Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 224 The country is peaceful and the people are safe
After the design drawings were completed, Arctic Weapon began to investigate the materials to be used.

The main material needed to build buildings such as the Royal Clubhouse is stone, followed by cement and steel bars.

Cement and steel bars are very simple to manufacture; they can be transported from various locations.

The main problem is the stones.

Arctic Martial Arts consulted resources in Luoyang and several other areas of Henan, spending several hours to compile a general overview.

Nanyang: A major marble producing area in Henan Province, with varieties including "Pine Resin Yellow", "Cloud White", and "Black Jade".

Luoyang: The white marble (white marble) from Songshan, Luanchuan, and Yichuan was mostly used in royal buildings.

Jiaozuo: Produces "Cloudy Grey" marble.

Sanmenxia: There are a small amount of marble veins.

Stone resources are mainly concentrated in the Funiu Mountains, Songshan Mountains, and Qinglong Mountains.

It is only fifty or sixty miles, or about thirty kilometers, from the nearest mountain, Wan'an Mountain in Yichuan.

The land transport takes only one day, and the relevant quarrying techniques have been passed down from generation to generation by stonemasons.

There is certainly no shortage of architects or quarrying techniques near the capital.

Especially since there are sculptural relics like the Longmen Grottoes near Luoyang, there are no difficulties in the stone excavation technology.

With the addition of gunpowder explosions and sufficient manpower and animal power, things are much easier than before.

Considering that transporting stones would require a much larger number of vehicles, Beijiwu was thinking about how to solve the hauling problem before tractors could be used.

"This problem doesn't need to be solved, does it? Just leave it as it is now."

"Because horse-drawn harvesters require a lot of wheels, wheels and pulleys have long been perfected. Nowadays, whether it's horse-drawn carriages, handcarts, or rickshaws, the quality is actually not bad."

"To build a six-story building of 1,000 square meters, most of the materials needed are cement. Stone is used at most for the walls and doorposts, and in reality, not much is needed."

"The flooring is marble, but I don't know what level the cutting technology is at now."

Beijiwu was thinking about things, and then he looked at the architectural drawings he had compiled.

"The power supply is not yet fully developed, so there's no rush for now."

"The production capacity of tractors and steam engines will not be fully realized until next year. The Wuzhou factory has already started production this year. After the factory equipment is replaced, the production capacity will increase significantly."

"Steam harvesters will also be mass-produced next year, and the agricultural population needed will decrease. At that time, the surplus people can be put into the construction industry nearby."

"Hereditary territories can be used to open stone quarries and cement plants to supply goods."

“People from the southwest went to work in Chuncheng to build it, people from the south worked for Qiongzhou to build Xiacheng, people from the northwest went to Yunzhong County to build Qiucheng, and people from the northeast built Dongcheng.”

"Should we also build a city in the eastern region? This would facilitate the flow of funds to lower levels and provide employment opportunities for some people."

After thinking for a few seconds, Beijiwu quickly chose a good location.

“We will build Qingzhou Port on the Jiaodong Peninsula. In the future, immigrants to the Americas can pass through here, and it can also serve as a trading port for East Asia.”

"I want to leave a personal mark on myself, and my name should also be unique."

"Spring Palace, Summer Palace, Autumn Palace, Winter Palace..."

"East Island!"

Arctic Martial Arts chose a very common and symmetrical name.

"If we have the East Island, then we need the West Island and the North Island, otherwise it will be asymmetrical."

"The southern islands are easy to talk about; the south is all islands."

Where can we find islands to the west?

"West Mountain, West Mountain Residence, let's find a good place near Mount Hua to build the West Mountain Palace."

"There's Beiyuan to the north, and there's plenty of other places to go there."

The Arctic military has nothing to worry about in the north, as the north is its base and naturally suited for its operations.

The focus of the Mountain Farming Kingdom has always been in the north, with a large number of heavy industrial projects being carried out there, and there is absolutely no involvement in the south.

Many technical personnel are restricted from moving around, and communication is limited to internal exchanges.

Provided that corruption can be effectively controlled, state-owned enterprises have consistently been more efficient than private enterprises.

A predetermined goal is crucial. As long as there is a direction to strive for and someone above can guarantee the treatment, Arctic Military's appeasement policy is indeed the best policy.

It's not ruthless to send people to war and die, but in terms of research and development and technological advancement, Arctic Martial Arts provided targeted tasks and financial support, and also took care of capable people, so it achieved results very quickly.

A poor performance in battle is caused by a group of people holding you back. War is not a one-person job, but Arctic Martial Arts seems to treat it as a one-person job. This results in a group of veterans only being able to exert their full potential and work hard to push their limits when they are with Arctic Martial Arts.

The others were impossible to lead. They all gained their wealth by kneeling, and none of them were capable fighters who could be recruited. They were all afraid of death and begged for mercy. They knew each other inside and out, making the team extremely difficult to manage.

The only group that the Northern Army actively recruited to surrender were the original Tongzhou Wuzhou people, but they didn't know what was good for them and immediately became spineless when a knife was held to their throats. In addition, there were too many veterans in the Northern Plains, making them a bunch of spineless, cunning soldiers.

That's why they always lose wars.

You only know the truth when you fight a war, but in terms of industrial technology, if anyone doesn't respect science, science will show them by bombing.

Compared to warfare, industrial accidents and progress are more likely to reflect a person's ability. When Beijiwu was in Tongzhou, he often talked to people about technical topics.

For example, when researching steam engines, if a part malfunctions, it's easy to find the person in charge.

This long-term system of elimination and selection enabled the Mountain Farming Kingdom to successfully become an industrial nation as its first decade was about to end.

Wheels and axles capable of mass production, industrial parks with industrialization, and assembly line factories with clear division of labor.

There are also hereditary worker groups, large guild organizations based on 10,000 households, commune industrial parks based on 1,000 households, and small company systems based on 100 households.

While Beiji Wu was busy with construction, the various Wanhu teams in Wuzhou also began to cooperate with King Wu's mission.

Let alone construction, when King Wu was indulging in women, everyone had to hold meetings and set quotas, requiring all regions to send beautiful women to the palace to serve him. This was perfectly normal, nothing to say about it.

The Arctic Kingdom had no shortage of women, but offering women to serve King Wu was a public duty that everyone should fulfill.

Many people, up to 80% of whom have public accounts, have wives who were given to them by King Wu.

It's hard to say about other countries and dynasties, but in the Shan Nong Kingdom, especially among the public households, offering wives and daughters to King Wu for labor has been a traditional obligation since the establishment of the Wu Dynasty.

In the early days of each factory, there were many female workers. Men, women, young and old all had to work. Now, those who can retain their household registration are the women who participated in the labor back then.

Women were the most numerous in households with a hundred households, while those with a thousand or more households were all men.

Wang Qing sat in a conference hall with hundreds of people, meeting with two or three hundred households and assigning tasks.

"Tonggang Group will add another furnace to produce steel bars for building construction. This batch is exclusively for the royal family, so the quality must be top-notch!"

The head of Tongzhou Steel Group immediately nodded, "Received!"

Looking at the densely packed plan, Wang Qing realized that there were quite a few tasks to be done this year.

"Wuhan Iron and Steel Group is increasing its production capacity. The new land for the group has been approved. This year and next year, we will do our best to ensure the demand for machinery and equipment. It is expected that the production capacity will be increased to more than three times the current level. Even if it is more than that, it is not a problem. His Majesty will make arrangements."

The head of Wuhan Iron and Steel Group echoed this sentiment, saying, "Received! Mission accomplished!"

In the Mountain Farming Kingdom, a year begins with the issuance of the autumn harvest report. It's not so busy before the New Year; the busy period is usually before the autumn harvest, followed by a few days of rest after the harvest before starting new tasks and plans.

"His Majesty inquired about the axles and pulleys. Who is currently in charge of these?"

Wang Qing was not a bureaucrat with a technical background, but rather a bureaucrat with a statistical background. He was inferior to the others in both technical and managerial aspects.

However, he enjoyed the deep trust of King Wu.

Whether someone can become the governor of a province depends entirely on this.

The people below were silent for a few seconds, then looked at each other, but couldn't find anyone specifically in charge of this.

Soon, a middle-aged man in his fifties raised his hand. "Our machinery factory is mainly responsible for producing harvesters. We have a subsidiary, Tongzhou Agricultural Machinery Factory, which produces grain transport vehicles, threshers, and other agricultural implements. They produce wheels and axles for horse-drawn carriages."

"However, wheel and axle technology is not complicated. As far as I know, other places have also done this as a side business. Our Tongzhou Agricultural Machinery Factory was the first to establish this business, and His Majesty went to inspect it."

Wang Qing nodded, understanding what the man meant.

"His Majesty's requirement is to promote it as soon as possible and increase production."

Wang Qing understood that Beijiwu's meaning was not to accuse, but to make a demand.

Murong Xinghan replied, "Wuzhou Industrial Group has a lot of work on this wheel and axle. They can already mass-produce train wheels and bearings. This month, they can produce 20,000 iron wheels per day, and more than 500,000 iron wheels per month."

"Okay." Wang Qing felt that there were no problems with the technology or the output.

Nowadays, Son Nong province not only has many factories, but also an abundance of people that it can't possibly use.

The eight million people of Shan Nong Province were basically working for King Wu. After the agricultural population was reduced to less than 100,000, more people were assigned to factories.

There are less than 300,000 households in total for eight million people. Most of the public households consist of more than ten people, with one man supporting three or four women and more than ten children.

The wages that Arctic Martial Arts Academy pays them are enough to support their entire families.

Canceling his public household registration and becoming a free man means that his wife will definitely divorce him and remarry, and his son and daughter will sever ties with him.

Many of them were merchants and foreign workers; this batch was mainly sold back by the Western Expeditionary Army.

People from the grasslands of Guinong Province also came to provide sponsorship. Shannong Province and Guinong Province have a close relationship. Many women from Shannong Province have their maternal homes in Guinong Province, so the two provinces have always had frequent exchanges.

Although the younger generation is generally under ten years old, there are also teenagers like Mu Lin who started working at the age of thirteen or fourteen.

It's good for children to start learning in factories at a young age; it's already the best way out.

We have no shortage of technology, no shortage of labor, and no shortage of morale and rewards.

If there's anything missing, it's a way to unleash explosive production capacity.

Previously, Arctic weapons were always small-scale operations, with the largest production capacity going to harvesters.

Now, Beijiwu is not only opening up new avenues for development, but also launching a massive railway project, and is even pulling in migrant workers who couldn't participate in the development of western China to build palaces for him.

Arctic Army truly pays and provides good working conditions for its employees.

Moreover, it emphasizes distributing benefits evenly.

Although this was not Arctic Wu's original intention, he did need the local people to work when he built palaces in all directions, and he also paid a group of laborers who had no income other than farming.

Glass, heating, shampoo, steam loom, combine harvester...

Wang Qing spoke for more than three hours.

Although there are many things to do, when averaged out to two or three hundred people, there are only a dozen or so related matters.

There are only two or three things that are truly within my own responsibility; most of them are related supporting matters that I need to record for easy coordination.

There are twelve machinery factories in the province of Shan Nong, each corresponding to a region. Machinery Factory No. 1 is mainly responsible for the research and development of various first-generation products, and its specific direction is influenced by the demand of Arctic weapons.

Each machinery factory has overlapping responsibilities, but also different focuses and development points due to differences in tasks and regions.

Machinery, food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, textiles, metal mining, fuel processing, power generation, cultural promotion...

Near the end, Wang Qing took a sip of water and smiled.

"King Wu said that once the Beiyuan Palace is built, or once the output of combine harvesters exceeds one thousand units, the Wuzhou Wan Team will be allowed to build a public swimming pool and a staff dance hall in the area for appropriate relaxation."

"However, no work is allowed before the task is completed, and no one is allowed to do these things during work hours. The same applies to the other production teams. Without King Wu's permission, anyone who goes into the water before King Wu will be punished for the entire team!"

Before Arctic Wu enjoys it, no one else is allowed to enjoy it.

Whoever enjoys it first is being extremely disrespectful.

This is a serious crime that violates the emperor's authority, shows a lack of respect for rank, and demonstrates a lack of ownership. It must be severely punished!
(End of this chapter)