This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

When Crimson Eyes wanted to conduct an on-site investigation outside the city, Dick immediately arranged it without hesitation, calling Black and White Gun to be his bodyguard. The four of them prepared to first go for a stroll around the town.

Seeing this, Lucoa wanted to go along, but Dick looked her up and down, noticing her unusually large size in every sense, and hesitated.

If Lucoa goes out like this, she certainly won't get cold, but it will inevitably attract a crowd of onlookers.

"How about... you put on a robe over it?"

"No need for that."

As Lucoa spoke, she spun around on the spot, and her body transformed into a miniature dragon more than a foot long. She flew directly into Dick's loose mage robe, with only a small head peeking out from the collar.

At first glance, Lucoa looks like she's wearing a pendant around her neck. Even if someone with a keen eye notices that she's a living creature, they'd most likely think she's Dick's pet.

So the group each rode a horse and left the castle lightly equipped.

At this time, Laguge has officially entered spring, and the temperature is gradually warming up. The daytime high temperature can reach above zero degrees Celsius, and the town streets are also coming back to life. The shouts of vendors can be heard from both sides of the street.

"Beef noodles, delicious Tie Niu beef noodles, if you don't like it, you can kill me!"

"Scallion, sir, would you like to buy a nice-smelling scallion?"

Riding her horse along the damp but relatively clean streets, Ruby Eyes, her face wrapped in a veil, listened to Dick's introduction of the town's current situation and future plans while her beautiful, ruby-like eyes scanned her surroundings to make her own judgments.

Although Crimson Eyes agreed to serve Dick, as a kind-hearted demon king, she was unwilling to do anything that aided and abetted evil. Therefore, she needed to further examine her "master" to determine how much effort she would put in and to what extent she would help him.

Ambition is not a flaw, cruelty is!

Fortunately, the situation in the town was much better than expected. The locals were indeed not wealthy, and their standard of living seemed to be even lower than that of the Winter Kingdom in her original world. However, the people's spirits were quite good and they were very energetic, which showed that although their lives were poor, they did not see no hope for the future.

Moreover, when he walked down the street, many people would bow to Dick and address him respectfully as Governor. Their attitude was respectful, but they did not show much fear or apprehension, which shows that Dick was very popular among the people.

However, the urban area is the core of the territory, so we need to take a look at the situation in the countryside.

As the group crossed the street, Dick keenly sensed some hostile gazes on him as they passed through the commercial district. He quickly discovered that the gazes originated from several wealthy merchants, members of the major merchant guilds.

This group of unscrupulous merchants were basking in the sun, while their men were loading bags of grain onto a truck. They happened to run into Dick, who was passing by. Their faces immediately fell, but they dared not speak out. They could only stare at Dick with sinister eyes, trying to make him seethe with anger.

Dick glanced at them casually, smiled, and then ignored them.

Because Dick was determined to drive down grain prices, this group of big merchants, united by their interests, preferred not to sell rather than lower prices, and planned to take the grain they had brought to other territories for sale.

Anyway, the northern territories of the empire are not limited to Ragug. Even if Dick doesn't buy their grain, there are plenty of others eager to do so.

In their view, Dick's move to lower grain prices, though seemingly tough, was actually arrogant and reckless. He had offended them, the "bread and butter" who supported tens of thousands of people in his territory, and his governorship was essentially over.

These people had already inquired privately and found that Dick had indeed stockpiled a lot of food, enough to sustain the local area for several months. This year, he was both suppressing bandits and launching a large-scale land reclamation campaign, seemingly confident that he would enable Laguge to achieve food self-sufficiency, something that had never been accomplished before.

But the businessmen secretly mocked him for his delusional thinking.

They all agreed that Dick must have encountered an extremely unusually mild winter in his first year in office, and was thus misled by this "abnormal" climate, seriously underestimating the severity of this harsh land, thinking that the winter that could make the locals tremble was nothing special.

Previous governors-general had all considered vigorously developing agriculture, but without exception, they all failed due to harsh reality.

High-yield crops cannot adapt to the climate here.

The crops are suitable, but the yield per acre is pitifully low.

These unscrupulous merchants have already secretly conspired. These major merchant guilds, primarily engaged in grain trading in the north, will unite to impose a grain embargo on Laguge, teaching this young governor a lesson. Once people start starving here, and the situation escalates to the point of affecting the normal mining of cold iron, let's see how you explain yourself to your duke father then.

However, they did not know that Dick was not unaware of the situation, but rather that he was confident of victory.

If he was worried before that simply increasing the arable land area through land reclamation wouldn't be enough to feed the local population, now that he has the high-yield corn provided by Lucoa, he has no more worries.

Corn is planted at the end of April and will mature in four months. The black soil in Laguge is very fertile, and even without chemical fertilizers, the yield per mu is estimated to be no less than 300 kilograms.

The local staple crop, coarse wheat, although highly resistant to cold, has a slow growth cycle and a pitifully low yield; a yield of 80 kilograms per mu (a Chinese unit of area, approximately 0.165 acres) is considered a bumper harvest.

As for the taste, this kind of hard-to-digest coarse grain is nowhere near as good as corn.

After leaving the city, the group headed east. On both sides of the road were large fields, and at a glance, there were figures bent over working in almost every field.

Hongyu Zhitong dismounted, walked to the field by the roadside, grabbed a handful of black mud, rubbed it gently, then smelled it and nodded.

"The soil quality is indeed very good."

"The entire eastern plains region is basically covered with this kind of high-quality black soil. It's a pity that we don't have chemical fertilizers and pesticides yet, otherwise the yield could be even higher."

“Using too much of that stuff can really damage the soil. We can address fertility issues through crop rotation, and we don’t have to rely solely on pesticides to deal with common pests and diseases. I’ll find ways to solve all of these problems!”

After returning the soil he had picked up to the field, Ruby Eyes was about to go look elsewhere when he saw a farmer couple timidly walking towards them and bowing deeply to Dick from a distance of more than ten meters.

Because Dick frequently goes out to patrol the territory and often appears in front of the people, many people now recognize him.

Seeing this, Dick gestured to Black and White Gunner not to stop them, and beckoned the couple over.

Putting aside the fact that these two look honest and their aura doesn't seem like that of experts, even if they were assassins, Dick's black and white spear, Daenerys Targaryen, would be more than capable of handling them.

"Don't be so formal. Is there something you need to talk to me about?"

“Your Excellency, we…we have come to express our gratitude to you.”

"grateful?"

“My child caught a cold during the winter, and you saved him. We are very poor and couldn’t afford medical treatment, so… I really wanted to say thank you, thank you so much…”

The couple stammered their words of thanks, their demeanor humble as commoners meeting officials, but the gratitude in their eyes was genuine.

The couple told Dick that they had five children, three of whom died young, and one was killed by a wild animal. They thought their last child would also be taken by the cold, but Dick came to their rescue in their despair, snatching their only hope back from the jaws of death.

Although the couple were poor, they had a simple and grateful heart. Even though they couldn't offer any decent gifts, they couldn't help but go up to thank Dick in person when he came to inspect the countryside.

After thanking them in person, the couple returned to their fields to continue working. At this moment, Ruby Eyes approached Dick and said to him in a lighthearted tone.

"It seems you have indeed done a lot of practical things for the locals."

“I am the ruler, and I need their genuine support and loyalty.”

Without uttering any grand pronouncements, Dick made no attempt to conceal or disguise his long-held ambitions, even in front of Ruby Eyes.

"It seems you don't want to be a saint."

"Being a saint is too tiring; I don't have that level of enlightenment."

After Dick finished speaking, he exchanged a smile with Ruby Eyes.

After touring several villages around the town, the group passed by a labor reform farm on their way back to the city as dusk approached.

Ruby Eyes did not object to Dick's method of punishing criminals, because compared to executing them all or keeping them imprisoned and supported for nothing, reforming criminals physically and mentally through forced labor was actually a very scientific and progressive approach, and it also met the actual needs of Lagug at this stage.

A ruler should be benevolent, but not womanly!

When the group arrived at the farm, the prisoners were finishing their work and lining up to receive their rations of food. Upon seeing the governor's arrival, and perhaps starting with someone, the prisoners would bow to Dick on the platform after receiving their food before displaying astonishingly large portions of their gruel.

To be honest, the food standards set by Dick for the labor camp were very low, with only two meals a day, barely enough to fill one's stomach. But even with such treatment, many prisoners were grateful, because before they were brought in, they had hardly ever had a proper meal.

Besides the inspection, Dick's main purpose in coming here was to arrange some work.

During his daytime inspection of the surrounding villages, Dick had taken out corn seeds and recommended them to them, telling them how to plant them, and repeatedly emphasizing that this was a high-yield, high-quality crop, with a yield per acre several times higher than that of traditional coarse wheat.

But most villagers are cautious and conservative. They have grown coarse wheat all their lives and know how harsh the local climate is in Laguge. Therefore, they dare not switch to planting new crops they have never seen before. Even though Dick promised to cover their losses, many farmers showed little interest.

In their eyes, Dick was indeed better than his predecessor David, but not good enough for them to trust him unconditionally.

Although he felt helpless, Dick did not follow the example of the Corn Emperor and force farmers to switch to this crop. Instead, he provided some seeds and let them plant a little bit to try it out.

We'll know the actual production figures by the end of August.

Fortunately, Dick still had labor camps and thousands of prisoners, so he could carry out his agricultural reforms on a large scale there.

Chapter 058: Spring has arrived again for the animals...

The farm currently holds nearly 6,000 labor reform prisoners. After removing the elderly, weak, women and children who are not capable of heavy physical labor, there are more than 5,000 young and middle-aged people between the ages of 16 and 40.

Dick allocated a total of 25,000 mu of wasteland to the labor reform farm, adhering to the high standard of five mu of land cultivated per person. This land is still in the reclamation stage and is not expected to be planted until mid-May, so Dick plans to use it all to grow corn.

Based on the calculation that 1.5 kilograms of seeds are needed per acre, Lucoa would need to produce 37.5 tons of seeds.

After conducting an on-site inspection, Ruby Eyes offered some valuable suggestions for improvement and also plans to help the farm manufacture some new farm tools to improve the farmers' work efficiency.

For the next two weeks, Dick and Ruby Eyes went to the farm almost every day, and the entire governor's mansion shifted its focus from military to agriculture to ensure the smooth progress of this year's spring planting.

Thanks to the mining area reforms before last winter, which released a large number of conscripted laborers, and the almost completely renewed security environment in the territory after this year's anti-bandit campaign, Laguge has burst forth with unprecedented vitality from top to bottom. Not only have previously abandoned lands started to be cultivated again, but many farmers have also responded to the reclamation order and reclaimed a large amount of farmland.

The only drawback is that the promotion and planting of corn is very slow, and many local farmers are only willing to try it out and plant a very small amount first.

After all, for the past few hundred years, the staple crops in the area have been coarse wheat and yams, with black beans, which are produced in considerable quantities, barely qualifying as a crop, but people can't eat too much of that. These three crops are the only ones that can adapt to the local climate, and their main advantage is that they are cold-resistant and easy to grow.

They had never seen corn before and were worried that it might be as expensive as the other crops from the south of the mountains. If the entire field was planted with corn and there was a total crop failure in the fall, they would all starve.

Dick understood their concerns, so he did not take any enforcement action.

He believes that time will tell, and that time will not be long; the results will be clear in four months.

It is worth mentioning that two "minor incidents" occurred during this period.

One rumor was that the governor, after failing to extort grain merchants, disregarded the lives of the local people and banned them from selling grain in the area. In a fit of rage, he expelled all these "good and kind merchants," leading to the depletion of local grain reserves and an imminent famine.

Dick knew as soon as he heard the rumor that it was a trick by those unscrupulous merchants.

These guys were very cautious, because they were afraid of Dick's retaliation, so they waited until they left Lagug before sending people back to spread rumors.

Fortunately, Dick was prepared. He sent his private army out of the city in a high-profile manner, and then had the granary sell a batch of "old grain" at a 30% discount.

The reason given was that a large quantity of grain ordered by the governor from his family's merchant guild last year was about to arrive, and the private soldiers who had left the city earlier were the guards who went to greet the grain transport team. Therefore, the governor's mansion was now clearing out its stock at a low price to make room for the new grain that was about to arrive.

With this series of actions, the rumors about the food shortage were debunked on their own, and the sources of the rumors were also secretly dealt with by the new intelligence agency "Forget-Me-Not" established by Tia.

Unfortunately, they only caught a few small fry; the unscrupulous merchants had already escaped from Lagug. Otherwise, Dick would have definitely made those old bastards rave about their gold coins!

Almost at the same time as the rumors, another small but good thing happened: the two hundred warhorses that Dick had ordered from Earl Dupin finally arrived!

Out of gratitude for saving the Earl's eldest son, Tarn, the Earl's family offered Dick a very reasonable price for these warhorses, and all of them were carefully selected top-quality horses.

Dick planned to use these two hundred warhorses to train a new light cavalry unit of one hundred men. Combined with his existing fifty riders, this should be enough to deal with the bandits who would invade in the summer.

In early May, the snow left over from winter had completely melted, and everything in Laguge came back to life.

Dick stood at the edge of a field, in front of him were the first batch of corn planted half a month ago, which had already sprouted green shoots from the soil.

Dick crouched down and carefully touched the corn seedlings. The vibrant scene of life and everything thriving before him filled him with a joy that came from the depths of his soul.

"Farming really suits me!"

Just then, a slightly charred corncob was suddenly offered to Dick. He turned his head and saw that it was Lily from the spy team who had handed it to him. Behind her, in the open space, several girls who were traveling with him were gathered around the fire, chatting and laughing as they roasted corn, the atmosphere as relaxed as if they were on a picnic.

Okay, they really are out having fun!

Dick wasn't a demon after all. Although the girls he summoned had signed "slave contracts" with him, their treatment was much better than that of poor working people who had signed regular labor contracts.

Meals and accommodation are provided, and you receive a salary. You get at least four days off per month, and there are no compensatory days off unless there are major events!

Before, when it was freezing cold, everyone could only stay in the castle even on holidays. Now that spring has finally arrived, they took advantage of the holiday to go out for a spring outing together, and dragged Dick out with them.

As the governor of the territory, Dick was the most workaholic of them all. In the seven months he had been in Lagug, he had not taken more than five days off.

So Belfast organized this outing so that Dick could relax and unwind.

Dick took the roasted corn from Lily, took a bite, and found it sweet, soft, and chewy with a rich milky aroma. He couldn't help but admire it, thinking, "No wonder it's Lucoa's top-quality corn."

"Is it delicious?"

"It's delicious, cooked to perfection. Did you bake it?"

"Uh... no, this one was specially grilled for you by Miss Belfast!"

Lily scratched her head a little embarrassedly. Although she was a master of drug production, her cooking skills were average, and she was also a foodie, so the two people she respected most in the team were the two she was most concerned about.

One is Belfast, who cooks delicious food; the other is Joel, whose cooking can poison people.

One night, Lily was secretly practicing making soup (intending to make it for Dick) when she slipped into the kitchen looking for a late-night snack and accidentally took a small bite.

As a result, Lily, whose constitution was so special that even mustard gas couldn't kill her, was rendered unconscious for a day and a night by this soup. The first thing she did when she woke up the next day was to cling to Joel and ask to become her apprentice, wanting to learn her super invincible skill. Joel was completely dumbfounded and quickly said that she really didn't know how to make poison.

Dick was there at the time. When he heard that Joel was practicing cooking so that he could eat it for himself, his gloating smile instantly shifted to Rita's face next to him.

Under the warm spring sunshine, Dick leisurely munched on roasted corn, gazing at the pastoral scenery in the distance.

Lily stood beside him, her bright pink eyes occasionally stealing glances at Dick's profile, noticing her heart involuntarily quickening again. She knew this was a reaction to being under his spell, but unlike before, she didn't subtly distance herself from him.