Seeing that the midsummer day was coming to an end, Border Town was about to usher in the last month of summer, which was also the hottest month, Roland increasingly didn't want to leave the castle.
The saltpeter he had bought from Margaery, in addition to making gunpowder, was used to lower the room temperature. Now, in almost every room, there was a bucket filled with saltpeter, and inside the bucket there was a kettle soaking. In this way, not only could he absorb the heat and cool down, but he could also drink ice water to quench his thirst. Only in this way, he wouldn't have to sit in the office every day, sweating profusely.
In addition to Anna, the rest of the witches were also suspended from their work. In addition to the daily practice and study, they basically gathered in the hall on the first floor. They were either chatting or playing Gwent with each other. It was a happy and harmonious atmosphere. As for Anna … it wasn't that Roland didn't want her to rest, but she simply wasn't afraid of the heat. She could even directly hold the red-hot iron ingot in her hands, the high temperature of the scorching summer was nothing to her. Even if she were to stand by the steelmaking furnace for the whole afternoon, she wouldn't shed a drop of sweat.
In order to reward the diligent and serious Anna, Roland had recently specially made some frozen desserts to reward her. For example, the classic delicious ice cream of later generations was made by mixing egg yolk, cream, milk and sugar water and stirring them evenly, then cooling them with saltpeter. Anna was very fond of this cold, soft and fragrant snack. Every time she took a small bite of the ice cream, the way her lake blue eyes curved into a line, made him feel very pleasing to the eye.
In addition, looking through the monthly summary tables sent by the City hall was also a great pleasure for his mood.
So far, the population of Border Town had doubled once again, and it was already close to 18,000 people. In addition, Longsong Stronghold would "turn in" a batch of serfs every month, so it wouldn't be a problem to break through the 20,000 mark next year. Not counting the number of villages and towns within the territory, this scale was almost comparable to that of Redwater City, Valencia and King's City.
What was slightly regrettable was that the population had increased quite a bit, but the quality of the population had not improved much. Currently, it was still the town's thousand or so natives who were receiving education, and it was very likely that it would take about a year for them to successfully graduate. Although the private academy that Carr previously opened had produced a batch of talents who graduated ahead of time, the number of less than a hundred was still insignificant compared to the total population.
"Maybe I should start educating the refugees in the Eastern Region first, instead of waiting for enough dormitories to be built." Roland thought to himself. After all, there were only advantages to early education.
The development of the town's factories was also very good.
After more than half a year of construction, the industrial park now had three factories in operation: two steam engine production plants and one bullet processing plant. The number of workers in the No.1 Factory had expanded from a dozen blacksmiths when it was first established to more than a hundred now. Those who joined later were basically natives, which was exactly what he wanted to see. A batch of apprentices would gradually grow into craftsmen, and then lead the next batch of apprentices.
The workers in the No.2 Factory belonged to the Crescent Moon Bay Caravan. In just one month, they had roughly mastered the use of each machine tool. Although the yield was relatively bad, compared to the blacksmiths in the No.1 Factory, the performance of these craftsmen in the first month was obviously better. But before the expiration of the contract, the steam engines they produced were all owned by Roland. Now the two factories could produce about eight to ten steam engines every month, which was also the main income of Border Town.
As for the bullet factory, after it was completed, it was directly handed over to the First Army. Not only was there a sentry post at the entrance, but there were also patrols arranged around it. Even the production work was handled by the soldiers. After a week of trial operation, the new generation of fixed bullets had begun to be mass-produced.
The assembly line designed by Roland couldn't achieve full mechanical production. Whether it was the primer, gunpowder or warheads, they all needed to be filled and compacted by manpower. The main processing tools were two mechanical stamping machines. One was used to press the copper cut by Anna into the shape of a cartridge case, and the other was used to press the primer cup.
The soldiers only needed to evenly place the mercury fulminate powder between two thin pieces of paper, stick the paper tightly, clamp it into the primer cup, and finally insert the primer cup into the annular groove at the end of the cartridge case. As for the process of loading the black powder and compacting the warhead, it was exactly the same as the previous reloading exercise.
There weren't many people in the factory, only forty, but almost every day they could produce more than five hundred rounds of bullets. Roland intended to turn these forty people into full-time processing staff in order to maintain the normal operation of the bullet factory.
Next, Roland planned to make up for the soap factory and the perfume factory. The former was an extremely important part of the military industry, and the latter might be able to open up a new trade channel for the town. As for the bicycle factory, it could be delayed, as long as it could be put into production before the Kingdom Main Street was repaired.
"Your Royal Highness," Nightingale pushed open the door, "Maggie and Lightning have arrived."
The two walked past Nightingale, ran to the table and poked their heads out, "Is there something you need from us?"
"Tomorrow is the summer season," Roland took out the long written reply from the drawer and handed it to Maggie, "When you return to the Fjords, remember to pass this to Tilly for me."
"Ah …!" She was stunned for a moment, blinked a few times, then took the envelope and carefully stuffed it into her close-fitting bag, "No problem, coo!"
Seeing the look of realization on the other party's face, Roland knew that he probably didn't remember that he had to go back every month to report the news. It seemed that the town was really charming.
"I forgot that tomorrow is a new month," Lightning pressed her forehead, "Doesn't that mean we won't be able to see each other for a long time?"
"Last time I was delayed because of Lady Tilly's cleaning plan, this time I will come back as soon as possible," Maggie shook her long white hair that was almost dragging on the ground, "That eagle's nest has to wait for me to come back before I can explore it … coo!"
"I know," the little girl curled her lips, "it's a deal."
"You also have a task," Roland spread out a map of the southern area of the town, "this is the map you drew yourself, do you still remember the location of the shoal near the mountain ridge?"
"I remember," Lightning gestured on the map, "it's probably in this place."
"Very well, later you will take Maggie to fly once, and then at the intersection of the shoal and the mountain ridge plant two flags, and mark it on the map." After he finished explaining, he looked at Maggie, "If Tilly agrees to send witches, you can lead the sailboat to this shoal, I will meet you at the top of the mountain."
"Send witches?" Lightning asked curiously, "Is there a new sister coming to Border Town?"
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