Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 53 Territory Development (Part )

This world is both idealistic and materialistic. To get the serfs to work hard and actively, they needed both psychological incentives and material abundance.

If there is not enough food, no matter how much we encourage them or how much we promise them, they will have no motivation to work as long as they are hungry.

With Su Li's sufficient food supply, everyone in the entire Hesse Territory was in high spirits and full of energy.

In particular, Su Li also has the assistance of the [Daily Intelligence] system. There will be a surprise every few days to motivate the morale of all the people in the territory and make them participate in the construction of the territory with great enthusiasm.

Therefore, the development of the Hessen Territory was very encouraging. With the assistance of the [Daily Intelligence] system, Su Li had managed to gain a firm foothold in this fertile land in just half a month.

After half a month of careful management, all businesses in the territory have made very significant progress.

Su Li's castle had been cleaned up, his servants and slaves having finished repairing and cleaning the main building. A spring rain had fallen, but there wasn't a single leak in the room. From inside, he listened to the patter of rain outside, the sound of raindrops hitting everything. It felt truly peaceful, a tranquility amidst the noise. He felt particularly relaxed and content with life. So, he took Hilde and Avril to practice three refreshing sessions of meditation by the window, where the rain streamed down.

This spring rain also nourished all things. The stables and pastures in his castle and territory were all built and filled with green grass harvested by the serfs.

The stables in the castle are divided into two parts. On the left is the raptor house where the Death Claw lives. After more than a month of development, the little griffin has already shown some majesty of a beast. It can no longer stand on Su Li's shoulders, so Su Li built a separate room for it. Except Su Li, any serfs or servants who enter here may be attacked by this ferocious little guy.

On the right side of the stable are Su Li's majestic war horses. Su Li has a total of six war horses. In addition to the two he brought out from Bauhinia Castle, there are three wildebeests captured on the road, and the last one was a trophy obtained by the knights in a failed capture operation after entering the territory.

Daily intelligence shows that to the north of the territory's fertile central plains, in the middle of the low hills known as the Green Leaf Land, there is a sizeable herd of wildebeests. These wildebeests have a certain amount of unicorn blood, with two horns, one long and one short, on their foreheads. They have bad tempers and are very wild. Once tamed, they can become excellent heavy cavalry mounts.

Su Li had once ordered Frederick to lead his knights in an ambush, but the wildebeest were highly alert. Even with four elite knights, six regular knights, and over twenty armed retainers, Frederick only managed to capture seven horses; the majority of the wildebeest had escaped. Any further captures would require waiting for the next intelligence update.

In addition to the six horses in his stable, there are many livestock in the pastures of the territory. There are a total of 36 war horses, which is somewhat inconsistent with the number of knights. This is normal.

The knights in this world are divided into charging knights and foot knights. For example, the most powerful knight in the territory, Orstein, is a foot knight. He always appears with his adamantine warhammer and golden lion mastiff, chopping off large numbers of trolls and beasts in foot combat.

A knight's weaponry often revealed his type. Those wielding lances or halberds typically fought on horseback, while those wielding warhammers or swords and shields were typically foot knights. This was due to the empire's numerous enemies, and relying solely on armed squires would have made it difficult for infantry to withstand the monsters' frontal assault. Therefore, a knightly order typically had several squadrons of foot knights, who led the armed squires in battle and boosted their morale.

The knights of the Hesse Territory also probably followed this practice. There were about 50 knights, divided into 3 teams of charging knights and 2 teams of foot knights.

In order to ensure the knights' marching and fighting, the ranch also raised 32 pack horses and nags. These were bought by Su Li along the way to transport supplies. After all, he picked up things along the way and brought a lot of food and tools, so he had to have enough carriages and horses for transportation.

In addition to the knights' war horses and pack horses, the ranch also raises 12 oxen, 8 dairy cows and 50 sheep!

With the support of his daily intelligence system, the serfs successfully captured more than a dozen goats in the green hills in the north. In order to boost morale, Su Li ordered the slaughter of three goats and used roasted lamb to inspire everyone's enthusiasm.

On the ranch, the biggest wealth growth was undoubtedly the Tinderella rabbits. The pregnant rabbit gave birth successfully and produced 8 little rabbits!

Normal rabbits can give birth to 6-14 bunnies in a litter, but velvet rabbits are larger. This female rabbit gave birth to 8, which is considered quite prolific for a velvet rabbit. When Su Li heard that she had a smooth birth, she went to see this great hero of the territory. Su Li had originally wanted to make some spicy bunny heads, but these newborn bunnies were still fur-free, and the chubby pink bunnies huddled together looked quite adorable. So Su Li decided to hold off and wait until they were a little older and had more flesh.

While ranch production increased, the territory's fishing and hunting continued to develop steadily. During two fish swarms, the territory encountered a series of 10 smokehouses. Despite the blazing fire, they managed to successfully preserve over 80 baskets of smoked fish, weighing approximately kilograms. Lord Keeper of the Seals, Lawn, specially constructed two cellars to store this abundant food.

Su Li gave the remaining fresh fish to the soldiers and serfs, and the serfs were so happy that they worked hard every day. Everyone said that being a serf for the lord was a blessing bestowed by the gods. Even the free people who ran farms in other territories could not necessarily compare to their lives.

This is not entirely because Su Li is generous, but because these dead fish will become smelly if they are not eaten quickly.

Meanwhile, the territory's fish ponds were also developing well, expanding to over 20 meters and teeming with at least a thousand live fish. This scale was the result of the serfs' dedicated efforts. After the armed squires had dug for a while, they were taken back to the training grounds by Knight Orstein. Knight Orstein could tolerate loaning them out for a day or two, and even for a week, he forced himself to control his temper for the sake of the dragon's blood stone. But for a full fortnight of inactivity, as a military commander, he simply could not tolerate it.

However, Su Li did not object to his commander's idea, because during this period, the [Daily Intelligence] also reminded him that a group of forest wolves would appear and attack the logging camp where ten serfs were cutting wood for the territory.

There was a group of wild wolves, numbering only more than 30. With Su Li's intelligence warning, Frederick, with a team of knights and more than armed attendants, easily killed them all. Ten hunters happily skinned them all, leaving behind more than a thousand pounds of wolf meat.

(End of this chapter)