Lord of Industrialization

Frederick once thought that so many Helvetic people had built railways, so the people there were no strangers to railways and should be able to accept them.

But he didn't expect that those people did tell their families and fellow villagers about the railway after they returned, and they even exaggerated.

"When the whistle blows, gold coins flow", "Wherever the train can go, stones can be sold as gold", not only Scarface said it passionately, but even Hua Beard said it mysteriously. Duke Sen is planning to build an underground railway to transport gold back to the castle's underground vault.

Frederick's mouth twitched, as if he had indeed mentioned the concept of the subway when he was inspecting Oak City and chatting with people a few years ago, but it was also in a joking tone, and there was no need for it now.

He asked curiously: "Since the noble gentlemen know the benefits of railways, why don't they build them?"

The person who answered this question was the young man sitting opposite him reading a book: "You must know that the project cost needs to calculate the cost of human resources and machines."

Frederick nodded, he had brought it up himself.

The boy continued: "The labor cost is not a problem. You can rent a machine for the machinery cost, but the material cost of the rails is too expensive."

Frederick understood.

The rails used for railway construction in Wessen are all purchased directly from factories. There are no middlemen to make the difference, and they are not announced to the public. Even Scarface, who has been building railways for eight years, does not know the price.

For those veterans of road construction, distinguishing the quality of steel is a basic skill. They put the price of a good sword hammered out by the blacksmith on the rails, and naturally they came up with a very outrageous price.

Frederick thought for a while, and the price of the railway tracks was not a secret. Not only the nearby Principality of Mainz and the Principality of Bain, but also people on the Citrus Island in the inland sea knew about it.

He added 30% to the price of the rails sold to the Principality of Mainz, and then told them as if nothing had happened.

"So cheap?" Hua Huzi couldn't believe it. "Did you mistake the gold coins for silver coins?"

Frederick smiled and said: "This is a bulk transaction. You don't buy one or two. The minimum order is for more than 10 kilometers, so it is naturally cheaper."

Flower Beard thinks it makes sense.

After finishing another piece of cream sandwich biscuit, Scarface said excitedly: "Please, please come to our place, Count Sylvain will definitely welcome you!"

Frederick recalled the information previously provided by the Archduke of Mainz. The territory of the Sylvan family was in the mountainous area to the north. The rivers were rapid and there were many reefs that could not be transported by water. The only way to get in and out was by mountain roads.

This is a bit difficult. The planned railway is only built in the gentle valley area, and the branch line only reaches the foot of the mountain. The cost is not high, but it will be very troublesome to enter the mountain.

There, Scarface calculated how many roads there were from the castle to the outside, how many roads needed to be widened, how much labor and materials were needed, how much it cost to rent machinery, and finally concluded that Duke Sylvan now only needs to eat grass every day and not buy new ones. For clothes, you can come up with this amount of money in ten years.

Frederick glanced at him. This man's calculations were very accurate and his thinking was clear. I'm afraid he was not an ordinary person.

The flowery beard on the side said: "Count Sforza where I live is also in the mountains. Snow wool is abundant there, which is the best wool in the world. I heard that Duke Wesson's sweaters are all knitted with it. "

"The roads there are not easy to walk. There are many bears along the way. Smaller caravans will be eaten by bears on the road. Steam vehicles will make them safer."

Frederick recalled the information about Count Sforza. This man was a tyrant in the southern mountainous area. He had some mines in his territory, a relatively developed handicraft industry, and he spoke very loudly.

There are even rumors that he is one of the contenders for the throne this year.

Frederick nodded, this kind of local boss wanted to pay him a visit.

He then asked the guy opposite: "Do you also want to live on the railway in your hometown?"

The younger brother replied: "My family is on the eastern shore of Lake Leman in the far west. My family has some money. My parents sent me to study at Weisenberg University a few years ago."

"I didn't have any magical talents, so I went to the School of Architectural Engineering."

Frederick nodded. It turned out to be the civil engineering boy, and he felt a little better.

The younger brother added: "I have some doubts. The Helvetia Federation is rarely invaded by foreign enemies due to terrain reasons. After the railway is built, the terrain advantage disappears, and foreign enemies can enter through the railway."

"If war breaks out, my family's property will be burned to the ground, so we have to consider this issue."

Frederick nodded, this is indeed a very real problem.

"I have this opinion on this matter." Since the other party is a college student, he said more profoundly, "Duke Wesson said that war is a continuation of politics, and the basis of politics is economics. We can analyze it from an economic perspective."

"To put it bluntly, the Helvetic Federation has nothing economically worth fighting for from its neighboring countries. The only things they could get from the World Expo not long ago were cheese and some magic crystals from the mountains."

"Among the neighboring countries of the Helvetic Federation, the Kingdom of Gaul has vast farmland in the north, the Kingdom of Sardinia benefits from inland sea trade, and the Osmaga Empire is only adjacent to the White Mountains. Their focus has never been on the west, the Rhine The Alliance is focused on its homeland east of the Elbe River. No country would want to invade the Helvetia Federation. It would be a loss-making business."

After he finished speaking, the seat fell into silence.

The guy opposite sighed and said, "Your words are indeed hurtful, but they are all true."

"But there's nothing wrong with cheese. My cheese sells very well. You can try it when you get there."

Frederick smiled and nodded.

Hua Beard shook his head and said: "I don't understand the truth very well. I have fought many wars in my life, and I have seen many nobles use inexplicable reasons to start wars. Some of them are to get a night with socialites, and some of them just feel that the other party is looking at them. Offended myself.”

Frederick nodded. There were indeed many such situations, but they were all small-scale conflicts, with few lives lost. Their group of mercenaries were mostly just showing off, which was far inferior to wars between countries. .

He said: "I have seen the map. The only places where the Helvetia Federation can access the railway are the east and west sides of Lake Constance and the southern shore of Lake Leman. Not far from the water are the White Mountains and the terrain is narrow."

The three men nodded.

Frederick continued: "From a military point of view, as long as a group of fortresses are built in a dangerous place and a small fleet of some size is maintained on the lake, the enemy can be kept out."

"As long as the Helvetia Federation establishes itself as a hedgehog, the surrounding countries will have no interest in it."

Scarface smiled and said: "That's right. Hedgehogs are full of thorns and don't have much meat. Wolves and foxes are not willing to eat them unless they are extremely hungry."

The boy opposite said again: "But this can't solve some problems. A letter from home told me that the domestic situation this year is very bad. Some people want to help the Kingdom of Gaul, and some people want to help the Kingdom of Sardinia. If they If we start a fight, my family's property will be over."

Frederick smiled disdainfully and said: "How much money did they give? Does the Kingdom of Gaul promise to return the city of Leman on the other side of Lake Leman? Does the Kingdom of Sardinia have any proposal to return Mount Bray? Is it necessary to sacrifice your life for them if you don’t have any sincerity?”

The three people felt that their hearts had been stabbed. Both places were lost within a few decades. Leman City was the gate to the west and Bray Mountain was the window to the south. After losing it, the Helvetic Federation could only Locked in mountains and lakes.

Frederick took out a bag of roasted pine nuts from his pocket and invited them to eat, but none of the three people took action.

His action this time was to cut off the hands stretched out by the Kingdom of Gaul and the Kingdom of Sardinia. Revealing the scars was a good way to make both sides suffer losses.

"Alas..." Hua Beard sighed, "Then what should I do? Neither side can afford to offend me."

Frederick shrugged and said: "That's simple. They are actually afraid that the Helvetia Federation will help each other. As long as no one will help the Helvetia Federation after it is announced, that will be fine."

Scarface asked him: "What if someone comes to beat us?"

"That's easy to handle." Frederick said, "As long as you sign an agreement with each of the four neighboring countries, it says that when others attack you in the future, I will not help your enemies, but you will come to help us when we are attacked. No matter which neighbor If China wants to fight the Helvetia Federation alone, it needs to consider the attitudes of the other three countries."

"This will be easy to handle. As long as the Helvetia Federation is not stupid enough to anger all the neighboring countries at once, or stupidly pull out all the thorns of the hedgehog, no one will come over."

"Of course, there will probably be a price to pay for this kind of thing."

When Frederick said this, he had been paying attention to the expressions of these three people. One of them was a veteran, one was a calculating middle-aged man, and the other was a young intellectual, who could represent the views of a large part of the people.

If these three people did not object, he planned to let the Archduke of Mainz's secret network spread these remarks after arriving in the Helvetia Federation.

"Hey..." Hua Beard suddenly shook his head, "These are the things that gentlemen care about. Let's drink."

"That's right." Scarface looked at the front of the carriage, "Why hasn't that trolley come here yet? I'll go ahead and buy a few bottles of wine."

After he finished speaking, he stood up and left. The young man also stood up and said, "I'm going to buy something to drink with."

Upon seeing this, Hua Beard stood up and left. At the same time, he said: "Oh, I asked them to drink. How can I let them buy it?"

Soon after, the three of them came over with a small cart selling goods. They each had two bottles of beer (that's all there was left in the cart), and a plate each of braised pork head meat, braised pig offal, braised tofu skin and pickled cucumbers. I also got a few long toothpicks to stick in and eat them, totaling a hundred and a few copper coins.

The three of them planned to share the cost equally, but Frederick insisted on sharing it equally.

In the end, Scarface calculated that everyone had just eaten Frederick's cream sandwich biscuits, so the three of them were worth thirty coppers each, and Frederick made up the last change.