Lord of Plenty

"My Lord, I pay my highest respects to you on behalf of the Ice Fang Mercenary Group!"

Old Kili took off his felt hat and bowed in the direction of Kun.

Although the one-eyed old man had traveled nearly a thousand miles from the south to the northernmost border of the kingdom, he was covered in dust, but he looked particularly energetic, and the joy on his eyebrows was also exposed.

Under his matchmaking, the huge crisis that could have destroyed the entire Ice Fang Mercenary Group has been eliminated invisibly, and the giant tree of the Lord of Abundance has been climbed.

Not only is the crisis no longer there, but the Ice Fang Mercenary Group will also get better development in the future, and no one dares to move.

And his disciple, Bingya Ya, also took the opportunity to reorganize the various forces in the group and firmly sat on the throne of the group leader.

All his wishes have been fulfilled. Not to mention just going back to his old business and running around as a merchant, even if the lord wants his worthless life, he will be happy and will do everything he can.

"Feather-leaved green olive wood, sweet cane roots, blackthorn fruit seedlings, old roots of frost grapes, wow, these old roots are at least more than 30 years old, right? The quality of these fruit trees is surprisingly good, thank you for your hard work."

Kun, who was picking and choosing in front of a cart of neatly stacked fruit tree seedlings, exclaimed in admiration.

The quality of these fruit trees was so good that it exceeded his expectations.

The Bingya Merchants, headed by Old Kili, would naturally not only bring some pots and pans and local specialties from the south to the residents of Fengrao Territory every time they traveled all the way from the south.

As the lord of Fengrao Territory, Kun also provided a considerable part of the orders, and occupied a large proportion, such as the fruit tree seedlings in front of him.

Previously, due to insufficient funds, in order to better unlock the Mark of Abundance in his hand, he chose to plant high-yield crops such as green wheat, red wheat, and dragon-scale potatoes.

Now he symbolically sold a golden egg goose and earned a lot of gold coins.

With confidence, he naturally became the exquisite and elegant noble wizard before, only buying good quality, and the price was secondary.

Even the choice of crops to plant has changed from cheap crops that could barely make a living to these high-quality fruit trees and even magic plants in front of him.

Feather-leaf green olive wood is a typical fruit tree with both oil and fruit. It is an evergreen tree more than three meters high. It likes to grow in humid and hot areas. The leaves are large and look like the tail feathers of a dragon dove.

The fruit of feather-leaf green olive wood is sweet and sour. The seeds can be taken out separately and can be pressed for oil. The oil is transparent and slightly green, with the unique fruity aroma of green olive wood. It is the first choice of oil for high-end restaurants and noble chefs.

Sweet cane roots are similar to sugarcane on Blue Star, but they are shorter and thicker, with a dark red and purple color. They can be planted in clusters and used to extract sugar.

Prunus thornus is a common fruit tree in the Dansu Kingdom. The branches of the tree are thorny and the fruit is sweet. The flowers of Prunus thornus can be candied or made into flavored cakes. In addition to being sold, the ripe fruits can be brewed into coarse fruit wine or made into plum fruit paste for long-term preservation.

But what Kun values ​​most and has the highest economic value are the old frost grape vines as thick as thighs. They are called fruit vines, but the roots are obviously lignified, so they can be called grapevines.

The fruits produced by this kind of fruit vines, after special fermentation and aging, are the famous ice fruit wines that are measured in gold coins per bottle!

In fact, the original name of this kind of grape is green grapes. It has low sugar content and is not delicious when eaten raw, but green grapes that have been hit by frost and snow can be brewed into fruit wine with a unique flavor, so the name of this kind of grapes was changed to frost grapes.

If this kind of wine is missing from the nobles' banquet, not only will the nobles who invited the guests lose face, but even the guests who were invited will feel that they have been neglected.

So this is not just a matter of wine, but also about the nobles' face.

These fruit trees are also one of the important raw materials for the future of the winery that has not yet started construction in Kun's plan.

In fact, transplanting old vines of frost grapes is not a step in planting frost grapes. First, fruit farmers will not easily sell these precious old vines. Second, old vines are fragile and transplanting can easily cause heavy losses.

Generally, if you want to plant frost grapes, the first choice is to use the new vines on the old vines as the mother plant for cuttings. Basically, the fruit can be set in the same year. After four to five years of planting, the fruit produced by this grape vine can be used for winemaking.

Although the fruit yield of old vines over fifteen years old will be less than that of new vines, the quality of the fruit will be relatively better because the old vines are deeper and have a stronger root system.

The fruit wine brewed from this fruit usually has a richer flavor and complex taste, and is more suitable for aging.

Don't underestimate this slight difference in taste. The nobles in the capital may not be able to tell the difference between red wheat and green wheat, even if they can tell the difference by color.

But when it comes to tasting gourmet wine, even if the wine is only one month off in brewing time, or there are two more rains during harvest, they can identify it clearly for you, with reason and evidence, as if they saw it with their own eyes.

Only in this regard, even Kun, a fourth-level wizard, is inferior to him.

And the vines that Old Gilly helped him get were all over 30 years old. In Kun's eyes, the value is not even lower than some rare magic plants. It can be seen that he has worked hard.

"It's all thanks to the Lord. Originally, except for those aristocratic estates that were in a hurry to sell, these old vines could not be obtained in such large quantities. But this year's heavy rain changed things. The south of the kingdom was almost a swamp. The price of grain that was not sold at a high price in previous years has increased fivefold. This is still summer. Even if it increases by more than ten or twenty times in a while, I, old Gilly, will not be surprised at all."

"Under the continuous heavy rain for more than a month, it is not just grain that has reduced production. Fruit trees, cotton, oil, wood, and all walks of life have been hit. It's just a matter of severity. For example, these Precious old frost grape vines, even the most short-sighted nobles, if they were not desperate, how could they sell these treasures that can produce gold continuously. "

"However, taking care of these precious old vines is troublesome. Experienced workers are needed to take care of them, remove insects, thin fruits, spray pesticides, and some wizards need to cast magic to ensure that there will be no reduction in production. And under the heavy rain, many old vines were killed by waterlogging. The remaining batch is destined to not produce any good fruits this year, and it is also impossible to make wine. Someone is willing to buy it at a high price, so naturally they all rush to sell it. "

"That's also thoughtful. "

Kun nodded with satisfaction.

There is nothing wrong with his subordinates saying that they successfully completed the task thanks to him, but if he really admits it and attributes all the credit to himself, then there will be a big problem.

All organizations in this world, whether it is a religious group united by doctrine or a country with aristocratic laws as its system, cannot do without a basic operating principle of "upwards follow the example".

This is also why most of the founding emperors are brave and powerful, while the later rulers are mediocre and incompetent. A large country is hollowed out from top to bottom in just a few hundred years.

As long as the leader sets an example and clearly distinguishes rewards and punishments, his subordinates will naturally not dare to act recklessly.

But if the nobles in the upper class act recklessly, can we expect the small nobles to abide by the law and be upright?

It has always been Kun's principle to reward his subordinates for their merits and punish them for their mistakes.

"I heard that there are many monster eggs in the goods transported by the Ice Fang Merchants this time?"

Old Gilly's face froze, and he said hesitantly:

"That's right. Originally, our merchant group was a subsidiary of the mercenary group. Monster materials and monster eggs are also the main commodities sold."

"Heh~"

After a light laugh, Kun said with a sharp gaze:

"I have given full authority to Betty to be responsible for the monster egg business in the Plenty Territory. In the future, don't sell the monster eggs you transport at a low price. Sell them directly to the gambling egg shop. Also, I don't favor any party in the grievances between you and Betty before you joined me. You can solve them by yourselves."

"But I want to remind you that the current Ice Fang Mercenary Group does not have the qualifications to challenge the Smith Family and ask for justice. And in fact, it is difficult for you to fight against that ambitious woman."

This is not a compliment, nor is it ironic. Kun is just stating a fact.

Perhaps Old Kili has seen too many storms and waves in his long life, and there are also many moments of desperate struggles on the line of life and death. He has a very rich life experience, but it is not enough for some nobles who use conspiracy and intrigue as their survival instinct.

From the perspective of Old Kili, Beti, who dragged his old friends and almost the entire Ice Fang Mercenary Group into the water, is naturally a heinous crime, and killing him a hundred times is not enough to vent his anger.

But from the perspective of the nobles, Beti can be regarded as a model of nobles.

The lives of his subordinates are just pawns, which can be abandoned at any time and anywhere. Those people in the Ice Fang Merchant Group are not even Beti's subordinates, but they are willing to take risks for the sake of maximizing their interests.

In fact, if Kun had not intervened, Beti would have taken the ancient dragon egg and escaped, and the Ice Fang Mercenary Group would have been swallowed up by her and controlled by her, becoming the biggest winner.

If Old Kili confronts her, the most likely result is that Betty loses face, and Old Kili loses his dignity, which is a kind of loss for him as a lord.

In order to avoid the escalation of the dispute, Kun, who has already seen some signs, has no choice but to personally go out and ring the truce bell.

However, that guy who forgot the pain after the wound healed has only been quiet for a few days, and he has become restless again, and even started to test his bottom line. It’s time to knock him down to prevent him from doing anything evil in his territory again.

Changing the subject, Kun continued:

“But although this lord promised to hand over all the business of Warcraft eggs to the gambling egg shop, the business related to Warcraft is not limited to selling Warcraft eggs. I remember someone in the capital told me that the most profitable parts of the Warcraft industry are actually four parts, gambling eggs, feed, training, and fighting beasts. In addition to gambling eggs, the remaining businesses should be involved in the Ice Fang Mercenary Group.”