Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 81 Relief for work
For a long time afterwards, the evil orcs who evacuated from the valley area no longer attempted to counterattack the outpost fortress.

The war situation eased instantly, and Pierce began to train reserve troops directly in the valley outpost area according to Harvey's previous rotation garrison training plan.

Occasionally there would be some exploratory small-scale battles with the evil orc sentinels, which could be regarded as the soldiers' daily combat exercises.

Asdalen returned to the territory smoothly and began to cooperate with Harvey on matters related to the magic arsenal, freeing Reiner to devote himself to the territory's food production and infrastructure construction.

The North has officially entered the hot summer season. A batch of crops planted in early spring have just been harvested, and the poultry and livestock have entered the stage of breeding and laying eggs in the warm weather. The entire territory presents a thriving scene.

In just half a year, the population of Harvey's territory has surged to nearly 8,000.

Most of the people in the territory have found a job that can support themselves and their families. This is entirely due to the fact that Harvey's vast and uncultivated territory is extremely rich in resources and products.

The farms on the plains at the foot of the mountain alone can accommodate more than 2,500 civilians who are skilled in farming and breeding.

Industries such as cast iron workshops, cement workshops, and food processing plants also provide about a thousand jobs, but the technical threshold is slightly higher and requires simple training starting from apprenticeship.

Not long ago, a new mining area rich in iron ore was discovered in the mountains southwest of the farm. Harvey immediately ordered a full set of mining equipment from the Dragonstone Chamber of Commerce, and equipped it with working alchemy beasts suitable for mineral mining, providing more than 500 new jobs.

In addition, due to the surge in the population of the territory, Harvey also set up a municipal management department for the territory. He promoted the first batch of refugees he received when he first arrived here to grassroots managers, providing them with primary education while carrying out municipal management of the territory.

Harvey expects that the mature municipal management department in the future will be able to provide the territory with about two hundred positions for educated grassroots municipal officials, which can basically meet the daily territory management work.

But even if the 500 newly recruited reserve soldiers are included, the number of people in the entire territory who currently have formal jobs and income is only around 5,000.

This means that there are still about 3,000 people who will be unemployed after completing this batch of housing construction projects in the territory. If food and housing are not distributed free of charge, it will inevitably cause a certain amount of chaos, which will seriously affect the stability of the territory.

……

"From these 3,000 civilians participating in the construction, we can recruit approximately 500 more reserve soldiers. No more. Currently, our arsenal can only support an army of 1,500..."

Reiner flipped through his work record book and analyzed it to Harvey in a muttered tone.

Harvey scratched his head in annoyance. "That still leaves 2,500 people unemployed. It's not like we can't support them in the short term, but it will definitely cause dissatisfaction among the other citizens who rely on work to support themselves."

The worry is not about scarcity but inequality, which is a common mentality in any era.

"Once the territory's mining area has a stable production of iron ore, I want to build an ironworks that can accommodate 1000 jobs." Harvey spread out Reiner's simple hand-drawn territory planning map and pointed his finger at the wide open space along the river between the mining area and the farm.

For a long time, the territory's iron foundries had used finished iron ingots purchased from external chambers of commerce at Harvey's own expense to manufacture tools and weapons. The transportation and smelting costs were very high.

Moreover, with the mass production of alchemical beasts, the use of metal parts and cast iron materials has increased. It is no longer realistic to rely solely on imported finished iron ingots to meet the needs of military production.

Reiner meticulously recorded Harvey's idea. "For the remaining residents without jobs, I also have a job placement plan..." Harvey took a thick charcoal pencil and gently drew a large oval on the territory map.

This circle is centered on the lord's castle, and includes the mining area, ironworks, iron foundry, and cement workshop along the river on the east side, the riverside residential area, market area, municipal administration center, and territory medical hospital on the southeast side, the farms, pastoral areas, food processing plants, and storage areas on the south side, the magic military factory and alchemy workshop on the west side, and the military camp area in the north.

Reiner leaned over, staring at the circle Harvey had casually drawn, and asked in confusion, "Sir, what does this mean?"

Harvey smiled slightly and explained confidently, "City wall, this is the territory's city wall."

Reiner exclaimed in amazement, "Building a wall this long? Enclosing the entire territory?"

He carefully pulled out a slender metal ruler from the familiar small leather bag at his waist, measured the distance Harvey had marked, and hesitated before saying, "Sir, this circle of city wall is probably nearly twenty miles long..."

Harvey smiled and asked, "Then how long do you think it would take to complete this grand construction project if 1,500 citizens worked together with the alchemy beasts?"

All the inscriptions on Reiner's head suddenly lit up, obviously performing high-speed calculations.

"Hmm... If the cement workshop and quarry can supply the materials, I estimate it will take at least four to five months to complete. During this period, we cannot encounter unexpected situations such as the attacks of the evil orcs..."

He paused and added, "And once winter comes, construction will be impossible. You know how terribly low the winter temperature is in the northern wilderness."

Harvey laughed, pulled Reiner to the desk, and handed him a thin stack of hand-drawn drawings.

"Besides the territory wall, I also have a winter municipal construction plan. You can put it behind the wall project..."

Reiner nodded hesitantly, took the drawing and looked through it carefully.

"Sir...what do you mean by...the Urban Three-Link...Two-Opening Project?"

"As the name suggests, it means water, uh... lighting, and heating. The two openings mean opening up river transportation and surface roads."

Reiner's eyes lit up, and he looked at Harvey expectantly and said, "Water supply means digging a well, right? Isn't lighting just about letting civilians light candles at home? And what about heating?"

Harvey smiled helplessly and briefly explained his construction plan for the city's three-way project to Reiner one by one.

"What? You mean to install lighting magic stones in every household and connect them all with energy pipes to supply power? Wouldn't the energy-gathering array explode directly?"

"Don't worry. Have you forgotten about that planetary energy-gathering array built in the military factory?" Harvey circled another small circle on the territory plan and tapped his charcoal pencil. "I'm also going to build a dedicated energy-gathering power plant next to the military factory..."

(End of this chapter)