When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 530: Rebuilding Rapid City Starts from the Port

On the morning of January 1446, 1, in Rapid City.

A heavy horn sounded from the lookout tower, and the ship owners who were forced to dock their ships looked up.

All their sight was occupied by the moving black shadows. Amid the shouts of the officers, all the war monks had already lined up on the deck in advance.

In the cold wind, these black-clad war monks stood upright, with their silver-grey spears resting on their shoulders, their brass holy guns on their backs, and their sabers worn neatly on their waists on one side.

When viewed from the side, it looked like a neat row of Guell sculptures, and his eyes passed over the curious and fearful citizens in front of him without any emotion.

The pattern of crossed guns and swords on the bow of the black ship was something that the citizens had seen on billboards and in the streets a few days ago.

The Salvation Army, Guards Regiment.

Four months later, this terrible army once again returned to his loyal city of Rapids.

Amid the shouts of the sailors, five or six ropes were thrown out from the ship, and the skillful boatmen quickly wrapped the ropes around the anchor and pulled them closer.

The boat rope was wrapped and tightened around the anchor on the river bank, and even wisps of white smoke and dust rose due to the rapid friction.

With the captain's superb boat-handling skills, Barge No. 1 was steadily parked in the harbor formed by the plank road.

Seven or eight sailors hooked one end of the long board onto the side of the ship. Then a few gendarmes and musketeers came down and lined up in two rows on the roadside.

Then, in full view of the crowd, Horn, dressed in a wool twill clerical robe and a tall leather hat, walked down the longboard with brisk steps.

The citizens "spontaneously" brought flower petals and colorful flags, and at the urging of the heads of the Chamber of Commerce and Guilds, they kept throwing and waving them at Horn.

It was said to be the focus of everyone's attention, but including the onlookers, porters and boat owners, there were less than a thousand people in total.

Catherine specifically limited the number of people to prevent the intruders, such as the Shadowless Man and the Demon Hunter.

Ludwig's death taught her a sad lesson. She even kept a letter requesting Hornpechika supervision under the drawer of her study, but she never made up her mind to send it.

Due to the special characteristics of Rapid City, Horn has relaxed local supervision to a certain extent.

Judging from the recovery of the port area, this measure has had some effect.

Compared with the ruins four months ago, the scene before us no longer had the ruins still burning with flames.

There are shops on both sides of the semicircular pier, with iron signs engraved with scissors, cans, and hammers hanging in front of the doors.

Behind the low shops is a large brick and stone building, which is the newly restored Rapid City Exchange Hall.

Even after careful washing, the charred marks left by the fire could not be concealed.

In the center of the dock square is a bell tower under construction, which imitates the bell tower of the Holy See.

"I didn't expect that we would meet again after such a short time." Catherine, wearing a wide-brimmed felt hat, smiled and talked as Horn walked slowly towards her.

She was wearing a long red dress today, but on her upper body she was wearing a waistcoat commonly worn by businessmen, but it was made of the finest black serge material.

"Time is like a wild donkey. Once it starts running, it never stops." Horn walked up to Catherine without any hesitation and hugged her.

After meeting with Mitternich, Carl and other high-ranking officials of Rapid City, the group of people started to exchange pleasantries at the dock.

The privy monk behind him immediately began to record Horne's conversation with Catherine:

“The two sides had a cordial and friendly conversation about the conditions in the two places of Jeanne d’Arc Rapids, and fully exchanged opinions on the height and age of each other.

His Holiness the Pope expressed serious concern about the age of the Governor of Rapid City, and the Governor was also looking forward to the height of His Holiness the Pope..."

Horn and Catherine were chatting on the dock, not because they were not afraid of the cold, but because they wanted to show some attitude.

We need to let the forces in Rapid City know that there is someone behind Catherine and that the two sides have a very good relationship. The longboard vibrated, and thousands of black-clad soldiers neatly got off the ship, lined up on the roadside, and marched quickly towards the camp outside the dock.

Horn and Catherine's show finally stopped. He rubbed his cold cheeks and asked, "Why didn't I see Jeanne?"

Catherine, who was leading the way, shrugged and said, "She took 600 cavalrymen to Xiaochi City. She just left yesterday."

"Is the war situation so critical?"

"That's not the case. The latest news is that the church's troops paused their offensive a few days ago to celebrate the New Year's Day, and they just resumed their offensive today."

"Did Blago elect a new abbot?"

“No, they still did not get more than two-thirds of the votes in the seventh round of voting on New Year’s Day, and now the eighth round of voting is underway.”

After a long silence, Horn opened the door and stepped into the warm carriage: "What a pair of evenly matched opponents."

Do we really have to vote? Can't we just do what the emperor did and dissolve parliament and fight the war first?
Compared to the cold weather outside, not only was there a brazier inside the carriage, but it was also covered with a layer of woolen cloth and fur to keep warm.

Although it was warm, Horn still felt unsafe.

Lifting the curtain of the carriage, I looked at the street scene passing slowly outside.

After leaving the dock area, there was more rubble on the streets and ruins on the roadside, as well as more construction sites and billowing smoke and dust.

After the Battle of Rapid City, there was a strong demand within Rapid City to abandon the port area and only retain the docks as access channels.

But Catherine rejected the request and instead demanded the revitalization of the port area because abandoning the area would lower people's expectations.

Rapid City’s thriving business and port district are absolutely inseparable from relationships.

Once they realize that the port area may never be rebuilt, most of the citizens who rely on the port area for their livelihood will choose to leave.

Their immigration destination was probably the two emerging cities of Joan of Arc and the Holy See.

The original immigrants from Rapids City had long since passed the news back from Jeanne d'Arc and Rapids City. During the four months, the two sides had traded grain, and many rumors about Jeanne d'Arc and the Holy See were self-defeating.

Many citizens are more optimistic about the trend of the Holy See, especially after the signing of the Sugar and Grain Exchange Agreement, at least two hundred citizen families have moved to Jeanne d'Arc and the Holy See.

In order to reverse this trend in time, even if there is no money to build, we have to make a gesture to make people believe that there is still hope.

So Catherine followed the example of the Salvation Army government and announced the "1448 Port District Vision Plan", stating that not only would the port district be rebuilt, but it would also be made more prosperous.

The first thing Catherine did was to complete the facade of the dock area, then cleaned up the garbage, and finally repaired most of the key buildings.

For example, the Commodity Exchange, the Duomo Cathedral, the Apostolic Bank and the Magdeburg Bank, etc.

So far, although it has not yet recovered to its former prosperity and the Rapid City Government is heavily in debt, it has at least retained the hearts of the people.

“It’s just that…” Catherine smiled bitterly, “Some people still don’t recognize my status as a saint. After I returned to Rapid City, there were hundreds of cases of defection.

This is the number of people who have been caught. There are probably more people who have not been caught. Currently, there are about three to four thousand people who have escaped from our Savior Army territory and fled to Hotam County or Lujiao Township. "

"Let them go, they are pedantic and ignorant people." Horn waved his hand indifferently. When he occupied Fort Jeanne d'Arc, a large number of people also fled to Jinhe Township in the south.

And then, aren’t you still working honestly for the Holy Grandson now?
"Speaking of Deerhorn Township, how is the offensive of the Gray Horse Knight going?"

"He wrote back a few days ago to express his gratitude and slowed down the offensive. Instead, he occupied the sentry fort first, so that he could attack or defend."

Upon hearing this news, Horn felt as comfortable as if he had hot shit in his crotch in winter.

Finally I have a teammate who listens to me. It’s not easy.

(End of this chapter)