Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 1014: Chapter 28, The Difficult Intervillage Railway

After a brief pep talk by the management, they started distributing work tasks.

As for Viscount Autres, apart from appearing at the welcome banquet, he had vanished from everyone’s sight, disappointing many who wanted to curry favor.

Ya Mani wasn’t disappointed by this. With such a vast disparity in status and lack of outstanding talent, no amount of flattering could be of use.

The most crucial point was that Ya Mani didn’t indulge in flattery and naturally didn’t appreciate others climbing the ladder through sycophancy.

It wasn’t just the high and mighty Lord, even the management staff responsible for allocating work had a large group of sycophants around them, wishing they could follow their every step.

It was proven that flattery also required talent, not just anyone could do it. Blindly trying to ingratiate oneself could backfire, instead of flattering, one might literally end up on the receiving end of a kick.

...

The end result said it all, a misfortunate soul tried to butter up the managers in their half-baked language and made a linguistic mistake which infuriated the management, almost getting kicked out.

There was no choice, Shinra people might not be artistically inclined, but they had one virtue—strictness.

Lords were likely from military backgrounds, so their management of territories inevitably carried some military style.

Unlike other commoners with professions, the laborers were all paid directly by the lord, so Ya Mani directly enjoyed a semi-militarized treatment.

Except for lacking military training, the management model directly mimicked the military style. To put it simply, only do what you’re told; leave other concerns and inquiries aside.

Under the management’s scolding, Ya Mani began his day’s work. There was nothing unfair about it; getting yelled at was part of the job, especially when the scolding wasn’t directed at oneself, it was even less bothersome.

It was uncertain whether it was good or bad luck, but Ya Mani’s group was assigned to the Road Repair Army.

This meant that from now on, for a considerably long period, they would be spending their time outdoors.

“Venomous insects and fierce beasts,” recalling the domestic media’s propaganda, a bad premonition emerged in Ya Mani’s heart.

However, seeing the Guards armed to the teeth, everyone promptly swallowed any words of refusal. Arguing wasn’t an option, everyone was eager to be seen as industrious young people.

In fact, Ya Mani was overthinking it. This was the African Continent, and without military protection, it would be challenging for commoners to survive outdoors.

Perhaps in coastal areas, fierce animals like lions, elephants, and crocodiles might have become extinct; yet in the inland areas, these animals, soon to be protected species, still dominated the jungles.

Due to the vast but sparsely populated lands, even if the Aristocratic Lords fully utilized their hunting talents, they couldn’t avoid creatures slipping through the net.

In the African Continent, labor was extremely precious; losing a worker would cause even Viscount Autres heartache since compensation needed to be paid to laborers.

Upon arriving at the construction site, the crew was somewhat taken aback.

Was this still the “wild continent” as they imagined?

Before them lay a line of construction machinery; Ya Mani recognized the excavators, but the other machines felt both familiar and strange.

Shock aside, the work still needed to be done. Compared to the European Continent, Africa’s economy was severely lagging. However, being economically underdeveloped didn’t necessarily equate to lagging productive forces.

Essentially, it all boiled down to money. As long as there was money, anything available in Europe could be purchased here, albeit at a “slightly” higher price.

Ya Mani could now be certain, not everything in the recruitment propaganda was deceptive. At the very least, one thing was for sure; indeed, there was no need for overtime.

The entire construction site lacked large lighting equipment, so working overtime at night was impossible.

“Work with the sunrise, rest with the sunset.”

Adhering to a natural rhythm of work and rest had become a luxury that common people could no longer afford since the onset of the industrial era.

In a way, Ya Mani and the others were lucky. If it weren’t for the absence of coal in Viscount Otelais’ territory and the absence of coal mines within hundreds of miles making electricity generation prohibitively expensive, working overtime would be nothing but a dream!

…

Viscount Otelais was not concerned with the workers’ thoughts, as he was currently troubled by issues with the railway.

Due to its geographical location, Viscount Otelais’ territory had perfectly missed the major arteries planned by the government.

Inevitably, managing one’s own territory was up to oneself, the Central Government didn’t even collect taxes, so naturally, they were under no obligation to solve their transportation problems. @@novelbin@@

Of course, this “no taxes” only pertained to direct taxes within the territory; the Central Government would still collect taxes on goods traded.

In theory, as long as self-sufficiency was achieved—neither buying goods from outside nor selling products to the outside world—one could truly avoid paying taxes.

In reality, that was nonexistent. Without trading with the outside world, society would regress back to primitive times.

Rights and obligations were equal, with the Central Government not collecting taxes directly from the territory, it also waived its responsibility for administrative management and investment in infrastructure.

When planning the main railway lines, the approach was naturally to be as reasonable as possible. In fact, even if lucky enough to have a main line pass through their territory, an Aristocratic Lord would simply reap the benefits.

Everyone knew that the African railway trunk line was a losing proposition. Vienna had to build the main line for strategic needs, but that didn’t mean they had to maintain many trains.

To reduce operational costs, minimizing the number of unprofitable train routes was standard practice. Having a railway but no train carriages was even worse than having no railway at all, as it was anxiety-inducing to see.

Ultimately, these expenses had to be shared by both the Central Government and the local Lords. Therefore, the African Railway Company, responsible for constructing the network of African railways, was a joint venture between Lords and the Central Government from the start.

Including Viscount Otelais who had bought shares, as a return, the main line reserved an interface for him to build a branch line connecting with the main line.

Of course, this wasn’t just about his own family; the surrounding Lords were involved as well. “He who benefits, pays” was a logical principle.

To construct the branch railways, Viscount Otelais and his peers also established a railway company.

The main lines weren’t making money, and branch railways were even less likely to. Where elsewhere railroad shares were fiercely competed over, here they had become hot potatoes.

The more shares one held, the more money one would need to invest in the future. As for making a profit, that was unthinkable.

It wasn’t that Viscount Otelais was being self-deprecating; it was simply that the population on the African Continent was too sparse. Taking his own territory as an example, including laborers, the population was just over ten thousand.

Among the dozens of partnering Nobility, those with the most developed territories didn’t exceed a population of fifty thousand. Combined, everyone’s territories covered over fifty thousand square kilometers, yet the total population was less than two hundred thousand.

Two hundred thousand people divided among dozens of stations—truly rural railways. To make money from the railways, the population would need to increase at least thirtyfold.

That would almost rival half of the African Continent’s population. How long would it take for them to achieve what Shinra had in over thirty years of operating on the African Continent?

No matter how much the railway company lost, the railway had to be built for their products to be shipped out.

The key was the investment in constructing the railway. Even if the maintenance costs later on were high, it was still cheaper than transporting goods by horse carriage. In the long run, it was still profitable.

In fact, everyone had considered the idea of handing over the management of the branch railways to the Central Government and just paying some money themselves.

However, even the best plans required cooperation, and the Vienna Government, too, was wary of an assured loss-making venture.

Inter-village buses were losing money, and inter-village railways would lose even more. Although the population was small, the distances were not.

If the railway network across the African Continent were ever completed, the operating costs would be higher than those of the entire European Continent.

If they really took on the loss-making business of the “inter-village railway,” then the tax revenue the Vienna Government received from Africa each year might not even cover the expenses.

Despite this, they could still end up being thankless. High fees, few trains, delays, and other issues could lead to public disdain for the Vienna Government.

From Vienna’s perspective, controlling the main railway lines meant controlling the African railway network. As for the branch lines, it was better left to the Nobility to handle.

Even if it was slow, it would all eventually get sorted out. The Americans had faced even more severe problems during the development of the West, yet they managed to complete their infrastructure projects, and Shinra had no reason to fail.

If the operating costs were high, they’d simply run fewer trains. The Nobility managed the railway companies and could entirely wait to dispatch a train until it was full. It was scientific, precise, and didn’t require worrying about people shirking responsibility.

Deep down, Viscount Autres envied his fellow Noblemen downstream more than once. Although they were both in the Nigeria River Basin, they could rely on river transportation for development, while he had to painstakingly build railways.

Downstream, the river was deep and wide enough for navigation, but it was a tragedy upstream. The small river gorges near Ottenburg not only had rapid currents but also very unstable flow rates. In summer, there were floods; in winter, they diminished to mere streams.

He had no choice; the path was chosen by his father. When a small gold mine was discovered years ago, his father managed to lobby and set their fiefdom to its current location.

It started at a high point, but ended up as merely mediocre. The gold mine indeed existed, but its reserves were pitiful. Within less than half a year, it was depleted.

It was not about making a profit, they didn’t even recover the costs. At one point, it even caused quite a stir among the African Aristocrats.

To use the headline from the newspapers, it was “A Territory Deep in the Jungle”. For many years, it remained isolated until the war in Europe ended, and Viscount Otelais finally welcomed the neighbors he has now.

Of course, being remote had its advantages. After others gained a higher rank of nobility, their territories were all scattered here and there.

Trying to consolidate them required negotiating exchanges with others. If even one party disagreed, then it wouldn’t happen.

Viscount Autres did not have this concern. Previously, the surrounding lands were unclaimed, so he just needed to mark a piece for himself.

Not only was his territory consolidated, but it was also quite large. If it were in a more economically developed coastal area, having even half of his current land area would be considered a blessing from God.

Whether it was a loss or a bargain might be hard to determine at the moment.

To resolve the issue of share distribution, they had discussed it many times. For many days, Viscount Autres’ telegraph machine was like it had been injected with hormones, constantly clicking away.

This was a byproduct of the war. In the later stages of the European war, breakthroughs in radio technology allowed communication over hundreds of kilometers. The military had just equipped it days before the war ended.

To strengthen control over the African Continent and avoid wasting resources, after the massive disarmament, General Franz distributed the surplus radios as a bounty to the meritorious.

Perhaps because the radios did not incur transmission fees, they quickly became a tool for Nobles to deliberate, chat, and boast.

After putting down the telegram in his hand, Viscount Autres quenched his eagerness to start building the railway immediately. The distribution of shares was just one aspect, but the key issue was the current difficulty in financing.

With no other option, after gaining laborers, many were interested in building railways and everyone rushed to apply for loans, causing even the Royal Bank to worry.

Unless the economic crisis was over, no one could raise the construction funds for tens of thousands of kilometers of railways, unless the financial circles of the Holy Roman Empire acted together.

Even the start-up capital was an astronomical figure.

The inability to construct railways did not mean they would not build them. No prior agreement was needed, preparation work was being done by everyone, some had even started construction.

After all, how the shares of the railway companies were distributed mainly affected the later operation; at most, some local interconnected construction would be done.

Specific railway construction was definitely financed by the lord of the territory it passed through; one should not expect any favors.

There was no need to worry about anyone causing trouble; the constitution had stipulated that all citizens must support infrastructure development, including the nobility.

If disputes arose, the governor’s mansion would step in to coordinate. The real issue that needed resolution was still money.

Viscount Autres knocked on the table and instructed Political Official Martin, “Do not stop road construction. Railway investment is too large, and we cannot gather enough funds in a short time, so start with the highway.

With the current income from the territory, plus bank loans, sustaining for a year should not be a big problem. Once the economic crisis is over, the funding issue will be resolved.”

It was evident that Viscount Autres was conflicted.

On one hand, he wanted the economic crisis to last longer, to attract immigrants from the homeland; on the other hand, he hoped the crisis would pass soon, to more easily obtain more bank loans.

Who would blame him when the Royal Bank’s construction loan interest was so low?

Merely 2 percentage points per annum, practically interest-free. One should know the fees of ordinary commercial banks were more than two points.

In fact, Ottenburg’s conditions were relatively good. Although a bit remote, the land was fertile and water resources relatively abundant.

His colleagues in the inner regions of North and East Africa were suffering more, currently busy constructing reservoirs, with no time to even think about railways.

According to the development goals for Africa announced by the Vienna Government, the plan to resolve the water scarcity issue included constructing as many as 180,000 reservoirs.

Ottenburg was also included in the reservoir plans; if Viscount Autres wanted to build a power station, a reservoir was an indispensable project.

However, that was a problem for the future and did not need too much consideration for now. With such a small population, using gas lamps and oil lamps was quite acceptable. Currently, the only place that needed electricity was the lord’s mansion.

“Very well, Your Excellency Viscount. However, with the arrival of the laborers, the gender balance in the territory will be completely disrupted.

If no measures are taken, future security disputes may be frequent, and could significantly affect public morale.”

Political Official Martin reminded.

Laborers were ordinary people. As humans, they had their emotions and desires; a serious imbalance in the male-to-female ratio was bound to cause problems.

Rubbing his forehead, Viscount Autres fell into deep thought. After a long while, he slowly said, “Then let’s first strengthen the management of the laborers, adopt a completely closed militarized management.

It is said that this labor dispatch also includes female workers; I will use domestic connections to try to get a batch here.”

Viscount Autres was not intentionally ignoring the issue of gender imbalance; the main issue was that infrastructure construction was heavy physical work, naturally preferring physically stronger male workers.

…