Chapter 281: Chapter 277: Two Jobs
The second expedition group did not come directly to Fjord Town like the first group. Although this area is currently the most developed region of the Northern Territory, expanding the Northern Territory is not about "slowly" expanding outward along the already developed areas, at least not in Perfikot’s planning.
There are no inherent limitations to expansion, but to spread the construction of shelters as widely as possible in the Northern Territory in the shortest amount of time, and to build more shelters, it is essential to establish as many settlements as possible and spread their range wide enough.
Because each settlement will eventually become a shelter.
Thus, Perfikot obviously cannot allow them to still disembark at Fjord Town but instead has them open a second landing point. This way, expansion could simultaneously unfold at both the first landing point, Fjord Town, and the second landing point, doubling the speed of expansion at least.
If Perfikot hadn’t calculated the limits on manpower and resources in the Northern Territory, she would even consider opening a third and fourth landing point.
However, with two landing points opened, it seems sufficient for now.
With two landing points simultaneously opened, even if each expansion only grows from one to two settlements, calculating by one new settlement built every three months, two years would be enough to establish over two hundred new settlements.
Furthermore, in Perfikot’s plan, the expansion of settlements would never just be one into two each time.
That would be far too inefficient.
Though it is expected that more than two hundred settlements, with each settlement accommodating four thousand people, can house nearly a million people.
But the reality is that one settlement likely cannot accommodate four thousand people, and the Empire would find it challenging to move nearly a million people from the homeland to the Northern Territory within two years.
It’s not about the inability to ship them; the Empire’s shipping companies can easily transport a thousand people on one ship, and making hundreds of trips in two years is no difficult feat.
The real challenge is where to find so many people willing to leave their relatively affluent homeland in the Empire and come to the impoverished Northern Territory.
If the doomsday news is announced, then everything becomes easier; tickets to the Northern Territory will be hard to come by.
But before announcing this news? Sorry, what remote place is the Northern Territory, even comparable to the Empire’s homeland?
While indeed, there will be some who cannot survive or remain in the Empire’s homeland willing to come to the Northern Territory to change their environment and develop, this is only a minority, and it can never reach a million people.
Therefore, Perfikot must consider how to acquire enough population to develop the Northern Territory.
Currently, however, the Northern Territory, as a newly opened colony, is still quite attractive to the Empire’s homeland, otherwise, Robert from faraway Langton wouldn’t be able to organize a second expedition group.
According to the telegram he sent back to Langton, the number of people registered willing to join the expedition group heading to the Northern Territory has already exceeded thirty thousand, and the second expedition group organized by Robert has about three thousand people due to Northern Territory’s reception capacity limits.
This group, according to Perfikot’s plan, will concentrate on building the second landing point. After it’s built into a town, subsequent settlers will mainly disembark here, then expand inland into the Northern Territory in units of five hundred people, continuously opening new settlements.
As for Fjord Town at Eagle’s Beak Cliff, it certainly won’t be abandoned, but considering Fjord Town is further north with harsher climates, it won’t be the focus of future development.
Another consideration is that Eagle’s Beak Cliff has now become an important research center in the Northern Territory. It will be critical in the future, and if it is too close to settlements, any incident could have enormous impacts.
Of course, this is not a construction priority compared to the second landing point. Perfikot is currently worried about having enough settlements in the future, so she won’t deliberately control Fjord Town’s expansion, just won’t support it as much.
As for the second landing point, although it is still a desolate mudflat now, considering it will be the first stop for settlers and near the future capital of the Northern Territory, it’s clear how prosperous it will become.
Though this prosperity may only be temporary, for as the doomsday winter arrives and the sea freezes, this landing point will have fulfilled its duties and mission.
By then, however, the associated underground shelters will have been built, so except for affecting local livelihoods, there are no other issues.
Perfikot, however, is too busy to worry about these problems. On the one hand, they are not the immediate priority, and on the other hand, such matters can be left to her administrative officials, sparing the Count herself.
"After returning, we need to start testing the shield tunneling machine and underground construction, the first shelter’s construction must be scheduled," Perfikot muttered to herself as she looked over notes recorded in her notebook.
She had too many things to handle. Even with her memory, it’s impossible to remember everything without using a notebook to record various urgent problems as reminders.
Overall, the issues she needs to handle can be categorized into two lines: one is the reception and settlement of settlers immigrating to the Northern Territory, and the other is the preparation of technologies to cope with the doomsday winter.
The latter is currently progressing smoothly; although there are still many problems unresolved, most of them can be solved within the expected timeframe with the cooperation of the Empire.
Everything on this line’s progress is going according to plan, which satisfies Perfikot quite a bit.
In contrast, the reception and settlement of settlers for the Northern Territory is relatively complex, as there hasn’t been any related work, so naturally, there’s no progress to speak of.
Moreover, previously, there wasn’t anyone in the Northern Territory who could handle this. The Northern Territory’s official system has just set up a simple framework, with Perfikot not expecting them to handle these tasks well.
But with the openings of Fjord Town and the second landing point, this aspect of work must be put on the agenda, and Perfikot has to devote a significant portion of her energy to this matter.
Furthermore, with administrators being gradually recruited and the administrative bureaucracy being established, Perfikot sees that they will soon face the challenges brought by the migration of settlers to the Northern Territory.
Their performance will determine Perfikot’s policy direction for managing the Northern Territory in the future.