Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 123: Overcapacity? It's time to dump

The tall and strong northerner looked a little out of place with the small briefcase in his hand. Alexi stared at Jeremiah expressionlessly for a few seconds, and finally nodded at him.

Jeremiah grinned, patted him on the shoulder and walked out. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Alexei close the door.

This guy.
Jeremiah wanted to say something, but was squeezed out by the clerks queuing behind him.

"Damn it, isn't he tired? I don't think those big pirates in the Pirate King's Court have so many people to meet."

"Alexei." Hughes glanced at the closed door before speaking, "How's the investigation going on with Nora's case?"

When Nora left, she said she would bring someone back in about a week, but it has been more than a week now.

Coupled with Chloe's reminder, Hughes guessed that she might be in big trouble and needed help.

As for Nora, Hughes still felt that he should try his best to help her if he could.

First, she extended a helping hand when Zeus asked her for help - judging by actions rather than intentions, no matter what the reason, she did help Zeus.

The second is the group of refugees she plans to bring.

When Nora was about to leave, an olive oil and soap factory had just been established on the island, so manpower was not a big problem. The islanders could just change their careers and become workers.

But now, with the construction of nitroglycerin production lines and steel mills, we are immediately short of manpower.

Even if Seuss used the steam engine, the population problem became somewhat urgent.

At present, the group of skilled workers brought by Beatrice can barely keep the factory running. In the future, no matter what factory he wants to open, he will face the dilemma of not being able to recruit people.

It’s not that the wages offered are not enough, it’s that there are only so many people on the island.

Hughes went to the pirates to ask for authorization, on the one hand intending to sell goods, and on the other hand to prepare to import food.

Currently, a large number of people are occupied in food production, and food prices on the island are also rising.

Although importing grain will make the basic base subject to the control of others, the impact is not that serious.

He already had some alternative ideas for this. Nini's magic research had made progress some time ago, and he had entrusted Ash to try it. If everything went well, food would not be a big problem.

But insufficient population is a huge problem.

"My Lord, I have already inquired about Nora's affairs through the royal family. It was the royal family who recommended her to come here. They must have some way of getting the news."

Hughes nodded. This was why he came to Alexi.

The Temple of Silence was only able to come here with the help of the royal family, so it would be easiest to ask them if you encounter any trouble.

The royal family would certainly be very active in this regard, and they were sparing no effort to fight against the Candlelight Society. Hughes and Beatrice had discussed this before, and it was said that the conflict in the Rhine was now even more prominent.

Perhaps it won't be long before Her Majesty the Queen changes the state religion for the empire.

Hughes glanced at Alexi, and they both understood each other's thoughts.

"Those refugees are very important to us. Is there any other way to reach them?"

Most of the refugees are young and middle-aged people, and the elderly usually cannot survive the long escape journey, even with the shelter of the Temple of Silence.

Alexei naturally knew how important this group of people was to the territory, so he frowned in embarrassment.

"I don't have any reliable connections in this area. You know, although I'm from the North, I grew up in an orphanage and have been living in the Rhine since then. I don't have any connections in the North."

Hughes nodded. He hadn't expected much, but this was a bit troublesome. "Perhaps you could contact the Duke?"

The Duke naturally refers to Duke Cohen, the biological father of this body, but Hughes's family knows their own business, and the title of Duke Cohen does not work well in the North.

The North is the territory of traditional nobles. Although Duke Cohen is also an old-school noble, he is closer to the royal family. Xu Si has become a border earl and is theoretically a vassal of the Queen.

Therefore, it is difficult for Duke Cohen's influence to spread to the north.

"Forget it, let's leave it at that for now. I'll think of another way."

Xius had a slight headache and rubbed his forehead.

He opened his notebook, glanced at the memo, then looked up at Alexei.

"How are the factories now?"

Alexei's eyes lit up; he could guess what Hughes meant.

Several new factories have been built recently at the eastern test site, so Hughes naturally told him about the plans.

Steel plant. Nitroglycerin production line
His heart warmed at the thought of these words.

The people of the Empire, especially the military, have a natural worship of iron and fire, and these factories are exactly what they want.

"Very good! The olive oil factory's efficiency is getting higher and higher, even with a decreasing workforce. The division of labor and assembly line production method you developed is working very well."

That's good, of course. The factories on Blue Star have already taken how to improve efficiency to the extreme. Anything Zeus can come up with is enough to amaze the people of this world.

"Where's the soap?"

"The same goes for soap, but there's a problem now. We have too much inventory."

Alexei had a complicated expression when he said this.

This was the first time he had encountered such a situation. No, he had never thought of such a thing: too much goods were produced and they could not be sold.

It's not like he had never seen factories before when he was in the Rhine. Those places with black smoke and sewage everywhere produced things very quickly, but they could never catch up with the speed at which they were bought.

The goods piled up in an entire warehouse but could not be sold out. What's more, these were not unpopular goods, but hot-selling items. This was beyond his imagination.

"It's simple. The market is saturated. There are only a few people in Castel. Even if we use all our soap, we won't use much."

Hughes was unmoved. It was overcapacity, something he was very familiar with.

"Don't worry. I've asked Jeremiah to get the authorization letter, which will be issued soon. Then we can form our own caravan and sell soap to various ports along the coast. Besides, Miss Beatrice will be leaving soon."

Alexei's heart moved.

He was almost involved in Beatrice's affairs throughout, so he naturally knew what his lord was planning. He really didn't understand the upper class, he only knew that this group of people had a lot of money.

"Let's expand some warehouses first. Soon you won't have to worry about these things anymore. You can also be confident about those soaps."

Alexei laughed. He was certainly familiar with the soap produced on the island. He knew that as long as these things were shipped to any port, they would be easy to sell.

He stood up, said goodbye and turned to walk towards the door, but stopped when he held the door handle. After hesitating for a moment, he turned around.

"My Lord, there is one more thing. A young man named Qiao Xi wants to buy a boat from me on credit."

(End of this chapter)