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

Chapter 46 It’s raining

Road construction is a major undertaking.

In Roman's view, the tediousness and difficulty of this matter were no less than those of spring plowing.

He was to lead a team to conduct preliminary leveling along the route he had planned.

Roman really liked efficient methods.

Therefore, the route he planned was very straight, a complete straight line, to facilitate the transportation of personnel and the mining of rock salt.

This also means that they have to cut down trees, move stones, fill in swamps, and clear away all the bushes and weeds along the way. Even if they encounter hills and streams, they have to cross them. There is only one hill and a few small rivers about three or four meters wide along the way, not hard rocky mountains and large rivers.

This 40-kilometer-long road must be at least four meters wide.

Because all the trees and vegetation on both sides of the road had to be cleared, the actual width of the road was about ten meters, so that the road could be as wide as possible.

Roman mobilized a large number of oxen, draft horses, and vehicles to solve some problems that were difficult to solve by manpower.

They even used iron farm tools that were unsuitable for road construction in this area, completely disregarding their wear and tear.

Upon learning the purpose of the road construction, the farmers of Sige Town accepted the physically demanding work without any resistance.

Even the most short-sighted person knows what a salt mine means.

That means they'll have salt to eat from now on, which they can use to pickle vegetables.

Roman himself could not possibly engage in the same low-quality manual labor as those sweating farmers.

He was going to take people to mine for stones.

This land has many stone quarries, but they are worthless and nobody is interested in them.

Because mining stone was very labor-intensive, Moor lived in a wooden house.

Unless it's a nobleman who's building a castle.

Roman didn't intend to undertake large-scale construction and waste manpower. Although Origin Manor was simple, it was still passable. It would be better to use all the resources to build roads.

He knew that to build a solid and durable road, earth, wood, stone, and sand were indispensable.

As the saying goes, "Where there are many people, there are paths," but these paths are often not easy to walk.

When people run by, dust flies everywhere; when it rains, it becomes muddy and muddy, with messy ruts, greatly reducing transportation capacity; and even the wheels can get stuck in the mud, resulting in a high rate of wear and tear.

This is something Roman cannot tolerate.

Even just laying a layer of gravel is much better than a pure dirt road.

Roman, however, wanted to burn lime.

Humans have been using lime as a building material for many years.

The lime obtained from calcination can be mixed with sand, loess, and straw and then used in road construction.

It is not a durable material, but it will certainly meet Roman's basic requirements for roads.

Those smooth, hard roads are far better than bumpy dirt roads.

Roman turned all the hundred or so farmers he brought into the quarry.

Their work consisted of only two things: constantly mining limestone and constantly calcining it. It didn't matter that the firewood flames were unstable; they would eventually shed powder after burning for a few more days, since limestone wouldn't burn badly.

……

[Building Experience +1]

As Roman worked diligently, his [Construction] skill experience points continued to increase.

After seven days, Roman's [Construction] skill level also reached level 2.

This skill upgrade gave Roman some basic architectural knowledge.

For example, cement, brick making, and house construction.

However, these things are not directly related to the road repairs he carried out.

Roman was not prepared to build roads that could be used for decades or even centuries.

His requirements were simple: it just needed to be functional within one or two years, and if it broke or was damaged, someone should be sent to repair it.

Road construction was originally just a stopgap measure.

He is currently in dire need of funds; otherwise, he wouldn't be in such a rush to start salt mining.

The road leveling work is currently one-quarter complete, and everyone is working extremely hard, almost giving it their all, with no one holding back.

That's salt!

Hundreds of people worked tirelessly in the swamp, digging and filling in the pits to try and create a solid road. Oxen and horses pulled carts loaded with soil back and forth.

To celebrate his improved skills, Roman specially asked Seth to buy four domestic pigs from farmers in Sig Town.

Because he has eaten all the wild game he brought from the mountains, he can only buy domesticated livestock now.

These domestic pigs, weighing just over 100 jin (approximately 50 kg), were not expensive, with prices ranging from 1 to 1.5 silver coins. This was far lower than that of oxen and draft horses, and only slightly more expensive than wheat.

Roman slaughtered the meat on the spot, set up a large pot, separated the meat from the bones with a knife, and began to cook the meat, throwing in salt as if it were free.

Domestic pork is tastier than most game meat, even though it is not castrated and has a strong, gamey flavor.

But in this day and age, it is a rare delicacy.

At least Gweil was enjoying her food, which made Roman think that this girl, like other commoners who had suffered a lot, had ruined her taste buds.

On the other hand, Gweil is able to appreciate the good and bad qualities of food.

Therefore, Roman could only attribute it to her past experiences, which made the girl have extremely low standards for taste.

[Cooking Experience +1]

Roman stewed two pigs at the paving team's place, and also stewed one pig each at the stone mine and the salt mine as a reward.

This meal, rich in oil, salt, and meat, greatly replenished their energy reserves after a period of exertion, which slightly improved their work efficiency.

Roman didn't particularly care about food expenses; he only knew that there was a gold mine waiting for him to dig in the future.

As I said before, the task is arduous and the road ahead is long.

Of course, Roman didn't always have to spend money to buy meat. As they ventured deeper into the primitive areas, the probability of encountering wild animals increased, which forced him to bring his armor-splitting bow with him.

He generously chopped the wild animals he shot into pieces and stewed them in a large pot.

So, every now and then, those fools would find a few pieces of unknown meat in their wooden bowls.

It could be a lynx, a beaver, a red deer, or even hedgehog meat, waterfowl, wild ducks, etc.—in short, a wide variety of species.

Hunting Experience +1

Such prompts also appear frequently.

……

[Cooking Experience +1]

Cooking skill upgraded to level 2

[Level 2 Cooking: 0/380]

[Milestone Unlocked: Chopping Melons and Cutting Vegetables]

[Chopping through melons and vegetables: Gain 500 Primogems]

……