Throne of the North.

Chapter 288: The Tragedy of Viscount Dragun, Preparing for the Coming Winter
The Viscount of Dragun.

Looking at the slaves kneeling on the ground in front of him, Viscount Dragun couldn't help but feel angry. He directly drew the long sword of the knight next to him and chopped down the two people in front into a pool of blood.

Blood flowed down the wailing slaves' bodies, and everyone was trembling and dared not make a sound.

"Waste! Waste!"

Viscount Dragun hacked and chopped frantically until the corpse in front of him became motionless.

"That is my wealth, that is the wealth of the Dragun family. You damned peasants, how dare you steal my wealth!"

"Kill them, kill them all, hang their entire family on the street!"

Viscount Dragun roared, his eyes glowing red with anger, and his murderous intent made the surrounding soldiers kneel down in fear.

After a long time, the corpse on the ground disappeared. Viscount Dragun slumped in the chair and wanted to reach out, but found that all the silver cups had been thrown out by him.

After killing the slave, he finally calmed down a lot, and his heart was filled with fear.

"No, this shouldn't be the case. The glory of Dragun must not decline in my hands. I cannot become a sinner."

Viscount Dragun had tears streaming down his eyes. He slumped down in his chair in a state of embarrassment without any aristocratic manners, his eyes gradually becoming dull.

"No, no, I can't go on like this. I'm going to find the Marquis. Only the Marquis can save me."

"Yes, there is also another world. The wealth in that other world can make up for the lost wealth."

"Where the hell are all the people!!!"

"Damn Baron Ryan, damn the nobles of Lingdu County, I will not give in so easily, absolutely not! The glory of the Dragun family cannot be desecrated!"

Outside the door, Viscount Dragun's knight walked in and knelt on one knee in front of the Viscount.

"master."

"The only way to save the glory of the Viscount's territory now is the other world."

"Augusto, I want you to take the slaves to another world to mine ore and bring it back."

"Follow your wishes."

Augusto, the golden knight, stood up, took off his visor, and said hesitantly:

"Master, there are not many slaves in the territory that can mine. You have lost a lot of people in the war in the past few years."

"Then demote all those damn civilians who can't grow food and jasmine into slaves. If it weren't for the fact that the crops grown by these damn peasants couldn't be sold, how could I, the master, lose tens of thousands of gold coins in just a few months?!"

"They all deserve to die, all deserve to die! Only by mining for me can they atone for their sins!"

Viscount Dragun was so furious that he directed his anger at hundreds of civilians.

"As ordered."

The knights carried out the Viscount's orders loyally, and soon the Viscount's territory was in chaos. However, facing the suppression of the army, no one could resist.

"Taxes, summer taxes, and land taxes, all increase by 10%!"

Viscount Dragun gritted his teeth. He thought that as long as he kept squeezing those damn peasants, he could always squeeze out some wealth. At worst, they would all become his slaves and be sent to another world to mine.

"I have to see the Marquis. I have to see him."

……

Frozen collar.

Butler Beard came to the study, where Ryan was using the flame burning on his fingers to roast the greasy leg of lamb rolling on the charcoal fire.

"It's delicious."

Ryan greedily breathed in the fragrant smell of sheep due to various spices. It was not very pungent, perhaps because these goats had been fed too well.

"Now that you're here, how's the matter with the ice cellar going?"

Master Ryan asked, and Beard bowed his head respectfully.

"Master, the three ice cellars have been sealed. Mage Missy said that the food inside will remain fresh for at least six months."

"Well, Master Missy will soon become a magician, right? Send him two thousand magic crystals to help him break through."

"He is a descendant of the nobility after all. Archmage McKen said that he has the potential to become an archmage."

In the Imperial Capital City Magic Academy, all the magicians are in debt, but being able to borrow so much money and follow the great wizard shows that they have great talent.

Beard nodded respectfully and then stated his purpose.

"Master, Viscount Dragun is leading a group of more than 3,000 miners to Thundercloud County."

"Oh?"

Ryan's eyes lit up.

"More than 3,000 people. Tsk tsk, it seems that the total number of people left in the Viscount's territory is less than 15,000, right?"

"It seems that he can't hold on any longer. Carrying the reputation of his family's decline, he will probably lose face in the entire aristocratic circle."

There are not many things that nobles care about most, land and glory.

In other words, wealth and fame.

Wealth is a golden punk, but fame represents status in the empire.

After such a long period of preparation, he was able to hold on when the supplies in Viscount Dragun's territory could not be sold for the first time. But when he still could not sell them the second time, which was also the last purchase before winter, he decided that those things were destined to rot in his hands.

Viscount Dragun will certainly not let his family decline because of this, but earning less than a few gold coins a year means that Viscount Dragun will not be able to maintain his strength in all aspects next year.

What strength? The army cannot train on a large scale to maintain combat effectiveness, the nobles cannot hold banquets every once in a while to maintain relations with other nobles, the nobles cannot spend money to improve themselves, and they cannot buy expensive goods from the Southern Chamber of Commerce that represent status and face.

This is no different from closing off the territory.

If one wants to maintain all the needs of a viscount, then inevitably, one will need to use up the accumulation and wealth left over from the past.

And this... often represents a sign of family decline.

Generation after generation, the nobles have deposited gold coins into the treasury. This is a sense of accomplishment from a good harvest, and it also represents the wisdom and talent of the noble family when they were in office.

If they save money inside, it means that this generation of nobles is still capable and will be praised, but if they take money outside, it means that this generation of nobles is not good enough and needs to rely on the wealth left by their ancestors to survive.

Such a noble is not considered a qualified heir. This is what Viscount Dragun cares about most now. The way he became a viscount was not fair and even dirty, so after becoming a viscount, he cares about this the most.

But now, let alone the crops in the territory, the most important thing is that they can’t even sell the iron ore. You know, in the past, iron ore was the most direct and huge source of wealth for every noble in the North Wind Province.

At that time, a baron's annual income of several thousand gold coins came mostly from iron ore.

If there were a table comparing expenditure and income, Viscount Dragun must have had a significant deficit so far this year.

Twice, Ryan only needed to prevent Viscount Dragun's resources from being sold to the south, and from being sold to the Andara Kingdom through him, and Viscount Dragun's income would be in deficit.

"This is the disadvantage. Seventy to eighty percent of the family's wealth is in one basket, and the remaining twenty percent relies on the production of slaves and civilians."

Life in Viscount Dragun's territory was not good during this period. Viscount Dragun himself was not affected much, but the people below him, especially the civilians, many of whom were forced to be sold to the lords and became slaves. The slaves were even more miserable. The Viscount did not make any money, and they were already hungry and only had a tiny bite of black bread left every day.

Hungry? Then you can only sneak out and eat something strange. If you are caught, you will be beaten.

Everything within the territory belongs to the noble lord.

"Should Viscount Dragun go find Marquis Beifeng now?"

"Unfortunately, our Marquis has no channels to sell iron weapons and tools. He cannot spread the faith of light. How can the Cathedral of Light allocate funds?"

"When Viscount Dragun comes back, send someone to ask if he can buy the things he brought with him at a low price."

"If it can't be done, then forget it. If he wants to rot in the ground, then let him rot."

Ryan ordered, and Beard took the order and left.

"in addition!"

Ryan sat up slightly and put down the mutton in his hand.

"Viscount Miles is not in Lingdu City now. We should help him manage the city and help the Miles family get the wealth they deserve."

“Let the Miles family stop the miners from entering the other world to mine, but half of them must work for me.”

"After they enter the other world, we will send the one thousand miners we left at the Magic Crystal Mine to the Blue Lion Tribe to mine for gold. With the addition of the population of the indigenous tribe, three to four thousand miners will enable us to mine gold much faster."

Beard asked hesitantly:

"Master, I'm afraid the Miles family won't agree."

“The iron pickaxes and other means of transportation used by the Miles family were all brought out by Frozen Earth so that they would not refuse.”

“They don’t have the confidence to refuse.”

From the time when he first acquired a street in Lingdu City from Viscount Miles to the present, Ryan has purchased a large amount of land in Lingdu City through many means. Some of them were traded directly with Viscount Miles, and some were joint ventures, that is, Baron Ryan and Viscount Miles held them at the same time.

The price was not high, because as a city, which street in Lingdu City could prosper was now entirely in Ryan's hands.

If Viscount Miles had not held on to the farmland outside the city, Ryan could have established a manor outside Lingdu City and become a farmer.

If Baron Ryan has already stood at the top alongside those great nobles in the North Wind Province, then in Lingdu County, he has absolute voice that is unimaginable to outsiders.

Did anyone in Lingdu County notice it? Yes, for example, Baron Kendra was the first to notice it, but it was useless. Baron Ryan now helps all the nobles in Lingdu County, except Viscount Dragun.

The wealth gained by all the nobles this year is astonishing. Now, with half a year left before the Festival of Grace, they have already gained 50% more wealth than they did in the whole of last year.

Faced with large amounts of gold, silver and copper coins, the nobles had no complaints.

Why is it growing so fast?

Baron Kendra had also thought about it. When he personally went to the workshop in his territory and saw that all the craftsmen were only producing certain parts or embryonic semi-finished products, he began to understand a little.

The efficiency is completely different from before. Even if the workshop is not expanded, the efficiency of the craftsmen is twice or even three times that of the past.

There is even a frozen land team in Lingdu County that specializes in transporting the materials and tools needed by blacksmiths and carpenters, allowing craftsmen to start working without leaving their homes.

Time is money, efficiency is also money. With the combination of the two, the production efficiency generated by Lingdu County allows Ryan to easily handle orders from the Chamber of Commerce and the Kingdom of Andara.

Under this model, not to mention Baron Kendra, even if the two viscounts joined forces, they could not shake Baron Ryan's position in Lingdu County.

However, in recent days, the efficiency in Lingdu County has been declining.

Because of the mineral veins in the other world, all the nobles sent a large number of laborers there, and the population in the territory declined a lot.

According to what Ryan had learned recently, the population in a barony had decreased by almost 40% to 45%.

The population of a viscount's territory usually ranges from 25,000 to 40,000 or 50,000. In places like cities, the population may be increased by another 10,000 or so, but it is still about 25% less.

Not counting the earldoms, Ryan has already calculated the population of the two earldoms. He is now certain that Earl Winter has a dying alien world in his hands.

People are heading to the other world to mine one after another, and Ryan can't say for sure how many miners will eventually gather there.

But with hundreds of thousands of miners mining together, the wealth of the nobles in the Northern Province will probably be generally raised to a higher level in a few years.

This is the charm of windfall.

But it also caused the North Wind Province to suddenly become deserted. Ryan stood on the top of Rhino Horn Mountain, looking at the strong wind blowing from the north, and he didn't know whether it was because of the popularity or the weather that caused the desertedness.

"Have we prepared enough firewood?"

Behind Ryan, the female official in a fox fur cloak thought for a moment and then answered.

"Based on the drying, steaming, and smoking in the past few months, the stock of firewood can sustain everyone in the territory for half a year without increasing."

"If we calculate based on a family of six people, it can last for two more months. If we divide the shares of slaves and civilians, it can last for another month and a half. If the slave family only uses twelve pieces of firewood a day, it can last for another month. If..."

"Okay, the minimum standard is twelve. One block is enough to maintain the temperature for two hours. If it gets any lower, people will freeze to death."

According to the standards set by Ryan, a piece of firewood from another world can maintain temperature for forty to forty-five minutes, but charcoal can also provide temperature, but it will be much lower. Calculated at one and a half hours, if the air is cold in the last half hour, it can be resisted by a closed environment and clothing.

After half an hour, add the second piece of firewood.

Twelve pieces, and the day passed just like that. There was no other way. Their firewood was very strong, but it could only last for so long in the cold winter in the north.

If there is a bigger snowstorm this year... Ryan will have to increase the proportion of firewood distributed.

"If that's the case, it seems to be the best option for those nobles to send their people to another world to mine."

Others are not as crazy as Ryan in preparing winter supplies.

(End of this chapter)