Changes at Year's End
Time flies, and it was soon November 1678.
Although the first snowfall has not yet arrived, the temperature in the Two Rivers County has already dropped to around ten degrees Celsius, and people are wearing thick winter clothes.
However, the winter clothing popular in the Two Rivers County this year is very different from that of previous years. Thanks to the expansion of the Northlands, the area under cotton cultivation in the Two Rivers County has increased, and cotton production has been rising steadily.
With cotton production increasing and cotton prices falling sharply, large quantities of cotton-padded clothing began circulating in the market. This type of warm clothing, which was much cheaper than fur, quickly became popular among residents.
Over the past six months, the Two Rivers County has once again achieved remarkable development, with significant growth across all metrics reported in the year-end report.
In particular, the population of Two Rivers County has increased, with a large number of people from Qinghe County migrating there to fill the labor shortage in Two Rivers County. Industries that were previously limited by labor force have once again gained opportunities for development.
But the good news doesn't stop there; prospecting teams from Two Rivers County have also discovered a silver mine in Qinghe County.
This is good news for the territory. Although the territory had a stable source of silver from copper mines and associated minerals, the output was not large.
The Golden Sunflower Family's Finance Department has been hampered by a lack of raw materials, preventing them from minting coins on a large scale.
Today, the territory's copper coins can be minted using the territory's existing copper mines, but Silver Coin and gold coins still come from external trade.
This greatly displeased the territory's Finance Department, since the Raine Kingdom could exploit other noble territories to a certain extent by minting Silver Coin and gold coins.
However, the Golden Sunflower Family, being Duke, possessed the right to mint copper and Silver Coins, which would have allowed them to avoid such losses.
However, due to a shortage of raw materials, progress has been stalled, and purchasing silver from external sources would be too costly.
But now, with the discovery of the silver mine in Qinghe County, the territory's mint can finally put its skills to good use. They have submitted a request to the Finance Department to expand the existing minting scale in the future, so that the Silver Coin and copper coins produced by the territory's Mint can meet the territory's own consumption.
Victor agreed to this, as it would benefit the territory's financial resources. If the territory's current Silver Coin and copper coins were minted by the territory itself, the future profits from minting coins alone would exceed those from gold, which was no small sum.
In addition, the Steelworks's expansion has proceeded smoothly. Through cooperation with the Territory Research Institute, the Steelworks has added a new blast furnace with a daily output of 100 tons of pig iron.
This single blast furnace alone can increase the territory's pig iron production by one-third. According to the short-term plan, the territory will add two more blast furnaces of the same size in the future, thus doubling the territory's pig iron production capacity.
The most exciting change is that the telegraph network in the Vela Region is now fully operational.
Previously, in order to help the Raine Royal House build telegraph lines, Two Rivers County allocated the vast majority of its human resources to the Raine Royal House to build the telegraph network on Ryan territory.
The Raine Royal House's telegraph network is now largely complete, connecting all the provinces.
Meanwhile, the telegraph company in Two Rivers County was finally able to gradually withdraw its resources and complete the telegraph network for the Upper Vela Province and Lower Vela Province by the end of the year.
Currently, the telegraph network has almost completely covered most of the noble territories in the entire Vela Region, and it can be said that the construction of Vela's communication lines has been completed.
Meanwhile, the railway construction in the territory has also been progressing smoothly. With the successful completion of the first three phases of the railway project, Two Rivers County now has a railway system consisting of two horizontal and one vertical lines, and the third phase of the project has also successfully connected it to Iron Tree City.
Now, one can travel by rail from anywhere in Two Rivers County without having to transfer, which greatly facilitates communication and interaction between Two Rivers County and the interior of Vela Iron Tree City.
This marks the completion of the first phase of Victor's planned railway network construction, and the railway network in Two Rivers County will not undergo significant changes in the near future.
However, the Golden Sunflower Family's other two territories, Golden Sunflower Territory and Qinghe County Railway, are about to officially begin construction. In particular, Golden Sunflower Territory will become an important hub in the entire Vela Railway Network in the future.
Victor had ulterior motives. He planned to use his status as the initiator of the railway construction to build a massive railway control center in Golden Sunflower Territory, which would become the largest railway transportation hub in the entire Eastern Region Vela.
However, Golden Sunflower Territory also has geographical advantages, especially its flat surrounding terrain and location in the densely populated Eastern Region of Vela, which is also situated in the very heart of Vela Upper Vela Province. This is why Victor was able to choose it as the dispatch center.
However, the construction of this railway network is expected to take a long time, since each noble lord in each region needs to build their own railways, which requires a great deal of financial resources from the nobles.
Therefore, Victor planned to establish a railway company, provide loans to various entities, and use these loans to control the operation and management of the railways. The nobles would only be able to enjoy dividends and would not be able to participate in management.
However, this is currently in the planning stage, as many nobles are wary of it, and many are not interested in railway construction.
Railways are a capital investment, and convincing these nobles to invest so much money while relinquishing their operating and management rights in a sense infringed upon the nobles' absolute control over their own territories, which made many nobles very dissatisfied.
Therefore, Victor and the railway department planned to re-plan the route, first building two important trunk lines throughout the province of Upper Vina to connect the territories of several major noble families, and then using the actual results to persuade other nobles to change their minds.
Faced with the major nobles of Vela, Victor certainly wouldn't resort to the method of gaining control through loans.
The various nobles still funded the repairs themselves and took a stake in the project, while Victor provided technical support and did not take away control of the railways in the territories of the major nobles.
If successfully completed, the entire Vela Nobles will be able to mobilize personnel and supplies through these railway lines, which will fundamentally change the mobilization capacity and resource conversion speed of the entire Vela.
Therefore, Victor, Alex, and the other Grand Marquis all had high expectations for these railways.
Once completed, the high nobles of Vela will have a greater advantage over other lower and middle nobles, and their control over the Vela Region will become stronger, as convenient transportation naturally facilitates centralization of power.
Just then, Victor received the news he had been waiting for: the Snow Mountain Expedition Team he had sent out earlier had returned safely.
The Expedition Team brought back a wealth of firsthand data and information about the Volcano, especially a large quantity of high-purity Sulfur Mine.
According to the Expedition Team's firsthand report, there are large quantities of exposed, high-purity Sulfur Mine in the area surrounding the Volcano, making it ideal for mining.
The only thing to be aware of is that these Sulfur Mine are of high purity. Due to the unique terrain of the Snow Mountain, strong winds are easily generated. These winds carry high concentrations of sulfur dust, which is extremely harmful to the human body. Therefore, workers who go there to collect ore must take good personal protective measures.
The Territory Research Institute immediately began studying these Sulfur Mine, and soon, under Victor's guidance, researchers successfully completed the preparation of Sulfuric Acid in the laboratory, which meant that the last shortcoming of the Territory's chemical industry had been solved.
The discovery of high-grade Sulfur Mine has completely solved a major pain point for the territory's Industrial Department.
Victor was very satisfied with the Expedition Team's efforts; they not only successfully found the target mineral, but also conducted a very detailed survey of the flora, fauna, and landforms around the Volcano.
The Expedition Team returned with a large number of plant and animal specimens. Near the Volcano, they discovered not only Sulfur Mine but also Obsidian Mine and other associated minerals.
In particular, several unusual plants were discovered, which aroused the curiosity of agricultural experts from the Research Institute and the territory.
One of the plants, named Thick-Bark Tree, grows in large patches near Volcano craters and thrives even in high-temperature environments.
Although it is called Thick-Bark Tree, it is not a kind of grass, but a very special kind of tree. Although this tree is very short, with most specimens only 20 or 30 centimeters tall, it is very thick and sturdy.
It has an appearance similar to a cycad, and its bark is very tough, which can protect it well. It can still survive even in the high temperature environment around the Volcano and in the large amount of sulfide vapor.
This tree bark can be considered a very natural fire-resistant material, which the camp Research Institute has highly praised. As for its other functions, they are still being explored.