When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#447 - Laundry Pork and Cape

Carrying a basket of clothes, Bonato and his companion walked on the streets of Jeanne d'Arc Fort.

The news of the army's triumphant return had spread throughout Jeanne d'Arc Fort, and after the initial revelry, the people had returned to calm once more.

However, judging from the citizens' rosy cheeks, they had made a hefty profit from the Holy War bonds.

Bonato had wanted to buy some, but he couldn't because he hadn't registered his identity.

Arriving at the outer vegetable market street, the vendors had already set up their stalls, placing fruits, vegetables, fresh eggs, and meat in wooden frames, displaying them in abundance.

Since the vegetable market street was guarded by the Night Watch and the Holy Guard, few dared to cause trouble, so the surrounding farmers chose the vegetable market street as their first choice for setting up stalls.

Only when the vegetable market street was full would they go elsewhere to peddle their wares.

"Oranges, oranges, oranges, oranges, oranges, oranges, oranges!"

"Cabbage, cheap sale! Cabbage, cheap sale!"

"Mom, I want to eat roasted potato roots!"

"This isn't a biscuit, it's an alchemical product, it grows bigger and taller when it encounters water... Hey, what are you doing? Why aren't I allowed to sell baptismal products without a license? I'm not convinced..."

A swindler selling fake goods was forcibly dragged to the corner of the street by several Night Watchmen amidst the jeers of the crowd, and kicked out of the street.

"Let's buy a few pounds of pork? Ask that auntie who makes egg and meat pancakes to make some for us, Lady Theodora seems to like it."

"Let's buy a few more pounds and dry them into bacon for the road," Bonato's companion agreed. "The pork elsewhere might cost more than this."

After Hohen opened up the mountains and forests and implemented the land distribution plan, in order to ensure the supply of meat, livestock farming was made tax-free, and ordinary farmers did not need to pay taxes when selling livestock at the market.

Since the method of using potato roots to remove toxins became popular, farmers generally began to use potato roots to feed pigs. Four pounds of potato roots mixed with pigweed could grow one pound of pork. One acre of mountain land could produce thousands of pounds of potato roots, with a net yield of approximately 900-1200 pounds.

One acre of mountain land or wasteland could raise about two or three pigs, and it was also tax-free. The plains were slightly better, but pig farming in the forests and mountainous areas had gone crazy.

This year's pork prices were more than 30% lower than the year before, and this was the result of the Papal Palace's large-scale purchase of pork to forcibly maintain prices.

Arriving at the butcher shop, Bonato saw the centurions standing next to a carriage, surrounding the corpse of a demonic field mouse.

This should have been purchased jointly by several centurions, because they were arguing red-faced about how to divide it.

You should know that, according to the documents issued by the Cardinal Council, a very important part of the Holy Guard captains' performance assessment is the transcendence rate.

And the Holy Guard captains' performance assessment results are also part of the centurions' performance assessment rating.

These centurions would even spend some of their own money to buy more pork, so that the Holy Guard could develop transcendence faster and show their faces at the autumn harvest conference.

After all, according to the gossip from the coachmen and prostitutes, the bureaucratic reform might begin after the autumn harvest.

Who will be the grandson and who will be the grandpa depends on this.

As soon as the two lifted the butcher shop's curtain, a butcher was packing scraps of meat to give to a mother and child. Seeing Bonato and his companion coming, he spread his hands and said, "You're late, that was the last bit. There's still some not-so-fresh meat, do you want it?"

"Of course not," the companion asked unwillingly, "When will the next batch arrive?"

"I don't know, it depends on when the carriage comes, usually around noon."

Looking at the sun in the sky, the companion said to Bonato, "You go deliver the clothes to the laundry workshop first, I'll wait here, and we'll meet at the river later."

Saying goodbye to his companion, Bonato carried a basket of clothes to the river.

A one-story-high building divided into small cubicles appeared before him, and the sky was filled with steam, and the whistling of water boiling on the honeycomb coal stove was endless.

In the hazy steam, there were poor women wearing thin clothes coming and going.

Within the territory of the Divine Ai Empire, doing laundry in the city was a rather time-consuming and laborious task.

Because the quality of clothes at this time was very poor, before washing the clothes, you needed to check the clothes and sew up the openings, otherwise the small openings would immediately become large openings after washing.

After checking the openings, you also needed to classify them according to the type of dirt and the type of fabric, especially woolen clothes. If the washing method was incorrect, you would pay a painful price.

Before washing, you needed to spend a whole day soaking them to allow the dirt to dissolve naturally before you could continue washing.

Since there were no indoor sewage facilities, you needed to carry the bucket of dirty water outside to dump it, and then line up to fetch water from the well or river.

Then came the scrubbing process. Different clothes required different cleaning agents. Sometimes, a small amount of blue dye needed to be added during the second wash as a brightening agent to cover up the corrosion of the cleaning agent on the clothes.

Most importantly, this work required a lot of hot water, and the price of firewood in the town was not cheap, so normal families washed their clothes once a week, and many bachelors or laborers washed their clothes even once every six months.

However, with the appearance of honeycomb coal, the price of fuel plummeted, and the cost of laundry was finally reduced.

But it still took too long, so many single craftsmen would entrust some widows or old grandmothers to help them wash.

These widows and poor women discussed it and found that they could actually earn a lot of money, so they started charging.

Some clever citizens discovered the business opportunity and quickly entered the market, opening laundry workshops and successfully squeezing out the business of those widows and old grandmothers.

Thus, in a corner unknown to Hohen, the laundry workshop business quietly became popular.

Because of unified washing, bulk purchases of cleaning agents and honeycomb coal, and the location was right by the river, and there were even dedicated laundry maids, the cost of washing a piece of clothing was much lower than that of ordinary families.

Many citizens and craftsmen found that the money they spent on washing clothes once was not much more than the money they used to buy firewood, so they immediately voted with their feet.

Their wives were very satisfied, because the hot water for washing clothes needed to be heated on the stove, which would undoubtedly disrupt their daily cooking and other housework plans.

Many widows and poor women would go to work in the laundry, but due to the conservative social atmosphere, they had to wear headscarves and work in the misty steam, covered in sweat.

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Bonato saw several women coughing, and it must be quite difficult to work in such an environment.

After handing over the clothes to the laundry, taking the number plate, and getting it stamped, Bonato leisurely went to the river.

His companion was already waiting by the river, holding a few pounds of pork in his hand.

"What's wrong?" Seeing his companion see him but not leave, Bonato curiously approached and asked.

"The road is blocked, we can't get out, the Salvation Army is returning to the city."

In the urgent sound of flutes and drums, cheers and the sound of children chasing each other sounded in turn.

In the expectant gazes of the crowd, a neat line of Salvation Army war monks appeared in everyone's sight.

They had changed their clothes outside the city and were the first to enter the city as an honor guard.

This dress was designed and sewn by Mrs. Isode's clothing workshop. The top was a dark brown stand-up collar jacket, with sleeves connected to the outside with buttons on the shoulders.

A circle of white chemise undershirt peeked out from the cuffs. They waved their arms as they walked, rubbing against the red ribbon and the curved hand guard sword at their waist.

The lower body was leggings, which were different from the common lantern pants of this era. Its straight shape instantly gave each soldier straight and long legs.

The most different thing from the common military uniforms of the empire was that they had a one-shoulder half-cloak, which was only on the left shoulder, and the hem just covered the buttocks.

This was designed by Isode based on the oblique half-sleeve of the ancient Kush people. Because of the large temperature difference between day and night in the Kush River grassland, and the cold wind easily took away heat when riding a horse.

So the ancient Kush cavalry would wear an extra piece of clothing, and only wear one sleeve. They would put it on when it was cold and take it off when it was hot.

Isode designed this half-shoulder short cloak based on this record and the folk-used fencing cloak, and added a large number of braided rope settings and added gear buttons at the buttons on the shoulders.

This undoubtedly made this cloak appear sophisticated, flexible and gorgeous.

Staring blankly at the black-clothed soldiers passing by, Bonato suddenly envied them. If he could return victoriously and walk through this crowd of cheers wearing this dress.

He would be willing to do it even if he lost his arms and legs.

Bonato wasn't the only one thinking this way. Many of the other citizens and laborers next to him were also stunned.

Such beautiful clothes, even knights would probably envy them.

It can be predicted that the recruitment in the second half of this year will become exceptionally hot.

Bonato, who was so envious that his face was distorted, stared at the passing crowd, completely unaware that Saint Son Hohen was driving in an open carriage from the port.

Hohen was still happily waving to the people.

"Hey," his companion patted Bonato on the shoulder and said incredulously, "Look at that ship, isn't that Casani? Why is he here?"