Chapter 54: Fulfilling the promise, the progress of the dense forest road project.
As a small businessman who travels all year round and lives alone, Manid quickly accepted the status quo. For him, being loyal to a king was simply a class leap in his life.
In the continent of Calradia, it is impossible for any lord to look at someone like Manid in a different light. They will only launch endless exploitation of this small businessman who does not belong to their own family.
You have to pay taxes when crossing the road, you have to pay taxes when entering the city, you have to pay taxes on transactions, you have to pay taxes on heads, you have to pay taxes on livestock, and there are extra taxes when there is a war, not to mention those nobles who are cruel and often lead troops to plunder passing caravans.
.
Only caravan leaders who become aristocrats and have strong backing protection can have a certain degree of security in the trade. The privileges of aristocrats also allow these caravans to pay only a very small amount of taxes and fees.
Although Manid hates the greed and exploitation of the nobles very much, he is very willing to become a subordinate of the nobles, but he just has no way out.
Although he had his own arrangements for Manid, Allen still gave the down-and-out businessman the right to choose. After all, a person can only exert 100% of his ability when doing what he likes.
There are two options given by Allen. The first is to lend money to Manid and let him form a caravan. This is a cooperative model.
As a lord, Allen will give Manid military protection, and at the same time serve as his backer, allowing Manid to do business in various forces in Middle-earth in the name of King Rovanian, and the profits from the sale of goods, Ai
Lun wants to take away at least 60%.
From a certain point of view, 60% is nothing. Businessmen in this era can easily make huge profits as long as they have a stable and safe environment. It just so happens that Allen can provide this to Manid now.
The second is to ask Manid to become an official of the kingdom's cabinet and temporarily be under the management of Jamila. His initial job is to be the leader of the caravan. Manid needs to be responsible for exploring prices in various places, and then planning the future development of the caravan, and
He will personally lead the team to do business, and Allen will take care of everything else, but the same thing is that Manid can only receive one salary.
But Allen promised that if he did well, he could give Manid a consultant title.
Manid, who had just arrived, did not understand the actual environment here, but he was somewhat shrewd and immediately realized that these two choices represented wealth and power respectively.
Manid chose the second option without any hesitation. If possible, he hoped to see a country with prosperous commerce, rather than a country that allowed the nobility to impose excessive taxes and stifle commercial activities.
At the very least, the merchants should be able to make some profits, stimulate their enthusiasm, and strengthen commercial activities between various places. To accomplish this, he needs certain rights and support from the king.
Manid, who could wake up laughing in his sleep tonight, didn't know what kind of business environment was waiting for him. After all, since Sauron occupied Dol Guldur, Eriardo and Rovanian
Business activities have gradually decreased and have almost completely ceased in recent years.
In such a difficult environment, it is bound to be a long and arduous task to restore business prosperity.
Manid, who didn't know all this, followed Allen to see Jamila in high spirits the next day.
Allen was also in a good mood today. He looked at his Hand of the King and introduced both parties with a smile on his face.
After all, the series of things that have happened recently have all turned out well for Allen, and the results of the simulation are also very good. It is natural for him to be in a happy mood.
The most important thing is that after clearing the high pass, Allen has no special troubles that need attention. It feels like playing a game. When all the tasks have a green check, that moment of feeling
It's simply not too comfortable.
Jamila did not care about Manid's origin, but arranged for a subordinate to take this new colleague to get familiar with the environment of Wilderness Town, which is very important for any newcomer.
After Manid left, Jamila looked at Allen with a cheerful face and felt a little confused.
"Did something good happen recently that I don't even know about?"
Before Jamila could think too much, Allen, smiling, extended his invitation.
"Beautiful Miss Jamila, in half a month, I wonder if you have time to go to the Lonely Mountain with me to attend the coronation ceremony of Thorin II?"
Allen had his own considerations in issuing such an invitation. First, as Allen's Hand of the King and the second-in-command of the Rovanian Kingdom, Jamila should get to know the people of the Rovanian Kingdom.
Several major allies, as well as Allen's powerful vassals.
This includes Thorin II of the Lonely Mountain, Dain Ironfoot of the Iron Hills, Lord Thrand of the Woodland Kingdom, and Lord Bard of Riverdale City. If there is a chance in the future, it should also include Elrond of Rivendell.
The Lords of Germany, Mr. and Mrs. Celeborn of Lothlorien.
Not only does it allow Jamila to get to know them, but also the elders of these forces get to know Jamila. If Allen leads troops on an expedition in the future and there is a problem in his rear area, Jamila can also be able to communicate with Ai.
These allies of Lun have something to say.
Then Thorin II's enthronement ceremony is a good opportunity, and it does not take a long time. Now that the orcs have fully retreated, the road is very safe, and a month's travel time is enough.
On the other hand, during the past four or five years, Jamila has been staying in Wilderness Town to deal with the complicated government affairs assigned to her by Allen. She has been busy from the first day of the new year to the last day of the new year, and the cycle continues.
,Open all year round.
Even the emperors in ancient times still had a few days off. Allen thought that Jamila was working too hard, so he hoped to take advantage of this opportunity to take Jamila out to relax and see the King of the Woodland.
The scenery of Gushan Mountain is also good.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! After hearing Allen’s invitation, Jamila’s first reaction was surprise, then she was filled with joy, and finally she felt that it seemed a little ridiculous.
.
The king actually wants to take the prime minister to attend the coronation ceremony of his ally. Who will handle so many government affairs in Wilderness Town?
Who will solve the problems that arise in the village being built? Who will supervise the farming work in the spring? Who will provide pensions to the wounded and martyrs in the war at Gao Pass?
Then one figure after another appeared in Jamila's mind, and she found suitable candidates for each job.
"Fatis can take charge of the pension work. He is the Minister of Military Affairs. It is his responsibility to pension the soldiers. He only needs to prepare the corresponding materials and coins in advance."
"Agricultural matters have been on the right track in the past few years. Just let Karl do it first. When we come back, we will take a look at the progress. There should be no big problems. It has been like this for the past few years."
"The preparation for the establishment of the village is a bit troublesome. Neither Tire nor Artiman is here. If it doesn't work, let James take care of it. After all, he was there when the wilderness village was established. He should have some experience anyway. In fact, it can be seen
Just understand the drawings."
"As for the construction work on the old dense forest road, we just sent troops to send these two months' wages, so there shouldn't be any problems."
"As for the daily management of the town, Doris and the others should not have..."
After thinking for a moment, Jamila suppressed her excitement, a light smile appeared on her fair and beautiful face, and said solemnly: "Lord Allen, there is no problem, I will arrange the next work.
.”
After Allen heard it, he said, "Okay, we'll see you in half a month."
Jamila was stunned when she heard this and asked: "Do you want it?"
"Ah, by the way, I plan to go to Old Jungle Road to see the progress of the construction there, and then deal with a little trouble."
Because Thorin's enthronement ceremony was still a month and a half away, if he left now, he would have to wait for a long time in Gushan. Allen thought he might as well use this time to go to the old dense forest road and take a look over there.
The specific situation, after all, he didn't pay attention to it after that battle.
Moreover, he can also send Malherby back by the way. Allen plans to send ten Twilight Knights, allowing them to send Malherby home as soon as possible.
Once he promises someone else, Allen just wants to fulfill his promise as soon as possible.
"Okay, sir, I wish you a safe journey. I will immediately arrange for someone to prepare accordingly." Jamila nodded to express her understanding. She was just about to turn around and leave. Then she seemed to remember something and added: "Sir, I hope you can be here.
Come back on time in half a month and don’t delay attending the enthronement ceremony of an important ally.”
"Okay, I know."
Allen nodded, and called Gale next to him, asking him to inform Malherby to get ready and prepare to set off for the dense forest road in the afternoon.
.......
As the general person in charge of opening up the dense forest road, Till has been extremely busy recently. In order to improve the completion progress of this project, he divided more than 1,500 people into three parts.
The first part is the villagers of Oak Village, there are about 400 people. Their village chief Barron is responsible for managing there. The main job is to cut down the trees covering the road from west to east. The remaining passage must be at least two to
Width of three meters.
The progress there is pretty good. The main problem is that although Barron is an extremely good hunter, he is really slow when it comes to things like construction. Even though Tyr drew the drawings and drew the guidelines on the ground
The villagers were still chopping and cutting the line, but it became crooked, and it was crooked in one direction.
This meant that Tyr had to go over and correct them every once in a while. It would take a long time for the dwarves to walk through dozens of kilometers of forest even if they were riding a pony.
The second part is the villagers of Pine Tree Village. They number nearly 600 people and are managed by Gail's grandfather Hank.
[To be honest, I have been using Yeguoyuedu to read and catch up on books recently. I can switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. Yeguoyuedu is available for Android and Apple.]
Hank is a strong and healthy northern human. He is usually warm and generous to others and is willing to meet new friends. Within a month, he got to know Till, Alleyn and Stephen, and at the same time he also showed great respect to his employer.
Allen gained some insight.
After all, their life was still a bit difficult when they were sleeping outdoors. After work breaks, Hank often invited Allen's subordinates to drink with home-brewed fruit wine and captured prey, and the relationship between the two parties naturally became closer and closer.
Of course, this did not delay the progress of the project. Within a month, almost one-sixth of the entire road in the two villages had been opened.
Tier made a simple measurement and found that this forest-covered road was about 40 kilometers long. To open a two- to three-meter-wide road, at least 20,000 to 30,000 trees would need to be cut down. It would take a month.
In this time, these 1,000 people have cut down nearly 4,000 trees, and the progress is still very good.
After all, the trees covering this road have grown for countless years, most of them are extremely tall and thick, and the working environment in the forest is very poor. The fact that these northern humans can do what they are now can be regarded as extremely diligent and hardworking.
Moreover, only half of the more than a thousand people can do heavy physical labor, while most of the others, old, young, women and children, are responsible for simple tasks.
For example, leveling the ground, collecting some small branches as fuel for daily life, carrying water from nearby water sources, doing daily chores such as cooking, etc., and doing everything possible to get your own share of rations from Allen.
In addition to Pine Village and Oak Village, more than 500 people from Fir Village, under the leadership of Caroline, are responsible for further processing the large number of felled trees, and then transporting them to the east end of the dense forest road, where they are piled in the rushing river.
Drying is done nearby.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After these trees are almost dry, Tyr will arrange for them to start building a stronghold. After all, the newly felled wood can only build some temporary houses.
.
The corner between the northwest junction of the Jungle Road and the Benliu River is a large area of gentle hills. To the east is the Benliu River, which flows all year round, and to the west and north is the lush black forest. This large area in the middle
The land is now full of green.
Allen, who had just set foot on this land from the dense forest road at noon that day, knew at a glance that two or three thousand people could survive in this surrounding environment without any problem, but Wilderness Town did not have that many people to move there for the time being.
Here, we can only build a stronghold first and stick to this important road. As for other things, we can only talk about it later.
The direction Allen and his group are heading towards is the temporary camp set up by Alleyne. Three hundred soldiers are currently stationed there. Stephen and Till will also rest there after completing their daily work.
When Allen and his party approached the camp, they found that patches of land had been reclaimed around the camp. Allen casually summoned a nearby soldier to understand what was going on.
Ever since Alleyn and 300 soldiers were stationed here, nothing unusual has ever happened. Not to mention the enemies, even the ferocious beasts in the forest are unwilling to approach these large numbers of humans, and they are also afraid.
After handing over the nearby reconnaissance work to the Nord royal guards who were already good at riding, Alleyn began to train with the soldiers, but they couldn't train every day. If Alleyn could hold on, the soldiers of this era could also
I can't stand it.
So after training, these soldiers who were born as forest dwellers began to cultivate farmland on nearby land.
They don't know how long they will stay here. Using the surrounding land to grow some vegetables and food can also improve their food and improve their overall living standards. Why not do it.
The food Stephen bought from other human settlements was extremely dull, either wheat or barley. For today's soldiers, it would be easy for them to feel bored after eating it for a while. If conditions improve, they will naturally do it.
It can only be said that under Allen's rule, the people's living standards have indeed improved a lot. They are no longer satisfied with the living conditions of just living, and instead find ways to pursue a better living standard, no matter from which aspect
, this is all a good thing.
When he arrived at the camp, Allen wanted to fulfill his promise and arranged for Hermione to lead five Twilight Knights to send Malherbe home.
Allen prepared a large amount of supplies for them, and each person was equipped with three fast horses, so that the group of them could complete the journey as quickly as possible.
Malherby was naturally very grateful to Allen for his arrangement, and then when he parted with Allen, he promised that after returning, he would definitely promote the exchanges between Red River Town and Wilderness Town, and at least try to establish trade relations.
Of course Allen agreed with this. Even if there were no other things, it would be good to buy more food. As various projects progressed, Allen deeply felt that no amount of food seemed to be enough.
"Lord Allen!
"
At this time, Alleyn, who learned of Allen's arrival, rushed out of the camp on horseback and greeted Allen from a distance.