I Became a Witch and Started an Industrial Revolution
Chapter 345 ·Beetle
Bratt and Mitia were old friends，it could be said that Mitia had watched him grow up cough cough...it could be said that she had watched him mature，the two had a good personal relationship，and this was also why Anna，representing the Alliance，had asked her whether she could personally step in to handle this matter。
“For you personally this throne can remain yours until the day you no longer want it，even your son can receive the public’s tolerance because of you。Because in this war you preserved their most basic human dignity。”
“But gratitude cannot possibly last forever，as two generations pass away it will fade along with them，what should be done then？”
“Constitutional Monarchy，the Royal Family can remain。Use this opportunity to exchange power for money，as long as the nation continues to exist，protecting your family for a thousand years will not be a problem，and right now your prestige is sufficient to suppress all opposition and dissatisfaction during the reforms。”
“Believe me，any Monarch would envy this opportunity of yours。Being able to complete the overall transformation within a single generation，not every Emperor can act this freely as he pleases。”
‘Everything will be done according to your wishes！’
The problems Mitia mentioned were actually things he himself had considered，as a veteran...veteran admirer of the Empress，and one of the earliest dignitaries to see the Alliance’s Large Industrial Cluster，he had conducted no small amount of comprehensive observation of the Alliance。
Setting aside class and looking at the problem rationally，he had to admit that apart from the Magical Bloodline determined by talent，Ordinary People，as long as they were given sufficient support in other aspects，possessed a creativity that Mages found difficult to rival。
Just as the Empress had once said，when Mages separated themselves from Ordinary People and formed a system of their own，in reality they had already lost the opportunity to control this world，especially when combined with the Church’s Stultifying Education。
When the Alliance gradually decentralized the Right to Education from elites to Ordinary People，from men to women and then to children，this gap in foundations would be rapidly erased as time passed。
And as education became widespread，the people’s intelligence was awakened，the impact on the Monarchical System Bratt belonged to would only grow stronger and stronger。
In fact if not for Suriya’s former Noble Class all being merchants，possessing extremely flexible bottom lines and having little sense of Noble Superiority，they probably would have been overthrown long ago by the lower classes influenced by the Alliance。
Even so the pressure he faced was not small，if not for this sudden war he had already wanted to find the Empress and ask her for some guidance。
For Bratt’s personal life experience，ever since he stood together with the Empress he had hardly suffered any losses，he trusted her even more than Mitia trusted herself。
Mitia indeed had not tricked him，although giving up power would be a loss in the short term，once the Alliance completed the closed loop of its Globalization Framework such a loss would not amount to much at all。
As long as the Alliance remained who would dare touch Bratt’s family？
With the greatest protective umbrella supporting them from behind，relinquishing power and transforming the family into a behind-the-scenes force，controlling part of the economic interests and lying flat would not be a bad way for the family to survive。
This way Bratt would no longer need to worry that his descendants might court death，such as developing major political differences with the Alliance and bringing a catastrophic disaster upon the family。
Institutional Advantage，Institutional Worship would influence other nations alongside the strength of that nation，and the Alliance had without question already reached this requirement，the Alliance was also working hard to shape this influence。
While everyone was still discussing the specific postwar division of the world at the negotiating table，the shell-company Publishing Group under Mitia had already brought its book printing plants and bookstores to the stage of selecting locations in various nations。
The Alliance had even specially provided political protection in the various nations for this company。
Those who understood understood the specific reason，because Mitia’s agent submitted to the Alliance Official Propaganda Department a proposal they could not refuse，namely the 【Book Propaganda Offensive】 plan。
“Although we cannot influence everyone，the books we print and distribute will influence the Opinion Leaders in all propaganda regions，and they will help us promote the Values we need。”
Books were the most enduring of all propaganda tools，this was a problem the Alliance had to recognize，for this reason they demanded that the Alliance establish the Alliance International Book Association，go full throttle and print carefully selected Alliance books with all its might。
There was no need to worry about the books not selling，because this plan itself had no objective of making a profit，it would become deeply bound together with school education as the economies of the various nations recovered。
This way not only would the world be deeply and broadly exposed to the promotion of Alliance Culture，but dumping methods could also effectively strike all publishing houses including those of allied nations，establishing an Alliance-style Cultural Book Propaganda Empire，with officials and commercial groups working together to complete the largest Cultural Propaganda Offensive in history。
After reading the proposal the Director of the Propaganda Department immediately got excited，the more he looked at the comrade before him the more pleasing he found him。
Because if this proposal was approved，it could be said without the slightest politeness that their Propaganda Department would leap into becoming one of the Alliance’s most important major departments，what kind of proposal was this，this was fucking heaven-sent wealth being spoon-fed directly to their mouths！
In this plan，the Book Propaganda Offensive was only the initial focus，later it also covered print media newspapers，textbooks，story picture-book magazines，television films and so on and so forth，a whole series of linked subdivided fields，this plan practically had no time limit and could continue forever。
The budget would definitely also be extremely abundant，wasn’t this a guaranteed iron rice bowl？
“Come walk around with me。”
‘Alright。’
The Guardian’s production process was extremely complicated，mainly because its interior decoration consumed a large amount of labor hours，if this kind of vehicle was sold，its positioning would at minimum belong to the Luxury Vehicle class。
The Military Version would have additional simplified interiors and reinforced components，but its factory price would not be much cheaper，in the future it would most likely mainly be supplied and delivered for military use，the civilian market could not absorb many of them。
However it did not matter，the Guardian’s positioning was never intended to sell much in the civilian market to begin with，the money it made came from the military。
Several people walked out of the Guardian manufacturing plant and came to another vast open factory area，at this moment there were still quite a few workers inside the factory area carrying out construction，it was still in the construction stage。
A smile appeared on Mitia’s face，she pointed at the emblem formed from an inverted VW in the factory area：“Here，we will produce small passenger cars that the People can afford without too much difficulty。So this brand is called 【Volkswagen】”
A trace of doubt flashed through Bratt’s eyes：“The People can all afford it？”
As far as he knew，although the Model T was considered simple to manufacture and its selling price was not high it still cost around 700 Alliance Currency。
And in the most developed Alliance at present，the monthly salary allowance of a newly enlisted Professional Soldier was 40 Alliance Currency，do not look at just 40 and think it was little，the main unit used in internal Alliance transactions was not the whole unit，but the cent。
1 Alliance Currency=1.5332 grams of pure gold，a restaurant set meal with meat and vegetables plus the standard soup cost only one or two tenths，the purchasing power of 40 was extremely terrifying。
Taking an Alliance Recruit for comparison，buying a Model T would require going without food or drink for a year and a half，although they did not need to worry about food and drink at all，and a little over a year of total income did not seem excessive，it still depended on the nation being compared。
Alliance soldiers had allowances of several dozen，Ernesto soldiers only had a few，Suriya soldiers were somewhat better off，generally receiving more than ten。
There was even less comparison with Allied Nations soldiers，whether they could receive their monthly pay in full depended entirely on the mood of their superiors，their monthly income was not fixed，converted into Alliance Currency it was roughly 1-5。
Calculating it this way made it obvious what a vehicle price of 700 Alliance Currency meant to them，and these were soldiers with fixed incomes，the differences and fluctuations among civilians were even greater。
Under conditions like this you say you are building a car the People can all afford，the People fundamentally cannot afford cars...
Mitia slapped her forehead：“Oh~I forgot to add a prerequisite，it is a passenger car that all citizens of the Alliance can afford，a passenger car the People of the Continent will be able to afford in the future。”
Taking the document bag from the accompanying staff member，Mitia opened it and handed the design drawings inside to Bratt：
“Here，this kind，I can push its selling price down to around 300 Alliance Currency，as the scale of mass production expands，according to calculations the final factory price can be pushed down to 200。”
‘200 Alliance Currency...’
Bratt took the design drawings and carefully looked them over，attached above was a photograph of the Alliance mainland prototype vehicle，the model looked strange，petite and delicate yet somewhat ugly，after looking at it a few more times it somehow seemed a little cute，in short ugly-cute。
Volkswagen
V1-V2（Beetle）Compact Family Passenger Car
Length/Width/Height(mm):4081/1724/1498
Vehicle curb weight 650 kilograms
1000mm Inline 4-cylinder Air-cooled Engine，26 horsepower。
Trailing-arm Suspension，Rear-wheel Drive，2 front and 3 rear for a total of 5 seats。
At the same time there were two versions，the V1 model with a two-door hardtop and the V2 model with a two-door convertible。Its design requirements were simple manufacturing，easy maintenance，low cost、low failure rate、low price。
To compress the price to around half that of the Model T and completely drive vehicle prices down，apart from shrinking the vehicle size and simplifying all functions other than the basic functions as much as possible，its rounded body shell structure was also a key point in saving manufacturing costs。
The extensive use of curved designs placed very low requirements on large equipment such as stamping presses，and at the same time because curved shapes did not particularly need to solve rebound deformation after steel die-casting，the production labor hours consumed were also extremely low。
In the same amount of time，the labor hours required to produce all the components for one Model T were enough to produce around 3 V1s，the minimalist integrated design gave it extremely high assembly preparation efficiency。
So fast that several skilled workers could roughly complete the assembly of its exterior in a short period of time，of course that only meant installing the outer shell without adding screws and other fasteners，but this was already enough to prove its excellence。
‘Although it really is cheap enough...’
“I know what you want to say。”
Mitia interrupted Bratt：“At the present stage no matter how cheap it is the People of the Main Continent will not buy it，because no matter how cheap it is there are still maintenance costs，after all it burns fuel。”
“However，its existence can allow more People of the Continent to have an opportunity to survive。”
“In the manufacturing process of one V-type Vehicle the upstream needs to involve steel、machinery、rubber、petrochemicals、textiles and so on，and each of these when expanded further involves raw material extraction、refining、manufacturing、transportation，every one of these fields creates large numbers of jobs。”
“If everything goes smoothly，the preliminary estimate for the total number of these jobs will not be lower than one million。”
“The People of the Alliance nations on the Subcontinent can support consumption of a 300 Alliance Currency passenger car，its 5-seat positioning is as an Economical Family Passenger Car，if it is a worker household then 200 is approximately half a year of household income。”
“According to my investigation，the current ownership rate of Model T vehicles among the Alliance People is not low，proving that demand exists，the high selling price of the Model T causes most households to hesitate at the sight of it，and this is the perfect product to receive that demand。”
“I have already registered the Exclusive Patent，negotiated the transportation routes，after all according to the Alliance’s Revival Plan，astronomical quantities of materials will cross the oceans and be delivered to the Main Continent，which also means large numbers of cargo ships will have to return empty，we can conveniently fill their losses。”
“This Industrial Park will become the Automobile City of the future！Countless people will gain a new life because of its existence，and the creator of all this，is that ‘ugly fellow’ Beetle in the drawings you are holding。”
Bratt began to understand Mitia’s idea：‘You mean that what actually matters is not how much money it can earn，but how many jobs manufacturing it can provide？’
‘...I understand，on behalf of the People of the Continent I express my highest gratitude to you here！’
There truly were not many people on the Main Continent who could afford Family Cars，but what they desperately needed was the Industrial Chain Cluster derived from automobile manufacturing，what they needed right now was a job。
On the present Main Continent，work concerned survival，dignity，work was proof that a person had begun once again to take steps toward a better life。
Bratt’s gratitude was not without reason，in terms of actual technical level the Beetle did not contain that much，if it were produced on the Alliance mainland then because the Industrial Chains were highly concentrated and logistics operations lacked the maritime transport stage，production costs could even be lower。
There was actually no need at all to come to the Main Continent to establish factories，yet the factories had nevertheless been opened on the Continent，and the technology had deliberately been placed on the Main Continent。
The nearby nations would all remember this favor，the Automobile Industry pulled up jobs，large numbers of jobs gave the People sources of income。
As more workers gained money they needed to consume，which could then drive growth in demand for other industries throughout the entire nation，growth in demand would in turn expand the demand for jobs in other industries，this was a positive virtuous cycle。
Mitia smiled and shook her head：“No need to thank me，doing this also benefits me，we are simply each taking what we need。”
In her previous life the Beetle had another name：“The Ordinary yet Great Mother”。
It was the car that truly turned automobiles into affordable and high-quality People’s Cars，at first glance it merely solved the two problems of “affordability” and “reliability”，but these happened to be the pain points of most Ordinary People，it perfectly solved this problem，and that alone was already enough。
Small and cute too，wasn’t it？
She had never intended to make money from producing the Beetle，even from the launch of this series until its future discontinuation，its sales profit margin only needed to maintain the normal circulation of its own system。
This was something used to earn reputation，what she wanted was for the Beetle to accompany every generation of Main Continent people from birth to death as a silent old friend always by their side，what she wanted was for Volkswagen to become a deeply rooted National Brand in the hearts of the Main Continent。
This kind of advertising effect was something countless companies could not buy even by throwing enormous sums of money at it，she was making a killing alright。
In the future merely reporting a little on Volkswagen’s actions would definitely win an enormous amount of goodwill from the People of the Main Continent。
With such a vast place，and so many nations，how could they possibly remain poor forever？
She was not only cultivating the automobile field either，there would be plenty of opportunities to make money，these small scraps of profit did not matter。
RelatedRelatedRelatedIf you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.
ReportUse arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter
Loading comments…