The Lord Of Blood Hill-Chapter 257: Increasing Subsidies

The Lord Of Blood Hill-Chapter 257: Increasing Subsidies

The two drink well into the hours before dawn, talking about all sorts of things.
But every party must end, and Newwood has to leave.
As the first rays of sunlight spill in, Newwood waves back at Henwell, as Newwood fades into the distance. “Brother, I probably won’t make it to your wedding!”
Henwell grins and flips him a middle finger. “If things get rough out there, remember to come back and rest up!”
Newwood’s figure blurs further. “You too! If your base gets raided, find a place to lay low. I’ll come pick you up!”
Long after, Henwell still stands where he is, watching the direction Newwood disappeared.
At last, he’s not alone in this world. He hopes to see Newwood again.
Though a bit eccentric, Newwood is a solid ally.
This time, Newwood leaves not only with over ten tons of explosives but also many of Henwell’s industrial goods.
Even Henwell’s Inksteel steam engine gets packed up and taken by Newwood.
Thanks to Newwood’s warning, Henwell realizes rushing to build a steam engine this early is risky.
After discussing it with Newwood, Henwell decides it’s better to secure an entire kingdom’s territory before rolling out such technology.
For now, he’ll stick to the current tech path.
Of course, he won’t stop the top researchers from tinkering with these inventions.
Every year, Henwell allocates tens of thousands of gold coins to the steam engine project department at the research institute. Let them do experiments at their own pace!
They’ve at least seen the steam engine, and Henwell looks forward to what they might create next.
People in his previous life weren’t significantly smarter than those here. As long as the path is right, they can still build amazing machines.
Henwell begins to slowly adjust his role.
He should be a guide, not an inventor.
He’ll steer the entire faction’s direction, guiding the civilization’s advancement and transformation.
His mission is to implement systems that nurture talent, to foster inventors across various fields.
Not just blindly copying technology from his past life.
This world is different. It deserves a different path of development.
Next, Henwell pulls out three million gold coins to boost education and technological progress.
If any worker improves a process, besides the internal rewards within each factory, Henwell sets aside a separate prize pool of one million gold coins to be distributed based on the extent of industrial improvements.
The minimum reward is one gold coin, with no upper limit.
If you manage to raise product quality even just a little, you won’t be wasting your brainpower.
If you have the skill to overhaul an entire production system, Henwell will gladly hand you the full million without hesitation.
On education, Henwell knows he has to put in serious effort.
It’s that families don’t want their kids to go to school, worried about losing help at home.
So, Henwell declares: “Come on! Farmer families, I’ll pay you to send your kids to school! One gold coin a year!”
And for those who excel, there’s additional bonuses!
It sounds like throwing money around, but Peace Haven has hundreds of thousands of school-age children.
Henwell caps his annual spending at 500,000 gold coins.
And what does he get in return?
Hundreds of thousands of literate kids who can do basic math.
In ten years, five million gold coins can produce two to three hundred thousand middle school students.
By then, what does Henwell get in return?
As long as you’re willing to learn, Henwell’s willing to pay!
Besides these two expenses, Henwell also instructs each factory and research institute to put forward their toughest unsolved problems.
They announce these with hefty bounties, posted publicly for everyone to see.
It doesn’t matter if you’re from Peace Haven or what your profession is. As long as you have an idea, you can step forward
Once a solution is accepted and deemed feasible, Henwell pays on the spot.
Pooling collective wisdom. There are always smart people among the masses.
Sometimes, just looking at a problem from a different angle or perspective can spark a breakthrough.
From now on, Henwell commits one million gold coins annually to each of these three prize pools.
Are there people trying sneaky tricks to scam Henwell’s funds?
Of course!
Never underestimate human greed!
With enough temptation, they’d even dare to cheat the gods!
The gods might not care about these insignificant ants, but Henwell does.
His intelligence agency and secret guards keep a close watch.
If Henwell’s inspectors miss the fraud and no one s it, well, props to your skills. You deserve the money!
But if you brazenly think Henwell’s people are fools, rest assured:
The laws here don’t bother with niceties. You don’t need to confess, and there’s no courtroom drama.
The Potion Analysis Institute needs thousands of “volunteers” every year to contribute to medical research.
The medical school has plenty of students waiting for live human specimens!
Henwell’s dungeons can hold prisoners, and the smuggling caravans certainly don’t shy away from selling slaves.
If you want to cheat, be ready to pay with your life.
That’s the one good thing about this hellhole.
Even if Henwell enforces laws harsh enough to get blasted back in his previous life, here, he still manages to earn the reputation of a merciful lord.
Beyond these three tech-boosting projects, Henwell has a lot more on his plate.
The steel smelting plant along the Ouse River is now running smoothly.
Peace Haven’s steel output is expected to surpass 15,000 tons this year.
Steam engines still need constant refinement, so Henwell isn’t ready to roll them out widely just yet.
For now, he plans to rely heavily on water power.
Along these few dozen kilometers of the Ouse River, Henwell intends to build factories everywhere.
If one smelting plant’s capacity is limited, then build ten!
With industrial workers increasing steadily, Henwell’s demand for steel keeps growing.
In five years, he aims to push Peace Haven’s refined steel production past 100,000 tons.
Only at that scale will it match Henwell’s vision for the future.
As for extraordinary metals, since Newwood can’t help, Henwell doubles down.
He’s ready to expand secret trade with Catherine—throwing money at it if needed—to build his own stock of extraordinary alloys.
He’s also begun trying to source alloy formulas from other factions.
Among the young operatives trained by Chick’s intelligence department, a group has spent over a year studying forging and smelting.
In about six months, they’ll be dispatched through various channels to clandestine extraordinary alloy foundries in different kingdoms.
There, while working, they’ll analyze the alloy formulas used.
These high-level spies are virtually undetectable by other factions.
After all, literate, knowledgeable people here are costly and rarely assigned to such roles.
They wouldn’t spend years as blacksmiths or smelters, and guarding against them is extremely difficult.
Those factions control their alloy formulas tightly, and unique raw materials are monopolized and guarded.
But Henwell isn’t planning mass production, he just wants the formulas for research.
With Henwell’s current resources, acquiring these strictly controlled extraordinary materials isn’t too hard.

Chapter 257: Increasing Subsidies