Chapter 403 Settlement and Caravan
Shay stamped his frozen feet, breathed into his hands, and rubbed his hands vigorously to warm them up a little. , then he climbed up to the watchtower and looked up at the settlement he had been running for nearly a year.
After a year of hard work and construction, the settlement is now in good shape.
The outer perimeter is a wall built with logs as thick as a person's arms. The wall, which is more than three meters high, can not only protect against various wild beasts in the north, but also protect against wind and snow to a certain extent.
At least, the recently built houses in the settlement are all built against the wall. In addition to saving building materials for one wall, another important reason is that the wall can effectively resist wind and snow.
Of course, if the wind and snow are really too heavy, everyone will still live in the shelters that have been built underground, which is where they really spend the winter.
At first, Shay didn’t quite understand why such a huge underground space was built under the settlement, but with the arrival of the first snowfall of the year, everyone quickly understood what this huge underground space was. What effect does it have.
It’s so warm to live underground! The temperature underground is even much higher than above ground.
If nothing else, the temperature on the ground is now as low as twenty degrees below zero, and it can even be above zero in the underground space.
Such a huge temperature difference is so exaggerated for the current cold North where dripping water turns into ice, so much so that the residents of the settlements are now hiding in underground spaces as much as possible.
Shay has moved there before, and he even thinks that in the future, residents in the north may develop the habit of living underground in winter and living above ground in other seasons.
However, as the manager of this settlement, Shay still has many things to be responsible for and cannot stay underground for a long time.
For example, as a manager, he needs to personally be responsible for receiving and storing material supplies every once in a while. After all, this settlement cannot produce coal and other key industrial products by itself. Rely on outside input.
Generally speaking, caravans will come once every two weeks, bringing coal, industrial products, food, etc., and the settlements need to exchange animal furs, herbs and other outputs.
This trade system is also a prerequisite for the good development of each settlement. Otherwise, it is impossible for everyone in the settlement to survive this winter safely just by going into the forest to cut trees.
Although firewood can be burned, there is still a big gap compared with the coal brought by the caravan.
At least a piece of coal can burn for most of a day, and a piece of firewood can burn almost half an hour.
Shay doesn't quite understand why the thing called briquettes brought by the caravan is so resistant to burning. Maybe it is some kind of alchemical product, but he knows one thing clearly, that is, it is more cost-effective to burn it than to burn firewood. Too many.
In particular, Purficott once issued a decree that arbitrarily cutting wood is not allowed in the north, which further restricts the use of firewood.
And even the remaining cinders burned by the caravan are recycled. When these cinders accumulate to a certain amount, they can be exchanged for new coal from the caravan.
No one in the settlement suffered from frostbite this winter, and no one got sick due to the cold weather. This was largely due to the new coal.
This made Shay particularly grateful to the lord for his kindness, because he knew clearly that the settlement's ability to continuously and stably obtain these new coals depended on the policies promulgated by Perfectcott, otherwise there would be no Is the caravan willing to work tirelessly to transport goods to the settlement in such a windy and snowy day?
Not to mention that these new coals are sold so cheaply, and the burned cinders can be exchanged for new coals, all of which are subsidized by policies. Perhaps ordinary people don't know much about these, but as the manager of the settlement, Shay cannot understand these new policies in the north.
After all, every new policy is closely related to the lives of all of them, and is also related to the future development of the settlement, so every time a new policy is promulgated in the North, Shay will Study and understand as soon as possible to ensure that you can understand the content of the New Deal and will not deviate from its implementation.
He still remembered what Purficott said that as long as he did well, he would be able to obtain the status of a pioneer knight.
“I don’t know if I will have the opportunity to meet the lord this year...” Shay looked into the distance, wondering if he had been forgotten by the lord, when he appeared on the road already covered with snow in the distance. Got some black spots.
Seeing these familiar black spots appear, Shay breathed a sigh of relief. The caravan still appeared on time this time.
Although he knew that the caravan had now been equipped with large robots and would not be delayed at all due to snow problems, Shay still felt uneasy. After all, after a year of persuasion through his letters, , his brother was finally willing to take the whole family to the north.
Originally, Shay hoped that his brother would help build the settlement from the beginning, but his brother was always reluctant to part with his work in Langton.
There was nothing Shay could do. After all, he was just an honorary knight, and the construction of the settlement had just begun. Everything was in ruins, and he lacked a reason to convince his brother to come to the north to work together.
However, as the settlement gradually became more like this, Shay became more confident in persuading his brother to come to the north.
After exchanging letters for more than half a year, Shay's brother finally agreed to come to the north a few months ago. The reason why he only arrived now is that he needed to make a complete arrangement of everything on Langton's side. Understand, on the other hand, it is also because of the traffic conditions in the north in winter.
Thinking of this, Shay felt that maybe he should file a report and apply for a railway to be built in his settlement.
He had heard that several larger settlements nearby had been connected to railways. Although it was only a narrow-gauge railway, the promotion and development that a railway could bring to the settlements was immeasurable.
So Shay quickly strengthened his determination and decided to submit a report to apply for railway construction after spring.
While Shay was thinking about the railway, those black spots gradually grew in size and turned into a long steel dragon composed of several large robots, approaching Shay's settlement.
Seeing the caravan approaching, he climbed down from the watchtower, came to the gate of the settlement, and ordered the militiamen on guard to open the gate.
When the caravan stopped outside the settlement, Shay immediately ran over through the waist-deep snow and hugged one of the passenger robots that had been modified. The middle-aged man who came down patted his back enthusiastically: "Brother, you are finally here!"
This middle-aged man was obviously not as physically fit as Shay, and he coughed after being slapped by him. Yu, but also said happily: "Long time no see, Shay!"
(End of this chapter)