Located in the northwest of the Chebman Territory, the town of Pine Grove has four villages under its jurisdiction and a total population of less than 2,000. Therefore, Count Chebman chose to trade Mithril with Victor here. Since Mithril is a very sensitive strategic material, and both parties trade secretly as freedmen, Count Chebman instructed the lords of Pinewood to build a free house outside as a trading point. In order to hide people's eyes, the daily patrol work of Pine Forest Town has also been suspended. It can be said that the surrounding area of Pinewood Town has become a place where people come and go freely, and Wei Qi and the others do not know about it.

When Wei Qi and his party entered the Chebman territory, the convoy deliberately avoided the road signs and drove directly into the wilderness, and Wei Lin and the others were terrified. It is common knowledge in the human kingdom to have a way to walk, and the lords build roads between villages and towns, set up posts on the roads and send soldiers to patrol them, so as to ensure the safety of pedestrians and the smooth flow of roads, as well as check the identity and goods of outsiders and collect taxes. If you don't take the road, you have bad intentions, and if you are caught, you will never end well, and you will either be judged as a bandit, or pay a fine, or serve hard labor.

At the instigation of the others, Wellin reminded Sasha that the Chebman family was different from a new family like the Randalls, and that it would be a felony to leave the road built by the Chebman family. Sasha didn't explain, just viciously told Wellin to shut up.

When it was dark, they saw a little fire, and it was a makeshift camp. Sasha jumped off his horse and waved his torch twice, and the fire on the opposite side danced with it.

"Let's go! ”

Sasha turned around and gave an order, leading the way towards the camp. There were four bonfires in the camp, and dozens of men sat around them. It was the instinct of a merchant to observe words and looks, and Welch and the others found that these strong men were strong and strong, with sharp eyes, and their equipment was very complete although it was old, with chain mail, leather armor, spears, short knives, and about twenty black crossbows. Apparently this was not a random rabble, and the freemen and merchants breathed a sigh of relief.

Wetland also noticed that Sasha was talking in a low voice with a stout man, who was more than half a head taller than the man, but looking at him nodding his head and looking flattering, he knew that the man should be the leader of the mercenary group. Sure enough, after a while, Sasha walked over with the man.

"You're Boss Wechy?" the stout man asked in a humming voice.

Wei Qi immediately showed a smile that was even more flattering than Sasha, and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes, I am Wei Lin." Hello Captain!"

"My name is Iron Hammer, and I am the leader of the Warhammer Mercenary Regiment, not a master, so you can call me Hammer Commander. Hammer nodded at the merchants, and said, "Sasha told you all about us." Camp here tonight, and set out early tomorrow morning, and you don't have to worry about safety, my brotherhood will keep vigil. ”

"Captain Hammer, your members know at a glance that all of them are powerful warriors, and Warhammer is definitely the top mercenary group, and we are not worried about being with you. Wei Qi complimented, and asked again, "It's just, this 。。。。。。 Can you show us the goods?"

Hammer grinned and smiled silently. This merchant may not know what a powerful warrior is and what is dangerous, but he is concerned about whether there is a cargo. This mercenary, unaware personality is exactly as Nelson described. Wetch didn't know Hammer, but Hammer had heard of him. The old mercenaries had more than once talked about Fat Wech's performance in the Goat Hotel, and he was almost crying with fright, but after tasting the purple cane wine, he was immediately in high spirits to talk to Nelson about a deal, and he couldn't get rid of it.

"Here. ”

Hammer pointed to the corner, where dozens of linen pockets and ten oddly shaped wheelbarrows were piled up. Several burly mercenaries took out ten sacks and threw them on the ground, and several merchants rushed forward impatiently to untie the sacks, and the iron arrows were immediately exposed. Seeing the arrow, the businessmen were all smiling, and according to the agreement, half of the arrows here were the capital for them to turn over.

These fine iron arrowheads were of excellent workmanship, excellent quality, and abundant in quantity, and must have been produced by a certain lord's armory workshop. Since the Warhammer Mercenaries can get their hands on the Iron Arrows, maybe the other bags have good stuff in them. Thinking of this, Fat Weiqi rubbed his hands and said enthusiastically: "Captain Hammer, what kind of goods are in the other bags?

Iron Hammer shook his head and said, "It's all supplies, nothing to look at." Wake was a little disappointed, but then heard Hammer say, "Oh, and ten more bags of jaggery." ”

"Coarse...... Candy?!" Wei Qi was happy, surprised, and frightened, and said in a low voice: "Commander, I think we should leave overnight." ”

"Why?" Hammer asked inexplicably.

"Ahem, jaggery is a specialty of the Randall family, you picked up their goods, they will definitely come to find them, this place is close to Randall, it's better to get on the road early." Witch lowered his voice and whispered, seeing that Iron Hammer had a strange face but was noncommittal, and hurriedly said: "Captain Iron Hammer, let me tell you, the captain of the guard under Viscount Randall is called Nelson, I heard that he has killed hundreds of people with his own hands, especially fierce, especially powerful, his arms are thicker than my thighs, and he can lift me up with one hand......"

"Boss Weiqi, remember, I can leave whenever I say! You have to listen to my arrangement to even and pee outside, otherwise you will die and you will kill others!"

Hammer patted Wetch on the shoulder, turned and walked away, and after walking a short time, Weave heard Hammer laughing.

"Haha, I'm laughing to death!It's so fierce, my arms are thicker than my thighs!Haha......"

Wei Qi looked down at his two thick thighs, and said innocently: "I'm not afraid that you won't pay attention to it...... There is no blowing in business!"

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The temperature warms up, the earth recovers, the season of cold and wet water is over, and the season of earth is silently coming.

Nearly 20,000 acres of potato fields and 10,000 acres of wheat fields around Pinghu Lake have grown green seedlings, and farmers are distributed in the fields to water and fertilize the seedlings, and they are busy in full swing.

In the pig farm near Hekou Village, hundreds of peasant women poured the cut blue-core grass and wild thorns into the enclosure, and thousands of wild boars of all sizes ate around the trough. In a corner of the farm, a few sturdy farmers pressed a half-sized wild boar firmly against the stone platform, and with their knives dropped, two pink and white meat balls were removed.

"Victor, is this what you mean castration?" asked an old man curiously.

Victor bowed his jaw and said, "Yes, Master Edwin, this is the gelding." ”

Towards the end of the season of water, Nicole arrives at Randall with a large group of men, along with Edwin, the scholar of the White Tower. Nicole was busy leading people to camp near the entrance to the swamp to prepare for most of the rest of the group, while Edwin stayed at the manor to inspect Victor's farmstead and pig farm. After a long absence, Victor warmly entertained this frank and wise scholar, and has been by his side these days, introducing his farming and pastoral system.

"What's the use of a gelding?"

"Male boars are fierce and aggressive, difficult to manage, and will also devour the young of other male wild boars. The behavior of castrated boars is basically the same as that of sows, which not only grows faster, but also has more tender meat, and can also prevent inferior wild boars from mating freely. ”

Edwin asked, "Victor, how do you know so much?"

"The wisdom of the freemen. Victor explained with a smile: "My people often hunt wild boars, they know their habits very well, and the meat of male wild boars is old, tough, and has a kind of taste, compared to the taste of female pork." In order to solve this problem, I asked the people for a solution, and it happened that a farmer had a male dog, and his dog was bitten off when he was fighting with other male dogs**, and as a result, the dog became less aggressive, and the longer it grew, the fatter it became. So, I ordered people to try castration boars, and at first they had little experience and killed quite a few of them, but now they are very skilled and the results are very good. Also, my people have started experimenting with steering cattle and steers. ”

What Victor said is half-true, the farmer is just an alchemy militia arranged by him, but the castration technology on the earth is indeed derived from life experience, and it has existed in ancient times. It is the invention of animal castration that has greatly improved the economic benefits of animal husbandry and has also played a positive role in improving breeds. Naturally, Victor wanted to promote this simple and efficient technique in his territory.

"Being able to listen to people's suggestions and apply them and organize them. Victor, you're amazing!" Edwin exclaimed.

Victor smiled modestly, but thought to himself: "Master Edwin encouraged the nobles to absorb the wisdom of the people, although the idea is good, but he cannot see the essence of the problem. I'd like to hear it, but when ordinary people are tied to the two ropes of the Radiant Code and the vassal system, what kind of creativity is there? ”

Edwin didn't know what Victor really thought, he continued: "Victor, you have designed a very good farming and pastoral system, although I don't know if the new plough and pig manure will increase the grain production, but I can be sure that the number of cattle, sheep and wild boars will definitely increase. However, there are two flaws, one inside and one outside. ”

Victor frowned and asked, "Oh? ”

"Let's start with external defects. Master Edwin twisted his beard and said: "Raising wild boars in captivity, grazing cattle and sheep is diametrically opposed to the traditional method, which is based on the fact that there are no monsters and beasts in the centaur hills, but you have thought about it, the beasts and monsters will come back sooner or later." By that time, how many soldiers will you be able to protect the cattle and sheep?"

Victor nodded, but did not speak. He had already considered this question, the larger the area of the wilderness, the greater the living space for beasts and monsters, and the ability of human soldiers to move was far inferior to that of beasts and monsters, and it was impossible to rely on the army to completely eliminate the threat in the wilderness. The only way to do this is to build more villages, towns, outposts, and roads to squeeze the monsters' tossing and turning space, and eventually force them out of their territory. That's why Victor wants to build an artificial river, and Victor is about to discuss this with Edwin, but he now wants to know what the other flaw is.

"Master, what are the internal defects?"

Edwin sighed, shook his head and said, "Victor, if you continue to do it according to your method, you will lose the support of the people in three years!"

Victor was moved.