Chapter 857: A Giant Spewing Out Clouds and Metal Parts
“Ding–“

The crisp knocking sounds echoed in the brick house.

The billowing white steam flowed over the window sill and was discharged outside the house through the chimney and bellows.

The blacksmith workshop located on the green grass is spewing out white smoke like a mythical cloud giant.

The foundry worker stirred the medicine tank carefully, while adding the Black Snake Bay Long Dike brand iron smelting agent.

On both sides of the medicine jar, two apprentices were using wooden spoons to scoop out the upper layer of liquid, leaving only the oily liquid.

The golden medicinal oil wrapped around the mercury-like long iron rod.

“Get out of the pot!” The foundry worker threw away the stirring rod, and the two apprentices hurriedly shook the handle.

The medicine tank tilted, and first the grease flowed out along the groove, making a sizzling sound.

Then, the apprentice picked up the pliers and picked out five one-meter-long iron rods covered with white light from the bottom of the medicine tank.

According to the interpretation of the Imperial Metallurgists, this is because the chemical activated the metal, greatly increasing its plasticity.

But according to the interpretation of Holy Alliance metallurgists and alchemists, it was the potion that alchemically purified the metal and stimulated its spiritual properties.

In other words, the white-hot metal at this moment is not caused by external force, but it is casting its own “magic”.

Its essence is the same as peat.

And all the iron forging techniques in this world, in the eyes of Horn, a person from another world, are cold forging.

One iron rod after another was placed on the anvil, and the apprentices swung hammers to beat the iron rods, which were originally as thick as a thumb, into iron rods as thick as a little finger.

And every ten centimeters, a small bump of three to four centimeters should be left.

A dwarf master came over and put his eyes almost on the iron rod as if he was not afraid of going blind: “It’s OK, much better than before, first pass it through the medicine tank, then cut it, and move quickly.”

The iron stick, like a nine-section whip, passed through the medicine jar again and was placed on the cutting anvil.

Under the inverted V-shaped bulge, a notch was smashed on the small bump. After the white light dissipated, it was bent hard and became semi-finished iron nails the length of a middle finger.

The next step is the turn of the genuine blacksmiths, which is to forge the pointed tip into a nail needle and the small lump into a nail cap.

Wiping the sweat from their heads, the blacksmiths poured piles of square nails into rattan baskets.

Seeing that the wicker baskets around the masters were full, a helper rang the bell at the door.

After a while, an apprentice pushing a cart appeared, put the wicker basket into the cart, and walked towards another brick house not far away.

These newly made square nails are bound to have defects and need to be polished again with files and grinding wheels.

In front of the grinding workshop, there was a harsh sound of metal twisting under the file, and sparks flew inside the grinding wheel.

Dozens of apprentices are polishing metal parts of all sizes, while on the other side there are specialized workers carrying calipers, scales and basins for inspection.

Calipers check size, balances check weight, and basins are used to check internal air holes.

Baskets of square nails were passed in front of the quality inspectors.

The good products are passed to the left, and the bad products are swept into the rattan basket in front.

Everything is so busy. The entire metallurgical factory in Matou Town, Lujiao Township, Xia Ruifu County is like a clustered organism at this moment.

Although it is composed of countless parts, each part is composed of countless individuals.

But when put together, they look like a whole, and their core is undoubtedly Bivil, the workshop director who studied with the dwarves.

Born in the village of Moulin Bivelle, he joined the Abbey of the Holy Hammer during the military training period on Autumn Isle.

After working as a blacksmith with Rector and others for two years, he went to the arsenal in Huilu Town and worked there for another two years.

Although his metal skills are not top-notch, they are sufficient to supervise the production of these small metal parts.

Although the workshop master is not in the local monastic order, he is in the Holy Hammer Monastery under the Imperial Cardinal Conference.

As the workshop master of a priestly town, Bivier’s position was “master of fellow seminarians”.

In other words, Bivil’s status is half a level higher than the mayor and the wandering monk of Matou Town.

When the abbot held meetings, Bivil could also attend as an observer and receive one-fifth of the factory’s profits as income.

Although the products sold were low-end products such as farm tools and square nails, the net profit was still 5 to 20 gold pounds per month.

Not to mention the improved status it brought him. Wherever he went, people called him “Mr. Bevil.”

Sometimes, Beville even wondered if he could ever change “Mr. Beville” into “Sir Beville”?

As for where all this came from, Biweier naturally knew it clearly.

The man who had made him what he is is now standing before him.

“Your Majesty, please have a look.” Picking up a black square nail, Bivil bent over with a flattering look on his face, not daring to be taller than the Holy Grandson. “This square nail costs about 80 dinars per thousand.”

The grandson, wearing a short black monk’s suit, picked up the square nail and looked it up and down for a while: “How much is the monthly output?”

“A genuine master with two apprentices and two helpers can forge 50 nails each in the morning and afternoon, which means 80 nails a month.” Normally, according to the original manual workshop model, a blacksmith with his apprentices forges a nail from start to finish, so they can forge and polish a maximum of to nails a day.

But under Horn’s guidance, the dwarves and a group of master blacksmiths broke down the process of making iron nails.

It is divided into process steps with different levels of high and low technical skills, and blacksmiths only need to do the high-tech part.

As for low-skilled workers, they will be hired as apprentices, and those without skills will be hired as temporary workers.

The daily output of nails increased by 25% to 100% at once.

Although mortar buildings have begun to be implemented in areas such as Jeanne d’Arc and the Holy See, most areas of the Thousand River Valley, including Black Snake Bay, are still dominated by wooden houses.

A larger wooden house may require tens of thousands of nails.

In addition, these square nails are also needed to make chevaux de frise and fences on the front line.

“Thanks to your guidance, we have the income we have today.” Compared with his dullness in the past, Biweier has made obvious progress after learning to read.

“Hey, Holy Father’s guidance, personal performance.”

Although there is still fighting on the front line, construction in the rear cannot stop.

After entering 1449, the second four-year plan should have begun.

But at present, only Lower River County and Langsander County have started the plan. Several mountainous counties and Kasha County are adjacent to the front line, so it is better to stay still than to move.

This second four-year plan is simple to say, it is to shift from the previous economic recovery to economic growth.

Its growth point lies in the priestly towns established earlier.

At first, people did not understand Horn and thought that this was a face-saving project he was going to do to highlight the civilization of the Thousand River Valley.

But in reality, these priestly towns were laying the foundation for the concentration of resources and workshop production.

Taking the priestly convent in Matou Town, Lujiao Township, where Horn is currently located, as an example, the local monk found after investigation that there are quite a few local blacksmiths.

So, under the name of the “We Struggle” movement, they gathered 20 blacksmiths to develop the small hardware industry.

The small hardware here is the small hardware with Qianhe Valley characteristics.

That is, metal parts such as hinges, door knockers, nails, as well as small tools such as pliers, saw blades, razors, scissors, frying pans, etc.

Originally, it might be a bit difficult for these rural blacksmiths to use their skills to make gears and gun barrels.

But they are still good at making these small civilian devices and small parts.

Moreover, under the factory system, production has increased significantly, so there is still profit even if the price is reduced.

In addition to this type of centralized factory production, there are also decentralized factories that process incoming materials, such as those in rural areas of South Mound County.

When Horn was making plans at the beginning of the year, he talked about them with the priests of local religious orders.

During the second four-year plan period, all factories established were exempt from paying taxes for four years and were responsible for their own profits and losses.

But factory profits and jobs will be the promotion indicators in these four years.

Those who do a good job will be promoted, those who do an average job will be retained, and those who do a poor job will be transferred to edit the yearbook so that the people behind them can take over.

A workshop like Bivil that specializes in one thing and makes a profit of 10 gold pounds a month is considered to be doing well.

When the local monks saw Bivil, they all called him “brother”.

“Has the guild caused any trouble during this period?”

Biweier nodded repeatedly: “Yes, they came to our door to ban us, and said that we violated the forging rules.”

“How to solve it?”

“Master Wintercar used a cross to cut the head of the guild leader’s head.

Then I patrolled every night with my wolfhound and slept in the workshop. I spent a month there and drove away the thugs hired by the guild.”

Horn couldn’t help but burst out laughing. No matter how powerful this guild was, they wouldn’t dare to do anything to the head monk.

It’s not that someone hasn’t done this before. For example, the Carpenters’ Guild in Black Wax Town secretly assassinated a head monk.

The Imperial Council of Cardinals was furious and asked Rafell to send gendarmes to investigate.

As a result, the guild members covered up for each other, and after more than two months of investigation, the murderer was not caught and no evidence was found.

In a rage, Rafael packed up the entire guild and sent it to Black Snake Bay.

Anyway, the murderer must be inside.

After remembering Winterkar’s name, Horn exchanged a few words with Bivell, then mounted his horse and left with more than 30 Holy Grail Knights.

After all, he just came off the ship to stroll around while it was replenishing supplies, and his destination was still Upper River County.

(End of this chapter)