The New Civilization of Witches
Chapter 142: Street Tram
It had been half a month since Roland had conquered Longsong Fortress. The five noble families in the fortress had sent the people and needed supplies to Border Town.
After the Ministry of Agriculture was fully organized, the spring piracy of the new year finally began, and it was the first step for Roland's agricultural engineering revolution. The slaves, who saw the beginning of life as free men, were filled with the motivation to work. The scene when a supervisor whips the slaves and forces them to work is never seen again on the south bank of the Redwater River. Some lazy slaves worked, only to find that no one had come to watch over them anymore. They heard from the officials who were busy measuring in the fields with strange tools that His Majesty did not concern himself with the harvest of one or two fields. From now on, the slaves would work for themselves, and the more they plowed, the more they gained.
Not all Ministry of Agriculture officials understand the principle of ‘distribution to each according to his work’. They were actually asked by Roland to repeat these ideas endlessly to the slaves in order to instill these ideas into their minds. To satisfy His Majesty's nostalgic feelings, red flags and banners were decorated along the banks of the Redwater River. On the banners were inscribed slogans like ‘Labour is the only way to become rich’, ‘Labour brings honor and glory’, ‘Labour towards freedom’, and ‘Labor change destiny’ and so on.
Of course these measures received rejection from others, for example, Barov was the first to stand up and express his disapproval.
“Your Highness, this is completely meaningless. Most slaves could not read, and they did not care about what was written on the banner. These people are stupid and ignorant. The whip couldn't even make them better, let alone this banner with strange words. ”
Roland, however, gave a simple answer, “The banner was not meant for them.”
“Then why do you do these things?” Hearing this, the assistant minister asked in a somewhat puzzled manner.
“To make a live model.”
He had never expected the slaves to be stupid and unchangeable. It is true that they are uneducated, but that does not mean they have no mind. No matter how boring a person is, he will be driven by desires and interests, which is human nature. The words repeated by the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture did not seem to have much effect at first, but it will actually inspire them and thus lead them to unconsciously change their old ideas, just as small rivers will gather to form the sea. When the first group of slaves were promoted to free men, when they traded their crops for money to buy decent clothes and delicious food and even a sturdy and warm brick house, slogans that are often repeated will become reality and are etched in their minds. .
As for the banners along the riverbank, it was for the subject of Border Town after they received universal education.
With their own hands, the slaves were able to alleviate poverty, become official members of Border Town and even have better lives than the natives. All with the power of hard work.
By comparing them, one could feel a gap between them. They will then pursue a better life on their own initiative. Only in this way can the efficiency of the individual be raised to the highest level.
…
Iron Head stood at the entrance of the mine waiting for the latest ore shipment.
Since half of his face was burned by the hot steam during the last Demon Moon, he never dared to stand next to this black machine again.
Fortunately, there was a kind-hearted angel, Miss Nana, in Border Town. Iron Head touched his fully healed face, and his heart was filled with gratitude. When he was injured, he dared to suspect that he was one of the devil's accomplices. How offended for him! After winter, he took two salted fish and a boar's leg, then went to Mr. Pine's house to apologize for his mistake.
More surprisingly, even though Tigui Pine was a viscount, unlike the arrogant nobles who raised their noses high up in the air, he generously accepted his apology. For the first time, Iron Head felt not all nobles were ruthless and merciless.
“Old Iron,” a dust-covered miner ran out of the mine and shouted, “The rope has been tied.”
“Trust me, Old Iron. You can count on me,” replied Flacke loudly.
Since Nail was sent to join the First Army, Iron Head arranged for Flacke to operate the steam engine. At first Flacke often made mistakes with orders that caused the steam pipe to break. Iron Head had hit him many times because of that. Fortunately, His Majesty did not blame them for this matter. Instead, he sent people to replace the broken parts of the machine. And they don't even have to pay money for broken parts. Iron Head initially thought they would be fined a month's salary for it.
With the opening of the inlet valve, the steam engine spewed out an enormous amount of white smoke and the main wheels began to rotate slowly, directing the winder to stretch the rope straight.
“Breasure! Watch the rope. Watch closely!” Iron Head shouted.
In addition to steam engines, the way ore is removed from mines has also changed.
His Majesty ordered the carpenters to cut many long logs, which were laid end to end to form rails along the mine tunnel. And then another wooden stick was placed under parallel wooden rails. It looks like a long wooden ladder.
His Majesty called it a wooden rail transport system, a strange name. It didn't seem too complicated, but it had an amazing effect after they used a special tram! How efficient! The ores, which had taken three or four days to do mining in the past, were packed in several trams and pulled out by a steam engine in a breath.
Iron Head excitedly observed the four-wheeled tram that was speeding along the wooden rail. It was made entirely of iron so it was very expensive. The key to making it move along the narrow rails without falling is the wheels. There is a larger flange on the inner edge of the wheel that is firmly mounted on the rails. On the steering wheel there is a square iron pot that has hooks on the front and back to connect the tram in one row.
He could not help but admire His Majesty's wisdom. With a simple design, he made transporting the ore easier. Prior to its discovery, the transport of heavy ore out of mines was the most time-consuming and energy-intensive labor.
However, this system is not perfect. For example, after being used for five days, two wooden rail rods were already destroyed, and another one was soon broken. The situation improved after His Majesty ordered to wrap the upper sides of all the rails with thin iron sheets.
In addition, the rope was broken once and caused a serious accident. Iron Head still felt his heart racing as he remembered it. As per the rules, they were only allowed to pull four trams at a time. But on that day, the miners wanted to get their work done faster, so they connected six trams together. The tram was already halfway through, when a rope as thick as half an arm suddenly broke off, rebounding and bumping into a miner standing beside Iron Head. It broke his arm and some of his ribs. The trams slid along the tracks, knocking out two miners and smashing the feet of another unfortunate miner.
Fortunately Iron Head knew what they had to do in such a case. He immediately arranged for the people to bring the injured miners to Viscount Tigui's house. As long as they had not died, Miss Nana would be able to heal them completely.
“Old Iron, the tram is out!” shouted the man who was observing at the entrance.
Hearing this, Iron Head commanded loudly. “Flacke, wait 10 breaths, then turn off the steam engine and take care of the order!”
“Ya, understand.”
Four trams slowly stopped at the end of the tram line. Iron Head went to record the ore yield. The first two trams were filled with reddish-brown iron ore, the most commonly found in mines. In the third tram, there was a gray ore with a slightly yellow color, which should have been copper ore. When he saw the ore in the fourth tram, he was a little surprised, as he had never seen this kind of ore in the records before. It is dark brown and emits a dim metallic luster in the sun.
Another unknown ore, Iron Head shook his head. The North Slope Mine had so many tunnels, so it was only natural that they would often dig for strange ores. He drew a cross on his paper and ordered the miners to send all the ores to the courtyard. As for these dark brown ores, whether they would be thrown into the furnace or not, had nothing to do with him.
