Struggle in the Steam Age

"8,000-10,000 pilgrims—" Lawrence fell into contemplation after the priest said his analysis report. Unlike those holy places on land, he was able to come because of the need to pay extra transportation fees. The number of pilgrims on these islands is at least 50% lower than normal.

But on the other hand, it also shows that most of the people who can come to these island holy places are people with a little money, except for a small number of ordinary people from the surroundings who can row this boat. Therefore, for Lawrence and others who are island landlords, the various reception facilities must at least reach an ordinary level. The previous plan to transform those abandoned temporary dormitories is not very suitable for this group of people.

"I have a plan here," Owen's deputy butler, who is currently in charge of internal affairs on the island, raised his hand and said. "We can build a batch of temporary bamboo and wood buildings to entertain these pilgrims. After the pilgrimage is over, these buildings can just be used as temporary isolation points for immigrants."

The reason why Deputy Steward Owen made such a suggestion is that New Shaw Island differs from most countries and regions in this era in some regulations. For example, any new immigrants must be quarantined for 14 days, and those sailors, merchants, or fishermen who come to deliver goods who cannot be quarantined are restricted to the port area.

Although the foreign exchange on the island seemed a bit troublesome after doing so, correspondingly, as a newly developed island, the outbreak of various infectious diseases on New Sauer Island was obviously much less than that of other similar colonies. It can be seen that this somewhat cumbersome inspection and quarantine work is very effective.

It's just that because of insufficient resources, the so-called isolation areas were just sheds made of wood, horizontal strips and mud. Only a small number of wooden houses can accommodate the elderly, weak, sick, disabled and pregnant immigrants. Therefore, Owen's deputy housekeeper just wanted to take this opportunity to renovate the inspection and quarantine point.

"If that's the case, then do it this way." Lawrence pursed his lips and said, building a series of buildings just for pilgrimage would obviously be a bit of a loss under the current circumstances. It is possible to support such a face project. But if he can make the best use of everything afterwards, he can still find a way to squeeze out a sum of money.

"But our budget for this year is already full." Safir whispered at the side at this time, "If you want to repair a room that can accommodate at least 3,000 people at the same time and a series of buildings such as wells and toilets, the money needed But it’s not a lot, and that little mobile fund is simply not enough.”

"I thought about it for a while. We can repair the flood control dams on the western side of the river in the next season." Lawrence thought for a while and said, "At least according to the weather records of previous years, there will be no hurricanes in this season. .So there is no problem in pushing back the construction of those water conservancy projects for a while. And after this period of time has passed, the wealth that the Holy Grail has brought to the island during this period of time on the island is enough to make us before the hurricane season. Fix these water conservancy projects."

Of course, part of what Lawrence didn't say at this time is that Nora has newly mastered the ability to control the wind that can control precipitation. So in an emergency, you can also ask Nora to cast spells to reduce the intensity of the hurricane on the island and the precipitation that comes with the wind. Therefore, even if he really encountered bad weather, he could avoid the losses caused by those weather.

"What you said makes sense." After hearing what Lawrence said, Safir and everyone went to the island map hanging on the side wall to discuss for a few minutes and then said to Lawrence. "The two or three dams you mentioned are indeed not very important. After all, the fields around the dam are all newly reclaimed land, and the first batch will only grow some vegetables and fruits. If the dam breaks, it will really flood. Not much loss."

After weighing the pros and cons, they decided to temporarily embezzle the money and resources from the embankment to build new buildings. The location was finally set in the port area. Considering that the Holy Grail will not leave the ship during this process, these places for entertaining guests are placed in the port area just to prevent foreign diseases from entering the island, and at the same time allow those pilgrims to get in close contact with their pilgrimage goals, It can be said that it is convenient for others and convenient for oneself.

And after the pilgrimage season is over in the future, these buildings can be seamlessly converted into new immigration inspection and quarantine areas under the immigration office. Of course, according to the speed of immigrants moving in, they must not be able to live in these houses. Therefore, another part of the house can also be rented out to those merchants as warehouses.

As the output and personnel of the island increase. The demand for commerce on the island, especially foreign trade, has gradually become prosperous. In this case, it is very important to expand the port and increase and upgrade the original facilities of the port. For example, according to the plan, a new stone trestle extending into the sea will be added to the port in this quarter, which will increase the berths of the port by another 1/3.

At the same time, the port authority will also introduce two steam tower cranes and supporting tracks. If everything can be completed, the throughput of the entire port of Nova Sauer will increase by at least 50% in the next quarter, so that it can meet the island's growing demand for shipping.

After discussing the issue of pilgrimage, the next part is about some government affairs on the island. For example, with the introduction of various machines on the island, the training of operating personnel has obviously encountered a lull. According to Mr. Lambert, if no new personnel can join the queue of training teachers, the number of machines on the island is already the limit of the island's inventory. The steam tower cranes planned to be introduced in the port area may not be able to maximize their efficiency due to insufficient manpower.

"I remember that there were not many workers who immigrated with us at that time." Lawrence asked with some doubts just after his father's voice fell. "There are nearly a thousand people with machine operation skills, and there are workers among the scattered immigrants. This is more skilled workers than all the skilled workers on the surrounding islands combined. How can there be not enough people?"

"You're right, Lawrence. Don't you forget that we also have more machines on our island than all the surrounding islands combined. Think of Santo Domingo, until now they've squeezed and boiled sugar on those machines." Wooden tools, man-made or animal-powered, not even a steam engine in the morning," Mr Lambert said.

"Our side has spent a lot of money to introduce a lot of steam engines, which is why the development of our side in a few months has surpassed the development of other islands in a few years. But correspondingly, the manpower on the island has begun to appear insufficient. .Although the church is also helping to train hard, experienced workers have also begun to try to lead apprentices. But the number of people trained in this way is too small, far behind the speed of the increase in machines."

There is a big difference between operating a machine and learning other things. One of the most important differences is that operating a machine requires practical practice plus an internship. You must not be in a hurry, otherwise, a group of insufficiently trained personnel will operate the machine and break the machine. If it is a trivial matter, it will be really troublesome if it causes a large number of casualties.

"That is to say, we must find a way to introduce a group of skilled workers, right?" Lawrence said with a helpless look on his face. Now because of the production on the island, he has just saved a sum of money. It is definitely no problem to buy machines, but it is not that simple to hire people, especially Lawrence needs these people to have a certain degree of loyalty to the island. Degree, not the kind of person who is purely obtained by money.

"Xun—His Excellency." At this time, a young man sitting at the end of the long table raised his slightly trembling right hand and signaled, "I think I may know where to hire a suitable technician."