Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 262 - 31: Claims and Identity

The King of River Valley sat calmly in his seat, deep in thought.

And Lord Damian was in no hurry, patiently waiting for the King of River Valley’s reply.

Lord Roman had built a very large reception room at the dock.

The previous negotiations with Riptide and the Church Court had also taken place here.

The brick building had a unique structure, which actually surprised Damian.

After all, this was a completely new architectural style, square, spacious, bright, very regular, with hard lines, different from the style of castles and manors.

"I can pay this sum of money to His Majesty the King," Roman said calmly.

"That would be 110,000 Gold Coins, Lord," Damian repeated, to ensure that Roman had not misheard.

This was equivalent to half of the annual financial income of the Black Iron Royal Family.

"I understand it’s 110,000 Gold Coins."

"How are you going to come up with it?"

As far as he knew, although Riptide and the Church Court had paid ransoms, they were offset by various materials.

The actual number of Gold Coins that fell into the King of River Valley’s hands wasn’t much.

He thought that Roman might take ten years, relying on that Salt Mine, to slowly repay the debt.

"I will give His Majesty the King 700 pounds of gold, and the rest will serve as minting tax," Roman said indifferently.

Suddenly, Damian couldn’t help but stiffen his expression, "You’ve found a gold mine?"

At this point, Roman no longer wished to hide it.

Yes, my family has a mine!

"Lord Damian, you seem very surprised?"

How could he not be? 700 pounds of gold was no small sum.

"Is the quality of your gold mine exceptionally good?"

"The quality is mediocre, and the reserves are not large, far less than those of the Rossiy Family’s mines," Roman stated.

Damian delicately toyed with the cat’s eye gem on his finger.

"When did you start mining gold?"

"Last winter."

"That’s less than half a year... Mining veins is a troublesome matter, can you really deliver so much gold?"

Roman spoke icily, "I have my means, Lord Damian. I respect you because you are a senior official of His Majesty the King, but this is under the premise that... you must respect me as well!"

"Alright, Lord Roman, I apologize for my impertinence," the Finance Minister quickly fell silent.

Now before him was the King of River Valley, the largest militarized separatist force in the region.

Yet, all Nobles were militarized separatist forces.

It simply boiled down to who could fight and who could not.

The King of River Valley was undoubtedly among the best fighters.

With an undefeated army, having annihilated tens of thousands of enemies, he could practically scare people witless.

During the Conqueror Period, with such explosive martial virtue, he would at least be the fourth Black Iron Duke, able to compete with his ancestors.

But he would still have to pay taxes!

So what if you have the potential of a Black Iron Duke?

The Black Iron King is still the legitimate heir of the Conqueror Family!

When Gael succeeded, he still had to pay tens of thousands of Gold Coins in succession tax to the Black Iron King.

"However, now that you have a gold mine, we must reconsider the sum," Damian said, "You know, in the Black Iron Land, one-fifth of the output of gold and silver mines must be paid to the Black Iron Royal Family."

"So, Lord, you would have to pay... a thousand pounds of gold... including mining rights and tax, and I will apply for it on your behalf to His Majesty the King."

Roman thought for a moment, didn’t bargain or retort, and finally nodded slowly, "Agreed."

"You are a straightforward and generous man!" Damian praised.

He had never met such a decisive young man before, and he had come with foreknowledge of the King of River Valley’s fierce and overbearing character, prepared for the worst scenario.

A peaceful resolution was better than he could have asked for.

Roman looked at him coldly, "Spare me the compliments, just have someone come to receive the gold this winter."

Damian knew Roman was angered and dared not provoke him further.

Since he had gotten the money, and without much delay, it was time to make a tidy exit.

...

In Roman’s view, the Black Iron King was just here to harvest leeks.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t refuse, but that would mean a new war.

Roman was not prepared to be an enemy of Black Iron Land, as that would mean no access to any outside resources.

Now was not the time to turn the tables.

But the Black Iron King had also brought him benefits.

First was the nominal affirmation, his identity was ultimately that of a self-made man.

Gael would have never admitted it before, but now he had no choice but to acknowledge it.

As a descendant of the First Generation Riptide, it indicated he now had sufficient claim to inherit the position of the Grand Duke of Riptide.

Guardian of the River Valley, ruler of its residents, and the Eternal King.

A standard royal proclamation.

In a few more years, when his power and reputation were firmly established, Roman would have the guts to demand from the Black Iron King the rights to mint coins and trade monopolies.

Next was the proclamation of the Conqueror Lord.

In a sense, from then on, he shared the same status as the Black Iron Duke, the Black Iron King, and the sovereigns of various lands.

He didn’t quite understand why the Black Iron King was willing to grant him the title of a lord—ordinary nobles definitely couldn’t bear such a title.

Because it was absolutely the highest status one could have in this land.

Lastly, the title of War Hand was also quite special.

It meant that Roman was now ready to throw heavy punches.

Of course, he was going to do this openly, fighting against pirates and barbarians.

It didn’t seem very useful.

In fact, it really wasn’t much use.

It was a special proclamation; the combined titles of Lord and War Hand meant he could legally interfere with the internal affairs of other countries, deploying forces to invade other kingdoms without worrying about condemnation.

Don’t ask, because the answer is the Conqueror Order.

I am here to help you defend democracy, protect human rights, and combat terrorists!

What? You dare to resist? I think you’re a terrorist!

If one spoke of the noble hierarchy, Roman could be said to have soared to the heavens in one step.

But there were no real benefits whatsoever.

The identities of the River Valley King and Lord meant he could no longer act recklessly.

After all, he had just paid a war indemnity.

Earl Kant had reported him to the Black Iron King, seeking an explanation.

Roman’s actions severely violated the Conqueror Order and the laws of the Black Iron Kingdom.

Out of those 110,000 Gold Coins, at least 30,000 were related to this matter.

But it didn’t really matter.

To other nobles, that amount of money would be a huge loss.

To the rapidly developing Origin City, however, it wasn’t too much of a burden.

The rise of the "leeks" far exceeded the Black Iron King’s expectations.

He had been ready to use black gunpowder for mining all along.

Manual excavation was just too slow.

Blow it up for me!

There is no problem that can’t be solved with the right amount! If there is, then it’s just not enough explosive power!

Find the blasting point, and tens to hundreds of pounds of black gunpowder turned into an explosive package could blast open mountains and crack stones!

At the current stage, there was absolutely no need to use it on the battlefield.

In fact, his military could sweep across the entire land.

It was just unfortunate that they encountered the Judgement Knights of the Church Court.

The Square Flag Knights were advanced units of the regular Conquest Knights, and those thirty Judgement Knights basically all had the power of Square Flag Knights.

If it were regular Conquest Knights, even a hundred of them wouldn’t be able to inflict the casualties Roman suffered in the Spring Rain Battle.

Once the entire army was armored and the Cavalry developed,

His military would truly fear no Conquest Knight.

So, for now, black gunpowder should just be earnestly used for mining.

Roman would personally oversee this work.

This also signified that the mining capacity of Origin City would increase by an order of magnitude.

In fact, up until now, gold, as Roman’s main income, still mainly came from placer mining.

Rock Gold had a low yield due to the difficulty of mining.

A thousand pounds of gold equated to Roman having to mine hundreds of thousands of tons of Rock Gold Mine.

It sounded like a massive project, but as for rock veins...

A cubic meter of stone weighed about two to three tons.

Once a suitable blasting point was found, hundreds of cubic meters of Rock Gold could be easily blasted apart, increasing efficiency by dozens of times over.

Roman could tentatively call himself a blasting expert.

After all, mining was also a branch of knowledge under "collection".