What's wrong with building a steel torrent in a dungeon?

Fran paused for a moment, then continued, "The most important thing is that they are strictly managed, have a sense of collectivism, and a sense of discipline. At the same time, they are exposed to the thoughts and ideas of other forces and are not so conservative. It is much easier to mobilize them than to mobilize the civilians in the empire!"

Chapter 229 Labor Union

After hearing this, Galanodier's eyes immediately showed a hint of excitement. She stood up excitedly, held Fran's hand and said, "The city lord is right! I was stupid and didn't think of this before! It's very difficult to promote my ideas in the Elf Empire! But it's obviously different here."

"Although the common people of the Elf Empire are exploited by the conservative nobles, the Elf Continent is already rich in resources and it sucks the blood of the entire Northern Alliance. Even the common people will not starve like other races. At least they can survive. In this case, it is indeed difficult to make them chop off their heads because of the exploitation of the upper elves. But it is different now..." Fran said.

"Yes! It is indeed difficult to get the masses to rise up in resistance before the nobles show their fangs!" Galanodier said, "But here, the nobles have already shown their true colors for their own selfish desires, for false glory and face. It's just that how should I communicate with them next?

How can I communicate with them? It is not feasible to offer condolences and give speeches as before! They may even regard me as a noble who is also oppressing them. "

"Well, don't worry, High Priest." Fran took out a notebook from her sleeve and handed it to Galanodir. Then she said, "I asked Gondolin College to draw up a proposal. High Priest, you can send it to your elves for review."

"The city lord is well prepared!" Galannodier took the notebook and said, "The ultimate goal of this infrastructure competition is not to help me spread these ideas, right?"

"Of course not! I just think this is a rare opportunity." Fran said, "Besides, with the high-pressure policy of the upper elves, even without you, I would have a riot sooner or later. The entire east bank of the Soul-Guiding River is like a powder keg that will explode at the slightest touch. But the workers are unorganized and undisciplined, and a rash riot will only backfire. The Empire's army is still very powerful."

"You're right, so the city lord's suggestion is..." Galanodier said as he flipped through his notebook: "Trade union?"

"That's right! A union formed spontaneously by the workers. Of course, the chief priest can help behind this union!" Fran said, "Because all the members are workers themselves, there won't be much resistance to you and your men. At the critical moment, they can unite to resist the various unequal treaties of the nobles, and they will no longer be unprepared like before."

Galanodil nodded thoughtfully.

"What if... I mean what if, if the workers really can't stand it anymore and start a strike or uprising, the high priest can use the guild to organize them to effectively resist! Or he can use the guild to appease the angry workers and even provide them with the necessary material and spiritual guarantees!" Fran said

Galanodil said, "Indeed, letting the workers arm themselves is much better than having me, a lazy high priest, arming them! I will ask several elves around me to go to the various construction sites to start the work."

Fran said: "However, personally, I do not agree with the guild's use of radical means to resist the upper elves, at least not now! The upper elves now have too much military power, and rash resistance will only lead to a large number of innocent deaths. Although your radical resistance will be of great benefit to the city of Vienna."

"I understand what the city lord means. I will keep them under control. Also, I have an unreasonable request..." Galannodier thought for a moment and then said.

"Master Priest, please speak freely!" Fran said, "We are friends who have risked our lives for each other. There is no need to be reserved."

"I have also visited various construction sites in the past two days. In order to compete with you, the city lord, the upper elves have begun to extend the working hours of the workers. You also know that there are still a large number of slaves on the construction site! If they are still afraid of the elves, then they have no worries about the slaves! If this continues, I am afraid that a large number of slaves will die."

"The high priest wants me to slow down the construction efficiency?" Fran asked.

"Yes! Given my current position and position, it is indeed inappropriate to make such a request, so please forgive me. However, based on my understanding of the productivity of Orila City, I know that the city lord can definitely win this competition with his efficiency, so can you slow down a bit..."

"That's no problem." Fran said, "I'm also afraid of putting too much pressure on the upper elves. What if they don't see any hope of winning and they turn the table over in anger and start a war? That won't be a good thing for us! And with the completion of the infrastructure framework in the Feruman area, I will shift the focus of construction back to Vienna and Aurora City."

"That's great, thank you, Lord Mayor!" Galannodier looked at Fran with sincere and grateful eyes.

damn it!

How could this elf's eyes be so beautiful? Just like the sea of ​​stars.

"Ahem!" Fran coughed twice, then said, "You don't have to thank me. This is just our strategic adjustment! After all, our goal is not to compete, but to build! A prosperous Feruman area has only benefits and no disadvantages for me!"

"No matter what, I still have to thank Lord Fran."

"But..." Fran paused, then said, "You'd better not have too many expectations of the upper elves. I think, even if I slow down, do you think the upper elves will stop?"

After hearing this, Galanodiel's body froze and he fell completely silent.

"When they find out that they can squeeze so much wealth out of the hands of the common people, do you think they will let go easily out of pity?" Fran said, "Even if I slow down, they still can't stop the whip in their hands! Stop squeezing them!"

Galannodiel did not respond because she knew that what Fran said was true.

"If they want to liberate the slaves and these laborers, they can't count on the mercy of the upper elves. In the end, they can only rely on themselves! Although the union was secretly established by you, the high priest, its final development still depends on them."

"As liberators who truly care about the world, they cannot stop changing the world just because of a little favor from the upper elves! Just seeking to temporarily loosen the shackles will definitely make them tighter in the future."

"As a proletariat, only by liberating the whole world can we finally liberate ourselves! Apart from this, all other benefits are only temporary and illusory!"

Galannodier held the notebook tightly in her hand, but her eyes finally became firm.

"I understand! Thank you, City Lord!"

Chapter 230: Official Smuggling?

A few days later, the upper elves were pleasantly surprised to find that the construction progress on the other side had slowed down! Although it was still much faster than theirs, it was not as desperate as it was at the beginning!

All the elves breathed a sigh of relief at once!

The upper elves thought that Fran's "warmongering" had finally given up, while the laborers felt that they no longer needed to continue such high-intensity work and could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

However, the elves' joys and sorrows are not the same, and the facts are just as Fran expected.

The upper elves did not relax their composure because of Fran's "kindness", and still set strict requirements for the workers, and even wanted to surpass Fran in one fell swoop to achieve an overall lead.

In order to motivate the workers again and make them work more hours, the upper class nobles used both kindness and force. On the one hand, they issued stricter policies, and on the other hand, they raised their wages!

It has to be said that the elves are amateurs when it comes to engineering, but they are absolute experts when it comes to publicity and deceiving people! Thanks to the efforts of the propaganda machine, the situation on the east bank of the Soul-Guiding River was actually stabilized.

Of course, it just stabilized it.

The cost of doing so was huge, so the Elven Empire further increased its spending on the east bank of the Soul-Guiding River. The Queen had to add new taxes to fill this huge hole.

This is the third time the workers have had their wages raised since arriving here!

However, they were not happy about it! Apart from requiring more work, their surplus money actually did not increase much in the end.

This was not because the upper elves withheld their wages, but because as their wages increased, the prices of materials smuggled from the west bank of the Soul-Guiding River also gradually increased.

After all, the smuggling channels are controlled by the Chamber of Commerce under the elven nobles. They can accurately calculate the extent to which the purchasing power of workers will increase after the wage increase, and then jump back and forth on the edge of the limit.

Alcohol, tobacco, sugar, luncheon meat...

These things have become necessities to support the workers to maintain high-intensity work. Without them, the workers would have no way to stimulate their bodies and carry out such high-intensity work!

However, except for the cocktails which were provided by the construction site, all the other things came from the other side. In other words, the workers had to buy them with their own money.

Some frontline contractors also knew the workers' demands and proposed several times that the government should purchase the goods so that the grassroots workers could save some money and boost morale. This is indeed a good proposal for the grassroots workers, but if you think about Fran's breasts, you will know that such a proposal will never be passed.

If the government intervenes, how will these smuggling guilds... in other words, how will the upper class nobles make money?

As for the lives of the laborers, what does it have to do with me? If you think it's too expensive, you don't have to buy it! These are not necessities of life! Besides, the Empire has already provided mushy food and alcohol, isn't that enough? Don't you see what the slaves eat! Learn to be grateful!!

In this way, the taxes collected by the Elf Queen from within the empire were distributed to the workers, and then indirectly flowed into the hands of the upper nobles! This made them earn a lot of money and became rich. They wished that Fran could develop more necessities, and they also wished that this infrastructure competition could be delayed for a longer time.

But the workers are not fools!

When the prices of these necessities rose again, they spontaneously organized themselves to go to the west bank of the Soul-Guiding River to purchase large quantities of goods, and then brought them back to sell to their co-workers at normal prices. Anyway, Gondolin is a free trade zone, anyone can come here, and there is no such thing as tariffs.

(Back then, the elves thought they could dump goods, so they signed a trade agreement with Flanders and cancelled tariffs on each other within Fruman.)

At first, this behavior only occurred in a few construction sites near the Soul-Guiding River. After all, they were close to the Soul-Guiding River and could easily buy all kinds of cheap goods. After several price increases, this behavior swept to a wider area.

As demand grows, the degree of organization required for spontaneous purchases also grows! After all, if you are only shopping for a few people, you can just buy a basket and bring it back, but if you are shopping for dozens or even hundreds of people, you have to organize a fleet!

In this case, a group of specialized people are needed to do this kind of work!

This is what the unions are for!

Jialannodier knew that if she hastily put forward the concept of a union, the workers would be unwilling to join, and she had to develop slowly based on actual needs. So she set her sights on the purchasing agent business as a breakthrough.

With her secret efforts, a group of "spontaneous" people who specialized in purchasing on behalf of others soon appeared on each construction site. Their work was done by other workers, while they were responsible for purchasing on behalf of others, extracting requirements, distributing goods, collecting money and keeping accounts, and managing everything in an orderly manner.

Almost all the elves in charge of these things were carefully trained by Galannodil. They had the same philosophy as Galannodil, so they would not secretly deduct or embezzle. This selfless approach quickly established prestige among the labor group and laid the foundation for the next step of proposing ideas.

However, this kind of purchasing on behalf of others obviously snatched a piece of cake from the Chamber of Commerce, which made the upper-level elves behind the Chamber of Commerce very dissatisfied! They issued orders several times to investigate and confiscate the purchasing on behalf of others, but unfortunately, such investigation and confiscation did not have much effect.

Because the union's foundation is so solid.

The items purchased on behalf of others are hard currency. In this case, anyone who is not a fool will be willing to join the union and get the right to buy cheap goods. The only thing to pay is a negligible membership fee! And for the foremen on the front line, the benefits of the union outweigh the disadvantages.

The union adheres to Galannodil's philosophy and does not have too intense disagreements with the Empire's managers for the time being, so it is relatively cooperative with the foremen! The purchasing agency business has also greatly alleviated the workers' dissatisfaction and the conflicts between the foremen and the workers.

You have to know that in the past, foremen felt very uneasy when entering a construction site, for fear that dissatisfied workers would hit them with pickaxes at any time.

The elven nobles would not share any of the money they earned, so they were happy for the unions to bring cheap goods to the construction site.

Therefore, the confiscations initiated by the nobles were neither moral nor based on facts, and the results were very bad! Later, the foremen would even tell the union members in advance to let them stop temporarily and continue after the storm had passed.

In the end, the elven nobles did not dare to completely close the channels for the exchange of goods between the East and the West, and could only continue to maintain the status quo.

It’s better to earn less than to earn nothing.

As for the unions...

Due to the deliberate concealment of the foremen, the elven nobles have always believed that this is just an organization that helps each other with purchasing, and it will never become a big thing.

Little did they know, they had been secretly developing their own core organization, imparting knowledge, and exposing the exploitative nature of the elven nobility.

Every day, workers recited their oaths and sang songs under a flag with a pickaxe painted on it!

When everything was over, the two sides shook hands and said sincerely and firmly: "Now we are comrades!"

Chapter 231 Letter from the Feather Tribe

"March in step!"

"One, two, one! One, two, one!"

"Get down!"

"shooting!"

"Formation change!"

"What is your purpose here?"

"Become the glorious navy of Orila City!"

"Can't you hear me? You still want to drive Fuso with such a small sound? Try again!"

"Become a glorious navy of Orilla City!"

In the port of Biesund, a series of vigorous and powerful slogans rang out in the sky.

Today's Biesund Port is no longer the shabby little port it once was! Now it is not only the most important bulk raw material trading market in the main plane, but also the financial center of Calradia and the largest shipyard in the entire continent.

Fran renovated and rebuilt the surrounding coastline, expanding it into seven large docks. At the same time, a temporary naval base was established near the docks, so it became a training camp for naval recruits. It can be said that this is a super city that integrates military, industry and economy, and its importance is almost as great as that of Vienna.

However, it is not just the navy of Orila City that is training here, but also countless soldiers from the Vienna Alliance countries! They will undergo a short military training here, and then be sent to the Vienna Officer School for further training.

During this peaceful year, Fran has trained a large number of firearms officers for the trolls and the Pampas. When they return, they will be able to organize domestic firearms training on their own!

Of course! Fran is only responsible for firearms training for other countries and is definitely not targeting anyone intentionally.

As for who the trolls and orcs will fight with their guns in the future, that is not something Fran can decide.

Harald sat in his office, enjoying the sea breeze blowing from the Endless Ocean, while writing a report on the current stage of the navy for Fran, as well as a comparison of its strength with the dwarven and elven navies.

Although the conflict between Aurora City and the Northern Alliance and the Chinese Alliance at sea has temporarily eased, everyone knows that various conflicts are inevitable in the future, and they must know themselves and the enemy! For this reason, Harald spent a lot of energy collecting and learning intelligence about the elves and dwarves, and conducted sand table simulations with the Navy Staff many times to see

How to achieve maximum results at minimum cost.

After a year of hard work, Harald finally obtained detailed information and was able to write this crucial report.

But he hadn't written a few words when there was a knock on the door.

The one who came in was his eldest son Bjorn.

"Father, I have good news!"

"I've told you so many times! Call them by their positions when you're working!" Harald said dissatisfiedly.

"I'm sorry!" Bjorn said quickly: "Commander! A mysterious man came to the headquarters today and said he would hand this to you." As he spoke, Bjorn took out a piece of parchment.

"This is..." Harald was puzzled at first, and then a look of surprise appeared on his face.

This was an ordinary piece of parchment, even a little worn, with the logo of the Jingxi Chamber of Commerce embroidered on it.

"Is it a token from the city lord to the Feather Tribe?"

"Yes, father! The Feather Tribe!!" Bjorn said excitedly, "They finally came to contact us!"

Harald had heard of the agreement between Fran and the Feather Princess Nelte. But two years had passed since then, and there had been no news from the Feather Tribe. They even felt that the Feather Tribe was unwilling to trade with them. So the matter was put on hold for the time being.

As the generals learned more about firearms, they knew the role of the Feather Tribe in the current war. They could directly drop explosive packs over the enemy's warships and deal a devastating blow to the enemy! This is a strategic weapon.

"Where is that feather tribe member now? Take me to see him!" Harald didn't care about anything and immediately threw the feather pen aside.

The father and son soon arrived at the reception hall, but to Harald's disappointment, the person sitting in the reception hall was not a feather tribe member, but an ordinary human. He was wearing a gray suit and looked like a boatman who helped load and unload goods at the nearby dock.

"General Harald, nice to meet you." The man bowed to him and said, "I am Petrekhye!"

"Hello, Mr. Petrekhov!" Harald shook hands with the other party and found that his hands were covered with calluses from work, which made Harald even more confused, so he asked: "Excuse me, where did you get this parchment?"

"My daughter Nerte gave it to me," Petrekhey said.