Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

To distribute land to each household, one must first "divide the land."

Dividing the land requires drawing boundaries, which uses furrows and ridges. There isn't enough time to rush planting wheat, let alone do all this.

Moreover, Bard doesn't have anyone capable of measuring land or calculating areas.

Measuring land and calculating areas isn't simple, the terrain is uneven and the shapes aren't square. Calculating the area of a polygon requires at least a basic knowledge of "Geometry."

Not to mention that furrows and ridges would take up already precious arable land area.

Growing up in the Federated Provinces where arable land is tight, Bard had seen farmers whose lands had been carved into disconnected small plots, with ditches and ridges occupying up to one-fourth or even more of the total cultivable area.

He was also short of livestock and farming tools.

To maximize the use of the scarce cattle, horses, and farming equipment, they had to be used collectively.

Bard wasn't short of manpower, so "men rest, the plow doesn't" was the ideal situation for the time being.

After settling some of the migrants in Blackwater Town, Bard led the remaining migrants to continue their migration to Wolf Town and Wugou Town.

Blackwater Town alone couldn't accommodate all the migrants.

Nevertheless, Blackwater Town had set a good precedent for Wolf Town and Wugou Town.

Why migrate the migrants to such remote places?

This was also the consensus that Winters and Bard reached after long discussions.

"The North Eight Towns may be richer, but the people's hearts aren't with us, and there's no defensible position. The eight towns south of the St. George River are our core territory," Winters had concluded, "The farther west and south the migrants move, the better they are away from the New Reclamation Legion's reach. Even if it means moving closer to the Herders' sphere of influence, it's worth it."

Therefore, Bard prioritized settling the migrants in Wolf Town, Blackwater Town, and Wugou Town.

If there was no room left for settlement, they would then be redirected to other towns according to the principle of proximity.

After a major victory in Blackwater Town, Bard set off on his long journey once again.

Many challenges lay ahead, and he knew this and was well prepared.

So at this very moment, what is Winters Montagne doing?

If Bard knew the answer, he might be infuriated — Winters was feeding a baby.

To be precise, Winters was bottle-feeding a little colt.

"You scamp! There's no one else competing for it!" Winters was nearly driven crazy as he tugged at the colt's neck, trying desperately to prevent it from plunging its entire head into the bowl of milk: "You're not afraid of choking to death!"

Scarlett was laughing convulsively at the side, leaning forward and backward.

Anna was there, too, smiling elegantly—it was the first time she had willingly come to the stables.

Because it was its first birth and was difficult, the colt's mother didn't let it drink milk, and eventually stopped producing milk altogether.

Winters had no choice but to find two nanny goats to serve as wet nurses for the colt—later, a cow was added.

The colt was born on September 21st and was now exactly one month old.

Colts are born with sixteen teeth, including four incisors, similar to human front teeth.

By four weeks, the colt had already grown four more incisors and its sucking strength had increased substantially.

The colt's suckling was too painful for its three "wet nurses," leading both the nanny goats and the cow to refuse it direct access to their milk.

Out of desperation, Scarlett had to first milk them and feed the colt from a bucket.

A new problem arose—the colt wouldn't drink milk from the bucket.

When Scarlett came to Revodan, she also brought two puppies from her hunting dog's recent litter.

Due to recent wartime mobilization, Revodan's horses were conscripted, leaving the colt with only the puppies as companions, playing with them daily. This caused his behavior to resemble a puppy's more than a colt's.

He was also at an age where he needed to drink a lot of milk and was constantly hungry.

So every time Scarlett placed the milk bucket before the colt, it would eagerly plunge its entire head into the bucket.

It even submerged its nostrils below the liquid surface, often choking while drinking.

Given that the colt's "godfather"—Winters had returned to Revodan, Scarlett left the daunting task of solving this issue to him.

Winters wasn't surprised.

When Winters was little, Elizabeth once secretly brought home a kitten that was only a few days old from the garden.

Scared of letting their mother know, Ella pleaded with Winters for help.

Winters had always been his sister's "puppet," and he couldn't bear to see the kitten die, so he came up with all sorts of ways to feed it milk.

Back then, he found that newborn kittens don't understand how to lap milk from a dish.

The kitten could smell the milk and gnawed at the edge of the dish but didn't know how to drink it.

Later, he secretly snipped a scrap from his aunt's silk garment, cut it into soft pieces, and used them to guide milk to the kitten's mouth, which saved its life.

Eventually, the kitten naturally learned how to lap milk. Because of the silk garment, Ella was severely punished by their mother, but the kitten stayed with Winters' family and was named "Little General."

So Winters confidently took on the task of teaching the colt how to drink milk. When Anna learned of this, she wanted to come and watch.

"The stables are dirty and smelly," Winters discouraged Anna, "There's nothing interesting about feeding a foal milk."

"I want to learn more about you," Anna replied softly.

Thereby creating the awkward scene before them, where Winters of course failed. The colt continued to drink in its usual diving style, and the ladies' eyes brimmed with laughter.

It was only when the colt had drunk almost all the milk, leaving just a bottom layer, that its nostrils finally emerged completely.