Translator: Cinder Translations
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"I don't expect you to understand! But please believe that I have my reasons for doing this," said King Rodney the Eighteenth, who looked guilty as he addressed the group in the royal palace's reception room. "As for the reason, it's not convenient to reveal it for now."
Present in the room were Paul, Catherine, and Malon Ganard, a member of the Special District Management Committee who had been serving by the king's side.
"Your Majesty, will our dealings with the Orcs end here?" Paul asked him.
After stabilizing the situation in the northwest, and under the king's urging, Paul and Catherine had hurried to Crystal Light to attend a ceremony in which Rodney the Eighteenth would bestow Paul a title.
"Of course, it won't end here! Five years!" King Rodney the Eighteenth frowned deeply and stretched out his hand. "At most, within five years, the Aldor army will once again stand at the Watcher's Fortress."
The king spoke decisively, his voice unyielding. The humiliating treaty with the Orcs had greatly damaged his prestige, and Rodney felt as though he was sitting on a volcano, knowing that his position could erupt at any moment.
"I will raise a large army!" He clenched his fist and waved it in the air.
"The Alden army is a great model!" The king eagerly looked at Paul. "I've thoroughly studied the specifics of your battles with the Orcs, and I must say, the Alden army played a pivotal role. Your forces are the model for all of the kingdom's armies."
Paul nodded slightly. "I'm honored to receive such praise from Your Majesty."
"But I also understand that sustaining an army like Alden's requires immense financial resources. Even with military bonds, we still need matching, convertible resources."
Rodney turned his gaze to Malon.
"So our reforms cannot be limited to small-scale changes in the Special District; they must be implemented across the entire kingdom, and even in the territories loyal to the royal family."
Malon stood up. "Your Majesty, I will do everything I can."
Paul thought to himself that it seemed like he and the king were getting along well.
Since the establishment of the economic special district centered around the West Port, things had been running smoothly, with the management committee setting up many factories following the model of the Northwest Bay.
Paper making, salt drying, wood processing, charcoal production...
Many industries in Aldor had existed for centuries or even millennia in the form of scattered small workshops and manual production. However, the Special District Management Committee introduced new organizational structures, production technologies, and the concept of "standardization," creating large-scale production units called "factories."
The most important industry was textiles. The high efficiency of Jenny spinning machines and flying shuttle looms attracted many wealthy individuals into the industry. With massive private investments, textile factories sprang up, fueled by the abundant water power of the southern kingdom, which continuously powered the machines in the factories.
These factories attracted a large number of workers seeking employment. In Aldor's previous lower classes, the number of workers (artisans) had been negligible compared to the massive farming population, but now the situation was beginning to change.
Traditional Aldor cities had primarily been hubs for goods from surrounding rural areas, with very few residents. Many cities had populations of only a few thousand. But within the economic special district, this began to change. As workers gathered, the cities were growing larger.
The rise of new industries also turned the cities into production hubs, not just commercial centers. In a ruthless sense, the handicraft workshops scattered in the countryside were destroyed by the factories in the cities, reducing the rural areas to mere raw material suppliers.
Bankrupt rural artisans were forced to migrate to the cities in search of a livelihood, and factory owners, desperate for labor, welcomed them. This was especially evident in the textile industry.
The rise of the textile industry also had a huge impact. The demand for raw materials—cotton and wool—skyrocketed, causing the prices of both to surge.
Cotton, in particular, was noteworthy. The cotton ginning machine, invented in the Northwest Bay, was also introduced to the south. This powerful machine consisted of a rotating cylinder covered in steel teeth that forcefully ripped cotton fibers from cotton seeds, using centrifugal force to filter out the seeds and throw out the cotton fibers. Driven by water power, one person operating the machine could separate more cotton in a day than was previously done by hand in several months. The machine was easy to use, requiring only one person to operate, and the cotton was harvested more cleanly than by manual methods.
The strong demand for cotton and wool greatly altered surrounding agricultural production. Coupled with advanced agricultural technologies and machinery from the Northwest Bay, the need for manual labor on the land decreased significantly. Since there was no more arable land available near the kingdom's capital and West Port, the rural population continued to migrate into the cities.
The influx of people placed a significant strain on public facilities in the special district. Since it was an experimental area, the kingdom's support was limited, and the committee had to commission the Northwest Bank (which had evolved from a bank established by the former Aldor government) to issue bonds to fund the development of public infrastructure.
Roads, bridges, factory buildings, dormitories, residences… new constructions were continuously underway in the West Port Economic Special District, with something new being built every day.
The booming maritime trade solved the special district's product sales problem. With the influence of the Northwest Bay, more and more coastal cities joined in.
Thanks to technological advances, ships built in the Northwest Bay were becoming larger, sturdier, and able to carry more cargo, providing strong support for the growth of the trade network.
The ever-growing trade network began in the Northwest Bay, extending northward to the peaceful Great Plains, the Lucky Forest, and the Black Water Valley—territories of the forest Orcs. To the south, it covered the entire West Coast of Aldor, passing through Horns Bay, turning eastward and reaching the continent's eastern edge, even connecting with the land inhabited by elves in the southeast.
The trade routes of Aldor's merchant ships were like threads, linking once isolated civilizations across the continent. Centralized production and large cargo capacity made Aldor's goods cheap and of good quality, despite disrupting local handicrafts, and were welcomed by more locals. On their return journeys, merchant ships were filled with local specialties and culture.
Trade served as a bridge, expanding the horizons of residents in Aldor's coastal cities, sparking the growth of urban culture, and leading to a rapid development of the publishing industry. Especially in the Northwest Bay, where literacy rates were skyrocketing.
With the support of paper making and printing technology, books such as novels and poetry flourished, and even newspapers—publications focused on news and commentary—were invented by the people themselves.
(End of the chapter)
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