Chapter 78: Language advisers and semaphore communications

Chapter 78 Language Counselor and Flag Communication
Paul was discussing the sale of harvesters from the agricultural machinery factory with Old Ford, Ansel, and a host of other administrative officials, letting out a chuckle from time to time.

Although there was no scene of everyone clamoring for orders as he had expected, it was not bad to have harvested tens of thousands of silver coins within a few days. It seems that there are quite a lot of rich people in their own territory, and they have to think of some ways to make the money in their hands “move”.

The head of the political department are all happy, in addition to the financial increase of the territory, there is another important reason is that most of them are landowners, their families more or less have some property, and Paul promised them that they can buy a harvester from the agricultural machinery factory according to the cost price.

Old Ford reported to Paul that the consolidation of arable land was steadily proceeding, and the scattered small pieces of arable land formerly in the homes of the various landowners were being consolidated step by step into large farms under the impetus of the local farmers’ associations.

The four-bed rotation method is also being widely publicized, and many people have already indicated that they will start trying out this new farming technique next year.

There is also the construction of water conservancy facilities. The local farmers’ associations have levied corvée labor in the name of the lords, and so far a total of 5 kilometers of irrigation canals have been repaired and newly built, and this number will continue to grow.

After completing the construction of the Farmers’ Associations throughout Bairdain, the Ministry of Agriculture intends to extend the implementation of the above measures to Bairdain as well.

Previously, Chief Ford was personally in charge of agricultural matters, but now with Hansel as the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, his burden could be lighter in the future.

Paul was more or less uncomfortable with the levy of corvée, which was a way of using the people’s power without compensation, but it could only be done under the current situation of low financial revenue.

Finally, he concluded, “Then, please also work harder in the future, so that we can multiply our agricultural output in Arda and Bairdin several times as soon as possible.”

The people received their orders and went back to continue their own work.

Paul turned to his “secretary” who was sitting by the side and asked, “Bernard, is there anything else scheduled for today?”

Bernard Francis, an old friend that Hansel had poached from the King’s Capital, his former occupation was a book scribe at the King’s Crystal Flare Academy, and his years of scribbling had given him a great deal of knowledge, and he had also practiced the miraculous skill of never forgetting a single glance.

Write a handful of good articles, flowery, all kinds of allusions at your fingertips, and strict character, after all, in the academy copying books with parchment, copying a wrong word can make people heartache for a long time.

After arriving in Lakeville, Chief Steward Ford felt that his characteristics were very suitable for helping the Earl to do processing paperwork, scheduling and other work, so he recommended him to Paul. Paul in the “interview” after a period of time, feel very satisfied, specially set up a “secretary” position to Bernard as.

After hearing Paul’s inquiry, Bernard opened his notebook and quickly said: “You need to conduct an interview in the afternoon, not long ago posted a notice of recruitment of linguistic talents, yesterday finally someone came to apply for the job.”

Bernard adapted quickly to all the new terms Paul presented.

“Well, let me see what it is.”

……

Just before 2:00 p.m., Paul arrived at the office first.

Nowadays, with the increase of affairs within the territory, it is obviously no longer appropriate to continue staying in the study to work, so he asked Philip’s butler to find another room within the lord’s mansion to serve as a venue for a specialized office, while the original study was merely to store some of his private collection of books.

At two o’clock, there was a knock on the door, and after shouting “come in”, Bernard led a girl in.

Huh? This girl looks familiar.

The girl greeted him with a curtsy, “Earl Greiman, long time no see.”

Long time no see? Oh yeah, isn’t this the girl he rescued on his way back to Lake Town from Port Fulan, who seems to be from the Gabella Empire, surnamed Diaz.

Paul checked, Diaz in the Gabora Empire territory is a remarkable family name, the current Queen of the Kingdom of Aldo is from this Diaz family, no wonder she was wearing the kind of clothing that only the powerful and noble people wear. However, it may also happen to have the same surname as the Diaz family, after all, there are so many people under the sky.

He gestured for the girl to sit down and asked, “Ms. Diaz, may I ask if you’re here to apply for a job as a linguistics expert?” Isn’t this one a bit young in age, how much cargo can be in his stomach?
The girl nodded her head and replied, “Yes, I have a slight knowledge in language and writing, I can basically read and write all the languages circulating on the continent, and I have studied some of the out-of-the-way languages and ancient scripts as well.”

If this girl is not bragging, she is simply a humanoid translator.

He asked Bernard to get himself a few cross-referenced dictionaries of exotic languages to put them to the test. There were no other talents in languages, so they could only be tested by flipping through dictionaries.

Unexpectedly, Bernard recommended himself, “Lord Earl, I am also slightly fluent in a few other languages, can you let me try.”

“What, you still have this skill, why didn’t you say so before?”

Bernard smiled coyly, “All the students of the King’s Crystalline Flare Academy have to master a few languages, and so does Hansel.” Aileen was nervous for a moment when she heard that, there were still people from the Crystal Flare Academy in this town? Luckily, the other party didn’t seem to recognize her, and she gradually lowered her heart.

Paul reached out his hand towards Bernard and made an inviting gesture, “Then you can test her.”

After some translation tests on the girl, Bernard attached his ear and said to Paul, “My lord, her level is indeed very high, I can’t beat her.”

Irene raised her head and said rather proudly, “Count Greiman, knowing how to speak a certain language and having studied a certain language are two different things, perhaps you can test other aspects, let’s say the shape, system, origin, evolution and development of a certain language’s writing.”

Paul looked to Bernard, and the other shrugged his shoulders to indicate that he could do nothing.

Well, let’s decide it’s her, then.

“Ms. Diaz, congratulations on the position of my Linguistics Advisor.”

Erin asked, “What kind of work will I be required to do as an advisor? Interpreting when you communicate with foreigners?” She had previously assumed she would be in a tutor type position.

Paul returned, “Uh…… may have such a job in the future.” The scenario the girl was talking about was a real possibility, considering the increase in the number of people who would be trading in the future.

“But right now there is a special task for you – to create a new type of semaphore system for my army.”

“A new type of semaphore?”

“Yes. It is the use of flags to communicate certain command orders.”

Irene was puzzled, “As far as I know, the technology of using flags to command troops in the armies of various countries is already very mature now, so why would His Excellency the Earl want to reinvent the wheel all over again?”

Paul explained, “The amount of information that the flag technology can carry now is too little, I need a flag that can convey very complex commands.”

After experiencing two battles, Paul deeply felt that in this era where communication basically relied on roaring, commanding the army was so inconvenient that every time there was any order, he still had to rely on the messenger to convey it.

He looked for the chief of staff Schroeder to understand the means of battlefield command in this world, and to his disappointment although there were horns and semaphores, they could only convey some simple commands, such as advancing, charging, retreating, and so on.

Before the battle started, how the generals of both sides arranged their troops had already decided almost half of the victory or defeat.

Arda’s army was unique in the world, not only was it different, but it also had new technological weapons such as muskets and cannons, so many orders couldn’t be expressed through the existing semaphore, such as where to fire the artillery, which unit to support, and whether to use solid or loose bullets.

Thinking a little further ahead, the still-under-construction navy would need an even more complex semaphore system when fighting at sea, so it would have to be prepared in advance.

He said to Erin, “My officers will explain the specific needs to you in detail.”

Ms. “Diaz” nodded if she had a sojourn, “I understand.”

“Then let’s talk about treatment. What do you think about 1 silver coin per month? If you perform well, you’ll get a raise.”

This was 1000 copper coins, after all, in this part of the Northwest, this Miss Diaz also belonged to the high-end talents, and the salary was naturally offered a bit higher.

“Okay.” Irene agreed in one breath, after living in Lake Town for a while, she knew that with the local prices, 1 silver coin could be considered a high salary.

Paul was very satisfied, let Bernard lead “Diaz” Miss to sign the employment agreement.

In addition to the army’s banner, he had bigger plans for the future.

In order to speed up the progress of the reform, it is necessary to realize the strong control of every village and town in the territory, and build a strong grass-roots power.

To achieve this, a long-distance communication system that could quickly convey his will to each place and obtain local information in a timely manner was needed.

The invention of the telegraph is too fanciful with today’s technology, but it can still be realized by other means, such as a flag relay system like the French “Semaphore line”?

I have a lot of things to do this Monday, so I can only upload one chapter today. o(￣ε￣*)

(End of chapter)