lerbook #705 - The trip to Black Snake Bay is over.
#705 - The trip to Black Snake Bay is over.
The horse-drawn carriage woven from green wisteria vines traveled slowly along the muddy road leading to the main city of Heavenly Maiden City. The carriage was still filled with the scent of flowers and cinnamon.
Leaning his head against the soft cushion woven from silk grass, Horne closed his eyes slightly, but didn't say a word.
Jeanne, who had been holding back for a long time, couldn't help but cough heavily a few times. When she saw the questioning look in Horne's eyes, she pouted and said, "Brother, you're not really going to sell Hilof to that dragon, are you?"
"What are you thinking?" Horne slapped her head with a wry smile. "She's the top student of the seminary. If I sell her, how can I, the Pope, continue to do my job?"
In the current Holy Axis system, if officers and farmers are from Jeanne's line, then civil officials (monks) and craftsmen are from Hilof's line.
Although Horne could use his powerful personal authority to enforce things, it would be a major blow to the credibility and legitimacy of the Holy Axis, and its impact would be no less than the Oath of the Luo River.
Horne started with holiness and has a strong tendency towards universal morality, so most of the time, he has to play the role of a moral model and religious leader.
Furthermore, Horne couldn't possibly use the unknown things given by the red dragon to exchange for a top scholar who has achieved enough and hasn't made any mistakes.
If he really did, then the Holy Axis would be almost no different from the Empire in essence.
Duke Kush, Daney, had already shown Horne what the consequences of relying on others to achieve victory would be, and Horne couldn't make a second mistake.
So Horne's direct response at the time was: "Unless she is willing and you guarantee her safety, then there's no point in talking."
After appeasing Jeanne, Horne held the "Eye of Secrecy" pendant given by Ottatiella and leaned back in the carriage again, but his heart was not as calm as his face showed.
He had stayed in Black Serpent Bay long enough. After this meeting, he would return to Thousand River Valley by boat in three days at most.
He had three main goals in coming south to Black Serpent Bay this time.
First, to bring Black Serpent Bay, a source of raw materials, into the scope of the Holy Axis, so as to bring extensive financial resources.
Because in the current Imperial market, spices and sugar are a seller's market, while Thousand River Valley is mainly based on agricultural products and low-level industrial products, which are not competitive in the Imperial market.
Therefore, he must use spices and sugar to extract enough capital from the Imperial market and invest the capital in his workshops.
Although many are just centralized handicraft workshops, they surpass the guild's rural processing and suburban industrial areas, and can even suppress early industrialization to a certain extent.
And now this goal has not only been achieved, but has also been doubled.
Not only has he obtained the raw material production area and market of Black Serpent Bay, but he has also obtained a capital injection of 400,000 gold pounds over five years.
This is not half-physical and half-currency, but real precious metal currency. Such a large sum of money is just right to give the somewhat bubbly Thousand River Valley business a shot in the arm.
However, what makes Horne feel worried about this issue is that, from a strategic point of view, these Clove nobles will inevitably choose to pay reparations rather than continue fighting.
After all, paying reparations and negotiating peace can retain some of the existing benefits. If the fighting continues, it will not only be a waste of money and manpower, but may also be annexed by the royal family.
It's just that in the real world, these nobles are not rational people. If they get hot-headed and continue fighting, it will be a bit troublesome.
It's not that Horne is afraid of these nobles in the Clove Corridor, but that he is afraid of hurting the Franks, causing the royal family to have opinions or the Clove Corridor nobles to defect to the royal family.
Second, after incorporating Black Serpent Bay into the Holy Axis, slowly transform Black Serpent Bay into the depth of the Holy Axis through political and military struggles.
This point can also be barely considered completed. After capturing Dragonfly Port and destroying Twin-Headed Serpent Fortress, the entire Ibe River coast is now under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Black Serpent Bay Federation.
At least four-fifths of the entire Black Serpent Bay has fallen into Horne's hands.
Thousand River Valley is adjacent to Black Serpent Bay. After the Black Serpent Bay Wizard Federation was established and joined the Holy Axis, the territory of the Holy Axis Alliance (referred to as the Holy Alliance) also expanded.
The land area of the Holy Alliance expanded from 420,000 square kilometers to approximately 1.1 million square kilometers, and the population expanded from approximately 4.5 million to approximately 7.5 million.
But there are also hidden worries on this point, that is, those gang-like secret societies.
Horne's hope is to try to clean up and suppress the unstable factors within Black Serpent Bay as much as possible before the war comes, so as to prevent them from causing trouble during the war.
But the reality is not so good, and it can only be done little by little.
Third, to explore Hilof's background, Serfaye's whereabouts, and the secrets of the mysterious alchemy and star-forged gears on Autumn Twilight Island.
Horne can currently judge that Serfaye, this vampire of the Sorrido clan, is an extraordinary blood magic and alchemy master, and is on good terms with the red dragon Cynthia.
She has been studying a series of strange studies such as longevity, artificial creatures, and physical transformation.
After breaking with the Scales Hermitage, she should be holed up in the Great Marsh, engaging in these draconic magic and blood magic research with the support of the church or the empire.
But why is she doing it? How did she do it? Why would the church support a vampire? These contents are completely unknown.
As for Serfaye's movements in the past twenty years, there is no news at all.
At least according to Cynthia, the Sorrido clan of the Flesh Court has been looking for her but has never found her.
On the Serfaye matter, he did obtain a lot of news and information about Serfaye, but they were not to the point.
In other words, he knew where Serfaye came from, but didn't know why she came, or where she was going.
The only thing that can be considered a gain is the manufacturing method and source of lunar mercury.
Cynthia didn't hide anything on this point, and offered the location and construction of the spirit world beacon and the manufacturing method of lunar mercury in full.
This spirit world beacon is similar to the aether spire, both of which require a lot of complex calculation and reasoning, and cannot be made in a short time.
Since red dragon breath requires dragon blood, this technology is basically useless to Horne.
At Horne's request, Ottatiella promised to transport enough lunar mercury to Autumn Twilight Island every quarter for them to study.
As for the final star-forged gear issue, Cynthia, who had a falling out, naturally refused to tell Horne.
Where did Hilof come from? What exactly are star-forged gears? Everything is still unknown.
The only fortunate thing is that with lunar mercury condensation technology, perhaps Jeanne can be asked to use lightning to bombard aether within the aether spire to create electric lunar mercury.
After using a technology similar to dragon blood crystals, it may be possible to make the unstable electric lunar mercury into crystals for carrying, which can then be used in lightning forges or on the battlefield.
This third goal can be considered half completed.
After silently sorting out his actions in Black Serpent Bay during this period, Horne was surprised to find that although the benefits had increased, the troubles had also doubled.
The originally sufficient manpower was actually a little insufficient again.
"Your Majesty, we've arrived."
At the coachman's notification, Horne realized that they had returned to the residence in Black Serpent Bay, so he woke Jeanne and walked out.
Just as he stepped off the carriage and stood in front of the quiet mansion, Duvalon hurriedly ran out of the garden-style mansion allocated to Horne.
Before Horne could ask what was going on, Duvalon excitedly raised the letter in his hand high.
"Your Majesty, the Clove Corridor has signed a ceasefire agreement, all conditions have been agreed to, and the first batch of 100,000 gold pounds has already been transported to Dragonfly Port. The Black Serpent Bay war is over!"