Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 501: Wonders Prosper the Nation
Harvey summoned Minister of Construction Haru and gave him a serious instruction: "After I officially ascend the throne, I plan to build a landmark building in Spark City to highlight the style of the new capital."

"A landmark building?" Haru held up the work manual, excited yet a bit puzzled. "Lord City Lord, are you planning to build a commemorative statue for your succession ceremony? That's fantastic! It would be a once-in-a-lifetime honor for me!"

Even in the more civilized southern region, only the chief of the Royal Stonemasons Guild could have the honor of building a statue for the king. An ordinary stonemason like Haru, who could only hammer and repair stone houses in the past, could not even dream of it.

"No, I'm not that narcissistic." Harvey shook his head and patiently explained, "Given the fact that it would require a lot of manpower and financial resources, I don't intend to build a decorative landmark with no practical value."

Over the past two years, the Northern Army and the people of the territory under Harvey's command have experienced several wars with the evil orcs, the Southern nobles, the demons and the church. Although each time ended with an overwhelming and complete victory, war always means casualties. Although the morale and loyalty of the army remain high, the casualties of the soldiers, after being separated from the cold statistics, are a long-lasting grief for every family that has lost a loved one.

If the construction of "wonders" is simply to satisfy the ruler's own selfish desires, it is obviously an act of "harming the country" - if it is simply to demonstrate the country's strength, Harvey feels that the nearly 10,000 professional soldiers and magic weapons under his command are enough to deter the entire country.

"I plan to set aside an area next to the People's Sports Field...at the junction of the administrative district and the market district, to build a residential building and name it the Military Family Residential Area."

Haru didn't rush to interrupt Harvey, concentrating on taking notes... until he saw Harvey spread a piece of paper with a simple sketch on it on the table. He finally couldn't help but wonder, "Sir, this...this residential building is too tall, isn't it?"

He extended a rough finger and pointed at a columnar structure standing in front of the residential building in the sketch. "What... is this? It looks like an obelisk."

As the Minister of Territorial Construction, Haru has obviously become much more experienced after having experienced a series of incredible miracle projects such as building city walls, laying railways and building river bridges. He is calmer than others when facing Harvey's shocking ideas that pop up from time to time.

Harvey was very pleased with his response and patiently explained, "The residential building will be built to sixteen stories or even higher... If it follows the current building standards of the Ministry of Construction, its height will exceed sixty meters."

In other words, the height of the residential building will be twice as high as the existing city wall, and will directly break the record of the Magic Academy, the tallest building in Spark City.

Haru gasped, "Sir, a building this tall...Isn't it comparable to Alayeh's floating magic tower?"

Harvey laughed and said, "There's no similarity between the two. The Sky Domain is a legendary creation forged by the might of magic, while our skyscrapers were built by ordinary people using steel and concrete, without any supernatural power."

Haru's fingers began to tremble uncontrollably when he heard this - didn't this mean that he would have the opportunity to participate in and lead the construction of a magnificent project... that was on par with legendary magic?
"This tall building...will be your future residence after you ascend the throne, right?" Harvey shook his head again, then pointed to the obelisk standing in front of the tall building on the blueprint. He continued in a gentle voice, "This is a monument approximately twelve meters tall. Once it's completed, I'll have the names of all the soldiers who died fighting for Pioneer Territory and Spark City engraved on it, for the people of the city and future generations to remember and admire... The tall building behind it will be used as a residence for the families of the fallen."

"It's sixteen stories high, will it really not collapse?" Haru remembered that a few years ago, the territory's wall collapsed with a loud bang for several meters just because a giant phagocyte worm passed through the foundation. He suddenly felt a lingering fear.

Harvey pondered for a moment and then carefully analyzed the situation. "In the past, our steelmaking technology was lacking, and we weren't proficient in using cement and concrete. Believe me... sixteen stories is far from the maximum height for a building."

You have to know that in the ancient times when there was no steel bars or concrete, Harvey had seen the Potala Palace which was over 110 meters high, not to mention the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda in his hometown in his previous life, which was a pure wooden structure of nearly 70 meters.

Although Harvey was not an expert in engineering and construction, the principles of building mechanics and structural mechanics were obviously universal in both worlds. As long as the foundation and supporting columns were strong enough, it was not a fantasy to build a high-rise building made of reinforced concrete.

Anyway, the cement production in Xinghuo City has long been in excess, and Harvey currently has no plans to export it in large quantities. It is just right to use it to build a landmark building and lay the groundwork for the subsequent large-scale construction of high-rise residential buildings.

With the influx of a large number of immigrants into Xinghuo City, the standard two-story buildings that had been built in large numbers before were clearly unable to meet the demand. The Ministry of Construction had already tentatively proposed adding floors in the application documents for the latest batch of new residential buildings. Apparently, these civil engineering experts, like Harvey, realized that the volume ratio of high-rise residential buildings was much higher than that of bungalows. As long as the original bungalows and two-story buildings were slightly increased, the number of residences could be doubled immediately, which was a sure-win.

Before Harvey could even bring up the only difficulty in constructing Spark City's tallest building, Haru excitedly suggested, "We can't use Alchemy Beasts to pull the lifting pulleys for concrete pouring like we did with the city walls and the Academy of Sciences... But we can try to have airships hoist it directly up there, and then have Engineering Alchemy Beasts do the high-altitude work instead of humans!"

Harvey shook his head with a smile, thinking to himself, "As expected of a congenitally ash-beating holy body."

Then the two of them immersed themselves in discussing some detailed construction details. In response to Haru's problem that the floors were too high to climb, Harvey reserved a passage interface on the outside of the building in advance and built an "external elevator" driven by magic power instruments to replace climbing stairs. This immediately broadened Haru's horizons and he once again sincerely admired Harvey's wisdom and ingenuity.

"Gather the men and get to work immediately, but there's no need to rush. The preliminary preparations must be thorough... If we can officially complete it in time for next year's winter celebration, the first anniversary of my accession to the throne, then the mission will be considered a complete success."

Harvey patted the Construction Minister's shoulder in encouragement.

(End of this chapter)