Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 502 A Bountiful Autumn and Fantastic Scenes of Autumn Planting

The golden autumn sun shone warmly on the land of Black Forest, and the air was filled with the fresh scent of wheat straw and the faint sweet fragrance of osmanthus.

The joy of the harvest and the embers of war on the border have not yet completely faded, but Su Li, as the lord, has already set his sights on the more distant future.

On this land coveted by darkness, a moment of slackening could lead to utter ruin. Only by moving forward can we safeguard this hard-won prosperity and hope.

Instead of basking in the joy of the harvest or the success of the negotiations, he immediately summoned Agriculture Minister Vandal as soon as the busy autumn harvest was over.

“The celebration of the harvest is important, but the land waits for no one, and time waits for no one,” Su Li said to Fandall, his gaze sharp and clear. “The sowing of winter wheat must begin immediately. This is our last harvest of the year, and it is crucial to sustain us through the spring famine next year. There can be no delay whatsoever.”

Fandal bowed and accepted the order, deeply admiring the lord's foresight and diligence: "Everything is ready, my lord. Seeds, fertilizer, and animal power have all been allocated, awaiting only your command. Perhaps we can invite His Majesty Cadlin to inspect the scale of our autumn planting, which would greatly benefit our alliance. In addition, it can provide more reliable support for the decisions of the Grey Mountain Kingdom."

Su Li nodded in approval: "Your suggestion is good. I think His Majesty Cadlin will be very interested in it."

So the next day, in this golden season of fragrant osmanthus blossoms and abundant harvest, Su Li personally accompanied King Kadrin Ironsworn, still reeling from the shock of the grain shortage, to Bjorn Shallow Bay, located on the shores of Lake Leiflin. This place, with its flat and open terrain, fertile land, and abundant water, was the most important granary in Blacksend Territory, bar none.

The sight before him made even the well-traveled dwarf king's eyes widen once more. In the vast fields, besides the scene of countless farmers bending over and sweating profusely in traditional farming, there was also a strange picture full of power and efficiency.

More than five hundred oddly shaped, half-human ergonomically designed agricultural machines roared across the land (more accurately, accompanied by the bleating of rams and the clanging of gears). Huge plowshares, crafted from hardwood and steel, were pulled by flocks of strong rams, cutting deep into the fertile soil and churning up black waves of mud. Close behind were animal-drawn seeders, precisely sowing plump winter wheat seeds into the plowed furrows.

These machines, not reliant on steam or magical cores, cleverly utilize levers, gears, and animal power, appearing both sturdy and imbued with the rugged wisdom of the Middle Ages. The air is filled with the fragrance of freshly turned earth, the scent of rams, the heat of rubbing metal, and the delicate aroma of osmanthus, creating a peculiar and invigorating atmosphere.

“Granny’s hammer…” King Kadrin couldn’t help but exclaim again, his thick fingers stroking his bushy beard. “This spectacle… is even more spectacular than my guards changing into new runic armor! You humans… uh, I mean, is farming in your territory this… hardcore? I thought I’d stumbled upon a large army’s training ground!”

Su Li smiled slightly, but his gaze did not linger on the roaring machinery. Instead, it fell upon another, more beautiful and fantastical scene in the fields: "Survival is necessary, Your Majesty. But what truly makes this land unique is not merely these steel and wooden creations."

Amidst the churning black mud and bustling machinery, many elegant yet busy figures could be seen. These were the nuns of the Church of Dawn, the earthly representatives and practitioners of Lady Rhea.

They were all dressed in the same light green nun's robes, symbolizing new life and harvest. The robes appeared to be made of some kind of tough linen blended with silk, both practical for work and imbued with a sense of sacredness. Most striking was the design of their long skirts—not the traditional, conservative style, but rather featuring high slits for ease of movement. As they walked and bent over, the rounded yet powerful lines of their calves and thighs were faintly visible. Their skin was not delicately white, but rather a healthy wheat-colored complexion formed from years of outdoor labor and ritual practice, brimming with the most primal vitality and beauty of life, as if they themselves were an embodiment of this bountiful earth.

Their headdresses are also very unique. They are not ordinary headscarves or crowns, but ring crowns intricately woven from real, plump, golden barley ears. The barley ears shimmer with a soft golden light under the autumn sun, swaying gently with their movements and emitting a faint fragrance of grain.

These nuns were not merely symbolic figures. They moved swiftly and gracefully between the fields and the machinery, in groups of three or five.

Some nuns, barefoot, stepped directly onto the freshly turned, still damp earth, softly chanting hymns praising Lady Rhea, their hands gently stroking the furrows where seeds had just been sown. With their chanting and touch, a soft, verdant glow, like that of new spring leaves, emanated from their palms. This life-giving light, like a gentle stream, silently seeped into the soil, blessing and awakening the vitality within the seeds (Rhea's Divine Art: Life Infusion).

Other nuns stood at the edge of the ridges or along the irrigation ditches, their arms outstretched as if embracing the sunlight and breeze. More complex and esoteric syllables emanated from their mouths—the spells of Giron (life magic). As they cast their spells, the moisture in the air seemed to condense further, and the breeze became exceptionally gentle, caressing the fields perfectly to ensure the soil didn't dry out too quickly and guiding the water in the irrigation ditches to more evenly nourish every inch of land (Giron spell: fine-tuning feng shui).

A nun gently tapped her staff, carved from special wood and inlaid with gemstone seeds, on the ground. An invisible wave spread out, and the rams, dragging heavy plowshares and seeders, seemed to feel less tired, their steps becoming more steady and powerful (Divine Spell: Soothe Animals/Energy Infusion).

Power and fantasy, the roar of machinery and the glimmer of divine magic, rugged male farmers and elegant and sensual goddess nuns, all blend perfectly together on this vast field, creating a breathtaking "fantasy farming" scene unique to Black Forest Territory.

King Cadlin watched intently. Dwarves have a natural appreciation for large-scale, organized production activities, but the efficient scene before him, which so closely combined faith, magic, and agriculture, still exceeded his imagination.

He murmured, “Now I understand a little better how you produce such terrifying output that it terrifies dwarves… It’s not just about good land and good machines; it’s about uniting every force—human, animal, and even divine—into one!”

Fandral stepped forward at the opportune moment, his tone filled with pride: "Your Majesty's observation is absolutely correct. The Dawn Sisters are an indispensable part of agricultural activities. Their divine arts and spells can significantly improve seed germination rates, optimize the growing environment, reduce the incidence of pests and diseases, and to a certain extent, resist the effects of severe weather. Your Lordship strongly supports the development of the Church, and the Church repays this support by ensuring the abundance of the territory."

Su Li calmly observed all of this, looking at the earnest faces of the nuns under their wheat crowns, and at the traces of their skirts brushing against the soil. He slowly said, "The land is the foundation, people are the cultivators, and faith and knowledge are the catalysts that make all of this possible. Every grain of rice in the Black Forest Territory embodies the efforts and hopes of everyone."

In this bountiful harvest season filled with the fragrance of osmanthus, a new wave of hope is being sown amidst the glimmer of divine magic and the roar of machinery, foreshadowing yet another hopeful future.

Su Li withdrew his gaze from the busy nuns and landed on their sacred yet practical turquoise robes, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes. He turned to the Minister of Agriculture beside him and said, "Fandal, it seems the Church of Rhea is indeed developing very well. The nuns' demeanor and equipment are vastly different from before. Their robes... seem to be more than just ordinary linen? They have a unique sheen in the sunlight, perhaps mixed with some kind of silk?"

Fandall immediately smiled with pride and bowed slightly as he replied, “Your Excellency is wise. Your observation is as sharp as ever. The material of this robe is a product of our territory’s emerging industry—Rainbow Silk. It is made by reeling the spring and summer cocoons of Rainbow Silkworms and then blending them into high-quality linen in a specific ratio.”

He paused, his tone becoming somewhat excited: "Speaking of which, sir, do you remember that designer from the Empire, Mr. Friedrich?"

Upon hearing this, Su Li raised an eyebrow, and a vivid memory immediately surfaced in her mind. "Friedrich? The brilliant designer who was nearly led astray by Slaanesh's whispers, and was ultimately purified and redeemed by the ascetic saint Dantin with the power of a divine torrent?"

Dante's resolute and pure act of redemption, and the radiant will he displayed, truly left an indelible and awe-inspiring impression on Su Li. "It was him, my lord!" Fandall's voice was tinged with excitement. "This new set of robes for the Dawn Sisters was designed under his guidance! As you know, the doctrines of the Dawn Church advocate simplicity, diligence, and the abundance of nature, opposing the indulgence, luxury, and unrestrained pleasure represented by the Dark Prince. Therefore, traditionally, they are mostly made of pure linen. But Rainbow Silk does possess extraordinary properties—it can naturally gather light, enhancing the wearer's sense of authority and divine majesty. It is a preferred material for clothing among many high-ranking monks, temple priests, and nobles on the continent."

“Mr. Friedrich skillfully struck a balance in his design,” Van Dahl continued. “He mixed only a small amount of iridescent silk, blessed by the waters of the sacred lake, into the linen base. This ensured both the practicality of the robe and its doctrinal simplicity, while the subtle sheen enhanced the overall sense of holiness and unity, perfectly embodying the Church of Réa’s philosophy of ‘generously giving back to nature, but opposing the indulgence of desires.’ The nuns and believers were very satisfied with it.”

Then, Fandral's tone took on a shrewd, businessman-like quality: "Moreover, this product not only satisfies domestic demand but has also become a highlight of our trade with the Grey Mountain Kingdom. Our dwarven compatriots also value practicality and durability, and their traditional clothing is mostly made of thick linen, wool, and leather. In particular, their knights and many traditional nobles have always been averse to frivolous silk, but they have a great fondness for this linen fabric that is both strong and elegant, mixed with magical silk threads."

He smiled and pointed to King Kadrin, who was listening intently: "In fact, the magnificent robe Your Majesty is wearing was specially made by our workshops in the Black Forest Territory using the same techniques. It uses a thicker linen base, mixed with a greater proportion of iridescent silk that presents earth and mineral hues, and inlaid with geometric rune silver threads that conform to the aesthetics of dwarves."

Su Li and Fandral's gazes immediately focused on King Kadrin. The dwarf king subconsciously puffed out his chest and tugged at his dark green robe, which shimmered like gems buried deep in a mine. This robe indeed greatly accentuated his majesty and bearing as a ruler, while at the same time retaining the gravitas and solidity expected of a dwarf.

King Cadlin stroked his beard smugly, clearly quite pleased with the garment: "Hmph, I must say, you humans certainly know your stuff when it comes to these things. This robe is far more comfortable than my old ceremonial chainmail, and just as stylish!"

But then, as if remembering something, his face fell again, and with the typical dwarf's pained expression when talking about huge expenses, he muttered, "...Even at this price, it's enough to forge a good breastplate! Five hundred pieces! Our kingdom's orders alone account for more than half of your production, right? By the way, that's all shiny gold coins!"

His words, though tinged with complaint, undoubtedly testified to the immense success and value of this trade. The fact that even a dwarf king showed such distress speaks volumes about the sheer profitability of this deal. Those 500 linen robes alone fetched a price of over 13800 gold crowns!
On average, each crown costs nearly thirty gold coins. Some are exceptionally ornate, made with more materials, and have more intricate rune embroidery, such as the one worn by His Majesty Cadlin, which costs as much as five hundred gold coins! This price is enough to buy a set of quite good quality fine armor on the black market.

However, the main component of these robes is still linen, with only a small amount of iridescent silk, measured by weight. Compared to the selling price, the cost is almost negligible. The profit margin is astonishingly high.

There's no way around it; monopolistic specialty trade is just that profitable!
There are many similar transactions on the trade list between the Black Forest Territory and the Grey Mountain Kingdom. For example, the 50,000 catties of steel wheat were priced as high as 20,000 gold crowns.

Moreover, this was already a discounted price offered by Su Li considering their alliance. It's important to understand that top-tier extraordinary wheat varieties like "Emerald Ears" are often sold by the grain, with each grain potentially worth a gold crown! Eating a bowl of such a meal could cost hundreds of gold crowns. Therefore, aside from a very few top nobles and legendary powerhouses, no one could afford it on a daily basis.

While steel wheat is also an extraordinary crop, its advantage lies in its ability to be cultivated on a large scale. Its land requirements are far lower than those of legendary spiritual plants, and it doesn't need purple spiritual fields, making its price relatively more "affordable." Even so, as a strategic resource capable of steadily enhancing the quality of an army, its market price in human kingdoms is usually around one gold crown per pound, and it is often difficult to find even at that price.

The price Su Li offered the dwarves was almost 40% of the market price, which was undoubtedly a huge discount. The dwarves readily accepted this offer not only because of the price, but also for a more crucial reason—they bore all the transportation costs and risks themselves.

The value of large-scale grain trade often lies not in the grain itself, but in the daunting costs of transportation. As the saying goes, "Transporting grain over a thousand miles takes twenty bushels to reach one bushel," the losses, manpower, animal power, and guard costs during long-distance transportation often far exceed the value of the grain itself.

However, this was not an insurmountable problem for the dwarves of the Gray Mountain Kingdom. Their rangers and patrols spent most of their time traversing the rolling Twilight Mountains, their daily duties including hunting monsters, patrolling the borders, and maintaining the ancient passageways.

Transporting food was not an extra burden for them, but rather a clever combination of these daily tasks and trade. Squads of dwarven rangers acted as transport teams, familiar with every safe mountain path and hidden cave, able to avoid large monster hordes as much as possible.

They drove their incredibly resilient mountain goat caravans, laden with sacks of precious steel wheat seeds or finished grain, on a march while simultaneously carrying out mopping-up operations. To them, it was simply a matter of another herd of goats carrying supplies appearing alongside their patrol route. The profits from transporting the grain were enough to cover, and even far exceeded, their daily patrol expenses, while also strengthening the alliance and securing crucial strategic resources.

“Granny’s beard is my witness!” King Kadlin boasted to the elders in private, “This deal is incredibly lucrative! Our fine lads are out beating up those green-skinned mutated beasts every day anyway, and they can easily bring back all the good stuff from Su Li! It’s like we got so much food and good stuff for free without spending a single penny more in military expenses!”

This unique transportation method, based on the characteristics and combat habits of the dwarves, greatly reduced the overall cost of trade. Even with the "expensive" purchase price, the final cost was far lower than if the dwarves tried to cultivate the same resources themselves or purchase them from other human territories. This is one of the underlying reasons why the alliance between Su Li's Black Forest Territory and the Gray Mountain Kingdom is so close and mutually beneficial.

Through this series of close and efficient trade and cooperation, and after careful calculation by the provincial finance officer, the Hessen Territory achieved a trade surplus of a staggering 52,000 gold crowns from its single ally, the Grey Mountain Kingdom!
This figure not only made the officials of the Hessian Territory gasp for breath, but even the wealthy and powerful King Kadrin Ironsworn, who was used to seeing mountains of gold and silver, couldn't help but clutch his chest when he finally checked the accounts. His thick beard stood on end, and the muscles on his face twitched, as if his beloved beard had been singed.

"Fifty...fifty thousand?!" The old king's voice trembled. Although this deal was absolutely worthwhile for Grey Mountain, watching such a massive amount of gold flow into his ally's treasury still made him grimace. "Su Li, you brat...this isn't a granary, it's a giant dragon king that lays golden eggs! By the way, I feel like you've emptied almost half of my royal treasury!"

However, even after paying such a huge sum, King Cadlin had to admit that the return he and his kingdom received was equally invaluable.

They obtained over 50,000 jin of steel wheat seeds, which could steadily strengthen the physique of warriors and were of profound significance, as well as the first batch of grain; they obtained 500 rainbow silk robes that combined dwarven aesthetics with extraordinary characteristics and could greatly enhance the prestige of nobles and royalty; in the future, they will also receive a continuous and massive input of ordinary grains, completely solving the kingdom's food security problem; more importantly, they won a powerful ally with unlimited potential and mysterious protection, as well as a trade agreement for the upcoming "big treasure" that symbolizes a revolutionary upgrade in strategic power—the Sky Fortress.

In exchange for the abundant produce and unique resources of Black Forest Territory, Su Li received not only glittering gold coins from the dwarves, but also the culmination of millennia of dwarven craftsmanship, such as dwarven jewelry, stonework, statues, metalware, goblets, wine glasses, wine cups, candlesticks, and tableware; a large quantity of rare minerals (such as large quantities of mithril and meteorite iron ingots); and over 1000 sets of exquisite star iron armor! This scale of equipment is something that ordinary dwarven territories outside of Dragonrock Fortress simply cannot produce. In addition, there are over 300 dwarven engineers and the irreplaceable, unwavering support of the dwarven legion in the future fight against the darkness.

Even so, after paying for all these goods and technology, the Grey Mountain Kingdom still needed to pay an additional 50,000 gold crowns in cash to balance the trade! This is enough to illustrate how staggering the total value of the goods exported by the Black Forest Territory was.

The surplus of over 50,000 gold crowns, like a mountain of gold suddenly rising from the ground, poured into the Black Forest Territory's financial system. It meant that Su Li could recruit more soldiers and equip them with better armor and weapons; he could build stronger fortresses and wider roads; he could fund more mage research and druid experiments; and he could have more confidence to implement any policies he wanted, whether for the people's livelihood or the military.

This was a massive amount of liquid funds that would make any human kingdom envious and even willing to wage war, but now it was firmly in Su Li's hands, becoming another powerful cornerstone for him to consolidate his rule and expand his future.

King Kadrin could only grunt and accept this "cruel" reality, muttering "They're making so much money!" and "They're even better at business than the goblins!" while simultaneously admiring Su Li's methods and the potential of the Black Forest Territory. After all, the fact that he was willing to part with so many gold coins proved that the goods and their value were entirely worth the price—in fact, in the long run, the dwarves had made a huge profit.

This huge trade surplus, like the most abundant fruit of autumn, fell heavily on the branches of the Blacksin Territory, foreshadowing an even more prosperous and bright future for this emerging territory.

(End of this chapter)