Chapter 108: Ancient Ruins · Love Potion
After some investigation, with the support of Su Li, Vandar, the Minister of Agriculture, promptly shifted the focus of farming in the territory from summer grain planting to meticulous cultivation.
The serfs, carrying hoes, walked into the fields and began to bend over to weed, pulling out the roots.
The arduousness of this task was beyond Su Li's imagination, with thousands of serfs under the scorching sun, their faces towards the soil and backs to the sky, meticulously removing various weeds in the fields.
The nature of Tal in summer is very wild, the fields are overgrown with weeds, and the serfs quickly cleared from an acre of land a pile of weeds one meter high.
Fortunately, the priests of the Dawn Church guided them in categorizing these wild grasses, such as mugwort, citronella, hedge, and chrysanthemum, for collection. These would be burned in the fields, using smoke fumigation to directly eliminate pests.
The rest would be sent to the east of Jorn Shallow Bay, where they would be burned to increase the soil's fertility, preparing to cultivate more fertile farmland in the autumn.
The progress of weeding was not fast; without professional equipment, it relied solely on manual labor, taking consecutive days of effort to thoroughly clear the field of wild grass.
So after watching for a while, Su Li continued north on the griffin, arriving at the fertile plains to the north of Jorn Shallow Bay.
Here the terrain is flat, the grassland fertile, and to the northeast lies a small forest composed of beech, oak, laurel, and olive trees.
This forest is a key production area for the territory's barrels, olive oil, and honey.
Its most important use, of course, is to provide shelter from wind and rain for the noble pastures blooming with Bauhinia in the territory.
The Hesse Territory is undoubtedly characterized by its vast resources, providing extensive pastures for the territory's animal husbandry.
On this fertile plain to the north of Jorn Shallow Bay, the pasture covers nearly a hundred thousand acres, with more than two hundred shepherds grazing over six hundred horses, more than four hundred cattle, and over two thousand goats and sheep.
The wind blows through the lush plains, and the scattered herds can be seen leisurely grazing beneath the earthen hills.
Actually, the scale of cattle and sheep is not large; even a small nomadic tribe would have more livestock than this.
The Hesse Territory is only just developing; the time of stable breeding has been less than four months.
Thus, the scale of cattle and sheep primarily relies on capture and hunting yields.
Of course, with the arrival of the Beast Master, some calves are already in the cattle herd, following the herd and grazing.
However, the horse herd is relatively smaller; aside from the supplementary foals captured from wild horse herds, no warhorse has yet successfully given birth on the pasture, as the gestation period for horses is longer than for humans, reaching up to 11 months.
This pasture mainly bears the territory's most important meat supply, especially supplying the castle, manor, and military camp north of the black territory.
Pork mainly supplies Hesse Town south of the city, raised by pigsties in various farms and villages.
Undoubtedly, the livestock on this noble pasture are higher grade; apart from the robust Uros Bull, there are also a large number of handsome Horned Horses, and even Fire Rabbits encircled within fence stakes.
Su Li watched the livestock for a while and asked Vandar, the Minister of Agriculture: "Who is in charge here? How is the development of the pasture?"
Vandar immediately replied: "It is managed by a nun from the Dawn Church. In the outer villages, farms, and pastures, the faith in the Dawn Church is more widespread. One of our nuns is stationed here, building the shrine of the Goddess with stone monuments and altars, guiding the shepherds' production and taking care of sick shepherds and livestock."
"Regarding development, the situation is very good. The nun here possesses the divine magic ability of Reya's Beast Herd, which can soothe the herd, calm them, and dispel the agitation of beast herds."
Su Li raised an eyebrow and asked: "This divine magic is called Reya's Beast Herd?"
Seeing Su Li interested, Vandar immediately detailed: "That's right. Reya once walked the earth to tame the wilderness, and the church priests can whisper mysteries originating from that time. A group of tamed animals will submit to the priest's will, responding to the ancient commands heard by their ancestors."
"The priest can perceive the emotions of animals and view through their eyes. By touching the beast's mind, it can be calmed or excited. It can make them trample, sleep, attack, or simply be the priest's eyes and ears (along with the sense of smell, taste, and touch) — they can perform any act that falls within the natural behavior range of their species."
To make animals submit to the priest's will, making them the priest's eyes and ears?
This ability is quite powerful, and if used to explore dangerous areas or entering monster nests and ancient ruins, it would have a very strong effect.
Su Li, rubbing his chin, said: "Has she found anything here?"
"Yes," Vandar replied calmly, "Through the animal's perspective over this period, our priest discovered an ancient ruin in the forest. Inside, besides some worthless ancient artifacts, we also found a love potion."
"Love Potion?" Su Li's eyes lit up, asking: "What is this for? Why hasn't it been reported?"
Vandar's momentum slightly weakened as he said: "This is also a potion of our Reya Church, requiring extremely strong Divine Grace to create. Even pouring it into a well, those who drink the well water will become very... excited. Even those who seem least traditionally charming will receive attention."
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