lcionline Chapter 168: Inquiry from the Lord of Sludge City
Chapter 168: Inquiry from the Lord of Sludge City
Theoretically speaking, Bad Zegna is not at the end of its rope yet.
The invisible thorn beasts and the ambushers in the luggage compartment of the carriage, all of them combined are no match for the warriors of the Minqiu tribe.
This unique race is naturally wet and soft, like slime, has no sense of pain, and can heal any wounds on its own.
They are absolutely excellent fighters.
This is Bud's trump card.
Perhaps, facing a strong man who can destroy the magic defense shield with his bare hands, the female warrior of the Minqin tribe that he brought with him would not be of much use.
However, if the other party takes it lightly, even if the entire Minqiu tribe, which has nearly forty or fifty people around him, is willing to help him, the other party may not be able to fight.
However, Bad Zegna did not continue to do so, he simply swore allegiance.
This is because he is a person who can distinguish between public and private matters.
What was his purpose in clearing out the petty nobles, imposing reforms, and promoting education in the Mud City? Wasn't it to bring new vitality and vigor to the small Kingdom of Wommza and even the entire North?
And now, a realistic hope is before him, and an emerging force with infinite vitality appears before him. How can he not be tempted?
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Seeing the other party suddenly lower his posture, Abes was a little confused for a moment.
Pledge of allegiance. The last person who did this seemed to be trying to save the situation in the end.
However, Abes did not reject the other party's goodwill.
I am not an evil alien who needs to devour planets.
After taking the opponent's cane and breaking it in two, the anger and momentum that was ready to explode in Abess' body finally dissipated.
"Come on, tell me, what's going on?"
Hearing Abes' question, the other party did not hesitate, but directly revealed his guess and goal.
After listening to it, Abes finally understood what all the arrangements were about.
"Civilians and criminals..."
After hearing the other party's explanation, Abes instantly understood who the other party was talking about.
Perhaps it was because they had confirmed that Philip and Adechi, along with a group of criminal soldiers, had joined forces with the refugees to attack the city; and they had discovered that the capital had changed hands, so they naturally assumed that Philip and his men were now in control of the capital.
If Abes had not brought the people of Sweet Leaf Town to participate, it would not be an easy task for Philip and Adechi to take over the royal capital.
The tug of war, damage, and even possible annihilation are nothing.
"But, I'm afraid you're wrong. Not everyone can fall into your plan, and not everyone will voluntarily admit defeat and surrender when they see the gap."
Let’s not talk about how ferociously that tiefling, Phillip, fought. In a short period of time, he was even able to be on par with me without activating my rage.
The old sorcerer Adechi from Zhongzhou also has beautiful earth and stone manipulation spells.
If they really fight, although ordinary civilians may not see any hope, these two will definitely be able to keep fighting for a long time.
Secondly, if there is a gap, should we surrender?
It is not and it definitely shouldn’t be like that!
If surrender is necessary because of certain gaps, then Seris should have been destroyed in a certain semi-colonial and semi-feudal era, and all its people should have been destroyed long ago.
But, we didn’t.
If we have to surrender when there is a gap, then our arduous 14-year war of resistance should not have existed. Instead, we should have directly handed over our territory and political power to some guys who were trying to save the country in a roundabout way.
But, we didn’t.
It was even more unimaginable that they would later cross the mountains and rivers with high spirits, keep the enemy out of the country, and fight against the multinational coalition forces.
But, no means no.
"I dare say that although Philip and his men may not be as good as me, if you expect them to surrender when they see that you have such a group of excellent guards, such a luxurious carriage, and a nine-headed eagle-headed horse, then you are absolutely wrong."
"He might be seriously injured by the invisible thorn beast you arranged, and then suppressed by the female warrior of the Minqin tribe you value, or he might be pinned down by the ambush you arranged, but no matter what, Philip will not surrender easily."
"Yes, I was confused." Facing the other party's accusation, Bad Zegna just nodded to indicate that he had taken it for granted.
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Afterwards, the Lord of Slime City, who was full of thoughts about reform, also began to ask about the things he was concerned about.
"You...how long did it take Wangdu to produce these metal plates?"
"Them?" Abes was quite pleased when he saw the other party pointing at the entire metal house.
Steel production has skyrocketed with the advent of magic blast furnaces and assembly lines consisting of various tools driven by magic engines.
Under such circumstances, if they are not arranged out as soon as possible, the prosperous Royal Capital-Tianye Town Joint Steel Production Organization will only end up in trouble.
Because, without output and consumption, the increasing amount of steel will only force them to stop.
What follows is that the careers and jobs that sustain them will disappear.
Therefore, in addition to the production of weapons and equipment, Abes also immediately sought out Wilford for discussion. This veteran sugar manufacturer also provided a way out.
That is civilian use and people's livelihood.
Ever since Abes took over the royal capital, sugar, desserts and baked goods were no longer supplied exclusively to the royal family. These things began to flow in large quantities to the civilian population and people's livelihood.
This is also the reason why the wealth of this sugar manufacturer continued to grow steadily even though he did not run his own business carefully, but instead provided support for the great cause of Abes and others.
People’s livelihood has such power, and the consumption prospects of the working people are unimaginably broad.
After being inspired by Wilford, Abes also wanted to use steel to open up the same consumption gap in people's livelihood and civilian use, which led to the creation of what we see today, prefabricated houses.
Most people are unfamiliar with prefabricated houses, but they are widely used in earthquake relief or near construction sites due to their unique advantages.
Because of the previous abstract policy of the royal capital, which only allowed people to enter but not leave, and the current chaos in the country, the people all want to flee and gather in the safe and stable big cities and metropolises.
The current situation in the capital is definitely not necessarily better than post-disaster reconstruction such as earthquakes.
It is difficult to open up new land and space within the royal capital for them to live in.
On the other hand, he also had to carry out corresponding construction around the teleportation stone tablet outside the east gate of the royal capital, and build corresponding facilities, equipment and buildings.
This has led to the fact that, in the current situation, there is an urgent need for the emergence of something like prefabricated houses.
Therefore, the corresponding structural design drawings were completed with the participation of people with architectural knowledge and officials responsible for disaster relief and stability maintenance.
When the initial design was placed outside the east gate of the royal capital, the refugees were somewhat shocked, thinking that the superiors were crazy for giving them so much metal.
Can steel be used to build houses?
After that, the positive experience slapped the naysayers in the face.
Hey, it really works!
Not only is it possible, but the advantages are huge.
Steel plate prefabricated houses actually use sandwich panels.
Although we have not yet developed black technologies such as vacuum or foam materials, the corresponding effects can be achieved by sandwiching some other building materials.
The advantages of thermal insulation, anti-corrosion and sound insulation, lightweight and flame retardant, good earthquake resistance, solid and beautiful, easy installation, effective increase in the usable area of the house and no need for secondary decoration have made the refugees who have obtained these houses beam with joy.
It goes without saying that steel is strong and stable, and the entire painted interior and exterior walls and roof are bright in color, soft in texture, and smooth in surface, which is very harmonious with the steel frame of the house and has a good decorative effect.
Previously, they had only heard about distributing houses and building a new urban area outside the royal capital, and they thought it was just empty talk.
As the steel, stone and wood were continuously transported in through the teleportation stele, they felt that they must be conscripted as laborers, and perhaps they would have to work hard for a long time to complete the task.
They had already made preparations to work hard to build a home for themselves, so it wouldn't be shabby.
It turned out that the steel, stone, and wood were not for building houses, but for building towers and city walls.
The materials used to repair their houses were strings of steel plates, steel pipe brackets and other tools and structures that were dragged over.
What happened next became even more magical in the eyes of these refugees.
In less than a week, these refugees who were originally crowded in the outer city area of the royal capital were able to all live in houses.
Although Abes said this was only temporary.
But people can't care so much and feel fortunate.
It is sturdy, durable, beautiful and elegant, which is far beyond the expectations of these people.
Under the impact of various advantages and word-of-mouth publicity, many people living in the royal capital began to want to move out of the city and live in the same type of steel plate prefabricated houses.
It was also after the resettlement of refugees and the application of related application foundations in the construction of the new urban area outside the east gate that the design of steel plate mobile houses was perfected, and the current meeting place in the wilderness was created.
After hearing Abeth's introduction, Bud felt his mouth dry.
It turned out that the huge metal house in front of them was not built specifically for this meeting.
Things like this have actually been widely used in the royal capital for a long time.
As the city lord, and a reformist one at that, how could he not see the benefits of these things?
Convenient, fast, stable and efficient.
With these things as the basic guarantee for daily life, many developments and constructions are no longer dreams.
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After satisfying his curiosity about steel, he further inquired about the soldiers and the two women, Kronos and Anivia.
Military training was not something that Abess had originally come up with. In fact, the first batch of instructors were captured by him from Davis's unit under General Paddy.
In response to the question from the curious Lord of Slime City, Abes did not hide anything, but directly told them the parts of training they needed and their goals.
However, as they listened, the other party realized that this was just an auxiliary means.
He could not provide the same good treatment as Abes, and he made the soldiers undergo such level of training when they could not even afford food and drink.
I'm afraid that before he can develop his obedience and organization skills, he will be killed.
"This is really...something I can't do." Although he was a great noble who integrated the Slime City, he was not like Abes, who held a small town with mining in one hand and a large amount of wealth handed over by the king and the nobles in the capital in order to survive and maintain the status quo in the other hand.
But another policy touched Bad Zegna deeply, and he felt like he had met a soulmate.
That's education.
However, the man's reform of education was bolder than he had imagined.
As the capital became more stable, education was no longer limited to the troops.
Although the knowledge related to runes was not spread, some other important knowledge was still spread and taught.
However, there are no restrictions on basic education such as literacy, calculation, and common sense.
And it is precisely such an arrangement that represents an extremely bright future.
People living in a modern system may not be able to imagine a scene where, after a government decree is issued, ordinary people cannot understand it and can only listen to the officials' explanations.
It may be hard to imagine that a strict and fair law could be misinterpreted by evil people and spread in a direction that is beneficial to them.
It may be hard to imagine that all the work and all matters big and small in an entire county or city have to be concentrated on the consultation of a few talented people.
How could such efficiency be effective? How could it possibly satisfy the vibrant and revitalized North he had in mind?
"So that's how it is. Lowering the educational requirements will bring in a large number of talents in return."
Bad Zegna felt relieved and moved, as if the rock that had troubled him for a long time was suddenly shattered.
He finally understood why things were still so complicated even after he had carried out reforms and educated a small group of reserve children from impoverished noble families, or children without noble status but smart.
If knowledge is concentrated in the hands of only a few people, it is very easy to intercept government orders, but arranging work requires the participation of a few people in everything.
Before the aristocratic power was eliminated, what maintained the Slime City was definitely not just the bureaucratic system that he saw, but some deep-rooted and long-standing network.
Whether the government policy can be implemented depends entirely on whether these branches and leaves are willing to pass it on.
But now, I have cleared them out, but have only built up the trunk of a big tree. I still have to ask, why there are no more flowers as before?
In other words, either you have to hold your nose and reconnect with those past networks;
Or, like this adult in front of me, we can provide poor but universal education so that the people can become a new network that can maintain work in all aspects.
"There is no need for a jack of all trades..." Abes' words floated over. Abes was also surprised by the thoughts shown by the city lord and the things he had done.
Although there is no class that betrays its interests, there are individuals who betray their class. The person in front of me is definitely the kind who can be won over as a friend.