When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 934 The way home
Walking out of old Laffer's house, several officers and soldiers were staying in the yard.

Kaler lowered his head, and several of his companions patted his shoulders, looking at each other in silence.

Inside the house were the sounds of the mother crying loudly, the son sobbing in a suppressed voice, and the sighs of Lalor, who was sitting on a mat with his legs apart.

Although the Legion can help transport the ashes, most soldiers' ashes are often sent home by their comrades.

After all, the friendship between brothers on the battlefield naturally requires seeing each other off for the last time.

"You should go home. None of us have any family. Help look after old Laffer's."

An old brother who had been stationed with Kaler at the Xiongken Fort pinched Kaler's shoulder and said, "You should go home early. You have family members at home. If you don't go back, they will be worried."

Kaler originally wanted to stay until old Laffer was buried, but the hundred-household district seemed to be holding a collective funeral for the soldiers who died in the battle, so he would have to wait until twenty or thirty days later.

He had been away from home for a year, and for some reason, he missed home so much at this moment.

"Then I'll go home, report that I'm safe and come back." Kaler hesitated for a while before making a decision.

"Go ahead, go ahead, we are watching here."

After saying goodbye to his comrades, Kaler mounted the mule brought by the local itinerant monk Bryson, and the two of them headed towards Hot Spring Town.

Kaler was still immersed in sorrow when he came here, but on his way back, he felt something was wrong.

Why is this mountain road so easy to walk on? It is even easier to walk on than the Kingdom Avenue he took on the Gravel Plain.

The horse's hooves stepped on the hard and flat road, and there was even a thudding sound.

Sensing Kahler's confusion, Bryson smiled as he rode his mule, "How's our trip?"

"It's a very good road. Was it built by the rural religious order?"

"We built it ourselves. The township association needs money everywhere, and we also need to support a new hot spring town. Where can we get the money?"

According to the data of Nanmangde County, the total area of ​​the entire Nanmangde County is about 2 square kilometers.

The habitable area, namely mountain valleys and forest basins, is about 6000 square kilometers.

The vast majority of the Holy Union's 14 registered population are concentrated in this 6000 square kilometer habitable area, so the distance is relatively close.

The average straight-line distance between a total of 276 hundred-household districts is about 4 kilometers. Due to the mountainous terrain, the actual distance is approximately 6-8 kilometers.

"So after the meeting at the Holy Court this year, the president of the monastery in South Mound County implemented a policy. To be precise, this policy is being implemented in all nine counties of the Thousand River Valley."

"What policy?"

Bryson smiled and pointed to a sign hanging on the roadside. Kaler looked over and saw that it said, "If you want to be rich, build roads first, have more children and cut more trees."

According to President Xiu, each hundred-household district is responsible for a section of the road, and each hundred-household district is about 6 to 8 kilometers.

"It looks like a big task, but it's actually not that big." Bryson is obviously very familiar with this area. "We have a total of about 6 kilometers, and we expect to complete it in three to four years."

Bryson isn't bragging.

The Hundred of Ansel where Bryson is located (including Adrian Manor) has a total population of about 430 people.

This population will rise again as soldiers return home and villages merge.

Through agricultural mutual aid organizations such as the Hundred Household Districts and Brotherhoods, Bryson could mobilize a maximum of 100 to 150 strong laborers (including women).

However, during the slack season, only about 80 people can actually be devoted to the main road construction every day.

According to estimates by the Rural Renovation Association, one kilometer of rural road can be built every 50 to 75 days.

There are two or three months of slack season a year, plus the spare time at other times, and if you are quick, it is not too difficult to run two kilometers.

Besides, some roads are relatively intact and do not need excessive reconstruction, they just need to be renovated.

Along the way, Kaler could clearly see the several stages of the road construction by the villagers.

The first thing you see is the final wooden plank laying.

After all, it is too difficult to transport stones in mountainous areas, and these waterproof iron fir boards are just enough to last for two to three years.

Two old villagers wearing coarse linen waistcoats, revealing their rib-like chests, arranged 5-centimeter-thick wooden boards horizontally on the ground.

The children carried wooden buckets and mixed potato root paste, gelatinous slime and lime sand together to make simple lime slurry.

Then use a pig bristle brush to brush the grayish-white lime slurry onto the surface of the wooden board and fill the gaps between the wooden boards.

This is the final step in road construction.

Going further, you can see a dozen women with sharp muscular features, holding rattan baskets and pouring gravel onto the ankle-deep road.

A few slightly thin women would use wooden scrapers to smooth the road surface, and then donkeys and mules would pull stone rollers to compact the road surface.

When these women, who were thinly dressed and sweating profusely, saw Kaler passing by, they were not alarmed. Instead, they whistled at the young Kaler.

"The one on the mule, I saw you looking at me."

"Brother officer, come down. I'll give you some goat milk."

This made Kaler blush, and he quickly urged the mule to speed up and leave, leaving only the laughter behind.

The mountain women are different from the plain women.

After wiping the sweat from his forehead, Kaler heard the orderly shouting before he even looked up.

"babble!"

"ah!"

The ground was shaking slightly.

Eight ropes were tied to the hammer, and one end of the ropes was connected to a long wooden stick.

The bronze-muscular young men lifted their wooden sticks in unison as if they were threshing wheat, and the huge wooden hammer rose into the air.

They let it go again, and the hammer slammed down to the ground, compacting the previously loose clay.

Four large wooden hammers took turns smashing down the roadbed, sinking one layer deeper.

At the very front line of the road construction, lumberjacks were cutting down hemlock trees on both sides of the road to make planks.

In addition, they are also responsible for clearing brush and weeds.

Such a road is about 3 to 4 meters wide, which can accommodate at most two carriages or four horses traveling towards each other. It may be slightly insufficient for larger towns, but it is quite sufficient for rural areas.

"Can the Baihu District afford to build this road on its own?" Kaler couldn't help but be curious.

"We can afford it. The grain expenses for road construction can be paid from the public treasury. Anyway, starting from next year, unless there is another foreign invasion, we will not pay taxes for three years, so there is no need to keep too much grain in reserve.

As for gravel and lime, when everyone finished their farm work and returned home, they would pick up a basket of them and take them home, and a little bit of them would add up to a lot.

The wages were paid from the wool income. After the road was repaired, it was more convenient for textile farmers to buy and sell wool yarn, saving a lot of money.

Besides, it’s basically free to buy donkeys, mules and tools from the county monastery. You just need to pay the shipping fee.”

When Kaler heard that the donkey and mule only had to pay the freight, the corners of his gloomy mouth couldn't help but curl up.

Why is it basically free to buy donkeys, mules, and horses from a county monastery?

Isn’t it because these donkeys, mules, and horses are all spoils of war looted from the Border Knights and the Leia people?

Kaler thought he could barely get some credit for this achievement.

"So, life will get better for the old Laffer family, right?"

"Of course." Bryson's heels hit the donkey's belly, and a smile appeared in the wrinkles on his face. "They will live better than anyone else."

Other residents in the villages of the Hundred Households District will only be able to avoid paying grain for three years in the future.

The old Laffer family did not have to pay taxes for their entire lives. The cross blessed by Horn at the door of their house was proof of their lifelong exemption from taxes (direct taxes).

This welfare benefit will continue until Laffer Jr. dies.

Looking back at the village outline looming in the distance and the villagers busy building the road, Kaler felt some reality of this victory for the first time.

When they reached the fork in the road, Kaler looked at the obviously dilapidated and muddy road on the other side and asked, "Why is this road so dilapidated? Has no one repaired it?"

Bryson said meaningfully: "That's the Mason Parish. They haven't implemented the 100-household district system, so they don't have food and can't gather manpower to build roads.

Two days ago, they went to the town and begged the rural order to restore their hundred-household district, but were rejected.

I heard that a large number of villagers in the Mason area are migrating to the surrounding Hundred Household Districts, and the Wild Wolf Regiment is purchasing a large amount of land in the Mason Parish.

In three to five years, if the population falls below a certain standard, the parish will probably be abolished and turned into a war group farm."

Although Kaler had never heard of the Mason Parish, he still couldn't help but feel a little disgusted: "Then they asked for it. They didn't contribute to this victory, so they have no right to enjoy the fruits."

After saying goodbye to Bryson, Kahl took a carriage to the nearest Hot Springs Town Pier. Currently, Hot Springs Town is just a large construction site.

After boarding a boat on the Taibo River from Requan Town, Kaler sailed downstream to Daze Township.

Change to the ferry, go to Autumn Island, and take the tram to the Holy Court.

He walked through the familiar Caishi Street and came to a quiet townhouse area. He stopped in front of a villa according to the letter.

After confirming the door number three times, Kaler put down his luggage.

He straightened his clothes, adjusted the medal on his chest, and knocked on the green-painted oak door.

"I'll open the door."

"Let me do it, aren't you cooking?"

"I said, I'll drive!"

"What about the broth?"

"You come!"

"I can't..."

There was a noisy sound of footsteps in the room, and Eglinda pushed open the door.

She saw her brother Kaler at a glance, but didn't dare to recognize him for a moment.

In one year, he grew half a head taller, the acne on his face disappeared a lot, and his face looked as if it had been cut by a knife or an axe, with sharp edges and corners.

The most important thing is that compared with the original childish boy, the person in front of him exudes a sharp temperament.

"Kaleh?"

"Sister..." The moment he called out "sister", Kaler's eyes, who had never shed a tear since he joined the army, suddenly turned red.

All the grievances, fears, and panic accumulated over the past year burst out in an instant.

Eglinda finally recognized her brother. She immediately reached out and hugged his head: "Holy Father, Holy Grandson, you are finally back."

Eglinda had not intended to cry, but when she smelled the blood on Kahl's forehead and saw his shirt with brown and red stripes, she couldn't stop sobbing.

The brother and sister shed tears at the same time.

Amid the sound of footsteps, Grosien ran over quickly with a soup spoon in his hand: "What's wrong? What's wrong? Who are you? Get off my wife right now!"

The brother and sister were about to start reminiscing about the past, but they suddenly suppressed their emotions.

Eglinda turned around unhappily and pulled Kaler's sleeve: "Look again who it is."

"…I…Kaler!"

"Look, it was you who persuaded little Kaler to join the army, and now he has been tortured into this state?"

"Long time no see, brother-in-law." Wiping away his tears, Kaler walked up with a smile, put his arms around his sister, and hugged Grosien.

His sister and brother-in-law are his only relatives in this world.

Although this was his brother-in-law whom he recognized later, Grosien was also a person without any relatives and treated him like his own brother.

He patted Kaler's back and sniffed: "Everything will be fine once you come back. We won this time, so there won't be any big battles to fight in the future."

The three of them hugged each other at the door for a long time until a burnt smell wafted into their noses.

"Ah! Purple egg beef soup!" Eglinda ran to the kitchen as if waking up from a dream.

Grosien held Kaler's arm and sighed for a long time, "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back."

(End of this chapter)