The Blade's Edge Mountains are like a steep city wall separating the Norton family's territory from the sea.
Standing on the top of the cliff, Lorist looked sternly at the waves crashing against the sharp black rocks near the shore...
"Are there all these reefs on the coast of the Blade's Edge Mountains?" Lorist asked.
"Yes, my lord." Papa Barek said, "The Blade's Edge Mountains on our family's territory are all like this. The only ones that can reach the sea are the three openings I took you to see. Other places can't be climbed at all." I can’t climb down. We used to boil sea water and boil salt through those three openings. We brought firewood and a large pot, and it took about ten days to finish it…”
"My lord, I understand what you mean, do you want to find a way out of the sea from here?" Papa Barek asked.
Loris nodded.
"My lord, come with me." Father Barek took Lorist to the top of the cliff for a long time, and reached the other side of the cliff.
"My lord, look..."
On the steep mountain wall in the distance, a cliff collapsed and fell into the sea, forming a slope. What made Lorist curious was that some remnants of wooden piles could be vaguely seen on the slope...
"My lord, the four big families in Beiye Town also wanted to use the convenience of sea transportation to get in touch with the outside world. It took them more than a year to build a long trestle bridge from the slope, go deep into the sea, and bypass the hidden reefs near the sea. At that time, my grandfather was in charge of the family. He went to Beiye Town to negotiate with the four major families and asked for half of the shipping rights. But the negotiation had not yet come to fruition, and a storm destroyed the trestle bridge without a trace. The vitality of the big family was severely damaged, all the invested capital was wiped out by the storm, and the rest were those broken wooden piles..." Papa Barek narrated a family history that Lorist did not know.
"Are there many storms here?" Lorist asked.
"Not many, but in April and May, big tornadoes are likely to appear on the sea surface. At other times, there are strong winds and waves, but there are very few storms." Papa Barek replied.
"Forget it, let's go. We've been in the Blade's Edge Mountains for almost two months, so it's time to go back." Lorist said.
After Fatty Shi finished his vacation and took over the family's administrative affairs again, he really couldn't understand Lorist's work attitude of being a secretary when he had something to do, and a secretary when he had nothing to do. A group of people came to the Blade's Edge Mountains to explore mineral resources and solve problems.
The problem that Fatty Shi encountered refers to the salt. In the past, there were only ten thousand people in the family, and there was no salt to eat, just like Papa Barek said, bring firewood and a big pot, and cook seawater for a few days at the seaside to get enough salt. It's just that more than 500,000 people have poured into the Norton family's territory. If one person consumes 1 catty of salt a year, it needs 500,000 catties of salt, not counting the amount of salt needed for fur tanning and meat pickling.
Fatty Shi received a report from Speer's steward saying that all the salt in the family's reserves would be exhausted by July next year, so he took the report to find Lorist, and asked Lorist to go to the Blade's Edge Mountains as soon as possible to find someone who could provide it. The bulk salt approach. Instead of having sex with Miss Tresty in the office all day long...
For Lorist, this two-month trip to the Blade's Edge Mountains was very fruitful. The first thing he was sure of was that the deep valley that Papa Barek discovered was indeed covered with gum vines, although the number was not as large as Luo's. The Mongolian Empire produces more than one million barrels of gum vine juice a year, but the annual supply of nearly 100,000 barrels of gum vine juice is enough for the large-scale development of Lorist's family territory.
Next is Master Sid, who is in charge of mineral resources exploration. He discovered a black iron mountain in the Blade's Edge Mountains. He danced and let out a big word: "As long as he studies for a while, he will be able to manufacture better armor than the standard equipment of the White Lion Army..."
Lorist thought it was very strange, it was too coincidental to write a book, these three kinds of mineral veins seemed to be arranged together artificially, but the world is so big, there are so many wonders, so I had to put it aside if I couldn't figure out the result.
As for the salt problem that Fatty Shi was anxious about, Lorist also had a solution, that is to dry the salt, without the trouble of boiling the salt. Originally, Fatty Shi planned to mobilize 3,000 people to cook salt, and spent two months to get a reserve of 2 million catties, and then cook it when it is gone...
Lorist has never seen a pig run, but he has also eaten pork. It is not that he has never visited a salt pan in his previous life. He remembers the principles and steps of how to dry salt, so he chose a wide valley and designed a plan for a salt pan. Papa Barek is in charge. The main reason is that the cost of infrastructure is high, and the manpower is not much needed. Nearly a hundred people are enough, but the monthly salt production is expected to reach more than 100,000 catties, which is enough to solve the family's salt shortage dilemma.
"Yes, the salt fields below must be filled with earth and rocks first, and then poured with green clay to smooth them out. When the tide rises, open the water inlet of the fence, let the tide flood the salt fields, wait for two or three days in the sun, and then drain the concentrated salt water. Rinse in the deep pool with the drawn mountain water, let the impurities settle down, pour the clean brine into the upper salt pan, and then dry it to become edible white salt..." Lorist said to Barek for the last time. Dad explained.
No wonder Papa Barek kept asking. Galintia has never heard of drying salt for thousands of years. The most important point is that you don’t need to spend a lot of firewood to cook salt. How did you cook salt before? Bringing firewood to the sea has always been a problem.
The Blade's Edge Mountains facing the sea are all steep cliffs, but inside they are gentle slopes covered with grass. There are almost no miscellaneous trees, and some of them have been chopped down by people who came to boil salt for firewood. It is a series of strange rocky peaks. People have to make several bends along the cliff bottom of these peaks and then go uphill and downhill.
Miss Tresty and her maid, little Winnie, were picking wild flowers on a gentle slope to make a corolla. The two bounced around like two young children.
Ever since she was forcibly developed by Lorist, Miss Teresty lost her habitual restraint and integrity, and became interested in matters related to men and women, especially when she found that sex made her painful menstrual pain get better. After a great deal of relief, he began to seduce Lorist actively, enjoying sex in the office.
The only thing that troubles Lorist is that no matter how much Miss Teresty has sex with him in the office, she is willing to try new tricks, but no matter how much Lorist persuades, Miss Tresty just refuses to marry him and be his lover It's ok, being a wife is out of the question...
Miss Teresty didn't want to come to the Blade's Edge Mountains this time, but Lorist said that it is better to travel thousands of miles than to read a hundred books. Your mother used to go deep into the primeval forests to explore the ruins, unlike you who spend all day Stay at home and read books. So Miss Teresti had a trip to the Blade's Edge Mountains.
Seeing Lorist's complexion, Miss Teresty knew that Lorist was disappointed again. The section of Blade's Edge Mountains was just beyond the Black Mud Swamp, and it had come to an end. Lorist was still not in the hundreds of miles of Blade's Edge Mountains. find a suitable outlet.
Gently kissing Miss Teresty's face, Lorist said gently: "Honey, it's time for us to go back. I really didn't expect you to persist in this trip to the Blade's Edge Mountains. It's been almost two months. The harvest Not too small."
Unlike Lorist's goal of looking for an outlet to the sea, Miss Teresty is interested in the animals and plants in the mountain range, the growth of medicinal herbs, and the geographical formation of the Blade's Edge Mountains.
With a haughty snort, Miss Teresty said, "I'm not a coquettish girl, I can do what my mother can do."
Holding Lorist's arm and going downhill together, Miss Teresty said, "Locke, to be honest, the two months of investigation and research on the Blade's Edge Mountains have made me firm in my mind. That is that the Blade's Edge Mountains are absolutely impossible It was formed naturally. It seems that a god used divine power to build a dam to stop storms and tsunamis in the west of the Northland. This is really a great miracle... "
Lorist just smiled and didn't answer. After reading too many love letters, his head was always full of whimsical ideas, so he just listened to them for the time being.
…
It was already October 28th when I returned to Rock Castle. Lorist originally wanted to go to Fenglin Villa to stay for two days to see his precious son, but what he didn't expect was that messengers were waiting in the camp one after another. Urge Lorist to return to Rock Castle as soon as possible.
It took Lorist more than ten days to visit the Blade's Edge Mountains for the last time. During this period of time, several groups of messengers have come to the camp outside the mountain. Many envoys from the nobles of the territory came, and the two most important ones were the envoys sent by the second prince, and the second was Viscount Kenmes who visited in person and had already stayed in Rock Castle for half a month.
Lorist received Viscount Kenmes immediately, no matter what, the guests who came to the Rock Castle respected his identity. On the contrary, Viscount Kenmes suggested that Lorist should meet the envoy sent by the second prince first. His business is not urgent and can be discussed at the end.
The envoy sent by the second prince was a handsome middle-aged nobleman who claimed to be Viscount Hindelson. He sent a letter to Lorist at the order of the second prince and asked for a reply from Lorist himself. Nothing else was said.
Lorist opened the second prince's letter very curiously. The letter was very long and consisted of several sheets of animal skin. The first two pieces of paper were written about the deep fighting friendship between the second prince and the Norton family, and expressed the grief and nostalgia for Lorist's elder brother who died in the battle. It was very moving to read. But on the final letter paper, the greedy heart of the second prince was revealed like a hungry wolf.
The second prince believed that the war between the Norton family and the Duke of the Northland Duke Lukins was very regrettable and tragic. It was precisely because of the disputes among the nobles in the kingdom that the kingdom could not gather all its strength to revive the former Cree. The great cause of the Mori Empire. At present, the second prince has punished Duke Lukins who provoked the war, but he also announced the following punishments for the Norton family who looted the Grand Duchy:
First, the Norton family must hand over nearly 300,000 goldfords looted from the private treasury of the Duke of Lukins and hand them over to the second prince as punishment for the grand duke's looting. The second prince, on the other hand, gave up pursuing Lorist for the crime of coercing more than 200,000 Duke's subjects and moving them to the Norton family's territory.
Second, Lorist, as the new head of the Norton family, must rush to Gildusk City in the Grand Duke's territory before the end of November to swear allegiance to the second prince who is currently residing in the Grand Duke's mansion. At that time, the second prince will consider promoting Norton. The title of the family is a reward.
Third, the Norton family must also provide the second prince with two full-staffed corps to help the second prince pacify the Northland, and attack the Principality of Madras again under the command of the second prince before July next year, for the Cresson Empire. Make due contributions to the great cause of rejuvenation.
There are three conditions in total, Lorist laughed. I have to admit that the second prince is more insidious and cunning than that bullshit grand duke. These three conditions are very loose and have not hurt the foundation of the Norton family. But Lorist believes that once he agrees to the second prince's request and submits, these three conditions will become three nooses around the Norton family's neck, dragging the Norton family into the abyss step by step.
Lorist has no interest in flirting with the second prince at all. Ever since his elder brother died in battle for the second prince, the second prince has ignored the Norton family and just sat and watched the new territorial nobles, the Kenmes family and the Norton family. Refused to mediate. The rumors about the temperament of the second prince have long been known to every household. Belief in the second prince is better than believing that a sow can climb a tree...
Now Lorist is focusing on the development and construction of his family's territory, and has no interest in occupying the Northland and the so-called restoration of the hegemony of the Krissen Kingdom. He picked up a blank piece of animal skin paper, wrote a simple two-word reply, and after thinking about it, he printed a new family crest representing the Earl's title on the reply letter. Then he folded the reply letter, put it in an envelope and sealed it, and handed it to Viscount Hindelson.
Viscount Hinderson left immediately after receiving the reply. He had been waiting in the Rock Castle for more than ten days and wished to go back soon.
Next, the envoys of the seven or eight lords and nobles that Lorist met were represented by the envoys sent by Baron Felim of the Pegasus family. They all came to the Rock Castle for the same purpose, that is, to buy good Weapons and equipment, such as iron armor and siege crossbows...
To these envoys' requests, Lorist replied with one word: sell. If you don't have money, you can use grain and grass materials to trade, the more the better, then send them all to negotiate with Fatty Shi on the price.
In the end, Lorist invited Viscount Kenmes over again. He was very curious as to why so many nobles from the territory came to buy weapons and equipment from the Norton family...
The first thing Viscount Kenmes told Lorist was: The troubled times in the Northland have come.
Immediately afterwards, Viscount Kenmes told Lorist the current situation in the Northland. The Grand Duke of the North has been ill since he escorted Duke Lukins back to the Grand Duchy. However, because Knight Henned had mastered the dependents of the soldiers of the original Northland Legion, he kept seducing the soldiers of the Northland Legion who were still stationed at Fortress Fortress Castle and Hendryford Rope Bridge. As a result, another three thousand Many people went to join Knight Henned, and the remaining less than a thousand soldiers defending these two fortress checkpoints was a drop in the bucket, so that when the second prince's soldiers came under pressure, they dispersed in a rush, allowing the second prince's troops to easily occupy the two forts. At a strategic location.
The second prince was defeated. When he withdrew from the Principality of Madras and returned to the capital, he heard the news from the merchants who had returned from the Northland. The formed frontier corps went to the Northland, and indeed they easily occupied the two fortress checkpoints that were regarded as natural barriers before. Therefore, the second prince did not return to the capital, but went directly to the Northland, occupied the Grand Duke's Mansion, and ordered people to take Lu Jin Grand Duke Si was sent to the capital to recuperate.
Immediately afterwards, the second prince gave orders incessantly, and began to search for the nobles of the Northland. As a result, he annoyed the Knight Henned who was entrenched in the Castle of Sakura Manor, and led the Northland Legion to have a very small armed conflict with the second prince's men. , the second prince lost more than 2,000 people and suffered another big defeat.
This is why those territorial nobles in the north sent people to Rock Castle to buy weapons and equipment. The Norton family drove away Duke Lukins, a ground tiger, and as a result, the second prince, a hungry wolf, came to the north again. For those ambitious territorial nobles, this is actually a good time to strengthen their family strength.
The purpose of the Viscount Kenmes coming to meet Lorist was very simple. What he wanted was to form an alliance with the Norton family and to inform Lorist of a news. After spending more than five months and countless gold coins, the family finally settled in the Norton family. In the east of the Northland, another iron cable bridge connecting the two banks was built. In the future, supplies to and from the Northland would not need to pass through the Hendryford Cable Bridge in the hands of the second prince.
This is good news for Lorist, at least it is also a good thing to have an extra channel to connect to the outside world when there is no outlet to the sea in the Blade's Edge Mountains. Lorist said that he had to discuss it with the knights under him, and then give Viscount Kenmes an answer.
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