The Crescent of the Sultan

While Muhammad Ali was fighting his wars, Said the Great was planning what would become known as his initial industrialization plans.

Taking into account the empire's resource and technology issues, Selim set several key development industries in the initial industrialization plan.

The first was the textile industry: the empire had abundant cotton resources, especially in Asia and Africa.

Selim set up two major development areas and a special zone for this purpose, namely the Anatolia region centered on Izmit and the Lower Egypt region centered on Cairo (Cairo and the Nile Delta region to the north ) and the capital of the empire, the city of cities, the great Constantiniya.

In this era, spinning machines and looms have been improved, and the conditions have been met from manual production to large-scale factory production.

Then there are coal mines and the coal industry: the empire is very rich in coal resources, and there are also quite a lot of open-pit coal mines.

Moreover, compared to the inexperienced government, Selim had already secured coal mines within the empire that were easy to mine and transport.

From the discovery to the mining of a coal mine, there are actually many things to be done, such as mineral rights and mining licenses. Unfortunately, these all have to go through the hands of the Sudan.

Sultan, a state-owned enterprise, can open it online and sell it at a low price. As a private enterprise, if you don't pay more, can it be worthy of your private reputation?

Next is the metal smelting and processing industry: to put it bluntly, it is the steel industry. The empire is rich in mineral resources and energy, which provides a good foundation for the development of metal smelting and processing industries.

Finally, there is the shipbuilding and machinery manufacturing industry, but these two are just a buzzword. After all, with the level of the Ottoman Empire at this time,

Selim's belief in his own company is no different from his belief that India can build its own aircraft carrier in the future. The only difference is that the former has room for improvement, while the latter has room for reverse development.

Selim arrived at the outskirts of Constantiniya today. He was visiting the textile factory built with the help of Matthew Bolton. It must be said that the words in the textbooks are never as shocking as seeing them in person.

It’s not so much a factory as it is the never-ending torture of Sisyphus in Greek mythology. (In Greek mythology, there was a giant called Sisyphus who was condemned to push a huge boulder, which would always slide off as it neared the top, forcing him to keep starting over.)

When Sultan entered the factory gate with his guards pretending to be inspectors, he immediately felt himself surrounded by bursts of noisy machinery.

But this did not affect the Sudan's humming of the upcoming "La Marseillaise". It was for no other reason than that he liked the contrast.

It was obviously a song to inspire workers to revolt, but it was used by the rulers to adjust their mood. Selim liked this feeling.

Accompanied by the factory supervisor, he headed deeper.

Due to the constant operation of the machines, the factory is extremely noisy.

The din of machinery, the clanking of metal, and the din of workers blended together to form a constant cacophony.

At the same time, the safety conditions here are also quite poor. The high-speed running machines make workers extremely vulnerable to injuries during operation.

Workers are busy operating machines for production and processing.

Sudan turned to the factory supervisor next to him and asked.

“How long do these people generally need to work, how efficient are they, and are their output high?”

"Sir, the efficiency of this group of people can be said to be quite low. They have almost no contact with machines and are very unskilled in operation. Yesterday, a female worker lost her left hand."

"Well, if that's the case, you should think of more ways. There is a group of British workers. Why not let them receive training?"

Sultan was a little worried. You know, female workers are not easy to deal with. Sharia law is simply disgusting.

The reason why so many female workers can be found in the factory is purely due to the benefits sent by the Guards.

These female workers were family members of the rebels. Considering that the other party had lost the support of the family, Sultan sent these people to the factory with a stroke of his pen. After all, the family needed food, and Sultan was also kind-hearted.

After hearing the mysterious inspector's words, the supervisor hurriedly replied.

“Sir, our scale here is not too big, so there are relatively few training places.

But sir, please rest assured, for the sake of production efficiency, we usually only arrange for them to work a dozen to more than twenty hours a day.

Of course, in order to prevent them from being lazy, we did not set a rest period.

Instead, we have arranged for supervisors. If we find anyone slacking off, we will whip them. "

Seeing the other party's flattering smile, Selim felt like laughing.

The factory has only been open for a few days, and these guys have already evolved into the profession of supervisors. Working more than ten or even twenty hours a day is just for them.

Selim began to scold the idiot in front of him.

"You have to understand, you idiot, they are still human beings, not machines.

What Sudan needs is a factory that can continue to produce, rather than just looking at the outbreak period. Extending their lifespan is only good for the empire, do you understand?

I really thought female workers were so easy to recruit, right? "

Facing Selim's scolding, the supervisor nodded and bowed for a while before dealing with it.

Everyone continued walking deeper into the factory.

It has to be said that the air quality in the factory is very bad.

Since coal and charcoal are widely used in factories to supply machines, the factory is filled with thick soot and dust. At the same time, the use of high concentrations of fiber particles, dyes and chemicals in textile factories makes the air quality even worse. .

However, the ventilation system, which is extremely important to the factory, is simply a pile of garbage. It is just a few vents, a few open windows, and a large chimney. It cannot effectively remove the thick smoke and dirty air, making the working environment abnormal. Stifling heat and humidity.

The entire factory was dusty and dim, with only the faint light from the tall windows illuminating the work area.

When the Sultan finished his visit, it was already evening.

Viewed from outside the factory, pollutants fill the air and obscure the stars in the night sky.

Gray smoke continuously spewed out from the tall chimneys, accompanied by rustling sounds, as if the portal to hell was opening, releasing violent power.

Selim got into the carriage that belonged to the Sultan. This was not his usual carriage. Even so, the appearance of the carriage could be said to be quite luxurious, and it was extremely out of place for this place.

Seeing the factory gradually disappearing from his eyes, Selim let out a long breath. He felt that just this visit might shorten his life by a few days.

But no matter what, Selim has already got ahead of the Russians or most European countries this time. Whether there is peace or not is two different things.

This is preemptive strike!

Please order first, please give me tickets. There will be another chapter or two later, just watch my speed.