The other aristocrats were also surprised by the scene, and seeing so many employees of the industrial park warmly welcoming them as shareholders felt a different sense of comfort from the usual respect and fear of the common people for the aristocracy.

Her Royal Highness walked ahead, first surprised by the strange gray-white stone that was solid and seamless under her feet, and after being slightly surprised, she smiled and waved her hand at those who welcomed her according to the etiquette of the royal family.

"Welcome, Your Royal Highness the Honourable Dorothea! And the major shareholders! ”

Xia Lin noticed that Her Royal Highness the Empress did not wear the princess crown today, and she seemed much more approachable, so she breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward to make a mage salute to everyone.

"Gui'an, Sir Charin, this is my father's most relied upon courtier, the Empire's Minister of Commerce, Count Karen Hozia, and this is my father's most trusted courtier, Viscount Hart Colin, the captain of the palace guard!"

Empress Dorothea gracefully introduced the two people who were following her, and Xia Lin was naturally busy greeting these two undoubted greats of the empire.

"Your Royal Highness, Your Excellency the Earl, Your Excellency the Viscount, I believe you also want to confirm that your investment has been implemented as soon as possible! Please come with me to visit the seven factories in the industrial park that have just been completed and put into operation! After the visit, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was officially held! ”

Xia Lin said hello and said in a timely manner.

"Then let Sir Charling lead the way! But I have a question for Sir Charrain, what is this gray-white stone under our feet? Why can't I see any gaps? Could it be that Sir Charlin had carved out such a large stone for the pier and the road? ”

Count Karen nodded, and then asked curiously.

Obviously, these aristocrats have a lot of curiosity about this new thing, after all, such a smooth cement pier and the 50-meter-long cement road that winds into the industrial park really looks a bit eye-catching.

"No, Your Excellency, the Earl, in fact this wharf and the road are made of concrete produced by the cement factory mentioned in my industrial park plan.

Cement is a kind of lime-like powder, but after adding sand to water, it will turn into a hard stone after a period of time, and they are not without a little gap, in order to prevent the weather from expanding and cracking too hot, expansion joints are set up every 20 meters. ”

Xia Lin knew that these big nobles must not have read the industrial park plan they provided, and did not know the nature and use of the cement product they described in it, so he patiently explained.

"I see, what about the output and cost of this cement?"

Count Karen nodded clearly, a little surprised that there was such a strange thing in the world, but soon thought of the many uses of cement, and asked a little impatiently.

"At present, the cement plant can produce 300 pounds of cement every day, and after the process is upgraded, the output can be increased more than ten times, as for the cost, about a heavy weight of 20 copper pes, of which the labor cost is somewhat high, and after the process is upgraded, the cost should be reduced to 15 copper pes.

Xia Lin elaborated.

"Three hundred?! 20 copper bis!? Can it be reduced to 15 copper bis in the future?! ”

Count Karen was shocked, wouldn't this cement be cheaper than the stone from the quarry?

"Can this cement be used to build castles?"

Viscount Hart, who was on the side, was obviously also interested in the properties of cement, and asked from his own professional point of view.

"Of course, cement is malleable, and it is much more convenient to build a castle than stone, but cement is not as strong as natural stone.

In my future plans, cement is an important material for paving roads, building houses, and improving the infrastructure of slums. ”

Xia Lin explained that seeing that this group of nobles was so interested in cement, he believed that when the cement production was surplus, it would soon open up sales, and it was not in vain that he spent a sum of money to build the wharf and this fifty-meter-long cement road.

"It's too extravagant, paving the road with cement, I'm afraid it will cost nearly a gold lunt for a long bini, if you do this, the shareholders will definitely not agree!"

However, hearing that Xia Lin actually had such a whimsical idea, Count Karen shook his head and vetoed.

"Your Excellency, I forgot to tell you that cement can be used with gravel and sand to form concrete, in addition to being used alone.

The cost of one side of concrete is only 17 silver mars, which is enough to pave a two-meter-long, three-meter-wide, 18-centimeter-thick concrete pavement.

Oh yes! One meter is about 0.83 long bini, and one centimeter is 0.83 bini! ”

As early as when formulating the infrastructure plan, Xia Lin conducted a cost analysis, and he said the results of his analysis.

"Sir Charlin, even so, it is indeed too extravagant to pave the road with these cements, and even the stone road in Hurgana has not been repaired for hundreds of years, because the stone is so expensive!"

Dorothea couldn't help but persuade. Even she couldn't understand the idea of Xia Lin taking a heavy amount of cement worth 20 copper pesis to pave the road.

Even according to Charlin, the cost of a thousand-kilo-bini road is ten gold-lundes, and it can be estimated how much it would take to pave the slums with such concrete roads.

"No, it's not extravagant! Your Royal Highness, Your Excellency the Earl, can you estimate how many people and vehicles can pass through the roads that can be seen everywhere in the imperial capital, and how many people and vehicles can pass through the smooth concrete roads like the ones under our feet every day?

The so-called want to get rich first build roads, only smooth roads, in order to provide low transportation prices, with low transportation prices, the goods produced in the industrial park can radiate to a larger range, earn more profits.

It is true that it is a loss in the short term to spend a lot of money to build roads, but in the long run, the economic benefits of building a flat road network around a busy industrial park far outweigh the cost.

In the new district of the future, only concrete roads can fully exert the power of the industrial park, digest the cheap land and population resources of the slums, and build a new new district.

This is an indispensable prerequisite, so as a shareholder, for the development of the industrial park, I suggest that everyone should implement the infrastructure of the slums, otherwise the idea of a new district will only be a delusion on paper! ”

Xia Lin didn't expect that even the enlightened princess would oppose his infrastructure construction plan, he frowned and insisted on his thoughts, and then he turned to say:

"However, if all the shareholders are against it, then according to our covenant, it is really not appropriate for this part of the funds to be paid by the board of directors.

So be it, if the board doesn't approve this plan, then we'll start a separate new district development plan.

First, the slum land was used to build a number of new buildings, and the infrastructure project was financed by providing employees with low-interest loans to buy houses.

In this way, the employees have been given comfortable standardized housing, and the industrial park has also been developed, and the current salary of the employees in the industrial park is enough to pay the principal and interest of this part of the loan! ”

"This is a good idea!"

Hearing Xia Lin's plan, Count Karen thought about it and nodded in agreement.

In this plan, they only need to contribute a start-up capital to turn cheap land in the slums into valuable houses and sell them to the employees of the industrial park, and this part of the investment will continue to multiply.

In fact, they can gain a lot without having to give anything, except for time.

"If that's the case, I'm sure you won't object, Sir Charrain, you're a wise man!"

Empress Dorothea weighed the pros and cons, and found that the plan proposed by Xia Lin was indeed quite feasible, and she couldn't help but look at Xia Lin with surprise and praise.

Being able to come up with a workable solution to the problem in such a short period of time made her more aware of Xia Lin's abilities.