After returning to the office, Roland immediately began to draw the new machinery.
During the days when the First Army and the witches went to King's City, Roland was not idle. On the contrary, Roland felt that he was even busier than usual. Even when Nightingale was not by his side, the time he spent alone with Anna was also very little. In addition to settling the refugees who had been transported by the ships, he also let Anna and Lucia test the composition of the smelting products, as well as build a new smelting furnace.
In the past, whether it was smelting iron or steel, he purely relied on his experience and intuition to carry out the smelting process, and in the end, he did not know what the composition was. Now, with Lucia's help, Roland finally had a method to accurately determine the composition of a metal ingot. With the ability to decompose matter, he could repeatedly compare and obtain the required detailed data for smelting, such as the stirring time after melting, the specific amount of charcoal added, and whether or not to add limestone and other additives to remove sulfur and phosphorus, or to add other metal raw materials to obtain the alloy, and so on...
Based on these data, Roland was able to summarize the standardized smelting process, in order to obtain the same quality of iron ingots or steel after repeated production, and at the same time, to dispel the fog of material science and technology little by little.
And the new smelting furnace was also built for this purpose.
It was a square furnace with a length and width of four meters and a height of two meters, with the bottom sloping towards one end. The thick outer shell was made of cast iron, and the inner layer was covered with clay bricks, as well as Soroya's mud coating, which had excellent heat resistance. The lowest end was equipped with a movable gate, which was pulled by a steam engine. Considering that those advanced heating methods, such as oxygen blowing, electric arc, and so on, did not have the conditions to implement, the furnace was simply not equipped with any combustion device, and completely relied on Anna's Blackfire to smelt the molten steel. After adding raw materials according to the tested proportion and smelting, the molten steel was directly discharged from the rear gate.
The furnace could produce about 50 tons of molten steel at a time, and Anna only needed a short quarter of an hour to complete the smelting process. Adding the feeding and tapping time, it only took about half an hour, and the output was basically enough to meet the current production of firearms and cannons. The current smelting mode in Border Town was that the blast furnaces and shaft furnaces were responsible for producing a large amount of pig iron, which could be used to manufacture daily ironware and steam engines, and could also be used as raw materials for further smelting in iron furnaces to produce wrought iron or steel.
…
The blueprint that Roland was currently drawing was a set of production equipment for bullet stamping. With a stable and reliable source of steel, the stamping machinery's processing and assembly would no longer have hardware difficulties. The success of the trial production of mercury fulminate made the mass production of the new bullets even more urgent. Although Anna's Blackfire Cutting was efficient and accurate, it would still take a long time for one person to complete the entire process. If the stamping assembly line was put into production, more than 30 ordinary people could operate it after training. At least 10,000 bullets could be produced in a day, and the soldiers would no longer need to manually reload the ammunition.
After dinner, he spent a long time drawing. It wasn't until the midnight bell rang outside the window that he had a rough idea of what to do with his sketches. Of course, this was only the most preliminary concept design. He didn't know if some of the details were feasible. He still needed to test it before he could make a final decision.
Normally, Roland would have yawned, but today he was in high spirits and didn't feel sleepy at all.
After putting away more than ten pieces of draft paper, he took out the parchment attached to Princess Tilly's letter from the drawer and spread it out on the table. Finally, the long-awaited part of selecting the visiting witches had arrived.
The list listed the abilities of more than 60 auxiliary witches. According to Maggie, the total number of witches on Sleeping Island should be around 200 to 300. Obviously, Tilly didn't list all the auxiliary witches' abilities on the list. This was also in line with a leader's approach: to take the initiative to extend a hand of friendship, rather than to put everything on the table. For the other party to do this, it was enough to show their sincerity in forming an alliance. Roland replaced a new candle and concentrated on looking at the witch's abilities on the appendix.
He had to say that this was a very difficult choice to make. After many comparisons, he decided on a list of five visitors.
Then Roland spread out a piece of parchment and began to write a reply.
Dear sister, I'm very happy to see your letter.
I'm very excited and gratified by the decision you made. With your help, I have a greater chance of blocking the Church's attack.
The reason I can gain the witches' trust and support is also because of this. In the entire continent of Graycastle, only Border Town has completely erased the influence of the Church. The natives not only accept the witches, but even fight side by side with them. From resisting the demonic beasts to fighting against the Church, my people and the witches have formed an inseparable whole. Now, everywhere in Border Town, you can see them participating in the construction. The steam engine that made you curious was also realized with the help of the witches. This is a good sign, and what I want to do is to spread this situation throughout the Western Region, until the whole kingdom.
For this, I must destroy the entire Church, turn the saying that witches are evil into dust, and save all the people from foolishness and ignorance. This is a long process, and I need more assistance from you.
As for what made me make this decision, and what made me not be as indifferent to everything as I was in the past, these trifles can be slowly explained in detail when there is a chance. The content of this letter is limited, so I won't repeat it.
As for the witches' visit next month, I am very much looking forward to it. Please do not worry about safety, I have planned a direct route for them to Border Town, completely avoiding the Church's eyes and ears, and also without the need to rely on any port. The only risk lies in the navigation, but I think that with Maggie leading the way, the possibility of the ship getting lost is very small. I will attach a map of the specific route, and send it with Maggie to Sleeping Island.
After these witches arrive in Border Town, they will naturally be able to participate in the basic knowledge classes. The so-called knowledge promotes the witches' ability to evolve, I am more inclined to say that a deeper understanding of the world has led to their transformation, whether it is nature, magic, or their own understanding. There is no doubt that with every witch whose ability has evolved, our odds of winning against the Church will increase by one point. My view on this point is exactly the same as yours.
Finally, I will list the five selected witches here, hoping to see them as soon as possible.
Terrain Shaping Lotus.
Status Maintaining Candle.
Winemaker Evelyn.
Beast Tamer Honey.
And Eye of Truth Sylvie.
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