novellaaa Chapter 39: Room Allocation
Chapter 39: Room Allocation
Ron wanted everyone to know that those who were willing to contribute to the territory would receive the rewards they deserved.
Housing allocation is just one aspect.
Mad returned with his hunting party to resupply. Seeing the pit-shaped building, he stopped. He touched the brick wall of the ground-floor corridor, then peered down into the light well five levels below, before asking Doron beside him, "How many rooms are in this building?"
Duolong had already run up and down the building twice, climbing from the fifth basement level to the third floor above ground and then back down, finally stopping in the corridor on the second basement level, where he tapped the blue bricks on the wall with his finger.
Doron didn't even look up: "128 rooms. What, you want to stay here?"
"think."
"If you want to, hurry up and get in line." Duolong stood up, dusted off his knees, and said, "If you keep arguing with me, you won't even be able to get a table on the fifth basement level."
Mad then realized what was happening and hurriedly led his men to the No. 2 pit courtyard.
Pit One was the residence of Ron and Old Hall's family, while Pit Two was the first pit building Ron built, with only two floors underground, and is now used as the administrative hall of Ashwood Territory.
As Duolong said, by this time, the area outside the No. 2 pit courtyard was already packed with people.
The territory's militia has expanded to a hundred men. Although it is called a militia, it can actually be called a garrison, because the militia now trains and performs duties full-time and does not participate in any production.
In addition, there were 20 engineers, 40 archers, and a 20-man hunting squad.
The territory's armed forces have reached 180 people.
128 rooms seem like a lot, but in reality, there aren't enough to go around. Fortunately, the entire Knight Guard was assigned to the underground courtyards. Even the No. 2 underground courtyard, a three-story building on the surface, was assigned to the Knight Guard.
"Don't push! The lord said there are houses available. This time, priority will be given to the families of soldiers living in dugouts. Soldiers living in mud houses will not be included in the allocation for the time being." The knight in charge of registering and allocating new houses shouted hurriedly as he looked at the crowd that kept pouring in.
Sure enough, upon hearing that the soldiers who had been assigned to adobe houses earlier would not be participating in this allocation, the soldiers dispersed with regret on their faces, and dozens of them were gone in an instant.
After all, the territory now has more than a thousand people, and it is impossible for Ron and Old Hall to meet the housing needs of so many people by building low houses.
Besides digging earthen houses, Old Hall also organized many people to build adobe houses. Not to mention that there are now well-equipped adobe brick production workshops. A 20-30 square meter adobe house can be built by five adults in less than three days. So the territory now has more than 50 adobe houses, and the number is increasing every day.
As for the earthen houses, those were temporary structures. After the development of pit courtyards, earthen houses were planned in advance.
The excavation of the underground dwellings was also planned, and in the future, these areas will all be transformed into underground courtyard houses, which are also important structures for planting ground potatoes.
The people of Green walked in a line from Green Street in the East District to the outside of the pit building, and stood quietly in front of it for a long time.
Upon seeing the Grimm, Thun walked up to Ron and knelt down on one knee.
"My lord! Could you reserve a few rooms in this building for the children of the Grimm?"
Ron looked down at him: "Is there no room left on Green Street?"
Thun shook his head: "No! It was something Anson said before he died. He said that the Green people would have their own houses in the future, not dugouts or mud houses, but castles like those where lords lived. He never saw them; he was just guessing."
Thun looked up. "We also want to live in a castle, Your Highness. We don't need many, just a few rooms will do."
Ron remained silent for a moment.
Indeed, while grouping the Greens into one block makes management easier, it also separates them from ordinary people. Over time, this can create an invisible barrier, making it unsuitable for long-term management.
"The houses on Green Street will remain the same. The four south-facing rooms on the third floor of this building will be reserved for the Green residents. Anson's name is engraved on the wall at the end of the corridor. Don't worry, Green Street will soon have its own pit-style buildings too."
Thun lowered his head and did not say another word.
Hilden was the last to arrive.
He had just returned from escorting iron ore from the Wenger iron mines, his armor still covered in slag, when Fanta stopped him at the city gate, telling him there was a new building he wanted to see. He went up to the top floor of the courtyard, glanced down, and rested his hand on the railing, but didn't look for long.
He mentally rehearsed how infantrymen would fight for every corridor and every stairwell corner in the more than twenty-meter-deep circular stairwell.
"Archers should be positioned on the top floor, followed by street fighting on the second floor. If three pit towers can form a triangle to provide mutual cover, even without city walls, it would take at least a thousand goblins to break through and take the pit towers." Hilden straightened up and looked down at the blue brick ground beneath his feet. "To attack the pit towers, the city walls must first be breached by catapults. However, catapults are such heavy equipment that not every territory can possess them, let alone goblins."
Nowadays, whenever Hilden sees a new building, his first thought is of war. Clearly, the goblin siege he experienced terrified him.
That evening, dinner was set out on the large round table in the courtyard of the pit-dwelling.
Black bread, broth, and a small dish of potato pancakes made from rock potato starch—Mrs. Moriel specifically noted that these were experimental products.
The territory's high-ranking officials sat down around a round table.
Tang En spoke first, and when he put down his spoon, the metal made a very soft sound as it hit the wooden bowl.
"The vines of the ground potato have all sprouted, and the first batch of seed potatoes is growing well on the top floor of the pit building. We can harvest the first crop in three months, keeping half for seed and grinding the other half into flour to test the flour yield." He paused, "provided that there is no extreme drought within three months. Ground potatoes are drought-resistant, but the newly sprouted vines are afraid of direct sunlight, so I had Tu'en and the others build a sunshade on the roof with burlap to block the sun for two hours at noon."
Fanta swallowed the black bread in her mouth.
"The militia's attendance rate for training is the highest this week, with all 500 members present. Once the pit-houses are completed, the militia members in the southern district who originally lived in dugouts will have proper houses to live in after training, and their enthusiasm is more effective than receiving meat. The patrol frequency on the city wall has doubled, with three shifts, each shift lasting four hours."
Duolong took over the conversation.
"The dugouts are full today. The militia are living on the five underground floors, and the three above-ground floors, besides the houses allocated to the Greens, are for the hunters and crossbowmen. Twenty-one dugouts and eleven adobe houses have been vacated. I've already coordinated with Mrs. Moriel, and she'll distribute them tomorrow." Doron paused. "There's something wrong. After the dugouts were vacated, seven or eight families who hadn't been allocated any moved in on their own. I didn't stop them; I had Leonardo da Vinci register their names, and Mrs. Moriel will check them later."
Ron nodded, signaling to continue.
Old Hall put down the ledger in his hand.
"The brick kiln and volcanic ash lime mortar workshop are operating normally. The reserves of coagulating materials have been replenished to pre-war levels, and the iron ore mine has 120 pounds of iron ingots sent by Hilden, enough to make another batch of knives."
Since the appearance of the Embroidered Spring Blade, both Fanta and Hilden have felt that it is better than the Cross Sword.
Mrs. Morrill opened her record board and recited the numbers without even looking at them.
"The second solar furnace brick kiln officially went into production today. With both kilns operating simultaneously, it can produce 80,000 bricks a month. If the supply of raw materials can keep up, I've already chosen a location for the third kiln. It'll be inside the south wall, close to the newly reclaimed area. The brick blanks will be transported directly from the drying yard, saving one trip." She paused for a moment, and Duolong immediately sat up straight.
Sure enough, Mrs. Moriel turned to him: "But the transport capacity is insufficient. Doron, could you perhaps take a few cartloads of sand and gravel from outside the city on your daily patrols?"
The Blackthorn Wasteland has no shortage of sand and gravel, but now it needs to go out to haul sand and gravel, which shows how fast the territory is developing. The sand and gravel produced by digging dug-out houses and pit houses in the territory cannot meet the territory's needs.
Before Doron could speak, Fanta answered for him: "No problem, it's a good opportunity to intensify the training of the militia."
Doron glared at Fanta and lowered his voice, "You agreed so easily. Do you think my men will have the energy to patrol after hauling sand and gravel?"
Fanta remained unfazed: "Then we'll split into two shifts, one patrolling and the other hauling the goods, taking turns."
Duolong opened his mouth, but only managed to squeeze out one word: "Okay."
After everyone finished reporting, there was a moment of silence on the table.