Rose Empire

Therefore, Charlotte's car has currently built a "concept car", which is placed alone on the construction site every day, and is used as a topic of conversation by the residents far more than as a means of transportation.

Cecilia's praise for the car was full of politeness, but seeing Charlotte's happy expression, Cecilia decided not to expose the truth for the time being.

"After leveling the area, fence it off," Charlotte drew an oval on the map and said, "I want to build a racecourse with a track, fences and spectator seats."

"A racetrack?" Cecilia asked doubtfully, "Do you want to hold a tournament?"

"No," Charlotte shook her head, "I'm going to bet on the (Harmony) horse."

How can one make money in a trade hub with no resources, no arable land, and even little manpower? There are many ways to answer this question, but Charlotte chose gambling.

There is no other reason except that gambling costs are low and money comes quickly.

The people coming and going from Viscount Lanwan's territory were mainly traveling merchants and the Sokyan mercenaries they hired. After a trade trip, they would carry some cash. And these two types of people were not the kind who liked to be stingy with themselves, especially the mercenaries. Apart from fighting, their favorite things to do were probably eating, drinking, whoring and gambling.

On the Sokya Peninsula, "mercenary's purse" is synonymous with "empty". In a war-torn region, it is not difficult for mercenaries to make money, but it is well known that Sokya mercenaries love to spend money. They always like to spend all their hard-earned money as soon as they get it, as if they think they will not live to see the next day.

In order to let those mercenaries and merchants spend their money where it should be spent, for example, in the Viscount Lanwan Territory, Charlotte not only prepared horse racing for them, but also racing - horse-drawn chariots, as well as more traditional cards, dice, and more bloody cockfighting, dog fighting and animal fighting. Charlotte even had the ingenuity to ask craftsmen to make several mechanical gambling machines - mainly various pinball machines. For some reason, the mechanical slot machine designed by Charlotte would not work.

In order to let the guests gamble happily and enjoyably, when Charlotte sent people to the Green Plains Principality to purchase grain, she also reminded them to buy more wine and drinks.

A gambler is naturally more compatible with a drunkard.

Charlotte described the grand blueprint of Lanwan's gaming industry that she had envisioned. Cecilia was silent for a long time after listening to it. After a while, she said, "What if the church interferes?"

According to the teachings of the Church, gambling is a strictly prohibited evil. Although the church generally does not do anything to gamblers who participate in gambling - that is the jurisdiction of the local lord, but if someone develops the gambling industry as blatantly as Charlotte does, surely the church will not be able to turn a blind eye, right?

"It doesn't matter……"

Charlotte shook her head and was about to say, "The Canon of the Church says that adultery is forbidden, but don't bishops still have so many nephews?"

Finally, Hermann Green came riding hurriedly.

"Miss, there are guests visiting the Archangel Cathedral." Hermann Green dismounted and knelt on one knee.

"The Cathedral of the Angels?" It took Charlotte a few seconds to remember where that place was.

The Basilica of the Archangel is the largest church on the Sokya Peninsula, located on Mount Albert in the south of the city-state of Fiji. Albert is an angel under the seat of Lord Ige. It is said that Mount Albert is the place where he ascended to the throne of angel, so the Basilica of the Archangel is also called the Basilica of Albert.

Why did the church people come to me? My gambling business has not even started yet.

Or is it something about Beatrice...

Charlotte was confused, but she still asked Herman Green to bring the person over. As a result, Charlotte didn't expect that she would meet an acquaintance.

"Nice to meet you, Lord Viscount Melfield. I am God's humble servant, Borodin, and this is my disciple, Banerjee." The well-dressed, plump and fair Borodin bowed to Charlotte.

"Hello, Master Borodin," Charlotte said to Borodin, nodded to the handsome young man behind him, and asked in confusion, "Master Borodin, you are a judge, right? Why do you say you are from the Archangel Cathedral?"

The Archangel Cathedral is a church. The Inquisition, where the Inquisitor is located, should generally be an institution parallel to the church. Therefore, it is not common for an Inquisitor to say that he is from a certain church, unless it is the Holy City of Moyes.

"I am indeed an inquisitor of the Philippine Inquisition, but the Sokya Inquisition is also part of the Archangel Cathedral. The situation in the Sokya Peninsula is special. The Pope once issued an edict to let the Archangel Cathedral take charge of all religious affairs in Sokya. After all, the Wolf Continent is across from us." Borodin explained.

"Oh..." Charlotte nodded to show that she understood, and then asked with a smile, "I wonder why Mr. Borodin came to my remote little place?"

"I heard that the Viscount executed a necromancer?" said Borodin.

"Yes," Charlotte's face darkened when she talked about this topic. "That demon who disobeyed the Lord God slaughtered my people wantonly. I was lucky enough to catch him and sentenced him to death."

Seeing Charlotte's sincere words, Borodin couldn't help but agree with her: "Yes, every necromancer is a demon who disobeys the Lord. I have been hunting down this necromancer named Legba Dando for more than two months. I thought he would escape this time, but I didn't expect that the demon fell into your hands. I wonder if you, Lord Viscount, can let me take the body of the demon back to the cathedral to report?"

"Corpse? Of course." Charlotte agreed readily, and then said, "In addition, the demon has some blasphemous relics. Your Excellency the Inquisitor, please take them back with you."

As she spoke, Charlotte called Renee over and whispered a few words in her ear. Renee nodded and immediately went to get something.

After a while, Leni came over holding a cloth bag and a wooden box.

The young man named Banerjee behind Borodin stepped forward and took the items from Renee. He first opened the cloth bag and took a look. There was only a notebook and some clothes and accessories inside, which were indeed the relics found on Legba Dando.

The notebook recorded a lot of knowledge about the necromancy faction and Legba Dando's own experience in practicing. Charlotte copied a copy of course. Although she didn't plan to practice the necromancy faction, the knowledge was always useful. Borodin didn't ask Charlotte if she copied it. After all, nobles would tell the truth. Even if Charlotte admitted that she copied it, Borodin couldn't do anything about a noble like Charlotte, and would only embarrass her.

So, it is better not to look, listen, ask, or care.

Anyway, the Oran Empire is not under his jurisdiction.

Banerjee put away the cloth bag and opened the exquisite wooden box. His eyes suddenly lit up, as if he was dazzled by the golden fuso.

That’s right, the box is full of golden Fuso.

"This……"

Banerjee didn't know what to say for a moment. They all knew that Regba Dando had discarded all his belongings on the way to escape. How could there be so many fuso among his belongings?

Charlotte smiled and opened her mouth, as if she wanted to persuade Borodin and Banerjee to accept the money, but was suddenly interrupted.

"Miss, Brother Borodin and Brother Banerjee are both mendicants, and mendicants cannot indulge in material enjoyment," Hermann Green said in a deep voice.

This was an admonition to Charlotte not to bribe, and also a reminder to Borodin and Banerjee to observe the ascetic precepts of the mendicant monks.

"The knight is right. A beggar should not have more wealth than he needs for food and drink," Borodin reprimanded solemnly. "Banaji, return the money to the Viscount."

Although Banerjee was reluctant, he had no choice but to hand the wooden box back to Renee.

"Ah... I was inconsiderate. I actually did such a disrespectful thing to a mendicant monk with noble character." Charlotte smiled apologetically and asked Renee to put away the wooden box and Fuso.

"No," Borodin shook his head and sighed, "It's because the priests today are too flashy and greedy for enjoyment, so that when people see people in our church, they think we are greedy. Miss Melerfield can't be blamed for this. But we mendicants are different. The predecessors of the mendicant order decided to leave the church and embark on the path of asceticism because they couldn't stand the church's atmosphere..."

Charlotte also echoed a few words, praising the piety and noble character of the Mendicant Order, and then pointed to Hermann Green beside him and introduced: "This noble knight actually has some connection with the Mendicant Order. He is the adopted son of the Grand Monk Meiu Rune."

"Oh? It turns out to be the mentor Meiu Rune?" Borodin said with surprise.

Meiu Rune is the current supreme leader of the Mendicant Order, and the mendicants call him "Mentor".

Hermann Grimm saluted Borodin again, this time with church ceremony.

However, although Borodin was surprised, he only got a little closer to Hermann Green and exchanged a few pleasantries without showing any overly aggressive behavior.

Because Meiu Rune had spent most of his life doing charity and helping children, and had adopted at least 8,000 orphans. These orphans who remained in the Mendicant Order could indeed be considered a very powerful force. People like Hermann Green, who had long since left the Mendicant Order, were not worthy of Borodin's attention.

In the end, Borodin and Banerjee only took away the ordinary cloth bag - Regba Dando's body had to be collected at the Lanwan Isthmus Checkpoint.

The two boarded the carriage they had taken. Banerjee, who had been feeling lost just now, suddenly exclaimed in surprise: "Huh?"

Borodin looked in the direction of the voice and saw a wooden box on the seat of the carriage, which was larger than the one Renee had just handed them. Banerjee opened the box and saw more Fuso inside.

Borodin's fingers gently stroked the tempting gold coins, a gratified smile appeared on the corners of his mouth. He raised his eyes and said to Banerjee, "Send the return gift we prepared to the Viscount and tell her that we are very grateful to her for helping us capture the necromancer."

“Okay.” Banerjee nodded in response.

Not long after, Charlotte received a delicate little cylinder about two palms long.

Charlotte opened the cylinder, revealing several feather pens with golden patterns. These gold-rimmed feather pens were office supplies used exclusively by the Inquisition.

The quill was certainly not worth much, even though it was coated with gold, but it was obvious that the quill, like the tattered canon, represented a valuable friendship.

Charlotte took out a friendship from an inquisitor, shook it in front of Cecilia, and said with a smile: "See? God has approved me to open a casino."

PS: Thanks to "I'm so hungry" and "Sakura-colored summer" for the rewards, and thank you all for your monthly tickets and blade recommendation tickets.

PS2: The revised chapter 37 is still banned, which makes me feel bad... Now everyone can only read the 8217th chapter through the book club. We are actively revising it and trying to unblock it again. I am very sorry.

Volume 47: Chapter 41 Chapter The ups and downs of growth and unexpected events

For an agricultural society, winter is generally the most depressed and the most leisurely time. However, for the farmers in the southern part of Viscount Lanwan's territory, this winter is a little different.

The lord gathered them together and asked them to build roads and houses, forcing them to face heavy labor in the winter when they could have rested. However, there was good news. The new lord was generous and gave them enough oatmeal to eat every day.

Although Charlotte sometimes had people add bran to their porridge, these hard-working farmers didn't care much because they ate bran anyway.

In fact, these farmers had almost no land of their own, as their farmland had been completely occupied by the knights and their families for hundreds of years. These farmers had to rent the knights' farmland for cultivation, and had to borrow money from them to buy their annual crops. After the harvest, most of the crops had to be used to pay off the knights' debts, and the remaining crops were often not enough for them to eat until the next summer harvest, so they could only eat wheat bran and wild vegetables.

Although trade has prospered in recent years due to the war in Sokya, and the knights in the south no longer rely on the land for their livelihood, this has not made the lives of the peasants better. The knights would rather sell the serfs and let the farmland go to waste than return the land occupied by their ancestors to the peasants. On the contrary, they increased the rent of the rented farmland and the interest on the loan until the harvest from the farmland was no longer enough to repay the debt. The peasants who were heavily in debt were restricted by the laws of the empire and the church and could not move at will, so they could only go bankrupt and sell themselves to the knights as slaves. Then the knights in the south could sell these newly-minted serfs to the slave traders in Sokya and make another fortune.

In contrast, although Charlotte also likes to add bran to their pot, she also adds wheat!

The lord also allowed everyone to eat as much as they could at every meal, even the elderly and children who were unable to work.

Therefore, the subjects who were subject to forced labor felt that the lord was quite generous at least when it came to food.

However, even though Charlotte fed them well, these subjects still lacked enthusiasm for work. In their view, they were just building houses for their lord and satisfying his own desires.

Slacking off is just the most common minor problem. These subjects would also deliberately damage tools while working to delay work efficiency; they would add unknown grass to the livestock's feed to make the livestock feel unwell and walk slower; and when the scribes brought by Charlotte served as overseers, they would scold these subjects for being lazy, and these subjects would pretend not to understand the overseers' foreign accents, which would make these inexperienced young scribes very angry.

It can be said that he is a pioneer in the fight against involution.

In order to improve work efficiency, Cecilia followed Charlotte's teachings to count the workload of each village and reward meat to the village that worked the most every day. However, Cecilia found that only three villages could eat meat, so the work efficiency was not significantly improved.

At first, Cecilia was puzzled because, at Charlotte's request, some large or small villages were forcibly broken up and merged into seven medium-sized villages. Now the population of each village in the migrant workers' camp is similar, and it stands to reason that all villages should have the opportunity to compete for the opportunity to eat meat. But before Cecilia could find out the reason, a group fight at the construction site exposed the absurd truth.

It turned out that the leaders of the three villages had secretly agreed that everyone would take turns doing more work and eating meat every day. This way they would not have to put in too much effort and could still get some benefits.

The three villages banded together and had a large population, so other villages did not dare to compete with them for meat. If one of the villages had not broken its promise and wanted to eat more meat for one more day, which led to a group fight, Cecilia didn't know how long she would have been kept in the dark.

"I have told those villagers many times that as long as the market is built, they will have many opportunities to make money, and they will be able to eat and wear warm clothes... Why do they still do this? Why do they only want to go back to their poor village? Why don't they believe me?"

In the castle study, Cecilia accused Charlotte. Her eyes were red and there were tears on her eyelashes. It was obvious that she had just cried.

Cecilia was more serious about the affairs of the market than Charlotte asked. As a girl from a common family, Cecilia sincerely hoped that she could help those people at the bottom of society, not to mention how good their lives were, but at least to have enough food and clothing. Therefore, she put almost all her enthusiasm into her work these days.

Cecilia knew that in Charlotte's plan, the southern part of Lanwan would be almost entirely a commercial district, with many casinos, shops, workshops, warehouses, docks... and many people would be needed to work there. For the impoverished southern residents, this would be a chance to have enough food.

However, no matter what Cecilia said, these subjects just couldn't really work actively.

Charlotte held her chin with her hand and looked at Cecilia, whose face was covered with tears, with a smile on her face.

"What are you laughing at?" Cecilia asked, wiping her tears.

"I'm laughing at how beautifully you cry." Charlotte blurted out.

Cecilia spat in annoyance.

Charlotte was not at all surprised by what happened to Cecilia, as she had seen similar cases in her previous life.

It is said that some medical aid organizations set up medical centers in poor countries and regions to help local people fight dysentery. The medicine they prescribed to local people is an oral rehydration solution, which can effectively treat dysentery, reduce the abuse of antibiotics, and is very cheap. However, when local people came to the medical center, they found that the doctors only prescribed oral rehydration solutions, not a bunch of antibiotics, and did not give them intravenous injections. Local people believed that only drugs that directly entered the blood were the most effective, as if there was no treatment, so they never came again.

Even if locals did recover from dysentery after taking oral rehydration solution, they attributed it to their own good luck rather than the treatment given by the doctors at the health center. If they fell ill again, they would still stubbornly seek large amounts of antibiotics and intravenous injections.

This dilemma is often caused by a serious cognitive gap and is difficult to avoid.

However, Charlotte did not speak to comfort Cecilia. Instead, she put away her playful expression, tapped the table with her fingers and said, "As a manager, you have an unshirkable responsibility for this matter."

"Me?" Cecilia was stunned by what Charlotte said.

"Establishing a reward and punishment mechanism is certainly helpful in improving work efficiency, but have you ever thought in advance whether your reward and punishment mechanism can really cover everyone fairly?" Charlotte asked seriously.

Cecilia's lips moved slightly, not knowing how to answer.

Charlotte didn't wait for Cecilia's answer. She spread her hands and said, "Now the facts have proven that it is impossible. Those villages that have formed a group and naturally produced a leader can easily monopolize your rewards. The other villages don't even have the courage to speak, let alone compete. Since I can't guarantee fairness, your reward and punishment mechanism is meaningless."

Cecilia lowered her head and reflected for a long time before she said, "Then what should I do?"

"What's the difference between those three villages that are clustered together and other villages?" Charlotte asked.

After a brief thought, Cecilia said, "The other four villages have basically had many villagers moved in and out. These three villages have barely been moved because of their population."

"Then the answer is simple, isn't it? Break up all the villages, and then regroup them into seven villages so that they all start from the same starting line." Charlotte said.

"Hmm..." Cecilia nodded slightly.

"Another point is that just letting the villagers eat a few slices of meat will not change their minds about wanting to return to their original village. If you want them to settle down near the market, you have to give them some reasons to stay, such as farmland," Charlotte added.

"Allocate some farmland to them outside Yushu Village?" Cecilia responded quickly.

"Yeah." Charlotte nodded.

"But didn't you say that the area around Elm Village will be a commercial area in the future?" Cecilia was a little confused.

"When the market needs to expand in the future, we can take back the farmland," Charlotte said without hesitation. "I believe that by then, these villagers will not care so much about the farmland."

"Okay," Cecilia stood up and regained her spirits, "I'll do it right away."

Charlotte spoke again, saying calmly, "Also, you'd better hang the leaders of those three villages."

Cecilia paused as she was about to walk out of the study. She looked at Charlotte, only to see that Charlotte had already lowered her head to read the documents in her hand. She took a deep breath and nodded, "I understand."

City-state, Ambratu.

"Hello, Elder Kramer."

"Hello."

"Elder Kramer!"

"Hello."

"Elder Kramer, why didn't you bring little Kramer out today?"