forest kingdom

Arrogant behavior was met with angry retaliation.

When the barbarians went deep into the interior and plundered the villages in the territory of the Earl of Arland, the cavalry team that had been prepared filed out of the three-meter-high wooden gate.

The fast cavalry team left the protection of the city wall. This time they were going to punish those damn barbarians!

However, when the barbarians saw that the situation was not good, they ran away, not caring about the food livestock on the ground and the Gran people who refused to leave.

Every time there is a landing operation, people will be sent to conduct reconnaissance in advance.

The great prophet once said that war is about mobility.

Although many people don't quite understand what mobility is, they all understand that when others are ready to come for revenge, they will not fight if they can.

Those Granites who didn't leave didn't have a good ending. What was left to them was the anger of the lord.

From spring to summer, it soon reached the hottest time of the year. At this time, no matter how much the king and the church urged or mobilized, they could no longer organize an army to march north.

The farmers in the Gran Kingdom are not farmers in modern society. The food stored in these farmers' homes is only enough to last until the autumn harvest. If the food is not harvested in time, they will have to borrow food this year.

One or two people can get by if they borrow food, but if everyone around them wants to borrow food, someone will definitely starve to death.

Successive years of bumper harvests have not brought good luck. Most of the nobles in the Kingdom of Gran have increased taxes on the land due to excessive harvests to make up for the losses caused by falling food prices.

Some people have long been aware of the problem, and some people don't want to follow the barbarians to a strange land as long as they can survive.

At Dumu Port in the Kingdom of Stars, Lawrence met the envoy from the Kingdom of Kojako.

The future king and now the eldest prince Sergio saw the rumored Crowfeather Prophet for the first time, and his eyes were filled with awe.

"It's an honor to meet you here, Your Majesty the Merciful Prophet. I thought I could only see you in Pumixiu Town, so I didn't have time to prepare makeup. Please forgive me for being disrespectful."

Sergio was well aware of the power of this prophet. The only surprise was that the prophet was younger than expected. He could not even see a beard, which was very different from the imagined prophet.

But he is as powerful as rumored! !

Lawrence is busy building a seaport in Dumu Port these days, using cement ships and Delen's ability to reclaim the sea and build a deep-water port that is more suitable for large ships to berth.

When Sergio came over, what he saw was that Lawrence had hollowed out a huge sand pit, and outside the sand pit was a rock arm (cement dam) that intercepted the sea water!

"I'm glad to see you too. Storms are more frequent these days, so there are fewer merchants, and I just have time to repair this place on the beach."

Lawrence looked in the direction of the sea. There was no trace of the original beach. Since spring, holes had been dug here to reorganize the beach and the area near the pier into a neater appearance.

This project started the year before last, and was formally constructed last year. By this year, relying on a large number of slaves and prisoners of war, more than half of it was completed.

The witch's spells played a key role, as did the large number of ships and building materials.

The excavated sea sand and gravel are directly used for road construction, filling in some nearby rugged reef beaches, or directly used for road construction.

The only trouble is mainly mining and isolating sea water, but fortunately these can be solved with the power of witches.

Sergio took a boat to the nearby reef pier and walked a few hundred meters from there to here. When he looked forward, what he saw was a terrifying and spectacular sight.

More than two hundred meters away, a wall of wood more than thirty meters high blocked the direction that should be the sea.

There was a terrifying sound of creaking between the wood. Behind the wall was a huge fan-shaped pit, and a large number of people were carrying quarried stones and sand in earthen baskets.

Seawater splashed down from a height of tens of meters from time to time, making the entire ground filthy and emitting a fishy and unpleasant smell.

No matter how many times I watch it, there is always a sense of fear in my heart.

Standing at the edge of the pit, Sergio, like the knights behind him, can see the sea farther away, and see the calm, terrifying and dangerous water, especially when the little people in the pit are interacting with the sea in the distance. When compared, it is even more shocking.

Sergio praised respectfully: "Great prophet, Dumu Port is the most magnificent city I have ever seen."

Lawrence looked at the dam in front of him quietly, "I call this place the Winged Harbor, and the city behind it is Dumu City. Now that the city has expanded, it has also divided into inner and outer cities, docks, and residential areas."

"I can't say it's grand, but it's getting better here. After Wings Harbor turns into a deep-water port, it will be more convenient for big ships to dock here."

Lawrence didn't think it was very grand here, and continued: "I plan to build another island in the sea to use as a lighthouse. Otherwise, it would be troublesome to build the lighthouse on the mountain, and the view from the sea is not good."

As a man of this era, it was difficult for Sergio to imagine building an island in the sea.

But looking at the magnificent building in front of him that isolated the sea, Sergio believed that this kind of thing was just a matter of waving his hand for the great Pope of the Stars.

"Great prophet, our Kingdom of Kojako has always been a loyal ally of the Church of the Stars, and I also hope to become a member of the Church of the Stars."

Lawrence smiled, "This is exactly what I want to see. Let's go to church and talk about church matters."

"Yes." Sergio agreed with a smile.

Nowadays, the performance of the Kingdom of Glen makes all countries feel that the Church of Dawn is a little too arrogant.

If it were not for the Church of the Stars, everyone would be intimidated by this power, and they would not dare to resist despite the experiences of the Kingdom of Duruela and the Kingdom of Gran.

But now the Church of the Stars has united several major kingdoms and has shown its strength against the Church of the Dawn.

The most important thing is that the Church of the Stars is more enlightened and benevolent, especially willing to return power to the royal families of various countries.

The Hokuriku Kingdom, the Kojako Kingdom, and the Haisenli Kingdom all rely closely on the Church of the Stars.

Durila is also moving closer to the Church of the Stars, but countries a little further away have their own ideas, and even want to rise peacefully and remain neutral.

There is actually no problem in remaining neutral. The problem is that geographical conditions do not allow some people to remain neutral.

A country located between the Kingdom of Gran and the Kingdom of Stars has no qualifications for neutrality.

Lawrence did not cause trouble for the Ao Kingdom and the Deco Kingdom. As long as they did not attack and harass them openly, one less enemy was better than one more enemy.

Outside the cathedral in Port Dum, Sergio asked his men to place boxes of goods on the ground.

"Prophet of Wisdom, this is a specialty of our Kingdom of Kojako. I heard that you need this black stone here. Can you think of this? There are many such black stones in my territory."

Lawrence looked at the goods on the ground. In addition to fine fabrics and gemstone jewelry, there were also books, medicinal materials, and samples of various ores.

Coal is a very common mineral, and it is not unusual for the Kingdom of Kojako to have it. The advantage of the Kingdom of Gran is that it is close to the sea, and transportation by sea can save costs, while the Kingdom of Kojako relies on land transportation, which makes transportation a lot more troublesome.

"Yes, if you can transport the ore to me, I can give it to you at the price given to the Kingdom of Glen. You must know that the Kingdom of Glen is further away from us, and the Kingdom of Kojako is very close to us."

Lawrence said what seemed to make sense.

Sergio had never done a similar business and was unaware of the problems.

"Okay! Thank you, prophet of mercy!" Sergio had long heard of Lawrence's reputation for mercy and thanked him happily at this time.

Lawrence did not take advantage. The price of this kind of ore itself was not high. Except for his own place, there was not much demand for this kind of black stone that could be seen everywhere.

Exchanging stones for food, and the kind of stones that can dig a lot, is an unusual thing in itself.

Lawrence was not interested in jewelry, but there were women in the family who loved beauty, so he bent down and picked up a gemstone bracelet.

Sergio smiled and introduced: "This is a bracelet made of rubies. It is very beautiful in the sun. No woman can resist its charm!"

Lawrence smiled and put it aside to read something else.

Soon Lawrence's eyes were on the baskets of crops.

"Potatoes, garlic, thyme, oh? And mint?"

Lawrence picked up a small flower pot. There was a green plant growing in it, with leaves spreading out in all directions.

Sergio knew that Laurence was more interested in crops and had been collecting various crops than in bejeweled beauties.

"Yes, I specially collected various herbs and flowers this time, as well as edible and useful things from the ground to bring to you. This is called scent grass in our place."

Lawrence nodded with satisfaction and continued to look carefully through the pots of flowers and herbs.

After seven or eight years of trade development here in the Kingdom of Stars, a large amount of medicinal materials and seasonings have been collected.

Onions, garlic, thyme, radish, perilla, tangerine peel, green pepper, cinnamon, etc.

These are managed by Kehalan, and they are mainly used for food by his family and are not sold to outsiders.

Since this world is very different from the earth, some plants are unheard of and unseen, so Lawrence just checked them briefly and left the specific screening to professionals.

"I will take a closer look at these. The crops, herbs and flowers combined can give you seventy silver coins. I mainly collect some to plant in the garden to see. This kind of thing will not be purchased continuously like coal."

Sergio expressed his understanding, "Yes, I am very satisfied to be able to trade coal and stone with you."

Sergio added: "These gemstone jewelry and fabric furniture, as well as books and works of art are also given to you as a gift for me to join the Church of the Stars."

Lawrence smiled and said, "Okay, I will bless you personally."

"That's great!" Sergio said happily: "It is my honor to receive your blessing!"

Lawrence is very willing to have his own believers in the Kingdom of Kojako, so that the power of the Church of the Dawn will be much weaker.

In order to let this believer gain a foothold, Lawrence quickly said: "I will sell you some weapons and agricultural tools at a low price so that you can arm more soldiers."

Sergio looked embarrassed, "Thank you for your kindness, but I don't need so many soldiers."

Lawrence asked: "What's the problem? Tell me, as a prophet, I should listen to your troubles."

Sergio looked at this young man without a beard. Although he was many years younger than him, Sergio felt a kind warmth in this young man.

"Merciful prophet, my country is not rich. My soldiers always ask for money and rewards from me. They often..."

There were things Sergio could not tell his father about, and he could not show his flaws in front of the king.

Now in front of the powerful Crow Feather Prophet, Sergio does not need to worry about his majesty, nor does he need to worry about his inheritance. He can express the troubles in his heart that he cannot talk to others.

Speak to the prophet.

Lawrence listened quietly and carefully to Sergio's troubles.

After Sergio finished speaking, Lawrence nodded.

"Kingdom is not easy to control, and a lot of responsibilities rest on your shoulders."

"Many people don't understand you, and that doesn't matter. You have to understand that you are the prince of Kojako and will be the king of Kojako in the future."

Lawrence made a couple of useless words of comfort.

Sergio nodded excitedly, "Yes, I feel a lot better after hearing what you said!"

Lawrence didn't pay attention to the compliment and seriously thought about the solution to the matter.

"It's very difficult to solve a problem like lack of money by yourself. Fortunately, you don't have to worry about external intrusions or anyone restricting your development."

"Your father will not stop you, and as the prophet of the Church of the Stars, I will also help you."

"You can use Kojiako's coal and stone to exchange iron tools, grain, and fine wine with Dumu Port."

"I will give you a good price, and you can buy these cheap wine and food and sell them to the nobles and businessmen in the country, so that you can have money to reward your men."

Sergio asked: "There are many noble businessmen in our country, and those people will steal my business."

"Don't worry." Lawrence said calmly: "I will not sell them luxuries such as ironware and fine wine. If they want to sell coal and grain, they can only sell it at a lower price. At the same time, the supplies they can purchase are also limited. It won’t affect your business.”

Sergio looked overjoyed and had great respect for the wise, kind and generous prophet in front of him!

Just as the rumors say, this merciful prophet is the most merciful prophet!

Lawrence quickly hosted a banquet for the future king and taught him how to protect his people and how to correctly understand the importance of numbers.

Prince Kojako quickly returned with a fully loaded team. After returning, he spread the miracles and kindness of the great prophet, letting more people know the power and kindness of the Church of the Stars. (End of chapter)