In April, the weather gets hotter. In this season of lush vegetation and mountain flowers, the hills of people and horses become lush and full of life. The rolling hills are covered with clumps of low shrubs, and colorful wildflowers are quietly blooming, and at first glance it looks like a colorful tapestry draped over the hills.

The valleys of the hills are covered with dense alfalfa, which is thriving green and dotted with small blue-purple flowers. Herds of cattle and sheep are looking down for food, and some bold wild deer can't resist the temptation of pasture, quietly pacing out of the woods and blending into the flock to enjoy the tender alfalfa. The dutiful sheepdogs bared their teeth and barked at the uninvited guests, trying to defend their territory, only to be greeted by the horns of the stag.

The shepherds sat on the grass and watched the sheepdogs chase and play with the deer, without any intention of helping.

It's not hunting season yet, so if the deer want to eat alfalfa, give it to them, the fatter the better......

Of course, the scenery of the hills is not set in stone. With the intensification of human activities, especially the rise of the brick-making industry, many hills have become bald mountains, and the bushes on the mountains have been cut down, dried into firewood, sent to giant brick kilns, and finally turned into billowing smoke and disappeared under the sky.

Five hills near the village of Morin under Randall's command have become barren mounds, and the brown dirt is directly exposed to the air, which contrasts sharply with the dense woods and grassy valleys, making it look particularly ugly. During the rainy season, these mounds are even in danger of collapsing.

Today, however, it is different.

Circles of upward terraced rice fields coil from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, layer upon layer, high and low, and the neatly arranged thorn rue trees in the terraces dress the mountain into a layered green tower. The peasant women wore turbans and carried baskets made of wild rattan. Keep plucking plump pods from the spiny jaw tree, and in a short time the entire basket will be filled.

"How nice it would be if so many prickly kidney beans were used to feed the pigs......" Village Chief Merlin said with emotion, with a regretful expression on his face.

"If Old Man Miller hears that, do you believe he will jump up and slap you hard?" Victor teased with a smile.

Victor had long planned to open up terraces, and he originally planned to plant some cash crops such as fruit trees, oilwood, and sisal on the mound, but in the end he chose high-yielding spiny kidney beans. According to the agreement between Victor and the Duke of Wellington, Randall was to transplant 1.3 million thorn rue trees from the south-central part of the kingdom within two years, totaling 50,000 acres of thorny kidney bean fields. Last year, during the windy season, Randall planted more than 18,000 acres of prickly kidney beans after taking the lead, and in March, these prickly kidney beans were harvested for the first time, with a monthly yield of more than 15 million pounds.

Although the taste of the prickly kidney beans is average and the moisture content is high, it is still no problem to fill the stomach. However, the production of prickly kidney beans is high, and Randall has a large population.

Randall's current population has more than 18,000 displaced people, and the York family has successively mobilized 13,000 displaced workers to enter the Barony of Phenices to build the southern walls and fortresses. With more than 12,000 employees, Victor manages a population of more than 43,000 people. Randall grows prickly kidney beans precisely to alleviate the logistical pressures of a large population. Although the York family should be responsible for the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the homeless employees, the giant fortress blocking the entrance to the Swamp is related to the safety of Randall's territory, and the two sides are grasshoppers on the same line, so there is no need to worry so much.

Baskets of prickly kidney beans were delivered to the construction site and distributed free of charge to hired workers in the name of the church. Father Miller was so happy that he couldn't keep his mouth shut, but the villagers couldn't be happy.

A good harvest is a joy to have, but it would be a different matter to give away the hard-earned spiny kidney beans to someone else for free. In the eyes of the villagers, the uneaten prickly kidney beans should be used to feed the pigs!

Thinking of Father Miller's violent thunder and spitting on his own face, the village chief of Morin was immediately stunned, and he said curtly: "My lord, the five hills under the jurisdiction of our Morin Village are already full of spiny kidney beans, and it shouldn't be our turn to plant the spiny kidney beans in the back, right?"

Victor smiled silently, and the reaction of the village chief of Morin was exactly what he needed.

The property in the territory is nominally owned by the lord, but how much can the lord use? A village has a maximum of 2,000 villagers and has jurisdiction over 300 to 400 square kilometers of territory. If the lords received less offerings, they could still live a prosperous life. Therefore, the villagers keep a close eye on the village commons, and the products of each hill are closely related to their pockets. Who wants to grow some worthless prickly kidney beans?

In fact, the biggest resistance to the promotion of prickly kidney beans in the church came from the people, not the lords. It doesn't matter where you plant the prickly kidney beans, it's the same.

If the church wants to expand the area of prickly kidney beans in Randall, it must first ask the villagers if they agree.

The will of the lord is actually a concentrated manifestation of the will of the people. For example, Maureen is pleading his case with Victor for the benefit of the villagers. He was one of Victor's first followers and was loyal to the Randall family. For an old backbone like Morin, Victor will always have some affection. That's bottom-up influence.

People have relatives near and far, and even the Lord of Radiance only bestows magic on the most devout clergy, not to mention a mortal lord? A foolish bird who does not defend his own people and pursues equal treatment will only end up betraying his relatives.

The higher you stand, the farther you can see. Of course, the village chief's vision cannot be compared to that of the lord, and in the face of Morin's request, Victor felt the need to mention him.

"You can't just think about your village. I hope that you will be able to take on the responsibility of mayor in the future. ”

"By the end of this year, the main canal will be able to connect five stream reservoirs," Victor told Morin. In the next five years, we will build a ring canal on the east side of the Jinshui River and build more small artificial lakes upstream of the stream reservoir, and the arable land area of Randall's territory will increase to 3 million mu and the pasture area will exceed 4 million mu. I'm going to do it three years in rotation, one year with wheat, one year with potatoes, and one year at fallow. Even so, 100,000 young and strong hired laborers are needed to work on 2 million acres of arable land each year, whose families can grow vegetables and pigs, cattle and sheep, plus brick kiln workers, iron miners, artisans and craftsmen, and the residents of Pinghu Town, the total population of Randall's territory will not be less than 400,000. ”

Morin was stunned and said, "So many people, it seems that the total population of the kingdom is only more than 900,000!"

That was the Registered Population, the people of the Kingdom. "There are more than 900,000 displaced people in the central and northern parts of the kingdom, and more than 1 million displaced people in the other realms combined, and I estimate that the total population of Gambis is at least 3 million. Of course, Randall's can't just recruit homeless people, and we need to encourage childbearing...... Well, Randall's 120,000 homeless people are about the same. ”

"Accommodating hundreds of thousands of people in a territory of 10,000 square kilometers was a difficult challenge for us. Randall will build two cities, seven towns and twenty-one administrative villages in the future, Pinghu Town will be renamed Lake City as the main city of the Randall family, and your Molin Village will be changed to a village and a town, and a castle will be built, and there will be three administrative villages under its jurisdiction, and there will be farms and pastures under each administrative village. You will have to manage at least 1,000 square kilometers of territory and 20,000 people for me. ”

"Honorable ...... Dear Master, I... You're going to make me mayor?" Morin stammered.

"Why? Don't want to be mayor?" asked Victor deliberately.

"Yes, yes, oh no, no, no. Village Chief Morin was pleasantly surprised, and said incoherently: "I mean, I will never live up to the trust of adults!"

"Being mayor is not an easy thing to do. You have to spend more time learning and try to improve your abilities. Victor stopped and said, "Kidney beans can help us survive the most difficult times, do you want to plant them?"

"To plant...... But you can't plant too much. Mo Lin hesitated for a moment, and said truthfully: "My lord, the spiny kidney beans grow fast and rot quickly, and the good seeds are not easy to cut, and the church attendants in Pinghu Town come once a month, and they carefully inspect the thorny kidney bean trees in the terraces, for fear that we will deliberately kill them." If this continues, the hills will be planted with spiny kidney bean trees, and the villagers will have no wild herbs to pick, and the wild deer and yellow sheep may not be visible. ”

Victor smiled and said, "The church is not going to give up on improving the prickly kidney beans, they are checking the mutant plants. ”

"Mutant plants?"

"Hmm. Victor nodded: "The church is very experienced in the cultivation of crops, fruit tree pruning and grafting techniques were invented by the monks of the monastery, and the spelt wheat was originally just a southern dogtail grass, and it has become the current crop after more than four hundred years of improvement in the monastery." The church believes that the prickly kidney bean can also be an easy to store crop, but it needs to be planted on a larger scale and selected mutated plants for cultivation. However, it takes too long to improve the prickly kidney bean, at least 4 or 5 hundred years. We will not act as a testing ground for the church, and Randall will grow up to 100,000 acres of prickly kidney beans. ”

"Whether the kidney beans will be used to raise pigs or give relief to the church in the future depends on your ability. ”

Having said this, Mo Lina couldn't understand what his master meant, and he said with a bitter face: "It is my duty to encourage the villagers to resist the prickly kidney beans, this ...... Offending the priest...... For my loyalty's sake, sir, you must protect me. ”

"Huh. Victor patted Morin on the shoulder and comforted: "You can do it boldly! Actually, now that there are new farming, animal husbandry and water conservancy projects, the church doesn't care too much about spiny kidney beans." ”

"My lord, I will not let you down. Maureen patted his chest and assured.

As he spoke, several farmers drove a strange pack of beasts down the terraces. These pack beasts are about the size of a short-tailed deer, with bright black fur, white stripes on the ventral side, thick limbs, muscular muscles, high muscles on the shoulders and back, a head resembling a wildebeest, long ears without horns, and a pair of big eyes that look stupid and cute. Each pack beast carried four large baskets filled with freshly picked kidney beans, and they lined up behind the farmer, appearing obedient.

"My lord, the bantam camel is really easy to use, it is not a hassle to go up and down the mountain, and having these guys help transport the spiny kidney beans can save us a lot of wages. Morin said happily.

The camel antelope is a herbivorous animal endemic to the Boulder Mountains. They have strong muscles and bones, full of physical strength, have a water bladder in their stomach, can go days without drinking water, have split toes adapted to mountain walking, and have strong weight-bearing cross-country ability. The flesh of the camel antelope is rough and difficult to swallow, but it has a docile and clever temperament, and usually feeds on mountain thorns, and the Naville people domesticated it in captivity and used it as a tool for mountain and forest servants.

The domesticated camel antelope can carry up to 600 pounds of weight and trek nearly 30 kilometers of mountain roads in four hours, and is resistant to rough feeding, even if it only eats straw, it will not lose weight like cattle and sheep, making it ideal for mountain transportation.

These camels were brought back by the Warhammer Mercenaries from the town of Garcy in Neville.

During last year's Season of Fire, Victor split the Warhammer mercenary group into three, led by Hammer, Fermi, and Kidd. Fermi led the Kestrel mercenary group all the way north into the kingdom of Duoduo and opened up smuggling routes. Kidd leads the Bobcat Mercenary Regiment, tasked with raiding the hillfolk villages in Gambis. Hammer took the merchant Witch and the Warhammer mercenary group to the town of Garcy in the Kingdom of Neville to discuss with Baron Garrot about the snow sugar preserve, and by the way, he purchased fire elemental crystals and mountain camels.

A month ago, the Warhammer Mercenary Regiment returned with a full load, and when they went there were only 45 people, 106 returned. The hillfolk strongholds along the way were enthusiastic about the Warhammer Mercenary Regiment, and many young mountaineers volunteered to join the Mercenary Regiment. In addition, Hammer brought back 120 Fire Elemental Crystals and 400 camele, as well as a profit of 2,000 Gold Sol.

Things are going well, but Hammer is uneasy, and he hands Victor a letter from the Lord of Garcy.

It turned out that Baron Garrot of the Kingdom of Neville had seen through the details of the Warhammer mercenary group, and he hoped that Victor would continue to maintain this secret trade route and sell jaggery and some daily necessities to the town of Garcy, for which he was willing to sell iron, gems, medicinal herbs, and elemental crystals. These 400 camels were a gift from Baron Garrot to Victor, or Baron Garrot's investment in the secret business. With these pack beasts, it is natural to increase the volume of trade between the two sides.

There is never a shortage of smart people in the world, and you can't take others for fools.

Baron Garrot saw through the heels of the Warhammer mercenaries with only two contacts, and knew that they were walking mountain roads and running smuggling. And Baron Garrot's attitude also shows that there is no problem with Victor's smuggling strategy, and pulling the little lord into the game was originally part of the smuggling network. After all, it was Victor who invested a lot of manpower and took the biggest risks, and the small lords in remote areas could make money just by waiting for private merchants to come to their door, so why not do it? Of course, the strategic value of jaggery also played a key role.

Victor was not carried away by Baron Garrot's enthusiasm, and the bottom-up infiltration strategy could not be changed before the private business network surfaced. If the High Lords were aware of the existence of the Free Folk Merchant Order, and they would have the attitude that no one would intervene and no one would get it, the whole plan would be ruined by the great powers. And the people at the bottom seem to be humble, but they can transport goods to the market to sell, and when their will affects the church, the village chief, and the small lords, the big nobles can no longer shake Victor's dominant position.

Although Baron Garrot is shrewd, in the case of information asymmetry, he can only see one line, and he definitely can't think of the entire layout of Victor. For this partner who appeared early, Victor really had nothing to worry about.

In any case, things are going in a good direction.

There are many young people among the mountain people who are eager to get out of the mountains, and they will increase the size of the mercenary group and become a potential military force for the Randall family.

With the Fire Elemental Crystal, Victor will be able to build large furnaces near the ore veins, increasing smelting efficiency and significantly increasing the productivity of giant brick kilns. With the camel antelope, the mountain transport capacity will be greatly enhanced, and at least 400 alchemy militia will be liberated.

After solving the manpower problem, Victor's mercury and smuggler groups will enter a period of rapid development. It can be said that the fire elemental crystal and the camel antelope have revitalized the development situation of the smuggling merchant group.

At present, the administrative system of the Randall family is becoming more and more perfect, Lilia has more than 100 stewards, 300 deacons, and 171 small squires by Victor's side, and they will all become the backbone of the Randall family in two years.

On the military side, Randall has 300 family guards, 600 mercenaries, and the Swiftbird Light Cavalry has also expanded to 80 cavalry, and each elite cavalry is equipped with a new type of armor. As for the mercenary group outside the territory and the bear group formed by Barrett, it is not yet possible to count, but the total size will not be less than 1,200 people.

In terms of finances, the annual income from the trade of raw sugar alone will not be less than 60,000 gold soles, and the sales of horse-drawn carriages, oil canvases, and pork for hemostatic drugs are also becoming more and more popular, and it is estimated that Randall's total income this year will exceed 80,000 gold soles. As the smugglers grew, the trade in snow and sugar, coffee, and preserves could also be prospected.

In addition, the total value of Victor's mountain reserves, including leather, oilwood, medicinal herbs and iron, refined iron, silver ingots, adamantite gold, ther silver, and mythril, exceeded one million gold soles.

The development of the Swamp is progressing steadily, and Emerson currently controls more than 300 goblins, which are extremely fertile and could exceed 1,000 in less than two years. The larger the goblin clan, the more swamp resources will be gathered.

However, Randall's education and research system is still in a stagnant stage, mainly because the Randall family's background is too shallow, and family scholars cannot be cultivated overnight. Victor plans to recruit some down-and-out nobles during the Yorks' Legion Tournament and let them assist Alina in training the family's squires. On the other hand, he is ready to offer a bounty to attract some talented people to complete the papermaking task. Before that, the people of Randall's leadership had to wipe their butts with leaves and wood chips.

Hundreds of thousands of people wiped their butts with leaves...... Papermaking is really urgent!

Everything is on the right track, and now it's time to think about winning people's hearts. Randall's festivals and military parades are on the agenda. Victor thought to himself.

At this time, a small attendant rode over on a swift bird, and when he saw Victor, he jumped off his saddle and said, "My lord, Lady Alina, please return to Silvermoon Manor at once...... Lady Sylvia came. ”

"Hmm, where is Lady Silvia's car?" asked Victor, frowning.

"Lady Sylvia didn't ride, she came on horseback with a few servants, and was already waiting for you at Silvermoon Manor. ”

Victor's heart couldn't help but sink. The York family had only recently finished disposing of the flesh of the alienated behemoth, and Sylvia had been away from Randall for less than a month, which meant that she had hurried back a few days after returning to Goldwater City. This shows that there must be a major change in the Centaur Hills, and it has something to do with the Randall family!

"Let's go!"

Victor didn't bother to greet Merlin, jumped on the Swiftbird, and hurried towards Silvermoon Manor, escorted by a group of Swiftbird light cavalry.

Two hours later, as soon as Victor returned to Silvermoon Manor, he saw Alina in a long dress standing in the doorway.

"Where's Madame?" Victor jumped down from the swift bird, and one of the attendants took the reins and led the swift bird to the pens.

Alina untied Victor's cloak and said softly, "Madame is waiting for you in the bedroom." ”

"Bedroom...... Wait for me in the bedroom, it's fine!" Victor muttered as he ascended the stairs and headed towards the bedroom.

After a few knocks on the door, Victor pushed it straight in. Sylvia was standing in front of the bedroom window, looking at him with a smile, her pure blonde hair tied in a ponytail by a headband, hanging casually behind her, stepping on calfskin heels, and wearing a lake-green dress with a fluttering hem that revealed a sleek and beautiful calf.

"Is it pretty?" Sylvia spun around lightly, lifted her skirt, and bowed her knees, her blue eyes full of smiles.

Dresses and high heels have only recently become popular in the celebrity circle, and it is the first time for Victor to see Sylvia's dress, at this moment she is different from the mature and beautiful in the past, but more glamorous and delicate.

I don't know when it began, Sylvia's temperament gradually changed from graceful and noble to coquettish and moving, and she stood with Victor without being obtrusive, like a pair of beautiful people. Victor had to admit that this kind of Sylvia made him feel more dear and fascinated by him.

"It's beautiful. Victor complimented heartily and asked, "Honey, is something happening?"

"I miss you...... Did you miss me?" asked Sylvia with her arms around Victor's neck.

Do you want to?

"I don't want to, because I meet you every day in my dreams. ”

Victor hugged her slender waist and said the most lame love words, and her embarrassed appearance made Sylvia's smile tremble, but she would not let her lover go.

"Now that I'm here to the door, won't you kiss me?"

The sparkling red lips are close at hand, and the sweet smell lingers on the tip of the nose. At this time, the big trouble is not as important as the stunner in the arms.