When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#389 - Huilu Town Armory and Honeycomb Briquette

Gray Hearth Town consists of two parts: a residential area outside the city and a smelting area inside the city.

The Knights' Hall, once a gathering place for nobles, has been transformed into the town hall, and across the street from the town hall stands the Gray Hearth Armory.

Halkin wasn't visiting Gray Hearth Town for the first time. He entered through the main gate with practiced ease, exchanging greetings with the guards on duty.

Currently, Halkin is in the Holy Forging Department, primarily in charge of peat-related matters. Due to the potential military applications of peat, he also handles a small amount of armaments-related work.

For example, he is responsible for the quality inspection and collection of iron armor, and coincidentally, the person in charge of forging the iron armor is Halkin's father, Brock.

This father and son duo, one responsible for design and forging, and the other for quality inspection and collection, was originally a rather ambiguous combination.

However, Halkin has always been business-minded, showing no favoritism even towards his own father, often driving old Brock to fits of rage.

Some even heard that old Brock was writing letters to his hometown, trying to marry a new wife and have a second child to replace this unfilial son, Halkin.

Standing in front of the armory, Halkin looked up at the huge "Holy Forging Department" sign and blinked.

This armory, employing over three hundred craftsmen, has two floors and covers an area of about five acres. An artificial river extends from the Jeanne d'Arc Fortress Canal into the armory.

The entire armory is divided into four areas: the central workshop, the specialized workshops, the raw materials and equipment warehouse, and the offices on the second floor.

The central workshop is the largest working area, with large equipment such as vats, furnaces, forging tables, and hydraulic hammers occupying the main space, primarily used for large-scale forging operations.

The smelting of iron ore has been transferred to Mayor Town, and piles of crude iron materials and refined iron are transported in by the cartload.

The specialized workshops have dedicated rooms or areas for different types of craftsmen, such as shoulder armor making, arm armor making, chest plate front making, chest plate back making, helmet making, ingredient preparation room, assembly room, inspection room, etc.

The rough pieces made in the central workshop are sent to the specialized workshops for refining, and then returned to the central workshop for rework if necessary.

The finished armor that passes quality inspection is sent to the finished product warehouse, which also stores raw materials and semi-finished products, generally located on the road side for easy access and transportation.

Finally, the office area on the second floor is mainly used by managers and master craftsmen for arranging work, recording production progress, and designing technical drawings.

The monks who used to spend all day in the monastery chanting scriptures and copying books were stripped from their peaceful religious work by Horn and forcibly thrown into workshops.

The orally transmitted management knowledge and armaments designs were transformed by these monks, who were previously uninvolved in production, into more efficient rules and regulations.

Instead of going upstairs to find his father immediately, Halkin first stood in the central workshop to observe the forging scene.

White water vapor rose from the vats, and the softened metal emitted a bright white luster. Every hammer strike sent up a shower of bright white sparks.

Beneath the vats were blocks of peat shaped like lotus roots, which were the new form of honeycomb briquettes introduced by the Holy Forging Department.

These honeycomb briquettes are made by drying peat, grinding it into powder, and then bonding it together with yellow mud.

Each honeycomb briquette has several holes drilled into it, allowing the flames and the peat itself to come into contact with more air, resulting in more intense combustion.

Due to the large contact area with air and the fact that they do not easily fall apart, 8 honeycomb briquettes can meet the fuel needs for a day when used with a dedicated honeycomb briquette iron stove.

This method was proposed by Holy Grandson Horn as early as the Autumn Dusk Island period and has been well-received since its implementation.

It is not only convenient but also more fuel-efficient and cheaper.

The price of each ton of honeycomb briquettes is 18 to 20 dinars, while the price of each ton of firewood is about 26 to 28 dinars.

Although prices have fallen after the opening of the mountains and forests, the price of firewood still remains at around 20 to 22 dinars.

But the problem is that one hundred pounds of honeycomb briquettes can last for more than half a month, while one hundred pounds of firewood will not last even a week.

It is precisely because of the high price of fuel such as firewood that the people of Thousand River Valley will intercrop rice fruit and wheat.

Although wheat yields are low due to climate reasons, bread baked with wheat flour is more cost-effective than rice fruit that needs to be steamed and boiled for every meal.

If honeycomb briquettes can be promoted, then more productive rice fruit can be widely planted in agriculture, and the agriculture of Langsand County will usher in another leap forward.

Although each ton of honeycomb briquettes only sells for 18 to 20 dinars, the peat workshops can still earn nearly double the profit compared to their low cost.

Halkin looked at the honeycomb briquettes spewing flames in the furnace, stroking his chin and falling into thought.

Why not lower the price again and force the fuel price down, so that more can be sold.

But the problem is that they don't have enough alchemists on hand at the moment.

In today's market, the hiring price of an alchemical craftsman is generally one to two percent higher than that of an ordinary craftsman.

Blindly expanding production will be difficult to end.

"You brat, what are you doing here looking for me?" Brock asked Halkin with a wooden face, a thick tongue, and a strange voice.

Halkin turned around and saw his father, wearing a leather vest, walking down the stairs.

Brock's mouth was full of blisters, and his eyes were not friendly when he looked at Halkin.

"Dad, why does your voice sound so strange? What's wrong with your mouth?"

"Body fluid imbalance, too much heat, a lot of blisters on my mouth and tongue, it's not a big deal." Seeing his youngest son caring about him, Brock's face was wooden, but his heart warmed.

But the next sentence made Brock tremble with anger, sweating all over in the hot weather, his hands and feet cold.

"Since it's not a big deal, then hurry up and make the next batch of breastplates." Halkin smiled and grabbed his father's hand, "If you make a contribution, I'll report it to the Holy Grandson and reward you with a big one."

"Grumble, grumble, grumble!" Brock shook off Halkin's hand, so angry that he couldn't speak clearly. He pushed Halkin out, "I've already prepared it, leave if you have nothing to do."

"Don't, don't." Holding the door frame with both hands, half of his body was pushed out of the door, Halkin turned his head with difficulty and said, "I'm here with a mission, I have serious business."

Amidst the snickers of the surrounding craftsmen, Brock let Halkin turn around with an unkind expression.

"Dad, look what this is?" Halkin took out two palm-sized metal rods from his pocket.

"Mithril? Adamantine? Where did you get it?" Brock snatched the two metal rods from Halkin's hand, carefully wiped them, and his eyes lit up, "The purity is not low either."

Mithril and Adamantine are two relatively rare alchemical products. In addition to naturally formed ones, only dwarves can make them.

The functions of these two minerals are very heaven-defying. Mithril mixed into weapons and armor will reduce weight, while Adamantine can increase hardness and toughness.

"It's a gift from the knights of Golden River Township." Halkin said with a cheerful smile, "What do you think about mixing Mithril into the firing pin?"

"That requires a special dwarven forging table and materials."

"Is there a way to bypass the dwarven forging table?"

"Find a way to do that, and then have the humans steal the technology, right? Use your head." Brock grunted and stuffed the two metal rods into his pocket.

"Dad, look at you..." Halkin reached out to take it from Brock's pocket, but Brock grabbed his hand. Halkin immediately used his other hand to pull Brock's clothes, but Brock turned his body to prevent him from taking his pocket.

The father and son tugged for a long time, their clothes were torn, and Halkin had to take a step back:

"His Majesty said that a patent law will be introduced within the next five years, and anyone who uses this technology will have to pay us a patent fee. We can get money without working hard to build it."

"There are too many human sweet words, I don't believe it." Brock said in a hoarse voice, "Didn't the Normans also promise never to spread it? What happened later?"

"This won't work, that won't work, what do you want?"

Halkin's anger rose, and he roared on the spot, "Be stubborn, be stubborn, you just be stubborn! Be stubborn until the Holy Grandson suffers a defeat in front, be stubborn until Langsand County is in chaos, destroy the Salvation Army, I'll just lose my life with you."

But this time Brock was not angry, but glared at him with contempt: "Do you think I wouldn't think of that? Like you?

Last time you said the armor was not up to standard, so I wrote to a few dwarven friends in North County, and they soon came with a forging table, you idiot."

"Oh, awesome." Halkin immediately changed to a flattering face, hugged him, and kissed his father's face twice, "As expected of you, Dad, I said you are smart and beautiful..."

"Get down, get down!" Brock was a little embarrassed by Halkin, his face flushed, and he pulled Halkin off him by his beard, "Is there anything else? Don't bother me if you have nothing to do."

"Okay, I'm leaving, I won't disturb you, and don't forget about the iron armor!"

"Grumble, get out!" The exasperated Brock kicked Halkin in the butt, kicking him out of the armory gate.