I was a knight in the Middle Ages

Chapter 119 Planning for the future

"The capture of the Iron Ore City and the Trade Fort has been a complete success. Now let Rowling announce the results." Three days after capturing the Trade Fort, Alpha returned to the Titanite Mine Area because the focus of future work would be here.

The slave transfer station has been renamed the Trade Fort, and the Titanium Mine has been renamed the Titanium Mine City. Although the Trade Fort is safer and more reliable, it is relatively remote and far away from the major mining areas, so Alpha only uses the Trade Fort as a backup. All materials and personnel will be tilted towards the Iron Mine City, and only Lislia's fifty heavy armored cavalry and one hundred ordinary cavalry are guarding the Trade Fort.

"We have fought two fierce battles in a row and successfully defeated the bandit group led by the grassland bandits, liberating the two major cities of Titanium Mine City and Trade Fort, and the results are rich." Rowling looked at the people in the audience. Most of them were Alpha's old subordinates, and there were also many new faces. As for the captives who surrendered, there were only the father and daughter of Goodnai and technical backbones such as Betas. These people are now fully committed to construction.

"We sent a total of 630 soldiers in the two battles. Currently, there are 480 soldiers who can join the battle at any time. Fifty of them were brought into Balor City by Captain Makina. Sixty-eight died on the battlefield, and the rest were seriously injured or disabled. The loss was heavy." Rowling began to report the war damage. In fact, in her opinion, these losses were not high, but Alpha was very concerned about casualties, so Rowling could only count the casualties according to Alpha's requirements.

"We have captured 672 prisoners of war, no wounded, seized 830 war horses, and rescued 3,260 hostages. The seized supplies and equipment are piled up like a mountain, enough for our 5,000 people to use for half a year. At this rate, it will only take a week to transport the personnel to the Titanium Mine City." These spoils of war made Luo Lin overjoyed. Of course, Luo Lin directly cleared out the seriously injured, and only bandaged the lightly injured.

"We must treat the seriously injured well, and provide a one-time subsidy or employment support to the disabled, so as not to let the soldiers down." Alpha emphasized. This also means that Alpha's knights have no worries. Alpha will do its best to treat those injured on the battlefield, which is a treatment that other mercenary groups cannot have.

Of course, Alpha will also give better treatment measures, but this cannot be achieved overnight, otherwise it will be detrimental to long-term development. It only needs to be more advantageous than other mercenary groups. The key is that Alpha has no money and no background.

"Now all departments are on track, and a large number of workers have been sent to the Titanium Mine City. However, we still cannot relax. The focus of the next task should still be on the construction and arming of the Iron Mine City." Alpha concluded.

"In short, our victory is the result of everyone's joint efforts. Without your tacit cooperation, no one can achieve these victories. Now everyone can move freely!" This victory summary meeting can also be regarded as a cocktail party, and Alpha does not want to waste time.

"I'm in the backyard. If you have anything to report individually, you can come to me. If you have nothing else to do, just eat and drink as much as you want." Iron Mine City now has nothing, and everything has to start from scratch. Alpha also feels tremendous pressure.

Unexpectedly, the next second, Rowling, Phyllis, Lim and others appeared in Alpha's room.

Today, Rowling is the head of Alpha's army, Phyllis is the person in charge of the construction of the Titanium Mine City, Lim is Phyllis's deputy, and Betas is the person in charge of Alpha's ideas and technology.

"Lord Alpha, the biggest difficulty we are facing now is the shortage of building materials, which cannot meet the construction needs of the Iron Mine City." The urban construction team has more than a thousand people, and the subsequent scale is expected to expand to four thousand people. However, this is far from meeting the needs of the construction of the Titanium Mine City. Phyllis's face is full of worry.

"Lim, go get some fruits and snacks for everyone." Alpha wanted to eat some fruits. Fortunately, the trade fort was occupied by them. Otherwise, it would be difficult for Alpha, a grassroots leader, to get these fresh fruits in such a cold day.

"Okay, Lord Alpha." Lim is the youngest and obeys Alpha's orders.

"Don't worry too much. The construction of the Iron Ore City cannot be completed overnight. Problems and difficulties were already anticipated. Take your time." Alpha comforted Phyllis.

"Lord Alpha, the main factor restricting the firing speed of cement is the firing time, followed by the size of the kiln. We are trying to find a solution." Betas doesn't talk much and always works silently.

"I don't think so. The key point is that we have too few raw materials available. Cement is just an adhesive. Building a city also requires a lot of sand, gravel, bricks and other auxiliary materials. These are what we lack. Only with the cooperation of all parties can we speed up the efficiency of city construction." Alpha knew the crux of the problem, but he hadn't thought of a good solution.

"Lord Alpha, are the bricks you said the clay blocks we are firing?" Betas was also studying Alpha's head, but that furnace would take ten days or half a month, and the key was that he didn't even know what the results would be.

"Yes, that is the ceramic technology of the East. You have to explore it slowly." Alpha knew that the red brick technology had existed in the East as early as BC, but it was rarely seen in ordinary people's homes except for officials and nobles. It only really became popular after the 20th century.

"Lord Alpha, I know a little bit about ceramic technology." I didn't expect Phyllis to know this.

"That's good. You can go and guide Betas when you have time later." Alpha knows a lot, but he only has a superficial understanding of most of the processes and must rely on experiments to explore.

"Lord Alpha, can we use cement to make some materials in advance so that we don't have to wait for them to dry completely before proceeding with the next work?" Hearing about Alpha's adhesive and bricks, Betas got another inspiration.

"Yes, you can use cement to make hollow bricks in advance, which can save materials and time. Note that these materials must be of uniform specifications, which will facilitate future construction." Alpha affirmed the other party's idea.

"Lord Alpha, is your plan for the Iron Mine City too small?" Rowling frowned as she looked at the map. Currently, the Titanium Mine City was only one kilometer in size, which was not Alpha's ideal future city at all.

"Yes, these are just some of my ideas and experiments. The real iron ore city is here, with a range of at least ten kilometers." Alpha pointed to an open space between the titanium quartz mining area and the trade fort, where the titanium quartz mine and the coal mine of the trade fort could be used.

After all, whether it is refining cement or refining titanium quartz ore, a large amount of coal resources are needed, and it is impossible to leave the trade city too far away.

"Ah! Lord Alpha, you are planning to build a city here? What about us?" Phyllis treated this place as her first career and spent a lot of thought on it, but in the end this place was just an experimental site for Alpha.

"As a titanite mining area, this place must not be abandoned. However, urban construction cannot overlap with the mining area, otherwise it will be detrimental to trade construction. This place will serve as a satellite city of the Iron Ore City in the future and will not be wasted." Alpha hasn't thought of a solution yet, so he didn't say it clearly.

"Lord Alpha, there is a serious shortage of housing and dining halls in the city. How should we solve this problem?" Lim was concerned about the living conditions of the people. Now Lim also knew why Alpha did not provide food and accommodation, because there was no extra resources.

"Let them arrange the construction themselves in their spare time, and we will provide the materials and styles. After completion, we will not charge accommodation fees. As for the canteen issue, we can provide a small canteen and let them arrange it themselves." Alpha did not waste too much time on this.

"You need to have a unified plan in this regard and not build haphazardly." Alpha is just exploiting their labor, what a hateful capitalist.

"Alpha, the trade city cannot be emptied. Leave one-fifth of the supplies there. Also, leave two hundred people to mine. The coal resources cannot be used without interruption.

After the transportation of materials is completed, we will start preparing to transport coal resources. Using the personnel who transport materials, we will build a highway between the Titanium Mine City and the Trade City to facilitate the transportation of materials and personnel. "Alpha made arrangements again, and Phyllis quickly recorded it.

"Lord Alpha, what should we do with those prisoners? They have no intention of working now." Goodnai was once the same as them, but because he made great contributions in the battle of the Trade Fort, he suddenly became the winner this time.

"If you do something wrong, you will be punished. You will be divided into three categories. Those who just follow the robbers but do not commit any crimes will be sentenced to one year of hard labor, and then they will be transferred to ordinary contract workers and become normal people after the work is completed. Those who commit crimes but do not kill or insult women will be sentenced to two to five years of hard labor according to the severity of their crimes, and then they will be reduced to contract workers. Those who commit heinous crimes and harm others will be shackled and forced to do hard labor for more than ten years." Alpha knew that human nature was dark. The darkness broke out due to the lack of restraint before. Now Alpha is the restrainer. If he commits the same crime again, the punishment will be doubled.

"Yes, Lord Alpha, I will pass this on. Thank Alpha for giving them a chance to start over." Goodnight knew that for those prisoners, it was an opportunity to reform, and he believed that most of them were willing to do so.

"Lord Alpha, how should we arrange for those who want to join the army?" Goodnight's words made the scene quiet. After all, this was a very sensitive topic. Even Rowling came here because of this issue, but she did not say it clearly.

"For those who want to join the army, we only accept knights, not mercenaries." Mercenaries are free. Due to the mercenary policy launched by Alpha, many people want to join mercenary organizations in peacetime so that they can get their wages and leave in wartime.

However, Alpha also has a solution, that is, mercenaries who receive wages must sign a six-month contract, and only half of their wages will be paid during normal times, and the wages will be settled every six months or after a war. This can reduce the number of mercenaries who slack off and receive high wages.

"Ordinary contract workers need to go through a three-month probation period, while prisoners need half a year. During this period, they must obey management and orders, and will be dismissed immediately if they violate these regulations." What Alpha needs is an army that obeys management, not lazy mercenaries.

"Lord Alpha, I have a question for you." Lim suddenly lowered his voice.

"What's the matter?" Alpha was still thinking, and his words were simple.

"Lord Alpha, you said before that you came here to liberate slaves, but now you make them work to pay off their debts. Isn't this contrary to your original intention?" In Lim's mind, Alpha is a great hero, but the disguised profit-seeking face behind him has greatly reduced Alpha's image in Lim's mind. Lim couldn't believe that Alpha was like this, so he couldn't help asking.

Alpha was shocked. He deliberately played the role of a capitalist and caused misunderstanding among his own people. If this continued, internal integration would be difficult.

"Lim, you have to know that the slave trade is legal here. It takes tremendous power to change it, but we don't have that power at the moment. If I let them go free, they will only fall back into the tiger's mouth. Keeping them is another form of protection." Alpha paused, and seeing Lim's understanding expression, he secretly congratulated himself for reacting quickly enough.

"I will build a free city here. When the time comes, it will be up to their personal wishes whether to go or stay. I will also give them travel expenses and give them a chance to survive. This is the real responsibility for them." Thinking of letting Rowling and others go after traveling through time, which eventually led to the tragedy, Alpha still feels a little regretful.

"Remember, it is better to teach a man how to fish than to give him a fish. We should provide them with a chance now, a chance to survive, which is much better than letting them fend for themselves. I will always do the same in the future. We can't think that we can just leave them alone after rescuing them. We should let them know our philosophy and our emancipated thoughts. If their minds still cannot be liberated in these two years, then let them go with the wind." Alpha didn't intend to sound noble, but as he spoke, he became inexplicably noble.

However, facts have proved that capitalists on the European continent still have huge advantages, and Alpha will not violate the laws of social development and jump directly to a socialist society.

"Lord Alpha, I misunderstood you. It turns out that you have considered so much. I am narrow-minded. I am willing to accept any punishment from you." Lim's eyes were full of shame. At this moment, Phyllis, Goodney, Bettas and others had great admiration in their eyes.

"I am not afraid of misunderstanding. I am afraid that the people I liberated will not understand. If they step out of this safe land, I am afraid they will be persecuted again. I am worried that those persecuted by slave owners will not be redeemed. I am afraid of death, because then I will not be able to continue to rescue those who need to be rescued." A sacred light seemed to appear behind Alpha, and he himself felt a little sick because of his holiness.

"Master Alpha, I swear I will always support you."

"Alpha, you have such lofty ideals!"