Struggle in the Steam Age

For the countries where these outlying islands in the sea of ​​stars are located, as long as these islands can belong to themselves, they can survive without local support at ordinary times, and it is enough to use these islands after a war breaks out. As for the relationship between these islands is not important to them.

After all, for the lords or hereditary governors of those islands, it is most important to have enough backing behind them to survive in this dangerous ocean. If there are no countries behind them, these scattered islands and islands The weak power in the world can easily be completely destroyed by some cults or extraordinary monsters.

Most importantly, after entering the industrial age, these islands lacking sufficient coal mines and iron ore are destined to be unable to go too far on the road of development, and their demand for heavy industrial products has become a factor between various countries and these islands. The strongest bond between.

The countries behind those islands even support the cooperation and exchanges between the islands from a certain perspective. In addition to reducing the cost of maintaining the islands, they can also use these islands as vests to conduct some exchanges that are not suitable for the public. For example, the negotiation of some sensitive issues, or the secret exchange of some special materials.

So after confirming that joining this customs union is beneficial and not harmful to him, Lawrence expressed his idea of ​​wanting to join the customs union and discussed this issue with the Viscount Nicosia. During the discussion, the Viscount also learned that Lawrence was planning to open up land to grow food, so he made a decision and sold him 150 well-trained cattle at a low cost.

"I did this because of you because you decided to grow food crops." Looking at Lawrence's somewhat puzzled expression, Viscount Nicosia said seriously: "For us, the biggest problem with all the nearby islands is that we cannot be self-sufficient in food. .It would be great if your island could make up for that.”

According to Mr. Viscount's introduction, these islands were opened up sooner or later. At the time of development, the earliest pioneers all chose a single operation, and in order to maximize their own interests, they chose to plant various tropical cash crops on the island.

After all, that era was the beginning of the age of great voyages, and everything from foreign countries sold very well. For example, the prices of spices like nutmeg and cloves have been skyrocketed. Under such fanatical circumstances, it is understandable for the owners of those islands to choose a single operation.

However, with the subsidy of the great voyage and the development of the transportation industry, those spices and tropical crops also returned to a reasonable price. At this time, each island needs to spend a lot of money every year to buy food from those countries on the mainland, which becomes a very painful thing.

However, the high price of grain is not mainly due to the unreasonable pricing of merchants, but because these islands are located in the open sea, the cost of transporting grain itself is very expensive, and even in some seasons, the price of freight will be higher than the price of the grain itself. price. Therefore, people on these islands have to eat those high-priced food even if they don't want to.

"Then why didn't you grow food before?" Lawrence asked a little puzzled. "For example, I see that many of your plantations can actually grow food."

"But then we have to shovel the original cash crops of the plantation." The viscount shrugged and said. "Although it takes a lot of money to buy food every year, compared with the losses caused by reducing the planting of cash crops, the money spent is quite worthwhile."

Lawrence was startled when he heard the viscount's words, because in his impression, the food issue was the top priority no matter what the situation, and it needed to be 100% in his own hands. This is why he puts food cultivation at the top of the list when making plans. Of course, this is also related to the fact that the working group of the Agricultural Church found that the land was indeed suitable for growing food after on-site inspection.

Therefore, he was extremely shocked by the viscount in front of him agreeing to rely entirely on foreign procurement for food. But soon Lawrence was relieved. After all, different regions and different worlds have different situations. It must be a very inappropriate thing to use the experience of the previous life.

Of course, this does not prevent Lawrence from sticking to his plan and point of view and continuing to grow food. After all, he has always believed that food safety is the top priority, and if he doesn't have enough food in his hands, he always feels unsafe.

Anyway, food is hard currency anyway, and it is always useful to store more. If you really can't finish it, you can also use it to brew wine and make alcohol. Especially after I mentioned the importance of disinfection before, the consumption of alcohol has been rising steadily, so producing alcohol at this time can be regarded as a quite profitable business.

While Lawrence was thinking about these issues, Viscount Nicosia became a little uneasy watching him sitting there without saying a word. He thought that what he said just now made Lawrence feel that he was at a disadvantage, so now he is reconsidering whether to grow food on the territory according to his original plan.

So he quickly looked at Lawrence and said: "Of course, if you are willing to grow food, my lord, we will definitely not let you suffer. Today I will discuss this issue with the lords near me, and in the end I will definitely come up with one that everyone agrees with." We came up with a plan that felt right. Although I don’t know what everyone is willing to pay in the end, I can assure you that the conditions we propose will never make you feel that you are at a disadvantage.”

"—Oh. That's naturally very good." Viscount Nicosia's words made Lawrence come out of his contemplation, and after thinking about what he said just now, Lawrence made an affirmation to the Viscount answer. "At least this year, I will definitely plant a batch of food crops. If the cooperation is happy, it is not impossible to plant like this every year."

Anyway, Lawrence has more initiative in this situation now, because those food crops are basically annual crops, and it will be very easy for him to change the planting content. If the lords of these islands are too stingy, at worst, he will switch to planting cash crops on other arable land besides guaranteeing rations after a round of grain crops are harvested.

After getting Lawrence's promise, the Viscount Nicosia loosened his brows all of a sudden, and then patted his chest to assure Lawrence that although he didn't know what price everyone was willing to ask for the food after it was planted, he was willing to send a ship to Lawrence's island to transport it. There is no need for Lawrence to pay even a copper coin for shipping.

He had no way to transport it before, mainly because these island owners generally only have some small offshore ships in their hands, and they can only sail between the island or the surrounding islands. There is simply no way to transport food for one's own island across the vast sea between the island and the New World. But if you just run some short-distance sea routes, it will not be very difficult.

During his subsequent visits to other islands, Lawrence also discovered that the region had a great demand for food. At least those lords expressed their support to some extent after learning that Lawrence would carry out food production on the island, and provided Lawrence with a batch of cost price and even a certain discount on the cost price when purchasing. goods.

It took Lawrence half a month to visit, because apart from staying for one night when visiting certain islands, he finally returned to Nicosia to join the Customs Union. Extraordinary Meeting.

Although only the surrounding lords participated in this meeting, a total of six lords came besides Lawrence, which exceeded the lower limit of five lords. So in accordance with the rules, they held a brief meeting and announced the admission of Lawrence and his New Sholl Island into the Customs Union.