Chapter 288 Steam Mine Cart
Through these years of experience, Richard discovered that the quality of people who have attended elementary school is far better than that of illiterate people.
After five years of military-civilian education, they not only developed the habit of observing discipline, but also gained some military experience. Able to read text, familiar with basic calculations, and developed a bit of discipline. Cultivating such people into grassroots officers and skilled workers will save a lot of effort.
Richard knew in his heart that most of the members of various scientific research institutes were just consumables. In fact, there were only a few people with outstanding talents who could really do research. The gap in IQ between humans may be greater than that between humans and pigs.
But becoming a consumable for a research institute also requires a certain amount of knowledge. When an illiterate person reaches this kind of department, his eyesight is basically black and he is incompetent for any job. If you want to cultivate an illiterate into a talented person, you need to pay a very high cost of time and waste a lot of effort.
It has been three years since Harland Territory Middle School was established, and middle school students began to graduate this year.
These middle school students not only learn more courses, but also geography, history, law, biology, and scientific practice. The knowledge they learn is also more profound and their quality is higher than that of primary school graduates. Because the selection is strict, they also have higher IQs.
However, there are only more than 30 middle school students graduating this year, which is very rare compared to the hundreds of thousands of people in Harland Territory. These graduating middle school students are already the most knowledgeable and intelligent people in Harland's leadership.
This year Harland took the lead in inventing the steam engine, and various mechanical talents were far from enough. The demand for high-end talents in the territory is very strong, and the dozens of middle school students graduating every year are a drop in the bucket for Harland.
There are so few middle school graduates, and their future is certainly brighter than that of primary school graduates.
Richard basically arranged this group of people in various research institutes, and a few people were arranged in the Mage Association and became assistants in magician research. Three others chose to stay in school and became middle school teachers, enriching their educational capabilities.
Middle school teachers in the Harland territory earn three gold coins per month. This salary level is slightly higher than that of the town mayor in the territory, and is roughly the same as that of an army squadron leader. But the mayor of a town must have gray income.
In any case, in the Haaland territory, with an annual income of more than thirty gold coins, he is already a high-income person. This kind of income exceeded that of a freedman family with four laborers.
Prices in Harland territory are relatively low, and one can live very comfortably with an annual income of thirty gold coins.
Besides, becoming a middle school teacher has a high social status. You can often meet with the higher-ups in the territory and you are very respected. There is no need to face danger and fight various enemies.
According to the current development, middle school teachers will undoubtedly be an enviable profession within ten years.
Ten years from now, as a large number of middle school students graduate, academic qualifications will depreciate, salaries will drop, and status will fall.
For example, the current primary school teachers' social status has dropped a lot, their salaries have also dropped a lot, and their remuneration is no longer as good as that of grassroots bureaucrats in Haaland's territory.
After so many years of development, the total number of primary school graduates has exceeded 2,000. As the saying goes, things become more valuable when they are scarce. The more people there are, the more valuable they will be. Educational qualifications will be seriously devalued. Primary school teachers are no longer the talents in urgent need in the territory, and the social status has gradually returned to normal.
Starting two years ago, primary school graduates are no longer assigned jobs. This policy has dampened the enthusiasm of the middle class to send their children to school.
But with the current situation in Harland's territory, going to school is still an important channel to change one's destiny.
Having attended elementary school means that you can understand official documents and will not be deceived by grassroots bureaucrats. It will also be easier for you to learn breathing techniques after joining the army. Although they cannot directly enter the government as civil servants, the platform for primary school graduates is still much higher than that of the illiterate. The jobs provided to them are basically based on mental work, and the salary and social status are also better.
Really smart people still spare no effort to make children literate and read.
Human beings have different physical talents and IQ talents, which will naturally differentiate them into different classes. The first batch of middle-class free citizens in the Harland Territory. Many of them have very average IQs, talents, and abilities. They were able to earn gold coins and achieve a class jump mainly by chance. They caught up with the rapid development of the Harland Territory. dividend. It's not that their own qualities are better than ordinary people. As the number of free people increases, the involution of the population in Harland Territory will become more and more serious. A considerable number of middle-class families will fall down the class and become ordinary people. This is determined by personal quality and ability. Just like the wheel of history, no one can stop it.
Whether or not children are allowed to go to school is a key factor in whether their children can stabilize their class in the future.
Because there are more and more primary school graduates and the base is getting bigger and bigger, Richard built a second middle school this year. This middle school was built in the swamp basin, between Lightning Castle and Fire Castle. The school was completed this winter. After the goddess’s birthday next year, enrollment will begin.
Unlike primary school, Harland Territory Middle School does not charge tuition fees. After enrollment, there is a living allowance, one silver coin per month, which is enough for students' daily expenses and does not need to increase the burden on their families.
Due to limited educational resources, the selection of middle school students is very strict, and only talented students are selected.
If you want to be admitted to middle school, you not only have to take exam-oriented cultural courses, but also examine students' memory, logical thinking ability, study habits, self-control, etc.
Only one out of ten primary school graduates can go to middle school. This year, about 800 elementary school students graduated in Harland Territory, and less than 70 students were admitted to middle school. On average, one middle school can only admit one class of students. One of the important factors why the threshold is set so high is the lack of educational resources in the Haaland territory.
Talents who can teach middle school students are very rare in Harland territory.
The scientific development of the Dawn Plane is at a relatively low level. According to the standards set by Richard, the courses for middle school students are already relatively difficult. A teacher who can teach middle school is considered a knowledgeable person in the plane of dawn.
Because of the serious monopoly of knowledge, it was very difficult to cultivate talents. The only people who mastered knowledge were the church and the aristocracy.
In fact, there are only six or seven people in Harland Territory who can teach middle school students. Even knowledgeable magicians such as Richard and Sophia have to teach middle school students when they have time.
There are only seven or eight qualified middle school teachers in one school, and they need to teach three grades of middle school students. On average, each person is responsible for close to twenty students. If three middle school students who graduated this year did not stay in school, the middle school enrollment would not be able to expand.
The current top priority for talent allocation is major research institutes. In particular, the Machinery Manufacturing Research Institute is the top priority for Harland's leadership development.
Although middle school education is important, Richard will only train talented people. The temporary establishment of two middle schools is enough. It is estimated that it will take another three to four years to train more middle school teachers and build a third middle school.
A dozen middle school teachers and four or five middle school administrators are all highly paid workers. Their combined annual salary is close to eight hundred gold coins.
There are currently about 600 primary school teachers in the Harland territory. Their salary is close to 6,000 gold coins a year. In addition, the annual expenses for books, chalk and other teaching aids also consume a large amount of money.
Even if primary school students can receive a tuition fee, the current tuition fee for Harland Leader Primary School is not high, at four silver coins per school year. The total tuition fee for more than 4,000 primary school students is only 1,300 gold coins, which cannot make up for the shortfall in investment.
This year, Harland Territory's net investment in education has exceeded 6,000 gold coins. Coupled with the investment in medical care, the cost has exceeded 13,000 gold coins.
This kind of investment is close to half of the investment of government bureaucrats. It is higher than the disability and death pension paid out by the government every year.
Although the Harland Territory has a surplus in fiscal revenue and has made great progress every year, the pressure on military expenditures is huge, and it still dares not let Richard increase investment in education. After the commodity expo ended, it was early November in the blink of an eye.
In early November in northern Xinjiang, the lowest temperature at night is close to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
If there is not enough fuel, a large number of people will undoubtedly freeze to death in winter.
In several provinces in northern Xinjiang, many elderly people cannot survive the winter every year, and some poor serfs freeze to death in their shacks.
There are coal mines in Harland territory, and the output last year exceeded 60,000 tons. The freedmen class basically had money to buy enough coal to survive the winter.
The conditions of the indentured slaves were worse. A dozen people lived in a work shed, and the indentured slaves who had a family only had a small wooden house. On average, each person could only get 200 kilograms of coal.
In the four to five months of winter in northern Xinjiang, an average of 200 kilograms of coal is simply not enough. In October and March, when the cold is not so cold, indentured servants need to collect winter fuel as a supplement to coal.
This year the coal mine added some workers and dug a third pit. The new mine uses a steam pump, which greatly improves efficiency.
On November 8, Richard came to the coal mine for inspection. The coal mine manager Cha Weisen waited at the foot of the mountain early and went down the mine with Richard.
The coal mine discovered in Harland Territory is mainly a shallow mine, and the mine is not deep.
There is very little gas in the mine, so safety is guaranteed.
After descending the mine along the slope, Richard spotted a steam engine at first sight. He turned to Chavison and said, "The mine car is equipped with a steam engine. Is it useful?" "The Mechanical Research Institute just made it the day before yesterday
. The first steam mine car has only been installed in the coal mine for half a day, and it has not yet been put into trial operation." "
I am here just in time this year. You start the mine car and see if it works?"
After hearing what Richard said, Chavison said a little embarrassed. : "It is said that this steam mine car is not very safe. Otherwise, the earl will go up first, and I will ask the miners to start the steam engine." Chavison
is fifty years old, and he is one of the first freemen to enter the Harland territory. Being able to successfully live to the age of fifty already makes Chavison feel that he has won the favor of the goddess of the morning.
When Chaveson first entered Harland's territory, although he looked a little old, he was actually a man in his thirties, and he was relatively prestigious among the slaves.
After entering Haaland, Chaveson first became a lower-level manager, and then was transferred to the exploration team because of his experience. After the coal mine was discovered, he was transferred to the position of mine manager, and it has been eight years now.
Under his leadership, the coal mine's output has grown from small to large, exceeding 80,000 tons this year.
A town was built from scratch below the mine. The town was basically made up of the families of coal miners, plus some free people living nearby, and the number had exceeded a thousand people.
Chavison's position is half a level higher than the mayor of Meishan Town, equivalent to a deputy county official.
Chavison is very satisfied with his current life. Chavison respects Richard from the bottom of his heart for saving his life. Although he is old and frail, he is still willing to fight for Richard. His original intention was not to put Richard in danger.
Although Chavison had good intentions, Richard still didn't appreciate it very much. He needed to see for himself how the minecart worked and see if there was any way to improve it.
"I am a six-ring magician. I can release magic shields to protect my own safety. What can happen?"
Seeing that Richard was not very happy, Chavison could only order the miners to light the coal, while he stood beside Li Cha. Check the front. If there is danger, he will die first.
Richard pushed aside Chavison and carefully observed the operation of the steam engine.
As the boiler boils, hot steam spurts out, slowly rotating the main wheel. The main wheel drives the winch to tighten the steel cable.
The steel cable was tightened and the mine carts were pulled immediately. The power of the steam engine was so powerful that it could pull four mine carts at once. In just a few minutes, more than sixteen tons of minerals were pulled out.
Normally, it takes about a dozen people to carry sixteen tons of coal out of the mine every day. Even if horse-drawn rail transportation is used, six horses and six drivers are needed.
Now a machine can do this job in just a few minutes. From today on, transporting coal from the mine is an easy task, requiring only a boilermaker and a mechanic.
Seeing this scene, Chaveson's eyes widened immediately. What he saw with his own eyes directly changed Chaveson's outlook and made him unbelievable.
Although the Dawn Plane has extraordinary power, and Chavison has also seen magicians release magic, the power of the machine is so powerful that Chavison is still a little confused.
"If every mine is equipped with a steam engine, I am sure that the coal mine output will increase to 150,000 tons next year."
Seeing Chavison muttering to himself, Richard thought to himself.
"There are about three hundred workers in the Harland Territory Coal Mine. The average annual output per person is 500 tons. One person can dig 1.36 tons of coal in a day. The production efficiency is actually not high, and it will be serious in future generations. It's a loss. The coal boss mines even this little coal, which is not enough to pay the workers."
According to the history that Richard knew, the British had not yet used steam engines in the 17th century, and their coal mining efficiency exceeded Harland's. The annual coal mining volume exceeded Two million tons.
Various circumstances show that the mining technology and production technology of the seventeenth-century English were more advanced than those of the Harland Territory.
Of course, the Harland Territory coal mine is a state-owned mine, and the exploitation of miners is not as good as that of the English.
In the sweatshops of the 18th century, the life span of workers was a little more than six years. The early capitalists did not treat workers as human beings at all, and exploited workers more harshly than animals.
(End of chapter)