Food prices fell, and soybean oil exports rose. I calculated inside and out www.biquge.info that the profitability of agriculture is still increasing.

However, this trend also gave William a wake-up call. The money you make in agriculture, or in other words, the money you make in agriculture alone, that's basically what it is. No matter how much it increases, it won't increase much. And, while William has done everything he can to solve the problem of secrecy, agricultural technology will certainly spread over time. All William could do was simply push the matter back. No matter how much agriculture is improved, there are limits to it. Its potential is much worse than that of industry.

"That's right, but the Russian kingdom ...... There doesn't seem to be any cash crop to dig up......" William was distressed by this. Generally speaking, cash crops are best produced in temperate Mediterranean climates, and tropical and subtropical climates. In Russia, which has a temperate continental climate, a subarctic zone or even a cold zone, it is too difficult to find suitable cash crops for cultivation.

"Beets...... You can barely grow some, but the economic value of sugar beet is not as high as that of sugar cane...... It may be very difficult to generate income in agriculture...... Therefore, it still depends on the aquaculture industry. ”

William calculated in his heart - yes, in the north where the temperature is too cold, in the north where the flat steppe is full of flat grasslands, if there is any agricultural economy, then animal husbandry is obviously more scientific than farming. And William has done exactly that recently.

After the introduction of good pastures from various regions, livestock farming flourished in the Hereford family estate. In the newly occupied territories, in addition to large farms, pastures for Romanov sheep, Don hippos, as well as ploughing, black and white cows, and beef cattle were also widely used.

After the formation of the integrated market of the Kingdom of Wende-the Kingdom of Russia, William increased his economic penetration into the Grand Duchy of Shilonsk. He wooed the textile factory owners of Shilonsk on the condition that they share the common market in exchange for orders from the textile factory owners - that is, orders for wool and steam looms. Shilonsk, which controlled the textile market of the entire empire, is about to master the textile market of the entire large border region. Together with the Kingdom of Russia, it will form a new, versatile and therefore highly competitive system of light industry.

Of course, there is still a very fatal flaw in this system - that is, the relationship between the Hereford family and the Trieste family is extremely poor.

Although the factory owners can do anything for money, even if they betray their lords. But that doesn't mean they won't be treated by Archduke Henry - oh yes, now the king.

That doesn't mean they won't be influenced by King Henry.

Under the circumstance that King Henry's wariness of the Hereford family has risen to an unimaginable level, the involvement of the Hereford family in the textile industry in Shilonsk naturally greatly stimulated King Henry's nerves.

Despite the threat of force from the Hereford family, King Henry did not dare to blatantly resist. But he still has the courage to warn those factory owners behind his back, using some indiscriminate actions or something.

Although this could not stop the Hereford family from getting closer to the factory owners in Shilonsk, it could have a certain restraining effect. Don't let these factory owners go all over to the side of the Hereford family.

The same thing happened in Livonia. Archduke Dietrich's strategy in the local shipbuilding industry was almost identical to that of King Henry. If there is a difference between the two, it is only that Archduke Dietrich is more subtle and looser...... After all, he was able to have his current independent status, and it was all thanks to the Hereford family to keep his territory and actual independent status. After the desperate feeling of trying to fight against the Hereford family and then failing, Archduke Dietrich secretly vowed not to go to war with the Hereford family in his life.

Under these circumstances, Archduke Dietrich naturally could not do anything that went too far and made William feel angry. Those small actions that couldn't be put on the table were all laughed at by William.

It was also for this reason that the work of the Hereford family to take over the Livonian shipbuilding industry went smoothly.

After semi-forcibly annexing several shipyards at a relatively low price, William manipulated several other shipyards by taking shares. After the integration of these shipyards by William, six new large shipyards were formed, from ship design to ship construction. This action also solved the difficulty of building steam ships that had plagued the Hereford family for a long time. The Hereford family was now able to use a variety of boats powered by a hybrid of steam and sail.

After learning this news, the design and manufacture of hybrid ironclad ships were also put on the agenda. William's Cheka organization took turns inquiring about the Visigothic kingdoms and the kingdoms of Asturias, as well as the traditional naval powers of Briton and Lombardy. Desperate spying. In the end, William finally came to a conclusion that he could breathe a sigh of relief.

That is, other countries have at most put into use only hybrid wooden-hulled boats. At present, the various naval powers do not seem to have the brains to the extent of wrapping their warships with iron armor.

"In other words, this is most likely our last chance! The last one, from a weak maritime country with almost no navy, to catch up with those naval powers. William was very excited. Of course, he hadn't forgotten the secrecy - and since this might be the last chance, it was definitely the most important. If other countries listened to the news of the "ironclad" and began to follow William's example and design and research the ironclad, then William would probably not be able to cry.

In this way, after secretly drawing in a large number of researchers, a new dockyard, military base and port were built on an overseas desert island in the Polotsk Sea, which was not close to any shipping routes. A regiment of white legionnaires, armed to the teeth, settled on the island. And with the constant input of cement, sand, and gravel mixed into concrete, and then added with steel bars, the strongest coastal defense fortress of this era was made.

In the dockyard, where the best shipwrights, inventors, steam-powered engineers, and even dwarven engineers from Scand, who were housed in Polotsk, Livonia, and even a dwarven engineer from Scand, the Cheka had more agents than the professional designers. These Cheka agents, wearing cuirass and swords and short-barreled handcuffs, had every eye red like a wolf.

Whether it was a Cheka agent, an inventor, a shipwright, a mechanic, or something, whether it was a soldier or a civilian, they all signed a confidentiality agreement, and most of them, their families were moved to the island.

In this way, the most mysterious, strongest, and most impregnable secret base of this era was built. William's plan was that in addition to the ironclad, other secret research would also be carried out here. So as time goes on, the island will definitely have more and more residents, and the number of garrisons will get higher and higher. It eventually became a mysterious legend that could not be found on the map at all, blank, and non-existent.

Of course, before the ironclad research was completed, the Hereford family built up a navy. Including twenty sail-powered frigates, four battleships of the third rank and the only flagship, a first-class ship with a displacement of more than two thousand six hundred tons.

This navy is lackluster, both in quantity and quality. Most of the navy soldiers were sailors and fishermen recruited from the port cities of Polotsk and Livonia. As for naval officers. It is held by the captains who want to change careers to become officials.

It can be said that the royal navy of the Hereford family is completely a grass platform. Don't talk about the traditional naval powers mentioned above. Even the navy of the Kingdom of Frisia, which was controlled by Briton, and the navy of Rytjod, which was still breathing. Or the Livonian navy of Archduke Dietrich, who feared the Hereford family to death. These second-rate navies are much stronger than the Hereford family's navy. It is even said that the commander-in-chief of the Frisian navy once said that he only needed to send a detachment to wipe out the Hereford family's navy.

Of course, this is a bit of an overreach. However, from his words, William could still sense the contempt of the nations for Hereford's navy.

"But this is also a good thing, restrain the minions and pretend to be harmless to humans and animals, so as to have a blockbuster effect. William thought to himself: "Someday, the royal navy will impress those bastards...... Or at that point, they had to do more than just impress. ”

Unlike the disdain of the human nations for the Hereford Navy. However, the Russian shipping industry is highly rated by the human countries. Of course, this was largely due to William's scheming, annexation, and the Hereford family's strong grip on the shipping industry.

He made a fortune in the economic crisis in Polotsk, in the joint council of the ecumenical councils, and in the subsequent economic action against Livonia. The shipping industry of the Russian kingdom today - or, to put it another way, the shipping industry of the Hereford Complex - already accounts for more than 60% of the shipping share of the entire Polotsk sea. At the same time, the merchant ships of the Hereford Complex also crossed the Polotsk Strait and entered the North Sea region. He even sailed to the New World and the Green World. It greatly expands the company's trade. At the same time, it also brings more trouble.