Struggle in the Steam Age

"Not just gadgets, we can also use these things to make some interesting things, such as some handkerchiefs used to wipe some precious items, or some pockets or box linings for jewelry. "

Obviously, as a hereditary nobleman, the Viscount Surrey has more experience in this area than Lawrence, and soon he thought of many uses of this new type of material that Lawrence hadn't thought of before.

"You know, rich people also have high requirements for the outer packaging of luxury goods when they buy those luxury goods." Seeing Lawrence's suddenly realized expression, Viscount Surrey continued.

"So we can make a lot of money by selling some peripheral products related to luxury goods, not just making clothes."

"You really deserve to be Earl Shaw who developed a deserted island into a prosperous place in a short period of time." When the voice of Viscount Surrey fell, the dwarf Huck looked at Lawrence and said.

"But even so, I didn't expect you to be able to think of a development method that fully suits our local conditions in such a short period of time."

"It's just a coincidence." Lawrence said with a shrug.

"If I hadn't encountered this kind of incident before, I wouldn't have much to do now. Fortunately, we recovered a large number of Loka murlocs just happened to encounter this kind of incident, so they carried this special microorganism on their bodies."

In fact, Lawrence would never carry these things with him at ordinary times, or in other words, under normal circumstances, no one would carry a bunch of microorganism bottles and culture bottles that looked like biochemical weapons on his body.

It's just that this time Nora felt that she might cut off contact with Lawrence for a long time, so before she separated from Lawrence, she specially used a space bag that Lawrence obtained after becoming an earl that belonged to the August family. It is full of various microorganisms cultivated by itself.

According to Nora before the two parties separated, some of his powers are contained in these microorganisms. So if you really encounter some problems that may not be solved, you can use some of them.

Compared with the magic props or magic scrolls sold in the market, these extraordinary microorganisms blessed by Nora have stronger lethality, and at the same time, they are more reassuring to use.

After the two parties returned to the Viscount's Mansion after inspecting this space, everyone quickly focused their discussions on this emerging industry in the future.

Soon, several people figured out how many people this emerging industry could absorb and how much income it could bring to the entire territory.

"It doesn't seem like a lot of money to make this kind of fiber as a whole, because this kind of thing requires too high a planting density." After Lawrence described in detail what the previous group of loca fish had observed about this kind of thing , Viscount Surrey frowned and said.

"I really didn't expect that as long as the density is a little higher, the final quality of the fiber will be significantly reduced. And if it is higher than a certain level, the fungus will stop growing."

“So that’s why we positioned this thing as a luxury item from the very beginning, because me and a couple of agricultural church workers were on the island trying for a long time, but we couldn’t find a way to increase the density of planting. "

Lawrence also had a helpless expression on his face. In fact, he hoped to make this thing a light luxury at first, but he had to give up this idea later.

According to the memories of his previous life in his mind, in fact, unless they are produced by hand, those top luxury goods are only relatively expensive in unit price, but the overall profit is not high.

And the real money-maker of the group of luxury goods companies mainly comes from the part with the largest output of light luxury products aimed at the middle class.

For example, those teas on New Sauer Island are like this now. The top tea leaves are basically used to make a name for the tea produced on New Sauer Island and raise their standards. It is the ordinary high-quality tea that makes the real money.

This is why Lawrence considered mass production after discovering this fiber, because in this era of industrialization, only those ordinary consumer goods that can be produced on a large scale will have the highest profit.

The only good news is that the fiber formed by a certain fungus is also easy to grow and does not require too much manpower. Therefore, even a small-scale production is acceptable in terms of profit.

More importantly, this industry helps the nomadic loca people to settle down. On the whole, it has obvious help to the construction of the entire New Sauer Island.

"It's a pity that the planting density is low, but I calculated that at least 600 people can be provided with a job in this city." Although the Viscount Surrey said so, there was not much regret on his face.

Because in his opinion, being able to make use of this large space that gave him some headaches and recruit some residents for the city has made him happy, not to mention adding some new ones to his territory, sustainable industry.

For a hereditary nobleman like the Viscount Surrey, he sincerely hopes that his territory can be passed on from generation to generation.

Therefore, compared with those coal mines that will disappear after being dug, he pays more attention to this kind of special breeding and planting that can sustainably develop and provide jobs and profits for the territory.

That's why he is only willing to sell raw coal, but not to build a coal chemical plant in this place.

Because if the impact of simple coal mining on the environment can be controlled, then the chemical plant will cause almost irreversible damage to the fragile environmental system of the region itself.

For the Viscount Surrey, who had received a high-level education in Briton, he did not know that the money earned from selling finished products must be higher than the profit from simply selling raw materials.

If he is a capitalist, then he will definitely invest in the factory, because once the mining is over, he can pat his ass and leave, and then leave the devastated land and impoverished workers here.

But as a noble lord with his own territory, all kinds of losses must be borne by himself and his descendants. In this case, he naturally would rather make less money than pay for the future of himself and his descendants.

Of course, for such a large territory, this fungus cultivation center can only be said to be an icing on the cake at best, so after resting for a night, Lawrence, led by the Viscount Surrey, went to the city ten miles away from the city. A visit to a mining area a few kilometers away.

Unlike the coal mines Lawrence had seen before, this coal mine located in the Viscount of Surrey was a very shallow open-pit mine.

According to Viscount Surrey, this land used to be just a small hill full of gravel, until a group of dwarven geological survey teams sent by the Briton government discovered the mine through sampling.

"There is only a layer of soil and stone less than 3m thick on the entire coal mine, and a coal layer more than 15m below." Looking at the huge mine pit at the foot of the hillside by the road, the Viscount Surrey pointed to Lawrence proudly. .

"And the quality of the coal here is also very good, almost all of which are the highest quality anthracite."

"How many people are there now?" Lawrence turned his head and asked curiously, watching the miners lined up like ants in the black mine pit using small carts and slides with ropes to transport the dug coal out of the mine pit.

"There are probably more than 10,000 people in this large mine alone." Viscount Surrey said after thinking for a while.

"This mine is mainly the mine that I opened with the Briton royal family. It is the largest coal mine in this area. At the same time, various regulations and benefits are the best. For this reason, the coal mine where my citizens work And it’s mainly this place.”