Carrying a basket of clothes, Bonato and his companion walked down the main street of Joan of Arc Castle.

The news of the triumphant return of the army spread throughout Joan of Arc Castle, and after the initial celebration, people once again returned to calm.

But judging by the rosy cheeks of the citizens, they must have made a hefty profit from the Holy War Bonds.

Bonato originally wanted to buy some, but due to not registering his identity, he couldn't make the purchase.

Arriving at the outskirts of the vegetable market street, the small vendors had already set up their stalls, placing fruits, vegetables, fresh eggs, and meat in wooden frames, all neatly arranged.

Since the vegetable market street was guarded by Night Watchers and the Defensive Army, few dared to cause trouble, so farmers around always chose this street first to set up their stalls.

Only when the market street was full would they go elsewhere to sell.

"Oranges, oranges, oranges, oranges, oranges, oranges, oranges!"

"Cabbage, cheap sale! Cabbage, cheap sale!"

"Mom, I want to eat roasted yam roots!"

"This is not a biscuit, it's an alchemical product. It swells up when in contact with water... Hey, what are you doing? Why can't I sell baptism products without a license? I protest..."

A scammer selling counterfeit goods was forcibly dragged to the corner of the street by several Night Watchers amidst the boos of the crowd, and was kicked out of the street.

"Buy a few pounds of pork? Have that lady who makes egg and meat pies make some, Lady Theodora seems to like them."

"Buy a few more pounds, dry them into bacon to eat on the road." The companion agreed with Bonato, "The pork elsewhere might not be this price."

After Horn released the forests and implemented the land distribution plan, to ensure meat supply, livestock farming was exempted from taxes, and ordinary farmers selling livestock at the market were not taxed.

As the method of detoxifying yam roots became widespread, farmers generally started using them to feed pigs, with four pounds of yam roots plus pig grass growing one pound of pork. An acre of hilly land can produce a thousand pounds of yam roots, with a net yield of about 900-1200 pounds.

An acre of hilly or wasteland can raise two to three pigs, plus it's tax-exempt, the flat areas are manageable, but pig farming in forested and mountainous areas went wild.

This year's pork price is more than thirty percent lower than the year before, and this is even with the Pope's Palace buying large amounts of pork to forcibly maintain the price.

Arriving at the butcher shop, Bonato saw the Hundred Households Captains standing by the carriage, surrounding a monster field rat carcass.

This must have been purchased collectively by several Hundred Households Captains, as they were red-faced arguing over how to divide it.

It's important to note that one crucial aspect of the church protection army's captains' performance evaluation, according to documents issued by the Cardinal Conference, is the extraordinary rate.

And the church protection army captains' performance evaluations are part of the Hundred Households Captains' performance rating.

These Hundred Households Captains might even spend their own money to buy more pork, so the church protection army can quickly train extraordinary ones, to show off at the autumn harvest meeting.

After all, according to rumors from coachmen and courtesans, after the autumn harvest, the hierarchical reform might begin.

Who becomes a grandson or a lord depends on this.

The two had just lifted the curtain of the butcher shop, where a butcher was packing offcuts to a mother and child. Seeing Bonato and his companion, he shrugged, "You're late, that was the last bit, there's still not fresh meat, do you want it?"

"Of course not." The companion asked persistently, "When will the next batch arrive?"

"Don't know, depends on when the cart comes, usually noon."

Watching the sun in the sky, the companion said to Bonato, "You go deliver the clothes to the laundry workshop first, I'll wait here and meet by the river later."

After saying goodbye to his companion, Bonato carried the basket of clothes to the river.

A house one story high and divided into small compartments appeared in front of him, the air filled with water vapor, and the shrill sound of boiling water on stoves was incessant.

In the mist of steam, there were poor women in thin clothes coming and going.

Within the Divine Ai Empire, in the city, doing laundry was a very time-consuming and labor-intensive task.

Because the clothes of this time were of poor quality, before washing, clothes needed to be checked and mended for any tears, otherwise small openings would become large after washing.

After mending, clothes needed to be sorted by type of dirt and fabric type, especially woolen clothes, which required careful handling to avoid costly mistakes.

It took an entire day of soaking for dirt to naturally dissolve before further cleaning.

Due to the lack of indoor drainage, dirty water had to be carried outside to be dumped, and one had to queue by the well or river to fetch water.

Then came the scrubbing phase, where different garments required different cleaning agents, sometimes adding a little blue dye in the second wash to enhance color and cover the cleaning agent's corrosive effects on the fabric.

Most importantly, this task required a lot of hot water, and the price of firewood in town was not cheap, so normal families only washed once a week; many bachelors or laborers' clothing wasn't washed even for half a year.

But with the advent of honeycomb coal, the fuel price dropped sharply, reducing the cost of doing laundry.

Yet, it was still very time-consuming, so many single artisans would hire widows or old grandmothers to help.

These widows and poor women found they could earn a considerable amount this way, so they started charging for it.

Some sharp-minded citizens saw the business opportunity and quickly started laundry workshops, successfully outcompeting those widows and grandmothers.

Thus, in a corner unbeknownst to Horn, the business of laundry workshops quietly spread.

Since the cleaning was centralized, with bulk purchasing of cleaning agents and honeycomb coal, and the location was by the river, even with dedicated laundry women, the cost to wash clothes was much lower than in ordinary households.

Many citizens and artisans found that the cost of having their clothes washed was not much more than buying wood, and they quickly made their choice with their feet.

Their wives were very satisfied, as the hot water needed for laundry had to be heated over the stove, inevitably disrupting their daily cooking and other household plans.

Many widows and poor women went to work in the laundry rooms, but due to the conservative societal atmosphere, they had to wear headscarves, sweating profusely amidst the steam.

Bonato saw several women coughing and thought working in such conditions must be quite difficult.

After handing the clothes to the laundry staff and receiving a number ticket with a stamp, Bonato leisurely went to the riverbank.

The companion was already waiting by the river, holding a few pounds of pork.

"What's the matter?" Seeing the companion looking but not moving, Bonato curiously approached and asked.

"The road's blocked, can't get out, the Salvation Army has returned to the city."

Amid the rapid sounds of whistles and drums, cheers and children's games broke out one after another.

In the expectant gazes of the crowd, a row of neat Salvation Army War Monks appeared in everyone's sight.

They had changed clothes outside the city, acting as the honor guards leading the way into the city.

The uniforms were designed and tailored by Lady Isode's tailoring workshop, the top was a brown-black stand-collar jaquet with sleeves buttoned to the shoulders.

The cuffs showed a circle of white Xiumi shirt underneath, swinging their arms as they walked, brushing against the red ribbons and curved handguard swords at the waist.

The lower body wore tight-fitting trousers, unlike the common bulging pants of the time, the straight shape instantly gave each soldier long and straight legs.

The most distinct difference from typical Empire uniforms was their single-shoulder half-cape, draping only over the left shoulder, with the hem just covering the buttocks.

This was designed by Isode based on records of the Ancient Kush people's diagonal semi-sleeveless tops. Due to the large day and night temperature difference on the Kush River Grassland, and riding horses required flexibility, they used such cloaks.

Isode took inspiration from these records, noting that the climate difference on the Kush River Grassland was substantial, and windchill affected riders. Her design ensured the cloak was both functional and elegant.

Staring at the ready-to-wear style soldiers striding by to the sound of the crowd's cheers, Bonato thought.

If he could walk through the crowd like that, wearing such clothes, his dreams would be fulfilled.

Even Knights would envy such fine attire.