When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#625 - One street in the Holy Court is enough to shake the entire Thousand River Valley

The Holy See of Machinery's decision to hold the first fiscal conference wasn't arbitrary; it was well-prepared.

First and foremost, Langsand County holds a special position.

Although South Mangde County's tax revenue was less than 2,000 gold pounds, it provided Horn with 3,000 gold pounds in just three months, even with wool production not at full capacity.

Since these people are primarily farmers, they don't always have time to spend at the spinning wheel.

Therefore, with this wool textile production chain, Horn's clothing workshop in Langsand County is projected to earn around 9,000-10,000 gold pounds annually.

This income is almost comparable to the sugar and grain trade.

Considering Langsand County's original tax revenue of 20,000-30,000 gold pounds, along with the wool production chain and the sugar and grain trade, the annual income of one county is expected to reach around 50,000 gold pounds.

Secondly, Horn, as the direct superior of all grassroots monks, is not only a religious leader but also the central figure in local rural administration.

Although Moliati can mobilize funds, including income from all areas outside Langsand County,

not all the money needs to be transported to Hotam County and then back when needed, as that would result in significant losses.

Therefore, after receiving taxes, the Priest Order will collect them uniformly into the county's treasury and connect with the two Guardians of the People in the east and west using double-entry bookkeeping.

The county head can only use tariffs and consumption taxes collected directly by the rural constables in urban areas.

If Moliati wants the county head to do something, she issues a note to the county head, who then takes it to the Priest Chief.

But the problem is that the Priest Chief is appointed by Horn. Although the Priest Chief cannot refuse Moliati's orders, if Horn gives a hint to delay the process, you can imagine how uncomfortable that would be.

Therefore, to prevent internal friction, Horn also hopes to establish a reliable budget system with sufficient planning for future finances.

To ensure reliable and efficient finances, money must be spent wisely.

The two sides gathered to determine the priority areas for expenditure based on future development directions, with both sides having a clear understanding of how much to spend and how much to allocate.

It just so happened that Moliati was already scheduled to visit the Holy See of Machinery, and it coincided with the internal fiscal conference, so they decided to hold it together.

After putting away the briefs, Horn put on his jacket and walked out of the room with the schedule in hand.

"Pettier, call the coachman. We're going to the Mechanical Palace to see how Silov's new peat refining technique is progressing."

"Yes, sir." Pettier quickly walked to a corner of the room, found the stable's brass pipe among the ten, opened the lid, and dropped in a signed note stating that the carriage was ready.

When Horn and Pettier walked downstairs, the Holy Musket Cavalry responsible for security and a plain carriage were parked in the back alley of the Holy See.

The wheels rolled on the road paved with a mixture of bricks and mortar, quickly moving from the dark alley to the central avenue.

Horn lifted a corner of the curtain and looked out the window.

With the establishment of the Holy Axis, a large number of alchemists, witch doctors, and wizards came to the Holy See of Machinery along the Ibe River.

With their help, the construction speed of the entire Holy See of Machinery was miraculous.

From the official residence square, one can see the clock tower at the end of Central Avenue, a 45-meter-high Gothic-style structure surrounded by slender columns and pointed arches.

Its dial is about 4 meters in diameter, with a copper ring on the outside and mosaic-style colored glass inside, backed by a ring of yellow fluorite.

This allows people to tell the time even at night by using the different colors of fluorite on the hands and scales.

This seemingly high-tech device is actually driven by a set of heavy hammers weighing hundreds of kilograms, requiring a dozen workers to turn the winch together to lift the hammers every week.

Looking to both sides from Central Avenue, the previously sparse shops are now filled.

With the establishment of the Holy Monarch Country of Thousand River Valley, the Holy See of Machinery and Langsand County quickly became promised lands for refugees and laborers.

Coincidentally, the mortar road construction between the Holy See of Machinery and Jeanneburg was completed, and almost every week, seven or eight hundred refugees migrated from Black Serpent Bay or other places.

Whether from the Nauan River or the Ibe River, their unified route was to disembark at Jeanneburg and then travel along the mortar road to the Holy See of Machinery.

Some found work in the Jeanneburg workshop area or rural brick kilns and stayed, while others simply became construction workers and porters at the docks.

It is estimated that only a little over 2,000 people actually reach the Great Marsh Autumn Dusk Island each month.

In particular, a large number of local farmers from the Poison Witch Swamp in Deer Horn Township were relocated to Great Marsh Island.

Because with the completion of the dredging of the two rivers, the Poison Witch Swamp is likely to become a lake area and form a new tributary.

So Horn proposed demolition, housing, and land redistribution, immigrating a full 6,000 farmers living in the Poison Witch Swamp to the countryside of Autumn Dusk Island.

This led to a population of over 30,000 on Autumn Dusk Island, while the population of the Holy See of Machinery exploded from 11,000 to 19,000 in half a year.

Thanks to Autumn Dusk Island being a mortar production area, mortar prices are low.

To supplement municipal revenue and provide jobs, Witt frantically built four-story insula apartments on the outskirts.

In Horn's view, these insula apartments are basically at the technical level of rural self-built houses, or even worse.

At least rural self-built houses will tie steel bars and pour concrete columns. The houses designed by Witt, who came from a humble background, have foundations of only one meter, exposed and unpainted walls, and floors made of spliced wooden boards.

The last time Horn inspected, people on the third floor could hear everything clearly on the first floor.

Correspondingly, it only takes 20 construction workers two months to build such an insula apartment.

Witt built a total of 110 insula apartments in four months, which can accommodate about 6,000 people.

Although the quality of the houses is poor, the price of each room is about 8 gold pounds. It takes five or six years for ordinary workers to buy one, but only two or three years for craftsmen.

Even if they can't afford to buy one, it doesn't matter. They can rent it for 15 dinars per month. Each room can accommodate two to three people, averaging 5 dinars per month.

Nowadays, the minimum daily wage in the Holy See of Machinery is 1 dinar, and 5 dinars per month is about one-sixth of their income.

Moreover, after renting continuously for 7 years, they can directly buy the house by paying a low housing tax.

So these insula are actually fully occupied, providing the Holy See of Machinery City Hall with a stable income of about 150 gold pounds per month.

Mortar workshops, mithril workshops, water-powered and gear-driven spinning machines, and a series of other workshops provide abundant secondary industry jobs and attract a large influx of people.

In addition, the special status of this place as an administrative center naturally enriches the tertiary industry.

The Holy See of Machinery is full of job opportunities: mail carriers, newspaper boys, street cleaners, water workers responsible for maintaining drainage and public water sources.

Chefs, barbers, scribes, coachmen... and if all else fails, if they can't do anything and don't know anything, isn't there still construction work?

It's only natural that the number and variety of shops on both sides of Central Avenue have increased.

In fact, not only the bottom-level refugees, but recently a group of Kush knights from Golden River Township and Ibe Township have begun to scout land and farms near the city.

After all, even Grandma Arco has realized that once the South Mangde County river dredging project is completed and the wool spinning line can directly enter Autumn Dusk Island, the land price here will increase incredibly.

As the carriage drove across the narrow wooden bridge, Horn leaned half his head out of the window, and the walls of the Mechanical Palace on the hill and the leather cannon turrets on the four corners came into view.