After reading the intelligence report, Su Li couldn't resist the allure of Philis, the most beautiful woman in the territory, and engaged in a pleasant morning cultivation with her.

Considering Philis's still frail body, Su Li treated her as gently as possible, but under the blessing of the Dragon Blood Stone, Philis was still left in a state of rapture, feeling as if she were transcending to immortality.

This gave Su Li a bursting sense of conquest; this top beauty was simply a Jade Beauty! He was afraid she would melt if held in his mouth.

After being served to the utmost satisfaction by her, Su Li said to her during breakfast, "You don't need to rush your Knight training, I will prepare some items for you to help awaken your Extraordinary Ability."

Philis, who was sipping from a water cup, blushed instantly, shyly hiding her charming face behind the cup, and whispered, "I will follow all your arrangements, my Lord."

Su Li couldn't help but smile; the Daily Intelligence system truly found him a perfect female courtier. This beauty from Sulande had the gentle-as-water temperament of an oriental beauty, truly epitomizing the saying: 'marry a chicken, follow the chicken, marry a dog, follow the dog.'

While he was thinking this, Lauren and Vandar walked into the castle together.

Su Li had just finished eating, so he stood up, gently touched Philis's smooth hair, and said, "You need to replenish your energy, eat slowly, no rush. We're going out now, but if you finish eating and have nothing to do, you can check out the general store to see if they have any new furniture or household items."

After saying this, Su Li placed three Golden Crowns into her hand and said, "The castle is still relatively poor and starving, with material shortages. Buy anything useful you see, we should improve our living conditions."

The famine and poverty of the territory were beyond ordinary imagination. On this desolate and impoverished land, almost everything was self-sufficient, so various materials were extremely scarce.

Even Lord Su Li couldn't replace clothing if it tore; it could only be patched up with burlap. And even burlap had to wait for the maturing of the plants in the hemp field to be woven.

It could be said that everything in this territory prioritized farming and warfare; there were plenty of armors, swords, and plows, but everyday household goods were in short supply everywhere.

If a family were to get married now, producing three new quilts as a dowry would certainly be considered a wealthy background.

So, as Su Li led Lauren and Vandar out, he asked, "There hasn't been any formal merchant caravan arriving in the territory yet? We urgently need commercial exchange to boost the prosperity of the territory. You don't want my castle to remain this simple, with one quilt covering us from spring to winter, do you?"

Watching Su Li's departing figure, Philis clenched the three Golden Crowns in her hand, her beautiful eyes gleamed with joyful light, and she whispered to Hilude, "The Lord is truly a very gentle person."

Hilude, with a heroic posture, propping her chin, looked down at this frail first beauty of the territory, her tone cool: "The Lord is only this gentle to those close to him, I hope you too can strive to be useful to the Lord."

"Oh~ I understand," Philis nodded weakly, feeling particularly small under Hilude's aura.

The heroic spirit and aura of this High-Level Attendant Chief was completely different from the gentleness she had shown last night when kissing her in bed.

Hilude furrowed her heroic eyebrows, truly unable to see what was so special about this beauty that could help the Lord ascend the throne.

No matter how she looked at it, this young girl seemed like a somewhat fragile, shy girl-next-door, without any outstanding qualities in cultivation aptitudes or aura presence, apart from her unparalleled beauty.

Hilude pondered for a moment, then stopped scrutinizing, directly picked up her Rune Sword, stood up, and said, "I have work to do, you can do as you please."

Once Hilude left, Philis finally breathed a sigh of relief, looking at her future new home, smiling with arched eyebrows. She then looked at the three Golden Crowns in her hands, a vast wealth she had never controlled before, and began excitedly planning how to improve everything in the castle.

Outside the castle, Lauren was also discussing this topic with Su Li: "Lord, opening trade routes, exchanging goods to promote the prosperity of the territory is a consensus among all of us. Shortly after we entered the territory, we have already begun working on this matter."

"Counting the days, the Balantangborne Clan's caravan should be returning soon. When the Half-Elf caravan returns, Master Kote should also soon be back from Marle Castle. Our territory will welcome a batch of slave capture teams and trading caravans."

The Balantangborne Clan's caravan is about to return?

This was the best news for Su Li. He remembered that they had originally loaned 60 gold coins from the territory to recruit an Ogre construction team and procure goods.

If they return, it would undoubtedly greatly accelerate the construction of the territory.

Su Li directly led the two ministers to the front of Bjorn Shallow Bay, looking at the dam under construction, and said, "When summer arrives, we must prepare for the hurricanes and rainstorms of Tal. This Divine Spirit is not as gentle as the Dawn Goddess; under its influence, the elk finches on the coastal areas have already flown over our territory, and the impact of the hurricane on the territory is foreseeable."

The hurricane will make landfall along the coast of the Sea of Grey Mist in three or four days, and at its normal speed it won't take more than ten days to reach the central and northern areas of the Border Prince's Territory. The Hesse Territory might not be directly affected by the hurricane, but a heavy rain is inevitable.

So flood prevention is of utmost importance.

Vandar pointed to the rapidly constructing dam ahead and said, "The ogres are working efficiently; they've already built more than thirty miles of the dam. If all goes well, we will build a two hundred-mile-long dam before the heavy rain arrives. The drainage channels below Jorn Shallow Bay already cover an area of 40 miles, about sixty thousand acres of plains."

"After this heavy rain, when the summer sun dries the land, it will be just the right time to open up new fields. We plan to both rush the summer harvest and cultivate new fields, aiming to develop at least twenty thousand acres of farmland."

This plan instantly filled Su Li with ambition and determination; now sixty thousand acres of plains are affected by the water management projects, and in the future, when the facilities are completed, at least three hundred thousand acres of land will become fertile fields.

By then, with complete water facilities, fertile fields, and crisscrossing paths, this place would be the largest granary in the territory.

With three hundred thousand acres of fertile arable land, even planting just about anything would be enough to support the scale of a Baron's Territory.

Calculating with one man managing a hundred acres with five family members, just three thousand households could fully develop this land, roughly equivalent to ten villages.

In a Baron's Territory, having ten farms and settlements is not difficult.

If Su Li is generous and assigns some land to the knights under his command, allowing them to manage territories elsewhere, he could have 5-10 subordinate manors.

The overall strength of the Hesse Territory would then be at an upper level among the Baron's Territories, surely passing the Empire's assessment without a hitch.

Seeing a clear avenue ahead, Su Li, full of confidence, said, "Let the engineers direct the slaves to work with full effort. Are there any issues with the engineering work now?"

Vandar nodded and said, "There are some problems. The ogres suffered heavy losses on the battlefield; six ogres died on the spot, and three were seriously injured. So the construction progress in the territory has been severely impacted."

"Moreover, the territory's medicinal supplies are almost depleted, making it difficult to continue our treatments."

This means the territory's herb fields are another urgent matter.

Fortunately, this issue did not trouble Su Li for long. Late in the afternoon, as he was patrolling near the reservoir, preparing to hunt the elk finch, the loud and robust voice of a dwarf came from the north.

"Lord, Lord! We have results from the excavation below the Moonlight Highlands."

A carriage screeched to a halt on the country road by the reservoir, and a dust-covered dwarf immediately jumped down, offering a seed the size of an avocado to Su Li.

Lauren quickly introduced to Su Li, "Lord, this is the Dwarf Engineering Master Kurgan Ironbeard, who we rescued from the Broken Toe Tribe. He is a scholar of the Ironbeard Clan and has obtained credentials in the Engineer's Guild, possessing extraordinary skills in engineering and machinery manufacturing."

Su Li looked down at this dwarf with his beard braided in pigtails, his round eyes like soybeans, appearing somewhat adorably silly, much more approachable than the stubborn and irritable Belos Dragon Hammer.

Dwarf Engineers are members of the esteemed Engineer's Guild who've received higher education, and their achievements in science, small tools, and technology are unparalleled worldwide.

He hasn't turned to being a butcher, which means his craftsmanship is still trustworthy. Generally, those engineers who became butchers did so because their creations had significant flaws that caused major losses.

Su Li first smiled and said to him, "On behalf of the Hesse Territory, I welcome the dwarves' joining. For nearly three thousand years, the relationship between humans and dwarves in the Empire has been unbreakable, developing a brotherly friendship. In every great battle, as long as humans are in trouble, dwarves always join without hesitation. I believe in our territory, we will continue to maintain this closeness."

Kurgan, being somewhat straightforward, immediately asked, "Then, Lord, could you possibly give me a few of the giant corpses you obtained in this battle? I think crafting engineering machinery is more important, though brewing Giant Brew is equally significant."

Su Li couldn't help but smile, dwarves really have a passion for drinking.

"I've already arranged with Belos Dragon Hammer to give all the giant corpses from this battle to him." Before the dwarf could cry out in disappointment, Su Li quickly added, "However, tonight the patrol should return with four River Giant corpses, which I can give to you."

Sure enough, hearing Su Li's words, the previously sullen-faced Kurgan immediately perked up, saying, "Praise your generosity, Lord! I will be sure to produce powerful engineering machinery to reward your gift."

Su Li nodded with a smile, then looked at the avocado-like seed in his hand, realizing it was the seed of the Holy Purple Vine. Just touching its exterior, one could feel the vigorous life contained within.

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