Wolf King

If any ally has the closest relationship with the Fire Department, the closest communication, and the most unbreakable alliance of interests, don't think about it except the forest elves.

In the era of Elder Gwendolyn, the Fire Department’s offer of blood transfusion to the forest elves might not win the approval of the forest elves. This elder has the same problem as the leader of the Qingtian clan. He eats too much. The elders of Nas teamed up to take down it, and it was entirely their own fault.

In the era of Elder Mei Li, drawing on the lessons of Elder Gwendoline, Elder Mei Li did not eat alone at all, and paid special attention to the ups and downs. The blood that the Fire Department has lost to the forest elves over the past four years can be said to be up and down. It's all "pleased".

And the amount of blood transfusion is even greater than that of Elder Gwendolyn's time-after all, the transaction volume of tens of millions of catties in the past four years is not at the same level as the transaction volume of at most one million catties in the past.

Of course, this blood is not a one-way output. If there is no forest elves, this mountain can shelter the wind and rain, the Lamia Chamber of Commerce would have called at the door, and the dark elf mistress would have sent someone to arrest Xiao Yun and force the marriage. , Keeping the Fire Department in your pockets—those countries on the earth that claim to be civilized cannibalize people without spit out bones, how can they expect the powerful forces in this world to be kind?

But... no matter how powerful the forest elves, the geographical ally, have been during the nearly nine years of cooperation, this time Xiao Yun, even Shi Lezhi, cannot ask the forest elves to block back the black hand extended by the Beast Emperor for the Fire Department.

The reason is very simple. Even family members, couples, and husband and wife must maintain a certain safe distance. One party cannot rely on the other party wholeheartedly. Otherwise, the relationship between the two parties will inevitably become unbalanced, and it will inevitably be distorted into a controlling relationship between one party and the other. , not to mention two groups with different political demands?

Xiao Yun would never commit such stupidity.

After arranging Elder Meili to rest in the guest room (that is, not yet assigned to a personal family room), Xiao Yun immediately found Mr. Sean, Mr. Hodgson, Balk, and Patriarch Ali (the grassroots patriarch was not there), and told everyone about his decision. Candid announcement.

After hearing Xiao Yun's words, Mr. Xiao En's first reaction was: "How many catties of vermicelli did the Dwarf Kingdom import from the Forest of Elves in the first half of this year?"

"6000 million catties." Xiao Yun said, "Ananas sent all the vermicelli that he bought from us to the Western Continent, and he didn't keep a catty. This is what Ah Shu heard at the Elven Port."

Mr. Xiao En nodded knowingly: "I remember that last year, the Dwarf Kingdom only imported 500 million catties. From this point of view, the Dwarf King is indeed our best partner."

"What do you mean?" Balk didn't understand.

Mr. Xiao En smiled slightly: "After the last Frankish feast, the import of vermicelli in the Dwarf Kingdom was only 2000 million catties in the first year. After that, it increased year by year, and it had risen to more than 5000 million catties the year before. This means that Ayun's strategy is successful. Compared with the imported vermicelli, the food self-sufficiency rate of the Dwarf Kingdom has been relaxed year by year."

After a pause, Sean said meaningfully: "And... last year we suffered floods in the North Continent, but there was no rain in the West Continent for three consecutive months. The output of the terraced granaries in the southern part of the Dwarf Kingdom was reduced by more than [-]%. The news published in Travel Notes."

Xiao Yun nodded and added: "After the flood, there must be an epidemic. In order to prevent and control the epidemic, we spent [-] gold coins of tribal funds and purchased a large amount of potion from the Alchemist Association, which was used for spraying and disinfection, and mixed into drinking water for the whole people. , All livestock are immune. And the drought in the dwarf kingdom..."

Speaking of this, Xiao Yun narrowed his eyes slightly: "After the drought, there must be locust plagues, and more vigorous rectification is needed. Judging from the demand for vermicelli purchased from the Dwarf Kingdom in the first half of this year... the Dwarf King missed the best prevention period for locust plagues. This year's In the Western Continent, the situation must be much worse than last year."

Balk hissed, and Patriarch Ali's eyes changed.

"Wait, if this is the case, 5000 million catties of vermicelli won't solve the problem, right? The Dwarf Kingdom has tens of millions of people!" Balk said.

"Indeed, but if the dwarf king once again urges the forest elves to buy a large amount of vermicelli on his behalf, he will expose his own plight to the elves. Therefore, the dwarf king must grit his teeth and overcome the difficulties." Xiao Yun said calmly, "Allies who can clearly see the bottom line It is the safest ally, and at the current stage, the dwarf kingdom, which urgently needs a large amount of food to alleviate the locust plague, is the best partner we can choose."

Mr. Xiao En added with a smile: "If Huoyan falls into the hands of the Beast King, the lifeline of the dwarf kingdom's purchased food will be indirectly held in the hands of the Beast King. This is something that the Dwarf King will never accept anyway."

"Oh...that's how it is." Balk finally understood.

Hodgson, who was sitting quietly by the side, although his face was expressionless, his fingers resting on his knees unconsciously clenched...

That is to say, even if there is no such thing as the Beast Emperor, you have planned a few years ago to forcefully create a handle for the Dwarf King to intimidate the other party, right...

Patriarch Ali, the rare old Yinbi in the snow wolf clan, frowned and listened for a long time, and said coldly: "In this case, we need enough chips to impress the dwarf king."

"There's no problem with this!" Balk immediately patted his chest confidently, "Oston and I have accumulated nearly [-] million catties of vermicelli, and we can take it out to defeat the dwarf king at any time!"

The attitude of the forest elves towards the Fire Department is not pure, and it is naturally impossible for the Fire Department to be honest with the forest elves, their "closest ally", to show their underpants... Although the transaction volume of vermicelli is increasing every year, in fact Xiao Yun It still suppressed part of the production secretly, and it would not reveal its actual productivity at all.

Anyway, the vermicelli is easy to store. The monster lairs cleared out by the snow wolf warriors earlier, the caves with relatively high terrain, dry and cool, were cleaned and covered with straw, sealed and filled. , No problem for five years. (Sweet potato flour is all starch and has no fat and protein. As long as it is not damp and moldy, there will be no insects, and it will not deteriorate easily)

"Not enough." Xiao Yun didn't even lift his eyelids, "Before the end of autumn, prepare at least [-] million vermicelli reserves."

Balk: "..."

Hodgson, who seemed to be sitting calmly by the side, couldn't help silently counting how many mouths [-] million catties of vermicelli could feed, and then he showed a faint, inconspicuous expression of horror.

"I can't do it!" Balk said impatiently, "Unless you open two more flour mills and get a pair of green dragons out!"

"All the magicians of the Cat Clan belong to you, and I will also lend you a batch of manpower from the production team." Xiao Yundao, "Starting tomorrow, you and Auston's flour mill will work 24 hours a day, with three shifts on duty. If the rest machine does not rest, it counts as much as it can produce.”

Balk's face twitched wildly... After all, he knew that this matter was very important to the Fire Department, so he endured it and didn't complain.

"Mr. Xiao En, Mr. Hodgson, I hope you two can also participate in the work of the flour mill in the next two months. I know it's presumptuous, but what we lack most now is time." Xiao Yun looked at the two of them again. A great magician.

Mr. Xiao En nodded immediately. He definitely couldn't watch this matter from the sidelines.

Hodgson poker-faced, slightly nodded his chin.

Xiao Yun is also used to Hodgson's poker face, which is a hundred times harder to recognize than Huoyan's patriarch, and continued: "The truce agreement in the cursed land can only play a certain role in interference. If the Beast Emperor wants to do something, even if there are elves The resistance of the tribe can't stop him... What's more, we can't afford the price of the elves sending troops for our grassland tribe. So I plan to temporarily suspend the Grand Canal project and bring back all the manpower to strengthen the security of the entire southwest region Preventive work..."

"You said that the Beast Emperor would send someone to trouble us? Can't you?" Balk was surprised.

Xiao Yun sneered: "If I were the Beast Emperor, and I wanted to annex the Huoyan tribe, which is worth annexing, then first of all, I would not consider immediately moving this tribe that produces wealth with endless energy back to the Far East. It is the owner. Finding another place to settle the Huoyan Department will not only take a lot of time, but also delay the profit time. Then, under the consideration of reducing costs as much as possible and not using costly and expensive war methods, I will send the person in charge of the Huoyan Department, such as myself , Hongye, Huoyan Patriarch, Grassroots Patriarch, Ali Patriarch, Lan Guo and other guys who are capable of managing the tribe are brought to their own territory for house arrest in any way. The hen of the Fire Department remotely controlled the hen and continued to lay golden eggs... This is not only good-looking, after all, I did not force the Fire Department to leave their accustomed living place, 'treat' the high-level members of the Fire Department with the lowest control The cost has been continuously benefited.”

Balk: "..."

Hodgson: "..."

"The Beast Emperor is not Lamia, and he will not be intimidated by the forest elves who are very close to us." Xiao Yun gritted his teeth and said with a gloomy face, "Don't forget...he can exile the snake in order to obtain the Snake Island gold mine." clan!"

The four people in the room looked condensed and nodded heavily.

"It's not our style to be beaten all the time." Xiao Yun let out a sulky voice, and said sternly, "Internally, we are ready for battle. Externally, we should also find something for the Beast Emperor—I'm still planning to brew more Two years later, we can only try our best now."

Mr. Xiao En stared at Xiao Yun for a few seconds, and quietly said, "I always feel that as an opponent...you are much more terrifying than the Beast Emperor."

Hodgson nodded slightly with a poker face.

Xiao Yun: "..."

Two days after Elder Mei Li came to report, the dark elves, snow elves, and tauren emissaries successively came to the door.

The emissary of the dark elves is still an old friend of the Fire Department, Tang Angelo with big breasts and black skin.As soon as he saw Xiao Yun's face, this guy brazenly proposed marriage again, which was firmly rejected by Xiao Yun.

This guy also said that it doesn't matter if Xiao Yun refuses, the single grassroots patriarch, Huoyan patriarch, and Hongye are all OK, she doesn't choose age or gender... Xiao Yun fled in embarrassment.

The emissary of the snow elves is much more kind. Second Lieutenant Selina bluntly said that the snow elves can lend troops to the Fire Department.

Xiao Yun said, thank you, no need.

The snow elves seem to be more kind than the forest elves, you guys put on an attitude that you think it's okay to be our vassal race, we won't restrict you or oppress you, but Xiao Yun is not so rushed yet .

The one who is really kind is the tauren. Harold, the patriarch of the tauren, not only came here in person, but also brought two hundred strong and strong tauren warriors, saying that the Fire Department can be used until next year...

Obviously, not only Xiao Yun, but neither the Snow Elves nor the Tauren felt that the Beast Emperor could hold back from attacking the grassland tribes.

When Xiao Yun expressed his hope to get the invitation letter from the Tauren, the patriarch Harold hesitated for a long time, and began to persuade Xiao Yun to accept the invitation letter from the elves. Take out the saying "advance and retreat"...

Patriarch Harold understood Xiao Yun's defense against the elves, and didn't say anything, but just patted Xiao Yun on the shoulder.

In the first month of autumn, the Grand Canal Engineering Team of the Huoyan Ministry, who had been squatting outside for nearly two years, packed up and returned home. Some of the cat/snake tribe fighters were drawn from various farms, resettlement sites and the Snake Ministry to form a militia team for full-time training.

Xiao Yun did not conceal the Beast Emperor's covetousness for the Fire Department, and directly disclosed it internally. The big cats who had just lived a stable life obviously did not want their lives to be affected, and responded quite positively; In the clan resettlement site, the subsequent shock caused by more than half of the big cats hugging each other to "remove" the patriarch was also suppressed by the shadow above.

And when the prairie tribes tightened up and prepared for the battle as a whole, a major event happened to Valentine across the sea-the orc team "Battle Bears" who had participated in two matchdays and achieved good results, Its captain was recognized as an officer of the city defense team of Moon Bear City.

Isaac, a "politician" who became a monk on the way, can see that the Beast Emperor is plotting Cronin's shipbuilding technology. Naturally, Cronin's nobles will not be so brain-dead that they can't figure out why the officers of the Far East Orc Empire would pretend to be adventurers. In China, this Moon Bear was taken down immediately and thrown into prison. Individuals or forces who had had close contact with the "War Bear" team were also strictly investigated by the Cronin nobles...

This caused the war ball movement to be greatly affected for a while, and many noble lords suspended the war ball invitational tournament.

But... as the saying goes, rare and restricted things are good things. Even rubbish with a "banned book" label can attract a large number of curious people. Short-term restrictions are not good for the long-term development of warball. It's a bad thing.When the demand of the public reaches a critical point, the game of ball games will inevitably usher in a new wave of upsurge.

At the same time, the travel notes of "Elf Ranger", which has always been habitually suspended for three months, resumed updating after only two months of suspension.

In September, the crops in various parts of the mainland entered the harvest period one after another, and the "Mainland Travel Notes" published all over the mainland was sent to readers of this monthly publication.

Western Continent, Ironforge.

"Is the potato harvest only [-]% of last year's..." The dwarf king was wearing a simple linen shirt, flipping through the report sent by the clerk, and pressing his forehead with his stubby and strong fingers, "Didn't you already buy it from those alchemists?" Insecticide? Doesn't it work at all?"

The clerk was an old-looking red-haired dwarf, and he replied with a sad face: "My lord, the alchemists said that using insecticides after locust plagues have already appeared is not effective... If you want to prevent locust plagues, you must use them in the previous year." right."

The dwarf king sighed. The drought last year left everyone at a loss. Who would have thought that locust control would have to be carried out immediately?

Turning to the next page, the dwarf king's voice trembled slightly: "The harvest of buckwheat and wheat is only [-]% of last year's... Secretary! Did you calculate correctly?! Our harvest last year was not high at all!"

The clerk smiled wryly: "Wang... This is still the harvest after using the insecticide machine, otherwise, maybe [-]% will not be collected."

The western continent is covered with plateaus and mountains. Most of the country is mountainous and deserted. The wind is strong and the climate is dry. It is recognized as the continent with the worst agricultural development.

In the southern mountainous area with relatively abundant rainfall, after the transformation and maintenance of the terraced fields were published in the travel notes of "Elf Ranger" five years ago, the Dwarf King resolutely gave up other areas and concentrated his efforts on developing the southern part. The results are also gratifying. The large-scale development of the southern terraces led by the army has become the largest granary in the dwarf kingdom.

If the dwarf kingdom can devote more energy to the development of this terraced granary, then five years later, the dwarf kingdom may not have any problem of food self-sufficiency... Buckwheat, wheat, potatoes, and soybeans, which the dwarves love, can all be planted in the terraced fields. I also planted a lot of sweet potatoes that I don't like very much.

Unfortunately, in order to compete for the underground mines, the dwarf kingdom has been at war with the dark elves all these years... After being able to buy cheap vermicelli to relieve the pressure on the staple food, the dwarf king also transferred part of the army that developed the south to the underground world. Productivity remains only as high as it can barely supply domestic needs.

Since the gray dwarves were expelled, the dwarf kingdom run by the black iron dwarves has never had any internal struggles. When the dwarf king's attention was diverted by the war in the underground world and he ignored the operation of the southern granary, naturally no one would not grow up. Offending the majesty of the dwarf king... So last year's drought dealt a heavy blow to the dwarf kingdom.

This year's locust plague is even worse...

The dwarf king bulged his eyes and bowed his head for a while, feeling sulking for a while. Under the increasingly nervous gaze of the clerk, the king of the Western Continent heaved a sigh of relief and looked up: "Order, the food in the south does not need to be delivered Ironforge is here, let them keep [-]% for their own use, and send the rest to towns with serious food shortages. As for Ironforge... take out the remaining vermicelli and put them all in food stores for sale. Residents in the castle There is a limit of ten catties per person, let’s get through this barrier first.”

"Wang—" the clerk was about to speak out to persuade him.

"Needless to say, I'm going to set off to visit the Elf Queen in two days. People won't starve to death in Ironforge in winter." The dwarf king raised his hand to stop it.

If there is a food shortage in the human kingdom, the royal family of the human race must ensure the food supply of the royal city even if it does not care about other places. Otherwise, if the royal city is in chaos, the king's head will be threatened... Even a demigod like the dwarf king is not worried about the royal capital at all. There was chaos in Ironforge, and the priority was to appease the towns far away from the royal capital.

The clerk looked distressed, but he was relieved in his heart... As the chief steward of the dwarf king, he had long been worried about the food shortage in Ironforge. Pressure, he can at least close his eyes when he sleeps at night.

The clerk was asked to step back, and when the dwarf king was alone, he showed a painful face that would not be shown in front of his subordinates...

Among the demigods, the young dwarf king is naturally a good face. Although the forest elf queen always behaves well and speaks well, it is still a big blow to a king to ask others to sell food.

"What a ghost..." The Dwarf King cursed in a low voice, "Damn Beast Emperor, if this bastard hadn't sent the Tiger Clan to the underground world, the mine veins to the west of the Dark Forest would have been taken down long ago, how could it have been going on forever?" Procrastinate until now!"

Well, the dwarf king has also discovered that he has neglected the management of the south in the past few years. If he hadn't been eager to seize the mines and take back part of the army, he wouldn't have messed up the whole south during the drought last year.

But admitting one's mistakes is obviously very embarrassing, so the dwarf king must blame the beast king...

The dwarf king, who was in a bad mood, was sullen again for a long time, and then reached out to take the new issue of "Travel to the Mainland" sent by his servant in the morning.

But before Dwarf Wang Youji calmed down, he saw the chief guard rushing into the study.

"My lord, the elf queen's knight led a group of orcs to visit Ironforge. This is the letter from the queen that the elf knight handed over to the city gate officer." offered.

"The queen's letter?" The dwarf king took the envelope suspiciously, and the first thing he saw was the extremely extravagant queen's seal painted with gold powder on the envelope.

At the same time, outside Ironforge, which was built against the mountain, some urban areas were even hollowed out from the mountain.

The black iron dwarves, who are famous for being good at smelting, attach great importance to their main city. The average peasant family in a human country cannot afford agricultural tools made of steel. In Ironforge, these black iron dwarves even watered the towering city walls with molten iron... …

Standing under the city wall, the emissary team composed of bumpkins from the prairie, the snow wolf clan and the cat clan raised their heads like country bumpkins, staring blankly at the majestic giant with a length of thousands of meters and two ends embedded in the mountains on both sides. The city wall, I can't recover for a long time.

"The iron city wall only looks beautiful, but it is actually very troublesome to maintain." The city gate official who entertained their guests, an old black iron dwarf with white hair, seemed modest, but in fact showed off, "The surface is too easy to rust. , and worried that the snow would be cracked by freezing in winter, and every year, I had to apply a layer of antifreeze oil painstakingly, and look, those reflective things are left by years of antifreeze oil.”

"Oh." The leading snow werewolf responded dryly, swallowing unconsciously.

Antifreeze oil is mechanical lubricating oil, and Qiuling New District has to pay a huge amount of expenses every year just to buy this thing, and these guys actually use it to paint the city walls... It’s true that it’s the place of origin, so capricious!

Hong Ye, the general manager of the Qiuling New District, heard that the layer on the black iron city wall was actually mechanical lubricant, so she had the urge to scrape off a layer and take it away...

Hong Ye, a country bumpkin, greatly pleased the city gate officer. Holding the big hammer on his waist, he spitting and bragging about the great achievements of Ironforge - the Ice and Snow King City built on the snow mountain of Samar is called the city that never falls. Ironforge also has a similar nickname: the unbreakable city.

This city, inhabited by hundreds of thousands of dark iron dwarves, was originally a war fortress that could be attacked and retreated.Only one-third of the city area is exposed, and the other two-thirds are hidden in the mountains, or even built underground. The black iron city walls connected to the mountains on both sides cannot be broken even by giant war beasts. The inside and outside of the city walls are densely covered. There are many arrow towers, defensive towers, and forts. Even the Dragon Clan can't fly over the city unscathed.

In the later period of the race war, the dwarves and the elves fought intermittently for hundreds of years, and the elves (the elves had not separated at that time) failed to break through the fortress of Ironforge and enter the hinterland of the dwarf kingdom; The Western Continent is bordered by land in the Southern Continent. Those human war lunatics who are eager to conquer and plunder wealth have never gotten cheap from the dwarves.

Hmm... At that time, the gray dwarves were still members of the dwarf kingdom, and they fought bloody battles to defend the dwarf kingdom, but the bragging of the city gate officials would definitely not show the gray dwarves...