Chapter 315
The optical communication experiment was a great success. Paul announced to everyone that he named this thing [telegraph] - as the name suggests, it is as fast as lightning. He also announced that the telegraph would be open to the public. As long as people are willing to spend money, they can enjoy the convenience of telegraph communication. When their messages arrive at their destination, someone will write them on paper and send them to the recipient. doorstep.
Paul's words were conveyed through the [telegraph], not only to Port Fulan, but this time it was also conveyed eastward to Butua, the capital of Bailding.
In Paul’s plan, the right to use [Telegraph] is divided into three levels.
The first is military information. Military-related information is given priority in most cases and is delivered free of charge.
The second is information from government departments. Officials, big and small, can use telegrams to exchange short, fast and urgent news with Huxin Town, but it must be related to official matters, and it also costs money - reimbursed by their own departments.
The above two types of messages need to be classified into different confidentiality levels. For confidential messages, the sending and receiving base stations are not allowed to keep files. Moreover, confidential military intelligence and government affairs messages are specially encrypted when they are written. To the uninformed, they are just a mess of letters, words or unintelligible sentences. Even the transmitter at the telegraph base station is confused. If they don't understand, they just need to strictly follow the regulations and place the signal arm in a shape corresponding to each letter.
In order to reduce the chance of ciphertext being cracked, encryption rules need to be changed from time to time, and this requires manpower to send new encryption rules to various places. In addition to sharing a set of encryption rules, there are unique encryption rules between some special areas or special departments and Huxin Town. This depends on the situation.
Of course, the current encryption methods are still very primitive. They simply scramble or replace the letters or words in the message according to certain rules, but it should be enough in this era.
The third level is the information of civilians. Their information will only be transmitted when the telegraph line is idle, and it will cost a lot of money. Most people probably cannot afford it. The tentative price is 1 copper coin per letter (the names and addresses of the sender and recipient are also included). Spending one silver coin (equivalent to 1,000 copper coins) can only transmit about 200 words. They You have to think carefully when writing a letter.
Take Mr. Marlowe, the head of cannon casting at the ordnance factory, for example. When he first came here, his monthly salary was only 800 copper coins. However, the whole of Alda was not very wealthy at that time. Later, with the development of the commodity economy and Marlowe's Mr. Marlowe has been promoted many times, and his salary has been increased to 3 silver coins. In terms of economic level, he is already an upper-middle-class person in Alda and even Lake Town. If Mr. Marlowe wants to convey his greetings to his friends by telegram, he should be a little more enthusiastic. It would cost nearly one-third of his monthly salary.
But for those businessmen and factory owners who regard market information as extremely important, a high-value message is worth spending no matter how much money is spent. The speed of information transmission may very well determine whether they make money. It's to accompany. [Telegraph] Among the private sector, it mainly targets this type of group.
Private information must be sent in clear text, and files need to be kept when sending and receiving. The Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Intelligence will conduct regular inspections to determine whether there are any unstable factors. However, many people may use some secret codes and lingo to convey some private information that they do not want others to know, especially some business secrets. This cannot be identified one by one.
A few days later, Paul sent a message via telegram to Fulangang and Butuya in the name of the Government Affairs Council: Huxin Town Machinery Factory will hold a "product launch conference" to showcase several newly developed products. It mainly focuses on agriculture and textile industry, and relevant knowledge of these two industries is welcome to come and observe.
After receiving the information sent by the lord, the local government department quickly conveyed and spread it to the surrounding areas, even to the recently taken over Emden.
Judging from the information sent by the Government Affairs Council, the new products of the machinery factory will greatly promote the improvement of so-called "productivity". According to previous examples - such as harvesters - this often means opportunities to make a fortune. Anyone with a little bit of wealth will take notice of the news, and it is always right to keep an eye on the trends in Huxin Town.
Before the product launch at the Machinery Factory, Paul held a banquet in Huxin Town. The guests were the former vassals of the Kent family, and even branches of the Kent family.
In the Assault War, these small lords provided financial, material, and human support to Malzkent, but now they have become losers. As punishment, they are now controlled by the Huxin Town Government Affairs Council .
The guests came to Huxin Town anxiously. In the past, this was a rural place that they did not even bother to talk about. However, it changed a lot after they arrived. The town in the center of the lake is showing a prosperous scene. The roads are being widened, the original dirt roads are paved with stone slabs, a large number of houses are under construction, and the town area is beginning to expand towards the south shore of Lake Weiss.
Businessmen and travelers were passing by on the streets, and people and horses were noisy. It didn’t look like the remote town that I had imagined before.
This scene made the old lord's castle on the island in the middle of the lake look out of place and even a little shabby.
However, the guests did not have the courage to laugh at Graiman's taste. After the banquet began, they were all well-dressed and respectfully seated under the arrangement of old Philip, the castle steward.
The main owner, Paul, was the last one to arrive. He raised his glass and said, "Everyone, welcome to Huxin Town. Today's dishes are made under the guidance of famous Jiaowan chefs. They are authentic Jiaowan dishes." Taiwan cuisine, please enjoy it and drink happily. ""Thank you, Lord Graiman."
Everyone picked up their wine glasses and toasted Paul.
After saying a few words in the opening remarks, Paul became less active. Suffering from a certain degree of "social phobia", he actually didn't like the scene of staying with many strangers, and he even had no desire to eat. Also greatly reduced. Most of the time, when others took the initiative to ask him something, he would pretend to be enthusiastic and answer a few words.
The atmosphere of the banquet was mainly promoted by senior officials from the Government Affairs Council such as Old Ford and Hansel, and it could be regarded as a great time for the guests and the host.
What made everyone most happy was that Paul announced that he would not deprive them of their territory, nor abolish their titles, nor would the Government Council "actively" infringe on their rights in the territory.
Of course, the cooperation of all the lords is still needed on some "big policies", such as tariff adjustments.
Paul advised them: "Everyone, I advise you not to leave in a hurry. After staying in Huxin Town for a few days, you must have heard that the machinery factory will hold a product launch conference in a few days. There will definitely be people who want you to Something of interest.”
Finally, he said: "People, don't always focus on the one-third of an acre of land under your feet. Sometimes if you give up some outdated things, you will get better things. Only by giving up can you get something!"
Everyone pricked up their ears. What the Earl said seemed to have profound meaning.
A viscount stood up. He first toasted Paul with a glass of wine and asked, "I heard that your lordship is promoting culture and education?"
Old Philip, who was standing behind Paul, quickly whispered Remind him: "Viscount Helson."
Paul nodded: "Well, Viscount Helson. Yes, I plan to build the town in the center of the lake into an academic center in the northwest bay. Haha, you must think that I I’m bragging, let’s wait and see again in a few years.”
The Viscount named Helson waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, no, I have no doubt about your lordship's determination. When I first arrived in Lake Town, I visited the school you opened. There are some professors there that even I can't understand." Unheard of knowledge. Sir Earl, can I send the children of my family to study in your school?"
The other guests were surprised that someone showed their loyalty so quickly. They, the lords of Emden, are far away from Lake Center Town. People in the family who come to study must live here permanently. Isn't this just sending protons in disguise?
Paul nodded to the viscount: "Of course, I very much welcome young people from other places to come here. Everyone can communicate and learn from each other. We will not reject anyone who is interested in this."
"My Lord Earl, I also have this wish..."
"Lord Grayman, and my family..."
The banquet became more and more lively.
There have been some glitches recently, especially in terms of technology...
(End of this chapter)