Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 252 Celebration and Planning

Harvey sat in the castle study, leaning on the soft sofa and dictating the activity plan for the harvest festival. Reiner stood beside him, holding a booklet and recording it quickly.

Harvey had originally come up with the idea of holding a celebration after the autumn harvest. After all, there were very few festivals for the people in the Frontier Territory. Apart from the shooting competition held by the army every six months, there was only the annual winter celebration.

Although Harvey later formed rugby teams for the army and police department, and built several public chess and card rooms and officers' clubs in the territory, in general, the people still had too little leisure and entertainment time.

So as early as the winter celebration last year, Harvey publicly stated that he would clearly write the benefit of the people working six days and resting one day into the laws and regulations of the territory, and all departments must strictly abide by it and not violate it.

This decree of compulsory leave really made everyone feel incredible. After all, whether they were refugees in the wilderness or escaped slaves in the south, they had always lived a life of working hard as long as they could survive. Even in the dead of winter when the heavy snow made it impossible to cultivate the land and the cattle and sheep no longer needed to be grazed, they were often frequently conscripted by noble lords from all over the place, either to build castle walls or to do odd jobs and hard labor for the lords in preparation for war in the spring.

Huddled up in a shanty in the slums with an empty stomach is not much of a vacation.

This led to people feeling uncomfortable when they discovered they had one day of free time after every six working days. In the end, it evolved into a situation where in the pioneer territory, if they wanted to have a day off, their supervisors would put them on the overtime list, and they had to use some extra connections, which really made Harvey laugh and cry.

"Since no one wants to take a vacation, let's just create a bunch of large-scale festivals and celebrations so that they can't help but participate and adapt to this social model..."

"There's the Winter Festival at the beginning of the year, the Harvest Festival at the end of the year, the semi-annual military target practice, and the monthly rugby games..." Harvey counted on his fingers and turned to Reiner, "What else can we use to come up with some new festivals?"

Reiner closed the notebook and whispered a reminder, "I heard that the great nobles in the southern border like to lavishly reward their servants and subjects in their fiefdoms during their birthday banquets. You can follow their example, sir..."

Harvey coughed awkwardly twice. The thought of himself sitting in a carriage, parading around the territory while throwing money around gave him goosebumps. "Stop making a fuss about me! This proposal is rejected!"

Upon hearing this, the city manager could only shrug his shoulders and said helplessly, "Then there's no other choice. As far as I know, the only festivals civilians were allowed to participate in were the birthdays of the gods and the Glorious Mass. Other than that, everyone worked almost year-round without a break. If they didn't work for a single day, the whole family would go hungry..."

……

After finishing his morning work, Harvey had a quick lunch and then hurried to the newly planned residential area. Looking at the bustling scene at the construction site, he nodded with satisfaction.

The pioneering territory, now surrounded by towering walls that are dozens of miles long, has undergone tremendous changes compared to the desolate ancient wizard ruins. Except for the lord's castle area where Harvey lives and works on a daily basis, which still vaguely retains some of the original greenery and style, the other areas that were originally primitive dense forests are completely new.

The temporary wooden houses in the residential areas along the river have all been demolished and replaced with new ones, and uniform two-story gray cement brick houses have been built. The residential area is divided into two parts by the most prosperous market area in the territory now, and is neatly planned into open residential communities in the shape of a field. This large residential area occupies about three-fifths of the entire pioneering land area and can accommodate six to seven thousand residents.

A small number of local residents lived scattered across farmlands, industrial areas, and mining areas further outside the city walls. With the construction of hardened concrete roads, they could now easily and quickly travel to various areas within the territory using bicycles, which were becoming increasingly popular, regardless of the distance. For the new residential complex, Harvey no longer planned to use the traditional two-story townhouse model. Instead, he would expand the single-story area and build two-story townhouses from cement brick buildings, ensuring that each floor could accommodate a household.

He also divided the houses into different types of units, such as one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom, according to the real estate development model of his previous life on Earth. This would make it easier to allocate new housing according to the family size of the new residents.

Of course, just like in the past, these houses were simply rented by the lords to the common people, and the monthly rent was still deducted directly from their salaries, which was considered direct taxation.

The Minister of Construction greeted Harvey, who came to inspect the work, with a dusty face. When he saw the lord asked his personal guards to hand over another stack of construction drawings, he couldn't help but shudder with fear.

"Near these public schools in the municipal district, I plan to build a few... uh, apartments! They will be used as housing for the alchemy apprentices I employ in the alchemy lab, as well as the magic apprentices who have newly joined the territory."

The alchemy apprentices brought by Chris, and the magic apprentices brought by Durt later, were all relatively young teenagers. Even though Harvey paid them full salaries based on their daily work, he did not consider providing them with separate houses. As a result, these teenagers still live in the only two guesthouses for external guests in the territory.

This is very inconvenient for those who want to quickly integrate them into the pioneer territory.

Haru wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve, carefully unfolded the blueprint in front of Harvey, and carefully studied the location of Harvey's newly planned project.

"Hmm... The municipal district doesn't cover a large area to begin with, and this vacant lot near the college isn't big enough to build townhouses. I originally planned to have Mr. Egno create a small garden there..."

The Minister of Construction looked up as if waking from a dream and asked hesitantly, "My Lord, what... is called an apartment?"

"An apartment building is taller than a two-story brick house." Harvey pointed at the simple blueprint he'd drawn. "It can't be built entirely with bricks and cement. Instead, it should be like the city wall I taught you before: strong steel bars should be added to the pillars and beams, and then concrete should be poured into the structure to form the whole thing... This way, the structure will be stable. Forget building just three or four stories; even if you want to build it up to ten, there won't be any problems."

Haru looked bewildered and muttered to himself, "Build a house like a city wall... It doesn't matter how high it is..."

He suddenly shuddered, and something extraordinary seemed to flash through his mind. He closed the drawing and raised his hand to inconspicuously wipe the black iron medal that he had always worn on his left chest. It was the merit award awarded to him by the lord himself after the completion of the territory wall, and it was an honor certificate praising him as the "cornerstone of territory construction."

"My Lord! I understand!" Haru said in a trembling voice, his expression trembling with excitement. "Once these projects are completed, let me help you renovate your castle! As long as I have enough manpower, I can build you a tower that reaches the sky!"

(End of this chapter)