Volume 4: How big is the heart, how vast is the earth Chapter 127 Dear Teacher Ayun
Carlisle smiled and shook his head again. Tim was right. This book "Gourmet Hunter Game" spent a lot of words to describe how to cook common wild rabbits into delicious cold rabbits. The mysterious cloaked man carefully and in detail instructed the fat boss how to choose and process spices, and what to use as substitutes when certain spices are missing. It is simply a textbook on the use of spices... Even Prince Carlisle couldn't help but want to try to make it himself after reading it, let alone others.
"Not only that, Teacher Ayun also placed the location of the travelogue in St. Bridge." Tim said with a smile, "My friend in the association sent me a Shuijing communication, asking which border town of St. Bridge the town mentioned in the travelogue was. I didn't know how to answer... The more popular this travelogue is, the more people will know about St. Bridge. Maybe they will give priority to us when choosing spices."
"Yes... the teacher always cares so much about me, which often makes me feel terrified and ashamed." Carlyle turned to the frontispiece page, stroked the author's name with his fingers, and said with nostalgia, "Compared to that, I really haven't done anything for the teacher."
Tim was very envious of Carlisle's guidance from Teacher Ayun. Over the past three years, Carlisle had become an independent figure at St. Bride's under the guidance of Teacher Ayun; even he himself benefited a lot from just occasional little advice.
"It is rare to find a teacher like Teacher Ayun who cares about his students. My teacher hasn't contacted me for several years. The last time he wrote to me, he was asking about the conflict between Saint Bridge and the Lamia Merchant Group and whether Saint Bridge would hire spellcasters to join the war... If I hadn't gained the trust of His Royal Highness the Prince, my teacher might have forgotten that I am also his disciple." Tim said sourly.
Carlisle couldn't help laughing and said jokingly, "Is that so? I haven't heard you mention this before. It turns out that the Alchemist Association is more optimistic about me?"
Tim smiled sheepishly and reluctantly changed the subject: "Speaking of the Lamia Merchants Group, has Your Highness learned of their new developments?"
Prince Carlisle considerately did not continue the topic of the Alchemist Association and his teacher. He could guess why Tim had not mentioned this before - Tim's teacher was just a low-level alchemist. If he came to St. Bridget, Carlisle would have to improve his treatment level because he was Tim's teacher, which would be detrimental to the subsequent invitation of higher-level spellcasters.
"Teacher Xavier wrote to me about this. The Federation is discussing when to send troops to teach a lesson to Saint Bridge, a small country in the southern countryside that doesn't know its place... However, there is a dispute among the member states of the Federation over who should lead the expedition. Saint Bridge's maritime trade profits over the past three years have not been enough to attract the member states of the Federation, but if we can inherit Saint Bridge's trade channels with the forest elves, we will undoubtedly be able to increase our share of the Lamia Merchant Corps..." Prince Carlisle spread his hands and said self-deprecatingly, "In their eyes, the Ferdinand royal family's rule over Saint Bridge is already a rotten table that can be overturned at any time. I don't know how to express this."
Sage Xavier is Carlisle's second teacher. He lives in Elliot Palace for a long time. Compared with Carlisle's first teacher, Cardinal Curtis Harvey Marcus of the Vatican, he is more responsible to his disciple.
Tim smiled contemptuously and said calmly: "Let them think whatever they want, St. Bridget is not going to give in."
"That's right, dear Tim. St. Bridget never surrenders." Prince Carlisle laughed, tucked the "Travels of the Continent" under his arm, and walked out with Tim in his other hand. "Before you came, I was just about to meet the Earl of the Russell family. Now the Earl must be impatient to wait. Let's go meet this gentleman from McLennan together."
"Russell family...Russell from Yakalan?" Tim was surprised.
"Yes, Russell of Yagalan. Yagalan can't wait before we six southern countries reach an agreement." Carlisle's face was flushed. He didn't need to hide his pride in front of his close friends. "The royal family of Yagalan has long hoped to separate church and state, abolish church property and tithe. Their country has no ports, and they are willing to give up 30% of their income to borrow the sea trade route of St. Bridge. This time, they directly sent the young and promising earl of the Lasega family to negotiate... The princesses are in need of excellent husband candidates. I have to see if this earl is as talented as the rumors say."
His Royal Highness the Prince and the youngest spellcaster in the palace wizard's tower walked out of the side hall. The two rows of guards guarding the door followed them swiftly and orderly, all the way to the main hall. The female officials and attendants coming and going in the palace retreated to the sides, stopped and bowed.
"Speaking of young and promising talents, it's hard to use such words to describe other people after meeting Teacher Ayun. I asked Dahe about Teacher Ayun's age, and this year is only the 21st year of his birth... When we first met him on the grassland, he was only seventeen years old." Tim smiled bitterly, "Think about myself, what was I doing when I was seventeen, and Teacher Ayun was already a wise man who could guide us at the age of seventeen. If Your Highness uses such standards to choose husbands for Your Highnesses, the two princesses, I will be very worried about whether the princesses can get married."
"It doesn't matter. If there are no outstanding young men, my two sisters will stay in the palace. I will not let them marry mediocre people. In fact, I think it would be great if a princess appeared in Saint Bridget."
"Well……"
"Hahahaha...Tim, do you ever have nothing to say?"
The eldest prince Anthony died, and the second prince Carlisle returned home with an entire fleet of supplies, followed by more than 60 nobles of all sizes. Outsiders had no idea how His Majesty the King felt, but at least on the surface, His Majesty the King did not express dissatisfaction with His Highness Carlisle. He even moved to the temporary palace to recuperate on the pretext of aging, and gave up the main hall of the palace that represented the royal power.
Of course, Carlisle was not stupid enough to occupy the main hall immediately. He still lived in the side hall and brought the two princesses who were thrown into the corner and ignored to live in another side hall where the eldest prince lived. He also handed over some of the government affairs left by their father to the two princesses - regardless of whether such behavior was hypocritical, it at least expressed Prince Carlisle's attitude: he was not a person who monopolized power and despised family affection, and he was even willing to let his relatives share power.
It is hard to say whether such a statement has impressed His Majesty the King, but at least the nobles in the royal city buy into it. A crown prince who is willing to share power is always better than a tyrant who monopolizes power. As for the cause of Prince Anthony's death, it is questionable... Since there is no evidence to prove that Prince Carlisle did it, who would be so full of themselves that they would come to cause trouble for the only crown prince!
His Majesty the King did not make trouble for his younger son because of the death of his beloved eldest son, so why should others make trouble for no reason - the nobles know how to weigh the pros and cons better, and it is obvious what to choose between the aging king and the young and strong prince.
The most fundamental reason is that the eldest prince Anthony has a violent personality and is arrogant. There are not many nobles who are on good terms with him. After Carlisle showed his talent, the king supported the second prince without hesitation, which also shows his disappointment in the eldest prince. Now the king did not make any accusations for the sake of Prince Carlisle's reputation, but just pretended to be sick to express his dissatisfaction. Outsiders should not interfere in the family affairs of the father and son.
The meeting with the young Earl of the Russell family in the reception room of the main hall took Prince Carlisle two hours. He smiled and sent off the Earl who was rumored to be very talented. When he turned to his friend Tim, Carlisle did not hide his disdain: "It's hard to live up to the reputation. The reputation of the Russell family has put too much pressure on our Earl, and the little spiritual energy he originally had has been suppressed. Such a man is not qualified to be on par with the Princess of St. Bridget."
Tim couldn't help laughing: "I think he still has some strengths. He is not as bad as you say. It's just that you have too high standards... Maybe you should listen to Her Royal Highness the Princess's opinion."
"Forget it, they are still too young. My father has neglected their education in the past, and I have not paid enough attention to my sisters. I am worried that they will be deceived by the exaggerated appearance." Prince Carlisle sat down and took the travel notes on the coffee table. "I want them to handle more government affairs and understand more about what those nobles who seem glamorous in private are like. When they reach the right age, I will arrange for more talented young people to interact with them."
Tim shrugged indifferently. Carlisle had become a little strong now, but he didn't think it was a bad thing... It would be the worst if the crown prince of a country was easily persuaded and not independent-minded.
"Come to think of it, even Yagalan sent Earl Russell, so didn't the five countries send envoys?" Tim asked curiously. He had just joined the Court Mage Corps and had been busy with the court mages of St. Bridge, so he neglected other aspects.
"They have sent them, but their emissaries are not of high enough status." Carlisle said lightly, "They may want to bring up the dispute between Anthony and me. I think I need to give them some time to calm down."
Tim was a little stunned, and then he wanted to laugh. On the surface, Carlisle was still the generous, tolerant and broad-minded prince, but his personality was becoming more and more tough and domineering.
"Perhaps they underestimated you because they thought you were too young." Tim said with a smile, "That's good. We can have more time to seize the sea trade route."
Carlisle was very happy that Tim always understood his thoughts. He nodded and said, "I am preparing to announce at the New Year's Eve party that the Saint Bridge Merchants Guild will be renamed the Zegen Merchants Guild and formally invite Yajialan to join." He smiled and looked at Tim teasingly, "I also want to send an invitation letter to the Alchemist Association, but I don't know whose name to write at the top."
This means that the merchant group that only belongs to St. Bridget will be changed into a chamber of commerce that accepts the participation of forces from multiple countries. Prince Carlisle will take control in the name of the Ferdinand royal family and upgrade the nature of the chamber of commerce from being led by a local kingdom to a force on the southern continent.
Tim was stunned for a moment, then suddenly became excited: "Of course it's... the president of the Bloomfield Continental Headquarters."
Carlisle smiled and nodded: "Then we will ask Mr. Tim Humphrey to contact the president on behalf of the Ferdinand royal family and ask if the respected president is willing to do us the honor."
Tim quickly straightened his back, placed his hands on his chest, and said with a broad smile, "It is an honor to serve you, my king."
The two young men looked at each other and laughed. Carlisle patted the cover of the travelogue and said, "Go ahead and do your work. I need to concentrate on reading. It's rare for me to have such a relaxing time every day."
"Then I'll take my leave and not disturb His Royal Highness's leisure time." Tim smiled and stood up and walked out. He took two steps and then stopped. "I haven't paid a formal visit to the two princesses yet. Should I go and pay them a visit?"
Carlisle waved his hand in disdain: "Go away, I won't let them interact with young men before they reach adulthood. Men under the age of 40 are not allowed to enter the side hall."
Tim was shocked: "Huh? Wouldn't that make it even more difficult for Her Royal Highness to distinguish between good and bad men?"
"You don't have to worry about that." Carlisle said confidently, "Next year I will invite Teacher Ayun and Dahe to spend the winter in St. Bridge. Without Teacher Ayun's guidance and Dahe's baptism, I won't let my sisters get to know those mediocre and incompetent men."
"..." Tim originally wanted to clear his name, but when he thought about Teacher Ayun's intelligence and Dahao's appearance, he said nothing and left in shame.
Carlisle watched Tim's embarrassed back disappear with pleasure, then lowered his head to continue flipping through the book. Not long after, he stood up in shock.
"Your Highness?" The guard beside him asked cautiously.
Carlisle didn't hear the guard's call at all, his eyes fixed on the contents of the paper and refusing to move away.
After several years of experience, Carlisle has learned to see the world through the eyes of a politician. Combined with his understanding of Teacher Ayun, he has no doubt that Teacher Ayun is using the travelogue of the continent published by the Bards' Association to fight against invisible enemies. This is also the main reason for Carlisle's shock.
"Who would be so hostile to the tribes on the grassland that he forced Teacher Ayun to choose this method to protect himself?" Beads of sweat gradually appeared on Carlisle's forehead, and he felt even more guilty... He was really too focused on himself and didn't know how to pay attention to the teacher. He relied on the teacher's help to gain a foothold time and time again, but he knew nothing about Teacher Ayun's situation!
"The enemy of the Snow Wolf Tribe... The supplies and troops sent by the Lamia Merchant Corps are not enough to penetrate deep into the grassland to threaten the Snow Wolf Tribe. Who could it be... Could it be the grassland royal court? " Carlisle rejected this idea as soon as he thought of it. "No, that's not right. With Mr. Ayun's wisdom, if the enemy of the Snow Wolf Tribe is the Tiger Tribe, then he would not use this method to promote the Snow Wolf Tribe. He would only develop himself as low-key as possible, accumulate chips for victory, and wait for the right time to give the Tiger Tribe a fatal blow."
"Besides the Prairie King Court...who else could pose such a big threat to Teacher Ayun?"
Carlisle walked around the sofa in the reception room for several times, but he still couldn't figure out who this potential enemy was. This made him feel a little powerless, and he sat back down with a sigh.
"It's too difficult to transport supplies and troops from St. Bridget. Teacher Ayun must have taken this into consideration, so he hasn't told me about their situation yet..." Carlisle smiled bitterly, and his hands on his knees unconsciously clenched into fists.
"I am indeed too young and unreliable. I am complacent just because I have sorted out the domestic situation." Carlisle was ashamed of his own incompetence. "The Prince of St. Bridget is nothing in Bloomfield, and what about the King of St. Bridget? I am really... proud too early! Now I can't be of any help to the teacher at all, and I am not even qualified for the teacher to tell me his difficulties. What am I so complacent about!"
Carlisle held the travel journal in his arms, suppressing his embarrassment, and stood up, striding towards the door. The guards hurriedly followed the prince's footsteps.
After walking out of the main hall and feeling the gradually colder weather, Carlisle beckoned a guard and ordered, "Go and invite Prince Hillbottom. I want to ask him about the progress of the city's anti-cold measures this year."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The guards left in a hurry, and Prince Carlisle turned back to his side hall, thinking about the meeting with the prince... Prince Hilbert's title was the same generation as his father's, and when he succeeded to the throne, Prince Hilbert would have to abdicate. After that, which level of title Hilbert could keep would depend on his opinion. Under this pressure, Prince Hilbert was still respectful to him.
It was also out of respect that Prince Carlisle allowed Prince Hillbottom to get a foothold in the woolen business that he monopolized, and Prince Hillbottom was responsible for the operation of low-priced woolen textiles in the royal city.
What he said to Tim before was not all a joke. Prince Carlisle was seriously considering choosing one of the two princesses to inherit the princely title. He agreed with his teacher's views on the princely system, but it was not easy to directly abolish the princely title. The resistance would be beyond imagination, so Prince Carlisle decided to use the princess' succession to the throne to ease the conflict that might be caused by abolishing the princely title.
If the Prince of St. Bridget could form a tradition of princess succession after him, then the prince's title would no longer be a check on the royal power, and no matter how ambitious a person was, he would not be able to create trouble by taking advantage of the prince's existence.
"Hilbert is forty-one this year and is not within the restrictions...it's time for the two princesses to deal with real things." Carlisle let out a light breath and turned to look at the right hall where his two sisters lived.
The teacher has no scruples about training and using the female Hongye from the Snow Wolf Clan, nor does he care about the so-called secular prejudices. So the Princess of St. Bridget should not lose too much to the female Snow Wolf Clan.
"It's not a bad thing for women to work, as it can relieve men's stress to a great extent." Prince Carlisle muttered to himself, "If men find out that women will take their jobs away from them, they will be more motivated... It's not a glorious thing to lose to a lady."
The guard standing closest to him heard Prince Carlisle mumbling to himself, and his jaw dropped in shock...
"Huh? It's snowing." Prince Carlisle didn't notice how shocking his thoughts and actions were. When he spread out his palms to catch the falling snowflakes, all he thought about was how to use Hillbottom's omissions in the royal city's cold-prevention work to force his cousin to back down on the princess's participation in politics.
The winter in Saint Bridge is very short, with snow lasting no more than half a month. When the snow began to fall in the royal city, the ice on the grasslands of the northern continent had already frozen to a thickness of half a meter.
The river near the tribe became the cubs' new favorite playground. Xiao Yun asked the gray dwarf and the caracal to work together to make a batch of leather boots with ice skates. The cubs, who were not afraid of falling, played so much that they even forgot to eat.
There was heavy rain last year and the water in the artificial river was not cut off. The cubs occupied the natural river. If Xiao Yun wanted to break ice and catch fish, he had to go to the artificial river.
Using a mining hammer and a steel chisel to break through the thick ice, the fresh oxygen immediately attracted the fish at the bottom of the river, and they cast their nets to catch them, one net bag after another. At first, fishing this way was a bit exciting, but now, even Niu Jiao, who loves fish the most, looks calm after catching fish...
After catching a few buckets of fish, they walked back with them. When crossing the bridge, the cubs saw Ayun and ran away, leaving Xiao Yun no chance to remind them not to play too crazy...
"These kids play so crazy when they play, or maybe they don't have enough homework!" Xiao Yun said dissatisfiedly.
"..." Niu Jiao closed his mouth and said nothing. As long as he was not given more homework, it didn't matter who he loved.
The freshwater fish on the grassland are not fat, but there are quite a lot of them. A lot of them can be raised by simply letting them grow in the canals. They can help to alleviate everyone's appetite for rabbit meat... There is no other way. A new batch of baby rabbits will be added every three months, and there are constantly more female rabbits growing up. Recently, in order to consume rabbit meat, even pigs are rarely killed.
After returning to the tribe, Xiao Yun and the people in the cafeteria steamed, braised, and boiled the newly caught fish and served them on plates. Xiao Yun took his own portion back to the dormitory to enjoy it. Just as he sat down, Evelyn came back covered in snow.
"Teacher, we agreed that the second chapter would arrange an identity for the gourmet hunter, but you messed up another chapter. The Bards Guild is very unhappy~" After taking off her cloak, Evelyn climbed onto the kang to grab Xiao Yun's boiled fish. This elf girl is really becoming more and more disrespectful to her teachers.
"If you're not satisfied, forget it. Just let it go if it's a bad ending. Only the one about the Elf Ranger counts." Xiao Yun said unhappily.
"Don't be like this, teacher~~" Evelyn didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "The Hunter Association sent a letter asking who the gourmet hunter in the travel journal is. Even the queen has noticed our work in the travel journal. It's only been two chapters and it's already a mess. There will be a lot of people who hate us."
Xiao Yun looked at the spider silk robe on Evelin, which he had never seen before, and sneered, "I hate you, right? You are very popular now. What does your anger and hatred have to do with me? I don't believe that anyone would be so shameless as to come and cause trouble for a Snow Wolf Cub like me~!"
Evelyn knew that she was forcing the teacher to tell stories, which really annoyed Ah Yun. She laughed shamelessly and put a bag of gold coins on the table. "The last issue of the mainland travel notes sold very well. The Bards Association gave me two hundred gold coins as a royalty and also gave me this beautiful robe. Here are the gold coins, and the robe belongs to me. Teacher, you don't want to wear a skirt, do you?"
"Who said I don't want a skirt? Qingyan's figure is similar to yours, he can wear it." Xiao Yun stretched out his voice.
Evelyn: "Σ(⊙▽⊙\"a!!"
Xiao Yun deliberately looked at her calf and said, "If you shorten it by 20 centimeters, it will be able to fit your ball."
Evelyn: “￣□￣｜｜?!”
"...I think if we change it to 20 centimeters, we shouldn't use the word 'slightly'." Evelyn really couldn't accept Xiao Yun's occasional imprecise use of words, so she bit the bullet and complained.
"Believe it or not, I really let Qingyan wear a skirt." Xiao Yun had a blank expression on his face.
“I’m sorry, teacher. I was wrong.” Evelin lowered her head in a second.
"Tell me, what's the matter?" Xiao Yun gave her a blank look. I can't cure you yet.
"Well... the Council of Elders and General Crest asked me to tell you something..." Evelyn rubbed her hands awkwardly, "The cold rabbit cooked according to your recipe is indeed delicious, but I'm still very interested in trying what the original version tastes like... So, I want to buy a batch of cold rabbit with the original flavor..."
Xiao Yun agreed to provide 10 million kilograms of soy sauce after the beginning of spring. This amount was unprecedented in the scale of transactions that Ananas City had ever come across. Evelyn, who was living in the tribe as a guest, knew very well how busy the tribe was in order to produce this amount of soy sauce. She even went to help when there were not enough people to burn the soy sauce jars - of course, she did not skip any homework even while helping.
In addition to brewing soy sauce, vinegar, and making various seasoning sauces, there are also countless jobs to be done, such as making vermicelli noodles, wool processing, greenhouse vegetable planting, earthworm breeding, cattle and sheep animal husbandry, pig farming, rabbit farming, processing rabbit hair, rabbit skin, pig bristles, pig skin, etc., as well as learning tasks that are painful only when you are in them; while the residents of the northern continent are generally hibernating in the comfortable days, the more than a thousand people in the tribe are so busy that they can only rest for half a day even in heavy snow... With such a work intensity, it was really embarrassing for Evelyn to bring this up.
"Sell it!" Xiao Yun slapped the table with a decisive move. He was almost vomiting from eating rabbit meat, so if he could sell it, he would be truly grateful to the forest elves.
