After the incident in Coldwind City subsided, the city became a political island in the North. The internal environment improved, but the external environment became extremely bad.
Zhou Qingfeng implemented a series of affirmative action policies in the city, confiscated the properties of nobles, and tried and executed guilty nobles and lackeys.
This deviant method seriously offended the interests of the aristocracy.
As the news spread, Victor Hugo immediately became a "thorn in the flesh" of all the nobles in the North. The latter rarely shared the same hatred and cut off business ties with Cold Wind City, wanting to kill him.
According to the intelligence network established by Adrian, the forces in more than a dozen cities in the North are secretly working together. Those with money will contribute money, those with power will contribute, and those without money and power can also express their opinions.
In short, we cannot let the 'monster of the black forest' continue to gain power.
After trade was cut off, the goods in Hanfeng City could not be sold, and food from outside could not be transported in. With a population of more than 200,000 in and outside the city, eating horse chews for people every day was a huge expense.
As long as the blockade lasts for a month or two, large-scale famine will inevitably occur. The new lord cannot ignore the possible famine, otherwise Zhou Qingfeng himself will be doomed.
Faced with this situation, surrender is impossible, and compromise is impossible. Only war can solve the survival problem of the new regime.
In this case, the entire Cold Wind City becomes a war preparation base. Everything must serve the war.
Workshops are being built in the city, all kinds of workshops, the first of which is wood processing and extended products. In order to build workshops, houses are being demolished everywhere, even in the aristocratic district.
This is why Johnson and Powell were forced to move.
Although there are grand and tall buildings in Coldwind City such as the Wizard's Tower and the Winter Hall, most of the houses in the city are very low, and even noble families have a large number of small rooms for servants.
Zhou Qingfeng calls the shabby house made of small pieces of wood and thatch a 'large doghouse'. It is dirty and messy, and always smells bad.
The low-level servants who lived there had no contact with the noble lords on weekdays. They could only obey the orders of the housekeeper and work in the kitchen, stables, toilets and other places, and the living environment was extremely harsh.
Zhou Qingfeng initially thought that the nobles were deliberately treating their slaves harshly, but only after conducting on-site investigations did he know that in a place like the Northland where there are trees everywhere, there is a shortage of usable wood.
Logging is a very hard job, transportation is also a problem, and wood processing is a professional craft. This makes the price of wood much more expensive than expected, and the supply is insufficient.
Building a carriage requires a carpenter and two or three apprentices, which takes more than half a year. Building a house is a huge project, requiring seven or eight carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, plus dozens of apprentices and coolies to work for several years.
If a noble builds a large mansion, it can be passed down as a family property for dozens or hundreds of years. If it is a stone castle, it is a hereditary property of a great noble, and it can last for hundreds of years without any problem.
Zhou Qingfeng built a water conservancy sawmill in Fuqiangling, and the efficiency of wood processing increased hundreds of times compared with the past. This situation has been broken.
The big tree surrounded by one person made a squeaking sound under the high-speed rotation of the saw wheel, and sawdust flew everywhere. Boards of different thicknesses and sizes appeared like flowing water, supporting urban reconstruction.
This has significantly reduced the price of home construction.
Johnson's current identity is a herbal medicine merchant, and he wants to move his belongings to a civilian area. There are already rows of simple houses built there for temporary residence.
"Houses are built so quickly here." Johnson felt awkward.
If you are a wizard and have arcane spells such as "turn fossils into mud" and "turn mud into stone", it is normal to build a house quickly.
But these bastards used horse-drawn carriages to transport pieces of wooden planks, used metal tools to dig a foundation and filled it with soil, inserted the wooden planks to build the walls, and then hammered them with nails to quickly build a house.
In the past, the houses that common people lived in were often less than two meters high. There were even small houses with a height of 1.5 meters. You had to bend your waist to get in and out. The interior was very small, dark and damp, and it really looked like a dog house.
The simple house that Johnson has been assigned now has a floor height of 2.2 meters, a wide entrance hall, two floors, and comes with its own furniture. It has a bedroom, kitchen, toilet, utility room, etc.
"This house is spacious, beautiful, and fully equipped. It can accommodate a small nobleman."
The coolies were moving Johnson's own furniture. He stood at the door of the simple house and looked at the other neighbors who had moved in - they were all commoners and even untouchables in the past, but now they were happily living in their new homes.
The owl landed on the owner's head and whispered: "No wonder these poor people like Victor Hugo. How could they live in such a nice house in the past?"
There are 100 simple houses in a block, and once one is built, one household will live in it. Wells are dug in the block, sewers are laid, there is unified water supply and drainage, and low-level officials from the "street office" provide public services.
The house number was tacked on. Living in Coldwind City meant that Johnson had an identity and address that could be found anytime and anywhere. Whenever he thought about the issue of 'identity', he always shuddered.
Housing is a kind of reward, given to those who have made merit.
Johnson is not only an illusionist, but also has the ability to prepare herbal medicines as a cover, and can treat some common diseases at a low price. Therefore, his ID card is printed as 'pharmacist'.
Others who live in simple houses are often "labor activists" or other people with technical expertise. They work hard in exchange for status improvement and welfare benefits.
"I heard that the children of these poor people can go to school without taking the exam and become officials in the city after completing their studies. So now they are all loyal to Victor Hugo like crazy." Dudu made a disdainful sound above his master's head.
The benefits Zhou Qingfeng has given to the common people are countless.
Tax reductions, empowerment, breaking personal attachments, erasing all unreasonable debts, and now giving the bottom class a way to learn knowledge and advance to the next level.
Powell also leaned next to him and whispered: "Recently, there is a propaganda department in the city, which is promoting Victor Hugo's laws and regulations everywhere, asking the people in the city to live according to the new lord's plan.
In the past, whenever the Long-Leggs family enacted any laws, the poor people there were always full of complaints and refused to implement them honestly. But now they also ask for good work, but the poor people have become very obedient like dogs."
Powell was indignant, and the owl roared with laughter.
"In the past, the long-legged family didn't give any benefits and used whips to make the poor people work. Now Victor Hugo gives so many benefits. If you were a poor person, you would become a good dog."
This was clearly a taunt, and Powell was furious, "I'm going to crush your dead bird's beak."
Dudu showed no sign of weakness, fluttered his wings and flew away, but shouted in the air: "Poor man, if you have the guts, come and pinch my mouth."
Powell became even angrier and yelled at Johnson: "You really don't care about this bird?"
Johnson sighed and shook his head, "Do you know why I didn't leave Coldwind City in a hurry? I've been spending a lot of money recently and I'm thinking about making money. Do you think the herbal medicine business is much easier now?"
Powell shook his head angrily, "Don't be stupid, I've been through this before, and you will only suffer more and more losses."
Johnson disagreed, "It would be even worse if I didn't do it."