In mid-July, Art handed over the affairs of the army to Otto and Angus, and he himself focused on the construction of the territory.

In a small cabin downstream of the stream next to the wooden castle in the valley, Art and the military priest Robert were preparing a dangerously black powdered potion like an alchemist, and a piece of twine soaked in pine oil was burning from one end to the black powder.

The wooden house was very empty, with a bucket in the four corners of the room, and in the middle of the wooden room there was a wooden table, and a small pile of black powder was contained in a clay plate on the wooden table, and there was a screen shaped like a giant shield with a small window on the top.

Behind the screen, Art and Robert, dressed in half-length plate armor and barrel helmets, looked nervously at the twine that was about to burn to black powder.

The flame moved down the twine and approached the powder little by little, and Art's heart became more and more nervous.

Eventually, the flame caught the powder, but the deflagration or even the explosion that Art was expecting did not occur, and the black powder was burned by the flames for a while before slowly ignition, and very slowly.

Robert walked out from behind the screen with a disappointed face, took off his heavy helmet, wiped the hot sweat from his forehead, turned his head and said to Art: "Lord Art, give up, it's useless, this black powder potion is not as powerful as fire oil."

Art also took off his stabbing helmet, walked to the bucket in the house and poured water on his face to cool himself down, "Father Robert, have you really seen that kind of black potion that can explode violently?" ”

Robert touched the burned powder residue on the table and replied, "In the name of God, of course."

It was brought back to the church by a priest who had returned from the Holy Land, and he had put the black powdered potion into a small clay pot the size of a fist, and threw it into the fire, in which the pots "Bang! With a bang, the fire was directly extinguished, and the firewood was scattered and splashed.

"But the Church believed that this potion was a magic given to the pagans by the devil, and forbade anyone to use it, and soon the priest died, so I never saw that black potion again."

"Your potion looks a bit similar, but this power is ~"

Robert couldn't bear to hit Art, for he spent a great deal of time in this hut almost every day developing the powder, like an enchanted alchemist.

Art was indeed quite disappointed in his heart, he thought that the things he had seen in his previous life should not be difficult to make, charcoal, sulfur, saltpeter and other materials he had gathered, but the problem was that he really couldn't remember the comparison between the three, or whether there were other additives besides these three things, he really couldn't figure it out, and after asking everyone around him, everyone knew similar things, and Robert, the only one who had seen this thing, had only seen it......

In a fit of rage, Art swept the wooden bowls and clay pots on the wooden table to the ground, "MD, waste my time!" ”

Seeing that Art was emotional, Robert stepped forward and persuaded with a smile: "It's okay if you can't do it, if you really do it, the church will have to let you repent, and if you can't do it, you have to go to the cross to bake a fire."

Art sighed deeply, and had to give up this "big killing weapon" for the time being, "You're right, let's stop here, and talk about it when the time is ripe in the future." ”

Art patted the black powder on his hands, walked out of the wooden house, and instructed Stanley, the guard standing at the door, "Pack up all the contents and put them in a wooden box and seal them." This room is locked for me, and no one is allowed to enter without my permission. ”

"Yes, sir!" Stanley replied aloud.

The development of the "Big Killer" ended in failure, and if the development continues, Yate may be lucky enough to deploy the best ratio, but there is really not much time left for Yate to build a territory, and it is impossible for him to focus all his energy on this matter.

But there must be a gain.

Just as Art sat in the official room of the lord's mansion in a daze with a dejected face, Cooper hurried into the lord's mansion from the outside with something in his hand.

"Master, it's done! It's made!! "Before the Coopers arrived, the voice came first.

Cooper has always been calm, and there should be a lot of things that can make him excited.

Art got up from behind the wooden table and walked to the door of the office, "What is it made of?" ”

As he approached, Cooper handed a plate to Art with both hands, and replied, "You made this "bark paper" that the workshop tried to make!" ”

Art looked delighted, quickly took the things handed over by Cooper, looked at them carefully for a while, and the smile on his face faded a lot.

This so-called "bark paper" should be called "straw paper" in Art's memory, and it is a very rough paper. The idea of making "bark paper" came from the fact that he saw several weavers in the workshop beating and rinsing the wool in the most primitive way, and when the weavers whipped and rinsed the wool, a layer of grease mixed with wool appeared in the basin......

However, the plate in front of him is too different from what Art imagined, and the "straw paper" in his memory is already the roughest, but compared to the thing in front of him, the straw paper is as delicate as the skin of a noble lady.

This "bark paper" is made from birch bark as raw material, and is made by mashing, grinding, steaming, pulping, pulping, and drying. Although this "bark paper" is very strong and will not be easily damaged, it is still far from Yat's vision. Not to mention that the color of the paper is too dark yellow to affect the appearance, the main reason is that its surface is too rough, and even the thick bark is inlaid on it, which cannot be written at all, and the thickness is too large, which is not easy to store and carry.

"Master, I know this thing can't be used yet, but it's already an improvement, and the sap we fished out before can form slabs." Cooper explained comfortably.

Art eased his emotions and showed a smile, "Well, although there is still a gap between it and my requirements, it is already a great improvement." I think your main problem is in a couple of places, one of which is that the mashing is not fine enough, you see, there are still thick strips of bark on the paper. You ask the craftsmen to find a way to mash the bark a little more and grind it a little more finely. The second is that the color is too strong, and you ask the artisans to ask the weavers how they make the wool white. The third is that it is too thick, this paper is thicker than birch bark, so why should I use paper, just use birch bark and it will be over soon? ”

"Master, we have tried, if the pulp is too thin, the paper will not be able to form the board." Cooper explained.

"That's probably because your pulp is too coarse and you don't have enough time to cook. You guys try to improve it. ”

"Tell the craftsmen who tried to make paper that if they can use the method I taught to make thin, white and delicate bark paper, I will give them a reward of 200 fennigs each, and the better the paper, the higher the reward!"

As soon as Cooper heard that Art was going to offer a high reward again, his face began to be a little embarrassed, and now Cooper is in charge of the civil affairs of the entire barony's domain, more than a thousand mouths have to eat, drink, live and travel, and the cultivation of fields, the purchase of materials, the construction of workshops, the repair of houses, the salaries of officials, etc., none of which cost nothing, not to mention the increasingly large army of gold-devouring beasts.

The old man has been getting more and more stingy lately, and he is more and more reluctant to spend money.

"Sir, we pay our craftsmen a high monthly salary, and they deserve to do their best for us, so why do you give them an additional bounty? You are in a hurry to expand your army, and you have not much money left for the barony, and Sarthe has already purchased a large number of workshop equipment from Provence, and we have to build a workshop, which is really ......."

"Cooper, I know what you say. But I still expect to make this paper and sell it in large quantities to make money. If I don't need some incentives, and the craftsmen are just doing their best, when will I be able to make it? ”

"It's worth the extra money when developing it, trust me! That's it. "Aft tone down.

Now that Art has made up his mind, Cooper no longer raised any objections, "Master, since you have made up your mind, then I won't say more." But I have to give you a thorough explanation, at the beginning of the month, 200,000 pfennigh was allocated to the army for military expansion expenses and military salaries for the next half year, and only 130,000 pfennigs were left on the civil affairs side. This money not only has to maintain the daily consumption of the territory, but also has to be used to build a new workshop, which may not be able to support a year. ”

Art is also worried, and now he has spread out both the military and civilian lines. Needless to say, the construction of new villages, the resettlement of the people, the reclamation of wasteland, the introduction of workshops, etc., on the side of the civil administration, are all very costly, and the land tax, border commercial tax, and even commercial profits cannot fill the gap, and Yate's bulging money bag is deflated day by day......

"You keep it up first, I've already discussed with Lottie, and I plan to sell the two Northland and South goods shops that are Lottie's dowry, leaving only the one in Lucesine." Art plans to sell two of its shops in the West.

One of the reasons is that Art is currently too short of money, how can those two shops have to sell for tens of thousands of pfennigs, and if they are lucky, they may be able to sell for tens of thousands, and this money can also support for a while.

Another reason is that Art and Galvin have the same idea, once the Bo civil strife is over, the two shops in Bernard's influence will inevitably be greatly threatened, rather than let the enemy take advantage of the chaos to eat, it is better to exchange it for gold cakes and silver coins in advance and carry it into his arms.

The matter of selling the shop was also discussed with Cooper and the others, so Cooper was not surprised, "It really can't be like this." However, it is a pity that the two milk-producing sheep killed the stew. ”

"Cooper, believe me, every copper coin we throw out today will turn into a gold cake and go back into our money bags."

Cooper nodded, ready to leave to get busy.

"Cooper, in a few days Lawrence and Salter will be back with a lot of workshop equipment. In the afternoon, you and Gehr (the construction adjutant, temporarily in charge of construction) will accompany me to the valley to see if we can find a more suitable place, I think that although the site you chose for the workshop is relatively flat, the river next to it is also very slow, and the water hammer and water wheel will not be easy to install and use in the future......"

Cooper departed.

As soon as Cooper's figure disappeared around the corner, Ron came in, "Master, the military academy is going to have a martial arts training in the afternoon, and Chief Otto asked me to come back and ask if you can preside over it in person?" ”

"Tell Otto that I'm going to the valley in the afternoon, and let him and the sergeant major preside over the martial arts training."

Rise in the Middle Ages

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Chapter 234: Developing "Straw Paper"