Chapter 160: The Cold Night Is Long.

Lorist put down the dipping pen in his hand and looked at the crystal hourglass on the table, it was now more than five o'clock in the morning, but the sky outside the window was still dark and gloomy, through the unclear green glass, you could dimly see the goose feather like snowflakes flying in the sky, it had been snowing heavily for three days in a row, and the snow outside was more than a foot thick.

On the table was a thick stack of vellum paper, the result of a night of Lorist's hard work. Some time ago, the conversation with Shi Fatzi made Lorist suddenly realize that he did not have a complete territorial development plan. His family territory is too remote, although he can stand on his own by holding the family territory of Rock Castle and not be affected by the war in the outside world, but the price is isolation and oblivion, and the root of everything is the inability to establish good transportation information with the outside world.

The Northland Plateau is a vast and sparsely populated area of three or four Dremk provinces, but has a population of less than a million. Just like the most prosperous Northland in the south ruled by Grand Duke Lukins, it is known as the elite area, and its population is only about three or four hundred thousand. There are two reasons for the bottleneck that restricts the development of the Northland Plateau, one is the inconvenience of external transportation, and the other is the lack of manpower.

On the map, the so-called Northland Plateau is not the northern end of the Gelinthia continent, but rather in the middle of the continent. Because all the maps of the Gelinthia continent show that the Magic Dragon Mountain Range is recognized as the center of the continent, and is the birthplace of the three major water veins of Gelintya.

The reason why it is called the Northland only indicates that this is the northernmost part of the human development territory, and if you go further north, you have to cross the Demon Dragon Mountain Range and enter a wild wasteland marked on the map. It was a place that humans had not set foot in for nearly a thousand years.

It is different from the plateau of Lorist's previous life. Northland is also known as the Plateau though. It's just that the terrain is about 100 meters higher than the plains outside, and the climate and environment are no different, in fact, in the lingua franca of Gelinthia, plateau does not refer to terrain, but to uncivilized, barbaric and remote areas, more like a derogatory term.

In Lorlist's vision. As long as the northbound convoy of more than 70,000 people and 100,000 displaced people are brought back, the shortage of manpower in the family territory can be alleviated, and the high tide of large-scale development and construction will be ushered in. At that time, stick to the rock castle, no matter how much war is raging outside, and the sky is dark, you can just build the family territory into a paradise in the troubled times.

For His Royal Highness's ambition to revive the empire, Lorist sincerely expressed his admiration and spiritual support. But he really had no interest in getting involved in the fun, and even the title of Grand Duke of the Northlands promised to him was not so rare. Even if you occupy the entire Northland, as long as the two ferries upstream and downstream of the Mitoburo River are blocked, you will not be trapped in the Northland......

Lorist finally got his idea to the Blade Mountains, which faced the sea to the west of his family's territory, and he didn't believe that the mountains that stretched for hundreds of miles could not find an outlet to the sea. As long as they could find an outlet to the sea, the family would be able to build a fleet of ships and connect with the outside world through the sea. It is much more convenient than the road on land, and it is even possible to transport the displaced people to the family territory by fleet, rather than organizing a convoy to walk for nearly a year......

Lorist wrote a lot of things he wanted to do on vellum paper, making glass, smelting steel, exploring ore veins, building cities, clearing wasteland, building roads, and implementing a policy of elite soldiers. Now that the convoy is armed and the family force is almost sixty or seventy thousand, Lorist is ready to return to the family territory and immediately implement the strategy of carrying the army, so that a large number of young and strong retirees will become the main force in the development of the family territory.

Now it is to escort the convoy and the displaced people to the north, so a large number of young people are conscripted into the army. In Lorist's opinion, in the future, the family armed forces will maintain a ratio of 1:20 between military and civilian. Forming an elite army, each soldier's fighting spirit has the strength of the Black Iron Rank, so that even if the number is only one or two thousand, it is enough to ensure that the beacon fire of the troubled times will not affect the Norton family.

In a few years, when the family territory has been developed and a good foundation has been laid, Lorist may be able to take the whole of the Northland into his arms. I remember what kind of biography I read in my previous life, there is a sentence in it that Lorist remembers very clearly, that is, without a reliable base, all hegemony is built on gravel, and a gust of wind can blow it down. This sentence is very similar to what Lao Zhu did in Chinese history, which is to build a high wall, accumulate grain, and slowly become the king when converted into ancient texts.

Lorist picked up his pen again, wrote down gunpowder and catapults on vel� paper, and when he returned to the family domain, he saw if he could make these two weapons of murder. The castle of Gelinthia was everywhere, and the ballista alone was always lacking in both defending and besieging cities. With catapults and gunpowder, it should be much easier to deal with well-defended castle fortresses.

Like Shi Fatzi, he built more than a hundred castles in the province of Verbasya, one is to rely on the crossbow carts and longbowmen of the chariot as a cover, and the other is to serve as the main force of the siege of the city are those prisoners turned into death battalions, and third, the strength of those territorial nobles is not strong, but this is it, the soldiers of the death battalion still changed a few times, and the casualties before and after added up to more than 10,000.

The few siege battles that Lorist fought were all surprise attacks, sneak attacks and night attacks, and the only frontal assault on Kitano Town ended in failure. With these two weapons of destruction, Lorist believes that a frontal assault will not be a problem. When the development of the family territory is over, and he shows his claws on the Northland, there will be no more well-defended castles like the fortress of Liechdä.

Since returning to the family domain in March to inherit the title and become the new lord, Lorist has been running around non-stop, never resting to think about the development and planning of the family domain. It wasn't until he was now trapped in the city of Kebo by heavy snow and cold that he had time to think quietly......

Looking at the stack of animal skin paper in his hand again, Lorist thought for a moment and added a few more lines to it. He wrote about cultural education, popularizing basic vindictiveness and making paper.

Cultural education is very simple, that is, to teach people to read, write and calculate, many people can speak the common language, but they can't write and read, because they don't know how to read, as the bottom of the society, they are working hard every day to make food and clothing for themselves and their families, and they have no ability to let their children receive a good education, so they live from generation to generation.

Popularize the basic vindictiveness. The Norton family is a large territory. But he still faces the threat of the mountain barbarians and demonic beasts of the Demon Dragon Mountain Range. Only popularize the basic vindictiveness. Let the vast number of people have the ability to awaken their fighting spirit, so that they can have the power of self-preservation. In addition, the physical strength, health, and longevity of people who have awakened their fighting spirit will be greatly improved, and it is a good way for the family to speed up the development of the territory.

Finally, there is papermaking, and there is no paper of the kind in Lorlist's previous life. The only thing that can be used is the skin paper. If you really go back to the roots, this is probably to blame the magical civilization thousands of years ago. It is said that magicians use vellum paper, and they use it to make magic scrolls, record magic words, and write magic books, because in legend only animal skin paper can carry words with magical powers, so magicians have not considered inventing a cheap paper for mortals.

The era of magical civilization is long gone, and now we can only imagine the glory of that time in legends. But the use of animal skins to make paper has been passed down. Of course, the current animal skin paper is also different from the legend, it is not made of monster skin, but cowhide. Made of horse skin, sheepskin, etc. The worst are paper made of pigskin and rabbit skin.

Making animal skin paper is very simple and is a very common craft, but it is difficult to make it well because the process is very cumbersome. Take parchment paper as an example, first cut the hides into rectangles, soak them in water for a day and a night, take them out and wash them, put them in a lime solution and soak them in a lime solution for about ten days after cleaning, and score three times a day to stir with a stick, such a process should last three times, and then take them out and dry them after 30 days, scrape off the blood tendons and minced meat on the sheepskin with a knife to make it a skin film, and then soak it in a straw slurry solution for two days, take it out and dry it with pumice powder to polish it to smoothness, and then straighten and fix it with a wooden frame, dry it for three days as a solid type, and then cut the parchment paper into a piece of paper of standard specifications to be completed。

This is why a book is expensive on the continent of Gelinthia. If Lorist wants to carry out cultural education in the family domain, he must find a paper that is easy to produce and cheap, otherwise the consumption of animal skin paper alone is not a figure that a family can afford.

If you can make a blank paper like in your previous life, you can not only popularize cultural education in the family territory, but also sell the white paper as the family's fist commodity to the whole continent. Like the newspapers of the city of Morente, every time a new issue arrives, the messenger takes the old issue with him, because the old issue has to be taken back and re-polished, and the handwriting is erased and the new content is printed, and the cycle is repeated until the vellum paper is worn out and worn out.

Lorist has always believed that there is no dynasty that will not fall for a thousand years and a family that will never be defeated. In Gallinthia, people are accustomed to distinguish by the name of a place or a country, such as Lorist from the Northlands, Fat Man from the Kingdom of Trimber, etc., if these homeless people and the people of the convoy can be proud to be Norton, then Lorist will believe that the Norton family will be passed down for thousands of years.

Lorlist's idea is to use long-term propaganda and brainwashing to make the people of the northbound convoy and 100,000 homeless people return to the Norton family. There was a great dynasty in ancient China, and its name eventually became the name of a great nation. Lorist's idea was to make the name Norton a title that everyone in the family realm would be proud of and proud to call in the future, and they would become Nortons instead of Northlanders......

All this depends on long-term propaganda work, and even the journey of the northbound convoy can be compiled into a history book, so that future generations can remember the hardships of the pioneers and treks of their predecessors. Lorist thinks a lot, but the premise of all this is that there must be cheap writing paper in order to subtly instill in people the pride and pride of the name Norton when it comes to cultural education. Therefore, making a blank sheet of paper like in his previous life became a very important thing in Lorlist's eyes.

In his previous life, as the director of a small handicraft factory, Lorist would do a lot of handicrafts, such as making glass, making models of sailing warships, and designing. But Lorist doesn't know how to make paper, he only knows some papermaking principles and materials, but he doesn't know the process and process. Looking at the line of making paper written on the animal skin paper, he sighed, and when he returned to the family territory to find a few workers to slowly experiment, there would always be a successful day......

There was a soft knock outside the door, and Lorist shouted, "Come in." ”

Reddy pushed open the door and came in with a basin of hot water: "My lord, you woke up so early, it's six o'clock in the morning and it's still as dark as the middle of the night." ”

Lorist washed his face: "Reddy, now that it's snowing outside, you are all indoors in your morning exercises, don't be sloppy and slack, the cultivation of martial arts depends on consciousness and perseverance." Can't be lazy. You're already a two-star Black Iron this year. I hope you'll be promoted to Silver in two years' time. ”

"Yes. My lord, I understand. Reddy said.

"By the way, do I have any arrangements for today?" Lorist asked.

Reddy thought for a moment and replied, "Yesterday Knight Schreed said that he would go to inspect the residence of the exiles around eight o'clock in the morning, and you said that you would go with you. ”

"Oh, then you go and bring breakfast at half-past seven, and I'll go find Schrader after I'm done. Lorist said.

"Yes, sir. Reddy stepped out.

Between six and seven thirty in the morning was Lorlist's thunderous morning exercise during his time in Cobo City, and he ran a big week. Move your hands and feet a little more, and the time is up.

For Lorist, the most difficult thing for him now is that he can't grasp the progress of his cultivation, in his previous life, he didn't practice to the dark energy stage at all, he neither understood nor heard anyone talk about it, so he could only rely on his own slow exploration. He is now in the dark energy class, but he is also confused at which stage. Like the last time Lorist in Maple Grove Villa, after venting his desire on the maid Irina, he suddenly felt and relaxed physically and mentally, he didn't understand what was going on, only that he should have taken a step forward.

Lorist sometimes felt that it was an unbelievable thing to use his fighting spirit to cultivate the ancestral kung fu of his previous life, but he hadn't found any harm so far. On the contrary, Jin Shuidu's entry seems to be too fast. He is very confident in his own skills, and generally speaking, the golden level of fighting spirit is no longer an opponent. I just don't know when I'll have the opportunity to compete with the Great Sword Master and see what the difference is. Lorist is looking forward to this.

The city of Kebo was not large, and the northbound convoy of men and horses and 100,000 displaced people filled the city. Fortunately, the Second Highness transported one-third of the grain, vacated nearly 100 large granaries, and added the wide drying ground in the east of the city to arrange 178,000 horses.

The snow was still falling, and Lorist and Fat Man wore black leather cloaks and walked along the path cleared by the patrol to the camp where the homeless people were stationed.

"Locke, how did you come up with the idea of building a snow room first and then putting the tent inside? This is really warm, and it solves the problem of accommodation for the homeless people at once, saving materials and labor, which is really convenient. Shi Fatzi said as he walked: "Do you know, if you use wood to build a temporary shelter, this continuous heavy snow will either crush the roof, or you have to send people to clean it up constantly. ”

Lorist replied, "Didn't you see that I bought so many books at Dawn Academy, you were busy looking for someone to fine me while I was reading." This method is what I see from an adventure book, about an adventurer who got lost in the wasteland and had to use this method to get himself through the cold winter, I don't know if it's true or not, so I mentioned it in passing, and made a picture, who thinks you really did it......"

"You ......" Shi Fatzi was angry: "How can you be like this, you just talk nonsense if you don't know if it's true or not." You're lucky this time, if it's fake, such a cold day will kill you. ”

Lorist laughed: "Lied to you, who told you that you don't like to read these miscellaneous books, saying that these books are all made up by the author to cheat money, you are resolutely not giving these liars a copper plate." Let me tell you, it's a real biography, the work of the greatest adventurer of a hundred years ago, Keymen Pratt, who drew the structure of the snow room on the last page of the book, the same as the one I drew for you, and then a good person built this kind of snow room in the winter and did experiments, and it proved that it is indeed very warm. ”

“......”

After a while, Shi Fatzi asked again: "Locke, in a few days it will be December 36th, which is the festival to celebrate the New Year, do you have any ideas?"

Lorist was silent for a moment: "Alas, last year on December 36 we had an all-night party at the Red Crow Tavern, and this year we are in this distant city of Kebo. Human encounters are really unpredictable...... How are you going to arrange it?"

"Yes, at this time last year, none of us would have imagined the current scene, leading so many people and horses to lead more than 100,000 displaced people north...... I think that now that there is a lot of food, I will take some out and divide it, and then give each person a pound of meat, a glass of ale wine, and the children will use a candy and biscuits instead, what do you think?" said Shi Fatzi.

Lloris nodded: "You think very thoughtfully, just arrange it like this, if the snow stops then, we can also arrange some activities to let everyone have a happy New Year." ”

Raising his head and looking at the dark sky, Lorist exhaled a deep white breath: "Stay up for more than a month, and we can leave for home......"

...... (To be continued.) )