Beep!
Clang clang clang …
Accompanied by a long whistle, an unstoppable steel behemoth crushed the snow-white steam and sped along the dragon-like rails. Even with 20 heavy carriages, it still ran faster than a galloping horse.
And as a mechanical creation with full endurance, it did not know what "rest" was.
Sitting in the last carriage of the steam locomotive, Elvin looked at the scenery flashing by outside the glass window. He could not help but feel a sense of accomplishment.
Olivia, who was wearing a lady's dress and hugging his arm, also had sparkling stars in her eyes. Of course, the shock of the drawings and the real thing could not be compared.
And this was an industrial miracle built by a group of mortals without the help of any supernatural powers!
It used to take a full day and a half to travel between Brunswick, the capital of Georgia, and the port of Far Sail, but it only took six hours to change to a steam locomotive.
This was already the [Legendary Warship — Miracle Crown] with a speed of 32 knots. It was a terrifying speed that surpassed the era. Steam locomotives and railways, on the other hand, could be replicated on a large scale without the limitation of supernatural materials, vividly displaying the essential characteristics of industrialization.
Time was money, and efficiency was life!
The value contained in it was obvious at a glance.
Originally, the entire 368-kilometer Georgia Corridor was expected to be built in a year. However, with the help of the flocking Ilya refugees, the engineering team used a segmented construction plan and completed it in just half a year.
The official start of construction was in early spring. At this time, it was just the beginning of winter.
Before that.
During the spring and autumn navigation season, most of the large number of immigrants, mainly Ilya people, were intercepted by Elvin at St. Elvin Port.
Thanks to the widespread publicity of the local residents of Buffalo, as well as his outstanding achievements in saving them from disaster in Ilya last year, the name of Saint Elvin was like a savior in the eyes of the local people and immigrants of Ilya.
For the poor refugees who had just arrived in the New World, a job provided by Elvin that could support themselves and their families was of course attractive. After thousands of railway workers were recruited by the "Binhai Railway Company", they threw themselves into the infrastructure of the "Georgia Corridor".
They would also become the backbone of the booming railway industry.
Of course, there was no lack of sufficient financial support, and it was all thanks to the generosity of several churches.
Although the negotiations with the other churches were not as smooth as those of the Church of the Black Iron Cross, in the naked seller's market, they were unwilling to fall behind, so they couldn't be tough at all.
In particular, after the Church of the Black Iron Cross gained the upper hand, the Church of Frost Breath, the Starry Night Church, and the Church of Dawn, who had no idea that Elvin had wiped out their Silver Knight, paid a heavy price without hesitation.
The Church of the Seven Gods was indeed the richest family in the material world. In the end, every family gave Elvin a fifteen-year interest-free loan of 500,000 Gold Lions, plus 100,000 Gold Lions as a "copy fee".
Considering the 15 years of interest-free loans, it was basically free money. Even if it was calculated based on the 15% return on investment, even if reuse was not taken into account, it would double in less than seven years.
If compound interest was calculated and maintained a 15% annual growth rate, the money would increase by eight times after 15 years!
Just by making copies of the [Ancient Scroll] with several churches, Elvin had already earned back 30% of his losses, and in the long run, it would be far more than 30%.
Of course, if it weren't for his identity as a "saint", things wouldn't have gone so smoothly. The strength of a superior wizard and his mother-in-law was not enough to make the Church of the Seven Gods submit to him. It was more likely that the Church of the Seven Gods would become the Crown of Truth.
As for whether or not the members of the church would be besieged by the sorcerers who were full of hatred and the supernatural who were hiding there, it was not something that Elvin needed to worry about.
After receiving the money from the church, [Libra Equalizer] was so bright that it almost jumped up in joy. It was even happier than Elvin, but then Elvin stomped it down to the bottom of the box.
If Elvin did not encounter a life and death crisis again, it was obviously unlikely that it would see the light of day again.
However, Elvin was not worried about its work attitude at all. When he used [Spell of Bankruptcy] again, no matter how cold the divine weapon was, it would have to become the most obedient dog.
Besides.
[Libra Equalizer] would have to be used sooner or later.
Elvin seriously thought about it for a few days, especially after McCauley explained that the purchase of a large number of rockets was to deal with the follow-up actions of the "Oathbreaker". In the end, he used the [Heavenly Messenger] that came with the saint to inform the Holy Angel Belnus.
After getting the divine weapon in his hands and understanding its meaning, Elvin had already figured out why the "Oathbreaker" wanted to fight for it in such a tragic way with heavy casualties.
He also realized that the ownership of [Libra Equalizer] would determine the series of strategic plans that the Church of the Black Iron Cross would carry out to deal with the expansion of [Capital] in the future. Wrong information could lead to a serious misjudgment of strategic decisions, and then lead to unnecessary losses.
In the end, it would be too funny to fight with the air for so long.
Although Elvin had some minor problems, he was still very reliable when it came to major problems.
And unlike the "Blackwing Cult" that was seeking a transformation, the main purpose of the goddess was to prevent the other party from getting the divine weapon and delay the time for the "God of Black Wings" to obtain the [Capital] clergy. Whether or not she could control the divine weapon was secondary.
Just taking the divine weapon from the "Oathbreaker" was already a great achievement.
Therefore, as Elvin's spoils of war, the [Libra Equalizer] was also left in his hands.
In the passenger car.
"Sir Marquis, a great industrial creation like the steam locomotive is simply a miracle that mortals can't imagine!"
"Yes, I think the construction plan for the later colonies should be started as soon as possible."
"Since it can be built in sections, why don't we start along the Buffalo and Cabusher lines first?"
"Go, go, go. We should start along the Georgia and Charles lines first."
This steam locomotive had been tested by professionals and was officially launched for passenger and cargo use. The first eighteen carriages were freight carriages, and the last two carriages were passenger carriages, far away from the noise, smoke, and soot of the locomotive.
All the governors of the twelve colonies of Faletis were also invited to follow Elvin, as the lord, and Olivia, as the chief governor, to experience the speed of the steam locomotive.
After the initial shock of the steam locomotive's activation, they all went to Elvin excitedly and asked him to start the "Coastal Railway" project as soon as possible.
In the past, even with the help of the northeast trade winds, it took a normal merchant ship 15 days to travel from the northernmost to the southernmost of the colony, and even longer to travel in the opposite direction. But with the railway, with the help of steam locomotives that could travel at 60 kilometers per hour, it only took three days to connect the north and south.
Not to mention other things, just the distribution of goods and the movement of people could greatly improve the efficiency of trade. It was far from comparable to the slow shipping of the past.
The first train from Georgia to the Far Sail Territory carried a batch of high-quality white oak wood from the northern mountains of Georgia.
After Elvin was qualified as a member of the House of Lords, and after the initial confirmation by the observers, in addition to the right to produce cannons, the independent right to build battleships also fell into his hands.
And under the guiding ideology that the kingdom and Shilius would go to war sooner or later, he received a large number of orders from the mainland, and the destination was the large shipyard in Farsail.
Although the white oak from the New World was not as good as the iron oak from the Southern Continent's "Treasured Oak Bay," which could be used to build level-two and level-one battleships, and even legendary warships.
But it was not a problem to use it to build low-level battleships.
White oak was widely distributed in the northern and eastern parts of the New World, and the quality was the best in the northern part of the Abayache Mountains. In addition to building sailing ships, it was also famous for making wine barrels.
When the steam locomotive returned, it would bring back raw cotton that had been seeded using the steam cotton gin.
It was worth mentioning.
In the past, an Anuma slave might not be able to pick a pound of cotton even after working hard for an entire day. In the entire cotton textile industry, cotton gin was a very costly production process.
The steam cotton gin was thus born, and unlike other cotton textile equipment that was born in the kingdom, the cotton gin was born in the New World, where cotton was produced.
Obviously, there was a demand for supply, and the demand for cotton gins in the mainland, which did not grow cotton on a large scale, was far less urgent than in the New World.
This cotton gin, designed and manufactured by the "Mechanical Immortality School," could be driven by water or steam, and could clean 1000 pounds of seed cotton per day. A laborer could clean more cotton in a day than in months.
This also caused a strange phenomenon. Led by Georgia and Farsail, there were more and more cotton textile factories in the New World, but the raw cotton exported to the kingdom increased by dozens of times in a short time.
In any case, the ones who benefited the most were Georgia and Farsail, which were also in the cotton belt of the northern part of the New World. The two marquises even received a personal letter from Her Majesty the Queen praising their achievements.
Elvin, Olivia, and his father-in-law had already made their respective industrial plans for the three territories. Under the premise of having all the basic industries, they focused on developing their own characteristics.
Buffalo: a large trading port created by its geographical advantage; the traditional industries that ranked first in the entire Union were animal husbandry, maple syrup, some fruits, and the leather trade and wine trade that had just begun to develop.
Georgia: military (steel industry), ceramics, cotton textile industry, medicine.
Farsail: shipping, shipbuilding industry, agriculture represented by sugar and cotton, cotton textile industry, large-scale smuggling.
As long as the "Coastal Railway" was used to connect them to form complementary industries, it would not be as simple as one plus one equals two. The governors of the colonies were eager, but Elvin was even more so.
"Your Excellencies, please be patient. I, as the marquis' representative, will discuss the construction of the 'Coastal Railway' and the division of interests with you in detail."
Hawkins, who was also walking with Elvin and Olivia, looked more and more like a successful person in his formal suit. Beside him was Madam Edith, the widow of Speaker Zerom. She was wearing a smart shirt and trousers, acting as his assistant.
Hawkins, who was in charge of the territory's "Long Island Development Bank", also had to practice what the "industrial and agricultural scissors gap" meant through the economic artery of the "Coastal Railway".
The establishment of the railway was, of course, a great thing for the entire Faletis colony. It created the necessary conditions for achieving economic growth.
However, the relatively slow development of the royal colonies and autonomous colonies was mainly a source of raw materials for the kingdom. Farsail and Georgia, on the other hand, had already begun the transformation of the steam industry.
When industrial areas with advanced production technology exchanged industrial and agricultural products with agricultural areas with backward production technology, the price of industrial products was often higher than their value because of the added value, and the price of agricultural products was often lower than their value. The statistical chart also showed a scissors gap, that is, the industrial and agricultural scissors gap.
With the convenience of the railway, everyone was bound to grow. However, the other colonies of the kingdom might grow by "ten", while Georgia and Farsail would grow by "twenty". Half of that "ten" would be taken away by the latter unknowingly.
This was the essence of being rich first!
Although the ownership of the colonies along the "Coastal Railway" did not belong to Elvin, economic activities such as trade of goods had no boundaries.
With the help of steam locomotives, it was enough to integrate the power of all twelve Faletis colonies, allowing the marquis to take the lead in achieving rapid development. And it was just a matter of how much they earned. No one else would lose out.
Although Farsail, Georgia, and Buffalo were not connected, under the current measures, the combined influence of the three territories was far greater than the entire territory of 460,000 square kilometers! Elvin's hidden power had also greatly increased!
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