Sometimes, the problem is like cockroaches. When you find one, it means there are many in your home...
It's not just Wheat Fragrance Territory that is facing a food crisis—Fletcher Village and Ralph are also short of food.
Ralph will be short of food, which was considered before.
Ralph That Knight's Territory is now not under the jurisdiction of Brave Shield Fortress, but under the jurisdiction of Li Ang. In other words, Baron Li Ang is his superior consul.
But Ralph is not a knight under Li Ang. There is no allegiance between him and Li Ang, they are just allies and superiors.
This is just like Ailedge of Renier. Geographically, it should belong to White Deer Fortress, but his superior consul is Duke Elfwan, and Renier himself is Lion Knight who is loyal to the king.
Ralph is the Knight Commander of Horn Summon Ranger Corps, and he has to take care of the Rangers' lives.
There are currently more than 300 rangers in his station. Of course, these are not all the rangers in Horn Summon Ranger Corps, just the ones that have no industry of their own.
Originally, Ralph would lead them to farm and graze to be self-sufficient, but his territory was a newly built territory and he didn't have time to plant seeds last season. Raising horses is not a big problem, but people's food reserves are about to be used up.
Count Oden is no longer here, and his territory is no longer managed by Brave Shield Fortress, so Brave Shield Fortress will naturally not supply him with food.
However, it is said that money can always buy food, Brave Shield Fortress will definitely have a surplus, and the lord is indeed not short of money.
But Ralph went to ask, and the current Brave Shield Fortress manager Baron Leofric didn't dare to sell it - he was just an acting lord, and he could only control half of the food.
Half of his agricultural tax is only enough for him to support the army, and the other half he has to transport to Countess and Joanna who live in Kewen Village. There is indeed no excess food.
This may be the deal that Baron Leofric and Countess originally negotiated. Baron Leofric led the troops to guard Brave Shield Fortress and assumed the responsibility and risk of resisting Gatu people, in order to obtain half of Brave Shield Fortress's income.
It's like becoming tenants of mother and daughter Countess, but it's true that both parties get what they need.
But Li Ang really didn't expect that they would do such a deal.
I originally thought they were exchanging territories - although Kewen is a village in name, it has a large population and is very wealthy. The income from the territory should not be lower than that of Brave Shield Fortress, a border fortress, and it is also safer.
But I didn't expect that Countess did not give up the dominance of Brave Shield Fortress, but used leasing.
Considering that Countess left Joanna in his hometown Kewen Village, Joanna was not allowed to go to Ryman's fiefdom Ibian, nor to Seven Forks Fortress. The Lord realized that Oden's death would probably bring more chain reactions...
Brave Shield Fortress couldn't buy grain, so Ralph had to ask for help from Charles. As a result, the gap on Charles's side was even bigger...
Charles has issued returns in the past few days. Fletcher's farm tax can be estimated at 60,000 pounds of grain.
Since he had just taken office, in order to win over the people, Charles only collected 40% of the tax. In fact, he was a great philanthropist who could be praised by the villagers. Count Oden originally collected 50% of the tax.
Originally, these grains were surplus grain and could be used to subsidize Ralph, but unexpectedly, after a perfect revenge, Baron Heriwold temporarily left most of the sentinels to garrison at Fletcher Village.
This does not mean that Horn Summon Ranger Corps is loyal to Li Ang. Herriwold just asks the sergeants to inspect and protect Charles, the son of the predecessor Grand Commander.
This is an unexpected blessing, but it is also a trouble - 600 sentries and 60,000 pounds of grain are not enough...
But who made the lord want to show off his wealth and say that he could buy Long River Town.
Of course, the lord actually wanted all Horn Summon Ranger Corps to eat his food and spend his money. He thought Brave Shield Fortress could sell food, but he never thought that Countess would rent it out.
After all, whoever eats the food has to work for that family. As long as it is around Long River Town and it is not a civil war between local nobles, the lord can dispatch sentries.
Of course, they won't do it if they are too far away from Long River Town - Horn Summon Ranger Corps's creed is to defend Long River Town, not to fight for power and gain.
Many sentinels have their own businesses, but they are not in Fletcher, but in various places in Long River Town.
If people are willing to station themselves at the border to protect the village, they have to feed them.
So Charles means the gap is quite big - Brave Shield Fortress doesn't sell grain, so they have nowhere else to buy it at the border.
Calculate carefully, including the seeds to be used in the next season, Wheat Fragrance Territory needs to add 100,000 pounds of grain, and Fletcher Village and Ralph are about the same.
That is a shortfall of 300,000 pounds of grain.
That is almost half of the agricultural tax of Brave Shield Fortress...
Where can we make up for such a huge food gap?
The merchants have recently exhausted their own reserves for human trafficking, and are no longer able to provide supplies for Wheat Fragrance Territory.
Moreover, most businessmen do not want to do the grain business for the time being.
After all, Pande Continent's food is all in the hands of noble lords, and those big nobles are not as easy to deal with as Lord Li Ang.
However, unprocessed grain has low profits, high risks, requires a lot of manpower, and has high costs and losses...
Therefore, businessmen in the food business are basically middlemen. They prefer to deal in processed foods, such as bacon, bread, sausages, etc.
But after Wheat Fragrance Territory's 'Grand Food World' is created, businessmen will definitely not have to go to Wheat Fragrance Territory to humiliate themselves...
Besides, merchants are merchants after all. Even if they have a good relationship with the lord, they cannot completely ignore their own interests. The most obedient businessmen in the past have been selected by the lord to open entertainment venues in various places.
If you want merchants to go to the border to provide supplies, you can only launch a large-scale war and ensure the safety of the caravan.
Then you can only find nearby towns to purchase.
Of course money is no problem, but can nearby villages and towns buy so much?
The largest villages and towns around Fletcher are Long River Town, and Ermined Village under its jurisdiction. However, these two places are now controlled by Grand Duke Alma, and it is said that his son is still in charge.
And Charles is the son of Oden. Li Ang himself also has conflicts with Alma. This relationship will be fine if they don't fight. I'm afraid there's no way to talk about buying food...
As for Long River Town, there are indeed many other scattered small villages around Long River Town. But they are all small Knight's Territory with only a hundred or so people living in them, and they are not even marked on the map.
A small place like this doesn't produce much, and has to pay taxes to the superior lords, so it is estimated that there will rarely be any surplus food.
As for Trublen Village near Wheat Fragrance Territory, it was occupied for a while by Renier with thousands of bandits at the beginning of the year, and now there are probably only a few people there.
Wait... The lord's eyes lit up...
Trublen!
Recently, I have been training and taking classes, but I have actually neglected this place!
The people in this village must have been harmed by Renier, but the wheat fields are not necessarily...
Trublen The grain planted last year should still be there, but with the people gone, there might be a lot of surplus grain!
"Who is the current lord of Sarah, Trublen?"
The lord is in high spirits.
Sarah doesn't know that she has been busy training recently and hasn't traveled far for a long time. Now she feels that she, External Affairs Officer, can't stand it any longer - how can there be External Affairs Officer in Tmall's territory?
However, I don't know why, but she enjoys the feeling of abusing the recruits' balls...
But fortunately, Amy, who has been collecting intelligence, knows about it.
"Teacher, Trublen is the territory of the Madam Bella family, the widow of Duke Elfwan. I haven't heard of the fiefdom being changed recently... maybe no one is in charge."
No one cares?
So that's the case, no wonder Renier was able to confidently and boldly let a large number of gangsters gather there.
Since no one cares about it, this is a Feng Shui treasure!
I originally planned to buy it, but now it looks like I might be able to buy it for zero yuan!
"Let's go and see if Trublen's grain is cooked..."
Bringing a large number of his men with him, the lord rushed to Trublen a hundred miles away.
In addition to the security patrol, he took all the No. 100 soldiers with him.
The reason why we brought so many people was not because we were worried that bandits would still be entrenched, but because we wanted to occupy the territory in the past. If Trublen was really left unattended, it would be the same as Ailedge!
If the village is destroyed by bandits and left uninhabited, and the lord has given up its protection, then it is considered an ownerless land and can be occupied first.
Although Ms. Bella, the 'old pregnant woman', certainly did not 'abandon' this village on purpose, it was obvious that she would not care about it for a while...
Even if someone comes to ask for it back in the future, this season's food can be harvested first.
Even in modern rural areas, this kind of thing is very common - all the family members have gone out to work, and no one is taking care of the crops in the fields, so the neighbors will definitely 'help' harvest them.
How can we not take advantage of the advantages?
Trublen It is true that no one cares about it. There is not even a dog visible at the entrance of the village.
There is indeed wheat in the farmland, it has already formed ears, and some of it has even matured in advance.
But the growth is not good because the fields are overgrown with weeds and many birds have already stayed here.
But after walking into the center of the village, the lord's mood of taking advantage suddenly collapsed.
There were dark brown corpses everywhere in the village, and the sky was filled with mosquitoes and flies that couldn't be driven away.
Those bones had no flesh and blood, and were too mutilated to count. They had obviously been eaten by animals.
Houses covered with cobwebs formed a silent village, which looked a bit eerie even during the day.
No one will live in this kind of environment anymore. Even if there are still people in the village, they will leave, and passers-by will not stay here.
Li Ang and Amy both frowned. They had no idea about the situation a hundred miles away, and they had no idea that it would be such a miserable situation here.
The lord did not have cavalry before, and the patrol range was only a few dozen miles around Wheat Fragrance Territory. It would be difficult to change shifts any further away, and it was difficult to detect the specific situation a hundred miles away in the territory.
This is also the cruelty of this era.
A hundred miles is already a very far distance for people at this time. If it were not for deliberate publicity, things happening a hundred miles away would often remain unknown for months.
But Li Ang still doesn't understand.
Madam Bella may be controlled by Duke Alma and is incapable of managing this place, which is understandable.
But Alma probably doesn't know the situation here, otherwise he wouldn't have sent someone to manage it for so long.
This is not a small village. Judging from the number of houses, there were at least several hundred people living in this village... and they were not indifferent.
If Alma really doesn't know the situation here - then what is Ryman going to do?
Ryman took Lion Knight through this village. He discovered the traces of the gangsters here, and naturally saw the situation here.
But he never mentioned the tragic situation here, as if he didn't care at all about the death of so many people.
After he asked Lion Knight Order to kill the gangsters, what he told Li Ang was that he thought the gangsters were charging at him.
This is unreasonable.
Most people would definitely tell Li Ang that these gangsters killed civilians in a village and they must die.
But Ryman obviously didn't inform the king or Duke Alma about the situation here, so what did he mean?
Maybe in his eyes, civilians are not human beings at all?
But even so, you always have to talk about the situation, even if you regard human life as trivial, you won't say it completely.
But the current situation is that obviously no one knows that this village was massacred, otherwise the corpses would not have been collected.
Ryman Why should we keep silent?
Wasn't this village... destroyed by those thousand bandits from Renier?
Ryman and Lion Knight Order are really searching for heretics?
Forget it, no matter what, think about your own affairs first. Food is important.
"Cover your mouth and nose, brothers, clean up these bones first..."
Li Ang began to order his men to work, and then gave Amy a face covering. "Amy, put my flag at the entrance of the village. Since no one is in charge here, I will take care of it from now on."
With hundreds of people, it is actually very fast to clear out a small village.
In just one day, the village no longer looked dilapidated and terrifying.
Smoke piles were lit throughout the village to drive away mosquitoes and flies, roads were cleared, and the bones were buried in the wilderness outside the village.
With fireworks, there is life, and people will be a lot more excited.
However, on this day, Li Ang and Amy carefully checked the conditions of the farmland and found that the results were not optimistic.
This place has been left unattended for too long, and the condition of the wheat fields is very poor. All in all, it can only collect 50,000 to 60,000 pounds, which is far from enough.
The shortfall is still 250,000 pounds.
But right now, the only places that are most likely to buy so much grain are Long River Town and Kewen Village - other places are either too far away or don't have that much surplus grain to buy.
However, Long River Town is controlled by Alma, so it won't be easy to talk to him on his own, so he can only let Amy go over and give it a try - White Deer Fortress himself also needs to buy food, and Amy is 'White Deer Fortress Grain and Oil Company General Manager'.
The lord himself plans to go to Kewen Village first, hoping that Countess will be willing to sell Brave Shield Fortress's half of the agricultural tax to him.
We need to hurry up on this matter.
Brave Shield Fortress is the border after all. In order to prevent Gatu people from going south to grab grain, they usually harvest in advance.
Since the loss during transportation of food will be very large, the lord plans to negotiate this matter before Brave Shield Fortress sends the food to Kewen Village, so that Baron Leofric can be sent directly from Brave Shield Fortress to Fletcher, reducing the loss of transportation on the road.
The lord is actually very reluctant to travel hundreds of miles to transport food.
Food such as grain is heavy and takes up space, making it very troublesome to transport. After all, the carriages of this era did not have shock-absorbing springs, and the maximum load capacity was only about a thousand pounds - and this had to be a carriage of relatively good quality.
One hundred thousand pounds of grain would require hundreds of carriages to transport it.
But if you purchase 100,000 pounds of grain from hundreds of miles away, it would be good to have 60,000 pounds of grain after you take out the losses along the way.
Therefore, the actual amount of grain that needs to be purchased is much larger than the original gap.
It is very difficult to walk on dirt roads these days. A heavy vehicle can easily get stuck in a mud pit if you are not careful. "Small car accidents" such as a wheel falling off or the vehicle rolling over are not actually accidents in this era, but daily...
Moreover, food like food is afraid of water, fire and dirt. It must always be protected from being soaked by rain or other accidental losses on the road, and the transportation journey will be very slow.
Not only that, horse chews will also be consumed by people along the way, and enough horse feed must be prepared to prevent the horses from going on strike midway.
Does it sound troublesome to you?
This isn't over yet...
Pande Continent is full of bandits. Renier recruited thousands of bandits in one month. You can imagine the overall security level of this continent.
And things like food are very easy to be robbed.
After all, gangsters also need to eat...
The harvest season happens to be the time when bandits frequently rob.
The bandits will naturally not attack the castles of the great lords. The food transport convoys on the road are their easiest targets.
In April and May in Pende, or from September to October, the danger level of a convoy transporting food near Long River Forest is probably only lower than that of transporting a girl Noldo Elves...
Therefore, if you can avoid long-distance transportation, you should try to avoid it, especially the kind of goods that are heavy, take up space and are difficult to store. At the beginning, Lesley only dared to sell Coconut Wine and handicrafts with relatively high unit prices.
Temporarily placing all the infantry at Trublen, the lord took away the guards and all the cavalry troops - only forty of them in fact.
Kloze takes the personal guards to escort Amy to Long River Town.
The lord and his cavalry rushed to Kewen Village.
The main reason for bringing the cavalry is because of the fast pace. When we get to Kewen, we are just talking about business and do not need to transport food. There is no need to bring too many people for the time being.
If Long River Town is willing to sell grain, it can be transported directly to Wheat Fragrance Territory by water via Aier River. This is also the least expensive transportation method in this era.
Along the bank of the Tongtian River, Li Ang quickly rushed to Kewen Village.
Kewen is a village subordinate to Long River Town, located upstream of the Tongtian River, more than 300 miles west of Long River Town.
This is also the jurisdiction farthest from Long River Town.
With the continuous expansion of Long River Town over the years, Kewen has now become a relatively safe hinterland and has gradually developed into a large village with a population of no less than 7,000.
A village with this kind of population is already considered a big town in Pande, and has almost caught up with the population of White Deer Fortress.
But after walking into Kewen Village, it seems that there are only a few people around.
Because it is not the kind of bustling and lively village where everyone gathers together.
There are many farms in Kewen Village, but they are very sparse and distributed over a very wide range. In addition, it is a hilly area. Along the way, you can often see only a few families in the same location at the same time.
In fact, this is what most villages in the Pande Continent look like, which is completely different from those villages east of Long River Town that were developed less than a century ago.
One word can explain it - vast land and sparsely populated areas.