Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 356 Transport Channel
In the afternoon of the second day, Harvey, who had just finished lunch and was about to return to his bedroom to rest, was stopped on the spot by Asdalen who had rushed over.

"Sir, one of my secret police officers, who was headed to Porto Montenegro, has sent me an urgent tip." Asdalen handed the transcribed message to Harvey. "He was originally responsible for secretly spreading information in the Porto Montenegro area and recruiting civilians with the help of the local cooperative chamber of commerce... but he accidentally connected with a slave caravan active in the southern border."

Asdalen sighed and continued, "This young man was too impatient. He wanted to gather a group of refugees and return north as quickly as possible. He made a deal with the slave caravan for 20 silver coins and bought of their abducted refugees."

Wow! They really dared to make such a big deal in the illegal human trafficking business.

Harvey couldn't help but ask, "Why would the slave traders trust him with a deal worth a few hundred gold pounds? I recall that the funds allocated to the secret police weren't very generous."

"Indeed, this young man named Mueller was so audacious that he actually issued an IOU to the other party in the name of Count Feigen, the Grizzlies' leader... In order to forge their identities, you personally instructed Count Feigen to provide some legal identification for the secret police..."

Harvey nodded in understanding and couldn't help but admire him. "Although he's impatient, he's certainly quick-witted and adaptable... Since secretly spreading information to recruit refugees isn't working, perhaps buying the civilians abducted by human traffickers wouldn't be a bad idea."

He paused and continued, "How do you plan to escort these 500 people back?"

Asdalen smiled bitterly and said, "Mueller's idea was almost the same as yours at the time. He originally planned to use the relationship with the local cooperative chamber of commerce to rent three cargo ships along the Ralph River to bring the people back..."

You only need to go all the way from Heishan Port to Sancha Town. The frozen river to the north is no longer suitable for navigation, so you have to switch from water transportation to land transportation.

The problem lies at the stopover on the journey north - the feudal baron of Sancha Town got wind of it from somewhere and learned that the fleet flying the flag of Count Fagan, the Grizzly Bear, would disembark at the dock of his town. He immediately took people to detain Muller and his party along with their boat, and on a whim decided to impose a high "population mobility tax" on them.

"The Baron of Sancha Town has Grand Duke Ralph as his backer, and he doesn't take the Earl of Grizzlie Territory seriously at all. I've sent a letter to Earl Fagan to inquire about this... The two sides have long been at odds over shipping and cargo, and Grizzlie Territory has always been held hostage by Sancha Town on the Ralph River."

Harvey couldn't help but find it funny. He deceived the human traffickers under the guise of Earl Fagan, but he didn't expect that in the end he would be inexplicably blamed for the old feud between Earl Fagan's family and the Baron's family of Sancha Town. Now Earl Fagan must be wishing that he could send troops to Sancha Town immediately to give the obsessed baron a little shock of force.

"I never thought that in the end, Earl Fagan would take revenge on us and use our power to bully others."

Harvey shook his head. "Have Earl Fagan send a letter to Sancha Town. First, stabilize the enemy and ensure the basic safety of our personnel... Then, a week later, send the two newly launched icebreakers at Grizzly Castle to Sancha Town to rescue them!"

……

This young secret policeman named Mueller seemed to have caused a big trouble for Harvey, but inadvertently he inspired Harvey in the method of population recruitment.

"Reiner, immediately send a letter to the Dragonstone Chamber of Commerce, the Andrew Chamber of Commerce, and the Harol Chamber of Commerce... Have them cooperate with the secret police we've dispatched to establish contact with the local human traffickers."

Reiner and Asdalen looked at each other in surprise, "Sir, are we planning to buy people directly from slave traders?"

The territory steward's alchemical brain immediately began calculating at high speed. Within half a minute, he spoke with a pained tone, "Even though the price of human trafficking has plummeted recently due to the civil war in Saint Valen and the winter food shortage... buying people from these black market traders who already engage in illegal activities still requires a large sum of money." Harvey shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Gold pounds and silver coins sitting in the territory's vaults won't serve any of their intended purpose. We're not like those greedy and short-sighted southern nobles. Fresh human labor is the most valuable."

The price of 20 silver coins for a civilian serf was not cheap. The main reason was that Muller and his men were too impatient and did not negotiate with the human traffickers to lower the price. After all, human trade was different from commodities. The human serfs would not get sick, die, or escape randomly if they were in their hands, and there was no need to consume the already precious and expensive winter food. Everyone wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible.

"Young serfs can be bought at the normal price of 20 silver coins, but we need the elderly and children just as much. We'll just try to keep the price as low as possible. I believe those human traffickers are eager for us to buy these burdens from them, and they might even be willing to give them to us directly."

Reiner asked cautiously, "So...how many serfs do we plan to buy this time?"

Harvey smiled and said, "You and Asdaren are much better at arithmetic games than I am. With a budget of 20,000 gold pounds...how many people can we buy back from the southern part of Saint Valen? It all depends on your strategic planning..."

……

Using money to buy people is a helpless act as time is of the essence.

The best option is to try to accommodate as many people as possible for the frontier territory before the civil war breaks out. However, after the war breaks out, a large number of refugees will flee their hometowns due to the spread of war. At this time, the propaganda offensive that Harvey laid out in the early stage will immediately take effect.

Compared to fleeing to foreign countries other than Saint Valen, although the Grizzli Territory is located in a more northern border area, it is at least still part of the country, which makes people feel more or less safer.

Moreover, there is the reputation endorsement of Earl Fagan, the nominal border lord, who promises to provide a job to support the refugees and serfs who have fled here so that their future is uncertain and their life and death are not in jeopardy.

But Harvey did not forget the most important work plan at the moment - once the population of the wasteland territory increased significantly, there would inevitably be a shortage of food supply.

After the full-scale outbreak of the war, he would probably no longer have the opportunity to import large quantities of grain from the southern border. The grain trade, which was firmly controlled by the Chamber of Commerce and the nobles, would inevitably be sold at high prices.

"Notify Pep, the engineering director of the North Slope Base, to come see me!" Harvey slapped his head and ordered the guards in the study.

Asdalen was a little confused. "North Slope Base? Sir, is there something wrong with the underground energy ranch?"

Harvey raised his hand and pointed at the map of the area spread out on the desk. The center was the Eastern River Valley Basin Plain surrounded by mountains. It was also a fertile virgin land that had always puzzled them, and they didn't know how to start developing it.

"I thought about it for a long time and finally decided to start the development plan for the Eastern Basin before the spring..."

Harvey picked up a charcoal pencil and drew a thick vertical line through the mountain range that stretched between the eastern coast of the Frontier Territory and the Basin Plain. "I plan to use a living shield machine to directly penetrate this mountain range and dig a three-mile-long straight underground tunnel as a major transportation route connecting the Frontier Territory and the Basin Plain!"

(End of this chapter)