Mikoyan frowned.

Wu Lai took out the parchment drawing from his arms and said, "Your Excellency the High Priest, although I am still young, I know very well that within the territory of Assyria, people are increasingly not ignoring the existence of God, and even slandering and blaspheming God. The God made this thing appear at this time, which must have a special meaning, but I cannot figure it out with my wisdom. Only God's messenger like you, the High Priest, can understand the true meaning of God. So, I actually want to donate it to you. Only you, the High Priest, can maximize its teaching significance to the world. But I have another request, which is to hope that you will allow me to use it within the scope of Seneca City, because you know, I just bought a house and plan to raise some slaves. When the conditions are ripe, I also want to obtain some land and grow wheat, grapes and so on, which requires a lot of expenses."

Mikoyan hesitated for a moment and asked, "When can this thing of yours be completed?"

"Within thirty days," Woolley replied.

"Well, if this thing can achieve the effect you described, I will guarantee in the name of the temple that you, Woleglindo, are the only one in Seneca City who can make a profit from it." Mikoyan thought for a moment and stretched out his hand. "In addition, I will use some of the temple's privileges to get you a 60% reduction in business taxes. You know, the tax collectors under the Seneca City Treasurer are the most difficult clowns."

"Thank you." Wu Lai respectfully handed the drawings to Mikoyan, and a satisfied smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, because the purpose of his coming to the temple had been achieved.

"Wu Lai, you give me the feeling of a mature, steady, wise and elegant aristocrat, not a child of twelve or thirteen years old. I have to say that you are much better than your father." Mikoyan said as he spread out the parchment drawing and began to look at it.

"Thank you for your compliment, Your Excellency the High Priest. Wu Lai will not disturb you any more." Wu Lai stood up and saluted.

Mikoyan closed the blueprint with a smile: "I hope to see the real thing sooner."

A month later, Woolley's name was once again being mentioned repeatedly in the streets of Seneca City.

Someone said: "My God, the man who was given the right to sign the contract by the temple, Wuleglindo, actually built a stone house on the river bank. He called it the 'mill'!"

Someone said: "He not only built a house, but also built a stone embankment and a canal. The water from the canal flows under the 'mill'!"

Someone asked, "What is the mill used for?"

Someone else said, "That mill is actually where wheat is pounded!"

Someone else said, "There's a big sign outside the mill at Woolley Grindle saying anyone can bring wheat to be pounded!"

Some even said: "The temple has also announced that the mill of Woleglindo is the only mill allowed by the temple within the Seneca city-state, and any form of imitation will be severely punished!"

…

As people have said, Woolley's mill opened, and on the eve of its opening, High Priest Mikoyan and Pompey "had the honor of witnessing the greatest invention in people's livelihood so far" - of course, this was said by Mikoyan himself.

A circle of wooden fences has been erected in front of Woolley's Mill. All people, wheat and flour entering and leaving the mill must pass through the only large wooden door in the middle of the fence. No one except Woolley, Neptune and Caesar can enter the wooden door of the mill. This rule was set by Woolley because he was not sure how much deterrent effect the so-called "exclusive protection" of the temple could have on people.

When the mill opened, the busiest people were not Woolley, but Neptune and Caesar. Neptune was responsible for operating the rotation and stopping of the millstone, while Caesar was responsible for carrying the wheat bags and pouring the wheat into the groove of the millstone. He then watched the huge millstone crush the wheat and used a broom made of wheat straw to sweep back the wheat grains that popped out of the edge of the groove until it became uniform flour. After Neptune stopped the millstone, he was responsible for collecting the flour, packing it into bags, and then carrying it out of the mill to Woolley for weighing. Because there was really no available manpower, Woolley had to do this himself temporarily.

A few days later, Wu Lai was too busy to handle the work. It was not known whether the half-finished flour was too cheap or the flour was too good, or whether the people in Seneca wanted to come and see the new experience. From the fifth day on, Wu Lai's mill had to process more than 400 hu of wheat every day. In other words, the newly built small granary in Baishi Building would have 20 more hu of flour every night. According to the market price of two silver coins for a bag of flour, from the fifth day on, the mill earned Wu Lai 40 silver coins every day.

When he saw the increasing number of flour bags in the granary, Woolley became a little complacent. Even happier than him was the "continuously paying attention" High Priest Mikoyan. The success of the mill in Seneca City showed one thing - he could start to promote the mill to other city-states, which not only meant a huge source of wealth, but also meant that his contribution to the temple had increased significantly.

"Fortunately, Wu Lai is a child, otherwise how could I have the chance to experience such a thing?" Mikoyan thought to himself while feeling happy.

"Fortunately, we have Mikoyan's support. Otherwise, where would the free land come from? Where would the free slaves come from to help build mills and dig canals? And where would the tax rates be for free?" Wu Lai said with satisfaction in his heart.

When Seneca City officially entered the late autumn season, Woolley's worries about the mill were finally completely dispelled - the amount of wheat processed every day was stable between 400 and 430 hu, the tax collectors did not cause any trouble to the mill, Neptune was so skilled in operating the millstone that he could also serve as the weighing machine, allowing Woolley to get away easily, and Caesar grew taller, but worked more efficiently.

When looking through the account book, Wu Lai laughed at himself: "I'm just scaring myself. The population of Seneca City is nearly 300,000. Assuming that each person consumes 10 shekels of flour per day, one hu of flour is only enough for about 40 people to eat for a day. Excluding those who are willing to pound wheat at home and other possibilities to reduce flour consumption, there must be 400 to 500 hu of flour that needs to be processed every day..."

When Woolley was making fun of himself, he didn't know that his income level not only reached the average level of a minor noble, but he also had the title of a miller.

At the end of the last day of October, winter officially arrived in Seneca, and on the evening of that day, the last thing to be done in the renovation of the Whitestone Building - the new front door - was installed.

As he patted the half-elbow-thick door panel, Wu Lai couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Luckily it's here, otherwise I'd never find this good wood that's been grown for hundreds of years to make door panels, and it's sold so cheaply..."

To put it crudely, the renovated Baishi Tower was very much to Wu Lai's liking or bad taste. After many points of demolition, digging, filling, stacking, painting and replacement, the Baishi Tower became a "small multi-functional fortress" - the outer periphery was a stone wall with arrow slits, twenty-five cubits high and six cubits wide, with two stone steps in each of the four directions for going up and down. At the northeast, southeast, northwest and southwest corners of the wall, there were four semicircular roofless stone arrow towers that were ten cubits higher than the wall. They could be used for night watch or to defend against the enemy. Wu Lai had already considered adding a wooden roof to each of the four arrow towers to shelter from the rain, but it has not been implemented yet.

The thickening of the wall naturally reduced the area of ​​the yard, but Wu Lai originally felt that the yard occupied too much area, so the area of ​​the yard after the renovation was reduced by half - four low bungalows for slaves and a granary were built, and the remaining half of the yard was re-paved with stone slabs and a pergola was built. In this way, Wu Lai no longer had to complain about having to walk in his own house on rainy days. The two-story stone building was still divided according to the Assyrian tradition of the front and back houses, but the use of the rooms was adjusted and arranged according to Wu Lai's preferences. The front house is naturally the living room when you enter the door. The three rooms on the left side of the living room were changed to the kitchen and dining room, and the original kitchen and dining room were changed to Wu Lai's fitness room. The seven rooms on the second floor, known as the back house, basically remained the same, except that the original hostess' room was changed to Wu Lai's "important and confidential room", because he couldn't carry money with him all day long.

While expanding the bathroom, the area of ​​the back garden was also greatly reduced. After deepening the original bathtub in the bathroom and dividing it into three of varying sizes, Wu Lai could finally enjoy a hot bath. Before the small bathtub was built, Wu Lai was forced to squat in a corner of the bathroom and scrub himself with a cotton towel dipped in hot water. However, before the fuel problem was truly solved, bathing in the small bathtub could only be done occasionally.

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The well was also repaired. Under Woolley's guidance, Neptune led the slaves and spent half a day building a two-cubit-high well fence along the well mouth. They also installed a wooden wheel on the well fence and built a roof with wooden boards. Now, it could finally meet Woolley's requirements for water quality.

That night, Neptune hesitantly made a request: "Master, the final repairs have been completed, and the mill is so busy every day, it seems that it is time to increase the manpower."

"Manpower?" Wu Lai tilted his head and thought for a while, then said, "Your suggestion is good. In fact, I have considered this in the past few days, but then I thought it would be better to wait a little longer. You see, I am only a little old. I dare not trust strange slaves. In the past ten years, there have been four cases of slaves killing their masters in Seneca City, right? So, wait a few more days. The Winter Festival is in five days. Maybe there will be free manpower delivered to our door."

"Free?" Neptune sighed, thinking that his master's stinginess was exactly like his old master.

On November 5, the traditional winter festival of the Assyrians arrived. From this day to the 9th, there were five consecutive days of festivals. During these five days, all the city-states in the Assyrian territory would celebrate with great fanfare. In addition to offering sacrifices at the temple, the noble families would also host banquets for each other to show their warmth.

Wu Lei naturally went there, but he did not meet Mikoyan. Pompey quietly told him that the high priest had been away from Seneca for some time and would not be back until after the New Year at the earliest.

He must be promoting the mill. As Wu Lai thought this, he handed a small spice bag with three gold coins in it to Pompey with a smile: "Arch Priest Mikoyan told me that you helped negotiate the tax rate for the mill. I am very grateful for this."

When Pompey received the sachet, he immediately felt the weight of the three shekels. After a slight hesitation, he handed the sachet to Wu Lai and said, "Thank you very much, but I cannot accept it. Dealing with tax collectors is my duty. Besides, the high priest specifically instructed me to lower the tax rate. I can't help you in any way."

"No, you have helped a lot. You are a respectable and close messenger. I have always hoped that our friendship can be closer and longer-lasting." Wu Lai said with a smile, "I am definitely someone you deserve to be friendly with, Pompey, so please accept it. Your family will need it."

Pompey was silent for a moment, put the sachet into his arms, and then nodded seriously: "I, Pompey Siler, swear to my Lord Amon that I will never betray my friendship with Wuleglindo, nor will I fail Wuleglindo's trust."

Wu Lai knew what a priest's solemn oath meant in this era, so his eyes were solemn: "Pompeii, your oath is what I want to say to God Amon."