Chapter 401 – A Visit to the Ironworks

Chapter 401 – A Visit to the Iron Factory
The clanking and clanging of raw sounds in the workshop was incessant, the workers had already begun to do their work as they did on weekdays, and from time to time someone would look at the main entrance, where Mr. Erskine was pacing anxiously with his hands behind his back.

When would the Lord Earl lead the men over?

Just as he was ruminating, a young man came running up to him with a ragged breath, “It’s coming it’s coming! Boss, they’re already out of the lord’s mansion.”

This was an employee who had been arranged by Erkins to keep an eye on the island, and came over to notify as soon as there was a movement over there.

“Good!”

Erkins hammered his palm and shouted, “All come over! All come over to greet! The Lord Earl is coming!”

Several of the top stewards in the workshop quickly ran out at his shout and stood in neat rows.

Then dust rose in the distance, and three carriages sped this way under the escort of a team of inner guard riders.

When they reached the door, the door of the center carriage opened, and out in turn came Count Greiman and two people whose style of dress was obviously not local, which must be the big customers from Horn Bay.

Erkins’ face immediately saved up a ball of smiles, small steps quickly ran to the carriage near, with a humble tone said, “Lord Earl, honored guests, welcome to Erkins’ iron foundry.” As soon as his words fell, the workshop stewards standing in a row bowed and saluted in unison, as if they had rehearsed it many times.

Paul raised his hand, “Erkins, there is no need for polite words, show us where you build ordnance in your yard.”

“Yes, yes, Lord Earl please follow me.”

The crowd walked into the workshop along with Erkins and looked around accompanied by the incessant clanking sounds.

“This is where we build our swords.”

“This is where we build spearheads.”

……

Gaius and Quiller hadn’t been exposed to blacksmithing on a regular basis, so they didn’t perceive anything new about the workflow within the workshop.

But for the quality of the final product, they were sure to keep a strict eye on it.

“Mr. Erkins? Can you show us some finished products? And, we would like to test it.”

Erkins immediately responded, “Surely no problem? Please follow me to the warehouse.”

The crowd arrived at the warehouse, where rows and rows of wooden crates were arranged within.

Gaius walked forward and picked a longsword with his hand, he carefully measured it and handed it over to the family guard next to him and asked in Horned Bay, “What do you think?”

This guard’s eyes were stern, his body was sturdy, and his face had a few scars on it, so he was a tough character at first glance.

He silently took the longsword and flicked the blade with his fingers before dancing a few jabbing and slashing moves.

“Not bad!”

That was all the guard said in Horned Bay, before handing it back to Gaius.

“Uh, good.” Gaius showed a satisfied expression and put the longsword back.

It was for the big-headed soldier anyway, so that was enough.

Erkins craned his head and quietly asked the Horned Cove interpreter behind him, who had been found from the town overnight, “What are these two Horned Cove guys muttering about?”

“Uh …… the one in front asked how the sword was, and the one behind said it was okay.” The translator answered quietly and honestly.

What what? Ergens heart super indignant, Horned Bay man in the end there is no eyesight, my workshop in the production can be top quality goods, is to put the entire Northwest region can be ranked in the name.

However, it is also in the heart to scold two sentences, face still a smiling expression.

Paul did not mind much, the corner of the Bay trade developed, where people can come into contact with goods from all over the world, eyesight is naturally very high.

The Northwest Bay and the outside world of large-scale contact has just begun, in the long years before has been sitting in the well to watch the sky, quite some of the flavor of the night, craftsmen, who are not willing to admit that their skills are inferior to others.

In front of this guard can be followed in the family side of the eldest son, is estimated to be the elite of the Foster family, good sword and good sword used countless, can give a sentence “okay” has been very give face.

He asked: “Sir Foster, what do you think? Do the weapons produced by our Northwest Overseas meet your needs?”

Gaius nodded, “If they are all of this quality, yes.”

Eugene at the side immediately beat his chest and vouched for it, “Most honored guest, please rest assured that Eugene’s workshop will never substitute the best for the best, and we have always followed Lord Gleeman’s church of strict quality control.”

Gaius asked with interest, “Quality control?”

A novel word.

“Oh, it’s the whole process from raw material control, production and processing, product making, finished product testing to finished product warehousing, as well as after-sales quality tracking and resolution, including the complete quality control and management process.”

Paul explained to him so.

Gaius pondered, “If you guys can really be so rigorous, that would be great. The Horned Bay Alliance will never skimp on money.” “Please don’t worry.” Paul and Erkins responded in unison.

Gaius asked again, “Do you produce armor here?”

“Production production, pro follow me.”

The workshop owner opened the way in front of him, and the people came to the workshop where the armor was made.

One could only see a huge forging hammer on a machine rising and falling, bumping and forging the metal material into rough plates before the craftsmen swung their hammers for fine finishing.

Curious, Quiller asked, “Interesting, how does such a large hammer move?”

Gaius proudly replied, “Might as well tell you, driven using the power of the current.”

“Like a waterwheel?”

“Oh …… you can think of it that way.”

Gaius had patented the water forging hammer, and other workshops would have to pay a fortune if they wanted to use it, even the Lord Earl’s machine shop was paying him.

Paul looked at Gaius with a smug look on his face, and silently spat in his heart, “Hmph, being one step ahead of the game, wait for me to get the mill out ……”

But to his relief, from the previous rangefinder of the mapping squad to the current water forging hammer, the seeds of folk inventions have begun to take root.

Gaius suddenly thought of something, “By the way, can you produce high quality steel plate armor here?”

“Steel plate armor?” Erkins hesitated and said, “We have the technology to do so.”

“How is the production?”

“Oh …… as you know, steel is not very easy to obtain, so it is not a priority for us to produce.”

Gaius was a little disappointed, “Fine.”

But it was to be expected, even if he wasn’t versed in martial arts, Gaius knew how valuable a pair of plate armor was, it could be used as a family heirloom.

Standing next to him, Paul’s heart stirred, “Steel? Now that the supply of iron is no longer a problem, it looks like it should go further.”

He silently settled on a plan.

The crowd visited Gaius’s workshop for the whole morning before ending, Paul invited the Foster brothers to the lord’s mansion for lunch, then arranged for someone to send them back first, but he himself stayed behind.

“Erskine.”

“Yes, Earl Darling.”

In the office, the workshop owner stood respectfully beside Paul.

“As far as I know, your workshop, it seems that you are also taking orders from the shipyards.”

“Haha, yes, Lord Count.”

Driven by the profits of the maritime trade and the deliberate guidance of the Council of State, the Northwest Gulf Coast had already set off a “big construction” trend, with large and small shipyards being established one after another.

Nowadays, the construction of ships is mainly made of wood, and the demand for wood has increased dramatically, but the wood needed to build a good ship needs to be prepared years in advance, and some of the wood even needs to be dried for as long as 6 years after it is shaped.

The original shipbuilding industry in the Northwest Gulf was not well developed, and naturally did not have much of a wood reserve, and that small reserve was quickly depleted.

In order to cope with this situation, the shipyards began to pay attention to the timber reserve, in addition to spending a lot of money to buy timber from foreign countries in case of emergencies.

As a result, the price of wood began to soar, leading to the growth of the logging industry and wood processing industry, a series of lumber mills sprang up.

But shipbuilding requires not only wood, but also a large number of metal components, and thus fattened a lot of iron manufacturing plant.

In addition to timber and iron, canvas was also in great demand.

Not only the three territories of Arda, Bairdine, and Emden under Paul’s control, but other territories also joined the supply chain one after another.

Manufacturing flourished in the entire northwest land.

“Remember, your workshops should prioritize our local needs, but don’t work for the Horned Bay people first just because they pay more money.”

Paul felt the need to remind these capitalists whose wings were not yet full.

“Yes, yes, Lord Earl, I will definitely abide by your instructions.”

Erkins responded in a panic.

(End of chapter)