Chapter 91: Working at the Ninety-Nine Divisions
It was nearly mid-December and the weather was overcast.
At the ice-free port on the coast, the cargo was loaded onto the large ship bit by bit. The ship left the harbor with tens of thousands of goods, dozens of crew members and merchants, escorted by escort ships.
People in Einwidden and even the entire north were inquiring about the progress of the ship, waiting to see whether this route would be successful.
There were many lords who built ships, but this was the first time a ship like this was built in a lord's workshop.
It has only been half a year since the shipyard was built and the shipbuilding started. What kind of ship can have such a speed?
People who don't understand its structure are very skeptical about the performance of the ship.
Most people believed that the ship would not be able to successfully reach its destination.
However, this did not stop the news from spreading.
Inside the fortress, Olivia was sitting in the warm study writing.
Her and Caesar's study was next to the bedroom. It was a long room with a long table in the middle and a map on it.
On the left is the window, and on the desk where Caesar writes.
On the right was a bookshelf piled high with account books, and next to it was Olivia's desk.
There are also several maps hanging on the wall behind.
To prevent fire, there is no fireplace or charcoal brazier in this house. The house relies on the fireplace in the living room next door for heating through the flue.
After finishing their daily tasks, having their three meals a day, and having no official business to attend to, Olivia and Caesar would retreat to their study to continue their work.
The territory has been newly developed and there are a lot of things to do. If I want to work hard, I can't handle it all by myself, but I don't feel at ease if I push it to my subordinates.
The ship went out to sea today. Olivia was working in the study, reviewing notes and waiting for Caesar to come back for dinner.
Caesar went out early every morning these days, taking his knights and soldiers to the northern mountains for research.
There is a mountain range in the north, which is quite high in altitude. Many places halfway up the mountain are suitable for growing alfalfa and raising horses, which is naturally suitable for storing troops.
Caesar's plan was to increase his direct army from 200 to 500 men within the next year.
The fortress guards, cavalry, archers, each 100 people, infantry 200 people, and water warriors 100 people.
Adding the 500 men in the military garrison, the entire territory has a total of 1,000 soldiers.
For a barony with a total population of only a few thousand, it is completely impossible to recruit so many people to serve as soldiers.
As for the matter of conscription, it is not enough for Tani to rely solely on slowly recruiting outsiders in the city.
Besides, the number of people he recruited was only enough to form a military garrison.
So, Caesar made some moves and asked his father-in-law to help recruit 200 infantrymen.
He sent a few letters to the remaining guards, cavalry, and archers to the chamberlain who was responsible for recruiting soldiers for the Earl's knightly order.
The purpose is not to poach the Knights Templars, but to ask them to introduce the old soldiers that the Knights Templars don't want, or the soldiers who have not reached the threshold of the Knights Templars.
The Knights Templar's cavalry, infantry, archers, and knight squires, thousands of whom were all eliminated through a last-in-first-out system.
Those over 35 years old will be selected from the competitions and the weakest ones will be eliminated.
Nowadays, a person’s life expectancy is no more than 50 or 60 years.
If you are over 35 and cannot become a knight, a squire, or a squire's deputy, then you will have no competitiveness.
If he lost several tournaments in a row, he could pack up his belongings and wait to return home to farm when the Knights Templar recruited new soldiers every year.
Twenty to thirty people are eliminated every year.
In the Earl's Knights, even if you are just a handyman, the salary is very generous, and many people want to join.
Every year when conscription is called, young landless farmers from all over the country would go and try their luck.
However, the Knights Templar only recruited 500 new members each year, but there were two to three thousand people who registered to run for the election.
The sons of the knights of this county, when they reach age, can be recommended by the barons of each town and directly enter the Earl's Knights training without being screened.
These sons of knights will have to take up some of the places.
Therefore, from the two to three thousand civilians who registered, at most more than four hundred people could be selected.
Every year, one or two thousand people fail to be selected, but they still participate year after year until their age exceeds the Knights' recruitment standards.
In Caesar's opinion, not all of those who were eliminated had no potential.
If these eliminated veterans and unsuccessful self-employed farmers could all come to Eindhoven to participate in the selection, I'm afraid the shortage of several hundred people would be filled soon.
Olivia had seen through it. Caesar was recruiting soldiers in a legitimate way under the pretext of defending the port and maritime affairs.
An ordinary baron only has a few hundred people to guard the port and defend the coastline.
But he still felt it was not enough. He wanted to train hundreds or thousands of elite soldiers and station them in the mountains. This was really too much.
However, improving the defensive capabilities of the coast is exactly what the count wants now, and he can only rely on Caesar to do this.
If the port is handed over to the Countess's family, then the North will simply change its surname to Kanta.
The count's trusted aides were all old, not as young as Caesar, and these aides had been with him for many years and had too many strong foundations.
Olivia knew that in the count's eyes, Caesar was a young, brave, capable of fighting, able to endure hardships, and also had no background and was poor.
He is in control of this important place, so there is no need to worry about him not working hard. At least for now, he cannot establish his own regime and command his own troops.
What the Earl was more afraid of were obviously his two half-sons.
The title of succession to the father hangs in front of him. If the father-son relationship has even exhausted the face-saving efforts, can the earl sleep peacefully?
This is why the current Lord of Constant County is the obviously useless Ezro Everk.
Isn't it just to balance the power of the boss and the second in command?
Olivia knew that she couldn't just be a baroness her whole life. Sooner or later, the tasks given by the system would become more and more extensive, requiring her to expand her territory.
So, whether Caesar wanted to stockpile troops or improve the quality of their food and equipment, he asked her cautiously, but she did not say a word in rebuttal.
The next spring, the ice melted near the coast, and the remaining pirates on Vero Island rested for a year.
By then, the port will definitely not be peaceful, and the Vero people will definitely come to seek revenge.
While crises are lurking everywhere, there is also an excuse to stockpile troops.
Now the Earl wants to rely on her family. After a few years, when his army is strong enough, the Earl and the little Earl will have to rely on them.
As she was thinking, she finished reading the land lease transfer documents inside and outside the city this month, and ticked off these places on the planning maps inside and outside the city.
This is the job of the future land affairs secretary. Now there is no one to work for her, so Olivia has to do it herself.
She finished reading one of the case files, rolled it up and put it away. Just as she put it on the bookshelf, she heard footsteps outside the study.
After a while, Caesar came in from outside, having taken off his fur cloak.
He saw Olivia reading the case files. Her concentration made him feel very reliable and at ease, as if she were a god who would never make mistakes.
Caesar walked over to the table and sat on the edge, blocking the light from the candle next to him.
Olivia suddenly found a wrong serial number, so she changed it. There were still two volumes left to read.
"Go away, go away. I haven't finished watching yet. Let's go eat after I finish watching. Be good."
Being too focused isn't a good thing either.
Caesar sighed, stood up and walked behind her chair, reached out his hand to rub her temples and relax her shoulders.
"You've been sitting here all afternoon, aren't you tired?"
He was simply puzzled, but his hands didn't stop moving, and his fingers dug into his hair with just the right amount of force, not too light or too heavy.
Olivia relaxed comfortably, but she finished her work before getting up and going to the living room with him to eat.
In the fortress, apart from meeting with her subordinates, working, and preparing to go out for prayer, Olivia's regular entertainment was eating and drinking.
It was snowing outside today, but Caesar still took his men to three or four hillsides suitable for storing troops. They had been running outside all day and needed to drive away the cold.
As for her, it was really boring to do official business alone, and she wanted to eat more food, so she asked someone to prepare hot pot in the afternoon.
She and Caesar went to the dining room off the living room.
The dining room is spacious, with a medium round table in the middle and chairs on both sides.
If there are only two people eating, the food can be easily arranged.
On both sides of the dining room, there are several chests of drawers filled with tea, pear paste, preserved fruits, snacks and so on.
There is a slightly boiling simmering double-boiled pot on the table. The pot is not deep, and there is a small clay stove underneath with fire-resistant silver charcoal in it. Under the stove, there is a wooden board to protect the table from burns.
One side of the shuangxiang hotpot is cooking white radish and mutton soup, while the other side is cooking a pure soup with red oil, chili and sauerkraut flavor, which also contains stewed chicken feet and chicken wings.
Although there were only two people eating, twelve plates of different sizes were still prepared, as well as tofu pudding and pear paste water.
Olivia didn't like servants being in the way while she ate, so Caesar was responsible for scalding the meat and serving tea.
He was already used to making it. He would first scoop out the cooked lean and fat lamb ribs, put them in a small dish, divide them with a fork, pour a spoonful of red soup over them, and then add some pickled shallots, garlic oil, and fruit vinegar.
After mixing it, it was handed over to her. Olivia just took a sip of the pear syrup and then she took the thin pancake and rolled the mutton to eat.
Then there are the soaked shiitake mushrooms, dried bean curd sheets, tofu, pea flour, chicken gizzards, duck intestines, and venison meatballs.
Put these into the red soup, take out the mutton, and then add a plate of shrimp and marinated cod fillets into the white soup.
He was also very skilled at blanching vegetables, and he used a slotted spoon to blanch the fish fillets that cooked the fastest.
Olivia ate happily, picked up the plate and asked casually:
"How's it going? Have you seen enough of the place?"
Caesar nodded and took out the soft-cooked chicken feet again, and she had a bowl for herself.
Two years ago, he couldn't imagine that chicken feet could be eaten like this.
"It's almost done. We'll mark out the land before next year's spring plowing, recruit soldiers, and then we can directly take possession of the land and build barracks."
The Xueshan Valley is still accessible as normal, with an old road built by soldiers when they were mining stones and wood.
After Caesar finished, he sat down and asked if anyone would take the initiative to take the responsibility of the Nine Departments today.
Olivia took a bite of the tender fish meat. The fresh cod had absorbed the fresh mutton soup and had no fishy smell at all. It was truly a delicious combination of fish and mutton.
She nodded, “Yes, Jock.
But it's not really that important. I persuaded him to do it. The Financial Secretary has too many responsibilities. Who can I trust?"
Caesar also thought so. Jock had been a butler in his family for half his life and was loyal. If he didn't trust him at this time, it would be counterproductive.
However, his Olivia seems to have plenty of tricks up her sleeve.
Anyway, I have never seen anyone around her make mistakes or do anything unfaithful.
Even those people who work outside are the same. As long as they come into contact with her a few times, they will be obedient.
Sometimes Caesar envied those people who could always obey her orders. Whatever tasks she assigned to him could be done reasonably.
"George will definitely be in charge of the City Defense Department. Tani said he is willing to manage the court and handle the lawsuit.
As for the Urban Construction Department and the Performance Evaluation Department, can you pick a few soldiers with upright personalities and clean backgrounds to take on these positions?"
Olivia continued.
Caesar first took a sip of pear paste before starting to pick up the duck intestines. He only learned how to eat this thing this year.
It was also thanks to Lucy that she bred a large number of ducks on the ranch this year and sent two cages to Fort every week. The same was true for chickens, rabbits, and geese.
"Luo Long, he is suitable for the Performance Evaluation Department."
Luolong is from Lenya, and most of the managers who need to check their performance are from Lavosen.
There are geographical differences, and Luo Long is now a cavalryman. He does not interact with the stewards, so it is destined that they will not be too familiar with each other.
But he is also a man of integrity, so naturally he can treat people fairly.
Olivia listened and nodded in agreement.
"What about the Urban Construction Department? Or should we let the cavalry who's currently in charge of road construction take charge?"
This cavalryman was called Bris, also from Lenya. When the city was being built and the road was being constructed, he was picked out because he was familiar with the terrain and geology.
When he completed the primary level of manufacturing, Olivia gave him the construction talent item, and now he is a one-star construction expert.
It is enough to do basic road construction and urban construction work. More importantly, the military training beside Caesar has brought discipline to this NPC.
Bris is very practical and abides by the rules when building roads. Perhaps it is because he is old and has experienced the turmoil and almost lost his life, so he is very calm and steady in his work now.
Caesar also thought this person was suitable.
Many times, character and habits are more important to him than ability.
Abilities can be repeatedly trained and learned bit by bit, but character and habits, once formed, cannot be changed, and are like rotten wood that is difficult to carve.
Olivia could tell at a glance what he was thinking.
However, that's not all she saw.
If the heads of each of the nine departments were all people with high talent star ratings, wouldn't the clerks working under them all be of low star ratings?
In this way, a person with low star rating but good character can be appointed as director, and he can be equipped with some talented and capable people as clerks, which is good for both superiors and subordinates.
Therefore, her arrangement for the Urban Construction Bureau was to make Bris the director.
He asked the young Gao Sili to work as his clerk, in charge of the workshop construction.
Anyway, Gao Sili is still young and has a bright future. It would be bad to let him take charge of too many things now. It would be better for him to specialize in one thing.
Olivia thought that if Gosley were to make paper, weave cloth, or boil sugar, which were just icing on the cake, it would be a waste of his talent.
People like him are suitable for developing real manufacturing industry.
For example, steel, civil engineering, shipbuilding, and mining are things that can truly affect regional competitiveness.
Only when the manufacturing industry is prosperous can those small gadgets like needles and thread develop smoothly, otherwise the industry will be top-heavy.
The next morning, there was another routine meeting.
Olivia and Caesar gathered everyone on the list in the side hall, even Bishop Fanon was there.
She gathered them together and distributed the personnel structure of the Nine Departments that she and Caesar had agreed upon.
Among them, all are director positions, and they are all proposed. The reason why they are all required to come this time is to obtain their consent.
If someone is unwilling to do it, they can make it clear on the spot and discuss who will replace them. Everything can be discussed openly.
Jock already knew that his destiny was to be the Financial Secretary, so he took the position without hesitation.
As for the tax commissioner, Olivia planned to appoint Sarna, her maid who had been doing accounts with her for a long time.
This was completely unexpected for Sarna.
She was very frightened and did not feel that she was qualified, but she also felt that since the lady thought she was qualified, then she was qualified, and she could not let her down and let everyone think that the lady had misjudged her.
So, Sarna gritted her teeth and took it, and the other two maids who were in charge of the account books became her clerks, and together they checked all the taxes of Einweiton.
These taxes may not seem like a large amount now, but they will gradually become more and more important in the future.
Taxation is the most important source of income for a general barony, but now that the direct territories are doing well in business, it is not noticeable.
Seeing that these two people accepted the call, the others naturally had nothing to refuse.
Luo Longlai is the director of the Performance Evaluation Department.
As for the Household Registration Department, Olivia strongly requested that Graya be in charge and take on the title of director, and also assigned two young people to assist Graya.
The helpers were a man and a woman. The man had been a cavalryman beside Caesar since La Vossen.
The woman was his wife, who had worked as a maid and was gifted with wisdom and resourcefulness.
Olivia insisted on being in this position of director precisely because of Tugraya's skills.
Since Graya is in charge of the household registration files of the entire town, all the people with registered permanent residence in the town can be affected by her skills.
As for the original housekeeper job in the fortress, it was given to Fanxi.
Graya was the one who wanted to refuse the most. She felt that she was old and could only take care of household chores.
The management of household registration files requires regular census of residents' marriage and childbearing status, births, aging, illness and death, and finding out the number of people so that the data can be provided to other departments for reference. This is quite important.
However, considering that she had a helper she was familiar with, she agreed.
The lady's attitude is right, and no one thinks there is anything wrong with it.
Next, the City Defense Department was managed by George, the Court was managed by Taney, the City Construction Department was managed by Bliss, and the Director of Food Affairs was Mr. Declan.
The Grain Department is in charge of farms, pastures, fisheries, and granaries, and its staff includes Jacopo, Lucy, and Antona.
The Land Affairs Department is in charge of the ownership of land inside and outside the city.
Responsible for leasing or transferring land to interested merchants and approving the construction scope.
Since the territory is undergoing large-scale development and the new city is still under construction, there is too much vacant land.
This work is of great importance and the power is unprecedented.
So, Olivia took charge of it herself for the time being and asked her maids to assist her.
Any businessman who wants to rent or buy land must first visit the fortress in person.
Vansh went through it first, determined the plot number, negotiated the price, and reported it to Olivia for decision.
Only in this way can she accurately know the development status of the territory.
…
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com