Release That Witch

Roland sat on the office chair and took a closer look at the statistics reported by Barov.     

It took three days for the City Hall to sort out all of the more than 6,000 refugees. Including the low percentage of artisans, the final approval was only 186 people. Of course, this was also related to the intensity of the audit, as it involved the allocation of housing and the issuance of identity cards.     

According to Roland's consideration, it was only after you were issued an identity card that you would be regarded as his official subject. Therefore, it was important to complete this while the population was small so that better control would be had over the town's advocates over time. That way, when the population grew, the people's power could be used to assimilate the new entrants. After all, people were social animals and as long as the environment exemplified a philosophy, more and more people would agree with it. In this way the subjects could be given a better life.     

"Then the artisan workshops have been arranged for you, whether it's for a single person or a family, all have been given their separate suites," Roland stated.     

"Yes," said Barov, "Your Highness, are these houses issued as a gift?"     

"The rent will be arranged." He shook his head. "Aborigines have free access to new homes because they mostly have old houses, which is equal to old homes being exchanged for new homes. If these people were donated houses, then it would be not conducive to kick them out and engage them actively in work. Of course, the rent can be calculated at a lower grade, and you may tell them, as long as an effort is made to save enough gold dragons, then they can buy a house directly.     

"I understand."     

Roland was silent for a moment, and suddenly asked, "After the Award and Honor Ceremony, how many people fled?"     

"There's no one in the aborigines, but seven in the serfs." Barov paused and continued, "And the refugees from the Eastern Region chose to leave more, a total of 115 people."     

"Really?" he said, taking the time to push the witch to the stage, and he knew that such a situation would happen. In order to assess the public response and to avoid accidents, Roland also specially arranged a flintlock squad temporarily away from the town several meters away, to keep the retention and get the statistics of these people fled as well as to see everyone on the acceptance of the witch.     

The answer was not perfect, but at least it could be considered very good. The aborigines had fully accepted the witch, which was close to what he expected; the refugees in serfs appearing in numbers less than estimated, it seems close to the bottom of life of drama performance was good; it touched the refugees from the Eastern Region—they obviously accepted the treatment of witches, and in their homes destroyed, desperate situation, there were still over 100 people who chose to leave. This made Roland slightly surprised.     

"Your Highness, I suggest that all of them be executed," said Barov calmly, "those who're determined to run in this situation will inevitably be those who're deeply influenced by the church, and for the foreseeable future they won't stand on the side of the monarchy. They'll be converted into church believers, so there's no need for a kind of kindness to them."     

"Is not necessarily so... Really pious people on the church are those more than 300 refugees, who should be faced with the demonic plague and not want to leave the king." The prince closed his eyes. "These people may just be unable to change their own ideas, stubbornly thinking the witch is evil, and want to flee here."     

"Even so, they're also your potential enemies." Barov insisted.     

If it was on the battlefield to meet this group of people, Roland would not hesitate to defeat it. Because the ideological backwardness and the concept of incompatibility, it was necessary to wield the butcher to kill a group of civilians. This was a huge psychological barrier for him. Hesitated for a moment, and he finally rejected the offer. "I'll let Nightingale go to interrogate these people fled, and if there're spies inside they'll be hanged, and others will be expelled from the Western Region."     

Barov shook his head, and after a delay, he said, "As you wish, Your Highness."     

"Do you have anything else to report?"     

"Not at this time, Your Highness." He coughed twice. "I have to attend to the distribution of housing."     

"Don't worry, we can deal with these over time." Roland opened his eyes and stood up. "First, take a few photos with me to relax yourself."     

"Pho-photos?" Barov was startled.     

"You'll know before long," Roland said with a laugh.     

Inside the castle, he called Carter, Iron Axe, and Soraya together. In the corner of the garden there were a few pieces of wood that were four or five meters long with the same amount wide. The ground was also covered with a canvas.     

"Border town isn't so large yet, so the southern land will be developed in the future and then connected to Longsong Stronghold. The scale will be several times than that of now. At the moment, it takes one or two days to walk from the east to the west, so a faster means of transportation is necessary. The cost of raising a horse is high, and it's impossible for each subject to spend time learning how to ride a horse," Roland said as he opened the canvas, "I Intended to promote this means of transportation in the town. It's easy to use and the price is much lower than a horse."     

"What… is this?" Carter was instantly attracted by this novelty. "Two wheels, an iron shelf. Is it a cart?"     

"Two wheels—one in front, one in back, it would be difficult for a cart to stay balanced." Barov shook his head. "I don't see how it could replace the horse."     

Only Iron Axe was silent, quietly waiting for the prince to explain.     

Roland smiled. "This thing was called a bicycle, I'll give you a demonstration so you'll understand." He placed his feet on the pedals and took on a standard starting posture. With one simple pedal, he began riding up the garden road.     

With Anna's finishing and Soraya's coating technology, it was not difficult to handcraft a bicycle, as its principles and structures were not difficult. Its required rubber parts were just replaced with a coating. For example, the inner tube was directly drawn onto a roll of paper tube. To this end, Roland also made a simple pump. The tire and brake were also given a greater hardness with a leather coating. The frame was a hollow iron pipe. The brake wire was an anti-corrosive copper wire. The only trouble lay in the chain, where they must rely on Anna to cut the metal, and then form the cut shapes into a long section. As for the kind of pedals that would be installed directly on the wheels of the classic bike, he had no idea.     

Riding back in a circle, Roland pressed the brakes and easily pulled over. Seeing a row of stunned men, he could not help but be proud. With this, they could all come to have fine mounts. Compared to the taming and feeding needed for horses, bikes would be more readily available.     

"I intend to open a bicycle plant in the industrial area for the production of this means of transport. Not only do we need to recruit workers, but we also have to give it publicity to promote it to the entire territory as soon as possible," Roland simply explained, "With this, I'll teach you how to control the bike, and then let Miss Soraya put your riding pattern painted on the board. I want to let all the subjects see that as long as they can afford the cost of one or two gold royals, they'll be able to have the same with tools as the lords, the first army command, the chief knight, and the city hall director.     

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