The south of the empire is much more comfortable than the north.
Lorne, who comes from Earth and loves to enjoy, will certainly be satisfied here.
Following the Duke of the Sea's team, we briefly visited the small towns along the way.
Before we even reached the main city of the Stuart family, a strong commercial atmosphere hit us.
The large and small shops on both sides and the bluestone-paved streets gave Lorne the illusion of traveling through time and space to an ancient European town.
In terms of prosperity, this place is already almost a century ahead of the northern border.
But whether it was the North or the Stuart family, there was not much difference in the systems they followed.
Abnormal development has brought them benefits but also laid the foundation for disasters, such as capitalism.
There is no need to doubt that as the richest lord in the empire.
The Duke of the Sea is more than just a nobleman.
The Duke himself, who controls maritime trade and owns countless industries, is the largest capitalist in the empire.
Perhaps because of the limitations of the times, he has not realized the difference between himself and ordinary lords, but as long as he continues to develop.
The Duke of the Sea will naturally understand how different he is from the lords in the north who rely on tax collection as their main financial income.
Even on the land of the Stuart Territory, Lorne did not find many farmers.
He vaguely understood where those extra people had gone, but Lorne couldn't help but ask the Duke.
"Your Excellency, we have met three villages along the way.
But I found that the labor force there seems to be somewhat insufficient.
Has Lord Stuart mastered any method that can increase the yield of crops?"
In less than a day, we encountered three villages and one small town.
In terms of population density, the south has already surpassed the north.
The large population and slightly insufficient farmland meant that the Stuart Territory had a huge food gap.
This is unimaginable in an ordinary territory.
In Lorne's impression, solving the food problem first and then thinking about getting rich is the normal development model.
However, the Stuart family adopted a different approach from others, which fully demonstrated the true face of capital under the mask of its lords.
"Baron Lorne, the labor force, refers to farmers, hahaha."
The laughter was full of pride.
If the Duke of the Sea is really trying to transform the backward farming society as Lorne imagined, then he does have the right to be proud.
It’s just that there is no electricity and no equipment.
With its low productivity, even if the transformation is successful, it is impossible to make a big breakthrough.
This is also the reason why Lorne did not vigorously develop technology.
Of course, the biggest reason is that he does not have excellent knowledge.
Developing technology from scratch is not something that can be done by drawing a few sketches and talking about its effects.
But after laughing, the Duke gave Lorne a bolt from the blue, reminding him of another cross-era masterpiece before the advent of electricity.
"Farming can't bring me much income.
The Baron may not know our place yet.
When you get to Yuanwang City, take a look at my workshop in Stuart, and you will understand where all the labor has gone.
But even if farmers are deployed, sometimes I still feel that there is not enough manpower.
But some time ago, I got two of their latest machines from the Heretic Island.
What are they called?
By the way, it seems to be a steam machine.
It is quite powerful.
If one is not careful, Lorne didn't listen carefully to what the Duke said later.
Just the word "steam" made Baron Fast almost jump off his horse.
But he managed to maintain his expression, but the baron was already scolding him in his heart.
"What a powerful machine.
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Now that the Heretic Island has such a machine, what about their weapons, such as muskets and cannons?"
Interrupting the boasting of the Duke of the Sea, once the steam engine was mentioned, Lorne immediately had an impression.
Moreover, Lorne, who comes from the earth, is more familiar with the principle of that thing than the Duke.
Of course, if he wants to build it, Baron Fast will definitely not be able to build it.
What he was most concerned about wasn't the steam engine, weapons were what Lorne was worried about.
If the Heretic Island has developed muskets and cannons, then Lorne might as well seize the opportunity to surrender to the opponent.
What’s even more sad is that according to the historical development of the earth, the birth of guns was far earlier than the use of steam engines.
"Is a musket a spear with flames?
It's a treasure, but what is a cannon?"
Fortunately, a steam engine is already the worst news.
The other party has not yet mastered a deadly weapon like gunpowder.
Several questions from the Duke of the Sea prove who is the real country bumpkin.
But for weapons, the Duke's interest is not weak at all.
"The baron should be talking about weapons and equipment, muskets and cannons.
Are they the latest products manufactured in the north, or are they weapons designed by the baron himself?"
The Duke of the Sea naturally knows what is going on in the north.
That's why he thought that the muskets and cannons in Lorne's mouth were unique equipment to the Fast Territory.
But if Lorne really had muskets and cannons, he would have used them to bulldoze the world.
It's a pity that Lorne once sent people to search for sulfur and saltpeter, but no one in the entire North knew about these things.
It would be a huge project to explore on your own.
As for the final product, it was not a big problem to scare the ignorant aborigines.
It relied on primitive explosives as the main battle weapon, and even made muskets and cannons.
It took only twenty or thirty years of effort.
Nonsense.
"I just heard that there are some weapons on the Heretic Island that make loud noises accompanied by fire, and even have a pungent smell.
They seem to be called muskets and cannons.
Your Excellency, the Duke has been fighting with them for so many years, haven't you seen it?
" Once again, he confirmed with the Duke of the Sea that threats such as guns and cannons were too terrifying, and Lorne did not dare to neglect them at all.
However, Duke Stuart expressed his disdain for Lorne's hearsay rumors, but the Duke inadvertently revealed a little bit about the wizard.
"How do the people in the North know what is going on on the Heretic Island?
Baron, don't believe those people's nonsense.
There is no such thing as loud noises and pungent smells."
Denying the existence of muskets and cannons, the Sea Duke continued.
"The only ones who can emit fire are the wizards on the island.
I have seen the witchcraft used by the wizards on the island.
The flames that appear out of thin air are indeed very powerful.
But I can definitely tell the Baron that wizards are not so scary.
Because there are only three wizards in the entire Heretic Island, and those three wizards do not belong to the same force."
This is huge news, and Lorne has just learned that there are only three so-called wizards.
Then even if they have powerful and terrifying power, there is nothing to fear.
The simplest human sea tactics can exhaust them to death: