After Coren’s defeat, although Giant Stone Castle had been plundered of nearly all its wealth, so assets remained.
For instance, the ssage Bird Managent Station to the west remained. No one was bored enough to roast and eat the ssage birds, which had little at on them anyway.
Giant Stone City, Chishan Town, Shore City, and Wushan Castle could now communicate via ssage Bird, which allowed Macken and Ridder to get in touch at a mont’s notice.
Furthermore, if there was an ergency, they could contact Wubei Territory by way of Wushan Castle.
This roundabout thod was still a bit inconvenient. Ronin planned to have the ssage Bird Manager at Giant Stone Castle focus on establishing a bird route between Swamp Castle and Giant Stone Castle.
Before long, Macken ca galloping back on his warhorse. Behind him were Dandy and Civil Servant Sailin.
"My Lord, you’re finally here!"
Macken and Sailin quickly dismounted and bowed to Ronin.
Ronin looked them up and down. Several months had passed, and he could see a greater sense of independence about them.
’It seems they’ve grown quite a bit from handling all of Giant Stone City’s affairs on their own,’ Ronin thought.
"You can both stand on your own two feet now. Well done!"
Macken gave a simple, honest smile. "My Lord, you flatter us."
Sailin also bowed slightly. "My achievents today are all thanks to your trust and support, My Lord!"
He had once served Baron Reisen of Swamp Town. After the latter’s death, not only was he not shunned by Ronin, but he was placed in a position of great responsibility and appointed as the Civil Servant of Giant Stone City.
With Giant Stone City now stable, Sailin had entered Ronin’s inner circle, sothing he had never even dread of.
Because of this, he cherished the opportunity all the more.
"Alright, let’s not stand around talking out here."
After a few more pleasantries, the three of them entered Giant Stone Castle.
Although Ronin had never visited the castle since becoming the Lord of Giant Stone City, his personal quarters had been kept reserved for him.
In the main hall, Macken and Sailin reported on the general situation in Giant Stone City.
After an initial period of widespread panic, the city had now largely stabilized.
Violent conflicts still broke out from ti to ti, but such incidents had beco increasingly rare since Macken ford a Knight Squad.
"The overall strength of the Giant Stone City Knight Squad isn’t high. Besides myself, there’s only one Advanced Level Knight and two Interdiate Knights. The other six are all Basic Level."
Macken continued, "However, with these n, plus our Archers, Infantry, and Cavalry, we have more than enough to maintain order both inside and outside Giant Stone City."
A Knight Squad might not seem large with only 118 n, but they held an absolute advantage over common folk.
Barring any large-scale riots, this number was more than enough to quell any unrest.
But Ronin said, "One Knight Squad isn’t enough. You can expand your recruitnt as the situation allows."
Based on the standard configuration of ten Knight Squads per Knight Order, Ronin planned to station three squads in Wubei Territory, two on Rapids Island, and a combined five for Giant Stone City and Chishan Town.
Shore City had a Knight Order from Wushan Castle deployed there. With the addition of his five Knight Squads, the defensive power on the southwest border of Wushan Territory would beco formidable.
However, forming so many Knight Squads could not be accomplished overnight.
Even though Ronin now had his own iron mines, Blacksmiths, and the Ironwood Forest to provide weapons and equipnt, issues like warhorses for the Cavalry, logistics personnel, wages, and provisions all needed to be coordinated.
Expanding blindly all at once would also create significant problems.
Next, Ronin and Macken seriously discussed the matter of raising an army in Giant Stone Territory. They decided to prioritize training the Infantry, while taking a slower approach to fielding the Cavalry and Professional Knights.
To have these five Knight Squads fully equipped and combat-ready within two years—this was the preliminary plan the two of them established.
"My Lord, these are the population ledgers for Giant Stone City and Chishan Town, as well as an account of the local resources."
Sailin, who had just returned, walked over holding several simply-bound notebooks. This was the paper he had brought with him from Swamp Town, and it was now almost gone.
"You can request any grain, paper, or other resources that Giant Stone City and Chishan Town are short on from Wilson and Chahar, but everything must be recorded," Ronin said, taking the notebooks.
Although all this wealth was essentially his, he didn’t personally manage all the accounts.
Therefore, the transfer of resources between his territories still required detailed ledgers.
"I understand, my lord!"
Sailin replied respectfully, "Rogner’s transport teams travel between Wubei Territory and Giant Stone City. We generally have him transport anything we need."
The mont the ledgers were in his hands, a line of text appeared before Ronin’s eyes:
["Siege and Conquest" Achievent Unlocked. Attribute Points 1000, Energy Essence 2000]
This ant Ronin now possessed five towns with populations over ten thousand, fulfilling the achievent’s requirent.
Ronin checked his achievent interface.
He had intended to see how many cities the next stage required, but he discovered the description for the Siege and Conquest achievent had changed:
[Siege and Conquest]: Possess a large city with a population exceeding 100,000. Reward: Attribute Points 2000, Energy Essence 4000.
The reward was substantial, but the requirent was just as demanding.
A population of 100,000 wouldn’t even asure up to a small county town in modern tis, but in this world, such a city was a rarity.
One of the main reasons was insufficient food production, which restricted population growth. Poor dical and sanitary conditions, as well as frequent warfare, were also major contributing factors.
Still, Ronin was quite confident he could complete this achievent.
The population of the four towns in Wubei Territory had already reached fifty-five thousand. In the future, if he established Wubei City near the port and incorporated those four towns, he would only be about forty-odd thousand people short of a hundred thousand.
Even without bringing in more people, just by relying on his current policies to encourage childbirth and the fact that farrs had more surplus grain, the population of Wubei Territory was bound to grow.
Reaching one hundred thousand was only a matter of ti.
Coming back to his senses, Ronin flipped through the notebook where Sailin had recorded Giant Stone City’s resources.
Compared to Wubei Territory, this area was relatively poor in resources.
Sailin had surveyed the state of the farmland around Giant Stone City. The arable land between the mountains barely produced enough grain each year for the city to be self-sufficient, but it fell far short of what was needed to also support Chishan Town’s consumption.
However, Sari Town and Casier Town, located near the Altai River, were more productive in grain. Their lords, Philip and Solstein, had fought alongside Ronin, so buying from them shouldn’t be a problem.
Besides grain, Giant Stone City’s most abundant resource was its stone quarries.
Unfortunately, the local people preferred to build houses out of wood, as it was easier to harvest. As a result, the stone quarries were not considered particularly valuable or useful.
Ronin read through the report carefully. The quarries here all contained non-tallic ores. Besides common granite, there was also listone, quartz, and various colored mineral ores.
’Giant Stone City still has great future potential.’
Stone could perhaps beco one of Giant Stone City’s sources of inco in the future.
’I wonder if there’s any phosphate rock here. If there is, I could consider producing phosphate fertilizer later on to further boost the territory’s grain yield.’
Although Wubei Territory currently had organic manure and swamp muck for fertilizer, they weren’t as effective as chemical fertilizers.
Unfortunately, producing chemical fertilizer was a complex industrial chemical process requiring precise control.
Perhaps, in the long years to co, he would be able to replicate chemical fertilizer in this world. But for a long ti until then, compost would remain the primary thod.
Ronin closed the resource ledger and said to Sailin, "When you have a mont, have Potter Jim from Grey Soil Village co to Giant Stone City to survey the area. There should be mineral materials here that can be used to make glazes."
Sailin’s eyes lit up.
Porcelain, glazes... He had heard about them from Wilson and knew they were a specialty product of Wubei Territory—and a profitable one at that.
If the stone from Giant Stone City could be used to help make porcelain, it would surely beco an additional source of revenue for the city.
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