No matter how independent he was, he was nominally a nobleman of the Duchy of Lothar, and the Karlo Mountain Road in his hand was also a battleground for enemy troops, so he could not be kept out of it.

Therefore, it is naturally a good thing that the princess should fight back with all her strength in public speeches.

As long as the Belan army on the frontal battlefield is repulsed, then the battle situation is decided, and the Belan army that ran to Van Shee County will lose its meaning of existence and can only retreat in disgrace.

Even if there is no repulsion, but only more pressure is put on Belan's main force on the frontal battlefield, then the pressure on Van Sheshire or Luo Ming will definitely gradually reduce.

After all, if this Beran army stays in Fanshi County, it can't capture Iron Fire City, and it can't gain control of the Carlo Mountain Road, so it's a waste for them to stay here, and sooner or later they will be transferred to support the frontal battlefield.

In that sense, it seems like a great thing, but for Romming, there are actually a number of downsides.

Don't look at Luo Ming's current situation, but his gains are not much, except for some loot on the battlefield and the allegiance of the Gartai mercenary group, it can be said that there is not much.

If the Beran army were to be withdrawn now, there would be no reason for the nobles to stay in the Callo Hill to cultivate the fields—if this work was completed, it would be possible to complete the reclamation plan that would have taken a few years in a short time.

In addition to this, it is also an opportunity for consolidation.

As long as the Belan army has not left, there is pressure from them, forcing the nobles to ally more and more closely with Luo Ming.

If the alliance between the strong and the weak becomes closer, even if Luo Ming does not take the initiative to annex them, they themselves will gradually get used to seeing themselves as Luo Ming's little brother and vassal.

Moreover, if the Belan army does not leave, it will continue to wreak havoc in Fanshi County in order to collect grain, grass and people.

It will only be the territories of other nobles that will be ravaged, and Luo Ming's own territory outside has already been fortified in advance, so it will not get worse no matter how much it rages. Cold-blooded point said, Luo Ming will not lose the slightest if it goes on like this.

And according to the theory of domination, the longer the Berans wreak havoc on their land, the greater and more lasting the gratitude that Lormin will reap when he goes to rescue them.

This gratitude is not only for the nobles, but also for the people under their rule, and the people under their rule will naturally have a lot of gratitude to Luo Ming, and a comparison with their own lords can show the difference, and they will be envious of Meiquan Ling.

Luo Ming's Meiquan Lingben is really not large enough, and it is not enough to be able to fight, because no matter how much it expands, the area that can be safely controlled for a while is limited, and no matter how big it is, something will happen.

However, if he built Schönbrunn into a well-known beacon of hope, it would be natural that many people and even talents would come to settle down.

Of course, this is a long-term plan, a ten-year plan.

All in all, Luo Ming would rather Princess Victoria fight back more slowly, anyway, this Belan army will not have the ability to break through Iron Fire City even if they stay in Fanshi County, and the longer they stay, the more Luo Ming will be able to gain benefits.

However, the news of the princess's speech has not yet spread, and so far only Lomin, Granty, and Ariana have known about it in Schönbrunn's territory, and it will be a long time before the news comes from the outside as long as the three of them do not leak it.

Within this time gap, those nobles still have to honestly lead people to reclaim the wasteland without knowing the truth, and the rest will be considered at that time.

Then, instead of looking to the future, Luo Ming turned his head and began to deal with the affairs of the present. ‘

Luo Ming had a good time some time ago, but the consumption of gunpowder was really a lot, and he could still find ways to produce most of the raw materials that made up gunpowder, but there was only one that couldn't, that is, sulfur.

He had had searched the Carlo Mountains several times before, but the Carlow Mountains were not volcanoes, and there was no ready-made sulfur to be produced, only a spyrite.

Although it takes some effort to extract the sulfur in pyrite, in any case, it is at least enough reserves, and Luo Ming estimates that if only a few hundred or one or two thousand miners dig it, it will not be able to dig it for decades.

Of course, Luo Ming had also spent a lot of real money to buy sulfur from the outside - it was also a common ingredient for alchemy and spellcasters, and it was not difficult to get it, but it was a little expensive.

But now that the war has begun, the channels for purchasing within the principality have been cut off, and the few remaining stocks can only be consumed, or the silk tea road in the north is troubling.

Originally, there was no one on the Silk Tea Road who specialized in selling sulfur in large quantities, although Luo Ming immediately sent people to purchase or even order it when he realized that the war was coming, but there was only a limit to what he could get for a while.

Moreover, Luo Ming is not willing to let all of this important strategic resource be purchased from outside.

In peacetime, his financial situation will be good, and it will be no problem to buy some from outside to fill his inventory.

But even if it is really facing an all-round long-term blockade, it should have a certain degree of self-production capacity, which can be called a qualified base area.

So, just four days ago, he decided to send someone to open a small pit.

Now, the first furnace of better ore has been gathered piecemeal, and the blast furnace has been built. Luo Ming's doppelganger came to the scene to accept the output of the first furnace of sulfur.

Although gunpowder has not been invented in this world before, there are still some applications of sulfur, and naturally there are relatively mature extraction methods.

Although the workers in Lormin were inexperienced, the sulfur produced by the first furnace was weighed and 5.4% of the weight of the ore was put into the ore.

According to Aya's estimates, when they become proficient, this number can be roughly maintained at around 7%.

Considering that Luo Ming now only needs to add about 10% sulfur to military gunpowder, that is to say, for every ten kilograms of pyrite mined by workers, it can be used to produce seven kilograms of gunpowder, which is already quite a good output.

But Luo Ming's doppelganger frowned as he looked at the smoke coming out of the blast furnace.

Although he was not here, he could see the faces of the workers and guess that the smoke was very pungent - needless to say, it must be harmful to health and the environment.

Luo Ming is not a staunch environmentalist, he agrees that environmental protection is a good thing, and he is happy to do it if it is a small effort, but not too much for it.

But this toxic and harmful exhaust gas is another matter. Although Luo Ming has not experienced it personally, he has also seen on the news in his previous life that a small factory in a certain place can pollute tens of thousands of acres of land, and hundreds of people around him are sick.