industrial lord

Chapter 514 Going to the Countryside

After the World Expo ended, the number of foreign visitors to the Principality of Wessen suddenly increased.

After the farmers in other places finished their autumn harvest, they could leave the farm work to the women. Under the organization of the landlords, the men came to the Duchy of Wessen to work, which was part of their corvée labor.

The landlords did some calculations. In the past, the corvée labor was to make the farmers farm the land. Now, they brought them all the way to the Duchy of Wessen to work. The income is higher than farming, and they can also buy seeds, fertilizers and farm tools for next year.

However, this is something that only the landlords along the Rhine and Elbe rivers can do. They can do this by relying on convenient and cheap water routes, but they would lose a lot of money if they had to rely on walking.

These people have no skills and not much strength, so they can only do some work like paving roads outside the city.

The most feared thing about roads these days is waterlogging. Too much water will turn them into mud, and in serious cases the ground can even cause a horse to get stuck in the mud.

The road designed by Frederick was just a gravel road. The earth roadbed was compacted and rammed into an arc shape with a high middle and low sides for drainage. There were drainage ditches on both sides of the road. There was a layer of gravel about 20 cm in size on the earth roadbed, which was also high in the middle and low on both sides. Finally, a layer of gravel about 2 cm in size was laid on the top layer. This layer of small gravel could be replaced and filled.

Such gravel roads protect the roadbed from being soaked by rainwater and are sufficient to support an increasing number of vehicles. The gravel absorbs energy without causing too much damage to horse hooves, and it is also in line with the current level of productivity.

Now the roads in the three new states of the Principality of Wessen have a dirt foundation after the rainy season, and migrant workers can lay stones in the autumn and winter, which speeds up the process.

The carriage was not much bumpy as it traveled along the seven-meter-wide gravel road. Baron Turgot felt that sitting in the carriage was not much different from walking in the city.

Baron Turgot took advantage of the opportunity that his students had accepted a government contract today and came to Faya State with a convoy.

This convoy is composed of many departments, including the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Medical Care, Court, Procuratorate, Police Department, Ministry of Military Affairs and Ministry of Taxation, etc., all of which are departments closely related to people's lives.

At first Baron Turgot thought that this was a team like a circuit court, but the more he looked at it, the less likely it was, because the largest group was the drama troupe hired by the Ministry of Culture, where his students served as guest screenwriters. The second largest group was the doctors summoned by the Medical Department, and there were only one or two people in other departments.

The leader of the team was called Alers, who was in his early forties. He was originally a servant in the castle and later went to work for the state government.

Alles welcomed Baron Turgot's participation in the "Cultural, Medical and Legal Countryside Group" at his own expense. He didn't have to worry about the work report this year. He could just highlight the reaction, opinions and suggestions of a foreign friend to make up the word count of the report.

It is now popular to eat fresh seafood in Weissenburg. Not long ago, the live lobsters the size of arms in the seafood store turned the vegetable market into a zoo. After learning that Baron Turgot came from the seaside, Alles kept asking questions.

When the convoy was halfway there, they met someone who wanted to hitchhike. When Alles heard that he was an acquaintance, he let him get in the car.

The hitchhiker was a young man in his early twenties, wearing a beige blacksmith's suit and carrying a large schoolbag. He greeted with a smile after entering the carriage: "Uncle Alles, I haven't seen you for several years. I didn't expect to see you here."

"It's little Dank." Ales also greeted the young man with a smile, "We have a guest here, this is Baron Turgot from the Kingdom of Gaul."

After a round of greetings, Alles asked Danke: "How is your father doing now?"

Danke replied, "Father and mother are still working as cooks in the castle. Now that the master has decided on a new palace, he is worried all day whether the new kitchen will still want them."

Alles said nonchalantly, "Why worry? The master has always been very kind to us old people. If the palace doesn't want them, we still have the new building of the Executive Yuan. There is also a kitchen there. We can talk to them then."

"Let's not talk about them. How are you now? I heard that you graduated from university last year. Do you have a stable job in Fayya State now?" Danke said a little embarrassedly, "I didn't pass the exam last year, so I can't have a stable job. Now I'm a hired technician at the Agricultural Technology Station."

Baron Turgot had been listening to the conversation between the two men, but now he could not understand what they were saying, so he asked, "Excuse me, gentlemen, what is this iron rice bowl you are talking about?"

He thought that this iron rice bowl must not be a literal iron rice bowl, but should be some kind of metaphor.

Ahlers explained: "It's like this. Last year, there was a case in Putz. Someone in the medical bureau there planned to scrap a batch of drugs on the books and then secretly sell them to people in Bohemia."

"An employee in the medical department didn't want to do it, didn't sign the form, and was fired directly."

"The employee's elderly family member was ill and needed medicine, which cost him a lot of money. He lost his job and jumped into the river out of frustration."

"Some people were fishing down the river at the time and rescued him. They asked him what happened and then took him to Weissenburg to report."

"Later, our government staff system was reformed this year. Unless they cross the red line, they will generally not be fired. At most, they will be assigned to a less demanding position, giving staff the confidence to refuse illegal behavior."

Baron Turgot nodded superficially, but was thinking: That's it?

Isn't it natural for officials to resell goods? Which government employee is not the second son or relative of an aristocrat, or comes from a local gentry family? Firing them would be a slap in their faces.

Baron Turgot stopped thinking about it and asked Danke curiously, "Sir, you just said that you work at an agricultural technology station. What kind of place is that?"

He studies agriculture, but he cannot understand what this agricultural technology station is and does not know what it is used for.

Danke explained helplessly, "It's a tough place. We have to instruct the farmers in the surrounding villages on farming, such as when to plant seeds, how much fertilizer to apply, how to deal with insects, and so on."

"But the farmers didn't listen. They just nodded when I said something, and continued to do their own thing when I left."

"Like this spring, I told them not to use too much urine, but after I left, they kept spreading it on the fields, and as a result, all the wheat seedlings died."

"In another village, there was a man whose wheat leaves were starting to rust. I told him to boil two kilograms of cow urine grass in ten kilograms of water, and then spray the water on the wheat leaves after it cooled."

"The man was lazy and used less than one kilogram. The wheat in the whole village was infected, and the yield was directly reduced by half."

Baron Durge could tell from Danke's words that life was not easy.

He thinks this agricultural technology station is a good thing and worth learning.

Alles said to Danke, "They just joined us last year, and it was like this in the beginning. The drama we performed this time is to promote technical farming. Once those people have tasted the sweetness, they will know that you are treasures."

Dank said, "That's the only way."

(End of this chapter)