Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 216: Over 300 Stalks of Extraordinary Grain and Territory Specialty - Halfling Leather Armor

Upon Su Li's inquiry, Vandal immediately responded, "Lord, I have already used the [Descent of the Sun] divine spell in the vanilla plantation. Moreover, I used it twice, which can cover approximately 10 acres of vanilla fields."

Su Li asked with great interest, "And how was the effect? Are there any extraordinary vanilla orchids?"

Vandal nodded and said, "I discovered three Green Seed-level extraordinary spices in these ten acres of vanilla fields. However, the specific effects will have to wait until the vanilla pods mature and be analyzed through the arcane patterns on them."

So, even a Champion-level druid can only grow Green-level extraordinary fruits. To get Azure-level ones, the druid needs to further improve their strength.

Perhaps when this Grand Druid reaches the Legendary level, he will be able to grow a large number of purple and golden-quality fruits, which can be used to cultivate a large number of Champion-level, Chosen-level, or even Legendary-level knights in batches!

After all, having an elder in the family is truly a treasure.

A Legendary-level druid continuously farming can bring a large number of extraordinary fruits to the territory.

However, that's still a long way off. By the time Vandal reaches the Legendary level, the territory will probably already have many Legendary-level knights to protect him.

So, Su Li didn't think too much about it and instead asked, "How about other aspects? I've been busy with war matters recently and haven't paid attention to farming."

Vandal hesitated for a moment, carefully considering his words, striving not to anger Su Li, "Farming has been relatively smooth, but the slaves… have some complaints."

Su Li was taken aback and asked, "What do you mean by 'relatively smooth'? What complaints do the slaves have?"

What complaints could these slaves possibly have?

Vandal carefully and quietly said, "They think you are somewhat… hypocritical. Some people are proudly proclaiming that you give them so much food in the hope that they will work hard for you. To go to the battlefield and fight against the claws of evil monsters."

"So, under the malicious instigation of some people, some of them chose to strike. They refused to pick cotton in the fields. Now is the cotton harvest season, which is related to our territory's winter warmth, so there is a slight impact."

"In addition, they also demand the same treatment as armed squires."

Hearing this, Su Li couldn't help but clench his right fist and asked with gritted teeth, "Am I being too kind?"

If it weren't for the need to maintain the demeanor of a noble, who can express anger but not express it angrily, he would want to curse this group of bastards right now!

He gives them far more than ordinary food, gives them opportunities to climb up, gives them a bright future, truly treats them as human beings, believes that the fate of the territory is closely related to them, and even never thought of driving them to the battlefield. Even in the 5,000-strong army that Su Li calculated he could assemble today, there are no slaves.

In the end, in their eyes, he is just a hypocritical person?

Freya, with her arms crossed in front of her chest, supporting her heavy breasts, leaned against her tall hippogriff, tilted her mouth, and snorted coldly, "I've long felt that there is a problem with your attitude towards slaves. You always think that if you give someone a peach, they will repay you with jade."

"But this is a value system that only exists between nobles of blood and glorious knights, and it is not applicable to slaves, these born lowly people. Have you ever thought about why they became slaves? I think, when a slave refuses to pick cotton and accuses you of being hypocritical, there must be a group of people cheering and applauding around him."

"There is a traditional wisdom from the Arabian countries circulating among the imperial nobles: if you joke with slaves, slaves will look down on you."

"Stop it!" Su Li waved his hand irritably and asked, "They don't also have a traditional wisdom: don't get angry easily, because getting angry will reveal your true ability, so others will know that your ability is actually very poor, right?"

Freya shrugged and said, "I haven't heard of it, but what you said makes a lot of sense. You know what to do best."

What to do?

Like other nobles of the empire, if any slave refuses to work, tie up his daughter and cut off his daughter's hands, feet, and head one by one in front of the slave?

It seems that in the eyes of some imperial citizens, this is the symbol of civilization.

Sure enough, in the eyes of these people, those who colonize them, enslave them, and exploit them are civilized.

If you really treat them as equals, they will think you are hypocritical instead.

Freya said indifferently, "You should let go of your helping complex and respect the fate of others."

That makes sense. Those Eastern traditional morals that nobles are accustomed to are really not suitable in the Empire.

Barbarians fear power but do not cherish virtue.

If you are too kind to them, they will think you are easy to bully instead.

Su Li said, "They definitely don't think Chief Inquisitor Friedrich is hypocritical. Forget it, I won't interfere in this matter. Let Friedrich handle it."

Bloodbeard Friedrich?

Vandal only felt a chill run down his back. The name of this inquisitor can stop children from crying in the Violet County.

He is more than not hypocritical; he is simply terrifyingly real.

But he couldn't comment on this matter. Perhaps sometimes some price is needed to make both sides recognize reality.

Su Li then asked with concern, "Are we going to harvest cotton soon?"

Vandal nodded and immediately replied, "Yes, Lord. During the summer planting, we planted more than 4,000 acres of cash crops, including cotton, rapeseed, and beets. Among them, cotton accounts for more than 800 acres, which is estimated to produce 240,000 pounds of cotton."

240,000 pounds of cotton?

Su Li didn't know whether this cotton yield was low or high.

But he calculated that on average, each person in the territory could get nearly 50 pounds of cotton, which is definitely not a small number.

This proves that the territory's cotton yield may not be weaker than that of modern society on Earth.

In fact, this is very normal. Black Forest Territory has sufficient sunlight, a mild climate, abundant water sources, and vast plains, which is the most favorable climate for cotton growth and development, equivalent to an enhanced version of Xinjiang. So, the cotton yield is naturally not low.

Moreover, the Frontier Prince Territory is located in the south of the Empire. Although there are also bleak autumns and snowy winters, the winter is not as windy and snowy as in Kislev and Nord Territory.

As long as the cotton harvest is abundant, it will be enough to guarantee the winter clothing and cotton robe needs of most people this winter.

Speaking of winter, Su Li turned to look at Tiberos beside him and asked, "You were once a follower of the wolf god Ulric, who is also the god of winter. Do you think this winter will be severe?"

Tiberos, this fierce general, has performed too bravely on the battlefield. He can be described as the bravest of the three armies, with the spirit of ten thousand men.

As a high-level Champion Knight, he also has a hippogriff as a mount, which is unbelievably fierce. Wearing an orichalcum rune armor and carrying a large number of witchcraft props, he single-handedly killed 176 monsters on the battlefield, although nearly half of them were easily killed during the pursuit.

But the remaining kills are shocking enough. Monsters basically can't avoid his strike, which can be described as those who stand in his way, die one after another.

What's even more terrifying is that the powerful protective ability on his body allows monsters to fight bloody battles even if they surround him with their blades, and he stubbornly kills the two teams of monsters surrounding him, causing their morale to collapse and flee in terror.

Moreover, he doesn't just kill the weak. The monsters he killed included 17 armored skin wolves and 4 trolls.

This means that more than 20 elite monsters were chopped to pieces by him alone.

He even followed Commander Constantine's brave and fearless charge towards the Wyvern King. With his powerful and fierce fighting style, his warhammer fiercely hit the monster's huge feet several times. He also withstood the monster's sweep and did not retreat an inch.

It can be said that if Marshal Ohrstein didn't want to duel with the monster, he and Constantine could have torn the monster apart with a group of Champion Knights.

Although he is not very harmonious with the knights because of his habit of "self-sufficiency", always using threats, duels, and finding fault to seize the treasures of other knights.

But Su Li likes this straightforward fierce general very much. After all, this kind of lone minister can't make any waves.

If he has any disloyal intentions or performances, without waiting for Su Li to speak, the other knights will swarm up and tear him apart.

So, Su Li basically takes him with him when he goes out to do things.

Hearing Su Li's question, he replied almost without thinking, "Ulric is a very brutal god. He is not as generous and generous as the Goddess of the Sun and the Goddess of Dawn. As the god of winter, his severity torments everyone. In his opinion, the weak who can't even withstand the wind and snow are even less worthy of being protected by him on the battlefield. So, we northerners are more accustomed to the survival of the fittest. The strong can always find leather to dispel the cold. We have never thought about the questions you are thinking about, because the northern winter is always severe."

Tsk ~ Su Li sighed, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. It seems that the north is still more characteristic of the darkness and despair of the Empire.

However, what he said gave Su Li an inspiration. Su Li looked at Vandal and asked, "How is the number of leather in our territory?"

"As the saying goes, people rely on clothing, and horses rely on saddles." Vandal said calmly, "Speaking of this leather, the number in our territory is not small. But the uses are varied."

"We southerners don't like to wear animal skins and leather hats like Kislev and Nord Territory. So, the main use now is in making leather armor and leather clothing."

Su Li knew about the production of leather clothing. Dwarves like to skin and debone trolls and wear coats made of troll skin. This kind of troll skin coat is a symbol of wealth in dwarf society.

In the Battle of the Outpost, Black Forest Territory defeated four monster legions. There were more than a dozen teams of trolls in them. Even if each team of trolls only had eight members as monster infantry, the total number of trolls killed actually exceeded a hundred, and may even be close to 200.

Trolls are the mortal enemies of the dwarf race. Dwarves can always make the most of all the materials on the troll's body. The troll's skull is the perfect container for them to drink troll brew, the troll's acid is the material for them to make runes, and the troll's skin is also their luxury material.

So, these troll corpses alone earned Su Li hundreds of gold crowns. This number could actually have been doubled. The key is that before the war, Su Li promised to reward many troll quotas to the engineering masters and Doglin. The return for motivating their morale and work enthusiasm with dozens of gold crowns is unparalleled.

But Su Li really didn't pay much attention to the production of leather armor, so he asked, "How is the leather armor production in our territory?"

Vandal said, "The production of leather armor should be reported to you in detail by your Chancellor of the Seal. I can only say what I know. Leather armor is the most widely used armor in the Old World Continent. It is very common in the Empire, Kislev, and Araby. It is a very common protective gear for mercenaries, militia groups, hunters, and caravan guards. It is not known for its defensive power. Its greatest feature is to provide a small amount of protection without sacrificing agility."

"The manufacture of leather armor uses leather and oil boiled in boiling water, and even ordinary tailors can make it. The production in our territory is very considerable. In addition, leather armor is very cheap, so economic reasons are also a reason for its popularity. Halflings like to use leather armor very much."

"The leather armor and leather of our Baran Autonomous Territory are also quite famous specialties - the leather armor they make has concealment magic, and is exquisite and practical and is regarded as the top-ranked leather armor in the Frontier Prince Territory; this is a famous specialty of our territory and can bring considerable financial benefits to the territory."

Su Li really knew about this matter. After all, although Su Li does not ask about specific trivial government affairs, he must know all the specialties of the territory like the back of his hand.

The magic leather armor of Baran Autonomous Territory is a specialty of their halfling race, and the production rights do not belong to Su Li. Their halflings are very rich. Even if the assets of a single member are not enough to open a workshop, their close personality as a large family will jointly open a tailor shop to tailor leather armor.

So, in Baran Autonomous Territory, several major families opened 6 tailor shops and 1 joint armor-making workshop. The leather armor produced sells well inside and outside the territory, and is an important specialty that halfling caravans transport to Marienburg.

This kind of specialty is as famous as other territory specialties, but it is slightly different, because their output does not belong to Su Li, but provides high taxes.

The reason why this kind of leather armor is so famous, but accounts for very little in the Black Forest Territory army, is entirely because the Black Forest Territory has a large number of blacksmith shops and armories directly under Su Li, and the plate armor made by the dwarves is more sophisticated and does not require procurement costs.

So, purchasing leather armor from the halflings is relatively less cost-effective. Only a small number of arms such as archer regiments and swan knights who are not suitable for wearing heavy armor wear leather armor.

Of course, due to funding and production capacity issues, not all of the territory's army wears heavy plate armor. But these soldiers waiting for replacement do not wear leather armor, but studded leather armor or chainmail. This is an upgraded version of leather armor, using mass-produced leather pieces and assembled into protective gear with rivets, and there is also a variant called "inlaid armor" that uses metal rings inlaid on the protective gear. Studded leather armor cannot be used with other metal armor of the same part, and the characteristics of halfling leather armor do not exist on studded leather armor.

In the Empire's north, the Norscans would wear animal hides as armor, such as bear, wolf, or other monster skins. In Kislev, many also wore animal hides. Hides are heavy, not breathable, making them uncomfortable to wear, and they greatly affect agility, making them incompatible with other armor (except helmets). However, the protective performance of hides is about the same as chainmail and has the effect of intimidating enemies.

Furthermore, as the saying goes, clothes make the man, and this holds true in this world as well. Fashion styles vary greatly from place to place—people in the southern territories of the Empire like to wear shirts and cloaks, while Kislevites like to wear animal hides and fur hats. In comparison, the Empire's fashion trends are diverse, divided into westerners, northerners, and easterners. Imperial citizens value clothing, and in many cases, they judge people by their appearance—those who dress more luxuriously are treated more politely.

The western part of the Empire refers to a territory with Marienburg as its capital, including Averland, Middenland, etc. People in these areas have a sense of regional superiority about themselves and their hometowns. They are wealthy and live refined lives. They regard people from other parts of the Empire as country bumpkins. Because of the powerful armies of the western territories and the preferential policies under the Emperor's rule, westerners, from nobles to farmers, can afford the attire they want to wear. Of course, clothing produced in the west is more expensive than in other regions.

Western men like to wear mustaches and long sideburns, while western women largely determine the fashion trends of the Old World. They change popular clothing or jewelry capriciously. During the current Emperor's era, the most popular women's clothing is low-cut dresses that reveal the chest, paired with brightly colored hats—these women are constantly striving to dress luxuriously while also showing off their figures as much as possible.

The northern territories of the Empire, such as Nordland, Westerland, and Ostland, generally view the people of the central and western regions as soft and effeminate. Compared to the westerners' emphasis on fashion, northerners prefer to wear animal hides like the Kislevites. Northerners despise makeup, silk, precious metals, and most of what westerners value as "high-class living." Northerners are unkempt, often not cutting their hair or beards. Even women are often taught by men not to be as particular about their clothing as western women. However, this does not mean they have no sense of fashion—northerners like particularly flashy colors or patterns. The clothes they wear are bright red and purple, appearing very conspicuous, and no one feels embarrassed walking down the street like this.

The eastern part of the Empire refers to those territories where, because of poverty, ordinary people cannot dress like westerners, let alone pay attention to fashion. People here are lifeless and unwilling to interact with others because of the hardships of life, and they also look sloppy. Women shave their heads in the summer to stay cool and grow them long again in the winter to keep warm. The clothing here is monotonous, with at most a slight change in the color of the belt.

Clothing, food, housing, and transportation—clothing is the first item in people's livelihood.

After solving the basic survival needs, Reikland had to pay attention to clothing.

But clearly, clothing production is not Reikland's strength.

Vandal continued, "The flax, kudzu, and cotton crops we harvested this year are still not enough to meet the territory's needs. The territory needs these materials not only for clothing but also for storage bags, hemp ropes, furniture, quilts, bed sheets, and carpets."

"The only thing we have a relatively large quantity of is leather clothing. After all, under your guidance, our territory's fishing and hunting output far exceeds normal levels. To date, the territory has produced more than 7,000 pieces of leather clothing."

"But as you know, leather clothing is not popular in the southern part of the Empire. So these clothes are not selling well, perhaps this can be considered a blessing in disguise, the accumulated leather clothing can allow our people and slaves to have a good winter."

Su Li said with some regret: "I feel that the territory really needs a senior administrative bureaucrat to integrate the development now. Our territory is too focused on heavy industry, and the production of clothing and daily necessities is seriously lagging behind."

Silk exists in this world, and the Empire people can also make it, but the silk passed down from the distant Cathay Dynasty is even more valuable than gold.

The territory's specialties that Su Li expected to be mass-produced were undoubtedly five categories: food, armor, spices, silk, and porcelain.

These five categories are the most profitable industries, allowing the territory to earn massive amounts of wealth with a small population.

He also mentioned this goal during the meeting, but obviously, the territory is currently unable to do so.

Vandal shrugged and said, "There's no way, our territory's development is severely dragged down by military affairs. We can only follow the development direction you planned at the beginning, first solve the basic food production problem, and then focus on developing certain industries after we have surplus manpower."

"Lord, we are actually developing very quickly. In just over half a year, we have to fight and farm at the same time. In addition to developing the Bjornling Bay as a fertile field, we have also opened up 43 acres of herb fields, one-sixth of an acre of extraordinary grain fields, and planted three extraordinary spiritual trees."

"It's really been fast. You can't get fat in one bite."

43 acres of spices, 1/6 acre of extraordinary grains, and 3 extraordinary spiritual trees, these are one of Su Li's biggest farming achievements in the past six months.

Talking about this aspect, Su Li's mood improved a lot, he said with great interest: "My minister, you are right, I may be too anxious. Tell me about the situation of the extraordinary spiritual grain, have all one-sixth of an acre of extraordinary grains survived?"

Vandal immediately nodded excitedly and said: "Yes, Lord. Under the care of Sister Isabella, we successfully planted 276 green ears of grain in the 100-square-meter purple spiritual field. If we can have a good harvest, we can earn at least 2,500 to 3,500 gold crowns."

Before Su Li could be excited, he continued: "And it's more than that! In addition to this 100-square-meter extraordinary grain field, we also successfully grew green ears of grain on the blood sacrifice grain field using the [Descent of the Sun] divine spell. After our counting, at least 74 green ears of grain grew in each acre of wheat field."

Sure enough! Su Li clenched his fist excitedly. He remembered that Isabella had told him before that normal extraordinary spiritual grain grows in farmland, and one plant will be generated in one acre of wheat field after absorbing enough Ghyran wind.

The Descent of the Sun divine spell satisfied all of this, so spiritual grain grew smoothly in the wheat field.

On the contrary, Su Li's 1/6 of an acre of purple spiritual field is an alternative production method.