I'm not a lord

Chapter 46 Painting Cake
Although old Albert is old, his mind is still active.

With just a few hints from Linn, he guessed Linn's future plans.

Of course, war is only a small part of Linn's plan and just one of his means of acquiring population.

"The war isn't urgent. Right now, I have a more important task for you: road construction."

Lynn and Old Albert chatted while riding, and White Bear Town was already in sight.

Building roads?

Old Albert was stunned at first, then he finally remembered that the master had told him about this task when he came back from his first inspection of the forest.

It is said that a 20-kilometer road will be built connecting the White Bear Territory and the peat mine, and an additional small dock will be built in the north.

"Master, isn't this a bit too hasty? The serfs have just started cultivating their own land. If we conscript them to build the road now..."

Lao Ai no longer dared to think about the consequences.

A large-scale rebellion might not be possible, but serf uprisings or escapes were certain to occur.

No matter how brave the lord is, he cannot resist the serfs' fearlessness of death!
After all, if they are not allowed to cultivate the land, they will really starve to death.

"Eight days. I'll give you eight days. After eight days, I want to see one thousand male serfs over the age of fifteen ready for deployment."

Lynn estimated the time and gave a deadline.

The serfs' allotments did not need fertilizer, and there was not enough fertilizer to fertilize them.

By removing this step, you can save a lot of time.

Moreover, he only conscripted male serfs, and the remaining female serfs and small serfs should be enough to complete the finishing work on the farmland.

Countless projects are chasing Lin En behind him. After the 60-kilometer road is completed, he still has to build a salt mine, an asphalt mine, a factory for refining refined salt, and prepare houses for the new cattle and horses in the future.
Therefore, all cattle and horses, no matter how old or young, must obey his orders.

"As the master wishes."

Old Albert knew that this was the result of a compromise and could only accept the order obediently.

Fortunately, there are only more than 20 kilometers of road to be repaired, and it can probably be completed from April to June.

At this time, the group arrived at White Bear Town, and Lin En immediately summoned the blacksmith Qi He and the carpenter Tolima.

The location is still the only tavern in town.

"I will begin road construction in eight days. I will need mattocks and shovels sufficient for fifteen hundred men, one hundred sturdy wheelbarrows, and at least ten large, two-horse drawn freight wagons."

Lin En didn't bother to be polite with the two craftsmen leaders and gave them orders directly.

"Master, making these tools is no problem. We still have some in stock in the warehouse, but what about the iron ingots?"

Qi He was not afraid of this at all. He was very business-minded and knew that the new master liked to "build large-scale projects", so he had already started training more blacksmith apprentices.

But the problem remains the same: there are not enough iron ingots.

The 1,000 kilograms of iron ingots that the black market merchant Leon brought last time was barely enough to cover the cost of making the heavy plow.

If these iron ingots are made into hoes and shovels, where will the farm tools for the autumn harvest come from?

"Just take care of the ironwork, and I'll figure out how to deal with the iron ingots."

Lynn still took on everything.

With Leon's line, iron ingots are not a problem at all. Forget iron ingots. As long as the money is enough, they dare to sell even iron armor and steel crossbows.

"Master, it's no problem for us. It's just building a car, right? Easy!"

Tolima is even more so. He is not afraid of working, but he is afraid of being idle.

The serfs knew a little bit about ordinary carpentry work.

For more complex carpentry work, such as wheelbarrows and plows, these tools are quite durable and do not receive much business throughout the year.

As long as there is work to do, there will be a steady stream of gold coins!
Lin En was very satisfied with their attitude and encouraged them, "Work hard, and I won't let you down."

He knew that due to the growing demand, both Zich and Tolima would have to recruit more apprentices.

Just by paying a little wages, the number of craftsmen in the territory can be increased. This deal is really a good deal.

To put it bluntly, one of the main reasons why feudal manors developed slowly in the past was that there was too little demand.

Serfs could meet most of their needs in life by farming and raising livestock.

They do not need to purchase too many goods from outside, so naturally there are no craftsmen in the territory to produce these goods.

Lynn's large-scale construction projects are equivalent to creating a large amount of demand out of thin air, which can directly promote the development of handicrafts in the territory.

He also felt that Qi He's craftsmanship was not good enough, so he sent his third brother to look for a better blacksmith in Sanhe City.

At this time, Old Albert suddenly asked, "Master, why do you need a mattock? Isn't the swamp from the territory to the north all forest wetlands?"

"During this exploration, I discovered a stone mine and an asphalt mine. These two mines are not far from each other, so this road construction will connect these two mines and provide materials for road construction."

As he spoke, Lin En spread out a simple map on the table, marking the specific locations of the stone mines and asphalt mines, and redesigned the route map.

The route is still just over 20 kilometers long, but there are two branches in the middle, connecting the stone mine and the asphalt mine respectively.

Of course, he planned a clearer and more specific route on the big map of "Lord", but his current drawing skills did not allow him to restore it on paper.

But it doesn’t matter. It’s not a high-speed railway anyway, so it’s good enough to be able to use it.

Qi He, the blacksmith, had seen the world. He looked at the map in amazement: "There's an asphalt mine in the forest to the north? Master, this stuff is worth a lot of money."

The second man standing behind Lin En handed over a palm-sized piece of black asphalt ore at the right time.

Lin En took the ore and slapped it on the edge of the map. "This asphalt mine is very shallow. Once the road is built, White Bear Territory will be able to sell the asphalt ore to the outside world. The demand for ironware and transport vehicles will increase exponentially. Then you will all become rich."

Lin En's technique of drawing pie in the sky is becoming more and more proficient, and he has not yet drawn the ultimate pie in the sky.

Seeing the genuine bitumen ore, Qi He instantly straightened up: "Master, just give your orders. I will obey all your orders!"

As a blacksmith, how could he not understand the benefits of mining?

Once the asphalt mine is opened, the huge demand for ironware will come like a flood, which will be a disaster for him.

Once he makes a lot of money, he can send his youngest son to a school in Sanhe City, and the whole family will have a chance to prosper in the future!
Tolima followed closely behind and loudly pledged his allegiance, saying that blacksmiths and carpenters were inseparable, and he would definitely have a share of the wealth.

By the time we left White Bear Town, it was almost dusk.

Looking at the loyalty of 97 points on Old Albert's panel, Lynn threw out his last pie of the day.

"Albert, actually, this route map is only halfway through. After the road to the Great Swamp is built, I plan to build another 40 kilometers of road to the west, and it must be completed this year."

(End of this chapter)