Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 466 Ox and Horse

"Aren't you being a little too biased towards Mr. Little Cher?" Bud asked, half-jokingly.

As he exerted force with his jaw, Bud's cheeks were rhythmically puffing out.

Clearly, the beef was going to be tough to eat tonight, but Bud still chewed it patiently.

"Really?" Winters gritted his teeth and poked at the beef chunks in his plate, furious. "I'm going to call Lannis over later and give him a good talking to—how could the food be so awful after spending so much money on it?"

Bard swallowed the tough beef without batting an eye, glanced at Winters's plate which looked like a slaughterhouse, and kindly reminded him, "Don't waste the food."

"Okay, okay, here you go." Winters immediately raised his hands in surrender, just like before, and shoveled all the meat from his plate onto Bard's plate: "It's all yours."

Bud readily accepted it all: "This is meat, how could it not taste good?"

“Yes,” Winters sighed. “I’m curious about that too.”

……

The Baroque-style mahogany desk, which the former garrison commander cherished, was used as a dining table. Winters and Bard declined the invitation from the gentry Artemis and simply ate at the garrison.

They ate the same food as all the soldiers of Iron Peak County: beef, turnips, and coarse bread.

The sun had actually set long ago, and the Vaughan County capital outside the window had long since disappeared into the night, but the two "Iron Peak County Protectors" only now had time to solve the problem of dinner.

To be precise, one tribunal was so busy that he didn't have time to eat. The other tribunal, whose name is unknown, although he had nothing to do, insisted on waiting for his friend to cook together.

……

“The beef may still be the same beef as before.” Looking at Bud, who was enjoying his dinner, Winters reflected sadly: “It’s just that my once steel-like teeth and stomach have been worn down by the years.”

“First of all, your stomach has never been ‘as tough as steel’,” Bard said with a smile, exposing his friend’s ignorance. “Back in Guido, you were a very picky eater.”

“That’s only in comparison to you,” Winters defended himself. “From the perspective of the academy as a whole, I’m definitely not a picky eater.”

Bud lowered his hands to reassure his friend and continued, "If your stomach was truly 'as tough as steel,' then its wear and tear isn't entirely Mr. Bélien's fault."

Winters thought for a moment, then unconsciously curled the corners of his mouth into a smile. He nodded, feigning seriousness as he agreed, "That's right, Ms. Navarre is also responsible."

Bud cleared his throat and pointed to the beef on the plate: “I mean, this is all from old cattle, which is inherently difficult to cook thoroughly. Right now, the price of a two-year-old cow in Vaughan is at least double what it was last year. Even if you pay a high price, you can only buy this kind of old and weak cow that is destined for slaughter anyway.”

After saying that, Bud put away his smile and explained seriously, "It's not just cattle; the prices of horses, mules, and even donkeys on the market are higher than last year. This situation is not unique to Vaughan County; it's even more serious in Iron Peak County. I think the other counties in the new reclamation area should be the same."

Upon hearing this, Winters immediately removed his plate and took a hardcover book from the drawer.

After carefully reviewing the documents, he rubbed his forehead and thought for a moment before raising his head and asking in confusion, "Is that so? But when I was conscripted for the Great Wilderness War, I purchased quite a few large livestock, and the price of beef cattle reported by Lannis was not significantly different."

“That’s because the prices of gold and silver have also gone up.” Bard picked up a graphite strip and wrote a few lines of numbers on a piece of paper: “Look, when converted into grain prices, the increase in livestock prices is quite obvious; they’ve at least doubled.”

Winters stared at the numbers Bard had written down, lost in thought.

“Logically, war would cause livestock prices to rise, which is understandable. But why are the prices of gold and silver also skyrocketing? And why are grain prices falling?” Bard smiled wryly. “To be honest, I can’t think of a reasonable explanation—is Mr. Leo in Maplestone City?”

“He’s not here.” Winters shook his head slightly. “He left the New Reclamation Province before Sanel sent troops to Mirror Lake County.”

"Then... is it possible to contact him?"

Winters pondered for a moment: "We can send a message through the Navarre Trading Company, but nobody knows when Mr. Leo will receive it, so don't get your hopes up too high."

Bud nodded, showing no disappointment or worry, and simply smiled gently: "Alright then, we'll solve it ourselves."

Somehow, when Winters met Bard's calm and tolerant gaze, he felt that no difficulty was insurmountable.

“It was my fault to slaughter cattle for meat under the current circumstances.” Winters tried his best not to show his annoyance and regret, but his fingertips unconsciously left four scratches on the table: “The soldiers are too tired and too exhausted. I wanted them to eat something better…”

“No one is blaming you, and the livestock shortage isn’t so dire as to cause an ‘earthquake.’ But now that you know how scarce large animals are, you shouldn’t waste them.” Bard pushed the beef back onto Winters’ plate and teased, “You only ever use what you need, and if you don’t have enough, you just ask for more. Of course, you don’t know how difficult it is for me and Senior Mason.”

Winters stuffed the beef into his mouth and chewed silently.

Bard put down his cutlery and asked solemnly, "Are you still in contact with your lover from the Red River tribe?"

Winters was startled, then coughed violently. He instinctively pounded his chest, which aggravated his injury, leaving him speechless for a long time. He could only stare wide-eyed at Bard.

“Don’t look at me like that. You’ve never told me anything about the Red River Tribe, so of course I can only ask others.” Bard said calmly, “They all say you have a lover with a powerful background in the Red River Tribe. The fact that the Red River Tribe is now willing to do business with us honestly is thanks to your lover.”

Winters wiped the food crumbs from the corner of his mouth and asked fiercely, "Who said that?"

“If I tell you, can you keep it a secret?” Bard asked with a smile.

Winters's anger was choked in his throat. He grabbed the corner of the table in a fit of rage, and in the blink of an eye, the two corners of Colonel Zipper's treasured desk turned into splinters. "You've reached this level now?" Bard rarely showed surprise and disbelief, but he stopped Winters's rage with just one sentence: "This seems pretty expensive."

Winters let out a painful growl, pressed his forehead, and after a moment of silence, calmly told Bard: "First, I do know a lady in the Red River Tribe; second, I am not in a romantic relationship with that lady; third, you have met that lady, she is one of the Hed people who helped us on Red Sulphur Island; finally, the Red River Tribe is willing to trade with us not because of that lady's guarantee, but because each party gets what they need."

Bard nodded and said "uh-huh" in a half-hearted manner.

Because what His Excellency the Bishop was most concerned about was not his friend's scandalous rumors: "Since you have such a close relationship with that lady from the Red River Tribe, can she arrange for us to trade horses and cattle? Right now, the Red River Tribe is only selling us wool and sheepskins."

"Explain yourself! What do you mean by 'close relationship'?" Winters snapped.

Bud's expression turned serious: "So it's nothing?"

Winters was speechless. After a while, he stammered, "Well, you can't say that..."

Bard skipped over Winters' reaction and went on to explain the current problem to him: "The situation in Iron Peak County is alright; we can redistribute the draft horses that are temporarily not needed and the warhorses that have been phased out. However, the livestock losses in Vaughan County are mainly due to the conscription of the New Reclamation Legion, and there is almost no possibility of them returning. If we do nothing, it will inevitably hinder the autumn harvest and autumn sowing."

Bard sighed. “Without large livestock, we can’t cultivate enough land. Without cultivating enough land, we can’t harvest enough grain. The dangers of the livestock shortage aren’t immediately apparent—we can’t see them yet. But next year, famine will surely come crashing down.”

“Although the situation in the other four counties is still unclear, it can’t be much better. The shortage of livestock is a widespread problem. It’s impossible to solve this through internal distribution; we can only look for livestock from outside the newly reclaimed land.” Bard paused, then said with some sadness, “You know, this used to be a major livestock-producing area. In just two years, it’s become like this.”

Winters' expression also turned serious: "Understood, I'll go talk to Lark."

Seeing Bard raise an eyebrow in confusion, he explained, "It's the White Lion's agent."

Bard's brow relaxed: "All the gentry, big and small, in Vaughan have been asking me indirectly if I can sell them some of their aging warhorses. If we can fill the gap in Vaughan's livestock supply, we can not only prevent a crop failure next year, but also win some public support."

“Don’t get your hopes up too high.” Winters’ brows were still furrowed. “The Red River tribe probably won’t agree to trade cattle and horses with us.”

“Don’t worry, we have plenty of things to trade with them,” Bard reassured Winters. “Mr. Berion has already filled the ironworks’ warehouses to the brim; it’s worth it even if it costs us a little money.”

Winters realized that Bard had misunderstood, and he sighed: "What are we mainly selling to White Lion now?"

"pig iron."

“No,” Winters corrected softly, “It’s low-quality pig iron that hasn’t been desulfurized and contains a lot of ‘toxins.’ It can’t be reprocessed into weapons because we don’t want to provide White Lion with war resources.”

Bud already understood, but he still listened patiently as Winters continued.

"For the White Lion, cattle and horses are equally valuable war resources. He would gladly accept trading inferior pig iron for wool and sheepskin. But if he wants to trade cattle and horses..."

Winters' expression was uncertain: "The White Lion will definitely offer a different price."

After a long pause for thought, Bard replied seriously, "I think it would be worth it even to exchange weapons for it."

“You’ve never seen a white lion, a white lion…” Although Winters and Bard talked about everything, Winters still had to make a great effort before saying the next thing: “It’s too dangerous.”

Bard neither mocked Winters' "cowardice" nor jokingly asked, "How could the mighty Blood Wolf think others are dangerous?"

He listened seriously to Winters's words and asked, "How dangerous?"

“In my opinion,” Winters replied slowly, “Grove Magnus of Kingsburg and Alpad across the river, even tied together, are no match for a white lion.”

“Then we’ll look for another way,” Bard replied directly, trusting Winters’ judgment without reservation: “The arms deal with the Red River tribe is no longer under consideration.”

“No,” Winters said, surprising everyone. “I will go and talk to Lark.”

"Why?" Bard asked, puzzled.

“I believe that in the eyes of the White Lion,” Winters pondered, “even if the three Hed tribes were all combined, they wouldn’t be as good as me alone.”

……

……

……

“Eat something.” Bud put the plate back in front of Winters. “It’ll get cold if you wait any longer.”

"You don't believe me?" Winters was both annoyed and amused.

“Unparalleled self-confidence is a common trait among leaders,” Bud said, changing the subject and quoting an old saying from who-knows-where.

His cheeks turned bright red, and after a long while, even the most easygoing student of the 21st class of the Senas Alliance Army Academy couldn't help but laugh out loud: "But when we were in school, I never imagined you'd be such a braggart!"

[Wishing everyone a happy National Day holiday!]
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(End of this chapter)