Chapter 78 Developments in Various Places
In the early morning, the sunrise glow appears in the distant sky.

"Hmm~ It turns out that it's more comfortable to sleep in your own territory."

Rhodes threw back the quilt, overcoming the desire to curl up in the warm bed, and walked out of the room.

The biting cold wind blowing in his face made his body tremble slightly.

In order to refresh himself, he began to stretch his neck and arms, stretch his muscles and bones, and make stretching gestures.

A day ago, after returning from the fortress, Rhodes had already returned to the flat-topped mountain in his territory.

Although he was away during this period, it is gratifying that the development of the territory was stable and positive, and no major chaos occurred.

After walking around the residential area on the top of the mountain, Rhodes came to the three-story government building.

As the chief clerk of Pingdingshan, Luke had been waiting here for a long time.

When he saw Rhodes coming in, he quickly stood up to greet him.

"You've done a good job during this period." Seeing that he started working so early, Rhodes encouraged him with satisfaction.

This is how a worker should be. As the boss, I get up early every day, but there is always no one on the street.

How embarrassing.

"My Lord, you are too kind. I am just doing some trivial work for you."

Luke responded cheerfully, and then handed the organized business report to Rhodes.

Rhodes took it and flipped through it.

The above are records about the Pingdingshan quarry, city wall construction and environmental exploration at the foot of the mountain.

In addition, there are many records of conflicts between residents.

Although Rhodes established relevant guilds and officials to manage the city, frictions in the daily lives of residents were inevitable.

It could be a lost piece of bread, an accidental bump.

Or maybe it was a boy from some family who sneaked into his daughter's bedroom.

If the conflict is not serious, the legal officer who was established not long ago will solve it.

But if it involves bloodshed, it will be handed over to him as the lord, who will be responsible for the decision.

Thanks to the management system, this situation is not common.

After finishing the affairs accumulated during this period, Rhodes put down his quill and smelled the aroma of fried eggs.

"White bread, don't take this! You are getting more and more greedy!"

Lily walked over here and raised the breakfast in her hand high above her head.

It was a sandwich with fried eggs and bacon between two slices of bread.

White Bread was following her closely.

With his tongue hanging out and his eyes longing, he rubbed his head against Lily's skirt.

Its body length has grown to three meters, several times larger than Lily, and looks extremely impactful.

But after being warned by Lily, he lay on the ground in grievance.

The tail drooped down, giving it a pitiful look as if it was about to starve to death.

Rod took the sandwich, looked at the white bread, and bit it into his mouth in front of it.

A day's diet of white bread requires 30 kilograms of meat, which is equivalent to the edible amount of 20 adult roosters.

Rhodes didn't know where it got the nerve to try to steal his breakfast.

A few hours later, several craftsmen walked into the government building from outside and came in front of Rhodes.

"Sir, this is the blueprint of the castle designed according to your requirements. Please take a look." Craftsman Barlow handed over a blueprint respectfully.

Rhodes took it with anticipation.

Lily, who was dozing off out of boredom behind him, immediately perked up.

He poked his little head over and looked at the drawings with curiosity and excitement.

It's about time to build a castle, Rhodes thought.

Through the bird's-eye view of a raven in the sky, the situation of Pingdingshan appeared in his eyes.

Compared to when he first arrived, the place was full of rugged rocks and overgrown weeds.

Now, after a long period of cleaning, the top of the mountain has been neatly divided into four areas.

First of all, of the 400 acres of land, 200 acres have been transformed into magic fields. As a new round of high-quality barley is planted, emerald green seedlings are poking their heads out, full of vitality.

Next to the magic field is the residential area on the top of the mountain.

The brick and stone cottages are arranged in an orderly manner, one row after another, and the roads built between them are staggered, clean and tidy.

Further down is the mountainside, where, with the continuous influx of labor, more than half of the granite wall has been completed.

A 20-meter-wide uphill road was left from the city wall to the top of the mountain.

Next to the avenue are many newly built brick and stone houses, forming a new urban area halfway up the mountain.

The current population of Pingdingshan is 1,200, with a maximum of 500 people living in the residential area on the top of the mountain.

The new urban area halfway up the mountain was built for the new residents.

Different from the bustling other areas, except for the monument of heroes in one corner, the castle area in the center of the mountain top is still bare.

After checking the situation of Pingdingshan, Rhodes looked at the castle blueprint in his hand.

There are two drawings, the first one is a traditional fortress castle.

This is the mainstream of the border area of ​​the kingdom, which is a stone building surrounded by high walls.

With the continuous development of war, axial ring castles also emerged.

That is, build two inner and outer stone walls outside the castle, reinforce the outer wall, and make the inner wall higher than the outer wall.

This enables archers standing on the inner wall to have a wider field of view and shooting range, thus forming cross-fire between the inner and outer walls.

The benefit of this type of castle is safety.

The downside is that the internal living space is cramped, which makes people feel depressed.

Rhodes shook his head and put the drawing aside.

In fact, according to the nobles' traditional concept of castles, the entire flat-topped mountain was considered part of his castle.

The stone wall halfway up the mountain is the outer wall of his castle.

There is no need to squeeze your living space in the Castle District.

He looked at the second drawing, which was another style of living castle, often built in the center of the city.

While ensuring basic wall barriers, the castle looks light and elegant.

A large amount of stained glass is used to make glass mosaic windows to ensure excellent lighting and viewing angles for the castle.

In Rhodes' words, this is a six-story villa that trades defensive power for comfortable space.

"Let's start building according to this blueprint." Rhodes made the decision and chose this living castle.

Craftsman Barlow was a senior architect he recruited from the fortress, and he had over forty years of experience in the castle construction industry.

The living castle he designed is exquisite and beautiful.

At least Rhodes could only make coffin boxes, so he couldn't find any faults after looking at it for a long time.

"Sir, please rest assured. According to the efficiency of the territory's construction team, your castle will be completed within three months!"

Craftsman Barlow said confidently.

He then left with other craftsmen and began to arrange the construction of the castle.

The group of people from the Craftsmen's Guild left in style.

Outside the government building, the waiting members of the Lin Mu Association hurried in.

"Sir, great discovery! Come and have a look, we have made a great discovery!"

Marion, the head of the Linmu Guild, ran up to Rhodes excitedly, holding a large ball of dark brown soil wrapped in cloth in his hand.

"Peat soil? Very good!" Rhodes took the soil and understood what it was.

During this period of time, the members of the Linmu Guild have been running around the territory.

While measuring the land area, he was also responsible for collecting relevant landforms and soil for Rhodes.

Pingdingshan is located in the middle of the Hanshui River Valley. About ten kilometers away from here towards Hekou Town, there is a large area of ​​floodplain and swamp.

The peat soil was dug from this low-lying swamp.

After Rhodes understood the situation, he quickly stood up and let Marion lead the way.

He needed to go to the swamp to understand the situation, as that would be the focus of the territory's future arable land development.

(End of this chapter)