plumnovel #253 - More Iron, Less Iron
#253 - More Iron, Less Iron
Three days have passed since Moriarty assassinated Bishop Lecht.
The reality was much better than Moriarty had anticipated.
Apart from a slight loss at Longpeak Fortress, nearly two thousand mountain knights successfully seized three strategic locations like a flood.
After capturing these three strategic locations, the knights of Coldspring Fortress began to systematically eliminate the Church's strongholds in the central river valley.
As a mountain county, there were not many places to garrison troops. With Lecht killed and Whitewater Fortress captured, the lower-level Church was leaderless.
In the countryside of North Mund County, knights in black armor and red cloaks captured monastery after monastery, even uncovering another orphanage for blue-blooded children.
The priests' ugly and extravagant lives were exposed to the sunlight. Moriarty estimated that the looted wealth, excluding what flowed into the soldiers' hands, would amount to nearly one hundred thousand gold pounds.
It should be known that according to the Church and the Imperial tax records, North Mund County should pay around 4,100 gold pounds annually in taxes.
However, beneath the various monasteries, there were over one hundred thousand gold pounds buried.
A large number of low-ranking monks from the Thousand River Valley were promoted to bishops and priests, and the Temple Knights and the Church's fiefdoms were constantly divided up by the local knights.
According to Moriarty's requirements, the new fiefdoms had to sign written contracts, rather than oral oaths.
Mines, shops, workshops, and other industries were divided and annexed by the Dragon Worship dwarves and Megerd merchants sent by Moriarty.
At the same time, cheap grain from the direction of Norn quickly flooded the market. The Megerd Merchant Guild was even selling grain and seeds at cost.
Moriarty abandoned her usurious nature and even frantically whitewashed her previous actions, cracking down on private usury that disrupted the market.
The money obtained from these usurers was all converted into wages for laborers.
Having followed Horn for so long, Moriarty not only copied the Cheburg tactics but also copied the work-for-relief program.
However, the work-for-relief program, which was relatively normal in Horn's hands, became abnormal in Moriarty's hands.
After the flood, the mountain people's reserves were basically exhausted throughout the entire winter, and sowing in the spring would not yield a harvest until at least late summer.
During this period, they had neither food nor income and could only flee and become beggars everywhere.
Throughout the Thousand River Valley, a large number of unemployed people were produced after the spring.
In this situation, Moriarty realized that simply giving the farmers relief grain would only breed laziness, and the official low-interest loans to farmers would often turn into usury again through corruption.
Moriarty started her career in usury, and no one in the Thousand River Valley understood usury better than her.
Therefore, she could only learn from the work-for-relief program, promote rural handicrafts and land reclamation and mining, bind the farmers to the spot, and rely on working to earn income to buy grain and survive the crisis.
Moriarty's chosen direction for rural handicrafts had already been determined, which was iron smelting and forging.
The iron produced in this way could be used by themselves and could also be exported to Norn in exchange for grain to form a cycle.
There was only one problem, that is, the more iron produced, the lower the price of iron, then the lower the workshop's income, and finally, they could only reduce iron production.
Simply put, the more iron produced, the less iron produced.
In the current era, it is normal to increase or decrease production and recruit or dismiss employees according to market demand.
But the problem is that reducing production reduces income, which will lay off laborers. If the laborers have no income and cannot eat, then they will have to rebel against Moriarty.
Land annexation does not lead to peasant uprisings; not being able to eat does.
In order to solve this problem, Moriarty had a flash of inspiration and divided the grain from Norn into two directions.
The first direction was used to recruit laborers for land reclamation, mining, and the development of the iron smelting industry and the military industry.
The second direction was to expand the army on a large scale.
In this way, even if the price of iron fell, Coldspring Fortress would still purchase weapons for war, maintaining the price of iron and ensuring that the workshop owners made a small profit without losing money.
The laid-off laborers would be converted into soldiers on the spot, taking up the iron weapons they produced and heading to the battlefield.
The wealth they plundered on the battlefield, gathered in Coldspring Fortress, could then be used to purchase weapons and arm the soldiers.
The war machine built by Moriarty could constantly achieve a positive cycle.
According to her prediction, the future demand for war they faced would definitely be significant.
These new iron smelting workshops and blacksmith shops were not built as soon as they were said to be built. She needed a large number of blacksmiths and technical talents in iron smelting.
Therefore, she had previously kidnapped the Dragon Worship dwarves through usury and reached an agreement.
Moriarty granted them the right to 'live on the plains and freely practice their faith' in exchange for the dwarves helping Moriarty establish iron smelting workshops and blacksmith shops.
In just three days, the black smoke of iron smelting and the black flood were spreading throughout North Mund County.
On February 13, 1445, Duchess Moriarty of Coldspring Fortress moved to Longpeak Fortress with three thousand mountain knights.
She had originally planned to raid Highcastle, but due to the temporary betrayal of the lord of Longpeak Fortress, the news was leaked.
After Philip's investigation, Highcastle was prepared, and there was no surprise, so there was no need to raid it again.
This gave Moriarty an opportunity to turn her attention inward and begin to completely clear the Church's forces in the central river valley.
Since learning that Moriarty was stationed at Longpeak Fortress, there had been an endless stream of small lords, knights, merchants, and guild leaders coming to pledge their allegiance every day.
Even nobles and knights from Upper Riverford County were writing to Moriarty, saying, 'Once you come to the Thousand River Valley, you are a Thousand River Valley person.'
According to Moriarty's recruitment procedure, her strength on paper had increased by nearly a hundred extraordinary knights and thousands of soldiers.
Even Moriarty's iron body was a little tired after three consecutive days of non-stop work.
After sending away a wave of craftsmen who had sworn allegiance, Moriarty sat by the fireplace in the hall. Seeing that there was nothing to do, she took a moment to doze off.
Unfortunately, this sleep did not last long before she was awakened by footsteps.
As soon as the door opened, Moriarty, who was extremely alert, opened her eyes.
"What's the matter?" After tidying up her disheveled clothes, Moriarty stood up and looked at Philip, who was walking towards her, with her hands behind her back.
"Lord Moriarty," Philip looked at Moriarty, whose majesty was even greater than before, and knelt down on one knee to salute.
"I'm not the king yet. Even if I were the king, you wouldn't have to salute me like this." Grabbing Philip's shoulders, Moriarty lifted him up. "Speak, what's the matter?"
Looking up at Moriarty's iron face, Philip's expression was solemn as he took out a roll of secret reports:
"Duke, news has come from Highcastle that Knight Armand the Eloquent is heading towards Longpeak Fortress with two commandery of decree knights, four hundred extraordinary knights, and some infantry."