Chapter 71 Two Manufacturing Plant Prototypes
Chapter 71 Two Manufacturing Plant Prototypes
The effect of the curved plow is very obvious. If it can be promoted in Shanlin Town and every village can have several or even more than a dozen plows, then whether it is reclaiming wasteland or turning over fallow land, it will save a lot of manpower and material resources compared to before.
Then Roning can invest these saved people into other production activities.
Moreover, this deep tillage method, combined with the ridge tillage method that Luo Ning is about to promulgate, will definitely increase the crop yield in Shanlin Town to a higher level!
But obviously, if we want to fully promote it, we must first solve the problem of yield.
The only blacksmiths in Shanlin Town were Kalus and his son (who was still an apprentice). Since the plowshare could not be cast, Kalus had to hammer it alone, which slowed down the process of making the plowshare and plow wall.
As for the production of the plow body, it is not as complicated as making weapons and armor with black iron trees. Ram, a half-baked carpenter apprentice, can complete it. Find a few people to come and practice, and it should not be a problem to operate it a few more times. Anyway, there are more birch trees in Shanlin Town.
"Karus, I bought two thousand kilograms of wrought iron this time. I need you to help me make at least thirty of these curved plows."
The reason why there are thirty cards is not because there is not enough iron but because there are not so many cows in Shanlin Town.
There were only twenty-four black buffaloes used for plowing the fields in Shanlinbao, and of the few owned by individual tenant farmers in the town, only about thirty were used.
"Oh my god, thirty?"
Kallus' eyes widened in shock. He had never received such a large order.
"Yes, this is just the initial stage, and it will need to be built later."
Luo Ning added, "I will provide you with wrought iron and wood, and I will also assign you four people to help you. You can choose to become my exclusive blacksmith, or you can serve me as a freeman of Shanlin Town, and I will pay you a certain amount of compensation."
"Of course, if you choose the former, I will pay you ten copper coins a day. In addition, your son Baal is a blacksmith apprentice. If he serves me, I can provide him with a daily salary of 3 copper coins."
The salaries of craftsmen are relatively high. If it were in other cities, it would probably cost more to hire Kalerus, but in a remote area like Shanlin Town, the price would naturally be lower.
Kallus hesitated.
It was natural for the people to serve the lord. But in his current state, he could not only take the lord's work but also do odd jobs for others.
But if he becomes the exclusive blacksmith of Hillwood Castle, generally speaking, he can only serve the lord.
However, the salary offered by the lord is indeed high. He would be lucky if he could earn ten copper coins a day for ten days out of 336 days a year.
"Sir, I am very tempted by the salary you mentioned, but I wonder when you usually settle my remuneration?"
Luo Ning gave Chahar a look, and the butler immediately understood what he meant.
"Don't worry, Kalus. The master is the most merciful lord. He never owes anyone any wages!"
As he spoke, he took out the one silver and 68 copper coins he had just received in the morning from his pocket and said boastfully, "See? The master will settle everyone's wages for the previous month on the sixth of every month."
The cowherd, Gallon, and others nearby also took money out of their pockets.
Chahar continued, "Just this morning, the servants of the castle, the professional knights and magicians of the castle, and the guards all received their wages for last month."
He emphasized, "Please remember that the master is the most merciful, trustworthy, and kind nobleman, no doubt about it!"
Luo Ning was a little embarrassed by such praise, but he was also surprised. How come these people all carry money with them? Isn't it inconvenient to walk with the money jingling? When
Kalus saw this scene, no longer hesitant, and immediately gave a gentleman's salute. "Then Kalus is willing to be your exclusive blacksmith."
"Okay, I won't treat you unfairly!"
Luo Ning laughed, "If you are willing to take an apprentice, I will give you an additional salary of 5 copper coins per day."
Kallus' eyes lit up, "I do, sir!"
Roning looked at Garen and said, "Go and inform Wilson to pick three men and one woman from the slaves. Remember to find those who are a little smart and look like they can learn something."
"At the same time, let Wilson tell those slaves that as long as they are willing to serve me honestly for ten years, I can give them a certain degree of freedom and make them my serfs."
"Okay, sir!" Galen received the order and ran out.
Kallus looked at the lord in front of him with some surprise, "You are such a kind person!"
Kindness?
To Ronin, it was just to give this group of people some goals and motivation. Besides, ten years was too long.
"Karus, I found that your forging speed is too slow. I will teach you a new iron smelting method later so that you can produce farm tools quickly!"
The blacksmith was stunned for a moment, thinking he had misheard, but seeing the lord's serious look, he was confused.
"My Lord, I learned how to smelt iron and forge from my father."
Kalus explained: "My father's master is a famous blacksmith in Wushan City. Please believe that the technology he taught us is the most advanced!"
Craftsmen always stubbornly believe that their skills are the best.
But what Kallus said was true. The technology of iron smelting and forging was indeed like that.
Luo Ning smiled mysteriously, "Using my method, I can smelt iron into molten iron and then directly cast it into farm tools. It's much faster than your forging method."
"Sir, is this a magician's trick?"
Kallus was not surprised by the word molten iron. "Legend has it that only magicians can control the extremely high-temperature flame that can melt steel, but this kind of flame is not something that we mortals can control!"
How could such a thing happen?
Luo Ning was a little surprised. He was curious about what level of magician could control such a flame.
"Don't worry, Kalus. I can design a highly efficient farm tool like the curved plow, so I can definitely teach you how to make molten iron."
Luo Ning was very confident about this. "Before that, you should continue to use your method to make the plowshare and plowboard and assemble the curved plow."
After explaining clearly to the other party what needed to be done next, Roning asked the cowherd to move the curved plow back to the castle while he and Chahar went to the next destination, the home of carpenter William.
Black ironwood is indeed difficult to process. During this half month, William made four ironwood shields, three ironwood spears, and an ironwood chest guard.
Roning tested them and found that the strength of these three pieces of armor met the requirements and could be used by ordinary guards, especially the ironwood shield, which could probably be used in confrontations between mid-level knights.
The only thing that felt bad was the ironwood chest guard; it looked like a piece of wood with a hole dug out in the middle. The guard's head passed through the hole, and the board was hung on his body; the hanging board just protected the chest and vest.
The structure is simple, but it doesn't feel very comfortable after putting it on and is a bit stiff.
"Sir, relatively speaking, the ironwood spear is the easiest to make, followed by the ironwood chest guard and shield."
Carpenter William introduced these armors. "I also want to use ironwood and linen rope to make a pair of lamellar armor that fits better and is less stiff than the chest guard, but that takes too much time!"
He shook his head and said, "If I were alone, I wouldn't be able to make a set of Tiemu Zha armor in a month!"
Luo Ning was very interested in the armor the other party mentioned.
The ironwood chest guard is too simple. It is okay for ordinary guards to wear, but the lamellar armor can be worn by people of higher levels or ranks.
Correspondingly, the selling price will be high.
Last night, Roning had already prepared to arrange fifteen male and two female slaves for the ironwood workshop. Now, considering that making armor requires cloth and assembling armor plates, he planned to arrange five more female slaves.
William only needs to teach these slaves how to assemble armor pieces. This may take some time, but as long as it succeeds, he will have a large number of manpower.
After a conversation, he and William decided on the products of the ironwood workshop: in the early stage, the main products would be ironwood shields, spears, and breastplates, and then it would be enough to produce one piece of ironwood armor every month.
At the same time, Ronin also extended an olive branch to William, allowing the latter to become the exclusive carpenter of Hillwood Castle, and offered William and his apprentice son a daily salary of 17 copper coins and four copper coins, respectively.
Of course, Roning also asked William to take an apprentice.
In this regard, with Carles' previous experience in mind, William agreed without much hesitation.
Since then, Roning's two factories have been initially established.
Then there is the issue of production.
According to Luo Ning's plan, the products produced will first be used to arm Shanlin Town and then sold to the outside world.
Because of the special nature of the black iron tree, ironwood armor and other items cannot be copied by outsiders, so Roning can sell them with confidence.
But the curved plow is different. It does not require very high technical content. I believe that a blacksmith with a little skill can quickly copy it after buying one.
If Roning spends a lot of time hoarding a batch of goods, he may be able to sell some of them at the beginning, but imitations will soon appear on the market, and in the end, the goods may not be sold even if he reduces the price.
What's more, Roning currently does not have the ability to produce and stockpile quickly.
We can think about this problem again when the iron smelting technology is optimized, and we can quickly produce plowshares and plow walls by casting.
Therefore, he did not plan to work hard on selling the actual curved plow for the time being. If he wanted to sell it, he could just take out the drawings of the curved plow and sell one or two of them.
After all, knowledge is valuable.
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