Iron Powder and Spellcaster

"... Steel is forged by fire and heavy hammers, and the same is true for this city! From a few huts made of adobe and hay to the steel castle that stands on the shores of Rose Lake today, we have experienced countless disasters, fires! Wars! famine!"

"But - my beloved compatriots, mark my words - no matter how bad the disaster, they never succeeded in defeating us, not once! From the embers, we are reborn! And stronger!"

"This city and the people who grew up in this city have a spirit, a brave! Tenacious! Indomitable spirit! It flows in the blood vessels and bones of you, me, and every Solingen person. It is exactly This spirit is what sustains us in rebuilding our streets, houses and warehouses again and again as they turn to ashes..."

A graceful man in purple attire stood at the top of the steps of the Municipal Palace where the traces of smoke and blood had not yet been washed away, making a generous speech to the thousands of citizens gathered in the Municipal Square.

His left hand stood at his waist, and his right hand waved passionately with the ups and downs of his tone.

The dark crowd in the square was like an orchestra, directed by his right hand, emitting louder and louder approval and cheers.

Standing by the window, looking at the figure on the steps from a distance, John Servetus sighed: "I'm still not as good as him."

"As a negotiating opponent, you are more difficult than him - I don't mean to compliment you." Winters leaned against the window frame and waited until the interval between two rounds of cheers before speaking: "But I have to be honest, Wooper The mayor’s skills cannot be learned by others.”

Just listening to the impassioned, majestic and powerful words that echoed in the square, it is difficult to imagine that they came from the mouth of a timid mayor who was forcibly dragged from his home by the gendarmes.

When the Municipal Palace was hit by an explosion, the mayor, who reacted quickly, immediately abandoned the council and colleagues, escaped from the Municipal Palace through a secret passage with his guards, returned to the mansion, and refused to take another step out of the door no matter what.

But Paul Wooper has this ability: as long as you put him in a gorgeous robe, put on an expensive wig, apply a thick layer of face powder, and then push him into the public, the rest is entirely up to you. Don't worry.

"I thought Mayor Wooper was just good at acting." Winters supported his chin and said leisurely: "But I now find that for Mayor Wooper, acting is an instinct he cannot control. He is not good at acting, He is a slave to the desire to perform.”

"Steel Castle now needs a leader who can boost the people's fighting spirit." Servetus was excusing Paul Wooper: "Besides, since Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, no one is absolutely free. Granach Sir, what are you a slave to?"

"I?"

This question was a bit unexpected for Winters. He thought for a while and answered seriously: "Maybe I am also a slave to the desire to perform?"

Servetus' eyes were sharp: "Then what role are you playing?"

"At least in Steel Castle." Winters said slowly: "I played a positive role."

Servetus was noncommittal and still had the same face that lacked any emotion. He closed the curtains and said, "Let's go out for a walk."

Of course Winters agreed.

Servetus led the way, and the two of them left the Municipal Square, neither on horseback nor in a carriage, without any escorts or wearing any ribbon medals indicating their identity. Just follow the streets paved with slag and walk all the way to the south bank of the Rose River.

Standing on the south bank, looking around, among the charred ruins, some people who did not go to the Municipal Square to listen to the speech were cleaning up the ruins.

After the warehouses and shops of various trading houses and workshops were claimed, the garrison's blockade on the south bank was announced to be lifted - there was not much left anyway.

Controls on the North Shore were subsequently relaxed, markets resumed business, churches were opened to victims, and some homeless victims were evacuated to villages and towns outside the city.

Perhaps the heat of the embers has not dissipated, but Steel Castle is already on the road to reconstruction.

People wiped away their tears, pushed away the dirt and rubble, and collected the stones and wood that could still be used. Burned forest trees are also continuously transported from the mountains to the city for reconstruction.

"No matter how many times," Servetus said in a low voice, looking at the people with determined expressions and working hard, "I will always be amazed by the will of mankind."

Winters stood silently, saying nothing.

After a moment, Winters asked, "You presented a new plan for the South Shore to the City Council?"

"Yes." Servetus walked towards the ash heap on the roadside and said unmovedly: "The original neighborhood on the South Bank was centered on the Elin Church, and was randomly stacked. The layout of the streets and blocks was illogical. Now that we have the opportunity to completely rebuild, we can’t go back to the detours of the past.”

Winters answered politely: "A very far-sighted idea."

Servetus looked at it for a while and pulled out a carbonized rat corpse from the ashes: "Some people say that on the night of the fire, rats on the south bank jumped into the Rose River in droves and froze to death under the ice. They didn't have time to escape. They were all burned to death, not even the rats in the basement could escape. Did you witness it?"

"I wasn't paying attention."

"I hope it's true." Servetus buried the rat corpse back in the ashes and said in a low voice, "This may be able to completely eliminate the plague in Steel Castle."

After walking for a while, the two arrived at the ruins of Elin Cathedral.

El Ain Cathedral was almost razed to the ground in the fire, with only a bell tower standing alone at the southern end of the site that refused to collapse.

On the night of the fire, the lead covering the church's roof melted and flowed into the street. The Orthodox Church has not yet had time to recycle the lead, so at first glance, the stone pavement around the church seems to be plated with a dull silver.

Walking through the ruins of the church, Servetus said regretfully: "What a wonderful cathedral, but it is a pity that it is still vulnerable to a fire tornado."

"Excuse me, I cannot agree." Winters rubbed the tip of his nose: "The fire tornado is just a tornado. The Elin Cathedral is a stone building. How can a tornado overturn the Elin Cathedral? It is obviously inside the church. And the external repair supports were burned, and the roof lost its support, so it collapsed."

Servetus asked: "Were you present?"

"Everyone here saw it," Winters replied.

Servetus did not go into details. He looked around at the remaining wall foundations of the church and suddenly asked Winters: "Do you know how Steel Castle started?"

"Because of the iron ore?"

"Did you see the mines at Steel Castle?"

Winters thought about it for a moment: "No."

"The mines are all on the other side of the mountain." Servetus raised his finger and pointed to the north of the city: "There is a valley separated from the Steel Castle. There is also a small town where miners live, called Red Stone Town. After the ore is mined, first It is screened and fired in Red Rock Town, and then transported to Steel Castle by carriage for smelting."

Winters asked politely, "You seem to know a lot about mining?"

"My father and grandfather were both miners." Servetus answered calmly: "My father lost half of his foot while fighting for Emperor Richard and was forced to leave the army. The pension paid to him by Emperor Richard was insufficient. To pay off his debts, he and my grandfather had to sell what little land they had, move from Neuschal to Solingen, and support their family by mining underground.”

Winters nodded slightly and listened without speaking.

"My story is actually irrelevant." Servetus stopped and stared at the Rose River ahead:

“What I want to ask you is, why Steel Castle?

In terms of natural endowments, although Steel Castle has the water power of the Rose River, Redstone Town is closer to the mine. Monta also has not only a steel castle but also iron mines. Why did Steel Castle rise to become Steel Castle?

Redstone Town, which once had iron mines, is now just a vassal of Steel Castle. There is no iron smelting furnace in Redstone Town, and even the property rights of those mines are in the hands of the Blacksmith Guild of Steel Castle. The blacksmiths in Steel Castle can enjoy the wealth brought by the iron smelting industry, while the miners in Red Rock Town can only work hard in muddy water. Why? "

Winters recalled the story passed down by the citizens of Steelcastle about how "the Great Saint Joseph came into the workshop and personally promised the blacksmiths prosperity and prosperity."

The people of Steel Castle never doubted the veracity of this story. They not only told the story to the children, but also regarded Saint Joseph as the patron saint of Steel Castle, and decorated the scene of "Saint Joseph entering the workshop" on every important occasion in the city.

"Maybe it's a gift from God." Winters said the answer that was always correct.

"Wrong!" Servetus said categorically: "Only those who do not know why they are successful will use fate and divine grace to paralyze their rationality. I do not deny the impermanence of fate, but attributing everything to gods is undoubtedly a disservice to people. insult."

Winters couldn't help but think highly of the congressman. He nodded slightly and asked the congressman to continue.

"The answer is simple." Servetus stepped on the ground: "It's right under your feet."

Winters raised his eyebrows: "Road?"

"Yes, roads. Steel Castle defeated Redstone Town by building roads."

"Please elaborate."

Servetus leaned on his cane and spoke calmly: "In the country of mountains, building roads is a sacred undertaking comparable to building churches. Do you know why?"

Winters replied without hesitation: "The cost is too high."

"Yes, because building roads is too expensive, it often requires multiple sources of funds to start construction. Since money has been spent, the investors naturally want to ask for returns. Therefore, there are checkpoints collecting tolls everywhere in Monta, and even many town councils rely on Toll maintenance.”

Although Councilman Servetus's tone was objectionable to card setup charges, Winters didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

Because not only Monta, but other republics are also full of road cards. Veneta people even joked that the splendid army headquarters was built with tolls.

"Whoever builds the road will collect the money." Winters said, "It makes sense."

"Yes, it's reasonable." Servetus looked at the mountains and said with some nostalgia: "But the clever thing about the Steel Castle Blacksmith Guild is that they built the road and decided not to charge any tolls."

"A losing business."

"It is indeed a loss-making business, but after using everyone's money to do the most losing part of the business, the rest is profit. In this way, even if you go a long way, the tolls saved are enough to cover the steel castle iron The cost difference between iron materials and Hongshi Town iron materials.

Although road construction was a loss-making business, Steel Castle relied on the loss-making business to squeeze out and annex the iron smelting industry in Hongshi Town, and prospered from there. After that, Steel Castle continued to build and purchase roads. To this day, convoys entering and exiting Solingen do not need to pay tolls. "

"Since Redstone Town controls iron ore, they should have no shortage of means to deal with Steel Castle. How could they lose so easily?"

Probably because he rarely said so many words in one breath, Servetus's voice became a little hoarse: "Because their interests are not unified, none of them is like Steel Castle, who can withstand short-term losses and put their hope in Long-term blacksmith guild. So they were defeated one by one."

Winters chewed on Servetus's words: "Using everyone's money to do the most losing part of the business?"

"This is true for building roads, and it is also true for digging the Wupper Canal. Since it is everyone's money, is there anything wrong with spending it on things that can benefit everyone?"

"Yes, there is nothing wrong." Winters crossed his arms and suddenly smiled: "But why are you telling me this?"

The remaining wall foundations were whimpering in the wind, but the church became inexplicably quieter.

"You win, Baron Granacci." Servetus turned his back, looked at the altar that was burned by fire, and said lonely:

"Steelcastle is no longer the Steelcastle it once was. No one supports my relief package. The people who own this city are unwilling to spend their money on things that benefit everyone. I can only rely on your gold and Bai Yin promotes the reconstruction plan, and even if I know that there is a problem with your identity, I can only turn a blind eye and acquiesce in their selling arms to you."

"So, you won this time. You defeated us one by one." Servetus turned back and extended his hand to Winters: "Enjoy your victory, Your Excellency Baron."

Winters held Senator Servetus' hand calmly and shook it.

Servetus wanted to take his right hand away, but no matter how hard he tried, his right hand was firmly held by the young baron.

"Congressman, have you considered another way of cooperation." Winters slowed down: "A way that makes both us and you the winners."

"In what way?" Servetus no longer tried to pull away his hand, but narrowed his eyes and looked at Winters cautiously.

"Why limit our relationship to buying and selling?" Winters paused for a moment, his eyes shining: "Have you ever considered...investing in us."

[Happy New Year! Everyone! ]

[I hope everyone will be healthy, safe and smooth tomorrow]

[Originally I wanted to wrap up Monta’s story line today, but I felt that the ending went well with “saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new”, but... the result... (face covering)]

[Thank you book friends for your collection, reading, subscription, recommendation votes, monthly votes, rewards and comments, thank you all]