The New Gunpowder Plan
The New Gunpowder Plan
For Roland, his first acquaintance of beauty was the steam engine. Rather than the modern mechanical systems of his time whose structure hid in a shell, used high-precision processing to reduce shaking and had sound-proofing. He felt that the greasy cast iron cylinder, the sturdy crankshaft, the huge iron wheels, as well as the rhythmic noise, the shaking, and the shrill whistle of the steam engine, undoubtedly showed the industrial beauty and strength in a more intuitive way.
He wanted to instruct workers to lay railway lines everywhere in his domain so that a train could carry the cargo and passengers to the Western Region. Although this was a good idea, it would not be easy to make it a reality. The large amount of steel needed for such an undertaking far exceeded the capacity of iron ingots which North Slope Mine Kiln could produce.
Thus, for Roland, promoting the bicycle became his best option. The more smooth roads that were built in his domain, the more profitable the bicycle would be. Compared to the steam train with its complicated structure, the bicycle did not need to be maintained. The chain only needed to be oiled once in a while.
If Roland planned to mass-produce the bicycle, he could not let Anna do all of the manufacturing work. First, he should build a company, training a group of professional workers to do the manufacturing and assembly work. Considering that the Kingdom Main Street was scheduled for completion by the next spring, the company size would not be too large at first. The workers would have enough time to get familiar with the manufacturing process when Anna made the machine tools. It would be okay if the company produced 10 bikes per month. The most difficult part was the production of chains, which needed to use a machine to stamp out chain pieces.
Soraya's ability could help with the production of the rubber parts, such as tires and brakes. Thankfully, the workload was not heavy in this part. The magic pen could draw a lot of these rubber parts as long as the base mold was done. The same was true of the bearings. They could not make reliable ball bearings, so a short piece of steel casing was found to be just fine. After covering the inside with a smooth mirror coating, its effect would be no less than that of a ball bearing.
When the bicycle was first invented, only nobles could afford such an expensive form of transport. In order to promote it to the common people, Roland also planned to advertise and implement an installment payment system to reduce purchase pressure. Of course, only the subjects with ID cards could apply for this kind of payment.
The three of them spent the whole afternoon in the courtyard learning how to ride a bike. As the chief knight, Carter Lannis quickly mastered the skills. Iron Axe, who was the second quickest to learn, managed to finally successfully take a trip around the courtyard. Only Barov failed again and again. Every time he tried, he ended up almost falling off the bike or else he just could not proceed in a straight line. At last, Roland had to let Soraya draw a still picture of him who just stood beside the bike with both hands holding the handlebars.
"Is that okay?" Soraya asked after she had completed the four big posters.
After a moment's thought, Roland said, "We need to add two advertising lines. At the top of the picture we can write, 'This is the mount in a new era, I have it, you can have it too.' At the below we can write, 'The bicycle factory is recruiting workers. We offer you a good salary and better treatment. You'll also have the opportunity to get a new bicycle of your own. Anyone who has completed their primary education can sign up in the City Hall.'"
...
When the matter of the bicycle posters was done, the prince returned to his office. He asked his guards to call Kyle Sichi before dinner.
Now that they finally developed mercury fulminate, the production of new weapons should get started too. Undoubtedly at the thermal weapons age, the caliber of the cannon represented justice, while the firing rate represented freedom. The more powerful the weapon was, the more glorious it was. Finally, the quantity of the gun turrets decided everything... But there was another problem here, at this rate, the two acidic liquids which were extracted in the lab would not be enough.
For example, if Roland wanted to improve the firing rate of the cannon, he must discard the black gunpowder which had a lot of residue in favor of smokeless gunpowder, namely guncotton or the mixture of guncotton and nitroglycerin. The same was true for the production of high-explosives. It was fine if he could not make TNT as he could use nitrostarch to replace it. While its stability was not very good, it was more powerful than TNT.
But whether he wanted to improve the firing rate of the cannon or produce high-explosives, he would need a large amount of fuming nitric acid along with a huge volume of concentrated sulfuric acid in order to purify the nitric acid. Neither of these could be covered by the yield of the lab. In other words, if they could not find an industrial way to extract fuming nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid, they would get into the dilemma where they had no bullets to use even if they had created the highly-efficient weapons.
When the chief alchemist entered his office Roland said, "I have a new task for you."
"Do tell, as long as it isn't to attend any ceremonies." Kyle shrugged.
"I need more acidic liquid. Right now the yield of the chemical lab isn't enough for my needs. So your new task is to design a set of chemical systems which can produce the two acidic liquids efficiently."
"Chemical... systems?" Kyle was incredibly confused.
"Well, you need to design a set of chemical systems which consist of several pre-positioned types of equipment. They can pump out plenty of products as long as we put in the raw materials." Roland simply explained to him the essence of the industrial production. "I only know a little about this, so you have to figure it out on your own."
The prince knew it was a very difficult task to accomplish that could require several years of study and results which could not be ensured. After all, Kyle only knew some basic reaction principles and chemical equations from the book "Elementary Chemistry".
"I get it." Kyle nodded. "The things that you've mentioned really refresh me."
"Whether you can accomplish it or not, the two kinds of acidic liquid are what I desperately need now." After the pause, Roland said, "So I've already decided to build another three labs beside Redwater River, and hire some subjects to act as lab assistants. You can pick up some of your students to instruct them if you're busy. After all, the industrial acid-making process will be a long-term research project."
Perhaps he could not resist the seduction of "Intermediate Chemistry", because Kyle agreed immediately. "Yes, Your Highness."
Roland gently sighed after Kyle Sichi left.
If the industrial acid-making process did not work, he had to let Lucia help with the purification of the acidic liquid. After all, when the war came, he would need more powerful weapons to win a victory for this town.
Roland opened the drawer. He wanted to eat some dried fish but found that the drawer which he used for snacks was empty.
He was stunned for a while, but when he raised his head, a dried fish was handed to him.
"Is this what you're looking for?" The blonde woman opposite him smiled.
Roland bit the dried fish, but could not help laughing. "I thought you would stay in the Mist for the rest of your life."
"That would be fine. At least nobody can see me, but I still can see you." Nightingale smacked her lips.
Seeing Nightingale's familiar face, Roland was incredibly relieved, his bad mood began dissipating. "You've said before that you don't know how to face me..."
"Huh?"
"Actually, you look just fine the way you are."