Chapter 279: Chapter 279: Comprehensive Reform

"Heavy cavalry? That’s just a product of a bygone era."

Lava General’s voice showed no fluctuation: "The times have changed. Cavalry will gradually be phased out by the era."

"They’ll no longer be the major consumers of steel. But in this new era, their steel consumption can basically be ignored."

"How much steel do those new-style buildings I asked you to construct require?"

"How much steel do our magic-powered armor suits need?"

"How much steel do our war chariots need?"

"How much steel will future mine carts need? Factory construction, mine planning, rail transport from mines to various areas, all kinds of new mining machinery—so many areas need steel."

"The future is an era of magic-tech and steel. Even if current production capacity expands by a thousand times, ten thousand times, it still might not meet the demands of the new era."

When Lava General spoke, he was extremely calm—so calm it was like he was stating something that had already happened.

But the mine managers listening were shaken to their core.

Their thinking was still stuck in the distant past.

But with Lava General’s reminder, they suddenly realized.

Yeah!

In the past, steel was indeed almost entirely monopolized by heavy cavalry. Steel production was almost entirely used for heavy cavalry. But now, times have changed!

Even though they were in a remote small country, thanks to the Magic Net, they’d learned about situations in other regions. In the Dawn Kingdom, tons of magic-tech industrial equipment was already being used—all made with steel.

And those invincible tracked war chariots.

Even some nobles’ farms were starting to use lots of tractors on a large scale—all steel.

Besides that, weren’t the combat clerics in front of them wearing steel too?

So many places needed steel. Any random thing probably had enough steel to make a dozen or more heavy cavalry sets, maybe even more...

The future was bright!

Even if this wasn’t the continent’s number one iron mining area, it was still humanity’s number one iron mining area!

"I understand."

The mine manager took a deep breath: "However you think we should reform, we’ll reform that way. We’ll fully cooperate."

"Good."

Lava General nodded slightly: "You don’t need to do too much. After experts from Roster’s territory come and inspect, they’ll propose reform plans. You just need to cooperate, especially regarding the magic blast furnace plans."

He actually didn’t understand the detailed plans very well, but Roster’s territory had a group of people who understood these matters extremely well, were highly skilled, and had extensive experience.

In Roster’s territory, they still needed to consider difficulties like purchasing iron ore. But coming here, they didn’t need to consider anything—just think about how to continuously expand production capacity. The more the better. Whether it was 1,000 tons, 10,000 tons, or 100,000 tons per year—whatever. The more the merrier.

He felt that what was holding back magic-tech development now wasn’t technology, but production capacity and power.

Power over the eighteen nations was completely in hand. So naturally, what they needed to do next was develop like crazy.

After roughly explaining his and Viscount Roster’s plans, Lava General prepared to head to the mine tunnels.

Creatures similar to the Foster Iron Mine God were also extremely important.

This was about tires, after all!

But just a few steps out, he seemed to suddenly think of something and turned his gaze to the mine manager: "Recently these projects aren’t just being done by slaves, right? Are there peasants involved?"

"Mainly slaves and miners’ family members. There are also small numbers of peasants, freemen, and craftsmen participating." The mine manager knew these things inside and out.

"So who’s funding the reforms and construction of new-style houses?" Lava General wasn’t surprised.

"Mainly the kingdom. Local lords and some nearby nobles also contributed some... They all hold a portion of the iron mine’s dividends... According to the recently popular term, they all have a certain amount of equity."

"Oh? If that’s the case, would these shareholders be willing to put up some more money?"

"Please speak. As long as it’s reasonable, I think they won’t be stingy." The mine manager quickly spoke up.

He had orders from the king—no matter what, he had to cooperate with Lava General first, everything else came second.

"My thinking is simple. Slaves should also adopt Roster’s territory’s method—as long as they work and earn enough points, they can gain freedom. And peasants and miners, like freemen and craftsmen, can receive wages. This money doesn’t need to be much, but it has to be given."

Lava General’s tone remained calm, but there was an undeniable quality to it: "The ironworks is about to expand recruitment. Hiring workers is inevitable. I can also give you a plan."

Corvée labor was unavoidable in any feudal dynasty.

It just depended on which lower-class people were targeted.

In this world, typically when lords, nobles, and kings wanted to build something, they’d send slaves and territorial peasants to construct it—unpaid labor. Some places even required these peasants to bring their own rations.

However, freemen and craftsmen were different. They generally needed to be paid certain wages, at most just lower than what they’d normally earn working.

Lava General used to think this arrangement made perfect sense. But recently, through extensive communication with Viscount Roster and deepening understanding of the Church of Technology’s reform areas, he realized that some things sometimes needed to be flexible.

With a bit of flexibility, the results would be quite stunning.

Never mind anything else—just the point system for freedom and peasants being able to earn relatively low wages already exploded with efficiency several times, even over ten times that of normal corvée labor! Not to mention other methods that could stimulate other groups.

The mine manager clearly froze for a moment, not expecting Lava General to bring this up.

But for a moment, he didn’t know how to respond. He could only follow along with Lava General’s words and ask him to explain the remaining content.

"Going down into mines is dangerous. If not for making a living, I think there actually aren’t many people willing to go down into mines, right?"

Lava General still had that same unfluctuating tone: "If that’s the case, then let’s tie recruitment opportunities to the new-style houses we’re recently building."

If they could survive elsewhere, why would anyone be willing to go down into mines?

These miners were almost all refugees or peasants who’d lost their land or ordinary people in debt from usury. If they weren’t truly unable to survive, they’d absolutely never choose to become miners.

But what did this have to do with ironworks recruitment?

What did it have to do with new-style houses?

Everyone looked at Lava General with confused faces, waiting for his detailed explanation.