Searching Through the Spoils of War, Part Two

As for the other type of warhorse, it was even more special, and Santos liked it even more. This type of warhorse was characterized by its tall and strong physique, explosive power, and high speed. It was an excellent Cavalry warhorse and an absolute booster for the Golden Sunflower Family, which had a large number of Cavalry.

Although these warhorses are much less hardy and have less stamina than the previous Ice Field Ponies, they are still much better than the main warhorses currently used by the Golden Sunflower Family army, and they are not as expensive to raise.

Moreover, these warhorses are in no way inferior to the special warhorses bred by the Iron Birch Family, making them more than capable of serving as warhorses for the Golden Sunflower Family Private Army Heavy Cavalry.

These warhorses, known as the Coldwind Horses by the Faith Order, are considered to be of exceptional quality.

In particular, the Coldwind Horse and the Ice Field Pony have been bred by the Faith Order for over twenty years over several generations, and the genetic traits of these two warhorses have become quite stable.

As a seasoned military man, and with the deep understanding that soldiers from the Northlands had of warhorses, Santos was keenly aware of the excellence of these two warhorses. It could be said that these two warhorses with stable genetic traits alone were already a very significant achievement.

A pair of stallions like these could easily fetch an astronomical price elsewhere, and no nobleman in the Northlands would hesitate to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to buy such superior breeds.

In addition, the Faith Order's breeding methods do not favor castration of animals, so the Faith Order's horse farms have a large number of these two types of warhorses, numbering in the thousands.

This means that, given the right opportunity, the Golden Sunflower Family can use these stallions to breed offspring of excellent quality on a large scale, which is enough to quickly expand the entire Golden Sunflower Family's warhorse herd and benefit the entire private army's Cavalry force.

Even though the Golden Sunflower Family's productivity is quite advanced now, and Santos has even seen the Research Institute preparing to use tractors and Steam Traction Engine for military use as vehicles.

However, the officers within the Golden Sunflower Army still trusted warhorses more, since even in terms of actual capabilities, vehicles were still quite inferior to warhorses.

In Santos's view, if these excellent warhorses could be incorporated into the Golden Sunflower Family's army system, they would be of great benefit to the entire family's army.

As for other breeds of cattle and sheep, Santos thought they were good, but considering that he was not an expert in the field, he simply ordered people to record the superior traits of these breeds and then send them back to the territory by telegram.

According to information subsequently transmitted back from the territory, both the Agricultural Department and other sectors involving the use of animal power highly valued the breeds of livestock owned by the Faith Order Headquarters.

This has led to the growing size of the group that accompanied Victor to the Faith Order Headquarters. What started as just medical and research personnel has now expanded to include Agricultural Department, Industrial Department, and Commerce Department.

Santos is increasingly aware of just how valuable the spoils of this battle are, and he is now eagerly anticipating the Duke's arrival.

However, Santos also knew that the Duke's entourage wouldn't arrive anytime soon.

So far, because it's only early spring, the grasslands are still incredibly muddy, and this muddy period will last at least a month.

Even if they set off from the territory immediately, it would still take more than a month to arrive here. Not to mention that the entourage is growing larger and larger. Santos believes that it would take at least two months for the Duke's entourage to arrive.

Santos's current tasks are twofold: first, to maintain order in the Hot Spring Valley; and second, to continue complying with the territory's requirements, collecting relevant technical data, and preserving it intact before the handover.

According to Santos, the gains from this expedition ranked among the top three in the entire Golden Sunflower Family's war system, only slightly less than the gains from the Southern Invasion of the East Sea Alliance and the Civil War.

Time passed day by day.

A month and a half later, Victor, riding his horse, looked at the snow-capped Snow Mountains gradually emerging at the edge of the grassland and let out a long sigh of relief.

"After such a long journey, we've finally arrived."

Victor turned to look at the procession behind him. A large convoy of cars and horses stretched across the entire grassland like a long black dragon.

Victor hadn't expected that his original plan of simply visiting the Hot Spring Valley, where the Faith Order Headquarters were located, would result in such a bloated and massive team by the time they set off.

There was nothing that could be done about it; the Faith Order Headquarters had indeed reaped substantial rewards, and technical personnel and officials from the Territory Research Institute, the Agricultural Department, and other related departments were all eager to participate in this operation.

For example, Isaac personally took charge of the territory's medical system, partly because he was very interested in the technical data and unique materials possessed by the Faith Order.

Furthermore, experts like Isaac, who now possess the Transcendent technology of the entire territory, are extremely interested in the Enlightened Sanctuary owned by the Faith Order, as well as the peculiar force field that can even sustain the life of the critically ill.

Isaac believed it was clearly the application of Transcendent technology, so he immediately signed up for the mission and became the chief medical expert.

As the contingent grew larger, the territory's army further deployed troops to protect the officials, dignitaries, and Victor himself.

In the end, in addition to Victor's own Personal Guard, the territory's War Department headquarters simply transferred James's First Regiment as well.

Thus, with the entire escort system included, Victor's force was almost as large as the Expeditionary Army.

Fortunately, according to Santos's report, the Faith Order Headquarters had plenty of food and supplies; otherwise, Victor would never have agreed to bring so many people.

For the past month and a half, Victor led these people toward the Faith Order Headquarters in the Hot Spring Valley.

However, during this period, Victor also upgraded and renovated several relay stations on the grassland.

These relay stations all belong to the Intelligence Department and are mainly used for intelligence gathering on the grasslands.

Now that the Golden Sunflower Family has taken over the Hot Spring Valley, where the Faith Order Headquarters are located, these relay stations must be further upgraded and expanded to better establish connections between the Hot Spring Valley and the territory, so that they can undertake more tasks and become the territory's foothold on the grassland.

Victor's immediate goal is to expand all these relay stations into fixed border towns with around a thousand inhabitants, providing them with some defensive capabilities against the Barbarians on the grasslands, while also enabling them to be somewhat self-sufficient.

In this way, caravans and personnel from the territory could reach the Hot Spring Valley where the Faith Order Headquarters was located more quickly and safely.

Now Victor could finally see the distant Ice and Snow Mountains. He knew that the Hot Spring Valley was not far away, and at the foot of the mountains was the last Intelligence Department outpost.

Just as Victor had predicted, on the third day, the entire team reached the outpost outside the mountains.

The people at the outpost had all come to greet them, including Konedia, the head of the entire grassland intelligence network.

Orlando didn't come this time, but Victor still rewarded Konedia. If all goes well, once Cornedea returns to Two Rivers County, Victor will make him a baron, and Orlando, the meritorious Intelligence Department, will be promoted to viscount. This is the greatest reward for the Intelligence Department over the years.

Victor may not allow Orlando to continue as Intelligence Department. After all, Orlando has controlled the Intelligence Department for many years, and it's not a good thing to hand over such a crucial department to one person for too long.

While Orlando is still relatively young, he could easily transfer to a local or other department where he can shine.

Konedia was also Victor's preferred candidate for head of the Intelligence Department, and Orlando strongly agreed. He believed that Konedia was capable of doing the job well, and that he was even more professional than Orlando because he was one of the newest cadres trained by the Intelligence Department.

Konedia was overjoyed to receive Victor's reward and promise, and repeatedly bowed to Victor.

Victor comforted him, and seeing his weathered face, Victor was also relieved.

If it weren't for the steppe intelligence network established by Konedia and the work done over the past two years, this expedition wouldn't have gone so smoothly.