Chapter 310 Infrastructure Project
After controlling the Losa Basin, the Harland Territory has become a duchy spanning the Eagle Mountains from north to south. This time, King Roger was promoted to the title and granted a large number of territories on the northern foothills of the Eagle Mountains to the Harland Dukedom.
Today, the Harland Territory is 400 kilometers from east to west and more than 200 kilometers from north to south, with a total area of more than 90,000 square kilometers, which is equivalent to a small province in Richard's memory in his previous life.
As a mountain duchy spanning the Eagle Mountains from north to south, roads between several counties are of utmost importance.
Overall, the southern part of the Harland Territory is relatively flat, with large hills and a small amount of plain terrain. Except for the Losa Basin, the northern region is basically mountainous terrain.
Richard has always attached great importance to infrastructure projects. More than a decade ago, he personally participated in road construction and mining. Several roads from Far Harden Baron Castle to Vick Castle, from Vick Castle to William Castle, from Sophia Castle to Vick Castle, and from William Castle to Platos Castle were built more than a decade ago.
As the territory expanded, Harland Territory also built sections from Malte Castle to Graveson, Graveson to Tongshan Town, Tongshan Town to Reindeer Castle, and Reindeer Castle to Salt Lake County. As of three years ago, the highway had been built to the North Boundary Fort in Salt Lake County.
The highway network of Harland Territory is roughly one horizontal and two vertical, with a total mileage of more than 600 kilometers. The horizontal highway is mainly in the south, from Iron Lion Castle (formerly Baron Harden Castle) in the southeast of the territory to Graveson.
Two north-south kilometers, one starting from Graveson and going directly to the North Boundary Fort.
One starts from Malte Castle, along the canyon, from Fort William to the north, the road is built to the north of the military station fort and connected to the swamp basin.
In addition, a simple highway was built inside Grotta River County, which was far from the standard of Harland Territory highway.
After being promoted to the title and obtaining the new territory, Richard immediately sent a large number of surveyors to prepare to re-plan the traffic.
First, the road from the military station fort to the hurricane fort was built. This road is very difficult to travel now, and it is also the top priority for the Duke of Harland to connect the north and the south.
Fortunately, this road is located in the valley, and the altitude fluctuations are not very large. It is not difficult to build, and there is no need to cross mountains and ridges.
After the summer harvest, Richard transferred 7,000 strong laborers from the Losa Basin, and his brother-in-law Roger also transferred more than 3,000 contract slaves from the military station fort and the swamp basin. Both sides started construction almost at the same time, preparing to open up this more than 100-kilometer-long artery before November.
In addition to this main road, the two sections of the road from Graveson Castle to Felin Castle and Felin Castle to King Castle also started construction at the same time this year.
Graveson, Felin Castle, and King Castle are all located at the southern foot of the Eagle Mountains. The terrain is relatively flat, and a large part of it is plain terrain, so the road construction is relatively easy. The area near the King Castle is also mainly hilly. According to the headquarters' estimate, only 220,000 workers are needed to build the two sections of the road.
In addition to these two roads that have already started construction, the two sections of roads from Salt Lake Castle to Imburg and Imburg to Nitburg are also in the planning of the headquarters.
Nitburg has not been built yet and is still in the planning of the Harland Territory headquarters. This castle is located at the northern foot of the Eagle Mountains and is an important channel connecting the north and south of the Eagle Mountains. In this year's orc invasion war, the Gatlin tribe bypassed the Harland Territory defense line through this channel and broke through Harland Territory.
Imburg is located in the upper reaches of the Im River. The Im River is the main inflow river in the Salt Lake area. It originates from the meltwater of the snow mountain. To build this road, it is necessary to cross a 3,800-meter peak in the Eagle Mountains.
If this road is started, it will be technically difficult.
After Richard was promoted to Duke, he planned to build Nitburg in the north of Tani Canyon to block the orcs in this area. However, the area near Tani Canyon is full of barren mountains and ridges, and there are almost no people.
If you want to build Nitburg in the north of Tani Canyon, you need a lot of manpower and material support. If you can't overcome the difficulties and build a road between Yanhu County in the south of the mountain and Nitburg, and make use of the manpower and material resources of Yanhu County. You must develop the Tani Canyon area, just like developing the Harland Valley area, so that there are enough manpower and material resources to invest in engineering near Nitburg.
Compared with the investment in developing Tani Canyon, although it is difficult to build a winding mountain road, the manpower and material resources invested are not comparable at all.
The Dawn Plane has extraordinary power, allowing knights and magicians to participate, and the ability to do engineering is far stronger than Richard's ancient past. Whether it is the spell of turning fossils into mud or the spell of turning mud into stone, it is very useful in engineering infrastructure. If Richard is given a few hundred mid-level magicians, using magic power to dig a hole is a few minutes faster than a shield machine.
Unfortunately, there are no hundreds of mid-level magicians in Harland Territory. As of this year, there are still only three mid-level magicians in Harland Territory: Richard, Sofia, and Wendy. However, the third-ring magician has two more people, Adrian and Capeson.
Adrian is one year younger than Richard. He learned magic knowledge almost at the same time as Richard and Wendy, but his aptitude was average. It took him more than ten years and a lot of precious meditation potions to advance to the third ring in July this year.
Normally, for Adrian, who has low aptitude and talent, it is considered very successful to advance to the third ring before the age of 40.
The reason why Adrian was able to advance to the third ring at the age of 30 was due to the good research environment of the Harland Territory Mage Association. He made some contributions to the research of magic.
Adrian's most important achievement is the creation of a ring of magic detection rays. This magic is very important in the medical field. Its effect is equivalent to that of an X-ray machine. It has greatly promoted the development of diagnostics and is the foundation of magic medicine.
Because of his contribution to magic research, Adrian's meditation feedback was particularly good for a period of time, which saved a lot of time. With the help of sufficient resources, his advancement speed was several points faster than that of medium qualifications.
Capeson is not from the Duke of Harland. He was born in the province of Maryland.
Capeson comes from a wealthy family in the city. When he was young, he got a meditation method and became a magician by chance. He has been hanging out in Nolan for the past few years.
At a gathering of wild mages, Capeson and Roentgen became friends.
Capeson has good talent. After advancing to the third ring, he was ready to go to the Magic Kingdom of Markholm for development. After receiving Roentgen's letter, he decisively joined the Harland Territory and became the sixth three-ring mage of the Harland Mage Association.
Compared with Roentgen, Capesen was luckier. The meditation method in his hand was very complete. Like the Highland Meditation Method in Harland Territory, it could be smoothly advanced to the ninth ring.
This meditation method had been exchanged by Richard for the Highland Meditation Method, and it also had a certain reference value for his deduction of the legendary meditation method.
Although the tunnel could not be dug by the power of magicians, a magician could still play a very important role in road construction.
Mages were considered half scientists and had a high level of mathematics. They could be used as engineers. In addition, they could use various magic to solve many problems during the construction.
In the past, magicians had always participated in the large-scale projects in Harland Territory.
After the Grizzlies moved south, Richard and others returned to the Duke of Harland Territory.
It was already October, and the autumn harvest in the territory had been completed.
Although there was a war this year, the orcs did not cause serious damage to the economy of Harland Territory. After all, the orcs failed to enter the rear of Harland Territory to burn, kill and loot. Although the area near Sophia Castle implemented the order of fortification and clearing the fields, it did not last too long. Before April, Richard and William joined forces to defeat the orc army.
Because the orcs failed too early, it hardly affected the spring plowing in Harland Territory.
This year has sufficient rain, which is a good year. The yield of crops is not bad. With the grain stored in the Losa Basin, the grain stored in the granary of the Duke of Harland Territory has about 280,000 tons.
Now there are about 700,000 contract slaves in the Duke of Harland Territory. Each person consumes an average of 450 kilograms of grain, and the remaining rations require 157,000 tons. In addition, 15,000 tons of military rations are also needed, and 3,000 tons of grain are needed for brewing, plus 30,000 tons of grain reserved for next year. In fact, there is not much abundant grain, and the grain that can really be put on the market is only about 80,000 tons.
This year's grain-for-slaves exchange is still going on. Harland Territory exchanged 50,000 tons of grain for about 20,000 slaves. This batch of contract slaves was used by Richard to develop the Nelson area.
Even if 20,000 contract slaves were purchased, many areas of Harland Territory were still not populated. On more than 90,000 square kilometers of land, the total population was less than one million, and there were about ten people per square kilometer.
Including the land developed by the orcs in the Lothar Basin, the Duke of Harland Territory has 6 million acres of arable land.
Although the Lothar Basin lacks water conservancy facilities and agricultural production technology is backward, the territory's grain output this year has reached 350,000 tons.
In mid-October, the main project of Hurricane Castle had been completed, and most of the defenders moved to the castle. The fuel for wintering was also stored in advance, and a lot of food was also stored. The defenders have begun to prepare for wintering.
In Hurricane Castle, Richard left about 3,000 defenders. The main force is the newly built 11th Battalion, and the Guard Battalion returned to Loth Castle for rest. In addition to a complete infantry brigade, the castle also has a reconnaissance cavalry squadron, a magic hot air balloon squadron, and about a thousand auxiliary soldiers.
Twenty-six heavy catapults are installed in the castle, and two thousand alchemical bombs are stored. The weapons and equipment in stock can arm five thousand soldiers. Relying on the castle's reserves, it is enough for the defenders to fight a large-scale war.
After entering October, the road from Hurricane Castle to Lot Castle has been built, and it is easy to invest the manpower and material resources of the Lothar Basin near Hurricane Castle.
The main task this year is to build castles and open roads. The focus of the Lothar Basin next year is to build water conservancy projects.
There are more than 200,000 people in the Lothar Basin, and the headquarters does not need to invest much money.
The rational use of the human resources of the Lothar Basin, coupled with the advanced production technology brought by the Harland Territory, can greatly improve the productivity of the Lothar Basin.
Although the Lothar Basin is a territory that the orcs have operated for many years, the orcs' planning is very rough and the infrastructure is particularly backward. If you want to develop this land well, it will take several years to adjust.
In the Losa Basin controlled by Harland, Richard built two castles, Lot and Sam, near two large gathering places according to the actual situation of the Losa Basin. The area of these two castles is not large, and the main castle has only three floors. It is more like a military camp than a castle.
Since April this year, Richard has successively recruited about 600 officials from Harland to be responsible for the management of the Losa Basin. These officials come from multiple systems such as law, taxation, medical care, education, mining, and agriculture. Many of them are young people who have just graduated from elementary school. Although they lack experience and have bumps in their work, by October, the relationship was finally straightened out.
Because of the large population of Losa Basin, Richard also specially allocated funds to build three primary schools in Losa Basin. Including these three primary schools, Harland Territory has built ten primary schools.
When the school opens in January next year, the number of students in Harland Territory will exceed 10,000 for the first time.
In late October, the weather has become colder, and the northern foothills of the Eagle Mountains are colder than the southern foothills.
Especially near Hurricane Fort, there are strong winds all year round. Even the orcs with better physical fitness and thicker skin are unwilling to move around Hurricane Fort in winter.
In late October, the road from Harland Territory to the Military Station Fort will be completed.
This road starts from Marte Castle in the south of Harland Territory, goes north along William Castle, and goes directly to Hurricane Castle in the northernmost part of the territory. The total length is 280 kilometers. When you reach the north of the Military Station Fort, the terrain becomes dangerous, with towering mountains on both sides of the road. It is not until entering the Losa Basin that the terrain becomes flat.
Richard rode in a four-wheeled carriage, looking at the scenery on both sides of the road.
In mid-October, the first snow had fallen in the Harland Territory. As the temperature rose, the snow on the mountainside had melted, and the meltwater from the mountains flowed into rivers. Taking advantage of the rising temperature, before the snow closed the mountain, a large number of caravans walked on this road, seizing the time to transport various materials and goods.
The roads built in the Harland Territory are of high standards. The road surface is twelve meters wide, allowing four four-wheeled carriages to pass side by side. Drainage ditches were dug on both sides of the road, and there were road protection trees on the outside of the drainage ditch. Some sections of the road that are often washed by water also use new materials asphalt.
Asphalt is a by-product of coal chemical industry. According to the current production capacity of the Harland Territory, the annual asphalt output is only more than 1,600 tons. Even if the road surface is paved thinner, so much asphalt can only build one kilometer of road. Compared with the huge demand for road construction, this amount of asphalt production is not enough, so this material can only be used in key places and used with cement as a special waterproof road construction material.
November is coming soon. Harland Territory will hold the Fourth Commodity Fair in November. Richard needs to meet some people in person during the fair.
Once the snow blocks the mountain, the communication between the north and south of the Eagle Mountains will be cut off. Therefore, Richard needs to take advantage of the rising temperature and return to Fort William before the snow blocks the mountain. Only one squadron of personal soldiers will act with Richard.
Due to the unstable situation in the Losa Basin, in order to guard against the orcs, Richard left a large army at the northern foot of the Eagle Mountains.
If winter comes, it will be difficult for the Losa Basin to get support from Fort William. Without a large army stationed, it may not be able to withstand the attack of the orcs.