Chapter 89: 89. Inspecting the Mulberry Land

After Luoning affirmed Jennie's strategy, the next issue was arranging who would deliver the letter.

First, this person had to be from the Ziguo Tribe; second, it would be best if this person could be recognized by Sileiyin as a trusted confidant of Jennie, so as to deepen the other party's belief in the request for help.

Jennie recommended a suitable candidate, namely Lauren, the descendant of a steward who had followed the Frank Family since the previous generation. The other party had always been loyal to Frank, and now in the Ziguo Tribe, he was both a servant and held a role similar to an Administrator.

Lauren's loyalty was good, and he was quite clever; in the Ziguo Tribe, besides Huoen and Jennie, he was the most suitable person to deliver the letter.

After the meeting dispersed, Luoning was arranged to rest in a clean room that had been temporarily tidied up.

It was said that there were several such empty rooms in the Ziguo Tribe that were still well-preserved, all left behind by those who once belonged to the Ziguo Tribe and now lived in the Huitu Tribe.

"You go arrange a few Guards later, and have them rush to the Qingzhu Tribe as soon as the sky brightens tomorrow to notify Ruidar and Tangmu to come over."

Inside the room, Luoning instructed Maiken.

"Is it that you are afraid I cannot beat that Sileiyin, my lord?"

Maiken could not help but puff out his chest, "My lord, although I always lose to Commander Ruidar in sparring, that is because Ruidar is very strong, not because I am weak."

"I dare guarantee that this Sileiyin is definitely not my match; to deal with him, there is absolutely no need for the Commander to take action!"

Luoning smiled, "I certainly know your strength, but caution is the parent of safety. In case the Huitu Tribe has hidden their strength and several Advanced Knights suddenly appear, we would be in a very passive position."

Maiken was stunned for a moment, only then understanding Luoning's intention, "Good, I will go arrange it now to ensure that Ruidar and the others can arrive at the Ziguo Tribe before tomorrow evening."

"Remember to keep it secret."

Watching Maiken leave, Luoning stretched his back and lay on the bed to rest.

In fact, the reason just stated was only one aspect; he was also worried about Jennie and Huoen of the Ziguo Tribe.

Although both had expressed their loyalty to him, they had only known each other for less than a day after all; Luoning still understood the principle that one can know a person's face but not their heart.

Jennie's strategy was quite good; it could lure Sileiyin and his subordinates out of the Huitu Tribe's fortifications, sparing Luoning the trouble of a siege and definitely reducing losses.

However, there was one point that needed attention: if Jennie and Huoen were only loyal on the surface, once Sileiyin brought people over, the two sides could coordinate from inside and outside, and then it would be Luoning himself who fell into a passive situation.

Although this possibility was very low, who could guarantee that this possibility would not happen?

When he could avoid falling into a passive situation himself, Luoning would of course choose to avoid it; just as he said, caution is the parent of safety.

The night passed quietly. Early the next morning, the three Guards arranged by Maiken left the Ziguo Tribe at the first light of dawn and headed toward the Qingzhu Tribe.

At the same time, Jennie had the steward Lauren take her letter and set foot on the road to the Huitu Tribe.

Although Lauren would rush over at the fastest speed, it would likely already be the afternoon by the time he reached the Huitu Tribe.

Even if Sileiyin immediately mobilized people to rush to the Ziguo Tribe, they would only be able to arrive around evening.

This period of time was enough for Ruidar and Tangmu to come over from the Qingzhu Tribe; after all, compared to the distance of the two sides, Luoning's side was much closer.

After finishing breakfast, Hong Knight gathered all the people of the Ziguo Tribe together, specifically introducing Luoning's identity, and at the same time indicating that in the future, this group of people would serve the young noble before them.

Upon learning that their leaders had already submitted to Luoning, the people of the Ziguo Tribe had no further objections and immediately knelt on the ground, offering their loyalty to their new lord.

The benefits of proactively accepting the surrender of Jennie and the others were manifested.

Luoning did not need to spend effort and time to plant his identity and image into the hearts of these people, and when arranging matters, he only needed to instruct Jennie and Huoen, and they would arrange everything in place.

However, the people of the Ziguo Tribe had recognized Jennie and Huoen as leaders for so many years; this phenomenon still needed to be changed.

After ending this encirclement and suppression of the savage tribes, Luoning would need to perform operations such as migration and exchange of the populations of several tribes to weaken their perception of the old leaders, while simultaneously establishing the image of Shanlin Castle and himself.

"Jennie, I hope you can help me make a census of the Ziguo Tribe's population."

After finishing the meeting with the tribal personnel, Luoning, accompanied by Jennie's family, went to the Mulberry Tree land to check the condition of the Mulberry Trees.

"A census?"

Jennie asked in confusion, "What information do you need to know?"

"It's very simple: just count the names, genders, ages, and marital status of all members by family, and at the same time, specially mark those who have special skills, such as carpenters, masons, or Blacksmiths."

The reason Luoning let Jennie do this was, first, because the other party came from a Viscount family, her education was certainly much better than Wilson's, and she could complete this matter;

Second, he was also saving some time for Wilson so that the population registration could be completed sooner.

At this time, Ailin jumped out, "Lord Luoning, let me help you do this!"

"You?"

Luoning looked at the little girl in surprise, "Are you sure you can do it well? Can you write?"

"I can!"

Ailin patted her chest, very confident, "My mother taught me to read and write when I was six or seven; I know many things!"

This was quite rare.

"Fine, then I will leave this matter to you."

Luoning laughed, "If you do it well, I will reward you; hmm, just call me Brother Luoning."

He originally wanted to say he would reward a silver coin or a gold coin, but he felt that giving money to a child seemed inappropriate; it was better to create some gimmick.

"Okay!"

Ailin agreed immediately, turned around, and ran home to get paper and a pen to start working, no longer intending to accompany the inspection of the Mulberry Tree forest.

"Ms. Jennie, I didn't expect that in these deep mountains, your cultivation of Ailin has not diminished at all."

Luoning turned his head and said, "Perhaps when she grows up a little more, there will be many places where I can receive her assistance."

"Being able to serve you is our honor, and it is also Ailin's honor."

Jennie said with a smile, "This child has a lively personality and loves to learn; following behind you, she should gain a lot of knowledge."

"Then let her follow me from now on."

Luoning said, "You two can also go to live in Shanlin Town, but I still hope that Hong Knight, you can help me manage the sericulture industry, so I hope you will continue to stay in the Ziguo Tribe."

"Perhaps I can rename this place 'Ziguo Village'."

Luoning looked up toward the mountain, and many Mulberry Trees came into view.

It had been nearly a month since autumn officially began; some of the Mulberry Tree leaves still had a bit of green, but more had already turned yellow.

Clearly, these Mulberry leaves were still enough for Huoen to expand the breeding scale a bit; the reason he hadn't raised more silkworms was likely due to a lack of manpower.

"Once we subdue the Huitu Tribe and the Heiling Tribe, these villages will be connected. Although I am letting you stay here, you may go elsewhere at any time."

"Everything shall be as you command, my lord."

Huoen chuckled. Being middle-aged, one always develops some strange hobbies; although he was a Knight, aside from charging into battle, this was his greatest hobby.

"Actually, I quite like studying these things here. I just didn't expect that you, my lord, would also be interested in them."

"Silkworm cocoons can be used to make silk, and silk can be used to craft fine fabric and tailor comfortable clothing."

Luoning explained his knowledge of sericulture, which left Huoen and Jennie completely bewildered; they truly could not imagine any connection between White Fruit and cloth.

They truly could not understand it; otherwise, they wouldn't have only been eating the pupae inside the cocoons.

As they spoke, the group walked into the Mulberry Tree grove.

According to Huoen's introduction, Luoning learned that the Mulberry Trees of the Ziguo Tribe were currently scattered sporadically across several acres of land—one here, one there—with absolutely no planning.

Most of these Mulberry Trees grew naturally, and only a very small portion had grown from Mulberry seeds; they were not yet very tall.

Luoning did a quick calculation in his mind: based on the estimate that one Mulberry Tree could support 20 silkworms, the Ziguo Tribe's current 345 Mulberry Trees could support a total of 6,900 silkworms.

Theoretically speaking, that was only enough to make four or five silk dresses.

"There are still too few trees."

After the inspection, Luoning said to Huoen: "Our first step is to expand the planting of Mulberry Trees. I suggest you first plan out ten acres of land to plant Mulberry Trees to increase the yield of mulberry leaves."

"That is possible, but my lord, what about the food for Ziguo Village?"

Jennie was filled with worry; the Ziguo Tribe's food was already insufficient, and if they had even less land, it would be even worse.

"Do not worry about that; I will have grain transferred over from Shanlin Town."

Luoning said: "The subjects living in Ziguo Village, just like those of the Qingzhu Tribe, serve me, so I will naturally provide them with food."

In the past, Shanlin Town even sold grain to Sain Territory every year; now that it didn't need to be sold off, transferring a portion over to support the two hundred or so people of the Ziguo Tribe was absolutely no problem.

"That's no problem then!"

Huoen agreed to the matter, "But my lord, we don't have any Mulberry seeds right now; if we want to expand planting, we will have to wait until June or July next year."

Hm?

Luoning was stunned for a moment; we have to wait until next year to expand planting?

Suddenly, he understood; it appeared the other party had not mastered the cultivation methods for Mulberry Trees.

"You don't need Mulberry seeds to expand planting."

Luoning walked to the side, drew Maiken's longsword, and chopped off a Mulberry branch. "When the Mulberry Trees grow green leaves next spring, select sturdy branches like I am doing now, keep each one about a few dozen centimeters long, leave two or three leaves at the top, and insert them into the soil while keeping the soil moist; the Mulberry branch will then grow into a Mulberry Tree."

Huoen scratched his head; the meaning was clear—this works too?

Jennie knew almost nothing about planting and asked in disbelief: "Is this really... going to work?"

"Of course it can!"

Luoning smiled. "This method is called 'cuttings,' and it can be used in the cultivation of many plants. You should plan the land use when the time comes; the distance between each Mulberry Tree should not be too close, but also not too far apart. For one acre of land, you should plant about one thousand Mulberry Trees."

Huoen exclaimed: "My lord, you know so much!"

Jennie also couldn't help but sigh, "My lord, you are truly worthy of the noble Wushan Family bloodline; your knowledge makes us admire you!"

Luoning laughed and said modestly: "I've seen a lot, so I know a little bit about everything. But there is quite a bit that I only know the surface of, so we still need everyone to work together."

"Let's go, Hong Knight, I will take you to boil the cocoons."

"Boil the cocoons?"

Huoen followed Luoning's footsteps. "Is that a new way to eat them?"

(End of chapter)