Chapter 90 Maritime Trade

Outside the glass window, the sky was leaden gray, a hazy gray-white, with heavy snow fluttering in the air. Just looking at it made one's teeth chatter with the cold.

The meeting in the side hall lasted for three or four hours, and it would be dark in another two hours.

After it was over, some people slowly dispersed from the side hall. Olivia and Caesar left the butler and Graya inside.

Those who wanted to leave the fortress to return home or continue working would gather by the huge fireplace in the hallway to warm themselves, waiting for their servants to drive the carriage to the porch before leaving.

The howling cold wind penetrated the long hall, blowing everyone's clothes. Although there was only a river between them, people coming from Lavossen could clearly feel that the winter in Eindhoven was colder than there.

While warming himself by the fire, Gao Sili pulled George, Tani and Letilan together to talk about the establishment of the Nine Departments.

Gao Sili counted on his fingers:

"...According to this, the City Defense Department is divided into two jurisdictions: one is the port and coastal defense, and the other is the town's city defense.

The jurisdiction includes ports, barracks and prisons, city walls and docks, as well as post roads, all of which are under the jurisdiction of government affairs.

Then, the only military affairs directly under the Baron's command are the Royal Guards, Cavalry, Archers, Infantry, Navy, various military garrisons, and the knights of the fiefdom."

Gao Sili thought that this was more specific and would be beneficial to the development of military affairs.

Both city defense and the army require soldiers.

But it's like the difference between a mercenary guarding the house and a professional combat soldier, one serves internal order, the other serves regional security.

There are people to guard the house and do all kinds of odd jobs, so the army's energy can be used to improve the combat capability of the entire region.

In other baronies, the soldiers in the direct territories under the sheriff are usually like local tyrants in the city.

They have great power in their hands. They can arrest whomever they want and accuse whomever they want. They are also in charge of various checkpoints of people's livelihood. Even if there is injustice at the grassroots level, there is no way to complain.

These soldiers, who are used to abusing their power, showed their true colors once they entered the battlefield.

Letilen nodded. "The more independent the army, the better. That way everything will be clear."

They turned to Tani again and said, "I don't know what our sheriff wants to do."

Tani rubbed his hands beside the fireplace, uttered a sigh, and said, "I will take care of whatever the Madam and the Lord ask me to take care of.

However, I personally prefer to be in charge of the courts. As for defense, such an important matter should definitely be George's job. When he returns with the knighthood next year, the title will be justified."

Tani said this behind George's back, as George had already gone home with Lucy.

The court that Tani wanted to run had already taken shape in this era. There were special judges around the king who used the Alta Code to convict criminals.

If the Nine Departments framework really runs smoothly, then the general process of catching a criminal is that the City Defense Department receives the order to arrest the person, the court tries the case and convicts the criminal, the church determines the punishment, and then the City Defense Department executes it.

The city defense, the court, and the church form a three-legged tripod and supervise each other.

Letilen is still a businessman at the moment, and he doesn't know which department he will be assigned to work as a clerk.

Gao Sili: “It must be the Financial Secretary.

Madam just said that the Finance Department is divided into the Treasury Office, the Expenditure Office, the Bookkeeping Office, the Audit Office, and the Commerce Office.

The Trade Office is in charge of merchant ships and caravans. If you don't do it, who else can?"

It seems that such a system has never been heard of anywhere, but if you think about it carefully, it is very reasonable.

Letilun said: "If you really want me to manage the merchant ship, then I will bring Anwati here, introduce him to the lady, and let him manage the caravan."

Gao Sili knew the mess Anwadi had encountered in Anko. He shook his head:

"That might be difficult. He finally escaped, so he might not want to be restrained again."

Letilun also shook his head: "You don't understand. Once you have done business, you can't turn back. You will always want to try again."

After they finished talking, they were taken away by carriages one after another.

After dinner that night, Caesar and Olivia were in the study, each occupying a corner of the huge study.

They discussed whether the Nine Departments should be located outside or inside the fortress, and guessed who would take the initiative to take charge.

Caesar stood in front of the map on the wall.

As he spoke, he reached out to take out the thumbtack and pressed it into a place in the mountains suitable for settling soldiers.

Olivia sat behind her desk, looking through the munitions accounts.

After checking the quantity and verifying the number of people on the system, she found an extra line of small words on the system's main interface.

"0/266"

This is the gestation period of the heir. The system has made a progress bar according to the most standard and accurate conception time, and the physical characteristics will also change according to the normal cycle.

Olivia: “…”

She glanced at Caesar's back and began to calculate the time with an expressionless face. It was about thirty-eight weeks, nine and a half months.

The expected date of delivery is just in September.

She couldn't help but touch her belly, but she felt nothing, no strange psychological reaction.

That's right, the system only simulates the form and will not allow data to generate data. The data will only be released when the baby is born.

However, if you do the math, she entered the game in November, which means she was only seventeen years old. Two years have passed in the blink of an eye, and now she is nineteen years old. In this life, she will become a mother at the age of twenty.

Olivia felt a little dazed, but then she thought, if the system didn't control her, she might become a mother at the age of eighteen.

She curled her lips and continued to flip through the bills.

Tomorrow morning, she will meet with Fanon and ask him to select ten monks.

Next year, we will send people to the farming estate and allocate funds for them to build a church on the estate to complete the system mission.

...

The next morning, at Einwidden Church, the snow had just stopped and the sky was bright.

After the simple prayer in the church, Fanon took Olivia and the others to the corridor near the monastery compound.

There is a well in the courtyard, with many lime trees planted beside it. Monks and novices are clearing snow with orphans taken in by the church and children who help with childcare.

Vansh was holding the lady's robe from behind, and behind her were several maids, each holding a hand warmer and a thick fur cloak.

They passed through the courtyard and came to the monks' compound.

Olivia came here today specifically to care about the lives of these novice monks.

In the courtyard, there are more than 60 children who stay and eat there every week. They are all children of working parents and are not very old.

Anyone over the age of twelve or thirteen went to work with their parents.

There are now a total of twenty-two monks and novices.

They all live in a three-story courtyard house.

There is a kitchen, a dining room, many dormitory rooms, and a music room.

Olivia watched curiously along the way while Fanon introduced their living facilities.

She walked to the spacious dining room in the courtyard and looked at the four rows of long tables inside where the little ones were eating.

There were small stained-glass windows in the dining room, candles on the sills instead of sesame oil lamps, and on the children's plates were scones, which looked like scones.

The very young children were not eating well, but were laughing and playing with each other.

The slightly older novice monks, wearing black robes, came over to twist their ears and told them to eat well.

There were also some children practicing their voices nearby. They were in the choir.

Seeing the scenes in front of her, Olivia inexplicably thought of a certain four-character school.

She turned around and asked Fanon how these children were fed and watered.

"Even the tithe grain sent to you during this autumn harvest, Anko Cathedral came and took away half of it.

The church doesn't charge these children for their meals, so is it enough to feed them for so long?"

Fanon laughed dryly.

“I can’t finish it.

In addition to the usual donations from merchants, the church can also make some money itself."

After saying that, Fanon simply asked someone to bring the account book from the kitchen.

Olivia was flipping through the records outside the dining room and could see that it recorded many batches of grain entering the warehouse.

The bulk of the money came from charity donated by merchants, who donated 120 pounds of food every day.

The small amount of money comes from the ceremony fees in the church, such as weddings, funerals, baptisms, and selling church cemeteries, which can also bring in a lot of money.

The remaining income was very fragmented, with some amounts being only four pounds of wheat and others more than ten pounds.

"Who gave these?"

Fanon looked at the spot where she pointed and said, "This is the consultation fee paid by the patient."

He then took Olivia and some others to a room at the corner of the front courtyard. Inside, they found a spacious dormitory.

However, there are more than ten wooden beds in this dormitory, but only two of them are occupied.

Lying on one of the beds was a middle-aged man dressed in civilian clothes, obviously not a monk.

He was a little thin and was wearing an old leather coat, and no one knew how old it was.

His hands were tied tightly, and he looked like a patient who had accidentally broken a bone.

A novice monk was carefully removing the splint from his broken arm.

After removing the splint, they applied a layer of herbal paste to him, I don't know what it was, then wrapped him with cloth strips and hung his arm around his neck to fix it.

Olivia walked over curiously to take a look and asked Fanon what the herb was.

"There's comfrey in this."

After Fanon finished speaking, he gave a few words of advice to the young monk who was taking care of the patient with the broken bone:

"Comfrey can only be applied externally and washed off after three to four hours.

He needs some horsetail soup, too. Have you made the horsetail soup yet?"

The young monk seemed very honest in front of Fanon.

"Cooked."

"How much did you use? How much water did you add? How long did you soak it for? How long did you boil it for?"

Fanon folded his arms and asked randomly.

The young monk scratched his head and said, "I put four spoons of horsetail in a bowl of water, soaked it for ten minutes, and boiled it for fifteen minutes."

Fanon listened with satisfaction at the beginning, but frowned at the end.

"What did you say? The horsetail needs to be soaked for at least thirty minutes and thoroughly softened before it can be cooked for at least twenty minutes. Where did you remember that?"

The young monk felt a little embarrassed.

Olivia was watching from the side, and even though she wasn't the one being scolded, she felt a little nervous for them.

She stroked her chin and checked the character's talents. Most of the medical talent items were used on these clergymen.

The monk who was talking to Fanon in front of him also had medical talent, but it didn't have a high star rating, so the medicinal soup he made was not up to Fanon's standards, which was normal.

She had thought that Fanon would concentrate on studying general surgery.

As the bishop of a town, it is now easier to dig up graves and steal human bones.

Unexpectedly, he is still studying these herbs and has gained so much experience in his research.

However, the more general the doctor is, the better.

Fanon explained again that the place was not very clean, and took Olivia and the others outside the kitchen.

She walked out, and when she was quite far away from the door, she asked Fanon:

"That patient just now, he must be a laborer, right? Can he afford the consultation fee?"

"He's a laborer who builds roads in the city, and he doesn't charge for consultations.

But if I meet someone who is rich, I will charge more.”

After that, Fanon led them outside the kitchen for a tour.

The kitchen is not very spacious, and the novice monks are still cooking.

The monks’ meals are simple, and they cook them simply.

Knead dough, bake bread, make some vegetarian fish soup and almond cookies.

"Can you gather ten monks to send to the manor next year?"

Fanon nodded: “That should be enough, Donald has gone to the estate where Jagabu is.

He is going to choose a place to build a church, and when the time comes, he will need some funds."

Olivia was also willing to spend money for the mission: “Money is not a problem, we have to be quick, the people here must be educated.

Let’s put it this way, after the Nine Departments have made all the arrangements in spring, I will ask the people from the Urban Construction Department to repair it for you.

A budget of twenty gold coins will be allocated to each manor church, and they must all be completed before the festival in May."

Fanon nodded, not knowing why they were in such a hurry to build the church, but he could only nod in agreement.

Olivia and others visited the church for half a day and each donated some money before leaving.

The tasks at hand are either to accumulate 10,000 gold coins or to build ten churches.

As you upgrade slowly, it becomes more and more difficult to complete. No matter which one, it requires a lot of operations and time.

Hey, this is what the mid-game is like, right?

Olivia was helpless. She couldn't even spend money on the game, so she decided to just give up.

It was already noon when we returned to the fortress.

As soon as Olivia walked into the porch outside the hall, she saw Graya waiting at the door.

She walked in, and Graya stepped forward and said:

“My Lord has taken the knight to investigate the nearby mountains and said he won’t be back until evening.

Gosley and Letilan are in the living room, waiting to report on the ship."

Olivia untied her fur cloak in the hallway and handed it to the maid. After listening, she nodded to Graya and strode towards the living room.

In the living room, a fireplace burned brightly, and beside it stood a set of low benches cushioned with green velvet.

This kind of furniture looks nice, is comfortable to sit on, and has soft backrests. When you sit down, your knees are just level with the coffee table, and you can reach out and get the fruit tea brought by the servant.

Gosley and Letilan studied it together for a while, touching here and looking there.

It seemed that he wanted to write down the style of the furniture and ask the carpenter workshop to make a set for them.

Olivia's soles made a brisk thumping sound on the stone tiles, and the two people studying the sofa immediately stood up.

"How's the boat loading going?"

The room was really warm. Olivia rolled up her sleeves, sat down on the sofa, and signaled them not to be so reserved.

Seeing that there was water on the table, he turned around and asked Fanxi to get some food.

Seeing that it was almost lunch time, Fan Xi turned around and went to the kitchen to ask for three freshly baked egg tarts, each one not very big.

The egg tarts were brought in, and Letilen had already spread a large piece of old brown paper on the coffee table.

Above is a map of the entire Twelve Kingdoms continent, as well as all the reefs and islands within fifty nautical miles of the land.

There is also such a map of the continent in Olivia and Caesar's study, and Caesar often takes it out to look at it.

However, the magnification of that picture was not that large and the details were not enough, which made Caesar always look regretful.

When she saw the picture, it was like seeing a treasure.

"Who made this blueprint? It's so good."

Letilun was proud for a moment: "This is a family heirloom."

He pointed out the route to Olivia, moved his fingers on the paper, and said:

"The ship will set out three days later, heading east for twenty miles and then south for six hundred miles.

It takes ten days to pass through the northern port of Périgueux.

It would take another ten days to travel 600 nautical miles south to the middle of the mainland coast, where you would need to take a detour and pass by the island, a distance of 100 nautical miles.

The strait we didn't want to go through had too many reefs, big waves, unstable wind direction, and a trench. However, once we bypassed it, we would be safe and could just go another 400 nautical miles.

The journey takes a total of thirty days and 1,700 nautical miles to reach the destination, the port of Galamu Royal Capital.

It took three days to unload the cargo, and after three days I took the boat to the potato-producing island, which took about a day.

When I get to the island, I plan to spend twenty days docked there, which is enough time to dig all the islands.

We will start our return journey in twenty days, first returning to the port of Galamu Kingdom to pick up our merchants, load goods for the north, and then replenish supplies. This will take about five days.

It will take another month to return to Eindhoven.

It took exactly three months in total, and we arrived in mid-March."

Judging from Letilen's appearance, he is very familiar with this route.

It seems that I can recite the sea distance and direction with my eyes closed, and there is nothing to worry about.

The dungeon mission of "Gold Coin Master" can be completed after this trip.

Olivia thought as she ate the egg tart.

…