Over the span of two months, the valley had undergone considerable changes. First, Master Farin had relocated his crossbow workshop to the vicinity of the valley and was currently testing a row of physical prototypes on the hillside, all built according to Lorist's design for the wheeled ballista. Every so often, he would huddle together with Old Master Yulian, muttering away in consultation.
Second, a row of water-powered drop hammers had appeared beneath the waterfall on the cliff face. They ranged from simple to highly complex in design, suggesting they had been modified and improved upon after the original installations were built.
When Lorist arrived, both Master Farin and Old Master Yulian were delighted to see him.
Master Farin rushed over to report. "My lord, the spring steel strips you requested have been produced. We've already built a series of wheeled ballistae using them and conducted testing. We've finalized the specifications—"
Old Master Yulian simply grinned away, revealing the gaps where his teeth were missing.
"Good, I'm very satisfied. Reidi, reward Master Farin and Old Master Yulian with one hundred gold Fordes each. The rest of the meritorious personnel shall receive ten each." When it came to technical talents, Lorist had never been stingy.
"Thank you, my lord. But please, look—these are the actual prototypes built from your wheeled ballista blueprints. During testing, we discovered two issues..." Master Farin said.
The wheeled ballista Lorist had designed was not entirely made of steel. Besides the bow arms, which used spring steel strips, the eccentric wheel and spanning lever mechanism were also steel. Everything else was still wood construction.
"Oh? What issues?" Lorist asked.
"My lord, using spring steel strips for the bow arms allowed the ballista bolts to reach a direct-fire range of over 320 to 350 meters, with an error margin of under two meters. During testing, however, we found that the traditional wooden-shaft bolts tended to drift in flight. The center of gravity was unstable, which was the primary cause of aiming error. So we produced some iron-shaft bolts. While the direct-fire range dropped to between 280 and 300 meters, the error in aiming and hitting the target fell to within half a meter. The only drawback is that iron-shaft bolts cost twice as much as wooden ones. So the question of which type of bolt this steel wheeled ballista should use is for you to decide, my lord," Master Farin explained.
"Which type of bolt is more powerful?" Lorist asked.
"The iron-shaft bolts, of course," Master Farin replied.
"Then use iron-shaft bolts exclusively. Set up a dedicated bolt workshop, and put Old Master Yulian in charge of it," Lorist said, settling the matter with a single stroke.
"The second issue is that the bowstrings for these steel wheeled ballistae are consumed at an alarming rate. The old wooden ballistae could fire over twenty bolts before the string needed replacing, but with these new ones using steel strip bow arms, the vibration after each shot is extremely violent, causing severe damage to the bowstring. After only seven or eight bolts, the string needs to be replaced. However, Old Master Yulian and I are currently working on a new type of bowstring made from steel wire reinforced with ox sinew and animal hair. It should be finalized shortly," Master Farin reported on the second issue.
"Excellent work. Master Farin, Old Master Yulian, I have every confidence in your abilities. The new steel wheeled ballistae are in your hands. Finalize the design as soon as possible and begin mass production. It's the end of July now—before October, I want three thousand steel ballistae ready. That will give us much better odds against the magic beast tide," Lorist nodded and said.
"We won't let you down, my lord," Master Farin answered.
Watching Master Farin continue directing his apprentices and sub-apprentices in testing the steel ballistae, Lorist looked around and then asked Old Master Yulian, "Where's Master Cid?"
Old Master Yulian pointed toward the waterfall. "My lord, ever since you designed that water-powered drop hammer, Master Cid has become utterly obsessed with machinery. See those over there? All modified by him. Right now he's designing a water-powered wire-drawing machine, planning to use water power to draw the steel wire needed for making fitted chain mail..."
Lorist burst into hearty laughter. "Wonderful. Master Cid has a quick mind—to think of something like that. Reidi, don't forget to award Master Cid one hundred gold Fordes as well, and ten each for his subordinates..."
"Yes, my lord."
...
After playing the role of the generous benefactor for a while, Lorist returned to Rockfort Castle in great satisfaction. He spent a few intimate days with Lady Tresti before finally remembering his actual duties. He dragged himself out of his cozy nest and ordered Reidi to summon Doles from the war chariot squad.
"My lord, why? What did we do wrong? Why are you dissolving the war chariot squad?" Doles was struck dumb by the blow. His lips trembled as he teetered on the verge of tears—after all, building the war chariot squad had cost him the better part of his heart and soul.
It was no wonder Doles reacted this way. Lorist's orders were: hand over the twelve small wheeled ballistae to Commander Erel's guard battalion, select the best batch from the remaining three hundred-odd city-defense ballistae and seal them in storage alongside the White Lion Legion's siege ballistae, and sell off the rest.
In Doles's mind, could the war chariot squad even survive without those ballistae? Eyes brimming with tears, Doles was so heartbroken he was nearly wailing aloud.
Lorist, on the other hand, was so annoyed he almost laughed. Where had Doles's mind wandered off to?
"Doles! Doles!" Lorist snapped.
"I'm here..." Doles said, looking at Lorist with a miserable face.
"After you seal up those ballistae and hand them over to Steward Sperel, you are to immediately begin recruiting. Within three months, expand the war chariot battalion into a full war chariot legion—five battalions in total, each with five hundred ballistae and twenty-five hundred men. Complete the reorganization before October, then receive the new steel ballistae. I've already transferred over a dozen family knights to serve in your war chariot legion. All equipment has been inventoried and is ready for you to sign off on. When the magic beast tide comes this winter, your war chariot legion will be the main force against it. Don't you dare drop the ball on me. Understood?"
"My—my lord, you're not dissolving the war chariot squad, you're expanding it into a war chariot legion?" Doles was now so euphoric he couldn't tell which way was north.
"That's right, you fool. Did you actually understand what I said or not?" Lorist asked helplessly, staring at Doles.
"I—I understood, my lord! I'll get right to it!" Doles scrambled out in a panic, then poked his head back through the doorway. "My lord—is it really true that that many new ballistae are being allocated to us?"
Lorist nodded. "Of course it's true. And their performance is far superior to your old city-defense ballistae. That's precisely why I'm having you seal those old ones away."
"Whoo-hoo!" Doles let out a cheer and dashed off joyfully.
"That idiot..." Lorist shook his head and lowered it back to the accumulated reports on his desk.
...
Up until August, the family's territories remained relatively peaceful, with good news coming one after another. The potatoes planted in April had been harvested in July, yielding over 170 million pounds—a welcome supplement to the family's grain reserves. Next up, a batch of millet and sorghum planted in May would be harvested in September. With favorable weather throughout the year, it would be another bountiful harvest. Even though the planted area wasn't large enough to fully offset the food consumption of over five hundred thousand people, any harvest at all was good news.
In addition, the sweep of the remaining magic beasts on Fengle Plains had concluded at the end of June. Once again, over a hundred thousand magic beasts had become the family territory's source of meat. According to reports, magic beast meat stewed with potatoes had become the most beloved dish on Fengle Plains. However, the campaign had still cost several hundred family soldiers in casualties—those killed and wounded while hunting the carnivorous magic beasts. If not for the large number of Gold Knights and Silver Knights in the family's ranks, the toll would likely have been far worse.
Lorist believed, however, that next year, once Doles's war chariot legion was also deployed in the beast sweep campaign, family soldier casualties would drop dramatically. Reading through Bodfanger's report, he noted that apart from
Old Man Barek, as the head of the family's mining and industrial department, submitted the most reports—and reported the most good news. First, the salt-drying fields in the Blade Mountains were now mass-producing high-quality table salt, enough not only to fully meet the family's own needs but also to serve as a key product for external trade. Second, the Vine Glue Valley was also producing green vine glue in large quantities, though all of it was currently being supplied to the construction of Fengle Plains's defense facilities. According to the territory's development plan, demand for green vine glue would exceed supply for at least the next five years. They might even need to import some from outside.
What satisfied Lorist most was the brisk progress of the consumer goods workshops that Old Man Barek was in charge of. Over fifty thousand people were now working in these processing facilities. The largest was the beast hide paper workshop, which already employed nearly ten thousand laborers. Thanks to the magic beast culls, the workshop had produced one hundred thousand sheets of specification-grade beast hide paper over the past six months. Statistics projected that by year's end, total production would reach five hundred thousand sheets, with a commercial value of over twenty thousand gold Fordes. This effectively alleviated the shortage and consumption of administrative paper across the family's territory.
For the remaining consumer goods production workshops, Old Man Barek had adopted a strategy of fostering competition—maintaining two workshops per industry, each with its distinctive products to ensure survival while competing with the other on other products. The ceramics workshops, for example, numbered two: one focused primarily on producing small plates and bowls, while the other specialized in large ceramic basins and vats, thereby preventing any single workshop from monopolizing an entire industry.
Although these newly established consumer goods workshops across the family's territory were still small and fledgling, the fact that they could meet the daily needs of over five hundred thousand people was already remarkable. Once stability took hold, these small workshops would naturally develop further. As long as they could produce distinctive products, they would eventually become important items in the family's external trade.
Next, Lorist reviewed the reports submitted by the family's three major departments. Codan, the head of the personnel department, had submitted a special report praising one of his subordinate administrators in the strongest terms, strongly recommending that this administrator be promoted to serve as his deputy.
Reading the report, Lorist had to suppress a smile—because this administrator's name was Camola.
The former Baron Camola, stripped of his title by Duke
Lorist noted at the bottom of the report that Camola was to be retained and placed under close observation. In time, an important task would be entrusted to him.
The last to submit a report was
As the family's future center for weapons and armaments production, over forty thousand people—including all relevant production personnel and their families—had been settled in the industrial city, where construction of production bases and residential areas was underway. Mountain City had been planned by Fatty Shi as a semi-industrial, semi-agricultural zone. Most of the consumer goods workshops had been located there, and the families of miners working the various quarries in the Morgan Hills had also beenled there. Combined with nearly thirty thousand agricultural workers, Mountain City had already become the most populous town in the
The once-bustling immigrant camp behind Rockfort Castle, which had housed over fifty thousand people, had been whittled down through multiple waves of relocation to only about forty thousand—relatives of the family's soldiers. The rear city that Fatty Shi had planned was being built right on the former camp's site, and it was the slowest area of construction. However, over a hundred thousand mu of wasteland outside the rear city had already been reclaimed. Fatty Shi's plan was to vigorously develop irrigation facilities next year, and by the year after, this area would become the great granary of the family's territory.
...
When Tagel entered, Lorist was reading a report about the mountain barbarians.
Perhaps because the retreating magic beast tide had left behind many beast herds and carnivorous magic beasts near the Demon Dragon Mountains, the border area between those mountains and the family's territory had not suffered any raids from the mountain barbarians in the first half of the year. The Five Swords Mercenary Corps stationed at the military fortress between the two mountain ranges reported that while many traces of mountain barbarians had been detected, most were engaged in hunting. No signs of a large-scale mountain barbarian incursion into family territory had yet been found.
Lorist gave a soft hum of displeasure. In the second half of last year, the mountain barbarians had launched a thousand-man assault on the military fortress, intending to dislodge this that controlled the deep valley waterway. The Five Swords Mercenary Corps had lost thirteen members in that battle, but their signal smoke had summoned Jossk's mounted archer battalion and Pakchiko's garrison company. Caught in a pincer attack, the mountain barbarians had suffered heavy losses, abandoning half their dead before retreating. Lorist hoped they still remembered last year's lesson. The family's priority right now was the magic beast tide—once that was dealt with, it would be their turn.
"My lord, I've returned," Tagel said, bowing respectfully.
"Oh? How did things go on your end?" Lorist set down the report in his hand and asked.
During the inspection tour of Fengle Plains in the first half of the year, Lorist had led a team to survey the isthmus that Tagel had suggested using to lure and divert magic beasts. He had been quite impressed. Tagel knew of this place because, having joined
"It's been completed. Once the first snow of winter falls, we can reinforce the defensive wall we've set up ahead of the passage. I guarantee that once the magic beasts enter the isthmus, they won't be able to get out," Tagel replied.
Lorist stood up, walked over to Tagel, and patted him on the shoulder. "Well done. When this year's magic beast tide arrives, we can put the plan into action. Whether we can bring stability to the family's territory as quickly as possible depends on whether this succeeds. Tagel, keep at it—once you reach the Silver tier, I'll take you on as a family knight."
"Thank you, my lord, for your patronage," Tagel said.