While many officials in Blackwater City were making all kinds of speculations, Richard was busy shuttling around the sarin.

Speaking of which, this is quite a project.

The area of sarin is relatively large, located in the northernmost part of the former Sika Kingdom, adjacent to the barren Northern Wilderness, is a relatively narrow strip of land.

And the reason why this place is called sarin is related to a small country that has perished.

Richard had heard Sherlock tell the story of this small country when he was on the East Coast before, and he had recently learned more about it:

The name of the small country is sarin, located in the gap between Sika and the northern wilderness, because the land is barren, the precipitation is scarce, and there are no special products, so it is very poor, and the total population of the whole country is only a little more than 100,000.

The king of the country, said to be the king of a country, is actually not as many as the lords and rulers of a medium-sized city in the Soma Alliance or the Kingdom of Sika.

Because of this, the kingdom of Sika did not have much interest in annexation, allowing the small kingdom of Shalin to exist for many years.

But unfortunately, the kingdom of Sika was not annexed, but Shalin encountered a natural disaster of his own, and a plague broke out inexplicably a few years ago.

The plague spread so quickly that tens of thousands of people were infected within a few days. The infected person had blisters all over his body, and the itching was unbearable, and he couldn't help scratching with his hands until the blisters burst and disgusting pus flowed out. It's not fatal, but it's inexcruciating.

Moreover, King Sharin's favorite daughter, Princess Sharin, was also infected with the plague.

The king can ignore the crimes of the commoners, but not his own daughters. For this reason, King Shalin almost emptied the treasury and invited a wizard who was proficient in pharmacy from somewhere to try to concoct an antidote to treat Princess Sharin.

This wizard also has some skills, and it took him a week to concoct the antidote. As long as the princess drinks the antidote, the cure can be cured, and this antidote can also be prepared in large quantities and spread to the lower levels, so as to solve the plague in the entire Sarin Kingdom.

But the problem is that this wizard is too capable - the antidote is very powerful, and the poison is even more powerful.

Just before the wizard was about to give the princess an antidote, he accidentally smashed a bottle of potion that had failed to be configured.

The ingredients of the potion drifted out of the open window and, under the action of the wind, spread over a wide area of sarin.

This time, a monster more terrifying than the plague itself was released, and the ingredients in the potion underwent unknown changes in the outside world, causing those who touched it to die with violent eyes and purple all over their bodies.

In just a few days, tens of thousands of lives were taken from the royal capital of Shalin, and the residents of Shalin in other places also died one after another in the following days.

Shalin died in this country, and the area he occupied naturally became a part of the Sika Kingdom, but not many people dared to move to this "poisonous land", so it was very sparsely populated.

The Sika Kingdom really didn't look down on such a hidden danger as Sharin, so it was left idle until a war broke out with the Soma Alliance.

The specifics of the war do not need to be repeated, in short, the result was that Sika ceded land and sued for peace.

The former Sarin Kingdom and a large area in the vicinity were occupied by the Soma Alliance and set up as a special garrison area.

Originally, the name of this special garrison was planned to be called "Walkerworth", which means the northernmost place. But the reputation of sarin was so loud that not long after the catastrophe of destroying the country passed, everyone remembered it deeply, so the place was finally named "sarin".

Speaking of which, this "sarin" and the other "sarin" are not completely identical, and the area has expanded dozens of times.

But then again, even if the area has expanded dozens of times, because most of the land is barren, lack of precipitation, and the mountains are all over the place, and the transportation is inconvenient, it is still not a good place - Oscar was right, this fief was obviously replaced, and it stands to reason that Richard should not have received such a poor fief with his war exploits.

However, Richard didn't pay much attention to it, in his opinion, the land conditions were indeed a little worse, but the geographical location was still good: because it was close to the Northern Wilderness, it had the possibility of expanding outward, and the territory was mountainous, which could effectively prevent foreign attacks, and was a relatively closed and safe development base.

As for how to make this base develop, he already has some ideas, and what he needs to do now is to personally understand the situation in all aspects.

He doesn't like to do these things very much, after all, it's a bit cumbersome. But it also knows that even if you don't like it, you have to do it—at least in the early stage, so that you can devote yourself to research with peace of mind.

As for how to deal with the later work, he has another way.

......

Around noon.

Somewhere in a field in the sarin, Richard strolled through it,

After walking for a while, he stopped, looked around, and nodded slightly.

As if he had identified something, Richard waved his hand, and dozens of glass tubes flew out of his sleeves and levitated in front of him.

Then the ground in front of him cracked, and the soil of different depths inside flew out on its own under the control of extraordinary power, and landed in the glass tube suspended in front of him.

Richard plugged the glass tubes separately, labeled them, wrote the text, and retracted them into the iron ring of space. After doing this, without saying anything, I walked deeper into the field and continued to take samples.

In this way, after a busy afternoon, Richard traveled through the territory of many small towns and small towns in the territory of sarin, and obtained samples including but not limited to soil, air, surface water, groundwater, crops, etc.

Among them, they also went deep into the old land of the former Shalin Kingdom, carefully exploring and understanding whether there were any toxins or other hidden dangers left after the catastrophe that destroyed the country.

In this way, until the evening, Richard finally stopped for a moment, appeared in a small town called "Takri", and entered a tavern.

Richard asked for a simple meal, and as he ate it, he listened to the chatter of all sorts of people in the tavern—full of boasting and rumors, and it was hard to believe them completely, but it was possible to get some glimpse of public opinion.

For example, if the vast majority of people are discussing the stories of bards and the styles of fashionable costumes, it means that this little life must be good, and the lower classes are more satisfied with their current lives.

If, on the other hand, the vast majority of them complain that life is difficult and untenable, and they are discussing where to make some quick money, then it is certain that the rulers must not be very good, and sooner or later the region will be in trouble.

Richard heard the three merchants at the table spitting bitterly about the robbery of the bandits.

"Hey, it's really unlucky, I prepared eight wagons last month, and I wanted to make a fortune. As a result, not long after leaving the town, he met a group of thieves, and in order to save his life, he obediently sent out four wagons of goods. It's okay now, don't say make a lot of money, it's hard not to lose. ”

"Fortunately, ten days ago, all the goods of my five carriages were stolen by the thieves, and there was not a single hair left, didn't I still sit here and drink with you?"

"If you want me to say, you should all be happy. A week ago, the old stammerer personally escorted the convoy to the east to do business, and encountered a group of thieves who wanted to be tough. In the end, the goods were not saved, and the head was cut off, which was miserable......"

Richard listened quietly until he had finished his own food.

He got up and took a few deep looks at the people next to him, and then thoughtfully walked out the door and into the darkness.

......