Succubus' Manor

The merchants set off, carrying cart after cart of goods, trekking under the scorching sun, sitting in the carriage, after opening the window, the wind blowing outside was all hot wind, even if they were motionless, sweat could flow from their foreheads Slide to the chin.

Arnold gnawed on the dry biscuits, picked up the water bag and took a sip of water before looking outside.

There are withered grass leaves as far as the eye can see, and the earth is dry and cracked due to lack of water. There is no human habitation around here, and even the shadow of wild animals cannot be seen.

Andrew sat beside Arnold, also dizzy from the heat.

They didn't bring any ice when they came out, and the only thing that could cool off was a fan made of thin wood chips, but a fan is hot air, so it's better not to fan.

"This damn weather." Arnold complained.

Andrew had already taken off his clothes in the car, only wearing a pair of shorts, his head was dizzy, and he didn't have much strength to speak: "How long will it take to arrive?"

Arnold: "The weather is too hot, the horse can't run fast, and it will take three or four days."

Andrew closed his eyes in despair - he would never have come out if he had known!

It's a pity that there is no regret medicine to buy.

Chi Yan in the castle was not hot at all. In the entire territory, only his room had the most ice, and the castle was originally cooler than outside. With the windows closed, Chi Yan was wearing a layer of unlined clothing, and the temperature was just right.

Fortunately, they have been digging water reservoirs since winter, and the wheat fields, lotus root fields, and ramie fields have all survived. They need to water several times a day, but this year there will definitely be a harvest.

Ramie is the most grown. After all, this thing can not only spin thread and weave cloth, but also make sugar and paper. If it weren't for Chi Yan who now thinks it is better to use wheat wine, ramie can also be used to make wine.

Ramie is a treasure, although linen clothes are not as good as cotton clothes, and hemp sugar is not as good as sucrose, but at the moment when there is no choice, ramie is simply a blessing for the poor.

This ghostly weather inhibited Chi Yan's development path. It was so hot in summer that people were forced to work under such a big sun and ultraviolet rays.

It is extremely cold in winter, and if you don't pay attention to working outdoors, you will get frostbite.

The time of spring and autumn is short, and the things that can be done are limited.

Chi Yan's original plan was to repair the roads first, especially the roads in the city. Only the main road in the center of the city is a slate road, and many slabs have been damaged or cracked and warped, while the other roads are The dirt road has not been maintained for a long time, and no one has tamped it. People will be covered with dust when running on this road, let alone horses running on it.

It's just that Chi Yan's plan and plan cannot be implemented for a long time. Only when the weather returns to normal and people can go out to work can the road be repaired.

Because of the extreme weather at the manor, no one was sent to report to him.

There are fewer things people can do now. They spend most of their time indoors, and they are limited in what they can do. The ramie in the field has not grown well, and there is no harvest. , Not to mention the cotton, it has long been used up.

There are fewer and fewer indoor jobs, and outdoor jobs cannot be done, so there are more and more idlers.

"It's not the way to always do this." Chi Yan leaned against Kleist's arms, with the chest and abdominal muscles explained by Kleist behind him, Chi Yan's hand was still on Kleist's arm, Chi Yan, " Find something for them to do."

But Chi Yan couldn't let them work outdoors in such a temperature. That's not asking people to do something, it's forcing people to suffer from heat stroke.

Kleist put his arm around Chi Yan's waist and listened absent-mindedly. He felt that Chi Yan's waist was getting thinner again, which showed that he ate too little and had too many things on his mind.

Chi Yan was very worried. After thinking for a long time, he couldn't figure out why, so he grabbed the hand that was making trouble on him.

"Don't make trouble." Chi Yan said very seriously, "I'm thinking about business."

Kleist grabbed Chi Yan's hand with his backhand, kissed Chi Yan's side face, and stretched his hand along the hem of his clothes. His voice was low and hoarse, and he said vaguely in Chi Yan's ear: "I'll think about it when I wake up." .”

Before Chi Yan had time to refuse, his mouth was blocked by Kleist's lips, and his mind became a paste.

It was already the next morning when I woke up again.

Fortunately, Kleist knew how to restrain himself this time, and he only did it twice last night, so Chi Yan didn't have to lie in bed for two days like last time.

When Kleist woke up, the sun was just right outside, and there was an ice basin in the room. He just turned over and wanted to hug Chi Yan into his arms, and then do some exercises before getting up, but Chi Yan who was awakened mercilessly push away.

After a tiring night, Chi Yan suddenly had a flash of inspiration and ran to find the housekeeper early in the morning.

Leaving Kleist lying on the bed, looking at Chi Yan's furious back.

Chi Yan has become more and more used to being a lord.

There is only one ice tray in the butler's room. He is old, and the temperature that looks relatively hot to young people is very suitable to him. Moreover, he is wearing two layers of clothes. The butler always takes care of himself very well. Neat and decent, although he only has three sets of "uniforms", he will take care of each one by himself.

He's always clean-shaven, and it takes a lot of time to comb his hair like it is now.

No matter when and where, he always looks trustworthy.

Chi Yan sat on the chair in the butler's room. He only sat on a third of the chair, and he didn't dare to sit upright, lest his butt hurt after sitting for a long time.

"Do you think it would be better to find something for them to do?"

Chi Yan: "I think there are few people in the territory anyway. Since you can't mine ore and smelt iron, then find a job that everyone can do. If Arnold and the others solve the problem of commodity sales, you can concentrate on producing a product."

The most valuable thing is of course sugar. Chi Yan didn’t use too much manpower to collect wild fruit to make sugar, because although sugar is expensive and can be sold at a high price, he has no sales channels, and no matter how much sugar he makes, he can’t convert it into other sugar. Materials, sugar was originally made to make people in the territory sweet.

But if there is a stable sales channel, and sugar can be converted into money and materials, then vigorous sugar production will have considerable benefits.

"It happens that there is a big house that can serve as a factory, and more ice will be provided in the factory at that time." Chi Yan talked eloquently, "As for the picking work, it can be handed over to someone who is more heat-resistant."

Generally, the elderly and children are more resistant to heat, and the work is not heavy. The picked wild fruits are placed on wooden carts, which can be transported back by hunting pigs, donkeys or cattle.

Some thin men and women can also do the job.

Others squeeze the juice and boil it, and use molds to press and cut the unhardened candy into complete round hard candies.

In addition to sugar production, the brewing of red wine can also be more standardized, and each step is handled by different people to improve efficiency.

Other jobs require very little manpower, which ensures that everyone has something to do to the greatest extent.

Only work can bring cohesion and make the society stable. If there are more unemployed people, the society will be turbulent and people will be impetuous.

After listening to Chi Yan's narration, the housekeeper was a little dazed.

Most people in the territory do the same job?

It sounds incredible.

Chi Yan: "Now the merchants in the territory can't provide jobs, and there are no farms and ranches that need manpower. We must create more jobs so that everyone has something to do."

"And we also need to do business with the outside world, we can't be self-sufficient in everything."

"And we need money, we need gold and silver, and times of chaos always pass."

It's rare for Chi Yan to be so clear-headed. Since the temperature has risen, one's spirit will also be affected by the temperature.

After Chi Yan finished talking about his plan, he looked at the butler with bright eyes.

What can the steward say?

Even if what Chi Yan said was wrong, he had to say that what Chi Yan said was right at this moment.

The steward smiled kindly and said, "Since you have already made up your mind, let them do it."

Chi Yan said enthusiastically, "I'll write the plan first."

Let the dwarves make molds, and push the high-temperature work to human machines as much as possible, such as stirring the syrup when boiling sugar. The sugar will become more viscous and harder as the water evaporates. Manpower, then the person who cooks sugar in one day may not be able to lift his arms the next day.

What the dwarves need is a foot-operated power source. This is not easy to do. It needs a chain that can fit tightly with the gears. Coal must be used to make the chain. Charcoal cannot heat pig iron to more than 500 degrees. into molten iron.

In addition to fuel, a large amount of oxygen is required, which means that many wind boxes are required to deliver oxygen to the combustion furnace.

Only by turning iron into molten iron can it be poured into molds to make chains.

If it is purely polished, in addition to low efficiency, it cannot guarantee that the chain will fit perfectly with the gears.

The splicing of the chain cannot be guaranteed.

Chi Yan first asked people to make combustion furnaces. The materials for making combustion furnaces are soil cement mixed with fired bricks and clay. They can’t find coal now, so they can only try it with charcoal. In ancient China, a large part of firing molten iron was also used. Charcoal is used, so the success rate will be lower and the demand for oxygen will be greater.

The mold is very easy to make. Now they have a unified ruler as a tool, which can be accurate to the millimeter. Before firing the molten iron, they need to make a mold first. The mold is made of clay and fine sand. After adding water, it can solidify. This kind of mold can withstand external force and high temperature.

And it is less difficult to make than making iron molds.

Burning hot iron can make the temperature in the room unbearably high.

Therefore, Chi Yan must ensure the safety of everyone. He stipulated the working hours, and even the number of times each person entered and exited the iron-burning room, as well as what preparations should be made each time they enter and exit, and once they feel uncomfortable in the body, they should Must leave immediately.

And people can't immediately walk into the room with the ice basin when they just leave the iron-burning room.

Chi Yan drew the blueprint of the mold, and then wrote down all the things that need to be used, as well as precautions, and asked Kadi to hand over the blueprint to the dwarves.

After the dwarves got the blueprints, they immediately went to work. There are iron mines in this city, and there is no shortage of iron. Even though Chi Yan hasn't sent people to mine it yet, there is a lot of stock in the cellar of the castle, and the pig iron is enough.

Sugar factories and distilleries also began to set up and recruit people. Before the dwarves made gears and chains, all work depended on people's hands and their own strength.

The situation in the territory was indeed as Chi Yan expected. After people lost their jobs, they all became anxious. They didn't dare to eat enough. No one knew when they would continue to earn food, so they unanimously saved money. live frugally.

Even the communication between companions has become less, and people often quarrel. Although there have been no fights yet, people's hearts have indeed become a lot more impetuous.

Blaise is also a member of the wave of unemployment. The weather is so hot that he fainted a few times when opening up wasteland and was stopped by Kath. Cake and Kath live off the wages they receive at the orphanage.

Kath's salary is more than enough to support one person, but it is not very rich to support two people, so the food stock is getting less and less day by day, Blaise is restless, he doesn't know where to find work, he goes to the manager, and the manager says We have to wait for the Lord Lord's arrangement.

Kath comforted Blaise: "The weather is so hot now, if you go to open up wasteland and farm again, your body will not be able to bear it. When the weather cools down, you can go to work again. It's just this time, and you can just rest one time."

But Blaise was in a panic: "When the weather cools down, other people will rob me, and now the spinners and weavers are out of work."

Blaise panicked like a headless chicken.

Kath continued to comfort: "I have a job, we both have income, and we won't starve to death."

Although raising two people is not rich, it will definitely not starve to death.

Blaise bit his lip: "What about next year's rent?"

There was nothing Kath could do to comfort him now.

Her income was just enough to feed them, not enough to save to pay the rent when they were fed.

Blaise rubbed his face: "I'm fine, Kath, you don't need to worry about me, you go to work."

Kath: "Are you really all right?"

Blaise pulled a stiff smile at her, "I'm really fine, you go."

Cass just took her sackcloth bag and left. Before leaving, she took out a dry biscuit from the cabinet, cut it in half and put it on the table.

"You didn't eat anything in the morning, but you ate the dry biscuits I put on the table at noon." After finishing speaking, Kath hurried out the door.

Only Blaise was left in the room. Blaze glanced at the dry biscuits on the table, walked over and put the dry biscuits back into the cabinet.

He sat listlessly on the chair, feeling like a useless person.

He has experienced this feeling a lot. No matter how tired he is when opening up wasteland, he is always satisfied.

But now, his heart is empty, and his whole body seems to be floating in mid-air, unable to step on the ground.

Blaise has no friends here, and he doesn't even know his neighbors well. He doesn't even have someone to pass the time with. When he doesn't have a job, he can only sit in the room in a daze.

Just when Blaise was about to lie back on the bed and sleep, the voice of the steward suddenly came from outside.

"Come out for those who don't have work! There's new work!" The manager shouted while beating the two copper pipes.

Blaise, who had just laid down, ran out without wearing any shoes. As soon as he went out, he found that the people in the neighborhood were similar to him. Everyone was standing under the sun, looking at the manager excitedly.

The person in charge didn't talk to them, he felt like he was going to be roasted if he stood outside for a while.

"Follow me all!"

Blaise kept pace with the steward, and they quickly entered a big house, which used to be the house of a wealthy local family. It's quite different from the coolness outside.

The manager drank his saliva before saying, "Now I have two jobs, one is sugar production and the other is wine making."

"The remuneration for sugar production is higher." The manager felt thirsty again, and took another sip of water.

"Whatever you want to do, you can go there to register." The manager said, "Sugar making is more tiring and hotter, but wine making is much easier. There are two dry biscuits a day for sugar making and one for wine making. After you think it over, go and register. "

After speaking, the steward hurriedly walked to the ice basin.

Only these unemployed people are left thinking about what they want to do.

Blaze went over to register without thinking.

"I want to make sugar," Blaise said excitedly.

The person in charge of the registration is Byron. He used to be a prayer teacher, but now he is one of the few literate people in the territory, so he never worried about not being able to find a job. After staying in the Holy Court for so many years, the biggest benefit to him is that he is literate , can count, not illiterate.

Even if it wasn't in Chi Yan's territory, it would be easier for literate people to find a job in another place.

Byron looked at Blaise, probably thinking that although Blaise didn't look strong enough, he couldn't be called thin either, so after asking Blaise's name and hometown, he registered Blaise's name on the paper. name.

Because most people now only have a first name and a last name, and no middle name, it is difficult to distinguish once they encounter the same name, and can only be distinguished by where they come from.

Blaise watched Byron write something he couldn't understand on the paper, and asked again with some hesitation: "Is this all right?"

Byron smiled at him: "Okay, come here at dawn tomorrow morning."

Blaise left thankfully.

Many people have already chosen jobs, and most of them want to make sugar.

Comparing two dry biscuits and one dry biscuit, anyone with a good brain knows which is more profitable.

Except for the fact that they were not in good health, no one else considered making wine.

It's just that sugar making doesn't require so many people, so it's obvious at a glance that those who are not in good health, and the thinner people are still assigned to make wine.

As for picking, this earns the most, but only women and middle-aged people do it.

Men in their prime cannot pick them.

Once everyone is registered, the day is over.

It was the first time Byron had written so many words, and he had to sort out the list again, listing the same initials together.

Byron usually lived with Andrew. After Andrew and the merchants left, Byron lived alone. At first Byron was not used to it, but after living alone for more than ten days, he felt that after Andrew came back , They still discuss to live separately.

"Why don't you leave?" The manager saw Byron sitting on a chair and tidying up the papers with names on it, and said to him, "Would you like to come to my house for a drink? I still have the wine that the adults rewarded me."

Byron said while packing his things, "Then I'll be more polite."

The manager was very enthusiastic: "I asked Clark to prepare some food."

Clark is his wife. The two were childhood sweethearts and grew up together. Later, they got married and had children as a matter of course. Now the children have started working and have chosen to make sugar.

It's just that they don't live with the children.

After all, children of this age prefer to live with their friends.

Byron put all the papers into a sackcloth bag, and left the house that would become a sugar factory with the steward. The night was cooler than the day, and the two of them walked together under the night sky. The steward looked fierce, but in private he was a good old man.

"Your Excellency is always thinking of us." The steward felt a little emotional. He became the steward because he had gained the trust and love of a certain lord, but except for the current lord, the rest of the lords didn't care. people on their territory.

They only care about whether the harvest of the year can let them enjoy it.

Or are there too many civilians in the territory, and will the Holy Court and the royal family increase taxes.

They are not worried that the people in the territory will not have enough to eat, and they are not worried about how many people will die.

Byron nodded, he turned his head to look at the castle, and said with emotion: "This lord is different from what I originally thought."

He came here because of Andrew. Andrew brought them with him. Before he arrived, he didn't know what the manor was like, and he didn't know who the lord who ruled the manor was.

After coming here, Andrew told him that the lord here is a kind man.

Byron hadn't spoken to the lord at the time. He thought the kindness in Andrew's mouth meant that the lord was a weak person. After all, most kind people have no defense against others and are easily deceived and hurt.

It's just that his guess was quickly broken.

The lord does not support idlers. He seems to be thinking of everyone, looking for people to rely on in life and giving people hope, but he has never given generously.

Byron smiled and said, "My lord is very clever."

The person in charge agreed very much: "The previous lord never cared about these things. He didn't care whether people had jobs or how many meals the slaves ate a day. He only cared about whether the merchants sent beautiful fabrics. slave girl."

The steward asked curiously: "I heard that the lord also lived in the Holy Court before. What is the Holy Court like?"

Byron: "It's always like that. There are many people, but they don't usually chat. Every morning, they pray after getting up, then eat, and then continue to pray. At night, believers will come to confess, or pray together, and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. "

"Then eat dinner, go back to your room and sleep, and the day is over."

,

When Byron said it, he thought it was incredible that he had lived such a boring life for so many years, and he didn't feel bored or sad at the time.

After listening, the steward said, "It seems that the wisdom of the adults was not obtained in the Holy Court."

The steward sighed and said, "My lord is so smart, it must be because he is the child of Tianmu."

Byron had heard this too, but he didn't believe it.

Joels V once proclaimed himself the Protestant pope, and considered himself the son of the Supreme God.

These words can only deceive ordinary people, not him.

It's just that Byron never expressed his views on this aspect.

If the lord now has the ambitions of Joels V, then no matter what he wants to do, no one else can stop him. Byron considers himself an ordinary person, so he is not prepared to fight against those in power.

Byron followed the steward's words: "Yes, the Heavenly Mother will protect her children, and of course she will protect us."

That's what the steward wants to hear.