Lord Chronicle

Chapter 114
Early the next morning, accompanied by Jessica, Sol came to the Ik camp.

This place is located in the west of the town, on a wide slope at the foot of the Western Mountain Range, surrounded by dense forests, and not far from the rushing Ire River, it is an excellent place to live.

At this moment, there was a busy construction scene near the entire slope, and there were dwarves who were knocking or carrying various building materials. No one paid any attention to the two human men and women who entered the camp.

Unlike mountain dwarves who are used to living underground, hill dwarves are used to building houses to live in.At this time, many prototypes of houses have been erected around the slope.Dwarf houses are not much different from human houses, except that they are lower and more elaborately constructed.

However, Thor also saw how crazy the dwarves were for forging. When most of the houses hadn't been built, several well-equipped blacksmith shops had been built in the center of the camp.At this moment, the fire was raging and the smoke was soaring into the sky. Dozens of dwarves were clanging and beating inside, and they didn't know what they were doing.

Looking at the busy dwarves around, Sol was about to grab someone to ask for directions, when he suddenly heard a shout: "Lord Lord, are you here?"

The two turned their heads to see that Manson was running towards them from the other side of the camp.

When he came close, Manson greeted him with a hand: "Please come with me, the patriarch is already waiting for you."

As if to take care of the height of these two humans, Leo met them in a clearing by the woods.A set of tables and chairs had been set up there. Apart from Leo and Manson, there were also three old dwarves with white beard and hair, who should be elders or something.

After taking his seat, without any opening remarks, Leo threw a piece of paper to Sol: "We have a total of 914 Ik people, including 352 qualified craftsmen, 326 fighters, and the rest are old people and children."

The secret passage is so straightforward. Sol took the paper and looked at it. The composition and armed situation of the Ik tribe were written on the paper.This is a gesture Leo expressed to the sojourner Lovell, to show that he did not hide anything, so that Saul was completely relieved, and it also opened the way for the subsequent employment negotiations.

It should be noted that in the dwarves, adults, whether male or female, are artisans or warriors, and women are not included in the non-combat and artisan establishments.In fact, in terms of physical strength, there is hardly any difference between male and female dwarves.

In addition, the distinction between craftsmen and warriors is not absolute. Craftsmen have combat skills, and warriors can also build things, but they each focus on different things.Like Manson, he has both excellent craftsmanship and good fighting ability, which is also one of the characteristics of the dwarves.

Squeezing the paper in his hand, Sol was so happy, looking forward to the stars and the moon, it can be regarded as looking forward to you. There are more than 350 qualified dwarf craftsmen, which means that the forging level of the territory can immediately rise to several steps. Many things that could not be done before due to limited conditions can be started, such as building roads, building peripheral fortifications, and searching for iron. mines, set up equipment factories, etc...

In addition, the more than 300 dwarf warriors also made him very happy. With this powerful force, the town's defense force will be greatly increased.When the undead invasion happened last time, he could handle it calmly.

Sol was so absorbed in thinking there that he didn't even hear a few words from Leo, until Jessica kicked him secretly, and he woke up.

"Ah, what?" He looked at the angry Leo.

Leo's thick beard was shaking, and it seemed that he was on the verge of going crazy.Over there, Manson quickly winked at him, and he finally suppressed his anger and said, "Are you willing to hire our craftsmen and soldiers?"

Is this still useful?Sol nodded again and again: "Yes, of course, I will take as many people as you can."

Hearing what he said, Leo and the three old dwarves heaved a sigh of relief.

Although the hill dwarves will also engage in some production activities such as hunting and planting, they are obviously not good at it.The main source of income of the Ik people is still to make money by making various utensils and selling them, and then buy food and other living materials needed by the family. Life has always been relatively poor, and the tribe has not been able to grow.

Now Sol expresses his willingness to hire their fighters and craftsmen, which means that the life here will be guaranteed in the future, which is very important to Leo.

After exchanging glances with the three dwarf elders, Leo said, "Then, tell me your conditions."

At this point, the substantive stage of the negotiation has entered, but Saul has long been prepared for this.He said frankly: "First of all, for each craftsman, I can provide a monthly remuneration of 20 gold coins. If the work is done well, there will be additional rewards. You enjoy the same treatment as the residents of the town, and you can buy them at a preferential price. Food and medical treatment from the town hospital. Soldiers are employed by the town’s garrison and treated the same as other garrison members.”

Such conditions were obviously very generous, and several dwarf elders couldn't stop nodding.

But in order to win over these future technical backbones, Sol obviously won't stop there.He paused for a moment, then continued to throw out the bait: "In addition, whether it is coal or coke, you can use whatever you want. If you can find iron ore in the mountains in the future, you can use iron ore as you like."

If the condition just now was only to satisfy the other party, then this condition surprised them very much.Leo and the others had already seen the miraculous things called coal and coke through Manson. For these dwarves, there was nothing more attractive than these two things.

And Leo also intends that in the subsequent negotiations, he must try to get Sol to provide them with the two things at the lowest possible price. He has even made a decision that even if he gives up some fighters and craftsmen for free, he must achieve Purpose.

How could it not make them ecstatic that Sol actually offered that they could use it for free?Not to mention that if they can find iron ore in the territory in the future, they can also use it for free.

A dwarf elder was so excited that his beard was trembling: "Manson is right, this is a good place for us to live in peace. We are really grateful for the generosity of the lord."

Even Leo, who has never looked down on Saul, gave a thumbs up: "That's interesting."

The other party's reaction was already expected by Sol, and he said with a smile: "So, are you satisfied with these conditions?"

The dwarves looked at each other, then nodded like Thor.

"Well, now I'm going to tell you what you need to do for me."

Sol said slowly: "First of all, I need you to build two roads in my territory and some fortifications outside the town. I can provide most of the workers, and you only need to send a few experienced craftsmen to guide them. , you are experts, so I won’t interfere in whatever you do.”

"No problem." Leo said cheerfully.

"In addition, I need you to explore the nearby mountains as soon as possible to see if you can find iron ore. I will make a lot of things in the future, and I don't want to buy everything from outside."

This is also related to the welfare of the dwarves, Leo said without hesitation: "No problem."

"The other thing is that I want to prepare a workshop to mass-produce all kinds of things I need, such as weapons or other things... I need your craftsmen as the backbone, and you must also train me a group of qualified human craftsmen who can handle Are you there?"

No matter how much humans learn, they can't reach the forging level of dwarves. Leo is not worried about "teaching apprentices and starving the master to death".He nodded and said, "You are an employer, so we will naturally work for you."

"Okay." Saul nodded with satisfaction, and said again: "In addition, iron ore, coal and coke are all available for you to use, but you must ensure that everything must be given priority in completing what I delivered. That is to say , we must give priority to producing what I need, and under this premise, I will not interfere with what you do."

"What's more, whether it is mining coal or iron ore in the future, [-]% of it must be supplied to the territory, and the remaining [-]% ​​can be used by you. If the territory has additional needs, we will pay for it."

In fact, these two are the most important, otherwise those dwarves will taste the sweetness and only focus on their own forging, wouldn't Sol be at a big loss?Therefore, he must make a guarantee from the other party, and everything must be based on the need to protect the territory.

Since he offered such a big favorable condition, the other party would naturally have to pay something.

Sure enough, this time Leo hesitated, and then he discussed with the three elders in dwarf language.After a long time, he nodded: "Okay, I can promise you."

The above conditions were worked out after a long discussion between him and Jessica last night, not only to win over these dwarves, but also to ensure the best use of them.Now that the other party has agreed to all of them, it can be regarded as a happy event.

Thor stretched out his hand: "The patriarch is really a cheerful person. I believe we will have a happy cooperation. I also guarantee that you of the Ik tribe can get the best life in Lovell."

Leo smiled and held his hand: "You are not bad, too."

After the negotiation is over, Jessica will sign a written agreement with Leo, so Sol doesn't need to worry about it.Both parties achieved their goals, the atmosphere suddenly became more relaxed, and there was a lot of chatting and laughing during the meeting.

Thinking of the purpose of his return this time, Sol proposed to Leo that he hoped to bring some craftsmen to Diviji Fortress in a month to assist them in defending.

Hearing Thor tell the whole story, Leo discussed with the elders for a while, then nodded and said: "It is very simple to repair the city wall and maintain the weapons, our soldiers can do it. I can let you take away 50 soldiers, They can fulfill your request and can also help in the battle."

The secret dwarves are indeed cheerful people, and Sol was overjoyed: "That's great, patriarch, please rest assured, I will try my best to ensure their safety."

Then Sol showed his eloquence, eloquently, and a series of unobtrusive flattery made Leo and the three elders very useful, which greatly shortened the distance between the two sides.

This time, even Leo, who had a prejudice against Sol, was very relieved. It seemed that he was wrong. This lord is a good guy, and the decision to move the family here was indeed correct.

After staying for a while, Sol and Jessica got up to say goodbye.Leo led the people all the way to the outside of the camp, as if reluctantly saying goodbye.

On the way back to the lord's mansion, Jessica couldn't help asking: "Just now you said that you want to build roads, and we will provide most of the workers. But the most lacking thing in our territory is labor, don't you know?"

Saul shrugged: "Of course I know."

"Then where do you find these workers?" Jessica glared at him.

Sol smiled: "You are so smart, you should be able to think of it, right? There are a large number of laborers who have nothing to do now, of course I have to make good use of it."

Jessica smiled blankly, and then realized: "You mean... refugees outside the town?"

Sol had an expression of "you've finally figured it out": "Of course, instead of letting those guys consume my food, it's better to give them a job. Anyway, the territory will undergo a series of construction in the future, mining, road building, To start a workshop, what we need most is manpower, and I would also like to thank God for sending me these people.”

This is indeed a good idea. It not only solves the problem of labor shortage in the town, but also resettles the refugees well. It can be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.Jessica thought about it and agreed.

Saul further said: "If the situation permits, some refugees can also be allowed to immigrate to our small town, so as to completely solve the problem of insufficient population in the territory."

Jessica frowned and said, "These people come from unknown sources, what if they sneak in with people with ulterior motives?"

Sol said: "This is simple. You can observe for a while and select those hard-working and honest refugees. It is best to bring a family with you. Then there will be no problem."

Lovell is currently in a period of rapid development, but the lack of population is a major bottleneck restricting development.It would be very beneficial in the long run to allow innocent refugees to move to small towns.

After careful consideration, Jessica also agreed with Sol's opinion.As a steward, she has no right to accept outsiders without authorization, so the only thing she can do before Sol comes back is to provide food for the refugees to live on. Now that Sol has solved this problem, she can't help but breathe a sigh of relief .

"Although they can work for them, the food in the territory may..." Thinking of one thing, Jessica said with some embarrassment.

Sol scratched his head: "I can only ask Reed to find a way from other territories. If it doesn't work, we can exchange the special products of the frozen plateau with the four major chambers of commerce. Those unscrupulous merchants must have hoarded a lot of food. In addition, in the spring It’s almost here, if the refugees are organized to reclaim the farmland as soon as possible, at least there will be no shortage of food in autumn tomorrow.”

Jessica nodded: "Understood, I will deal with it."

As she said that, she said again: "But I'm afraid you have to go to the refugee side..."

At this moment, Thor suddenly stopped.Jessica took two steps and couldn't help looking back at him strangely.She noticed that Saul was staring at a house not far away that was constantly coming and going.

It was the branch of the Adventurer's Guild in the small town. Not understanding why Sol was suddenly interested in it, Jessica tentatively asked, "My lord?"

Only then did Saul react, and he waved his hand: "You go back first, I will meet those refugees tomorrow."

Despite her doubts, Jessica left as promised.After she left, Sol immediately walked towards the house.

Ever since he learned that both Cliff and the Necromancer Guild were trying to find the treasure of Kiridor, he felt a sense of urgency. If he didn't get the "key" from the Adventurers Guild as soon as possible, the treasure might be lost forever. Say goodbye to yourself.

Therefore, knowing that there was little hope, Sol decided to try it out.

"Man dies for money, bird dies for food", Adventurers Guild, don't blame me for being dishonest.

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Sol was a little depressed, the temptation to go to the Adventurer's Guild yesterday was fruitless.Lauer and Gliss had already left Lovell, and there was only one small official in charge of daily affairs left behind.

He was very enthusiastic about Saul's arrival and kept expressing his respect.However, when Sol intentionally or unintentionally brought the topic to the excavation of the ruins in the forest, he found that he didn't know anything about it.

I don't know whether he really didn't know or was just pretending to be stupid. In order to prevent the Adventurer's Guild from being aware of his intentions, Thor had no choice but to give up.He even wanted to know if he could let Mira lead the way some time, and go to see the ruins in the forest himself. After experiencing so many things, he also became quite interested in what was hidden in the ruins.

Obviously coming to the Adventurer's Guild will definitely not let him touch the key, it seems that he can only find another way.Hiring Garrett to steal it back seems like a good idea, but that guy has already repaid the original favor, so it's hard to say whether he will offend the Adventurer's Guild again for himself.

After thinking about it all night to no avail, Sol couldn't help but feel a little bad.If I had known that it was so important, I wouldn't have handed it over to the Adventurer's Guild so easily.

But depression is depression, work still needs to be done.No, he was picked up by Jessica early in the morning and went to the refugee camp outside the town.

Seeing dozens of heavily armed soldiers suddenly running into the camp, the refugees were a little nervous, and some even speculated whether the people here were going to drive them away.

After arranging the guards for protection, Jessica accompanied Sol into the camp. She said loudly, "This is our Lord Lord. He has something to say to everyone. Please send some representatives."

There was a commotion among the refugees around, and a man boldly said: "Are you going to drive us away?"

Jessica shook her head: "Of course not, our lord is willing to give you some opportunities, some opportunities to live a better life, so please send a few people who can speak out as soon as possible."

Her words delighted the refugees, and word soon spread throughout the camp.About half an hour later, the three old men were pushed out to talk to Saul.

In a fairly decent room, Jessica explained her intentions to them, and the old people were very pleasantly surprised.An old man named Kante said in disbelief: "My lord, are you really willing to work for us?"

Sol smiled slightly: "Of course, although it may be more difficult, at least it can guarantee that you can earn food with your own hands."

Another old man named Del said: "You are too kind. We are a group of poor people who have left their homes. We are grateful to you for taking care of us. Now you still want to give us the opportunity to work. How can we hate this or that?"

Jessica said: "That's good. We will make arrangements for you as soon as possible. In addition, we will provide temporary accommodation for those who are willing to work for the lord."

Several old men exchanged glances excitedly, one of them named Borat said hesitantly: "We admire your generosity, but there are many old people and children who are unable to work in the camp..."

Jessica said: "It doesn't matter, if there are adults in the family members, we will provide enough remuneration to support the family. If there are lonely old people and children, we will make proper arrangements."

According to Sol, if they are orphans, they will be adopted by the territory. The older children can be sent to Manson or shop as apprentices, and the younger children can be taught in accordance with their aptitude and cultivated from an early age.

Unlike those who immigrated from outside, as long as these children are properly cultivated, their loyalty and sense of belonging in the future will not be comparable to those of adults, and it is definitely a worthwhile investment.

As for those lonely old people, the territory will also provide them with a place to retire.Anyway, the elderly can't eat much food, and doing so is also responsible for their own conscience.

Hearing what she said, the three old men breathed a sigh of relief. So far, they were finally relieved that the lord here was really planning for them.

After reaching the preliminary intention, Jessica continued: "Where do you all come from?"

Borat said: "Most of us escaped from Ferris, Ramo and Uriel, and some of us are from Bahrain and other territories."

"So, among the refugees from the three territories, the three are the ones who can talk?" Sol asked abruptly.

Del bowed slightly: "I dare not, but most people are still willing to listen to us."

Saul nodded, this would be easy to handle, most of the refugees came from three territories, it happened to be possible to arrange them separately, which was also convenient for management.Although these three old men have no labor force, they are good candidates to be their agents to restrain these refugees.

"Then how many of you are there?" Saul asked at this time.

After thinking about it, Conte said: "There are about 2000 to 2500 people, because it is too chaotic, and we haven't seriously counted it."

Jessica whispered to Sol: "Based on 2000 people, excluding the elderly and children, there should be more than 1000 people who can work."

This made Sol very happy. He was planning to carry out a series of big actions in the territory, and a group of dwarves came to his door, and he got more than 1000 workers here. He is really a good character, and God favors him.

He said to Conte: "I will arrange people to count the number of people as soon as possible, and arrange those who can work and those who cannot work separately. Please rest assured, since I dare to make a promise, I will definitely let each of you not go hungry anymore .”

Unanimously, the three old men stood up and bowed deeply to Sol: "We will never forget your great kindness."

Persuading the three excited old men, Sol and Jessica walked out of the house.Unexpectedly, as soon as the door was opened, both of them were shocked.Outside the house, hundreds of men and women blocked the door tightly, and the guards in charge of the guards all nervously pressed their hands on the hilts of their swords.

I don't know who released the news, and all these people looked at Sol with hope.They left their homes and had nothing left, so they desperately needed some good news.

Facing hundreds of eager gazes, Sol glanced at Jessica, who was obviously also greatly touched. She opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything.

At this moment, the three old men also walked out of the house, and the refugees surrounded them with a whoosh.Borat said excitedly: "The lord has decided to accept us. We will all have jobs in the future, and we won't go hungry anymore."

The crowd erupted into a buzzing discussion, and many people cried on the spot.They have been desperate for too long, and now they finally find hope in this territory.

Next, is a series of intensive resettlement work.

Saul first sent someone to count the exact number of refugees, a total of 2382.To his surprise, the number of adults among them was much more than expected, a total of 1521, and most of the rest were children.In other words, the elderly who really need Solbet's support are only a very small part.

At the same time, under the auspices of Jessica, the construction of temporary shelters for refugees also started.The current economic strength of Lovell is not what it used to be, and it is no longer necessary to go door to door to collect needed things like when the Lulin refugees arrived.

As early as the beginning of the war, the foresighted Jessica hoarded a large amount of necessary supplies through the caravan in the territory, and with the assistance of a large number of dwarf craftsmen, a batch of temporary residences were built soon.

Moving from the dilapidated camp to a wooden house that can shelter from the wind and rain, and eating hot meals, these refugees now regard Sol as their benefactor.

Afterwards, work is assigned. Jessica assigns the refugees to different positions according to their specialties, such as Manson's blacksmith shop, road construction site, upcoming workshop, or coal mine.

What surprised Saul the most was that among the refugees there were two doctors, several assistant officials who had helped the lord handle internal affairs in other territories, three teachers, and some tailors, candlemakers, bakers, etc. and daily necessities related craftsmen.

These people immediately made Sol very precious, especially those assistant officers, who were the talents he was looking for urgently.You must know that because the territory is too small, Lovell has always lacked internal affairs officers, and all affairs are handled jointly by the lord and the steward.

Sol himself is a slacker, so the government affairs of the territory are almost entirely supported by Jessica.However, with the development of the territory, there will be more and more trivial matters in the future, and Jessica will be too busy sooner or later. Sol needs to find a group of officials who can assist her.

With these people, Jessica can relax a lot.And through the trial for the past few days, their abilities are not bad, at least in terms of overall planning and deployment, they have been able to share a lot of work for Jessica.

Then there are those teachers. Sol has long wanted to build a school in the territory, but he has not done it for various reasons.This is good. Although he is not yet able to implement compulsory education, at least the children in the territory will be able to read and write in the future.

In addition, Sol also made proper arrangements for the doctors and craftsmen, and finally let them do their part for the territory.

The funniest thing is that when he heard that Saul had taken in a group of children from refugees, Hitches immediately came to the door and asked Saul to give him a few if he wanted to die.It is said that many parents felt that their children had no future with this half-baked sorcerer, so they forcibly took their children back, making Hitches almost a poor commander.

Unable to resist him, Saul had to let Hitches choose a few children he thought were qualified.It is worth mentioning that Hitches's magic level seems to have improved a lot recently. Although his control over magic power is also poor, at least he won't blow up the laboratory every now and then.

Although Hitches has repeatedly claimed that he will train a group of qualified magicians for Sol, Thor never holds out hope.In fact, he really wanted Hitches to teach those children alchemy, so that even if they only learned half of Hitches' skills, they were worthy of Sol's monthly allocation of tens of thousands of gold coins.

In this way, after more than a week of busy work, all the refugees were completely resettled.

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However, Sol obviously didn't have the luck to be lazy this time. Just as he was about to deal with the refugee matter properly, a lot of other affairs came to him overwhelmingly.

After signing an employment agreement with the dwarves and taking in refugees, various plans that had been at a standstill before finally began to be implemented vigorously.

Since then, Lovell has experienced an unprecedented construction frenzy.

First, under the command of Manson, Lovell's first mass-produced equipment factory started.The factory is mainly composed of Ik dwarf craftsmen, supplemented by local blacksmiths in Lovell and apprentices selected from refugees.Mass production of everything from agricultural tools to weaponry is possible.

Because the iron ore still needs to be imported from other territories, the factory has not been able to exert its maximum efficiency. Once the Ik tribe's prospecting team finds ore veins in the two mountain ranges, its production capacity will fully recover.But just with the current manufacturing capacity, it is already possible to produce a large number of products for sale.

At this point, Saul couldn't help feeling that Lao Tzu's General Armament Department, General Technology Department, and General Engineering Team finally had a look worthy of the name.

In addition, the two roads leading to the Yire River and the western mountains have also broken ground after being idle for a long time.With the sufficient labor force selected from the refugees, supplemented by the guidance of dwarf artisans, the progress of these two roads is very fast.

Around these two roads, Saul still has several big plans.One is to build a wharf on the Yier River and vigorously develop water transport. If a fleet can be organized, it will not be so hard to go in and out of the territory in the future, and the ability to transport goods can also be greatly improved.

In addition, the mining of coal mines must also be expanded. With the establishment of factories, the demand for coal and coke will increase greatly. It is obviously uneconomical to use manpower to recite coal like this.As long as the road is connected to the coal mine, the coal can be transported directly by horse-drawn cart in the future.

The third major construction plan is the fortifications outside the town.With the lessons learned from the last undead invasion incident, Thor now attaches great importance to the defense of the town, otherwise, no matter how well the territory develops, it will be useless if it is destroyed by the invasion of foreign enemies.

There were no talents in this field in the territory, so Thor handed over the construction plan to the craftsmen of the Ik tribe.Soon the dwarf in charge of defense came up with a plan, initially planning to build a set of fortifications on the periphery of the territory, as well as several towers that could cut off the road.

And when the time is right in the future, they plan to use a set of tall city walls to completely protect the town in comparison to the outer defenses of the Pangradin Dwarf Kingdom.

Saul is absolutely accurate in this regard. After all, he is now a rich man with a net worth of 1000 million, and the specialty product business on the frozen plateau has made a lot of money, which is enough to support these extravagant construction behaviors.In order to protect the territory, Master Sol will spare no expense.

Then other small-scale construction activities such as expanding warehouses, reclaiming farmland, building schools, adding housing, etc. are also in full swing.Almost overnight, the residents of Lovell were surprised to find that their small town had completely turned into a large construction site.

The reason why Sol is so eager to start a comprehensive construction is also because of his own difficulties.

At present, there is a lot of chaos outside. Although it seems that Dinard's overall situation is not down, small-scale thieves and some defeated soldiers have begun to wreak havoc everywhere. Sol urgently needs to strengthen the defense of the territory to deal with any emergencies.

In addition, the economy of the territory cannot rely solely on the special products of the frozen plateau. Sol plans to use the coke in the territory, which can produce high-quality steel, and the advantages of dwarf craftsmen, to make Lovell an export place for high-quality equipment, selling everything from tools Everything from weapons.

This will not only provide a large amount of funds for the territory, but also greatly stimulate the commerce and trade of the territory.Only when more and more people poured into the territory, could Lovell achieve substantial development.

In addition, he has a selfish intention that he has not told others, that is, he urgently needs people from other places to dilute the influence of the Adventurer's Guild in Lowell, and there are too many adventurers in the town now.

That is to say, in this urgent mood, Saul, who has always been lazy, devoted himself to his work, almost forgetting to sleep and eat to deal with various tedious affairs.So much so that even Jessica began to wonder why the lord seemed to be a different person after going out for a walk.

Fortunately, although the work was hard, Sol also felt that the hard work was not in vain, seeing the various facilities in the territory gradually taking shape.Either way, working for yourself is the most motivating thing.

In this way, after working for half a month, it was time for Sol to set off.

(End of this chapter)