The New Civilization of Witches

Chapter 47: Market Circulation

For the last week, it was quite quiet for Border Town.

Iron Axe and Brian both said that the strength and number of demonic beasts would gradually grow along with the development of the Moon Demon.

So, take advantage of a situation where the pressure on the defensive line is not yet strong,

Roland once again sent a boat with ore to Willow Town.

Since the steam engine began to be used for mining in the North Slope Mine, the number of miners has been reduced by half, but its production continues to increase.

Now, it has been restored to the production level from before the collapse. Using machines to do the job saves a lot of manpower.

Meanwhile, under Roland's orders, the mine production system had undergone an initial reform.

The previous fixed payment for each day is converted into a variable payment. He let Barov gather statistics on the average number of ores produced each day last year.

With this he can set the standard and everyone who mines more can increase their pay. An increase in the number of gemstones would result in a huge reward.

This step effectively increases the enthusiasm of workers to mine, so that the mine becomes a crowded area.

Roland naturally wanted to do more with his ores, now that he had more ores in hand.

In addition to plans to produce a second steam engine, he also intended to produce a number of manual lathes.

This lathe can be seen as something historic, usually seen as an important machine for implementing other tools.

The foundation can be considered as the most primitive tool – is used for manual installation and manufacture.

It is better to use it to make, because using it to repair is really too troublesome,

so people often try to tie up their products or put them in a niche on the table to fix the processed parts.

For example, the barrel of a matchstick gun and an early flintlock are placed into a niche on the runway to be pounded by hand.

Later, manual manufacturing became too slow to meet demand, so they needed tools to increase production speed.

Lathe can be used according to different purposes, tools can be fixed according to their individual needs, and manual and machine processing can be used together.

So, the lathe can effectively increase the power of pure manual labor and can be changed for any weak point. Roland was also considered a manual milling machine.

Although the milling machine has a variety of functions, it wants to use it mainly to process unnecessary gears, so its architecture can also be simplified.

With slots for fixed gear plates and rotatable steel discs, customized cutting equipment can be easily produced with the help of Anna –

by grinding and polishing the top layer after it is heated until it becomes red hot, remove the slag on the iron,

and then immersing it in water to harden it, it would be a special disc that was extremely rigid.

After the main problem was resolved, Roland immediately gave Carter the order to hire two carpenters, who would wake him up to the milling machine.

Meanwhile, Anna continued to produce other metal parts in the castle's backyard.

Roland had to say, that with Anna's help, the processing of the metal became as easy as forming clay, especially after she had mastered her fire taking.

He was currently processing small objects, forming his rough shape in his hands.

Seeing Anna take the iron bar in her hand, melting it without any further help and shaping it into the shape she wanted caused Roland to sigh in astonishment.

If he could not hire a magician, Roland thought, the achievement of his production program would be delayed by more than a decade.

Two days later, the first simple milling machine appeared in the backyard.

This time Roland was not idle, drawing gears could be considered his job. He designed a set of gears that would be used to control speed and stabilize steam output.

The corresponding tooth plate design was already normalized, and Roland could only wait until the milling machine was completely assembled before they could start with the production of the gears.

Using gears is nothing new, most mines in the world use a winch mechanism to drain water, which is made from wooden gears and pulled by animals.

The Knight Chief finally felt satisfied – last time, His Majesty has done so many unexpected things, but this time he can understand what the Prince wants to achieve.

Roland also gathered three blacksmiths with their disciples, who would learn how to use the grinding machine together.

After everyone respectfully bowed, Roland began to demonstrate how to use the milling machine to process the gears.

Roland did not mind acting as a teacher in front of everyone. Actually, what else could one do in this era?

Plus, while doing this no one could criticize his manners, so he could operate the machine without any pressure.

Chief Knight is in charge of pouring hot lard into the machine as lubricant – of course in this age there is no oil lubricant.

Replacing it with lard is a bit pointless, but it's still better than nothing.

After wetting the disc, the lard will fall into the pot placed under the machine.With this, the lard can be reused several times.

Roland first placed the milled stone down according to the design he had carved before.

Then, he arranged the gears on it so that the gears, grinding stones, and wooden wheels were in a line.

The wooden wheel is driven by pedals and its power is transmitted to the lower millstone by a leather belt.

Then, he placed his hand down to gently stabilize the handle of the disc, until the lower millstone and the slowly moving gears were at a 90° angle.

Because the material of the tooth disc is iron and the bottom mill is made of steel, cutting the former teeth is not too difficult.

Due to the hot lard, the courtyard was immediately filled with a pleasant smell, but since the blacksmiths and their disciples had not eaten meat for a long time, they had to swallow their saliva when smelling it.

After the demonstration, the contract was immediately signed. Border Town's trade was still in its early stages, but calling it an industry was impossible.

No matter if it was a steam engine or a lathe, there would be no phenomenon where people would run to the store, struggle to be the first or fear being the last to buy it.

In this day and age, most people are unaware of the enormous significance they represent, as well as the potential commercial value they possess.

Therefore, Roland could only take the initiative to promote the use of this machine.

Roland specifically wrote in the contract that blacksmiths using milling machines were required to process at least one set of gears each week.

The materials needed would be provided by the castle and the processing fee was set at 10 silver royals.

At the same time, the blacksmith had to pay a weekly fee of 2 gold royals.

Milling machines are not given to them for free use, but are rented to them instead.

After entering the Demon Moon, the blacksmiths usually had less work.

So, this time when they had the chance to make money and even under His Majesty's orders, there were naturally no blacksmiths who objected.

Meanwhile, Roland told them that this was only the first milling machine.

In the future he would produce several, one after another, and if they were interested in one, they could apply for him at City Hall.

"Your Majesty, why don't you directly write the processing fee of the 8 silver royals in the contract?" carter asked, puzzled, after the blacksmiths left the backyard.

"Although these two numbers are the same, they do not contain the same meaning," Roland explained, explaining,

"This may be Border Town's first commercial lease contract, so I have to establish industry norms."

The Knight Chief rubbed his forehead. The 4th Prince seemed to be speaking trash once more,

carter is used to it. As long as he pretends to listen carefully, His Majesty will continue to explain.

“A good start is always important to form a virtuous circle. I'm the only one who currently needs to buy gears,

so I have to provide the tools while they provide the workforce. They will also be paid.

In the future when there are others who have a demand for gears, they will realize that having their own equipment will be better than renting a machine and getting the rewards given.”

When Roland spoke here, he paused for a moment and then said,

“In this way, when they see something new, they can rent the machine first and decide later on whether the market is big enough to buy their own machine, and if not they will just keep renting the machine. This is a virtuous circle.”