Brian was hunted down by Alberon and had to run back to Fort Hammer to ask for protection from his son and daughter-in-law, and after dinner, Don was already discussing with Fiona about starting to pave the way.

The thousands of tons of asphalt brought back from the Dwarven Kingdom could only cover the first phase of Ellington's road works, and it was only enough to pave the area covered by Ellington's old and new towns, and even the other villages in Ellington could not be fully connected.

"My lord, although it has not yet begun, I think this project is very expensive, and we simply cannot afford it ourselves."

Fiona roughly estimated the cost of paving the road, originally didn't pay much attention to it at first, but after calculating it, she was shocked, according to the data given by Don so far, as well as the thickness of the paving, the cost of paving a square meter of new road with asphalt is almost a gold coin!

Doesn't seem like much?

According to Tang En's plan, the main road should be at least sixteen meters wide, and the secondary passage should be at least ten meters wide, so the distance of one meter is twenty-six gold coins, and the total length of the main roads in the old and new urban areas is currently about fifty kilometers, which is already 130,000 gold coins!

Just now, the city of Ellington, which is not yet fully completed, needs 130,000 gold coins to complete the road, not to mention the total length of the road in the complete plan, which has exceeded hundreds of kilometers, and there are roads to connect other villages and towns!

If you want to complete all the roads in Ellington, you can't even think about it without millions of gold coins!

If you want to connect with other territories, lay an asphalt road network. The amount of investment required is even more staggering, and it is calculated in tens of millions, hundreds of millions! This kind of project is simply something that requires the efforts of a country to complete, and with a territory like Ellington wants to complete this kind of project? It's a dream!

"I never said I would have to pay for it myself."

Don looked indifferent: "Just pave the roads in the territory first." On other roads, after those people come to Ellington, naturally some people will come to us for cooperation, and then we will only have to set standards, sell materials, sell technology, and sell equipment to make money. ”

“…… I understand! ”

Fiona understood what Donn meant almost immediately, and no matter how much she said, it was better to experience it herself. Use ready-made examples to make those people feel the benefits of asphalt roads, and they themselves will offer to pave the road.

Donn wasn't worried about the funding for the road because he knew the benefits of the asphalt road would spread. The number of people who want to build roads will only increase.

Think about it, once you've felt the smoothness of an asphalt road, who else can stand that dirt road that gets muddy when it rains? Or is it a bumpy and bumpy gravel road that drives up?

To put it more aggressively, asphalt roads also bring efficiency gains. The major chambers of commerce are not fools. If the roads were replaced with these flat asphalt roads, how much faster would their wagon caravans advance? You must know that time is money, business opportunities are fleeting, if you can take the first step, you can make a lot of money, and if you are one step behind, you can only pick up some scraps.

"What we have to do now is build Ellington well."

Donn said earnestly: "As long as Ellington is built, all problems will be solved." Don't worry about anything else. ”

"I understand, but ......"

Fiona pulled out a letter: "Hilton's message from Alinkes. The head of the Council of Nobles, Leander, is secretly searching for any information about you, which doesn't seem to be good news. ”

Don waved his hand indifferently: "Just search it, my news has already been on the table of those nobles in Alink."

"Oh, there's another one, 'Night Song' sent a message that President Berkeley has decided to launch a business alliance to block the Datang Chamber of Commerce, and it has been unanimously agreed, and all members of the business alliance refuse to sell any items to the Datang Chamber of Commerce...... My lord, who is Night Song? ”

"A little thief jumping up and down...... Hum! ”

"Thief? How could a thief know such news...... That's not good news. ”

Fiona pinched her eyebrows and had a slight headache: "We are still importing food from Casparmyburg and Bein, the grain industry in these two cities is all members of the business alliance, and the business alliance has blocked us, and we can't even buy food!" ”

Tang En frowned slightly: "How long can the grain harvested this month, plus the ones purchased before, last?" ”

"It lasts for four months at most, and if there is a monster attack in winter, or a cold wave, or a war, it will lead to a shortage of food."

"Four months...... That is, the bitter cold moon at the end of the year......"

"Yes, there are still two months left before the spring harvest of the Dawn Moon."

Tang En was stunned for a moment: "The harvested grain can't even resist the spring harvest, how did you survive the winter here before?" ”

Tina, who came in with tea, couldn't help but whisper, "Lord Lord, Ellington starves a lot of people to death every winter...... Everyone can't eat enough, and they can barely carry the ...... of the spring harvest."

Fiona added: "Thanks to the advent of combine harvesters, this season's grain harvest is very fast, basically there is no waste, and there is no loss due to weather and monsters, so the grain production has increased by about 30% compared to previous years, but it is not enough for the per capita ration." ”

"This is mainly because recently there are a lot more people in Ellington than before, almost several times, but the area of food cultivation has not expanded, on the contrary, we have also promoted the increase of the cultivation area of peppermint and two herbs, so the problem suddenly exploded."

"What about food rationing?"

"You can hold on for an extra month until the Frozen Moon next year."

Donn knocked on the table: "That is to say, even if the rationing system is implemented, there will be at least enough food for everyone in Ellington for another month before the winter." ”

"Yes, but for the sake of stability, it's better to buy two months' worth of food."

Fiona said helplessly: "Don't look at us running Ellington, in fact, the current Ellington is extremely fragile. At times like these, you, our lord. The most important thing is that as long as you can solve our problems, then Ellington can continue to develop, if you can't solve a problem, as long as there is a little pressure, a little frustration, Ellington is likely to collapse. ”

"After all, most of the people who come to Ellington now are poor and homeless. These men risked their lives all the way to Ellington just to have a good bite to eat, and once they learned that Ellington would not even be able to provide food in winter. So who else wants to stay here? ”

Tang En smiled and nodded: "I know, don't worry, food is not a problem." ”

"Laugh! You're still laughing! ”

Fiona was going crazy: "Now where are you going to find someone to sell you food?" Even if you are willing to sell, after learning the news of the blockade of the business alliance. It will definitely take the opportunity to extort price increases. We can't afford that! ”

"Secret."

Tang En waved his hand: "I know the problem of food, let's put it aside for the time being, and go back to the previous problem first, which is to pave the way." ”

"What else? The costing is clear...... Oh, yes! ”

Fiona clapped her hands: "Although you have always said that asphalt can be paved and is a good thing, you haven't said how this road should be paved." ”

"Well, it's pretty simple. However, it still needs to be trained, because it requires the cooperation of two machines. ”

Donn smiled slightly: "I started working on pavers and rollers in the afternoon. But after that...... production The production capacity of our spare parts processing plant may not be able to keep up, and the production capacity is seriously insufficient. ”

"It's not a lack of capacity!"

Fiona sighed again: "The technology of the lathe and press you made is very convenient, and it is very convenient to expand the production capacity, but - now we don't have that many people!" In the spare parts processing factory, the workers on the production line are so busy that they can't turn around, and the construction is still going on outside, where is there anyone available? ”

"When it comes to employing people, we are short of people now, but if we recruit more people, our food gap will be even greater, and now this is an unsolvable loop, unless we can solve the food problem, so that we can safely recruit displaced people."

"Besides, my lord, we are now rebuilding Ellington, and at the same time we will have to build water, roads, mining, agriculture, and commerce...... Don't you think we're taking too many steps? ”

Fiona stared at Don and said, "Seriously, it's enough for ordinary people to do these things casually, but Lord Lord, you take them out one after another, and I always feel that there seems to be a faint anxiety hidden under your leisurely face, is it my delusion?" ”

"Of course."

Don said with an innocent face: "What do I have to be anxious about? Don't forget that I'm a mage, even if Ellington is played bad by me, it's a big deal that I just pat my ass and leave, can I stay here and be buried? Oh, of course, don't worry, if I'm leaving, I won't forget to take you with me. ”

"Lord Lord......"

Hearing Don say this, Fiona and Tina still remembered what they were discussing just now, and their eyes were foggy, and they were so moved that they wanted to go up and offer a fragrant kiss immediately.

"It's almost time, you guys sort out the documents here, I'll go think about the roller first."

The smiling Don got up and left the study, and as soon as he closed the door, the smile on his face disappeared, and he couldn't help muttering: "A woman's intuition is really terrible...... Can you feel it like this? ”

"Your Excellency? What are you talking about? ”

Don turned around with a straight face: "Huh? Marlene, have you changed your hairstyle? It looks so beautiful! ”

He knew very well that women, especially those with great curiosity, were very dangerous creatures, and it would be even more dangerous if the word "beautiful" was added to this.

Luckily, however, this creature has a very fatal weakness, which is that it is unusually emotional and likes to ignore normal logic......

Therefore, it is easy to divert their attention.

"Ah, my lord, really?"

Marlene's curiosity was immediately diverted, and she spun around happily, and then asked shyly, "What about ...... Am I pretty or Tina pretty? ”

"It's all beautiful...... I've gone out beforehand, so you're busy. ”

Marlene's voice was so sweet that ordinary people might not be able to control it, Don smiled at her slightly, and then hurriedly left the lord's mansion. (To be continued.) )

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