Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 404: City Building
After returning from Fengyuan City on an armored ship, Harvey temporarily severed his deep connection with the soul puppet.

Then he immediately summoned Asdalen and Reiner, who had been waiting in the castle, and began to discuss the important matters of building a city in the north.

"Fengyuan City is now under our control. Finally, there will no longer be any obstacles hindering our development in the entire northern part of the Principality of Saint Valen..."

Harvey walked to the map on the wall with great interest, picked up a thick charcoal pencil and circled the Pioneer Territory, Grizzli Territory and Fengyuan Territory, forming a complete map of the northern region.

"You should remember the city-building plan I mentioned earlier. By then, the vast territories between Pioneer Territory, Grizzly Fort, and Fengyuan City will be connected into one entity, enforcing the same laws and policies... and reclaiming the fiefdoms and territorial ownership of all nobles."

Asdalen asked doubtfully, "Sir, most nobles don't have family businesses to run. If we take away their land and deprive them of the right to collect land rent and taxes, I'm afraid they will be on the verge of bankruptcy. Will this provoke a rebellion from them..."

"I don't intend to seize their land directly through force," Harvey interrupted the Chief Advisor's concerns. "Instead, I will purchase their land. Under the new laws and institutions of the territory, I will feed their already impoverished people and establish a professional army to protect their wealth. As long as they follow my rules, their profits will far exceed their previous profits, and they will naturally not harbor the slightest desire to resist."

After the Jackdaw Ridge mountain tunnel was opened to traffic, it only took half a day to get from the Pioneer Territory to Jackdaw Town, which was separated by a mountain. Even if you wanted to rush to the farther Grizzly Castle, it would only take a whole day to arrive smoothly. This was only by riding a horse, driving a car, or pedaling a bicycle. If it were replaced with more advanced railway and train transportation, the time would probably be shortened several times.

As for the administrative areas further south, such as Fengyuan City and Sancha Town, railways may not be laid there in a short period of time. However, the sailless magic-powered boats that travel back and forth on the Ralph River can make up for the distance shortcoming with a maximum sailing time of two days.

To get rich, you must first build roads. This is the most practical development truth no matter in which world.

Reiner was incredibly pragmatic. Upon hearing this, he immediately pulled out the city manager's account book. "Excuse me, sir... With the current surplus in the Frontier Territory's fiscal revenue, it's simply unrealistic to expect to buy all the land from the nobles. We don't have that kind of money. Printing gold and yuan banknotes will cause prices in the territory to soar, and your private currency will also rapidly depreciate. This will cause serious problems."

Harvey smiled slightly and, as if prepared, pulled out a stack of documents from his desk drawer and pushed them in front of his two loyal subordinates. "Who said I was going to buy the land from them with real money?"

Asdalen quickly picked up the document, his eyes rapidly gathering soul fire. He finished reading it in less than half a minute, his tone revealing a rare confusion for an alchemical being. "Stocks... Stocks? What is this? Is this... a new currency you plan to issue?"

"You can think of it as... a right to dividends from an industry that can be bought and sold." Harvey briefly explained the simplified issuance and operation of stocks. "In short, it's a type of security. Owning it is equivalent to having the right to receive dividends from the operating profits of a certain industry."

But it is limited to dividends... Harvey will not easily let the management and operation rights of these industries in his hands fall into the hands of others.

After surrendering their fiefdoms and land ownership, the nobles simply needed to follow their experience and vision and choose the rapidly developing manufacturing projects Harvey had offered them. By purchasing shares of equivalent value and holding them, they would continuously reap the benefits of operating dividends, much like sitting at home counting their money. Food factories, steel mills, shipyards, perfume and soap factories, textile mills, any manufacturing industry that impacted people's livelihoods...even the railway and inland waterway industries currently under development would all be issued corresponding shares.

Without spending a single gold pound, Harvey could use the golden egg-laying territories in his hands to exchange for land and population from the nobles, while also eliminating the feudal power and class status that they had naturally possessed since ancient times.

It can be described as a top-notch "open conspiracy" that occurs without bloodshed.

"After the city is officially established, the Pioneer Territory's City Hall will be directly transformed into the Central City Hall. The municipal administration departments of the remaining cities will be directly under the central government's jurisdiction. Similarly... the Territory Police Department and other subordinate departments will also need to be copied and relocated to other cities without any changes."

Harvey threw this difficult question directly to his two subordinates. "So, your most important task from now on is to quickly recruit and reserve a large number of administrative personnel. Select them from public schools and promote them from various departments... No matter what method you use, you must establish the municipal management framework of Sancha Town and Fengyuan City as quickly as possible."

Maintaining the administration and daily operations of a city and surrounding areas requires a large number of people. In this ignorant era when the literacy rate was less than one percent, the literacy education and public schools that Harvey popularized in a pioneering territory could not meet such a large talent gap.

It is inevitable to bring in the nobles who have already received the "old-style elite education". Many of these people are heirs trained by various families, so they are naturally not completely unfamiliar with business management. As long as they undergo "brainwashing-style" re-education, there will definitely be outstanding advanced elements emerging.

Just like when he was in Fengyuan City, he met a group of young nobles like Ross Ralph, who were relatively upright in style but very active in mind. They were typical suitable candidates. He didn't mind training such people, joining the municipal management department, and managing a city or surrounding towns on his behalf.

……

After explaining the administrative matters of the huge new territory in the future, Harvey took a few sips of hot tea and waited patiently for Asdalen and Reiner to stand there in a daze and slowly digest his many instructions.

Although these two people are his most direct confidants who have followed him for the longest time, one was originally a watchmaker of humble origins, and the other lived in the distant ancient times when the thinking was even more backward than today. It is still difficult for them to thoroughly understand Harvey's modern thinking.

But fortunately, they are pure alchemical lives that have undergone soul transformation. With the blessing of the absolute rationality of creation, their logical thinking ability and work efficiency far exceed those of ordinary people, which can make up for the temporary backwardness in ideology to the greatest extent.

After all, if Pierce and others were to do it, the result Harvey would most likely get would be that a group of die-hard military forces would directly wipe out all the aristocratic forces in the territory like a whirlwind, completely eliminating the aristocratic class from a physical level. Maybe in the end there would be an alien version of "crowned king", which would directly put Harvey on the throne and make him an upgraded and strengthened version of Grand Duke Saint Valen.

(End of this chapter)