Manor Construction

By the time Ace returned to the new settlement, half a month had passed. Marina had managed things well, directing nearly four hundred people in perfect order.

Spring planting in the new settlement had already concluded. The irrigation works were progressing according to Ace's designs: diversion canals were being dug, waterwheels were being built, and the slaves were carrying out intensive cultivation in the fields, somewhat clumsily using oxen, iron plows, and hoes.

The new settlement was now one enormous construction site. The master's residence and the slave residential area were being built at full speed. Under Ace's design, the slave residential area consisted of four-story apartment buildings. The slaves would be forcibly organized into new families, with each household assigned a forty-square-meter unit. With the city-state's current construction techniques, such buildings could be erected.

Inside the smelting workshop, the slave responsible for managing all the craftsmen was named Xixi. He had originally been a free citizen of the city-state, but after being unable to repay his debts, he had ultimately used himself as payment and become a debt slave. He was around forty this year, with a sturdy build.

"Xixi, forge a batch of iron tags. Round, with holes around the edges, each about half a thumb's size. Make five hundred first. These will serve as identification for the slaves in the manor. The front will bear a number and a name. From now on, everyone must string the iron tag onto a cord and wear it around their neck," Ace said to Xixi.

"Yes, Master. The iron tags should be finished by the day after tomorrow." Xixi did not really understand what the tags were for. After all, every slave already bore a slave brand.

Ace did not explain further. The entire manor was already gradually getting on track, and he intended to promote a number of capable slaves to establish the Manor Affairs Department, which would handle the manor's daily affairs and report directly to him and Marina. The new institution's first task would be to register every slave, establish files for them, and issue identification.

A household registration system was extremely important. Once he had all the slaves' information in hand, managing them would naturally be far easier.

He planned to have the debt slave Kelson take charge of establishing the Manor Affairs Department. Kelson came from Norton, a city-state in northern Salia. He had originally been a free citizen and wrote a fine hand in bird script.

He had once served as a clerk for Norton's jury court. After accidentally running over and killing a citizen while driving a carriage, he had been unable to pay compensation and was sentenced to be sold into slavery in a foreign land.

Not long after Ace returned, Kelson had taken the initiative to recommend himself when Ace was inspecting the fields.

He simply could not endure the hardships of intensive cultivation any longer. He had originally thought farming was easy work—slash and burn, then wait for nature to provide a meal—but he had never expected to have to go into the fields every day to hoe the land. He groaned endlessly about his suffering.

So when he heard that the master was making an inspection, he tidied himself up and, at the risk of being viciously whipped, came to seek an audience with Ace.

Ace found that he spoke with clarity and logic, had ideas of his own, and had received systematic legal training. Talented people were hard to come by, so Ace had him attend him as a secretary for the time being.

Over the following weeks, Kelson completed the tasks Ace assigned him beautifully. He did not offer unsolicited opinions, executed orders efficiently, was easy to work with, and understood the law. Ace simply put him in charge of establishing the Manor Affairs Department.

At the same time, he allowed Kelson to freely select personnel and prepare the Manor Affairs Department. If he did well, he would become the Manor Steward once the manor's Administrative Office was established. If he did poorly, then once preparations were complete, he would be sent straight to farm the fields.

When Kelson had been sold into slavery in a foreign land, he had initially drifted through his days in a daze, believing his life was finished. Since farming seemed like easy work, he had tried to find a way to remain in the fields.

Who would have thought that the master would improve the farming methods, leaving him exhausted to death every day? Kelson had also recognized that this method called intensive cultivation, along with oxen and iron plows, had been recorded in some ancient texts and should greatly increase yields. He felt that the master had to be a learned man who understood agricultural science. Kelson himself was also a learned man and would surely be useful to his new master. After giving it much thought, he came forward to recommend himself.

After successfully becoming the master's secretary, the more tasks Kelson carried out, the more he felt that this master had vision. By chance, he learned that the master was also a renowned scholar of the city-state. Shamelessly clinging to him, he begged to read the master's work, "Logic," and was utterly awestruck. As expected of one favored by the legendary Goddess of Wisdom.

Kelson was only thirty this year, in the prime of life. Even as a slave, he still had ambition. Among the slaves, he wanted to stand beneath one man and above a hundred.

Establishing the Manor Affairs Department was precisely his greatest opportunity, so he was extremely cautious in selecting personnel for its preparation. The current work of registering everyone and establishing files was even more vital to Ace Manor's grand management plan. He could not afford to take it lightly. The Manor Affairs Department would later be responsible for the operation of the entire manor.

The registration work was carried out in full swing. Through it, Kelson entered the sight of every slave and became a prominent figure in the manor. Seeing that he worked diligently and had no obvious selfish motives, and with no one else available to use, Ace formally established the Manor Affairs Department and appointed Kelson as its acting steward, directly responsible to Ace and Marina.

Ace gave Kelson a thick volume of parchment as a guide for future management. Written on it were the words "Ace Manor Five-Year Development Plan." He told Kelson to finish reading it within a week and report his ideas for future management. Kelson held that volume of parchment and studied it day after day, becoming even more astonished.

The master's comprehensive plan was to close the gates and establish an independent little city-state. Yet it happened to comply with city-state law: so long as they did not evade taxes, keep no more than three thousand slaves, and build no walls higher than five meters, it was entirely lawful and reasonable.

According to the plan, the entire manor would ultimately be developed into a large town with a permanent population approaching three thousand. Walls no higher than five meters would be built, and a fishing harbor would be constructed at the mouth where the river met the sea outside the town.

The master planned that next year, without changing the slaves' personal dependency or releasing them from the manor's constraints, they would receive nearly all the rights of free citizens within the manor. He would also require Kelson to draft the Ace Manor Statutes to confirm it.

Under city-state law, the master had the right to manage slaves by any means. These statutes aimed at slaves were therefore valid.

Outside the town were the Plantation Area and the Livestock Area. The Plantation Area was divided into the Grain Crop Area and the Cash Crop Area. The grain crop was wheat, the city-state's staple food, while the cash crops included grapes, olive trees, and various vegetables. The Livestock Area would raise cattle, sheep, horses, and the like, while a mining site would be built near the iron mine.

Within the town, they would construct the master's residence, the Public Facilities Area, the Residential Area, the Industrial Area, and the Commercial Area.

The Public Facilities Area would be concentrated in the town center and include Flower Plaza, the Manor Affairs Department, a hospital, a school, and a public library.

The Industrial Area would be in the northeast of the town. It would contain a wheat-processing workshop, a winery, a smelting workshop, a meat-curing and smoking workshop, an oil-pressing workshop, and a fur-processing workshop. These would be centrally managed by the Manor Affairs Department and their products sold to the city-state for substantial profits.

The Residential Area would be in the south of the town and would eventually be divided into high-, middle-, and low-tier sections. The high-tier section would have villas, the middle-tier section garden apartment buildings, and the low-tier section low-rent tenement blocks.

The Commercial Area would lie around the outskirts of the town center, where a wide range of shopping establishments would be built in the future.

Kelson read the plan in a state of excitement. It contained a string of newly coined terms. As expected of the genius who had written "Dictionary"—even his coined terms were so precise. He could scarcely believe this was a manor development plan. Even if someone applied this plan to a city-state, there would be no problem at all.

As long as the manor was built step by step according to the plan, he, Kelson, would stand beneath one man and above a thousand in this rising manor town. It was truly exhilarating.

Listening to Kelson's lavish praise and his understanding of the plan, Ace considered him passable. As a former clerk, Kelson should be competent enough to manage three thousand people after some further training.

Ace was not saintly enough to free the slaves. Not only would that fail to earn their gratitude, it would undermine the foundations of his rule. He would be branded an outsider in the city-state and lose his authority within the manor.

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