Translator: Mr Voltaire Editor: Modlawls123 Lorist brought Redi, Tagger and the rest to Fengle Plains to inspect the fortifications in the villages and towns. It was the end of July by the time they returned to the forge in the Blade Peak Mountain Range.
Over the past two months, the valley had undergone many changes. First, Master Falin had moved his ballistae to the vicinity of the valley. He was currently testing a row of ballistae that had been created based on Lorist's blueprints. From time to time, he would gather together with Master Yu Lian and whisper to each other …
Next, there was a row of hydraulic forging machines under the waterfall. Some were large, some were small, some were simple, and some were complicated. It seemed like these were modified later on.
Master Falin and Master Yu Lian were very happy when Lorist went over.
Master Falin ran over to report, "My lord, the elastic steel pieces you wanted have been made. We have created a series of ballistae and tested the steel pieces before finalizing their shapes … …"
Old Master Yu Lian, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear.
"Not bad, I'm very satisfied. Redi, reward Master Falin and Master Yu Lian with one hundred gold fords each. The others will be rewarded with ten gold fords each. "Lorist was never stingy with these technical talents.
"Thank you, my lord. But my lord, these are the ballistae that were created based on your blueprint. During the testing, we discovered two problems … …" Master Falin said.
Lorist's ballistae were not entirely made of steel. Apart from the ballistae's arms, the eccentric wheel and the upper chord, the rest were made of wood.
"Oh, what problems?" Lorist asked.
"My lord, using the elastic steel to create the arms of the ballistae allows the ballistae to shoot at a range of three hundred and twenty to three hundred and fifty meters. The error is within two meters. During the testing, we discovered that the usual wooden ballistae are erratic and the center of gravity is unstable. This is the main reason for the error in aiming. Thus, we created some iron ballistae. Although the shooting distance has been reduced to two hundred and eighty to three hundred meters, the error in aiming and shooting is no more than half a meter. However, the cost of iron ballistae is two times that of wooden ballistae. Thus, it is up to my lord to decide what kind of ballistae to use. "Master Falin said.
"Which crossbow bolt is more powerful?" Loriste asked.
"Iron crossbow bolts, of course," Master Falin replied.
"Then let's all use iron crossbows and arrows. We'll also set up a crossbow and arrow factory, with Master Lian as the supervisor." Laurist made the final decision.
"The second problem is that the energy consumption of these steel ballistae's bowstrings is simply too astonishing. In the past, ballistae could fire twenty or so bolts before needing to change the bowstring. However, because these ballistae used steel plates as their arms, the steel plates would vibrate intensely after firing, causing great damage to the bowstring. After firing seven or eight bolts, they would need to change the bowstring. But now, we and Master Yu Lian are preparing to use steel wire, cow tendons, and hair to weave a new type of bowstring. After a while, we can finalize it. "Master Falin reported the second problem.
"Very good. Grandmaster Falin, Grandmaster Julien, I'm very confident in your work. I'll leave the new steel ballistae to you. Hurry up and get them ready for mass production. Right now, it's the end of July. Before October, I hope to have three thousand ballistae. That way, we'll be much more confident in dealing with the magical beast tide. "
"My lord, we won't disappoint you." Master Falin replied.
Watching Master Falin continue to instruct his disciples to test the steel ballistae, Laurist looked around and asked Master Julien, "Why isn't Grandmaster Sid here?"
Master Julien pointed at the waterfall, "My lord, ever since you designed that hydraulic forging machine, Grandmaster Sid has been fascinated by machinery. Look at those things he modified. He's currently designing a hydraulic wire-drawing machine, and is preparing to use water to pull out the steel wire for armor … "
Laurist laughed heartily, "Not bad, Grandmaster Sid is very quick-witted to be able to think in this direction. Redi, don't forget to give Grandmaster Sid a hundred gold coins as a reward. His subordinates should also be given ten each … "
"Yes, my lord."
… …
Laurist returned to Monolith Castle in satisfaction after being the child of wealth for a while. After being intimate with Miss Tracey for a few days, Laurist finally remembered proper business and crawled out of his gentle nest. He ordered Redi to summon Dorles from the chariot caravan.
"My lord, why? We didn't do anything wrong. Why are you reducing our chariot caravan? " Dorles was stunned by this blow, his lips trembling in grief. After all, he had spent most of his blood, sweat, and tears on the construction of the chariot caravan.
It was no wonder that Dorles had such a reaction. Laurist's orders were to hand over the twelve small ballistae to Aire's guard camp, and to choose the best batch of the remaining three hundred ballistae to be sealed with the White Lion Legion's siege ballistae. Laurist actually wanted to sell the rest of the ballistae.
In Dorles's mind, would the chariot caravan still exist without the ballistae? Dorles's eyes were filled with tears, and he was on the verge of crying.
Laurist, on the other hand, was so angry that he almost laughed. What was Dorles thinking?
"Dorles, Dorles!" Laurist was enraged.
"Ah, my lord, I'm …" Dorles looked at Laurist with a tearful expression.
"Seal up the ballistae and hand them over to Steward Spear. Immediately recruit soldiers. Within three months, expand the chariot caravan into a corps. There will be five companies in total, and each company will have five hundred ballistae and two thousand five hundred soldiers. They will be ready by October, and then they will receive the new steel ballistae. I've already transferred a dozen or so of my family's knights to your chariot corps. All the equipment has been checked out, and we're just waiting for you to sign off on them. When the magical beast wave arrives this winter, your chariot corps will be the main force against the beasts. When the time comes, don't drop the ball. Do you understand? "
"My, my lord, you're not reducing our chariot caravan, but expanding it into a chariot corps?" Dorles was so happy that he couldn't even tell north from south.
"That's right, you bastard. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Laurist looked at Dorles helplessly.
"Yes, I understand, my lord. I'll go do it now." Dorles ran out in a panic, and then poked his head in. "My, my lord, are there really that many new ballistae for us?"
Laurist nodded. "Of course, and they're much better than your old ballistae. Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked you to seal them up."
"Oh yeah!" Dolus let out a shout of joy, and ran out happily.
"This idiot …" Laurist shook his head, continuing to look at the documents that had accumulated over the past few months.
… …
Eight months ago, the family's territory had been relatively peaceful, and there had been a steady stream of good news. The potatoes that had been sown in April had been harvested in July, and more than one hundred and seventy million catties had been harvested. Next, the millet and millet that had been sown in May would be harvested in September. The weather had been good this year, and it would be another bumper harvest. Even if the area planted wasn't large and couldn't completely offset the food consumption of five hundred thousand people, it was still good news that there had been a harvest.
In addition, the cleaning up of the magical beasts that had remained in Feng Le Plains had ended at the end of June. This time, another hundred thousand magical beasts had become a source of meat for the family's territory. According to the reports, the meat of magical beasts and potatoes had become one of the most popular delicacies in Feng Le Plains. However, there had still been hundreds of casualties in the process of cleaning up the magical beasts. These soldiers had all been killed or injured while hunting the carnivorous magical beasts. If not for the fact that the family had many Gold and Silver knights, the casualties would have been even greater.
However, Laurist believed that if Dorles' chariot team joined in the cleaning up of the magical beasts next year, it would greatly reduce the family's casualties. Looking at Bofinger's report, apart from Josk's archer battalion and Miss Bessa's female battalion, the rest of the family's armed forces had been scattered to the various villages and central towns to assist in the construction of defensive structures such as the fortress walls and city walls.
As the head of the family's mining department, Father Barlek had submitted the most reports, and had also reported the most good news. Firstly, the salt factory in Blade Peak Mountain had produced large quantities of high-quality salt. Not only could it meet the family's needs, it could also become a competitive product for foreign trade. Secondly, the Rubber Vine Valley had also produced large quantities of green vine glue, but it was all used for the construction of the defensive structures in Feng Le Plains. According to the family's development plan, the green vine glue would not be able to meet the demand for at least five years, and they might even have to import some from outside.
What Laurist was most satisfied with was that the daily necessities factories that Father Barlek was in charge of were doing well. Currently, there were more than fifty thousand people working in these factories. The largest was the animal skin paper factory, which had nearly ten thousand workers. Thanks to the harvest from the cleaning up of magical beasts, the factory had produced a hundred thousand pieces of animal skin paper that met the specifications in the past six months. According to statistics, by the end of the year, there were an estimated five hundred thousand pieces of animal skin paper produced, with a commercial value of more than twenty thousand gold fords. This helped to replenish the family's shortage of administrative paper.
As for the rest of the workshops and factories that produced daily necessities, Barlek's father adopted the strategy of fostering and competing. There were two related factories in each industry, each with their own unique products to maintain their survival and form a competitive relationship with other products. For example, there were two pottery workshops. One mainly produced small plates and bowls, while the other specialized in producing large pots and jars. This prevented one factory from monopolizing a certain industry.
Although the new daily necessities factories in the family's territory were still very young and immature, it was already impressive that they could satisfy the needs of more than five hundred thousand people. Once they settled down, these small factories would naturally develop. As long as they could produce some unique products, they would become one of the important commodities that the family traded with the outside world.
Next, Laurist looked at the reports submitted by the three major departments of the family. The head of the human resources department, Cordan, had specially submitted a report. He was full of praise for one of his subordinates, and strongly requested for this person to be promoted to be his assistant.
Looking at this report, Laurist really wanted to laugh, because this person's name was Camorra.
In the past, Baron Camorra had been stripped of his title by Duke Lujins and thrown into the water dungeon. After being rescued, he rejected Laurist's proposal to hire him as an advisor and insisted on living the life of an ordinary person. However, a talent was a talent. After coming to the family's territory and passing the recruitment of administrative personnel, he became a low-level manager in the human resources department. He quickly distinguished himself in the daily administrative affairs, and was deeply trusted and admired by Cordan.
Laurist smiled and wrote his approval on Cordan's report. He could promote this person according to Cordan's opinion. In fact, Laurist had already planned to let Camorra stay under Cordan for a while, and then he would have important tasks for him.
The last person to submit the report was Fatso Shi. Fatso Shi, who was ashamed and courageous, had spent a lot of effort on the tasks that Laurist had given him. In just half a year, he had already completed the planning of the three new towns, the rear city of Monolith Castle, Mountain City, and the City of Industry at the border of the Mountains of Blades and the Molgen Hills. He had also started construction, moving people, reclaiming wastelands, and deploying industries in an orderly manner.
As the family's future most important weapons and equipment production center, the related production personnel and their families had already settled down in the City of Industry, and the construction of the production base and residential area was underway. Mountain City was planned by Fatso Shi to be a half-farm, half-factory. Most of the daily necessities production workshops were located there, and the families of the various mines in the Molgen Hills were also arranged there. Adding on the thirty thousand farmers, Mountain City had become the most populous town in the Norton Family's territory, with more than seventy thousand residents.
The once bustling immigration camp behind Monolith Castle had more than five hundred thousand people, but after many migrations, there were only about forty thousand family soldiers and their families left. Fatso Shi had planned to build the rear city of Monolith Castle on the immigration camp's location, which was also the place with the slowest construction. However, more than ten thousand acres of wasteland had already been reclaimed outside the rear city. Fatso Shi's plan was to start the construction of irrigation facilities next year, and the year after that, this place would become the family's granary.
… …
When Tagger came in, Laurist was reading a report on the Mountain Barbarians.
Perhaps when the Wave of Magical Beasts retreated, there were many herds of magical beasts and carnivorous magical beasts left near the Demonic Dragon Mountains. That was why the border between the Demonic Dragon Mountains and the family's territory had not been attacked by the Mountain Barbarians in the first half of the year. The Five Swords mercenary group stationed at the military fortress at the junction of the two mountains reported that although they had found many traces of the Mountain Barbarians, most of them were hunting. Currently, there were no signs of the Mountain Barbarians attacking the family's territory on a large scale.
Laurist snorted softly. In the second half of last year, the Mountain Barbarians had launched a thousand-man attack on the military fortress, intending to uproot the military fortress that controlled the river in the deep valley. Thirteen members of the Five Swords mercenary group had died in that attack, but the warning smoke they had released had attracted Josk's archer cavalry battalion and Paciko's garrison platoon. Attacked from both sides, the Mountain Barbarians suffered a great loss, and only managed to escape after leaving behind half of their men's corpses. Hopefully, they still remembered the lesson from last year. The family's current focus was to deal with the Wave of Magical Beasts. Once the Wave of Magical Beasts was eliminated, it would be their turn.
"Sir, I'm back." Tagger bowed respectfully.
"Oh, how's the progress on your side?" Laurist asked as he put down the report in his hands.
During the first half of the year, when he was patrolling the Fengle Plains, Laurist had brought his men to investigate the isthmus that Tagger had suggested to lure the magical beasts into, and he was very satisfied. The reason why Tagger knew about this place was because he had joined Yuri's light cavalry scouts to make a living. He had traveled all over the Norton Family's territory, and when he had discovered this isthmus, he had paid attention to it.
"It's already done. When the first snow comes in winter, we can reinforce the defensive walls set up in front. I guarantee that those magical beasts won't be able to get out once they enter the isthmus," Tagger replied.
Laurist stood up, walked to Tagger's side, and patted his shoulder. "Well done. When the Wave of Magical Beasts arrives this year, we can carry out the plan. Whether or not we can stabilize the family's territory as soon as possible depends on whether or not we can succeed this time. Tagger, work hard. Once you reach the Silver rank, I will accept you as a family knight. "
"Yes, thank you for your nurturing, Sir," Tagger said.
…
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