In Gu Hang's plans, the Waste Mine Society would become the heavy-industry hub of his territory. It was well situated, close to Trash Town, which would provide raw materials and energy in the future, and it already had some mineral resources of its own.
The Alloy Plasteel production line was there. Once the merchant Dennison Henry brought back the generators that used Thermal Ash Stone to produce electricity, Gu Hang would build a power plant at the Waste Mine Society as well.
As the Waste Mine Society's heavy and energy industries developed, a workforce of only eight hundred would certainly not be enough. Gu Hang had already begun transferring workers who had originally been expanding the camp and building an "airport" at the Governor's Camp to the Waste Mine Society, to meet the labor needs of its alloy factory.
But this labor pool had a limit, and the Governor's Camp needed people of its own.
Production required workers, and so did expanding the army. The demand for manpower under Gu Hang was now very high. Bringing in people from outside was unavoidable, which was exactly why he had made a special request to Dennison Henry: find a way to spread the word and bring in more people.
Of course, the refugees recruited outside Revival City would not necessarily make suitable industrial workers.
And it wasn't just the refugees. Even the former slaves brought down from the starship, who now lived at the Waste Mine Society, weren't exactly suitable.
Literacy was a major problem. Illiterate people might be able to do hard labor, but it was difficult for them to develop into skilled workers.
But this was a problem that could be solved. Gu Hang had already ordered night classes to be held at the Waste Mine Society and his own camp. The first step would be teaching people to read and write, followed by basic skills training and the sharing of work experience.
There were quite a few people at the Waste Mine Society who were willing to learn and improve themselves.
There was no need to worry much about them. Give them an opportunity, and they would throw themselves into making progress.
But not everyone was ambitious.
Now they could live on the surface without worrying about their safety. They had enough to eat and clothes to keep them warm. They'd heard that electricity and heating would be provided soon, too... For them, that was already more than enough.
They had no motivation to improve their lot.
Gu Hang certainly wasn't willing to let things stay that way.
If no one worked hard, how could he expand production and rebuild the world?
So Gu Hang brought out a new measure: a labor-point allocation system.
Work earned labor points, and labor points determined what supplies and benefits people received. If they wanted better food, housing, and clothes, or even a good life for their closest family members, they would have to work hard.
He also introduced several skilled trades among the workers. Those who passed an assessment and became skilled workers would receive considerably more labor points than ordinary workers.
To become a skilled worker, they would have to study hard.
Schooling did not earn labor points, but students got dinner without using their rations. That was a good way to save money, too.
With tangible incentives for advancement and real increases in food rations, the night classes at the Waste Mine Society and the Governor's Camp were widely welcomed.
The teachers, on the other hand, were harder to come by. For now, he could only have the few literate people among the servants brought down from the starship Quintet serve as teachers. As for the so-called technical training, it was really just a matter of compiling and sharing the workarounds and experience that a few sharp-minded workers had picked up on the job during this period.
With so few teachers, they could hardly expect to produce outstanding students.
Gu Hang understood that. Given the circumstances, all he could do was make the best of what they had.
As for the labor points he had mentioned, Gu Hang had originally considered whether to introduce currency.
Trade across the wasteland was chaotic. Currency did exist: the Alliance issued Revival Coins, and several other major factions issued their own money. But the various systems were a mess, exchanging between them was a hassle, and some settlements further away might not even accept certain currencies.
The most common way of trading on the wasteland was still the primitive barter system.
Gu Hang's faction was not yet large enough to issue its own currency. Promoting one would take a great deal of effort, while using someone else's currency risked letting their larger economies overwhelm his own.
So he decided not to introduce currency for now. Instead, he would use labor points internally as an incentive.
People earned labor points by working and spent them on housing and rations. It was already a basic prototype of currency under a planned economy.
Gu Hang had no intention of relying on a planned economy forever, but it would certainly play a large role. In his view, concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks had been a highly successful approach during the development stage.
If the Waste Mine Society was meant to develop into a heavy-industry hub, then Gu Hang envisioned the Governor's Camp as a transport hub and a center for light industry.
There was no need to dwell on transportation. The core task was maintaining contact with the great treasure in the sky, the starship Quintet. When Gu Hang chose the camp's location, he had deliberately picked a flat area without natural defenses, primarily for that reason.
The looms and related technology he had asked Dennison Henry to purchase were part of Gu Hang's plans for light industry.
Besides textiles, there was also the food industry.
The synthetic starch maker brought down from the Quintet had begun operating under the guidance of a technician who had come down with the starship. At the same time, they were assembling a new synthetic starch production line, relying mainly on parts brought down from the starship as well.
The alloy factory at the Waste Mine Society had also received an order to manufacture acceptable components according to the technician's specifications. For parts that demanded especially high standards of craftsmanship or materials, Gu Hang could produce them using the Finished Product Black Box for Alloy Plasteel.
Of course, there were still some core components that the industry under his control could not produce. At the Governor's request, the technician from the starship was trying to overcome those technical hurdles and find a way to make them.
There was good reason for optimism. The Governor's Camp had started from scratch, but its industrial base was developing quickly, largely thanks to some extremely powerful materials technology. Even if the Alloy Plasteel produced at the Waste Mine Society was not good enough, the Alloy Plasteel made with the Finished Product Black Box was the best of the best.
However, until they overcame those technical hurdles, they could not further expand the synthetic starch production line.
Even so, the current capacity was more than sufficient.
As long as they had enough raw materials, the production line could run at full capacity and easily feed everyone under Gu Hang's command. There would even be plenty of excess capacity to stockpile food and perhaps export it.
All these plans of Gu Hang's were waiting on Dennison Henry to bring back the first shipment of goods and the first group of people, so they could begin to take shape.
The merchant from Trash Town did not keep him waiting long. He returned soon.
The people and supplies were all "swallowed up" by Gu Hang's faction.
With the two industrial hubs and the Mantan Valley Manor, where agricultural production was gradually recovering, the Governor's faction as a whole entered a fast lane of rapid development.
Before you continue