naaapseattle #434 - Current Rapid City Situation
#434 - Current Rapid City Situation
Unlike the worried citizens, Armand, with several rolls of documents under his arm, walked briskly through the Uffizi Palace.
His footsteps landed on the red-carpeted marble steps, his palm caressing the smooth oak handrail. Armand stood on the second-floor corridor, gazing at the mansion with a sense of感慨.
The Uffizi Palace was the ancestral property of the Medici family, three stories high with fifteen meters, a total of 45 rooms, and adopted a corridor-style design.
The U-shaped palace has three corridors, each with a series of connected rooms, each with unique murals and reliefs.
Walking along the corridors, one could see brightly colored panels on the walls and various ceramic crafts and saint statues hanging on the walls or placed on tables.
The first floor was a public space, including various storage rooms, conference rooms, accounting rooms, and offices.
The second floor housed the various artworks and crafts collected by the Medici Merchant Guild over the years, including various statues, paintings, and books.
The third floor was the living quarters of the main members of the Medici family and the area where Hohen was currently working.
This mansion was later sold during Catherine's father's generation, but after Catherine regained power, the original buyer returned it as a gift.
After later repairs, it became Catherine's second residence besides the Pitti Palace in the port area.
Fortunately, the Pitti Palace was converted into a blockhouse during the war and was burned down in the battle against the Church's army, while the Uffizi Palace was preserved.
Currently, the entire administrative team of the Savior Army, under Catherine's suggestion, has moved here.
After greeting the sentry guarding the stairway, Armand arrived at a study on the third floor and gently knocked on the oak door.
"Come in."
The monk secretary by the door opened the door, and Armand strode in.
This study was about 200 square meters, divided into inner and outer sections, but Hohen had removed the door to the inner section, so visitors only needed to wait near the inner entrance corridor.
In the spacious inner room, a huge ivory tusk carving hung on the wall, and a three-meter-long chestnut table was placed horizontally in the center of the magnificent room.
The long table was full of cluttered piles, with various documents and atlases half a meter high.
In the gaps between these mountains of books, Hohen sat upright in a soft-backed chair with gold leaf carvings, unconsciously twirling a wooden-shafted feather pen, listening to reports from Jeschka, Hakuto, and others.
To Hohen's left, Catherine wore her crystal glasses, leaning over the chestnut table, quietly reading the papal state's correspondence and regulations.
Jeanne, who had just returned from Dog Fox Village, awkwardly held a pen, copying Hohen's leftover homework text.
However, judging from the frequency of her nodding and the drool at the corner of her mouth, she must have been asleep for a while.
Without disturbing the report, Armand nodded to the others present and sat aside to listen, waiting for his turn.
"...The purge of those traitors and collaborators is mostly complete, and there are still many suspects, but we haven't continued the investigation."
Hohen pretended not to notice Catherine's slight tremor and glanced at her, then asked, "Why not continue the investigation?"
"The wealthy merchants are currently living in fear. If we continue to investigate, I'm afraid it will involve too many people, drag in ordinary citizens, and stir up unnecessary trouble." Rene lowered his eyes, giving no indication that he was the feared Cheka leader.
The wealthy merchants in the city who had betrayed the Savior Army had basically been taught the meaning of loyalty with holy guns, and more than 10,000 gold pounds had been confiscated from their homes.
The reason Rene is now calling a halt is to prevent collateral responsibility from involving a large number of innocent people, and to prevent the Cheka from being blinded by money and fabricating false cases.
"Then suspend it for now. The atmosphere in the city is already heated enough." Hohen glanced at Armand, who was sitting obediently beside him, "Don't leave yet, I'll have something for you later."
"Yes, Your Eminence."
Rene walked straight to Armand, and their mouths twitched simultaneously when they looked at each other.
They were old friends who had known each other since the Moulin Rouge Village. Although they were precocious, they were both sixteen or seventeen years old, the age when they couldn't hold back the most.
This youthfulness of bishops is actually the norm within the Savior Army.
However, most of the time, these young clerics are more nominal leaders, playing the role of supervising and conveying Hohen's meaning.
It is almost impossible to find a third young cleric with real power like Rene and Armand within the Savior Army.
Of course, from the perspective of the Savior Papal State, these young people are future warriors, belonging to the second generation of elites. Currently, the real pillars are still Jeschka and Hakuto and their group.
Jeschka, who had returned from Dog Fox Village, unfolded the briefing in his hand, sat down on the soft cushion chair opposite Hohen, shifted his buttocks uncomfortably, and then spoke:
"Currently, the main manors and nobles of Dog Fox Village have been captured, and the roads and canals throughout Dog Fox Village are currently under control..."
"The remaining Black Hat Legion is still looting manors and usury monasteries. We did not attack some of the Juanuo faction..."
"Most of the nobles in Dog Fox Village have fled, and some have formed various bandit knight squads, constantly harassing our roads..."
"How long will it take for Rapid Falls City and Jeanneburg to be connected?" Hohen waved his right hand twice as he spoke.
"It can already be connected, but due to the attacks of bandit knights, safety is not guaranteed.
The Black Hat Battle Group is currently stationed in the Dog Fox Village area, clearing the remaining Church forces.
If you want to completely clear it, it will take at least three or four months, but if you only want to ensure the safety of the roads, I think one and a half months will be enough."
"A bit slow... Alright then." Tsked, Hohen pulled out a document from the pile and wrote two strokes on it, "I allow you to recruit a 150-man ranger unit from the squire knights as a reconnaissance unit directly under the Black Hat Battle Group.
...Um, I'll also send the Holy Gun Cavalry to you. You complete it within three weeks, any problems?"
"No problem," Jeschka said, patting his chest.
"There are no jokes in the army." Hohen smiled and put the warrant aside, handing it over to the monks to break down the task and write it into a formal order to be issued to Jeschka.
After dealing with the Dog Fox Village matter, Hohen waved to Hakuto, the last one standing and waiting in the room, "How is the cleanup work in Rapid Falls City going?"
"The remaining small groups of enemies in the nearby suburbs have been cleaned up. Except for the port area outside the city, the four major districts in the city have been cleaned up."
Rapid Falls City is divided into four main districts, which Hakuto calls major districts, namely the Saint Hundred Flower District, the Plaza District, the Cross District, and the Saint Spirit District.
These districts are easy to distinguish, and they are all named after landmarks. For example, the Saint Hundred Flower District is the location of the Hundred Flower Cathedral, and the Plaza District is the location of the Municipal Plaza.
A major district has as few as four or five and as many as seven or eight blocks. For example, the Uffizi Palace where Hohen is currently located is in the Fox Fur block under the Plaza District.
The name probably comes from the fact that it may have been a fox fur trading market hundreds of years ago. The names of these blocks mostly come from this.
"How is the infrastructure assessment?"
"If we're talking about residential houses, the damage isn't actually that serious. They can still be used after some repairs. The problem is in the Cross District, which is located at the South City Gate and suffered the most damage.
But it just so happens that it is also a gathering area for craftsmen and workshops. A large number of handicraft workshops were burned down by the fire. There are enough houses to live in, but there may not be enough jobs.
According to the estimates of those number-crunching lads, the economy of Rapid Falls City will experience a major setback after this war.
It may cause 8,000-10,000 people to lose their jobs, including craftsmen, laborers, notaries, lenders... They said that at least in the next two or three years, the per capita income of people with jobs in Rapid Falls City will decrease by at least 30%, and the astrologers agree with this idea."
Hohen looked at Catherine, who remained quietly reading the documents in her hand as if she hadn't heard.
"Hand in the briefing on this matter. We will summarize it in a few days and then discuss it collectively."
Hakuto faced Hohen according to etiquette, stuck out his butt, turned his back, closed the door, and shut out the roar he made when Jeschka poked him in the butt with a pointed shoe.
Hohen held onto the table and stood up: "You guys, all go out for a bit."
The attendants and monks in charge of paperwork in the room all exited one by one, leaving only two monks from the Holy Father Society sitting in their seats.
"Let's talk," Hohen stretched, got up and poured Armand a glass of iced mint water, "How is the Saint Catherine Project going?"