When it was the turn of the Ministry of Chemical Industry, Kaimo hummed, "Your Highness, I hope you can find the real person in charge as soon as possible. I don't want to attend this kind of meeting a second time."
"..." Roland rolled his eyes secretly. After becoming a leader, he realized that some things had to be ignored selectively. Where is it so easy to find a talent who is involved in both alchemy and chemistry? "Do you have any clues about the large-scale production of the two acids?"
"No," Kaimo shrugged, "That's why I need to spend more energy and more manpower to study this project, instead of sitting here wasting time." After staying in the town for a long time, his words also carried some "Roland-style vocabulary," "If I have to report, I can only say that the laboratory lacks people, the more the better. In addition, these five recently joined, although not very old, are quite smart. It seems that your primary education is still a bit useful."
Well, the Chief Alchemist is probably the most disrespectful one to his words and attitude, but considering the other party's age and enthusiasm for chemical experiments, Roland doesn't have any aversion. You know, after he encountered the bàozhà accident and was completely cured by Nana Wawa, his first reaction was that he could conduct experiments unscrupulously, and he even planned to taste the taste of different acids. No one else has this kind of fanaticism.
"Alright...you continue to study. I will let Barov find a way to make up for the staff shortage."
"By the way, Your Highness," Kaimo opened his mouth again, "Has your book *Intermediate Chemistry* been written? If you can let me study it, maybe I can figure out a large-scale acid production method sooner."
"I said at the conferment ceremony that as long as the apprentices and assistants you cultivate can fill the new laboratory, I will give you the book," Roland spread his hands. In fact, this book hasn't even been started yet—primary chemistry alone has emptied his limited chemical knowledge, and even if he racks his brains, he probably can't come up with a few pages of content for intermediate chemistry.
The fourth one was Minister of Construction Karl Van Burt.
"First of all, I would like to thank Juan," he nodded to Juan first, "I am really happy to learn that the children can graduate smoothly."
Compared with the Chief Alchemist, the Stonemason's talent for socializing can be said to be worlds apart, and Juan also nodded in return, "This is what I should do."
Then Karl opened the notebook he carried with him and said in an orderly manner: "Now the various projects in the town are progressing steadily. The main major projects are the Kingdom Avenue, the Chishui Bridge, the new residential area, and the new city wall. Among them, the number of people building the Kingdom Avenue has reached 4,500, half of whom are from Longsong Stronghold, and it is expected to be completed next spring. The Chishui Bridge is still under construction of the underground cement wall enclosure. The residential area has been expanded to the vicinity of the old city wall. The number of builders is about 1,000. As long as the supply of bricks and cement can be guaranteed, the established task of relocating all the refugees from the Eastern Territory into the town before the Month of the Demons should be completed."
Because Karl usually reports the progress of the project to Roland, this statement is very brief. For example, the expansion of the castle area and the construction of the witch building were not mentioned by him. In addition, after the new city wall was positioned and the lines were drawn, it was completely constructed by Lian alone, and the daily progress was maintained at about 100 meters.
"Thank you for your hard work," Roland nodded. The Engineering Department has the largest budget in terms of both personnel and funding, so it has the most achievements. "While speeding up construction, don't forget to publicize the preferential policies of Border Town. These handymen from the stronghold can be regarded as qualified craftsmen after a year of practice. You should try your best to keep them in the town."
"Yes, Your Highness." Karl replied.
"Then the next one... Iron Axe."
It was Iron Axe's first time participating in such a meeting, and he seemed a little uncomfortable. He cleared his throat, "Your Highness, there are mainly two things about the army. First, the Second Army has completed basic training and can be sent to the stronghold at any time. Second, with the addition of new blood, the First Army now has 125 people. Apart from the 350 people in the artillery team, all the remaining soldiers have been equipped with revolving buqiang. That's all I have to say." After reporting, he gave a military salute.
"Not bad, let the Second Army set off tomorrow. Remember to arrange reliable personnel in the team. You must not interrupt daily training and ideological cultivation in the stronghold, and report the situation to the town every week." Roland instructed.
The last speaker was Barov. He first looked around at everyone before saluting Roland unhurriedly, "Your Highness, since the last payment of transportation fees to the Margaret Chamber of Commerce and the expenses for the Tassah mission, the gold reserves in the city hall have dropped very seriously. In addition, this time we have a bumper harvest, but the Ministry of Agriculture still purchases grain at normal market prices, resulting in only about two thousand gold royals left in the treasury, which is a relatively dangerous limit."
Two thousand gold royals... undoubtedly a huge sum of money compared to last winter, but Roland also knew that the situation in the town was no longer the same. The monthly payment to the more than 5,000 workers in the Engineering Department alone is a huge expense, as well as the First Army, factories, chemical laboratories, and city hall, which can be considered high-paying at present, all require a lot of gold royals.
In other words, Border Town is now making money quickly, but it is also spending money quickly - and this is based on the fact that most of the materials and machinery are self-sufficient.
"I know. However, when the Margaret caravan arrives in the town at the beginning of next month, we can get a sum of income by selling steam engines," Roland responded, "And the purchase of grain and the transportation of refugees are not daily expenses, so the gold reserves should be able to increase steadily in the next six months, so you don't need to worry too much." He paused, "In addition, I plan to increase the salaries for everyone."
"Increase salaries?" Barov was stunned.
"That's right, the city hall is no longer an organization that relies on a dozen people to operate. Your workload has increased significantly, and the remuneration should naturally go up." The prince smiled, "Starting from this month, your salary will be increased to five gold royals per month, the department heads will receive two gold royals per month, and then refer to this ratio, and the apprentices and assistants will also be uniformly adjusted. Don't worry, this money doesn't add up to much, only about twenty or thirty gold royals."
Although five gold royals is not a generous salary for the position of Director-General of the City Hall, Roland knows that Barov loves power more - at present, all financial revenue and expenditure of Border Town are counted and distributed by him, and no regulatory department has been set up, so he can easily keep a hand and earn hundreds of times the income. And so far, he has not shown any signs of embezzling public funds.
Of course, in addition to relying on the other party's consciousness, Roland can also use Nightingale's ability to maintain the integrity of the department. Under her questioning, no one can hide their bad deeds.
"In addition, there is one thing that everyone may already know," he continued, "I plan to officially build a city here after the end of the Month of the Demons this year. In other words, the town will be upgraded to a real city. This big city will extend west to the wilderness, east to Longsong Stronghold, and south to the hills and the sea. Its city walls are natural mountains and natural barriers, and its area will far exceed the royal capital, or even any city in the Four Kingdoms."
"So you still need to hurry up and promote the work in your hands to welcome the establishment of the new city in a better posture," Roland paused, and said word by word, "I hope that this city can be as warm as spring even in the boundless winter."