ebookland #453 - Brand new town
#453 - Brand new town
The warm wind, heated by the sun, brushed against Shallett's face, causing him to squint. But the moment he opened his eyes, the entire town came into view.
Standing on the arched wooden bridge, the first thing he saw was a circular plaza paved with herringbone bricks.
In the center of the circular plaza was a construction site, now over three meters high.
This construction site was for building one of the town's future landmarks, named the Labor Clock according to Horn.
This Labor Clock would be driven by star-forged gears, chiming every hour on the hour, because workshop production required accurate time within the day, unlike the casual nature of rural agricultural production.
To solve this problem, the clock tower was created.
Between the safety nets and ropes, rows of scaffolding over three meters high stood, with laborers climbing up and down, using ropes to lift mortar and laboriously hoisting building materials to the top via pulleys.
Beastkin laborers, carrying wooden planks and buckets of water, worked shirtless under the scorching sun, their sturdy arms gleaming with sweat.
If they weren't wearing bras, Shallett wouldn't have been able to distinguish the female secondary sexual characteristics beneath the dense brown, red, yellow, and white chest hair.
The plaza was about one hundred and fifty meters long and wide, surrounded by a circular road about ten meters wide, and around the circular plaza, a ring of ginkgo saplings was planted.
The extension of the small bridge over the Pala River was directly aligned with the center of the circular plaza, and extending the straight line formed by the two, one could see a ten-meter-wide avenue flanked by rows of buildings.
"Look," Bolitz said, pointing to the avenue in front of them, "This is Central Avenue, and at the end of the avenue is the Official Residence Plaza."
Connecting with the straight line formed by the previous two, it stretched all the way forward.
Until another plaza appeared in the distance, where Shallett could vaguely see a two-story marble statue being built.
What surprised him the most was that on both sides of the road were two-story shops and behind the shops were four-story apartments.
Each shop and each apartment seemed to be copied and pasted, with the same height, the same shape, light orange walls, and dark gray roofs.
The eaves, wooden-framed balconies, and road moldings of each building were aligned in a straight line, and the intersection of countless straight lines was the statue in the distant plaza.
When Shallett looked back, he could see the terrace of the Mechanical Palace in the distance, aligned with the small bridge, the circular plaza, and the statue.
The visual impact brought by this order and straight lines was something Shallett had never imagined before.
Because people in this era rarely had the concept of urban planning, most cities developed freely and wildly, and the shapes of the buildings looked disgusting.
Even if some scholars and stonemasons had the concept of urban planning, there were only related prototypes in the territories of the Golden Land.
Even Rapidfall City, which was relatively well-planned, had various irregular shapes, with streets that were sometimes wide and sometimes narrow, and complex intersections of various blocks.
It was extremely rare to see a town as well-organized and clear as the one before him.
This was thanks to the temporary mayor of Autumn Dusk Island Town, Witt.
The 'Ten Books on Architecture' that Horn gave to Witt were actually many concepts he had gathered online, some of which only had outlines and concepts, without examples.
Witt miraculously reverse-engineered them based on the outlines and fragments, referring to his experience studying in the Golden Land, and adding the propositions of the Revivalist stonemasons, summarizing a set of early modern European urban planning and architectural styles.
It required both the retro order of the ancient El style and the magnificent and decorative nature of the imperial classical style.
The completely new town before him was Witt's masterpiece.
The terrace of the Mechanical Palace, the clock tower of the circular plaza, and the statue of the Official Residence Plaza were in a straight line, symmetrical on both sides.
If Horn lived in the Mechanical Palace and came to the terrace every morning after waking up, he could have a panoramic view of the entire city, as if the city was raising its right hand to greet him:
"Pope, good morning!"
It is unknown what Witt's specific thoughts were when designing this plan, but this bootlicking plan was unanimously approved by all the elders and Saintess Sylph.
However, Witt's plan is currently only practiced in the two blocks in front of him and the Official Residence Plaza.
The remaining ruins in the periphery were still honestly serving as ruins and garbage dumps.
Looking at it all the way, Shallett walked west all the way to the circular plaza.
Since it was afternoon, people were either working or doing housework.
There were still many children playing and shop assistants pouring water beside the streets of Central Avenue, but there were not many pedestrians on the circular plaza.
Under the shade of the scorching sun, only a few listless male beastkin sat on the ground.
They were using a few pieces of rag to pad the ground, selling some delicate handicrafts and vegetables and fruits.
"This place is called Assembly Plaza, announcements are made here, prisoners are hanged here, everything is done here," Bolitz pointed to the rows of simple sheds in the plaza, "There is a morning market every morning, usually ending at nine o'clock, if you want to buy fresh vegetables and fish, you have to go early."
"If we came so late, doesn't that mean we won't be able to eat?" a refugee from Rapidfall City said worriedly.
"Don't worry, there are ready-made taverns in the town, you won't starve," Bolitz rolled his eyes, "And the Saintess of the Mechanical Palace has shown mercy, filling the cabinets in your houses with bread and the bottles with plenty of salt."
"Houses?" The refugees' eyes widened, were there free houses? They thought they would be living in tents or camps.
"In our Autumn Dusk Island, after becoming a citizen, as long as you work in the workshops under the Papal Palace or in the municipal government's cooperative projects, you can be allocated housing," another municipal clerk leading the way interjected.
Bolitz pointed to the four-story Insula apartments behind the shops and said: "Depending on your income level, different proportions of rent or mortgage payments will be deducted from your salary.
Of course, you can also rent or buy your own house, but believe me, unless you are a rich tycoon, you definitely won't be able to afford to rent or buy a better room."
This was to ensure that people with different income levels could afford to live in similar houses.
Currently, Autumn Dusk Island Town is still in a state of development, and Witt's main energy is used to meet the most basic housing needs, so he has no energy to build better houses.
There were not many ancient El aristocratic courtyards that could be lived in after renovation, and they were basically bought by the war monks. The prices on the island were already expensive, and these refugees definitely couldn't afford them.
Is that where they will live in the future?
Looking at the neat and tidy Insula apartments, Shallett felt a surge of excitement for the first time since arriving on the island.
Judging from the clean and tidy appearance of the town, he had to admit that although the scale was not as large as Rapidfall City, the future development prospects were no smaller than Rapidfall City.
Standing in the center of the circular plaza, Bolitz pointed around like a pointer with his right index finger: "Remember the roads, standing in the Clock Tower Plaza, Central Avenue is to the west, the Official Residence Plaza is at the end, the warehouse district is to the north, and the ruins are to the south."
"What about going east?"
Bolitz looked at the person who asked the question speechlessly: "Isn't that where we just came from? Are you stupid?"
Silently remembering the roads in front of him, Shallett followed Bolitz silently.
Bolitz in front seemed to remember something, slapped his head, and suddenly pulled out a small triangular flag from his bag and raised it: "Keep your eyes on my flag, follow the flag, I'll take you to the new apartments."