CH 183

It can’t be helped that something has already been named and had it publicly announced on a large scale. I can’t do anything about what I didn’t do before, and if I change it now, it will be troublesome. In the first place, it will be a story of why the name suddenly changed now. It’s the administrator who didn’t name and manage it properly in advance, so in short, it’s my fault.

It doesn’t matter if it spreads that I was at fault or if I’m criticized. It’s my fault that I didn’t ask about the name of the new village in advance. No, did I ask about it? However, they dodged the question by telling me to “look forward to the day,” so I left them as they were. The cause of this tragedy is that I didn’t force myself to pursue the question because I thought it might be a good surprise.

I’m glad it’s my fault, but I can’t tell the first settlers who are so excited now to change the name of their new settlement. I have no choice but to put up with this as a decision…

“Then let’s inspect the village for a while, shall we?” I said.

“I will be your guide,” Reiner said.

The village opening event is progressing, and now everyone is enjoying a buffet-style party. After finishing the greeting rounds, I decided to go on an inspection tour of the new pioneering village of Floren.

When I arrived, I headed from the entrance of the village to the Welzel River and then headed to the venue for the village’s opening. I haven’t inspected any other places yet, so I’ll look at them in order.

First of all, if you take a quick tour around the village, it will only look like a normal small village. But of course, our territory is completely equipped with water and sewage. You may wonder if clean water is necessary even though there is a perfectly fine river flowing right next to it. Certainly, in other normal areas, they would draw water directly from the river and use it. But we are different.

A water purification plant has been built upstream and south of Floren, from which water is supplied to the village through the water supply system. Well, the water purification plant is not as big as modern earth’s water purification facilities. There is no such thing as chlorine disinfection like today, it’s just removing the garbage and sand mixed in the water and passing it through a filter device made of stones, gravel, and sand.

Originally, water from rivers and wells is drawn and used as it is, so even with such a level of water purification equipment, it is unlikely that it will have an immediate effect on health. Rather, if there is something like our House that has some kind of facility, all the other people in the basin who are just drawing water and using it will be affected by our actions.

As in other towns, the sewage is taken downstream, treated to some extent, and finally discharged into the Welzel River. We are trying to ensure that all water and sewage systems are fully equipped in our territory. Putting aside the invisible underground infrastructure, the village itself is normal, except for the fact that it’s been systematically planned. But some places make it out of the ordinary

First of all, Floren has huge shipyards and docks relative to the size of the town. And there are docks where ships built at those shipyards arrive and splendid river ports to facilitate the transfer of goods and people.

Furthermore, a huge fortress is under construction on the south side of the village, upstream. This will also be a military base on the front line against the Kingdom of Frasia. You know you’ll need a fortress and a port for that.

There are several roles that I would like Floren to fulfill moving forward. The 1st is to secure a channel down the Welzel River to the Hermann Sea. The Welzel River will pass through the territory of the Kingdom of Frasia on the way. But my goal is to get out to the Hermann Sea even if it means knocking Frasia out of the way. For that, we need to make this place a sufficient naval port.

And even if we don’t intend to go to war, there’s also the possibility that we’ll be attacked from the other side. If they were to attack by land, they would pass further south. As you go downstream, the flow of the river increases, the width of the river increases, and the depth of the water increases. In the first place, even if you cross this area, it is in a deep forest and is not suitable for a large army to march through.

I’m maintaining it as Caan territory now, but the Kingdom of Frasia won’t know about that. In that case, if you send a large army to attack the Kingdom of Ploiss, there is a high possibility that they will come along the old large highway. In that case, it is common to go through the road that crosses the two countries south of Carruzan.

Other than that, if you intend to cross the Welzel River and make a surprise attack, there is a possibility that it will pass north of Carruzan, that is, south of Floren. Fortifications are being built to protect against such enemy attacks.

If you come by land, you will cross the river south of Floren, but you have to consider the possibility that a ship will come. In that case, the ships of the Kingdom of Frasia will come up the Welzel River from the Hermann Sea. Considering fighting such ships, equipment to deal with enemy ships has been constructed on the north side.

The Welzel River is slightly smaller than the Dierbe River. The flow rate, width, and depth of the water are inferior to the Dierbe River. Even our large boat can pass through this river, but there will be unexpected shallow waters, and investigation and improvement of the riverbed may be necessary.

Caravels and galleons have relatively shallow drafts. The galleon has a large hull but a shallow draft, so it can be used to some extent in the Welzel River. I don’t know about carracks. Since carracks have deep drafts, they may run aground on shallow riverbeds.

The shipyard being built in Floren has completed caravel ships and has begun building ships. A galleon version is currently under construction. If you have a dock that can accommodate a galleon ship, you can also build a carrack ship, but there is no dock here that can accommodate the carracks that we are building.

Ultimately, I’m thinking of recapturing the territory that was ceded to the Kingdom of Frasia in the past. Of course, it’s a country-to-country issue, so I, who is only a local Feudal Lord, can’t decide the war between the Kingdom of Ploiss and the Kingdom of Frasia by myself. But there must be a way to take it back without any war. Just ask them to return the land they stole.

It may be necessary to negotiate with the Demon Country and conclude a non-aggression pact, but for the sake of the development of the Kingdom of Ploiss, the territory stolen by the Kingdom of Frasia must be recaptured no matter what.

There are other important rivers in the Kingdom of Ploiss. One of them is the Rhyne River. I hear that the Rhyne River is a large river that flows further west than the Welzel River, and its size is even larger than the Dierbe River.

The Rhyne River is said to originate in the Great Mountain Range to the southwest of the Kingdom of Ploiss, and from there it flows north through Ploiss and into the Hermann Sea. Its basin originally ran mostly through the Kingdom of Ploiss and finally through the Kingdom of Hollant into the Hermann Sea. However, most of the lower reaches have now been ceded to the Kingdom of Frasia.

If these areas are not reclaimed and they go out to the Hermann Sea through the Welzel and Rhyne Rivers, the Kingdom of Ploiss will sooner or later fall into decline.

Of course, I have no intention of going to war to take it back. If the Kingdom of Frasia guarantees freedom of passage, it may not need to be made Ploissian territory once more However, there is no way the Kingdom of Frasia will stand by and watch the Kingdom of Ploiss go out into the ocean and develop further than it. Far from being welcomed, it will undoubtedly be a hindrance.

That I don’t have very good feelings for the Kingdom of Frasia is not just because the territory is adjacent to ours. 1 Caan territory has never directly fought a war with the kingdom of Frasia, but my parents have. They were also involved in diplomacy and whatnot. In light of such stories and past facts, the Kingdom of Frasia is not very reliable.

The Kingdom of Frasia, which boasted hegemony over the continent from long ago, pretended to be a great power and made unreasonable demands to neighboring countries, and if they refused, they would do whatever they wanted, such as starting a war. Nowadays, the Kingdom of Ploiss has become a great power on par with the Kingdom of Frasia, but it seems that the Kingdom of Ploiss was also devastated in the past.

In the first place, compared to the Kingdom of Frasia, which has incredibly strong royal authority in its political center, you could say the Kingdom of Ploiss is inferior despite having a similar population because we are instead made up of a federation of strong Feudal Lords with a relatively weaker political center.

To put it simply, even if all the Lords of the Kingdom of Ploiss cooperated and sent out all their forces, they could compete with the Kingdom of Frasia, but if the Lords of each region did not cooperate in sending troops, our mobilization numbers would drastically decrease immediately.

In a country with strong royal authority, such as the Kingdom of Frasia, soldiers can be gathered if the King orders it, but in the Kingdom of Ploiss, the Lords of various places oppose or send only a small number of soldiers, so we have a vastly unstable and unreliable actual military force in a war. And of course, the Kingdom of Frasia takes advantage of that.

By laying the groundwork to keep the various Lords from sending troops, and by persuading them to switch sides, the Kingdom of Ploiss’s military strength will not mobilize as expected. This is probably why Wilhelm and Dietrich are trying to weaken the authority of the Feudal Lords and strengthen the royal authority, centralizing the government.

Suppress the tyranny of the Kingdom of Frasia, recapture the stolen territory, and build the foundation for the development of the Kingdom of Ploiss. To that end, the town of Floren will be an important base. The name is a bit questionable, but…

After inspecting the village and the fortress, I returned to the party venue with satisfaction. It seems that the celebration of the opening of the village will be held all night today, and the commotion does not seem to subside even at night.

We entered the House Caan Villa built in Floren and decided to take a rest. If I hang out with my fief’s citizens making noise all night long, I won’t be able to survive. I’m not going to stop them from having a party all night long, but I asked them not to drag me in from start to finish.

I go back to my room and stare at the map again. I have to check the plans for important new projects.

Currently, the only way to exit the Dierbe River or the Hulk Sea to the Herman Sea is through the strait between the Demon Country peninsula and the peninsula that overhangs to the north. The strait is basically blocked by the Demon Country, so it’s a place that can’t be passed easily.

Some countries, such as the Kingdom of Del, can pass through that strait, whether they are dependent states, friendly states, or protective states. The northern peninsula and the eastern coastal nations of the Hulk Sea seem to be forming an alliance or coalition centered on the Demon Country called the Kamaal Alliance.

Countries surrounding the Hulk Sea from the peninsula to the north of the Demon Country are members of this Kamaal Alliance, and in effect, the Hulk Sea Coast from the east to the north of the Kingdom of Ploiss is led by the Demon Country. Ploiss cannot participate in the Kamaal Alliance, does not have permission to pass through the straits between the peninsulas, and the current situation is that some merchants individually obtain permission from the Kamaal Alliance to pass through their waterways.

I’m working out a plan to overcome this situation. This project is what I am looking at now, and whether or not it succeeds will be a big watershed for the future.

It was building a canal connecting the Dierbe and Welzel Rivers.

As I’ve said so far, the current Ploiss has no way to reach the Hermann Sea through its own territory. And no matter how much the Dierbe River goes out to the Hulk Sea and we control the Hulk Sea, it is difficult to pass through the strait sandwiched between the Demon Country and the northern peninsula. Even if you get permission from the Demon Country or the Kamaal Alliance, there is a high danger when you pass through a narrow strait.

You never know when you’ll be banned from passing through someone else’s territory. In addition, ships are vulnerable when attacked from both sides while passing through a narrow strait. Even if you don’t intend to be hostile, there is a possibility that the other party will make arbitrary demands, using the right of way or the passing ship as a hostage.

The river running south of Carruzan was to be widened and then a canal to continue westward to the Welzel River. With this, the Dierbe and Welzel rivers will be able to travel back and forth, and a waterway will pass from Caanburg through the south of Carruzan to Floren.

As expected, it would be difficult to come and go by boat from the creek on the west side where Caanburg draws water. Not even a small boat, let alone a caravel boat can pass, I wonder if an old-fashioned cog boat can pass… therefore, it will be expanded only to the south of Carruzan and stretched straight to the west. Only traffic from the Dierbe River to the Welzel River may pass.

When this canal is completed, ships stationed on the Dierbe River can also be transported to the Welzel River. It will be easier to send support when the Kingdom of Frasia attacks Floren.

However, if conversely, it is occupied by the Kingdom of Frasia, the Kingdom of Frasia’s fleet can cross the canal from the Hermann Sea up the Welzel River will attack everything from Carruzan, Caanburg, Lubek, and Cien to the Hulk Sea.

Above all, there are various high hurdles in canal construction. There will also be impacts on ecosystems. Construction budget, construction technology, securing labor and materials, and possibly visiting the Kingdom of Ploiss for cooperation may be necessary. I don’t know if a canal has ever been built, so I don’t know if it’s okay to build a canal.

There are various problems. It is also unknown whether it can actually be built in the first place. Still, I spent my first night at Floren Villa thinking about this canal construction plan.