Chapter 99 Ninety-Nine Mid-April
As the banquet approached, the weather warmed up and the snow on the mountaintops outside the city slowly melted away.
The warm spring sun bathes the backs of the workers of the Urban Construction Company.
Although the Urban Construction Department did not undertake many projects, it only built roads, city walls, and churches.
There are quite a few workers under his management, originally there were nearly four hundred in total, but even these four hundred people were not enough.
Since March, the City Construction Department has sent one hundred people to various manors outside the city to help build small manor churches for the priests to teach.
These one hundred workers did not work very fast. At the current rate of progress, it would take a long time to repair the manor churches.
But there is no other way, the Urban Construction Bureau is really short of staff.
The driver in charge of recruiting workers offered wages that were higher than those for ordinary manual labor and also promised to provide food and accommodation.
If you don't want to do it after working for three years, you can become a self-employed farmer and help farm on the manor.
He also wanted the church to be repaired quickly, but the city wall had not been completely completed yet and it would take 200 people. It would take until June of this year to fully meet the baron's requirements.
The roads in the city will also require 200 workers to build according to the standards required by the lady. With so many avenues and hundreds of small streets, it is normal to take three to five years to build.
The shortage of manpower has always been a headache. The driver who recruits workers is eager to poach people from the workshop to do the work.
However, after the ships were able to sail smoothly, crowds of people from the territory came into the city every day.
Among them are many workers who come here because of the reputation.
The Urban Construction Company does not care about age, anyone who can carry something is recruited to work for the company.
In just a few days, two to three hundred people had been recruited. Most of them were sent outside to repair the manor church, and some were sent to reinforce the city walls.
According to the Urban Construction Bureau's estimate, the manor church outside the city will be completed by May at the latest.
Meanwhile, the day of the feast arrived in the fortress.
Two days in advance, the fortress was thoroughly cleaned and rearranged with various exquisite utensils.
Fan Xi was very busy. On the one hand, he asked the kitchen to confirm whether the ingredients had arrived, and on the other hand, he had to keep an eye on the musicians to find the most suitable position to play music.
The maids standing guard in various places also had to be adjusted to prevent guests from running around in the fortress.
She was busy for two days and had hardly slept a wink. On the day of the banquet, she got up at dawn again.
The kitchen was bustling with activity. Normally, with few customers, it seemed empty. But now, as they were preparing a banquet for a hundred people, it was just the right time to flex its muscles.
The guests coming today are all wealthy businessmen and sheriffs. In front of these people, you have to act in a stylish manner. This is a matter of face.
The two large ships docked in the port, the well-built town, and the well-trained soldiers are the core of the Baron's palace.
Now that we have the substance, we must focus on the appearance project, not neglecting either, so that people can be completely convinced.
Of all the face-saving projects, the sophistication of the banquet is the most impressive.
In the kitchen, most of the maids were requisitioned to prepare chicken, duck, fish and meat.
According to the lady, although these ingredients are common in aristocratic homes, their cooking methods cannot be the same.
The cooks filleted the whole head of mutton, cooked it in a deep pot with bay leaves, took it out and let it cool, then cut it into pieces about as thick as paper.
Each piece of lamb is sandwiched with a thin slice of taro of the same size and placed in the steamer.
Before serving at noon, the steamed lamb is softened and then taken out and placed on a plate, topped with a layer of sauce made from various spices, onions and garlic.
As for the goose meat, it was marinated with sauce a day in advance and had been taken out and cooled. At this moment, it was sliced into thin slices. Between each layer of goose meat and goose skin, there was a layer of crystal clear solidified gelatin.
The aroma is overflowing and the taste is full of aftertaste.
The spice recipe for this braised goose is the result of a long period of research by the chefs.
Fan Xi checked every dish and went to take a look at the baked snacks area next door. As soon as he entered here, he was immediately filled with fragrance.
There are about ten kinds of snacks served during the main meal, plus snacks that are served at any time.
Vansh thought the best was a small dessert that his wife named Kaluri.
The method is complicated and requires a special mold. The surface is burnt brown, with jams of various flavors squeezed in the middle and garnished with chopped nuts on top, which looks very delicate.
After checking the contents of the meal, he went to check the utensils to be used for the banquet.
Most of them were gold, silver and porcelain, all placed on the long table in the preparation room, and the servants came and went carrying them into the dining room.
More than a dozen sheriffs and dozens of businessmen all arrived at the location in the morning. According to the established procedure, they watched the performance in the fortress and listened to Letilen's speech.
Most people knew before they came that the theme of this gathering was not only to do business, but also to establish Eindhoven's overseas trade association.
Everyone present came here to learn about the details of the ship, and everyone wanted to replicate this success.
An ordinary person would probably keep the shipbuilding method a secret, but in this meeting, Olivia instructed Letilen and Gosley to disclose some of the ship's data.
These include the results of load tests and speed tests, as well as the amount of raw materials needed.
There is no mention of the processing.
All the merchants and sheriffs present were drooling with anticipation when they heard about the stable performance of this ship and the extremely short manufacturing time.
But after hearing what happened, they realized that the cost of building such a large ship was so huge, enough to consume five or six years of tax revenue from a poor barony. They were left with endless confusion in their hearts, and their eyes became empty.
They are all industrialists, and they all know what is hidden behind the huge consumption of iron ore and timber and the fast work of many workers.
How incredible is the financial reserves and ability to deploy human and material resources? And how streamlined and standardized are the processes?
Normally, projects involving numerous departments and a wide range of participants fail due to funding issues.
The most challenging part is the level of coordination in each link.
The links include raw material transportation, raw material processing, material assembly, ship design, dock design, and logistics support.
There is also absolute loyalty to the leader, requiring construction workers not to steal or embezzle, supervisors not to embezzle, and not to report data correctly. These are things they cannot replicate at all.
Not to mention, this ship implicitly exposes the superb steel smelting technology of Einweiten, which is beyond the reach of others.
It can be said that even if the Earl himself mobilized all available resources and technologies in his own territory to build such a large ship, he would not be able to achieve such efficiency.
If the Earl really used so much iron ore and timber to build ships, at least a quarter of it would have been embezzled by those with complicated connections.
And what about Eindhoven? A second identical ship has already been launched.
The merchants and sheriffs who had been eager to get some information suddenly calmed down and smiled helplessly.
After the speech about the ship, Letilan began to speak about his experiences at sea, sharing his experience of sailing with many merchants and his observations in Galamu.
Finally, Letilen mentioned the vast market potential and demand of the southern continent.
Finally, he brought up the theme of this banquet, the establishment of a maritime trade association.
Association members use unified trade standards, can get priority in obtaining various raw material orders from Eindhoven Shipyard, obtain various preferential policies for entering and exiting the port, and have priority in enjoying loading quotas for giant ships.
After Letilen finished his speech, everyone signed their names on the treaty.
Since you can't beat them, just join them!
Olivia stood in a secluded corner looking at these people, thinking that now she could start building the second shipyard.
With these partners continuously providing raw materials and shipping orders, the shipbuilding industry is bound to reach a new level.
Even monopolizing the export of bulk commodities in the entire North.
Next, it was time to enjoy the dinner and dancing.
The mentally devastated businessmen and sheriffs finally found a little comfort during the dinner.
When it was time for the dance, these merchants and sheriffs followed the musicians and dancers in the large hall and had fun for a while, standing on boxes and drinking expensive liquor to vent their inner sadness.
The sheriffs from other places envied the sheriffs here, but after inquiring, they found that even the internal affairs system of Einweiden had been reformed.
The new brainstorming session cleared their minds again, and they couldn't help but think about how to follow suit.
However, at the same time, merchants completed one deal after another with Letilen.
It was mid-April.
A caravan consisting of two giant ships and other small ships set out from the port of Einweiden, loaded with merchants from all over the world and goods from all over the north.
Letilen, Moni, and dozens of guards were also on one of the ships, planning to go to the island to divide the territory.
Once the land on the island is divided, these guards will begin working for the plantation.
They are dozens of people separated from the infantry and sent overseas. Their salary is much higher than before. After staying overseas for half a year, they need to return to Eindhoven and change shifts with other infantry.
Olivia and Caesar have always believed that half a year of training on the island is enough, and staying longer may lead to a loss of discipline.
After the ship set sail, Olivia could see on the map that a large number of young people were undergoing the recruitment selection for the Knights. The unsuccessful ones rushed from the city of Anko to Einweiden, hoping to try their luck here.
The number of people was probably beyond Caesar and her original expectations.
Sure enough, three or four days later, these unsuccessful candidates lined up in a long queue outside the city gate, blocking the way so much that it even affected traffic.
Caesar had to personally lead the fifty veterans to the city gate to maintain order.
He spent the whole day counting the unsuccessful candidates, a total of two thousand people.
At the same time, he and the veteran soldiers quickly selected eight hundred good candidates for training based on their experience.
The criteria for screening these people were also set by them long ago.
First look at the height. Too tall will look uncoordinated, and too short won’t work either.
He must be strong enough to at least lift a live sheep. He must also have good muscles and bones, be able to run and jump, and be flexible. He must not stutter, have a big tongue, or have hearing impairments.
The remaining 1,200 people are not as qualified.
Recruitment is done by each department, workshop, and manor.
Some people who did not want to be workers, clerks or farmers also left Einweiden.
In addition to the 800 soldiers, 650 of the 2,000 people stayed behind to fill in the gaps, greatly alleviating the problem of labor shortage.
Olivia's next population introduction plan is tied to overseas.
She opened the system map and watched the fleet sailing slowly on the sea.
…
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