Chapter 233 Lightning Tower
Because the Venus family built an artificial magic well and a magic channel to supply energy to the Mage Tower, the defense of this Mage Tower is quite good, and it can release ten firestorms a day.
The semi-finished Mage Tower built by the Death Tower uses the magic core of a legendary Warcraft as the core of the energy room. Even if the legendary magic equipment Thunder Staff is used to save magic energy, it can only release ten consecutive lightning bolts.
The defense of the two Mage Towers is actually not much different. One has stronger magic power and the other has legendary magic equipment. Even if there are only low-level mages in the magic tower, it is enough to resist the sneak attack of high-level mages. Even in the Markholm Magic Kingdom, it is considered a high-level Mage Tower.
After Richard occupied this Mage Tower, he immediately destroyed the teleportation altar and removed the teleportation gate.
The teleportation altar is the coordinate of space teleportation. Destroying the teleportation altar is equivalent to erasing the teleportation coordinates. But this Mage Tower was built by the Venus family. I wonder if the Venus family left a secret door?
If he was not prepared, he might suffer heavy casualties if he was attacked by the Venus family.
Now the number of magicians in Harland Territory is small and weak, so it is not suitable to be scattered in two unfamiliar magic towers. Besides, there are many magic research laboratories in William Castle, and some people need to stay.
Because he can't chew more, Richard is not going to leave magicians to stay in the Venus Family's magic tower for the time being.
This magic tower is mainly used for magic research, focusing on magic wells and magic energy supply.
Richard plans to focus on the semi-finished magic tower built by the Death Tower.
This magic tower is named Lightning Tower because Richard engraved the chain lightning defense spell.
The Lightning Tower will take another two months to complete. After the completion of this magic tower, Richard decided to move most of the magic power in Harland Territory to the Lightning Tower.
Richard moved the magic organization to the Swamp Basin, and with the garrison protecting the magic tower, the population of the Swamp Basin has exceeded 10,000 people.
Although the swamp basin has been developed for more than a year, due to the limited investment, only more than 10,000 acres of paddy fields have been reclaimed, a ditch has been built, and the wizard tower has only been built for a few floors.
For this achievement, more than dozens of young slaves have died of illness.
Even though the Harland Territory belongs to the mid-temperate zone, there are fewer mosquitoes and no serious malaria, but the development of the swamp still costs a lot of lives.
With the entry of magicians and troops, the investment of the Harland Territory in the swamp basin will increase greatly. At least when building infrastructure, magicians can help a lot. When repairing drainage ditches, a spell of turning mud into stone can play a key role.
After the Goddess's Birthday, Riverbank Primary School opened again. This year, because the tuition fee was reduced by half, the number of new students reached 300.
Now there are more than a thousand students in the Harland Territory. After a few years, when all these people graduate, it will bring great impetus to the development of the territory.
Among the more than 300 freshmen, there are seven with magician qualifications. Berica has the best magic talent and has a medium affinity for the earth element. These seven children with magical talents cannot be counted on for the time being. Before learning meditation, you need to learn the basics. At least a few months later, you need to know some words and understand some magical terms before you can start practicing meditation.
Counting these seven new students with magical qualifications, the members of the Harland Territory Mage Association will exceed forty people.
The scale of the forty-member magician organization has exceeded that of the four marquisates in the east. Today, the Harland Territory Magic Association is already one of the top ten magic organizations in the Grant Kingdom.
The northern countries of the Central Continent have backward economies and poor societies. Every one of them is a magic desert. A magic organization of forty people can only be regarded as a small magic organization in the Markholm Magic Kingdom, and it cannot be ranked at all.
There are more than three thousand magic towers in the Markholm Magic Kingdom, and more than a thousand magic organizations of all sizes. Even the Holy Halo Empire felt a headache when seeing thousands of magic towers on the map.
Even though the magic kingdom on the southwest coast was very disobedient and often challenged the authority of the Holy Halo Empire, the Holy Glorious Empire had no intention of sending troops to fight a war with little chance of winning.
According to Sophia's story, if the Harland Territory Mage Association is placed in the Markholm Magic Kingdom, it can be roughly ranked 300th.
From the hidden base of the Venus family, Richard obtained weapons that can equip 2,000 elite soldiers.
This batch of equipment is very sophisticated, no less than the Nolan Guards. Enchanted armor, enchanted crossbows are all available, and now all of them are cheap for Richard, equipped with the Harland Territory infantry.
With the abundance of weapons and equipment, Richard immediately decided to expand the army on a large scale, forming two recruit battalions and expanding the army by 1,600 people.
The recruit battalion temporarily organized four recruit squadrons, and after completing the recruit training, they will be mixed with the veterans of the third and fourth infantry battalions.
After the expansion of the army is completed, the Haland Territory will have six infantry battalions, two cavalry battalions, plus the guard squadron and headquarters personnel, with a total force of more than 6,500 people.
The new recruits are mainly selected from contract slaves to save costs.
Last year, the Haland Territory added more than 76,000 contract slaves, and it was easy to select 1,600 soldiers.
As long as the bottom serfs are given a chance, in order to change their fate and turn over a new leaf, the serfs will enthusiastically join the army, and they are not afraid of death and sacrifice.
It was late February, and the conscription work had been completed. Now the territory army has been regularized, and there are dedicated people to train new recruits, so Richard doesn't need to worry about it.
Because a large number of people poured in last year, the task of spring plowing this year is a bit heavy.
In order to complete this year's spring plowing task, Richard also let the army participate in the spring plowing.
The area near Graveson Castle is the key area for spring plowing this year. From last year to this year, 65,000 people will be arranged here and 300,000 acres of farmland will be reclaimed.
This area has a flat terrain, and it is convenient to get water on both sides of the Black River. The agricultural potential is very large. Unfortunately, it is on the front line of the orc invasion and has not been effectively developed.
Now the Harland family is building the Flower Castle in the north of Graveson. If the orc army can be blocked at the Flower Castle, Graveson Castle can become the rear, and it is feasible to develop on a large scale.
However, there are still great risks in developing the area near Graveson Castle.
Once the Flower Castle is lost, or the orcs bypass the Flower Castle, the Graveson Castle will be easily attacked by the orcs, and the population living in this area will be captured by the orcs.
To develop the land near the Graveson Castle, the strength must be strong.
After analyzing the situation, Richard believed that as long as the main force of the orcs did not invade from the direction of the Geda Province, the strength of the Harland family could withstand the attack of most of the orc army.
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Although the Harland family's fiefdom is large, there are relatively few areas suitable for agricultural development.
The two territories of Diram and Stopa have basically been successfully developed. If you want to get more farmland, you can only build terraces and develop hills.
Building terraces requires a lot of manpower. According to the current manpower of the Harland territory, building terraces is somewhat ineffective. Now the territory is underpopulated and there is a lot of arable land per capita.
It is not yet time to build terraces and reclaim hillside arable land.
Although some farmland can be developed in the river valley near Fort William and Fort Sophia, there are many factories and mines here, which is the core of Harland's territory. In order to prevent technology leakage, it is not suitable to arrange too many people.
The only areas suitable for agricultural planting are near Graveson Castle and in the swamp basin.
The farmland near Graveson Castle is relatively easy to develop. Trees were cut down and tree roots were dug last autumn.
After this spring, the isolation zone will be dug first, and then a fire will be set to burn the dead grass, vines, and shrubs. The stones in the land will be picked out and deep plowed with iron-horned horses.
As for the water conservancy project, part of it was built last year, and the remaining canals can be repaired after cultivation.
The large tracts of farmland in Graveson are on both sides of the Black River, and the water of the Black River can be raised to the canals by using water wheels.
This area can reclaim one million acres of fertile land, enough to feed 500,000 to 600,000 people.
In addition to Graveson, which is the focus of development, Richard also arranged more than 10,000 people near the prosperous castle and the military station.
There are a lot of roses growing near the Flower Castle. Richard is going to use these wild roses to make rose perfume and sell it to the noble ladies of Nolan.
According to Richard's observation, Nolan does not have a perfume manufacturer yet, so there is no need to compete with vested interests to make rose perfume. When the rose perfume is made, the Harland Territory will add a monopoly commodity to make profits for the territory.
Even if someone is jealous and has developed a perfume formula, without a large number of rose resources, they are unable to compete with the Harland Territory.
In April, Richard and Sofia's second child Philip was born. Philip was born smoothly, and Margaret was no longer Richard's only heir.
Because it was the second child, Philip was born very smoothly.
In the past one or two years, surgery in the Harland Territory is still developing, and obstetrics and gynecology have been separated from surgery. Now the hospital has formed four major departments: internal medicine, surgery, and pediatrics.
But except for surgery, the other three departments can only rely on the experience of doctors to treat diseases.
Under Richard's guidance, the hospital invented forceps, and with the help of magicians, caesarean sections can also be performed, greatly reducing the mortality rate of pregnant women and newborns in the territory.
Because of the development of medicine, the average life expectancy of the Harland Territory has far exceeded that of the capital Nolan. According to statistics, it has increased to 46 years old, reaching the leading level of the Dawn Plane.
Five years ago, taking advantage of the rebellion of the Bloody Horn, Richard snatched 18,000 refugees from Brena County. By this autumn, these people will be fully booked, plus a batch of slaves purchased from the Grand Duchy of Stannic.
By this autumn, the Harland Territory will increase by more than 20,000 free people.
By the end of the year, the number of free people in the territory may exceed 60,000.
The annual fixed field tax of 60,000 wealthy free people is 15,000 gold coins, and a small-scale consumer market has been formed.
With the consumer market, the hematopoietic ability of the Harland family will be greatly improved.
Now the economic income of the Harland Territory mainly depends on various monopoly commodities, and most of the market is controlled by others.
Once the trade route is cut off and the market is lost, the primary industry established due to information asymmetry will fall into an irreversible situation.
Without funds in the territory, the only thing Richard can do besides exploiting the people is to reduce the army.
The Harland family has the influence it has today because of the thousands of elite soldiers.
After the reduction of the army, the influence will inevitably decrease, and it may not be able to withstand the continuous attack of the orcs.
Only when the territory market is cultivated, the internal strength is practiced, and the domestic demand market is expanded, the economic foundation will be stable. With a stable economic foundation, the Harland Territory can maintain the size of the army and even use it to expand the army. With the increase of the army and the acquisition of more territories by military merit, the title can be upgraded and the influence can be increased, forming a positive cycle.
Every time the Harland Territory adds a freeman, the foundation of the territory will be more solid.
After obtaining the magic technology of the Venus family, Richard was immediately attracted by this technology.
The Venus family has studied the elemental furnace of the floating city for many years, and has successfully built an artificial magic well. They are also very knowledgeable about the operation of magic energy and have created new magic runes.
Richard has a deeper understanding of magic energy by studying these magic runes.
His mind is very active. He thought of the rechargeable battery in his previous life, and immediately wanted to study the magic battery in this world based on his knowledge of magic energy.
The materials are also ready-made, that is, the magic crystal that has exhausted the magic energy.
Magic crystal is a special crystal in the Dawn Plane. A standard magic crystal is worth ten gold coins, and the magic energy contained in it can release a second-level spell.
Generally, magic crystals that have exhausted their magic energy will be ground into powder and minted into gold coins together with gold.
Magic crystals that have exhausted their magic power are also considered a low-level magic material with many functions. Generally speaking, the price of this kind of abandoned magic crystal that has exhausted its magic power is about four silver coins.
If you can research the technology to recharge abandoned magic crystals, you will earn thirty times the profit.
To study this technology, you need to first know the structural differences between magic crystals full of magic power and magic crystals that have exhausted their magic power.
To study the periscope structure of the two crystals, you must use advanced microscopes.
The Harland Territory established an optical research department a long time ago to train lens grinders and want to make microscopes.
But Richard underestimated the difficulty of this technology. Even after several years of research, the project has not made much progress. Although the lens grinder's technology has been continuously improved, he barely made a monocular telescope only two years ago.
Of the more than 20 lens grinders trained, only two have reached a certain level of technical skills and are familiar with some optical knowledge, and can stably grind high-precision telescopes.
The remaining lens grinders can only be trained as ordinary craftsmen to make ordinary telescopes with lower precision.
In the past two years, the Harland Army has been equipped with a large number of monocular telescopes. Squadron-level officers and key scouts all have monocular telescopes.