Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 227 Business

   The air was filled with restlessness.

The    militia team had just returned to Wolf Town from the Sanguis Valley, and more than 70 convicts were gathered in the Old Square.

   didn't tell them what to do, only heavily armed militiamen watched over them.

   The process of waiting was extremely torturous, and some timid labor prisoners had already begun to wipe their tears.

   The convicts also knew that the town was short of food—the militiamen who watched over them had only two pieces of coarse bread for each meal, and the convicts had only one bowl of mixed-wheat porridge to drink.

   But at least they lived a solid life. They had shacks to live in and food to eat. They didn’t have to kill or loot. Their daily work was cutting trees, burning charcoal, and building houses.

  However, with the current situation, it looks like they are going to be completely eliminated.

"My father said it." A man said to the person beside him in fear: "Whoever the Magyar nobles want to kill, send him a shovel and ask him to dig a hole. After digging one person deep, dig the soil from above. fill it back in..."

   "Damn it! Look at it! I...I don't want to wait to die!" The person who answered was also trembling.

   Someone shouted at the militia in desperation: "What are you trying to do? Why torture people? Give it a good time!"

The    militiamen held their weapons expressionlessly, and no one answered him.

  The man wanted to continue shouting, but suddenly he closed his mouth tightly, because he saw the Montagne resident coming towards them.

  Winters walked into the town square, he noticed the strange atmosphere, so he waved to appease everyone: "All sit down, sit down and talk."

   He found a tree stump himself to sit, but none of the convicts moved.

   Winters repeated the order kindly: "Sit down."

   Like a sickle cutting through a wheat field, the people in the square all dipped a little and sat down on the ground.

   "How many of you are landless hired laborers or tenant farmers?" Winters didn't like to talk nonsense, and asked straight to the point: "Hold your hands up."

   raised their hands one by one, and only two of the more than seventy people present did not raise their hands.

   Winters asked the two: "Are you two farmers?"

"No, my lord." The tall and thin man shook his head quickly, and his answer was very organized: "My brother and I are brick-burning. No one buys bricks and tiles, so our brothers can only escape, and then... You are here."

"what's your name?"

   "Sean, Sean Bricklayer [SeanBricklayer]."

Winters nodded, remembered this person in his mind, and asked: "As far as I know, in Wolf Town alone, there are more than 200 hired laborers and tenant farmers. Where did all the people who escaped go? They all became bandits. ?"

   The convicts were at a loss, and someone was muttering softly.

   In the end, it was the potter Sean who gave an unexpected and reasonable answer: "Gevodan."

   If there is nothing to eat, people will follow the grain, and wherever there is grain, there will be people.

   Now where is the most food in the entire Gervoudan jurisdiction?

   It is the city of Gervodin.

  It's ridiculous to say that in February, Gervodin had to send troops to recruit.

   In the blink of an eye, five months passed, and Gervoudan no longer had to worry about the source of troops.

   Because most of the refugees have brought their families to the city of Gervodin, begging to be soldiers and earn food.

   Therefore, recently, the Revodan station in the garrison only sent a food collection team, and never sent a collection team again.

   Winters asked again: "Apart from the two bricklayers, all of you were originally farmers?"

   All the convicts nodded.

   "If I give you land." Winters asked with bright eyes, "Are you willing to farm in Wolf Town?"

   There was an uproar in the town square, and the prisoners were dumbfounded and whispered.

   "Quiet." Winters patted his palm lightly.

  The town square became deadly silent again.

   "Will you? Or not?"

  A gray-haired old man bit his head and stood up, plucking up the courage to explain: "Sir, it's not that we don't want to farm the land. It's that you gave us the land, and we can't plant it now..."

   "Old man, sit down and talk." Winters asked, "Why can't you plant?"

  The old man was still standing. He organized the language for a long time before he said: "Sir, how can there be a long-term worker who doesn't want to have his own land? But the farming season... has passed."

  The old man gestured and explained for a long time, and Winters, a sea-blue talent, understood what the other party meant.

  Simply put, farmers in Palatu generally use a rotating farming system, with two farming cycles per year.

   The planting cycle of staple food is from autumn of this year to early summer of next year, and winter wheat is mainly planted.

The planting cycle of    is from spring to autumn this year, mainly oats, rye and beans.

  If there is excess farmland, plant some vegetables to supplement the table.

   It’s early August, right in between two farming cycles, missing farming time.

   And the crops will not mature overnight. If you want to plant the land, you must at least have grain that can last through an agricultural cycle.

"Even if we go to plant winter wheat, we'll all starve to death until the wheat is fully ripe." The more the old man said, the more sad he said, "The land here is sticky, and it takes the weight of four horses to open up the wasteland. Plough, otherwise it won't even turn the soil. We don't have horses or plows, and even if you give us land, we won't be able to open up wasteland..."

   The rest of the farmers also nodded.

   Winters listened carefully. He didn't bring a pen and ink bottle, or he would have written it down.

   He had thought about this, but he had not been able to think so deeply—because he didn't know how to farm.

  The old man rambled and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand.

   After listening to the old man's words, Winters has made up his mind.

He inhaled deeply, exhaled deeply, and asked sincerely: "If I give you land, cattle and horses, plows, and grain that can last until next year's wheat harvest, and give you everything you need... how?"

  The old man was stunned, the other farmers were stunned, and even the surrounding militiamen were stunned.

  The old man's voice was trembling: "For us forever? Or...as before, we work as tenants and long-term workers?"

   "To you forever." Winters was calm and firm: "As long as I'm still here one day."

  …

  The fourth day of returning to Wolf Town from Sengeis Valley, around noon.

  In the barracks, Winters was sawing wood.

   He was shirtless but wearing gloves, looking ridiculous.

   But you have to wear gloves, because working without gloves can cause blisters - this is Winters' labor experience.

  He has mastered the art of sawing wood, pushing forward gently and pulling back hard.

   Winters' arms went back and forth mechanically, and the sawdust fell with a "swoosh", and neither of the other two together could work faster than him.

  Eerlun tried his best to raise him a little bit of fat, but now it has fallen back quickly.

   Compared to when he first left school two years ago, his body has not changed significantly, and he has even lost some of it, but his muscle lines have become more symmetrical and obvious.

   Pierre rode into the barracks and found the centurion in the crowd at a glance.

   He waited quietly until Winters had finished the work at hand, "My mother invited you to my house for dinner."

   Winters took off his gloves and replied with a smile, "Okay, but I'll have to change my pants."

   Winters is now wearing a pair of ragged work trousers, soaked in sweat from their original color.

   "Scarlett also asked me to measure your size. She wants to make you a dress."

  Winters smiled and shook his head. He walked to the water bucket, picked up the water bucket directly, and drank the salt water vigorously.

   Drinking alone was not enough, and the rest of the water in the bucket was poured on his head.

   "Huh!" Winters wiped his face, laughing, and raised Pierre's body of water: "Nothing is more comfortable than drinking water after work."

  Pierre reluctantly wiped the water droplets from his face.

   Winters grabbed his shirt: "Samukin! Tamas!"

"Yes!"

   "I'll leave it to you here!"

"Yes!"

   "Let's go!" Winters greeted Pierre: "Go and see the blacksmith."

  Wolf Town Barracks is diagonally across from the former church site, next to the town square.

   The military camp at the moment is like a large construction site, full of militiamen and convicts at work.

   The seventy or so convicts of the past have been pardoned by Winters, and the present convicts are the thirty or so accomplices of St. Guise.

  Wolf Town is rich in forest resources and there is no shortage of wood.

   Winters is not short of manpower, he has a lot of "slaves" - although the name is called labor prisoners.

   He can neither let the prisoners go, nor kill them indiscriminately, nor keep them in vain.

  The current solution for Winters is: he provides food and shelter for the captives, the captives work for him and lose their personal freedom.

   Namely convicts, they were essentially slaves—but at least they had a life left.

  There are people and resources, but Winters is short of food and tools.

   So Winters first thought of Misha, the old blacksmith.

  Misha became one of the few remaining men in the village of Dusa because of his crippled leg during his service.

   Winters personally found Misha and asked him to come out again.

  The ruins of the smithy were cleaned up, and working tools were collected.

  The new wooden house was quickly rebuilt on the original site, and the extinguished forge was rekindled.

  The little blacksmith Carlos took over from his brother and served as an assistant to the old Misha.

   With the melodious percussion of "ding ding dong", steel swords are forged into axes, jigsaws, and heavy plows, and lesser quality irons are hammered into nails.

   Anyone who sees this scene can deeply understand why blacksmiths occupy an important position in rural society.

  Because human civilization needs tools, and tools are inseparable from blacksmiths.

   One old and one small two blacksmiths are busy from sunrise to late night every day, and the tools they make are still in short supply.

   So the bricklayer brothers were sent by Winters to Misha as assistants.

   In Winters' view, it would be a pity to let a craftsman with a craft work the fields. But he doesn't need bricks now, so he has to aggrieved the bricklayer brothers to go to work as a blacksmith first.

   The rest of the refugees are working hard to clear the land for winter wheat planting in late September.

   Except for the warhorse, all the big animals in Winters' hands were handed over to them.

  Steel ploughs dug out the ditch on the hardened ground, and rows of wooden houses sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

  Wolf Town has been reborn from the ruins and is recovering little by little.

   All of this makes Winters proud and joyful from the bottom of his heart.

   He is finally no longer a monster that only destroys, kills and destroys, he becomes a builder and a creator.

   But all of this made him worry and fear.

   He set up a double riding post on the road to Gervodin, and sent three rounds of reconnaissance to Gervodin.

  Wolf Town is too closed, no matter how hard Winters tries, the outside information he gets is very limited.

   He was even considering a trip to Gervodin himself.

   But now, another thing took over his mind.

   "Well, when is it a head to saw wood by hand?" Winters complained to Pierre: "It's too inefficient."

   Pierre led the horse and followed Winters, and suddenly asked: "There is nothing more comfortable than drinking cold water after work, isn't that what you said?"

   "It's not the same thing." Winters changed the subject lightly: "I'm going to build a hydraulic sawmill."

   "Where did the water come from?"

   "Isn't there a river outside the town center?"

   "Can the water be so shallow?"

   Winters is quite proud: "You don't understand this, right? First, the water truck will carry the water into the reservoir, and then use the reservoir to drive the blades, no problem."

"Oh."

   "Why don't you feel surprised?"

"Oh!"

  Winters laughed and sighed suddenly.

He said distressedly: "Without the caravan, I can't buy anything, not even graphite. I drew the blueprint of the sawmill last night, and I used the stock that Lieutenant Colonel Jesska gave me. A little bit. Oh, I wonder how the lieutenant colonel is doing now?"

   Pierre also sighed when he heard this.

   "How about we find Lieutenant Colonel Jesska and take him to Wolf Town for retirement?"

"OK."

   Thinking of the lieutenant colonel, Winters was a little sad. He gritted his teeth and said, "I have to go to Gervodin."

   "I will accompany you." Pierre did not hesitate.

   "No, you have to stay." Winters laughed: "If I'm not here, if you're not here, Wolftown will collapse."

   While walking and chatting, the two arrived at the blacksmith workshop.

  Misha and the bricklayer Sean are forging nails, Sean's brother is sweating profusely pulling the bellows, and the little blacksmith Carlos is missing.

   "Where's the Carlos?" Winters was a little strange: "Didn't he want to see me?"

   "Who knows?" Old Misha said helplessly: "The child and Vashka are mysterious and don't know what they are doing."

  Winters asked the old blacksmith casually as he dressed, "What do you think of this kid Carlos?"

   "This kid... is very good." Old Misha shook his head and smiled bitterly: "The craftsmanship is also clever, but it is much worse than his brother. His brother is calm and can sit still. Carlos is smart and has a lively temperament."

   Winters nodded, cleared his throat, and shouted, "Washka!"

   Vasya's voice came back not far away: "Come! Come!"

   Big Clever and Little Clever ran back to the blacksmith out of breath.

   There was mud all over their clothes and trousers, as well as their hands and faces. The whole person seemed to have just been fished out of the quagmire, with only one pair of eyes showing off.

   "Are you two playing in the mud?" Winters didn't know whether to be angry or to laugh.

  Washka said happily and dancing: "We're going to prepare a big gift for you!"

   "What ceremony?"

   "Guess what?"

   In the next second, there was a boot print on Vashka's butt.

   "What ceremony?"

  Washika didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore, and brought back a wooden board from outside the workshop like a treasure. On the wooden board was a clay cup pinched by hand.

   Even the clay is wet and not yet fired.

   "Look! That's it!" Vashka said with a beaming face: "With it! You won't have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of your life! I thought of dedicating it to you for the first time!"

   Everyone didn't know what they were talking about, and Winters' face became solemn a little bit.

  Pierre couldn't help but said: "Vasya! Stop making trouble! How are you..."

   "No!" Winters stopped Pierre: "Let him speak."

   "Vasya didn't mean to offend you..."

   Winters ignored the others and looked directly at Carlos: "You said it!"

   "Sir Montagne!" Carlos said with pride: "This is a blast furnace!"

  No need for Carlos to explain, when the others were still confused, Winters had already seen that this "Clay Cup" was actually a miniature model of a smelting furnace.

  Although it is very rough, the bellows, the filling port, and the discharge port should have everything.

   "I've seen a blast furnace." Winters asked Carlos directly: "Have you learned iron smelting?"

   "Learn."

   "Who taught it?"

   "My father."

   "Your brother will too?"

   "Will be."

   "Can you set up a furnace?"

"meeting."

   "Do you understand craftsmanship?"

   "Understand a little, my brother knows best."

   Winters and Carlos asked and answered quickly.

There were seven people in the    blacksmith workshop. Except for Winters and Carlos, there were already four people who couldn’t keep up with the conversation at all. Only Pierre could vaguely understand it.

   "Where does the charcoal come from?"

   "If you have wood, you can burn it."

   "Mine?"

   "Let me tell you in private."

   "You can do it yourself?"

   "Have my brother."

   Winters sighed: "I really have to get your brother back quickly."

  Carlos nodded desperately.

   Winters takes Pierre, Vajka and Carlos to the no-man's place outside the smithy.

   "Tell me, where did the iron ore come from?" Winters asked: "Since you took out this thing, you must be prepared."

  Carlos didn't expect Winters to be so direct, he looked at Vashka.

  Washika quickly answered: "Centurion, do you know why the Chihe Department is called the Chihe Department?"

   "Why?" Winters had an ominous foreboding.

   "The Chi River is the Hanlan River. Whenever the torrential rains in spring and summer cause flash floods, the water of the Hanlan River will be as red as blood, so it is called the Chi River!"

"go on!"

   Carlos licked his lips and said with determination: "The Republic of Monta also has a red river. The Monta people call her the Rose River. The Rose River... is right next to the Steel Fort."

   Winters narrowed his eyes: "You don't want to tell me that the Chihe Department guards an iron mine, don't you know it?"

"Shallow mines and deep mines are different!" Carlos was anxious: "The red color of the Rose River comes from the iron ore sandstone being washed by rain. Both the Hanlan River and the Rose River originate in the shaded mountains, and they both change color when they encounter flash floods. , the upper reaches of the Hanlan River is likely to have iron ore as well."

   "Deep mines, how to explore?"

   "Go to Steel Castle to invite prospectors! You can invite them with money!"

   "How to mine?"

   "Someone can mine, and equipment can be bought from Steel Castle!"

   "How do you buy it and transport it to the Hanlan River?"

   A question and answer, Carlos has been cornered. But when he heard this question, he suddenly asked back: "Sir, where do you think the iron of the Heard ministries came from?"

   "What do you mean?" Winters narrowed his eyes.

   "Herd Wasteland is connected to the Republic of Monta."

   "But across the mountain."

   A subtle sneer appeared on the corner of Carlos' mouth: "Across the mountain... can't we go to the caravan?"

   Winters vaguely figured out something, he laughed and spat fiercely: "Grass!"

   Pierre and Vashka do not know why.

   "What do you want?" Winters asked Carlos seriously.

   "I want my brother to come back, come back safely."

   "Okay! It's a deal." Winters told Vashka: "Call Ciel."

   Soon, Vashka brought Ciel over.

   "Ciel, you go to the Chihe Department." Winters made a decisive decision: "Washka, you pick two people and accompany Ciel."

"Yes!"

   "Bring a word to the white lion for me."

   "What?"

   "Tell him." There was an indescribable emotion on Winters' face: "The deal goes on."

   [Chihe Division, Chihe Division, Chihe's stalks are also revealed]

   [The history of blast furnaces is still very long, at least in Winters' time, this smelting method already existed and was used in production. That's why Winters saw the blast furnace - he saw it at the Victory Arsenal. But many things in industry do not lie in the principle - the principle is very simple, but in the process and specific procedures]

[Book friends can take a look at <Alliance Map 1.0> The forces of the Hurd tribes are drawn in, but it can also be seen that the Hurd wasteland is next to the Monta Republic, just across the mountain. ]

   [The previous debts are also paid, I have no debts now, I am relaxed]

   [Thanks to book lovers for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, rewards and comments, thank you all]

   (end of this chapter)