The 198th chapter “The one who create miracles”
As a man and a lord of a province, Du Wei would of course be filled with pride and want to achieve many great things with what he have; after all, he is still young and the blood inside of him is easily incited.
Nonetheless, the number of problems he is faced with is also numerous.
On the financial side, he is currently not lacking in money, but looking at it from a future perspective, there are too many things that needs funding! If not for the sum he extorted from the natives in the southeast, he feared his current wealth won’t last him very long at this rate.
Desa Province’s location can be considered the closest territory to the Northwest.
To the west is the Kilimanjaro Mountain side, a natural barrier stretching for thousands of miles to the north and south.
This is the Empire’s natural western barrier.
Yet it just so happens that in this Kilimanjaro Mountain range is a “gap” inside his territory. As the only passage into the desert prairie for the empire, this place is known to many as the “Northwest Corridor”.
Unlike what Du Wei wished, this corridor is not some tiny mule’s path; instead, it is a big giant gap cutting across the entire mountain. Running for dozens of kilometers in length, the largest section can reach as wide as ten kilometers and two kilometers at the end near the desert opening.
It can be said that the Kilimanjaro Mountains is what is blocking the desert winds and the natives living in the prairie.
And this gap is a strategic stand point!
When Du Wei first came to this world, he had read some geographic information about this place and thought it wasn’t hard to solve this problem.
His solution at the time was to construct a large military fortress at the corridor. With hundreds of troops stationed at this place throughout the year, what else is there fear?
But later on, Du Wei found that his idea was too naïve!
Whether it is building a defense wall or a fortress, there is one fatal problem to it all…. And that is water!
People need water, and horses need water!
Not going to speculate on a grand scale, just the 20,000 troops stationed inside a military fortress is enough to shoot the idea down because where would they find the needed water supply in a mountain corridor?
This world has no running water pipes and the Northwest is a dry barren land with scarce supplies of rivers! Throughout the year, most of the land is dry with only the brief rainy season to sooth the land.
To counteract this problem, the majority of the population can only dig wells for their water supply. Unfortunately because of the geographic layout of the corridor, most of the underside soil is pure bed rock! So not only is tapping into a river out of the question, even digging for a well is impossible!
If they really forced a military fortress onto this place, then the water supply for tens of thousands of troops can only be brought in by horseback everyday!
A person can’t be without water, especially in this arid region!
Just thinking of the amount of water needed is terrifying!
This is simply impossible!
That’s why establishing a defensive fortress in the Northwest Corridor is nothing but empty words.
The Empire’s solution to this is to set up numerous small outposts along the corridor. Once something happens, these outposts will be acting as a warning beacon to inform the main body back in the main cities. On a side note, all of these checkpoints belong to the Northwestern Army.
Outside the Northwest Corridor, what comes next is a vast desert followed by prairie grasslands.
And towards the inside…… Is the Du Wei’s Desa Province!
Du Wei is very clear that with the current relationship between the Northwestern Army and the Empire, he can never rely on these outposts to protect himself!
In fact, he even suspects that the Northwestern Army, the bandits, and the prairie natives are all in cahoots together!
This way around, Desa Province is practically entrapped in the jaws of many hostile forces! Although nothing major happened prior to his arrival due to the poor conditions of the place, but with his arrival, the first thing he needs to solve is how to defend himself and his people!
In Du Wei’s view, the location of his capital Anglia City is not up to his standard. Far away from the corridor and backed against the mountains, the place is definitely safe. However, whether it is traffic or the ability to cover the entire Desa Province, it is not ideal for a capital.
Since Du Wei have already abandoned the idea of repairing the city, he spent a long time looking over the map for an ideal location for his new capital. In the end, he finally settled on a spot.
Loulan!
In his previous life, this word was the name of an ancient legendary city in the desert, but in this life, this world is a name of a lake.
Loulan Lake.
Walking down from the corridor and continuing further inland on the main road, there is a very hard to come by lake. Not only is the lake large, the ice water flowing down from the mountain slopes would constantly replenish the water supply.
Many caravans heading to and from the Northwest desert will choose to pass by this location in order to restock on their water supplies before moving on.
If there is a spring source, then they no longer need to drink that bitter underground waters. According to his knowledge from his past life, these bitter underground water would often contain harmful substances.
“We will build the new capital here!” After Du Wei referred to the location on the map, just about every member of his team was frowning.
“My lord.” The first one to open his mouth was Philip. After spending some time with Du Wei, this favored scholar of his have started become more confident: “My lord, to be perfectly blunt, if we were to establish a new city here, I fear the cost would be Astronomical…… ”
“You need not worry about the finances.” Du Wei lightly spoke his words: “Fortunately, we lack everything here but rocks. I made some calculations, if we follow the South’s standard; we would need about 4 million gold coins to construct a city – this includes immigration and moving cost. This is the Northwest, just about everything here is cheap. This is a good place, if not for the financial constraints of the Northwest, the previous lords would have already built a city here.”
“I don’t doubt your wealth.” Philip shakes his head: “Millions of gold coins, I believe your lordship can still afford it, but my worry is the series of problems that will come afterward……”
With that, Phillip stood up and walked next to the map. Using a finger, he then pointed at some spots: “My concerns have three points. Firstly, if you can figure out this point is a transportation hub, then others will also know that. The natives and the Northwestern Army aren’t stupid! Once you build a new city here, they will feel threatened by your monopoly on the lake and begin a series of oppression against us….. Secondly, there is also the problem of migrating citizens to the city. The job will require large numbers of manpower to achieve and that is exactly what we lack. Lastly…..”
Philip carefully watched his words: “There is the question of labor, your Excellency!” He sighed with pain: “The Northwest’s population is scarce to begin with and the Desa Province is no different with only 800,000 people. In my opinion, the construction of a city would need at least tens of thousands of workers! As for the time frame, it would take at least two years from an optimistic standpoint. I don’t believe we can recruit that many people and if we force it……. I’m afraid such a thing would cause a revolt among the people. We only have a few thousand soldiers on our side; trying to control the entire province will be difficult… Neither do we have the food needed to feed such a large number of workers, you mustn’t forget the Northwest is a food production region.”
Du Wei quietly waited till Philip finished his speech. He was not angry because Philip is his advisor and a good advisor must look at things from many different standpoints to come up with a solution. He does not need a flattering sidekick!
“There are many problems and Philip, you are very right.” Du Wei gently knocks his fingers on the map: “But what if I tell you I’m going to create a mircle?”
Du Wei waited for a moment to let his words sink in to his team.
“Three months!” Du Wei said this with smile: “I calculated. I need about 5,000 people, that’s enough. After three months, you will see a new city appear in this place!”
Everyone became so frightened that they were speechless.
Three months to build a new city? Is this a joke!
“Did you forget my other identity?” Du Wei smiles wickedly: “I am a magician, and mages are usually the type of people that created miracles.”