Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 356: Saiyuan Qiucao
The development of things beyond psychological expectations, in fact, there is another person.

That is a certain unscrupulous lord in Shuangfengling.

In the original plan of the Xiahou officials, with the help of the coalition forces of the vast number of southern nobles in the empire, it should have been an extremely simple task to go to Rock Creek City to capture (and secretly kill) the Duke of Houston;

He was originally prepared to "destroy Houston in three days", and then rushed south to return to the territory before the spring!
However, the appearance of Bartholomew de Hash caused a lot of injuries to the Frost Maple Ridge team:
Xia Houyan stayed in Rock Creek City for more than a month in a daze, and waited until Eldridge and the others and the new employees who had just joined the territory had generally recovered from their injuries. , Go south and return home.

So, when they crossed the Lionheart River and returned to the wilderness of the Land of Cracked Souls, it was almost the beginning of spring.

The climate characteristics of Haiwen Continent are quite different from those of Earth’s Huaxia—it’s true that the northernmost Hangu Mountains are the coldest, but the temperature in various places is not like the normal northern hemisphere, showing a gradual change trend as it gets closer to the equator and warmer as it goes south ;

On the Haven Continent, the warmest area is the human imperial capital on the west side of the Han Continent, and then to the Central Plains of the continent, the orc capital Redstone on the east side of the continent;
Further south, the area around the Demon Realm, where the demons live together, can be regarded as a pleasant place where the seasons are like spring;

But only the Land of Cracking Soul, which is sandwiched between these two lines, and then to the Tongge Desert on the east coast of the mainland, this geographical belt that traverses the east and west of the mainland and is called the "Road of Decline" by Haiwen Geography, is in the middle of the land. An extreme climate zone with bitter cold in winter and hot summer.

As early as when he first arrived in the Land of Cracking Soul, Xia Houyan had been puzzled by this strange climate distribution that was completely inconsistent with the law of light;
The explanation given by Master Laurie is that the determination of the temperature of various places on the Haven Continent must not only consider the light time, but also consider the magical turbulence in the land and air——

The energy contained in a magic vein buried in the ground is enough to turn any Greenland into a TLF, and Afghanistan into England.

Xia Houyan has never been interested in understanding these common senses of geography in other worlds;

But this time when he returned to the Land of Broken Soul, he clearly felt the omen of the coming warm season and the rainstorm.

Just after crossing the Lion Heart River, Xia Houyan and his party found dots of low green plants covering the surface of the desert in the desert area on the south bank of the river. Looking around, there were some green hair growing in the wasteland. scene.

This discovery left team members doubly confused:

The climate and soil conditions in the previous land of cracking souls were not suitable for plant growth. Even if some tenacious dryland plants took root, there were definitely not so many.

And the pioneer sentinel stationed by Shuangfengling at the outpost on the south bank of the Lion Heart River answered the doubts of the passing lords:
According to the sentinel, these newly grown plants on the wasteland are actually thanks to our Shuangfeng Ridge——

The "Enziai" troll and the elves in the "Northern Blizzard Mages", two races who also love nature and love green, have made outstanding contributions to the great cause of wasteland greening.

The forest trolls have always inherited the technology of plant cultivation. Ever since they came to the impasse of life in the land of the broken soul, they have been planning to change the ecological situation of the wasteland. However, there are no tree species that can survive in the land of the broken soul. And the ability to guarantee the survival of plants in harsh environments;

However, Calvino, the master of spiritual songs, the water magician, has become a literal "timely rain"-the master of spiritual songs brought to the wasteland, not only a dozen elf mages who love to tend flowers and plants, but also many elves A unique and rare seed of a family.

These two groups of idlers who also lived in the Frost Maple Woodland hit it off, took advantage of the short vacation period in winter after the war, and put a bunch of elven tea tree seeds called "Tsau Shanming" in the lion's garden that was easy to water and irrigate. The South Bank of the Heart River was sown down;
Under the care of the magic of the elf mages and the technology of the "Enziai" troll, these seeds will germinate smoothly as soon as the climate warms up;
The huge south bank of the Lion Heart River has also become the first test field of Shuangfengling's "wasteland greening project".

According to Master Spirit Song and Chief Bloodfang, the leaves of these "Tsau Shan Ming" trees.After being picked, it can be preserved after simple baking, and if it is soaked in hot water, a refreshing tea that is popular among elves can be brewed;

——That is to say, if the "Tsau Cedar Tea" on the south bank of the Lion Heart River can grow smoothly, it will not only look beautiful, but also be a cash crop through and through.

Mayor Joel has even taken precautions to ask the hapless writers of Dongbingku to deliberately add some characters in the works to be soft and popular. When the time comes, as long as you read Dongbingku (and Biqu Pavilion") novels, can become a potential market for Shuangfengling's tea dumping;
Writers of Dongbingku, this can be regarded as a real opportunity to write soft texts—literally, if any writer dares not to stuff "Tsau Shan Ming" into the novel softly, Dongbingku's Those vicious jailers won't give you food in prison.

Listening to the narration of the sentinel of the East Bingku, Xia Houyan found out with a strange expression that he was so bored and sent these bandit captives to write novels for fun, but now it seems that he has really brought some economic benefits to the girls...

The cultural industry is really important!
Xia Houyan and his party did not stop at the Lion Heart River, and continued to march south.

But before leaving, the lord also noticed a phenomenon:
With the warming of the climate, the snow and ice in the central mountain system of the mainland melted, and the water level and flow of the Lion Heart River also increased significantly.

If the plan formulated by the Chief of General Staff of Quentin remains unchanged, then after a period of time, when the river channel conditions of the Lion Heart River permit, some ships with shallower drafts in the Imperial Western Army Navy Fleet will pass through the giant whale city. The mouth of the Lion Heart River sailed into the Lion Heart River from the Salt Sea in the west to aid the inland battlefield.

According to the original strategy of the Imperial Army, these naval ships should stay at the lower reaches of the Lionheart River, at the junction of the southern border of the Empire and the Land of the Broken Soul, to help guard against possible sneak attacks by the orc army;
But now the "Hammer of Purgatory" invasion plan has gone bankrupt, and the security of the southern border is no longer in danger;
Then, this fleet should continue directly up the river, sailing along the Shixin River to the vicinity of Sanshui Bay to support the eastern battlefield.

Grand Duke Rosario is currently leading the Eastern Army to guard the Eternal Sun City front, which is not far to the east of Sanshui Bay. The long-range firepower carried by the imperial warships and the material transportation capacity provided may still be able to play some role in this Patriotic War. Functional.

To be honest, Xia Houyan didn't bother to care about the war situation in the eastern border after finishing taking care of the mess in the southern border.

But, the Igor family, who originally ruled Eagle's Rest on the west bank of the empire, had a long history with the Western military navy. Xia Houyan vaguely remembered that Katerina seemed to know their fleet commander or someone else.

So, before leaving the Lion Heart River, the lord secretly remembered the itinerary of the imperial fleet in his heart.

After officially setting foot on the Land of Cracking Soul, all the Igor family team had to do was to gallop south along Route 66 on their own wilderness.

It has to be said that ever since the Igor family took over the land of the broken soul, this uninhabited land since ancient times has become more and more boring.

The banditry in the wasteland has been wiped out by Shuangfengling several times. When driving in the wasteland, there is no more excitement like opening a blind box like "will you meet a bandit today or will you meet a bandit tomorrow?"
Even the major rest areas set up by the Igor family on the roads adhere to the business philosophy of "only pitting traders and not cheating on their own comrades". The lord and his party do not even have the right to experience life in the rest area have;

During this boring journey, Xia Houyan was only fortunate that he had enough girls traveling with him this time.

The journey passed in a blink of an eye. When the convoy approached the happy hometown of Fenghuangtai, the wanderers not only saw the third platform "Yuhuatai" in Shuangfengling, which was under construction in full swing, but also saw the hardworking farmers in Shuangfengling. Spring plowing began.

These days, the population expansion of Frost Maple Ridge also brought a huge food shortage.

Compared with last year, the cultivated area of ​​Shuangfengling has significantly expanded this year, and the irrigation canals drained from the Maoxin River have also woven into a large criss-crossing network on the originally arid wasteland.

With the high-yielding seeds brought by the elf mages and the technical guidance of the "Enziai" troll, it is conceivable that the agricultural production in Frost Maple Ridge will continue to develop in the direction of intensive cultivation.

Although it is still a fantasy to feed everyone self-sufficiently with the land fertility of the Land of Cracking Soul and the agricultural population of Frost Maple Ridge, but if you can import a little less food from the north through the "New Boston" Chamber of Commerce, you can give more The territory saves the financial expenditure of one gold coin.

Old Joel, Minister of Internal Affairs of Frost Maple Ridge, has managed the town of Eagle's Rest for almost half of his life, and his planning for the construction of the territory cannot be more scientific - hand over the production business of Frost Maple Ridge to him, the lord. Hands-off shopkeeper doesn't even need to worry about anything extra.

What made Xia Houyan even more gratified was that when he returned to the territory this time, the embarrassing scene of "Master Igor can't do it" did not appear last time.

Under the leadership of Katerina, the left-behind crowd of Shuangfeng Ridge ushered the lord's convoy into the gate of the city with almost loud gongs, drums and firecrackers.

The old citizens who migrated all the way from Eagle's Rest with the lord had obviously learned the news of the Duke of Houston's execution from "What the lord eats today".

Many of them lost their relatives and friends in the raid of the "Desolate Wind" mercenary group. After the lord got out of the car, they almost rushed forward to help themselves. The vengeful young lord shed tears of emotion.

Looking at this group of crying and laughing old fellows in the territory, Xia Houyan felt that his life was worthwhile.

The welcoming ceremony did not last long.The territory is already on the right track, and everyone has their own work to do, not to mention that the lord has repeatedly emphasized the need to put an end to bureaucracy and extravagance, so it didn't take long for the people who greeted the return of the convoy to leave one after another.

The officer Xiahou breathed a sigh of relief, and returned to the Horned Eagle Manor arm in arm with his sister Katerina who kept wiping away tears.

After finally solving the big problem of the Duke of Houston, who was entrenched on the north bank of the Lionheart River, Xia Houyan, who had returned to his territory, also felt a sense of relief.

However, before this guy could figure out which house and whose room he was going to spend the night in, the lord's responsibility came up again.

It was Sean Mountbatten, Minister of Frost Maple Ridge, who rang the Lord Lord's study.

Xia Houyan let go of the little maid in a hurry, straightened his appearance quickly, and said "Come in" loudly.

Sean Mountbatten was still wearing the straight gray woolen military uniform and the big-brimmed hat with the goshawk badge. He entered the study room with a stack of documents, and gave a military salute to the boss.

"Welcome home, my lord." Seeing the lord smile, Sean couldn't help but smile, "I'll come back before you. These days, there are a lot of things that need to be decided by you at the staff department... delaying your rest. gone."

"Don't delay, I can rest at any time." The lord lord blushed and was out of breath.

Sean nodded, looked at the documents he was carrying, and reported:

"The first thing is... Commander Paulus of the Southern Army of the Arcane Spire Defense Line has sent a special envoy. Now the major is still living on the Phoenix Terrace."

"Paulus sent someone here?" Xia Houyan blinked, "Are you here to discuss the "Mutual Defense Agreement" again?"

"No..." Sean shrugged. , sold a batch of 'flaming candies' incendiary bombs to the southern army, and it was considered as a favor..."

Sean paused, grinned and concluded:
"So now, the Southern Army should have no reason to ask us to join the "Mutual Defense Agreement"-this thing involves too many interests, and we absolutely cannot sign it."

"Oh..." Xia Houyan frowned, "But as a price, we had to set up a special discounted price for the arms sales to the Southern Army? Then how much did we lose?"

"Let me tell you this..." Sean Mountbatten turned a page, "...In the arms sale, it is true that we gave them a 50% discount, but in fact, before negotiating the deal, we "Flame Sandwich Candy" has just experienced a round of emergency price increases of [-]% - anyway, the pricing power is in our hands."

"Yes." Xia Houyan was very relieved, "Since the "Mutual Defense Agreement" has failed, what did Paulus want to do when he sent a special envoy?"

"He is here to collect debts." Sean smacked his lips, "If you still remember, the 'tower guard armor' worn by our warriors who stopped the orcs at the mouth of the Red River Valley were all from the Southern Army before the war. I borrowed it—now that the war is over, people have sent people to ask for armor! I can’t decide this matter, it’s up to you—repay it, or not?”

"Repay! Of course you have to pay back! It's not difficult to borrow and repay!" The Lord Lord waved his hand boldly, almost making Sean Mountbatten think that the boss had changed his temper, "...But Sean, you go to Manhattan first. In the laboratory, ask Master Nicholson and the others... Is there any way to scrape some things from these armors without anyone noticing before returning them? They are all magic metal materials, and they cannot be wasted. ..."

Sean Mountbatten was in awe.

"No problem, I'll ask in a moment," he replied.

"It's reasonable, we shouldn't always rely on the Southern Army's lease, the military industry should be in our own hands, don't make our Shuangfengling like a small broken island outside the solitary strait..." Xia Houyan pinched his brows and said, "This time the battle with the orcs is very profitable. The batch of 'Fourier's Transformation Armor' we seized in the Red River Valley is not much better than the second-rate imperial goods like 'Tower Guardian Armor'? "

"Your lord is wise, this is exactly another thing I want to say." Sean nodded, "The Manhattan Laboratory has already studied the 'Fourier Transformation Armor' seized from the orcs, Nicholson The master's conclusion is that we can't get the "cosine steel" used by the Eastern Federation to cast armor, but the dynamic design of these orc top equipment is still remarkable... According to the meaning of Manhattan, we can use A batch of inferior metal materials were imitated according to the design of 'Fourier Transform Armor'."

"Approved for trial production and commissioning!" Xia Houyan immediately approved the copycat plan.

Sean Mountbatten asked the lord a few more military questions, and then pulled out a flat, tightly sealed iron file box from the middle of the stack of documents in his hand.

"Finally..." Sean handed the file box to the lord, "This is Mr. Karim Lodge from the Military Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior. The investigation report on the territory's internal affairs was recently obtained. When you were away, this report has been Put it in the highest-level warehouse of the Pioneering Army and keep it strictly guarded... Since you are back, I will bring you the report along the way."

"Karim finally came up with something!" Xia Houyan chuckled, satisfied with the work efficiency of his spy chief, "Have you read the contents of the report, Sean?"

"No." Sean shook his head and said, "According to the regulations of the territory, the Military Statistics Bureau is in direct contact with you, and I have no right to view the reports they submitted to you."

"Then what if the report has something unfavorable to you?" Xia Houyan asked playfully.

Sean Mountbatten grinned: "I have a clear conscience. If Karim Lodge really slanders me in the report, it can only show that you are a son of a bitch."

"Those who engage in their jobs usually have a difficult end." Xia Houyan waved away Sean, and at the same time made a pessimistic assertion about Karim Lodge's career.

(End of this chapter)