Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 333 Moonlight Silkworms and the Silk Industry

Last autumn and winter saw a small surge in activity in the Territory's Holy Land, with residents building various structures and facilities to aid production in their villages and farms, such as Leia Wheat Rings, Rainbow Terraces, and Rime Wheat Whistles.

Around the Leia Wheat Ring, dozens of higher-grade Emerald Spikes can be produced, benefiting the entire village.

Therefore, Su Li's expectation that several manors could produce extraordinary wheat fields was not wishful thinking, but rather had a very high chance of success.

When Su Li thought of the extraordinary wheat fields, he naturally thought of the extraordinary vegetables.

Then Su Li looked at the Ring of Maidens and asked, "My minister, are the Moonlight Cabbages planted around this low hill?"

When Moonlight Cabbage was mentioned, Fandall's old face beamed with a smile: "This cabbage is just perfect for our Church of Dawn. First of all, it can't be catalyzed by vitality growth, it can only grow by lunar cycles."

"Then the vegetables themselves can heal the common people and can be made into medicines, which greatly enhances the healing abilities of our church's monks."

"Moreover, it's not picky about the planting environment; it can grow as long as it's next to a clear stream. We've planted 3 acres here in the Maiden's Ring, and they're growing very well. After the autumn harvest, we plan to distribute these Moonlight Cabbages to the priests and nuns in various villages, so that each priest in the Dawn Goddess Monastery has dozens of Moonlight Cabbages in the monastery to heal the wounds of ordinary people. This way, we can save them a lot of divine magic and invest it in development."

Su Li greatly appreciated this plan, as the Church of Dawn Goddess had always been positioned as a vital extraordinary force for promoting the development of the territory. In fact, from the beginning, Su Li hadn't paid much attention to the Church of Dawn's healing abilities. Although they could indeed use divine magic to cure common illnesses in rural areas and even provide free aid to the poor and homeless, Su Li had always allocated these healing abilities to the Church of Sharya, allowing the Church of Dawn to focus entirely on developing production.

As some people say, there is only one disease in this world: poverty.

To be honest, our territory isn't luxurious enough to care about everyone's health. For example, the reason cancer incidence is so high is because human lifespan has significantly increased. In the past, people didn't even live long enough to develop cancer before dying prematurely for various reasons.

The leading cause of death in the territory is no longer disease or injury. The top three causes of death are now war, famine, and plunder.

The most reasonable strategic choice is to consider how to develop rapidly, enhance strength, and enable more people to survive.

With these Moonlight Cabbages, the priests of the Church of Dawn can be freed up a lot of energy. For ordinary farming wounds, monster bites, and other injuries, simply picking a cabbage leaf for the patient is enough.

Su Li then asked curiously, "What kind of potion is made from these cabbage leaves?"

"It's a regeneration potion that can regenerate the target's wounds, roughly equivalent to the [Hand of Sharya] from the Sharya Church. However, our potion's production volume is much larger than the Sharya Church's, possibly even dozens of times greater. The raw materials for making the Hand of Sharya potion are very specific, requiring Tranquilizing Flowers and Swallowtail Grass. But our [Regeneration Potion] can be made from any vegetable with healing properties."

Su Li then turned to look at the Moonlight Cabbage field below. Although the field was not yet mature, it already resembled a transcendent spiritual field. The neatly planted Moonlight Cabbages had grown to a considerable size, and their color truly resembled the bright moon. Several acres of the field stretched out together, like a patch of moonlight scattered across the land, making it exceptionally beautiful.

All of this looks pleasing to the eye, and I look forward to their harvest.

Currently, the territory is peaceful and the borders are secure, with no major conflicts troubling the area. This beautiful estate will undoubtedly be able to safely weather the autumn harvest.

Then Su Li asked, "I remember there's another extraordinary plant, right?"

"Yes, there's another type of pumpkin called Stone-Skin Pumpkin. Their growing conditions are even more demanding; they only grow in the crevices of abandoned castles, ancient battlefield ruins, or mining areas rich in earth elements. We've already planted more than one acre of them. But there's also good news: these pumpkins don't have as long a growth cycle as Moonlight Cabbage, so we're already able to harvest them. We estimate the yield will be no less than 8000 jin!"

That's definitely good news!
This is an important material that can make the city walls stronger. Su Li immediately ordered, "Sell these stone-skinned pumpkins as soon as possible to enhance the defense capabilities of the rural outposts and manors in the Black Forest Territory, especially those villages that are far from the city."

If this harvest season can be safely navigated, the strength of the Black Forest Territory will inevitably soar to a new level.

These extraordinary spiritual plants received special attention from the monks of the Church of the Dawn Goddess, so Su Li didn't need to worry too much. Su Li then asked, "My minister, besides being the religious patriarch, you are also the most important agricultural minister in the territory. At this stage, it is obviously more important to have larger-scale farmlands. How is the agricultural development in our territory?"

Fandall immediately replied, “My lord, our agriculture is thriving. This spring alone, our territory’s farmland in Bjorn Bay has grown to 2200 hectares. However, now that the territory has met its basic food needs, about one-third of the crops have been converted into cash crops and vegetables. We conservatively estimate that we can produce 25000 tons of grain. All of this alone is enough to fully pay our dues to the Grayrock Clan.”

"At the same time, the cultivated area of ​​the territory has reached about 1800 hectares, producing about 15000 tons of grain, which is enough for the livelihood of our territory and people. This harvest season is only 3 months away from the next harvest season, and we can quickly replenish our granaries."

Su Li nodded. These knights who had poured into the territory wouldn't stay long; they would stay for at most another month. So the food shortage wasn't too much of a problem.

"However, my minister, this figure is somewhat general. The Radiant Arena is a grand event for the Church of the Sun Goddess, and your Church of Dawn certainly has no interest in this arena. I expect you to take advantage of this festival to lead the church members to quickly ascertain the exact amount of grain we have harvested this harvest season. Provide me with a detailed data summary, categorizing and statistically analyzing the yields of various major crops such as wheat, barley, soybeans, cotton, hemp, vegetables, and fruits."

Fandall nodded heavily and said, "This should indeed be put on the agenda. I will conduct a detailed survey of the warehouse area after the rice harvest is plentiful."

Seeing that Su Li was about to leave after his inspection, Fandall quickly said, "My lord, there is another matter that I need your attention. It concerns the Moonlight Silkworm in the territory."

Moonlight Silkworm?

If Fandral hadn't mentioned it, Su Li would have almost forgotten about the fantastical creatures that are territories.

This was the second fantastical creature that Su Li had obtained at a great cost. It was a gift given to Su Li by the Starry Sky Caravan Circus after they arrived in Black Forest Territory and performed at the Lion Ring Arena for a period of time.

To accommodate their request for a grand performance, Su Li suspended the Lion Ring Arena event for one cycle.

This naturally sparked widespread discontent among the knights and commoners. After all, the Lion Ring Arena was the place of highest honor for knights; how could it be entrusted to a bunch of clowns to perform there? And it even delayed an entire season of competition! The arena, tournaments, and gambling—these were the lifeblood of the Empire's citizens. Cutting off someone's livelihood was like killing their parents. Incited by the followers of Lanod and the coup plotters, hundreds of gamblers and dozens of knights in the Lion Ring rioted, attempting to smash the clowns' and circus performance.

It took almost the entire city guard on Warhammer Road to quell the riot and allow the performance to proceed smoothly.

After Su Li obtained the Heavenly Silkworm, he planted thousands of mulberry trees throughout the territory. Mulberry trees have a very short growth cycle, basically becoming seedlings in one year and trees in three years. Even without the vitality growth from the Church of the Dawn Goddess, they grow very vigorously under the irrigation of Lake Leiflin.

In the wooded areas between the farmland, and along the roadsides beside the field ridges, there are many mulberry trees planted.

Currently, these are just saplings, but next year they will form a mulberry forest, and the year after that, they are expected to produce mulberries. This is also an important food source; after the mulberries are dried, they can be used together with soybeans to form a drought-resistant and disaster-resistant reserve grain.

Many disaster victims survived by eating dried mulberries and dried tofu found by the roadside during the drought years.

However, at present, the main purpose of these mulberry trees is to provide leaves for the moon silkworms as food.

The name "Moonlight Silkworm" itself reveals its close connection to witchcraft. Generally, anything in this world named after the moon is closely related to witchcraft, as the moon is a significant source of magical energy and is also known as the Moon of Witchcraft. It also has another name, Mosrib, which in Old Terran (or Imperial) is called "Moor's Beloved," and is also known as the Dark Moon or the Chaos Moon, and is called "Moskrit" by the Skaven.

It is the dark brother of Mannsley, another relatively normal (and also with many strange occurrences) moon in the Old World.

Legend has it that the Moon of Witchcraft has two origins. One is that demons once had a portal in the sky to hunt down people from the Old World, until Mor appeared and slaughtered most of them. Later, Mor used the remains of these demons to create the second moon, Mosrib, so that humanity would not forget his deeds.

The second legend, primarily believed by Chaos cultists, is that when the portal between the two poles collapsed, a large dimensional stone was thrown into the sky and now revolves around the Old World, scattering chaos across the lands it passes through.

But no matter what, this moon is very abnormal, and people who spend a long time under its light are prone to deformities.

The most important winemaker in the territory, Annalise, once served the renowned hermit Gotthold Koch, whose wine, Mannan's Delight, was made using the effects of the Witch Moon. This legendary wine was crafted by Gotthold Koch in a meticulously cultivated field in the Grey Mountains. It is said that the grapes were never exposed to sunlight; they were grown in a field shaded by sliding doors and cultivated solely at night by the light of the Mossrib. Legend has it that Mannan's Delight possesses an almost ghostly aroma, the wine almost evaporating on the tongue, leaving only its delightful aftertaste.

Therefore, things that are named after moonlight generally have some powerful and mysterious characteristics.

After Fandral finished speaking, Su Li immediately asked with concern, "Have the Moonlight Silkworms already produced silk? Where are they being raised?"

Fandall pointed to the Ring of Maidens and said, “The breeding site for the Moonlight Silkworms is at the top of the Ring of Maidens. There is a monastery there, and our nuns take care of the Cluster and the Silkworms up there.”

“Then let’s go take a look.” Su Li immediately became interested: “I don’t think I’ve been up there since the Ring of Maidens was built.” The Ring of Maidens is actually not very tall, only 27 meters. If you include the artificial hill, trees, monastery, spires, etc. on top, the height will not exceed 40 meters.

Su Li had actually ridden the griffin to inspect the area many times before, but this was the first time he had climbed up there.

As it is the church of the goddess of dawn, the area has a pastoral and rural feel, with dirt roads instead of paved ones.

Surrounding it are tens of thousands of acres of golden wheat fields, where more than 3000 slaves are harvesting with all their might. Bundles of rolled-up wheat ears are laid out on the ground, proclaiming that this fertile land will surely bring a bumper harvest.

As the most important and core holy site of the Church of Dawn, this place was used by Fandral several times for the precious "Sun Descends" divine spell, and the hillside is covered with a large number of irises, violets, cornflowers, marigolds and lavender.

There are also patches of shrubs, including three-prickly photinia, and the pink, white and light purple colors make this place breathtakingly beautiful.

Following the clear stream, once you reach the top of the hill, you'll see the iconic Ogan stone monument of the Rhea Church. The ivy keeps the area evergreen all year round, and the light patterns created by the sunlight add to the visual appeal and the solemn and mysterious religious atmosphere.

Su Li immediately noticed the empty space in the flower bushes next to the stone tablet. This area of ​​over a hundred square meters was very well maintained, but nothing was planted there.

"Is this the flowerbed the monastery prepared for the rainbow hail crystals?"

Fandall nodded: "Our Church of Dawn still hopes to plant a transcendent spiritual plant on the most important holy site in our territory. Ideally, it should be a large spiritual plant like the Blessed Wisteria Tree or the Moon Crown Tree."

Vandall made a point of emphasizing this, which was to politely decline all possibilities of planting the ghost ivy here.

However, Su Li could understand. Their Church of the Dawn Goddess valued vitality and hope the most, and their style didn't match that of the Ghost Vine.

Planting a patch of dark and terrifying ghost vines atop such a beautiful ring of maidens might even frighten the priests who come to worship.

Furthermore, in a world where gods exist and exert their influence everywhere, planting the Ghost Vine here could potentially anger Rhea.

As for what kind of sacred plants to plant here, their church members really need to carefully search for them.

From what Fandral said, it was clear that he wanted to create a transcendent spiritual plant belonging to their church.

At that time, this sacred plant will belong to the church, not the secular lord.

Of course, it wasn't that easy. Not only were extraordinary spiritual plants hard to find, but more importantly, the Rainbow Hail Crystal was also provided to them by Su Li. Even if the Dawn Church found spiritual plants in the future, they would have to give at least two-thirds of the profits to Su Li. And the Rainbow Hail Crystal was something only Su Li could find and provide to them.

However, the territory hasn't collected many rainbow hail crystals yet. This year has indeed been a year of favorable weather, with very little hail. The limited amount of rainbow hail crystals that Su Li has collected has been placed under the Moon Crown Tree to provide the spiritual plant with more abundant nutrients.

The Mooncrown Tree is the second extraordinary spirit tree in the territory. During the day, the tree only has a trunk and branches, but after sunset, the Mooncrown Tree will be covered with flowers, filling the night with fragrance and aroma.

Once planted in the territory, this tree becomes completely bound to it, representing the territory's royal power and the nation's prosperity. As long as the Mooncrown Tree exists, the territory will continue to prosper. When the Mooncrown Tree dies, the nation will decline.

In this vibrant spring, it continued to sprout new branches and grow vigorously. Now, it has grown to about 68 meters, far exceeding the castle walls, and stands like a white umbrella above the castle courtyard.

Its name is truly fitting. The previous owner of this tree must have seen it in full bloom, like a half-moon crown, covering the entire territory and manor.

The growth of this Moon Crown Tree naturally has a positive effect on the entire territory, making the land more fertile and the population more prosperous. From last year to this year, more than 300 children have been born to pregnant women in the territory, and many of them are twins or fraternal twins.

At this rate of growth, I feel that the natural population of the territory will reach more than 5000 people in less than ten years.

Furthermore, there was one thing that particularly ignited the knights' enthusiasm: as long as they joined the Black Forest Territory, even if the knights themselves didn't train much, their physique and stamina would gradually improve as long as the tree grew strong. More than 20 knights joined the territory solely because of this effect.

In addition, the Mooncrown Tree successfully provided a large number of flowers to the Black Forest Territory this spring for weapon forging.

When wielding a blade tempered by the blossoms of the Mooncrown Tree, a divine golden light will appear on its surface when demons and Chaos Knights approach. In this state, the weapon will melt iron like mud, easily severing demonic swords and piercing demonic armor.

The followers of the Church of Redmar are the most fanatical about this weapon, after all, they love to hunt down demons and purify chaos, and sometimes they don't even spare some wizards.

Weapons tempered with these Moon Crown Tree flowers, even if they are only of ordinary grade, can sell for a high price of 1 gold coin.

If it's a high-quality weapon, the price will be no less than 10 gold crowns.

In the past month or so, the territory has earned approximately 3000 gold crowns just from selling this weapon to knights.

Such a spiritual plant could provide tremendous help to a faction, so it's understandable that Fandral and his group have such strong expectations.

Su Li naturally supported their search for new spiritual plants, since he could reap the benefits once they were transplanted to Black Forest Territory. He asked expectantly, "Do you have a direction and goal? Finding a completely new spiritual plant is not easy."

Fandral nodded: “We probably have a direction now. We’ve heard that in the far east, there are mulberry trees with an even more fantastical charm. The Moon Goddess taught the people of China how to reel silk and make clothes, which is why China’s silk is renowned throughout the Old World. We plan to commission Ms. Meryl Ramsay to find a China mulberry tree for us. This kind of mulberry tree should be quite common in the East.”

It needs to be clarified that the empire did indeed possess the technology to produce silk, given that industry and handicrafts were already highly developed in the empire's major cities. Furthermore, there were numerous workshops, companies, and even banks, and the urban population was highly active.

Therefore, the art of silk production exists in many territories. For example, the southern province of Surland is known for producing high-quality clothing, books, silk, cattle, and beautiful women.

The people of the northern part of the empire looked down on this, despising all cosmetics, silk, precious metals, and the "superior life" that most southerners valued.

The empire simply couldn't produce silk garments as high-end and fantastical as those from Aurora.

Within the Church of Dawn, many Dawn Sisters know how to raise silkworms and reel silk.

To be honest, if Fandral wanted to plant other spirit trees, Su Li wouldn't have much motivation to help him.

But if the Church of Dawn wanted to plant mulberry trees, Su Li's mindset would be completely different!
Encouraging agriculture and sericulture is something that Su Li values ​​most, as it relates to his design of the territory's special products.

Last year, Su Li planned five categories of special products for the territory. The top five categories he was most looking forward to were grain, armor, spices, silk, and porcelain.

This order reflects the priority he places on them.

Without a doubt, the territory has now resolved the first three issues in sequence. In terms of food production, the territory has gradually earned the reputation of being a border granary, and this harvest season is sure to bring a bumper harvest.

Produced primarily for armor and weapons, the Blackssen territory was even able to export arms back to the dwarves. Blackssen armory's armor sold well throughout Maleburg and the entire northern border princely territory. Knights greatly admired the superior equipment of the Blackssen territory, taking pride in owning a piece of fine gear crafted by the Blackssen armory.

Meanwhile, spices were gradually being promoted in the Black Forest Territory. Although the snake woman Hela hadn't settled down yet and wasn't very enthusiastic about spice production, at least a path had been established. Whether Su Li waited for an opportunity or slept with her, the spice production capacity would eventually increase.

The next issue to address is undoubtedly the production of silk within the territory!

This is a highly profitable industry. While the northern part of the empire may not appreciate such high-grade materials, silk is a best-selling commodity in the central and southern parts of the empire!
(End of this chapter)