Struggle in the Steam Age

After the two parties have a certain close relationship, some things can be discussed. So in the next period of time, the Viscount Surrey talked to Lawrence about some worries in his heart.

It is different from those nobles who were born with a golden spoon in their mouths and went very smoothly in their lives. The Viscount Surrey has experienced the process of his family from being poor to breaking out, and he has also felt the warmth and warmth of those people, so he is now quite a little bit aware of urgency.

"In the past few years, my territory has brought a steady stream of wealth because of that coal mine, but this source of wealth is too single." Viscount Surrey said with a serious face.

"Although this coal mine will take more than a hundred years to be mined even if it is fully exploited, it is not a sustainable way to obtain wealth. Especially in the subsequent exploration, we can confirm that there are no other coal mines in the territory other than these coal mines. There are valuable minerals to be mined."

"What you are worried about now is indeed a problem." Lawrence found that the viscount in front of him was worried about exactly the same thing as the group of local oil-selling princes in the Middle East in his previous life, so the methods of solving problems by those local tyrants have good reference value.

"Have you ever thought about opening up new sources of income?" After closing his eyes and thinking for a few minutes, Lawrence suddenly opened his eyes and said to everyone who was looking at him. "For example, running some industries or something—"

"Of course I have considered this kind of thing." Viscount Surrey shook his head helplessly, "But doing business doesn't mean investing money in it. You also need to find the right investment direction."

"It's a pity that it is not so easy to find the right investment direction. Unless you have enough connections or some kind of unique technology."

Lawrence nodded in agreement with this sentence. For example, he himself has a mediocre network, but with the help of knowledge from another world, he can do some unique business.

Another example is that on many islands in the Sea of ​​Stars, the island owners who produce only cash crops rely on their relationships to do business. They can buy part of the production and living materials at a price through the relationship network and sell agricultural products at a reasonable price.

The reason why Lawrence is now able to integrate with the lords around the island is because he is engaged in a unique business, and those tea, grain and various fish processed products are considered to be the only business in that piece.

For other islands, not only will these businesses not compete with them, but they can complement the economic conditions of their islands to a certain extent.

So after a brief contact, Lawrence slowly began to establish his own network of relationships in the Sea of ​​Stars region.

And after this relationship network was gradually established, he naturally gained enough benefits from it. For example, when the price and quality are similar, the owners of the surrounding islands will choose to purchase goods from Lawrence instead of others.

After all, this era is not the information-rich world of Lawrence's previous life, and it is not a simple matter to know a person's background.

In this case, people are often more inclined to find acquaintances when doing business, rather than looking for strangers who are not sure whether they are reliable.

And this is the problem that the Viscount Surrey is facing now, because he is not one of those court nobles who rely on relationships to make a living, but because he has been marginalized before, he has a very ordinary relationship with ordinary fiefdom nobles.

To say that the relationship with the Viscount Surrey is relatively good is only the lords around their territory, but these nobles assigned to the Northern Islands are basically a group of marginalized characters, so naturally they can't provide much help in this regard.

"In this regard, you can slowly find the investment point you need." After thinking for a while, Lawrence put forward his own opinion. "After all, this kind of investment really requires money, so there's nothing wrong with being cautious."

"Of course we know this." Isabella touched her stomach and said. "But the problem is that now our children are about to be born. We hope to impress our children with an image of struggle, rather than just relying on the family's minerals to enjoy the benefits."

"Well, I can understand that." Safir nodded as he looked at his friend with a motherly radiance on his face, although he had no children for the time being. But I can understand my friend's thoughts.

Most of the time, people are willing to create a good environment for their offspring, even if it takes more wealth and energy to do so. For example, this is the case with the Viscount Surrey's family now.

According to Viscount Surrey, the purpose of the industry he wanted to run was just to run the industry itself. So as long as you can maintain it all the time and don't lose money.

It is a pity that after searching for several months, they did not find the industries they wanted in their minds. After careful study of some industries that looked good, they found that they were basically pits.

For example, someone recommended to them the investment in a steel factory in the White Eagle Federation. Although the situation was okay if they only looked at the information, the Viscount Surrey hired a private detective to investigate and found that the factory not only had old technology and facilities. , It also involves a lot of messy multi-angle debt issues internally.

"Actually, I'm not very good at industrial management," Lawrence said helplessly.

"Although I have also invested in a lot of factories, the operation level of the factories is also very average. I think my only advantage in being able to do this today is that those factories are irreplaceable from some angles. .”

Seeing the disbelieving expressions of the Viscountess Surrey and his wife in front of them, Lawrence immediately explained the doorway to them.

In fact, the industries under Lawrence's command can be divided into two parts. One part is the industry he has mastered certain technologies and operates with his technological advantages. For example, the drug manufacturing plant on the island, and another example is the arsenal on the Federation side. and lighter factories.

The other part is the series of small factories that Lawrence established on the island that are suitable for the location, similar to the fish and seafood processing factories or various small hardware factories built around the New Sauer Port area.

But the problem is that the Viscount Surrey is basically unable to imitate, because the former factory must have its own unique skills, and the traditional skill of their family is only fishing.

But the problem is that fishing is not as special as making mortars, depth charges or certain medicines, so this industry cannot meet their requirements.

"Where is the fish processing factory? I think the meat floss made on our island sells well." Safir immediately suggested after hearing that there is a traditional fishing industry in the Viscount Surrey.

"Probably not." Isabella said with a bitter smile, "Although our territory is more than 10,000 square kilometers, far exceeding the area of ​​a normal viscount's territory. But there are really not many people—

Through Isabella's simple explanation, Lawrence also figured out that this piece of territory called New Surrey is indeed not small, about 10,000 square kilometers.

But the problem is that the location of this territory is too far north, and more than 80% of the territory in the territory is some small hills, so New Surrey has always been a very barren territory.

Even because this territory is too barren, not even a single tree grows on the mountain. Only some shrubs and grasses exist in the whole territory.

Therefore, before the coal mine was discovered, the economy of this place relied on fishing to maintain the territory's livelihood, except for raising a group of reindeer who were not afraid of the cold.

It's a pity that these industries can't support too many people. According to Isabella, although there are more than 50,000 people in that territory, at least half of them came to the island after the coal mines were developed. temporary workers.

As for the original residents on the island, there were only more than 20,000 people, and now most of them have changed their occupations because of the mine. For example, many fishermen have given up some dangerous fishing jobs and turned to some service industry.