Chapter 95: Fulfilling the Promise, the Progress of the Old Forest Road Project

As a small merchant who had traveled north and south for years and was a lone wolf, Manid quickly accepted the status quo; for him, swearing allegiance to a king was simply achieving a class leap in life.

In the continent of Calradia, there was absolutely no lord who would look at someone like Manid with special regard; they would only unleash endless exploitation upon this small merchant who did not belong to their own family.

Taxes for passing through roads, taxes for entering cities, taxes for trading, taxes for heads, taxes for livestock, and additional taxes during wartime—not to mention those cruel nobles who would often lead troops to plunder passing caravans.

Only by becoming a caravan leader for a noble, with powerful backing for protection, could one have a certain degree of security while trading, and the privileges of the nobles also allowed these caravans to pay only minimal taxes.

Although Manid deeply loathed the greed and exploitation of the nobles, he was very willing to become a subordinate of a noble if he could, only suffering from having no way in.

Although he had his own arrangements for Manid, Allen still gave this down-and-out merchant the right to choose; after all, a person can only exert one hundred percent of their ability when doing what they like.

Allen offered two choices: the first was to provide a loan to Manid, allowing him to organize his own caravan; this was a cooperative model.

As a lord, Allen would provide Manid with military protection and, acting as his backer, allow Manid to trade in the name of the King of Rhovanion among the various powers of Middle-earth, while Allen would take at least sixty percent of the profits from the sale of goods.

From a certain perspective, sixty percent was not much; merchants in this era, as long as they had a stable and safe environment, could easily obtain huge profits, and coincidentally, Allen could now provide these to Manid.

The second was to require Manid to become an official of the Kingdom Cabinet, temporarily under the management of Yamila; his initial job would be as a caravan leader, and Manid would need to be responsible for investigating prices in various places, subsequently planning the future development of the caravan, and personally leading the trade, with everything else handled by Allen, but the same thing was that Manid could only receive a salary.

However, Allen promised that if he did well, he could grant Manid the title of advisor.

Having just arrived, Manid did not understand the actual environment here, but being somewhat shrewd, he immediately realized that these two choices represented wealth and power, respectively.

Manid did not hesitate in the slightest and chose the second option; if possible, he hoped to see a commercially prosperous country, rather than a country that allowed nobles to levy excessive taxes and stifle commercial activities.

At the very least, merchants should be allowed to have some profits to make, stimulating the enthusiasm of merchants to strengthen commercial activities between various places; to accomplish this, he needed a certain amount of power and support from the King.

Manid, who could wake up laughing in his sleep tonight, did not know what kind of commercial environment would be waiting for him; after all, since Sauron occupied Dol Guldur, commercial activities between Eriador and Rhovanion had gradually decreased, and in recent years, they had almost completely ceased.

In such a difficult environment, wanting to restore commercial prosperity would inevitably be a long and arduous task.

And Manid, who knew nothing of all this, followed Allen to see Yamila the next day, full of vigor.

Allen was also in a very good mood today; he looked at his Hand of the King and introduced both parties with a smile on his face.

After all, for Allen, the results of the series of events that had occurred recently were all good, and the results of the simulation were also quite good, so being in a good mood was a matter of course.

Most importantly, after opening up the High Pass, Allen had no particularly troublesome matters to focus on; it felt just like playing a game—when all the tasks had green checkmarks, the feeling in that instant was simply too comfortable.

Yamila did not care about Manid's background but instead arranged for a subordinate to take this new colleague to familiarize himself with the environment of Wilderness Town, which was very important for anyone new.

After Manid left, Yamila looked at the high-spirited Allen, feeling a bit puzzled.

"Could it be that something good happened recently that even I don't know about?"

Before Yamila could think too much, the smiling Allen opened his mouth to issue his invitation.

"Beautiful Miss Yamila, in half a month, I wonder if you have time to accompany me to the Lonely Mountain to attend the coronation ceremony of Thorin II?"

Allen had his own considerations for issuing such an invitation: first, as Allen's Hand of the King and the second-in-command of the Kingdom of Rhovanion, it was reasonable and appropriate for Yamila to get to know several major allies of the Kingdom of Rhovanion, as well as Allen's powerful vassals.

This included Thorin II of the Lonely Mountain, Dain Ironfoot of the Iron Hills, the King of the Woodland Realm, and Bard, the lord of Esgaroth; if there were opportunities in the future, it should also include Lord Elrond of Rivendell and the couple Celeborn of Lothlorien.

It was not just to let Yamila know them, but also to let these big shots of the various powers know Yamila; in case Allen led troops on an expedition in the future and problems occurred in his rear, Yamila would be able to speak with these allies of Allen.

So this coronation ceremony of Thorin II was a very good opportunity, and it would not take a long time; now that the Orcish had retreated completely, the road was very safe, and a month for the round trip would be enough.

On the other hand, in these four or five years, Yamila had been staying in Wilderness Town, handling the complex government affairs Allen handed to her, busy from the first day of the new year to the last day of the new year, repeating in cycles, without a single day off all year.

Even the emperors of ancient times had a few days of vacation; Allen felt that Yamila was truly too hardworking, so he also hoped to take this opportunity to take Yamila out to relax, and it would be good to see the scenery of the Woodland Realm and the Lonely Mountain.

After hearing Allen's invitation, Yamila's first reaction in her mind was surprise, then full of joy, and finally, she felt it seemed a bit absurd.

The King actually wanted to take the Prime Minister to attend the coronation ceremony of an ally, so who would handle so many government affairs in Wilderness Town?

Who would solve the problems occurring in the village under construction? Who would supervise the spring farming work? Who would provide pensions for the wounded and martyrs who appeared in this war at the High Pass?

Subsequently, one figure after another appeared in Yamila's mind, and she found suitable candidates for each task.

"Fatis can preside over the pension work; he is the Military Minister, and providing pensions for soldiers is his duty; I only need to prepare the corresponding supplies and money in advance."

"Agricultural matters have been on the right track for these few years; letting Karl do it first is fine. After I return, I'll check the progress; there shouldn't be much of a problem; it's been like this for these few years."

"The matter of the village construction is a bit troublesome; Tier and Artimenner are both away. If it doesn't work, let James manage it; after all, he was there when Wilderness Village was established, so he should have some experience. Actually, as long as he can read the blueprints, it's fine."

"And the construction work on the Old Forest Road, the wages for these two months have just been sent by troops, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"And for the daily management of the town, Duolisi and the others shouldn't have..."

After thinking for a moment, Yamila suppressed the excitement in her heart, revealed a shallow smile on her fair, beautiful face, and said with dignity: "Lord Allen, no problem, I will arrange the upcoming work well."

Upon hearing this, Allen nodded and said: "Okay, then see you in half a month."

Yamila was stunned upon hearing this and asked: "Are you going to?"

"Ah, right, I plan to go to the Old Forest Road to check the progress of the project there, and then handle a small trouble."

Because there was still a month and a half until Thorin's coronation ceremony, if he left now, he would have to wait a long time at the Lonely Mountain. Allen thought it would be better to use this time to go to the Old Forest Road and see the specific situation there; after all, he had not paid attention to that place since that battle.

And he could also send off Malhebi by the way; Allen planned to send ten Twilight Knights, letting them take three horses each to send Malhebi home as soon as possible.

Once he promised someone, Allen only wanted to fulfill his promise as soon as possible.

"Okay, my lord, I wish you a smooth journey. I will immediately arrange for someone to prepare the corresponding things." Yamila nodded to show she understood, just about to turn and leave, then as if remembering something, added: "My lord, I hope you can return on time in half a month and not delay attending the coronation ceremony of an important ally."

"Okay, I know."

Allen nodded and called Gale, who was beside him, to tell him to notify Malhebi to get ready and prepare to set off for Mirkwood Road in the afternoon.

As the general person in charge of opening up the Mirkwood Road, Tier had been exceptionally busy recently; in order to improve the progress of this project, he divided the fifteen hundred or so people into three parts.

The first part was the villagers of Oak Village, about four hundred people; their Village Chief, Balun, was responsible for managing that place, and the main work was to cut down the trees covering the road from west to east, with the left-behind passage being at least two to three meters wide.

The progress there was not bad; the main problem was that although Balun was an extremely excellent hunter, he was truly a bit slow when it came to things like construction. Even though Tier drew blueprints and even drew guide lines on the ground, those villagers still cut crookedly as they went, and they were crooked in one direction.

This resulted in Tier having to go over to correct them every once in a while; for dozens of kilometers of forest, even if the Dwarf rode a pony, it would take a long time.

The second part was the villagers of Pine Village, whose number was nearly six hundred, managed by Gale's grandfather, Hank.

【To be honest, I've been using Wild Fruit Reading to catch up on books recently; the source switching is good, the reading voices are many, and it's available on both Android and Apple.】

Hank was a hale and hearty Northern Man who was usually enthusiastic and generous to others and enjoyed meeting new friends; within a month, he had hit it off with Tier, Alayen, and Stephen, and also gained a profound understanding of his employer, Allen.

After all, their life of sleeping in the open was still a bit miserable; Hank often invited Allen's subordinates to drink after work with the fruit wine he brewed himself and the game he hunted, and the relationship between the two sides naturally became closer and closer.

Of course, this did not delay the progress of the project; in one month, the two villages had already opened up about one-sixth of the entire road.

Tier measured it simply; this road covered by the forest was about forty kilometers long. To open up a road two to three meters wide, at least twenty to thirty thousand trees needed to be felled. In one month, these thousand people had already felled nearly four thousand trees, so the progress was still quite good.

After all, the trees covering this road have grown for who knows how many years, and most are extremely tall and thick; the working environment in the forest is also very poor, so for these Northern Men to have achieved what they have now, it can be considered extremely diligent and hardworking.

Moreover, of these more than one thousand people, only half are capable of heavy manual labor, while the other elderly, women, and children are mostly responsible for some simple tasks.

For example, leveling the ground, gathering small branches for daily fuel, fetching water from nearby sources, cooking, and other miscellaneous chores, doing their utmost to earn their own share of rations from Allen.

In addition to Pine Village and Oak Village, the more than five hundred people from Fir Village, under the leadership of Caroline, are responsible for further processing the large quantity of felled trees, then transporting them to the eastern end of Mirkwood Road to be stacked near the Running River for drying.

Once these trees are sufficiently dried, Tier will arrange for them to begin the work of building the stronghold; after all, freshly felled timber can only be used to build temporary housing.

The wedge-shaped area at the northwest intersection of Mirkwood Road and the Running River is a large expanse of gentle hills; to the east flows the Running River, which runs year-round, while to the west and north lies the lush Mirkwood, and this vast stretch of land in between is now showing a vibrant green.

Allen, who had just stepped onto this land from Mirkwood Road at noon that day, knew at a glance that the surrounding environment could easily support two or three thousand people, but Wilderness Town did not have that many people to relocate here for the time being, so they could only build a stronghold first to hold this important road, and as for other matters, they would have to wait.

The direction Allen and his party were heading was the camp temporarily set up by Alayen, where three hundred soldiers were currently stationed; Stephen and Tier would also rest there after finishing their daily work.

After Allen and his party approached the camp, they discovered that patches of land had actually been cultivated around it, and Allen summoned a nearby soldier at random to understand the full story.

After Alayen brought the three hundred soldiers to station here, no abnormalities had occurred; not to mention enemies, even the wild beasts in the forest were unwilling to approach these numerous Humans, as they were also afraid.

After handing over the nearby reconnaissance work to the Nord Royal Guards, who already had decent riding skills, Alayen began training with the soldiers, but they could not train every single day; Alayen could hold up, but the soldiers of this era could not endure it.

Therefore, in their spare time from training, these soldiers, who were Woodland Residents by origin, began to cultivate farmland on the nearby land.

They did not know how long they would stay here, and using the surrounding land to grow some vegetables and grain could also improve their diet and raise their overall standard of living—why not do it?

The grain that Stephen bought from other human settlements was extremely monotonous, either wheat or barley, and for the current soldiers, it was easy to get tired of it after eating it for a period of time; if they had the conditions to improve it, they would naturally do so.

It can only be said that under Allen's rule, the people's standard of living had indeed improved significantly; they were no longer satisfied with just the conditions required to survive, but were instead finding ways to pursue a better quality of life, which, in every respect, was a good thing.

Upon arriving at the camp, Allen had to fulfill his promise to arrange for Holimion to lead five Twilight Knights to send Malherbe home.

Allen prepared a large amount of supplies for them and equipped each person with three fast horses, allowing their party to complete this journey as quickly as possible.

Malherbe was naturally extremely grateful for Allen's arrangements, and subsequently, when parting with Allen, he promised that after returning, he would certainly promote exchanges between Red River Town and Wilderness Town, at the very least attempting to establish trade relations.

Allen naturally agreed with this; even if there were nothing else, being able to purchase more grain would be good, and as various projects unfolded, Allen deeply felt that no matter how much grain there was, it never seemed to be enough.

"Lord Allen!

"

At this moment, Alayen, having learned of Allen's arrival, rode out from the camp on horseback, greeting Allen from afar.