CHAPTER 41: CHAPTER 41: STRIKING GOLD – THE GRIFFIN ACADEMY PRODIGY

The previous territory’s civil servant?

His presence was undoubtedly very good news for Su Li, saving him a great deal of time on population statistics, terrain exploration, and even understanding the climate.

Talents should be valued and given preferential treatment at any time, place, or power.

So Su Li jumped off his horse, instructing Knight Oerstein to lead the troops to set up camp and cook, and then personally walked over to this surviving civil servant and started a conversation with him.

"What’s your name, and how did you survive?"

Although he was a civil servant, his appearance was extremely disheveled, with ash smeared all over his body and face, looking emaciated with protruding cheekbones.

Faced with Su Li, he said weakly, "Honored Lord, I greet you. Before answering your question, could I have some food first? I’m really too weak from hunger."

Su Li’s brow furrowed, displeased with his rudeness and self-importance.

He hadn’t answered the question yet, and was already making demands. This was not a sign of humility.

If Su Li weren’t in a good mood, any other lord might have immediately given him a lashing.

"Give him a piece of bread." Su Li was indeed in a good mood today and decided to overlook it.

The old man took the bread, his bloodshot eyes red as a ravenous wolf, immediately devouring it ravenously.

Witnessing this, Hilude and Reve couldn’t help but cover their mouths and chuckle.

Because even though the old man was starving, he tried to maintain some semblance of dining etiquette, like a fallen steward who couldn’t shed his Confucian attire.

It wasn’t until he had devoured a breadstick the length of an arm that he felt like he was about to choke. Reve, out of kindness, handed him a canteen, which he gulped down half full of water, finally catching his breath.

His first words after that immediately dispelled all of Su Li’s impatience, making him stand straight and pay respectful attention.

All of this politeness, refinement, and gentle demeanor finally reaped an incomparable reward.

"Honored Lord, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lauren Metene Leopold. As this great surname suggests, I hail from the same Elector Prince’s Territory as the Marshal of the Empire and graduated from the administrative management department of the Modheim Empire’s Griffin Military Academy, previously assisting the twenty-seventh son of the Marshal’s family in pioneering and development here."

The moment he finished speaking, everyone around took a sharp breath.

A top-tier talent graduated from the Modheim Empire’s Griffin Military Academy!

Although the administrative management department of the Modheim Empire’s Griffin Military Academy is not as overwhelmingly dominant as the Knight Department, it still ranks among the top three academies in the entire Empire.

Any student who graduates successfully from there inevitably becomes a top civil servant fiercely contested by major territories, each possessing talent for statecraft and governance.

Such talents are generally divided up among the major Electors and Dukes, and even the Bauhinia Earl’s Territory lacks such exceptional civil servants.

Su Li’s mouth was practically splitting into a grin; he had truly found a treasure.

With such a talent assisting him, he could delegate most of the administrative trivialities to him, allowing himself to truly take it easy!

Of course, taking it easy doesn’t mean becoming useless; it doesn’t mean he does nothing.

Farming is something embedded deep in Chinese genes as an instinct. Doing this inherently brings a great deal of joy.

After all, labor is the most valuable and brings the greatest happiness.

What Su Li despised was meaningless internal competition and work driven by KPI pressures, as those felt like going to a grave when going to work.

He longed for a free and carefree life, able to do what he truly loves at will.

For example, the pleasures in bed, no matter how exhausting, he relishes them. For example, running simulation management games, he enjoys them to the fullest even through the night.

Building a territory from scratch and managing it also brought him a deep sense of accomplishment and joy. Furthermore, it yielded enormous benefits, allowing him more comfortable relaxation and greater power and beauties.

However, handling the tedious administrative affairs of the territory was not included in all this.

As a lord, he only needed to plan the overall direction of his power’s development; he didn’t have to be personally involved in every detail.

Trivial matters, of course, were left to this civil servant to handle. Su Li smiled and asked him, "So, how did you survive? How many survivors are left in the territory like you?"

Lauren immediately responded, "On the south bank of the Black Water River, this stronghold has a dock and fisherman’s cabin by the river. After the previous lord was defeated and beheaded by the monster with a sharp axe, before the forest bandit monsters could attack, I led a group to scramble onto a fishing boat, drifting westward to escape."

"After the forest bandit raiders looted and pillaged the stronghold and left, we rowed back here with the boat. But most of the houses and facilities in the territory were burnt down."

"However, the river’s confluence here greatly slowed the monsters’ pursuit. After civilians and miners fled in all directions and returned, there are currently 31 households and 105 people remaining in the stronghold."

households of civilians!

Su Li was stunned, even in his previous life playing simulation management games, he never had such explosive and aggressive operations.

households of civilians supporting 50 knights and over 120 armed attendants!

The number of non-working soldiers was several times that of the civilians.

It was evident that the territory’s wealth had been completely plundered, and the people here were even waiting for Su Li to provide them with food relief.

Counting soldiers, serfs, civilians, and livestock, the entire territory housed roughly 400 people, equivalent to a village, with daily consumption of at least 2,500 pounds of food. Knights, Griffins, and various warhorses were big consumers of resources. It was entirely normal for a knight to eat two to three pounds of meat, rice, and milk per meal; even some robust ordinary people required so much after intense physical activity.

Lauren immediately realized this issue, advising Su Li, "My Lord, our immediate priority is securing enough food for the territory and then quickly engaging in spring farming based on that. It would be even better if we had the guidance from the Dawn Church."

Although slightly pressured, Su Li smiled calmly and said, "What you mentioned, as long as we all work together, everything will eventually be resolved."

"However, first, we must name our territory."

Su Li surveyed the surroundings, hand on his longsword, took a deep breath, and said loudly, "From today onwards, this place will be called the Hesse Pioneer Territory! Our great enterprise will set sail from here!"