Lord: Taken away from inheritance at the beginning.

Accompanied by three professional knights, Luo Ning began a new round of territorial patrols.

After yesterday's disappointing experience, his expectations today were greatly reduced.

Today, he did not want to continue investigating farming, but went west to get a clear understanding of the geographical environment in the west before winter.

Unlike the east side, there are more rolling hills and less flat areas as you go west.

As Luo Ning walked, he wrote down obvious areas on the parchment and gave them names.

For example, the naturally formed lake in front of you is located in the middle of three mountains. It is a natural depression and is not large in area. It is estimated to be five to six hundred square meters.

According to Tom, there are several kinds of wild fish in this lake, and Prince even sent people to catch them. It is much easier than catching them in the mountain lake to the east.

Because it was relatively close to Wushan, Luo Ning named it "Wushan Lake".

Further west along Wushan Lake, you begin to enter the Wushan Mountains. Theoretically, that area does not belong to Luo Ning's territory.

However, no noble wanted to open up territory in this place. Luo Ning had no problem using the resources here.

"Before I came to Hillwood Town, Hallwater, the steward of Wushan Castle, once told me that the last baron here took his family on a trip in the winter and died under the claws of a monster!"

Luo Ning looked at the increasingly dense mountain forest and explained what he had seen, "McCann, when winter comes, the matter of Warcraft will be left to you. Then you have to get some more Warcraft skins for me!"

McCann, who put on his armor, patted his chest heavily, "Sir, I'm very confident!"

Luo Ning laughed.

It has just passed August 15th, and there are still four months until winter. By then, McCann will not only be a senior knight, but he should also be in an upper-middle position among senior knights, right?

This kind of strength is enough to deal with ordinary monsters, unless a big guy comes, like the previous Baron Green in Lake Town.

"Tom, are there many monsters that invade the town in winter?"

As a native of Hillwood, Tom has a say in this matter.

"There are indeed some magical beasts that come down the mountain to look for food in winter, but don't worry, sir, it's not as exaggerated as the housekeeper said. Most of them are wolves, pigs and the like, and there are very few particularly powerful magical beasts."

Tom said: "In order to prevent being attacked by monsters, Prince arranged the wheat fields and reclaimed wasteland in the east. The crops in the west are basically flax, and there are relatively few people living there, so the losses will not be great. "

Luo Ning gave Prince a thumbs up in his mind. This guy finally did something beneficial to him.

"That's what I say, but the grassland in the northwest is my pasture. Cows, sheep, and horses will be kept here. The guards must be careful when patrolling, and don't let the animals in the mountains eat my animals!"

Luo Ning now has 126 sheep, 35 horses, 6 cows, and 24 black buffaloes. The number is not large, and he got half of them from outside. Losing any of them makes him heartbroken.

"Don't worry, sir. Starting from tomorrow, I will arrange a few guards to patrol here!"

McCann following Luo Ning on patrol was not just looking around. As a guard officer, he was thinking about the defense layout of the territory.

Their current security risks lie in three areas, namely the Savage Tribe, Warcraft and Thane Territory.

Compared with the unexpectedness of Warcraft, the Savage Tribe and Thane Territory are the focus.

Therefore, McCann plans to invest more manpower in these two aspects. As for the Warcraft Mountains to the west, he only needs to arrange a few people to patrol, and notify the guards to come and support if there is any situation.

Luo Ning nodded, "After the inspection is completed, you should also think about the territory's defense plan and report it to me."

"Okay, sir!" McCann took the order.

A few people talked and walked, and along the mountain path, they soon entered the continuous mountains to the west.

The mountains here are much higher than the mountains in the south, and looking into the distance, there are increasingly taller mountains, which is Wushan.

The forest here is very lush, with large trees that are as green as pine and cypress all year round, as well as low shrubs and scattered grass.

As a master in the mountains and forests, you really don’t have to worry about wood.

"It's a pity that others don't lack wood either."

All the nobles in Wushan Territory have mountains in their territories. Who doesn’t have wood?

You can't make money purely by selling wood, and long pieces of wood are not easy to transport on mountain roads.

It is possible to sell new-style furniture made from wood, but there are still problems with transportation and it is easy to be imitated.

"Looking at the clean road ahead with no weeds growing on it, it's obvious that someone has walked by it frequently."

Luo Ning pointed to the mountain road three or four people wide in front of him, "Who comes here often?"

This mountain road is winding and may be more than one meter wide. The weeds on the roadside are not growing well and seem to have been trampled on frequently.

It stands to reason that this place is no longer within Shanlin Town and is somewhat dangerous, so not many people should come here.

"Sir, the residents of this town often come here in groups to cut firewood!"

Tom knew this path very well, "Before you came to Hillwood Town, Prince did not allow the residents to cut down the trees in the town at will. If people wanted to build a house, they had to pay Prince a certain amount of money or labor. , otherwise we can only come here to look for wood in the mountains."

The flowers, trees, mountains and rivers in the territory belong to the lord. If the people want to get it, they must apply to the lord and pay the exchange conditions.

If you do not apply or pay money or labor, it is illegal. Once discovered, not only will it be confiscated, but you will also be severely punished.

Luo Ning sighed secretly, ordinary people in this world are really pitiful, and they have too few means of production at their disposal.

Even though he is now the lord here, it is impossible for him to say that the trees in Shanlin Town are cut down casually, but as a time traveler, he feels that it is still necessary to solve this "dangerous" situation.

He didn't want the people to be ruined by the monsters just to get some wood. Compared with a labor force and a tree, the former was more valuable.

"Tom, do many people from the town come here?"

Luo Ning drove the horse further along the mountain road, "Are there any particularly dangerous places or monsters inside?"

"The people who come here are all brave people. Most of them are timid and don't dare to come. They can only entrust those brave people to help and pay a little something."

Tom continued: "I'm not sure about particularly dangerous locations and monsters, but sir, there is a special place."

"Oh?" Ronington was curious.

"Sir, there is a large black forest ahead. The trees there are extremely hard and cannot be cut with an ordinary stone axe. Even with an iron axe, it will take a lot of effort to cut it!"

Luo Ning's eyes lit up.

From yesterday to today, he has been hoping to find something different, but unfortunately the reality has always disappointed him.

But now, something special seems to be coming?

"Take me there!" he said quickly.

The place Tom mentioned was not far away. Walking two or three miles further, Luo Ning saw a dark forest.

This is a forest composed of strange trees with black trunks, more than ten meters high and fifty or sixty centimeters in diameter. They are widely distributed.

Luo Ning stretched out his hand and touched the bark. It felt much more comfortable than the bark of pine trees and was not very rough.

He pulled out his sword with some anticipation and slashed at the tree trunk.

There was only a bang, and perhaps because he didn't use too much force, his sword was bounced away.

He carefully observed the position of the chop and found that the sword only left a faint mark on it, with no sign of breaking the skin at all.

Luo Ning's eyes lit up. Are they really that hard?

He quickly waved to McCann, "Come on, McCann, let's see if you can cut down this tree with one sword."

McCann was very confident in this: "Sir, trees are just trees after all. No matter how hard they are, they can't withstand the full blow of my sword!"

As he spoke, he walked to the tree trunk and held the big sword with both hands. Fighting energy flowed on the sword, exuding a faint power.

Just listen to McCann's deep voice and chop at the tree trunk with extreme violence.

boom!

The huge impact shook the black iron tree violently. McCann's long sword was not bounced away, but directly broke through the bark of the black iron tree, and then cut into the black iron tree for thirty centimeters before making it difficult to advance further.

A mid-to-late-intermediate knight, using a sharp long sword and striking with all his strength, did not cut down the tree, which is enough to show how hard it is.

McCann was still blushing for losing face in front of adults, but Ronin clapped his hands happily.

"Good, good, good!"

Such hard wood is rare, and its value is not low.

"It's called the 'Black Iron Tree', right?" Luo Ning asked.

Tom bowed, "No one has a name for it, sir. We call this black forest and call them 'black trees'."

"Then it will be called the Black Iron Tree from today on."

Luo Ning was a little happy, "Come on knights, cut down a tree and take it back to me for study."