Sean arrived at the site early as usual, guiding others to begin making cement.
This magical cement can be produced using materials that are readily available everywhere, and it does not even require a foundation in alchemy.
Sean also felt that this cement could be further optimized, and it did not require alchemical materials; just a change in the materials or production method would suffice. He believed the strength of the cement had not yet reached its limit.
It is estimated that this material was used to build bridges and roads during the Old Empire period. Thinking about creating something from the Old Empire with his own hands made Sean feel incredibly satisfied; this sense of accomplishment cannot be compared to learning a few simple spells.
Since he was about to start large-scale road construction, it was basically impossible to keep the cement’s formula a secret. Lind had no intention of keeping it under wraps either; this was merely to gain a first-mover advantage.
Moreover, given the efficiency of the feudal nobles, Lind suspected that by the time the cement roads in his territory were completed, the opposing side might still be unaware.
The people coming to learn included ordinary peasants as well as noble offspring. Although Sean could tell that many of these noble offspring came to get close to him, just as his brother-in-law said, it was about relationships, not intentions. As long as they learned and performed their production tasks well, promoting them wouldn’t be out of the question.
In fact, many nobles had already realized that Lind truly needed people. As long as one could pass the basic requirements and worked diligently and reliably, they could quickly obtain promotions.
Lind’s requirements for these nobles were already quite low—just don’t act too arrogantly.
Many nobles had already put aside their pride and started working at the grassroots level, resulting in quick promotions. Although they still struggled at the bottom, they had managed to regain some power and could be considered senior officials.
For those nobles still on the sidelines, seeing the “surrendering faction” gradually taking the power that once belonged to them, and some less influential families working hard, it had a hint of them potentially riding on their heads in the future, which finally spurred their more human-like juniors to enter the fray.
Most nobles were still classic “betting on both sides,” with some fleeing to Fang Ge’s territory and others staying with Lind to work.
However, many nobles who had already decayed to their roots couldn’t even produce a semi-decent successor; they could only watch helplessly as their once-dominant lands were divided by these “new nobles.”
Those nobles who became officials through simple examinations, along with religious figures and outstanding students in church schools, were forming a new interest group.
Looking at these enthusiastic new nobles, dreaming of what life would be like after promotions, Sean merely nodded and smiled, just as before.
He wondered how many smiles would remain for these new nobles going to various places once the performance review policy was implemented.
Originally, Lind planned to use KPIs and performance to apply pressure to these new nobles still wishing to retain their old ways. However, after consulting with Lars’ Grand Elder, Lind decided to wait a while before announcing this performance review policy.
After all, what if those people saw the policy and became afraid to get involved? He needed to deceive them into joining first.
Moreover, the content couldn’t be copied directly; it had to undergo some modifications.
With the Grand Elder’s assistance, a more suitable performance review policy for the local noble baby physique was produced.
Due to being in the early stages of starting a business, Lind and the Grand Elder removed some inhumane punitive measures and added reward measures and promotion pathways to enable those actually working to get promoted faster.
The performance requirements were also relaxed somewhat, mainly out of concern that someone would be too eager for quick success. Although Lind believed that expanding the standards too wide would still lead people to use very extreme means to achieve performance.
This otherworldly version of the performance review policy could technically be put into use directly, but it was still undergoing continuous revisions.
Lind needed to impose some sunk costs on these officials to prevent them from contemplating quitting once they saw the performance review policy.
Currently, the continual promotion of small nobles and the easing of promotion pathways were dangling like carrots for these nobles, continuously increasing the manpower for public work.
Once the sunk costs became significant enough, this group of nobles would have to work harder under the performance review policy.
No one would be willing to give up reclaimed power easily.
Lind stripped them of their existing powers directly, occasionally allowing small bits to flow back to them, and these nobles would still be grateful to Lind, because this little bit had led to the most senior noble families running away, while many common families were rapidly rising.
In fact, Lind also wanted to genuinely promote some common people, but the educational foundation in this world was too poor. Most common officials still came from the Graywhite Territory. Even though there were church schools, literate people were still a minority. Lind could not push for education directly as he did in the small place in the Graywhite Territory; he could only establish promotion channels for commoners first and slowly expand through public schools and church schools.
By noon, Sean had already moved into the cooling shed to rest. After the labor, the sugary water was more delicious than all the fine wines Sean had ever tasted.
Since Lind became the family head, there had been constant contact from those not exactly human, hoping Sean could step up to take control and reclaim power, becoming the heir of the Lars family to restore its glory.
But Sean did not respond; he only silently passed the list of these individuals to his brother-in-law and Colin.
Although there was not much reaction from the brother-in-law, Colin was now going back and forth between various locales in the territory with his guards every day, starting to search for these non-human entities one by one according to the list, even more actively than the bard next to his brother-in-law.
These days, Sean felt extremely comfortable, no longer burdened by the pressure of being an heir. He only needed to consider the immediate work ahead.
The management of the Evans territory had finally begun to get on the right track, largely thanks to Jim Evans, who enabled the Graywhite officials to smoothly take over the entire territory.
Sean was about to leave this place soon; he planned to learn about the newly opened rune science course in the Graywhite Territory. He had heard that mastering this subject would allow him to participate in and create analyses of the arcane arrays. Sean had been curious about these arcane arrays and magic triggers for a long time.
It was precisely because of these two elements that the Graywhite Territory’s iron production capacity had become excessively surplus, sufficient to fully equip the Lars Knights in the western Northern Border.
At the same time, Sean heard that the Graywhite Territory was constructing magic power focus arrays and urgently needed professionals with outstanding computing abilities. He planned to offer some help. Although he did not know the specific purpose, he believed that his brother-in-law wouldn’t act aimlessly; it must be something important.
Moreover, he heard that his brother-in-law planned to push for military reforms soon, but the internal opposition within the Lars family was quite loud, and Sean needed to return to help with the situation.
Having personally experienced the entirety of the battlefield, Sean knew that merely relying on the Lars Knights to crush through would no longer guarantee victory in war.
If there were still those within the family who did not know what was going on, Sean would not mind letting them know why he was once the most promising heir.
