You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 209 Urban Construction Plan
The term "coal and iron town" refers to a cluster of coking and iron smelting operations.

Ruto was in charge of running the town of Coal and Iron.

But how can a blacksmith be managed well?

The specific details were planned when Roman left.

There is no manager.

However, there are job openings available.

Work and you eat; make a mistake and you get beaten; don't work and you get out.

Unless there are force majeure events, production capacity must meet the target.

In order to obtain steel, Roman initially moved about four hundred people to that area.

Iron ore mining, coal mining, iron smelting furnaces, coking furnaces.

These places all need manpower.

Because the transport line was too long, Roman later built houses there, transported grain, and moved his family there as well, specifically to do laundry and cook—these workers were paid wages.

Roman paid these workers between three and seven copper coins each month.

If someone dies in an accident, he still has to pay a large sum of compensation.

Otherwise, no one will be willing to do it, and production efficiency will drop drastically.

Later, Roman sent another four or five hundred prisoners of war to work in the mines.

Prisoners of war could not live in brick houses because there was no other option; at best, they lived in shacks.

This gradually developed into a small town.

Every two days, Origin City would send a large amount of living supplies to this place, and also take away the steel produced there.

Since they started selling ironware, the number of cast products has increased, and the labor supply has become insufficient.

Immigration, expansion!
The population carrying capacity of Origin City was already nearing its limit.

Don't be fooled by the fact that there are only over 20,000 people now.

However, the large kitchen was too much of a burden, and it was very difficult to feed all the workers.

The main reason is that it's easy to make, but difficult to transport and serve.

That's equivalent to dozens of canteens operating at the same time, and it involves scheduling.

Labor allocation is also dynamic; Roman has to communicate with the people in the main kitchen every day when he sends someone.

Today this job has 500 people, tomorrow it will have 1,000. We need to determine the destination of all the food for the whole day in the early morning to avoid delivering it to the wrong place.

Even so, it still caused Roman a lot of trouble.

Of course, these are all things that can be overcome and will not affect the overall situation.

You get better as you keep making mistakes.

But as I said before, the population cannot be too concentrated, otherwise it will be too difficult to operate and will gradually become uncontrollable.

Roman tied them to specific roles, which made things seem orderly.

But the population will only continue to grow, and problems will inevitably arise sooner or later.

The only option is to divert them out.

Coal and Iron Town was one of the towns that Roman chose to develop.

Let's send a thousand people first.

The same applies to the salt mines; more manpower is being deployed to achieve economies of scale.

Roman plans to complete the construction of the two towns and build a road leading to the gold mine before the end of this year.

In particular, Roman planned to develop Coal and Iron Town into a steel processing plant, relocating all the blacksmiths there to form a complete steel system and pave the way for future war plans.

But that's quite difficult.

Wilderness means a harsh environment.

Hard earth, tenacious shrubs, rugged terrain, thick trees, hard rocks, and intricate root systems...

These are all obstacles to development.

Roman's view on this is to overcome it little by little.

If a land is savage, primitive, and violent, then tame it, enslave it, rape it, put your feet in its mouth, and make it obediently lick your toes!
What does a strong ruler equal?
This means that people can reclaim wasteland, farm, and build without any worries.

Because Roman could afford all their logistical expenses.

They don't have to burn their lives to work.

A strong government can do much more.

He believed solely in the power of the working people.

They are capable of creating miracles!

As long as we can effectively mobilize them!

……

One day in late early autumn.

Roman received news from afar. Good news: Nathan is back.

Good news, Nathan wasn't the only one who returned.

"What do you mean by being stopped by the lord of Coldwind Town?"

"Lord Wendt is charging the captain a toll,"

Es, who had left with Nathan in May, hurried back to the valley to report the situation to Roman.

"But the captain has no money!"

Coldwind Town is a hundred kilometers away from Origin City. It is located in front of a hill and has a large territory, but the population is less than 10,000. It can only be described as a poor and desolate place.

Every winter, cold air masses from the northern lands swirl and howl there, day and night, giving it the feel of a bitterly cold place.

"Nathan didn't say where he came from?"

“I told them! But they didn’t believe me! They insisted on the money! And they also wanted your horse, sir!” Es said angrily.

"good very good!"

Roman called Aaron and Green over.

"Go and bring Nathan back! I want to ask him why he doesn't have money to pay the toll!"

The two men received their orders and set off immediately.

The stables have many warhorses, spoils from the last war.

Dick took fifty warhorses with him, but nearly three hundred warhorses remained here, some of poor quality and some of excellent quality.

But Roman's requirements were not high; he just wanted someone who could ride and breed with him.

Feeding the animals with concentrated feed every day is a considerable burden for the breeding department.

The military would also arrange for guerrillas, archers, and heavy infantry to learn riding skills every day. Those who could become riders were all people with extremely fast learning abilities.

Led by the two conquering knights, Aaron and Green, more than two hundred riders first arrived downstream, then went ashore, traversed the wilderness, and arrived at the secondary road extending from the Black Iron Road, heading towards Coldwind Town.

They moved extremely fast and arrived in Coldwind Town on the third day.

The town guards were the first to spot the cavalry.

The thunderous sound of the horses' hooves left a trail of dust behind them, which rose into the sky and was clearly visible from five miles away.

Green charged forward on light cavalry, taking the lead. With one hand, he drew his lance and pierced the chest of the guard wearing leather armor, blood splattering into the air.

The second guard looked terrified and didn't even have a chance to utter a sound before his throat was slashed by the tip of a spear!
He stood at the front, spear in hand, mounted on his horse.

The commotion quickly alerted the lord of Coldwind Town, who arrived to find over two hundred riders blocking the town entrance and obstructing all roads.

Lord Winder's face began to flush red.

"What are you doing!" he shouted. "You killed my guards!"

Green pointed the blood-stained tip of his gun at the man.

He said in a flippant tone, "My lord, your guards want me to pay a toll, but I have no money. So please forgive me, what do you think?"

"You've come for those thieves!" Lord Wendt said angrily.

Green said politely, "The thief you're talking about is being detained by you just because he can't pay the toll? Are you tired of living?"

"You're threatening me? I thought you were a properly knighted knight, and this is how you intimidate a nobleman? Is there no law anymore?!"

"Then you are mistaken, sir. I said that precisely because I have been granted an official title. You have angered my master, for the King of the Valley is intolerant of any dissent. Who do you think you are?"

Lord Wind was trembling with rage and berated Green for his lack of respect.

"I think you should bring those thieves over first. How much do you want? We can talk about it."

Wend glared at Green with hatred and said something to the person next to him.

Soon, Nathan appeared before them, disheveled and dressed in tattered clothes, looking like a down-on-his-luck person.

Green's smile immediately vanished.

"Did you do this to him?" he asked the lord.

"Who did this! It was like this when he arrived! He's a fraudulent thief!" Lord Wendt roared.

“I didn’t!” Nathan cried out. “I wanted to trade my warhorse for grain, and you gave me three thousand catties of mixed grain—you should have given me five thousand catties of wheat! Afterwards, you said my horse was inferior, brought a donkey in front of me, said the donkey wasn’t worth that price, and told me to return the grain, demanding my last horse as toll money!”

"Where did you get such a fine horse! That's only for knights! You must have stolen it! You horse thief, you even abducted the lords' subjects. They're not slaves, you must have kidnapped them!"

"My master gave them to me! Those people are from my hometown, and I'm taking them to see my master!"

“You stole your master’s horse! You’re not even a knight, you’re just a lowly peasant! You have no right to pawn it for grain. Here, the horse belongs to our lord, and the people belong to our lord too. Lord Wind will sell them for a good price!”

"You fucking dare!" Nathan's voice boomed loudly, and he blurted out in a thick, slang-filled slang.

But he wasn't facing Lord Wind alone; his steward, attendants, and servants were also there, all joining in the slander and verbally abusing Nathan.

After Green found out what had happened, he immediately flew into a rage.

"Release everyone right now! And give the horses back! Otherwise, I swear you'll bleed!"

"He's bleeding!" Lord Wend shouted.

Green said coldly, "That's a warning! Because you certainly don't want to shed more blood!"

(End of this chapter)