Accumulating Capital and Developing Energy

Chapter 48: 2.05 Accumulating Capital and Developing Energy

Pandora Era Year 137. The Southern New Regime had now firmly established its foothold.

The primary natural obstacles had been cleared during Wei Keng's exploration phase. Now, following a smooth transition, a new round of development was underway.

Militarily, to establish transportation lines connecting the core New Zhujiang region with surrounding city-states, the Unified Punishment Army conducted multiple military exercises.

The round-headed "War God Tanks" were equipped with shovels at the front, clearing away dry branches and vines that blocked their path.

This diesel convoy followed the old railway beds built during the old Civilization Era and the original national roads, pushing all the way to the city walls of various city-states. There, they carried out military exercises codenamed "Liberation."

The rifled cannons on the tank turrets began adjusting their firing parameters. The muzzles, which had initially pointed at the city walls upon arrival, now turned ninety degrees towards the exercise area on the hillside. They precisely hit targets temporarily designated (and marked) by representatives of the autonomous regions (the nobles within the city-states), fully replicating combat conditions.

Jin Hua Daily: On April 13th, the Unified Punishment Army successfully completed its military exercise mission, demonstrating to the people of the autonomous cities in the Yue Region the determination of our People's Army legions to protect national assets. Representatives from the autonomous city-states firmly supported the leadership of the new government and joined the initiative for New Zhujiang economic integration.

In plain terms: those tanks completed the Pact of the City Under Siege and signed economic and population free movement agreements with Yuan Hua Port.

Wei Keng repeatedly reported to the organization that the Yue Region had a population of 500,000 and a complex regional situation.

Therefore, when administrative cadres like Sun Xiangyang, who were still vague about administrative work, made their plans, they could only follow Wei Keng's "PPT presentation."

Wei Keng's educational background was superior to that of the crew members from the Desperate Plane, a subtle but significantly effective advantage.

The traditional respect Chinese commoners held for scholars was deeply ingrained in their cultural genes. Even bandit leaders, after growing powerful, would find a Xiucai to serve as their strategist.

Thus, Wei Keng didn't need to seize decision-making power or occupy many seats. His proposals, relying on his own compiled archives and data, always proceeded smoothly.

After June, as the small workshops and small city-state economic systems of various city-states were shaken by powerful artillery.

The New Zhujiang Economic Circle, built upon the old ruins, began its first wave of takeoff after the arrival of cargo ships. Thirteen excavators cleared away parts of the ruins, and building materials produced by the lime kilns formed circular walls. Inside, buildings were constructed, with reservations for green spaces and future road expansion. This layout resembled that of a factory compound.

As the population surged towards New Zhujiang, various factory buildings and structures needed to be built in advance. Wei Keng, based on population migration data from within various cities and fluctuations in grain prices, modeled the migration of people from outside towards the Guangzhou Economic Zone. The new government then planned production and construction according to these modeled trends.

Economically, while ensuring the populace's basic needs, New Zhujiang began export-oriented economic production to accumulate capital!

It was the 27th century. Wei Keng's sociological education naturally did not deify capitalism, but "capital" was an objective reality "before civilization reached a state of extreme spiritual and material abundance."

Accumulating 'capital' was not about engaging in finance; capital was the credit in social material exchange.

This was because society could not be composed of selfless individuals, and those in high management positions were certainly not.

Having lived through the chaotic era of the 21st century, hearing phrases like "overtime is training for you" and "forcing you to resign is to send talent to society"—words that were outwardly selfless but inwardly shameless—

Wei Keng was extremely averse to selfless dedication. All his labor must be recognized with a credit value given by those who respected him. This value, most closely aligned with the society's physical goods, was money! It was capital.

In a society with a constant population and productivity, the total credit needed for the entire society to function was also constant. Sometimes, certain systems in society would create virtual credit to concentrate certain societal wealth and gamble on the future in high-tech industries. This method of credit operation was financial means.

Of course, virtual is virtual after all. If financial means are not used to gamble on future industries, but to build a financial bubble that can satisfy the blood-sucking insects in this era, then financial bubbles will eventually accumulate.

Every time a bubble bursts, a large amount of capital evaporates, but as long as society continues to operate, capital, as credit, will still exist.

Where is the capital of this world gathered in the Pandora Plane today? — In the upper echelons of various city-states!

They have concentrated all the one-yuan steel cents and fifty-cent copper coins that were widely circulated before the Great Cataclysm into their own hands.

After Wei Keng's arrival, the new economic entities in the Zhujiang Region, through non-warfare means and relying on production advantages, continuously earned back these copper coins and steel cents in commerce. This is the accumulation of capital.

Copper coins and steel cents can be mass-produced by the Desperate Plane's minting facilities, but that would only destroy the circulation of steel cents and copper coins in the south, leading to mutual destruction and not accumulating capital.

The essence of capital is credit, a scalar that can temporarily exchange labor and material wealth from all levels of society during its operation. This cannot be simply created by a minting machine; it is established in the process of social operation.

A group must let the world know that they have the ability to increase wealth and provide security for society! Only then will the currency supported by this group be a scalar of credit.

This can be seen as "Establish Trust Through Action," although the process is quite complex, requiring proof of both production capacity and military capability. However, as modern civilization has developed to this point, ruling should be more extensive and precise than in Shang Yang's era.

In fact, to quickly accumulate capital, Wei Keng seems to have another option: direct plunder through military means! Directly destroy the credit of the upper echelons of nearby old city-states.

However~

Not to mention whether Wei Keng, who fears death and pain, is willing to make sacrifices for this plan. This method is too limited. Although it can quickly gather credit in the Yue Region, it will destroy the Unified Punishment Army's reputation abroad.

A force that achieves wealth concentration through plunder will be questioned in every way outside the regions it can plunder!

Besides the Yue Region, there are other city-states on the entire East Asia Continent! These city-states still have exchanges. The military expansion of the Unified Punishment Army will also pose a military threat to these city-states. After all, its name is "Unified Punishment," not local separatism.

Military force may cause huge economic losses to a region during its operations, but it must not "bombard them into destitution in the name of plundering wealth."

At least not openly, and not allow organized actions by the army in this manner.

Otherwise, your army is definitely not a force for "establishing order," but a beastly army that sucks the marrow from bones. No matter how much real gold and silver you plunder, it can only be used internally as capital (credit) to stabilize occupied areas, but externally? Unless you give up the occupation, external forces will never feel at ease trading with you.

When things can be achieved through economic means, don't act like the Russians! Moreover, after Wei Keng's detailed investigation, the wealth structure of the human city-states at this time is very deformed. Economic means are more effective.

The economic model of these city-states in the Yue Region is that capital is concentrated on a large scale at the top, and no longer feeds back to the lower levels through large-scale projects.

These city-states now have an addictive demand for two types of goods: luxury goods and arms.

Luxury goods and arms correspond to: the upper class's pursuit of pleasure and the need to maintain their rule.

The Great Qing is an example, buying opium and Krupp cannons.

The new government of the Zhujiang, to help surrounding human forces deal with the threat of Gene Colonies, sells some firearms and ammunition. But now the main products sold at the 'New Canton Fair' are high-end consumer goods.

What are high-end consumer goods today? — Seasoning packets for instant noodles!

For this purpose, an MSG Factory has been established. While sodium chloride and sodium glutamate can both supplement sodium ions, the upper class, with their capital, can afford to buy one hundred times the amount of salt they need. But since they don't need it, that much steel cents won't flow out. Therefore, MSG, which is currently ten times the price of salt, is tailor-made for them by Wei Keng.

In Yue Region, there are merchant routes that transport salt to inland city-states, thus, this consumer market is very large.

And the city-states that continuously outflow steel cents, today lack the ability of a planned economy to allocate production materials for various classes. Due to the lack of important intermediaries for social and economic activities, once capital flows out, credit declines.

August 17th, at the entrance of the supply cooperative.

"Buy, buy, buy!" At the commodity supply point, merchants holding order forms even caused a stampede to procure enough goods, to the extent that the supply cooperative had to deploy police to maintain order in the afternoon. These MSG, fresh scented bath soaps, and cotton inside leather outside coats, which ordinary people cannot currently use, are exchanged for what appear to be currency before the Great Cataclysm. But in reality, they are the lifeblood of social order within various city-states.

And currently, the workers under the new government, economizing and working overtime to produce goods, are exchanging the steel cents they earn for themselves and the factory, not just as metal pieces, but as a guarantee that the Unified Punishment Army can quickly collect strategic resources from various regions after entering them.

In the process of capital accumulation, it seemed as if there was a kind of magic, and Wei Keng found himself infected by this magic. Wei Keng found himself working sleeplessly, and it was high-brainpower consuming work.

Wei Keng: "So, what am I even doing this for?"

About to return to the Shenzhou Plane, Old Master Wei, who would be a top celebrity, found that he shouldn't leave just yet and should do a little more.

In Pandora Year 135 October, guided by the technical experts from the Desperate Plane, Wei Keng initiated a new energy revolution on the Pandora Plane.

This energy station information was handed to Wei Keng by Luo Hongxing.

As Wei Keng began to get busy, Luo Hongxing sent a communication message to Wei Keng's Observer: "Little Deer, guiding the situation is very important!" Bai Linglu expressed that he would humbly learn, but how much he could learn, only heaven knows.

Let's talk about what Wei Keng is busy with now.

For the youths before China's urbanization, if you dug a pond for a few years and stirred it with a long pole, you could always find bubbles. This is a common phenomenon.

After the Far Horizon's crew arrived, the urbanization process in Yue Region increased, and energy consumption also surged. The past reliance on charcoal as an energy source faced significant challenges. Charcoal is prone to fungal invasion during storage, and the spores released can cause biological pollution. Therefore, there is an urgent need for more convenient energy for storage and transportation.

Electricity and natural gas, during the same period in the Main World, were important energies for human society. One was transmitted through wires, and the other through pipelines. Natural gas is not available now, but biogas? Given the thriving state of the biological world now! Not only can it exist, but there can be a lot of it.

According to Luo Hongxing's account, after he arrived at the Desperate Plane, he stayed in some areas of Southern China. Those rural areas had no coal mines, and the electricity supply was insufficient to support large-scale appliances. To solve the power generation problem, they resorted to crude methods and started biogas power generation. In fact, it wasn't crude; it was before the National Power Grid was as developed, providing technical assistance to rural areas.

Wei Keng acted immediately. He directly dug out the ponds, making them very deep and large, with heating pipes connected at the bottom. When the waste heat residue from the factory was introduced into the adjacent water pool, the heat could flow through the pipes and be transmitted to the reaction pool to regulate the reaction temperature. Then, the pool was plastered with cement, covered with a waterproof layer, and then tiled. The entire pool was fed through pipes, and the top cover was connected to a shaft seal agitator. The discharge port could be used to remove waste materials during production.

After construction was completed, these fifteen sets of ponds, each eight meters in side length and twelve meters deep, were filled with water and raw materials. Almost overnight, the inside churned like beer. The decomposition speed of straw and other dry leaves and twigs was comparable to the speed at which strawberries grow white hair. As the mixture was stirred evenly by the agitator, biogas in the large ponds flowed out of the pipes like shaken cola, entering the combustion chamber to drive the gas turbine, which in turn drove the generator set to convert it into electrical energy. This was then transmitted to nearby factories through overhead wires.

However, in the Pandora Field, the energy of life activities can be interacted with remotely.

As methanogens produced methane with abundant material supply, their residual life energy radiated to surrounding plants and even insects.

The first biogas digesters had to be stopped after ten days of power generation because an old tree root grew and cracked Pool Number Three.

So, for the second biogas power station construction, Wei Keng directly piled a three-meter thick layer of kaolin clay around each pond, tightly sealed with blue bricks and cement. (This is Imperial Tomb Burial Craftsmanship).

This cement pond, capable of continuously producing gaseous energy, has an external life radiation energy density no less than a nuclear reactor in the Civilization Era. However, methanogens lack complex genes, and their insertion effect on human genes is limited. But the continuous radiation still causes an increase in the production of some sugars and proteins, exceeding the upper limit that human endocrine coordination can bear.

During the period from Pandora Year 135 November to Year 136 April, Workers not in the Wei Keng Control Group would experience stomach aches or develop mite tinea on their skin if they worked on-site for three consecutive hours.

Wei Keng and the Engineering Team concluded that electricity control automation must be increased. Each patrol could not exceed half an hour, and daily blood exchange with comrades on duty in other areas was required, or direct injection of Wei Keng's blood to thoroughly enhance resistance to life radiation during microorganism proliferation.

However, when the organization arranged work, it was more inclined to assign the Wei Keng Collective to bear half the duty load, awaiting the next generation of technology updates.

Each pond in the biogas power plant could process one hundred kilograms of straw-like material daily, generating about 10,000 kilowatts of electricity, which is 10,000 kilowatt-hours. The current electricity price is 0.8 cents per kilowatt-hour, totaling eighty yuan per day. The entire power plant requires ten people to operate. One-third of the output could be allocated as post salary.

As the largest group of workers at the biogas power plant, the Wei Kengs sighed after receiving their salaries from the organization, "This is truly a high-welfare position."

If this position could truly provide a static lifestyle, then it would be suitable for lying flat. But! Wei Keng waved his fist to encourage himself, "We must strive! For a beautiful tomorrow!"