Chapter 449 Opening Ceremony

Clement was busy for more than half a month before he worked out the list. In the end, there were more than 10,000 people who received the medal of outstanding railway workers on the eastern loop of the Eagle Mountains, and more than 1,400 people who received the meritorious service award of the Harland Territory.

It took Richard five or six days to issue medals and merits to these more than 10,000 people.

It took a long time to meet with 200 to 300 people every day and say a few polite words. Repeating the same few words made Richard's cheeks hurt, but he finally finished the formalities.

Although Richard was a little impatient and it was impossible for him to recognize more than 1,000 members of the railway department who had made meritorious contributions, for ordinary people, these short two or three minutes were probably the most glorious time in their lives, and this beautiful memory filled their hearts. So despite being a little impatient, Richard still smiled and showed his best side.

Among the more than 10,000 people who were rewarded for their meritorious services, there were more than 100 magicians.

In order to open up the extremely difficult tunnel, almost all members of the Harland Territory Mage Association took time out to participate in the railway construction. Even Richard and Sophia personally acted as magic tools, constantly casting spells every day and exhausting their magic power. This process lasted for two or three months.

It is precisely because of the full assistance of the magicians that the engineering designers of Harland Territory can build a super project that obviously exceeds the productivity level. After all, a magician like Richard is better at digging tunnels than a shield machine.

In theory, Richard is the first contributor to the development of the railway, and his importance is even greater than that of Bonova, but Richard is the master of Harland Territory. It is impossible for him to compete with his subordinates for merits and give himself medals and official positions. He is not a medal control, nor a mighty general, nor is he possessed by a drama spirit, and the movie emperor has come.

Not only Richard and Sophia, but also Wendy, Eve and other high-level mages in Harland Territory, Richard did not issue them merits.

High-level mages in Harland Territory often participate in wars and are not short of merits.

Wendy has accumulated more than 30 great merits. If she converts them into a title, her territory will expand three times and she will be promoted to the viscount class. However, Wendy does not value her merits.

As long as she has a hereditary noble status and will not be discriminated against, Wendy will be satisfied. Although she is nearly 40 years old, she has never been in love or married. As Wendy gets older, this situation also gives Richard a headache.

In the early years, because the foundation of Harland Territory was unstable, Wendy mastered almost all the magic inheritance of Harland Territory. Richard did not want her to marry or make an alliance, and was somewhat indifferent to Wendy's marriage. As the situation in Harland Territory became more and more stable and Wendy got older, Richard gradually began to worry and often had regretful thoughts in his heart.

In recent years, although Richard introduced some rising stars in the territory to Wendy, from Wendy's point of view, she had no idea of ​​getting married, starting a family, or having children. She spent almost all her time immersed in magic research.

As the most important noble in Harland, Wendy doesn't like noble banquets, doesn't like to talk, and doesn't like to waste time traveling. She doesn't like men or women, and has almost no worldly desires. She is completely immersed in the ocean of knowledge.

Wendy's daily time is spent in meditation, rest, library, laboratory, and occasionally going to the observatory. It is very boring and stable.

Sophia herself is already a magic fanatic and an extreme workaholic. Because of having children, she delayed her magic learning and complained to Richard to this day. Wendy's situation is more serious than Sophia, which makes Richard suspect that she is a magic tool. It may be because of such persistence that Wendy was promoted to an eight-ring magician at the age of less than 40.

Richard continuously issued medals to the employees of the Ministry of Railways who made meritorious contributions. Many people on the meritorious list have died, and the medals were received by their families. In the process of building this railway, more than two thousand contract slaves were killed or injured, especially in the cold winter, the project was not interrupted, although some contract slaves recovered after treatment. However, there are a total of 1,200 indentured servants who died or became disabled because of the construction of the railway.

As early as 20 years ago, Richard issued a decree that all indentured servants who were disabled on duty would be pardoned for their families. The civil affairs department will also issue a certain degree of subsidies.

In the early years, the fiscal revenue of Harland Territory was average, and the subsidies were relatively small. There were only some grains, oil, brown sugar, and white wine that could help the families have a good year.

Compared with the disabled soldiers in the army, the treatment is very different.

As the fiscal level of Harland Territory continues to improve, the intensity of subsidies has gradually increased. This year, not only can two silver coins be issued every month, but also more various materials are issued.

In order to prevent grassroots management from embezzling such life-saving money, Richard has formulated very harsh penalties. Once someone embezzles disability and death subsidies, not only will he be executed, but all the family members will be implicated. Immediate family members will be demoted to slaves and sent to the mines to accompany the orcs. Basically, they will not live for half a year.

At the same time, colleagues and officials from higher-level departments who fail to fulfill their supervisory responsibilities will also be implicated. Once such a thing happens, the entire department will almost be uprooted. In the past 20 years, Richard has handled four cases of embezzlement of death benefits, and more than hundreds of officials have been dismissed because of such things.

Harland's intensity in punishing corrupt officials has made bureaucrats almost shudder at the mention of it.

In this world with extraordinary power, ordinary bureaucrats can hardly use lies. A fourth-ring magic word can make most professionals below the high level tell the truth. Because of the power of spells, management and rule are relatively simple.

In a world with extraordinary power, conspiracy and lies are greatly suppressed. The underlying logic of this world is that strength determines everything.

Most fights are straightforward and relatively simple.

This year's celebration not only cost a lot of money on the scene, but also those who won the medal can receive an extra silver coin subsidy every month. The railway department alone will increase the subsidy by 10,000 gold coins this year, which is not a small amount of money.

After the opening of the eastern railway loop line of the Eagle Mountains, Richard held a very large celebration at the Twin Star Castle. All workers who participated in the construction of this railway received an invitation letter issued by the government.

With this invitation letter, you can take the train for free before the celebration, live in the official hotel for free, and during the celebration, exquisite gifts will be distributed, which are of extraordinary value.

By mid-January, the number of workers who came to the Twin Star Castle to participate in the celebration had reached 150,000 to 160,000. The remaining tens of thousands of workers were basically transformed into professional railway workers. Because the construction period of the railway was too tight, they could only send representatives to participate in the celebration.

After the railway opening ceremony, Richard also took out a sum of money from the Duke's funds. Anyone who participated in the construction of this railway was subsidized with two silver coins.

Two silver coins are roughly equivalent to half a month's work for ordinary people. Although it is not a large sum of money, more than 200,000 people add up to 35,000 gold coins.

Adding up the messy costs, the celebration cost a total of more than 100,000 gold coins.

Although it cost a lot of money to support the scene, half of the gold coins are equivalent to subsidies. The people in the railway department have made great contributions to the territory, and Richard has the responsibility to make their lives better.

Compared with more than 20 years ago, although the economic scale of Harland Territory has expanded hundreds of times, due to the continuous influx of population, the labor force is still very sufficient, and the average monthly salary level has increased from three silver coins and twelve copper coins to four silver coins and twenty copper coins.

Although the salary increase is not large, there is almost no inflation. The main commodities have been selling at a reduced price, especially the bulk commodities produced by Harland, such as steel, alcohol, brown sugar, cotton cloth and other livelihood materials, which have been reduced to a level that poor families can consume, and the grain price has also stabilized at the baseline.

In fact, the living standards of ordinary citizens, life expectancy, social security, and class mobility, Harland has been at the forefront of the Dawn Plane.

The income of farmers is relatively better. An ordinary family of six with 30 acres of land can produce 6,000 kilograms of grain a year, which can earn 6 gold coins. In addition, they can do odd jobs during the slack season, engage in breeding, and grow some flowers, vegetables, and fruit trees. On average, the family's income exceeds 10 gold coins, and their life is obviously better than that of the citizens.

A considerable part of the citizen class in Harland is free people who migrated from other territories, and another part is the second sons and daughters who are unwilling to leave home and settle in the city with the help of their parents.

Because they were allocated land and turned from serfs into wealthy gentry, farmers are the class that supports the territory the most. They are very keen to let their children join the army and fight for the lord.

With more than seven million freemen, Harland has established a firm foothold.

To defeat Harland, you need to fight with seven million people. When defending the territory, Harland can mobilize a million well-equipped troops under extreme mobilization.

As of the end of January 3277 of the Dawn Calendar, the railway mileage in Harland has reached 1,900 kilometers, and more than 300 steam locomotives have been put into operation on the main sections.

The western railway line is also being planned. Construction began in March this year and has been built from Philip Castle to Flame Castle.

It is planned to go all the way west from Flame Castle, across Maple Leaf Castle and next to the Grand Duchy of Stannic.

Richard is also preparing to negotiate with the Grand Duchy of Stannic to build a north-south artery in the Grand Duchy of Stannic, and then connect it to the railway in Harland.

Eventually, this railway will be built to the Earl of Philip, connecting the north and south of the Harland family.

If this railway network is completed, a steam train will only need two days to travel more than a thousand kilometers. By then, the Earldom of Philip will not become an enclave. With the help of the railway line, military mobilization and logistics supply will become very simple.

But Grand Duke Jonathan is not a fool. As the railway in Harland continues to extend, the nobles have already known this new machinery.

In the past two or three years, the nobles of the Kingdom of Grant have come to Richard to test him, hoping to exchange railway construction technology.

Railways are the product of industrial development to a certain extent. Without a qualified industrial foundation, even if railways are built, they are like water without source and trees without roots.

Considering the situation in the surrounding areas, Richard does not plan to export industry in the short term, and naturally rejected the requests of several nearby nobles very clearly.

Because Harland has a series of advanced technologies such as advanced steel manufacturing, mechanical processing, red gum grass refining, coal mining and production, and alloy steel smelting, Richard is not afraid of neighbors stealing technology and imitating Harland to build railways in the short term.

If you want to transplant a series of technologies from Harland Territory, you need not only Richard's cooperation, but also some institutional reforms to adapt to the development of industrialization, and to establish education and cultivate a population suitable for industry.

Even if everything goes well, it will take at least a dozen years to have an industrial foundation.

Although the Dawn Plane is based on extraordinary power, Richard will not easily let the industry flow out. He has already made preparations in advance. All important factories are state-owned enterprises.

State-owned enterprises always put political considerations first, and they will not export industry for economic interests.

Although there are private capitalists in Harland Territory, they are all developing in secondary industries. For example, Odaye, Immorton and others are all developing in the flour manufacturing industry. Such businessmen with strong capital have entered the intelligence department's monitoring list. The will of the Harland Territory government will not allow them to transfer the factory out of the territory and cause technology leakage.

Moreover, in Harland Territory, they have all become hereditary nobles, realized the value of life, and achieved class transition with their families.

Without sufficient trust, capitalists will not easily leave Harland Territory and develop in unfamiliar areas.

Because Richard attaches great importance to the confidentiality of technology, there are a large number of intelligence personnel in the factory. It becomes very difficult to rely on spies to steal technology and develop industry.

Moreover, the great nobles of the Grant Kingdom, first, dare not provoke Richard, and second, they do not have so many high-quality personnel under their hands.

Talents who can read and write and understand basic mathematics are basically nobles. Nobles have very good development prospects and are not willing to act as spies.

Moreover, the railway project is a systematic project that involves all aspects and requires a large number of industrial talents to build. It is very difficult to copy it. It is not like brewing distilled liquor, which can be learned at a glance.

If the great nobles want to copy and learn, they need all-round development of industry. Even if they learn everything about Harland Territory in an all-round way without guidance, it will take at least fifty to one hundred years.

Entering the 3277th year of the Dawn Calendar, according to the population statistics of the civil affairs department, the population directly managed by Harland Territory has reached 10 million, and the population controlled by the 63 vassals under its name is about 800,000.

The direct population of the territory is 10 million, of which there are already 7 million free people. The 5 million people who were seized when the Delong Kingdom was annexed have completed the five-year contract. This wave of people were promoted to freemen this year, almost changing the population structure of the Harland Territory.