Chapter 261: Vernier Calipers and Northwest Industries

Chapter 261: Vernier Calipers and Northwest Industry

Although Arda and Bairdin didn’t have a sufficient number of blacksmiths, there were in the other territories.

Other than that, the blacksmiths in Earl Price-Parker’s territory were famous for being good at building weapons and armor in the Northwest Bay, and besides some large number of such blacksmiths in the folklore, the Earl himself operated a large weapons workshop.

This was also the bottom line of the old Earl’s courage to organize an alliance against the Kent family.

So Paul invited his allies to Lakeville, and proposed to them the idea of jointly manufacturing and selling weapons – he would provide the raw materials, and let the blacksmiths of the various territories process them into weapons, and then sell them outside, and the profits earned would be distributed together.

“Arda and Baildin can produce a great deal of iron, both pig iron and cooked iron, and we can provide as much as you want.”

Paul said words that made the lords’ jaws drop, this brat’s mouth was too big.

“Can you say a rough number? For example, how many tons of pig iron can be produced in a year?”

Earl Parker asked this question on behalf of the lords.

“Uh ……”

What number should I say? Would it be considered bragging to give out the real number?
Still waiting for Paul to think it over, Hansel on the side held out four fingers:

“By the end of this year, we’ll be able to reach 400 tons of annual production at both locations.”

He gave Paul a wink, don’t care if it can be done or not, blow up the bull first, they can’t use that much anyway.

Holy shit, you’re really bragging a little bit, increasing production is not just about building a few more blast furnaces and reflector furnaces, but also taking into account the increase in production of iron ore and coal mines, the refining of coke, and most importantly, the training of workers related to these industries.

Forget it, regardless of these, first pull up the demand. Paul tapped the table and followed Hansel’s words:

“That’s right, if you need more, we can still raise production even higher!”

As expected, the two men’s cowhide shocked the crowd, and the lords looked at each other.

Greiman had either been blessed by the Lord of Heaven or had made a deal with the devil – if they hadn’t seen the amazing inventions of muskets and cannons in the previous joint battle, they would have thought so one hundred percent of the time.

“Ahem! If what you said, Earl-sama, is true data, that would be a majorly favorable thing. Not only can it be sold to the field, but it can also be used to arm our own troops so that it will be even more favorable when fighting Maltz Kent’s army.”

“Exactly right, Mr. Viscount. To be honest, I was planning to equip every one of my own soldiers with a pair of breastplates.”

Paul smiled at Viscount Johnston, and the viscount shrank his shoulders sheepishly; he had sent spies to infiltrate Alda a year ago to steal the technology of papermaking, and he wondered if he would be held in a grudge by Greiman. Who would have thought that Arda at that time could develop into a monster with 2,000 standing elite soldiers in hand and an annual production of 400 tons of iron, fortunately, he was now in the same camp as Earl Gleiman.

Count Malcolm asked, ”But after the weapons are built, how are we supposed to ship them in large quantities to the south? It’s not an ordinary weight of goods.”

Paul gave the answer, “It’s simple, by sea. Not only is the amount of freight extremely large, but it also avoids the tariffs on the various territories on the way south. The taxes are not factored into the selling price, and the competitiveness of our product is added another ten percent.”

Sea transportation? Indeed a method with a new idea, the lords had already heard that Alda’s shipyard was building a new type of ship that was not only powered entirely by wind, but also carried a huge amount of cargo.

“I heard that you eliminated all the pirates in the Northwest Gulf, is that to pave the way for large-scale sea transportation?”

Earl Parker asked, stroking his beard.

“Yes, I already had that idea at the time.”

“And you had already sent an expedition to sail to Horn Bay?”

“That’s right, Horned Bay will be a major focus of my trade in the future.”

“Alas, when it comes to the eradication of pirates, all of us coastal lords owe you a thank you.” Earl Parker’s words reminded the crowd of last year’s pirate rebellion, when Greiman asked for help from the surrounding area but was pushed back by them, and they couldn’t help but feel their faces heat up.

“Haha! A trivial matter, it’s not worth mentioning!”

Although there was some grumbling in his heart, Paul was still happy to have his merits recognized by everyone.

With the raw materials and transportation capacity having a solution, everyone was willing to join the program of joint manufacturing and selling of weapons, after all, no one had a problem with money.

Paul further suggested, “Gentlemen, in order to be able to increase production efficiency, I suggest that you utilize your power as a lord to centralize the blacksmiths who build weapons, merge the small workshops into a large one, and encourage the blacksmiths to exchange techniques with each other to improve their skills together.”

“There’s also the fact that since it’s a joint production, I strongly suggest that each of our territories unify their system when producing weapons, and externally all unify the prefix of the name ‘Northwest’ or ‘Gulf’ to create a branding effect. Please rest assured, this world is not peaceful, there are so many wars, we can’t just focus on the rebellion in the south. When we unite, there will definitely not be a phenomenon where some people eat meat while others can only drink soup.”

Derek Heller chimed in, “That’s right, I heard that the Gabella Empire is preparing for a war with its eastern neighbors, a great power war of this level requires an absolutely massive amount of weaponry.”

Price Parker nodded and said, “It is indeed better to standardize the system, and I agree with that.”

Driven by him, the other lords also agreed.

“Gentlemen, the unified system I’m talking about can’t just be a matter of making the weapon armor the same shape and that’s the end of it, but it has to be exactly the same even in terms of size, with an error on the millimeter level.”

“Paul, this is too much of an imposition.”

“No, I think quality is the primary factor in making our name, remember this word – standardization!”

“Standardization?”

“Yes, standardization, and I have purposely engaged in a thing to accomplish this. Somebody, bring up the ruler!”

Several servants came in from outside the hall and placed a strange object on each lord’s table.

The lords picked it up and carefully and abundantly, and as Paul had just said, it was a kind of ruler with a scale on it, though the construction was quite complicated.

“I call this thing a vernier caliper, it is able to accurately measure the dimensions of things, the exact method of using it is attached to the instruction manual. With it, we can work towards standardization.”

The accuracy of the vernier calipers at this point in time could not yet be compared to their earthly counterparts, but they were sufficient for course production.

The lords fiddled with the vernier calipers and tsked, while others cursed Paul in their hearts for being a pervert.

……

After a whole day of deliberation, the lords decided to set up a Paul’s mouth so-called [company], the company’s name is set to [Northwest Industries], specializing in the production and sale of weapons and equipment.

The people delineated the shares, Paul, due to being the initiator and almost monopolizing the raw materials and freight transportation, occupied the largest share, the next is is Price Parker and Myron Garnard, and then the other lords.

To the extent that this was not fixed, there would be regular general meetings where the shares would be adjusted according to their respective contributions.

In the end, the people drew up a general constitution, and elected the Earl of Baildin, Myron Garnard, to be in charge of the day-to-day affairs of the Northwest Industry, because his territory had been handed over to the administration of the Council of the Town of Lakewood, and he was the one who had the most time on his hands.

“Quality! Quality! Still quality! I won’t ship anything that doesn’t pass the standard!”

Paul concluded with this emphasis.

(End of chapter)