Salt
To ensure the clean and efficient operation of this increasingly large administrative system and to prevent newly promoted officials from abusing their power or neglecting their duties, Edgar further refined the management functions, separating the powers of personnel, land reclamation, commerce, and finance in the Tunbao and assigning them to different departments or officials, thus forming a preliminary system of checks and balances.
More importantly, he secretly established a supervisory bureau under his directly controlled governor's office.
The members of this organization remain anonymous and regularly or irregularly visit various Tunbao and functional departments to conduct overt and covert investigations, secretly monitor and evaluate the performance of newly appointed officials, listen to feedback from grassroots leaders, and focus on verifying whether there are any problems such as corruption, injustice, or inefficiency.
It is important to note that Edgar's Inspectorate is fundamentally different from the Intelligence Department directly under Karl and headed by Richter.
The Control Bureau targets the internal civil service system, focusing on governance and administrative efficiency; its nature is closer to administrative oversight and disciplinary inspection.
Moreover, Edgar made it clear that this institution was temporary, and its main purpose was to act as a check on officials during the initial period of a regime when a large number of new officials took office. Once these officials passed the probationary period and proved their ability and integrity, the intensive surveillance would be gradually withdrawn and replaced by regular superior-subordinate supervision.
While construction was in full swing on Carnford Plain, the reconstruction of Amber Bay, overseen by engineer Morr, also made groundbreaking progress.
Thanks to the addition of several experienced shipbuilding engineers recruited from the south, they quickly came up with a solution for large pontoons to address the lack of natural deep-water harbors in Amber Bay.
Under Morr's supervision and with a large workforce, three sturdy wooden barges, constructed from large logs and heavy planks, were successfully built and anchored in place next to the ruins of the old port of Amber Bay.
These barges, like platforms floating on the water, are connected to the shore by sturdy gangplanks. Although rudimentary, they are capable of safely berthing small and medium-sized coastal merchant ships, fulfilling the most basic maritime loading and unloading functions.
This achievement had an immediate and noticeable effect.
In recent days, caravans traveling between Fran City and ports further south have begun sending small sailing ships to attempt to dock at Amber Bay.
These ships brought Carnford much-needed goods such as cloth, tools, and spices, while also transporting Northern Territory specialties such as furs, timber, and salted fish to the south.
The cost of ocean shipping is far lower than that of long and dangerous land transport. Although the ships currently operating there are small in tonnage, infrequent, and have limited capacity and scale, this is undoubtedly an extremely valuable and promising start, opening up a potential economic lifeline for Carnford.
Moreover, Morr took full advantage of Carnford's coastal location. After consulting with local fishermen, he selected a wide and flat beach near Amber Bay and established Carnford's first formal saltworks.
He adopted the more efficient "step-by-step salt-drying method," constructing a series of interconnected shallow pools of varying heights, introducing seawater, and then utilizing sunlight and wind power for natural evaporation.
Seawater flows into the next salt pond under the influence of gravity, its concentration continuously increasing, and finally crystallizes into salt in the final pond.
In the sunny spring and summer seasons, the entire process can be completed in just three to five days.
In addition, the Master Craftsman saltworkers have mastered a secret method for making salt even faster. By adding an appropriate amount of lime to the nearly saturated brine, the sedimentation and crystallization process of impurities can be greatly accelerated. It only takes two or three hours to produce salt with a white color and excellent quality, which ensures both the quantity and quality of salt in Carnford.
The self-production and self-sale of salt brought the most direct benefits, causing salt prices to plummet.
Within the Carnford Territory, a hundred pounds of good quality salt could sometimes be bought for only twenty or thirty copper coins, a price far lower than in the south and the heart of the kingdom.
Lord Karl was very pleased with this, for he knew all too well that salt and iron had always been among the most lucrative commodities in terms of tax revenue and profit.
He once ambitiously envisioned that if he could sell Carnford's cheap salt on a large scale to the southern market, he would surely reap huge profits.
However, when he shared this idea with Grimm, the caravan leader who frequently traveled between the north and south, he received a calm and realistic response.
Grimm explained, "My lord, your idea is good, but the salt market in the south has long been monopolized by a few powerful families and nobles. Their distribution channels are deeply entrenched, and they will never allow cheap salt from outside to impact their interests. They will use every means to suppress and block it, and it will be very difficult for Carnford to break through their barriers."
After listening, Karl calmly considered the matter and realized that what Grimm said was true.
With its current strength and influence, Carnford is not yet capable of challenging the deeply entrenched business interests in the South.
Therefore, Carnford's salt is currently mainly used to supply the territory itself and meet its own needs. At most, some is sold to Fran City with which it has close ties, and sometimes it is used as hard currency for barter with passing caravans.
At the same time, Carnford also began building its own ships. After all, Carnford is located by the sea, and a powerful territory not only needs solid land fortifications, but also maritime power that can control the waters and connect with the outside world.
Especially along the long coastline of the Northern Territory, having its own fleet is of immeasurable strategic value, whether for trade and transportation, coastal patrols, or future cross-sea operations.
Therefore, despite the need to rebuild everything and the scarcity of resources, Carnford's own fleet construction plan was put on the agenda and began to be vigorously promoted as one of the priority projects.
Although the Northern Territory has a cold climate and a short growing season, its vast primeval forests provide ideal conditions for shipbuilding.
The cold, dry environment slows down the growth of wood, resulting in denser, stronger, and more durable wood.
The establishment of the Carnford shipyard was perfectly timed and took full advantage of favorable location.
During the large-scale construction of city defenses last year, a large amount of high-quality timber was stockpiled, including more than a dozen exceptionally thick, straight, and tough oak logs, which were slightly surplus due to their larger-than-expected size.
These valuable resources, which might have otherwise been left idle, have now become the "first pot of gold" for fleet construction. They have been carefully selected and are intended to be used as the most core and critical component of future ships—the keel.
The keel is the backbone of a ship, determining its basic strength and structure. Using such high-quality long oak to build it undoubtedly lays the most solid foundation for the ship's sturdiness and durability.
As for the hull planks and decks, spruce wood, which is more common in the Northern Territory, relatively lightweight, and easy to work with, was selected.
Spruce wood is lightweight, has good buoyancy, and possesses a certain degree of toughness, making it ideal for constructing the external structure and deck of ships. This can effectively reduce the ship's weight and increase its speed and cargo capacity.
Spruce is one of the main tree species in the forests surrounding Carnford, where the supply of raw materials is relatively abundant and the cost is low.
The overall planning and specific technical guidance were still handled by the experienced engineer Morr, along with several senior shipbuilding craftsmen recruited from Fran City and those who came voluntarily.
After careful discussion and deliberation, they proposed a pragmatic and visionary construction plan to Karl, which did not pursue the construction of large, complex, and technologically advanced warships at this stage.
Instead, priority was given to building two types of ships that had stood the test of time, were technologically mature, and had a wide range of uses, especially the Cog and Caravelle.