You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 240 War Dividends
The Duke and the Papacy tacitly acknowledged that Roman was qualified and capable of demanding a ransom.

But the asking price was too high.

The Black Iron Royal Family's annual revenue is only around 200,000 gold coins.

Ask for a high price and pay a low price.

Roman didn't expect to win the battle, so he let Gale sell his underwear.

Let's exchange it for other resources then.

As for what exactly to exchange, that will require negotiation.

Gael sent Robert, the chief knight of the Dragon Castle, and the Papacy sent a bishop named Abella.

Roman was next to Seth, followed by a group of combatants.

"Lord Roman, your greed astonishes me. This is no price a nobleman should ask for. What if you are captured..."

He waved his hand, interrupting the bishop: "Then I'll kill myself!"

“You’re going a bit too far…” the bishop stammered, “The doctrine forbids believers from committing suicide.”

“Lord Roman Rift-Armor, you have failed your name,” Robert said.

“Call me King of the Valley! Lord Robert, you know my surname was given to me by Ulster, not Gael!” His eyes were as menacing as a lion’s. “This ransom is what you’re owed! Gael has caused me great losses, and I should have given Gael Kate’s head—you’d better not doubt that, or I swear you’ll be very surprised!”

"I think you've gone mad!" Robert roared. He was the head instructor of Dragon Castle, and all the young men in Dragon Castle had received his guidance. He looked at the two knights behind Roman, "Are you going mad with him too?"

“Sir, you taught us loyalty when you were at Dragon Castle, and I think I’ve lived up to that,” Green said calmly.

Aaron secretly kicked him, signaling him to shut up. Is this the kind of occasion for you to speak?

"I think you're courting death!" Robert's dark eyes flashed with disgust. "Perhaps I should teach you to distinguish right from wrong!"

“I know right from wrong better than you do!” Green replied.

"Draw your weapon!" the instructor shouted, standing up.

He was nearly seventy years old, but he was very healthy, lean and strong.

Roman kicked the negotiating table over, and the room fell silent. Everyone heard his cold voice: "If you don't want to talk, get out!"

“Sir Robert, Lord Roman, let’s sit down and talk things over…” the bishop quickly tried to smooth things over.

Grand Duke Gael could no longer suppress the roar of the King of the Valley. Although their power was still vastly different, the King of the Valley was not afraid of Grand Duke Gael.

No wonder, even if an army of 100,000 men from the outside world were to invade this valley, they might not be able to break through.

Robert sat down, his face ashen.

The main negotiator was not the instructor; he was a qualified and powerful warrior, but not good at negotiating.

The position was held by a treasurer from Longbao.

Meanwhile, Roman's side was represented by Seth.

The three parties discussed the details round after round.

It wasn't until the third day that the specific list of those to be compensated was finally finalized.

The ransom for Rift Armor is 5,000 gold coins, 150,000 silver coins, 300 catties of magic stones, 500 blue gems, 500 red gems, 300 green gems, and 100 rare gems, etc.

The Vatican's ransom, on the other hand, consisted of two hundred catties of magic stone, three million catties of saltpeter, two million catties of sulfur, and one hundred pieces of blood coral, among other things.

In addition, the Vatican attempted to redeem all the nuns and priests, but Roman refused to agree under any circumstances.

He was fairly satisfied with the price.

So he readily signed it.

Both Liejia and the Papacy signed their names, their foreheads covered in sweat.

The most valuable item is actually the magic stone.

Gold coins and gems are secondary.

Dragon Castle is incredibly wealthy, and the Grand Duke of Cracked Armor's treasury is overflowing with all sorts of gems.

The gems were not expensive; on average, a single gem cost only five or six gold coins, and their quality was generally inferior to the one that Ulster gave to Roman.

So let alone three or five hundred, they could even offer thousands of gems of the same color, but this is their entire fortune, so Dragon Castle resolutely refused to exchange all their gems.

Saltpeter and sulfur were even cheaper commodities. Although the quantity was said to be in the millions of catties, the total value was only a few thousand gold coins.

Although there are mirabilite mines in Roman, they are difficult to mine, so it's better to use readily available ones.

Humans in this era were constantly mining saltpeter, mainly for the manufacture of glass, but the output was not large.

Those magic stones are the most important. Although they only weigh a few hundred pounds, they are as valuable as gold and are not sold to the public at all.

Now that the noble contract had been signed, Roman released the prisoners.

To break the contract is tantamount to declaring war on the Black Iron King.

However, when both sides saw the prisoners' miserable state, their expressions turned grim.

The only saving grace was that Roman only had their limbs broken, not cut off, otherwise they would have been truly crippled.

"Lord Roman, where is the armor of the Judgment Knight?" the bishop asked with a forced smile.

"Do you think I'd give it back to them?" Roman said coldly.

The bishop's smile grew even more bitter.

Origin City shouldn't have the technology to forge orchard copper, so why are you criticizing it?
More importantly, that thing was really expensive.

Forging a set of plate armor from over 100 kilograms of ores would cost three figures in gold coins just in terms of cost. Moreover, the plate armor was all custom-made, and the manpower and resources required were incalculable.

The exchange rate of 100 copper coins for 1 gold coin likely reflects the higher value of the gold coin.

However, if 100 catties of orchard copper can be exchanged for 1 catty of refined gold, then the price of orchard copper is definitely not lower than that of refined gold.

Losing thirty sets now is basically equivalent to throwing tens of thousands of gold coins into the water; even the Vatican is feeling the pinch.

Seeing this, the Cracked Armor side knew that the Broken Longbow was gone forever.

Robert could only carry his defeated troops back.

Equipment can be rebuilt, as long as people are alive, that's all that matters.

……

The outcome of the negotiations was within Roman's expectations, which finally put him at ease.

War can bring huge benefits.

But it's unlikely that the Romans will launch another war in the short term; now it's time to lick their wounds.

With these supplies, Origin City will experience a period of rapid development, not the gradual linear improvement of the past, but an explosive growth.

As the saying goes, "A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit."

The tragedy of the Spring Rain battle must not be repeated a second time.

Throughout the coming year, Roman will need to consolidate his foundations and continue to enhance his military strength.

This is also why he refused to hand over the copper plate armor.

In the five-dimensional attributes, orogen corresponds to constitution, and those thirty sets of orogen plate armor can increase the constitution attribute of over five hundred apostles of Roman.

Improved physical fitness means greater load-bearing capacity.

Then everyone will be fully armored!

Roman planned to mass-produce armor. He initially chose lamellar armor, but ultimately decided to make plate armor the standard armor.

It's not a full-body design, but a half-body design, focusing on protecting the torso. The integrated structure effectively disperses impact force.

Therefore, plate armor is the defensive ceiling of all armor.

The downside is that it is very difficult to manufacture.

Limited by production technology, it was impossible to mass-produce plate armor.

Even if Roman invented the water-powered forging hammer, it wouldn't work; the time and manpower required for plate armor would still be exorbitant.

Therefore, to this day, Roman's army is generally equipped with simple plate chainmail—chainmail with large iron plates attached, which has extremely poor resistance to impact.

If we want to mass-produce plate armor, we have to focus on more cutting-edge technologies.

(End of this chapter)