The expedition sets out

Although the conversation was brief, Victor quickly discovered the admirable qualities in the Expedition Team Le Paul.

Victor learned that Le Paul was born into a Northern Frontier nobles, but as the third son, he was arranged by his father to join the army of the Purple Alfalfa Family at a young age. However, due to his own limitations, he could only rise to the Squad Leader at most.

After the Civil War, Le Paul grew tired of his military career, left the army, and became a mercenary, traveling with caravans to trade deep into the steppes.

He was very adventurous and he enjoyed this kind of life.

After the Northern Alliance Army completely defeated the Barbarians army, he began to actively participate in the expeditions organized by the Purple Alfalfa Family.

He is also a serious and cautious person who is passionate about nature. Because of his own experience, he has a very deep understanding of the local customs and geographical features of the grasslands.

What surprised Victor the most was that even though Le Paul had not received a natural science education, he could still grasp a set of rules for classifying plants and animals, making him an outstanding talent.

Le Paul impressed Victor with his abilities and performance. Victor had originally only intended to appoint him as the leader of the Expedition Team's guide team, but now Victor changed his mind and directly appointed him as the deputy leader of the Expedition Team.

The Expedition Team leader was Detachment Commander whom Victor had drawn from the territory's army. This active-duty Detachment Commander not only served as the leader but also commanded an armed force to protect the Expedition Team's safety.

Victor attached great importance to this expedition, and specially selected several scholars from the territory's Research Institute, and arranged for a senior researcher to serve as the deputy captain. At present, there are fewer than twenty senior researchers in the territory, and each one is a rare talent in the territory.

To ensure the safety of these scholars, Victor equipped the Expedition Team with a sizable armed force. Victor directly drew two companies from the Detachment Commander's troops to serve as the Expedition Team's guards. With these guards, the entire Expedition Team was large, numbering over 500 people.

Moreover, the Expedition Team consisted mainly of young and strong men, each of whom had undergone military training and was equipped with weapons. The two companies even carried two small Mortar. Such a force could easily handle even scattered small and medium-sized tribes and Barbarians on the Ice Field.

In addition, to cope with the cold environment of the Snow Mountain, Victor also equipped the Expedition Team with a large amount of cold-weather clothing. Together with other supplies, the total cost exceeded 2,000 gold, enough to build a Light Cavalry squad. It can be said that they were armed to the teeth.

This shows how much Victor valued this expedition.

Victor's mission for the Expedition Team was to explore the grasslands along the way northwards, eventually reach the Snow Mountain, conduct an in-depth exploration of the Snow Mountain, and establish a Forward Base on the edge of the Snow Mountain.

The Expedition Team will use that base to explore the surrounding environment, understand the geography and landforms of the Snow Mountain, as well as the flora and fauna living there, and also conduct mineral exploration.

Once everything has stabilized and safety is guaranteed, we will explore the Volcano and gather all necessary intelligence and information.

If that Volcano really exists, Victor hopes the Expedition Team will find Sulfur Mine or other sulfide-containing minerals there.

If the Expedition Team does find a large quantity of associated sulfide minerals, it will have a significant impact on the future development of the territory.

When the Expedition Team set off, it was a grand procession of nearly a hundred horse-drawn carriages. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought that the Golden Sunflower Family had organized a slave-hunting team to capture Barbarians slaves on the grasslands.

The Expedition Team will last four to five months, returning before the heavy winter snowfall. They will spend about a month and a half on the round trip and at least two and a half months in the Snow Mountain, which will be enough for them to complete their planned mission.

At the same time, after sending out the Expedition Team, Victor also remembered something else: the Faith Order Headquarters, far to the north of the Skyline Grassland.

Currently, the Golden Sunflower Family's Intelligence Department has been sending people to closely monitor the Faith Order Headquarters. Thanks to Keledu's connections, the Intelligence Department's action team successfully established contact with Keledu's Mizhene, who was located at the headquarters.

Thanks to this important mission, the Intelligence Department has even successfully placed a considerable number of people in the Faith Order Headquarters. Although most of them are still in the outer areas, they have already established a relatively complete intelligence network.

Furthermore, the Intelligence Department, relying on several Telegraph Station set up along the route, was able to transmit intelligence back to the Faith Order Headquarters every so often, for the territory and Victor to analyze.

Victor felt the time was ripe, if this expedition went smoothly and they really did find Sulfur Mine near that Volcano.

Victor plans to invest resources in developing the Sulfur Mine and use this opportunity to directly take over the Faith Order Headquarters to the north, since there are still things Faith Order Headquarters that Victor is very interested in.

With his established intelligence network, Victor had obtained most of the information about the Hot Spring Valley where the Faith Order Headquarters were located, and even the blueprints for the defensive facilities.

For the Golden Sunflower Family, which now possesses various types of Artillery and Transcendent army of more than one squadron, taking over the Faith Order Headquarters is no longer a difficult task.

However, in order to prepare in advance, after the Expedition Team set off, Victor ordered the Intelligence Department and the Army Department to jointly formulate an operation plan. He intended to take down the Faith Order Headquarters at the lowest and fastest cost.

In particular, the intensity of this battle should be controlled as much as possible to avoid destroying important documents within the Faith Order Headquarters and the precious facility, the Enlightened Sanctuary.

In the remaining time, Victor took stock of his family's assets.

Today, the entire Two Rivers County has been developed for over 10 years, and together with the Golden Sunflower Territory, it continuously provides strength to the Golden Sunflower Family.

Qinghe County, a territory in the Eastern Sea Province that was recently incorporated into the Golden Sunflower Family, has only been Golden Sunflower Territory for less than two years.

However, thanks to substantial investment and population replacement, the territory is now largely under control, and the family can even achieve self-sufficiency through tax revenue. This new territory is no longer a burden for the Two Golden Sunflower Family; rather, it is an important part of the family's strength.

For the Golden Sunflower Family, all they need to do now is to focus on internal development and exploration to continue growing in strength. Time is on their side.

This is why Victor was able to remain so calm in the face of the Xister Kingdom's almost provocative actions.

That is, as long as the Golden Sunflower Family continues to develop steadily, Victor is confident that within ten years at most, even the Xister Kingdom may not be his match.