In Oerengrad, the salty and moist sea breeze mixed with drizzle blows on the coast. The warm and moist airflow from the south uses up the last trace of heat here, and merges with the cold air from the northern continent to form precious rainfall, nourishing the city.
Also scatter the seeds of life to the northernmost tip of this civilized world.
Rhodes, who was sitting in the city hall, looked at the drizzle outside the stone window with a contented expression. The rain replaced the snowflakes, which meant that winter had truly passed. All production activities could be doubled. Although in the past winter,
Here, the entire Erengrad has been immersed in a large-scale development boom, but the speed is not enough. What Rhodes hopes to see is a change every day, not a change every quarter.
Although the docks have returned to a crowded scene and the ports are full of ships from all over the world, this is not enough. Even with the crazy influx of foreign capital and the construction of factories and markets, the unemployment rate in the entire Erengrad is still as high as
Among the adult labor force, more than 20% are still unemployed and rely on the most basic relief food.
"Count Breer of Bretonnia is interested in investing in a brewery in the Seaburg District in the city of Erengrad. The first batch of funds is 5,000 universal gold crowns. The land he is interested in is located in Block 3 of the Seaburg District, 50 meters from the seaport.
Five kilometers.”
In the office hall, Alvis, the city official, was reporting the recent work content to Rhodes word by word. Of course, Rhodes would not ask about everything, but only listened to some important information in a symbolic way. After all, if
All economic construction matters must be done by oneself, so oneself would have died from exhaustion ten thousand times.
Ever since he promoted Alves to his deputy, Rhodes has hardly handled a single thing in the economic construction of Elengrad. The same was true in Blackhammer Castle. The smallest people actually contain the strongest power.
Great power. Discovering talents has always been Rhodes' most important task.
The most successful emperors in history all have talented people under them. Even if they are useless, as long as they have a group of loyal people who follow them, they can still succeed. On the contrary, no matter how strong the personal ability is, if there are no talents under them, the outcome will basically be
Very miserable.
"No factories are allowed to be built in the city of Olengrad. He can choose any land in the suburbs. You can decide the rent, tax rate, etc."
Rhodes waved his hand and said to Alves.
"Yes, that's how I rejected the count."
Alves responded.
"There is nothing to lose. If he doesn't come because of this, then other earls will come, and even those high-ranking dukes will join in privately."
Rhodes responded with a smile.
"Indeed, Erengrad now is like a big cake. No one will refuse such delicious food."
Alves grinned and continued with a wicked smile——
"The agricultural harvester outside the city has been missed by some people for a long time."
"Then sell it to them."
Rhodes blurted out without any hesitation or pause.
Alves frowned a little.
"Now that the decision is open, some things cannot be concealed. If we don't sell the harvester to them, they will try every means to get it privately. Smuggling, or stealing people and technology, do you think these imperial businessmen want to get benefits?
What can't be done? As long as there is enough profit, someone will risk being beheaded to do it. The harvester is not technically difficult in nature. As long as these businessmen steal skilled workers and parts, they can use the empire's engineering
With the level of technology, it won’t take long for machines to be copied exactly like ours. Moreover, the price is even more advantageous than ours.”
Rhodes explained calmly——
"So, the appetite is almost worked up, and it's time to sell it. The machine and technology will be packaged and sold together. The price will be higher."
"Okay, how much will it cost?"
"This is up to you."
"I understand." Alves nodded, "By the way, there is one more thing, which is really interesting. Do you still remember the bet I made with you? What do you think the construction of the water supply system in Dongquan District will be within two years?
No one will take over this project, but this time you are wrong. Not only did someone take over the Dongquan District water supply project, but it was also completed, perfectly."
Sitting on the stone chair, Alves narrowed his eyes and said with a smile. There was a bit of mysterious pride in his expression.
"Impossible. This project is basically a subsidized project. The reason why it was announced in the first place was just to expand the scale of Erengrad's infrastructure and prop up the scene. This kind of project is a livelihood project and is not profitable. It's impossible.
Someone took it."
Rhodes said nonchalantly, his mind already starting to shift his attention, imagining the next battle in the pit of hell.
But Alves still looks confident.
"Don't jump to conclusions so quickly. Let me tell you who took over this project."
Alves raised his eyebrows with a proud smile on his lips.
"It's an imperial alchemist. Not only did he complete the project, he also completed it in just three months, twice as much time as originally planned."
"Then he must be a liar."
Rhodes continued to answer casually.
"If he is a liar, then he has deceived the gods. Rhodes, guess what method he used to complete this job?"
Facing Alves' complacency, Rhodes didn't take it seriously.
“He used copper plating to solve the core technical problem of corrosion of water pipes!”
These words made the corners of Rhodes' eyes twitch.
"Go on."
Rhodes, who had just been meditating on the Battle of the Hell Pit two months later, was instantly interested.
"This alchemist who claimed to be from Altdorf, the capital of the empire, used his own original method to coat the surface of the iron water pipe with a copper film. The copper film was thinner than paper, and the cost was only a hundred dollars higher than the iron water pipe.
Five times, this is plus his alchemy cost, which means that this alchemist can process metal to an extremely dense and fine level. To the naked eye, those water pipes look like they came from a bucket soaked in copper liquid.
It’s like taking it out. It’s like taking it out of paint, no, it’s even thinner than the paint layer!”
Alves introduced it with a proud smile that could not be concealed, as if he was showing off his treasure.
As for Rhodes, the corners of his eyes twitched even more.
"What's the name of that alchemist?"
Rhodes was stunned and asked eagerly.
"He said his name was Gelt. Um...Belshazer Gelt."
When Alves finished saying this name, Rhodes couldn't help but feel ecstatic in his heart. His whole heart seemed to be in his throat.
"Tell me, where is he?!"
Rhodes walked down from the chair and stared at Alves with excitement. It was as if he had discovered some shocking treasure. Of course, this was indeed a shocking treasure. Only Rhodes knew what this name meant. He only had hope.
Don't have too many people with the same name in this world.