Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 268 City Construction Preparation
After each department finished reporting on their work this year, Harvey cleared his throat and prepared to make the final summary speech of the meeting.

"The refugee shelter in Jackdaw Town will need to be maintained for the time being. The soldiers will be withdrawn, and only a few staff responsible for receiving and registering refugees, as well as the vaccination doctors on duty, will remain..."

Harvey paused, then exchanged glances with Asdalen, who was looking up at him. He continued, "The Federation has already begun efforts to control the spread of the plague, and the Church of Light, not to be outdone, has begun distributing divine potions to civilians in Saint Valen. They're clearly trying to win over the people and build public opinion for a possible large-scale conflict."

Asdalen stood up and added on Harvey's behalf, "Therefore, we need to continue promoting policies related to accepting refugees and try to attract more displaced people to the North before war breaks out."

"Understood! Lord." Everyone stood up and responded.

Harvey raised his hand to invite them to sit down, then took a sip of his hot tea and continued, "The Dragonstone Chamber of Commerce sent a message stating that the situation is under control and that we can resume our previous bulk commodity trade... However, I don't intend to allow them to monopolize the territory's commodity export business..."

Reiner asked in confusion, "Why? My Lord, they've always been very forthcoming with their payments and haven't been too eager to pry into our technological secrets. They're a good business partner."

Harvey chuckled and pointed at the account book in front of him. "Although the territory independently issues paper credit currency like the gold dollar, it still essentially requires gold and silver coins as an anchor for its value. Everyone knows that each gold dollar is equivalent to the purchase value of half a silver coin. This means that we need to spend more than 3,000 gold pounds every month just to pay salaries to all the people in the territory..."

After paying out this month's salaries, the City Hall now has only two thousand gold pounds in currency reserves left on its books, which is a dangerous financial threshold.

A large noble family in the southern border with a fiefdom of the same size, collected all the taxes in various ways throughout the year, and brought them to Harvey's pioneering territory, but it was only enough for his monthly cash flow expenses - this was based on the fact that the territory was self-sufficient in food and most daily necessities.

Currently, the Pioneer Territory's only export business is the sale of magic stone power machines and the supply of energy cores and magic ammunition for the Annihilation Gun to the Federation, which can bring long-term income to Harvey.

Although the vaccine business made a quick buck, it would eventually come to an end. Relying solely on the export of civilian goods and an arms business might not be able to sustain the rapidly growing construction expenditures of the territory in the future.

"So, I will establish contact with several other large chambers of commerce of equal size to the Dragonstone Chamber of Commerce... and entrust them with the exclusive distribution of our territory's specialty products, distributing them throughout the southern border to generate profits."

Chris perked up immediately after hearing this and said in surprise, "Sir, you mean... those fragrant soaps, specialty brews, fur garments, and extremely durable canned foods we've developed... can all be sold to the public?"

Harvey smiled and nodded. "That's right. Aside from strategically important military goods and magical vehicles, the production scale of all other civilian goods can be doubled. Each production department can add jobs and provide new residents with permanent employment contracts."

He paused. "I plan to hold a Northern Commodities Fair and invite representatives from the chambers of commerce on the list to attend. I then plan to sign long-term exclusive sales contracts with them."

As for the exclusive sales rights for these products, of course, they need to be competed for through bidding, and the highest bidder wins...

……

Everyone was buzzing about a resolution Harvey had suddenly proposed near the end of the meeting. The territory's substantial new external revenue meant even more funding for various departments, a development that undoubtedly excited the high-ranking officials present. Harvey paused for a moment before bringing up a topic that was even more shocking.

"There's one last item on the agenda for today's meeting, and it's the most important..." He paused, then glanced around. "I plan to officially build a city here after winter ends this year and we repel the marauding fel orc tribes from the south. In the future, this will no longer be just a frontier territory beyond the borders, but a true wasteland city."

He picked up a charcoal pencil and walked over to the map hanging behind him, beginning to draw the city's boundaries. "This desert city stretches south to the northern slopes of Jackdaw Ridge, east to the mineral canyon at the eastern foot of the Divine Spine, west to the swampy area where we've just established our outpost camp, and north to the outpost fortress in the Icefield Valley... Its area will far exceed the territory of Earl Fagan of Grizzly Castle, just across the mountain from us, and even larger than the royal fiefdom of Golden City in the capital of Saint Valen."

Everyone was instantly shocked by Harvey's words, and the entire conference hall was silent for a moment.

Duarte Holden stood up suddenly and said in a trembling voice, "Sir...you, are you planning to declare the independence of your territory directly without the king's authorization?"

The vast majority of people present were commoners of humble origins. The only one with noble blood, Asdalen, was a centuries-old old man who had lived in the north since childhood and had never set foot in the south. Except for Durt, who had worked in the Federation, no one really understood the true intention of Harvey's words.

Establishing a city... In a sense, in this era when feudal aristocrats ruled the secular world, it was almost equivalent to directly establishing a country.

Many small principalities and counties in the south required their rulers to be from the royal families of some great powers, and to be personally enfeoffed and allocated fiefs by the king. They then had to go to the City of Grace, Goris, to be crowned by the Pope before they were eligible to establish a city and become a vassal state of a powerful kingdom.

It had never happened before that someone like Harvey, who came from a commoner family, dared to declare the independence of his fiefdom in the northern wilderness with just a pioneering order purchased from the nobles.

This is tantamount to openly challenging the secular royal power and despising the king's authority, which will inevitably lead to armed attacks from a large number of surrounding nobles under his rule. If it were some kings with strong martial virtues, they might even lead the army in person.

"Do you think that what I'm doing will bring the disaster of war to the Frontier Territory?" Harvey stopped drawing the city's border and asked with a chuckle.

"How many private soldiers does the Count of Grizzlie have? How many troops does Grand Duke Saint Valen have? A head-on conflict between the Union and the Church is imminent. Who among them can spare a hand to help these secular nobles fight for power and profit over their fiefdoms?"

Harvey tossed the charcoal pencil lightly toward the long conference table and slowly walked to the high-backed chair at the top.

"I possess over three thousand powerful soldiers capable of confronting the evil orcs and demons head-on and achieving overwhelming victory. I also possess thousands of war alchemy beasts that possess no human weaknesses and are immune to bleeding and pain. I also possess a vast and sufficient supply of military supplies, weapons, and ammunition."

Harvey looked directly at the pale-faced young spellcaster, Durt, and asked softly, "Shouldn't the surrounding lords and kings be more afraid of me?"

(End of this chapter)