A week later, Hodge convened a second meeting after the implementation of the new system.

The person sitting in the conference room was not much different from the last time, except that Daphne did not appear, and she was said to be taking a group of new eggs who couldn't even tell the difference between purple and blue leaves and snake grass to go to the forest outside the town to increase her knowledge.

"Alright, tell me about the town. ”

It was far more difficult to really master a town than Hodge imagined, although theoretically he only needed to distribute different tasks to be handled by others, which seemed to be very easy, but in fact, as an information center, he had to deal with quite a lot of affairs and tedious, and he hadn't slept well for a few days, and when he appeared in the conference room, he looked extremely tired, rubbing his eyes constantly.

"Rhodes, most of the job recruitment in the town is in charge of you, what is the situation now. ”

"Far more than you think, my lord. "Although the first day was not very good, and most people did not go to work at all after getting the money with the intention of receiving an advance salary, the number of people who took the job gradually increased in the following days, and now it has reached a considerable number, which has reached about forty percent of the estimated number in the town, and this has only taken a week. ”

"Good, keep it up. Hodge nodded, and suddenly remembered something, "By the way, did I tell you about the inauguration system in place?"

"You're saying that for every day of delay, you will be punished with a certain reduction in pay?"

"There's also more work, more pay, and promotion rules. Hodge emphasized these two points in particular, that in the early days of his career, the pay for the same occupation was the same, but this should not be sustained for a long time, otherwise it would discourage the enthusiasm of the activists and breed the inertia of the speculators.

Rhodes bowed slightly: "I have already ordered to go down, as for the results, we have to wait for a period of time to observe, after all, it has only been a week now." ”

"Remember to emphasize these rules, and if you don't implement them initially, it will be more difficult the later you go. Hodge turned to Harlow, "What about the Patrol Guard, and what happened to the recruits?"

"Make do with it, it's going to take a long time for them to become real soldiers. Harlow pouted.

Hodge stroked his forehead and waved at him: "Of course I know that training soldiers will take a long time, but that's not what I'm asking, those recruits are now engaged in daily patrols, right, how is the security situation in the town?"

"A lot of thieves and villains have been caught, and the dungeon of the outpost is almost full, and according to your requirements, some prisoners with serious crimes have been publicly punished in the town, which should be quite a deterrent, after all, the vicious incidents in the daily patrol report have begun to plummet. Harlow said, "There are also some thieves who have been courted by Herbert, and I don't know if that will affect the fairness of the guards." ”

"If the dungeon is too small, ask the craftsmen in the town to expand it, and you can ask Rhodes for the money. Thinking about the second half of Harlow's words, Hodge asked Herbert, "Those thieves are useful to you?"

"Very useful. Herbert's white beard trembled slightly with his expression, "With the previous intelligence network alone, we can no longer control every corner of Blackstone, we need more, smarter, and more vigorous "little mice". ”

Hodge nodded: "That's fine, you can do it as long as it is useful, as for the justice and prestige of the outpost - I think the right mercy will make the relationship between the guard and the people less deadlocked." ”

"One more thing. Harlow began, "Just this morning, the outpost received hunters from Silver Pines. ”

"Silver Pine?" Hodge had no impression of the name.

"It's a village, my lord. Harlow replied with his hands folded, "Several nearby villages belong to Blackstone, and Silver Pine is one of them. ”

"I see. Hodge continued, "And what news does this Silverpine hunter have for us?"

"According to him, just recently the old hunters in the village have died one after another, and the village has fallen into panic and has come to us for help. Harlow summed up the hunter's words.

"Did he say that these hunters were killed by something?"

He said that judging from the wound, it should be caused by the horns of the snow deer. ”

"The experienced old hunter was killed by the snow deer with his horns, and it caused panic in the village?" Hodge thought to himself, and after thinking for a moment, he said to Harlow, "How many soldiers do we send to support in normal situations?"

"Two veterans are enough. ”

"Then send four, half veterans, half recruits, just as training. Four soldiers can't have been killed by a snow deer in the forest, right?"

"Never. "Harlow still has a lot of faith in his subordinates.

"Then do it. Hodge made a decision, glancing around at the group, "Is there anything else? ”

"My lord, there is a very important matter before us. Rhodes put his hands in his sleeves and said in a deep voice to Hodge: "According to the astrologers' estimates, there is less than a month left, and this year's cold spell will come." ”

Hodge was slightly stunned, it was so busy that he almost forgot about the existence of the cold wave.

The cold wave is a unique climate that belongs only to the north, and at the end of the long winter, there will be a period of time when the sun is completely covered by snow fog and clouds and cannot reach the ground at all, and at the same time, the snow wind from the depths of the valley will become wild and raging, rushing to all parts of the north, this will be the coldest time in the north, the beasts will completely disappear during the cold wave and hide in the caves, and even wearing heavy jackets, people will still feel the cold outdoors.

During the cold wave, people in the north will stop all their work and nest in their houses to burn a bonfire to keep warm, waiting for the cold wave to pass.

Such a climate does not last long, usually a week to two weeks, but if not enough firewood and food are prepared, a week or two is enough time for many people to starve and freeze to death.

"I was negligent, what about the town's reserves?" he asked.

"Originally, there was a surplus of firewood in the town, and now that the logging progress is quite considerable, we should be able to accumulate abundant firewood after a month. But food is scarce, and newly recruited hunters need time to adapt to the hunt, and the amount of prey they can catch is quite limited, and as it stands, it may only last three to four days during the cold spell. Rhodes looked worried.

"Then there is only a way to buy food through the Chamber of Commerce, even if it is much more expensive, but the food must be prepared sufficiently. ”

"Understood. ”

Rhodes and the others got up to leave the conference room, but Hodge stopped, "Wait." ”

His eyebrows furrowed, and a question suddenly came to mind.

"Rhodes, how did the Chamber of Commerce deal with the issue of mine slaves during the cold spell?"

He had looked through the past mining tax records of Blackstone Town, and the amount paid in the quarter of the year when the cold wave came did not change the amount in the same amount as in other quarters, and it was still a fixed amount, which was unreasonable for the merchants who had to pay the baht, and if there was a period of shutdown due to the cold wave, it was unlikely that they would not ask the council chamber for a certain reduction in the mining tax for that quarter.

"The miners don't stop working, no different from other times, they still work in the mines to ensure that the progress of the mining is not delayed by the cold spell. ”

"Do you not stop working during the cold spell, can those miners survive the cold spell?" Hodge was surprised, he had seen the slaves working in the mines dressed up, the rags had almost no effect on the cold, and they might be able to expel the cold with the temperature of vigorous exercise, but the cold wave was not a climate that could be overcome by sweating alone.

Rhodes shook his head: "Of course a lot of people will die, every year the cold wave is the time when the mine slaves are consumed the most, and many slaves will die from the cold." But for the merchants, it was obviously much smaller to consume some of the miners and replenish them than to lose a week or two of work stoppage. ”

It was then that Hodge realized what Taura's vice-president had said to him, "The consumption of mine slaves is quite horrific".

"That's not going to work. He said in a gloomy voice.

If the miners in Blackstone were replaced every year, it would not be the result he wanted to see, it would make his plan meaningless, and if it was carried out shortly after, the goal would change, and everything would start from scratch, what could be worse than that?

This must not be allowed to continue.

Rhodes pondered his expression and suggested loudly: "My lord, I understand that you are kind-hearted, but it is best not to interfere in this matter, after all, if the Chamber of Commerce is forced to stop work during the cold wave, the tax that can be collected will also be reduced, maybe you don't know enough about the Marquis of Raymond, that is a decisive person, if you fail to collect enough, he will not give you a chance to make excuses." ”

Rhodes' words reminded Hodge that the issue is actually quite complicated.

In order for Blackstone to function, it was necessary to ensure that the miners paid the full amount of mining taxes, which meant that the miners could not stop working during the cold spell.

And in order to prepare for a long time to come, it is necessary to ensure that the mine slaves cannot be replaced on a large scale.

These two things are at odds of the opposite.

Is there - a way to neither affect the normal mining work of the mine nor lose a large number of slaves in the cold wave?