When Roland saw Barov again, he felt as if he was looking at a different person.
Not only did he look radiant, but his chest was also puffed up. Every step he took was sonorous and full of confidence. He did not look like an old minister in his fifties at all.
It seemed that he had been enjoying his time in King's City.
"If I had known this, I would have called you back later," Roland joked.
"No, Your Majesty, no matter how prosperous the City of Dawn is, it can't compare to the City of Neverwinter that you built." Barov shook his beard and said, "No matter where I am, my heart will always be with you."
"Why does this sound... so strange?"
He coughed twice and changed the topic. "How's the situation over there?"
"Don't worry. With my apprentices and the First Army, the new nobles can't do anything even if they want to make trouble," the director said proudly. "I've also deliberately given them more space to fight for power, as long as they don't interfere with the normal operation of the people in the City of Dawn. It's estimated that for a long time in the future, they'll be fighting for power. After all, before this, they don't even have the right to enter the City hall. "
"That's a good idea." Roland smiled.
He also knew a thing or two about the checks and balances in politics. However, knowing was one thing. When it came to implementing it, it was obviously not better than these old foxes who had been in politics for a long time. Even if they were not the most cunning foxes, they were thick-skinned and vicious enough. It could be said that it was not until now that Barov had displayed his full talent.
As the king of a country, Roland did not need to get involved in dirty political tricks. As long as he had the power of personnel, law and military in his hands, no one would dare to covet his power.
"Your Majesty, may I ask, where did you send Minister of Finance Lauren Moore?" Barov sighed. "The ceremonial officer in the palace said that you didn't execute him."
"He embezzled the relief rations allocated to the people, colluded with the former Prime Minister, and had a part in the forced conscription of refugees." Roland shrugged. "It's not a crime worthy of death. He's old and not suitable to be sent to the mines, so I just banished him."
"That's really... a pity."
"What, you want to use him?"
"Of course not. Lauren is quite influential in the King's City. I'm not sure that those small nobles can suppress him." Barov smiled and shook his head. "It's just that as my mentor, he has suppressed me for so long. It's a pity that I can't see his surprised, regretful, and begging for mercy."
Roland could not help but laugh out loud. "I think he will bring his family to the Kingdom of Dawn. Maybe you will have a chance to meet him in the future. Let's not talk about this. I called you back because I want to build a few new factories. They're related to the next series of major renovations in Neverwinter. "
"Do you need a lot of people?"
"That's right. Otherwise, I could just order Carr." He nodded. "We need at least three thousand people."
Barov smiled bitterly. "You're the only one who would make such a request. It's impossible for any other city to have an industry that employs three thousand people at once."
"The good news is that these three thousand people don't need to all be literate. As long as more than two hundred of them have completed elementary education, it will suffice."
"What do you want to build?"
Roland spread out the notebook that he had prepared in advance in front of him. "A coke plant, a steel mill, and a forge."
"Is the steel produced by Miss Anna not enough?" Barov asked.
"It's not that it's not enough, but it's too wasteful." Roland sighed. "Her magic power should be invested in more advanced manufacturing, not consumed on the materials for the steam engine. I plan to realize the witchization of basic industrial products this year. "
The industry in Neverwinter was now at an inflection point. If they did not seek a breakthrough, it could be said that it would be difficult for them to make any progress. The reason was that the source power machinery still could not do without the support of Anna's materials, so the scale could not be further expanded. In fact, the steam engine did not need such good steel at all. The town's first engine was made of cast iron.
Now that the preconditions for the breakthrough had been met, the coal mine could be used to make coke, which was the main material for large-scale steelmaking. The ten earthen blast furnaces in the Furnace Area could also supply a sufficient amount of pig iron ingots. A simple converter was used to smelt steel, and the steam hammer in the forge was used to forge components that could be directly processed by other factories. If this set of processes could be recycled, Anna could be completely liberated, and the production process could be realized with the participation of ordinary people.
After Roland roughly explained the main work of the three projects, Barov quickly understood the meaning of witchization.
"I understand, but Your Majesty, can these really be achieved?" He asked doubtfully. "Without the power of demons, ahem, witches, can we obtain steel so easily? Perhaps you don't know, but in other cities, it's not uncommon for a piece of forged steel to be 20 times more expensive than pig iron. "
In this era, steel was made by blacksmiths hammer by hammer. By repeatedly hammering pig iron ingots, the excess carbon and impurities in the iron would be oxidized by the air, thus forming steel. Of course, this process was extremely inefficient, and a lot of raw materials would be wasted. A lot of iron would fall off due to oxidation, resulting in several iron ingots being used to produce only one usable piece of steel. Therefore, a set of steel full-body armor was the lifelong pursuit of most Knight, and it could be passed down from generation to generation as a family heirloom.
From a certain point of view, the method of forging steel gave people the illusion that concentration was the essence. In most people's eyes, the fact that Neverwinter could produce "large amounts" of steel in "large quantities" was the credit of witches, so it was not difficult to understand Barov's doubt. But for Roland, steel was just iron with a different carbon content.
"Of course it's not easy. Whether it's coking or converter steelmaking, they're both technologies that need to be explored repeatedly, but..." Roland paused. "These projects will definitely be realized. By that time, there will be hundreds of chimneys in the industrial area, and the steel output in a month will exceed the current annual output. We will have an inexhaustible supply of steel. Bicycles, ships, all kinds of machines, even houses, everything you see will be made of steel. It will enter everyone's home, and even ordinary people will be able to use steel utensils and tools. "
Barov was stunned for a long time before he replied, "I'll draw up a recruitment plan and financial allocation for your review as soon as possible."
"Well, I'll leave the preparatory work to you," Roland encouraged him.
When he walked to the door of the office, he suddenly turned around and saluted again with his hand on his chest.
"It'll be my honor to see such a world, Your Majesty."
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