Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste
Chapter 141 Future Planning

Chapter 141: Chapter 141 Future Planning

Does Perfikot covet power? That is likely not the case, at least she doesn’t believe she desires power.

But for Perfikot, being without power simply isn’t an option.

After all, what she wants to achieve cannot be accomplished without power.

When she was without power, whatever she tried to do met with opposition from various sides, even when she wanted to warn the authorities of the impending apocalypse, no one paid heed, and she was even regarded as a lunatic.

However, once she possessed power, no matter what she intended to do, others had to take her seriously.

Although Perfikot doesn’t covet power, if she wishes to prevent her efforts from being wasted and avoid seeing everything she worked for destroyed, she must have power.

She doesn’t trust the nobles of Langton, in her eyes they’re nothing more than a swarm of pests.

Expect them to adequately prepare before the apocalypse arrives? Perfikot would rather believe that tomorrow she’d wake up to someone telling her the apocalypse is a lie.

Thus, to avoid the mess created by these pests from turning everything into chaos, Perfikot must wield power to oppose them.

This means that as the Lord of the Northern Territory, she has to handle various troubles herself rather than leaving them to the Empire government.

Besides, Perfikot also distrusts the Empire’s officials, she doesn’t believe these officials have the foresight to plan everything for the Northern Territory, allowing it to hold enough capacity to support more population during the imminent apocalypse.

She must handle everything herself; until now, there is no single person whose ability or vision she’s seen fit to trust with the authority to delegate such matters.

Now, with the assistance from several professors and five civilian officials from Langton, Perfikot finally can withdraw from complex tasks, leaving trivial matters and research projects in the care of others, while she focuses on drafting a blueprint for the Northern Territory’s future.

According to Perfikot’s previous considerations, the future of the Northern Territory will be divided into several key cities with distinct functions.

One of these, and undoubtedly the most critical, is the industrial center.

Before and after the apocalypse, industrial production is indispensable.

Especially in the future Perfikot envisions, with extensive use of robots and automated machinery, which necessitates strong industrial capabilities as support.

Fortunately, the industry’s focus in this era remains largely on steel and machinery, with neither major scale nor high technical difficulty.

As long as a large steel plant and a manufacturing factory are established, basic industrial production capacity will be in place, and everything else can be manufactured using steel produced by the steel plant.

Moreover, there is still time, leveraging the expansion of the Northern Territory, Perfikot can obtain a large quantity of necessary resources from the Empire’s heartland to directly build an industrial city in the Northern Territory.

Some would see this as a lucrative deal; after all, developing the Northern Territory signifies countless wealth and opportunities, something the emerging bourgeoisie in the Empire’s heartland won’t pass up.

Especially when investing in the Northern Territory may yield them coveted noble titles from Perfikot.

One must know that for the emerging bourgeoisie, compared to established nobility, they resemble upstarts lacking the heritage of aristocracy; many are simply wealthy merchants bearing no relation to true elite power.

This has led these wealthy merchants and major industrialists to eagerly enhance their social status, undoubtedly with a prominent aristocratic title most clearly reflecting their gained social standing.

Thus Perfikot isn’t worried about her ability to establish the required industrial center before the apocalypse.

She believes as long as she offers some noble titles as bait, alongside demonstrating the benefits gained from developing the Northern Territory, the emerging bourgeoisie from the Empire’s heartland will bring her what she wants.

Moreover, she has the support of the Royal Family; the Empress’s special commission document granting full authority hasn’t been rescinded yet!

If Perfikot wills it, she can mobilize the entirety of the Royal Family’s industries.

She didn’t shy from using the Royal Family’s resources, placing direct orders for a steel smelting set and a forging set, forming the basis of the industrial center she envisions.

As for further industrial capabilities, she intends to have the capitalists foot the bill.

Beyond these, according to Perfikot’s plans, next spring the Seventeenth Guards Division will also need a spot to station themselves and build a fortress for garrisoning, unlike this year when they had no encampment, only staying in the New Continent colony.

And it’s not merely about stationing the army in the Northern Territory; Perfikot also plans to win the troops’ hearts and fully gain control of them.

Based on her expectations, when the news of the apocalypse is publicly announced in the future, both the Northern Territory and the New Continent colony will inevitably descend into chaos, necessitating a strong military presence to maintain order.

Throughout next year, Perfikot hopes to successfully secure control over this army; otherwise, she’d have to use strategies she loathes deploying.

And that would mean abandoning a large population.

This is seemingly an outcome Perfikot hopes to avoid, as everything she’s doing now aims to save as many people as possible; forsaking numerous lives would equate to not saving them at all.

Regarding winning over the military, Perfikot has already developed a plan, so she’s not overly concerned about that.

By comparison, establishing a research center in the Northern Territory is more challenging; until the apocalypse is made public, persuading universities and research institutions from the Empire’s heartland to relocate to the Northern Territory is nearly unthinkable.

At most, Perfikot might use monetary allure and the Royal Family’s authority to borrow some professors from these universities to set up a college in the Northern Territory.

It’s possible even a college might fail to be established.

This is evident from the neighboring New Continent colony; it claims to have a university, but even within the colony, the degrees it grants are dismissed, attracting only those unable to attend universities in the Empire’s heartland.

Thus, the establishment of a research center is not among Perfikot’s priorities for next year and is pushed as far back as possible.

As Perfikot remained busy throughout the year, it finally drew to a close, ushering in the start of a new year.