Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 465: The Royal Dilemma 5

“Dear Betty, I hope you can leverage your influence in the noble circles of the capital to spread the word about these disinfection measures and their tremendous benefits to the ears of the kingdom’s higher-ups. In turn, this could lead to their nationwide implementation, saving countless lives of our sisters.”

“A few sheets of paper are hardly enough to convey all I wish to say, so I’ll stop here for today.”

“Wishing you happiness and health, missing you, Ladi Sertia.”

After reading the letter, Catherine looked up.

“Are you in a hurry to tell father about these so-called disinfection measures?”

To be honest, when she saw the mentioned maternal mortality rate, she genuinely felt a jolt of concern.

“Is that number really that high?”

“Yes!”

A look of guilt once again appeared on Eileen’s face.

“I should’ve asked father to issue a national decree earlier, at least in the royal territories! Ah, a year has passed; how many women have given birth during this time.”

Eileen had brought back a booklet from the Northwest Bay, but only a few close friends showed interest in it, with very few responses.

Her greatest achievement was getting those around her to adopt the habit of drinking boiled water.

Later, she diverted her energy to the construction of schools.

She began to fret and tear at her hair.

Catherine immediately stopped her younger sister, who was increasingly losing her princess-like demeanor.

“Let’s go, we’ll see father together. He should still be in the council hall.”

The two sisters quickly arrived at the council hall and saw King Rodney, still contemplating the meeting records.

“Father, Eileen has something very important to discuss with you.”

After listening to his youngest daughter’s purpose for seeking him out, the king also read the letter.

“Ha ha, this young lord always brings me unexpected surprises,” King Rodney XVI laughed in reflection.

“Uh… I mean, the death of mothers is indeed a tragic matter, but with these improved childbirth measures, many tragedies can be avoided. That’s the surprise.”

No ruler would not wish for a thriving population in their territory.

“Alright. Eileen,” the king decided, “I will issue a decree to implement the contents of your booklet throughout the kingdom and notify the major lords of the kingdom.”

“But…” the king said somewhat helplessly, “As for using administrative power like Lord Grayman to send officials to supervise doctors in implementing these measures, that we cannot do right now.”

“Why?” Eileen pouted discontentedly and asked somewhat angrily.

The king extended his hand, apologetically stroking his youngest daughter’s head.

“It’s not that I’m unwilling, but rather that I truly cannot. The kingdom’s finances are in a difficult state right now; we can’t afford to increase administrative expenses.”

“Oh!” Eileen clenched her fists in disappointment, “It’s impossible to expect those stubborn old men to willingly change their years-old habits.”

“Alright, Eileen,” Catherine consoled her, “how do you know they won’t change? I believe most doctors, in their duty to save lives and help the injured, will study and learn this new knowledge.”

Eileen asked, “Father just mentioned financial difficulties, why is that?”

Catherine sighed and answered, “It’s because of those southern nobles. We’ve spent a lot of money to maintain their status and lifestyle. Moreover, to appease them, father even contemplated distributing royal lands to compensate them.”

Eileen looked towards the king, only to see her father nodding in resignation.

Watching her father and sister in their gloom, Eileen suddenly had an idea.

“I have a suggestion that might provide a way to settle those nobles who lost their lands and also save money for the kingdom’s government.”

“What is it?” both the king and Catherine asked, turning their attention to her.

Feeling the focused attention of her respected father and sister, Eileen’s face showed a hint of pride.

“Develop the secondary industry!”

“Secondary industry?”

This term was new to both father and daughter.

“Do you see that most of our wealth currently comes directly from the land, from agriculture?”

“That’s true.”

The king and Catherine agreed with this statement.

Before the birth of true industry, a world’s most significant wealth was its land, which produced almost everything upon which humanity depended.

A glint of insight flashed in Eileen’s eyes. “But during my time in the Northwest Bay, I saw another way of generating wealth.”

“Another way?”

“Yes, the secondary industry!”

Eileen excitedly explained to them, “Agriculture, which directly utilizes land for wealth, can be called the primary industry. Then the extraction of natural resources, the processing and reprocessing of mined products and agricultural products, can be termed the secondary industry, or industry.”

She directly borrowed Paul’s definition of industry.

Catherine asked with some confusion, “This so-called secondary industry has always existed in thousands of years of human history, yet they haven’t generated massive wealth. How then can it solve our current predicament?”

Eileen’s expression turned serious as she explained, “It has always existed, but compared to the primary industry of agriculture, it only existed on an insignificant scale, naturally not generating much wealth. For example, many villages share a single blacksmith shop. Compared to the vast number of farmers, the number of blacksmiths is negligible.”

The king and Catherine pondered, “That’s true.”

Eileen extended three fingers of her right hand, continuing, “Based on my limited reflection, there are many factors limiting the scale of the secondary industry, which can generally be summarized into three categories.”

“The first limitation is technology, the most direct reason. Whether technology is advanced directly determines the value that industry can produce. For instance, swords crafted with superior techniques are better than those made with ordinary methods. But another important aspect of technology’s limitation is its spread. Some highly skilled craftsmen, fearing competition from their peers, often keep their unique skills secret, passing them only to their own offspring or carefully selected apprentices. This restricts advanced technology to a small scale, limiting its value.”

“The second limitation is organizational form. The currently prevalent secondary industries, like blacksmithing, leatherworking, tailoring, exist in the form of small family workshops. These production activities have very low output and efficiency.”

“The third limitation is demand. We must admit that even if some great invention suddenly appears, such as a device that requires minimal manpower, is incredibly powerful, and can be deployed in large quantities, solving the first two limitations — technology and organizational form — the sudden increase in industrial products can’t be absorbed by current demand.”

Eileen’s extended fingers reduced to two.

“As for the limitation of demand, it can be divided into two aspects…”

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