On the way, Manda patiently explained his speculation to everyone.

"They are different from real bandits. You should see that Duff Dragon is not sure to kill us, but he still has to attack us, and deliberately angering me. This is obviously different from the bandits' approach.

The bandits will not attack their unsure opponents, and once they take action, they will not have any scruples. This Daflong is obviously a soldier. He is following the orders. When it really threatens his life, he hesitates, which proves that the orders Sertai gave him also leave room for room."

The Leo woman shook her head and said, "I still don't understand why Sheltai asked the soldiers to rob you?"

"It is to test me, to see my strength and courage, and to keep track of our tail is also to verify this. Seeing that I admit defeat, he left."

Moaila said: "These soldiers made a special trip to stay here for us?"

Manda shook her head and said, "That's not, I haven't had such a big face yet. They should have been here for a long time."

"Why should soldiers hide in the mountains?"

"This is the only way to connect the southwest and the south. As long as you cut off the canyon, it is equivalent to interrupting the connection between the southwest and the south on land."

The Leo woman probably understood what Manda meant, but she still had some doubts: "Why didn't Sheltai occupy the Crispy Stone Valley openly instead of letting the soldiers pretend to be bandits?"

Manda said: "Because bandits can rob, but soldiers cannot. Sheltai doesn't want to ruin his reputation."

These words made the Leo woman even more puzzled: "Why did Sheltai rob? Is he short of money?"

"I also want to know the reason for this. We still don't know enough about it. We may be able to find the answer when we arrive in Parrot City."

Marquis Moritz was in Parrot City, and he was still the nominal ruler here, but Manda replaced his soldiers with his own people and arranged for him to handle government affairs.

From Moritz's mouth, Manda got the answer. Although he didn't know that Sheltai had planted soldiers in the valley, he knew the importance of the Crispy Rock Valley, and its significance besides military.

"In the eastern southwest, many merchants make a living by selling iron ore. The southwest is full of iron ore and cannot sell at most. However, the south has almost no iron ore, and the price is bizarre."

In this era, the mountains and forests belong to the lord, and merchants can purchase mining rights from the lord. It is very cheap, and a cart of ore only costs one silver coin.

But in the south, the price of iron ore must be calculated based on weight. Two pounds of ore can be sold for one copper coin, and one truck of iron ore can be sold for about two thousand pounds, and ten silver coins can be sold. This is the price difference of ten times. Excluding mining and transportation costs, there is still nearly six times the profit.

Manda thought for a long time and asked, "Why don't you go on the waterway? You can transport more ore with a boat."

"There are not necessarily iron ore on the mountain close to the river. It also takes time to transport the ore to the riverside. The merchants do not have to transport the iron ore to Miaoyin City. It is just enough to send it to Qingyan City. It is very close to the Crispy Stone Valley, which is less than three days away. The lords there are very friendly to iron ore merchants and never collect taxes from iron ore merchants."

No wonder the bandits in Crispy Stone Valley never rob iron ore merchants. This road is an important source of iron ore in the south.

But why do they want to grab food?

Moritz was quite a business man. He did not sell the mining rights directly to merchants like other lords, but used slaves to mine ore and directly to the south.

"This is a shameful business and must be carried out in secret. For the nobles, doing business is a shameful thing. If you want to make money, you can also try it. But it is best to find a businessman to do it for you. Although he will make some difference, it will at least not ruin your reputation.

In the south, there are two sales channels for ore. One is to sell it to the lord and exchange it directly for money. This is legal. The other is to sell it to other merchants to exchange for food. This is illegal."

Manda was stunned: "Why is it illegal to sell to merchants? Is there this in the law of the kingdom?"

"This is not the law of the kingdom," Moritz laughed. "This is the law of the south. Sheltai is the grand duke. He has the power to make laws. On his territory, it is a serious crime to exchange ore for food. Once discovered, it is the same as stealing, but the merchants will still take risks. The land in the southwest is too barren, and food is often more precious than money."

This description finally made Manda understand the truth. Sheltai stationed soldiers in the Crispy Rock Valley and asked them to pretend to be thieves to engage in selective robbery. The purpose is only one, allowing resource input, but prohibiting resource outflow.

He would rather exchange gold coins for ore, but never allow food to be used, so as to ensure sufficient food reserves.

By the same token, barren land makes the living environment in the southwest very fragile. Once disasters or wars occur, a large number of civilians will become slaves because of losing their food sources.

These slaves can be sold to the south, and Sheltai regards them as resource input, but the livestock in the south are not allowed to be sold to the southwest, and even if there is too much quantity, sheltai refuses to expel all resources.

This business model seems very clever, but it faces an important problem. Resource input costs money. Where does Sertai’s gold coins come from?

"There is a legend that Grand Duke Sertai has a finger that can turn stones into gold." This is the explanation given by Moritz.

When he mentioned the golden finger, Manda's heart ached slightly. But he thought this was nonsense. Sheltai could not have the ability to turn into gold, otherwise he would have become king long ago.

The value of Crispy Stone Valley is even greater than Manda expected, and this battle is bound to be won. When Manu brought the soldiers to Parrot City, Manda immediately convened a meeting and began to formulate tactics.

As long as you fight in the mountains, Manu is fully confident. The tactics formulated by Manda are very simple. Drill a hole in the mountains, find a suitable exit, find out the enemy situation, and then catch them all in one go.

But Chuyit mentioned a detail: "Sir, have you seen gravel on the road when you enter the valley?"

Manda thought about it carefully, shook her head and said, "I have no impression."

Chuyit thought deeply for a moment and described it in the most intuitive way: "If a caravan passes through that valley every day, if the bandits had to create a landslide every day, think about it, how much gravel would accumulate in the valley?"

Manda was shocked. Chuyit's problem was really at the critical point. When they were robbed in the valley, the road was filled with gravel, leaving only a gap in the middle, which could allow one person and one horse to pass through.

According to this calculation, if you do it a few more times, the road will be blocked by gravel. In the long run, the entire valley will be filled with gravel.

But where is the gravel? Before meeting the bandits, the mountain road was very flat and there was not much gravel. After leaving the bandits, there seemed to be no too many stones in the valley.

The only explanation is that someone has cleaned up the gravel, but the workload is too high. Although it is just a small landslide, it will take at least half a month to clean it up with manpower alone.

Haven’t the bandits robbed for the past half month and become cleaners instead?

While thinking hard, Chuyit reminded him again: "Do you remember that when Duffron threatened us, a piece of gravel slipped to our feet, but it did not hurt us. He later wanted to attack Og, and a stone hit Og's head directly."

Og protested: "I caught it if I didn't hit it!"

Manda shook her head and said, "This is not the point, the point is that someone controls the gravel."

The room was quiet for a long time, and Manda looked at Manu and said, "You may have met your companions, and they have someone who can accurately control the stones on the mountain."

Manu frowned and shook her head and said, "Sir, it may be that my class is not enough. I can change the location of the rocks, but it is impossible to make such precise and fast control."
Chapter completed!