The Quarrel at the Ceremony

A few days later, Victor once again summoned the nobles of the territory to participate in the ceremony for the promotion of Octavia knights.

During the ceremony, the nobles were abuzz with discussion when they saw that such a young girl Octavia was about to be promoted to knight by the Marquis. Some even believed that the girl was Victor's future lady of the court.

As for the other two researchers who were knighted with honorary titles, they did not attract much attention because Octavia had already stolen all the limelight.

Fortunately, Victor was already prepared. The research team moved the telegraph machine directly to the lord's manor and demonstrated it to the attendees. They also set up two other machines in Sea Song Town and Wood Fort Town (there are currently four telegraph machines in total, the oldest of which has not been modified and cannot communicate with the other machines at present).

When everyone saw that this unassuming metal behemoth could transmit their messages dozens of kilometers away in just a few minutes, and receive a reply from the other side in the same amount of time, they were all amazed and found it incredible.

Some people were initially skeptical, even believing that the Marquis and they had been deceived by some strange trick.

So Victor had the man write down a sentence and send it to the device in the Government Affairs Office in Wood Fort Town, then told him to ride there and check it himself.

Then a few busybodies, including James and Ron, went along.

When they arrived at the location of the other machine a dozen minutes later and saw the already translated message, everyone was completely shocked.

However, the person involved was still somewhat skeptical, so they wrote another sentence and sent it back to the lord's manor, and then they rushed back to the manor.

Upon arriving at the manor, they saw the pre-translated message and learned from the others who remained at the scene that the message had been received and translated fifteen minutes earlier. Everyone was utterly impressed.

Especially since the nobles present were all high-ranking officials in the military and political spheres of their territories, they naturally understood the significance of this magical iron lump. Information could travel over distances that would take more than ten minutes to ride a horse, or even further, in just a few seconds. It could play an unparalleled role in both political and military applications.

Even the usually composed Powell became excited. "Marquis Lord, we should immediately install this device in villages and towns throughout the territory. This way, the decrees of the territory government can be issued to villages and towns in a timely manner, without having to send messengers on horseback. This will greatly improve efficiency."

"If possible, we should also install one in Golden Sunflower Territory, so that our two territories, hundreds of kilometers apart, can communicate much faster."

However, the military immediately objected, arguing that the machine should be installed at various border outposts so that in the event of an invasion, all units could be notified immediately and the army could be dispatched to repel the enemy.

Soon both sides were arguing. The government's civil officials believed that the Civil War was over, that there were no external enemies in the territory, and that the army was just spreading alarmist rumors.

The military countered that there were still many Barbarian Tribes in the wilderness, and that as the territory was further expanded, they would inevitably encounter those Barbarian Tribes again. If they did not prepare in advance, it would definitely affect the expansion of the territory and the immigration work.

By this time, the controversy surrounding Octavia's promotion to knighthood had long since subsided, and all the nobles had no objection to her being conferred the title. However, the three main characters and supporting characters of this promotion ceremony, including her, had been forgotten by everyone, who only wanted to gain the advantage of having the machine allocated to their own side.

Just as Octavia and the others were somewhat at a loss, Victor walked up to them with Veronica: "Now do you know why you were able to be promoted to nobles?"

The three nodded quickly. Octavia said with some emotion, "I knew what this telegraph machine was for, but I never expected that it would be so valued by you nobles, let alone cause such a scramble among you!"

"But you gentlemen are all nobles, why are you fighting like petty vendors in a market!" After saying this, Octavia quickly covered her mouth. She felt that she had said something wrong, as if she had slandered these nobles. She looked at Victor and Veronica with some fear.

Veronica reached out and patted Octavia's head, then comforted her, "They naturally understand the value of this machine and its potential role in various aspects of the territory, so they will naturally value it highly!"

As for the way they argued, which was so unbecoming of aristocratic etiquette, that's perfectly normal!

Victor added, "These guys in the army are all roughnecks; it's really too difficult to expect them to have aristocratic manners."

As for the civil officials in those territories, many of them were of commoner origin and naturally had not received education in aristocratic etiquette.

Furthermore, some of these nobles come from similar backgrounds to you.

Like that short, burly man standing next to Viscount Ron, his name is Pance. He's one of my old subordinates from the Golden Sunflower Territory. Like you, he's from a serf family. He followed me in battles across the country, made many contributions, became a senior Detachment Commander, and was promoted to deputy Regimental Commander. Last time, I conferred upon him the title of knight.

That Rubio too, and Rodriguez too..."

Victor immediately began to introduce the three of them. Among the nobles in both the military and political circles, less than half were from noble families, and the majority of the rest were Freemen, but there were also seven or eight who had broken out as serfs.

This greatly surprised Octavia and her two companions. They had genuinely believed that they were of the lowest status, never expecting that there were so many people like them among the nobles of the territory.

Victor: "Of course, the viscounts and barons are mostly from noble families. They have been with me for a long time and have made many contributions to me."

But I can assure you that as long as you continue your studies diligently and make greater contributions to the territory, I can still bestow upon you the title of true independent nobles."

The three of them naturally believed Victor's words and were all very excited, hoping to become true independent nobles.

Victor looked at the three of them, then suddenly remembered something and said to Veronica, "Speaking of the last victory celebration, I promoted so many nobles, but the territory didn't promote it properly."

The common people probably don't know the origins of these nobles. It seems the Government Affairs Office should make a good use of this, spreading the word far and wide so that more people know that anyone who performs meritorious service for me, even a serf, has a chance to rise to the rank of noble!

Veronica nodded in agreement. "It definitely deserves to be promoted properly, after all, having a ready-made role model can inspire the enthusiasm of our people!"

After the couple finished their discussion, looking at the still-arguing meeting room, Victor simply walked to the center of the room. Seeing the Marquis step forward, everyone knew Victor was about to speak, and immediately stopped arguing.

"Alright, today is a great day for the conferment of new noble titles in the territory, so stop arguing."

Regarding the configuration of the territory's telegraph machine, there will definitely be specific plans in the next step. We need to study it together, and it will take some time, since the installation and use costs of telegraph machines are currently too high!

Everyone was very curious upon hearing this, as they genuinely didn't know the details of the telegraph machine or how much it cost.

At this moment, Steward Powell spoke up directly, saying, "Marquis Excellency, the Government Affairs Office is willing to allocate a special budget for the installation of this machine. We also have a contingency budget for territory expansion and immigration work, which we can use now."

Powell had the confidence to say this because the territory's main focus for the next few years would be expansion and immigration. Therefore, Victor had handed over most of the spoils and wealth he had brought back from the Civil War to the Finance Department to cover these projects, so he did indeed have a sum of money available.

This infuriated the military personnel, as their military budget for the year had already been allocated. Coupled with troop reductions and the absence of war, their military spending had been significantly cut, making them far less financially secure than the government system.

Victor shook his head. "Do you know exactly how much this telegraph machine cost to manufacture and operate? Octavia, why don't you explain it to the gentlemen?"

After speaking, Victor made room for Octavia to come to his side. Octavia took a deep breath and walked to the front of the group.

"My lords, this telegraph machine is currently being handcrafted. Many important components can only be made by the experienced craftsmen in the Machine Factory. It is time-consuming and labor-intensive. The materials required for a single machine are at least 50 gold, and it will take half a month to produce."

Surprisingly, this statement did not spark any discussion. 50 gold coins is certainly not cheap, after all, in everyone's eyes, such a magical function must mean the machine is very valuable, but 50 gold coins is indeed not an exorbitant price.

However, as Octavia continued her introduction, everyone began to lose their composure.

"Actually, the cost of the machine only accounts for a small part of the telegraph system's cost; the bulk of the cost is the signal transmission lines."

Octavia took out a section of copper wire and showed it to everyone. "To ensure smooth signal transmission, this kind of copper wire must be used. It takes 500 kilograms of copper material per kilometer, and the cost per kilometer exceeds 400 gold. If it is a waterproof cable that can be used underwater, not only does the amount of copper material need to be doubled, but it also needs to be wrapped with a layer of Eucommia ulmoides resin, which directly costs more than 1,000 gold."

The route connecting Wood Fort Town Sea Song Town alone has already used up our research budget for this year, costing approximately 9,000 gold coins, and that's after deducting all labor costs!