Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 423 The Population of Blood Harbor
This number silenced the meeting room for a moment.

The first literacy class enrolled several thousand people, which is almost the number of people in Castells' entire heavy industrial production line.

"How did you manage to organize several thousand people?!"

"Finding a house must be a hassle, right?"

Zoe smiled and said, "The literacy classes are not all held at the same time. There are classes during the day, as well as classes in the afternoon and evening. People with regular jobs can also come to attend classes after work."

“And,” she turned to look at Josh.

"Well, the Secret Order already has many organizations and gatherings, so there are readily available channels and venues. We can just bring the literacy classes over here."

Hughes nodded in satisfaction. This was why he had preserved the entire organizational structure of the Secret Order and had not completely dismantled it to take back to Castel.

Religious organizations that can penetrate deep into the grassroots have an unimaginable influence on Blood Harbor. The prince's executive orders are difficult to issue to the slums, but the Secret Order can.

Moreover, with the Secret Order's endorsement, the difficulty for Castells to open literacy classes decreased dramatically. Hughes had no foundation here, but Josh did.

"How many people do you think will eventually become workers?"

Zoe hesitated for a moment, then asked hesitantly, "...Five hundred men?"

Hughes raised an eyebrow: "So low?"

"The beginning was the hardest. When we started training the islanders, the factory had a hard time recruiting workers. But once the first batch of people entered the factory, everything changed."

"At that time, everything that happened in the factory will spread in Blood Harbor, people's ideas will gradually change, more and more people will flock in, and they will take the initiative to learn to read and write."

These were all experiences that happened in Castel, but Hughes hadn't been directly involved, so he asked with some curiosity, "Is our treatment not good enough?"

“No.” Zoe shook her head. “The factory couldn’t recruit people at first not because of the pay, but because of fear.”

"They were afraid of the factory, the tall buildings, the roaring machines. To people who had never been exposed to these things, they were like monsters. Only when the first batch of workers returned would people slowly accept the existence of such things."

It turned out to be the case.

When the train first appeared, many people regarded it as a huge monster. When the movie was first shown, people in front of the screen would subconsciously avoid the vehicles on the screen.

Even Galahad, a superhuman with experience in industry, was so frightened by Castel that he lost control; let alone ordinary people with little knowledge.

Human imagination is limited, and fear of the unknown is only natural.

“Actually, the most attractive thing in the factory isn’t Leo,” Zoe suddenly said.

"Then what's so attractive about it?" Hughes asked, puzzled. The environment in factories is generally not good; it's hot, noisy, and not following the rules can easily lead to injury or death.

The beauty of industry? Impossible.

"fair."

"The factory's system is quite strict. In addition to maintaining safety, it also brings fairness. This is like poison to the lower classes who have never enjoyed it before. Once they have experienced it, they can never get rid of it." "People who are oppressed will get used to oppression, but if they experience respect and fairness, they will pursue it no matter what it takes."

The people in the room looked at Zoe with some surprise. They wondered when she had developed such a deep understanding of the lower classes.
Hughes coughed lightly, bringing the topic back on track: "Well, five hundred people is not a small number, especially for Castel. Moreover, although Blood Harbor's population has decreased significantly, it still far exceeds that of Castel. As long as we persist in promoting education, the population in the factory will continue to grow."

After saying that, he glanced at Connor: "The prince doesn't have any objections, does he?"

“Not at all. He is even very supportive of us doing this. Currently, Blood Harbor’s policies are basically entirely focused on us.”

Hughes nodded: "A wise move."

Those who can enter the factory are of course young and strong. Generally speaking, no lord would be willing to lose these valuable people, but the prince's perspective is different.

The Duchy of Tiss is not short of people; if it were, the nobles of the North would not be so strict in prohibiting refugees from entering the country.

But the prince lacks an educated population.

Industrialization is impossible without a skilled workforce. Even when Hughes had the technology and resources, his attempt to switch to steam power was hampered by a lack of qualified workers.

Fortunately, the Candlelight Society banished a group of Rhineland workers, relieving the immediate crisis and allowing Hughes to develop and cultivate an industrial workforce simultaneously.

If Hughes wants to recruit workers from Bloodharbor, he will have to expand schools and provide education. Perhaps the best students will leave the prince's territory for Castel, but many will certainly stay.

This group of people can support the most basic industrialization.

After visiting Castells, the prince did not hesitate to abandon his previous plans and instead fully embrace industrialization, which was a win-win situation.

“In addition to literacy classes, we should also move some advanced education to Bloodharbor.” Hughes turned to look at Josh.

Josh paused for a moment before realizing what he meant and then nodded sharply.

The senior members of the Secret Order are mostly engineers from Castells. Spreading knowledge and technology is almost an unconscious behavior for them. Nowadays, basic education has been popularized in the Secret Order, and a lot of knowledge has been taught in advanced classes, but there is no systematic learning.

Now Hughes is planning to fill this gap, so that the Secret Order members can become qualified workers with a little training.

How many people are there in the Secret Order now?

"There are nearly two hundred senior believers, most of whom were brought from the North by Captain Jeremiah, and some of whom were among the first to join. These people have all received advanced training and many of them are capable of working independently."

This group consists of the core members of the secret order. Their skill level is not much lower than that of the islanders of Castel. They may lack some military training and their knowledge may not be as systematic, but they are definitely capable of handling most jobs in an industrialized system.

"Then there are the outer followers, this group has more than 700, most of whom joined after the first Mother Goddess rebellion. At that time, Bloodharbor was in chaos, and we opened our doors to provide shelter."

"The level of this group varies greatly. Some are no less than senior believers, but most of them have only just completed a literacy class."

Completing a literacy class allows one to enter basic processing plants, such as olive oil factories. The risks are relatively low, the processes are relatively basic, and the risk of cognitive interference is small. The recruitment threshold is simply completing the literacy class.

(End of this chapter)