The next day, Galen dispatched half of his soldiers north to construct a camp in the basin discovered yesterday.
The southern camp was entrusted to Aragorn, who was also given command of the thousand soldiers stationed there, tasked with defending against the trolls to the south and the kobolds of the Whisker tribe who might appear from the east.
Kobolds are humanoid creatures that dwell in underground caves. They typically wear tattered clothing, are short in stature, and possess rat-like tails. To navigate the dark environment of their cave dwellings, they often carry burning candles on their heads.
Usually, kobolds are only a little over a meter tall and not very strong in combat. They often rely on their superior numbers or simple tactics in battle, and are also quite cowardly.
In his previous life, Galen found dungeon crawling in World of Warcraft most annoying. The caves were always filled with imps, spiders, or these short kobolds. The caves themselves were confusing labyrinths that made his head spin, and these little monsters would actively attack, which was incredibly irritating.
One of the reasons Galen had his eye on this land was the Whisker Gorge. Kobolds are fond of mining, and any mine occupied by kobolds was sure to be a rich one.
Once Amor and the others arrive, they can subdue the Whisker tribe of kobolds and seize Whisker Gorge. Then both the mineral deposits north of the basin and the kobold mines will be mine! Double the mining! Hehehe!
For now, before Amor and the others arrive, I should get the base's buildings set up first, lest a farmer completing a farm in a single day scares them.
The northern basin is irregularly circular, less than ten kilometers across, with a relatively flat bottom and slopes of about four or five meters high around the edges.
Such a large area, with a footprint comparable to an ancient county town in my Great Celestial Dynasty, no wonder a containment facility second only to Durnholde Keep could be established here after the end of the Orc War.
At this moment, a troop wearing red war robes was advancing into the basin. This thousand-man squad of the Crimson Flame Legion was divided into ten formations, with infantry in the front and musketeers in the rear, forming a semi-enclosing formation, carpet-bombing the interior of the basin.
This northeastern region has rarely been touched by humans since the days of the Arathi Empire. Aside from the occasional hunter from afar, even trolls rarely come here.
Over the years, the basin has become a habitat for giant highland spiders. At this moment, the Crimson Flame soldiers had to clear the spiders first before setting up camp.
Standing on the high slope, Galen watched the Crimson Flame soldiers advance step by step, giving him the sense of a full-scale war game. The infantry lined up in neat rows, and the musketeers fired forward through the gaps between the infantry, waves of gunpowder smoke constantly rising into the air and then dissipating.
Behind him on the open ground, Gandalf was waiting for the cooldown of the group teleportation spell. He had already traveled back and forth between the northeast and southeast Minas Tirith two or three times, each time bringing over several hundred farmers. In another two trips, Gandalf's task would be completed.
A thousand farmers were part of Galen's plan. Once the basin was cleared, Galen planned to build a town hall in the center of the basin and then recharge the 40,000 gold coins on his person.
The next step is to directly build five hundred farms.
A grand project!
When the soldiers' progress was halfway done, having already advanced to the center of the basin, Galen withdrew his gaze and continued to prepare the planning for the new town.
Galen planned to first build a circle of city walls around the outer perimeter of the basin's highlands, with watchtowers every fifty meters as the framework, and then have the farmers use stones to connect the sentry posts, completing the town's defenses.
Using the town hall built in the center of the basin as a dividing line, the northern side would be the base's farm area, occupying half of the town. Galen planned to use the farm area as his private territory in the future, leaving the open space on the southern side to the people migrating from the kingdom.
Then, like the later Hammerfall, a gap would be opened in the southern edge of the basin as the main gate of the town, building a bluestone avenue directly to the central town hall, and extending the avenue further south from the city gate to connect to the Go'shek Farm.
A large fountain would be built in the open space in front of the town hall as the central square, and a commercial district would be built around the square. These shops could attract investment and make another profit.
Galen praised himself for his wit.
As for the other functions of the town, Galen planned to reserve a place to build a mill, a brewery, and a bakery, or some other food processing plants, to process food.
The kingdom wanted to build the northeast into the fourth grain-producing area, or rather, Solas wanted to build the northeast into the fourth largest granary.
Galen understood some of his father's thoughts. Of the current three major grain-producing farms in the kingdom, the royal family only had one, Go'shek Farm, with the remaining two belonging to Marquis Nosford and Earl Dabyrie.
Earl Dabyrie was fine, belonging to the royalist party, but Marquis Nosford belonged to the Arathor Empire's legacy nobles, like the Thoras' Trollbane family. In Galen's view, this family was not on the same path as the Thoras' Trollbane family.
What is in one's own hands is one's own, so Solas started this immigration plan. Theoretically, land without feudal nobles belongs to the royal family. Galen completing the construction of this town would make it the royal family's property.
His father only wanted food, so Galen's positioning of this town was as a food logistics base. As long as he could provide enough food, Solas would not say much about Galen occupying half of the town as his private territory.
He would provide mature wheat, and then recruit migrating people in the southern processing plants to work, and the endless wheat could be turned into flour, bread, and ale.
Whether it was exported as a commodity, engaged in trade, or stored as reserve supplies, it was not a problem. As for the distribution, he could slowly talk to his father about it later.
Getting back to the main topic, based on the size of the basin, Galen estimated that the southern area of the town alone could accommodate at least 100,000 people.
In half a year, when the people migrating from the kingdom arrived, they would be allowed to build houses along several main roads in the southern district during the day, and return to the dormitories inside the farm at night.
The houses must be of the same style, two-story small buildings, and each row must be neatly arranged. Yes, this looks comfortable.
The materials were readily available. Half a year was enough for the base's farmers to collect enough giant stones from the mines. The wood was from the trees in the Alterac Mountains. Leaving some behind when the farmers collected the wood was enough.
The first batch of more than 10,000 people would be directly rewarded with houses, and some preferential policies would be given to help them quickly adapt to the new town's life. After they settled down, they would be arranged to enter the factory.
The planting of wheat on the farm would be the responsibility of the base's farmers, to avoid the exposure of secrets to the greatest extent. The immigrants would only be responsible for processing, and would not be allowed to involve themselves in Galen's core industry.
The above were all Galen's initial ideas. After Gandalf finished his work, he would discuss it with him to see if he had missed anything.
Galen was just an ordinary person in his previous life, and was a small fry when it came to power struggles and military affairs, but he knew how to delegate power. He didn't understand how to command the army, so he handed the team over to Amor. He wasn't proficient in business and internal affairs, so he discussed it with Hammon more often, and learned from it, accumulating experience.
He only needed to firmly control the origin heart base, develop the economy, and make mass production of soldiers the top priority. The crimson torrent would one day grow to an unimaginable level.
When he one day walked out of Azeroth, his journey would be the sea of stars.