Chapter 213 Hearts of Iron 7
“Why? Lord Earl?”
Burns’s expression was like a child who wanted to buy a toy but was ruthlessly rejected by his parents.
He fully expected that Paul would give him full approval and full support for his research in this field. Unexpectedly, the other party was full of praise, but in the end he poured cold water on him.
“This matter is rather complicated and I can’t explain it clearly in a sentence or two.”
Paul looked embarrassed, not knowing how to explain to Burns, and he didn't know whether his idea was correct.
“First of all, although the principle of using steam as power is very simple, I tried to deduce it. There are still many technical details that need to be solved, and I won’t be able to figure it out in a while.”
Burns said with determination: "You are right, but I am fully mentally prepared to face these difficulties."
"But I can't afford to wait. Next year The research and development tasks of the Machinery Factory will be very heavy. I have many ideas that you need to realize, but you can't be hindered by a steam engine that you don't know how long it will take to complete it. Besides, it is not necessarily appropriate for the steam engine to appear at this time... ..."
Burns was very surprised, "What do you mean? Windmills and waterwheels are too limited by weather and geographical factors, but if a steam engine is built, something like an ironworks Factories can bloom everywhere.”
Paul shook his head, "What's the use of building so many iron smelting plants?"
"It's so useful? With more iron smelting plants, your territory can produce more iron."
"What is the use of having so much iron?"
"This...this..."
Burns felt very ridiculous. Didn't the count know that a large amount of iron was needed? Does it mean anything? But due to the identity of the other party, he couldn't explain it clearly.
"You can use it yourself or sell it to others. Don't you need iron to make weapons and farm tools?"
"That's true, but if the ironworks we visited goes according to plan, After the construction is completed, its output is more than enough to meet the needs of Alda and Bailding, and it can be sold in large quantities to other territories. The reason why I upgraded the iron-making technology is because of the development of agriculture and other industries in the territory. We need to consume more iron than before, and the rebellion in the south can make us a profit, but whether it is our territory or other surrounding territories, the annual demand for iron is capped, and the rebellion in the south will sooner or later. Finished. If we blindly increase production, the extra iron will not be sold and will just pile up in the warehouse to rust. In the end, we have to close the ironworks because there is no profit. After a lot of trouble, only a few can be kept. A factory that meets the balance between supply and demand, but the process has invested countless human and financial costs."
Burns was speechless, "This..."
"Look. , before there is such a big demand, why should we invest too many resources in developing steam engines? The existing water conservancy conditions in Alda and Baierding are enough for us to build several iron smelting plants.”
"But if we combine a steam engine with a harvester, it can also be used in agriculture!"
"It's the same as iron smelting. If too much food is produced but there are not so many people to eat it, the price of food will drop. It is indeed a good thing for city people to have abundant and cheap food, but for people in the city, it is a good thing. Those who produce food in the countryside are not a good thing."
"Master Graiman, there will never be a shortage of hungry people in this world." "So what? Do they have the money to buy it? Kindly pay your own way to deliver food to those who have nothing?"
"..."
"Okay, Mr. Grayman, you can say that? Makes sense.”
Burns seemed convinced.
In fact, Paul has another concern that he has not expressed. In his plan, the development of industry will definitely be the main focus in the future. The key step is to transform more than half of the population into an industrial population. If If something is too advanced, one machine can replace dozens of people, which will affect the transformation speed of the industrial population. Now that we have finally cultivated a group of serious workers, should we let them go back to farming? land.
Paul remembered the introduction in the textbooks of his previous life that a large-scale "machine destruction" movement broke out in Britain after the Industrial Revolution. The reason was that the machines were too efficient and a large number of workers were unemployed.
Although the number of machines and factories can be controlled so as not to exceed current social needs, this will inevitably result in the structure of the entire society not being "industrialized" enough, and the population will still be dominated by agriculture.
The few factories that rely heavily on machines have become key nodes of Paul's power. Once these nodes are destroyed for some reason, he cannot recover immediately and can only degenerate into the memory he had when he just woke up. That little lord level.
Therefore, he would rather maintain some "backward" productivity, but also maintain the "industrial population" first, and gradually convert the agricultural population with the help of the growth of social demand for industrial products, so that even if some are lost due to war and other reasons , the remaining part can continue to be used for industrial production.
For the same reason, he subconsciously rejected the use of the mysterious power of this world. After seeing the performance of La Di and the secret magician, Paul had not thought about whether he could use magic. Mysterious power develops industry, but after several conversations with the female consultant, he gave up this idea.
First of all, magic is so mysterious that even the mage himself can't figure out what's going on, and the spells he learned from La Di didn't help him.
Secondly, Paul does not want to rely too much on mages as a group. Not to mention that the church’s attitude towards mages may cause him trouble. Even if the status of mages is legalized one day, they have ways to promote this. The productivity of the world explodes, and the monopoly of wizards on advanced productivity such as magic will inevitably form a terrifying class.
According to the female consultant, magic requires extremely high talent, and may even be related to blood. Unlike science and technology, even the stupidest people can master it as long as they work hard. .
Moreover, with the relatively small number of mages, they will also become a 'key node' that can affect the whole body and lead to the collapse of the entire industrial system if an accident occurs.
You must choose a good path from the starting point. Once the route is wrong, the cost of changing it will be high, especially after interest groups are formed.
He still hopes that this society can be as fair as possible.
Therefore, Paul set the tone for his attitude towards magic: at this stage, he should focus on prevention. When he has the ability to further contact, he can study and use it, but he must not rely on it. Only when the need is urgent. Only when conventional alternatives cannot be found can the power of magic be resorted to.
(End of this chapter)