Chapter 395 Problems caused by snowfall
Supporting gangsters was not an idea that Purficott came up with, or maybe she made the wrong connection somewhere.
But the current situation determines that a big city like Chernobyl needs a gang force and a black market, which can help stabilize social order and supplement the shortage of material supplies.
This is actually not difficult to understand. The material control adopted by Perfectcott can be understood as a planned economy, while the black market is a market economy.
When the supply of materials is insufficient, it is natural to adopt a planned economy and all materials are allocated uniformly. This can avoid waste and concentrate limited materials where they are most needed.
But at the same time, it cannot be said that the market economy is completely eliminated. Some spontaneous actions of the private market can supplement the official planned economy.
And a particularly important point is that gang forces do help stabilize social order in this era.
Especially as the end of the world approaches, social sentiment will become increasingly turbulent. It is not surprising what kind of gray forces will emerge under such circumstances.
At this time, if a gang force can be supported in advance to occupy the ecological niche, then in the future, it cannot be said that it completely controls the situation, but it can be regarded as having a first-mover advantage.
And more importantly, if you don’t do things like black market and smuggling, others will do it. Rather than leaving such a large market to others to make money, Perficott feels that it is better to control it himself. in hand.
Of course, as the northern lord, she only needs to convey an intention for this kind of matter, and the specific operations can be left to the people below to handle it.
After all, if the majestic Earl of the Empire and the Guardian of the North had to personally support a low-level gang, it would be a loss of status and it would also appear that her people were too incompetent.
Compared with these, the problems exposed by the snowfall in the North are what she should pay more attention to.
Because the snowfall came so early, the people in the north were not even prepared for winter at all. Their homes had insufficient firewood reserves, food shortages, and clothing to keep out the cold, etc...< br>
Perfect had already anticipated some of these problems, and she had made a lot of preparations in the previous two years, so some problems were solved by northern officials after they were exposed.
Even if some of them cannot be solved, there are still solutions, but the snowfall this time came too fast and there was no time to activate them.
But there are also some issues that have not been taken into consideration.
For example, traffic problems caused by snowfall are indeed a problem for the northern border.
There are currently three modes of transportation in the North: trains, carriages and airships.
The train runs on railway tracks, so even if there is snowfall, it can be easily solved. The equipped snow plow can quickly clear the snow on the track, allowing the train to resume traffic.
Even where the snow is too deep, manual excavation and other methods can be used to dig out the snow to allow trains to pass.
Generally speaking, train transportation is relatively easy to guarantee, and there have been no problems so far.
As for the airship, let alone it. As long as the flying vehicle in the sky does not rush into the clouds on its own death, there will basically be no problem.
This is also currently the main post-disaster emergency measure in the North, relying on the mobility of airships to transport some scarce supplies to places in urgent need.
Compared with these two, the traditional means of transportation, horse-drawn carriages, are at a loss. They even have difficulty traveling in the city of Chernobog.
On the one hand, horses themselves are not cold-tolerant animals, and they will also be affected when the weather is too cold. On the other hand, the passing performance of carriages is really poor. Even if the snow is slightly thicker, it will seriously affect the passage of carriages. Their passing ability is even worse than that of humans.
Under such circumstances, the situation in many settlements in the north is very worrying.
Those settlements where railways have been built are okay, because railways can at least ensure a stable supply of materials.
But those settlements without railways are in dire straits. The connecting towns or other settlements are covered in snow, and impassable roads isolate them from other settlements. They can only rely on fast-moving aircraft. Empty boats are used to ensure the minimum supply of supplies.
For these settlements, eating is actually not bad. After all, compressed biscuit machines are widely available in every settlement. Even if they are not popular, it is not difficult to transport them there by airship.
So food supply is the first thing to be guaranteed.
As for water supply, there is no need to worry. It snows in the north, and the snow can be shoveled and used directly as a water source.
Industrial pollution in this era was not serious, and the snow was basically clean. Except for places near the factory area that had a certain degree of pollution, other places basically retained quite pristine nature. ecology.
So there is no problem at all in using the snow as a water source.
The real difficulty is the fuel issue.
With the establishment of cities and the operation of industrial centers in the north, the small coal mine near Yingzui Cliff alone is definitely not enough.
In fact, in the past year, three large-scale coal mines were put into operation in the North, and seven medium-sized coal mines were also mined with the approval of Purficott.
As for small coal mines or privately mined coal mines that have not been reported, there are even more, but Purficott just turned a blind eye to this and did not criticize too much.
Although things like small coal mines are indeed privately stealing her property as a northern lord, after all, according to imperial law, all mineral resources in the lord's territory belong to the lord, only strategic resources such as gold. It needs to be shared with the king.
But for Purficott, it is not a big deal for the locals to mine some small coal mines to ensure their own supply of coal.
Even if these settlements report to the higher authorities, they will only pass through when they finally get to Purficott.
After all, there are only so many mining technologies in this era. Without large-scale industrial equipment and professional mining technology, it is the limit for them to be able to dig a few shallow coal mines to meet their daily needs.
It is unrealistic to expect them to dig out a lot of coal and then sell it.
However, with the traffic interruption caused by snowfall, these small coal mines will not be able to deliver the dug coal to the settlements in need for a while.
This has led to the fact that although the food in many settlements is sufficient, the people are basically freezing.
After all, it’s not even winter yet. Who is a good person starting to stock up on firewood now?
Even Perfectcott, who has experienced a winter in the north, does not have this awareness.
So in addition to transporting various materials in short supply, the airships in the north now transport coal the most.
(End of this chapter)