The Great Arcanist Who Traveled Through the World of American Variety Shows.

Chapter 581 Strategic Layout
Richard was a person who liked to enjoy life. As long as conditions allowed, he would improve his living standards. So even though the Rhine Province was now in a state of revival, he had no shortage of things to enjoy.

There was no shortage of sugar, salt, wine, and all kinds of delicacies. In order to obtain these things, Richard specially directed some craftsmen to set up workshops to produce these materials.

For others, producing refined salt and white sugar is very difficult. After all, there is no technology in this era. However, Richard has so much technology in his hands that just one or two of them will be enough.

What did people of this era eat? Bread, barbecue, and wine were basically only available to the Roman nobility.

Ordinary people ate rye and oats. And because of the fermentation technology, the bread of this era did not have the fluffy feeling of later generations. It was even harder than baguette and could be used as a weapon.

During this era, the Romans were still very particular. They would use olive oil to cook food, and would eat various types of fish, as well as honey.

Apart from other things, the current diet of the Romans is the best in the whole of Europe. Only the food that the Romans eat is normal. Richard feels that the food of the Franks, Germans and Britons at this time is worse than eating raw food.
The situation of the Franks was relatively better. After all, they were close to Rome and had been educated by the Romans for more than a hundred years, and their dietary standards had also steadily improved.

But it was only edible, not delicious. The situation of the Germanic people in the north was worse, and most of their food was rye porridge and some meat.

Rye porridge is made by grinding rye into flour. For technical reasons, the bran is mixed with the flour, and other things are added to satisfy hunger, such as sawdust.

The salt used is rock salt, a black-brown stone with a bitter and salty taste. You can't eat too much of this stuff, as it can be fatal.

There is also a very dark food called black pudding, which is made by mixing animal viscera, fat, and blood together and boiling them together. Oats, rye, and salt are added to the mixture, and finally a black and sticky substance is produced.

When these black things cool and solidify, they become black pudding, and you can imagine how it tastes.

Don’t think that Europeans don’t eat animal organs. In fact, they like to eat them very much. It was only in modern times when technology developed and material resources became abundant that they stopped eating them.

As for food like black pudding, common people could not enjoy it at all. Only the Frankish nobles could eat it.

In this era, humans have few ways to obtain various vitamins, and animal livers contain a large amount of vitamins, so animal offal is a good thing for them.

Given the dietary standards of that era, Richard naturally did not want to make himself suffer, so he trained a group of chefs a long time ago and also learned how to make various seasonings.

Therefore, the food in the Rhine Province is still very good.

Now Richard used these sugar, salt, wine and delicacies to trade with the Franks. These delicious foods directly conquered the Franks.

Richard had many ways to deal with these Franks, and extravagant enjoyment was the simplest and most effective way.

Richard provided these Frankish tribal leaders with a large amount of supplies and food through trade. Where had these people ever enjoyed such food and wine? Without anyone's guidance, these tribal leaders began to enjoy it one by one.

Even Merovice was the same, but at least Merovice still had some self-control, while others did not have such self-control.

Although the problem is not serious in the short term, if it lasts for half a year or a year, it will basically become a complete depravity.

Since ancient times, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. These tribal leaders, who originally lived a hard life, became corrupt and degenerate faster than one could imagine after they began to enjoy themselves.

Richard successfully used these foods to make a large number of Frankish tribal leaders addicted to them.

In order to enjoy these things, the Franks began to recruit exiles from all over the place and then sell them to Richard.

With the help of these Franks, Richard was able to gather the exiles faster.

Over the next few months, the population of the Rhine Province began to grow rapidly.

Even Richard's supplies flowed not only to the Franks, but also to the Germanic tribes and the Visigothic Kingdom.

Alea's caravan is still very capable. In the past, she had a hard time because of the war and monotheism, and lived in fear under the suppression of monotheism. Now with Richard as a backer, all these problems have been solved.

The Monotheism was busy dealing with heresy and division and had no time to take care of other things. The war also ended with a brief peace because the Huns were defeated. In addition, Richard ordered the extraordinary knights to follow and guard, so the safety of the caravan was guaranteed.

Therefore, the Rhine Province obtained a large number of slaves, food and money through the caravans, which provided important power for the development of the Rhine Province.

Richard established a smelting workshop in the Rhine Province. After nearly a year of development, the smelting workshop produced more and more weapons and armor.

The quality of these weapons and armors is obviously much better than those of the Roman Empire. Although the metallurgical technology of the Roman Empire is very advanced compared to that of other barbarians, it still cannot be compared with Richard's.

After acquiring a large population, Richard continued to cultivate the land while increasing the output of the smelting workshop.

Due to the shortage of skilled craftsmen, Richard deliberately implemented the assembly line model. In this way, a craftsman only needs to master one step, and even ordinary people with no basic knowledge can learn it quickly.

Through this assembly line model, Richard successfully built a smelting workshop using only a small number of craftsmen and produced a large number of ironware.

While the Rhine Province was working hard to farm, it was also manufacturing armor and weapons. Richard planned to wait until the next year when the grain harvest was good, then he would start a war and bring the Gaul Province under his control.

Next year, Attila, the Scourge of God, will lead his army to attack the Roman Empire again. This time he will bypass the Alps and go straight to the Italian peninsula.

Valentinian III is still engaged in a political struggle with Aetius, and by then neither side will be able to react.

Valentinian III would certainly flee, and Aetius probably would not contribute either. By that time, the Roman Empire would be almost in name only.

Of course, Richard would nominally support Valentinian III, but he would not send a single soldier to Rome.

The current Roman Empire is beyond salvation, and tearing it down and rebuilding it is the best option.

His attitude was very clear, he nominally supported the emperor of the empire, and he spared no effort in making slogans, promises, and compliments, giving people the impression that he was the emperor's vanguard and a staunch supporter.

But in reality, they were just shouting slogans, and would not send any soldiers to help the emperor, nor would they confront the Protector of the Empire, Aetius. Aetius's prestige was now at its peak, and almost all the imperial troops supported him.

Richard didn't want to fall out with him, his main feature now was his loud voice. Anyway, shouting slogans was free, and verbal support was also support.

The current Duke Protector of the Country is not having a good time either. He wants to reconcile with the Emperor, so he wants the Emperor to marry the princess to his son.

But now Valentinian III had developed a rebellious mentality and refused several times, not wanting to marry his daughter to his son.

If Aetius' son married the princess, his power would certainly be greater, and it would also represent a collaboration between the emperor and the Protector.

If this political alliance was really achieved, then the Protector Aetius would be almost equivalent to an emperor. Of course, this would also be beneficial to Valentinian III.

Once the political alliance is reached, Valentinian III's position will be secure and he will not have to worry about being overthrown or deposed by others. And with the support of Aetius, he will become a true emperor of the empire.

Instead, the emperor’s decrees cannot leave Italy, or rather, cannot leave the city of Rome.

But this political alliance was just Aetius' wishful thinking. Valentinian III did not want to be a puppet mascot, he also had ambitions in his heart.

Although his ambitions may seem unrealistic to others, it is almost impossible for an emperor to become a mascot.

Apart from Valentinian III, the old nobles in the Senate were unwilling to see the two sides unite. The more powerful Aetius became, the less powerful these old nobles became.

They did not want to reduce their own power, so these old nobles of the empire began to openly and secretly sow discord between the emperor and Aetius, and at the same time supported the emperor and Aetius in the struggle for power.

As for Richard, as long as he didn't go too far, Aetius wouldn't care about him at all. Moreover, compared to those old nobles of the empire and the Roman emperor, who were insects, Aetius was really saving the empire.

In Aetius's view, although Richard supported the emperor of the empire, he did not take any practical action and was stationed in the northern border of the empire to resist the invasion of the Germans. The existence of Richard's Rhine Province was conducive to the stability of the empire.

So as long as it was beneficial to the empire, Aetius could tolerate some of Richard's things.

The politics of the empire is so bizarre. A powerful official of the empire is trying to maintain the continuation of the empire, while the emperor and the old nobles of the empire are constantly holding him back.

As if he was afraid that the empire would be saved by him.

If Aetius wanted to save the empire, there was actually only one way, and that was to become the Roman emperor himself and then make decisions on his own instead of arguing with these people.

How can you govern a country with a bunch of insects?
Only by gaining control of the vast majority of power, reorganizing the empire's finances and strengthening the imperial army could Aetius help the empire out of the crisis.

However, the success rate of doing this is very low. It’s not that no one has ever done this in history, but only very few have succeeded.

After all, not every dynasty will encounter figures like Yu Qian and Zhang Juzheng.

If it weren't for Yu Qian, the Ming Dynasty would have lost half of its territory and become the Southern Ming Dynasty, even if it didn't perish during the reign of Emperor Ming Baozong. However, after Yu Qian helped the Ming Dynasty survive for a while, it ended miserably.

It was originally thought that no one in the Ming Dynasty would stand up in times of national crisis. However, during the Wanli period, a man named Zhang Juzheng emerged who was good at state affairs but poor at personal planning.

His reforms helped to extend the life of the Ming Dynasty, but when Zhang Juzheng died, the policies he implemented were completely negated.

Since the emperor is so heartless, don't blame the ministers for their misconduct.

The problems faced by the Roman Empire were equally serious. If Aetius could hold on to power, there was still hope for success. Of course, the greater probability was that the empire would be in a state of despair and Aetius would fail no matter what he did.

The development of the Rhine Province requires a large number of talents. The emperor of the empire gave his craftsmen urgent tasks, but Richard still lacked talents.

During this period, Alea has also been recruiting various talents in Rome.

In fact, there are still many talents in Rome. In the past ten years, the Roman Empire lost the colony of Carthage in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula (Spain). One of these two areas is the grain production area of ​​the empire, and the other is the mineral resource production area of ​​the empire.

The empire originally had a large number of administrative officials and craftsmen here. After these two provinces were occupied by the Goths and Vandals, the administrative officials and craftsmen here evacuated back one after another.

There is no shortage of officials in other parts of the empire, so these people are basically idle.

Alea knew the situation in the empire, so she asked the emperor for an imperial edict allowing him to recruit administrative personnel and craftsmen from these people.

Valentinian III naturally would not refuse Richard's request, and directly issued an edict, allowing Alea to recruit on her own.

So Alea began to find these people in the city and invited them to go to Rhineland.

Officials in the Carthage region of North Africa are familiar with planting and can help Richard with farming. Many officials in the Iberian Peninsula are proficient in mining and smelting and can help Richard expand mining areas.

In fact, many of these people are retainers of nobles. When a great noble goes to a province to take up a post, they will take them with them. These people will help the nobles handle government affairs and manage the entire province.

Unfortunately, the original nobles had fallen into decline after the empire lost these two regions. The nobles could not afford to support them, so they left. However, the Roman Empire no longer had any extra space for them.

So these people could only stay idle in Rome. Aleiya's invitation just gave them a job, so these people naturally would not refuse.

Having these people allowed Richard's territory to develop faster.

There are two mountain ranges in Richard's territory, the Jura Mountains in the east and the Vosges Mountains in the west. There are many minerals in the two mountains. Now with these craftsmen, he can increase mineral development and produce more weapons.

(End of this chapter)