More than half a month had passed since the capture of Longsong Stronghold, and the population and materials sent by the five families of the Western Region had all arrived.
After the establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture, the new year's spring ploughing finally began, which was also the first step for Roland to explore farming techniques. The serfs saw the dawn of being promoted to free people, so they worked in full swing. On the south bank of the Redwater River, the scene of a supervisor whipping the serfs to urge them to work had basically disappeared. Some serfs found that even if they were lazy, there was no one to control them. According to the City Hall officials who used strange tools to measure the fields, the Lord didn't care about the harvest of one or two fields. In the future, the serfs would be farming for themselves, and the more they farmed, the more they would get.
It was not because the quality of the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture was so good that they had completely understood the principle of distribution according to work, but because Roland asked them to constantly repeat these contents to the serfs. In order to strengthen the effect of indoctrination, as well as to satisfy the prince's own feelings, the banks of the Redwater River were also filled with red flags and banners, on which were written slogans such as "labor is the only way to get rich", "labor is glorious", "labor leads to freedom, labor changes fate" and so on.
Of course, these measures were not without objections, for example, Barov was the first to stand up and oppose.
"Your Highness, it is meaningless to do this, the majority of serfs are illiterate, they do not care what is written on the banners. These people are stupid and ignorant, sometimes even a whip does not work, let alone some seemingly inexplicable words. "
And Roland's answer was also very simple, "Those banners are not for them to see."
"Then why do you still do these things?" At that time, the expression of the assistant minister seemed to be quite confused.
"In order to create a living example."
He never thought that serfs were stupid and could not be reformed, they were not educated, but it did not mean that they did not have ideas. Even the most stupid people would be driven by desires and interests, this was human nature – the repeated indoctrination of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Agriculture seemed to have little effect, but it would leave a primer in their hearts, like a trickle of water that would eventually converge into one. When the first batch of serfs were promoted to free people, when they exchanged their harvest crops for money to buy high-quality clothes, exquisite food, and even sturdy and warm brick houses, the slogan that was repeated over and over again would suddenly become a reality and be deeply imprinted in their hearts.
As for the banners on the shore, they were for the townspeople who had received universal education.
Relying on their own hands to get rid of poverty and become an official member of Border Town, they might even surpass themselves as natives. This was the power of hard work.
Only by comparing could one feel the difference. Only by taking the initiative to pursue would one be able to display the highest efficiency.
…
Tie Tou stood at the entrance of the mine, waiting for the next batch of ores to come out.
Ever since the Months of the Demons, when the high temperature steam had burned half of his face, he no longer dared to stand near this black machine.
Fortunately, in Border Town, there was still Miss Nana, who was as kind as an angel. Tie Tou touched his cheek, which was as good as new, and sighed with emotion. To think that she even suspected that the other party was the devil's minion, it was simply blasphemy to her. After winter ended, he brought two salted fish and a wild boar leg to the Pine Family to apologize.
What surprised him even more was that although Pine Pine was a viscount, he didn't have the habit of looking down on others like the nobles and accepted his apology generously. For the first time, Iron Head felt that the nobles were not all cold-blooded people.
"Old Iron," a miner covered in dust ran out of the cave, "the rope has been tied."
"Well," he turned to the direction of the steam engine and shouted, "Everyone stay away! Frank, lift up the green lever, then press down on the red lever! If you make a mistake, I'll twist your head off! "
"Don't worry, Old Iron, leave it to me!" Frank replied loudly.
After sending Nail to join the Border Town's First Army, Tie Tou changed someone to operate the steam engine. In the first few days, Frank often made mistakes in the order of the lever, which led to the explosion of the air supply pipe. Fortunately, His Royal Highness didn't care about this matter. Not only did he send someone to replace the damaged parts, he also didn't punish them. Originally, Tie Tou had already prepared for everyone to be fined a month's salary.
With the opening of the inlet valve, the steam engine spewed out majestic white gas. The main wheel slowly rotated, driving the capstan to stretch the hemp rope.
"All of you, keep your spirits up! Look at the hemp rope, look carefully! "Tie Tou shouted.
Now, in addition to the steam engine, the mine's mining method had also changed.
His Royal Highness ordered the craftsmen to cut the pieces of wood into long strips, connecting them from end to end in the mine, and then put the two wooden strips under the wooden squares. At first glance, it looked like a lot of wooden lattices.
His Royal Highness called it the Wooden Rail Transport System, which was a very tongue-twisting name. It didn't seem complicated, but with a special mining cart, hey! That was really nimble. Usually, it would take three or four days to transport the ore, but with several mining carts connected together, the steam engine could drag it all out in one breath.
Tie Tou had specifically observed this kind of four-wheeled trailer running on the wooden rails. Its whole body was made of iron, which alone was worth a lot of money. The reason it could move on the narrow wooden rails without falling was because of its wheels – the inside of each small iron wheel had a circle of enlarged wheel flange, which firmly confined the mining cart to the wooden rails. On top of the wheels was placed a square iron basin, which had a groove at the front and back, so that it could be strung together with hemp rope.
He couldn't help but admire His Royal Highness's intelligence. With such a simple design, it actually made transporting ore so easy. But before that, the most time-consuming and laborious task was to drag the dead ore out of the mine.
However, this system was not perfect. For example, on the fifth day of use, two sections of the wooden rails were crushed, and a few more were destroyed one after another. Later, His Royal Highness wrapped the top of all the wooden rails with a layer of iron.
In addition, there was also a hemp rope accident in the mine. Iron Axe still had a lingering fear when he thought about it. Originally, when transporting ore out of the mine, only four mining carts could be dragged at a time. On the day of the accident, the miners were greedy for speed, so they connected all six mining carts together. As a result, halfway through, the hemp rope, which was as thick as an arm, suddenly burst. The rebounding part swept a man standing next to Tie Tou, breaking his arm in two and breaking several of his ribs. The mining cart slid down the track, knocking down two people and crushing the legs of an unlucky man.
Fortunately, Tie Tou knew what to do when encountering such an accident. He immediately organized people to transport the injured to Viscount Tigu's house. As long as they didn't die on the spot, Miss Nana would be able to heal them.
"Old Iron, the cart is coming out!" The man who was staring at the entrance shouted.
"Frank, after ten breaths, turn off the steam engine, pay attention to the order!" Tie Tou loudly ordered.
"Okay!"
The four mining carts slowly stopped at the end of the wooden track. He walked over and recorded the quantity and variety of the carts. The first two carts were filled with reddish-brown stones, which were the most commonly produced thing in the mine – iron ore. The third cart was filled with gray and yellow stones, which should be copper ore. When he saw the fourth cart, he was stunned. It seemed that there were no such stones in the previous records. They were dark brown and reflected a dim metallic luster under the sunlight.
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