On the desk lay a thick stack of beast-hide paper covered in writing — the result of Lorist's entire night's work. His recent conversation with
The Northland Plateau was vast but sparsely populated, covering an area three or four times the size of Dreimeck Province, yet with fewer than a million inhabitants. Even the most prosperous southern part of the Northland under
Looking at the map, the so-called Northland Plateau was not actually the northernmost point of the Galentea Continent. On the contrary, it was situated in the middle of the continent. On all maps of Galentea, the Demon Dragon Mountains were recognized as the continent's center — the source of the three great waterways.
The reason it was called the Northland was simply that it marked the northernmost frontier of human settlement. Any further north, and one would have to cross the Demon Dragon Mountains to enter the vast untamed wilderness marked on the maps — a place humans had not ventured into for nearly a thousand years.
Unlike the plateaus of Lorist's previous life, the Northland, though also called a plateau, was merely a hundred meters or so higher in elevation than the surrounding plains. There was no real difference in climate or environment. In fact, in the common tongue of Galentea, "plateau" didn't refer to terrain at all — it implied being uncivilized, barbaric, and remote. It was more of a derogatory term.
In Lorist's estimation, as long as he could bring the Northbound Convoy's seventy-odd thousand people and the hundred thousand refugees back to the family territory, the manpower shortage would be alleviated, ushering in a grand climax of development and construction. Then, holding Rock Fortress firmly, no matter how the wars raged outside, he could simply turn the family's territory into a haven amid the chaos.
As for the
In the end, Lorist turned his attention to the Blade Mountains along the family territory's western coast. He refused to believe that a mountain range stretching hundreds of miles couldn't yield a single sea outlet. If he could find one, the family could build a fleet and establish sea routes to connect with the outside world — far more convenient than overland roads. He could even use ships to transport refugees to the family's territory, rather than organizing convoys that had been traveling for nearly a year and still hadn't arrived...
Lorist wrote down a great many things he wanted to accomplish on the beast-hide paper: making glass, smelting steel, surveying mineral veins, building cities, clearing land, constructing roads, implementing an elite soldier policy, and more. With the convoy's armed forces combined with the family's military, they had roughly sixty to seventy thousand troops. Lorist planned to immediately implement a troop reduction policy upon returning to the family territory, discharging large numbers of able-bodied soldiers to become the main force of territorial development.
The reason so many young men had been conscripted now was to escort the convoy and refugees northward. In Lorist's view, maintaining a military-to-civilian ratio of one to twenty would be sufficient for the family's armed forces going forward. Forming an elite military force where every soldier had combat aura at the
In a few more years, once the family territory had been developed and a solid foundation laid, then perhaps Lorist would bring the entire Northland under his control. He remembered reading some biography in his previous life, with a quote he recalled clearly: without a reliable base, all ambitions are built on sand — a single strong wind can blow them down. This was quite similar to what Old Zhu did in Chinese history. Translated into classical Chinese, the principle was: build tall walls, stockpile ample grain, and delay declaring yourself king.
Lorist picked up his pen again and wrote "gunpowder" and "trebuchet" on the beast-hide paper. After returning to the family territory, he would see if he could manufacture these two great killing weapons. Galentea was dotted with fortresses everywhere, and relying solely on crossbow carts — whether for defense or assault — always had its shortcomings. With trebuchets and gunpowder, dealing with those heavily fortified castles and strongholds would be far simpler.
Like when Fatty Shi conquered over a hundred fortresses in Verbasia Province: first, relying on the crossbow carts and longbowmen of the war chariot corps for cover; second, the main assault force consisted of converted prisoner suicide battalions; and third, the territorial nobles' strength wasn't particularly formidable. But even so, the suicide battalion soldiers were replaced several times over, with total casualties exceeding ten thousand.
In the siege battles Lorist had fought, every victory had come through surprise raids, ambushes, and night attacks. The only frontal assault — on Beiye Town — had ended in failure. With these two great killing weapons, Lorist believed frontal assaults would no longer be a problem. Once the family territory's development was complete and he extended his claws toward the Northland, even fortresses as heavily defended as Lichidana Fortress would pose no challenge.
Now, trapped in Kebo City by the heavy snow and bitter cold, he finally had time for quiet contemplation...
He looked through the stack of beast-hide paper once more, thought for a moment, and added a few more lines. He wrote: cultural education, popularizing basic combat aura training, and papermaking.
Cultural education was simple — teaching people to read, write, and calculate. Many could speak the common tongue but couldn't write or read because they were illiterate. As commoners at the bottom of society, they spent their days working desperately just to feed themselves and their families, with no ability to give their children a proper education. Generation after generation lived on this way.
Popularizing basic combat aura training: the Norton Family territory was vast, but still faced threats from the mountain barbarians and magical beasts of the Demon Dragon Mountains. Only by popularizing basic combat aura and giving the common folk the ability to awaken their own combat aura could they have the power to protect themselves. Moreover, those who awakened combat aura would see significant improvements in physical strength, health, and lifespan. For the family, this was an excellent method to accelerate territorial development.
Finally, papermaking. Galentea didn't have the kind of paper from Lorist's previous life. All that was available was beast-hide paper. If one traced the origins, one could probably blame the magical civilization from thousands of years ago. It was said that mages used beast-hide paper — they crafted magic scrolls with it, recorded magical texts, and wrote magical books. This was because, according to legend, only beast-hide paper could bear text imbued with magical power. As a result, the mages never bothered inventing a cheaper paper for common folk.
The age of magical civilization had long since vanished, and now its glory could only be fantasized about in legends. But the craft of making beast-hide paper had been passed down. Of course, modern beast-hide paper differed from the legendary kind — it wasn't made from magical beast skin, but from cowhide, horsehide, sheepskin, and the like. The poorest quality was made from pigskin and rabbitskin.
Making beast-hide paper was simple — it was a very common craft. But making it well was difficult, because the process was incredibly tedious. Take sheepskin parchment, for example: first, the raw hide had to be cut into rectangular pieces and soaked in water for a day and night. Then it was removed, cleaned, and soaked in a limestone solution for about ten days, during which it had to be beaten and stirred with a stick three times a day. This process had to be repeated three times. After thirty days, it was taken out and dried in the sun. A small knife was used to scrape away blood vessels and meat scraps, turning it into a thin membrane of skin. Then it was soaked in a herbal pulp solution for two days, removed and air-dried, then polished smooth with pumice powder. A wooden frame was used to stretch and fix it straight, dried for three days to set its shape, and finally cut into standard-sized sheets of paper.
This was why books were so expensive on the Galentea Continent. If Lorist wanted to implement cultural education in the family territory, he had to find a paper that was easy to produce and cheap. Otherwise, the cost of beast-hide paper alone would be an astronomical figure that no single family could bear.
If he could produce white paper like in his previous life, he could not only popularize cultural education within the family territory but also market white paper as a flagship product across the entire continent. Like the newspapers in
Lorist had always believed that no dynasty lasted a thousand years and no family remained undefeated forever. In Galentea, people were accustomed to distinguishing others by place name or national origin — "Lorist from the Northland," "Fatty Shi from the Trinberg Kingdom," and so on. If he could make the refugees and convoy members feel proud to be Nortons, then Lorist would truly believe the Norton Family could endure for centuries to come.
What Lorist envisioned was using long-term propaganda and indoctrination to win the loyalty of the Northbound Convoy's people and the hundred thousand refugees to the Norton Family. In ancient China, there had been a great dynasty whose name ultimately became the name of a great people. Lorist wanted to make "Norton" a name that everyone in the family territory would take pride in — they would become Nortons, not Northlanders...
All of this depended on long-term publicity efforts. He could even compile the Northbound Convoy's journey into a historical record so that future generations would remember the hardships their forebears endured in blazing trails and making the trek. Lorist thought about a great deal, but the prerequisite for all of this was having cheap writing paper in place before cultural education could be launched, subtly instilling pride in the name "Norton." Therefore, producing white paper like in his previous life had become an extremely important matter in Lorist's eyes.
In his previous life as the manager of a small handicrafts workshop, Lorist had learned many practical skills — making glass, crafting model sailing warships, and even design work. But Lorist didn't know how to make paper. He only knew some of the principles and materials of papermaking, not the actual techniques and processes. Looking at the words "papermaking" written on the beast-hide paper, he sighed. Well, after returning to the family territory, he'd find a few workers and experiment slowly. There would surely be a day of success...
A gentle knock sounded at the door, and Lorist called out, "Come in."
Reidi pushed open the door and brought in a basin of hot water. "My lord, you're up awfully early. It's already six in the morning and still as dark as midnight out there."
Lorist washed his face. "Reidi, even though it's snowing outside and you're stuck training indoors, don't slack off. Cultivating martial techniques requires self-discipline and persistence — you can't be lazy. You've already reached Black Iron, Two Stars this year. I hope that in two more years you'll be able to advance to Silver rank."
"Yes, my lord. I understand," Reidi said.
"Oh, do I have any arrangements today?" Lorist asked.
Reidi thought for a moment and replied, "Yesterday, Knight Shrade said he'd go inspect the refugees' quarters around eight in the morning. You said you'd go along, my lord."
"Very well."
Reidi withdrew.
From six to seven-thirty in the morning was Lorist's unshakeable daily training time during his stay in Kebo City. He cycled through one grand cycle of the Gold-Water Art, then limbered up his limbs, and the time was up.
For Lorist, the most difficult thing now was that he couldn't gauge the progress of his cultivation. In his previous life, he had never reached the Dark Force stage — he had neither experienced it nor heard anyone discuss it, so he could only feel his way forward by trial and error. He was currently at the Dark Force level, but at which specific stage, he had no idea. Like that sudden epiphany at Maple Forest Manor when Lorist had released his... pent-up urges and felt his body and mind suddenly lighten — he had no idea what that was about. He only knew he must have taken a step forward.
Sometimes Lorist felt it was bizarre to use combat aura to cultivate the ancestral martial arts from his previous life, but so far he had discovered no downsides. On the contrary, his progress in the Gold-Water Art seemed almost too fast. He was quite confident in his own abilities — generally speaking, a Gold-rank combat aura practitioner would no longer be his match. He just wondered when he'd get the chance to spar with a Great Swordmaster to see how they compared. Lorist was filled with anticipation at the thought.
Kebo City wasn't large, and the Northbound Convoy's personnel and the hundred thousand refugees packed it to the brim. Fortunately, the Second Prince had transported away a third of the grain stores, freeing up nearly a hundred large granaries. Combined with the broad drying ground east of the city, they had managed to accommodate the one hundred and seventy to one hundred and eighty thousand people.
The snow was still falling. Lorist and Fatty Shi threw on black leather cloaks and followed the path cleared by patrol guards to the refugees' encampment for an inspection.
"Lorist, how did you ever think to build snow shelters first and then pitch the tents inside them? It really is warm — it solved the refugees' housing problem right away, saved materials and labor. It's incredibly convenient," Fatty Shi chatted as they walked. "You know, if we'd built temporary shelters out of wood, the continuous heavy snow would either collapse the roofs or require people to constantly clear them off. I never would have thought of using snow shelters — patting the snow down compact actually makes them sturdier."
Lorist replied, "Didn't you see me buying all those books at
"You—" Fatty Shi was rendered speechless with exasperation. "How could you do that? If you didn't know whether it was true or not, you shouldn't have just blurted it out. You got lucky this time. If it had been false, in weather this cold, people could have died."
Lorist chuckled. "I was pulling your leg. Who told you to refuse reading those miscellaneous books, always saying they were just stories authors made up to cheat people out of money, and that you'd never give those swindlers a single copper coin? Let me tell you — that was a real autobiography, the work of Kemen Preit, the greatest adventurer of a century ago. He drew a diagram of the snow shelter's structure on the final page, identical to what I sketched for you. Later, some enterprising people actually built these snow shelters in winter as an experiment and confirmed that they really are remarkably effective at retaining warmth."
"..."
After a while, Fatty Shi asked again, "Lorist, in a few days it'll be December thirty-sixth — the New Year's celebration. Do you have any plans?"
Lorist was silent for a moment. "Sigh. Last year on December thirty-sixth, we were celebrating at the Red Crow Tavern all night long. This year we're stuck in this distant Kebo City. Life really is full of unpredictable turns... How are you planning to handle it?"
"Yeah, last year none of us could have imagined we'd be in this situation — leading this many troops and a hundred thousand refugees northward... I was thinking, since we have plenty of grain, we could distribute some. Give everyone a pound of meat and a cup of wheat beer, and for the children, substitute candy and biscuits. What do you think?" Fatty Shi said.
Lorist nodded. "That's very thoughtful of you. Let's do just that. If the snow stops by then, we could also arrange some activities so everyone can have a happy New Year."
He looked up at the dark, overcast sky and let out a long breath of white vapor. "Just over a month more, and we can set out for home..."
... (To be continued.)