Roland took a sip of tea and continued, "In addition, I plan to launch basic education in Longsong Stronghold, which will also be a test of whether you can continue to manage Longsong Stronghold."
Hearing the word "test," Pero's ears immediately perked up, "Basic education?"
"That's right," he said with a smile, nodding. Now that the church has been destroyed, and the high priest killed, the church's influence in this area has been weakened by more than half, it is a good time to compete for the ideological battlefield. He doesn't expect to transform all believers into potential qualified workers, just to further eliminate the church's influence. If Holy City wants to meddle in Longsong Stronghold again, Roland has many ways to keep them out, and building a new church is out of the question.
"Basic education is aimed at all residents of the stronghold under the age of forty, regardless of gender, and includes writing, simple calculations, popularization of natural knowledge, and ideological education." Roland waved his hand, suppressing the other party's questions. "Don't worry, this expense will be deducted from the taxes paid to Border Town. Starting this month, you only need to pay 20% of the tax, and the remaining 10% will be used as a special education fund—you can recruit a few scholars from the royal capital, or hire local knight squires and down-and-out nobles, but these people won't cost much. Ten percent of the tax is at least nearly a thousand gold royals, so what you have to do is far more than that."
Pero thought for a while and said, "Your Highness, do you mean to use this money to motivate residents to receive education?"
This guy's reaction is indeed very敏锐 (mǐn ruì), Roland said with a smile, "That's right, most people have to work for a living during the day except for children, so their education should be carried out at night. But after a busy day, it's hard to want to listen to others nagging when it's time to rest, let alone learning literacy requires brainpower."
"Therefore, you can use some means to entice them to study, such as providing dinner with meat, such as those who make rapid progress in learning can get monetary rewards, etc. Of course, bright and spacious classrooms are also essential." He paused, "In short, you must do everything possible to popularize this work to all residents of the stronghold. As I said, this is also a test for you: in a year, I require the number of literate people in the stronghold to exceed 50%."
"But Your Highness..." Pero hesitated and said, "Whether scholars or nobles, they have no experience in teaching people to read, let alone popularizing natural knowledge and ideological education," he read out those awkward nouns, "In fact, even I don't quite understand. Using these people, I'm afraid it won't achieve the effect you want."
"I've also considered this," Roland comforted, "Don't worry, I will send a group of municipal officials to assist you in carrying out this matter, and all the education materials needed will also be provided by Border Town. They are experienced and can first train the personnel you recruit before carrying out education to the residents. You will understand when you talk to them in detail, and specific matters can be handled by them."
In this way, as long as he still wants to continue to manage the stronghold, he will inevitably use this group of people, the prince thought, and by inserting confidants through the Ministry of Education officials, the news of Longsong Stronghold can also be transmitted back to Border Town as soon as possible.
Seeing that Pero did not express any objection, Roland began to give the last order: "The third thing, I plan to build a road between Longsong Stronghold and Border Town to shorten the time for pedestrians and caravans to travel between the two places."
"Your Highness, there is already a road between the two places?" Pero asked in surprise.
A mud path trampled by people can also be considered a road? Less than two meters wide, full of mud when it rains, and full of potholes on the road, it is not suitable for carriages to travel at high speed at all. Roland shook his head and said, "The road I want to build can accommodate at least two carriages side by side, with a flat and straight road surface, and no water will accumulate even when it rains, just like the streets of Border Town."
"Are you talking about a gravel road?" The acting city lord looked a little surprised. "The cost of this kind of road is not low. It requires stonemasons to quarry gravel and select stones of suitable sizes to match together before they can be used. Building a gravel road from the stronghold to Border Town will cost at least five thousand gold royals. Your Highness, excuse me for speaking frankly, Longsong Stronghold probably won't be able to come up with so much money if it doesn't increase taxes."
"The stronghold only needs to provide manpower." The prince said bluntly, "You issue recruitment announcements to various territories in the Western Region, not only Longsong Stronghold, but also the territories of various families,
the salary is six silver wolves per month, and the construction period is one year. I believe there should be many people who apply."
"For odd jobs, six silver wolves is a relatively high salary," Pero nodded, "I don't know how many people you want to recruit?"
"At least two thousand people," Roland replied.
In this way, the cost of hiring odd-job workers alone is a considerable amount every month, plus stonemasons and gravel workers, which is definitely considered a high cost in the eyes of others. Few lords are willing to use their money to build this kind of seemingly unrewarding thing, which can be seen from the other party's expression. However, Border Town can now sell steam engines, and its income and expenditure can basically be balanced. Roland never intends to store gold royals in the warehouse. The so-called want to get rich, build roads first. Investing the surplus money in basic construction is undoubtedly the best choice.
Building a high-quality road connecting the stronghold and Border Town is of great significance. It not only facilitates future trade and contact between the two places, but also is a prerequisite for the rapid deployment of troops. If the transportation is inconvenient, even if the news of the stronghold being attacked is received, it will probably be three days later before they rush over, and the enemy's flag will be flying on the top of the city.
"I understand." Pero took the order.
"That's all you have to do for now. I will return to Border Town immediately. Work hard, Ambassador, don't disappoint me again."
Pero suddenly thought of something when he was about to leave, stopped and asked, "Your Highness, what should be done with those people imprisoned in the prison?"
Roland's first answer was not so pleasant. He was silent for a moment before he said, "Keep them, they won't live long."
……
Boarding the Little Town, the prince embarked on his return journey.
"You seem to be in a bad mood?" Nightingale appeared and tilted her head to ask, "Is it because of those civilians?"
"They were all forced by Tifico," Roland sighed, "If they hadn't taken the pills and been controlled, they wouldn't have acted as his pawns and died in this strange land."
"This is not your fault." Nightingale reached out and took his arm.
"Of course not," Roland said without hesitation, "If I couldn't stop them, the town would become a victim of Tifico's power struggle. Of course, the church that made the pills is also one of the culprits."
"So you will destroy the church, end the disputes, and make people no longer have to kill each other for this meaningless reason, right?" Nightingale asked with a smile, "Whether ordinary people or witches, they can live happily under your rule."
"..." Roland looked at the other person's shining eyes and nodded gently, "Yeah, I promise." (。)