Magic Industrial Age

The city of Oakland without Miller was peaceful. Although the various departments operated efficiently and the治安 (zhì ān, public security) was good after the chaos, there was still a noticeable sense of 'laziness' without a boss constantly watching over them.

But when Miller returned, the day after he left the Lowe residence, he wasted no time in summoning all civil servants to a full-day meeting.

The content was simple: 'When I was away, it was fine for you to relax. But now that I'm back, everyone needs to tighten their belts.

We're going to do something big this time!'

For Miller, getting support from the cabinet and His Majesty the Emperor was the most difficult step, but it was only the first step.

How far and how high he can go in the future depends on how well this matter is handled.

Therefore, unifying internal thinking and ensuring everyone is clear-headed is essential.

Miller's second step was a continuous propaganda offensive.

The reason he cut off the 'Imperial Political Report,' claiming it was to give Lowe a surprise, was actually to wait for his return and make specific arrangements.

Then, starting from the third day, the 'Imperial Evidence Report,' the 'Oakland City Daily,' and the 'Northern People's News' all published extensive reports.

Don't think this is nothing. As one of the few mouthpieces of this era, newspapers were almost the only source of information for most people, and their credibility was beyond imagination.

Of course, these reports were all polished by the Executive Office.

Some were even written by Miller himself, reporting on the new business model in a comprehensive and all-encompassing manner.

He thoroughly analyzed Oakland's need for railways, the enormous benefits that railways would bring after completion, and the various advantages of the 'joint venture model.'

This really piqued the interest of the people of Oakland, not only winning their approval but also laying a solid foundation for subsequent land acquisition and recruitment.

In fact, it wasn't just Oakland City; the impact even spread outwards, radiating to more than a dozen cities in the northern Habsburg Empire.

This was intentional on Miller's part!

The reason is simple: railway construction isn't just a matter of talking.

It requires a large number of railway workers. Without sufficient manpower, this kind of mountain-opening project simply can't be done.

Therefore, almost every newspaper had recruitment advertisements at the bottom.

Although the Northern Railway Company hadn't even built its framework and its shareholders hadn't been determined, the recruitment had already begun.

Lowe believed in 'preparation leads to success, lack of preparation leads to failure.' Although it would inevitably take some time before construction truly began,

Lowe wanted these workers first.

Maruna rented a series of sheds in the east of the city, renovated them, and directly arranged for people to live there.

Although there was no work, training could begin first!

Railway construction is both physical and technical work; it's not something anyone can do.

Therefore, Lowe fed them, housed them, and even paid them wages, all to cultivate a group of excellent railway workers.

When it was time to actually build the railway, these people would be team leaders and foremen, both supervising the work and serving as technical backbones.

Lowe also planned to cultivate a group of excellent technicians from among them. In the future, whether it was to continue operating the railway company, take over other projects,

or switch to railway maintenance, it would be extremely necessary.

Of course, cultivating skilled railway workers required teachers, and the Empire's support had also arrived.

About a week after Miller's return, a group of people escorted by personnel from the Imperial Military Department arrived in Oakland City.

The leader of this group was a middle-aged man in his forties, with dark skin and a weathered face.

This appearance was from running around outside every day, looking like an old farmer.

However, this man, named 'Mars Adams,' possessed the highest title in engineering and was a genius whom even the Imperial Royal Academy was vying to invite to hold a position.

He was an expert in railway design, and almost all the railways in the Ruhr area were designed by him.

A whole set of routes was built, not only efficiently but also connecting the most important areas of the Empire.

The fact that His Majesty the Emperor could send this person here shows his expectations for this railway and his regard for Miller.

This one was really impolite!

Originally, Miller thought that such a big figure had arrived, so he had to hold a banquet to entertain him.

This 'human touch' was still necessary!

What happened?

This person didn't stay in Oakland City for long and directly took people to conduct on-site inspections, leading a group of engineers and drilling into those remote wildernesses.

His level of enthusiasm made Miller somewhat envious.

However, he only took away a small portion of the people; the rest were veterans of railway construction, engineers of the Empire.

Then, this group of people became training teachers.

Lowe had been there once and seen them teaching, and he found that although these people were intellectuals, they were also down-to-earth.

When teaching the workers, they didn't talk about any high-sounding theories but focused on practical operations.

What could be done, what couldn't be done, what should be done, what were the taboos…

Then, coupled with actual cases, they told them where and what accidents had occurred, how many people had died, etc., which the workers listened to as stories.

They listened very carefully and really took it to heart!

After just one trip, Lowe didn't go again. Obviously, this group of people knew how to teach and weren't bookworms.

Of course, even the fastest designs take time.

According to Miller's estimation, based on the speed of Mars Adams's survey, he estimated that preliminary drawings should be available in a month.

At that time, the specific length, area, materials, cost, labor, construction time, and other important information of this railway would all be estimated.

Once this information was complete, coupled with such a long period of momentum, Baron Miller could hold an auction.

What was being auctioned this time was naturally the shares of the Northern Railway Company. Depending on the situation, bidding would start at 1% or 2%, with the highest bidder winning, to raise the final required funds.

Miller was naturally still a little worried, but Lowe didn't care. If it really didn't work, he would pay more and buy more shares.

In this era, with this kind of operating model, as long as the railway was built and opened to traffic, it would be a money-making machine running at full power.

If you look closely at Miller's series of measures, it's not difficult to see that there are many shadows of Lowe in it.

Although he was unwilling to get involved in politics, he could still move his lips and offer ideas.

The reason Miller attached so much importance to publicity was actually due to Lowe's subtle influence.

Of course, since that day they met, Lowe and Miller hadn't seen each other a second time. When they had something to discuss, they basically wrote letters and sent them directly.

There was no other reason than that both of them were too busy!

Miller was very busy. Everything was difficult at the beginning, and it was an unprecedented event, so he had to be more careful.

Even if he had confidence and a complete plan, the amount of things he needed to deal with every day was still overwhelming.

Even very small things, because there was no precedent, the people below couldn't make up their minds, so he had to make the decision.

As a result, Miller had been sleeping less than four hours a day these days and complained about it a lot in his letters with Lowe.

However, Lowe could also see the high-spirited spirit between the lines, despite the complaints.

In a word: tired, but enjoying it!

Of course, Miller was tired, but Lowe wasn't much better off.

The benefits Miller gave were large enough, considered a generous reward, but Lowe had to spend an unknown amount of time and effort to digest these benefits.

The only thing that made Lowe gratified was that although he was 'lazy' before, he had still reorganized the Lightninger Arcane Mechanical Factory.

Otherwise, facing the orders from the military, he would really be at a loss.

But even with optimized processes and ten more mage apprentices, the production plan still seemed stretched thin.

Reluctantly, Lowe had to increase the 'performance' bonus by another 10%. Once the money was in place, there was motivation.

But this was only a temporary solution, and over time, people would always get tired, and production safety would become a problem, and product quality would also decline.

To this end, after thinking about it, Lowe had to learn from Damon Grayson and start pre-job training classes.

In a word: If there aren't enough talents, I'll just train them myself!

Not everyone has to go to magic school to understand mechanical principles.

These old workers may not be good at theory, but their practical skills are really strong.

What they lack is magic and corresponding knowledge.

Therefore, Lowe directly hired his basic meditation teacher, Rando Bardes, at a high price, and asked him to teach these people every night, teaching them the basics of meditation.

Lowe even provided the meditation secret medicine, Soul-Fixing Incense, although it wasn't free, he only charged the cost price, twenty copper Thiels per bottle.

This price couldn't even be called conscientious, even Rando Bardes was tempted.

He even bought a batch from Lowe privately, not for resale, but to give to family members.

It's worth mentioning that the 'joint venture model' for building railways was a hot topic.

However, this 'Soul-Fixing Incense' infiltrated every magic school like a silent rain.

The Empire issued an order to collect raw materials and summon pharmacists to refine it.

The result was that, as if overnight, this secret medicine filled every magic school, becoming a must-have secret medicine for every freshman.

In the past, potions could not hold their heads up in front of magic drugs.

But this time, meditation secret medicines scored big, and everyone knew that secret medicines also had great uses.

Of course, although the Empire didn't publicize it, as long as they weren't fools, they could see the preciousness of meditation secret medicines.

Although the secret medicine was very cheap, the entire market was in short supply, and the black market price was speculated to more than ten times, and there was no market for it.

What Lowe didn't expect was that the Lightninger Arcane Mechanical Factory's provision of cheap meditation secret medicines spread extremely quickly and widely.

As a result, the number of people who came to the factory for recruitment was exaggerated.

Even a large part of them were dropouts from magic schools, with a certain amount of basic mechanical knowledge.

They just couldn't get started with meditation and couldn't step into that threshold, but here, they saw an opportunity.

Seeing this, Lowe naturally didn't refuse anyone, and even made this training class bigger and bigger, and recruited more and more people.

These are all talents, naturally the more the better!

Of course, at this time, Lowe also knew clearly that the pharmaceutical company had to be put on the agenda.

The second update is here, I'm preparing for tomorrow!