“What about the people who were sent here? Is there a classified statistic?” Roland asked.

“Yes, please see below,” the minister’s assistant pointed to the bottom of the scroll, “Currently, a total of one thousand one hundred people have been sent to Border Town. Most are serfs, and have been settled outside the town according to your request. There are thirty-five artisans, who have been assigned to Karl's command, and their residences are concentrated in the New Civilization Zone,” Barov pronounced the awkward term, “However, Your Highness, is this alright? I remember you originally prepared it for the witches.”

“The guards I sent out to spread rumors have not yet returned. The progress is slower than I expected. The houses can be used by the craftsmen and their families first, and more can be built later,” in Roland's plan, Border Town was to be completely renovated. Wooden houses and mud huts would be rebuilt into brick houses, and wide streets would be left, instead of like now, where most alleys are only wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

“Yes,” Barov nodded, “Your Highness, I heard that cattle and sheep will also be transported here?”

“Yes, but not now. I specifically asked them to send them a few days later, along with the herdsmen. Isn't there a grassland between the Desolate Forest and the Desolate Mountains west of the city wall? It should be good to turn it into a pasture. First, blast two gaps in the city wall for people to pass through, after all, it is only useful during the Month of Demons.”

Now that he had people and money, the bottleneck restricting the development of Border Town had temporarily disappeared, and Roland could finally let go and show his talents.

He called in the guard outside the door and ordered, “Go find Karl from the administrative hall. I guess if he’s not at the mine, he must be in the wooden shed area outside the town.”

Half an hour later, Karl walked into the office and bowed, “Your Highness.”

It had been nearly half a year since he first met this Stonemason Guild member. After being recruited into the Border Town City Hall, he could be considered the busiest official in the past six months, presiding over the construction of the city wall, the model house complex, and the wooden shed temporary residence area. At thirty-five years old, a few strands of silver were showing on his temples, and his skin had darkened, but his mental outlook was much stronger than when they first met, and his voice was full of vigor.

Environment can quickly change a person, indeed a truth. Half a year ago, he was a Stonemason Guild fugitive carefully hiding himself and changing his appearance. Now, after experiencing project command and personally managing projects, he already had some of the demeanor of a superior. But what Roland admired most was his willingness to give to others.

Roland smiled and nodded, “Sit down at the table.” He handed the few sketches he had just drawn to the person opposite him, “Take a look. I need you to build some new things.”

“This is a warehouse, um, the elevated bottom can effectively prevent moisture,” Karl quickly scanned the first sketch, and when he turned to the second one, he examined it for a long time, “This… is a stove?”

“That’s right. You need to build more than five kilns on the side of North Slope Mountain to calcine cement and fire clay bricks. Choose a spacious place, consider the material transportation channels and the location of the stacking yard. If the scale expands in the future, more kilns will need to be built.”

“Yes.” He flipped to the last sketch and frowned, “This… seems to be a ditch? No, there are roof panels and retaining walls on top… and a pool in the back. Your Highness, I don’t quite understand.”

Roland laughed, “This is a toilet, and it’s also your highest priority project.”

“Toilet?” Karl thought for a while, “Your Highness, where do you plan to build it? There are chamber pots in your castle, and servants are responsible for cleaning these pots regularly. And most villagers don’t need such things, they can just take care of it outside the house. The same goes for serfs, they can just discharge into the Redwater River, the river will take away these *excrement*.”

So that's why he smelled a strong stench when he docked today. Roland shook his head and dispelled the unpleasant memory, “That’s precisely why we need to change this陋习 (lòu xí - bad habit).”

“Uh…陋习 (lòu xí - bad habit)?” Karl looked a little confused.

For ordinary people who are accustomed to defecating anywhere, they naturally wouldn't understand how wonderful a world would be where you wouldn't step on landmines while wandering around. Roland slandered in his heart. “In short, you do it according to the sketch. I’ve already marked the approximate dimensions, using the length that was determined before. The location is near the wooden shed area, at least build four, two next to each other. Except for the brick-built ditch in the middle,

The outer sheds, roof panels, and partitions are all built with wooden boards, which can save a lot of cement.”

“Your Highness, you want to concentrate them to… that,” Karl paused, obviously feeling that discussing such *excrement* matters in front of His Highness was a humiliation to the royal dignity, “But what if they don't go in?”

“I will issue an order to make them obey. You can organize people to implement it.”

“In that case, I will obey your decree,” he nodded, “Prince Roland, I have another matter to report to you.”

“Speak.”

“After the Stonemason Guild was forced to disband, many people, like me, chose to leave the royal capital. I would like to write a few letters to recruit those Stonemason Guild members whose whereabouts I know to Border Town. They each have their own strengths. For example, Losya is very good at the kilns you mentioned. Your Highness, I wonder…”

“No problem at all,” Roland immediately decided, “It’s fine to recruit all of them and reorganize the Stonemason Guild. The remuneration will be calculated according to the Stonemason Guild. Experienced ones can be included in the city hall as well.”

“Thank you for your generosity,” Karl bowed.

After the stonemason left, he began to write about the management of serfs and the system of leaving serf status.

Border Town’s population was about to usher in a period of rapid growth. If it continued to rely on food imports, the town’s situation would be precarious if a natural disaster occurred or the trade route was cut off. Therefore, in addition to industry, agriculture must also develop rapidly to achieve self-sufficiency in food as soon as possible.

The prince believed that as long as a path to promotion was set up, these serfs would soon be transformed into active farmers. With the seeds improved by Leaf, the farmland beside the Redwater River would become a golden ocean of wheat ears by summer.

The requirement for prioritizing the construction of toilets was also prepared to cooperate with agricultural development. After having people, land, and seeds, the last link to be added was fertilizer.

Roland certainly knew that using human and animal manure was very troublesome. It required regular cleaning of the storage pool and manual composting, which was far less convenient than chemical fertilizer. But there was not even a clue about the chemical industry now, so he had to use this pure natural organic fertilizer as a substitute first. At least human and animal manure had stood the test of time, and even in the twentieth century, this traditional fertilization method could still be seen in some rural areas.

And people in this different world knew very little about fertilizer. The vast majority of people thought that feces were a *dirty* thing. Apart from being used to disgust others, they had never thought that it was actually very useful. Therefore, in each year’s cultivation, farmers still adopted a three-field system, dividing a piece of cultivated land into three parts, which were used in turn for spring sowing, autumn sowing, and fallow, in order to avoid continuous cultivation depleting the soil fertility.