Shay stomped his feet that had gone slightly numb from the cold, blew on his hands, and rubbed them hard. After warming them up a bit, he climbed up the lookout tower and gazed down at the settlement he had managed for nearly a year.

After a year's hard work and construction, the settlement now had a promising outlook.

The perimeter was a circle of walls made from logs as thick as a person hugging them, standing over three meters tall. These walls not only defended against various wild beasts of the Northern Territory but also provided some resistance to wind and snow.

At least, the newly built houses in the settlement were mostly constructed against these walls. Besides saving building materials for one side of the house, an important reason was that these walls could effectively fend off wind and snow.

Of course, if the snowstorm was truly severe, everyone would move into the underground shelter that had been completed, which was where they really spent the winter.

Initially, Shay didn't quite understand why such a large underground space needed to be constructed under the settlement, but as the first snowfall of the year arrived, everyone quickly understood the purpose of this vast underground area.

Living underground was indeed warm! The temperature below ground was considerably higher than on the surface.

To say nothing else, the surface temperature had dropped to over minus twenty degrees, while in the underground space it was even above zero.

Such a significant temperature difference was extremely exaggerated for the Northern Territory, where it was cold enough to turn dripping water into ice, causing the residents of the settlement to hide in the underground space as much as possible.

Shay had already moved down there earlier; he even thought that in the future, the residents of the Northern Territory might develop the habit of living underground in winter and only living above ground during other seasons.

However, Shay, as the manager of the settlement, still had many responsibilities to attend to, preventing him from staying underground for long periods.

For example, he needed to personally handle the reception and storage of supplies periodically, as the settlement could not produce coal and some key industrial products itself, and had to rely on external input.

Generally speaking, trade caravans would arrive every two weeks, bringing coal, industrial goods, and food, while the settlement had to trade with animal furs, herbs, and other products.

This trade system was the prerequisite for each settlement to develop well; otherwise, relying solely on logging would not allow everyone in the settlement to comfortably get through this winter.

Although firewood could also be burned, it was far inferior to the coal brought by the caravans.

At least a piece of coal could burn for half a day, whereas a log would burn out in about half an hour.

Shay didn't quite understand why the honeycomb coal brought by the caravan burned so long, perhaps it was an alchemy product, but he clearly knew one thing: burning this was much more cost-effective than burning wood.

Especially since Perfikot had once issued a decree prohibiting indiscriminate logging in the Northern Territory, further limiting the use of firewood.

Moreover, even the leftover coal residue was collected by the caravan. Once these residues accumulated to a certain amount, they could be exchanged for new coal from the caravan.

This winter, no one in the settlement froze to death or suffered frostbite, nor did anyone fall ill from the cold weather, largely thanks to this new coal.

This made Shay especially grateful for the lord's benevolence because he knew clearly that the settlement's ability to consistently and stably obtain this new coal depended on the policies issued by Perfikot. Otherwise, why would any caravan be willing to arduously transport goods to the settlement in this snowy weather?

Not to mention that the new coal was sold so cheaply and could be exchanged for new coal using burnt coal residue, all due to policy subsidies.

Perhaps ordinary people didn't understand these things, but as the manager of the settlement, Shay had to be aware of these new policies in the Northern Territory.

After all, each new policy was closely related to everyone's livelihood and the future development of the settlement. So whenever a new policy was issued in the Northern Territory, Shay would immediately learn and understand it to ensure he comprehended the policy's contents, avoiding any deviations in its execution.

He still remembered Perfikot saying that if he did well, he could earn the title of Pioneer Knight.

"I wonder if there'll be a chance to meet the lord this year..." Shay gazed into the distance, pondering whether he had been forgotten by the lord, when some black dots appeared on the snow-covered road in the distance.

Seeing these familiar black dots, Shay breathed a sigh of relief; the caravan appeared on time once again.

Although he knew the caravan now used large machines, unlikely to be delayed by the snow, Shay was still concerned. After all, after a year of lengthy letter-writing, his brother was finally willing to bring his entire family to the Northern Territory.

Originally, Shay hoped his brother would help build the settlement, but unfortunately, his brother was reluctant to leave his job in Langton.

Shay had no way to force it, as he was just an honorary knight, and the settlement's construction was just starting out, with many things needing attention and lacking reasons convincing enough to persuade his brother to come to the Northern Territory and work together.

However, as the settlement gradually took shape, Shay gained more confidence in persuading his brother to come to the Northern Territory.

After half a year of letter exchanges, Shay's brother finally agreed to come to the Northern Territory a few months ago. The reason for the delay was partly because he needed to understand everything over in Langton, and partly due to the Northern Territory winter transportation conditions.

Thinking of this, Shay felt he should perhaps submit a report and apply to build a railroad for his settlement.

He had heard that several nearby larger settlements had already gotten railroads, although only narrow-gauge ones. The boost and development a railroad could bring to the settlement were immeasurable.

Thus, Shay very quickly firmed up his resolve, deciding to submit a report applying for railroad construction when spring came.

As Shay pondered the railroad, those black dots gradually grew larger, transforming into a steel caravan composed of several large robots approaching Shay's settlement.

Seeing the caravan approaching, he climbed down from the lookout tower, heading to the settlement's gate and instructing the militia on duty to open the gate.

When the caravan stopped outside the settlement, Shay immediately ran through waist-deep snow and embraced the middle-aged man disembarking from one of the passenger robots, enthusiastically patting his back, "Brother, you're finally here!"

The middle-aged man, clearly not as physically strong as Shay, coughed from the pats but also happily said, "Long time no see, Shay!"

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