Chapter 37 The future of hometown (w-word update, please vote for me!)
Shen Xueyue (December) is approaching.
In the evening, the crimson sunset penetrated the thin evening clouds and cast the tidal color on the city.
If Ian was not in Nanling, but in the Imperial Capital or somewhere else, he would be able to see heavy snow falling and silver-white ice crystals covering the ground.
Even in Nanling, the weather has turned cold, and the ground in the square will be covered with a thin layer of frost.
Ian stood on the top of the restored Lord's Mansion, sitting on the shoulders of the Cyclops, overlooking his territory.
The brand new Lord's Mansion Fort has a metallic texture all over its body. It is a fortress made of germanium steel stone. It is essentially the same as a steel fortress, and it looks solemn and majestic.
One month after the end of the war with the rebellious mountain people, Xiahui City has completely returned to normal operations. This alchemy material center on the west side of the Agate Stone Plain has taken over the empire's 19th Legion under the guidance of Ian.
Several pharmaceutical orders were placed, but no one was placed in the past
The forest road is now gradually filled with the lively ringing of caravans.
Because the lineage of Baron Ryan was completely banned and Ian's letter of appointment had been delivered, the place was restored to its original name of 'Xiahui Land' under the young man's wishes, which is also 'Xiahui Territory'.
The reason why it is not called 'Ian Ling' or 'Alchomont Ling' is mainly because Ian feels that this place is too small and there is no need to put his name on it, and if it is called Xia Hui Ling, it will not be suitable for some people.
It has a soothing effect on mountain people.
In fact, because of the titles of 'Messenger of the Dragon God' and 'Prophet of Thunder', some mountain people have tried to come to see Ian. They live on the edge of the Victory Square in the west of the territory. These people have since
I brought a tent and seemed to plan to stay there for a while.
Ian has a welcoming attitude towards these people. Whether these people are war refugees, ready to live in Ian, or they really think they are messengers of the Dragon God, they can become the labor force of the territory.
However, only the paperwork has arrived.
The official investiture ceremony had to be sent from the imperial capital, and they are still on the way.
Theoretically speaking, the awarding documents should have arrived together with the host, but the Xiahui leadership situation was special, and the Marquis of Barton requested special arrangements, so there was a situation where Ian received the certificate first and then made up for the vote.
The Xiahui Territory is roughly divided into four parts. The western part of the territory was facing the mountain passes in response to the mountain people's attacks, so most of the military camps and defense facilities are located here. There are also a lot of wastelands on the edge.
An area reserved for future expansion.
In the north of the city is where the city hall and the lord's castle are located, as well as the lord's private estate. Many alchemy workshops that process Xiahui grass are located here. It is considered the richest area in the Xiahui region.
The operation of the city has returned to its original state, food prices have stabilized, and production has resumed. Farmers have also begun to rearrange their fields and are planting some walnuts and beetroots in an effort to have more food before next spring.
Under Ian's command, everything was in order.
However, there have been some funny things happening in the fields.
Based on the experience on Earth, Ian planned to carry out a land reform after counting the population and cultivated land.
No matter how the people below objected, he wanted to take over all the fields where Xiahui grass could be grown for himself, so that he could arrange for the next development.
For this reason, I even plan to go to Isengard to borrow some money, so that the lord's palace will not have to pay for the land when it takes it back.
Isengard generously lent seven thousand talers as the first batch of loans, leaving Manyu with no confidence to summon all the planters and tell them their plans - but I found myself telling various measures for land reform. At that time, did the expressions of the planters change at all?
Change, everyone is moved by it.
Before Mancheng finished speaking, the farmers who had not understood what the little lord meant finally suddenly realized. We looked at each other. The youngest old farmer stood up and turned to the young farmer without any hesitation. The overweight lord bowed.
"Sir, you may have farmed before, right?"
The old man carefully considered the words, and I said hastily: "So... maybe you know?"
"The lands in Laien...er, you mean, the lands in Xiahui's territory...were all yours originally?"
"You just got a little bit of your attention, so you didn't have the opportunity to help me cultivate your property... Uh, what you mean is... you don't need to take back the land from your hands... it was not yours in the first place. Yes?"
The old farmer's cautious and generous words still stimulated Manyu's young mind.
"What the hell? All the land in the territory belongs to the lord?"
Because he was indeed too young to pay attention to the rules and regulations in that area, Manyu only found out that things were like that before consulting many classics.
Terra's land system is not one of retreat, but an extreme primitive dictatorship - the lord has 100% power over everything in my territory.
In other words, all the land belongs to the lord.
If Manyu wants to use it, others must obey it conditionally.
However, by the same token, the lord is responsible for the danger to the lives of everyone in his territory and the danger to the land.
For example, if a monster or invader comes, theoretically the territorial citizens cannot resist completely. The only thing we may need to do is to go to the lord to expel the monster and invader from now on.
If the invader defeats the lord and becomes a new lord, the original lord can also blame his own subjects for this.
Because no matter how much the people in the territory resist, it will be useful - as long as the enemy's Ascended leader is eliminated, even half-barbarians like the mountain people will engage in guerrilla warfare and street fighting to resist to the end, because once the enemy is angered for a long time, the Ascended leader is really will annihilate the enemy
’Physically dig into the ground eight feet to find it and eliminate it.
Moreover, only without such a system can the lords have no incentive to protect 'their' things.
That is a weird custom that can only be found in the world of the Ascended.
"That's basically land reform!"
The land policy that Manchester City wants to preside over is actually very complicated. It is not about opening up scattered fields, opening up wasteland, linking all the land suitable for planting in Xiahui Territory as high as possible, and then allocating cultivated land according to the actual needs of each village, town and population.
, guaranteed
People who don't need it can lose their land and farm nearby.
However, the confiscation rights of the land belong to the lord's house.
Private sales of land are prohibited, and the use of land must be subject to the arrangements of the lord's government.
But originally everything was like that - farmers didn't just have no right to use their land, everything belonged to the lord in name.
One side is a primitive feudal dictatorship, and the other side is a plan to retreat first.
But the world was not originally spiraling backward, and the original world would also start to retreat first. Before Manyu determined that point, he was forbidden to complain: "You haven't even borrowed seven thousand talers from Ethan! Is it possible to pay it back?"
Of course I will pay it back.
If you borrowed something based on your ability, why should you pay it back? At least this is not the seventh time.
Manchester City invested the seven thousand talers in the development of the territory, and invited several professional teams to explore the soil and terrain conditions in the territory. They also explored the mining areas in the Baishen Mountains and purchased a batch of alchemy furnaces.
The mining equipment should be withdrawn first to prepare for mining development.
At present, the exploration team is still exploring, but the news reported is not very exciting yet: the eight mining areas are rich in ore, and there is no iron, copper or tin. The most exciting thing is that the exploration team discovered from the Xiakou mining area.
"Tie", it is a natural belt.
Minerals with different origin structures have layers of extremely regular textures underneath the ores. Common heavy iron, red steel, and fluorescent copper are all refined and processed from textured iron and its associated minerals.
The appearance of grained iron means that there is no more rare sublimated metal vein inside the Xiakou mining area.
Although Li Xu was unhappy, he was still quite surprised. After all, with the conditions that Xiajing received, even the appearance of a mithril mine was unusual.
Everything is stable and going well.
December 1, 773 Terra.
The first tax officer/civil service examination of Xiahui Ling is over.
Moda Steward.
"Dad, do you feel better?"
―A young voice sounded in the room where the lights were turned on and the windows were closed. What responded to me was the vague grunting of an old man.
Moda, the head steward of Lady Houlian, sat up from the bed in a daze. When I opened my eyes, I found that my boss, An, was holding a cup of medicine and looking at me with concern.
He silently picked up the medicine and drank it in one gulp. The old man, who was a little more energetic because of the bitterness, took a breath, and then said: "Don't look at you like that... Didn't you allow him to take the exam yesterday?"
"That's because I'm afraid you'll be worried."
The young man touched his head and replied energetically: "And you did take medicine this morning, so that's fine."
The old man glanced at the other party.
Manager Moda has always hated his eldest son.
I am a rebellious guy. As the first girl in my family, I have been yearning for life in a small city since I was young because I could not inherit the position of manager.
When Li Jiang just came of age, he stole a sum of money from home and went to Naolixu. By the time Steward Moda led his men to chase him to Naolixu, the guy had not even left the caravan and left the Golden Plain.
No matter how he chased him, he would always be chased by his subordinates. The angry steward Moda swore before he returned home that he would live as if he had that son, and it would be heartbreaking to die like that.
But when his smiling son returned home seven years ago with a diploma as a mechanical alchemist, the first thing that flashed through the old man's heart was ecstasy.
Then I hung An Ling up and whipped him severely.
Moda took charge not because of An Ling's rebellion, but because Li Xu was always too adventurous.
Ji Ru said that when Manager Moda wanted to move his family to Naololand, Li Xu did the opposite and insisted on staying in Xiahui Territory to work for the new lord.
"Dad, he has served the old lord all his life. How about you try to become a tax collector for the new lord?"
Those were An Ling's exact words: "And you think that with your knowledge in mechanical engineering and inscriptions, you can definitely play a small role in the hands of the new lord, which means that your achievements are definitely lower than dad!"
Thinking of that, Steward Moda's expression became even worse.
——That silly boy completely understands that his family is the steward family of the next lord.
One lord and one officer. Look at the president of the chamber of commerce, the captain of the guard and other people in charge of me in Old Laien. Which one was expelled? Xilin's head was directly burned!
It wasn't Amber, a madman who was not loyal at all and spent all day outside the laboratory, who was retained here.
But even so, this new lord still parachuted a new alchemy steward as the leader. The young man is hardly his grandson, but Amber treats me with respect and respect as a disciple all day long.
Even though he was humbled to that point, he was kicked out of the laboratory and could only go to the alchemy workshop for four hours every day.
In that case, which craftsman would come from Amber?
How can I take charge of the small and big matters of the alchemy workshop?
Although Steward Moda had known Manyu for a long time and knew that he was a cold-hearted and good knight, there was a huge difference between a good knight and a good lord.
In particular, the very act of suppressing the post-lord officials is not something a good lord should do.
"He himself is afraid of death, and he is very confident. He basically thinks that he will be buried... What else can you do besides letting him go?"
After waving his hand, Manager Moda stood up using his child's arms.
"Why should we be afraid of death..."
Supporting his father, An Ling muttered, "I used to learn mechanical alchemy and inscriptions from a scholar in Fallen Star Hills. I didn't come back to take care of the old man until the great changes in Laien."
Originally, An Lingdu planned to leave when his father was in better condition and continue his studies in the imperial capital.
As a result, I never imagined that Man Yu, the alchemy genius I had heard about in Fallen Star Hills, would actually come to my hometown to become a lord!
May everyone be blessed with good luck.
Should I seize the opportunity or let it pass by? So I thought about it and directly signed up to take the tax officer exam. As for whether I had no experience or not, that was another matter.
Anyway, with my own knowledge, even if I am a good tax collector, I cannot go to teach. Anyway, I need to make connections first. I used to say that I would definitely be mentored by Manchester City.
Unexpectedly, my father became angry about this, and he persuaded him for a long time before he let him go and agreed to take the exam at the city hall.
Moda really has no trouble with the overly frank eldest son. Manyu is obviously an extremely unscrupulous lord, so it only took me one day and one night to find out the countess after I came to Laien;
You can see the truth before, and before I
The decisive ground killers of the middle class of Anyu and the thunderous methods against the mountain people represent my inferior skills.
The best thing to do when working for that kind of person is to have no ideas of your own and just seriously disobey the other person's orders.
But his son’s out-of-touch temperament makes it impossible for him to meet Manchester City’s conditions?
Moda is not pessimistic.
But I also planned to persuade An Ling. The old man could see that An Ling would listen to his own opinion.
If I allow me to take the exam using an identity outside my family, the boss will use a false identity to take the exam - then things will be less troublesome.
What's more... I'm so slow.
Turning his head, the old man looked at his closed window.
My house has windows open, and I haven't been out for a long time, because Moda was afraid that if he opened the window and went out, what he saw would not be a completely familiar city.
The old man knows that with the arrival of a new lord, everything will be turned upside down. These streets and the past where his past memories rest will all disappear. The most important thing is that I am afraid.
I am afraid that I will stop believing that these past memories are all illusions and false...
I'm so impatient, Manager Moda is very vague about that.
Taking the medicine every day will save me a few months of life at least.
I died because of my heart, not because my life span was really short.
If I know it early, I will listen to this Huaiguang cultivator and go to the Holy Mountain with us who are reporting on our work to recuperate and cure our heart ailments...
But is there no point in living? I can distinguish between reality and falsehood, and I have a sustenance for my life's struggle.
Manager Moda wants to see the New Territory City inside, because I want to keep all the memories of the past in my mind and die with the memory of the old Laien... In this way, I can rest in peace.
But...but I still want to know...
Shaking his head, Manager Moda said something loudly, but the sound was so loud that An Ling could not hear clearly.
"Father?"
An raised his head and heard the old man murmuring: "Just think it's for you."
"Li Xu, if he must go to meet this new lord."
The young man turned his head, and I looked into a pair of old eyes. The owner of these eyes, which were not close to death, stared at me and said in a healthy tone: "Then go and see it for your sake."
."
"Look what I will turn that city, that territory...the hometown where you have lived all your life into..."
"Yes, father."
After hearing that, An Ling, who had been smiling all the time to make his father worry, finally showed a solemn expression.
I nodded seriously and held my father's hand: "You will help you see it."