Thousands of sparks

Chapter 116 Coordination
400 million people, this population data is the conclusion drawn by the population survey completed last year.

There are more than 2 million imperial people living in the whole of Niusal.Of these, 470 were titles of nobility, and 700 were freedmen.

Almost all of the remaining 3000 million people are poor.

Originally, Dusand did not quite understand the practical significance of the work of "counting heads" such as the "census", but after undertaking the related work of the Internal Affairs Committee, he realized a fatal loophole in the colonial management.

Since 170, the Newsail Colonial Office has never figured out how many imperial citizens lived in the whole of Newsail.

If you don't even know how many people you have under your rule, then all policies are like water without a source and a tree with no roots.It can neither serve the people, nor can it achieve effective feedback to the ruling institutions of Newsale.One of the simplest examples is the educational aid system that Dussand and Androni are pushing hard.

According to Dusand's vision, what should be implemented throughout Newsail is by no means the trivial change of "funding from the parliament to provide free education and lunch in schools to attract students to study".

His goal at the outset was simple—to make education compulsory.All school-age children must enter school to receive education, and any parent who refuses should be punished including but not limited to fines, criminal detention or even corporal punishment.School-age children should receive at least six years of education in school, and can only graduate after completing basic literacy, mathematics, natural science and legal education.

But such a plan was mercilessly rejected by Androni, and the reason was very simple.

No money.

This lack of money is not just as simple as the fact that the House of Commons cannot afford compulsory education.If Dusand's vision is implemented, among the more than 3000 million poor people in Niusal, there are at least 9000 school-age children who need to receive education.

A school that can accommodate 2000 students requires an investment of 80 gold pounds, and it takes more than half a year to build the school building.And the whole of Newsail needs at least [-] such schools to meet the most basic compulsory education needs.The total investment is as high as [-] million gold pounds

In order to educate these students, each school must have at least 160 teachers, and each of the 160 teachers must be paid at least 15 shillings a week, which requires 6000 and two hundred gold pounds a year.

Student lunches cost sixpence per person per day, or £[-] a year.

If universal compulsory education is to be achieved in Newsail, the annual operating cost of all the schools is 11 pounds.In the first year of compulsory education for all, at least an astronomical figure of 320 billion pounds will be spent to realize Dusand's "ideal".

And all the fiscal revenues of Newsare for one year are only 16 billion gold pounds.

Of course, it is impossible for this huge expenditure to be passed, but without the support of the data that "the total population of the entire colony of Newsail is 400 million people", it may be difficult for Androni to directly persuade Dusand.And Dusande would not have given up his idea so simply, and instead supported investing 8000 million pounds a year in subsidizing schools, agreeing to the policy of "it is up to the general public to decide whether to send their children to school".

The second reason is even more frustrating - child labor is also one of the important channels for poor families to obtain economic resources.

Children are ideal for working in confined spaces due to their small stature.Many factories and mines employ child laborers to dig in mine tunnels and install explosive sites.Or have them wait inside a running machine, ready to add lubricant to the moving parts of the machine.

The working conditions of child laborers are extremely harsh and their pay is extremely low.But their existence is indeed the key to the normal operation of many factories and mines. More importantly, their income and expenses are completely out of proportion.Although the income is extremely low, it can contribute most of the income to the family.

Removing these children from child labor and forcing them into school is certainly a good thing for child labor and the future of society in Newsale as a whole.But for families that rely heavily on child wages, and for companies that use child labor to increase productivity and reduce operating costs, such a blow can be devastating.

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After four years of intensive operation, the House of Commons has reached an unprecedented level of mastery and understanding of the whole of Newsale.It is precisely because of this that Dusand is full of worries about the current Nusaar.

He knows very well and is convinced that if the strategic materials of Newsale are not controlled, and if Olin does not reopen the authorization in a short period of time, I am afraid that the entire social system of Newsale will directly collapse within a month.

According to the reserve survey three months ago, Newsail’s daily consumption of strategic materials is basically the same as the total growth rate, and there is almost no surplus reserve—local coal, metal and grain production can only meet about [-]% of social needs, Among the four major strategic materials, only the output of the Ypsilon Mine can exceed the daily consumption of Newsail.

But... from the current almost completely unregulated free economy to the rationing system, this may cause many companies to suffer huge losses, and the wave of bankruptcy will directly impact the entire economic system.

Du Sande asked Androni to rush to the Heraldry Administration as soon as possible, just to discuss the countermeasures.

"Rationing system..." Androni frowned after hearing this word, "No one has experience with such a large-scale rationing system."

In the "Great Discovery Era", those exploration ships that shuttled between the star seas often used a "rationing system" to control resource consumption in order to increase the voyage time as much as possible and increase the probability of finding colonial stars.In the imperial language, "rationing system" is a special word composed of "explore" as the prefix of "allocation" and then a feminine suffix.

"But this is the most likely plan to guarantee the survival of the vast majority of people." Du Sande emphasized to his mother, "Olin's behavior is too strange, I can't figure out what their purpose is .If it is to completely cleanse the Marquis' power, then half of their actions are considered excessive force, and half of them are considered slow to respond."

Androni thought for a while, her brows furrowed deeper and deeper.Indeed, as Dusand said, if you want to explore their true purpose through Olin's measures, I am afraid this will only end up as a "dead end".

Olin must have other plans, but what exactly they want to do... It still needs to continue to observe to know.If possible, both Dussand and Androni would prefer that Nussar can get direct instructions from Olin-even if the instruction requires the immediate arrest and execution of all Lafayette's family members.

In this way, at least the entire colony can be stabilized, so as not to cause further "catastrophe".

But Olin just didn't say anything, as if in their eyes, the whole of Nusaar was no longer credible.

Androni thought for a while and asked, "In addition to controlling consumption, we still need to increase our own food production as soon as possible. Eating less food can only make people live for two more days, and harvesting more can keep everyone alive." .Is there anything you can do about it?"

"There are three solutions that I can think of right now." Dusandra led his mother to a corner where there were not many people, and he said in a low voice, "The first one is to import through star thieves and smugglers, Regardless of whether it is the food of the Union or the Federation, as long as you can buy it, you will buy it. The second article is to fully encourage reclamation and agricultural production, subsidize farm tools, fertilizers, seeds, and fuel for agricultural production machinery, and reduce the need for agricultural production. To encourage more people to open up wasteland and cultivate land—we also have to provide technical training for these pioneers and farmers with little experience.”

Du Sande picked up a few measures that she had read in the newspapers in her previous life and explained that, from Androni's expression, it could be seen that she was a little worried about these measures.

"Importing through star thieves and smuggling merchants will cause big problems. What's more, most of the smuggling ships are high-speed small ships. They can smuggle some high-value items. Food...they really can't send much." The Speaker of the House of Commons shook his head and said, "This is absolutely not possible."

"What about the part that encourages production?" Dusand asked tentatively, "Let them quickly start expanding the scale of agricultural production. If we plant some crops that can mature and harvest quickly, we should be able to catch up..."

"But the funds are not enough, and the ratio of various taxes that the House of Commons can adjust is also very limited." Androni sighed, "It's a good idea to subsidize the prices of farm tools, fertilizers, seeds, and fuel for agricultural production machinery, but the cost too big."

After rejecting Dusand's two proposals, Androni still had expectations for Dusand's "idea". She asked, "What's the third plan?"

Du Sande looked helplessly at Androni, who was full of expectations, and then hesitated, "This method...is probably more lethal than the previous two."

"As long as the problem can be solved, there are some things that need to be done...we will do it without hesitation." Androni comforted Du Sande with a very unconvincing promise, and then said, "So, What is the plan?"

Du Sande sighed, "Immediately confiscate all the assets of all grain merchants and nobles engaged in grain imports, and seal up their shops and warehouses. All the grain in their hands will be collected, and then handed over to the navy or army, and they are required to be in the red clothes. Food rations were distributed to all the citizens of Newsail under the supervision of postmen."

"According to our previous investigation and estimation, there is a relatively large gap between the registered grain import quantity and consumption in Niusal, and the grain price in Niusal can remain at a relatively stable level. The only reasonable explanation is that These grain merchants and the nobles behind them have smuggling channels." Dusand explained, "Their undeclared storage capacity is likely to be larger than the existing storage capacity in the entire New Saal, as long as these reserves are mastered, at least Not too many people will starve to death on Nusa until new crops are grown. . .

Androni looked at her son, as if meeting him for the first time.After hesitating for a moment, she asked, "Why did you do this?"

"In order to save the lives of more people." Dusande replied decisively, "As long as necessary, Aika can make every one of these merchants and nobles feel worthy of death..."

"I mean, why use such an extreme method?" Androni interrupted Dusand's explanation, "Can't these people who have hoarded the food take the initiative to hand over the food through pressure? That's not how Aika is used—it should be respected, not feared."

"In special times, only special means can guarantee us to achieve our goals." Dusande sighed and said, "Well, since you think pressure can do it... and we do have some time, you can try this matter .But if these grain merchants and nobles refuse to take out their warehouses within five days...then use my method."

　push book
　　"Being a Fox Fairy from Liaozhai"

　　Being a man is hard, being a fox is even harder.

　　Gong Mengbi had no choice but to hug Taishan Empress's thigh tightly, and talk about being admitted to the Immortal Official.

　　As for the fox, what you want is to get acquainted with each other so that you can cultivate immortality.

　　It was only later that people discovered that the world is so big that there are shadows of the fox everywhere.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)