It had been four days since the witches and the First Army set out. According to the plan, they should arrive at the outskirts of Silver City tomorrow afternoon.
After being equipped with Honey's flying messenger, Roland received letters from the team every day, from Iron Axe, Anna, and Nightingale. Although it wasn't as fast as a mobile phone, it was basically similar to a wireless telegraph. If there were several times more flying messengers on this route, and there were birds flying back and forth between the two places at all times, they might be able to simulate the effect of a text message chat.
In the absence of Nightingale, the Chief Knight took over the important task of guarding the castle. But what puzzled Roland was that these days, Carter always had a cheerful appearance, as if he had encountered something particularly happy. Was it really so happy to be back to his job and be responsible for the personal guard?
He shook his head and focused his attention on the report of the Minister of Construction, Carr Van Bate.
With the help of the Sleeping Island witches, the construction project in Border Town had progressed at a rapid pace in the past month.
First of all, the steel bridge over the Redwater River was successfully completed. Compared to the traditional stone bridge and wooden bridge, the steel bridge body could be made in advance, and then hoisted as a whole. In addition, Lotus had raised two floating islands in the river, which further simplified the difficulty of its construction, so that the main bridge construction period was shortened to an astonishing one month.
Although in the eyes of future generations, it was short and narrow, the structure was too simple, the load was extremely low, and it was a pure waste of materials, but in this era, it could already be regarded as a magnificent super bridge, with a total length of more than one hundred meters, and the bridge deck was flat enough for two carriages to pass side by side, and the lower part could also accommodate the passage of inland river sailboats, no matter which point it was not possible for the heavy stone bridge to achieve.
Secondly, Lotus's new city wall had also been completed. This wall made of pure mud had increased the area of the town by more than two times. If the city was to be built in the future, the original town would become a veritable "inner city". However, Roland was more inclined to the idea of one or two rings. Perhaps one day in the future, this place could also be expanded into a giant city with seven rings, officially crowned as the Imperial Capital.
Finally, there was the construction of the Kingdom Main Road. Some of the mountain feet that extended down the Impassable Mountain Range were leveled by the lotus, allowing the road to go straight through, greatly reducing the total construction period.
"Your Highness, what's the next step of the construction plan that you've arranged for Lotus?" Carr asked after reporting the progress of the various projects.
It could be seen that he was full of envy for her ability to transform the terrain. He almost asked her to be included in the Ministry of Construction and appointed as the deputy minister.
"Hmm …" Roland was also thinking about this problem. He still had three major renovation projects waiting to be implemented.
The first was the estuary project: to find a low gap in the mountain area at the southern end, and then settle it into a road that could go in and out of the shoal. This could only be achieved by relying on Lotus's ability. Once the transformation was completed, the Western Region would have a harbor facing the sea.
The second was residential expansion. Although the City Hall had invested a lot of manpower and financial resources to speed up the construction of residential areas, there might still be nearly three thousand people who would not be able to live in warm brick houses during winter. The current wooden sheds and simple dwellings were simply unable to meet the needs of keeping out the cold. Therefore, he needed a batch of cave houses with thick walls and fireplaces to solve this problem.
The last point was the construction of a dock. If he wanted to produce shallow water heavy gunboats, he must first lay out a spacious dock, and at the same time, it must not affect the passage of the Redwater River. Roland intended to lower the height of the river embankment on the west side of the town, forming a dry dock, and then install a lift gate on the side near the Redwater River to control the water retention and discharge. The scale of the project was huge, and he also had to rely on Lotus's ability to complete it.
After considering for a moment, he finally decided to put the residential expansion as the first priority. Since he had brought the refugees from the Eastern Region to Border Town, he had to be responsible for their food, clothing, housing, and transportation. If they froze or starved to death, not only would it be a loss for the Western Region, but it would also reduce their sense of belonging.
"So where should this temporary residence be built?" Carr then asked.
"It will be built in the current slum area," Roland glanced at the map and said, "It will be far from the city wall's defensive line, and it will be sheltered from the wind by the Impassable Mountain Range."
After the Minister of Construction left, he was just about to lean back in his chair and take a nap, when Kyle Sichi came to find him.
"Your Royal Highness, I have successfully developed the large-scale acid production method you requested."
This sentence immediately dispelled Roland's tiredness, he was pleasantly surprised and stood up from the table: "Really? Quickly take me to see it."
The group arrived at the laboratory on the bank of the Redwater River, and saw that next to the fifth laboratory there were several grayish-white jars and a furnace. Each jar was about the height of two people, and the top was connected to a pipe. The neat and smooth shape was obviously cut by Anna.
"Salute to you, Your Royal Highness," a seemingly very young man bowed to Roland.
"You are Chavez, right?" Although he had already known that Kyle had dug out a group of alchemy apprentices from Redwater City, and had even roped in an outstanding alchemist, today was the first time he had seen his appearance.
"You unexpectedly remember my name," Chavez said in surprise.
"Mr. Kyle has mentioned you many times," Roland patted his shoulder to show encouragement, "Do a good job." Then he looked at the chief alchemist, "How does this thing produce acid?"
Kyle stroked his beard and laughed, "It can be successfully developed, completely according to the derivation of the reaction formula of elementary chemistry. You see that furnace, the purified sulfur will be burned in the furnace, the resulting gas will be further heated, and then sent into the lead jar. "
"These devices are all made of lead."
"Yes, only lead can resist the corrosion of acid." Kyle nodded, "The lead pipe at the top of the jar is constantly sprinkled with nitric acid. Under the hot sulfur dioxide gas, the nitric acid is heated and decomposed into nitrogen oxide, and finally mixed with water and sulfur dioxide to form a sulfuric acid solution, which flows out of the hole at the bottom. The ingenuity of this reaction lies in the fact that the nitrogen oxide only plays the role of transferring oxygen, and does not consume itself, so the amount of nitric acid used is not large. Once the reaction starts, it can be continuously carried out."
"What is its output?" Roland excitedly asked while patting the lead jar. Large-scale production of acid was the prerequisite for the mass production of smokeless gunpowder, if this problem could be solved, there would be hope for a new generation of ammunition for flintlocks and cannons.
"This is the fourth device I have tried to make, and its output in one day is probably equal to that of the laboratory's dry distillation method in a week." The chief alchemist proudly said, "Because of the experimental factors, its volume is not large. If we can build a larger capacity of lead jar, the output can be further increased. "
"This is really good news," Roland said with a smile, "When Miss Anna returns, you can immediately start building a larger scale acid device. In addition, if the lead is not enough, you can use iron instead, Miss Soroya's coating can make the iron free from acid corrosion. "
Kyle nodded, but his next words made the Prince's smile freeze on his face.
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