Scenes like the Sharman family have been repeated in the slum neighborhoods since Starblue Elementary School began announcing admissions.

Inside the industrial park, the most well-informed employees are desperately trying to send their younger siblings or other relatives' school-age children to school.

Their wages are enough to support the family, even if the children of the family do not go to work as newspaper boys.

But if you can add one more family member to a management position in the industrial park, it will mean that those of you who work in the industrial park day and night know all too well.

At that time, I am afraid that the income of many ordinary civilian families in the imperial capital may not be comparable to theirs.

As for the tuition and miscellaneous fees of only five silver mars in a semester and ten silver mars a year, it is nothing to a regular employee whose minimum wage has reached 10 silver mars for ten years.

Under such circumstances, Xinglan Primary School quickly enrolled 200 school-age students in the surrounding area.

On the first day of school, hundreds of children walked to school alone with hope for the future, carrying the canvas satchel they used as newspaper boys.

When they came to the school, the new school building, the bright classrooms and the kind teachers made these children wonder all the time, and they looked forward to the future learning and life experience in such a beautiful environment.

However, at this time, they were naïve and immature, but they didn't know how terrifying it was for Xia Lin to prepare mountains of various test papers and exercises in the printing room in order to let them master all kinds of knowledge as soon as possible.

After going through the three indispensable steps of class-assigning, going to the warehouse to receive and distribute books, and running for class cadres, a large number of children in Wuyang followed the guidance of the teachers to the playground of Xinglan Primary School to prepare for the opening ceremony for the first time in their lives.

On the other side, Xia Lin, who was waiting with Wyatt at the school gate early, saw three luxurious carriages coming from the direction of the industrial park along the road that had just started, and hurriedly stepped forward to greet these noble guests at the opening ceremony:

"Welcome! Your Royal Highness the Lady Dorothy! And Lord Earl Cullen and Lord Count Stewart!"

The reason why only three members of the university were present was that the scholars of Ferran Ide University had been summoned to the palace by His Majesty Emperor Sassen XVII, and there was no way to attend the opening ceremony.

"Gui'an, Sir Charlene! Well...... You, the No. 1 Affiliated Primary School of Xinglan Industrial Park, look pretty good! Are these buildings made of concrete, as you say?"

The Empress Dorothea gracefully stepped out of the carriage with the help of her maid, and her golden eyes looked left and right for a moment, and then she noticed the brand new two-story schoolhouse and the three-story staff buildings not far away.

"Yes, Your Royal Highness, these are bamboo-reinforced concrete buildings, one building is enough to accommodate nearly a hundred people to study and live in them, and the cost is also quite cheap, and it can also save land in the industrial park!"

"This kind of concrete is really good, Sir Charlin, I wonder when the cement factory in the industrial park will start selling cement to the members of the alliance? I think there are many places in our alliance where this amazing building material is used!"

Count Karen nodded appreciatively and asked Xia Lin.

"Recently, I have just replaced the ball mill and built two cement vertical kilns for the cement plant, and now the efficiency of grinding fine cement clinker has increased several times, and the output of the cement plant is almost 1,500 pounds a day, but it is still a little insufficient.

That's why I've been thinking about whether to include cement in the patent proposal so that the members of the alliance can also help produce cement!"

"Inclusion of cement in the patent proposal? Sir Charlin, you are a selfless man!"

When the princess Dorothea heard Xia Lin's plan, she bowed her head slightly in surprise and approved.

"Which chambers of commerce should Sir Charin consider granting cement patents to?"

Earl Stewart, who was on the side, also asked quietly.

"I think I'm going to license the cement patent to some of the chambers of commerce that deal in minerals, such as the Eugene Chamber of Commerce, the Brooke Chamber of Commerce, and so on

In exchange for the opportunity to purchase minerals.

After the start of the construction of the electric arc furnace in Xinglan Industrial Park, the iron material will be consumed very quickly, which may cause the price of iron in the imperial capital to rise too quickly, so I have considered letting the industrial park smelt pig iron by itself, which can also reduce the production cost of the industrial park.

What I hope most now is to be able to buy an iron mine and a coal mine, so that the development of the industrial park will not have any worries."

Xia Lin thought for a while and said the cooperative chamber of commerce that he was more familiar with, as for the reason, of course, it was for various mineral raw materials.

"Mines? If it's just a few small mines, we don't need the Eugene Chamber of Commerce and the Brooke Chamber of Commerce to come forward, and our alliance can arrange it for the Xinglan Industrial Park.

The price is only about 500 to 800 gold lunt, and the output can definitely meet the production needs of the industrial park.

It's just that Sir Charlin has to get cement production technology on the patent agenda at very low royalties, and it is up to our coalition to decide which chambers of commerce can be licensed before we can move forward with this."

Earl Stewart suggested when he heard Xia Lin's thoughts.

"If I can obtain the four minerals I want, namely, iron ore, coal mine, sulfur ore, and saltpeter ore, I can agree to the conditions of His Excellency the Earl.

If Earl Stewart and Earl Cullen can push for one thing, I can even agree to put cement production technology on the patent list at a royalty of 1 copper pease per heavily."

"What's that?"

"Is there anything you need us to do?"

Hearing that Xia Lin was willing to license cement production technology to the business alliance at such a low price, Earl Stewart and Earl Karen were both in a state of mind and asked busily.

The inclusion of cement in the patent proposal means that for every blockbuster cement produced by the authorized chamber of commerce, it will be handed over to several copper bis in Xinglan Industrial Park.

This may seem like a small amount of money, but cement, a versatile building material, has a huge market, and it will definitely be a big number to add up bit by bit.

The two counts had never imagined that Xia Lin would be willing to give up such a huge amount of royalty income and only charge royalties at a price of 1 copper peas, so they were naturally very surprised.

"I need the two ministers to pass a decree on the repair of the roads in the Imperial Capital and the surrounding areas of the Imperial Capital.

This decree did not require the empire to spend a single copper bis, but only to divide the sections of the road to the various chambers of commerce or other organizations in the imperial capital to contract the construction.

The town hall and the Imperial Administration were responsible for setting the construction period and the basic cost, and the chambers that were willing to invest in the project were invited to bid, and the chambers that could complete the project with the least amount of money were considered the winners.

The winning chamber of commerce financed the construction of the road itself, and in exchange, the empire needed to give the chamber of commerce undertaking the project a special tax power - road construction tax.

In other words, our alliance will undertake and build these roads with cement, and then recoup its own costs through road construction taxes and make a small profit through time accumulation.

In this way, we have access to a smooth transportation network that makes our products within the alliance more competitive.

The only drawback of this project is that the upfront investment will be relatively large, and some remote roads may not bring us much benefit after repairing them."

Xia Lin explained what he wanted the two Imperial Ministers to promote, and that was the long-conceived plan to repair the roads in the Imperial Capital and the surrounding area.

Using the technological advantages brought by cement to control the road network around the imperial capital is a huge investment, but the returns that can be brought to the alliance are also huge.

For Xinglan Industrial Park, the increase in cement production brought about by this huge construction plan is more than enough to compensate for the loss of reducing the patent fee to 1 copper bis per pound, and even earn more additional income from it, which can be described as a win-win-win.

"Road construction tax? This is a novel idea, and it doesn't take a single copper biss from the empire to repair the road, and I think the Fosk palace minister will support this decree.

And with cement, the cost of repairing roads will be greatly reduced, and the road construction tax will be used to make up for the upfront

We should not object to it.

It's just a problem, the road construction tax can't be called the road construction tax, it has to be called a different name!"

Hearing Xia Lin's new plan, Earl Stewart thought about it for a moment, and quickly nodded in affirmation.

"Why do you want to change your name?"

Regarding Count Stewart's last words, Xia Lin asked with some confusion.

"Sir Charin, this is because the tax collection of the empire has always been the responsibility of the tax police of the administrative office under the palace minister, and this power is the key to the success of the Knorr family.

If it were in the name of the road construction tax, the Fosk Palace Minister would definitely get the tax police involved."

Seeing Xia Lin's puzzled look, Queen Dorothea explained to Xia Lin.

"I see, let's use the road usage fee to collect the fee!

After the road is repaired, we set up a toll booth at intervals, and in addition to our alliance members, goods pulled by more than three horses will be charged from 1 to 5 copper pebis per car, depending on the type.

In this way, our alliance's ability to intervene in the market will also be much enhanced!"

Hearing Dorothea's explanation, Xia Lin understood the sensitivity of taxation at the top of the empire, but this is not a big problem, just put it another way.

Originally, Xia Lin proposed the road construction tax, just to facilitate Her Royal Highness to understand this way of building roads to make a profit.

"Good! Then the matter is settled! After the next meeting of the Alliance is passed, Count Cullen and I will start to move this matter forward in the court!"

With a suitable name and a specific way to make a profit, Earl Stewart immediately nodded and settled on the matter.

"Well, for the sake of the future of the Alliance, this matter is entrusted to the two Earls!

The opening ceremony is about to begin, so please take your seats in the school management seats! When the ceremony is over, I've got something I'd like you to see!"

Xia Lin also nodded, and stretched out his hand to lead the way for the three school directors.