Chapter 511: Changes in Wubei Territory

With the conclusion of the Battle of Miwu City, the two kingdoms fell into a brief period of truce.

In order to reward the nobles who had rendered outstanding service in the war, Bruno scheduled the victory banquet for the end of the month, and the location was not set at Jinyu Palace, but at Miwu Castle.

This place was where he had campaigned in his youth but failed to capture, and it was also the greatest regret of his father, His Majesty Auduin IV Klinsmann, before he passed away.

Now that this city had been taken by Auduin, as the current king, he naturally had reason to visit.

The victory banquet was also an enfeoffment banquet; it was believed that the nobles who led the attack on Miwu City would receive generous rewards, and the most anticipated among them was naturally Luoning.

Many people speculated that His Majesty the King would promote this young noble, who had only recently become a Marquis, once again.

Just as Buluoer and the others had said that day at Miwu Castle, in their eyes, Luoning was already the next Duke of the Auduin Kingdom.

Luoning was also very expectant after receiving the invitation to the victory banquet; becoming a Duke could bring him a significant boost, bringing him one step closer to the Legendary realm, and also giving him greater confidence in the upcoming contests against the alien races.

However, these were all the speculations of outsiders; how exactly to reward Luoning for his performance in this war would still depend on Bruno's thoughts.

But Luoning would not sit and wait for arrangements.

He had Blanche return to Jinyu City; nominally, it was to visit her family, but in reality, she carried his two expectations.

First, naturally, was to become a Duke;

Second, was the hope of having the area from Watchtower to Yueguang Valley demarcated into his territory, becoming part of the Duchy.

Although taking the initiative to propose it was somewhat akin to arrogance and easily aroused others' wariness and resentment, Luoning did not want to do nothing and completely listen to the arrangements of fate.

Besides, he was not just asking without giving anything in return.

At the very least, in the upcoming wars, the Auduin Kingdom would gain enormous benefits.

Moreover, Bruno could also put forward his own ideas; the two sides could discuss it.

Luoning had Kaierluosi escort Blanche to Jinyu Palace, while he himself returned to Wubei Territory by means of Wind Shadow Art.

More than half of the year 971 of the Imperial Calendar had already passed; during this time, Wubei Territory had undergone earth-shaking changes in many aspects.

The first thing the residents felt tangibly was that there were more and more people in the territory; even in the once-impoverished Shanlin Town, there were now caravans of all sizes coming and going, purchasing the paper produced there to sell outside.

Although parchment still held a high status in Wushan Territory, many people had already begun to use this convenient and easy-to-use "Mountain Forest Paper"; if nothing else, the cost was much cheaper than parchment.

This also lowered the cost of books significantly, making the circulation of knowledge much cheaper than before.

In addition to the increase in people, the fame of the major industries in Wubei Territory was also growing.

First was the Coal Mine; while attracting laborers to dig coal, it also allowed many people to see this special resource. In the neighboring Muma City, Viscount Mawen discovered such a mine in his territory, and he even specifically came to Zhaoze Town to learn mining technology;

Next was the promotion of the loom. As Master Dan introduced new linen looms, the linen produced by Wubei Territory itself was no longer enough to support the textile consumption within the territory.

Because of this, it was necessary to constantly buy linen from the outside for processing, which also led to Sanfang Town becoming more and more like a textile factory.

New industries meant a large number of employment opportunities.

In the past two years, food in Wubei Territory had become abundant, and the ways for the common people to make money had also increased.

Even though Luoning was often not in the territory, the residents were all grateful to this busy lord for bringing them an unexpected life.

Besides the two changes mentioned above, Wubei Territory also had its own academy.

Wubei Academy was divided into three campuses; the main campus taught basic knowledge such as language and mathematics, open to all age-appropriate students; the other two campuses were open to Knights and Magicians respectively.

Among them, the Magician campus was located at the Mysterious Valley, which possessed a teleportation array.

As the honorary dean, Archmage Beiluola was so eager to study the teleportation array in the valley and the array binding Kaierluosi that she wished she could move her laboratory into the cave.

Finally, there was the establishment of the new city, Wubei City.

Luoning did not know much about urban planning, but that did not prevent talents in this area from joining the construction of the new city.

Now Wubei City had begun to take shape, especially the fortress of Wubei City; although it was not yet one-third complete, it looked quite impressive in terms of scale and momentum.

Luoning did not have much interest in building castles, but Wilson, Chahaer, and others repeatedly said that this was the center of the territory and the place of origin; without a decent castle, it really lacked status.

"My Lord, these are letters from Zilei Territory and Jiliu Island."

The manservant Jialun bowed and handed several letters to Luoning.

The current Jialun no longer had his former immature and plain appearance; he was also wearing expensive, exquisite linen clothes.

However, even so, he remained cautious when facing Luoning.

Luoning raised an eyebrow; whenever Maiken and Kalada had urgent matters, they would use a Griffin to send messages, so why was writing letters popular now?

He opened them and took a look; both of them started by introducing the development status of their respective territories and the formation of the Knight Order, but these were secondary information.

The reason they wrote the letters was mainly to request to participate in the war.

For a war as valuable as the one at Miwu Castle, they also wanted to participate.

It was just a pity that Luoning mainly only brought the Knight Order from Yueguang Valley, excluding Jiliu Island and Zilei Territory.

As the two of them were eager to render meritorious service, they naturally longed for battle.

Luoning couldn't help but laugh; he didn't expect the two of them to write letters for this reason.

This put him in a difficult position.

He had originally intended for the existence of Jiliu Island to target Screaming Island.

But now, the Fleming Family had quieted down and was not looking for trouble, so it was not easy for him to go and find trouble with them.

He couldn't just go and play pirate to rob people, could he?

As for Zilei Territory, it was for defending against the movements of the Vila Principality.

But Andreya, like Mailun, did not continue to create any organizations like the Black Gold Brotherhood, and Maiken was a bit idle over there.

"Next time we go to war with the Tricia Kingdom, I can transfer Maiken over."

Luoning looked at the map, "Hmm, let Wilson take people to Zilei Territory to investigate whether a road to the coast can be opened through the north of Zilei Territory, build a wharf, and connect Zilei Territory and Jiliu Island."

Screaming Island traveled south through the East Sea to the Scarlet Front, which was the responsibility of the Vila Principality.

This meant that Luoning's ships could sail along the coastline and circle the Vila Principality.

Once the future steel ships were successfully built, sailing them out would be a deterrent.

"Jialun, tell Wilson my thoughts and have him organize people to survey it; for the lack of funds, apply to Chahaer."

"Understood, Master!"

After Jialun left, Oumai, the official in charge of the territory's population, delivered the latest population statistics for Wubei Territory.

When Oumai handed over the thick document, familiar text appeared before Luoning's eyes:

【Achievement "Gongchengluedi" completed, Attribute Point +8000, Energy Essence +16000】

Blanche had said that Wubei City had already gathered over one hundred thousand people, and now it seemed that was indeed the case.

"Tell me about the manpower situation in Wubei City."

Luoning said this while gesturing for Beila to pour a cup of tea for Oumai.

Over at Ximeng's side, the modification of the Steam Train and the laying of a section of test Railway had been completed, and the next step was to begin the large-scale Railway construction project.

Luoning needed a large amount of high-quality labor that was willing to endure hardship, possessed strong hands-on ability, and could follow instructions. (End of chapter)