Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 348 Expanded Development Plan
Before the spring, Harvey finally settled down this group of necromancers that he had tricked back with great difficulty.

Led by Mr. Arturo, the patriarch of the Lambert family, and including Elder Sirius and Councillor Prall, Harvey now has six high-level extraordinary spellcasters in his territory.

However, Mr. Eye of Illusion and Ms. Astrologer were not very interested in research experiments and magic teaching. They politely declined Harvey's invitation to teach at the Spellcaster Academy and chose to follow the territory exploration team to explore deep into the ice field. Harvey could only agree with a wry smile.

However, the master of illusion, Mr. Duncan, was quite different. Although he took the initiative to ask Harvey for the position of lord's magic consultant, he was also very willing to take on the task of teaching spellcasting apprentices. He traveled back and forth between Harvey's castle laboratory and the spellcaster academy every day, and his work attitude was very conscientious.

After dealing with the group of spellcasters in the territory, Harvey naturally turned his attention to territory construction.

"Reiner, have you and Asdalen worked out the development plan I want?"

The plan to build a city in the pioneering territory that was planned at the territory’s high-level meeting half a year ago has now reached the stage of specific implementation.

In order to deal with how to manage and develop the vast territory that had been demarcated in advance after the city was officially built, Harvey developed a new framework for the management of the territory in the future based on the government functional department settings he learned in his previous life.

The first thing that needs to be solved is to break the natural class barriers between ordinary people and extraordinary spellcasters.

Therefore, he divided the administrative department of the entire territory into three parts: the city hall, the military, and the spellcaster academy.

These three departments all mix spellcasters and ordinary civilians in reasonable proportions to jointly complete the functional division of each department in the territory, rather than following the past way of extraordinary people ruling mortals.

According to the new development plan, the expanded city hall will assume a role similar to that of the House of Representatives or Cabinet in a secular kingdom, and will also be the core administrative agency of the entire territory. The number of managers will increase sharply to about 300, and it will be in charge of six major departments: agriculture, industry, education, finance, justice, and health.

The military department followed the original regulations unchanged, and only allocated military factories and all logistical and medical departments as guarantees. The Northern Army also fought across the border, while the Defense Army guarded the territory internally. Pierce was in charge of the specific combat matters of the entire army, and the supreme command belonged to Harvey himself.

There is also a "shadow department" that does not appear in the open - the Military and Constitutional Department secretly controlled by Asdalen. As a secret agency hidden in the dark, its funds are not allocated by the city hall, and its personnel composition is not recorded. Its external function is intelligence exploration, and its internal function is to monitor corruption in the military and political systems.

The Spellcaster Academy, as an additional independent department, is affiliated with the Education Department of the City Hall. It is dedicated to cultivating special talents with spellcasting talents for the territory. After passing the selection, they are sent to various production and construction departments on the one hand, and can also transfer to the Academy of Magical Sciences for further study on the other hand.

Harvey's ultimate goal is to prevent spellcasters from being simply trapped in independent magic laboratories and engaging in unrealistic magic theory research. Rather than improving the strength and rank of individual spellcasters, applying the results of magic research to the general public and enhancing the overall strength of the territory is the hard truth.

Departments like the health department headed by Egno and the industrial department headed by Chris have seen tremendous improvements and progress due to the integration of magical research results in their respective fields. Moreover, the research results can also radiate and benefit other departments, playing an important role in promoting development.

After carefully reviewing the plan drawn up by Asdalen and Reiner, Harvey discovered an important issue. "Are you sure you can recruit so many municipal officials who understand management and have received relevant training in your territory?"

Harvey remembered clearly that the advanced teaching department of the public college, which was responsible for training municipal management talents, seemed to have trouble even getting a hundred graduates.

Asdalen pondered for a moment and tentatively suggested, "Sir, the Advanced Education Department has only been open for a short time, and it's indeed unable to attract sufficient management talent... However, don't forget that we actually control the area south of Jackdaw Ridge and the entire Grizzly Territory..."

Harvey immediately understood what he meant and was a little surprised by his bold idea. "You mean to absorb those educated petty nobles and wealthy landowners?"

Asdalen nodded and explained, "Indeed, you yourself often say that environment can change a person's perspectives and ideologies... As the Pioneer Territory prospers, our ties with the Grizzli Territory to the south are growing closer. Grizzli Castle is currently under the management of the surrendered nobles and is gradually getting back on track as you envisioned. After the autumn harvest, the City Hall also received its first tax payment."

"Oh? Is it so smooth?" Harvey was a little surprised. He didn't expect that the new "Earl Fagan" would actually keep his promise, stay firmly under his rule and obey all management.

Harvey originally thought that Grizzly Castle, an area too far away from him, the "Emperor" of the Wasteland, was an insignificant "useless" trophy. He did not pay too much attention to it and left it all to Asdalen to deal with flexibly.

"Of course, the agreed 30% city operating tax has been paid on time, not a cent less," Asdalen reported carefully, pulling out the account book. "Also, the sugar, salt, silk, and luxury goods that the territory currently lacks are all supplied by Earl Feigen through caravan coordination. The prices are even slightly cheaper than those at the Dragonstone Chamber of Commerce."

Reiner added with a grin, "You previously granted Earl Feigen special permission to personally report to you in the wasteland every quarter. But back then, you were traveling overseas with your Spirit Puppet, and I was responsible for receiving you... Earl Feigen enjoyed himself in the territory for a few days and actually took the initiative to ask me if I had any connections to help him buy a vacation villa in the territory."

Grizzlie Castle is also located in the cold area north of the South Border. Compared with the frontier territory where heating facilities are installed everywhere, the blazing wood-burning fireplace in Earl Fagan's mansion does not seem so enjoyable.

"The small nobles who surrendered to us from the Grizzly Territory are also eager to buy our various civilian products. They have been sending envoys to us repeatedly, hoping to obtain the right to operate and sell our products like those chambers of commerce, and they are willing to give up most of their profits to do so."

It seems that these nobles of the Grizzli Territory, who were previously forced to depend on him and had fallen out with the church and Grand Duke Saint Valen, have now really tasted the sweetness of the prosperity of the Pioneer Territory and are completely determined to hold on to it and get a share of the pie.

Harvey thought for a moment and said, "Carefully select a group of young descendants from those small nobles and wealthy merchants and landlords' families, send them to the territory, and let them study in public colleges for a period of time."

He really wanted to see how quickly the new social environment he had created could completely change a person's concepts and ideology...

(End of this chapter)