Chapter 1159 - 182: Ambitious Grand Plan (2)

Chapter 1159: Chapter 182: Ambitious Grand Plan (2)

But there are also Lords who value agriculture, personally overseeing production and regarding farming and harvest as more important than anything else.

And Su Li’s prestige in the Hesse Territory has, without doubt, already reached an unquestioned peak, flourishing like the noonday sun. Whatever he wishes to do, no one dares oppose him; on the contrary, many will actively help smooth the way for him.

With his single command, this year’s grand undertaking of spring plowing in the Territory officially began!

By now, the Territory is no longer that simple, low?key handicraft operation it once was.

Vandar personally led Su Li up onto the embankment of Bjorn Shallow Bay, pointed downward, and said, "Lord, this year we’ve prepared 700 Halfling harvest machines. The farmlands of Bjorn Shallow Bay and Maiden’s Ring can be completely plowed in just two to three days; after that, we can devote all our time to opening up new wasteland fields."

"This year we have a grand plan: we intend to draw off 1,000 Dwarf Engineers and 3,000 slaves, plus a 1,000?strong Ogre construction team, to expand Lake Reiflin to more than fifty li in size! At the same time, we’ll increase the fields beneath Bjorn Shallow Bay and Maiden’s Ring to over 5,000 qing."

Hearing this, Su Li raised his brows and said, "This truly is a grand plan worthy of being called ambitious. Are you confident you can pull it off?"

He followed Vandar’s pointing hand and looked down. Against the backdrop of slaves sweating as if raining, the roaring of the Halfling farm machinery had become the most striking main melody. Those "Combat Rams" heavy plowing machines, painted in bright colors and adorned with fresh branches and ribbons, galloped crisscross across the level valley fields. Six rows of Fine Steel plow teeth, gleaming with a cold light, bit deep into the soil, shredding and overturning stubborn clods in an instant like a hot knife through butter, leaving behind straight furrows of dark brown earth, exuding the fragrance of soil.

The 700 Halfling "Combat Rams" heavy plowing machines advanced in formation under the sunlight, six rows of steel teeth turning up rich black?oily loam. Each machine was operated by two serfs, one Halfling driver, and two Combat Rams draped in colored silk. In one hour it could plow ten mu of standard furrows.

The waters of Lake Reiflin were lifted twenty meters by waterwheels and flowed down along spiral grass?lined channels; Spiritual Energy from the Dawn Goddess mingled in the water, and wherever it passed, the soil gave off a faint glow.

Priestesses of the Dawn Church, dressed in plain long robes and holding young oak branches and silver Holy Water Bottles symbolizing abundance, guided the serfs as they worked the furrows, softly chanting prayers of blessing.

"When the whip falls, it is winter,

When the Golden Crown rises, it is spring.

Wheat awns are sharper than swords,

Freedom is sweeter than blood."

Clear, Divine voices echoed above the furrows, making the work of farming feel especially full of hope and tranquility.

Listening, Su Li’s lips also curved upward; he felt this song was very much like an old Music Bureau ballad, fitting the rhythms of folk songs sung between the furrows. The fusion of farming and folk song was making the Hesse Territory appear more and more civilized and prosperous.

Vandar, meanwhile, replied in high spirits, "We are fully confident about this grand plan. The key is that these two tasks can be carried out simultaneously. Last year, we blasted open a section of Lake Reiflin’s embankment, extending the fields below Bjorn Shallow Bay several li to the east, bringing the area up to 2,800 qing."

"With that foundation, we’re especially confident. This year our speed and efficiency will far surpass last year’s; we’re certain we can reach a scale of 5,000 qing!"

"The only problem is, we’re worried that once Lake Reiflin’s area is greatly enlarged, the concentration of Spiritual Energy in the water will be diluted."

Su Li pondered briefly, then replied, "Your planning is excellent—better to first build up the lake and then wait for Magic Tide Pearls, than to wait until we have the Magic Tide Pearls and only then start digging the lake. As for the Pearls, leave that to me. You just carry out the plan as laid out."

The reason Lake Reiflin possessed such powerful Spiritual Energy, apart from its special location, lay mainly in the Extraordinary creatures raised in its depths, which infused the entire lake with Spiritual Energy.

Duin Claw was one such creature, and the Magic Tide Clams were another. Over the whole of last year, Su Li obtained three Magic Tide Pearls, two of which had been delivered by Philis.

Therefore, if the scale of Lake Reiflin was to be increased by nearly half this year while still maintaining its status as a Holy Land, the number of Magic Tide Pearls had to be increased.

But this sort of thing could only be encountered by chance, not sought deliberately; whether there was an opportunity depended on sheer luck.

Su Li planned to take this trip to Marle Castle as an opportunity to see if he could purchase a few Pearls there.

As he considered this, Vandar said excitedly, "With your promise, Lord, we can boldly press on with development. We plan to turn the land beneath Maiden’s Ring into a planting area for Extraordinary Wheat Seeds, while shifting the ordinary wheat fields eastward as far as possible."

Just as in Vandar’s plan, the primary Extraordinary Wheat Seeds grown here beneath Maiden’s Ring were Steel Wheat Seeds. While they spoke, Dawn Nuns had already led large numbers of slaves to the newly opened good fields to prepare for sowing these Extraordinary Seeds.

Beneath the mound of Maiden’s Ring, beside a tract of land specially demarcated, close to the water source and with the most abundant sunlight, the atmosphere was noticeably more solemn. Nun Isabella personally led several High-tier Priestesses; their expressions were grave as they carefully opened a sealed oak box lined with lead plates. Inside lay Steel Wheat Seeds, each one gleaming with a strange metallic luster, its edges sharp as a blade.

Each seed was wrapped by the Priestesses in a soft cloth soaked with water from Lake Reiflin and the Dawn Church’s holy dew, then, wearing thick leather gloves, slaves scattered them into the furrows—already treated with special fertilizer—with a care bordering on pilgrimage. The Father of Grains, Poleviks, had been temporarily moved to the edge of this test field; the little faces on their wheat stalks "watched" these unusual kin in curiosity, their bloodthirsty Runes faintly flashing, as if instinctively sensing the extraordinary "sharpness" contained in these seeds. The Stone?vein steward had quietly piled a row of small stone mounds along the edge of the furrows, silently reinforcing this land that bore both hope and risk.