When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#384 - Great Harvest and the Envoy of Jinhe Township

Golden River Township, Black Mountain Stronghold.

In the open space near Black Mountain Stronghold, wagons laden with gold, silver, and spices were parked.

The elaborate decorations and artworks that once signified noble and religious status had all been torn off by the Salvation Army, packed up, and were awaiting transport to the docks.

Merchants and citizens who had been waiting there for a long time held bonds, exchanging them for goods, until the waterline reached the cargo ship's limit, at which point they would curse and berate the sailors and servants to depart.

In the original artisan settlement near Black Mountain Stronghold, the wizards led by Pasrik and the ordnance monks of the Salvation Army had taken over.

Amidst the clanging sounds, large quantities of precious crystal products were being smashed into grains of electrum for use in war.

The production of this electrum was equally peculiar, requiring a material called golden fleece, which was both a high-quality textile and an essential material in alchemy.

This golden fleece came from the Gravel Plains in the north, where storms frequently occurred due to the climate, often leading to the emergence of a magical sheep capable of guiding lightning.

When this magical sheep was crossbred with ordinary sheep, golden sheep were gradually born.

Wrapping this golden fleece around crystals, using the Sonic Vibration spell to continuously rub the fleece against the crystals, and finally roasting it with fire, combined with an alchemical ritual, could magically create electrum.

Listening to the clanging sounds coming from the workshops, Horn steadied his mind and distributed the war reports one by one.

In the banquet hall on the second floor of Black Mountain Stronghold, the windows were wide open, and the curtains were billowing back and forth.

Seated around the long table were basically the legion commanders and other high-ranking officers of the Salvation Army. The legion commanders who had participated in the previous battle were all here.

They sat upright at the table, still chattering about military affairs.

However, the Salvation Army was too far away, and there were too many people. The supply lines were temporarily unable to keep up, and they also had to send troops to the surrounding areas to capture small castles and monasteries to consolidate their gains.

Therefore, apart from advancing ten miles to build fortresses and outposts, there was no major action for the time being.

Originally, Horn's plan was to continue pushing forward forcefully, after all, the backbone, Niddsal, was dead, and even if a dozen or twenty Niggersacks escaped, they wouldn't be able to withstand the climate.

But now that Niddsal was still alive, it added a lot of variables, and his plan was slightly more cautious than before.

The casualties in this battle were not too great, but Niddsal was indeed an opponent that could not be underestimated, his difficulty even exceeding Bo O'Leo.

If he really took the other extraordinary knights of Golden River Township and hid in the fortress like a tortoise, then Horn really wouldn't have a good solution, and could only continue the fortress advancement tactic.

This did not affect Horn's current dominant position, but it slowed down the overall pace of the war, greatly increasing the possibility of fighting on two fronts.

This undoubtedly meant that the duration of the war would be greatly extended.

After reporting this news, the entire meeting hall became much quieter. After the previous meetings, they had all gradually realized the close relationship between Lower Riverford County and Langsund County.

If Rapidcurrent City hadn't attracted the firepower of the Edict Legion in front, they would probably be facing the embarrassing situation of being attacked from both sides.

"Stop looking so miserable, it's not like there's no good news." Horn threw out a few documents, "Look at them yourselves."

These Salvation Army high-level leaders, whose culture was synchronized with the second grade, fixed their eyes and revealed expressions of surprise.

This year, Kush Territory and half of Golden River Township had ushered in a miraculous bumper harvest.

According to a sample survey by the Holy Scythe Monastery, the average yield of wheat and rice in Kush Territory was estimated to be over 100 pounds per mu.

Especially the newly added mountain yam fields. The yam, a crop that used to be shoveled away every day, without fertilizer and left to fend for itself, could still grow everywhere.

With fertilizer and cultivation care, the yield in the first phase of planting reached a terrifying 1200 pounds per mu.

Abbot Chilves of the Holy Scythe Monastery even shouted the slogan "A yam weighs a thousand pounds, and two weak horses can't pull it."

The 40,000 mu of yam fields controlled by the Holy Hoe Monastery alone produced more than 25,000 tons of yams, but yams cannot be eaten directly and need to be steamed and washed.

As a result, the demand for fuel in Langsund County increased again, and even the price of peat in Great Marsh Township rose.

After processing and reprocessing, this batch of yams from the Holy Hoe Monastery had about 16,000 tons of edible parts.

Of these 16,000 tons of yams, some were used to feed livestock, and some were made into starch products for sale and to supplement military rations.

However, just in case, they were still used to supplement military rations, after all, the farmers this year did not need to pay taxes in grain.

Precisely because of this policy, the Salvation Army government even needed to purchase additional grain from the farmers.

"Then do we have enough funds?" Coleman raised his hand and asked, "We've just expanded the army, and military rations are not a small expense."

"You don't have to worry about that, we still have enough money to buy military rations." Horn said confidently.

Unexpectedly, the price of grain in Langsund County this year was much lower than in the past, and plummeted compared to the flood period.

There were two main reasons, one was the bumper harvest, coupled with the high yield of yams, there was more grain, and the price naturally went down.

The second was that Langsund County was blockaded internally and externally, foreign merchants could not enter, and the people inside could not get out. Only the Salvation Army government and the Norse were willing and able to buy grain.

However, out of distrust of outsiders, the farmers were still more willing to sell grain to the Salvation Army government.

The money earned from selling grain was mostly turned into agricultural tools and building materials. The former was to transform the land for easy cultivation, and the latter was for reconstruction.

In the previous floods, many people's houses and homes were destroyed by floods, and later they continued to experience wars and had no time to repair them.

Although the front was at war, they couldn't keep looking at the hole in the roof, right? The rainy season was coming soon, and they had to repair it quickly.

In addition to buying agricultural tools and building materials, some flexible-minded villagers used the money to buy Holy War bonds, and another part of the farmers put it away, just in case.

But according to the Cheka's investigation, due to various reasons, some farmers still experienced poor harvests and other situations, and even private usury appeared.

This time, it was not the citizens or wealthy merchants who were collecting usury from the small farmers, but the farmers with good harvests who were collecting it from the farmers with poor harvests.

Although the Holy See Bank could provide low-interest or even interest-free loans, these farmers insisted on borrowing from their neighbors, which made Horn really helpless.

But in any case, the Salvation Army government had absolutely no problem with military rations.

Having no problem with military rations did not mean that there were no problems with other things.

Due to maintaining a high proportion of the army, as well as a series of transportation costs and losses, outside of grain, Horn's Holy Treasury was decreasing at an extremely fast rate.

If it weren't for the Holy War bonds and the creation of revenue through the seizure of churches on the newly conquered land, I'm afraid that before swallowing Golden River Township, Horn would have gone bankrupt first.

All said and done, at least the collection of three months of military rations was completed, otherwise Horn would not have proposed expanding the army to ten thousand again.

Thinking of this, Horn opened the list of soldier statistics in his hand.

Strangely, he thought that after this battle, there would be a large number of new Holy Favored Ones, just like last time.

But the fact was that the number of Holy Favored Ones that appeared was the same as the original speed. He really couldn't figure out what the path of transmission of this Holy Power was.

Did there have to be large casualties to give birth to more Holy Favored Ones? That didn't make sense. Horn touched his chin, feeling that there must be other connections, but he hadn't discovered them.

While they were still discussing the next battle, a child soldier ran quickly from outside the door and whispered in Horn's ear for a while.

Horn raised his eyebrows and slowly walked to the window.

"Messengers sent by the nobles of Golden River Township?" Horn looked at the five carriages outside the camp, "What are they here for?"