Evil dragon has a warm heart-Chapter 111 - 110 The Black Market of Xiangshui River

Chapter 111: Chapter 110: The Black Market of Xiangshui River

Chapter 111 -110: The Black Market of Xiangshui River

The ceremony reached its climax when Russell announced that the Windmill Mill would offer free milling services for a month and, thereafter, would maintain the same price as the town’s mill without charging extra for milling.

The serfs were overwhelmed with gratitude, heaping praises on the noble lord.

At that moment, Russell stood in front of the second-floor window of the Windmill Mill, smiling quietly as he watched the jubilant crowd below.

His heart was filled with many emotions.

For these serfs, who toiled in the land all year round and even had to submit most of their harvest, just one month of free milling could bring them to tears of joy, which shows that happiness in life is not hard to come by.

What is difficult is to maintain that happiness, because people always develop more dissatisfaction after their needs are satisfied.

For now, the serfs are happy, but as time goes by and everyone gets used to the Windmill Mill, they may no longer feel the happiness they do in this moment.

Of course, that is a matter for the future.

For the moment, Russell felt a great sense of achievement and satisfaction from the happy smiles brimming on the faces of the serfs.

“In any case, since I am the lord, I should properly develop the territory and ensure a good life for my subjects,” said Russell as he turned and went downstairs, followed by the officials. Thus, the Windmill Mill’s inauguration ceremony came to an end.

The serfs dispersed one after another.

The ones who had not yet had a chance to mill hurried back home excitedly, carrying their wheat to enjoy the free milling service.

Meanwhile, Russell and his entourage had already gone to Magic Medicine Tun. They were not there to inspect the growth of the Magical Medicine Field; in fact, the magic potion was just a special crop that did not require additional attention and could be left to the care of serf technicians.

He had come for the construction of the Bear Honeybee Farm.

Beekeeper Kenny had already taken up his post and brought his wife along. The couple lived together on the farm.

“Sir, the group of Bear Honeybees you acquired is about to swarm, and there are already two new queens in it. I’ve temporarily separated the new queens, but I still need to proceed with bee splitting and queen rearing to add a queen to each beehive…”

The Bear Honeybee Farm did not have a fixed location.

Instead, it consisted of several horse-drawn carts and a large number of beehives. Beekeeper Kenny and his wife lived in the carts, ready to move the beehives around at any time to facilitate the Bear Honeybees’ access to pollen.

However, Russell still planned to allocate a house to the Kenny couple.

Of course, that would have to wait until new houses in Magic Medicine Tun were built.

“Work hard, Kenny.”

“I will do my best, Sir,” said Beekeeper Kenny with his spirit high. Although Wuyao Snake Manor was somewhat remote, here he was in charge. As long as he took good care of the Bear Honeybees, he did not have to worry about his welfare and treatment.

After inspecting the Bear Honeybee Farm, Russell and his group rode to Lentil Hamlet, galloping all the way to the border between Lentil Hamlet and Wheat Hamlet.

There, a group of serfs were building a dark pig farm under the leadership of the hamlet chief.

Mr. Brown was holding a pig-herding whip, standing in front of the pig farm construction site, looking at his future workplace.

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He had been appointed by Russell as the pig keeper, responsible for breeding the dark pigs.

By his side, the golden black sow was leading a litter of little golden black pigs, leisurely nibbling on the grass, while the dark piglets that Russell had high hopes for were also mingling with the golden black pig herd, waiting to grow up.

Once they reached adulthood, they would start to breed, bear offspring, and select the best qualities until the dark pig breed stabilized.

“Mr. Brown, are you herding pigs?” Russell asked with a smile.

Mr. Brown immediately bent down to bow, “Sir, I’m herding pigs, and I just came over to check how the pig farm is coming along.”

He was an honest and straightforward man with not much to say, far less capable than his wife, Mrs. Brown. Mrs. Brown’s culinary talent, in fact, even exceeded that of Mrs. Moore and had developed many types of pastries.

Of course.

Pig farming didn’t involve much skill; Mr. Brown just needed to be diligent, and the rest, including selecting and breeding the pigs, would be supported by serf technicians from the town arranged by Russell.

After asking about the progress of the black pig farm and checking the growth of the piglets, Russell left.

The officials dispersed as well.

Since the officials had started managing the estate, there wasn’t much left for Russell to do, and he barely needed to patrol the territory anymore.

This gave him ample time to cultivate his Battle Qi.

Unable to sit idle, Russell took Eric, Kevin, and Red-eyed Rat King to Grotto Village before nightfall.

“Red-eyed, go ahead and summon your old followers here, let’s see how many have survived,” Russell said.

Red-eyed immediately directed a series of low chirps into the cave.

After a while, several fat rats came out, tremblingly approaching the Red-eyed Rat King. Compared to the swarming hordes during the rat plague, the scene was rather pitiful now, with fewer than a hundred rats, including the smaller ones.

“Chirp, chirp,” the rats of various sizes called out.

Seeing this, the Red-eyed Rat King’s fur on its mouth bristled, and, with a sharp squeak, “Chirp!”

In an instant.

All the rats froze in place, not moving or making a sound.

Only then did Red-eyed turn to Russell with satisfaction, its mouth proudly tilted up to show off its majesty; in the world of mice, it was the undisputed king.

With one command, the swarm of rats dared not disobey.

“The Sentinel Rat Squad and Treasure-Hunting Rat Squad, you need to make arrangements,” Russell said, patting Red-eyed Rat King on the head.

Red-eyed Rat King nodded and, followed by its fewer than one hundred subordinates, let out a series of chirps.

Then with a loud “Chirp,” the group of rats scattered, squeaking as they entered the crevices they had come from.

“It’s too much of a loss for the rats,” Eric remarked in a low voice upon seeing this.

“Don’t worry, we don’t need to fret about the number of rats. In just a few months, there will be enough to fill the void left after the rat plague,” Russell assured, well aware of the frighteningly fast breeding rate of rats.

Rats could reproduce all year round, with a gestation period of only three to four weeks, and giving birth six to eight times a year.

Each litter could have six to ten pups, and even fifteen or sixteen wasn’t uncommon.

In other words, given enough food, two rats could produce hundreds of offspring in a year, a terrifying thought indeed.

Just as Russell was about to leave Grotto Village, Ranger Hauls, the advocate, rushed over: “Sir, please wait a moment.”

The manor court was in session once a week, and usually, there were no pressing matters, so Hauls, being an advocate, more often spent his time farming in Grotto Village. Now that Grotto Village was afflicted by the rat plague, he had no crops to tend and was just in time to apply to move to Market Hamlet.

“Is there something you need, Hauls?” Russell stopped, “Your application to move to Market Hamlet has been approved by Charles, hasn’t it?”

“It’s not about that, Sir,” Hauls said with a smile, “There’s another matter I need to report to you.”

Then, he glanced at Eric.

It seemed he didn’t want more people to know, but considering that Eric was Russell’s confidant, he went ahead and said: “The thing is, the Echo Water River Cavern, Blind Man’s Cave, Wild Man Cave, Red Bat Grotto, and several other caves have underground trades among them; Lone Wolf Lisbon frequently trades with the outside.”

Russell nodded to signal Hauls to continue.

“Don’t underestimate the trades among these caves, Sir. The Cavern Free People from all these places number more than three thousand. Eating, cultivating, treating illnesses, marrying… If you take over these trades, you can certainly earn a good profit.”

Hauls then shared his suggestion: “Perhaps you could open a black market in Echo Water River Cavern to facilitate trade among the Cavern Free People. You could even connect with caves outside the Glowing Valley Territory and attract more Freemen to join us.”