Free Web NovelChapter 1203: Chapter 1131: The Holy Alliance in an Upswing Phase
Walking out from the station, one arrives at the wide Red Moon Avenue, named to commemorate the Battle of Joan of Arc Castle.
Along the street, one could see a long line of horse-drawn carriages in various sizes.
The coachmen, wearing sun hats, rolled up the sleeves of their linen shirts above their elbows while shaking their fans and shouting loudly.
"Holy Arrival Hall, off we go!"
"Green Vine Lodge, two Dinars per person, two Dinars per person, setting off when full!"
"Going to Dane Castle? Going to Dane Castle?"
Upon spotting the group of over a hundred in Moroka’s party, these taxi coachmen immediately swarmed over.
"Want to go to Green Vine Lodge, the cheapest and best lodge in Joan of Arc Castle!"
"Anyone for pickup? A big group gets 20% off."
The Pantsless Men hadn’t seen such a scene before, either reacting in shock or timidly retreating, only pushing Moroka forward.
Finally, amidst the flood of coachmen, he forced himself to find a man with a head of curly, messy hair.
The man held a large wooden sign with Moroka and Kuvasz’s names written on it.
"Here, here!"
After entangling with the coachmen for half the day, they finally managed to extricate themselves.
Following the initial agreement, Moroka brought Kuvasz here, Palak arranged a month’s accommodation for Moroka, provided them with six months’ temporary residence permits, and then both parties were even.
If after this month, they hadn’t found a place to live, or after six months, they hadn’t found a job.
Then it wouldn’t be Palak’s problem.
Of course, for the sake of past relations, Palak would still introduce them to some jobs.
But in Palak’s own commerce enterprise, it would be impossible to let this group of Pantsless Men enter.
The man with messy hair was Palak’s hired hand, named Compf.
He was quite enthusiastic: "The accommodation arranged by Palak’s representative is nearby, it was originally used as an arsenal but later converted into a labor dormitory, just right for your hundred or so people to live in."
"So how do we get there?"
"Walk there, of course," the messy-haired man Compf lowered his voice, "Those coachmen are rip-offs. It’s only a fifteen to twenty-minute walk from Green Vine Lodge to here.
It’s only because out-of-towners don’t know when they first arrive that they get taken advantage of."
"Huh? Isn’t that deliberately exploiting people?" Kuvasz couldn’t help but ask.
"You forgot, isn’t it similar to what we did at the old bridge back then?" Bondo chuckled softly.
They exploited the pretense of helping with unloading to extort money, creating a certain fixed income.
Compf, however, remained indifferent, replied: "It’s nothing compared to before, they were even more brazen, they’d take your money then dump you in the wilderness, unless you paid extra, you’d be walking till dark."
"Didn’t anyone report to the Night Watcher?"
"These coachmen keep all their possessions in the carriage, fire a shot and move somewhere else," Compf chuckled, "How could the Night Watcher catch them? It’s only recently after the registry ordinance was enacted that things got a bit better."
Although it’s been ten years since the Holy Alliance was founded, the laws and regulations still need to be established from scratch.
Because the cities and daily life under the Holy Alliance have undergone massive changes compared to the past.
The old laws couldn’t adapt, so new methods had to be devised depending on the situation.
This requires the representative councils to constantly react and propose motions.
Walking along Red Moon Avenue, gazing at the organized row houses on both sides and occasionally mixing in low wooden ones, the group was endlessly intrigued.
Compared to Beetle Harbor, the high-end shops in Joan of Arc Castle had even started using glass display windows and wooden mannequins.
Moroka and the others even saw a shop selling women’s underwear, which made them blush and turn away.
"There are so many shops in the Holy Alliance, where do they get so many goods?" Kuvasz lowered his head, blushing, avoiding the lingerie store.
Moroka appeared indifferent: "Instead of marveling at their many goods, I am more amazed by the sheer number of citizens."
According to the initial agreement, each region of the Holy Alliance has its own advantageous specialized industries.
Rapids City boasts transport and finance industries, Xia Lvcheng has dyeing and garment industries, High Castle City has both oil-making and spider silk industries.
Such centralized handicraft industry naturally swiftly attracts labor from surrounding villages, and even foreign lands.
Interchange between urban and rural as well as foreign markets provides substantial market demand for Holy Alliance’s commercial and industrial sectors.
Funding from war and investments by Falans supplied the expanding funds for Holy Alliance’s commercial and industrial sectors.
As a result, everyone could sense that all workshops and shops were expanding at an extremely rapid pace.
Even a single shop could complete the process from submitting for review to official opening within a week.
The review process for documents naturally was quite rough, so legal disputes and conflicts frequently erupted.
This kept Joan of Arc Castle civil courts operating at full capacity daily, eventually escalating to the Ry Court Barracks.
Marshal and Qianqian had a fierce argument during the imperial council meeting, eventually, Horn intervened to mediate the situation, successfully suppressing the trend through a stern motion.
With the expansion of commerce and industry naturally came job positions and service personnel.
Commercial employees, artisans, accountants, notaries, laborers, middle management, store managers, and other professions emerged in large numbers.
The Holy Alliance’s commercial department even established specialized business schools to provide opportunities for upward mobility.
As for those coming from the Falan and Leia with pre-existing skills and experience as immigrants, they were able to quickly find jobs.
They weren’t applying for positions, but rather were eagerly snatched upon arrival.
In the current Holy Alliance, anyone who can open a workshop or set up a shop, as long as it’s operated normally, won’t incur a loss.
Unfortunately, these Pantsless Men are strong, but for the most part, they lack skills and find even counting difficult.
Under the leadership of Kupf, everyone headed east.
Walking on the streets of Joan of Arc Castle, among old houses, there were construction sites everywhere.
Most pedestrians on the streets were well-dressed, smiling, and upon making eye contact, they nodded in greeting whether they knew each other or not.
Broad-sleeved white linen shirts and thin russet vests; this was the fashion Armand brought from the Windmill area.
Women wore similar white shirts, thicker than men’s, paired with suspender skirts that reached just above the ankles.
Workers in the Holy Alliance typically owned two sets of clothing: canvas work gear for labor and attire for going out.
Any employee who found a proper job would have a portion of their salary advanced by the boss to buy a good set of clothes.
"If you don’t wash your face clean, don’t carry a handkerchief in your pocket, and go out in ragged clothes, you don’t look like a city dweller but rather a laborer from Norn."
Many people, even when they couldn’t eat enough every day, would save up to buy good clothes, some even intentionally letting a watch chain dangle from their chest pocket.
Yes, merely one watch chain, and even that might be rented.
Owning a pocket watch, even a rented or borrowed one, was a symbol of status.
Their sense of entitlement was always high because opportunities and examples of making it were countless.
In their view, current actions were merely an advance on the future.
There was a beauty to economic upturns.
"Excuse me," Bondo finally couldn’t hold back, "How much has the population of Joan of Arc Castle grown recently?"
"In the past eight years?" the messy-haired man quickly offered a figure, "The natural population has grown by almost 30%."
The natural population growth mentioned here included not just newborns but voluntary immigrants.
Horn once concentrated craftsmen from Rapids City and Xia Lvcheng into Joan of Arc Castle to focus efforts on major projects.
Although the figure of 30% seemed substantial, in reality, it fell short of the actual number.
This was because, for immigrants, having reached Joan of Arc Castle, why wouldn’t they take a few more steps to get to ry Court Barracks?
"A natural population growth increase of 30% is about ten thousand people, but does that necessitate building everywhere?"
"I wouldn’t know about that..."
It was understandable as Moroka was here for the first time.
Accurately speaking, the Pantsless Men’s thinking remained rooted in the foundation of traditional imperial cities.
Most imperial cities developed from parishes and markets.
Due to the siphon effect, most of the wealth was swallowed by top oligarchs and nobles, leaving the majority of the populace as commoners.
Even the middle class acted only as servants to the nobility.
Commoners typically referred to employed laborers, while citizens largely consisted of high-earning or purely rentier classes.
Behind every city shop stood an oligarch or noble.
Most of the shop’s income, beyond maintaining itself, was taken to fund their extravagant lives.
The luxury and art markets in Falan and Leia thrived, thanks in no small part to these wealthy nobles and oligarchs.
But in the Holy Alliance, it was different.
The rise of industry and commerce and the fall of old elites allowed many commoners to climb to the middle class.
Unlike the nobles and oligarchs, this group of citizens had less wealth and needed to participate in labor.
Without the privilege of the nobility and oligarchs, they had to face market competition head-on.
They could use most of their income, after taxes, to develop themselves and for personal consumption.
This was why Horn promoted football matches and theaters as "bread and circuses" projects.
It wasn’t to buy public favor, but to stimulate consumption.
Horn once jokingly referred to it as the "Wage Recovery Plan."
The demands of citizens differed from those of commoners.
A small town primarily composed of around a thousand commoners could be fully served by a single church.
But a city with thirty or forty thousand inhabitants could not be adequately served by just one church.
Moreover, this emerging middle class also had spiritual and cultural needs.
They needed theaters, schools, post offices, restaurants, cafes, hospitals, libraries, and clubs.
Money needed circulation to truly be money; buried in the yard, it was just scrap metal.
Although Joan of Arc Castle’s natural population growth was only about 30%, the upward shift in existing social classes was about 10% to 20%.
Which means that among the previous commoners of Joan of Arc Castle, 10% to 20% transitioned from poverty to basic livelihood or from livelihood to affluence.
This is the root of the Holy Alliance people’s pride and reverence for Horn—some of them really were living the good life described in the Celestial Kingdom Dream.
"Here we are." Coming to an overgrown but fairly clean courtyard, Kupf turned aside, "You can settle here tonight."
To these Pantsless Men, this simple house was already considered luxurious.
As Moroka and Kuvasz were about to enter, Kupf stopped them.
"As for Mr. Moroka and Mr. Kuvasz, please follow me, Mr. Palak invites you to dinner."
