and the climate and environment are not different. In fact, in the lingua franca of Galintia, Plateau does not refer to terrain, but means uncivilized, barbaric and remote areas, more like a derogatory term.
In Lorist's vision, as long as more than 70,000 people in the northbound convoy and 100,000 refugees are brought back, the shortage of manpower in the family's territory can be alleviated, ushering in a climax of large-scale development and construction. At that time, stick to the Rock Castle, regardless of the raging flames of war outside and the darkness of the fighting, just build the family territory into a paradise in troubled times.
Lorist sincerely expressed his admiration and spiritual support for His Royal Highness's ambition to revive the empire. But he was really not interested in joining in the fun, and even the title of Grand Duke of the North Land that was promised to him was not very rare. So what if it occupies the entire Northland? As long as the two ferry crossings on the upper and lower reaches of the Mitobolo River are blocked, I won't be obediently trapped in the North...
In the end, Lorist decided to go to the Blade's Edge Mountains, which are facing the sea to the west of the family territory. He didn't believe that there would be no outlet to the sea in the mountains stretching for hundreds of miles. It is much more convenient to get transportation links with the outside world than land roads. You can even transport refugees to the family territory through a fleet, instead of organizing a convoy to travel for nearly a year and still not arriving...
Lorist wrote many things he wanted to do on the animal skin paper, such as making glass, smelting steel, exploring mineral veins, building cities, opening up wasteland, building roads, implementing the policy of elite soldiers, etc. Now that the convoy is armed and the family force is nearly 60,000 to 70,000 troops, Lorist is going to return to the family territory and immediately implement the strategy of deploying troops, so that a large number of young and strong veterans will become the main force to develop the family territory.
Now it is to escort convoys and refugees to the north, so a large number of young and strong are conscripted into the army. From Lorist's point of view, in the future, the family's armed forces should maintain a military-to-civilian ratio of 1:20. Form an elite army, each soldier's fighting spirit has the strength of the Black Iron Rank, so that even if the number is only 10,000 to 20,000, it is enough to ensure that the flames of war in troubled times will not spread to the Norton family.
In a few years, when the family territory is developed and a good foundation is laid, then Lorist might take the entire Northland into his arms. I remember a biography I read in my previous life. There was a sentence in it that Lorist remembered very clearly, that is, without a reliable base, all hegemony is built on sand and gravel, which can be blown down by a gust of wind. This sentence is very similar to what the old Zhu did in Chinese history. Converted into ancient Chinese, it means building high walls, accumulating food widely, and slowly becoming king.
Lorist picked up the pen again, and wrote down gunpowder and catapult on the animal skin paper. After returning to the family territory, he will see if he can manufacture these two big killers. There are many castles in Galintia, and relying on ballista alone is always lacking whether it is defending or attacking the city. With catapults and gunpowder, dealing with well-defended castle fortresses should be much easier.
Fatty Xiang Shi laid down more than a hundred castles in the province of Verbasia. First, he relied on the ballista and longbowmen of the chariot as cover; The strength of the nobles in those territories was not considered strong, but even so, the soldiers of the Death Battalion had changed a few times, and the total number of casualties was more than 10,000.
The several siege battles that Lorist fought were all surprise attacks, sneak attacks and night raids. The only frontal assault on Beiye Town ended in failure. With these two big killers, Lorist believed that a frontal attack would not be a problem. When the development of the family territory came to an end and he showed his claws to the Northland, he would no longer have a well-defended castle like the Liechtana Fortress.
Since returning to the family territory in March to inherit the title and become the new lord, Lorist has been running around non-stop, busy, and has never calmed down to think about the development and plans of the family territory. Only now that he was trapped in Kebo City by the heavy snow and severe cold, he had no time to think quietly...
Looking at the stack of animal skin paper in his hand again, Lorist thought about it, and added a few more lines on it. He wrote about cultural education, popularizing basic fighting spirit and making paper.
Cultural education is very simple. It is to teach people to read, write and calculate. Many people can speak Mandarin, but they can’t write or read because they don’t know how to read. Food and clothing, unable to let their children receive a good education, just live on from generation to generation.
Popularize the basic fighting spirit. Although the Norton family has a large territory, it still faces the threat of the mountain barbarians and monsters in the Dragon Mountain Range. Only by popularizing the basic battle qi and enabling the majority of the people to awaken the battle qi can they have the power to protect themselves. In addition, the physical strength, health, life expectancy and other qualities of people who have awakened fighting spirit will be greatly improved. For the family, this is a good way to speed up the development of the territory.
The last was papermaking. Galentia didn't have the kind of paper that Lorist had in his previous life, and what he could use was animal skin paper. If we really go back to the source, we probably have to blame the magic civilization thousands of years ago. It is said that magicians use animal skin paper. They use animal skin paper to make magic scrolls, record magic words, and write magic books. This is because in legends, only animal skin paper can carry magical words, so magicians did not consider giving it to them. Mortals invent a cheap paper.
The era of magic civilization has long since passed away, and now we can only fantasize about the glory of that time in legends. But the use of animal hides to make paper has been passed down. Of course, the current animal skin paper is also different from the legendary ones. It is not made of monster skins, but cowhide, horse skin, sheep skin, etc. The worst paper is made of pig skin and rabbit skin.
Making animal skin paper is very simple and a very common craft, but it is very difficult to make it well because the process is very cumbersome. Taking parchment paper as an example, the raw hide should be cut into rectangles first, soaked in water for a day and a night, taken out and cleaned, then soaked in a lime solution for about ten days, and beaten and stirred with sticks three times a day. The process lasts three times. After 30 days, take it out and dry it. Use a knife to scrape off the blood tendons and minced meat on the sheepskin to make it into a skin film. Then soak it in a grass pulp solution for two days. Take it out and dry it in the shade with pumice powder. Polish until smooth, then straighten and fix it with a wooden frame, let it dry for three days as a solid shape, and then cut the parchment into a standard sheet of paper to complete.
This is why a book is expensive in Galintia. If Lorist wants to carry out cultural education in the family territory, he must find a kind of paper that is easy to make and cheap. Otherwise, the consumption of animal skin paper alone is not an amount that a family can afford.
If the white paper like the previous life can be made, not only can the culture and education be popularized in the family territory, but also the white paper can be sold to the whole continent as the family's flagship product. Like the newspapers in Morente City, every time a new issue arrives, the delivery person will take the old issue away, because the old issue has to be taken back to re-polish and erase the writing, and then publish new content, and it goes on and on until the beast The leather paper is worn until it is worn out.
Lorist has always believed that there is no dynasty that lasts a thousand years or a family that is never defeated. In Galintia, people are used to distinguishing by place names or country names, such as Lorist from the Northland, and Fatty from Trimble Kingdom, etc. If he is proud, then Lorist will believe that the Norton family will be passed on for thousands of years.
What Lorist wanted was to use long-term propaganda and brainwashing methods to make the people in the northbound convoy and the 100,000 refugees return to the Norton family. There was a great dynasty in ancient China, and its name eventually became the name of a great nation. What Lorist wanted was to make the name Norton a name that everyone in the family territory would be proud of in the future. They would become Norton people instead of Northlanders...
All of this depends on long-term publicity work, and even the journey of the northbound convoy can be written into history books so that future generations can remember the hardships of the predecessors in pioneering and trekking. Lorist thought a lot, but the premise of all of this was that there must be cheap writing paper to subtly instill people's pride and pride in the name Norton when carrying out cultural education. Therefore, in Lorist's eyes, it was very important to make a blank paper like the one in his previous life.
In his previous life, as the director of a small handicraft factory, Lorist knew a lot of handicrafts, such as making glass, making models of sailing warships, and designing and so on. But Lorist doesn't know how to make paper. He only knows some papermaking principles and materials, but he doesn't know the craft and process. Looking at the line of making paper written on the animal skin paper, he sighed, and when he returned to the family territory and found a few workers to experiment slowly, there would be a day of success...
There was a light knock on the door, and Lorist called, "Come in."
Reddy pushed open the door and came in with a basin of hot water: "My lord, you woke up really early. It's six o'clock in the morning and it's still as dark as midnight."
Lorist washed his face and said, "Reidy, it's snowing outside and you're doing morning exercises indoors, so don't be slack. Martial arts training depends on self-consciousness and persistence, and you can't be lazy. You've already become a two-star black iron this year. I hope you can do it again." In two years you will be promoted to the silver rank."
"Yes, my lord, I understand," Reddy said.
"By the way, do I have any plans for today?" Lorist asked.
Reddy thought for a while and replied: "Yesterday, Knight Shredder said that he would go to inspect the residences of the refugees at around eight o'clock in the morning. Sir, you said that you would also go together."
"Oh, then you go and bring breakfast at 7:30, and I'll go find Shredder after eating." Lorist said.
"Okay, my lord." Reddy backed out.
From 6:00 to 7:30 in the morning was Lorist's unshakable morning exercise time during his time in Kebo City. After running the Golden Water Art for a big week, he moved his hands and feet again, and the time was up.
For Lorist, the most difficult thing for him now is that he cannot control the progress of his own cultivation. In his previous life, he had never practiced to the stage of dark energy. . He is now in the dark energy class, but at which stage he is still at a loss. Like the sudden realization and physical and mental relaxation after Lorist vented his desire on the maid Elina in Maple Forest Villa last time, he didn't understand what was going on, he only knew that he should have gone a step further.
Lorist also sometimes felt that it was unimaginable to practice his ancestral kung fu from his previous life with fighting qi, but so far he has not found any harm, on the contrary, it seems that Jinshui Jue entered the realm too quickly. Lorist is very confident in his own skills. Generally speaking, he is no longer an opponent at the golden level of fighting spirit, but he doesn't know when he will have the opportunity to compete with the great sword master to see the difference. Lorist is full of expectations for this.
Kebo City is not very big, and the northbound convoy and hundreds of thousands of refugees crowded the city to the brim. Fortunately, His Royal Highness transported one-third of the grain and vacated nearly a hundred large granaries. In addition to the wide drying field in the east of the city, only 170,000 to 80,000 horses could be arranged.
While the snow was still falling, Lorist and Fatty Shi put on a black leather cloak and walked along the road cleared by the patrolmen to the camp where the refugees were stationed.
"Lock, how did you come up with the idea to build the snow house first and then put the tent in it? This is really very warm, and it solves the problem of accommodation for refugees at once. It saves materials and labor. It is really convenient." Fatty Shi While walking, he said: "You know, if you build a temporary shelter with wood, the continuous heavy snow will either crush the roof, or you have to send people to keep cleaning it. I didn't think it would be so troublesome to use a snow house. The snow accumulation can also increase the firmness when it is photographed solidly.”
Lorist replied: "Didn't you see that I bought so many books at Dawn Academy? When I was reading the books, you were busy looking for someone to fine you. This method is what I read from an adventure book, which is about an adventure book." My family lost their way in the wilderness, so I had to use this method to get myself through the cold winter. I don’t know if it’s true or not, so I just mentioned it by the way, turned into a painting, who would have thought you could really do it..."
"You..." Fatty Shi was angry: "How can you do this, you just talk nonsense if you don't know the truth. You are lucky this time, if it is false, it will kill people in such a cold weather."
Lorist laughed: "I'm lying to you, who told you not to like reading these miscellaneous books, saying that these books are made up by the authors to cheat money, you are determined not to give these liars a penny. Tell you, that is This is a real life biography, written by the greatest adventurer Kaimen Pratt a hundred years ago, he drew the structure diagram of the snow house on the last page of the book, which is the same as the one I drew for you. In winter, this kind of snow house was specially built for experiments, and it proved that it is indeed very warm.”
"..."
After a while, Fatty Shi asked again: "Lock, in a few days it will be December 36th, which is also the festival to celebrate the New Year. Do you have any ideas?"
Lorist was silent for a while: "Oh, last year on December 36th we had a whole night of carnival at the Red Crow Tavern, but this year we are in this remote city of Kebo. People's fate is really unpredictable... Are you going to How did you arrange it?"
"Yeah, at this time last year, none of us would have imagined the current situation, leading so many people and leading hundreds of thousands of refugees to the north... I think there is a lot of food now, so we will take some out and share it, and each person will have a catty of meat." , a glass of ale, and the children will use a portion of candy and biscuits instead, what do you think?" Fatty Shi said.
Lorist nodded: "You are very thoughtful, let's arrange it like this. If the snow stops by then, we can arrange some activities so that everyone can have a happy New Year."
Raising his head and looking at the dark sky, Lorist let out a deep breath of white air: "We'll be able to go home after another month or so..."
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