The difficulty in building a hot air balloon lies in the fuel control technology, and although the magic flame lamp burns steadily, it is difficult to adjust the size of the flame.

In the past six months, Anne's main focus has been to solve this problem.

By inscribed other runes and resetting the rune array, the power of the magic lamp was divided into three grades, and the problem of fire control was solved.

The final problem is the hot air balloon lander, and the solution to this problem requires controlling the temperature, and Haaland Territory already has a thermometer that can visually observe the temperature.

Through brainstorming, an apprentice magician who was proficient in mechanics finally came up with a idea and made a manual exhaust valve, which was connected by a string, and when the string was pulled, the exhaust valve contracted, and the lift and gravity formed a pressure, and the hot air rise principle, which could squeeze out a part of the air from the balloon to lower the temperature.

After overcoming all the difficulties, the construction of hot air balloons is no longer difficult.

A few days ago, Anne successfully made a hot air balloon with the help of her assistant, and today the wind is relatively small, and she did the first hot air balloon flight experiment.

For safety, Wendy participates in an experiment with Annie, where Wendy can fly and save the pilot even if the hot air balloon is in danger.

In order to prevent others from copycating, Richard also used the principle of sound wave recognition and set up a magic flame lamp opening mechanism.

In the previous life, hot air balloons were tools that could only be manufactured after the development of industrial science to a certain level, and the difficulty of manufacturing them was the same as that of a steam engine. Without the use of magic, the Haaland Territory could only make simple Kong Ming lanterns, and it was not until the eighteenth century that the Earth made full-fledged hot air balloons.

Even if Richard handed over the hot air balloon to a duke and didn't crack the principle of sound wave recognition, he wouldn't be able to imitate it at all.

Even if the Grant royal family gets the hot air balloon, if you want to copy, you need to overcome a lot of technical difficulties, I'm afraid you need to send a large number of magicians to study, I don't know how many years it takes, in order to overcome the principle of sound wave recognition, the principle of magic flame lamp control, the exhaust valve using alloy materials and other technical difficulties.

The copycat of a hot air balloon is very difficult, unlike a counterweight trebuchet, and Richard is not afraid of being visited.

There are not many people who watch the hot air balloon experiment, in addition to the personnel of the Mage Association, the Institute of Mathematics, the Institute of Optics and other scientific researchers, as well as the security personnel of the army and staff officers.

Under the gaze of everyone, the hot air balloon flew into the sky slowly, and with the help of the wind, the speed of the hot air balloon flight was neither fast nor slow.

With the hot air balloon, although the Haaland territory has not yet been organized into a lion cavalry, it also has a certain air combat ability through the hot air balloon.

Normally, a standard hot air balloon can take four people into the sky.

There must be a magic apprentice among the four to control the magic flame lamp, regulate the size of the flame, and have a sharpshooter to prevent the Harpy from approaching and protect the hot air balloon. There is an observer carrying a telescope who carries an observation mission, and the last one is the pilot of a hot air balloon.

After the balloons were made, Richard immediately ordered the construction of six hot air balloons to train pilots.

After the successful manufacture of the magic hot air balloon, Richard formed a hot air balloon squadron, and transferred archers, magic apprentices, and observers, although the magic balloon squadron was small in number, it was the first air force in Haaland's territory, ahead of the Lion Cavalry

Squadron Leader of the Magic Hot Air Balloon Squadron, Richard appointed a second-order professional, Eastruan.

Istruan is a veteran who has been in the army for more than ten years, and he is also a highly talented archer with archery skills, second only to Richard and Soros, and is estimated to have practiced to the fifth level.

The Magic Balloon Squadron was formed, and the Lion Cavalry began to be trained.

Half of the griffins were traded with the royal family, and there were only six adult lions left in Haaland's domain, and three were sub-adults. But the eight eggs were kept by Richard, and in April this year, the eight eggs successfully hatched into six cubs.

These little lions grew up with humans since they were children, and it was easier to domesticate, and Richard transferred professionals from the army to take care of the lions one-on-one, and when the lions grew up to sub-adulthood, they could try to ride and form a lion cavalry.

In order to train the Lion Cavalry, Richard approached Dun Lekin, the Bishop of the Dawn Church in Geda Province, hoping to use ultrasound to detect this new magic and exchange the experience of the Dawn Church in forming the Lion Cavalry.

It didn't take long for news from Dunlegin's side to agree to Richard's quid pro quo.

Having gained experience in organizing the Lion Crane Cavalry in the hands of the Dawn Church, Richard immediately asked the Lion Crane Cavalry to learn the Lion Crane language.

His cousin Audrey has the best language talent, and was the first to master the language of the lion, and through communication with the lion, tamed an adult lion and was the first to fly into the sky.

Audrey behaved very well, and Richard also took the opportunity to appoint her as the leader of the Lion Cavalry Squadron.

Women on the Dawn plane, as long as they are strong, can also serve as military officers.

Raphael, the second daughter of Baron Fanta, has advanced to the eighth order of the Golden Knight and has become a female viscount, whose strength has far surpassed that of her father, and she is a very powerful noble lord in the province of Gascoigne.

Audrey is already a third-order knight, and her combat power is not weaker than that of a fourth-order warrior, plus she was the first to tame the lion, even if the lion cavalry felt that she was being led by a young girl and her face was not good-looking, she did not dare to provoke Audrey and ask for trouble.

The time entered August, and the autumn harvest began in the territory.

After the autumn harvest, about 13,000 indentured slaves fulfilled their five-year contracts and were pardoned by Richard as freemen.

These new freemen would be given a year's worth of rations on credit, grow food, and be allocated a fixed house.

Of course, these houses are not free, and you need to pay about four silver coins a year to buy a house.

Freedmen need to pay 15 consecutive years of instalments to get the title to the house.

There are now about 12,000 freedmen in the territory of Haaland. Among them, 4,000 are military families who have already purchased houses in advance because of their higher incomes, and more than 1,000 are businessmen, bureaucrats, and skilled workers who have a relatively well-to-do standard of living and have also purchased their own houses.

There are less than 7,000 households left, and the annual housing income brought to the territory is about 2,300 gold coins.

This year's land tax adds up to 15,000 gold coins, plus miscellaneous income such as commercial taxes and customs duties, and the installment purchase price plus taxes is about 20,000 gold coins.

The tax of 20,000 gold coins is already a lot of money.

This year, although due to fallow, the grain output has been reduced by about 10,000 tons.

However, the territory of more than 75,000 free people did not need Richard to support, and the grain reserve was enough to maintain 80,000 tons. 40,000 tons of grain were used as rations for the 165,000 indentured slaves in the territory, 10,000 tons of grain were reserved for next year's planting, 2,000 tons of grain were used to make liquor, and the remaining 28,000 tons were used as reserve grain for accidents.

Excluding tax grain, the amount of grain that can be sold in the territory is about 26,000 tons.

This year's grain prices were relatively stable, Richard got orders from the army, and the Church also sold grain through new channels of wealth, 26,000 tons of grain, about 52,000 gold coins.

More than 50,000 gold coins in cash poured into the territory, and Richard certainly wouldn't be in the vault.

Now Fort William has about 20,000 gold coins in reserve, and as long as there are no major problems in the operation of the territory, 20,000 gold coins are enough to deal with it.

With this money, Richard still decided to buy slaves, but this time he did not need to go to the Grand Duchy of Starnik himself.

After buying slaves for many years, Richard was already the largest slave buyer in the Kingdom of Grant.

Over the years, Richard bought more than 60,000 slaves. He, a big slave buyer, had already attracted the attention of Duke Guise.

Duke Guise sent someone to find Richard, willing to transport the slaves to Fort Black River, as long as Richard paid a few hundred gold coins for shipping, they were willing to come to the door.

Meeting with the leader of the caravan under the command of Duke Guise, Richard proposed a new business model, starting next year, to exchange the surplus grain in Harland's territory for slaves captured by Duke Guise.

The Duchy of Guise is relatively arid, and there are large areas of saline-alkali land in the territory, and the production of grain is not enough, so it has to buy grain from outside the country every year.

The slave-for-grain program bypassed the grain merchants, transport merchants, slave traders, and other second-tier traders, and was beneficial to the development of both territories.

This year's snowfall in northern Xinjiang came relatively early, and half a month after the autumn harvest, heavy snow closed the mountain roads.

Heavy snow covered the mountain, and the demon hunters also returned to the southern foothills of the Eagle Mountains.

This year, the demon hunting team has entered the Eagle Mountain Range eleven times, and the biggest harvest is that after winter, due to lack of food, a group of iron wildebeest migrated to the middle of the Eagle Mountain Range.

The demon hunters were going to go back, but they caught the group of iron wildebeests.

There were more than forty wild iron wildebeest horses in this group, and among them there was a third-order horse king.

The third-order horse king, there is no lord who will sell it at all, and with this horse king, he can improve the genes of Haaland's leading subway wildebeest, which is very beneficial to the breeding of Warcraft war horses.

Counting this group of captured iron wildebeests, there are about three hundred and sixty iron wildebeest horses in Haaland's territory.

About 200 of them are infertile geldings, and almost all of these geldings are in the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade and the Scout Brigade, and there are only about 160 Iron Wildebeest horses that can normally give birth and expand the population.

Among them, there are only 80 iron wildebeest breeding bases, all of which are the best quality stallions and mares in the territory, and the breeding base can give birth to about 20 foals every year.

For this successful hunt, Richard gave a large amount of bonuses to each member of the demon hunting team, with an average of about fifty gold coins per person.

Sulla participated in the hunt, and after returning to the territory, he once again invited his old comrades from the 1st Squadron to dinner.

More than ten years have passed, and there are only about seven or eight old comrades-in-arms left who are still in the army. The best of their group is Jennings, who is already a fourth-order warrior and also holds the position of captain of the sixth brigade of the territory. Those who did not mix well were also promoted to senior soldier cadets and served as squad leaders in the army.

Although the squad leader has a low position, he has a gold coin salary every month, and with the military age allowance, he has an income of twenty gold coins a year.

Haaland's territory is rich in products, and the price level is lower than that of Heihe Fort, and ten gold coins can make a family live very richly.

With an annual income of twenty gold coins, the standard of living is slightly better than that of the professionals in Fort Black River.

The place of hospitality was still chosen at the Odaye Hotel, and after a few years of development, there were now 18,000 freedmen near Fort William.

The freedmen of the Haaland Territory are all people with spending power.

With the increase in the consumer population, the market has also expanded a lot, and the business of the restaurant opened by Odaye is getting better and better, and it has turned a profit since two years ago, and can make a net profit of 30 gold coins a year. In another year or two, Sulla's gold will be able to recoup his capital.

Jennings rode over, saw Sula standing at the door of the hotel, hurriedly jumped off the horse, and said slightly apologetically: "I'm really sorry to keep you waiting." ”

"You became the captain of the brigade and you are very busy every day, it would be good to be able to give face to the party, which shows that you have not forgotten your old comrades. Now that everyone is here, if you don't come again, we'll have a table. ”

Jennings is very familiar with Sulla, who is also a third-order warrior and an infantry squadron leader, although Jennings has a much higher status than Sulla, and the two are still in the same class. Officers can also meet occasionally when they are in meetings.

A few days ago, the demon hunting team returned to Fort William, and the Warcraft breeding base eliminated a batch of stallions, and when Jennings received the Warcraft warhorse, he had seen his old comrades.

Sula made a joke and entered the second floor of the hotel with Jennings.

After coming in, everyone still ordered a roast whole lamb, two fish, and under the recommendation of Odaye, they also ordered the restaurant's new signature dish, roast suckling pig.

After pouring the wine, everyone drank it a few times, and the distilled liquor in Haaland's territory was relatively high, even if it was a strong and strong professional, they were a little upset after drinking a few catties.

After getting drunk, everyone was very open, and for a while they forgot about the differences between each other.

The theme of the gathering of old comrades-in-arms is often to reminisce about the past, reminiscing about the friends who were with them and sacrificed for many years when they first joined the army.

"Remember the first time you went into battle? At that time, although I had become a professional, I had never participated in a battle, and I was very nervous, and my legs were even a little shaky when I was arrayed, and I was nervous and unable to speak.

After the battle with the kobold squadron, Varanda and Somme stood by my side and soon died at the hands of the kobolds. The person I got along with day and night died next to me, which suddenly made me a little confused. At that time, my mind was full of only thoughts of revenge, and I rushed to the depths of the kobold army at once, hacked six kobolds to death, and made my first battle exploit. ”

Jennings gulped down a glass of wine, and tears flowed as he spoke, obviously remembering his old comrades who had been dead for many years.

"Actually, when I was arraying, I found that your legs were shaking, and I laughed at you in my heart, this little doll, although you have a good talent for practicing breathing and your physical fitness is improving quickly, you are a timid and cowardly person after all. I also secretly pray in my heart, I hope you can hold on, and you must not run away, once the officers escape, the soldiers will flee with them, and if the battle fails, we will die without a place to bury.

I didn't expect that in the real fight, you were so brave, the first to rush into the kobold army formation, and led us to defeat the kobold, plus Master Richard, Captain Soros killed the kobold officer, and we suffered very few casualties, so we ate the kobold squadron. It was only after this battle that you convinced me. ”

Before Julian was captured, he was a serf soldier under the command of the nobles of the Delong Kingdom, although he did not practice the breathing method, and he also had several combat experience, his talent with Sulla was good, although it was not as good as Jennings, it was also above average.

At the beginning, I was not very convinced by Jennings, who was promoted to officer at a young age.

"Time passed all at once. Who would have thought more than ten years ago that we would become professionals and have the hope of becoming hereditary aristocrats. We are here today thanks to Mr. Richard. ”

"Yes, when Master Richard is promoted to a hereditary earl, he can be crowned a baron, and we work hard to cultivate the breathing method, and after being promoted to a high rank, we will have the opportunity to become a hereditary noble. Jennings, in particular, will definitely be able to change his fate and become a hereditary nobleman. ”

Listening to everyone's compliments, Jennings hurriedly shook his head and said: "This kind of thing depends on luck, only if Haaland's territory develops rapidly, and Master Richard is promoted to hereditary earl, can we have a future." ”

"Yes, I wish Lord Richard to become a great nobleman as soon as possible. For the sake of Mr. Richard, everyone has a toast. Sulla raised her glass and drank a large glass of wine.

(End of chapter)