Stormwind Wizard God-Chapter 573: Saint Duke

In February of the third year after the Dark Portal, the earth is still frozen and there is no sign of awakening.

This is the most difficult time of winter. It is still cold, but the food is almost gone.

In the northern continent of Lordaeron, the bodies of people who died of freezing or starvation were everywhere. Because the weather was too cold, there was no need to worry about plague, but the hard ice made all the people give up the plan of burying their companions or neighbors.

The nobles of Lordaeron celebrated the victory of the war in a warm castle, but in the Stormwind Kingdom in the southernmost part of the continent, Llane was inspecting the territory with the little prince Varian.

Yes, braving the minus five degree cold wind and light snow.

Because there were still orc remnants in the depths of Elwynn Forest, Llane had to travel with a royal knight group of more than 500 people. Of course, there was no shortage of paladins, priests, hunters, mages, and several rangers from the Windrunner family.

Passing by the cemetery outside Goldshire, several frozen corpses jumped into the sight of Llane and Varian.

"What's going on?" Anduin, who was following Llane on the inspection, felt a nameless anger burning in his chest.

There was no need for him to get angry, as his followers would naturally call over the frightened mayor of Shining Gold Town.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, we didn't know you were coming on patrol."

"Don't know? That would give you enough time to hide the body." King Llane's words were more majestic.

"That's not the case, Your Majesty. Please look carefully, most of them are old people." The frightened mayor kept making excuses.

Llane took a look and found that it was indeed the case.

"They had not been in good health before they returned to Elwynn Forest. Everyone tried to persuade them not to come back, but they insisted that they would rather die in their hometown. They were tossed around on the ship for more than a week, and we tried our best to take care of them. According to the instructions of Sir Edmund, we always placed them near doctors or priests. Unfortunately, they didn't make it."

The mayor's explanation left Llane and others silent.

Hometown has a special sacred meaning to every citizen of the Stormwind.

Thousands of years have passed since the founding of the kingdom, and many people have never left their homeland in their entire lives. During the days when Stormwind fell, even Llane himself thought painfully countless times whether he would have the chance to return to Stormwind, a land that has been passed down for dozens of generations.

In the early days of the fall, perhaps he and his people were eager to restore the country. What if he died in battle, and all the warriors who were determined to restore the country died in battle? What if it took five or ten years and the restoration was still not possible? By then, how many people would be willing to support the restoration of the Stormwind?

Llane, Anduin, and even the young Varian could truly understand the people's desire to return to their homeland, especially the elderly.

Llane sighed, and in the cold winter weather, the sigh formed icy mist, extremely clear: "Sir Mayor, I accept your explanation, but now please take us to where the civilians gather. I want to use my own eyes to witness the results of your work and your loyalty to the kingdom and the people."

"Of course! Of course!" The mayor wiped the sweat that had begun to form on his face and hurriedly took Llane and his party into the town.

Since Goldshire was once the base for the Horde to attack Stormwind City, and was burned by Duke, even though more than a year has passed, many trees still look bare, either dead or have not yet grown back.

In the somewhat deserted town, Llane was pleased to see many human-style houses standing in the town. A year and a half ago, the same location was full of disgusting, dirty and messy tents of the Horde.

"Father, many of the houses here look the same." Prince Varian shouted in surprise.

Llane was also surprised. As a king, he only saw the report sent by Duke, which said how many houses were built. Llane always looked at the internal affairs report with a watery eye. In Llane's impression, if one-tenth of the houses could be built, it would be good enough for the other citizens to have a relatively sturdy tent.

Now it seems that Duke's report is completely true and there is not a bit of exaggeration!

"Thanks to Grand Edmund Duke's new construction manual, we were able to build winter houses for every household in the town before winter came, a total of 1,120 households. As long as there is a man in the family, even if he doesn't know how to build a house, under the guidance of a craftsman, a solid house can be built by five or six people within a month."

Llane, Anduin, and Varian were all shocked.

They knew nothing about building a house, but they had seen how carpenters and stonemasons built houses in the past. It would take at least half a year to finish a house.

Now what kind of efficiency is this?

The mayor first took the king and his party to the warehouse

There were a lot of wood neatly stacked in the warehouse. Llane noticed that there were grooves at both ends of each piece of wood: "This is..."

Mayor: "Well, I don't understand the details. Sir VanCleef of the Brotherhood of Stonemasons explained it to me. He said that as long as the pillars and beams with designated numbers are placed at designated locations on the flat ground, they can be directly connected and nailed on top to make the frame of the house, and the house will not fall apart easily. Then cover it with the double-layer wooden boards prepared in advance, and a house is basically built."

"That's it?" Anduin was also stunned.

"Take me to see it." Llane ordered.

Not far away, the group arrived at a civilian's house on the edge of the town. After knocking on the owner's door, the farmer greeted the king and his party in panic.

"No need to kneel, stand up and talk."

In this era of strict hierarchy, it was a great blessing for common people to not have to kneel when they met the king. They would not dare to sit together even if they were beaten to death.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The man, his wife and three half-grown children said in unison.

"Are you a soldier on leave?" Anduin noticed the man's necklace. There was a rectangular plate on the necklace, which was Duke's idea - a military plate. The military plate marked the soldier's name, place of origin, affiliation and achievements.

The man immediately stood at attention in a standard military posture: "Joseph Adams, captain of the fifth squad of the third battalion of the fifth infantry regiment of the kingdom, salutes you, Your Excellency Commander Lothar."

"How was your winter?" Llane asked with a smile.

"Thanks to Saint Duke, we are doing well." Joseph's face changed color almost as he finished speaking.

"St. Duke?" The mayor turned pale on the spot.

To describe a subject as a saint in front of a king, even if Llane has always been known as a wise ruler, who can guarantee that Llane will not feel jealous?

This is a big taboo!

In the past, even if all the gossipers in the town were hanged on the spot, no one would sigh for them.

The mayor wanted to kneel down and beg for mercy on the spot.

Unexpectedly, King Llane simply raised his hand, raised his left palm, and made a gesture to stop.

He ignored Joseph, who had already knelt in fear, and the trembling mayor. Instead, he turned back to Prince Varian and said, "My child, today I will teach you a lesson on the way of kingship."

"Father I'm listening." The little prince nodded seriously.

"To be a wise king, you must first do one thing - never be jealous of a minister who is more talented than you. When it comes to fighting, I am far inferior to your uncle Anduin. He is the god of war in the hearts of soldiers, and I am not. When it comes to strategy and domestic affairs, I can't even learn the basics of your Duke. I only know that under his management, my people are living a better life."

Llane shrugged, pouted, and made a funny expression: "Well, if I were the kind of stupid king who couldn't stand seeing his subjects canonized as saints, should I chop off Anduin, hang Duke, and then let the people send me to the stake? Oh, no, no, before the people do anything, the women of the Windrunner family will skin me first. That's too bad, I might as well die in Stormwind Fortress early."

Infected by Llane's antics, Anduin, a group of accompanying ministers, and even the royal guards all showed relaxed smiles on their faces after hearing Llane's words.

They all knew Llane very well—he was a king whose ability might not be the strongest, but whose character was absolutely noble.

"You must absolutely trust those ministers who are good to the people, understand? For example, your Uncle Anduin and Duke."

Varian looked at him with admiration: "I understand!"

Llane's behavior helped the mayor and Joseph's family to open up and talk.

Through their words, Llane understood more clearly how effective Duke's policies were.

At a time when there was no need for war, Duke asked Lothar to order the army to take a temporary rest. More than 70% of the soldiers were given leave and were able to return to their hometowns to participate in reconstruction.

There were only two requirements for these soldiers: first, they must report back to the army after the spring plowing next year, otherwise they would be treated as deserters; second, they must wear military badges when working in their hometowns to let everyone know that the kingdom had sent them back to help.

With the return of a large number of able-bodied men, reconstruction work was accelerated.

At the same time, due to the bumper harvest in the western wilderness, people basically did not have to worry about starving in the winter of that year. If it were only this level, Duke's name would not be enough to become sacred in the hearts of the people.

Perhaps Duke's brave fight with Neltharion was talked about with great relish in the martial arts country. But for most civilians, it was just a topic of conversation after dinner. The only thing that could really make them smile with happiness was a stable and happy life.

Everyone had already prepared for the worst.

Throughout history, there has never been a major migration that did not result in a large number of deaths. The frail, old, weak, women and children would die of hunger, cold, or disease in the shortest possible time.

But Duke, a time traveler, turned all this around with his modern conventional medical knowledge.

The cement road that runs through the entire Elwynn Forest from east to west provides the most solid foundation for the transportation of materials. Long before the restoration of Stormwind Kingdom, Duke had Edwin VanCleef and GLlane Stoutmantle prepare everything.

Duke has perfectly considered every aspect of food, clothing, housing and transportation.

First of all, winter clothes. In Azeroth, there is cotton. The early deployment in the western wilderness allowed Stormwind Kingdom to harvest 200,000 kilograms of cotton in the autumn of the second year of the Dark Portal. This is not an ideal number, but it can allow most women and children to have a relatively warm winter.

The people of Azeroth still mainly wear coarse linen clothes. In the past, they relied on fire to warm themselves in winter. When did they wear such warm clothes? Every citizen who put on the cotton-padded clothes praised this new winter coat, which they called "Duke Cotton-padded ...

In terms of food, in addition to the basic black bread, Duke also added a lot of meat. Those small fishing boats that could not sail far were sent out early in the morning. With the help of the fishmen, they continued to catch fish even in winter.

The high-fat whale meat and various fish were already frozen when they were delivered to the shore. Although they were a bit heavy, they were better at keeping fresh. They could be transported from Storm Harbor to East Elwynn Forest hundreds of kilometers away. People could have a delicious meal for their family at a very low price.

During the great retreat, the people lost almost all their belongings.

Duke's solution was to use work-for-relief.

Getting paid for building a house for my neighbor.

There was wages for transporting food and cotton clothes to the village.

Women also get paid for making cotton-padded clothes.

Children were paid for helping to make javelins.

There is wages for taking care of the elderly, the sick or the injured.

Soldiers on leave are paid to join patrols.

There is a bounty for killing wild beasts or invading orc remnants.

As long as you are able to work and are willing to work, you don't have to worry about starving or freezing to death. Duke also stipulated that a minimum wage and a maximum wage system must be implemented within three years, and hanged several profiteers who raised prices.

Moreover, during the winter when everyone was unable to work, the arable land for the next year was allocated to each household early, and seeds were distributed.

In addition, because a large number of old nobles were completely exterminated, more than 90% of the people became free citizens. The new nobles who were awarded titles for their military merits were strictly limited in the proportion of taxes they could pay.

For a time, the mental outlook of the entire nation was renewed.

This is not limited to Goldshire. Llane and his group went all the way east and saw the Blackwell Farm and the East Valley Lumberyard.

If there is any difference between the different places, it is that in Duke's territory, the implementation of various policies is more resolute. Llane met Daniel, the manager of the East Valley Lumberyard, and found that this former wizard has become the director of a factory specializing in the production of magic items.

The cold winter is not over yet, but the hearts of every citizen are warm.

They are looking forward to the arrival of spring.

Because, that is the rebirth of a kingdom!

The late Archbishop Alonsus Faol was a saint in the spiritual realm in the hearts of the people, and Duke was a saint in the material realm. Because of him, the people lived an unexpectedly good life.

So his name became sacred in the hearts of the people. Starting from this winter, the people of Stormwind got used to adding the word "holy" before Duke's name.