Chapter 213: Reconstruction Plan

A large number of carts flowed endlessly in and out of the city, filled with broken bricks and rubble. This was all the garbage cleared from the ruins, while the relatively intact building materials were stored separately for future reconstruction. Even the broken bricks and rubble that were not transported out could not be thrown away casually; after being sorted by category, both the low walls in the harbor buildings and the fences in the manors could be put to use.

The use of primitive cement had already become mature during the era of the former Empire. Although the Dark Age at the end of the Empire, with its wars and disasters, buried many technologies and knowledge in the dust of history, the ancient building techniques did not decline. Instead, they continued to develop alongside the fortresses built for various military purposes.

The process of mixing quicklime had been improved by the ancient Romans in George’s previous world. They added not only sand but also finely ground volcanic ash to the lime. In areas without volcanic ash, they used finely ground broken bricks that had the same effect. The most severely damaged broken bricks and rubble being transported out of the city would become the raw material for grinding.

This mortar showed great improvements in strength and water resistance compared to the two-component “lime-sand” mortar. Ordinary buildings and underwater structures built with it were much more durable. Some people called this three-component “lime-volcanic ash-sand” mortar “Roman mortar.”

Now, the cement used by the Architects Guild was even stronger. They ground clayey limestone or a type of marl called “Broyon” into pellets, calcined them at temperatures higher than those used for quicklime, and then ground them again into powder to replace primitive quicklime. In a sense, this was already very close to modern cement!

This was just the common building craft and materials. If the investors were willing to spend extra money, various alchemy products and magical items were even more abundant! There were things like wall-nailing, camouflage walls, or even using materials that could automatically repair damage to build load-bearing walls. With George’s knowledge, there was nothing he could not think of that those people could not do.

“So, the initial attack caused the death of fourteen civilians. And among the women and children who hid in the basement, nine died from suffocation?” George, who was handling documents in his office, looked at the bloody numbers before him but felt no surge of emotion in his heart.

So, in the minds of the so-called superiors, human lives were just numbers? No, George felt he had not yet reached the level of cold-bloodedness of a politician. There was only one reason: the extent of this loss had not yet touched George’s bottom line. In fact, it was even better than his previous expectations.

“It seems the effect of the reserve soldier system and militia training was even better than I expected! More than half of those cultists who deliberately attacked and the adventurers who took advantage of the disaster were dealt with by the street patrol teams organized spontaneously by the commoners. Fortunately, I knew that most of such battles happened before the arrival of the specialized security teams and stationed troops. Otherwise, people might have thought that the combat power of the regular army was inferior to that of the militia! What is this feeling like a Hong Kong-style cop-and-robber movie? Should we blame the attacking enemies for being too weak?” As George continued reading the data in front of him, he felt a bit strange in his heart.

There were many reasons for this situation. Besides the large-scale promotion of military training and the retirement and transfer of veterans, the long tradition of supporting the military and the policy of prioritizing the military for hundreds of years gave these partially trained personnel a high level of organization and discipline. At the same time, the threat to their homes, friends, family, and personal property in the face of an attack greatly stimulated their fighting spirit. So even if the individuals of the enemy were strong, they were completely trapped in the vast sea of people’s war due to their inferiority in numbers and coordination.

Unfortunately, there were many things George did not know. Even in an era with developed network communication and rapid information flow, if a person was not interested in paying attention to something, they would not be able to figure it out.

The most similar case was the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Its cause was the greed and insatiable desires of low-IQ black people after a fair verdict.

Before the riots began, that is, before the verdict of the Rodney case was announced, considering the tense relationship between black people and Koreans at that time, Koreans started to organize residents to defend themselves with guns using Korean radio stations.

After the riots began, Koreans organized block defense in units of families and communities. On the second day of the riots, Thursday, April 30, 1992, the Los Angeles police basically gave up law enforcement in Koreatown. The area near Koreatown fell into anarchy. Koreans organized their own armed security teams to carry out organized resistance.

During the riots, relying on a 70% personal gun ownership rate, the Koreans, who were at a numerical disadvantage, protected themselves. Because the rioters were not stupid, facing the strict defenses of the Koreans, no one would really rush to the front to risk their lives.

Rioters only liked to eat meat, not gnaw on bones. If you are flesh without weapons, you would be instantly killed; but if you are bones organizing armed self-defense at home, others would have to weigh the cost of attacking.

In the end, although the Koreans suffered heavy property losses, the ratio of casualties between black people and Koreans was as high as 1:20. In contrast, the performance of people of Chinese descent was always so—politely speaking, unsatisfactory; bluntly speaking, like lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

Although, objectively speaking, adult Korean men were required to serve in the army, and picking up guns and gathering together could start a fight. Also, some skills of the Koreans, such as radio communication and weapon usage, required certain conditions to learn. These were projects with strict control in Tianchao, and young people had no interest in them. But this was probably not the main reason! Overseas Chinese people were, to some extent, regrettable in terms of thought and unity.

And everything that just happened in this world was like a remake of it. Civilians with enough combat skills organized themselves to deal with the sudden attack of the invading enemy.

“Among the registered residents, 16 were seriously injured, 9 were disabled, and 26 had minor injuries. Although the injuries have been controlled, I don’t know if their lives will be settled during the recovery period! To ensure stability, we still need to provide some financial assistance for their lives. For those who are disabled, we must arrange suitable jobs for them; otherwise, it might cause hidden troubles in the future. As for family reorganization, since the number is not large, I think the government should not interfere; let everything take its natural course…” George recorded all his thoughts and words on paper, preparing to discuss and perfect them with his staff before implementation.

Suddenly, he remembered something and immediately rang the call bell.

Ives Barnett immediately came to report: “My Lord, do you have any orders?”

“Are there any problems with the accommodation for the commoners who lost their homes?” George asked directly.

“Don’t worry about this aspect. Most of them have some friends and relatives in the city, so temporarily staying with them for a while is not a big problem. For the remaining few manors outside the city, there are still many empty rooms. I think they should not mind enjoying a pastoral style for a while during their recovery.” Ives Barnett immediately gave a fairly complete answer to George’s question.

“If that’s the case, then there is no need to rush the construction schedule. Tell them that the reconstruction and renovation of the entire street will be completed successively within about half a year. However, since the reconstruction is funded by the Lord’s Office, they will have to start repaying the construction cost after moving back in. Of course, it will be clearly stated in the announcement that because this is a batch of approved construction, the price of these houses will be lower than if they built them themselves. The repayment period can be up to 20 years, and paying a portion of the payment each year is enough. The interest rate is less than 10% per year, which is much more cost-effective than borrowing money on their own. However, the beneficiaries are only the registered permanent residents within the Territory.” George stated the plan he had formulated.

What made George quite happy just now was that if there was no need to rush the construction, no extra money would be spent. If a large number of commoners had nowhere to live, George would have to pay out of his own pocket to arrange workers to rush the construction. Although this money would eventually be added to the housing price, losing such a large amount of liquid capital at once was quite fatal for George. Not to mention the thoughts that might arise in the hearts of the residents after the housing price rose.

In this world, the cost paid could greatly affect the entire construction process. The construction cost calculated most of the time assumed that you hired the minimum number of workers at the lowest cost, and you could not save more money by letting workers work slowly. If you were eager to build the building you needed, you could pay extra money to save construction time.

Like the previous dock construction project, the project quoted by the Architects Guild originally cost 5000 Gold Coins and needed more than two weeks. However, at the beginning, for every 10% increase in construction cost, the construction time could be reduced by 10%; but the maximum limit was an extra payment of 70% of the price, shortening the construction time to 30% of the original.

Of course, the dock could not be put into use immediately after construction was completed. The time to eliminate stress and add facilities was even longer than the construction time.

Even if the laborers were Undead who did not know what fatigue was or excellent Dwarf masons, the construction cost and speed would not change in most cases.

Superior laborers did not affect the entire construction price. After all, the more capable people always knew they could ask for more compensation. Perhaps 50 Dwarf craftsmen could do the work of 100 people, but in that case, they would naturally demand the wages for 100 people.

Perhaps zombies could build day and night without stopping, but the necromancers commanding them would demand high compensation. Craftsmen who could speed up construction had the same phenomenon; Dwarf craftsmen who could shorten the construction time by 50% would demand an additional 50% compensation of the total cost. No one was willing to be a sucker.

If they could be controlled by themselves or persuaded to work for free for the builder, these superior laborers could save some costs for him. For example, charming a few two-headed giants to “help” move heavy stones, or perhaps the Dwarf Lord owed him a personal favor and was willing to lend a team of Dwarf craftsmen to him for free.

Like George, as a Lord, he could actually conscript civilians for corvée labor. This could actually save some labor costs for non-professional craftsmen. However, after the military reform, a large part of the corvée labor was replaced with militia training. Although he could still forcibly conscript in this aspect, George did not want to open such a loophole.

In addition, magic was also a way to reduce the construction cycle and even reduce costs. Of course, the premise was that the user cast the spells themselves; otherwise, the price of hiring someone would not be much cheaper. For example, spells like telekinesis, levitation, flight, and hovering could effectively speed up the construction of high-rise buildings and towers, saving about 25% to 50% of the cost.

Wood shaping could be used for basic carpentry, and the “Ghostly Axe and Divine Craft” spell could be used to make furniture; Earthquake magic could be used to lay foundations and adjust terrain; Stone shaping combined with “turning stone to mud” and “turning mud to stone” could handle various stonework while saving material costs; Stone Wall magic could directly build stone walls and building structures, and powerful Spellcasters could even directly build the framework of the house. So, if a Mage really wanted to build a house, it was often very convenient.

3 bedrooms, 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom, 1 sewer entrance, 1 living room, 1 storage room, 1 basement. This three-story small building could accommodate up to six adults or a complete family of three generations. This was the plan that George got after a few days of tug-of-war with the Architects Guild, which was more in line with the current situation. The overall cost was about 350 Gold Coins. Of course, if the raw materials were provided by the Territory, it could be even cheaper.

George unified the original old houses of various heights into three-story sturdy buildings. This was not only to ensure the beauty of the city but also to make defense smoother in case of future attacks. More importantly, without reducing the original living area of the families, it could save a part of the construction land.

This part was a good choice whether built as public facilities or sold as housing. Before crossing over, George had seen too many rising housing prices and the huge profits of real estate developers. Although in this world, only in the bustling metropolis could residential housing be worth a thousand gold, George believed that under his leadership, as the Territory continued to develop, one day those idle lands within the city would be put to use. For now, let’s just build a small square there! It couldn’t be left empty forever.

George stopped his thoughts and said to Ives, “Remember to prepare the materials needed for building the houses. Construction will start in about two days. I don’t want the schedule to be delayed because the raw materials cannot keep up. Let those commoners return to their original living places as soon as possible and return to their original life trajectory. This has a very big impact on their emotions. Dragging on for too long easily causes instability in people’s hearts; if rumors about the materials spread, the impact would be huge.”

“I understand, My Lord! We will not only prepare the initial materials but also make sufficient plans for subsequent consumption and replenishment. Even if any accidents happen during the process, we will guarantee that the progress of the project is affected to the maximum extent possible.” Ives made his promise in front of George. Although this seemed a bit like a declaration of determination, George thought that it was good enough to attract the other party’s attention. After all, accidents could always happen, and sometimes reality constrained us from demanding too much.

After sending Ives away to handle the relevant matters, George tapped his desk with his fingers. Compensation and follow-up work for casualties on the soldier side did not require George to worry too much. That was already an effective and proven routine process.

However, after these several fierce battles, a large number of combat losses were a problem that made George quite headache. The number of eligible young people in the Territory was limited; if too many soldiers were recruited, it would definitely affect production.

‘Let’s select suitable personnel from the Security Squad first to make up for the losses! If we lower some age restrictions, the Security Squad should be able to fill the ranks. After all, the threats the Security Squad faces are relatively weak, so handling the problem this way should not be a big issue.’ George, who was at a loss, had to choose this alternative plan.

‘If we recruit people from outside the Territory to join the army, it would be too easy for others to sneak in spies. Although it cannot be said that it is not allowed, the long review time and the cost of life that could be paid at any time. Bolerum Territory was not like the White Eagle in the future, which could attract so many cannon fodder to fight for them!’ After rejecting his somewhat reliable idea, George also remembered some happy things.

Although the path of recruiting a large number of foreign Freemen to supplement the army was not feasible, it was still possible to recruit some capable Adventurers to serve him. The fewer the number, the less investigation work was needed. At the same time, Adventurers whose strength was noticed by George and his team had some fame to some extent, so the investigation would be relatively easier.

And there was no need to transfer them to key positions all at once. Because of their own strength, the Territory was worth spending more time and energy to investigate them slowly.

Like Cortez Campbell, who had been investigated for a full half a year, he had joined the Territory. However, his current identity was the Squire of Sir Chris.

At this point, George had to complain about the strength of the Squires in The South. Cortez Campbell’s strength was enough to win the team competition champion in the Squire group of the annual Knight Conference of the Diego Kingdom. No wonder the number of Formal Knights there was so scarce.

But at least they were Squires! And they had been trained by others for a long time. George felt a sense of picking up a bargain brewing in his heart. Of course, if he successfully advanced, it would be a huge bargain. In any case, he had to thank Sir Val for his keen eye in recognizing talent.