Published: March 12, 2025
Chapter 148: The Bustling Base of Rubble Mountain
The major merchants were puzzled as to why the Versailles Family would take such a risk. They had calculated that the Versailles Family wouldn’t dare to make such a move, which is why they raised the grain prices. Now, however, the Versailles Family had surprised them by doing exactly that.
But two days later, these merchants came to understand why the Versailles Family was willing to take such risks—they actually had grain! Moreover, a large quantity of over hundreds of thousands of pounds had arrived. While this amount wasn’t significant for the entire Versailles Principality, it played a crucial role in stabilizing the mood of the common people.
The grain that the Versailles Family transported this time was, of course, corn produced by Zhao Hai. Originally, if Zhao Hai had given unprocessed corn to Laura and the others, they would have brought back even more grain. However, Zhao Hai had processed the corn before giving it to them.
This was Zhao Hai’s selfishness. Corn was a crop that didn’t exist on this continent. If Zhao Hai provided unprocessed corn to Laura and the others, they would attempt to plant it. At that point, corn would no longer be unique to him and would lose its value.
However, Zhao Hai wasn't currently processing corn flour. He had only peeled the corn and removed the husks, packaging it as corn cobs for Laura and the others to transport back. If they wanted corn flour, they could grind it themselves.
With the new grain coming in, the grain prices throughout the Versailles Principality became even more stable. But the merchants wouldn’t just sit idly by; the addition of this new grain officially marked the beginning of the grain war in the Versailles Principality.
During these days, Zhao Hai was closely observing the situation in Casa City. He had already visited the Ika Plain, which had been devastated by the pests he released. Nearly a million acres of wheat fields in the entire Ika Plain were completely ruined.
Zhao Hai never expected that such tiny pests could cause such massive destruction. Their destructive power was astonishing; in about half a month, they had devoured every wheat seedling in the Ika Plain. Since the pests hadn’t reached the designated death time in Zhao Hai's space, they continued to wreak havoc, this time targeting the windbreak forest belt that the Versailles Family had painstakingly established.
These pests could even eat trees, albeit at a slower rate than they consumed wheat seedlings, but the damage to the trees was still considerable.
Zhao Hai decided to stop managing the pests. He realized that even if he wanted to call them back, it was impossible. He could only use pesticides to eliminate them. The pesticides were effective against these pests, unlike in games where self-released pests couldn't be killed by the player. However, Zhao Hai had no intention of helping the Versailles Family kill the pests since the wheat seedlings were already all eaten; it wouldn't make a difference.
With the issues in the Ika Plain resolved, Zhao Hai focused all his attention on Casa City. He had to monitor the bamboo rice plantation daily. He wasn't planning to process the bamboo rice himself but intended for Laura and the others to transport it back for processing. After all, bamboo rice was abundant on the continent, so Zhao Hai didn't have to worry about the seeds leaking.
Calculating the time, it had been nearly half a month since he released the pests in the Ika Plain. It was about time for Galen to go to the Versailles Family to cancel the engagement.
While he was thinking about this, Galen walked in and said to Zhao Hai, "Young master, the army has left, and today’s bamboo rice has been transported."
Zhao Hai nodded. A few days ago, Laura and the others had already sold all the corn from his place. Now, their convoy came every day to fetch bamboo rice.
However, Zhao Hai hadn’t allowed them to go up Rubble Mountain. Every day, he would drop off the grain at the foot of the mountain surrounded by the black mist technique, then shrink the black mist's range up the mountain, allowing those who came to collect the grain to load it onto their carts. All the bags for loading the grain were provided by Laura and her group.