Struggle in the Steam Age

"Like I said, Earl. You are really good at running your own territory." On the way back to the city, Viscount Surrey said to Lawrence with admiration on his face.

"I really didn't expect that you would be able to send a new industry to our island in such a short period of time according to the location, and this industry can actually be connected to another one that can be said to be the lifeblood of the entire island. Industry."

"In fact, it is not the lifeblood. After all, you can also solve the fatal vitamin deficiency problem by eating those moss or lichens." Lawrence said with a serious face.

"Of course, we are humans after all, not reindeer. So when we are able to eat more delicious vegetables, it is better to eat less ground first or moss that is too high in oxalic acid."

After returning to the city, Viscount Surrey immediately mobilized the workshops and factories under his command to make various equipment and matching coal stoves used to make briquettes.

In just three days, more than 500 coal stoves, together with a large number of briquettes manufacturing tools, were distributed to various areas of the territory for trial.

For example, in the newly built greenhouses around this core city, the complex geothermal pipes in the original design have been eliminated, and several briquette furnaces have been used instead.

"In some large greenhouses, the effect of this kind of briquette stove is not very obvious." After inspecting several greenhouses of different sizes and locations. Lawrence and they quickly saw how effective these new products were.

"But for those small greenhouses, briquette stoves are indeed much better than braziers and complicated heating pipes."

"Yes, the performance of new products and traditional warming methods are better in the case of warming a small-scale space. But the effect is not very good when facing a larger space."

Lawrence nodded on the side at this time and said. "Therefore, when we promote this kind of briquettes, it is better to target those small spaces more appropriately."

"This is already very good." Compared with Lawrence, who felt that this place was a little inadequate, Viscount Surrey was very satisfied with the current situation.

At least for him, the only two large cities in the territory, Fort Surrey and North Harbor, have warm currents and geothermal heat to help them heat up respectively, and overall they don't need too many artificial warming methods. Therefore, his demand for large-scale heating facilities is not very large.

On the contrary, there is a need for more stable, efficient and cheap heating methods for small settlements to strengthen the actual control of the territory.

If you want to control a territory, it is not enough to draw boundaries on the map. You also need enough people to live on it.

For example, on the tens of thousands of square kilometers of land under the Viscount of Surrey, two towns and a coal mine have concentrated more than 90% of the people in the area, which naturally led to serious abandonment in other places in the territory. .

And this situation also appeared on the territories of the entire Green Island. Whether it is directly under the kingdom, the royal family or the territories of other nobles, the entire island is the population distribution method where most of the population is concentrated in the town.

If it were not for the Noble Law and the Development Law to specify how many years after the possession of the territory, if the territory is not developed to a certain extent, the territory will be confiscated, then the population of this island is estimated to be less than 1/10 of the existing population.

And this way of personnel distribution has seriously affected the development progress of the entire region. On the one hand, those cities that rely on some heat to build are limited in scale, so the number of people they can accommodate is also limited.

On the other hand, large tracts of wilderness have to be abandoned due to lack of manpower. This naturally affected the development of this territory.

For example, this is the case with the coal mine discovered this time on the territory of the Viscount Surrey. According to the prospecting team, such shallow coal mines that can be mined in large-scale open-pits are actually very easy to find.

However, due to the sparse population distribution in the area, even if the family of the Viscount Surrey has operated here for three generations, they have not realized that there are minerals here.

And here is the most critical advantage of the briquette and briquette stove that Lawrence has mashed up.

With these flexible and cheap heating tools, the Viscount Surrey, or the lords of the entire island, can greatly expand the scope of activities of the people under his command, and then develop those that have never been developed before. H.

This is why Viscount Surrey was so excited after reading this humble invention. After all, for people in this area, temperature is the most important reason that prevents them from developing their territory.

And if this problem can be solved, even if it is only partially solved, then the region should be able to usher in a new development in a very short period of time**.

As for the problem of wild races or beasts, which is very troublesome for most territories, this is not so serious, because the area is so barren that it is difficult for those wilds to exist in the wild on a large scale.

For example, the biggest threat on Green Island now is a part of the white dragons and vassal kobolds entrenched on the island, but basically all of them live in the north and make a living by fishing, and there is not much communication with these colonies in the south.

White dragon occasionally left his lair to attack the settlements of intelligent creatures in the south, but with gunpowder weapons capable of firing bursts and special anti-aircraft gun racks, such attacks were significantly less.

As for the kobolds, the nearly 100 kilometers of uninhabited boreal wasteland between their den and the northernmost human settlement has prevented all the possibilities for them to want to go south.

For the Viscount Surrey himself, let alone how much money can be made in this regard as the only large coal mine owner on the two islands, and how much profit can be made by opening up those undeveloped areas.

The favors shared in the relationship between this matter and Lawrence alone are enough to make him inexhaustible for a long time to come.

After realizing the significance of these items that are not very important in his own impression in this world, in the next few days, Lawrence began to search for knowledge related to life in cold regions in his own impression.

As beings who are not good at living in cold regions, humans in this world have also invented many ways to assist themselves in living in this region.

For example, a variety of sleds and snowshoes used to operate in snowy areas, and for example, in addition to using buildings with heavy walls and narrow doors and windows to shelter from the wind and cold in the wild.

In addition, there are several very special areas in this area that are maintained internally by more rare and extraordinary powers.

For example, in the eastern part of the island, there is a dwarf tribe under a kingdom that relies on a magic circle unique to dwarves inside, UU reading www.uukanshu.com because they found the place where the minerals are not available for geothermal.

For another example, a few organizations of spellcasters further north have also built some bases for cultivating some animals and plants that grow in the frigid zone. In those bases belonging to the casters, the casters directly used the power of underground magma and even the elements to power the entire facility.

With enough energy, these outposts are all achieved by a series of magical barriers, whether for defense or heat preservation.

Compared with other methods, this method can be said to be the most environmentally friendly and the best effect. However, the corresponding is that the initial investment is surprisingly large.

According to Viscount Surrey, it is estimated that the complete sale of his Surrey Fort can only afford a set of pocket barriers that can support at most two or three hundred people.

Obviously, this kind of warmth and life support system with the characteristics of this world is basically impossible to promote on a large scale because of cost.

In this case, the series of methods in Lawrence's mind that can prevent the cold without extraordinary power will naturally come in handy.