Chapter 173: Population Production and Trade
Osena’s report made Gu Hang nod in frequent agreement.
The population increase was something Gu Hang valued greatly.
According to the information she provided and the documents in hand, the total population under the direct control of the New Alliance had already reached 2.4 million.
The core governance areas were the Twin Cities of Revival.
The population of Weixing City had reached 550,000, with primary industries in heavy and military production.
Industries based on alloy and plastic steel smelted large quantities of raw materials into alloy metals, further processed into various industrial components.
Wu Jiarong’s research institute continuously introduced new industrial lines (via black boxes), sending them to the Wasteland Industrial Zone to either establish new factories or expand the scale of existing ones.
Migrants in short-term high-intensity training programs at each factory soon became standby workers after a brief training period.
Once the relevant production lines were in place, these new workers were immediately incorporated, and production could begin right away.
Revival City currently had 930,000 residents, and urban construction continued, with primary industries in light industry and consumer goods to meet population needs.
Industries like textiles, food processing, electronics, furniture, and construction were the main production sectors.
Additionally, Revival City served as an administrative and trade center with a substantial workforce in civil service roles.
A larger population scale also encouraged a relatively developed service industry.
There were few cultural and entertainment options, but the catering industry had already seen significant growth.
This differed from Weixing City, where eating options primarily consisted of returning home or dining in corporate cafeterias, with food allocated according to job level.
Without Weixing City’s large centralized factories, Revival City’s catering industry had become an important complement to meet dining needs.
This prompted a new policy from Osena to stimulate economic activity.
To prevent an overly rigid industrial development tied to job positions, which would only activate economic activities when a department mandated new factories, stores, or urban infrastructure, Osena introduced a policy to encourage entrepreneurship among ordinary citizens.
The goal was not large-scale ventures—those were handled by state-owned factories.
Instead, opening a small restaurant, setting up a convenience store, or even a roadside stand was encouraged.
Further up, people with creative ideas could open small factories, private construction teams, or logistics squads to transport goods for construction sites, factories, and stores.
To encourage this, individuals could apply for startup funds by using their job level as collateral, submitting a business proposal, and, upon approval, begin operations.
The higher the job level, the greater the support funds available.
If a venture failed, job levels would decrease; if it succeeded, levels would rise according to the manager's status in the new enterprise.
Ownership of these ventures—whether restaurant, convenience store, or factory—remained with the state, though a share of profits would be distributed.
Essentially, it worked like a large company where employees pitched projects to management; if approved, they could begin.
Success led to promotions, pay raises, and even stock options, while failure caused the company financial loss and personal job-level deductions.
Furthermore, simple stands required no high-level authorization, with only minor penalties, like docking allowances, if unsuccessful.
Osena also opened another path: entrepreneurship using personal funds, which required no collateral and avoided demotions if unsuccessful.
This approach allowed for private economic activities alongside the main public, planned economy to boost economic vitality.
Currently, the conditions for job-level collateral and startup funding applications were relatively lenient, given the encouragement.
Individuals with good ideas or those aligning with the production department’s growth goals could easily access capital, with limited demotions if unsuccessful.
Under production department guidance, these ventures generally avoided losses.
Establishing a small restaurant near factories or construction sites, or setting up a synthetic starch heating stand, was unlikely to lose money.
In the future, once specific sectors seemed overdeveloped, overheated, or experienced losses, entry requirements would tighten, collateral penalties would increase, and a regulatory mechanism would be in place.
Overall, in the Twin Cities, a collective, state-owned economy served as the primary model, supplemented by private economic activity to boost dynamism and employment.
Currently, according to "tax coins," the monthly output of the Twin Cities reached about 80,000 tax coins, marking it as the absolute core of the New Alliance.
In other areas combined, output only reached around five to six thousand tax coins.
Outside the Twin Cities, regions like the Central Province, North-Central Province, and High Tower Province were all being reformed to follow the Twin Cities model.
These smaller settlements, including Garbage Town, focused primarily on consumer goods production to meet basic population needs.
However, production efficiency in these small settlements could not be guaranteed.
While these regions collectively had over a million people, rivaling the Twin Cities in population, their total output was only about 7% of the Twin Cities.
In response, Osena’s plan was to continue relocating people from these areas into Weixing City to expand the industrial workforce.
Additionally, factories in Weixing City and Revival City would deploy various production machines—farm machinery, engineering equipment, trucks, textile machines, food processing machinery—into these smaller settlements.
This held significant potential for increased efficiency.
Gu Hang listened to her comprehensive report, nodding in satisfaction.
He believed Osena had done exceptionally well.
Many of these initiatives were things he had been aware of; in fact, he had given Osena specific directives in major areas before leaving for the starship, and Osena had implemented these policies accordingly.
Formulating appropriate policies was difficult; implementing them was even harder.
Yet, it appeared Osena excelled at both aspects.
Her performance exceeded his expectations.
This was evident from her character card.
While in space, Gu Hang had observed changes in Osena's character card on the interface.
First, she had leveled up to LV3; her rarity had increased from N-level to R-level; her title, "Outstanding Administrative Officer," had upgraded to "Exceptional Administrative Officer," adding a point in political attributes, and she had gained a new talent called "Strategic Planning."
[Strategic Planning: Through her experience in long-term planning for production and construction, she had developed a unique insight, enhancing her performance in this area. Politics +1]
These trait additions brought her most vital attribute, Politics, to 15 points.
With such skills, Osena had become a highly competent administrative officer, and Gu Hang could fully rely on her.
Gu Hang was generous in his praise: "I believe Comrade Osena has done an excellent job."
With that, he even applauded.
Following his lead, everyone else enthusiastically joined in.
Osena’s role was crucial. As the current head of civil affairs, commerce, finance, and production, her responsibilities were immense.
Though she was still addressed as a minister, her work resembled that of a prime minister, handling most governmental duties herself.
Even the military had to curry favor with her, as the production of Weixing City’s military factories also depended on her support.
The Department of Military Logistics and Equipment, led by Tadius, had to maintain constant communication with her team to ensure sufficient supply of equipment, ammunition, and military rations.
Slightly embarrassed by the praise, Osena waved her hand and quickly said, "Mr. Bradford will handle the report on commerce and trade; his performance over the past month has been excellent."
Bradford stood up, slightly nervous, especially under Gu Hang's gaze, intensifying his anxiety.
He recalled his despair when he was captured by the Governor's soldiers a few months ago; later, his conversation with the Governor nearly shattered him.
Yet, he survived using his "cleverness" and even became an advisor in the New Alliance's Commerce Department.
With Osena handling multiple roles and effectively serving as the Alliance’s prime minister, work was overwhelming.
Furthermore, the New Alliance suffered from a severe shortage of civil servants and administrative workers, particularly those capable of handling responsibilities independently.
In this context, Bradford, with his skills, experience, and connections, along with his dedication to work without seeking personal gain—at least not in the early stages—naturally stood out among his peers.
Although he still held the title of advisor, he had begun exercising substantial authority as the de facto head of the Commerce Department.
Moreover, Osena, within her authority, raised Bradford's rank from an initial E6 to D6.
Though still considered mid to low-level, it provided him with a secure livelihood and additional benefits.
Besides, holding the influential position in the Commerce Department assured Bradford of his future prospects.
He had not let Osena down, either.
Previously, he utilized his connections and trade management experience to organize caravans, restoring capillary supply lines and alleviating the Twin Cities’ food crisis.
He then resumed grain trade with the Western Desert, providing further relief from the crisis.
As for the other major food supply artery, the southern Qing Valley region, there had been little progress.
But this was due to ongoing conflict in Qing Valley, severely disrupting grain production—a problem beyond trade solutions.
Reliance on the Western Desert alone still left a tight food situation, especially as expansion efforts commenced, surrounding regions of Revival City fell into conflict, and two million people had become adversaries, impacting the capillary supply lines again.
This urgency prompted Gu Hang to press Yan Fangxu to speed up his operations and commit more troops to resolve the issue, as prolonged delays would lead to famine.
To address this, Bradford recently made a personal trip to the Western Desert, returning only recently.
He brought back a
new large order, with the Western Desert agreeing to double its grain trade with Revival City.
Revival City had to pay a significant price for this: an abundance of consumer goods, which the city’s surplus production could readily cover.
In addition, Bradford secured a substantial order for Weixing City’s automotive industry.
The Iron Bull RN-100 trucks had won favor among the merchant caravans, praised for their great load-bearing capacity, excellent off-road performance, durability, and fuel flexibility, making them highly popular in the wastelands.
Bradford sold 500 Iron Bull trucks to Western Desert merchants in exchange for grain.
By galactic standards, the total value of the grain shipments this order would bring exceeded 20,000 tax coins, covering the New Alliance’s current annual food needs for 2.4 million people.
Meanwhile, the 500 Iron Bull trucks, roughly a month’s output for Weixing City, would have been worth only about 5,000 tax coins in taxes—assuming the Empire’s Tax Department would even accept vehicles of this tech level.
The profit was quadrupled, yet the Western Desert merchants were thrilled.
These trucks were far cheaper than the cargo vehicles produced by Blackbird Heavy Industries to the west.
This was a mutually beneficial deal: the Alliance had found an outlet for its automotive industry and gained a large grain supply; the Western Desert merchants, in turn, would use the trucks to transport food to the Alliance with improved efficiency.
A true win-win situation.
Winning on both ends, winning big.
Of course, the deal wasn’t completed in one go.
Although the Western Desert had plenty of grain, they couldn’t immediately ship it all, as time was needed to gather it from various farming bases and to cover over a thousand kilometers of distance.
Likewise, the Iron Bull trucks couldn’t be delivered instantly.
Even if Weixing City could produce 500 trucks per month, Revival City also required Iron Bulls for transport logistics; the military needed Iron Bulls for supply transport; and the army’s motorized units also required Iron Bulls.
Five hundred trucks were still not enough, so the production department might even focus the next production expansion on Iron Bull trucks, aiming for a monthly output of 1,000 units for this essential transport vehicle.
Besides the grain trade, Bradford had recently tackled another critical issue: industrial raw material imports.
Raw materials from the Wasteland Mine couldn’t keep up with demand.
Garbage Town had recently resumed excavating the Ruins Mine after war halted operations, but output remained low.
The shortage of raw materials limited production in the industrial zone.
Nonetheless, trade connections were gradually expanding, and raw material sources were no longer limited to the immediate surroundings.
To the east of the High Tower Ruins, extending to the sea, lay a roughly 6,000-kilometer stretch of the urban region that once dominated Fury Owl Planet before the war.
Super cities like the High Tower Ruins were widely scattered across the eastern regions.
But in this vast area, the population had dwindled to around five million, scattered between ruins, struggling to survive amid mutated creatures and energy storms, with little industry other than scavenging.
In other words, the 6,000-kilometer-long, 3,000-kilometer-wide former metropolitan area had become a gigantic, highly dispersed Garbage Town.
Regardless of the ecological state of this region, the New Alliance had already established trade links with the eastern provinces.
Consumer goods and resold grain formed the basis of traditional raw material trade between Revival City and the eastern provinces, with a recent addition of industrial products.
The two primary best-selling items were still the Iron Bull truck and military arms.
The eastern provinces indeed resembled an enormous Garbage Town, with low food production that relied heavily on imports from Qing Valley and raw materials scavenged from pre-war ruins and a rudimentary industrial base.
Scavenging efforts mainly fell to various adventurers.
The G9 series of personal weapons was far superior to local makeshift firearms.
Conveniently, the G9 production line had surplus capacity, making these weapons ideal for sale.
As for whether these guns might hinder the New Alliance’s future expansion into the eastern provinces…
That was certainly a possibility.
But the threat was minimal.
In large-scale combat, personal weapons held limited importance; tanks, artillery, and aerial firepower would be decisive.
Furthermore, the G9 weapons weren’t sold only to the eastern provinces; the Qing Valley region to the south was also a significant market.
While Qing Valley’s food production had been severely affected by recent conflicts, some output remained.
However, the primary reason for exchanging arms for grain was the deteriorating situation in Qing Valley.
The mutated creature tide that usually subsided by this time each year in Qing Valley—a region with relatively favorable natural conditions—showed no signs of abating and seemed to be worsening.
The tragic events that had befallen Osena’s family had become more common in Qing Valley.
Even landowners and farmers were struggling to survive, let alone ordinary civilians.
Selling weapons to Qing Valley was meant to help them better withstand the onslaught of these creature tides.
In fact, it wasn’t just weapons being sold.
While in space, Gu Hang had received reports on Qing Valley’s worsening situation, causing him considerable concern.
Allowing such rampant destruction from mutated creatures was unacceptable.
Qing Valley, with its population of ten million, spanned a vast peninsula over 2,000 kilometers from east to west and more than 5,000 kilometers from north to south, narrowing as it extended south.
Its geography resembled the Indian Peninsula from Gu Hang’s previous world, with potentially even better natural and geographic advantages.
The vast, fertile land and large population made it one of the rare prime areas on Fury Owl Planet.
Gu Hang couldn’t tolerate the destruction of this land, nor could he accept severe depopulation of the ten million residents due to this disaster.
Currently, the Alliance lacked sufficient power and manpower to dispatch a large enough army to assist Qing Valley in tackling its mutant creature problem.
But this didn’t prevent a preliminary intervention.
The Alliance exchanged arms for grain and even sent military specialists and diplomats to Qing Valley.
The diplomats organized displaced survivors, encouraging hard-pressed farmers to form mutual aid groups and convincing unaffected landowners of the threat at hand, urging them to contribute funds, resources, and manpower to support their neighbors.
Meanwhile, the military specialists, along with the traded weapons, supported local defense forces in building up their armies to resist the creature tides.
The situation in Qing Valley was far too complex to summarize in a few sentences, as the problems extended beyond human-monster conflicts.
But for now, Gu Hang hoped that his personnel could minimize the damage to Qing Valley, saving every life and every grain of food possible.
When he could finally muster enough troops to reclaim Qing Valley, any preserved vitality would be a blessing.
…
Subsequent reports contained less critical information.
Patel discussed the state of industry in Weixing City;
Lambert then described the development of the legal system in the Twin Cities, covering the drafting of laws, the establishment of courts, the construction of law enforcement teams, intelligence systems, and anti-corruption measures.
He had officially been appointed Chief Justice of the Alliance, overseeing three main committees: the Legislative Committee, the Enforcement Committee, and the Disciplinary Committee.
The Legislative Committee required the fewest members, merely tasked with drafting laws per the Governor’s directives; the Enforcement Committee focused on maintaining public order, while the Disciplinary Committee’s primary function was anti-corruption.
Gu Hang prioritized the Disciplinary Committee’s work.
He knew that within the highly centralized, planned economy of the New Alliance, the concentrated power to accomplish major tasks was an advantage for achieving long-term benefits with limited short-term gain.
However, bureaucratic stagnation and corruption could critically undermine the system.
Gu Hang saw Osena addressing bureaucratic rigidity by encouraging limited private and market-driven economic activity.
The corruption issue hadn’t yet emerged, as the newly established government was only three to four months old, too young for significant problems.
However, preventive measures were necessary; once corruption reached systemic levels, eradicating it would be painful and challenging.
————
6,000 characters.
Yesterday’s commitment fulfilled.
(End of chapter)