plumnovel #455 - Holy Trinity
#455 - Holy Trinity
The carriage wheels crunched over the caterpillar on the mortar ground, severing its neck and splattering green goo everywhere.
Before the caterpillar could react, dozens of horses thundered over it, turning the goo into an unrecognizable mess, ensuring no chance of resurrection.
Guarded by dozens of lancers and holy riflemen, the Papal flag and carriage advanced along the former Blood and Sweat Road.
Hohen sat in the high-end convertible carriage Catherine had bought him, a papal umbrella overhead. The moist breeze on his face made him squint contentedly.
Although the convertible carriage wasn't slow, it was, after all, a high-end carriage. Thanks to the ingenious design of skilled craftsmen, the bumps were much less noticeable than in ordinary carriages.
Plus, the carriage wheels were covered with hardened slime gel, and the ground was a smooth mortar road, making it as stable as a modern car.
This ancient Elven path was among the first to be paved with mortar, but it's still not finished.
According to Witt's original design, to meet the required transport capacity, the road needed to be widened three to four times, to twelve meters, and he applied to rename the Blood and Sweat Road to Lake Road.
However, this design was rejected by the Senate.
First, it was impractical. Widening it by one or two meters was enough to meet the immediate needs.
Second, "Who gave you the authority to mess with the Holy Sun's glorious years!?"
So, the current design is to widen each side by one meter, starting by paving the entire road with mortar and gravel.
Hohen rested his elbow on the car door, his head slightly tilted, watching the refugees giving way to the papal carriage on the Blood and Sweat Road.
They were still wearing tattered clothes, but their faces had more color than before, not to mention their upright posture and energy.
After all, the shock therapy of not paying taxes for a year, and this year's bumper harvest, allowed many refugees to not only eat their fill but even taste pork for the first time in their lives.
The Great Marsh migration plan has been ongoing.
According to current reports, at least ten thousand immigrants have moved from Langsand County and even North County to the Great Marsh in the past six months.
Hohen could guess without reading the report carefully that they must be refugees who hadn't been allocated enough land.
You see, Fort Jeanne itself attracted many non-local refugees.
Although Hohen significantly divided the lords' land, it still couldn't meet the needs of all the refugees.
Later, Hohen started large-scale construction, building bridges, paving roads, and constructing infrastructure everywhere because the construction industry could accommodate a large number of low-skilled workers.
However, some refugees from tenant farmer backgrounds felt that working was impossible, that they would never work in their lives, and that only farming could satisfy them.
Coincidentally, because Autumn Dusk Island's products were difficult to self-supply, the "Autumn Dusk Island Reclamation Act" was introduced, offering "no taxes for three years for reclamation within five years, low-priced leasing of cattle and horses, and whatever is reclaimed is yours."
The total population of the Great Marsh has now reached the 50,000 mark, with 30,000 living on the shores of the lakes and swamps and 20,000 living on Autumn Dusk Island.
This naturally can't compare with Cush County's 200,000 registered residents, but it's definitely much better than before.
Looking at the natural scenery along the way, Catherine adjusted her crystal glasses.
After getting off the ring-lake mortar road and riding for a while, Hohen, Catherine, and the others got back into the carriage after crossing the Newborn Bridge.
When they arrived at the Descent Pier, before they even got close, they saw a group of beast-girl youths with painted white faces and orange-red blush on their cheeks.
Seeing Hohen's carriage appear, they immediately leaped onto the beast-skin drums and began to rhythmically bounce and beat them with their furry paws.
This was the local beastmen's unique welcoming ceremony. The Senate's roughnecks didn't understand ancient Elven rituals and could only use this reluctantly.
The convertible carriage slowly drove up to the many senators. Hohen naturally got out of the carriage, shook hands with them one by one, and went through the formalities before getting back into the car.
"I'll be back to Autumn Dusk Island often, so don't do this next time," Hohen waved his hand. "Let's go straight to the Mechanical Palace. This journey has been tiring, and it's finally time for a vacation."
Looking at the pier in front of him, a smile unconsciously appeared on Hohen's lips.
This once desolate and deserted ghost town is now finally thriving.
Autumn Dusk Island currently has only one unnamed town, with a population of about 11,000 people.
The total population of the island is about 21,000, with the remaining non-urban population operating farms on the island.
Autumn Dusk Island has a total area of about 110 square kilometers, with high terrain in the north and low terrain in the south. There are elevated mountains in the center, and the southern island is mostly undeveloped tidal flats and swamps.
If the accumulated lake water is drained through the river project, then the southern island can be expanded by at least another 10 square kilometers.
Currently, Autumn Dusk Island has only two districts: the urban area and the suburban area. The main leaders of the city hall are the Senate and Mayor Witt, while the suburban area uses a hundred-household district system.
Currently, there are about 16,000 acres of farmland in the suburbs, which can produce 720 tons of food each year, but the current food requirement for the entire island's population is about 6,000 tons, with ten or even nine-tenths relying on external transportation and fishing.
As for the more than 3,000 acres of flax fields, they can produce 600 tons of flax each year. If fully put into production, they can produce about 120 tons of flax fiber, which is 70,000 yards of linen cloth.
These 70,000 yards of linen cloth can produce about 12,000 sets of clothing. Since clothes can be stored for a long time, and linen cloth is basically not worn in the cold season, it can basically meet the island's clothing needs.
As for the 95 tons of flax oil produced, it barely meets the oil needs of the entire island. As for those vegetables and fruits, they are provided by beastmen and small vegetable farmers.
Salt is even more needless to say. Not only can it be self-sufficient, but it can even export dozens of tons. The beastman queens are preparing to mine the second and third salt wells.
As the convertible carriage gradually approached the Mechanical Palace, the copper-glowing spire appeared in people's sight.
"What is that?" Catherine asked, pointing at the spire.
Hohen looked up, but smiled and shook his head, "In a couple of days, I'll take you to see it in person, and you'll know what it is."
So mysterious? Catherine stared at the bright spire, frowning unconsciously.
Why did she always feel like she had seen this thing somewhere? But she couldn't remember, and she had never been to Autumn Dusk Island before.
Just as he looked up, Hohen saw a group of people on the hilltop building something. He turned to Witt beside him and asked, "What's that again?"
"Ah, that's the High Tower Reservoir designed by Princess Hilof, using a water-drawing holy machine. We're planning to install a tap water system in the Mechanical Palace first, to see how it works and accumulate construction experience."
"Oh?" Hohen glanced at the small town not far away. "With the current level of development of the town and the number of star-forged gears, it's a bit too rash to start with tap water now."
"After all, Princess Hilof has control of a quarter of the star-forged gears. She probably just wants to make life easier," Witt smiled wryly.
The star-forged gears are Hilof's private property. It's good enough that she provides Hohen with three-quarters of them for free.
As for the rest, Hohen really can't control what she wants to do, after all, she needs to recharge the star-forged gears. Besides, she often uses her private star-forged gears as lathes for official business.
"You guys keep talking about the small town, what's the name of this small town anyway?" Catherine, who had been listening for a long time, finally couldn't help but ask.
Witt, who naturally recognized the beautiful woman in front of him as the person in the written notice and portrait, bowed and said, "The Senate hasn't figured it out yet, but Princess Hilof has given a name, and it's quite popular."
"She has an idea too? What's the name?"
Hohen also heard about this for the first time. He had forcibly suppressed this matter to prevent infighting among the senators, but Hilof came up with a name.
But on second thought, this is Hilof's hometown. The entire city was basically built under the planning of Witt and her, so she must have her own ideas for naming it.
If the name she came up with wasn't too outrageous, then Hohen wouldn't have any objections.
"It's called, Saint Machine Court."