"The harvest this time is not bad." Laurist said with satisfaction.
Laurist was currently in the Black Forest's hill that produced gold. He was currently in the secret vault of the Mountain Barbarian tribe called Valisingo. Under Aire and Redi's lead, the guards had already taken over the Mountain Barbarian camp in the early morning. The Valisingo tribe had become one of the many Mountain Barbarian tribes that had been exterminated. Even though the Mountain Barbarian tribe had two powerful priests, the greatest reason for the Valisingo tribe's extermination was because of their wealth. The two powerful priests had already become ghosts under Laurist's sword.
The cave in front of him was filled with all sorts of crude objects made of gold. Some were large, some were small, and all of them had strange shapes. Under the light of the torches, they shone with a dazzling golden light. A rough estimate put the value of the gold objects in the cave at around two million gold coins.
"Why would the Mountain Barbarians use gold to make these strange objects?" Laurist picked up a crude golden axe. It was very heavy, and he swung it around a few times. "This thing isn't very practical."
"Your Highness, according to the old Mountain Barbarian slave who made these gold objects, these objects need to be carefully polished. In the end, they are traded by other Mountain Barbarian tribes as offerings to the Mountain God Kupavisen." Shihuard quickly answered Laurist's question.
From the perspective of the Mountain Barbarian tribes, gold was the most useless thing. It could not be eaten, nor could it be used to forge weapons. Moreover, the trade between the Mountain Barbarian tribes was usually through barter. It was said that in ancient times, gold was similar to stone in the eyes of the Mountain Barbarians. However, when they discovered that they could use gold to exchange for very good and practical goods from the traders of the Plains, the price of gold immediately rose. Soon, it replaced superior weapons and became the most valuable offering to the Mountain God.
Since the discovery of the gold mines in the hills, the Warisingo tribe had become one of the wealthiest mountain barbarian tribes. They made gold offerings and sold them to other mountain barbarian tribes in exchange for a large number of slaves to mine for the gold mines. They also bought food and livestock, so their lives were very good. This could be seen from the small thatched huts that the people of the tribe lived in and the gold ornaments that they wore. The tribe had even paid a large sum of money to two high priests to prevent other mountain barbarian tribes from coveting the gold mines in their territory.
But now, everything they owned had become the spoils of war of the Norton Family. Perhaps the long years of sitting back and enjoying the fruits of others' labor and living a comfortable and wealthy life had worn away the Valisingo Tribe's competitive and arrogant temperament. After the two high priests fell under Laurist's sword, the tribe leader's cowardice finally won the upper hand. He obediently ordered the tribe's warriors to lay down their weapons and surrender to the guards, handing over the land that was rich in gold.
"We didn't lose anything in the war against the Mountain Barbarians, and we made a lot of money. I'm sure Manager Spear will be very happy. By the way, when will Master Sid arrive? "Laurist asked.
Master Sid came to explore the gold content and stock of this hill. Only after he confirmed whether the gold mine had development value could the family decide whether to continue to invest in the gold mine and build defensive facilities such as castles, fortresses, and so on. If it was a poor mine or the gold mine had almost been mined by the Warisingo tribe, then the family's plan was to make a profit and leave. After a few years, when this place was once again occupied by another mountain barbarian tribe for gold mining, the family's armed forces would come to attack once in a while to get some gold to spend, in the glorified name of collecting gold mining tax.
"Your Highness, it's not that fast. We just occupied this place in the morning, and the messenger left less than half a day ago. It will take at least four to five days for a round trip. Also, the road in the Black Forest is not easy to travel through. Brother El has already organized the mountain barbarian captives to cut down trees in the Black Forest to open a road, "Shiwald complained. Last night, in order to achieve the goal of the surprise attack, he had fallen a few times in the dark in the Black Forest.
"Oh, sorry, I was too happy and forgot." Laurist shrugged and threw the golden axe back into the pile of gold objects. He turned around and walked out. "Alright, let's go out. Seal the door and let Spear check it when she arrives. Just tell me how much it's worth. "
If it was an ordinary battle, there would be people to check the value of the spoils of war. But if it was more than a million gold and gold coins, then Spear would have to do it personally. As the chief housekeeper of the Norton Family's finances, Spear was overjoyed to learn that the family had taken over the gold mine and seized a lot of gold products. She hurried through the night and arrived at the campsite on the third day, regardless of the arduous journey.
"Your Highness, all the gold items seized are valued at a total of 2.32 million gold coins." After Spear reported to Laurist, she regretfully expressed that the family's armed forces had attacked too late. If it had been the year before, the spoils of war would have been several times more. According to the captive mountain barbarian slaves who made gold objects, the Walisingo Tribe had made countless gold offerings to trade with other mountain barbarian tribes during the Kupavisen Festival of the Mountain God last year. At the same time, they had also made a three-meter-tall gold statue of the Mountain God and offered it to Mount Smolmegen. In order to transport the statue, they had used nearly a thousand cows …
"What a waste. They used gold to make such a huge statue and used the traded cows to transport it. At the same time, the thousands of mountain barbarian warriors who helped to escort the statue ate and drank to their heart's content along the way. When they reached the Holy Land, the rest of the cows were slaughtered for blood sacrifice. The nearly a thousand cows that were exchanged with countless gold offerings were consumed just like that. What a waste of gold offerings worth millions of gold coins!" Spear said indignantly.
Laurist didn't take Spear's words seriously. If they had really attacked the Walisingo Tribe to rob the gold mine the year before, it would have been terrible. Robbing the gold offerings that the Walisingo Tribe had traded with other mountain barbarian tribes for the Mountain God was like poking a giant hornet's nest. That would have made them the enemy of millions of mountain barbarians in the Demonic Dragon Mountain Range. All the mountain barbarian tribes would see the Norton Family as their enemy. The family's armed forces could easily deal with an army of more than a hundred thousand mountain barbarians, but no one could stand a million mountain barbarians invading the family's territory. Even if they seized millions of gold coins, the loss outweighed the gain.
"By the way, Director Spear, remember to give Mayor Dubeuf 10% of the loot, which is 232,000 gold fords. That's the bonus I promised him," Loriste said to Director Spear as he remembered something.
Spear was a little hesitant. "Your Highness, isn't that too much? We could just give Mayor Dubeuf ten or twenty thousand gold coins to make him grateful. He doesn't know how much we seized …"
Laurist shook his head with a smile. "Do as I say. You can fool people, but you can't fool the gods. Although the 10% dividend is huge and valuable, it's nothing compared to the reputation of the Norton Family. Honesty is the foundation, and we have to keep our promises. Otherwise, if we covet Mayor Dubeuf's dividend today, we may covet the pension of the soldiers who fought bravely for the family tomorrow … That will shake the foundation of the family. Do you understand, Spear? "
"Your Highness, I was wrong." Spear lowered her head in shame.
"Spear, I don't blame you. You're the chief steward of the family's finances, and you're in charge of all the expenses of the family. You're honest, and I believe in your character and integrity. Besides, you're thinking for the family, and you're not coveting the dividend for yourself. After all, the Norton Family is a big family now, and the expenses of the family have increased greatly because of the war in the past two years. I've seen your efforts to balance the expenses for the family's finances, and I admire your attitude of thinking for the family. But you can't deal with some things from a financial point of view. Otherwise, it's easy to be blinded by a leaf and miss the beautiful scenery. Do you understand what I mean? " Laurist said earnestly, which was a warning to Spear, who was becoming more and more miserly.
"I understand what you mean, Your Highness. I promise I'll give the dividend to Mayor Dubeuf, not a single copper coin less. "
"Good. I'll leave it to you. Also, please tell Mayor Duboff that after this war, the Mountain Barbarian tribe will suffer a great loss of vitality, and there will be a long period of peace. Therefore, the family has decided to officially put Twin Mountain Towns under the jurisdiction of the territory. As the mayor of Twin Mountain Towns, his performance in the past ten years has been outstanding. Ask him if he wants to continue being the mayor of Twin Mountain Towns or join the administrative ranks of the Norton Family. The family's sphere of influence is expanding, and we need administrative officials like him to serve the family. I don't think a talented person like him should be left as the mayor of Twin Mountain Towns. Tell him my words. The family will not mistreat talented and loyal people who serve the family … "
"Yes, Your Highness. I'll tell Mayor Dubeuf your evaluation and expectations of him. I believe he'll make a wise choice," Spear answered sincerely.
After another two days, the weary Master Sid finally arrived at the hill camp with his disciples.
Without taking a break, Master Sid commanded his disciples to carefully survey and measure the entire hilly area and the mine where the gold mine was located. Moreover, Master Sid spared no effort to personally go down to the mine to check the distribution of the gold vein. After three days of hard work, Laurist received the survey report of the gold mine.
"Congratulations, Your Highness. This is a rich gold mine. The gold that has been mined is only one-tenth of this gold mine. According to what I learned from the mining slaves, the Mountain Barbarians who originally occupied this area could only mine less than 500,000 gold fords each year because of their primitive mining and alchemy technology.
If the Norton Family can invest more in the latest mining equipment and alchemy technology, I estimate that we can mine and refine gold worth 1.5 to 2 million gold fords each year, and it's estimated that we can continue mining for nearly a hundred years. This is great news for our family. " Master Sid was very happy. Ever since he was conferred the title of Viscount by Laurist and was given a viscount territory in the Delemke province, he had been proud of being a member of the Norton Family.
Now that the Norton Family had such a rich gold mine, Master Sid was also very happy. Now that the family had money, Laurist would continue to support him in all kinds of experiments and inventions. Every year, only he and Professor Bob from the gunpowder laboratory received 100,000 gold fords as research funds. These were the only two special grants in the family, and they were kept secret. While enjoying this special treatment, Master Sid was often on tenterhooks, fearing that one day the family would cut down on these two expenses due to financial difficulties. He had always been used to spending extravagantly on experiments, and he always wanted to use one of his inventions to raise his title to a higher level ….
"Thank you, Master Sid. You have brought us good news." Laurist smiled happily. The news of being able to mine a rich gold mine for nearly a hundred years and earn an additional one or two million gold fords each year could not be better. Director Spear, who was standing at the side, was so happy that she could not close her mouth.
He really didn't expect that there would be such a huge gold vein under this nameless hill in the Black Forest. Even though the Fisablon Family had spent a lot of effort to occupy the Jinchuan region, which was rich in gold mines, the annual income from the gold mines was only slightly more than a million gold coins. Now that the Norton Family had a gold mine that was not inferior to the entire Greater and Lesser Jinchuan area, how could they not be overjoyed?
"I have decided. From now on, this hill will be called the Golden Ridge. The Golden Ridge. What do you all think?" Laurist gave the nameless hill a name with satisfaction.
No one had any objections. Director Spear chimed in. "Your Highness, this name is truly worthy of the name. This is indeed a mountain ridge filled with gold. However, Your Highness, I think the most important thing right now is to arrange for the construction of the fortress and defensive facilities so that the family can permanently occupy this gold mine and prevent it from falling into the hands of the mountain barbarians again. "
Director Spear's reminder was timely. Laurist came to his senses and immediately called for a military meeting. The main topic was to build a fortress in the Golden Ridge to protect the gold mine.
"Give up on the small hills in front and build a fortress on the largest mountain ridge. It can protect the entire gold mine, and it will be named Golden Ridge Fortress. At the same time, we need to build a long wall from here to Crouching Bull Hill Fortress to the left of Monolith Castle. This way, the entire family territory will be separated from the Demonic Dragon Mountains. We will not have to worry about being attacked by the mountain barbarian tribes again.
At the same time, we need to build a road in the Black Forest that leads to the small lake where we annihilated the mountain barbarian army. We will build a town by the lake to provide logistical support for the Golden Ridge Fortress. Because we are located in the Black Forest, we need to cut down all the trees within five hundred meters of the firing range during the construction, no matter if it's the stronghold or the two sides of the long wall. Only by doing this can we ensure that the mountain barbarians won't use the trees as a cover to attack our armed guards.
This will be a huge project, but the family must give way to all other matters that are not related to the war. Whether it is funds, supplies, or labor, the construction of the Golden Ridge Fortress and the wall is the most important. Aire, Redi, the two of you will lead the imperial guard battalion and the seventh and eighteenth battalions of the imperial guard battalion to stand guard here. Your mission is to chase away the nearby mountain barbarians, guard the area, and maintain the safety of the labourers building the fortress and the wall. If there are any sudden incidents, the two of you can handle it yourselves. Understood? "Loriste began to give orders.
"Understood, your highness." Aire and Redi both stood up.
"But, your highness, if the imperial guard battalion stays here, won't you have no one by your side?" Redi asked.
"Hehe, it's fine. I'll just bring a large group with me. Five hundred people is enough," Loriste said.
"Sid, it's a big matter. Manager Spear, the two of you will stay here temporarily as well. Master Sid, I'll have to trouble you to modify and update the mining equipment and refining techniques of the gold mine. Manager Spear, on the other hand, will provide logistical support and funds for the construction of the fortress and the wall. At the same time, the mining of the gold mine must be strictly supervised. I hope that the gold mine can still produce during the construction period, and not stop mining until all the construction is completed. "
"Yes, Your Highness. I will complete the upgrading of the gold mining equipment and refining technology as soon as possible," Master Sid replied loudly.
"Understood, your highness. I will supervise the mining of the gold mine well," Spear stood up and said.
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