Chapter 638 Corpse-Eating Vine

"Two barrels!"

"Bang!"

The problem of keeping his wife and children warm has been solved. Lawrence plays cards with the women in his family to enhance their relationship.

The mahjong in his hand is made of the bones of the sea dragon. Lawrence likes to make the things he collects into practical and handy things.

On Lawrence's left and right sit Rastana and the Queen of the Elf. Salier sits next to Sofia and watches her play cards, and occasionally looks at the cards that have been played.

Maids and helpers also stand behind Emerald and Cassandra.

These witches like to play together. It is more interesting to watch others play than to play by themselves.

Lawrence has only two hands, so he touches the cards with his hands instead of his breasts.

Compared with women, the game is more interesting.

The winter nights in the Land of Ice are particularly long, so games like poker and mahjong for three or four people are easily promoted. With the addition of sailors and merchants from all over the world, the wooden card game has been spread to farther places.

It is difficult to sit for a day and a night, but playing mahjong and poker is a good way to kill time. Time passes unknowingly.

Lawrence felt that it was almost time, so he stood up and said, "Sariel, you play for me, I'm going to work."

"Okay!" Sariel is also a veteran in the card game, and she has a good memory, which is very suitable for playing cards.

Cassandra also has a high memory ability, and Emerald is almost the same.

The witches' card game is much slower than the normal card game. They are used to waiting quietly and don't mind the time being extended.

After Lawrence came out of the chess and card room, he began to deal with business. The first thing he did was to discuss this year's wool business with the internal affairs officials.

Wool is still an indispensable best-selling commodity in the Ice Land. Every spring is a good time to shear wool.

This year, with the transportation of larger cargo ships, more wool was transported to Dum Port.

The workers at Dum Port sorted the wool into wool yarn and transported it to Pumixiu Town and the Manor.

Lawrence was thinking about the transportation problem in Oak City. The poor transportation problem in the Ice Land destined this place to pay several times the hard work.

Snow Mountain Castle was originally used as a logistics base and also as a military and industrial reserve.

When the Snow Mountain Castle was built, the elves had not been conquered yet, and even the Western Church was still entrenched on the Sadie Island.

Now that there are no so many threats, the Snow Mountain Castle hidden in the mountains does not have such a great military role.

It is not suitable to accommodate too many people there, and it would be very time-consuming and laborious to transport wool, ore and other materials there.

What if... we move to a more suitable place?

Lawrence had the idea of ​​moving the capital, and he couldn't hold back after this idea came up.

"Let's wait and see. If my territory is only what it is now, then it would be most suitable to go to Io, but now there are things to deal with in the south and the east."

"And my foundation is still the people of the Ice Land, not those fence-sitters outside."

Lawrence still gave up the idea of ​​moving the capital. At present, Oak City is very good.

It's no problem to build a beautiful castle outside, but you don't need to go there every year. Just go there every few years.

The Ice Land has natural protection capabilities, and most of the tall and strong Ice People are raised here, and they have always encouraged those children to explore and conquer outside.

Lawrence checked the wool income of the past few days and went to check it personally.

The numbers must not match, which is normal.

As long as the difference is not too outrageous, Lawrence will not care about this loss.

Sometimes it is difficult to tell whether it is a calculation error or another problem.

Lawrence analyzed his current problem and concluded that there is no problem.

First popularize literacy, know who is the prophet, and then talk about other problems.

The problem of oxen has been developing for two or three years. In addition to the previous support for the animal husbandry of the Kingdom of Haisenli, hundreds of oxen can be purchased from there every year.

In addition to the calves produced by the family, the number of oxen can basically be popularized in the next three or four years.

The seeds of crops such as wheat have been optimized for several generations, and now the elves and farmers still select the most suitable crop seeds for the local area.

"It's almost time to relax some restrictions."

Lawrence thought about the impact of every decision he made on the outside world and tried not to touch on those sensitive issues.

"Start with soybeans. Let Io and Gran grow soybeans on the newly opened land, and tell the three Star Alliance countries about the technology of soybean oil extraction."

Lawrence thought for a while and felt that this would be enough.

Beets are agricultural products of the same period as soybeans. Lawrence will not open the technology of sugar extraction for the time being.

Beets can produce a lot of sugar. Sugar is still a luxury in this era and is widely used.

Especially the people here in the Ice Land, who love sugar like their lives.

Start with soybeans, step by step.

At present, a lot of technology has been given to the outside world. I have to keep some high-profit projects anyway, otherwise I can't support such a luxurious life.

The positioning of Snow Mountain Castle is becoming clearer and clearer. Lawrence decided to position Snow Mountain Castle as a research and development base for core technologies, and produce some secret products that he doesn't want to be known by the outside world.

If you can make farm tools, you can make weapons.

If you can make clocks and steam engines, you can make rifles and artillery.

After ships and trains are manufactured, cars are not far away.

Of course, there is no technology to make a bicycle now, but it does not prevent Lawrence from taking a long-term view.

Lawrence returned to the second floor of the circular building, where a circle of rail cars were originally designed to transport supplies.

The idea at that time was that when the Valkyries came from outside, everyone could lean on the window to shoot out, and then the rail car behind them would be responsible for transporting supplies and stones.

Later, the problem they were worried about was solved, and the rail car became a car for transporting goods.

Later, it might be too noisy or too troublesome. Everyone thought it would be much simpler to move it directly than to put it on the car and push it over, and then pick it up from the car, so they didn't want to use this track-fixed cart.

The things that got in the way were put into the warehouse and ate dirt for several years. Now they can't be used.

Things are developing. Many problems that seemed troublesome at the time are just like that now.

Emma and others back then certainly couldn't imagine that they would have such a life today. Even Lawrence couldn't imagine that he could let the Elf Queen give birth to a child for him, and he couldn't imagine that the high and mighty Elf Queen would look like a lowly person.

After Lawrence looked around the garbage warehouse, he saw traces of the past on some old wood and stones.

While he was recalling the past, Cassandra walked in from outside.

"What's the matter?" Lawrence knew that Cassandra came to see him alone, and there must be something.

"Two things, both of which are outside." Cassandra said with a serious face.

"Signer II is dead, and now Signer III of the Northern Kingdom has ascended the throne, but he needs your coronation."

"Also, Seravan sent someone to deliver the news that fertile land reclaimed by corpse-eating vines was found in the south. That land has been occupied by a group of refugees from Pig Trotter City for two years. Seravan asked what to do."

Lawrence felt that neither of them was a big deal.

He went to the Northern Kingdom for an inspection in the thirteenth year of the new calendar, and the old king was not in a good condition at that time.

The elderly of this era died very quickly, especially the nobles on the coast who were often tortured by illness and pain. When they lost the ability to take care of themselves, they basically ended their lives.

Perhaps it was the blessing of the God of Stars that made the old king die in bed instead of being killed.

Lawrence was a little surprised by the corpse vine, as he had long forgotten about it.

Cassandra also knew which was more important, and looked at Lawrence and asked, "Didn't the corpse vine appear after the death of those elf wizards?"

"No." Lawrence was very sure of this, "After the elves die, they will merge with the trees and become nutrients for plants to nourish the forest. According to the elves themselves, it is a return to nature."

Cassandra nodded, "The same is true for people. The dead will be sunk into the sea and then eaten by fish, and then we eat fish."

Lawrence didn't want to discuss this philosophical question, "The forest in the south has no need to exist. Since the corpse vine has developed this land, we must make reasonable use of this land."

"Occupy this land, put our mark on it, and appear at our doorstep. How can we allow outsiders to occupy it privately?"

Lawrence directly issued a conquest order, allowing Seravan to drive away and repel those foreigners who planted land at their doorstep.

Lawrence doesn't need slaves now, nor does he need slaves who can't understand the language here or have barbaric thinking logic.

Dum Port and Flying Fish Port both have a large amount of available labor, which is Lawrence's confidence.

The next morning, Catherine, who had rested for a long time, returned to work and took Lawrence to the forest area on the edge of Sidell's territory.

This is where the corpse vine appeared, and it is also near the village mentioned in the report.

The corpse vine feeds on rotten corpses, and it should die naturally in the soil in a short time, but the corpse vines evolved from the bodies of the three swamp witches do not follow the general rules.

Lawrence found that this place was somewhat different from his memory. The former forest had disappeared and turned into a gentle grass.

The outline of the village and farmland can be seen at the foot of the mountain in the distance. Obviously, someone has established a settlement here.

At this time, the messenger has not yet passed Lawrence's order to Seravan. In addition to seeing the results of the corpse vine, Lawrence also wants to see who lives at his doorstep.

After getting closer, Lawrence found that these people's lives are still very primitive.

Their houses should be considered as thatched houses with branch fences, which are simply built with wood branches of different sizes and dried plants.

There are about two wells in the village, and there is a river not far away. The yards and roads are full of grass, and there are no livestock.

Because it is early morning, the humidity and water mist make this village of more than a dozen households seem very quiet.

Some dilapidated houses look like the shacks Lawrence built fifteen years ago.

Lawrence rode the unicorn to leave this quiet village and continued to look for traces of corpse vines in the deep forest.

Corpse vines often emerge from the ground. Lawrence and other witches do not understand the principle and reason, but the corpse vines will periodically expose half of their bodies from the soil, and then drill into the soil from the new ground.

The location of the corpse vine can be found from the piles of soil dug out by the corpse vines and the traces of movement.

Corpse vines will not destroy crops. They prefer to follow the smell to find rotten nutrients to eat, and will also avoid the roots of large trees.

Where big trees have dense roots, these corpse-eating vines will subconsciously stay away.

How exactly, Lawrence is not sure.

Just when she was thinking about how to find the corpse-eating vine, Catherine suddenly stopped and couldn't walk away.

The grass ahead began to bulge, and something surged from beneath the turf.

Lawrence took out the fine iron sword slung on his shoulder and dropped it from the unicorn's body to the ground.

When Lawrence's boots hit the ground, the thing crawling in front finally revealed its head with white hair.

There is a clear difference between the corpse vine and the corpse vine in memory. The current corpse vine looks like a terrifying earthworm man.

Its face looks like an old witch, its curved body looks like a crooked old woman, and there are a lot of punctures on its body, which look like the cuticle of the skin, like nails and teeth.

"Lawrence...Lawrence..."

The earthworm's mouth made an incomprehensible and disgusting sound, muttering Lawrence's name.

Lawrence scolded in a cold voice: "How dare you call me by my name! You are seeking death!"

Lawrence slammed his foot on the ground in front of him, and a stone was shaken up.

The tough long sword slammed against the stone, and the next moment a large amount of gravel and sparks were shot out towards the earthworm monster.

The broken stone shot into the corpse vine's skin, and the powerful impact smashed a piece of the corpse vine's head into pieces.

Lawrence rushed over, swung his long sword and struck four times quickly, cutting the corpse vine into several pieces.

The corpse vine's head is gone, but it still makes unpleasant noises with its tail.

"Curse...curse you..."

"Because my name is destined to be recorded in the history of this continent, and glory will be bestowed upon me forever. If you want to curse me, then you'd better curse me to live longer. People can only live long if they live longer. Mistakes will continue to be made.”

Lawrence looked at the corpse-eating vine that quickly stopped. Those three swamp witches were really not fun, and they would cause trouble even if they died.

Dealing with supernatural events was not Laurence's specialty. The ones best suited to deal with witches had always been wizards.

Not a wizard like Lawrence, but a wizard like Alondo and Will.

Lawrence rode the unicorn back to Port Dum, and sent people to the death row island in the north to call back Will, who was studying the structure of the human body and the secrets of immortality.

What Will did was a very evil thing in this era, dissecting and studying corpses, but Lawrence didn't care about this. As long as Will's research can make medical progress and solve problems that cannot be solved in this era, then Lawrence is willing to put him Those prisoners who deserved to be executed were handed over to the elf wizard for recycling.

When Will, who was studying the mysteries of death and consciousness, heard that Lawrence had summoned him, he quickly put aside what he was doing and came to see this generous, kind and wise donor.

"Greetings to you, Your Majesty the Great Prophet."

Lawrence looked at this slovenly elf and said directly without any nonsense: "Will, there are two zombie vines transformed by swamp witches in the southern forest. Go and deal with them and tell me why they are still conscious. "

"Yes! Your Majesty, the merciful and great prophet." Will quickly agreed to this errand that interested him.

Even if he is not interested, Will will agree, because such a good boss is really hard to find, and it is necessary to do something for him.

Lawrence watched this obedient elf leave here, and he knew very well that this elf wizard was more dangerous than Alondo.

Aaron knew the current affairs. This Will was a bit crazy. The reason why he surrendered was not because he was afraid of death. He had the idea of ​​joining after learning that Lawrence accepted wizards from many schools.

But madmen are good for madmen, and dealing with swamp witches requires some mentally abnormal but extremely determined wizards.

Will just wanted to figure out the mysteries of life and death, so he killed many elves for this purpose.

Except for not eating, Will is no worse than the three witches of the swamp in every aspect.

Lawrence supports Will's research, helps him obtain some troublesome materials, and provides a safe and undisturbed research institute. He is a benefactor to Will.

If Lawrence is killed, then Will will definitely help Lawrence get revenge, because it will definitely mean that he will no longer have the support of a financial sponsor in the future, and this hatred will definitely be engraved in his heart! (End of chapter)