Most of the borders of this era were formed by natural barriers, such as rivers, mountains, canyons, or forests that were difficult for armies to pass through on a large scale.

Some borders are also on the plains, but that often means that the two countries will be at loggerheads there, because once they defeat each other, they can immediately go straight in.

And the Three Hundred Likallo Mountains are the border of the Duchy of Lothar in this direction.

According to Aya's knowledge, there was a wasteland behind the mountain range, although it was relatively barren and arid, and even desert in some areas, which was not suitable for agricultural development, but there was a trade route called the "Silk Tea Road" through it.

For others, even knowing that there was a trade route would be inadequate, but Lomin was different—many of his men who were born and raised in the Karlo Mountains could lead the way, and if there were any obstacles on the way, or if the road was too narrow, he could use gunpowder to open the way.

Pure manpower is not a cost to Luo Ming for the time being, those mountain people have already received his share of food, and now it is time for them to work voluntarily to repay this kindness.

As for gunpowder, there was no shortage of gunpowder because Luo Ming had scavenged the bat caves and guano in the mountains, and carried out various large-scale nitrate collection activities in the territory.

Based on his usage this year, it is about enough for him to use it for another two years.

This is one of the ways that Luo Ming is preparing to break the game.

Even if he didn't have the mountain people and food problems to hold him back, the current situation would not allow him to expand much in Van Shei.

The chaos caused by the monsters has been quelled, and peace has returned to the county of Vanshei, at which point any attack on the nobleman's territory will cause an uproar, and the nobles will spontaneously resist him without the need for the royal family to suppress him.

But to develop business and open up new business routes, there is no problem at all.

The area north of Mount Carlo was not only out of reach for the royal family, they could hardly even get news there. To put it mildly, even if Luo Ming built a city on the other side of the mountain, it would take several years for the royal family to discover the anomaly.

In addition to opening up the road through the Carlo Mountains, Lomin also pinned his hopes on water transportation.

The Principality of Lothar is relatively rich in water resources, with many large rivers and some small canals connecting to each other, and the water transport industry itself is very developed.

Luo Ming doesn't know how to build ships, and unless he can directly build a steam engine, his advantage as a traverser will not be used in water transportation for the time being.

But even just average water transport can benefit him a lot.

With its own water transportation capabilities, it is possible to sell Schönbrunn specialties such as spirits and soaps to several counties and even the whole country, and to purchase necessities such as iron and grain from various places.

In this way, it not only broadens the market, but also saves a freight - if it is handed over to outsiders to transport the goods, it will definitely have to draw a lot of additional freight.

Moreover, with the help of water transportation, Luo Ming can also transport his troops faster by water, which can be used to great effect if there is any unexpected situation and war.

As for the enemy, there may also be a navy? As long as Luo Ming loads the cannon on the ship, the ordinary navy will have to go around him!

Although Aya had the help of his knowledge and recruited a few sailors and shipwrights, by the time winter came, the "Mernbrunn Water Master" had only just owned a cargo ship and two fishing boats, and had a rivalry with the Mongol navy on Earth.

As for the road through the mountains, although it was opened so so, it didn't take long for winter to enter and snow fell.

Luo Ming sent a team of men and horses north to search for the trade route, but by this season, there were basically no caravans passing through it, and the team finally rushed back before the ice and snow blocked the road.

Luo Ming didn't get angry with them, things can't always go according to people's hearts, and he is not the kind of Long Aotian who is spoiled by good luck.

Anyway, we can continue at the beginning of spring next year, so if you think about it this way, there will be no problem.

Moreover, there is another seemingly inconspicuous small project that has succeeded, and to a certain extent, it can also bring in financial revenue - that is, writing paper.

The medium of writing in this era was generally parchment and linen, the former was expensive, while the latter was not easy to preserve, and it was heavy and clumsy.

Since a year ago, Luo Ming has been developing the process of making paper, and the initial production is either straw paper or can only be used to make paper nails.

But in October of this year, the first piece of writing paper came out unexpectedly.

This is destined to go down in history as the first writing paper looks inconspicuous, the paper is brownish-yellow, with some wrinkles, and a little vein of different colors can be faintly seen - the raw materials of paper production include tree bark, rags, etc., which have not been completely crushed and pulped, and its prototype can be faintly seen.

But it has a certain flexibility, and the thickness is so-so, and Luo Ming almost finished writing a whole sentence on it, and cracks appeared on the paper.

He immediately blocked the news, secretly rewarded the papermakers involved in the manufacture of this paper, and personally supervised them to improve the process.

Five days later, fully qualified writing paper finally appeared on Lomin's desk.

He took the first piece of paper, held up the quill, and began to write on it.

Sentences, stick figures, Luo Ming even drew a circle and then blacked it out, and the tip of the pen did not penetrate the back of the paper, nor did it tear even a crack.

He then bent the paper several times, and finally crumpled it into a ball and unfolded it, still undamaged.

Although the quality could not be compared with the parchment made by Seiko, it was much better than ordinary linen, and after consulting with the people, Luo Ming decided to price it at five silver coins.

After the meeting was dismissed, Luo Ming burned all the papers that had been experimented with before, and even the ashes were blown away, and then solemnly picked up the quill and wrote the high-sounding words in neat lingua franca on the most delicate piece of paper that was specially left for the end:

"On October 8, the second year of Meiquan, Luo Ming witnessed the birth of this first piece of writing paper. It is like a spark that will ignite the light of civilization and wisdom in the wasteland of ignorance and ignorance. ”

An autumn thunder happened to sound at this time, but it couldn't hide Luo Ming's laughter.

It's a pleasant feeling to destroy historical artifacts and then "create" new ones with your own hands, giving the reputation of "the first writing paper" to a carefully prepared piece of paper instead of the crumpled waste paper that has already been tossed!

Of course, in order to make it a high-enough artifact, it also has a lot to do with Luo Ming himself - in this regard, he is very confident!