That's right!
Edgar was stunned and looked at Tang En eagerly. "My Lord, are you going to place an order?"
"What order … Oh, it can be considered an order, but not for weapons and equipment."
Tang En said, "Today, I inspected the farmland …"
I like the word "inspection"!
Tang En felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction in his heart and continued, "I discovered that everyone's farming tools are still made of wood, so I would like to give everyone some farming subsidies in the name of the Lord so that everyone can change to iron farming tools."
"Really?"
Edgar calculated the number of farmers in Ellington in his mind and was overjoyed. Although the price of farming tools was not as high as weapons and equipment, he could still make a lot of money with the increase in the number.
"Of course it's true. In addition, I have something for you to help me make, but let's confirm this first."
"Well said, well said. Everyone knows that iron farming tools are definitely good, but iron is too expensive and we can't afford to use them, so we've been using wood. My Lord, what is it …"
"Farming subsidies."
"Yes! Farming subsidies — by the way, what does farming subsidies mean? "
Edgar just realized that he didn't understand what Tang En meant at all.
Why are you so excited if you don't understand?
Tang En resisted the urge to roar and patiently explained. Then Edgar finally understood. In short, farming subsidies meant that the Lord was spending money to exchange for good things for everyone!
If Fiona was present, she would probably be even more shocked and amazed — shocked by his skill in winning people over and amazed by his squandering!
"This is great news!"
Edgar was very excited. "My Lord is really sent by the Gods to save Ellington! If everyone knows about this, they will be very grateful to my Lord! "
"This matter will be kept a secret for the time being and will be announced when the farming tools are made."
"Okay! I swear in the name of the Gods that I will keep this matter a secret! "
Hearing him swear in the name of the Gods, Tang En subconsciously paid attention to the movements outside, but he didn't hear any muffled thunder.
Was it a coincidence in the morning?
Tang En threw this thought to the back of his mind in the blink of an eye.
"Wait, wait! Big brother! "
At this time, Brian couldn't take it anymore. He was so angry that his beard blew and his eyes widened. "You called me over just to make me build farm tools?! Are you kidding me?! "
"Of course I'm not joking!"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! "
Brian flew into a rage: "I am Brian of the Hammer Forging Family, and you want me to stay and help you forge farm tools!? The emblem of the Hammer Forging Family would cry! He's really crying! "
"Oh?"
Tang En said lightly, "Even if these farming tools will be upgraded and replaced with new alloys in the future, you still won't be willing?"
"No … of course I'm willing!"
Brian's expression instantly changed, and he said with a strong sense of righteousness, "No matter how powerful weapons and equipment are, they are only weapons for killing. Only farming tools can benefit all living beings! I love to make farming tools, so don't steal them from me! Otherwise, I'll get angry with him! "
Tang En pursed his lips. 'You want to fight with me?' 'You're still too inexperienced!'
Brian despised Tang En in his heart. 'You want to fight with me? You're still thin-skinned! '
"I understand, Sir Lord. Then these farming tools will be built according to the previous ratio, right?"
Edgar's expression was difficult, and he roughly calculated in his heart. Although the iron ore was a little tight, it was still enough to use it sparingly.
Tang En sensitively noticed Edgar's abnormality: "What's wrong? Is there a problem? "
"No problem! I promise to complete the task! "
"Oh," Tang En nodded. "Although it's called iron farming tools, it doesn't have to be made of iron. As long as the key parts of the farming tools are replaced with iron, it'll be fine. The hoe, rake, plow, and sickle blades will be made of iron, and the handle will be made of wood. Not only is it a waste of iron, but it's also too heavy and can't be used for farming."
"I see, I didn't think of that!"
Edgar suddenly realized. But with this calculation, there would be a surplus of iron ore again, and he was quite happy.
Tang En motioned for him to start calculating: "You roughly calculate how many of each type of tool need to be built, and then give me a price."
Edgar did a rough calculation and said: "Sir Lord, as far as I know, Ellington has a total of 1232 farmers. If all of them are replaced, at least 1232 of each type of tool will be needed. Taking into account the damage and replacement, I'm afraid you'll need to build more than 1500 tools. But if the key parts are made of iron, the cost will be reduced by a lot. The sickle and rake will be 10 silver coins each, and the hoe and plow will be slightly more expensive at 15 silver coins each. These are the cost price."
Edgar did not dare to make a false offer to Tang En. He said that it was the cost price, and there was not a trace of exaggeration in it.
"Well, I'll allow you a profit of one silver coin for each type of tool. The price will be set at 11 silver coins and 16 silver coins."
Tang En did not even need to calculate. Even if every family bought each type of tool, it would be enough for him to subsidize them with one gold coin. This was only 1232 gold coins, and compared to the improved agricultural efficiency, this amount of money was really not much.
"Sir Lord is wise."
"Don't flatter me. How long will it take to get these things done? Is one month enough? "
"One, one month!?"
Edgar and Brian both jumped up. Brian shouted: "Big brother, are you kidding me!? From now on, even if the two of us don't sleep and rest, it will take us more than half a year to get them done! "
Tang En was stunned: "More than half a year!? It can't be, just these few things … "
"A layman will always be a layman!"
Brian snorted: "Edgar! Don't talk nonsense with him! Just half a year! At least half a year! "
"This … Sir Lord?"
"This efficiency is too slow!"
Tang En frowned. In half a year, the harvest time of the Month of Harvest had been delayed.
"Slow? Who dares to say it's slow! "
Brian was furious: "If it weren't for me, the master, it would take even longer!"
"That's reasonable."
Edgar deeply agreed: "Sir Lord, forging ironware needs to be smelted, hammered into shape repeatedly, then sharpened and quenched. Every step can't be sloppy."
"This is just a tool for farming, not a weapon for the battlefield. It's okay to be sloppy …"
"You're insulting us!"
Brian was so angry that he glared: "Forging is a sacred skill. The things we forge must be the best!"
"This …"
Tang En had nothing to say. He only realized now that he had made an empirical mistake again.
On Earth, due to the highly developed industry, everything was mass-produced by assembly lines. Every day, the assembly line would be embarrassed to start work if it didn't produce tens of thousands of things. But Prandal was different. There were no assembly line factories or various machines. Everything was handmade!
For example, the things here were like mass-produced watches and hand-made Patek Philippe. Although the functions were the same, the added value was different!
But what Tang En wanted now was efficiency and mass production.
"Can't we recruit apprentices?"
"No, no. Apprentices also need to be smart and skilled. Without a few years of learning, they can't make things independently."
Brian and Edgar shook their heads and discussed how to improve efficiency. But no matter how much they discussed, they couldn't avoid an important problem.
There were too few people available.
Tang En frowned. The efficiency was too low and must be improved.
"In that case, let's put aside the discussion just now. Now we have an important problem to discuss."
Tang En pressed his hands down, motioning for them to be quiet, and then said: "How to improve efficiency."
"Big brother, do you have any ideas?"
"Do you know how to use molds to improve efficiency?"
"Of course, which blacksmith doesn't know how to use molds? But this can't solve the fundamental problem. "
"It's good that you know how to use molds. Then, I think it's time to innovate Prandal's outdated forging technology."
"Innovate?"
"Yes."
Tang En showed a bright smile: "Assembly line and lathe manufacturing technology … There should be applause."
"Quack, quack, quack …"
Edgar and Brian, who were in a daze, clapped their hands stupidly. The next moment, Brian shouted: "Big brother! I understand every word you said, but I don't understand at all when you add them up! "
Obviously, Edgar and Brian were confused by Tang En again.
"What's assembly line? What's lathe manufacturing technology? "
The two in front of him might be witnesses to the industrial revolution in Prandal, so Tang En had to patiently explain to them so that the next step could be taken.
"Assembly line is very simple. The principle is to use a large number of workers to replace a person's various repetitive tasks. Each person completes a step and then passes it to the next person. In this way, there is no need to rest for a moment, and the efficiency can be greatly improved."
Brian couldn't help but ask: "I understand the principle, but why is the efficiency improved?"
Tang En almost thought that he would ask: "Why are the pigeons so big?" So he continued to patiently explain to them what was efficiency, how to improve the overall efficiency, and how to improve the overall production efficiency by increasing the efficiency per unit of time …
After listening to Tang En's explanation, Edgar and Brian were suddenly enlightened, and then they were amazed.
"God! I didn't expect that ordinary people could do this in addition to using magic! "
"It's such a simple method, why didn't we think of it?"
Edgar and Brian suddenly felt like idiots. It was obviously a very simple thing, but why didn't anyone think of it before?
"But big brother, we're back to the old problem. We don't have so many blacksmiths available!"
Yes, whether it was hand-forging or assembly line, the biggest problem now was that there were not so many skilled blacksmiths available.
And Tang En's solution to this problem was very simple and crude.
That was to move lathes and punches to Prandal!
"This brings me to the second point I mentioned earlier, the manufacturing technology of lathes."
Tang En curled the corner of his mouth: "Since we can't improve the overall efficiency, we can only improve the efficiency per unit of time. As long as the two of you can produce more products per unit of time, the efficiency will naturally improve."
Edgar and Brian looked at Tang En as if they were looking at a fool: Didn't we just discuss this topic? It was obviously not feasible!
What Tang En wanted to tell them was that this method was feasible, and not only feasible, but also very feasible!
The lathe technology would change the whole Ellington — no, it would change the whole Prandal industry!
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