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Chapter 1156 - 1156 181 The Simple Five-Year Plan_3

1156: Chapter 181: The Simple Five-Year Plan_3 1156: Chapter 181: The Simple Five-Year Plan_3 This is the minimum interest rate set by the shareholder meeting, with representatives of the Royal Chamber of Commerce personally participating in the vote; naturally, it cannot be said that Hudson is not considerate.

The Royal Family has become a loan client, so there are even more Noble Lords applying for loans.

Some major Clans, even if they are not short of funds, still need loans for their branches in the Northern Border and Near East.

In the absence of valuable collateral, it’s common for them to secure loans with guarantees from their main family.

It seemed as if overnight, the Near East Development Bank became the Kingdom’s major creditor.

This kind of bubble-like growth terrified Hudson, who quickly hit the brakes.

Being everyone’s creditor may seem like a path to “prosperity” is bright, but such outcomes are usually not very good.

Should the Kingdom’s economy experience turmoil, the Near East Development Bank would immediately be in dire straits.

The outcome of forceful debt collection is, with high probability, the bank’s demise.

There have been instances of such collapses in the previous life.

However, compared to those usurers, the practices of the Near East Development Bank are much gentler, and its interest rates are far lower than private lending.

Coincidentally, it was also during the Kingdom’s economic recovery period that all industries were booming.

There were almost no cases of customer default, so there was no need for forced debt collection, resulting in overall positive social reputation.

With the economic situation looking great, the comprehensive development plan for the Snow Moon Territory was also put on the agenda.

“Duke, here is the territory development plan drafted by the Government Affairs Department.

It includes multiple fields such as agriculture, husbandry, fisheries, and industrial commerce.

Aiming to achieve self-sufficiency in vegetables within five years, to continue the growth of husbandry and fisheries, and to promote the development of light industry…”

After receiving the document from Jacob, Hudson began to read it on his own.

The five-year plan was initiated under his orders, but he only provided the direction of development; the specific plans were all completed by the Government Affairs Department.

Whether or not it’s advanced isn’t important; the key is that it’s “suitable.” The unique environment of the Near East makes it clear: it’s impossible for Snow Moon Territory to follow normal steps in economic development.

The conventional “agriculture-based” economic model is completely unsuitable here.

According to the principle of not letting the Orcs take advantage, apart from the essential farmland to be cultivated, the agriculture development plan given by the Government Affairs Department mainly focuses on planting cash crops.

These are crops that require secondary processing and are not useful until they mature; some plants are even poisonous.

Even if the Orcs were to loot them, they lack the capability for secondary processing and would waste time.

Under such circumstances, husbandry and fisheries, as the main food sources for the territory, naturally became key industries for development.

Husbandry has just begun and can only provide some dairy products for the Army; beef and mutton remain luxury items.

On the other hand, the development of fisheries has the greatest impact on the territory.

Hudson is not a stingy Lord; after the increase in fish production, the domain people’s diets have changed along with it.

Especially the younger generation, no longer pale-faced.

They work with more energy than before.

Not to mention the Army; as Master Hudson’s treasure, their food standards now match those of the Kingdom’s standing army.

Hudson holds high prestige in the military, half due to his battlefield merits, and the other half due to the high food standards he has provided.

He single-handedly raised the food standards of the Kingdom Army, solidifying his unshakable status within it.

Which led to the logistics officers who followed, cursing from the start of their service.

Everything was made standard, effectively cutting off their means to make money.

And yet the Kingdom places great emphasis on military development; even after the war ended, the attention of the important figures never left the Army, greatly reducing the logistics officers’ room for maneuver.

“Industrial and Commercial,” in the Snow Moon Territory, is a complete oddity.

To say that industry and commerce are underdeveloped, the daily trade volume in and out of the territory is nearly catching up to the Capital.

The associate trade tax revenue is the highest in the Kingdom.

When it comes to industrial development, Snow Moon Territory is unfortunately lacking.

If forced to identify industries, then heavy industry would be shipbuilding, while light industry would be salt drying and fish salting.

Other industries?

There may be a few workshops tucked away in some corner of New Moon Port, anyway, Hudson hadn’t taken notice of them.

It’s all flat grasslands, with relatively scarce mineral resources.

A few poor metal mines with low reserves are almost not worth mining.

With heavy industry inherently deficient, only light industry could be developed.

Even light industry relies on the processing sector based on agriculture and animal husbandry, needing to develop in tandem with these industries.

Flip further back, and you’ll find city planning and construction, road planning and transformation initiatives, the entire five-year plan is filled with the word “rough.”

After roughly reading through it once, Hudson was very dissatisfied, yet he couldn’t pinpoint any specific issues.

Times were different, so naturally the plans would be different too.

Take road transportation, for example:

In an era centered around oxen and horse-drawn transport, all that was needed was to ensure two carts could pass each other, three to four meters of width was enough.

If it exceeded that, it was a minor issue, both sides were grassland, it would not affect the normal traffic of vehicles.

Many lower-ends patches on the grassland could serve as official roads with a bit of repair, so naturally, Hudson wouldn’t put significant effort into constructing a “speedway.”

High-cost cement roads were even less likely to be considered; it wasn’t as if he had money to burn.

In any era, cost is the primary factor.

Meet current needs, and that’s enough; future requirements for transport capacity are a matter for the future.

The territory’s labor force was limited after all, covering one end meant neglecting the other, choices had to be made for the most essential development areas.

After all, Snow Moon Territory only had tens of thousands of immigrants + tens of thousands of slaves.

Aside from a few cities and their surroundings, the rest of the regions were so empty they barely saw a human shadow, not to mention any transportation demand.

“Proceed with the plan for now!

Follow-up adjustments will be made according to the actual situation in different areas.

The agricultural layout is still insufficient.

Although it focuses on cultivating cash crops, irrigation remains a big issue.

We cannot rely solely on natural irrigation.

There are plenty of small rivers and streams within the territory, these existing resources can be utilized.

We could certainly build reservoirs and weirs according to geographical conditions to meet…”

Halfway through, Hudson realized he was making a foolish mistake.

Such infrastructure was vital, indeed, but there was no need for manpower in the Magic World.

Relying solely on manpower, building a large reservoir would require hundreds of thousands of laborers working for several years.

Just having Maxim roll around on the ground would result in a decently sized weir, and a few more rolls, and you’d have a reservoir.

The man-made canal back then is a case in point; a project that would normally take decades was completed in just a few years with Belsden’s help.

Back then, Belsden didn’t even have the strength he has now; otherwise, the construction progress would have been even faster.

Now with the addition of Maxim, an excellent worker, those water projects that would take years, even decades, could be completed within a few months.

During these months, the main task would be manually assisting in the construction of gates and channels, the actual construction time might just be the instant of casting magic.

The only difficult part was motivating these two lords, each lazier than the other, coaxing them to work would be somewhat difficult.

Hesitating for a moment, Hudson suddenly changed his tone.

“As for the water projects, you just need to handle the location planning; I’ll figure out the construction details.

You can just send people to follow up on the aftermath.”