When Esher met Hephasto, the master craftsman was measuring the size of the lord's dwelling with his feet in the middle of the village, occasionally stopping to kick the log in the corner. Neither Hephaesto nor his craftsmen were directly involved in the defense of Ismolola, but were busy finding unoccupied stone huts in the village and converting them into makeshift logistics camps, although the craftsmen of the Ruler Squad were involved in carrying the wounded after the battle.

"It didn't take much trouble, your luck is really good," this was Hephasto's first sentence after meeting Estheu, "If it weren't for this group of misty mountain barbarians who appeared just right, with the stinky temper of the Buckleys, it would not be so easy for you to take Ismolola without blood, and what surprised me the most is that guy actually just wants to tie you up with a whip," the craftsman spread out his palm, and there were several fragments of the non-commissioned officer's whip inside, and I don't know when he picked it up. Hephasto rubbed it a few times, revealing a look of disdain, and disdainfully raised the fragments into the wind, "The whip of the cowhide is also used to whip and beat, and it is better to tie people up." I thought he was going to pull a musket out of his crotch and put it at your head. ”

"It's not an occupation, it's just a reassertion of ownership, it's not even a reconquest." Estheu corrected, and then a very unfamiliar noun in Hephaesto's words piqued his interest, "Musket, what is that?" ”

"The Buckleys have concocted a rather interesting long-range weapon, which fires metal projectiles by igniting gunpowder, and the power and range are good, but the accuracy is not good. In Silverlake, Buckley's musketeers are beloved mercenaries, and while most of them are not good marksmen, there are plenty of employers willing to pay for them - after all, their asking price is much lower than that of crossbowmen, and the noise is very intimidating. When I was young, I was more interested in the craft of muskets, and I once tried to use the Imperial 'Liaoshui' to replace Buckley's special 'Peacock Nitrate' as gunpowder, but the Burning Water was a liquid and too active in nature, and I had no experience in handling this material at that time. Hephasto's expression when recalling the past was more of a pity for the raw materials that he wasted for no reason, and as for a really shocking possibility, he understated it, "It was also because of this incident that I failed to compete with Brochette when the president of the Wang Lidi Academy was iterated later, and his first order after taking over was to strictly prohibit me from conducting relevant research, and also put some of my preliminary results into the deepest part of the forbidden book area, but I had already brought them out when I went back last time." ”

"You called me to tell me that you intend to continue your research on muskets in Ismorola?" Essho looked at Hephasto suspiciously, "First promise me that you won't send Ismolora to heaven. ”

"Where, not so fast." Hephasto's answer was ambiguous, not knowing if he wouldn't restart gunpowder research so quickly or if he wouldn't send Ismolola to the sky so soon, "It's just a digression, what I really want to tell you has something to do with this thing." He threw a black rumbling thing at Esher. Ai Xiu raised his hand to take it, and found that it was the arrow that was broken by the old man outside the village before, and the feeling of starting it was very rough, and the palm of his hand rubbed it with a sandstone-like texture. "Take a closer look." The craftsman reminded on the side.

Eshua looked closely, and the arrow in front of him was dark and mottled, not like a piece of polished iron, but more like an impure iron ore that had been smashed into a sharp section, and a short small shaft was tied to the end of the arrow. Eshu looked up and looked at Hephasto in confusion: "This is—"

"Iron ore veins, and they are of such purity that they may even be open-air." The craftsman said categorically, "What a waste to use this unrefined ore as an arrowhead." Let's take the two horses and we'll go and examine the surroundings of Ismolola before we have further discussions. His tone was as if he were the lord of Ismorola, but Esher didn't care about the old man's arrogant attitude, his attention was drawn to the possible vein. The two of them left the village and wandered the snowy fields around Ismolola, while deliberately keeping a certain distance from the dense forests and mountains, enough to see the whole picture, and not to alarm the villains entrenched in it. Hephasto was a grandmaster-level scholar who had competed with Brochette for the position of president of the Royal Academy, and he could judge the possible location of the veins from the deep snow-covered terrain with just a pair of naked eyes, and along the way he demarcated several possible locations of the veins, but most of them were treacherous and remote. "Be prepared for resistance. And Ismolola doesn't have the manpower to expand here now - take your time. Hephasto sighed and turned his horse's head, "Go back, Lord Baron, now is not the time to worry about this. ”

"As a lord, you have a lot to do, you need to know the population of the village, how many young people, how many old people, how many children, how many empty houses are in the village, is there any need to expand? There is no need to worry about the supply of basic materials, and the lord's council hall has not been dismantled for firewood for many years, which is enough to show that although Ismolola is located in the middle of nowhere, there is no shortage of materials. You can assign a village chief to handle the trivial tasks in the village - if you already have and are qualified to be expected, then you don't need to bother, but you certainly can't let that Donovan be in charge. Then you'll need to leave some soldiers behind to protect the village, to rid the surrounding area of robbers as much as possible, and once you've secured the village, you'll need to start integrating it into the northern trade network, otherwise you'll not be able to get a dinar of tax revenue for another century, and you'll have to burn your own private savings. However, it was too far from Oldenburg, and the caravan would have to be heavily escorted. If the ice does not freeze all year round, there should be a flood season of one to two months, and goods can be transported by water to the port of Changge in Ryan or to the peninsula of Shoroku, where prices will be fairer. In terms of food, it is not a problem to fill your stomach by hunting and fishing, and it is better if you can export it as a trade product, after all, there has always been a shortage of food in the north, and leather goods are also a good economic source, but it is inevitable to compete with the barbarians of the Misty Mountains for food - tsk, it is indeed quite sinister, and the development is limited. I can't set up a workshop too soon—of course, Baron, I'm more than welcome to go out and kidnap some people, slaves are cheap labor. In this respect, I advise the Baron to look up to the Empire, for in the south of Pande, slaves are a harder currency than the Golden Dinar. The so-called free citizens of the empire are supported by a group of slaves who are no different from livestock......"

Hephasto spent most of the time back in the village pouring out how to run the territory to Esthew, who listened without saying a word, occasionally saying that he was not distracted. It's hard to imagine that the former master craftsman of Finbrai in front of him would be so well versed in territorial management. Viscount Ivanles is indeed doing his best to fulfill his part of the responsibility in his oath, but the more Viscount Ivanles pays for this, the heavier the responsibility that Eshua feels he is about to bear, but Hephaesto does let him take a lot of detours, if Eshua can deal with the historical legacy of Ismolola as soon as possible, so that the village can smoothly enter the normal operation of itself, then he can set off for the Gatu steppe - Eshu always remembered the deal with Brochette about the Cato war beast, And he felt it was time to get himself a mount that fit his heart.