Surprisingly, the period of rapid development of Black Hammer Fort was not in the short summer, but in the autumn. Or early winter, because there is no autumn in the north of Kislev. As the daylight hours became shorter, the temperature dropped rapidly, and in less than two months, it dropped to the point of snow at the foot of the snow.

And it was at this time that the ice peppers matured on a large scale, and with the opening of the trade route of Dulong City, the economy of the entire Black Hammer Fort went up all at once. The Ice Pepper Trade Route brought not only a lot of gold and silver currency, but also dwarven supplies, and the first muskets had already arrived at Blackhammer Keep and equipped for the city wall guards.

Dulong City has been isolated from their fellow dwarves in the south for a long time, resulting in almost zero technical exchanges. Therefore, compared to the dwarves in the mountains on the edge of the world, the firearms technology of Dulong City will be much inferior. If I'm not mistaken, Rhodes remembered that at this time, the dwarves of Eternal Peak could already build gyroplanes and flame cannons, and the firearms technology of the dwarves in Dulong City was still in the primitive stage. Most of the muskets imported this time were shotguns. The firing range is short, powerful and the rate of fire is relatively slow.

But compared to the situation at the beginning, it has improved a lot. The next time a beastman or werewolf invades, the guards on the walls can shoot with muskets, and the effect is immediate. A musket can directly increase the combat effectiveness of a human soldier by several notches. After all, no matter how strong your body is and how good your combat skills are, as long as you shoot them in the head, you will be done with the game.

In addition to muskets, the dwarves also brought in large quantities of gunpowder, bullets, chain mail, and ale. With these things, these soldiers under Rhodes are finally like a semi-regular army. Drinks are useless in themselves, but when it comes to critical moments, they can boost the morale of the soldiers and make them forget their fears. Some Dwarven spirits can even be used as burns when necessary.

As soon as the muskets arrived, Rhodes began to organize the soldiers to conduct shooting training, and the effect of random shooting and organized shooting was completely different, at least in terms of efficiency.

The firing power in a dense formation is amazing, even a salvo of the first bullet is enough to inflict an absolute blow on the morale and personnel of the enemy army. And random shooting is only suitable for guerrilla warfare, jungle warfare. Although it can be dealt with so-so now, in the future, in the big battlefield, the scattered troops will not be able to take on the big task.

Ice Pepper earns 585 gold crowns,

Ore proceeds 320 gold crowns.

Logs earn 75 gold crowns......

Shotgun out of 223 gold crown,

Gunpowder spent 52 gold crowns,

Chainmail costs 58 gold crowns......

Rhodes flipped through the latest ledgers, and the income of Bing Pepper was the best, even surpassing the ore business that his ancestors had been running for many years. After deducting the funds needed to import dwarven weapons and equipment, there is still a surplus on hand. These funds then become liquid assets that can be invested in other areas. Or build roads, or reclaim, or increase guards, and so on.

However, there is not much surplus, only about 200 gold crowns. Rod asked Muros to put half of his money into a small coffer, to fill the deficit from the previous quarter, and to refill the reserves so that one day there would be a real bankruptcy.

With a hundred or so gold crowns left, Rhodes began to play with the idea of a mine. In the previous survey report, it was mentioned that the iron ore reserves in the deep pit mine are very large, and at the current rate of mining, it can be mined for at least two hundred years. Two hundred years is too long to wait. So, Rhodes thought of a win-win solution - to find a partner to invest in mining.

The walls of the city have been built, and the Black Hammer Fort has a certain military strength, at least it is not a problem to deal with the beasts and werewolves in the forest, so that the safety of the mine can be guaranteed. With a safe environment, it is only natural that there will be people who are willing to invest.

I didn't have that much money to expand the scale of the mine, so I found someone to cooperate in mining. Profits are shared in proportion to the investment. In this way, it is possible to solve the problem of funding and accelerate the development of Fort Black Hammer. After all, as long as the mine expands, more miners will inevitably be needed, and after the arrival of these workers, the population of Blackhammer will come up again. A thriving town can lead to a lot of jobs. At the very least, bars, brothels and so on should be expanded......

According to the previous life, it is to attract investment.

After setting the development plan, Rhodes handed it over to the butler Mouros to carry it out. For half a year, Mouros was a good assistant. Development is not only dependent on military and conquest, but also how to manage internal affairs is very crucial, and Rhodes knows that this old man must not be treated badly. However, Muros doesn't seem to have much of a desire for money and status, and in his own words, it is already an honor to be able to continue to serve the Raune family in Blackhammer Castle, and many old people of his age have long been exposed to the wilderness. Every time he thought of this, Rhodes always felt that he owed this old man a lot.

And Dennis...... The evening breeze blows up the falling snow and blows in the face. A faint sadness welled up in my heart. I wonder how Dennis is doing in Kislev...... On top of that, I wonder if they have been brainwashed by the Ice Queen? All of the witch apprentices sent to the Kislev Academy of Magic were naïve at first, however, by the time they graduated and were discharged, many had become ruthless and fiercely loyal to the Queen. Rhodes believed that his daughter had really matured that day, however, in the treacherous Capital Academy of Magic, whether she could keep her heart all the time, Rod was still deeply worried about this.

"Lord Rhodes!

Just as Rod was looking at the light snow and falling into melancholy, a young man's cry sounded on the side of the school field. Rhodes turned his head to see a young man in his twenties who was eager to run to his side, but the guards on the sidelines stopped him.

"Let him come. ”

Rhodes greeted the guards and signaled for clearance.

Breaking free from the guards, the young man ran over excitedly. He didn't look strong, even a little thin, but his face was full of spirit. This is exactly what Rod wants, to say that he has too many things in his heart, and he is always a little melancholy. People who need some sunshine around to reconcile the atmosphere. Like that dwarf butcher and barbarian Celta.

"Hello, young man, I don't think I've seen you, recruit?"

Looking at the young man's slightly immature face, Rod asked calmly.

"Yes, sir. Castle Guard, I joined the Standing Garrison of Blackhammer two months ago. ”

The young man replied proudly. He stared at Rhodes as if he had seen an old lover, a feeling that made Rhodes feel unnatural......

"You were still in Dulong City when I joined the defenders of Black Hammer Castle, so you haven't seen me. ”

The young man continued.

"By the way, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Tarlenham. ”

"Hello, soldier. ”

Rod returned with a smile.

"My lord, I want to be your squire......"

Young people lose no time in asking for it.

"But I already have squires, and, as you should know, I don't usually wear squires around me, and only before the big war will they let them help me put on armor. When I am my squire, you will find it boring. ”

Rod said with a smile.

"No, no, no, not boring. You may have forgotten that you once saved my life. Last winter, your guards passed through the woods, where there was a village, and you asked about rat fever and ice peppers from an old man, who was carrying a dying boy in his arms. Because he had rat fever, he had no money to cure it. Before leaving, you give the old man a golden crown and ask the old man to buy medicine for his son and buy real ice peppers. That boy is my ......."

After Tallinnham finished speaking, Rod suddenly remembered that there was such a thing. On that occasion, the Ice Queen summoned herself to the palace to hold Dennis accountable, and on the way, she passed by a house, and as she was leaving, she took out a golden crown and gave it to the farmer, asking him to find someone to heal her son. At that time, it was just a casual act of kindness, but I didn't expect to gain a loyal soldier in the future.

This couldn't help but make Rod feel a little emotional. Humanity in the Warhammer world is equally miserable, the poor can't even afford to see a doctor, and a single golden crown can save a person...... Human life is so worthless...... It is no wonder that there is a legend of the Eyeless in Kislev, which says that the civilians of Kislev live a hard life and cannot even afford coffins, because the ground is too cold and hard to be shoveled to make graves, so many civilians can only abandon their bodies in the wilderness after death, but the dead sometimes resurrect strangely and try to find their homes to "visit". To prevent this, living people take their eyes out of their bodies, and even if they are resuscitated, they cannot see which direction to go...... Behind the terrifying legend is a terrible fact - the whole country of Kislev in the north is actually very poor......