Chapter 345: Where Is the Road

The world’s currencies all float freely. At the current exchange rate, one Gephran Gael converts to 2.2 Federal Sols. An hourly wage of sixty-eight Gael translates to about 1.51 Sols per hour.

Ten hours equals fifteen Sols. If someone works full-time for a month—in a place full of opportunities and development, where jobs are never scarce—assuming all merchants follow this rule, a hardworking laborer in Amellia could earn around 450 Sols monthly. That’s twice the average income of a Federal working-class person.

Wage levels reveal the gap between the two countries. Some Federal citizens don’t think their country is necessarily worse than Gephra, but the pay disparity clearly shows an economic gap.

The mayor nodded slightly but said nothing, waiting for Lynch to continue.

Lynch smiled. “Now, let me reverse the question: do you know how much a Nagaryll worker earns in a day?”

The mayor shook his head; he’d never been to Nagaryll and knew little about it before this diplomatic event.

Lynch gave a number that made the mayor’s pupils widen slightly. “One Sol. Just one Federal Sol can hire a Nagaryll worker for twelve hours. If you provide a decent lunch and dinner, they’ll work even harder.”

“If we recruit ten thousand workers from Nagaryll to Amellia, our monthly wages and expenses would total about 400,000 to 500,000 Sols. Yet, we could earn at least four million Sols in revenue. After expenses and additional costs, the pure profit would be roughly 3.5 million.”

Though Lynch’s tone was calm, the mayor sensed an underlying temptation. Maybe he misheard, but he was intrigued.

“Nagaryll has a population of 200 million. If we send all of them out, we could earn 80 billion Sols monthly…”

The mayor straightened his chest, breathing heavily and fast. Eighty billion!

Though he knew this was an idealized scenario, practically impossible, the figure still shocked him—because Lynch’s logic had no glaring flaws.

There were flaws, of course. Amellia doesn’t need that many workers; only a portion is necessary.

But the world isn’t limited to Amellia’s market; other regions have work too.

After about a minute, the mayor regained composure and asked, “If this market exists and we can do it, others can do it too!”

Lynch smiled slightly and took out the golden Coloff Mr. Wadrick had given him.

Such consumables never get used up all at once; every high-end Coloff has a reusable outer case, and this one did too.

Seeing the pale gold casing, the mayor found Lynch more agreeable.

The intoxicating scent made the mayor a bit envious. Lynch surprisingly produced another one for him. “This is Mr. Wadrick’s personal supply. I shamelessly asked him for it.”

The mayor wanted to refuse but accepted. Sometimes, the value of such an item lies not in its cost, but in the status it represents.

The mayor wasn’t a graduate of the Saint Harmony Society academy nor a member. He needed this small luxury more than others.

After experiencing the top-tier Coloff and praising Mr. Wadrick from thousands of kilometers away, they returned to the topic.

“You’re right. We can do it, others can too. That’s precisely why we’re pushing for diplomatic relations with Nagaryll, even risking war…” Lynch took a deep, somewhat pleased breath, “…among other reasons!”

“As long as we defeat Gephra’s Royal Navy in a naval battle, no one will touch our pie.”

The mayor was impressed. He had never considered this angle before, realizing how much he didn’t know. This made him slow his tone and humble his attitude.

“So how do we handle public opinion? Slave trading and usage are illegal worldwide, even in Gephra.”

Many assume monarchies are backward and feudal, full of dark, ugly practices. But that’s not true. Although Gephra is a monarchy, it’s not backward.

On slavery, Gephra stands with the world, resisting the capture, trade, and use of slaves.

“I said, this is labor export,” Lynch relaxed, “We’ll recruit workers from Nagaryll under the name of a labor company. Nagaryll’s rulers will assist us because they have shares in the company…”

By now, the mayor had few objections but didn’t interrupt—basic courtesy.

“We promise these locals overseas work. They’ll receive decent wages, and part of the money will subsidize their government. The ruling class benefits, so no one will oppose.”

“As for slaves, that’s nonsense. Everyone is free, with independent will. If they want to quit, they can leave anytime. We’re not evil slave traders—just businessmen.”

The mayor nodded noncommittally. “How do we support our local businesses and people?”

His tone grew inquisitive. “If only we profit, no one would share their money with others for no reason—not even you, right?”

“Of course not. That’s exactly what I’m going to say: using Nagaryll workers to support Federal workers.”

In Lynch’s plan, simply exporting Nagaryll labor isn’t sustainable. These workers can only handle simple, basic manual jobs.

They lack education, haven’t encountered new production methods, and don’t know how to use machines to reduce labor.

Federal workers understand machinery and advanced production techniques. Skilled Federal workers can help Nagaryll laborers create more value.

Two Nagaryll workers can support one Federal worker. Sabin City has about 800,000 people, with maybe 30,000 to 50,000 needing real work. These locals would be easily overwhelmed by the massive Nagaryll workforce.

Besides sending some Nagaryll workers abroad as technical guides, some could be introduced to help Federal factories regain competitiveness.

Lower wages mean cutting costs, freeing up profit margins, making products more competitive.

Though many foreign goods currently flood the Federal market and damage local factories,

once costs and prices drop, beating foreign imports becomes easy. At least some costs, like shipping, cannot be cut.

That’s the advantage local businesses have: their goods go straight to market. Lower labor costs—the largest expense—plus lower shipping, lower prices, and still decent profits, can revive many companies.

Then it won’t be foreign goods dumping into the Federal market, but Federal products flooding overseas.

This is the unique feature of light and processing industries—worker wages are a large, unavoidable part of profits.

Lower labor costs will trigger a tremendous boom in light and processing industries.

Hearing Lynch’s detailed plan, the mayor felt it wasn’t something devised overnight. Lynch must have had a comprehensive plan long ago. Even pushing diplomatic ties with Nagaryll was part of it.

Before Lynch went to Nagaryll, had anyone mentioned this?

No, all of this was created by this young man.

The mayor carefully hid his astonishment and slight shock. He extinguished the Coloff in his hand, placed it into his silver cigarette case, and looked at Lynch. “What can I do?”

“Provide guidance,” Lynch said firmly. “When the time is right, people may hesitate to be the first to go abroad. We need to encourage them.”

“At the same time, we must get people to accept a new concept—from small workshops to small factories.”

As Lynch gradually established a network of small workshops in Sabin City, some families rented his sewing machines and borrowed money from him to buy materials and start production.

For each specified item produced, they earned between ten and fifty units of payment.

At first, many thought this wouldn’t work; people were clearly not used to this production model. But those doubts were proven wrong.

Lynch’s promotion of the home workshop model became popular. Everyone did the math: if they worked harder, they could earn more than before—so why wouldn’t they?

Although the workers’ union still collected management fees and assigned tasks, Lynch believed that one day these home workshops would completely replace the union.

The first step is to hire Nagaryll laborers to produce for them!

A new wave of production pushing against the current is brewing.