After solving the trouble from the Pope, Zhaoming temporarily lived a stable life for a few days.

During this time, many of the tasks that had previously been put back on hold were put back on the agenda.

In the early morning, the people were busy as usual.

The seeds of the high-yielding crops that had just been distributed were sown in the ground, carrying everyone's hope for a good harvest.

The bazaar is getting more and more lively, and the daily flow of water is more than twice as high as usual. All thanks to the policies of the lord and governor Trisda.

Given the infertile land and the growing needs of the population, there was not much food left to meet local needs and feed the Black Rock Guards, although a large number of new water conservancy projects had been built and high-yielding crops had been distributed.

So business became the best way for them to get rich.

In order to meet the needs of the increasingly prosperous business, Akira ordered the opening of free trade, and he and Trisda teamed up to found a chartered trading company.

The company divides its shares into three, with Trisda and Zhaoming each owning 1/3, and the remaining share being counted as the Knights of Chenhui.

Through the unified operation, the goods of Black Rock City are transferred to various neighboring cities to be sold, which is very profitable.

At the same time, it can also transfer some rare goods that are not available in Heiyan from various places to meet the needs of the local people, such as sugar and handicrafts, and of course, the high-grade iron ore that Zhaoming needs most at present.

At the gates, the caravan set out again, led by Haradin's men, now loyal to Trisda.

"Hurry up and tie up the goods, don't miss a little!"

"Quickly send out a scout horse to set off first, give early warning in time when encountering danger, and check the customs procedures everywhere, don't get into trouble!"

... ...

Zhaoming and Trisda stood on the balcony of the city hall and looked out, the caravan finally departed, and there were Zhaoming's Black Rock Guards to protect it, and they would return with a full load of silver coins and goods in about half a month.

Because of the establishment of this chartered trading company, Black Rock City has an additional construction fund, which relieves Zhaoming a lot of pressure.

For the lord himself, it was to enrich his small treasury a lot.

Watching the caravan gradually move away, Zhaoming said in surprise: "Trisda, as long as the iron ore can reach Black Rock this time, our plan can be implemented soon." ”

The plan they were talking about was what they had decided to do earlier to counterattack the Dark Frontier and retake the port. He learned from Andu that the smiths were now able to make stable muskets, and the speed was accelerating.

With Ezekiel's magical help, they didn't have much need for coal for the time being, and as long as they had a sufficient supply of iron ore, they would soon be able to mass-produce muskets.

With these, Zhaoming has the confidence to counterattack the demons. Faced with this good news, Trisda should have been very excited, after all, she could make a lot of money in no time.

But to Zhaoming's surprise, Trisda behaved calmly.

She said helplessly: "But we probably won't be able to do it." ”

"Why?" Zhao Ming was puzzled, now every step of the plan is proceeding step by step, and it is very smooth, I believe that the Black Rock Guard weapons will be completed in less than three months.

Trisda turned around and lowered her head, hesitated for a moment and said, "I didn't handle the matter of Haradin well, I offended the backers behind him, and I may not be able to buy iron ore this time." ”

Zhaoming's eyes widened, not understanding what was going on.

Trisda's eyes were a little ruddy, and she seemed to have been greatly wronged.

Seeing her like this, Zhaoming was not angry, but comforted her and said, "It's okay, everything will be fine with me, tell me what's going on first." ”

Trisda has always been a strong girl, and it is definitely not a trivial matter for her to be able to perform like this.

Under her explanation, Zhaoming slowly learned the ins and outs.

It turned out that the iron ore of Black Rock was supplied from the city of Lindu in the east, where the Marquis of Lindu was Haradin's backer.

It was with his help that Haradin was able to collect money in Black Rock City unscrupulously, and then supply him with a large amount of money.

But since Haradin's violent death, Trisda has taken over all the business, and the interests that belong to Lin Duhou are gone.

Trisda has always been ice and snow smart, but she didn't handle this matter well, offended the other party, she knew the importance of iron ore to Zhaoming, so she blamed herself in her heart.

Zhaoming comforted: "Don't worry, Lin Duhou doesn't have to worry about it for the time being, I'll figure out a way to deal with the iron mine." ”

"Hmm!" Trisda nodded, then quickly sorted out her emotions, returned to her usual state, and returned to the office to continue working.

And Zhaoming looked up at the sky and sighed: "I didn't expect another trouble." ”

……

It was late at night.

In the arsenal, the chief blacksmith, Krohn, lifted the iron tongs, clamped a large piece of steel and began to pound it.

Ping Pong!

Beating along with the hammer swinging up and down is his heart, he is now 6 stars, and he is naturally ranked first, and I believe that it will not be long before he can become the highest status 8 blacksmith.

On the other side, two blacksmiths handed over the recently completed sample guns to Andu for inspection.

The fine-skinned and tender-fleshed alchemist stood a little abruptly in the middle of this large pile of rough men, but they were all used to it.

Andu looked over and over with the musket in his hand, and then praised them: "The masters have done a good job, this batch of guns has all reached the standard!" ”

Hearing this, the forges who were busy in the arsenal shouted happily.

But they didn't rejoice for long, and a voice interrupted them.

"But we don't have enough iron ore, and we have a lot of wear and tear to make muskets......"

Faced with this problem, Andu thought for a while.

According to his precise calculations, if there was no supply of iron ore, they would only be able to build a maximum of 50 muskets before they ran out.

He had discussed this matter with the lord, and Zhaoming just told him not to worry and just focus on his work.

Just as he was thinking, the door of the arsenal suddenly opened, and everyone looked up, and it turned out to be the lord who had arrived.

"Your Excellency!"

Andu walked towards Zhaoming, and when he got closer, he found that he was out of breath, and he didn't know what he had just experienced.

Without waiting for them to ask, Zhaoming said with difficulty: "I brought some goods back, go outside to unload the goods." ”

Andu and the forgers walked outside the arsenal to take a look, only to see mountains of iron ore piled up under the bright moonlight.

"Great! Everyone, move quickly! ”

Andu instructed everyone to load the iron ore into the warehouse, and they were surprised to find that the quality of the ore was extremely high, far exceeding everything they had seen before.

And Zhaoming sat on the side and rested, panting heavily.

This is the iron ore he used the system in exchange, and it costs 10 faith points per catty, which is very expensive, but the quality is extremely high.

However, because he spent 10,000 faith points to purchase equipment, he now has very few faith points left.

Zhaoming looked up at the night sky and thought, "These ores can only solve the urgent need, and we must find a way as soon as possible." ”

……

At the same time, the soldiers who were guarding the city wall suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves.

The sound came from outside the city, and it immediately alerted them.

"Alert!"

As soon as the captain gave the order, the soldiers immediately got ready.

As the sound got closer, they saw that it was a knight!

The knight rode a brown steed, his silver armor glowing pure in the moonlight, and he held a banner high above it a crimson scorpion.

As the knight approached the wall, he let out a breath in his mouth, and then shouted, "I'm Hal of the Red Scorpion Knights, and I have something important to ask to see the Knight Leader Chenhui!" ”

Seeing that it was the Templars who arrived, the captain did not dare to slack off, and immediately sent someone to report to the lord.

Half an hour later, the gates of Black Rock City opened, and a cavalryman led the envoys of the Red Scorpion Knights to meet the lord.

Akira, who had just returned from the arsenal, met Kubo, a personal guard, on the way, and when he learned that someone from the Knights had come to see him, he immediately rushed to the city hall.

Moments later, Zhao Ming met Hal in the lord's office. It was already night, and there were only a few people on night duty in the town hall.

Hal took off his helmet, beads of sweat on his face, and it was clear that he had been on the road for a long time.

Seeing that he was so tired, Zhaoming handed him a glass of water: "Brother, let's drink a glass of water first, and talk about something slowly." ”

With a grunt, Hal drank the water down, and though he was still not satisfied, he didn't ask for another glass.

Then he told Zhaoming about the purpose of his trip, which was very bad news.

"We Red Scorpion Knights have been on the lookout for attacks from demons from the Dark Border, and just yesterday, our sentinels detected that a demon was gathering and coming towards us!"

"What!" Zhao Ming was shocked, how could there be a demon attack at this time?

Hal continued, "I have come to report this news to you on the orders of our captain, and we hope that you will abandon Black Rock and lead the people of the city to our Hurricane City. ”

Hearing this, Zhaoming suddenly felt that things were not simple.

Hurricane City is located north of Black Rock and is the territory of the Red Scorpion Knights. According to Hal, the Order has been stationed there for five years, and now it has become a strong fortress.

"We will accept everyone, there should be a month before the arrival of the demon army, brother commander, please hurry up and lead your people to leave!"

Hearing this, Zhaoming fell into thought.

Suddenly, a long-lost system prompt sounded in his ears.

"Trigger Mission: Black Rock Watch!"

"Request: Defend Black Rock City under the onslaught of demons"

"Reward: Faith Points Accumulate 50/Hour"

Zhaoming was shocked by the reward of the system, and was speechless for a long time, and Hal of the Red Scorpion Knights on the side thought he was hesitating.

"Brother Regiment Commander, the stakes are very high, you can't hesitate, please issue an order immediately, so that the people of the whole city can retreat with their whole body."