Women's homes are always bits and pieces when they pack up, just like the grooming and dressing up before going out in later generations, always saying that it is fast, but they can often stretch until noon, and they have to be covered with white flowers and white flowers and the incense powder that falls straight down when they walk.

Although before she learned that she was about to move to a new castle to live, she had already mobilized all the maids to take action, and packed up all the small things in her boudoir to throw away the useless, I also seized the opportunity to swear in front of the beauty and swore that there was no need to dwell on these rags, my lord, I have money, and I can buy a newer and better one for my woman, but Serena was still in a dilemma about checking her things, and was reluctant to throw them away one by one, and finally ordered the servants to load the car and pull it away, So much so that our trip had to be slowed down by two days, who said that women are sensual animals who like the new and hate the old, and they definitely value feelings when it comes to moving.

The main reason why I am in a hurry to urge Serena to move quickly is mainly because I feel a little indebted to the real protagonist of Herusbeck Castle, Niu, as a feudal lord, I have the right to be a guest and reside in the vassal's house, but after all, now that my castle has been built, Bull has the opportunity to be a complete lord, a dignified baron, which he deserves.

So for a few days, when I saw the bulls running before and after running, I tried to hide as much as possible, as if I was hiding from the poor ghost of the creditor.

Feng Jun is so embarrassed to do it, there are really few in this era, who calls himself thin-skinned.

After about three or four days of blistering and tidying up, we finally packed up the last wagon of miscellaneous goods on the tenth day after St. Paul's Day, that is, on the 9th of July, and then took a group of attendants and maids in a horse-drawn carriage along the hardened road that had connected the main fiefdoms of the territory a few months earlier, to our new town, where Nijmegen Castle was now full of people.

The castle had received the news of the Duke's imminent arrival, and began to prepare for the banquet early, on the one hand, to celebrate the official arrival of the new city, and on the other hand, to entertain the nobles who came from all over the country to participate in the Duke of Nijmegen's housewarming, as well as the envoys sent by the major dukes, this was the first time that Nijmegen presided over a large banquet after being promoted to the Duchy, so Wangcai attached great importance to it, and every detail must be checked personally, and several clerks who were familiar with court etiquette were always followed behind him, providing technical guidance at any time.

Hearing that the Duke was going to hold a grand banquet, the merchants immediately drove their own carriages and crowded the market on the street in front of the castle with the purchased ingredients.

If Wangcai was from the previous background, these businessmen would not look at him at all, and maybe they would be short of a pound or two, but who would have thought that the old and respectful palace minister in front of him would still be an unknown old farmer in Lorraine two years ago?

My arrival has not only changed his fate alone, for many people who previously thought that they would be like their ancestors, who would have been digging in the land for generations with their backs to the loess, and being honest vassals and lords, and who had risen to the top by their own efforts through the opportunity I had given them, and who served Nijmegen was not only an absolute political obedience, but also another manifestation of gratitude and retribution.

The merchants were perhaps the happiest people in the city, except for the Duke's immediate retinue and maids who could share a room with a few people who could move into the castle, instead of being crowded behind the kitchen and living in the basement as before, because on both sides of the main street of the castle were all storefronts built specifically for them, and some of the great merchants who had long maintained trade with Nijmegen had the right of first refusal, and there was no limit to the number of them, as long as you could fill them all, so the large storefronts closest to the castle would have been divided up long ago. It was either used as a grocery store, or opened a tavern and hostel.

Although the remaining stores are small and partial, and closer to the areas where civilians live, relatively far from the center, they can have free stone houses, which is already a beautiful thing that many small traders dream of waking up with a smile, not to mention that the shops are also laid with an independent sewer system, and each strictly divided block has a pool to draw water, which is very convenient for both commercial and residential uses.

"Lord Duke of Nijmegen, he must be a saint blessed by God!"

An old merchant who had been wandering for many years, after getting his own shop, swore in front of everyone with tears in his eyes, and almost fought with a small merchant who could not get a house and said two cool words, there were so many people like him who were so excited that every day they piled up outside the castle to die and want to see the living saint Duke, so that people who passed by outside the city thought that what a grievance had happened here.

With their own houses, businessmen naturally have to settle down locally, in order to facilitate the nearby procurement of goods, they are basically within the territory of Nijmegen, which is equivalent to bringing together the floating wealth that is usually a big businessman like Leonardo, and forming a considerable market value of sand into a tower, as long as it is slowly guided and merged, the strength of the Nijmegen Chamber of Commerce will undoubtedly be greatly enhanced.

"Your ideas always go the other way, and at first it seems that you are simply losing money and making money, but often the result is shocking, God is really unfair, he has given you a strong body, and you have a smart head."

After Leonardo learned about the financial situation of the market, his eyes were filled with a scorching essence that could burn people to death, and the corners of his mouth were twisted in admiration.

"You have all wiped out the political and economic circles!"

Although part of the city wall is still unfinished, Nijmegen has become the most vibrant city in this lifeless land divided by castles and monasteries, attracting many of the inhabitants who yearn for a new life to rush to it, like the sun that attracts sunflowers tirelessly chasing the light.

The moat of the outer city is crowded with simple huts built by the displaced people themselves, who have neither land to cultivate nor effective and loyal owners, so they can only go into the city to do odd jobs for merchants to earn money to subsidize their families, and slowly leave the land.

In order to settle these people, I made relevant plans at the beginning of the construction of the city, the Vaal River meandered through the city, providing natural insurance for the city and promoting freight traffic, and a special waterway connecting the river to the cargo terminal in the city, which not only made it convenient for ships to unload goods nearby, but also reduced the difficulty for the city guards.

Once the enemy attacks from the river, the iron water gate can be lowered to defend itself from the tower, and it can greatly reduce the damage caused by the besiegers blocking the river and causing flooding.

In particular, the neat freight yards with shops along the wharves gave the ordinary people who were living outside the city the opportunity to work, and in a sense, these people were the new class that I was trying to cultivate, different from the workers who existed as peasants, even if they were a little against the times, but I wanted to do the opposite.

Entering the outer city through the drawbridge, behind the tall city wall is my square dwellings planned according to the pattern of the Chinese market in later generations, the tall houses near the street are all specialized shops, and the large open space behind me is basically bought by rich merchants to build houses to settle their families or associates, and the closer the remaining houses are to the city gate, the lower the status of the occupants, most of them are local residents of Nijmegen, they are all farmers who are subordinate to me, cultivating the land outside the city.

Although the quality of the houses they live in is poor compared to the shops on the street, and they are just low-rise houses built from the waste of the construction walls, but if they can have a free stone house under the protection of the city walls, can they ask for more?

The maids and handymen who worked in the castle and their families lived relatively close to the castle, and their neighbours were professional workers working in the new paper mills outside the castle, who were relatively well-off, and who were the new purchasing power that I gradually fattened, and who consumed all the goods of production and daily necessities second only to the castle, and were the magnets on which the small merchants were drawn to settle here.

Behind the shops on the street closest to the castle are tall stone houses, which are among the best in the city in terms of quality and quantity, and they are like concentric circles centered on the castle, guarding the Duke's residence.

These houses were the residences of the soldiers defending the city, and some of them were distributed to the bereaved families of the soldiers who died in the previous wars, which was a kind of reward for being born and dying with me.

The defenders of the city are responsible for the defense of the outer city, and they live in the units of their respective squads, which can enhance the relationship between each other's families, shorten the distance between their comrades, make each other more united, and condense into an inseparable collective to enhance combat effectiveness, which is also the intention of my arrangement.

Crossing the drawbridge over the moat of the inner city, I entered the precinct of the castle where I lived, the center of power throughout Nijmegen.

A ring of towering walls separates the castle from the city, followed by a very steep uphill slope, with only a row of stone steps for people to climb, and the rest of the place is either placed with sharp horses or impassable trenches, and when the city is defended, it can be poured with asphalt to weave a wall of fire, and after the fall of the wall, the enemy will be deterred from rushing directly into the castle as much as possible, and buying time to hold on to the last fortress.

At the end of the stone steps, once a small hill facing the river, has long been flattened and tamped, and a castle with a different architectural style of this era rises from the ground, piercing straight into the sky, looking down on the whole city from a high vantage point, like a majestic duke, always gazing at his own land.

If someone looks down from the sky, the castle is a regular octagonal building, with seven convex towers and a square city outside the city gate, building a three-dimensional defense system, this design can ensure that no matter which direction the enemy attacks the bottom of the city wall, there is no way to hide in the dead corner of the defender's attack to erect a ladder, and the convex tower allows the archers to cover any corner with firepower, and crucify the enemy who has passed the test and finally rushed to the wall to nail under the city.

(End of chapter)