Special Restrictions

The rear garden of Runestone Castle.

Delia sat on a swing in a purple dress, her long black hair pinned up. Su Qin stood behind her, pushing the swing.

Delia gazed at the scenery ahead, utterly delighted!

"Su Qin, higher, higher!"

Su Qin rolled his eyes and used just a tiny bit of strength. He was very strong!

As he pushed his fiancée on the swing, he asked:

"The army has already reached Keir Keep. Aren't you going to take a look, Delia?"

Delia was actually a strategist-type character with an extremely high intelligence stat and even 10 command. Was it really all right for her to stay at headquarters?

Though she could not compare with the likes of Zhuge Liang or Guo Jia, and her command was indeed a little low, her intelligence and politics were high!

At the very least, she was a combination of a lesser Zhang Liang and a lesser Xiao He!

Delia smiled. "Haven't you stayed behind too? Right now, I want to be with you!"

The young woman's face flushed. Su Qin had performed well last night!

Su Qin glanced at the flag at the edge of the garden opposite them. Its design featured a pile of pebbles between two bands of runes, set against an orange shield. House Royce's words were: "We remember!"

"Didn't Father tell you that all you needed to do next year was prepare for the triennial campaign against the barbarians? Why worry about the main battlefront? Father is better at warfare than I am!"

Su Qin continued pushing the swing and glanced at the hickeys on Delia's neck. His fiancée had actually been quite alluring beneath her clothes last night!

"I'm worried about a defeat at the front!"

"Pfft, Su Qin, are you doubting my father's ability to command an army?"

"Let me put it this way. Over the past fifteen years, my father hasn't lost a single war against another noble. At worst, he's fought to a draw. He's never lost the wars against the Moon Lake clans that take place every three years either! You don't need to worry about House Royce's ability to command troops. We currently have 2,300 soldiers stationed at Keir Keep, and 1,000 [Iron-armored Macemen] will arrive in three days. We haven't even mobilized the militia. Unless the other side has 6,000 regular armored troops, they can forget about attacking Keir Keep!"

"And another thing!"

"The whole Wickenden Territory and its two subordinate territories have only 500 [Iron-armored Spearmen], 300 [Light Cavalry], 1,500 [Leather-armored Spearmen], and 200 [Longbowmen] between them. Who are they to launch an offensive?"

"Even if Jon Arryn is secretly supporting the House of Wickenden, he can't openly send troops, can he? If he dares to send troops openly, the ultimate result will be a rupture between the Kingdom of the Vale and the North, and a decisive battle between the kingdom's Dragon Party and the separatist forces! He's only just taken power. The Falcon-Wolf-Stag Alliance hasn't truly formed yet, and he isn't remotely ready!"

"At most, he'll send some knights to bolster their side. Our knights are no worse than theirs!"

Seeing how little intelligence her lover had, Delia considered whether she should assign a Golden Tailor-a post-to lead a team over to handle intelligence for him. Su Qin knew nothing!

He knew nothing, yet dared to go to war? What a reckless fool! Jon directly commanded an army of 50,000. Without the North keeping him in check, House Royce would never have gone to war either!

Su Qin nodded, then thought for a moment. "Then how do we deal an effective blow to the House of Wickenden?"

Delia smiled and said:

"Who told you the House of Wickenden was united? Heh, just wait for the show! Once preparations are complete next March, we'll see what their family is truly capable of!"

Looking out at the garden, Delia leisurely discussed with Su Qin what they needed to bring to Gull Manor tomorrow morning. The newly betrothed couple were utterly lovey-dovey!

The next day, escorted by 100 iron-armored personal guards carrying spears, Delia brought one Golden Tailor, two Silver Tailors, and twenty Scissors, following Su Qin at a leisurely pace toward Gull Territory.

The first place they passed was Four Crossroads Fortress. It currently housed its full garrison of 100 soldiers, with many commoners resting inside, along with supplies such as grain and arrows!

After a brief inspection, she accompanied Su Qin past Osgood Keep. House Osgood of Osgood Keep had trained hawks for generations, living off resources such as elk and wild boar in the Eastern Gull Mountains, as well as the red rice woods. They did not place much importance on farming.

Some of the redwood forest here had been allocated to the family. Though it was much smaller than Su Qin's share, earning twenty gold coins a year would be no problem. Combined with the total annual salary of 160 gold Su Qin paid Telang, it was certainly enough to keep the family members well fed!

However, this territory was now under Su Qin's direct administration. The transaction had already been completed, and the price was that Su Qin had to let the three families serve as administrators for ten years!

The subsequent compensation also had to satisfy them!

As they continued south, Delia sat in the carriage and saw the main road along the Hui Canal, which had already been planned and initially cleared. It was forty meters wide!

Looking at the broad road, Delia asked Su Qin, who was holding her affectionately from behind:

"Su Qin, will you ever need a road this wide?"

Su Qin stroked Delia's long hair and smiled.

"We'll need it in the future."

This would be the main road for the 12,000 households of Upper, Middle, and Lower Gulltown in the future. Industrial districts and the like might also be placed here first. There was nothing wrong with planning ahead. Wide was fine!

At least he found it pleasing to look at. That was all there was to it! No more traffic jams when he went out!

With so much land, he might as well build wide roads! It would save him getting stuck in traffic!

Delia curled her lip. As wide as the Kingsroad! His appetite was bigger than his stomach!

Soon, the convoy reached the rightmost main road in Lower Gulltown's farmland district. Delia saw the ripe corn in the fields and very much wanted a closer look, so Su Qin took her to the edge of the farmland.

It was actually almost late November already. The corn stalks had withered under the sun, and harvesting could begin around November 20. The farmers were guarding the fields with wooden spears because herbivorous and omnivorous animals such as wild boar and elk were coming to steal the corn, and the problem was severe.

Leite, the minister of military affairs, took his redwood longbow out every day and could kill at least several wild boar and several elk! It was simply ridiculous!

With Su Qin's support, Delia stepped down from the carriage. The farmers immediately gathered around, but the personal guards kept them at least five meters from the couple!

The necessary separation was effective!

Su Qin said nothing. This was actually normal. Nobles did not have much contact with commoners. Only he could see loyalty values. If anything looked wrong, he could arrest them first and deal with it later!

Thus, Su Qin's favorite activity was taking men out on inspections. Whenever he spotted loyalty at ten, twenty, or even a negative number, he had the person arrested first! This had become his entertainment! And he caught the right person every time!

As a result, he had not seen a spy with loyalty below eighty-five in almost a month! It was a little boring!

At the edge of a field ridge, Delia snapped an ear of corn off a stalk, slowly peeled it open, and picked off a kernel. It tasted quite good.

She turned to ask Su Qin:

"Su Qin, what's the yield of this corn?" Delia knew that this crop had gone extinct in some past era! Records of it existed only in ancient books from Asshai!

Su Qin knew the approximate estimated yield. Corn was drought-resistant, with two ears per stalk. A yield of 1,500 jin per large mu of 1,000 square meters would be no problem! With proper watering and fertilization, it could certainly reach 2,000 jin!

"Fifteen hundred jin per large mu!"

Delia was stunned!

"Su Qin, how many jin? Say that again. I didn't hear you clearly!"

"Fifteen hundred jin per mu! Pure grain!"

"Pure grain?!"

The personal guards around them were also stunned. At 1,500 jin per mu, it was seven times higher than rye's 200 jin per mu!

Delia's personal guards suppressed their desire to take a look at the corn and continued keeping watch!

At the current market price of eight copper per jin, those 1,500 jin would be 16,000 copper! Sixteen gold!

Delia was silent for a while before asking, "How many mu did you plant altogether?"

Su Qin smiled. "One thousand mu!"

"One thousand mu! Su Qin, are you joking? That thousand mu is worth 16,000 gold! Nearly two seasons' income for the Vale of Arryn! And you're telling me you've just left it here, without regular soldiers guarding it? What if someone burns it or steals it? What if someone takes corn away and plants it somewhere else?"

(Once grain becomes extremely abundant, it will no longer possess the quality of scarcity! Its price will naturally fall! This income estimate is merely a particular way of illustrating how powerful corn is! It is also the foundation of Su Qin's future!)

Delia shouted!

"I'm writing to Father immediately and asking him to send some militia!"

Su Qin shook his head. "No need!"

Delia was puzzled. "Why not? Sixteen thousand gold is enough to hire several thousand soldiers for a year!"

Su Qin smiled and pointed at the farmers who had already gathered around the personal guards. Every farmer, male or female, young or old, carried a redwood spear. Redwood was hard enough to make weapons!

"Delia, there are a full 2,400 farming households here. Counting men, women, young, and old, 5,000 people patrol these cornfields every half day. At night, they light torches on the torch posts too. And every twenty-five mu has a small stone channel serving as a firebreak and a future irrigation channel!"

"Don't worry. The farmers here are reliable! We aren't afraid of fires either. The farmers have done an excellent job with the ridges and firebreaks between fields!"

Delia looked at the dense mass of farmers behind them. They were gazing eagerly at Su Qin.

She found it somewhat unbelievable. How could commoners have expressions like that? They looked like loyal knights swearing an oath!

Still, she slowly nodded, then asked another question. "Then what about the other issue? Can it be planted elsewhere?"

Su Qin answered directly that it could not!

These corn seeds had been processed by the system and could currently only be planted within areas designated by Su Qin! He had yet to understand the exact rules, but it was very useful! By marking out an area on the system map, Su Qin could lift some kind of restriction! It only worked within the areas under Gull Territory's jurisdiction!

He also had to turn on that switch himself!

Over the past few days, some people had already secretly taken corn and fled. However, Su Qin had used the system restriction to specify that it could only be planted in Lower Gulltown, so it did not matter if commoners fled with corn. Leaving was easy; coming back would be difficult!

This newly reappeared crop could stir greed in people's hearts!

Only after Su Qin held a meeting and informed all the farming households that corn could only be planted in Lower Gulltown did the farmers stop sneaking away!

Some merchants and nobles tried it too. There was indeed some sort of miraculous rule!

The maesters were very interested!

Su Qin also received the maesters and gave them corn. The maesters did indeed confirm that corn could only be planted in the Gulltown area! Just as redwoods could only grow in Runestone Territory!

And the newly harvested corn could germinate as seed in Su Qin's hands!

Delia silently climbed into the carriage.

That night, Maester Denwen released every raven. One headed for the North, one for the Kingdom of the Reach, one for the Kingdom of the Riverlands, one for the Kingdom of Dorne, two for King's Landing, one for Oldtown, and three flew overseas!

Royce recalled all available Golden Tailors-the organization. All planned recruitment, enticement, intelligence gathering, infiltration, surveillance, assassination, and other missions were canceled!

Every effort was to be devoted to ensuring that no agents of hostile powers remained in the territories around Gulltown!

Delia understood!

Next year, the eyes of the entire Seven Kingdoms would turn toward Gulltown!

Countless merchants, spies, religious groups, scholars, and others would come to Gulltown from home and abroad!

Even the war on the verge of erupting would change in character!

Countless refugees would pour in!

The deity Qilin (Divine Dragon), and His Qilin (Divine Dragon) Faith, would formally be revealed to all nobles, religious orders, and commoners!

A great upheaval!

Once the nobles verified the special conditions governing corn cultivation, Su Qin's standing and status would grow exponentially!

Countless greedy, possessive eyes would turn squarely toward Su Qin!

Many plots would directly concern Su Qin!

House Royce and the Golden Tailors-the organization-had to safeguard Su Qin!

But their strength was still insufficient! It would barely suffice in the early stages!

Delia felt somewhat powerless. She wanted to find people to help her! Su Qin had to marry some noble daughters and make concessions to some nobles to protect himself! But she could not trust women from other noble families!

Delia turned her gaze toward the North!

"My dear cousin Lyanna, how am I going to trick you into my fiancé's bed, and how can I make you willingly become his secondary wife?"