Chapter 33 Ore and School

When he returned to the manor, Hughes met Alexi who was waiting for him.

When he saw his somewhat awkward smile, Xius guessed what he was here for.

".No money?"

"Yes," Alexei sighed, "Whether it's recruiting people to explore the island or building a school, it costs money, not to mention renovating the workshop."

There is no way around it. Any industry requires upfront investment, and this part of the money cannot be saved. Hughes is mentally prepared for this.

"Don't worry about the money. I'll find a way. Tell me about the progress."

Alexei nodded and quickly took out his notebook.

"The mineral deposits have been basically explored. This part is mainly based on the previous exploration of the island. We went to the site to explore according to the data and compiled it."

Hughes took the booklet and flipped through it, only to have his eyes widen.

"You mean, there are iron ore, copper ore, limestone, sulfur, and gypsum on the island? Have these been discovered?"

"Yes, I have personally visited these mines. Except for the specific quality, everything else is fine." Alexei shrugged. "We don't have anyone specializing in exploration here, so we can only ask some blacksmiths to take a look."

"How did you find these mines without exploration?" Hughes' eyes twitched. "Could they be open-pit mines?"

Alexei nodded: "Both"

Hughes was silent.

The quality of ore from open-pit mines may not be the highest, but it is definitely not low.

What's more, for Castel now, any mineral veins that are slightly more difficult to mine have to be given up. Hughes didn't have much hope at first, but it turns out that there are only open-pit mines here?

"Why haven't so many mineral veins been mined before?" Xiu Si took a breath.

"Sir, this is the Storm Ocean." Alexei smiled bitterly.

Indeed, this is the Storm Ocean, and the pirates have no smelting capabilities, so they prefer to purchase finished products directly.

The White Crow Duchy in the north and the Empire in the west are not short of minerals, so there is no need to transport them over thousands of miles.

As for the south? Do we have to go through the storm in the center of the Ocean of Storms?

Speaking of mines, Zeus suddenly remembered that when he was under the sea, the Banshees were enslaved by the fishmen, and their main job was mining.

There are also mineral veins on the seabed, and you just need to drive away the fishmen in the mines.

Wait, why do murlocs mine? Can they smelt ore underwater?

Hughes narrowed his eyes.

"Let's not talk about that for now. How is the factory doing now?"

"The olive oil factory is on track. The trial production was very successful. Now the process is very stable and the production capacity is constantly increasing. That is"

"What is it?"

"The production of olives is a bit slow now. There are indeed a lot of olives in Castres, but many of them are in the mountains and are not easy to pick."

Hughes nodded, noticing this.

Olives are actually not very suitable for tropical cultivation. There is a towering volcano in Castres. The climate at the foot of the mountain is completely different from that in the mountains. Olives mostly live in the valleys, and there are not many parts that are easy to pick.

The difficulty of transporting olives from the mountains increases exponentially.

However, in the absence of suitable transportation equipment or even paved roads, this kind of picking requires a lot of manpower.

“Don’t just pick the olives from the mountains by force. Human resources are a very precious resource. Our goal is not just to make olive oil, but to train qualified and skilled workers.”

"Skilled worker?"

Alexei was stunned. He had no experience in managing a factory. In his opinion, these craftsmen were just like the logistics troops during a battle. There were elite combat troops, but he had never heard of elite logistics.

He had also visited those factories and found that the craftsmen were doing repetitive and simple tasks. What was so good about being skilled? Xius smiled and said, "Look, I call these people in the factories now craftsmen instead of workers. This is because they are not fully adapted to the operation of the factories. Even in the factories, they are doing work similar to that of the workshops in the past."

"My definition of a worker is someone who has the most basic qualities - knowing what they should do, what they can do, what is dangerous, and what is fatal."

"Don't underestimate this. Industrial processes require learning to gradually understand. Many dangers cannot be seen at a glance. If you don't learn to adapt, you will be in trouble."

"Then we have to pay with human lives."

Alexei was choked, he really hadn't expected this.

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"You can see that in these olive oil factories, once the craftsmen inside have basic proficiency, there will be a huge change in production efficiency and accident probability."

Hughes flipped through the notes in his hand and asked again, "How's school going?"

"I have already found a few empty houses. It is easy to find tables and chairs for furniture, but it is difficult to gather enough books and papers at the moment."

"No need to go through so much trouble." Hughes laughed. When people of this era mentioned schools, they were actually more like the modern concept of "university."

As for basic education? The nobles all hired private tutors, but the common people? Why should the common people go to school?

What Hughes needs to solve now is basic education, to train qualified engineers - or even lower, to train qualified workers.

"Our school does not need paper and pen. All we need is a wall or a large enough wooden board and paint it black." Teaching can be done with a blackboard. The territory produces gypsum and lime, so making chalk requires no technical skills. We don't even need chalk. We can write on the blackboard with a lump of soil.

“Education is not such an inconvenient thing. As long as there are students and blackboards, knowledge can be spread.”

Alexei opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know where to start.

Although he was an orphan, he received an elite education, and he knew the consequences of Hughes's actions.

Universal education? Teaching a bunch of peasants to read and write? If this kind of school were known to everyone, Hughes would become a laughing stock in the aristocratic circle.

But Alexei had an indescribable feeling.

He grew up in an orphanage and had seen the hard-working and confused lives of the lower class. Although he was not one of those high-ranking nobles, he had also walked on muddy ground.

He said nothing in the end, but just tightened his grip on the scimitar at his waist, which was given to him by Hughes.

This has been Alexei's recent habit. Every time he holds the knife, strength surges from his heart and supports him.

".In short, the school must start classes as soon as possible. I will personally select the instructors. The renovation of the workshop cannot be delayed either. We don't have much time."

Alexei looked at Hughes seriously, bowed to him, and left the manor.

"Why is he using this military etiquette again?"

(End of this chapter)