"Sir, what are you doing~"
It was almost noon, and Ron, who had been sitting at a table on the first floor of the wooden castle waiting for a long time, saw Art holding his waist and sighing as he walked downstairs. He started to speak, but then stopped, and the hand that was beating his waist slowly took away his hand.
Matt glanced at Ron subconsciously, and mocked: "I think you and I are about the same~ Ouch~"
As soon as he spoke, Art took a deep breath and sighed.
Ron touched his head and felt a little embarrassed, so he said nothing more.
"Where are the things I asked you to prepare yesterday?" After sitting down on the chair covered with soft woolen woven cushions, Art asked, rubbing his waist.
"Everything is ready." Ron took out a long piece of parchment that was neatly folded around his waist, opened it and spread it on the table, occupying a quarter of the length of the table. "Sir, according to your instructions, I have drawn on it all the conditions recorded along the way to the south of the valley before and last time, and also made text marks and annotations on it."
Looking at the topography and related conditions of the entire valley presented on this piece of parchment, Art opened his eyes wide, stood up slowly, and looked at it carefully.
Previously, Art had taken Ron, Matthew and several others to explore along the valley once, and made a simple assessment of the situation in the valley. Some time ago, in order to deal with the Lombard attack, Art personally went to the southern valley entrance to arrange defense. After the Lombards retreated, Art began to think about the overall construction of the valley.
Last night, Art ordered Ron to draw a map of his several explorations of the valley after he went back, so as to have a more intuitive and general understanding of the details of the entire valley. This will facilitate the later overall planning and construction of the valley.
“Continue talking.”
"Okay, sir." Ron walked to the other side and began to gesture in a formal manner. "The lines on both sides represent the sides of the valley, and the middle one is the river. The area about two miles south from the Gongfang area was previously filled with dwarf pines and miscellaneous trees, and the width was slightly narrower than that of several villages such as Gujiandi. The mountains near both sides of the valley were tall ancient trees. People from the Tunnel Department went to check the land near the ancient trees. It's extremely fertile. But it will take some time to cut down all the old trees. After nearly six months of construction work by the Construction Department and the Tunnel Service Department, these areas that were previously full of miscellaneous trees have been reclaimed into fertile fields, and many houses have been built along the way." Ron said with a dry mouth, and took two sips from the water cup on the table.
Matt looked in the direction of Ron's finger, thoughtfully. After a while, he said: "The ancient trees on both sides of the valley will be kept for the time being. I will use them in the future. The land reclaimed in other places is enough to support tens of thousands of people in the territory, and there is no shortage of that."
Watching Ron quickly record his thoughts on the birch bark, Art was very satisfied. In the past few years, Ron has been forced to learn a lot of culture by himself. There are those who are marching and fighting, and there are also those who are engaged in history, humanities, calligraphy and arithmetic. From the initial reluctance to the current active learning, Ron's change is unbelievable.
"Master, it's done." Ron raised his head and said to Art.
"Okay, let's continue."
"Yes. Further south is another piece of grassy land, about twelve miles long. These lands are the same as the previous villages such as the Valley Village, but the land is more fertile..."
h "This is normal. The closer to the lower reaches of the river, the more fertile the land." Art explained casually.
"These places have been cultivated for about half a mile. According to my father, the land extends to the foot of the mountain, which is much easier to cultivate than the land covered with dwarf pines and bushes..."
"Further south, we enter this low hill," Ron moved his finger down a section along the line representing the river, pointing to several uneven irregular circles. "According to reports from soldiers who went to check both sides of the hills, these hills are still surrounded by tall mountains on both sides, and there is no exit at all."
“Here is the ruins of the monastery where we stopped last time.” Ron pointed to a place with the famous cross symbol some distance away from the river. "The distance from here to the workshop area is about seventy-five miles. It took us about five days to get to this place last time."
Matt stretched out his hands to measure the distance, and from time to time he picked up a carbon rod and made notes on the birch bark.
"By the way, sir, according to the reports of the soldiers who went to explore, there is some land connected between the hills. But compared to places like the valley, it is definitely not as good, but it is still fertile. Moreover, there are many wild boars and the like in the dense forest..." Ron rubbed his palms as he spoke, smiling, as if he was extremely interested in the delicacies that could be turned into the table.
Matt set his sights on Ron. Ron immediately stopped smiling, and then began to explain~
"...After leaving the hill, there is a long stretch of dense forest and canyon area, the distance is estimated to be about twenty miles. The cliffs on both sides are towering, the terrain is dangerous, and the river passes through the canyon. The place approaching the exit of the canyon is where we last encountered the mother bear with two cubs..." Ron pointed his finger to a place not far from the large circle to the south. "Further south is the basin, where Hans and the others are stationed... Master, this is the general situation of the entire valley."
"Okay, you take a rest for a while, and I will take a look." After that, Art began to study southward along the north side of the valley on the map. After talking for a long time, Ron's throat almost started to smoke. He took a few more sips of water, and then stood next to Art, giving reminders from time to time.
It wasn’t until lunch that Art put down the carbon rod in his hand. At this time, several pieces of birch bark already covered with writing were piled on the table. There are also many new markers on the valley map.
After lunch, Art called Cooper, Scott and Lawrence together, intending to discuss the later planning and construction issues of the valley.
"...Everyone, let's take a look. This is the terrain map of the valley that I ordered Ron to work out overnight. In addition, I also made annotations on it."
While Art was speaking, Ron had already spread the map on the table.
Once he heard that this map was made by Ron, Scott's face was full of pride, and he became more and more satisfied with his son.
“Currently, apart from me and Ron, you are the only three senior government officials who have seen this map. I think you should understand the importance of this map.” Art took a long sip of the cold Welsh beer in his hand, and then wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Cooper and others stood up and gathered around the table to observe, pointing from time to time. Although several people have been following Art for a long time, they probably know a little bit about the situation south of the valley workshop area from Art's words, and they don't know the full picture of the entire valley. Now, a map of the valley was placed in front of several people, which really made them excited.
"Master, there is still so much land in the south of the valley~" Scott set his sights on Art.
That's right.
“Scott, are you happy now?” Lawrence muttered from the side.
Then a burst of laughter came.
After a while, Art said: "Everyone, you now know the situation in the entire valley. I think it is time to make a reasonable plan for the entire valley." Art then told everyone his thoughts one by one.
"For now, you should continue to open up wasteland and build trade roads and houses according to the previous plan. Put other things aside for now. The first priority is to let the recruited citizens have land that can be cultivated. Only in this way will they be willing to stay in the valley."
Cooper and others nodded in agreement.
"You also understand that these territorial residents are all displaced people. As long as they have land, they will feel at ease and take root in the valley. In this way, the population in the territory will gradually increase. The benefit brought by this is the further development of the Province of Wales..."
"Secondly, Lawrence," Art looked at Lawrence, "your main task at the moment, apart from opening up trade routes, is to build houses for the people in the territory. As for the cost of building houses, you can register them in a register first, and then let them pay for it in food or other ways."
"Yes, sir." Lawrence stood up and responded.
“Once the trade road is opened, the construction of the entire valley will be greatly accelerated. Of course, other construction cannot be put aside while the trade road is being built. At present, the population of the villages such as the Valley is almost full, and new incoming residents cannot be resettled. The houses built on both sides of the trade road are limited, and it is impossible to accommodate everyone.”
"I think this is how you choose a place suitable for building houses five to ten miles away from the workshop area. Based on 500 households and 1,500 people, you build eight villages, with a total accommodation of about 12,000 people. Each village is about one mile apart. After that, the land around the village will be allocated to these villagers for farming for easy management. This In addition, construction will also begin in the south of the valley. Please make arrangements to send a small number of people to the south to open up wasteland, build roads and build houses. Since the trade road has not yet been opened, the transportation of grain and grass is inconvenient, so large-scale reclamation in the south cannot be done. "
"Okay, sir, I will start making arrangements when I get down." Cooper said.
"You have also seen that the construction of the valley is a heavy responsibility, time-consuming and costly. As the chief officials of the Welsh Provincial Government, the tasks undertaken by these people are even more arduous. Without you, there would be no valley." Art said earnestly, with his heart filled with the importance he attached to these people.
"Master, don't worry. As long as my old bones can still move, I will definitely complete the task you assigned me." Cooper said firmly and emotionally.
"Yes, sir, don't worry." Scott also agreed. Lawrence on the side couldn't help but nod.
"With your words, I feel relieved..." Art nodded with satisfaction.