When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1131 The Holy Alliance in the Ascending Stage
Stepping out of the station, you'll find yourself on the wide Red Moon Street, named in honor of the Battle of Joan of Arc.

Along the main street, you can see a long line of horse-drawn carriages of all sizes.

The coachmen, wearing sun hats, rolled up the sleeves of their linen shirts to their elbows, fanning themselves and shouting.

"Let's go to the Holy Advent Hall!"

"Green Vine Inn, two dinars per person, two dinars per person, full and departing!"

"Going to Dardenne Castle? Going to Dardenne Castle?"

Upon seeing that Moloca's group numbered over a hundred, the coachmen immediately swarmed forward.

"How about we go to the Green Vine Hotel? It's the cheapest and best hotel in Jeanne d'Arc!"

"Is anyone answering? I'll give you a 20% discount if there are many people."

The men without pants had never seen anything like this before. They either reacted by exhaling in shock or retreated timidly, only managing to push Moloka out.

Finally, amidst the throng of coachmen, he managed to find a man with a head full of curly, messy hair.

The man was holding up a huge wooden sign with the names Moloka and Kuvask on it.

"Here, here!"

After struggling with the coachmen for a long time, the group was finally able to escape.

As agreed, Moloka brought Kuvask to the destination, and Palak arranged a month's accommodation for Moloka and provided them with a six-month temporary residence permit, thus settling the score between the two parties.

If a month passes and they still haven't found a place to live, or if six months pass and they still haven't found a job.

That has nothing to do with Palak.

Of course, out of consideration for their past relationship, Palak will also introduce them to some jobs.

It's impossible for Palak's own chamber of commerce to allow these bastards to enter.

The disheveled man was a hired hand of Palak, named Kompf.

He was quite enthusiastic: "The accommodations that Representative Palak arranged for you are nearby. It used to be an armory, but it was later converted into labor dormitories. It's just right for about a hundred of you to stay there."

"So how do we get there?"

“Walk there,” Kompf, the disheveled man, lowered his voice. “Those coachmen are shady. It’s only a fifteen or twenty-minute walk from the Green Vine Inn.”

It's only because they're from out of town, new to the area and unaware of this, that they suffer in silence at their hands.

"Huh? Isn't this deliberately setting someone up?" Kuvask couldn't help but ask.

“You’ve forgotten, it’s not much different from what we did back in the old bridge,” Bondo chuckled.

They used the pretext of helping unload goods to extort money, which served as a form of regular income.

Kompf replied nonchalantly, "What's this? They were even more outrageous before. They would take your money, dump you in the middle of nowhere, and leave you to wait until dark without paying a penny more."

"Isn't anyone going to find the Night's Watch?"

“These coachmen have all their possessions on their carriages. They just fire a shot and move on to another place,” Kompf chuckled. “The Night Watch is only able to catch people because of the registration law that came into effect recently.”

Although the Holy Alliance has been established for ten years, all its laws and regulations still need to be built from scratch.

Because the cities and daily life of the Holy Alliance have changed dramatically from what they were in the past.

If past laws are no longer applicable, then we must find solutions based on specific circumstances.

This requires policy advisors to constantly provide feedback and submit proposals.

Walking along Red Moon Street, the sight of rows of neat houses on both sides, interspersed with occasional low wooden huts, was overwhelming.

Compared to the Beetle Harbor, the high-end shops in Jeanne d'Argent even use glass windows and wooden mannequins.

Moloka and his companions even saw a shop selling women's underwear, and they blushed and avoided it.

"Wow, there are so many shops in the Holy Alliance. Where do they get so many goods?" Kuvask blushed and lowered his head, avoiding looking at the lingerie shop.

Moloca, however, remained calm: "I'm more surprised by the number of citizens than by the quantity of their goods."

According to the original agreement, each member of the Holy Alliance has its own advantageous and distinctive industries.

Rapids City has transportation and finance industries, Charlotte City has dyeing and garment industries, and High Castle City has oil mills and spider silk processing industries.

This centralized handicraft industry naturally attracted a large influx of labor from the surrounding villages and even from abroad.

The exchange between urban and rural areas and overseas markets provided huge market demand for Shenglian Industry and Commerce.

Meanwhile, funds from the war and investments from the French provided the Saint-Union's industry and commerce with ample funds for expansion.

As a result, everyone could feel that all workshops and shops were expanding at an extremely high speed.

Even for a single store, the entire process from submission for review to official opening took less than a week.

The review of documents was therefore quite rough, which often led to legal disputes and conflicts.

This caused the Jeanne d'Arc Civil Court to operate at full capacity every day, and the matter even eventually escalated to the Holy Armory.

Martial and Sissi had a big argument at the royal council, but Horn intervened to break it up and successfully suppressed the trend with a purge.

With the expansion of industry and commerce, jobs and service personnel naturally emerge.

A large number of professions have emerged, including business employees, artisans, accountants, notaries, laborers, middle managers, and store managers.

The Saint Union Business Division even established a crash course business school to provide opportunities for upward social mobility.

As for immigrants from Franco and Leia, who already possessed skills and experience, they were able to find jobs very quickly.

They weren't applying for jobs; they were robbed as soon as they got off the bus.

Nowadays, in the Holy Alliance, anyone who can open a workshop or shop and operates normally will not lose money. It's just a pity that these men without pants have great strength, but most of them, not to mention skills, can barely count anything.

Led by Kompf, the group traveled eastward.

Walking through the streets of Joan of Arc, amidst the old houses, there are new construction sites everywhere.

Most of the pedestrians on the street were neatly dressed and smiling. When two people met eyes, they would nod to each other regardless of whether they knew each other or not.

A white linen shirt with wide sleeves and a brown-red woolen vest—this was the style of dress Armand brought from the windmill region.

The woman wore a white shirt, but it was thicker than the man's, and a long suspender skirt that went above her ankles.

When working, employees of Shenglian usually have two sets of clothes: one is a canvas work uniform for work, and the other is clothes for going out.

For any employee who finds a proper job, the boss will give them an advance on their salary so they can buy a nice outfit.

"If you don't wash your face properly, don't have a handkerchief in your pocket, and go out in tattered clothes, you don't look like a city dweller, but rather like a Norn laborer."

Many people go hungry every day but still save money to buy nice clothes, and some even deliberately show off their watch chains in their breast pockets.

Yes, there's only one watch chain, and even that chain is rented.
Owning a pocket watch, even if it's rented or borrowed, is a symbol of status.

They have always felt a great deal of deservedness because there are countless opportunities and examples of people becoming wealthy.

In their view, their current actions are merely borrowing a portion of the future.

There is a kind of beauty in an economic upswing.

"No, I asked." Reaching this point, Bondo couldn't help but ask, "How much has the population of J.J. Deborah increased recently?"

"In the last eight years?" The disheveled man quickly gave a figure: "The natural population has increased by nearly 30%."

The natural population growth mentioned here, besides newborns, refers to voluntary migration by immigrants.

Because Horn had concentrated a large number of artisans from Rapids and Charlottetown at Jeanne d'Arc in order to focus his efforts on major projects.

Although 30% is a significant figure, it is actually far less than the actual value.

For immigrants, since I've already arrived in Joan of Arc, why not walk a few more steps to St. Armory?

"If the natural population growth increases by 30%, that's around 10,000 people. There's no need to build houses everywhere, is there?"

"I don't know about that..."

It's understandable that Moloca, being a first-time visitor, wouldn't know.

To be precise, this is because these trouserless men's thinking is still based on the traditional cities of the empire.

Most of the traditional cities of the empire developed from parishes and markets.

Due to the siphon effect, most of the wealth was swallowed up by the upper oligarchs and nobles, so the vast majority of people in the city were commoners.

Even among the common people, their role was merely that of servants to the nobility.

The term "commoners" often refers to those who are employed, while "citizens" mostly refers to those who earn high wages or are simply rentiers.

Every shop that opens in the city must be backed by some oligarch or nobleman.

Most of the shop's revenue, beyond what was needed to maintain its existence, was taken by them to fund their extravagant lifestyles.

The thriving luxury and art markets in François and Leyen owe much to these wealthy nobles and oligarchs.

But in the Holy Alliance, it's different.

The rise of industry and commerce and the fall of the old elites enabled a large number of ordinary people to achieve upward social mobility and become citizens.

Unlike the nobles and oligarchs, these citizens had lower levels of wealth and were also required to participate in labor.

Because they don't have the privileges of nobles and oligarchs, they need to face market competition directly.

At the same time, aside from the portion used for taxes, most of the money they earn from running businesses can be used for their own development and consumption.

This is why Horn organized football matches and theaters—the so-called "bread and circus" projects.

It's not about buying off the public, but about stimulating consumption.

Horn once jokingly referred to it as the "wage recovery program".

The needs of citizens are different from those of ordinary people.

In a small town of about a thousand people, mostly ordinary citizens, a church is enough to provide all the services.

But a city of 30,000 to 40,000 people cannot be solved by a single church.

Moreover, this emerging urban class also has needs for spiritual and cultural enrichment.

They need theaters, schools, post offices, restaurants, cafes, hospitals, libraries, and clubs.

Money only counts when it circulates; if it's buried in the yard, it's just scrap metal.

The natural population growth in Jenderburg was only about 30%, but the rise of the existing population class was 10% to 20%.

That is, among the commoners in J.J.B., 10% to 20% went from poverty to having enough to eat or from having enough to eat to becoming wealthy.

This is also the source of the pride and reverence of the Holy Alliance people for Horn; some of them have truly lived the good life depicted in "Heaven's Dream."

"We've arrived." Comf stepped aside as they approached a yard that was overgrown with weeds but still relatively clean. "You can settle down here tonight."

For this group of men without pants, such a simple house was already considered a luxury.

As Morloka, Kuvask, and the others were about to go inside, Kompf called them back.

"As for Mr. Morloka and Mr. Kuvask, please come with me. Mr. Palak would like to invite you to dinner."

(End of this chapter)