Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

"Hey hahaha, chicken soup is here."

One morning, Jules brought a bowl of chicken soup and placed it on John's bedside table, then said:

"This chicken soup is made from an old hen that has been laying eggs for two and a half years. It is very precious. I drank some and thought it was good, so I served you a bowl. You see, there is a chicken drumstick left in there for you."

John took a look at the soup. The soup was red in color, which showed that tomatoes were in it. There were also some unknown spices floating in it, as well as a good-looking chicken drumstick.

The nobles in this world attach great importance to spices and colors. Basically, every noble has a small warehouse dedicated to storing spices, and some even put them directly in their bedside tables.

Generally speaking, most spices are produced in the south and east, especially in the pagan countries in the east. Their use of spices is even more than that of the western countries. Although the south also produces some spices, the output is not enough to fill the spice market. Therefore, many merchants will risk being beheaded to buy spices in pagan countries, and then transport them to their own country to make a profit from the difference. Even investors in the French King's Hall are engaged in this.

After finishing his meal, John got into the carriage with the help of Yule and prepared to conduct his routine inspection of the territory.

Due to a large number of construction projects, the number of unemployed people in Johannesburg has dropped sharply. Now, groups of people are gathering on the streets towards their respective construction sites. In the distance, some building frames are rising from the ground, indicating that the city is ushering in new expansion.

John's carriage passed through the city gate and arrived outdoors. Not far from the city were vast fields with many farmers working on them. Most of these people were recruited by the system, so they worked very hard. Because there was no church in John's current territory, John did not want to exploit the farmers through various messy taxes, so the tax in the countryside was only one-tenth of the crops at harvest.

At the same time, John opened rivers and forests as public places. Except for the fishing and hunting bans, all people in the territory could enter the rivers to fish, or go to the forests to hunt and pick up branches. However, if non-local people did the above things, they would have to pay compensation.

In order to distinguish between locals and outsiders, John introduced a household registration policy, which required people to register in cities and villages, and then receive a wooden tag with their name, date of birth, place of registration, race, hair color and other information engraved on it. In other words, if an outsider got the wooden tag and it didn't match the information, he would definitely be arrested if he was checked.

John came to the alchemy workshop outside the city. Although it is called a workshop, it has now become a large factory that manufactures gunpowder, artillery shells, and guns. However, due to the problem of raw materials, the current output is very low. There are employee housing in the factory, which is for the craftsmen in the factory. The workers generally do some unskilled manual work, and the real technical work is done by the various craftsmen here.

Many of the technicians in the alchemy workshop were sent along with the building upgrade system, and some were craftsmen from various countries invited through Simon's introduction. Of course, there were no ones from pagan countries, although their artillery technology seemed to be better.

Because John had sufficient funds, the alchemy workshop developed into a large factory with thousands of employees within a few months. At the same time, he purchased a lot of advanced equipment, such as cannon molds obtained through smuggling, and "second-hand" blast furnaces sold by corrupt officials in some countries.

The entire alchemy workshop is guarded by many soldiers. A factory pass is required to enter or exit. Soldiers have the power to conduct identity checks on any factory worker who is unemployed or has violated discipline. If such a person is found to have violated the rules, he will be sentenced to death.

In addition to the working area, the workshop also has a living area, where workers can enjoy a lot of food that is much cheaper than outside prices, but take-out is prohibited. There are also shops selling daily necessities. These are all opened by John. His purpose is to let the workers realize the benefits of the factory and encourage them to work hard.

After visiting the alchemy workshop, John suddenly remembered that he had not visited the seaside port for a long time, so he rushed to the seaside port without stopping.

The seaside ports are still mainly used for military purposes. The Chengkou port is surrounded by thick walls on three sides. If you don’t go in to see it, you would think it is a military fortress.

After checking his identity, the soldiers quickly let him go. John also saw the full view of the port a few months later:

The original wooden fortress has disappeared, replaced by a larger military camp, a seafood market, a trading company, and a port facing the sea with many fishing boats going out to sea and returning.

The returning ships will sort the seafood and sell it to local seafood markets or restaurants, and then it will be put on the tables of different classes according to the price.

The shipyard is not far from the port. Currently, the shipyard can build many types of ships, but they are all small boats. In addition to civilian ships, the only warships that can be built are galleys, cogs, and Mondellos.

The galley was the most basic warship, its design originated from the ancient Roman period, except that the oars were replaced with more secondary sails, which greatly saved manpower. The bow was equipped with a ram for boarding combat, and it was a type of ship designed for close combat.

The Kirk was similar to the Mondello, except that it had a tower added to provide a shooting platform for soldiers.

With the current navy, it can only fight a few battles with foreign fishing boats. If it encounters a real navy, it will be completely destroyed. After all, cannons have been installed on warships of various countries.

Since John did not invest too much money in the navy, the navy currently consists of only ten ships, which patrol the waters near the port every day to see if there are any foreign ships, any fishermen whose boats have capsized, or any pirates, and then go home.

John thought about it and felt that if the Yoda people attacked from the sea in the future, they would definitely rush to him first, so John decided to recruit some shipbuilding talents and give the navy more funds to build and maintain more ships.

At the same time, John plans to build a sailor academy. For the time being, he can forget about the navy and just train some professional sailors and take some combat courses. Otherwise, when the time comes, there will be ships but no one to operate them.

On the way back, John still felt that the navy's development in this way was not feasible. He was already at the border, and he had no idea how many navies the Yoda people had, how many ships they had, and what their equipment was like. If they really launched a sudden sneak attack, they would definitely be able to test his own strength.

So after much thought, John decided to first buy some large ships from the Midland shipyard and hire some sailors. It would be even better if he could get a warship.