The World Online

When Ouyang Shuo walked into the unique stone building of No.7 Research Institute, he noticed that Liu Mo and the others were waiting.

”Why, are the three divisions having an important meeting?” Ouyang Shuo joked.

Ouyang Shuo would joke around with these research personnel; he would not act as his usual Lord self.

Out of the more than ten core members of the institute, apart from the exception Liu Mo, the rest were fifty to sixty years old. As for their students and helpers, they naturally did not have the chance to attend such a meeting.

”We have been waiting for you!”

Liu Mo smiled and invited Ouyang Shuo to his seat.

Ouyang Shuo sat down, and his eyes could not help but glance at the document on the table. It seemed like Liu Mo had come here prepared.

”Speak, what difficult problem do you face that needs my help?” Ouyang Shuo knew that these research people would not beat around the bush, so he went directly for the topic.

When Liu Mo and the others heard his question, they laughed and did not feel any awkwardness.

After all, efficiency was their life.

”Take a look!”

Liu Mo stood up and passed the document on the tea table to Ouyang Shuo. At this time, Liu Mo wore a rarely seen solemn expression.

Ouyang Shuo took the document and opened it up, only to see the first page had the title of ‘Future Industry System Planning Draft of Shanhai City for the Next Two Years.’

”Industry system?” Ouyang Shuo smiled and asked.

”That’s right!” Liu Mo had a passionate and excited expression.

Ouyang Shuo nodded, as the strategic plan the No.7 Research Institute suggested directly aligned with his own plans. It seems like Taigong was right, Shanhai City did not lack talents. In fact, their overall intelligence was far greater than his personal ability.

In the future, Ouyang Shuo still needed to show that he was in power once in a while.

In reality, an industry system was not a strange phrase.

The so-called industry system referred to the relationship between economic and work activities of a certain industry type. They would form a cooperation in terms of workspace and items, creating a system.

The organization of the system, apart from the industry production organizations, included many other organizations such as the planning and administrative organizations, the research and development organizations, the raw material discovery organizations, the processing or mechanizing facilities, and the transport and sales organizations.

Out of these three great elements, even one could not be lacking.

A simple example would be the steel industry.

To form a complete industry, one needed to include iron ore mountains, limestone mines, iron factories, steel factories, rolling steel factories, coking factories, fireproofing factories, mechanizing factories, as well as organizations in charge of buying, transporting, and selling.

In terms of the bigger picture, one needed organizations to design, research, analyze, and obtain intel and information.

All of these organizations needed to work as a system. They must possess a direct relationship with one another to form a passage of information and goods.

Moreover, to a territory, apart from the different mines and factories, the other organizations needed to split into various factories like the steelmaking factory; the departments in the yamen like the Industry Division under the Finance Department, and the Construction Division under the Administration Department; organizations like the No.7 Research Institute, and education organizations like the Xinan University. As such, the internal relationships formed were exceedingly complicated in an industry system.

Comparing the two, Shanhai City’s current system was not enough to sustain an industry system.

Firstly, the territory lacked iron ore mountains with huge reserves. Hence, there was a significant reliance on imports. As for coal, needless to say, it was an utter rarity.

Just the factor of materials alone had choked the neck of the industry. Although the Finance Department had invested a large sum into purchasing iron ore and coal recently, it only solved the problem at the surface.

Secondly, the territory technology had only developed to the level of steel making. As for the next step of rolling steel, they were only researching and testing it out. The more advanced coking and fireproofing stages were only at the starting stages of their research.

As for the last step of mechanizing the process, let us just not talk about that.

The only comforting factor had to do with the transportation of the coal and iron ore. They were under the Finance Department, which had controlled the whole process well.

Even so, the Financial Department still lacked departments under it, resulting in extremely rough and lax management.

Moreover, this was only the steel industry. A real industry system was more complicated.

It would involve many industries such as coal, oil, black metal, colored metal, food, medicine, garments, wood, chemicals, rubber, plastic, transport, and water.

Hence, for the territory to build up a perfect industry system, it was really a long-term goal, and a type of dream. After all, there were really too many elements and restrictions.

Moreover, to the researchers of the No.7 Research Institute, building a complete system in the wilderness would be an extremely great achievement.

Other than that, they also possessed a subconscious good feeling and pride toward their race. After all, the Chinese never lacked smart people, they only lacked a cultural understanding, which caused them to miss out on the industrial revolution.

If he could make up for this regret in the game, it would be completely worth it.

Luckily, Liu Mo did not reach beyond his ability.

Ouyang Shuo took a look. The so-called plan for the next two years basically referred to the industries with steel as its core. The researchers were not overly ambitious and did not try to build a complete industry system.

Even so, it was exceedingly difficult.

The first thing it needed was an enormous amount of funds.

Ouyang Shuo looked at the financial estimation at the end and was shocked and stunned silent on the spot.

Based on logic, Ouyang Shuo could be considered someone experienced. Even a few hundred thousand gold was not a significant sum in his eyes.

But this time, Ouyang Shuo was still greatly shocked.

This was because the funding requirements that they suggested was a full 1.2 million gold. As such, in the next two years, they estimated a need to spend fifty thousand gold each month.

”Can it be lower?” Ouyang Shuo asked.

”This is already a conservative estimation; it cannot be one gold less.” Liu Mo was insistent.

”Okay!”

Ouyang Shuo bitterly smiled.

When they completed the three legion corps, the military expenses would definitely double.

Although attacking Wuzhou, Xunzhou, and Zhen An did not require any extra gold, Ouyang Shuo was still not that optimistic about their financial situation for the next year.

Along with Ouyang Shuo’s considerable plans regarding facilities, he would need to spend money in every area. Ouyang Shuo could even imagine what kind of face Cui Yingyu would give him.