Chapter 207 The Newly Built Pejite
Asbel's first task was to restore a new type of ornithopter that used an ancient engine.
That's right, it's not a pulse engine, but an ancient engine.
As I said before, why not use what's readily available?
The ancient ruins scattered throughout the city beneath Pejite can still continuously produce engine cores. Those large spaceships that can be equipped with hundreds of engines as if they were free can easily assemble ten of them every year.
Mu En always remembered that his goal was to create an army to resist the invasion of the Empire and the Dorok, rather than pursuing full-scale industrialization. Utilizing the existing ancient engine technology was the right way forward.
If the original propulsion system of the ornithopter is replaced with an engine core, not only can the original super maneuverability and hovering ability be maintained, but fuel can also be greatly saved while increasing speed several times.
Asbel discovered the problem on his own without even needing Mu En to remind him.
After testing the pulse engine prototype, Gol's detailed experimental results left him speechless. The canister of refined fuel, which was originally enough for an ancient gunboat to fly two round trips from Pejite to the Valley of the Wind, burned out completely after only ten minutes on the pulse engine.
It consumes dozens of times more fuel than ancient engines, but its thrust is only a fraction of that of ancient engines.
Asbel instantly understood why this thing hadn't been considered for deployment. It was just a hastily reconstructed prototype by Gol and others to prove the blueprint's authenticity, completely disregarding issues like power consumption, wear and tear, and lifespan.
Using it as an accelerator for an ornithopter would probably force it to make an emergency landing before it even flew ten kilometers.
Ignoring the pulse engine that had just begun to shine but was now relegated to the sidelines, the immediate priority was to expand the factory, recruit staff, and begin the development of ornithopter aircraft.
Creating a completely new ornithopter prototype is not something that can be accomplished by a dozen experienced engineers and hundreds of workers.
What, you're asking where people come from?
Just look at the crowds of people wandering aimlessly in the streets, and the answer is right before your eyes.
Pejite was an industrial city of 100,000 people, and before the war, almost every household had someone working in a factory.
Now, there are at least 30,000 to 50,000 workers who have lost their jobs because their bosses have collectively betrayed them and been arrested, because their factories have been turned into ruins, and because the entire industrial chain has come to a standstill.
These people lived on relief food every day, wandering aimlessly through the streets and alleys, not knowing what tomorrow would bring.
They're practically handing over their manpower.
At Asbel's suggestion, Haideng quickly designed a new recruitment notice.
" Erdtree Alliance's directly affiliated industrial zone is recruiting workers with excellent benefits!"
The recruitment criteria are detailed above: those skilled in operating machine tools will be given priority, those with assembly experience will be given priority, and spacecraft engineers will be given priority.
The workday is twelve hours, with three days off per month. The salary is 10% higher than the pre-war average, but room and board are not included.
Although the conditions were already considered generous by the standards of workers in this world, Mu En thought it was nothing short of the treatment of a heartless capitalist who didn't even pay overtime, working 996.
Haideng, without realizing it, had been corrupted by those shrewd factory owners, who focused on cost, profit, and efficiency, measuring everything with the coldest numbers, forgetting that behind those numbers were living, breathing people.
Therefore, Mu En had no choice but to give him a "lesson on modern capital" in his mental space.
"Workers will consume when they have money, consumption will drive demand for goods, demand for goods will drive more factories to start production, and more factories to start production will create more jobs. This is the simplest economic cycle."
"Workers who are well-fed and warmly clothed are much more capable than those who are starving and freezing. If you make them work 12 hours a day on relief rations, how long can they last? Those who can't last will be replaced, and the new ones will have to be trained from scratch. How efficient can that be?"
"Remember, it's not just about adjusting their compensation; it's also about promoting the cause of their work."
"Not for those despicable factory owners, but for the Erdtree Alliance, to protect Pejite from further invasion, and for the future of myself and my family."
"Paired with the generous rewards for extraordinary power, believe me, they'll give it their all."
At the same time, he showed Haideng a vivid example from a certain British empire—sweatshops—which could not support high-efficiency production.
Haideng, who had initially been somewhat smug, remained silent for a long time after hearing the announcement before picking up his pen again to revise it.
Soon, the new announcement was posted all over the streets.
[Nine-hour workday, one day off per week, 50% wage increase, extra overtime pay, and three meals a day made from Blessed Crops provided by the workers' canteen at cost price.]
All the workers who saw the notice were incredulous; the benefits listed at the very top were beyond their wildest imaginations.
In the past, let alone providing three meals a day and overtime pay, they might not even receive their full basic salary.
What they found even more unbelievable was the second half of the poster. "[High performers will receive extra bonuses; those injured on the job will have all their medical expenses covered by the industrial park, and their basic living needs during recovery will be guaranteed; workers' children will have the opportunity to attend affiliated schools of the alliance.]"
At the same time, workers who make significant innovations in production technology, as well as those with strong abilities and outstanding performance, will have the opportunity to become " Blessed " and even join the selection process for Blessed Warrior.
Blessed!
Thanks to Haideng's deliberate promotion, this name has recently become very famous in Pejite. Everyone knows that the figure who charged through the streets with machine guns and descended from the sky to seize the warship that day was the Blessed under the Alliance.
Such extraordinary power, how could it possibly fall upon the heads of these workers? Has the sun risen in the west?
With the mindset of "since I can't find work anyway, I might as well go for an interview," workers flocked to the industrial area, their enthusiasm so great that Haideng had to order the expansion of the interview location.
Thus, the entire Pejite was revived under Asbel's mobilization; for this behemoth, industrial production was its lifeblood.
One week later, in the Chengbei Industrial Zone.
The workshops and small factories that were originally scattered in various places were demolished and rebuilt to form a huge industrial park covering more than five square kilometers.
This industrial park is completely different from the old workshop-style brick factories. Rows of rectangular factory buildings, constructed with steel structures and lightweight alloy panels, are neatly arranged, with each factory building covering an area ranging from thousands to thousands of square meters.
The factory is spacious and bright, with skylights in the roof to let in natural light. The floor is made of smooth, mirror-like concrete. Large machine tools and assembly lines can be moved around freely, and there is a ventilation system to ensure air circulation, unlike the stuffy and unbearable factories of the past.
--
Pejite already had the resources to produce these materials, such as irregularly shaped steel plates, seamless steel pipes, and large-size glass. They could find readily available equipment in various factories, but they didn't build such a modern factory because of differences in style and approach.
Now, with the assistance of various engineering machinery and the Blessed Warrior, even the heaviest steel beams can be easily hoisted into place.
The central factory buildings were completed in less than a week, a speed that even the workers themselves found unbelievable.
At this moment, various large industrial equipment are being installed around the largest factory building.
Large stamping presses, precision milling machines, gear grinding machines, laser cutting machines, composite material fiber placement machines, oil refining towers----
In addition, dozens of high-powered fuel generators are neatly arranged at the back of the factory, with thick cables extending like giant snakes to every corner, providing a continuous power supply for all equipment.
This place brings together the most advanced industrial machinery in Pejite, along with cutting-edge technology equipment unearthed from the ruins, making it a fully functional laboratory factory.
Although the vast majority of the equipment and technology have been passed down from more than four hundred years ago and have not improved since, they are sufficient for what they are trying to create.
This is Asbel's new laboratory.