The sails on the masts of the grain ships billowed as they slowly crossed the strait, entering the port of the Kent Kingdom. Every day’s grain arrival was recorded by the local mages and reported directly to the Magic Council via the communication system of the Mage Tower.
At the council headquarters, a dedicated group of mages, accompanied by a team of accountants, was sweating over the calculations:
"500 tons of wheat arrived at Nevis Port!"
"200 tons of wheat and 100 tons of oats arrived at Inverness Port!"
"The capital received 800 tons of wheat, 300 tons of barley, and 150 tons of oats!"
"Blister Port received..."
These figures were continuously compiled and analyzed, leading to a series of rapid commands:
"The warehouses are insufficient! Within half a month, all Mage Towers must expedite the construction of new grain storage silos! The construction standard is 3,000 tons for small towns and 10,000 tons for county cities!"
"Authorize cent production! Grant learning permissions for spells like [Magic Missile], [Force Impact], [Earthquake], [Dragon’s Breath]! Free exchange for mages to participate in silo construction!"
"Deploy divination mages to every Mage Tower to locate groundwater depths and find suitable sites for silo construction! If a region is unsuitable, report imdiately for alternative plans!"
"Get those people in the Black Crow Swamp out of their tombs to help the Mage Towers dig cellars! It’s the busy farming season, hiring labor is inconvenient, and the skeletons are idle anyway!"
"What about fishing? How much can fishing sustain? Herring? Cod? Mullet?"
"Only 2,000 tons a year?! 2,000 tons is just enough to fill the bellies of the Nevis people! Find ways to expand fishery production! What do they need? More boats? More salt? Or lower taxes?"
"Massively import sea fish! Where are the most prosperous fishing areas nearby? The Netherlands? They produce 300,000 barrels of herring a year? How many pounds in a barrel?"
No one dared to laugh. In fact, from the Grand Mage who asked to the high-ranking mages, no one knew how many pounds were in a barrel of herring. Soone imdiately ran to inquire, and shortly, the number was reported:
"The size of the barrels varies significantly, ranging from 200 to 500 pounds depending on whether they’re used for cod, herring, pike, or sea eels."
The Grand Mage was about to glare. The clerk flipped a page of his docunts and quickly added:
"However, the Duke of the Netherlands standardized herring fishing, salting, and packaging rules, and barrel sizes over fifty years ago. A barrel of herring from the Netherlands weighs 360 pounds."
The Grand Mage finally breathed a sigh of relief. 300,000 barrels of herring a year, at 360 pounds per barrel, totals about 50,000 tons. If they could consu it all, each person could get about one pound of fish per month—
It’s not much, but at least it wouldn’t be completely insufficient.
"Import large quantities of salted fish from the Netherlands! Don’t let them sell to the Carolingian or Rhine Kingdoms! Exempt them from tariffs! The council will subsidize! Or trade with penicillin, pain-relieving scrolls, and other restricted export goods with the lords!" ℞Ἀ𝐍ǒ𝐁Êꞩ
"Increase sea salt production! Find new salt fields, rock salt mines, and increase refined salt production!"
"Reassign so of the navy to whale hunting! Render whale oil! Hunt seals and walruses, render their oil! These are excellent food sources; a spoonful of whale oil can fill the belly more than a pound of bread!"
"Open pastures, let farrs raise sheep and pigs..."
Orders were recorded and distributed to various departnts, flowing down like a river. One problem solved, and another urgent issue erged:
"Manure is still insufficient! The Kent Kingdom has about 8 million hectares of arable land and 14 million hectares of pasture. Without fertilizing the pastures, all manure, river mud, and biogas residue combined only suffice for half a season’s fertility for the arable land!"
"What about from the cities?"
"All Mage Towers have communicated with the lords to collect city waste, but the progress is slow. Besides places like Hartland City and Newster County where it’s already implented, the collection and composting is expected to be completed by the second half of the year."
"What about substitutes?"
"Peat has been tried, but it’s not suitable without treatnt. The thods for treatnt are still being tested by the Transmutation and Divination Schools, along with the priests of the God of Nature. The best thod hasn’t been found yet..."
"Accelerate their efforts! Send 1,000 basic ntal power potions to expedite the trials within half a month!"
"According to Nordmark’s paper, the Alchemy Guild tested 13,785 types of minerals in stock. The conclusion is that light halite and seawater production waste can be treated and used as potassium fertilizer."
Finally, so good news. The review committee mber exhaled in relief:
"What about the dostic mineral reserves? Are they sufficient? Do we have enough personnel for processing?"
"The reserves are adequate. Communication with the capital revealed several large rock salt mines with waste rock piles, which the royal family is willing to provide for our use. Local mages have already gone there. Elental testing and concentration asurents confirm it can supply a season’s potassium fertilizer."
Thank heavens, one-third of the problem solved. In the grand conference room, another committee mber raised their voice:
"What about phosphate fertilizer? And nitrogen fertilizer?"
"The best source of phosphate is bird droppings. We’ve mobilized farrs to scrape as much as possible from coastal rocks, but the stock is insufficient. However, we discovered a few deserted islands in the Storm Islands covered in bird droppings..."
The Grand Mages frowned deeply. The Storm Islands are occupied by the Radiant Church. Extracting bird droppings there ans potentially encountering the church.
Though they’re deserted islands with little chance of ship passage, excavation and loading are not quick tasks. The longer the ti, the higher the risk—
They exchanged glances. Finally, the leading Protection Mage cleared his throat:
"Any alternative solutions?"
"Bone al, bones, fish scales can substitute after ferntation, but the quantities are inadequate." The reporting mage flipped a page and quickened his pace:
"We estimated the at and fish consumption in Nevis City. These sources provide less than one percent of the phosphate demand. And sorting and classification is a huge problem."
"What about sea fish?"
"Insufficient shipping capacity. Sea fish are usually salted upon arrival. Using waste without washing can cause soil salinization."
It seed there was no other way. The mages looked at each other. The Protection Mage made the final decision:
"Then prioritize bird dropping extraction. Assign ten ocean-going vessels for transport. Stop carrying beaver pelts, cochineal, and other non-essentials. A famine is imminent!"
"Issue a procurent order and estimate a fair purchase price. Apart from the council’s navy, hire rchant ships for transport."
"How to extract? Earth-digging golems? Earthworms? Magic Missiles? Prepare a batch and estimate the quantity needed."
"Mages on board will receive increased contribution points and permissions. The council will grant access to a batch of mid-level spells. And explosives! Prepare so explosives too—"
"No increase in explosive production!" Another mage, standing beside the reporter, suddenly raised his head, his voice cracking:
"The main ingredient in explosives, saltpeter, is also the key ingredient for nitrogen fertilizer! The saltpeter shortage is severe! Very, very severe! The kingdom’s saltpeter mines have low production, barely enough for explosives. For nitrogen fertilizer... we’ve already..."
His voice lowered from a shout to normal volu, then to a murmur, and finally, silence. The Grand Mage frowned and pressed:
"Already what?"
"We’ve already..." The reporter stamred, blushing from chin to ears. Clearly, the reported thod shattered his worldview:
"We’ve already sent people to scrape the walls of toilets, the legs of temple chairs, and the floors of pigsties and cow stables..."
"......"
The white-robed Protection Mage silently turned his head. However, the Transmutation Mage at the end of the long table remained unfazed, having evidently heard of such thods before:
"Still not enough? So what’s your solution? Where are the larger saltpeter mines? Can we import from mainland nobles? Have you asked the dwarves and barbarians?"
"Asked already." The reporter’s face was bitter:
"The barbarians’ information is useless, and the dwarves’ explored mines have no saltpeter. The largest known saltpeter mine is far to the southwest of the New World, very far..."
The review committee fell silent. If it were bird droppings from the Storm Islands, they could steal them. But the New World’s southwestern saltpeter mine is entirely under the Radiant Church’s control.
Rhine Kingdom, Carolingian Kingdom, the council’s four governorates divide the southern continent and the stormy islands between them. Every port is their territory, and there is no way to pass through...
"What about buying?"
"Not enough quantity... Saltpeter is mainly used for ice production. Annual demand is low, so imports from the New World are minimal..."
The dangerous seas and limited shipping capacity present a major challenge. Shipping saltpeter only makes sense for high-value commodities, but transporting saltpeter in bulk...
Unless ship production and performance increase, and risks decrease, no one would spend precious shipping capacity on large quantities of saltpeter.
"This we have so progress on," Old
Sam of the Evocation School spoke softly beside the white-robed mage:
"Through extensive experints, we found that striking moist soil with lightning can introduce nitrogen from the air into the soil. We’re now trying to maximize elental guidance efficiency, possibly setting up more lightning rods..."
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