"I'll start at the beginning – go downstream along the Nutao River, and the water will flow into a saltwater lake, which we call Lake Bayeus. Anne dipped her finger in the water and drew a brief gesture on the table. A sinuous curve is connected to a round ball, which looks like a tadpole.

"This lake is full of undrinkable bitter water, and one can float in it without exertion. A long time ago, someone tried to use lake water to dry salt, but it turned out to be poisonous, and then less attention was paid to it. ”

Anne tried to draw a skull with her fingernails dipped in water, but it turned out to be more like a pig's head than a skeleton, and she quickly erased it casually as if she didn't care.

Seeing this, the lord covered his chin with his hand to cover it up, and secretly pursed his lips.

"But six years ago, by chance, we at the Voya firm discovered that there was a large amount of iron ore at the bottom of Lake Bayeux. So we contacted the dwarven tribes we knew well, and quietly mined ore and smelted iron. ”

Richard suddenly realized, "No wonder you are sending so much coal into the wilderness to smelt iron." ”

He had thought it strange that the first two convoys of the Voya Comptoir had been loaded with lumps of coal, which should have been unpopular, for there was no shortage of fuel in the wilderness.

But if that makes sense, ordinary fuels are not burning hot enough to smelt ore, so coal had to be brought in from Pompeii.

"Yes. Iron was smelted in the wilderness, sold to natives, and furs and herbs were collected as a reward, and then shipped back to Pompeii to sell, a trade route that has made a lot of money in recent years. ”

Iron is scarcely produced in this barren land of the wilderness, and the sale of Pompeii iron tools is so high that it looks like a robbery, so iron tools are very valuable among the indigenous tribes. And the furs and blades of grass that are not very valuable in the wilderness have a great market back in Pompeii

A batch of goods makes money twice, plus the cost is very low, and the profit in it is simply to know how rich it is with your toes.

"It's a good deal. A sentiment called jealousy gnawed at Richard's heart, and the sourness in his tone corroded steel to slag.

"Otherwise, why has our Woya Trading Company grown so fast in recent years? The timber business is a joke, how many gold coins can be earned. ”

Anne's pride lasted only a moment, and soon crumbled into a sad face, "But not long ago a bear tribe called the Lower Quarter Moon discovered this secret, Richard, you may have a hard time imagining what a temptation an iron mine is for the wilderness, it is completely worth the gamble and the madness." ”

"They drained the entire tribe of its war potential—abandoning all the old men who could not fight, the warriors piercing a blind eye to show their resolve, slaughtering the young beasts and sheefs to reserve rations, and mobilizing all the warriors to attack the dwarven tribes. ”

"That's not right. Richard interrupted Anne's generous speech by tapping on the pine table, and as he listened to the story, he almost grabbed the seeds.

"Dwarves open their own mines and forge, according to their urine nature, their warriors must be extremely well-equipped, and their own strength is not bad, and they don't beat the beggar-like bear people into pigs' heads?"

Recently, he himself has deeply realized that the impact of the quality of equipment on combat effectiveness cannot be exaggerated. In particular, the dwarves and bearmen themselves are very strong combat races, and the more masters make moves, the more insurmountable the gap caused by the equipment gap becomes.

"Can you please stop interrupting, I haven't finished talking about it yet - the Lower Quarter Moon Tribe is a member of a tribal alliance called Quarter Moon, and their anomalous behavior has caught the attention of the other members. ”

"The situation collapsed quickly, and now in addition to the dwarves and the lower quarter moon, there are other five tribes of the Quarter Moon Alliance, and it is conservatively estimated that there are also seven or eight thousand warriors involved in this war, alas......" The half-elves are also very particular about appearance, and it was the first time Richard saw Anne slumped in her chair and rolled her eyes.

"Their ten tribes haven't cleaned up the dwarves yet? The lord continued to pick and choose.

If Anne had half or even a quarter of her usual shrewdness, she would have been able to hear that Richard was deliberately using words to induce. But now she is full of lawsuits, and her desire to talk has long overwhelmed reason.

"Richard, you're looking too highly of the natives. Anne leaned back in her chair and smiled helplessly, "How can the loose alliance of the wilderness be maintained in the face of deadly temptation." ”

"It's a big melee of more than a dozen tribes now, and the alliance has long ceased to exist. Everyone is attacking other tribes indiscriminately, and some tribes have even split into several factions within themselves!"

"Obedient!" Richard hurriedly took a big sip of tea to suppress his shock, "Isn't this just fighting who can resist bloodletting to the end, I estimate that at least one-third of these tribes will be removed after the fight." ”

As a military commander, his resume is still very poor, and he has never commanded even a hundred people, and it is difficult to imagine what kind of scene is the chaos of 10,000 people of more than a dozen factions.

I'm afraid that the rout alone can easily gather into hundreds of bandits, which will be the cause of disaster. It's no wonder that the other pioneer lords honestly returned to Cologne, even the most elite Three Lions in the Northeast Province may not be willing to touch their heads.

Of course, this does not mean that the regular legions cannot contain thousands of tribal warriors, but there is no need to go to great lengths to stop a dog-eat-dog fight.

"Yes, we were originally going to reinforce the dwarven allies, but we had to withdraw first, and this situation is no longer something that a business firm can control. Anne held the tea and looked at the table with infinite sighs, "Fate strikes like a pouring rain, how can passers-by hide from the wilderness." ”

"What about the dwarves, why didn't I go with you?" Richard wanted to see if he could get a few dwarven blacksmiths in his hands, although there were a few centaurs in the Alpine Fort military industry to support him, but the production speed was still not enough.

"Sticking to the iron mine and not wanting to go. Anne sighed, the expression on her face perfectly illustrating what it means to be loveless, "I advised them to leave quickly, but you also know that the temper of the dwarves is more stubborn than stone, and they say that they will die to guard the mines given to them by the gods." ”

"It's a dwarf, it's tough!" Richard gave a thumbs up, unable to tell whether it was praise or mockery.

"After so many years of operation, it's all over. Anne lay limply on the table, her index finger circling around the table, "Let's rest for the night, and leave for Coron early tomorrow morning." If you find it inconvenient, we will try to stay as far away as possible from the mountain fort. ”

"There's nothing inconvenient about this, just be casual. ”

"Richard, now you know how tense the situation is. Anne looked up, "So you're going to withdraw to Coren with us?"

She advised Richard to have his own selfish intentions, and that the lord's guard of Alpine Fort was undoubtedly strong, and if they could complete the last few days of the journey together, they would undoubtedly be much safer.

"Let's talk about it. Richard smiled, meaningfully.