Chapter 2938: Open the door! Free trade!

Once a factory stops production, the associated personnel lose their income; without income, there is no consumption; without consumption, other producers also lose their income. With such a chain reaction, the Territory would collapse.

Of course, reality is not so simple and brutal; the actual situation is more complex, and there is also Xia Duo to provide a safety net. But regardless, since the factory has been established, he will not let it stop production easily, nor will he provide a safety net lightly.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo's expression turned serious. He told Kaide and Meierke, "Although it is a bicycle factory, there is no need to be trapped by the single item of bicycles. The factory must still exert more subjective initiative and develop more new products; otherwise, after half a year, are we to stop production again?"

"In addition, the Territory will send a group of people to Evereska next month. The bicycle factory should also send a few people over. Usually, follow along to learn Elvish, and when you have free time, go ride bikes on the streets for me. Do not actively promote anything; only introduce them to the Tower of Time's shop in Evereska if an Elf asks."

It will not do for the Territory's bicycles not to be actively sold outward. In less than half a year, everyone in the Territory will have one. Stopping production is bad, and not stopping is even worse. If we cannot digest them ourselves, we can only sell them to others.

Although he had long known the power of industrialization and was himself born into an industrially developed society, those were all as a bystander; he had never personally participated in it, let alone led it.

Only now does Xia Duo know that once the train of industry starts moving, it simply cannot be stopped. Even if he says nothing, the factory will find a way to take the first step to sell the bicycles, seeking to sell them to the outside world.

And that is just a bicycle; there will be even more industrial products in the future!

Xia Duo can almost imagine that the sentence he will say most often in the future might be—

"Open the door, free trade!"

……

Of course, even so, territories like the Savile Territory that can participate in cross-border trade can still make money, it is just that half of the money they earn must first be given to the Tower of Time.

The more others earn, the more the Tower of Time earns. As long as the border port remains, it will never be a loss.

At the same time, selling surplus internal products and exchanging them for resources to maintain internal production operations is an expansionist model.

Xia Duo estimates that to build a preliminary magic industry, at least nearly ten million people are needed. Of course, the current Great Xia Territory does not satisfy this, so it needs to constantly absorb population.

If they cannot be produced, that situation is even worse, as it would mean Elf products completely dominate. Competing afterward would be harder than ascending to heaven.

One can also implement planned production. Anyway, with overcapacity, just produce a little less, invest resources into the research field to raise productivity and guide industrial upgrading; invest in the tertiary industry to increase employment, raise the people's living standards, and ensure social stability.

Although the Tower of Time does not forbid other merchants from heading to Kangnifeila, it also did not say it would waive trade taxes for others. Not only is it not waived, it is instead doubled.

Now is the era of the Northland Alliance. Exchanges between countries are frequent and development is rapid. Having only internal circulation is far from enough; exchange and cooperation can promote technological development and cultural prosperity.

Only the Great Xia Territory has started the industrial revolution!

It is true that the general trend is free trade, but I am the local lord; it is not illegal to withhold some here. I offer a high price, so people sell to me first—it is completely reasonable and fair.

"It is still that the population is not large enough; otherwise, the internal circulation alone would be enough to get through the early bottleneck. There would be no need to care about the outside world at all! Unlike now!"

It is mainly that Xia Duo is worried that once suggested civilian magic artifacts like magic lamps enter the Elf market, they will instead introduce Elf products into the Netheril market.

Or, if they do not trade with me, I will not provide certain conveniences.

This might lead to changes in individual clauses of the Alliance's free trade agreement, but harvesting first is always better than crying in pain after being harvested by others. Occupying the initiative is always better than passively enduring.

Actively cultivating internal strength in this way can also be maintained and continue to develop, but no matter how the small-scale internal circulation changes, it is difficult to resist drastic changes in the international situation (unless there is a technological explosion, appearing with black technology several generations ahead of other countries, but with a small population, the probability of a technological explosion is also small).

If even half cannot be digested here, then what is there to talk about regarding internal circulation?

One can also dump at low prices, completely destroying the potential civilian magic artifact market in Netheril.

As the saying goes, "Trade barriers when poor, free trade when rich." Xia Duo does not want to see Elf merchants come over to frantically harvest the Inner Land, so he decided to take the initiative.

At that time, who would be able to turn the tide?

It is not for individual Netheril merchant guilds to monopolize Elf products and take the opportunity to seize massive wealth. For example, Kangnifeila City, east of the Great Xia Territory, is an important trade port for Netheril and Cormanthyr.

As the temporarily weaker side, Netheril actually hopes that international trade is limited to limited areas and limited scopes, but what about the Elves!

Next, when Xia Duo inspected other factories, he also put forward the same requirement, which is—base yourself on the factory and constantly develop new products!

Civilian magic artifacts are not produced in large quantities. Although they are not yet popularized among the whole population, they are not a small number either. Once the Mage Tower organizations in Netheril produce them and no one buys them, wouldn't that be smashing them in their own hands?

But Kangnifeila City is controlled by the Tower of Time. This certainly has the cost of them having paid for the development, but from another perspective, isn't it a trade monopoly!

Xia Duo can fully foresee that once Elf merchants discover that coming to the human side is easier to plunder wealth, they will surely swarm over, and the border lords will simply be unable to stop them.

Fortunately, the countries of the Northland Alliance have already signed a free trade agreement.

Xia Duo will certainly not choose the path of self-seclusion; he must still actively contact the outside world, constantly strengthening himself and accelerating his own development through win-win cooperation.

This is not impossible. In terms of production capacity, the current Territory is probably not catching up to the Elf countries. It is true that Elves like to harvest at high prices, but no one has stipulated that they must harvest at high prices!

Two hundred thousand people, seemingly not few, but for industrialization, it is completely insufficient. Not to mention anything else, the products produced must at least be able to be half-digested internally.

The Friendship Tower is positioned as a multicultural exchange center for the countries of the Northland, but for the current Great Xia Territory, it can completely serve as an important exhibition and sales center for the Territory's industrial products.

Therefore, Xia Duo now also needs to be careful and cautious.

In the past, Netheril was actually very resistant to free trade because it meant that the Elves' more mature and advanced products could easily enter the Netheril market, thereby plundering large amounts of wealth.

This is, on one hand, a process from conservative to open; on the other hand, it is of course the small tacit understanding between the controllers of the border ports of the two trading parties.

Even now, after the signing of the free trade agreement, trade between humans and Elves still happens at a few fixed ports, just like in the past.

Currently, the two products Xia Duo is preparing to promote are bicycles and magic rubber shoes. These are non-magic items; although they cannot be separated from the support of magic behind them, they indeed do not possess any obvious magic aura.