Besides the two large-scale coal mines and iron mines near Eschyle City, there's no development of such large-scale coal mines and iron mines across Ice and Snow Wilderness! "
Elder Gouras who was responsible for civil affairs in Ice and Snow Wilderness opened his mouth after being silent for a short while.
"There's no large-scale coal mines and iron mines in other regions across Ice and Snow Wilderness?" Zhang Tie felt it unbelievable. According to the map, Ice and Snow Wilderness covered over 20 million square miles. Previously, he thought it was just because of the harsh climate; he had not imagined that natural resources were so scarce here.
"Yes, but there's no condition to exploit them. The climate and living conditions in Ice and Snow Wilderness are very harsh. Even though there are resources in many places, they could not be exploited on a large scale. Take the Fire-Dragon Coal Mine outside Eschyle City as an example. To develop such a coal mine, we need 70,000 to 80,000 workers. It's convenient to feed 70,000 people near Eschyle City; however, if we put them in the Wilderness in the north of Eschyle City, we might collapse a bear tribe. It's like a tribe having to feed an army of 70,000 people wandering outside all the year round. Their daily expenditure would be very terrifying, which would far exceed the value of these workers. "
Elder Nikola continued to add.
"Large-scale industrial exploitation has to depend on sufficient population. However, a sufficient population base required sufficient food and suitable living conditions. The workers needed to eat, drink, and defecate. As they needed to settle down and live, they could not dig out endless ores from the place where there were ores. However, what Ice and Snow Wilderness lacked the most were grains and suitable living conditions. When each tribe chose their own territory, they should solve the food problem of the tribe instead of choosing the place where there were ores. Only when everyone could fill their stomachs would the tribes have the strength to try to find some minerals and develop them as much as they could. However, the scale would not be too large. It's enough. "
"Based on the development experience of human society before the Catastrophe or the objective conclusion of people in this age, a population of over 40 million people is the basic premise for a country or region to complete industrialization. Among all the bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness, our huge bear tribe has the largest population. The total population of our tribe is less than 20 million. With such a small population, we could barely complete industrialization in Ice and Snow Wilderness. "
Rubbing his forehead, Zhang Tie forced himself to face the reality, "You mean, in the current condition, we could only rely on the two mineral deposits under the control of Eschyle City for coal and steel resources?"
"That's true. Before the basic living conditions in Ice and Snow Wilderness could be improved, we should be able to protect the Ice and Snow Wilderness. Before Ice and Snow Wilderness could not produce a large number of grains to meet people's basic survival needs, they had to cope with the holy war. We can only make the best use of the resources in front of us! "Elder Rodolfo replied.
After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie asked, "However, given the current output of Eschyle Steel Plant, less than 300,000 tons per year is too low. What's the maximum output of Eschyle Steel Plant?"
"The maximum output of Eschyle Steel Plant could be over 2 million tons. Previously, as the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness did not have such a large market and demand, all the bear tribes could solve most of their own steel needs. Therefore, we didn't expand. Additionally, expansion requires a lot of money. If we want to expand the output of Eschyle Steel Plant, we have to expand the mining scale of coal mines and iron ores outside the city! Besides money, we also need enough workers and technicians to ensure the smooth operation of Eschyle Steel Plant! "
"Money is not a problem. Let them make a plan first. After seeing how much we need, we will work out a solution!" Zhang Tie glanced at the other elders, "I have a principle and a declaration. Although I could earn 7-8 million gold coins per year in Eschyle City, I will not use any of them on myself or in other places outside Ice and Snow Wilderness. I will use all of them to prepare for the holy war between the two tribes and consolidate our foundation!"
The other elders nodded inside.
"If so, we will start to expand the output of Eschyle Steel Plant. It might take us about 2 years to complete this transformation! The entire transformation might cost more than 10 million gold coins... "
"Even if it's completed a bit later, it's better than not completing it at all! This is a priority project. All the money at hand should be used on this first! If we want to exert the power of steel and steam, it's not enough to increase the output of steel and steam. This is the first step. With steel and steam, the most important question is what to turn it into and where to put it so as to enrich our power to the utmost extent. I want to ask you a key question, if the army of demons reaches Ice and Snow Wilderness one day, where do you think the demons will come from? From the sky, the sea, the ground or the underground? I've heard some opinions about this before. However, I want to confirm it now. "
"The sea, it can only be the sea!" All the other elders nodded, "The location of Ice and Snow Wilderness is very special. There's a magma sea in the deepest underground of Ice and Snow Wilderness. Demons could not enter it through underground tunnels. In the sky, we have the Devil North Wind Belt, which isolates all the airships. Ice and Snow Wilderness is surrounded by the ocean on three sides, except for Frozen Continent in the north. It's a vast uninhabited area which is hundreds of times larger than the entire Blackson Humans Corridor. Many places in Frozen Continent have very extreme climate. After entering Frozen Continent, the temperature in most areas would be below -50 degrees Celsius in the evening. Additionally, there are very terrifying ice storms. Even knights might not come back alive after entering Frozen Continent without sufficient preparation, not to mention a large-scale army. Therefore, if the army of demons really wants to enter Ice and Snow Wilderness, they have to come from the ocean!"
Therefore, we have to prepare for it now. With the expansion of the production capacity of Eschyle Steel Plant, the production scale of North Wind Shipyard should also be expanded. As North Wind Shipyard could not produce steam turbines, we could not pin this hope on others forever. When demons arrive from the sea, who else could sell to us? Therefore, my second idea is to buy the steam turbine factory in Gantiadu Island and move it to Ice and Snow Wilderness. Steam turbine is the most sophisticated steam power equipment. As long as we get this technology, the entire technical strength of Eschyle City will reach a new height! "
"I have some friends in Gantiadu Island. I will go there myself in a few days. I will bring back the equipment and technicians for producing steam turbines!" Elder Turin opened his mouth in an indifferent tone as if he was talking about something trivial.
"Hasn't Spencer Clan thought about mastering the production technology of steam turbine before?" Zhang Tie asked.
"We have a very special relationship with Ewentra Archipelago. Most of the major clans and business groups in those islands are our business partners. However, they are also worried about us. If we want to leave Ice and Snow Wilderness one day, they would be the first to be attacked by us. Therefore, they don't give us the key technology of making large ships. There's even a secret agreement among those major forces and clans who have powerful sea forces in Ewentra Archipelago. As long as the armed fleet of Spencer Clan or Slavs crosses Oro Strait, they would join hands and kill this fleet. Therefore, in order not to excessively stimulate those people in Ewentra Archipelago, although Spencer family has other channels to acquire the manufacturing technology and equipment of steam turbines, we have always been buying from them. They also know that we are making a compromise. Therefore, they have been selling us the steam turbines at a fair price, which is even cheaper than that of our own production. Therefore, we have been living in harmony with each other. "
Elder Rodolfo answered Zhang Tie's question.
As the holy war was imminent, demons and their lackeys were becoming more and more rampant. Additionally, Spencer Clan had suffered a great loss. As long as Ewentra Archipelago was sane, nobody would doubt that Eschyle City would send an armed fleet to fight against them. Additionally, although the technology of steam turbine was complex, it was not unattainable. It was not a patent of anyone. There should be many countries that could produce it. Now that Elder Turin had opened his mouth, this thing was almost fixed.
In the following minutes, Zhang Tie uttered his third thought or decision, causing the entire venue to become silent once again.
Because Zhang Tie wanted to build a railway from Eschyle City to Costari Plain. This railway would run through the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness from north to south. It was over 9000 km in length. The two ends of the railway were connected with the huge bear tribe and the iron bear tribe. Additionally, many small and medium-sized tribes would be connected with each other.
This was Zhang Tie's real plan. Zhang Tie named this plan — — Tribal Axis!
The moment Zhang Tie proposed this ambitious plan, even the other elders were shocked.
"We need at least 50 million gold coins to build such a railway!" Elder Rodolfo swallowed his saliva and replied, "We could barely support such a plan with only two tribes!"
Zhang Tie smiled, "It doesn't matter. I can build this railway without any money from the two tribes!"
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