Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 255 Iron Peak
The day after the banquet, at dawn, the three newly formed infantry battalions lined up neatly on the parade ground of the Zhevodan military camp.

“That day someone told me that after winning the battle, he wanted to eat meat and sleep. I promised him, ‘Go back to Zhevodan and slaughter pigs and sheep!’” Winters stood at the front of the platform and asked the entire army, “Were any pigs slaughtered yesterday?”

"Kill them!" the soldiers replied.

"Has the sheep been slaughtered?"

"Slaughter them!"

"Have you all eaten your fill? Have you drunk your fill? Have you slept enough?"

"We're full!" a soldier shouted.

Some soldiers even jeered, "We want to have another meal!"

"Want to have another meal?" Winters laughed. "Me too! The lamb offal soup is delicious! The roast pork is amazing!"

The soldiers burst into laughter.

“But that won’t do!” Winters’ tone shifted abruptly. “We can’t afford to eat or drink! If we hold another banquet like yesterday, the Iron Peak County government will go bankrupt!”

Winters emptied his money bag and showed it to the soldiers: "Look! Not a single silver coin left."

The matter was actually quite serious, but Winters' relaxed tone eased a lot of the anxiety.

“So,” Winters said emphatically, “we have to farm! If we don’t farm, we won’t have bread to eat!”

The soldiers then realized that they were being given land, and they were both excited and nervous.

"In the first year of land allocation, everything is in need of rebuilding! Farm tools and draft animals are limited." Winters announced, "Therefore, this year, farm tools, livestock, seeds, and rations will be allocated by company and used centrally! When fighting, you were a collective; when allocating and cultivating land, you are still a collective! A company is a village, do you understand?"

"Yes!" the soldiers shouted in unison.

"Very well!" Winters laughed heartily, waving his right hand: "Go and plant! Plant as much as you can!"

When Winters disbanded the army, Bader was also giving a speech a hundred kilometers southwest of Gevordan.

"Don't worry about three fields or two fields!" He stood on the carriage, spreading hope to hundreds of hungry and cold people: "There's no need for fallow this year! Plant all the land that can be turned over!"

"Plant wheat! Barley! Buckwheat! Plant whatever you have!"

"No marking of field ridges! No dividing the land among households! There's no time to waste!"

"Plows and draft animals will be uniformly distributed! Men will pull the plows! Women and children will sow seeds and harrow the fields! If you want to eat, you must work!"

"Survive the winter! Hold on until next summer's harvest!" Bard's voice was firm and strong: "Then you'll have enough to eat!"

Winter crops are usually planted from late September to early October.

It's already October 20th, and we must race against time to plant winter crops before the temperature drops.

"Let the displaced people start farming again"—this sounds simple, but only Bard knows how difficult it is to do it—Winters knows a part of it.

Because everything is lacking.

There was a severe shortage of shovels, harrows, plows, draft animals... every imaginable resource was extremely scarce.

Not only is restoring agricultural production difficult, but ensuring the survival of displaced people is also a major challenge.

Migrants are people; they need to eat, drink, and have a place to live.

With winter fast approaching and the displaced people lacking warm clothing, they will need a lot of fuel for heating.

Such a thorny situation would be a headache for anyone in charge.

But Bud's smile lingered for a long time, because in his view, the key issue that would determine life or death had been resolved by Winters.

The regime has earned the right to survive; the remaining difficulties are minor problems.

And there are always more solutions than problems.

Forty veterans and three hundred militiamen selected from the refugees—that was all the men Bard had under his command, and they stood before him at that moment.

"The bloody battle, the Montagne tribunal won! A resounding victory!" Bader coldly lectured. "The bloodless battle, we must fight. If we cannot win, then the blood of others has been shed in vain!"

The atmosphere was solemn and dignified, and everyone was tense.

"Ish from Ganshui Town!"

Ish was no longer the timid farmer he once was; he roused himself and answered loudly.

Bard ordered, "Take your men and get a detailed inventory of the Blue Mountain Estate's assets. Take everything and check it out. Bring back the farm tools. Seal the houses temporarily! They'll be distributed later!"

"Yes, sir!"

"What are you waiting for? Let's go now!"

Ish accepted the order, led a group of men, and set off immediately.

Because Bard successfully achieved a "peaceful transfer," the properties of each estate were preserved intact.

Under the leadership of Richard Marta, the owner of Blue Mountain Estate, the estate owners cooperated by providing a list of fixed assets such as farm tools and houses.

If a violent crackdown were carried out, it would inevitably lead to losses and would not be as smooth as it is now—this is why Bader would rather pay money than forcibly seize the goods.

Houses and farm tools are things that Bader desperately needs.

The houses were provided by the manors to their hired laborers and tenants, and most of them were now empty.

Although these houses were dilapidated, they were just the right place for refugees to stay.

The farm tools of each estate are also valuable resources.

In other words, Bader wants to "use someone else's resources to his advantage".

It's still the same land, the same tools, the same houses, and the same farming and grain production.

But the laborers need to be replaced, and the tax collectors also need to be replaced.

Teams of men were sent out one after another to check the supplies, but the young stable boy Anglu had not yet received his orders.

Anglu waited silently.

“Anglu,” Bard called Anglu to his side, “Go to Thevordan.”

"Let someone else deliver the message!" Anglu said somewhat anxiously. "I'll stay here and help you!"

Bard sighed: "You'll have to handle this. If it weren't for the circumstances, I'd like to go myself!"

“Okay! I’ll go!” Anglu nodded emphatically.

"Go and deliver a message."

"what?"

“Go find your centurion,” Bard said sternly. “Go ask him for it!”

Anglu was stunned; his centurion was Winters Montagne.

"What do you want?" Anglu whispered.

Bard gestured for Anglu to sit down, and said with a wry smile, "Take whatever you need! The old farm tools are far from enough, we need to make new ones. Tell that guy not to just focus on the celebration, but also to come and help me out!"

Anglu dared not speak, but nodded frantically.

Bard grew increasingly exasperated as he spoke, and he instructed the young stable boy: "Remember to tell your centurion—stop building plows! There are enough plows; the land is already cultivated, so wooden plows will suffice!"

Is plowshare all he knows? Why not make some other farm implements! Send me some axes too! Sending a bunch of plowshares, but I don't have any draft animals. Am I supposed to pull them by people? Can a person pull a heavy plowshare?

Anglu had never seen Lieutenant Bard complain before; this was the first time he had heard such grumbling.

He had a vague feeling that Lieutenant Bard seemed to regard him as Centurion Montane, which was why he poured out his grievances.

“Have them make more small farm implements in Forging Village.” Bard wasn’t finished speaking: “Don’t make pure iron ones! That’s a waste! Make iron-clad ones! Make enough first, then consider durability.”

In Tiefeng County, only the village of Duanlu can manufacture heavy-duty plows; blacksmiths in other villages and towns all source their plows from Duanlu.

For example, Misha, the old blacksmith in Wolf Town, is too physically capable of heavy work, so he only repairs and doesn't build, occasionally making small pieces of ironware.

After Winters took over Forgetown, he ordered the forgetown blacksmiths to focus on building plowshares.

In his view, what is needed for farming if not a plow?
But the reality is that in the refugee camp, there are more plows than livestock.

Heavy plows are for horses and require two or even three horses to pull them.

If farming is done entirely by human labor, the lighter the plow, the better; there's no need for heavy plows like these.

With Bard absent, even if someone knew that Winters' orders were problematic, no one dared to correct him.

The error continued in this way.

Winters, on the other hand, was still happy, feeling that he had done the right thing.

"Also, once the war is over, don't keep the horses in one place anymore," Bader rambled on. "Whether they're warhorses or fodder, farming is the top priority now! Distributing the horses will save on fodder. Andrei definitely won't agree, but leave him a few extra horses; he'll see the difference in a few days..."

Bud gave a lot of instructions, all of which were things he wanted to tell Winters during this period but couldn't get them to the latter's ears.

"Did you remember?" Bard asked Anglu.

Anglu nodded vigorously, then shook his head violently.

What exactly did I say?

“Plows!” Anglu swallowed hard. “And horses!”

“No plow! We want horses!” Bard sighed. “Alright, go ahead.”

……

A new chapter has begun in the lives of the displaced people.

The officer who held up the emblem of St. Artaud and ordered them to swear allegiance did indeed give them land, farm tools, and houses.

They are no longer "vagrants" but have regained their identity as "peasants".

This alone is something they never dared to imagine before.

However, their production methods differ from those of ordinary self-cultivating farmers and tenant farmers.

Compared to the common landlord-tenant or government-farmer model, the "new government" they spoke of adopted a novel yet outdated system.

The new government did not allocate land to them per capita. Instead, they used farm tools, draft animals, and seeds collectively to cultivate a large area of ​​land in "camps"—which were called "farms."

This system is considered outdated because it is a complete copy of the feudal manor model.

Noble estates were like farms today, with no furrows or ditches to demarcate the lands. The lord's lands were interspersed with those of the tenants and serfs.

When tenant farmers and serfs cultivated their own allotted land, they also cultivated the lord's land at the same time.

From this perspective, the relationship between the new peasants and the new government is similar to that between a lord and a serf.

The rights of the new farmers are restricted, and they must work whether they like it or not.

The land was not demarcated, and all of it was cultivated uniformly.

Many elderly people still remember the days when they worked in noble estates, so they easily accept the status quo—after all, they are just farming for the masters.

But this system is also an unprecedented new system:

It means that a regime bypasses layers of intermediaries and reaches an "agreement" directly with the peasants at the bottom of society.

There were no lords, no tax collectors, and no masters or masters' masters.

Just like there is only one sun in the sky, even if the farmers are still farming for the "master," they are still farming for the biggest and only master—the new government of Tiefeng County.

Bader was not unaware that "the farmers are motivated only when the land is distributed to individual households." He also knew very well that "the migrants are working hard this year not because they are diligent, but because they are afraid of hunger. Once they can eat their fill, the collective labor model will make them lazy."

However, his decision to adopt this approach was made after careful consideration.

Unfortunately, the migrant settlements did not have the means to "distribute land to individual households".

Resources are so scarce that they must be used in a concentrated manner.

To distribute land to individual households, one must first "distribute the land".

Dividing the land requires drawing boundaries, and drawing boundaries requires ridges and furrows. There's not even enough time to rush to plant wheat, let alone do all this stuff.

Moreover, Bader had absolutely no talent at his disposal who could measure land and calculate its area.

Measuring land and calculating its area is no simple task. Land is often rugged and its shape is rarely a perfect square. To calculate the area of ​​a polygon, one must at least have studied geometry.

Not to mention that field ridges and furrows will also take up valuable arable land.

Growing up in a federal province where arable land is scarce, Bud has seen farmers whose land is divided into small, unconnected plots, with furrows and ridges taking up almost 10% or more of the total arable land area.

He was still lacking livestock and farm tools.

To make the most of the limited cattle, horses, and farm tools, they must be used in a concentrated manner.

Bader has no shortage of manpower, so the ideal state right now is "people rest, but the plows never stop".

Therefore, in the end, the land will still be distributed to individual households, and collective farms are just a transitional measure.

After settling some of the refugees in Blackwater Town, Bud led the remaining refugees to continue their migration to Wolf Town and Five Mastiff Town.

The town of Heishui alone could not accommodate all the displaced people.

However, Blackwater Town set a good precedent for Wolf Town and Five Mastiff Town.

Why relocate displaced people to such remote places?
This is also the consensus reached by Winters and Bard after a long discussion.

“Although the eight northern towns are wealthier, their hearts are not with us, and they have no natural defenses. The eight towns south of the St. George River are our core territory.” Winters summarized it this way: “The further southwest the refugees migrate, the further away from the tentacles of the New Reclamation Legion, the better. Even if it means moving closer to the Hed’s sphere of influence, it is worthwhile.”

Therefore, Bard prioritized resettling displaced people in Wolf Town, Blackwater Town, and Five Mastiff Town.

If there are not enough places to resettle them, they will be diverted to other urban areas according to the principle of proximity.

And so, after a great victory in Blackwater Town, Bard once again embarked on a long journey.

He knew that many dangers awaited him ahead, and he was prepared for them.

So what is Winters Montagne doing at this very moment?
If Bud knew the answer, he might be furious—Winters was breastfeeding.

To be precise, Winters was breastfeeding the baby.

"You brat! Nobody's going to take it from you!" Winters was about to lose his temper. He grabbed Changsheng's neck tightly, trying his best to stop Changsheng from immersing his whole head in the milk: "Aren't you afraid of choking to death!"

Scarlett, standing to the side, laughed so hard she was doubled over.

Anna was there too, smiling demurely; this was the first time she had come to the stables on her own initiative.

Because it was the firstborn and the birth was difficult, Changsheng's mother didn't let it drink milk, and later she simply stopped producing milk altogether.

Winters had to find two ewes to act as wet nurses for Changsheng—and later a cow.

Changsheng was born on September 21st, and it's been exactly one month now.

Foals are born with sixteen teeth, four of which are incisors, similar to human front teeth.

Meanwhile, the four large incisors had grown four more, and their sucking power was increasing.

Changsheng suckled so much that it hurt the three wet nurses that neither the ewes nor the cows allowed him to drink their milk directly anymore.

Left with no other choice, Scarlett had to express milk first and then feed it to Changsheng in a bucket.

A new problem arose – Changsheng wouldn't drink milk from the bucket.

When Scarlett came to Gévord, she also brought two puppies from the litter of her hunting dog.

During preparations for the upcoming competition, all of Zhevodan's horses were requisitioned. Changsheng only had his dog for company, and he played with the dog every day, causing his behavior to become more and more like a dog than a foal.

It was precisely at this time that it needed to drink a lot of milk, and it was hungry all the time.

So every time Scarlett placed the milk bucket in front of Changsheng, Changsheng would eagerly stick his whole head into the bucket.

Even the nostrils are submerged below the liquid surface, and you'll choke while drinking it.

Given that Winters, the "godfather" of immortality, had returned to Ghevorden, Scarlett entrusted Winters with the daunting task of solving this problem.

Winters wasn't surprised.

When Winters was a child, Elizabeth once secretly picked up a kitten that was only a few days old from the garden.

Ella dared not let her mother know, so she begged Winters for help.

Winters had always been his sister's "puppet," and he couldn't bear to see the kitten die, so he tried his best to feed it milk.

That's when he discovered that newborn kittens don't know how to drink milk from a dish.

The kitten smelled the milk and gnawed hard on the edge of the plate, but didn't know how to drink it.

Later, he secretly cut a piece from his aunt's silk clothes, shredded the silk into floss, and used the floss to feed the kitten, which saved the kitten's life.

后来不知什么时候，小猫自然而然学会了舔着喝奶；因为温特斯剪破绸衣，艾拉被珂莎暴揍了一顿；那只小猫也从此留在温特斯家中，被起名为“小将军”。

So Winters confidently accepted the task of [teaching immortals to drink milk], and Anna, upon learning of this, also wanted to come and see.

“The stables are filthy and smelly,” Winters advised Anna. “It’s just feeding the foals; there’s nothing to see.”

“I want to know more about you,” Anna replied softly.

Thus, the awkward scene unfolded: Winters unsurprisingly failed, while Changsheng continued to drink milk underwater as always, and the two ladies smiled broadly.

Only after drinking down to the bottom of the milk did Changsheng's nostrils finally become fully visible.

“From now on, I’ll get this brat a plate to drink from!” Winters said bitterly.

"What if Changsheng can't get milk?" Scarlett asked.

"Let them go hungry! When they can't stand the hunger anymore, they'll naturally learn to drink milk."

Scarlett blinked. "Okay."

“I’m sorry.” Winters sighed, giving the blacksmith, Shaosha, a wry smile. “I’m sorry you had to see this.”

"I wouldn't dare, Your Honor." Shao Sha smiled ingratiatingly, "It's very interesting! I used to be a blacksmith, and I really love horses!"

The blacksmith, Sausage, was summoned by Winters for a meeting.

Winters urgently needed iron farm tools to restore agricultural production.

Therefore, as the highest-ranking blacksmith in Ghevordan and having not participated in the previous rebellion plot, Chauza was highly valued by Winters.

Winters had previously ordered that no one should be stopped if the blacksmith Chaussa requested an audience. So Charles didn't think much of it and brought Chaussa directly to the stables.

Winters, Anna, Scarlett, and Changsheng were in the stables, the atmosphere private and intimate.

Shao Sha's accidental intrusion was actually quite embarrassing.

Seeing that Winters and Chausha were about to discuss business, Anna said to Scarlett, "Ms. Little Cher, I have a gift for you. Come with me."

After saying this, Anna gave a slight bow and pulled Scarlett away.

"Let me introduce you," Winters said, stopping Anna and smiling at Chaussa. "This is my wife."

He then introduced Scarlett: "This is my sister."

Anna's cheeks flushed red; Scarlett's eyes dimmed slightly, but quickly returned to their usual wild and energetic state.

“My wife’s opinion is very important to me,” Winters explained earnestly to Shaosha. “So whatever you want to say, you can say it to their faces. That way, I won’t have to repeat it to them.”

Shao Sha never expected that the infamous "Blood Wolf" would have an even more formidable "mother wolf" in his family.

Moreover, no matter how you look at her, you would never guess that Madame Montagne, who is clearly from a prestigious family, has the ability to keep her husband in check.

But Chaucha then heard the Montagne tribunal say with his own voice, “My wife’s opinion is very important to me.”

A proper Palatine man would never listen to his wife unless he couldn’t beat her—thinking of this, Chausha felt a pang of pity for Lord Blood Wolf and a touch of respect for Madame Montagne, who was gentle and considerate on the outside but surprisingly powerful in the inside.

Seeing the blacksmith Shaochao looking blank, Winters prompted him, "Didn't you say there are iron mines in Iron Peak County? How about I have you write a report on it?"

Shao Sha hurriedly pulled a folded piece of parchment from his pocket: "Your Excellency, this is my first time writing a report, so it's not very good. Please..."

Winters deftly took the parchment: "I see, you tell me."

Shao Sha cleared his throat and began to speak: "The reason why Tiefeng County is called Tiefeng County is because of the Tiefeng Mountain in the northwest. And Tiefeng Mountain is called Tiefeng Mountain because there are iron mines there."

Before the border was opened up, this was where the Hed people smelted iron. Thirty years ago, when my father-in-law's family moved here, that iron mine was still in operation. However, now we use bar iron produced in Steel Fort, so that mine has been abandoned.”

Anna listened intently, and Scarlett was also captivated.

"Are there still reserves?" Winters only asked what he cared about most.

“Yes.” Shao Sha nodded repeatedly: “My father-in-law said yes, the mine is still there and quite profitable.”

"Then why not pick them?"

Shao Sha scratched his head and said sincerely, "Actually, I don't know either. I only moved to Revodan fourteen years ago, and the Iron Peak Mine had already stopped production by then. So it was my father-in-law who told me. Please forgive me if there are any omissions."

“Say what you know.” Winters frowned subconsciously.

Shao Sha was startled and quickly nodded, "Yes! Yes."

Anna noticed the change in Shaosha's emotions, and she kept it in mind, but she didn't do anything or say anything; she just listened quietly.

Shao Sha continued, “My father-in-law said that the ore from Tiefeng Mine is not good, and the iron produced is brittle and prone to rusting. Moreover, the blacksmiths in Duanlu Township use small furnaces to smelt iron, and they have to spend money to buy ore and coal, which is time-consuming, expensive, and laborious.”

It's more cost-effective to just buy steel bars from Steelburg. Steelburg steel bars are transported by water, very cheap, and of top quality. Items made from Steelburg steel bars can be sold for a slightly higher price, and people are willing to buy them. Therefore, forge owners no longer need to smelt iron.

Winters pondered for a moment before speaking: "Just like with swords, don't you only buy Steel Fortress swords?"

“It’s just like the steel fortress swords. They buy them ready-made, cheap and easy to use, so no one bothers to spend time and effort forging swords anymore.” Shao Sha said with a wry smile, “To be honest, my sword-forging skills have also been abandoned. I used to be a top-notch swordsmith, but now I can only make beautiful hilts and scabbards.”

Winters laughed heartily, his laughter both pleasant and joyful.

“Mr. Shaosha, could you please invite your father-in-law to have a chat with me?” Winters asked the blacksmith Shaosha seriously, his smile fading.

Shao Sha's expression was somewhat complicated: "Sir, my father-in-law suffered a severe back injury eight years ago and is now paralyzed in bed. That's why he's taking me as his son-in-law to inherit his forging..."

“I’m so sorry this happened.” Winters patted Sausage on the shoulder. “Then I’ll pay him a visit in person.”

"I dare not accept such praise... I dare not accept such praise..." Shao Sha hurriedly declined.

But Winters wouldn't let him refuse, and after agreeing on a time, he sent Chauza away.

Anna also left the stables with Scarlett, and before leaving, she gestured for Winters to come find her later.

“Charles!” Winters called out.

Charles, who had just seen Sausage off, rushed over in a panic: "What's wrong, brother?"

"From now on, when Miss Navarre is with me," Winters said, his anger rising at Charles's bewildered expression, "don't bring guests directly to me!"

"Oh...okay." Charles smiled, stood at attention, and gave a crooked salute: "Yes, sir!"

"Let's go." Winters waved his hand and laughed, "Bring Carlos Soya over here!"

Farming makes people happy.
[Because I'm terrible at naming things, Tiefeng County is named so because it really does have an iron peak; and Tiefeng is named so because it actually produces iron.]
[That's right, the place is called Forging Furnace Township because it was the iron production center of Iron Peak County, with many forging furnaces—sincere thanks to the enthusiastic reader Qian Jin Tai Lin for providing the place name.]
[Newborn kittens won't drink from the bowl either, facepalm, personal experience rescuing kittens]
[Thank you to all the readers for your collections, reading, subscriptions, recommendations, monthly tickets, donations, and comments.]


(End of this chapter)