Chapter 787: Chapter 84: Moonlight Celestial Silkworm and the Silk Industry (Part 2)
"At the same time, the area of land developed in the territory has also reached around 1800 acres, producing about 15,000 tons of grain, which is enough to meet the needs of our territory’s residents. There are only three months after this harvest season before the next one, so we can quickly replenish our storage."
Su Li nodded. The knights pouring into the territory wouldn’t stay much longer. They would only stay for another month at most, so the pressure on food supplies wasn’t too great.
"However, my minister, these numbers are a bit too general. The Radiant Competition Festival is a grand event by the Sun Goddess Church, and I’m sure you people from the Dawn Church aren’t interested in this arena competition. I expect you to take advantage of this festival, lead the church members, and quickly clarify how much grain we really harvested this season. Provide me with a detailed summary, categorically listing the output of wheat, barley, soybeans, cotton, hemp, vegetables, fruits, and other main crops."
Vandar nodded heavily and said, "This indeed should be put on the agenda. I will conduct a detailed inventory in the warehouse area after the harvest of Japonica rice."
Seeing Su Li was about to leave after his inspection, Vandar quickly said, "My Lord, there’s one more thing that needs your attention. It’s about the Moonlight Celestial Silkworms in the territory."
Moonlight Celestial Silkworms?
If Vandar hadn’t mentioned it, Su Li would have almost forgotten about this fantastical creature in the territory.
This was the second type of fantasy creature that Su Li obtained at great expense. It was a gift from the Starry Sky Tent Car circus after a cycle of performance in the Lion Ring Arena upon arriving in the Hesse Territory.
To fulfill their request for a grand performance, Su Li had paused the Lion Ring Arena activities for one cycle.
Naturally, this sparked a lot of dissatisfaction among the Ranger Knights and the territory’s residents. After all, the Lion Ring Arena was the highest honor for the knights, so how could it be given to a bunch of clowns for a performance? Besides, it also delayed a cycle of competitions! Arena, competitions, and gambling are the lifelines of the Empire’s citizens. They say cutting off someone’s income is akin to killing their parents. Stirred by the Lanode followers and revolutionaries, hundreds of gamblers and dozens of Ranger Knights launched a riot in the Lion Ring, attempting to smash the clowns and the circus performance.
The City Guard Army on Hammer Road was almost entirely mobilized to suppress the riot and ensure the performance went on smoothly.
After Su Li acquired the celestial silkworms, the territory planted over a thousand mulberry trees. The growth cycle of mulberry trees is very short, typically forming saplings in a year and maturing into trees in three years. Even without the vitality growth from the Dawn Goddess Church, they thrived under the irrigation of Lake Reiflin.
The roadsides next to the fields and the forest belts between farmlands were planted with a large number of mulberry trees.
Currently, they’re still just saplings, but next year they will become mulberry groves, and the year after that, they are expected to produce mulberries. These are also important foods, as dried mulberries can be stored as drought- and disaster-resistant reserve food along with soybeans.
In years of severe drought, many disaster victims rely on eating dried roadside mulberries and soybeans to survive.
Yet, right now, the primary purpose of these mulberry trees is to provide leaves as food for the Moonlight Celestial Silkworms.
The name Moonlight Celestial Silkworm already reveals its close association with witchcraft. Generally, anything in this world with "moonlight" in the name is closely related to witchcraft, as the moon is a significant source of witchcraft energy, also known as the Witch Moon. It has another name, Mosleb, and in Old Terra Language (also known as Imperial Language), it’s called "Mole’s Favorite," also known as the Dark Moon, the Moon of Chaos, referred to as "Moskrit" by the Skaven Ratmen.
It is the darker brother to Mannan, another relatively normal (though still full of strange circumstances) moon of the Old World.
It is said there are two origins of the Witch Moon: one is that demons once had a portal in the sky to capture people of the Old World until Mole appeared and killed most of them. Later, Mole used the remains of these demons to create the second moon, Mosleb, so that humans would always remember his achievements.
The second legend, mainly believed by the Chaos Followers, says that when the polar portals collapsed, a large piece of Dimension Stone was thrown into the sky. Now it orbits the Old World, scattering chaos over the lands it passes.
But no matter how it’s said, this moon is quite abnormal, and those who remain active under the moonlight for long periods often become deformed.
The territory’s most important winemaker, Analis, had previously worked for the famous hermit Gotthold Koch, and his renowned wine, Manan’s Offering, is crafted using the effects of the Witch Moon. This is a wine of legendary status, created by Gotthold Koch in a carefully tended field in the Gray Mountain Range. It’s said the grapes have never been touched by sunlight, grown under covered vines, completely nourished by the light of Mosleb at night. The legend states that Manan’s Offering has an almost ghostly fragrance, the wine almost evaporates on the tongue, leaving only its delightful aroma.
Things bearing the name of moonlight usually have some powerful and mysterious traits.
After Vandar finished speaking, Su Li immediately asked with concern, "Have the Moonlight Celestial Silkworms produced silk? Where are they being raised?"
