landbeastnovel #525 - Nagmi's Doubts (Part 2)
#525 - Nagmi's Doubts (Part 2)
"Is this Sour Gourd Town? Are you sure we didn't make a mistake?"
Having calmed down from his initial anger, Sechinger looked at the neat brick houses before him, deep in thought. Something was wrong, very wrong, even suspiciously wrong.
It wasn't that he hadn't been to Sour Gourd Town before, but the town before his eyes was markedly different from what he remembered.
The Sour Gourd Town of the past was just a small town nestled in the fields, with a population of only a thousand or so, full of wooden huts and thatched cottages, not even as good as Mayor Town.
The original low thatched cottages had been replaced by wooden plank houses, and the bumpy dirt roads had been filled in with black cinders and gravel. Sechinger stomped hard, finding it neither too loose nor too hard.
"What is this material, mortar?" Sechinger couldn't help but ask Mula.
Mula introduced with pride: "This is peat cinder. After the peat is extracted from the clay, the remaining soil becomes exceptionally hard. Combined with the 'Turn Mud into Stone' miracle, you get this effect.
However, this is just a temporary road left over from the southward attack on Golden River Township. The real roads should be paved with mortar."
"Paved roads with mortar? What are they like?"
A crisp female voice rang out, and Mula helplessly glanced back at Nagmi: "Just like roads paved with stone slabs, flat and hard."
Sechinger looked at the road under his feet. This temporary road was already so fast, wouldn't walking on that kind of stone slab road be like flying?
"Like paving with stone slabs," Nagmi, dressed in leather armor, couldn't help but exclaim, "That would cost a fortune! Even the Pope isn't that rich, right?"
Mula glanced helplessly at this noble young lady but didn't say much.
"Hey, did you hear what I said?"
"............"
"You didn't answer my question just now. Did you hear me?" Seeing that Mula was ignoring her, Nagmi snorted, shaking her seven or eight small braids, and spurred her horse to chase after him to question him, "You're really acting cool, you know..."
"Nagmi Andor Urinutz!"
Hearing her father call her full name, Nagmi tightened her lips and stopped talking.
Sechinger instead urged his horse forward, preparing to apologize for his little daughter.
Don't look down on Mula as just a mere knight; behind him stood His Majesty the Saint-Grandson, who had been winning every battle since the uprising.
Sechinger wasn't afraid of trouble, but he didn't want to offend the Saint-Grandson over such a small matter.
Before Sechinger could speak, Mula took the initiative to explain to him with a smile: "Earl, look over there, at the smoking house. That's the mortar workshop and brick kiln in the countryside.
During the previous Battle of Pavia, many war monks retired due to disabilities and became protective soldiers. Many of them are alchemist priests and can make their own mortar in the villages.
Moreover, Great Marsh Township is a production area for mortar and peat, and it's close by, so the freight and prices are very cheap.
Currently, the market price of mortar is 40 dinars per ton. Building 1 kilometer of mortar road costs about 650 tons, which is about 220 gold pounds."
40 dinars per ton, is it that cheap? In the Kingdom of Norn, it costs 65 dinars per ton!
Sechinger subconsciously wanted to say it, but he stopped himself. That would make him seem very ignorant.
"Oh, I see," Sechinger nodded, pretending to understand, and continued forward without batting an eye.
Although he pretended to understand, the dozens of North Mountain Boar Knights behind him all had a "We don't understand at all" expression.
But they took a few more steps forward and, upon entering the core residential area of the town, saw that houses were being demolished.
Laborers were swinging sledgehammers to knock down houses, tilers were removing square nails and components, seven or eight draft horses hooked the frames, and with a command, a house collapsed in the dust.
The residents, with their luggage piled aside, applauded with both tears and laughter at the moment the house collapsed.
Although these houses were all wooden-framed mud-walled houses, they were well-maintained from the outside and could easily last for decades without any problems, far from being demolished.
Sechinger moved forward, his head turning towards the demolished houses. Finally, he couldn't help but ask: "What's wrong with these residents? Why are they smiling so happily when their houses are being demolished?"
"Are you talking about this?" Mula reined in his horse, "This is the municipal renovation movement that His Majesty wants to carry out. Each town must build churches, town halls, and other buildings, and also leave space to build workshops.
Workshops can be placed in the suburbs, but municipal buildings must be placed in the town center, so the residential areas will be demolished.
They smile because, in addition to compensating for new brick houses, the Salvation Army will also give 3-5 gold pounds of compensation per acre of land based on the difference in land price..."
"So, they get a good house for free and also get 2 or 3 gold pounds?" Nagmi rubbed her ears, thinking she had misheard.
"Yes."
"This Saint-Grandson is too rich," Nagmi saw the smiling civilians, "Giving golden pounds to the civilians for nothing, what a sin."
"It can't be said that way," Nagmi wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but Mula's voice had a meaningful tone, "If new houses and towns are not built, where will there be so much space to accommodate foreign laborers?"
Hearing this, Sechinger's heart stirred, and he feigned a cough: "Are those newly built houses strictly calculated according to the residents who are moving out?"
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"Not really. We cleared the village ruins in the north of Sour Gourd Town and plan to connect it with the town, and the workshop area is also set there, so we will probably build more."
"Ahem, how many years will it take to build? What is the price?"
"It depends on the situation, probably two to three years to build," Mula led Sechinger and others around the dusty construction site, heading towards a quiet place, "As for the price, I really don't know. I'll look through the 'Truth Daily' later; it should be written on it."
Sechinger forcibly stopped the desire to ask what the 'Truth Daily' was, and nodded with a relaxed face: "Then I'll trouble you. If there's anything I can help with, please don't hesitate to ask."
For this kind of inside information, it should cost some money. Even if it doesn't cost money, he would definitely owe someone a favor. Sechinger would rather spend some money.
"You are a distinguished guest, how can I accept your money? It doesn't need much money, oh no, it doesn't need any money at all," Mula waved his hand, indicating that it wasn't necessary.
Following behind Sechinger and others, a North Mountain Boar Knight looked at the sword at Mula's waist, and after enduring it for a long time, he couldn't help but ask: "Sir Mula, if you don't mind, can I ask about your income?"
Sechinger looked at Mula's face, preparing to scold the knight if Mula got angry, to protect his own, but this question was also what he wanted to know.
"Me? I get 2 gold pounds a month, and my previous spoils of war were probably more than ten gold pounds, and I also had shares in a workshop in Rapid Stream City, but I sold them."
Mula didn't tell the complete truth about his income. He had more than 30 gold pounds in real estate such as warhorses, houses, and spoils of war, and even more than 20 gold pounds in cash savings and bonds.
But this wasn't the general situation, and it wouldn't be good if he gave the North Knights too high expectations.
"That's almost comparable to the annual income of a knight in the plains, even more," a boar knight said enviously.
"That's pretty normal. The daily wages are generally higher here in Red Maple Township. Take the laborers, for example. Unskilled workers generally get 1 dinar a day, skilled workers get 1.5 dinars, including lunch.
If there's a chance to enter the army through selection, new recruits start at 2 dinars, veterans with military merits get 4 dinars, officers get 6-8 dinars, and cavalry get an additional 2 dinars..."
Seeing that Mula was about to continue, Sechinger didn't even care about his face and quickly interrupted him: "Hey, is that the house we're staying in?"
"Um, cough, cough, cough--" Among the cavalry guards behind Sechinger, coughs rose and fell, with a few hints of barely suppressed eagerness.
It was Nagmi who turned her head and glared at them before they reluctantly lowered their heads.
"The pension is... oh, right, that's the yard you're staying in." Leading Sechinger's party to stand in front of a half-acre yard, Mula nodded to Sechinger, "You can rest here tonight. I live next door to you. If you need anything, you can come to me at any time."
"Then I'll trouble you."