I'm not a lord

Chapter 40 Second Exploration
The next morning, after breakfast, Lynn reviewed all his men in the small square in the center of the castle.

This time his entourage expanded to nine people, including the second brother with a keen sense of smell, and eight strong horse bandits who had been recuperating for a long time.

As the number of people increases, the number of mounts and supplies needed will increase exponentially.

They still had one person and two horses. In addition to the necessary food and weapons, they also brought a set of mail armor and helmets to deal with possible conflicts.

The fourth, fifth and sixth brothers still stayed in the castle. Lin En left them seven horse bandits, which was enough to deal with general emergencies.

In fact, it is no longer appropriate to call this group of people horse bandits.

Lin En plans to hold an internal meeting after the farming is completed and reorganize his men so that they can become the sword and shield to protect the White Bear Territory.

After bidding farewell to the reluctant Yagena, Old Albert and others, Lin En headed north again.

During his last exploration, he first went all the way north to the edge of the swamp and discovered a large amount of peat. Then he discovered salt mines along the swamp to the west, and finally walked straight back to the White Bear Territory from the salt mines.

The unlocked map fog can be roughly regarded as a triangle.

Lin En's exploration target this time is the fog on the map in the middle of the triangle.

As the temperature rises, the roads in the forest become more difficult to travel.

The originally hard forest land became soft, and there were sticky swamps of various sizes everywhere. If the horses were not careful, they would fall into the mud.

But this did not stop Lin En and his group from moving forward.

Relying on the map on the panel and the experience gained from the last exploration, they avoided various natural traps along the way and moved forward unswervingly towards the salt mine in the northwest.

During the lunch break, in addition to the dry food they brought with them, Lin En and Lao Er still supplemented their meals by hunting.

This time they hunted two wild ducks in the swamp with bows and arrows.

Wild ducks have a very strong fishy smell, but it is nice to have fresh meat to eat in the wild.

The second one ate the thick duck leg with big mouthfuls, and said incoherently:

"Brother, I finally understand why the territories in the north are so scattered. These forests are too difficult to cultivate and are not suitable for living at all."

The second brother used to follow Lin En in the south of the Northern Kingdom.

The population density in that area is much higher than in the north, and you can usually see prosperous villages and towns within two or three hours of riding.

It is simply the best amusement park for horse bandits.

In the White Bear Territory, the northernmost part of the kingdom, even to the nearest Shallow Beach Territory, one has to ride a horse for a whole day, and the whole way is through dense forests with no human traces.

Lin En looked around the primeval forest and said with emotion:
"You're right. Both White Bear Territory and Shoal Territory were developed from the shallows along the river. No one would think of reclaiming land in the forest. Simply cutting down trees isn't enough; you also have to pull out the roots. That's simply not something that can be solved by human power."

Even in later times, if you want to cultivate the primeval forests in such cold areas, you have to use large machinery such as excavators and tractors.

If we use manpower to remove tree roots buried deep underground, the efficiency will be terrible.

Unfortunately, these forests cannot be burned.

Under the swamps that have accumulated for countless tens of thousands of years, there are endless peat and coal mines.

If it burns through the ground, the resulting forest fire might be so severe that the sky and the earth change color.

When the north wind blows, the ashes from the forest fire alone will be enough to bury the entire White Bear Territory.

Fortunately, there are still many uncultivated plains in White Bear Territory.

Even without claiming land from the forest, it would be easy to support another 10,000 or 20,000 people. The shallow territories to the south had even more land. Lin En estimated that if heavy plowing and composting technologies were fully implemented, these two territories combined could support at least 100,000 people.

With the support of a logistics base of 100,000 people, Lin En is confident that he can penetrate the entire Duchy of the Swamp.

"Brother, if we want to develop that salt mine, do we have to build a road in this forest?" The second brother finally realized the problem of building a road.

"We need to build a road, but building a road is much easier than reclaiming land. There's no need to dig up tree roots. If we come across a small swamp, we can fill it with water, and if we come across a large swamp, we can just take a detour."

Lin En came here with the goal of planning a route. The more map fog he unlocked, the easier it would be to plan the route.

In the afternoon, they discovered a large stone mine beside the stream.

Stone ore is not rare in the North, so its value is not high.

But the quarry was of great significance to Lynn's road construction plan.

Roads paved with gravel are naturally much more durable than dirt roads.

Building a gravel road does take more man-hours in the early stages, but subsequent maintenance will be relatively simple.

Moreover, his gathering skills had already reached level two, unlocking the relevant knowledge of burning lime.

By mixing the burned quicklime with straw, thatch, sand and water, you can get a cement-like material with decent strength.

Although its strength is far inferior to that of cement, it is sufficient for building masonry walls and houses.

After marking the stone mine on the map, Lynn and his party continued to head towards the salt mine.

By the evening of the next day, they had crossed the entire triangle and reached the edge of the giant swamp again.

At their feet are peat mines with extremely large reserves.

At this time, the swamp has regained its vitality, and the slightest noise can scare away flocks of water birds.

According to the unlocked map fog, Lin En and his party were only five kilometers away from the salt mine.

"Continue, reach the edge of the salt mine and spend the night."

Glancing at the sunset which had not yet completely disappeared, Lin En decided to walk a little further west.

This undoubtedly brings risks. After all, there is little shelter around the salt mine, and making a fire at night can easily be discovered by possible deserters.

But Lin En came here specifically to target the barbarians, and he carried sophisticated weapons and armor, so he was naturally fearless.

After walking another two kilometers west, the trees along the road became increasingly sparse, and the bare top of the salt mountain could be vaguely seen.

The second brother rode at the front of the team, acting as a scout, and suddenly he said alertly:

"Brother, there seems to be someone on the Salt Mountain?!"

"Are you sure you saw it right?" Lin En raised his right hand, signaling the younger brothers behind him to stop and hold their breath.

The second brother lowered his voice and said, "No, I saw people. There should be three people on the mountain."

"Everyone, put on your armor in ten minutes, then follow me. Remember, try to capture them alive. You don't have to capture them all, just one or two will be enough. It doesn't matter if the rest get away."

As Lin En gave the order, the accompanying bandits quickly dismounted and helped each other put on chain mail.

Ten minutes later, they left two people to guard the luggage and horses, and the rest followed Lin En and galloped towards the salt mine as fast as possible.

(End of this chapter)