After a brief lecture by the manager, the assigned tasks begin.

As for the Viscount of the outlets, except for the appearance at the welcome banquet, he disappeared from everyone's sight. It makes many guys who want to hug their thighs sad.

Armani was not disappointed. The gap in identity and status is too big, and he doesn't have the talent to go through the heavens and latitudes, even if he knows how to make sycophants, it's useless.

The most important thing is that Armani doesn't make sycophants, and naturally he doesn't want others to pat on the back.

Don't say that it is a lord who is high, and even the managers in charge of the distribution work are surrounded by a large group, eager to follow the saddle and the horse at all times.

It turns out that sycophants also require talent, and not everyone can do it. Blindly went up to set it closely, but I didn't shoot the sycophant, but it was on the horse's hooves.

Looking at the final result, you can see that a certain unlucky guy used half-baked Austrian to get close, and the wrong word ended up causing the management to be furious and almost kicked out.

There is no way, the people of the HRE may not be good at art, but there is an advantage, that is, "rigor".

The lords are all from the military, and when they manage the territory, they inevitably bring in some military styles.

Unlike ordinary lords who had occupations, all the laborers were paid by the lord, so Armani directly enjoyed semi-military treatment.

In addition to the lack of military training, the management model is directly borrowed from the military model. To put it simply: do whatever you want, don't ask about other things, and don't worry about it.

Reprimanded by the management, Armani began his day's work. There is nothing unbalanced, and it is inevitable to be scolded at work, especially if it is not you who is scolded, then you don't feel it.

I don't know if it was good luck or bad luck, but Yamani's group was assigned to the road construction army.

This means that from now on, for a long time to come, they will all be spent in the wild.

"Poisonous insects and beasts", thinking of the propaganda of the domestic media, an ominous premonition arose spontaneously from Armani's heart.

It's just that looking at the guards with loaded guns, everyone decisively swallowed back the words of refusal. Theory is impossible to theorize, and everyone is a good young man who loves to work.

In fact, Armani was simply overthinking. This is the African continent, and without the protection of the army, it is difficult for ordinary people to survive in the wilderness.

Perhaps in coastal areas, lions, elephants, crocodiles and other beasts of prey have become extinct; But in the hinterland, these beasts of prey, which are about to become protected animals, are still the overlords of the jungle.

Because of the vast land and sparsely populated relationship, even if the noble lords gave full play to their hunting talents, they could not avoid slipping through the net.

On the African continent, labor is very valuable, and the death of a Viscount of Outlets will feel distressed, after all, laborers also need to pay pensions.

When they arrived at the construction site, everyone was a little dumbfounded.

Is this still the "Wild Continent" in my impression?

I saw a row of construction machinery appear in front of everyone, Armani only knew the excavator, and the other machinery felt familiar and a little unfamiliar.

Shock is shock, the job still has to be done. Compared to the European continent, Africa's economy is indeed very backward. However, economic backwardness does not mean that the productive forces must fall behind.

Essentially, it's a matter of money. As long as you have money in your pocket, what Europe has, you can also buy it here, but it is just a "little bit" more expensive than the price.

Armani can now be sure that the recruitment pitch isn't all a lie. At least one thing is for sure, and that is that there really is no need to work overtime.

There is no large lighting equipment on the entire construction site, and even if you want to work overtime at night, it is impossible to do so.

"The sun rises and the sun sets".

The way of work and rest, which completely follows the laws of nature, has been difficult for ordinary people to enjoy since human beings entered the industrial age.

In a sense, Armani and others are lucky. If it weren't for the fact that the territory does not produce coal, there are no coal mines within a radius of hundreds of miles, resulting in high power generation costs, otherwise you won't work overtime and dream!

……

What the laborers think, Viscount Outlet does not care, and at the moment he is worried about the problem of the railway.

Because of its geographical location, the Viscount of Outlets perfectly missed the main artery of the government's planning.

Needless to say, their own territory is in charge, and the central government does not even collect taxes, so naturally there is no obligation to solve the transportation problem for them.

Of course, this "no tax" is limited to the direct tax within the territory, and the central government still has to collect the tax in the process of commodity trading and circulation.

Theoretically, as long as self-sufficiency is achieved. If you don't buy goods from the outside world or sell products to the outside world, you can be tax-free in the true sense.

In reality, nature does not exist. If you really don't trade with the outside world, you will have to go back to a primitive society.

The rights and obligations are reciprocal, and the central government does not directly collect taxes from the territory, and it is also exempted from the obligation of administrative management and infrastructure investment in the territory.

When planning the main railway line, it is natural how to be reasonable. In fact, even if you are lucky enough to encounter the main line passing through the territory, the noble lord will be able to sit back and enjoy it.

Everyone knows that the main railway line in Africa is a loss-making business. For strategic reasons, Vienna will definitely have to build the main line, but this does not mean that it will have to maintain a lot of trains.

In order to reduce operating costs, it is a basic operation to reduce the number of trains on loss-making lines. If there is a railway without a train car, it is better not to have it, so as not to panic.

In the end, these costs will be borne by the central government and the local lords. So the African Railway Company, which was responsible for building the African railway network, was a joint venture between the lords and the central government from the beginning.

Including the Viscount of Outlets, they all subscribed for shares, and in return, the main line reserved an interface for him, and a branch railway could be built to connect with the main line.

Of course, this is not only a matter of his own family, but also the surrounding lords. "Whoever benefits, who pays" is a matter of course.

In order to build a regional railway, Viscount Outlet and his colleagues in the surrounding area also established a railway company.

The main lines are not profitable, let alone the regional railways. The shares of the railway, which everyone competes for in other places, have become a hot potato here.

The more shares you get, the more money you have to lose in the future. As for profitability, it's unthinkable.

It's not that Viscount Outlet is self-defeating, it's that the population of the African continent is too small. Take their own territory as an example, plus the labor is only more than 10,000.

Among the dozens of nobles in partnership, the territory is the most developed, and the population does not exceed 50,000. Together, their territories are more than 50,000 square kilometers, and their populations are less than 200,000.

200,000 people are divided into dozens of stations, proper inter-village railway. If you want to make money by rail, it is estimated that the population will have to increase by at least 30 times.

That's almost half the continent's population. How long will it take HRE to achieve the results of more than 30 years of running the African continent on their own?

No matter how much the railway company loses, the railway must be repaired in order for its own products to be able to be shipped.

The key is the investment in the construction of the railway, and no matter how high the maintenance cost is in the later stage, it is cheaper than using horse-drawn carriages to transport materials. In the long run, it is still earned overall. fast

In fact, everyone has not moved the idea of throwing the branch railway to the central government for management, and paying for it themselves.

However, no matter how good the plan is, it needs the cooperation of others. The Vienna government is also afraid of goods that are destined to lose money.

Inter-village buses have to lose money, and inter-village railways lose even more. Although the population is small, the distance is not short at all.

If the entire continent were to build a rail network, the operating costs would be higher than the entire European continent combined.

If it were to take over the "inter-village railway" at a loss, then all the taxes that the Vienna government receives from Africa every year may not be enough.

Even so, there is a possibility that the effort will be thankless. A series of problems such as "expensive fees", "few trains", and "delays" can make the people scold the Vienna government into doubting their lives.

From Vienna's point of view, control of the main railway lines means control of the African railway network. As for the issue of the regional railway, it is better to leave it to the nobles to solve it themselves!

Slow down, slow down, sooner or later you can do it. During the period when the Americans developed the west in the original time and space, the problem was even more serious than this, and the infrastructure construction was also completed, and there was no reason why the HRE could not figure it out.

The operating cost is high, and it is a big deal to send a few cars. The aristocracy managed the railway company by himself, and it was completely possible to fill a cart of goods before departing. Scientific and rigorous, there is no need to worry about someone passing the buck.

Deep down, Viscount Outlet envied his fellow nobles downstream more than once. Although they are located in the Niger River Basin, they can rely on river transportation for development, but he can only build railways.

The downstream river is deep and wide enough to be navigable, and the upstream is tragic. These small rivers and ditches in Otlenburg not only have a turbulent current, but also a very unstable flow. Floods in the summer, and streams are left in the winter.

There is no way, the road is chosen by his father. Back then, a small gold mine was discovered, and he tried to drag the relationship to set the fief in its current location.

As a result, the king at the beginning was bronze, but the end was bronze. Gold mines do exist, but the reserves are very impressive. After less than half a year of mining, it was declared cool.

Don't say that you made money, and you didn't even get the cost back. At one time, it was still in the circle of African aristocrats, and there was a lot of uproar.

To paraphrase the newspaper headline, it reads, "A Territory Deep in the Jungle." After many years of solitude, it was not until the end of the European War and the nobility of the fiefdom that Otlenburg welcomed its current neighbor.

Of course, remoteness also has the benefit of remoteness. After other people's titles are promoted, the territory is one in the east and one in the west.

If you want to be together, you must also find ways to find someone to replace you. As long as the family doesn't agree halfway, it's no fun.

Viscount Outlet doesn't have this kind of trouble, in the past, the surrounding area was borderless, just draw a piece of it.

Not only is the territory concentrated, but the area is also very large. If in the economically developed coastal areas, the viscounty can have half the area it has now, it is all God forbid.

Whether it is a loss or an advantage, I am afraid that no one will be able to figure out this question for a while.

The issue of the distribution of shares has been discussed many times. For many days, Viscount Outlets' wireless telegraph machine thought it was a hormone, and it kept ringing.

This was a by-product of the war, a breakthrough in radio technology at the end of the European War, capable of communicating hundreds of kilometers away. The war ended just a few days after the army was equipped.

In order to strengthen control over the African continent, but also to avoid wasting resources. After the Great Disarmament, Franz distributed the surplus radio stations as bounties to meritorious men.

Perhaps the radio station did not have to pay for communication, and this thing soon became a tool for the nobles to discuss, chat, and brag.

Putting down the telegram in his hand, Viscount Outlet extinguished his thoughts of starting a railroad immediately. The distribution of shares is only one aspect, the key is that financing is difficult now.

There was no way, after obtaining labor, there were so many people who paid attention to the railroad that they ran to apply for loans one by one, and the Royal Bank was also worried.

Unless the economic crisis is over and the financial community of the Holy Roman Empire intervenes, no one will be able to raise funds for the construction of hundreds of thousands of kilometers of railways.

Even if it's start-up capital, that's an astronomical sum.

Just because there is no way to build a railway does not mean that it will not be built. There is no need to make an agreement, everyone is working on the preparations, and some people have even started the work.

After all, how to distribute the shares of the railway company is mainly related to the later operation, and at most local series construction will be done.

The specific construction of the railway must be the road of whose territory, and who is responsible for the construction of the money, and it is expected that it can take advantage.

There is no need to worry about someone causing trouble, the constitution stipulates that all citizens must support the construction of infrastructure, and the noble lords are no exception.

In the event of a dispute, the Governor's Office will intervene to mediate. The problem that really needs to be solved by everyone is still - money.

Knocking on the table, Viscount Outlet instructed the administrative officer: "Don't stop the road construction, the investment in the railway is too large, and you can't raise enough funds for a while, so build the road first."

With the income of the current territory, plus bank loans, it should not be a problem to support it for a year. When the economic crisis passes, the funding problem will be solved. ”

It can be seen that Viscount Outlet is very conflicted in his heart.

On the one hand, they want the economic crisis to last longer, so as to attract immigrants from the mainland; On the other hand, they hope that the economic crisis will pass sooner so that it will be easier to get more bank loans.

Who made the Royal Bank's construction loan low at interest?

An annual interest rate of only 2 points is equivalent to no interest. You must know that for ordinary commercial bank loans, the handling fee is more than two points.

In fact, the conditions in Otlenburg are not bad. Although it is a little remote, the land is fertile and the water resources are relatively abundant.

Colleagues in the interior of North and East Africa are even more struggling, and now they are busy building reservoirs one by one, and the railways are even more difficult to think about.

According to the Vienna government's goal of building Africa, in order to solve the problem of water shortage, 18 million reservoirs are planned to be built.

Even Otrenburg also has a reservoir plan, which is essential if Viscount Outlet wants to build a power station.

But that's a question for the future, and there's not much to think about right now. Anyway, with such a small population, it is good to use gas lamps and oil lamps. At present, if you need electricity, it is the lord's mansion.

"Yes, Your Excellency, Viscount. It was only with the arrival of laborers that the balance between men and women in the territory was completely broken.

If measures are not taken, there will be many public security disputes in the future, which is likely to affect the morale of the people in the territory. ”

Parliamentary Officer Martin reminded.

Laborers are also ordinary people. As long as people have seven emotions and six desires, the ratio of men and women is seriously imbalanced, and problems are inevitable.

Rubbing his forehead, Viscount Outlet fell into deep thought. After a long time, he said slowly: "Then first strengthen the management of labor, and first adopt a completely closed militarized management."

It is said that there are also female workers in this labor dispatch, and I will mobilize domestic relations and find a way to ask for a group of them. ”

It's not that Viscount Outlet deliberately ignores the imbalance between men and women, the main thing is that infrastructure construction is heavy physical work, so naturally male workers with stronger physical strength are preferred.

……