Accompanied by three professional knights, Roning began a new round of territory inspection.

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

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

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

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

For example, this naturally formed lake in front of us is located in the middle of three mountains. It is a natural depression with a small area, estimated to be about 500 to 600 square meters.

According to Tom, there are several kinds of wild fish in this lake. Princet has sent people to catch them. It is much easier to catch them than in the mountain forest lake in the east.

Because it is closer to Wushan, Luo Ning named it "Wushan Lake".

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

However, no noble wanted to expand their territory in this place, so there was no problem for Roning to use the resources here.

"Before I came to Shanlin Town, the steward of Wushan Castle, Hallwart, told me that the previous baron here took his family out for a trip in the winter and died under the claws of a monster!"

Luo Ning looked at the increasingly dense forest and explained what he had seen, "McKen, when winter comes, I'll leave the Warcraft matter to you. By then, you have to get me a few more Warcraft skins!"

After putting on his armor, Mikan patted his chest heavily and said, "My lord, I am very confident!"

Roning laughed.

It is only the 15th of August now, and there are still four months until winter. By then, Mikan will not only be a senior knight, but also be in the upper middle position among senior knights, right? Such strength is enough to deal with ordinary monsters, unless a big guy comes, like the previous Baron Green of Lake Town.

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

As a native of Hillwood, Tom has a lot to say about this matter.

"In winter, some magical beasts do come down the mountain to look for food, but don't worry, sir. It's not as exaggerated as the housekeeper said. Most of them are wolves, pigs and the like. It's rare for some particularly powerful magical beasts to appear."

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

Roning gave Princet a thumbs up in his heart. This guy finally did something good for him.

"That's what I said, but the grassland in the northwest is my pasture. My cattle, sheep, and horses are all kept here. Guards, please be careful when patrolling. Don't let the beasts in the mountains eat my livestock!"

Luo Ning now has 126 sheep, 35 horses, 6 dairy cows, and 24 black buffaloes. The number is not large, and half of them were brought by him from outside. The loss of any one makes him sad.

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

McKen was not just looking around while following Roning on his inspection. As a guard officer, he was thinking about the defense arrangements of the territory.

They now have three security risks, namely the Savage Tribe, Warcraft and Sen Territory.

Compared to the unexpectedness of World of Warcraft, the Savage Tribe and the Territory of Sen are the key points.

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

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

"Yes, sir!" McKeon accepted the order.

The few of them talked and walked along the mountain path, and soon they entered the continuous mountains to the west.

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

The forests here are very lush, with large trees like pine and cypress that are evergreen all year round, as well as low shrubs and scattered grass.

As the owner of the mountains and forests, you really don't have to worry about wood.

"It's a pity that others are not short of wood either."

There are mountains in the territories of all the nobles in Wushan Territory, so who doesn’t have wood?

It is impossible to make money simply by selling wood, and long logs are difficult to transport on mountain roads.

It is possible to sell furniture made of wood into a new style, but there is still the problem of difficult transportation and it is easy to be imitated.

"Looking at the clean road ahead, there is no weeds growing on it. It is obvious that people often walk on it."

Luo Ning pointed to the mountain road ahead that was three or four people wide and asked, "Who comes here often?"

This mountain road is winding and about one meter wide. The weeds on the roadside are not growing well, as if they are often trampled on by people.

"Sir, the people in the town often come here in groups of three or five to chop firewood!"

Tom knew this road very well. "Before you came to Shanlin Town, Princet did not allow the people to cut down trees in the town at will. If people wanted to build houses, they had to pay Princet a certain amount of money or provide labor, otherwise they could only come to the mountains here to look for wood."

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

If you do not apply and do not 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 were so pitiful. They had too few means of production at their disposal.

Even though he is now the lord here, he cannot just cut down trees in Shanlin Town at will, but as a time traveler, he feels it is necessary to resolve this "dangerous" situation.

He didn't want his people to die in the mouths of monsters just for a little wood. Compared with a tree, a laborer is more valuable.

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

Luo Ning rode his horse deeper into the mountain road, "Are there any particularly dangerous places or monsters in there?"

"Those who come here are all brave people. Most of the timid people don't dare to come. They can only ask those brave people to help them and then pay a little money."

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

"Oh?" Ronington was curious.

"Sir, there is a large dark forest ahead. The trees there are very hard and cannot be chopped down with a normal stone axe. Even with an iron axe, it would take a lot of effort to chop them down!"

Luo Ning's eyes lit up.

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

But now, it seems like something special has come?

"Take me there!" he said quickly.

The place Tom mentioned was not far away. After walking two or three miles, Ronin saw a dark forest.

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

Luo Ning reached out and touched the bark. It felt much more comfortable than the bark of the pine tree and was not very rough.

He drew out his sword with some anticipation and chopped at the tree trunk.

There was a loud bang, and perhaps because he didn't use much strength, his sword was actually bounced away.

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

Luo Ning's eyes lit up. Is it really that hard? He quickly waved to Macken, "Come on, Macken, let's see if you can cut this tree in half with one sword."

Mikan was very confident about this: "Sir, a tree is only a tree after all. No matter how hard it is, it can't withstand the full force of my sword!"

As he spoke, he walked to the tree trunk, holding the greatsword with both hands. The sword was filled with fighting spirit, exuding a faint sense of power.

McKeon just shouted in a deep voice and chopped at the tree trunk violently.

Bang! The huge impact force shook the black iron tree violently. McKen's sword did not bounce off, but directly broke through the bark of the black iron tree, and then cut into it for 30 centimeters and could not go any further.

A mid to late-level knight, using a sharp sword and striking with all his strength, was unable to cut through the tree, which shows how hard it is.

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

“Okay, okay, okay!”

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

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

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

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

Ronin was somewhat happy. "Come on, knights, chop down a tree and bring it back for me to study."

(End of this chapter)