It was the most difficult time for Colin, with a food crisis looming over his head, manpower shortages, and fortresses and Winterfell in ruins, but fortunately, everything was on track.

In the conference room on the top floor of the castle.

Colin sat at the head of the long table, Wald, Roderick, Annie, Jennifer, Sango, Madeleine, Sophia and others sat on either side, and as one of the people in charge of the construction of Twilight City, Matthew also made an exception to enter the high-level meeting of the Twilight Fortress, and he was invited to participate for the first time He sat at the bottom of the long table, although he was far away from the lord, he was still so nervous that he had nowhere to put his hands and feet.

"My lord, the seeds in the reserved land have basically been harvested, and only the mint and ryegrass crops are left for a month, but these two things are not urgent, and I suggest that we can start planting them officially."

Every time such a meeting is Colin's most tormented, everyone is asking him for someone, and Sophia is the first person to be challenged today.

This is the most important thing for the fortress at the moment.

Winter wheat matures in seven months and is usually sown in September, but the climate of the Late Winter Fortress is so special that improved seeds do not need to be planted with full reference to previous experience.

Winterfell's farmers harvest their grains in May, mostly local rye and kidney beans, which produce low-yields and rough textures, but are one of the few that can be grown in this harsh climate.

Sophia's proposal is a big deal that must be supported.

Colin looked at Roderick.

The captain of the garrison immediately sat up straight.

"My lord, the number of defenders of the fortress has been reduced to 1,200, and if we continue to draw manpower...... It is necessary to increase the reserve of some special arrows. ”

This always honest knight was also forced to learn to bargain after being "borrowed" countless times.

Sowing is important, but the threat of orcs cannot be ignored.

However, some of the original 87 magic apprentices were taken away by Wald, and some of them were also taken from Coral, and the newly built school also needed a lot of teachers, and there were not many left.

"Each of you will get a little bit of people out first, and then return it when the farming is over."

"Yes."

Eventually, Sophia asked for 300 defenders of the fortress.

It was also a helpless move to let the professional soldiers go to farm, but fortunately, as long as they waited until May, after the summer harvest of the farmers in Twilight City, they would be able to free up a lot of manpower.

Walder spoke secondly: "My lord, the construction of the alchemy workshop is also nearing completion. ”

With Colin in a headache, Wald continued: "I don't need manpower on my side for the time being, but the current ore and blackstone reserves of the fortress are far from being able to meet the operational capacity of the workshop after the start of construction, so I suggest that this matter should be considered early. ”

Colin nodded.

"Lady Madeleine, where did you buy the most iron ore and blackstone from the original fort?"

The initial task of the alchemy workshop is to integrate all the blacksmiths in the city and raise the ironware manufacturing in Winterfell to a higher level, otherwise it will not be able to meet the subsequent construction needs, as for the research and expansion of new materials, on the one hand, it is not urgent, on the other hand, there are not enough manpower, at least until the first batch of magic apprentices in the school can have a certain foundation.

"There are two main sources, one is the territory of Tulum in the east, and the other is a few small countries such as Dadamir nearby, and you know, although Shaya is mountainous, there are almost no mineral deposits." Madeleine explained helplessly: "In the past, when the trade routes with the Western Continent were open, there was still some trade, but they never sold ore and fuel to us. ”

Colin knew something about it.

Shaya's size is not small among the surrounding small countries, with the southernmost being the Twilight Fortress and the northernmost being Starwind Harbor, which has long been abandoned. However, the entire territory is long and narrow, with almost no strategic depth, and if it weren't for the barren land, lack of resources, and the constant threat of orcs, I am afraid that it would have been carved up long ago.

It can be seen that poverty is also a major defensive weapon.

"Then increase the amount of purchases this year." Colin thought of his pile of hundreds of thousands of gold bowls eating ashes in the castle, and money was only money if it was spent.

"My lord, I don't recommend doing this right away." Madeleine, who is obviously experienced in this area, said: "On the one hand, the beginning of the year is the peak of ore prices, and on the other hand, everyone knows that you have just arrived at the fortress and are in urgent need of various resources, and if you buy in large quantities at this time, the other party will definitely take the opportunity to raise the price. ”

Colin thought for a moment and bowed slightly: "Lady Madeleine, you are very thoughtful, but I am afraid that the demand for ore will not wait until May. ”

"But ......"

"I see what you mean, it must be unpleasant to be the one who is wronged like this." Colin smiled: "But don't worry, I won't care about the normal premium, but if the other party is too much...... I will also write it down, the gold lang is just currency, how to get out now, in the future they will return it exponentially. ”

"Listen to your wishes." Madeleine said no more.

"Besides, Jennifer is probably not very skilled in these matters, and you still need to worry about it."

"I will."

Charya is tasked with stopping the orc invasion, and it seems that her relationship with the surrounding countries and territories should be a bitter one, but throughout the history of the Gray family, diplomacy has been difficult.

Although the small countries to the west still belong to the Southern Continent, most of them are controlled by the Blue Alliance, which serves as a buffer between Tulum and the Western Continent.

There is only one Dadamir, and he can only protect himself.

The various territories on the east side, although they all belong to the Tulun Kingdom, are mostly conservative henchmen led by Duke Ferdinand Varrant, and the Gray family, who are friendly with Duke Violet.

Although it is seen that it rarely takes the initiative to cause trouble in the important position of the Twilight Fortress, it will not accept coercion for this, and it is a big deal to unite with the Western Continent again to drive the orcs back as they did 150 years ago, after all, the orcs are not used to the cold and dry climate in the north, and after entering the territory of Xiaya, their combat effectiveness is greatly reduced, and most of the continuous attacks on the Twilight Fortress are only driven by instinct.

"My lord, there's one more thing." Madeleine said: "This year, the supply of Xiaya's four territories has been handed over, but there is a big gap. ”

"Oh?" Colin was stunned: "Why, do they have any reason?" ”

The Duchy of Charya under the rule of the Gray family originally had four subordinate fiefdoms, one county and three baronies.

For a principality, even a principality like Xia Ya, which is almost impoverished, can be regarded as thinly populated.

It is conceivable that the situation of these four subordinate fiefdoms is not much better, so the annual contributions required to be handed over are actually not much, and Colin originally didn't care much about these incomes, but the unwarranted payment was insufficient, and he always had to know an explanation.

"The reasons are none other than this year's bad harvest, natural and man-made disasters, etc."

Madeleine sighed, "In fact, even when Duke Oliver was alive, their contributions were hardly paid, just because they didn't expect them in the first place, so the Duke never pursued them. ”