After the two parties have a certain close relationship, some things can be discussed. So in the next period of time, Viscount Surrey talked to Lawrence about some of his inner worries.
Unlike those nobles who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths and have a very smooth life. The Viscount of Surrey has experienced the family's process from poverty to explosion, and has also felt the warmth and warmth of people, so he now has a sense of worry.
"In the past few years, my territory has brought a steady stream of wealth because of the coal mine, but this source of wealth is too single." Viscount Surrey said with a serious face.
"Although this coal mine will take more than a hundred years to be mined even if it is fully exploited, it is not a sustainable way to obtain wealth. Especially after subsequent exploration, we can confirm that apart from these coal mines, there are no other coal mines in the territory.
There are minerals worth mining.”
"What you are worried about now is indeed a problem." Lawrence found that the Viscount in front of him was worried about exactly the same thing as the wealthy princes who sold oil in the Middle East in his previous life, so the methods of solving problems by those wealthy people had good reference value.
"Have you ever thought about developing new sources of income?" After thinking for a few minutes with his eyes closed, Lawrence suddenly opened his eyes and said to everyone looking at him. "For example, running some industries or something -"
"Of course I have considered this kind of thing." Viscount Surrey shook his head helplessly, "But doing business does not mean just investing money. You also need to find the right investment direction."
"Unfortunately, it is not that simple to find a correct investment direction. Unless you have enough connections or some unique skills."
Lawrence nodded approvingly to this sentence. For example, he himself had only average personal connections, but he could do some unique business with the help of knowledge from another world.
Another example is that the island owners who produce single cash crops on many islands in the Star Sea rely on relationships to do business. Through the relationship network, they can buy some of the production and living materials at a reasonable price and sell agricultural products at reasonable prices.
The reason why Lawrence is now able to integrate with the lords around the island is because he is doing a unique business. The tea, grain and various fish processed products are the only business in that area.
For other islands, these businesses not only do not compete with them, but can also complement the economic situation of their islands to a certain extent.
So after a brief contact, Lawrence began to slowly establish his own network of relationships in the Star Sea area.
After this relationship network was gradually established, he naturally gained enough benefits from it. For example, when the price and quality were similar, the owners of the surrounding islands would choose to purchase goods from Lawrence instead of buying from others.
After all, this era is not the world where information was so developed in Lawrence's previous life. It is not an easy thing to know a person's foundation.
In this case, people tend to do business with acquaintances rather than strangers who are not sure whether they are reliable.
This is the problem that the Viscount of Surrey is encountering now, because he is not one of those palace nobles who rely on connections to make a living, but because he has been marginalized before, he has a very average relationship with ordinary feudal nobles.
To say that the Viscount of Surrey has a good relationship with them, they are only the lords around their territory. However, these nobles assigned to the Northern Islands are basically a group of marginalized people, and naturally they cannot provide much help in this regard.
"In this regard, you can slowly find the investment points you need." Lawrence thought for a while and put forward his own opinion. "After all, this kind of investment really requires money, so there is nothing wrong with being cautious."
"Of course we know this." Isabella said, touching her belly. "But the problem is, now our child is about to be born. We hope to leave an image of struggle to the children, rather than
I just rely on my family’s mineral resources to enjoy the benefits.”
"Okay, I can understand this." Saphiel nodded while looking at his friend whose face exuded maternal light. Although he did not have children for the time being, he could understand his friend's thoughts.
Most of the time, people are willing to create a good environment for their offspring, even if it requires more wealth and energy. For example, this is the case with the Viscount Surrey family now.
According to the Viscount of Surrey, the purpose of the industry he wants to operate is just to operate the industry itself. So as long as it can be sustained without losing money, it is fine.
Unfortunately, after searching for several months, they did not find the industries they wanted. After careful study of some industries that looked good, they found that they were basically all pitfalls.
For example, someone had previously recommended to them an investment in a steel plant in the White Eagle Federation. Although the situation was fine simply by looking at the information, the Viscount of Surrey later hired a private detective to investigate and found out that not only the technology and facilities of the factory were outdated, but the technology and facilities were also outdated.
, it also involves a lot of messy multi-faceted debt issues internally.
"Actually, I'm not very good at industrial management," Lawrence said helplessly.
"Although I have invested in a lot of factories, the level of operation of the factories is also very average. I think my only advantage in being able to do this today is that those factories are irreplaceable from some aspects.
.”
Seeing the disbelieving expressions on the faces of the Viscount and his wife of Surrey in front of him, Lawrence immediately explained the secret to them.
In fact, the industries under Lawrence's command can be divided into two parts. One part is the industry that he operates with technological advantages after mastering certain technologies, such as the drug manufacturing factory on the island, and the arsenal on the federal side.
and lighter factory.
The other part is the series of small factories adapted to the location that Lawrence established on the island, similar to the fish and seafood processing factories or various small hardware factories built around the New Sauer Port area.
But the problem is that the Viscount of Surrey basically cannot imitate it, because the former type of factory requires its own unique skills, and the traditional skill of their family is only fishing.
But the problem is that fishing is not as special as manufacturing mortars, depth charges or certain chemicals, so this industry cannot meet their requirements.
"Where's the fish processing factory? I think the meat floss made on our island sells very well." Saifeir immediately suggested after hearing that the Viscount of Surrey traditionally had a fishing industry.
"Probably not." Isabella smiled bitterly and said, "Although our territory is more than 10,000 square kilometers, far exceeding the area of a normal viscount territory. But there are really not many people——
Through Isabella's simple explanation, Lawrence also figured out that the territory called New Surrey was indeed quite large, about more than 10,000 square kilometers.
But the problem is that this territory is too far north, and more than 80% of the territory is small hills, so New Surrey has always been a very barren territory.
Even because this territory is too barren, there are not even any larger trees growing on the mountains. There are only some shrubs and grasses in the entire territory.
Therefore, before the coal mine was discovered, the local economy, in addition to breeding a group of reindeer that were not afraid of the cold, relied on fishing to maintain the territory's livelihood.
It is a pity that these industries cannot support too many people at all. According to Isabella, although there are more than 50,000 people in that territory now, at least more than half of them came to the island after the coal mines were developed.
of temporary workers.
As for the original island residents, there were only more than 20,000 people. Now, because of the mine, most of them have changed their occupations. For example, many fishermen have given up their dangerous fishing jobs and switched to some