Struggle in the Steam Age

After returning to the port of New Sauer, Lawrence continued to devote himself to his work as soon as he got off the boat, and he didn't even have time to rest. After all, what was going on before was an island-wide mobilization war, so there are naturally a lot of things that need to be dealt with one by one after the war is over.

The first and most important thing is to hold a military funeral to bury the dozens of soldiers who died in the war, and at the same time make arrangements for the lives of those soldiers who were disabled due to injuries. Fortunately, although these things are troublesome, he has noticed these problems since he came to the island and started to do them, so now he just needs to follow the previously established norms.

Unlike Lawrence's world in his previous life, people in this world have a much more open-minded view of death, so the family members did not appear very sad at the funeral. On the one hand, this is because the world is not so peaceful. Death is a very common daily phenomenon for everyone. After watching this kind of thing too much, the natural reaction will not be so intense.

On the other hand, it is because the dead in this world have their own lives, and their world is also an indispensable part of the whole world. Therefore, almost everyone can understand the main meaning of death and accept death as a matter of fact. Especially for those devout religious believers.

Most importantly, life in this era is far cheaper than in Lawrence's previous life. For example, the average life expectancy of workers in cities and farmers in the countryside is just over 40 years old. Moreover, this is similar to the statistics of developed countries such as the New Island Republic or the White Eagle Federation, which are closely watched by various churches of the gods.

As for some islands in the Sea of ​​Stars and those countries in the south, the situation is much worse. According to incomplete statistics from some churches, most of the workers in those black-hearted factories and plantations do not even live past the age of 27. At the same time, almost all of them have serious occupational diseases, making it difficult to live like normal people.

Under such circumstances, the welfare policies and labor insurance policies formulated by Lawrence, which synthesized part of the memories of the previous life and the current specific situation, are very attractive. Naturally, in this case, the various honors and pensions for the victims and disabled are also very attractive.

Needless to say, the victims will be buried in a military cemetery on the hillside of a small valley surrounded by mountains on the outskirts of the city after a simple and grand military funeral. At the same time, their family members or designated heirs can also receive a relatively small amount of pension and receive certain preferential treatment in their future life and work.

The same is true for disabled veterans. Unlike most regions that give them a pension and drive them out of the house, Lawrence will find a way to help him solve his life problems afterwards. Thankfully, there are enough jobs on the island of New Shore, which is short of human resources, to accommodate these disabled soldiers.

Doing so will obviously cause Lawrence to suffer certain economic losses, but it can greatly unite the hearts of the people on the island. After all, as the lord of this territory, he cannot simply settle economic accounts like a capitalist, nor can he only care about short-term interests like those bureaucrats in the White Eagle Federation. So there are more things to consider when doing many things.

"I think they should be able to continue to live well on the island." After the funeral ceremony was held in the public cemetery and the work was arranged for the disabled, Safiel said to Lawrence when he left the cemetery in a carriage. . "Fortunately, not many people were lost in this war, otherwise we would not be able to bear such casualties even if we win."

"Yes, the population on our island is really too small now." Lawrence sighed thoughtfully and said, "So we will expand the construction of those infrastructures as much as possible in the next period of time , recruit as many immigrants as possible to expand the population of intelligent creatures on the island—”

"Okay, okay, today's atmosphere is already heavy enough." Nora interrupted them at this time and said, "We are going to discuss the distribution of spoils with Lanhua and Fatina in the next time, So at this time, I think it's time to discuss some light topics."

"Ah, yes, we should indeed share that wealth. To be honest, this is quite a headache." After hearing what the little doll said, Lawrence scratched his hair vigorously and said , "You said why those damned sahuagin are so stupid!"

The reason why Lawrence has such complaints is because although a lot of wealth was seized in this war. But it is not a simple matter to realize those wealth. Unlike the merfolk or tritons, who have accepted part of the idea of ​​human wealth due to long-term communication with terrestrial intelligent creatures, the sahuagin still maintain traditional values.

In other words, most of the wealth Lawrence acquired this time was various marine supplies. The remaining small part are all kinds of handicrafts that are not afraid of water that they obtained through robbery before. Whether it is these materials or handicrafts, there are some difficulties in realizing them at a reasonable price.

Especially after the end of this war, whether it is the New Island Republic, the White Eagle Federation or the various forces that voluntarily participated in the war, they also obtained a large amount of this kind of wealth. There will be a relatively obvious drop in prices.

Of course, falling prices were bad for Lawrence. Because this means that the spoils he obtained through his hard work in this war have shrunk. Not to mention that he was a little worried that this kind of thing that part of the wealth evaporated after winning the battle might affect the enthusiasm of the Ratmen and Tauren to participate in the war in the future.

So this is why he was so anxious to discuss with Fatina and the others about the handling of loot, because Lawrence hoped to unify the island's thinking in the shortest possible time, so that the attitude of the entire island in this regard is in step, so that in the Greater initiative can be gained in the market.

As a result, after discussing with Fatina and the others, they realized that some of their worries were unnecessary. For example, Fatina represented the Ratman and said that they don't need any cash, and only need to distribute the spoils to them according to the pre-agreed ratio. One portion is enough.

"We are different from humans. Money basically has no effect on us except for a small amount of supplies." After speaking of her request, Fatina also explained to Lawrence and the others why the Ratman only wanted loot. "And these trophies couldn't be more perfect for us."

As Lawrence used to know, rat people love all kinds of shiny things, and also like to make a series of magical items. Among the spoils seized this time, whether it is various underwater specialties that can be used to make magic items or shiny pearls, gemstones, corals and handicrafts, they are all favorites of their hearts, so naturally they don't need any cash.

Even Fatina, after knowing Lawrence's distress, said that if he really needed cash, they could help Lawrence sell half of the spoils at the original price within three months through the Ratman's internal trade network.

And the tauren's handling of this kind of thing is even simpler. Except for taking a small amount of jewels as souvenirs and sending them to every soldier, they use the rest of the spoils as raw materials and rewards to ask the ratmen to help them upgrade themselves. weapons and equipment, ready for the next battle.

"For us, the wealth obtained from the usual farming and planting is enough for us to survive." Orchid Iron Hoof said, "So these spoils of war can just re-arm us from head to toe, and this is what we need most now." s things."